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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Edena_of_Neith" data-source="post: 489009" data-attributes="member: 2020">I think your player did not understand what a paladin was supposed to be.  Did you, the DM, explain it to him?  Since the concept of good seems to vary as much as people do, perhaps you and your players should sit down and think out just what Good is supposed to be about.  Then, sit down again, and debate out what paladins are supposed to be about.  Only then can your players look at the paladin for what he or she is, and decide whether or not playing a paladin would be fun!  - - -  Now, of course, under most conceptions Good does not involve outright murder of defenseless people, and I believe that this case was an act of Evil.  This is the kind of thing, though, where your player should KNOW FOR CERTAIN THAT THIS IS EVIL.  Every paladin is taught his values, principals, and the weight of his actions in training.  Your player's paladin should have had this training too.  Being a paladin is special.  It is not something an ordinary person can accomplish.  It is not something even highly principalled people can accomplish.  It requires special dedication, and a special mindset, to be a paladin.  When a paladin commits a truly evil act (as defined in your campaign), this does not just change his alignment, but it sends a shock through the very magic and life essence of the world.  Or, if it does not, it should!  It should be a great tragedy when a paladin falls deliberately into darkness.  Think MacBeth.  Think Picture of Dorian Gray.  Think of every tragedy and horror tragedy you've ever read or watched.  After the alignment change, continued acts of evil cause further shocks.  If the acts of evil are great enough, and cause sufficient harm, and if the paladin is unrepentent enough, he becomes - not a Blackguard as might be thought - but a Death Knight!  And then there is real tragedy and death, for the character and all around him or her.  The very force of Good that the paladin epitomizes, the brillance of his or her Light, makes it possible for Death Knights to be (in my campaign, at least.)  A Fall, from such fundamental Goodness, causes irreversible rupture and harm (to the Magic of the world, to Life, to Destiny) and this harm rebounds upon the character, producing the horrific undead that is known as the Death Knight ... who in turn causes further rupturing of What Is.  But you must define what Good is, before your player's character can play that Good alignment (much less play a paladin.)    How will he or she know what is Good and Evil in your world, unless you tell him?  Do not assume he or she thinks like you do, on the subject of Good and Evil!</blockquote>

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