What is the dumbest way you've seen a paladin lose his paladinhood?

[Dirigible]

Re: Richard's paladin scroll'o'dissapointment...

Oooh, that's good. Inspired, even.

 

[LightPhoenix]

Back when I was in my single-digit years, I attempted to solo-run L1 - The Secret of Bone Hill - my friend played a paladin, and for some strange reason my 8-year-old brain decided to make a bugbear there LG, even though they are always evil. The bugbear tried to give flowers to the paladin and the paladin, ignoring the true nature of this bugbear, killed it.

I can still see the Bugbear, walking up the hill (bone hill?) the castle in the distance, flowers in hands, a sheepish, crooked-tooth, bugbear-sized, **it-eating grin on its face, right before those delicate flower petals were splashed with blood...

I really don't know why, but this makes me incredibly sad to visualize. Poor Mr. Bugbear.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

I even gave the player's PC a second chance: after losing his paladinhood, I gave him a way to earn it back via a solo mission. ... The ex-paladin slew a couple of giant rats for them in exchange for a place to sleep that night, but when the farmer asked him to stay on and help harvest their crops so they wouldn't starve, the ex-paladin told them he couldn't, he was on an important mission for his order.

Out of curiosity, was the harvest something that could be done in a day, or was the paladin meant to give up his paladinhood--by forsaking his mission in order to help the farmers--in order to regain his paladinhood?

I'm not saying this particular paladin did right. He doesn't seem to have tried to keep the farmer's family from starving at all, but would he have managed to save his paladinhood had he offered the farmer gold to buy food, or sent the farmer to his Order for succor? Or was he expected to selflessly sacrifice his paladin powers forever to help this farmer bring in his crop, as the only way to prove he was worthy of paladinhood in the first place?

Just curious. The scroll setup is genius, though. I'll have to remember it to swipe if needed.

 

[ThoughtBubble]

Out of curiosity, was the harvest something that could be done in a day, or was the paladin meant to give up his paladinhood--by forsaking his mission in order to help the farmers--in order to regain his paladinhood?

I'm not saying this particular paladin did right. He doesn't seem to have tried to keep the farmer's family from starving at all, but would he have managed to save his paladinhood had he offered the farmer gold to buy food, or sent the farmer to his Order for succor? Or was he expected to selflessly sacrifice his paladin powers forever to help this farmer bring in his crop, as the only way to prove he was worthy of paladinhood in the first place?

Just curious. The scroll setup is genius, though. I'll have to remember it to swipe if needed.

That echoes my thoughts. Even as a kind, noble, and righteous soul, I could see where if I believed that I was supposed to walk for three days straight, I'd wander that way, then go back to help out. On the other hand, if the 3 days of walking felt more like a measure of distance than time, I would have stayed aroudn to help. He could argue his point with the angle that "A paladin sometimes has to focus on the greater good, at the expense of smaller tasks." Still, a wonderful idea.

Anyway, the worst paladin loss I ever saw involved a paladin who began to get into bullying merchants to get better prices. In a dream, the paladin's goddess came to him, and gave him a warning about his behavior. At this point, the paladin drew his sword, and attacked her.

 

[Corinthi]

It wasn't a Paladin but the best loss of class abilities I ever saw was in a 2nd edition game. Everything players said at the table was assumed to be in character unless we specifically stated it was OOC before the fact. Our Priestess of Mystra had been leading us through all these /horribly/ traumatic quests to try to stop the BBEG. The player had a terrible day and was a bit stressed when an image of Mystra appeared to him and laid out something that needed to be done ASAP or 'All would be lost.'

The player snaps back with, 'How'd I become Mystra's lap dog? I mean, what has she done for me lately?'

It was a mighty rough adventure without healing, lemme tell you.

On a side note, I'd have stripped the paladin's abilities for not helping the farmers as well. It was obvious that there was something awful going on there. It was so obviously a test that I cannot imagine a player just walking away from it. He could have spared a morning helping the farmer's harvest, then walked into the night to make up for lost time. Not to mention simply walking about with the Detect Evil Radar to see if he could find a source of all thier bad luck. Any Paladin not willing to work a little extra and look some sleep to help the innocent doesn't deserve his divine grace.

 

[Munin]

I'm not saying this particular paladin did right. He doesn't seem to have tried to keep the farmer's family from starving at all

On the contrary, my friend. I'd venture to say that the noble paladin provided this family with two large rats to dine on. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it beats starvation any day.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

Which got me wondering, what is the dumbest way you've seen a paladin lose his paladinhood?

Attacking another party member...because she was played by the paladin player's sister. This was my "kids game" (after "Forge of Fury") and he was warned both in game and out of game not to do it. But he did it anyway.

Oh, and on the redemption/atonement quest ("Tears of Twilight Hollow"), his second character died. Not a good year for the paladin.

 

[Munin]

Not to hijack the thread, but this brings up a general complaint of mine regarding the noble paladin in general.

First off, it seems like when it comes to the paladin dm's feel that there is this omnipotent being out there with a checklist going 'yup, he didn't give that beggar boy a copper, that'll cost 'em lay-on-hands.'

A paladin is not required to serve a deity, unlike the cleric. Nor are they subject to the harsh mental discipline of the monk. And don't get me going on druids. So why are they singled out for supposed alignment infractions?

It seems to me that with the exception of grave offenses, like the above 'I charge the old harmless guy with my lance', the paladin should be subject more to the accusations of his own conscience than some un-named power. Perhaps he has a restless night of sleep because he didn't help that poor farmer harvest his wheat, so for the next day or so he has trouble accessing his spells. But taking away all of his class abilities? Sorry, but I can't see it.

Thank you, and please return to your regularly scheduled thread.

 

[sircaren]

A paladin is not required to serve a deity, unlike the cleric.

Huh? Clerics don't have to worship a deity either.

 

[Voadam]

Not to hijack the thread, but this brings up a general complaint of mine regarding the noble paladin in general.

First off, it seems like when it comes to the paladin dm's feel that there is this omnipotent being out there with a checklist going 'yup, he didn't give that beggar boy a copper, that'll cost 'em lay-on-hands.'

A paladin is not required to serve a deity, unlike the cleric. Nor are they subject to the harsh mental discipline of the monk. And don't get me going on druids. So why are they singled out for supposed alignment infractions?

It seems to me that with the exception of grave offenses, like the above 'I charge the old harmless guy with my lance', the paladin should be subject more to the accusations of his own conscience than some un-named power. Perhaps he has a restless night of sleep because he didn't help that poor farmer harvest his wheat, so for the next day or so he has trouble accessing his spells. But taking away all of his class abilities? Sorry, but I can't see it.

Thank you, and please return to your regularly scheduled thread.

Paladins lose their powers whenever they do an evil act or grossly violate the paladins code (act with honor, etc.). Monks, bards, and barbarians only have consequences if they actually change alignments. clerics is purely a campaign specific issue.