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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Green Knight" data-source="post: 1499120" data-attributes="member: 2723">You didn't buy it yet you feel qualified to comment on what it says?  Here, let me lay out what it actually DOES say in regards to Paladins (Or rather, Good characters in general, all of which a Paladin must abide by). <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/paranoid.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":uhoh:" title="Paranoid    :uhoh:" data-shortname=":uhoh:" />  First of all, it DOES say that the utter avoidance of doing any evil does not make you good. It makes you neutral. Being good MEANS doing good deeds.  Then it lists good deeds. Helping others, for one. Like in the example cited, when a villager comes running up to you and asks for you to save his village from some danger, you don't say, "What can you pay?". You help the villagers, even if they don't have a single copper to give you.  Charity is another. Providing food, money, and other aid to the downtrodden when you can.  Healing, which while not intrinsically good (You can use healing to heal the Evil Devourer of Souls before he heads into his next conflict, after all) does invoke Good energies.  Personal Sacrifice. A good character helps others, even when it's inconvenient or costly for him to do so. Sacrificing anything from wealth all the way up to his own life.  Worshipping Good deities and casting Good spells.  And the most important items on the list, Mercy, Forgiveness, Bringing Hope, and Redeeming Evil. First with Mercy, whenever a bad guy surrenders, you MUST give them quarter. It doesn't matter HOW many times this villain has surrendered in the past, or what unspeakable crimes he's committed after surrendering and escaping captivity. If he asks for mercy, then you give it. In which case you bind him, take him prisoner, and treat him as kindly as possible.  Then there's Forgiveness. It starts at not taking revenge on someone. It ends with forgiving someone who's done grievous harm, but is attempting to make amends for what they've done. Say King Obould Many-Arrows from the Forgotten Realms swept through the village in which your family lives on a raid, raping all the women, including your wife and daughters, and then murdered your entire family. If you face him in combat, and he surrenders, then you must grant him mercy. If he later attempts to make a change for the better, became a good person, then you must forgive him, no matter how grievous the harm he inflicted upon you.  And lastly, there's Bringing Hope and Redeeming Evil. The former involves doing all the above things, which also lead to hope being rekindled in the hearts and minds of people. When you heal a leper of his disease, you're not just curing the disease, you're instilling a new sense of hope in the man.  As for the latter, it discusses how one can redeem a villain by talking to him. Talking to him about the evils he's committed, telling him the rewards to a good life, the benevolence of the deities of good, etc. If you succeed, you can successfully turn an Evil creature into a good one.  Then the book goes on to a section entitled "The Straight and Narrow". The first part being Ends and Means, in which the Ends NEVER justify the Means. Doesn't matter if poisoning the viceroy will save the kingdom. That's an evil act, and the good outcome does NOT justify the evil act.  Then there's a section called "Violence", in which violence can only be employed in a just cause. Attacking an orc village because they've been raiding the local countryside is okay. Attacking an orc village because they're there and they're Chaotic Evil is NOT okay. You can't take part in a war against a Good nation. Revenge is not an acceptable reason for violence, although violence is an appropriate means of stopping any further acts of evil. The violence should also have good intentions. You should be attacking the orc village because they've been raiding the countryside, NOT because their camp is located on a gold mine and you want to get at that gold mine. Violence also isn't good when it doesn't discriminate from the evil targets and women and children.  And the book goes on and on. Point is, what it says is the EXACT opposite of what you say it says. And if you'd actually read it, then you'd know that.</blockquote>

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