Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Fantastic_Mr_Fox 01-06-08, 11:56 AM	So I have decided to play a paladin but I don't want to be a stereotypical "detect evil everything that moves and smite it instantly" kind of paladin. I had some ideas but not much solid so I got quintessential paladin to help me and boy do I love that book! Its bursting with flavor and interesting, well, everything! What I have so far is as follows. Leoendithas Silverkin, Human Paladin Hailing from the western heartlands area of Faerun (I'm not sure of the specific town or city yet) The only son of a mid level guardsman I had a humble upbringing. I became acquainted with tragedy early in life as my father was killed on duty before I came of age. I quickly decided to follow in his footsteps and continue his work. My mother died of natural causes just after my 25th birthday. The year after that I met and married a local woman. We had several happy years together before tragedy struck again. While investigating a case (haven't figured out the specific details yet) I gained the attention of a powerful crime syndicate. As a message and threat to me, they brutally murdered my wife. When I discovered her body I was consumed with rage, pain and guilt. I rushed headlong and alone into the syndicates den and fueled by my rage slew many of them before being mortally wounded and tossed into a gutter to die. Luckily a wandering paladin happened to discover me bleeding to death and nursed me back to health. He taught me the paladins ways and I found salvation and new purpose in dedicating my life to justice. When I found out that the man responsible for my wifes murder had fled. I vowed to hunt him down and bring him to justice or kill him. I will be playing the character as a worldly paladin. His background as a guardsman and brush with death has taught him that charging into a fight is not always the best way to defeat evil and he prefers to investigate and route out the cause of a problem if possible. However he is still scarred by his past and though he has learned to control his anger he is still given to outbursts of seemingly erratic behavior and will immediately place himself in mortal danger to prevent others coming to harm, as if he has a death wish. He will be constantly skirting the boundary between chaotic good and lawful good (Think Mel Gibson's character Riggs in Lethal Weapon 2) He will work towards a Chainbreaker Custos Holy weapon (from Quintessential Paladin) and his granted paladin mount will be a Heavy Warhorse with the Overseer Purpose template (also from Quintessential Paladin) representing my deity keeping a close eye on me. I also plan on taking levels in the Martyr prestige class from that book. Thoughts, comments, constructive criticism? I would especially appreciate help with fleshing out the crime syndicate and the man responsible for my wifes death. Also I'm not sure if I should use the vow rules in Quintessential Paladin as I cant imagine a vow to avenge my wifes death being anything other than a lvl4 or 5 in severity and I don't want to force the party to resolve my goals too much, or steal all the spotlight. Finally if you have read this far, thank you very much! :)
The_Shaman 01-06-08, 09:08 PM	I look at this backstory, and one of the first questions that pops up was "Wait, are you actually a paladin - and if yes, when did you become one?" I don't know how the QP handles it, but generally becoming a paladin is a big deal, and iirc the Realmsian orders are quite serious about it. Right now the backstory can work for an urban ranger, fighter/rogue or some such, but for a single-class paladin the character seems to have had remarkably little contact with the paladin orders, the representatives of their patron deities, and so forth. A few weeks of instruction does not a paladin make unless the gods themselves decide to show you particular favor - and so far I haven't seen a mention of that. A squireship at one of the orders, or a similar epiphany, would not be out of place. It may just be me, but paladins are seldom simple town guards or soldiers... they may have been one, but their new duties and loyalties can often cause a conflict of interests in the course of their old jobs. Apart from that, your character concept seems to rely on quite a few skill points, especially in the social skills. This means having a good intelligence score, multiclassing, or both. Perhaps a paladin/urban ranger (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#rangerVarian tUrbanRanger) with the devoted tracker feat will fit you better than a pure paladin. It will certainly help with skills such as spot, listen, or search that are great for your archetype yet not on the paladin's list. Do not fear to multiclass or enter PrCs - 3rd edition allows them exactly to support complex, composite character concepts like yours. Finally, on the issue of alignment: while it's true that paladins can commit minor chaotic acts without falling from grace, they are expected to be LG. I'm not sure exactly how chaotic you will act every now and then (there's a difference between occasionally disregarding a minor rule and a firm belief that all that stuff doesn't ******* matter), but if you're constantly vacillating between LG and CG the neutral good alignment may be a good approximation of your tendencies. It doesn't mean your character can't be quirky, devious or dirty-mouthed, for example, but it does mean that they have principles and will stand by them, come hell or high water.
Fantastic_Mr_Fox 01-06-08, 09:40 PM	This is exactly the kind of input I need :) The situation is that I am currently DM'ing for the group and once the campaign I'm running is over one of the other's will be running a campaign, so I will be rolling this char at lvl7 or 8. I want the character to initially be kind of a loner. He is not in contact with other paladins much, if he is part of an order then they are not one that establishes large schools or chapter houses. He wanders, always helping out where he sees people in need as he searches for his wifes killer. As a paladin he will help anyone he sees, stopping his journey for days or weeks to solve a problem in a particular village or town but he no longer forms strong friendships or bonds. I would like for his interaction with the party to "stabilize' him. The way I look at him at the moment becoming a paladin is the only thing holding him together. In caring for others he has a cause and something to hold onto and center his life around, it gives him direction. However continuing as he is he will probably fall from grace eventually, I am hoping for him to form a strong bond with one of the party members. To clarify what I mean by chaotic: He defiantly holds fast to a strong set of beliefs and is completely focused on his life as a paladin, upholding justice, helping the weak and his own quest. Its just that he falls more on the Good side of LG. He will respect and follow the local laws of the land yes but if letting a minor infraction pass, bluffing, threatening or even lying will help him root out the greater evil, he will do it. He just wont harm an innocent in the process or seriously undermine the rule of law. He is emotionally on edge though, and his behavior may sometimes seem chaotic to others. If he sees the weak being oppressed he will gladly dive right into the midst of superior foes and fight them tooth and nail, when injured he will pick himself up off the ground, bloodied and battered and laugh in his enemy's face. When he fights he puts his all into it, if the only way to defeat evil is tear it apart with his bare hands, he will do it. He likes his enemy to think he is nuts, to unnerve them. You see to me it is the unwavering devotion to selfless acts and kindness that makes a paladin. Not his manners or how shiny his armor is or how man princesses he saves. One need not be prince charming to be a paladin. The fact that this character wrestles day after day, night after night with his own personal "daemons" as well as external evil, that he resists the selfish urge to wallow in self pity, that he fights and continues to fight for good, that makes him a paladin.
The_Shaman 01-07-08, 07:42 AM	Well, most of these will not be a problem. The lying part can be, but as long as you conduct yourself in a generally honorable manner and manage to keep exceptions, well, exceptions and not the norm, I think you can get a pass for LG alignment. To paraphrase the Bureaucratic Deva from OotS, the key is that you try to be honorable and good. However, I think it is important that your character spends some time in the system before going back to his solo work. There may be classes which one can learn for oneself, but paladins imo need some serious tutelage to better know whom they're serving and what their role is.
Fantastic_Mr_Fox 01-07-08, 11:18 AM	I could modify the concept to include a year or two of "on the road" training from the Paladin who saves him. Any ideas for the crime syndicate?
The_Shaman 01-07-08, 11:53 AM	Knock yourself out. It might be something as minor as a town thieves' guild or as big as the Iron Throne, Zhentarim Network, or the Shadow Thieves.
Dakr 01-07-08, 08:23 PM	I second the multiclass idea. A paladin with a good number of skills is quite odd and interesting. Since this is not the CO Boards, I won't delve much into the subject, but I believe you'd be fine with an able learner rogue/paladin/crusader build - that's because crusader has a good paladin feel to it and it grants you a couple more skill points per level.
Fantastic_Mr_Fox 01-07-08, 08:34 PM	I like the look of the urban ranger, I might take a few levels in it. It would make sense as the characters class from before the events I describe the background. As you say though this is the CD board so its not really the place for build discussions, I may start another thread on the appropriate board.
I_roll_ones 01-08-08, 07:38 PM	Alternatively, the character could have been faithful to a particular faith that has lots of enemies. Tyr and Torm probably do not the safest religions to be in. If he was married in a church of Goodliness and Smooshing bad guys, then it makes an obvious target to send a message to the rest of the congregation. Lathander is also an option, through I don't think he has paladins. Also, for region, Cormyr makes sense to me, high amount of paladins there. The Zhent are not too active as far as I can recall, and probably strongly repelled, but they would love to get their hands on something in there. If I am not mistaken, Cormyr has some trouble with orcs and the Zhent might be using orc slaves to attack villages. Also, the Dalelands would suit a loner character. They tend not to trust outsiders. There, the drow are active in some parts, and in Scardale, Sembia, Zhent and the Thayvans are vying for power as Scardale tries to regain autonomy. The Thayvans wouldn't be doing diddly as it would interrupt sales, but it's a base for Zhent to operate and strike from. However, skirting the line between chaotic and lawful is not what a paladin does. A paladin does what is honorable, because what is honorable is morally upright. A paladin wouldn't want However, there is the Grey Guard class for paladins with a bit of chaoticness to them. Consider picking that up, I'm not familiar with it but I think you get some nifty new abilities, and it solves the alignment problem readily. If you take grey guard, one possiblity is that the guy was always a paladin-in-training, but asked to be permitted to hunt down bad guys rather then go on guard duty, or asked to finish training earlier. Or...Consider the Paladin of Freedom variant.
Fantastic_Mr_Fox 01-09-08, 01:44 AM	Do you know whats books Grey Guard and Paladin of Freedom are in?
I_roll_ones 01-09-08, 11:46 PM	Paladin of Freedom is Unearthed Arcana. Grey Guard is Complete Scoundrel.