Post/Author/DateTime	Post
FiestFan 05-07-06, 08:26 AM	I know, it sounds a little Order Of the Stick (http://www.giantitp.com), bear with me. My players are (likely) soon to encounter a Dwarven Paladin/Sorcerer who is working with and for the BBEG - who hides his alignment much more efficiently than with a lead sheet :P. I'm trying to come up with a reasonable justification to allow this Paladin/ Sorcerer to harry the PCs for longer than 'SMITE EVIL.... um, wait a second'. My players are LN, NG, CN, and CG, respectively, and even the CN tends toward CG in most respects.
Need_A_Life 05-07-06, 12:03 PM	'Holier than thou' No one is perfect, he/she has a problem with that... Eventually the party will either get a migraine(sp?) or a dead paladin on their hands.
JulesCARV 05-07-06, 06:21 PM	That's one possibility: I might take the opposite approach -- make him a realistic, hard-nosed type. He knows that he can't smite everyone who shows up on his EvilVision. He knows that sometimes he'll have to stop people who don't show up on his EvilVision -- the peasant who has been taking bricks out of the ancient abandoned temple which seals in demonic forces and using them to build her house isn't always evil, but surely needs to be stopped. He's lawful good, but very "realistic" about it: a gritty, noir paladin, who, instead of being lead astray by excessive fanaticism and dedication to ideals, is lead astray by a bit too much acceptance of the fact that he can't destroy all evil in the world, a bit too much of a belief in compromise for the sake of peace and that sort of thing. When he talks to the PCs, make him very reasonable ("Look, I don't agree with everything the BBEG has done either, but that hardly gives you the right to break into his property or murder his servants. I know you're not bad people, so please just leave and none of us need see each other again."), but at the same time, determined to defend his boss, with force of arms if necessary.
FiestFan 05-07-06, 09:12 PM	Need_A_Life: I'd have trouble justifying that over the long haul with the way my players disect info, I think. Nice idea, though JulesCARV: I like the gritty Paladin concept. I'd flesh out this idea with the following pieces of information that I understand about this Paladin: - Even as a multiclass Paladin, he hasn't lost his Paladin status. - He attacks with a Blunt Reach weapon, and uses Subdual unless his Evil Radar goes off. - Because his master hides his Alignment, and has many thralls to perform his Evil deeds for him, the Paladin has never seen him commit an Evil act. He ends up hearing his master say things like "_____, go take care of that problem we were discussing earlier." - He is a tenacious combatant who, once his opponent has struck a blow for Lethal damage, will not stop until he or his opponent is unconscious. Because he subdues, he does not offer surrender except as a last option against 'redeemable' evil types before killing them.
Orchomenos 05-08-06, 10:36 AM	Perhaps your paladin's familly was at the service of the same noble familly for a long time, and everything always went well. Except that the new leader of this familly is evil. Now, the paladin is divided between his oath to protect the BBEG's familly and stopping him...