Post/Author/DateTime	Post
HammerHeart81 09-23-04, 11:32 PM	Paladins are usualy at the forefront in the battle of against evil and while there are popular images of smitting the red dragon or pit feind but what about the less that galmours side? When fighting evil, one has a first hand witness of how evil people can be. Such expirence can be hard, even on the most hardest of mettle. So here's sort of a concept I can best come up with for a level one character. Cyan was the son of a retired adventurer with a sense of justice and compassion for the weak. Such traits led to his call as a Paladin. His father noticing the call set young Cyan up as a squire for one of his Paladin freinds from his adventuring days. Young Cyan showed great promise as a swordsman and showed great knowledge in religious books. His kind nature showed true with his assistance to those less fourtanite. Despite his achievements, many question his innocence could be a problem. However, all notions are set aside when a vicious orc raid came down upon a nearbye village. Cyan set out with his master and other Paladins to the nearbye village. Weeks went bye in the hometown of Cyan, the people grew rather nervous on the fate of their heroes. One day, riders came over the hillock. As they came closer, it turned out to be Paladins that set out but fewer in number and their armour battered and torn. Notably, Cyan rode in with a hung head. Reports from the knights was that even though they drove the horde off, they were too late to prevent several atrocities that have been performed. In addition, they suffered heavly losses. Cyan manage to proved himself to be a full fledged Paladin and was knighted. While Cyan was joyed to have proven himself to his God,his ordeal had placed several demons in him. There have been cases where the well controled Cyan would suddenly awake at night screaming and breaking in tears. There have been cases where the social Paladin became withdrawn, often in prayer.
dorkknight23 09-24-04, 12:41 AM	A cool idea, albeit a particularly angsty one. The thing to remember is that despite being forelorn and at times moody, your paladin should still be a paragon of law and good, and perhaps even cling to those beliefs with greater strength than before, if only because they're being shaken at their very foundations. He probably sees the battle he's fighting as endless and at times hopeless, but he should perservere for no other reason than that he has to. A good example for reference is Captain America from the Earth X graphic novel (written by Jim Kreuger and illustrated by Alex Ross.) In the Earth X universe, Captain America is a much grimmer and moodier figure (as opposed to his sunny regular continuity personality,) feeling that "the war is over and [he] lost." Just an idea. Have fun playing this character, I really like the idea.
aleshandre 09-24-04, 05:53 PM	That does sound good. I picture a man who fought for his god and clings to the ideals because that is all that he has left. Despite the loss of his innocence, he still fights. Perhaps because of the loss of his innocence. As dorkknight said, the war is over and he lost - good triumphed, but he lost his innocence and the only consolation that he has is the fact that he remained vigilant.
HammerHeart81 09-27-04, 01:54 AM	thanks for the compliments. The idea came from when I was playing a Paladin with a DM how had us encounter some vile villians. It had me thinking, even if the Paladin put the big smite on the bad guy, he couldn't just walk away looking for the next bad guy to smite. Not to mention Paladins are people too.