FireLance said:
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?
Well, in DS paladins get free access to spellware (magic cyberware) in exchange for not using their mount. They still have to pay the xp, but the church foots the bill.
For anything else, it would be campaign dependent, but here are somethings that might come up:
-MGP's Quint Paladin has some good rules for extending the usefulness of Detect Evil (having all that time to practie without eating up spell slots).
-An easier time getting exotic mounts, and access to folks who know how to train them.
-Churches are known for hording the books, so if you don't have a bard for that precious info a paladin can use his influence to get the wizard inside their library.
-Free room and board if the paladin's god has a church in the area.
-Reduced cost for healing, or just outright free if they're working for the church.
-An unlimited use adventure hook. No need to figure out how to get the group involved, just have the church call on their paladin...
-More likey to get the items they need from a church, as opposed to hoping for a good random drop.
-Reputation carries quite a bit in town. Adventures get paid/haul in loot as opposed to looking out for the people. The village will see the paladin differently and treat him accordingly.
-A good dose of respectability for the group as a whole when they get to a new town. Strangers may be frowned upon, but being a paladin may ease tensions since they know the LG armored guy will not cause trouble. They may also be more appreciative of trouble most likely going elsewhere to hide while he's in town.
-Getting hit on by noble women, and their dad's actually approving.
