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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Set" data-source="post: 3137061" data-attributes="member: 41584">If the Paladin was mechanically purely better than the Fighter, then I could see putting some 'teeth' into the alignment / code of conduct thing, to help balance it out a little.But it ain't.  The Fighter kicks butt all over the Paladin.  So the alignment thing, for me, becomes unnecessarily restrictive.None of my players have ever chosen a Paladin, and I'm not nearly so sadistic as to have ever saddled them with one as an NPC, so I've never had to deal with one as a GM, but I've been in a good half-dozen groups that contained Paladins (or knights following paladin-like ideals in GURPS fantasy), and *EVERY SINGLE TIME* it led to inter-party conflict and hard feelings.  Perfectly fine players, who played many team-friendly characters, turn into rampaging jerks the second they have the Paladin's Code to hide behind.In my experience, the Paladin, for all it's 'Lawful Good' nature, ends up being a completely selfish class, as the entire party is now expected to abide by the RP restrictions of one of it's members, for which they really don't gain anything special to make it 'worth' having to rein in their own role-playing and combat tactics to risk offending Polly Pureheart.  Instead of order and compassion, it brings only strife and discord, finger-pointing and ultimatums, sometimes about loot distribution, other times about 'honorable tactics' and too often about 'prisoners.'  I've been in several games where the Paladin's actions got other party members (or the entire party) killed, either because he wouldn't hold his tongue in front of an evil overlord sort, or because he wouldn't sit around planning a battle or prepare or even stop to heal before starting a new combat, but charged in loudly announcing the parties presence to the enemy.  Every time the player would whip out the, 'I didn't have a choice, I'm just playing the class' excuse.Long ago, we called bull on that excuse.  Last time I played a Paladin, it was a Paladin of Rao, Greyhawk diety of peace, reason and serenity, who led by example.  He wasn't a Cleric, it wasn't his job to spread the good word, or attempt to impose his own morality on others, only to follow it himself.  As a follower of the god of diplomats, he was most certainly capable of, and even skilled at, saying whatever needed to be said to minimize ill-feelings or violent acts.In my experience, most people play Paladins about as noble and 'Lawful' and 'Good' as Barbarian / Blackguards of Erythnul...  The class just seems to bring out the worst in people.</blockquote>

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