Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Dark Brethren 12-30-06, 04:19 PM	is it possible to pull off a bad-to-the-bone kind of thing with a pally? i argue with the other players about this, im going for a cool St. Cuthbert paladin who dont take evil or lip from anybody.... so please maybe some opinions on this or tips on how to make this work without breaking my code of conduct would be greatly appreciated, otherwise i am scared it will just come off as chiche like or corny or just plain not work
aleshandre 12-30-06, 10:14 PM	Think Sir Galahad+Punisher. Always does the right thing, because it's the right thing, regardless who it hurts (even himself), and punishes evil in all it's forms. There is no negotiating with evil. Evil does not take vacations or holidays or sick days, so neither can the Paladin. Hunt down evil and destroy it. Try to do this without dying, so you can punish more evil.
mkill 01-01-07, 12:22 PM	The code of conduct says "protect people", it never said "be nice to people"... Actually, most paladins are *******s. I wouldn't be too worried about the code of conduct. Just know when to shut up around authorities higher than yourself. Being *****y towards your churches Patriarch would be a mistake you don't do twice... The thing I would be worried about is annoying the rest of your party. I remember one adventure where the (rather roguish) wizard put sleeping poison in the drink of the paladin just to get him out of the way and finish the adventure. Both DM and the other players were very thankful for that. If you start to annoy people too much with your lawful good badassness, you may end up without a group or they turn against you. So, give your paladin a hard shell, but also a few points in Sense Motive to notice when he has to stop and show a more softer side. This might make him more believable and human, and make a better relationship to the rest of the party.
Candide 01-14-07, 12:49 AM	*bump* Complete Scoundrel has a prestige called the Grey Guard. I don't have the book but I know its for paladins. As you go up in levels, you can violate your code with increasingly odd things. I know you were wanting flavor without a PrC, but its a start. I'm definitely taking this idea for my next character. Reminds me of Mickey Rourke somehow
Penguintine 01-16-07, 01:33 PM	I played a Paladin for many years in a dark/"realistic" campaign. Many bad things happened to him, which made him a bad ass. He even once "accidentally" decapitated his wife... bassically the bad guys made her look like a monster, and when he Coup de Grass'ed her, her idenity was revealed. Also, once he traveld outside of the main campaign setting (to someone else's run of Forgotten Realms) and the following convo occured in response to something that was said: PC: What kind of Paladin are you? Paladin: Not the kind that rides around on a pegasus or plays with elves. I read somewhere that Paladins are kind of like cops. So, I imagine my Paladins to be like the "bad" cops. Like the kind that they show in the movies. They want to get the bad guy, but do it in a no-holds-barred sort of way.
hoosierhayeslpe 01-16-07, 02:16 PM	Please excuse my Star Wars obsessed mind, but I see a bad ass paladin as being played like an Anakin Skywalker (or Jacen Solo from Legacy of the Force). I’d love to play a character who is lawful good and keeps making large and violent decisions that stay within his code of conduct and are for the greater good, but ultimately those decisions keep making the world around them worse. My next LG character may be a paladin of Wee Jas who wields a big glowing sword, wears black armor, and hacks a lot of things apart. Way too much Star Wars.
irishwerewolf5 01-17-07, 10:45 PM	Ya know i just joined these messageboards to see what my like minded peeps would bethinkin, and almost every other post is asking about a Paladins ability to bend the rules or have a skewed sense of justice. Honestly i have to say that for the most part the answer to the question "can i make a bad ass paladin?" is no not really in the sense you are implying. That is of course assuming that you have a DM who stays within the rules. If you have a laid back DM yes you can....but seriously...the paladin is predominantly a Lawful good character and therefore is not predisposed to violence without provocation. Provocation is NOT a glance in the wrong way or a wrong word said to the character. If you attack the NPC or PC that "provokes" you then by all rights your god (a good god or else youd be a blackguard) could strip you of your powers and make you basically what you want to be playing to justify these actions, just another fighter. As a DM myself id strip a paladin in an instant if they did any of the above actions without trying (as a lawful good character might) to find a peaceful reconciliation to the problem at hand. Violence and surliness arent something you see from a paladin unless you are a being of pure evil. just mylong two cents....i guess more like 25 cents irish