Why Should It Be Hard To Be A Paladin?

[DM_Matt]

Then how do you beat someone to death?

With Improved Unarmed Strike, or anty object at hand that isnt a sap.

 

[Slife]

Then how do you beat someone to death?

Lethal bludgeoning damage.

 

[FireLance]

Then how do you beat someone to death?

In addition, you can take a -4 penalty on an attack roll with a weapon that normally deals nonlethal damage (like a normal human's unarmed strike) to deal lethal damage.

 

[SteveC]

Agreed, and that's one of the questions I was asking in this thread: if you hold palaldins to a very high standard of behavior, what advantages do you give to them to balance it out?

This is the big question. The paladin class is not more powerful than other classes in 3.5, so what is there about being a paladin that makes the GM have to reign the class in? I have heard so many horror stories and read so many threads about paladins being tricked or pretty much forced by the GM into decisions that will result in them either dying or losing their status. Okay, what's the big deal with this class that makes it so special?

On the surface, as part of the RAW, nothing at all.

So when I run a game, I try and get away from all of the typical paladin traps, while still running a game with tough moral questions. If I were going to run a game where I was trying to challenge the paladin's status most of the time, I'd probably give him access to some Exalted feats to compensate for it. It seems like much of the time GMs expect their paladins to play as exalted good any way, so they should get the bennies for it. Give your paladin the equivilant of a vow of poverty template and then you should feel free to bring it...

--Steve

 

[el-remmen]

In addition, you can take a -4 penalty on an attack roll with a weapon that normally deals nonlethal damage (like a normal human's unarmed strike) to deal lethal damage.

Just something else to house rule back to 3.0. I like the idea of beign able to accidentally beat someone to death. It matches my group's style of play.

 

[pawsplay]

Let me just go on record as saying paladins should never knock babies unconcious, ever.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Just something else to house rule back to 3.0. I like the idea of beign able to accidentally beat someone to death.

Was that a rule in 3E?

I know that Heat and Cold exposure damage started off as subdual, and turned real once you fall unconscious... but I can't find anything to suggest that hitting someone with a sap, Merciful sword, or unarmed strike in 3E turns subdual damage real once it passes the target's normal hit point total...?

-Hyp.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Let me just go on record as saying paladins should never knock babies unconcious, ever.

Then into the Bag of Holding it goes.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

That's where the rping comes in. Being a representitive of the church, a paladin can expect help (and free, in most regards) from the church. Why pay for an inn when the church will house you for free? The church may provide items at a discount.

Then there are the advantages gianed that would be campaign specific. A criminal may be willing to talk to only you, since he knows you won't slit his throat later (bonus to the appropriate rolls).

Just because there isn't a delimiated core mechaniucal advantage doesn't mean one can't be added.

You recognize that you are implicitly rewriting the class, yes?

My DM seems to have "forgotten" to give me any such benefits.

 

[Kristivas]

Then into the Bag of Holding it goes.

LOL!

Seriously, though. I don't care what the RAW says, I have children and am pretty sure that had I punched one hard enough to knock either my son or daughter out when they were an infant, they probably would have died or had brain damage or somesuch. So yeah, baby-hitting paladins wouldn't be paladins for too long.

Here's a real kicker. Would it be evil for the paladin to take the baby back to his church for it to be raised there into a life of goodness and faith? It can be considered kidnapping, yeah.. but in the end, wouldn't it save the goblin from one day meeting the sword of another do-gooder?

I had a friend playing a LG cleric do just that with an Orc baby, but it's parents had been slain. He was told by the paladin of the group that he should take the child and give it to other orcs. It was then the group piped up and added that the paladin never lets any orcs they meet live long enough for such things to happen.

Would it be evil had the parents still been alive?