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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 2673990" data-attributes="member: 3146">I think there are some books and plays that deal with exactly this question (or a question like it). The applicability is easier to see if you leave the paladin name and the fullplate at the door and just take them as a moral exemplar.In Crito, Socrates is faced with the judgement of the Athenians for his "crime" of philosophy and is expected to drink hemlock. His friend, Crito offers to bribe his guards and buy him passage on a ship to another island where he would not be subject to the unjust punishment of the Athenians. Socrates turns Crito down, and claims that, since he has lived in Athens by choice his entire life and has benefited from her laws, he is obligated to abide by the laws of Athens even when they are unjust. If you buy Socrates' argument then the paladin question has a clear answer.That said, Socrates' statements in Apology seem to indicate that there is a level of the same reasoning behind civil disobedience in his motives: by demanding either the strictest punishment for his "crime" or a reward and eschewing any middle ground, Socrates forced the Athenians to come to terms with the injustice of silencing him. They couldn't get off easy by sentencing him to a small fine or by having him slip off quietly to Crete. Absent those reasons, the argument from duty alone might not be compelling. (Especially since, in this case the paladin would not be highlighting the injustice of the system by accepting his punishment).Other stories, however, offer other answers. Lancelot, for instance, after being falsely (or truly, depending upon which telling of the legend you read) accused of adultery with the queen, fled to France. When the queen was set to be executed, he returned secretly and championed her, but slew Sir Gareth in the attempt and was sentenced to die by King Arthur. He fled and stayed away until the death of Arthur. Depending upon how you read the story, you could say that Lancelot is a fallen paladin at that point and is an example of what not to do or you could see him as evidence that chivalric virtue allows flight from an unjust conviction--especially when defending one's life and liberty is likely to result in the death of friends and worthy men.The biblical story of David also describes him fleeing into the wilderness and even taking refuge with the Philistines at one point when King Saul had decided that David was a threat to his rule and resolved to kill him. At several points, however, David demonstrated his innocence to Saul (by sneaking into his camp and taking some of Saul's things thereby demonstrating that he had the opportunity to kill Saul but chose not to out of loyalty) and was pardoned for a while. This story isn't clear either because even the Bible does not depict David as an unfailing paragon of virtue (something which the Bathsheba story should make abundantly clear) so everything he does is not worthy of emulation. (And Testament doesn't stat him up as a Paladin either <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> Furthermore, the stories seem to offer support to both sides here: David fled from the king's wrath and stayed away, but at several points demonstrated his innocence and trusted to the king's justice.It's been a while since I read it, but I think that King Lear has several plotlines that deal with similar issues as well.So I think you could defend either choice as worthy of a paladin though submitting to the justice system is more obviously defensible. The stories I suggested though, are full of good scenes and arguments that could be stolen wholesale and imported into the game--most likely without your players even noticing.</blockquote>

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