Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Fox Lupine 04-05-07, 01:39 PM	Okay, I'm currently playing in a homebrew campaign as Lord Elan Bariar of the church of Pelor. (level 3 aasamir paladin) and despite the low level, its my first character to go out so early. Now, normally your high level rogue or spellcaster can make a nice comment, or throw out a nice ability at the last minute to be rembered by, but this guys a PALADIN. Plus the low level means very little to work with in terms of 'little tricks' The situation is thus.... After an exhausting dungeon crawl in a cave near a small docktown, we discovered the entrance to a base made up of Pirates from a wrecked ship on the coast. We're after a murderer (a rogue PC from the group) whom we discovered was pure, undiluted evil. Elan feels the need to bring him to Justice for the murder and dismemberment of a shopkeeper, and the group feel betrayed by him, hence the hunt (NOTE- we have all rped for a long time, and I do not wish for this to turn into a jackass player/evil player in good group/paladin debate thread. Whatever happens, we can deal with it) Anyway, in the dungeon itself we fought a minotaur....my paladin (admittedly LS at the stage) attempted to quiz the beast on our old comrades location. Convince the giant hulking mass os strength to back down. In doing so, walked into a trap and almost died. After the encounter, as it transpired, when i regained conciousness, my freind was dead. Literally decapitated. The minotaur escaped, but the party stuck around so I didn't die as well We caught up with him. We're in a room where 12 gnomes are seated on a table up some wooden stairs, far side of the room (mostly inconsequental atm) On my side is me, conditon = used up all abilities for the day, on about 10hp Fighter= Greatsword weilding dwarf. He's on low health as well Ranger= Archer. hasn;t yet taken a single hit, due to his tendancy to stay the hell back and rain death on enemies. So we're all fairly weak and/or vulnerable. The people standing, staring us down in this room.... The Minotaur, grinning wickidly A man we know NOTHING about we assume to be the pirate leader (so possibble fighting type, rogueish type, or caster. all bad for us) And our old freind the rogue, with another Rogue (a PC who left to find him, and bring him back) All enemies with weapons at the ready If it comes down to battle (am fairly sure it will) we lose. Thats no problem, the problem is this is my first paladin, and by far one of my fave characters to roleplay. Any paladin players out there can share their favorite deaths? Tips on bits and peices of adventuring thread to weave into a magnificant end to career in Pelors service? Thanks ^^
stackmachine 04-05-07, 02:08 PM	Okay, I'm currently playing in a homebrew campaign as Lord Elan Bariar of the church of Pelor. (level 3 aasamir paladin) and despite the low level, its my first character to go out so early. Now, normally your high level rogue or spellcaster can make a nice comment, or throw out a nice ability at the last minute to be rembered by, but this guys a PALADIN. Plus the low level means very little to work with in terms of 'little tricks' The situation is thus.... After an exhausting dungeon crawl in a cave near a small docktown, we discovered the entrance to a base made up of Pirates from a wrecked ship on the coast. We're after a murderer (a rogue PC from the group) whom we discovered was pure, undiluted evil. Elan feels the need to bring him to Justice for the murder and dismemberment of a shopkeeper, and the group feel betrayed by him, hence the hunt (NOTE- we have all rped for a long time, and I do not wish for this to turn into a jackass player/evil player in good group/paladin debate thread. Whatever happens, we can deal with it) Anyway, in the dungeon itself we fought a minotaur....my paladin (admittedly LS at the stage) attempted to quiz the beast on our old comrades location. Convince the giant hulking mass os strength to back down. In doing so, walked into a trap and almost died. After the encounter, as it transpired, when i regained conciousness, my freind was dead. Literally decapitated. The minotaur escaped, but the party stuck around so I didn't die as well We caught up with him. We're in a room where 12 gnomes are seated on a table up some wooden stairs, far side of the room (mostly inconsequental atm) On my side is me, conditon = used up all abilities for the day, on about 10hp Fighter= Greatsword weilding dwarf. He's on low health as well Ranger= Archer. hasn;t yet taken a single hit, due to his tendancy to stay the hell back and rain death on enemies. So we're all fairly weak and/or vulnerable. The people standing, staring us down in this room.... The Minotaur, grinning wickidly A man we know NOTHING about we assume to be the pirate leader (so possibble fighting type, rogueish type, or caster. all bad for us) And our old freind the rogue, with another Rogue (a PC who left to find him, and bring him back) All enemies with weapons at the ready If it comes down to battle (am fairly sure it will) we lose. Thats no problem, the problem is this is my first paladin, and by far one of my fave characters to roleplay. Any paladin players out there can share their favorite deaths? Tips on bits and peices of adventuring thread to weave into a magnificant end to career in Pelors service? Thanks ^^ well, here is my thoughts on this one: bad timing. being that low on power, you should have taken no further step. being experienced or not, you should have known death is ahead in your condition. concerning your initial question: praise your lord loudly to have the opportunity to do some justice in this world, even if it should be for the last time. (get a detailed tactical description on everything, everything counts. your DM will know what in store, he should at least be willing to give you an edge.) but don't dart in head long. your are lawful-good, not lawful-stupid and an instant death after your charge isn't that heroic. retreat into confined areas, don't enter that room. use every longrangable edge possible (got alchemists fire/ smokesticks/etc.?), use elevated position from atop a table. use cover and concealment, flank, maybe aid another, if possible. show that fat grinning butt-ugly mino that you are a soldier of your faith after all! more flavor to-go:yell on every round you keep standing the name of your god! attempt a disbelieve at the futility of your situation :). taunt your attackers as unworthy skum soon to visit the netherworld (intimidate, you got CHA, right?!)
Tyraxus 04-05-07, 02:27 PM	I think my favourite Paladin-esque death was from the WH40k game Deathwing. The Space Marines were fighting their way out of a Genestealer-infested city, when a 'Stealer cut through the floor and dragged him down into a nest of four or five of them. The Marine, screaming curses at the 'Stealers and praises to the Emperour, killed all save one before tearing the last one's head off as it thrust its claw through his body. Something like that, where you go out in a blaze of glory while nearly overcoming nigh-impossible odds, all the while praising Pelor and cursing the traitor at the top of your lungs, seems appropriate. Bonus points for sheer manliness if you actually tear the mino's head off as it kills you.
LeuktheSavior 04-05-07, 02:46 PM	id try to retreat and fight again another day.flight is not a coward's option.
Magnus029 04-05-07, 03:00 PM	id try to retreat and fight again another day.flight is not a coward's option. Is that in a Paladins vocabulary? I like the gung ho tactic myself, its what my Paladin would do, I have done the same thing with my Paladin's in the past, actually even survived it once :) .
TheChilliGod 04-05-07, 04:12 PM	Pretty much the only paladin I've seen die... Just died. And he was just about your paladin's level as well. Greataxes to the chest tend to not be very contribute to the speech process, after all. And that was the player's first ever PC, as well, so you can bet your money on that he liked that character. You don't really need to go out with all that much of a bang, IMO. I suppose some sort of critical-hits-while-smiting-evil would be appropriate, but you can't magic crits out of nowhere. Singing praises to your deity wouldn't go amiss. Think of a nice war chant to sing as you go knowingly into your 'last battle,' if that's what it turns out to become.
_Jayne_Cobb_ 04-05-07, 04:18 PM	Perosnally, I'd either play it out or run. it was folly to chase the minotaur down when you were so damaged, do not compound that folly by throwing your lives away needlessly. If you don't want to run then play it real smart and hope for good die rolls. Have the paly and fighter go full-defensive, protect the full-health ranger and let him reign hellfire down on your enemy. If you insist on fighting and are conviced there is no way to win then I'd go the Butch and Sundance route with it. Tell the DM you all charge, have the scene "fade to black".
Praedoran 04-05-07, 04:51 PM	If I were in your position (assuming no other resources): Round 1: Kick over a table for use as Full Cover. Minotaur's can't be caught flat footed, so the surprise attack is not as useful as it should be. Assuming a good table has the same stats as a Tower Shield, it'll protect you from his Powerful Charge. Dwarf and Archer Focus on Rogue. With luck, they may bring him down in one round. Round 2: Okay, he's smashed into your table (Hardness 5, 20 HP) and it's probably barely together. Move forward with it, this would prompt him to lay into you with an attack of opportunity. Once it's smashed to bits, you move onto his other side. Now, it's a long shot, but grapple with it. You can get the touch, but it's probably got a +6 advantage over you. Dwarf's Turn: He sees his chance. You've used up it's AoO and given the dwarf bonuses to attack (Flank, Grapple) which he turns into a full charge power attack. Hits for 2D6+14 or so damage. Archer's Turn: Keep raining death on last Minotaur. It's large enough he shouldn't suffer from any problems, assuming Precise Shot. Round 3: Minotaur probably tries to grapple damage you to death. If he tries to Gore you, he's only got a +5 attack bonus against your AC, decent odds of survival. His grapple though, is at +14 to your +9 I suppose. Expect 1D4+6 Subdual, again, survivable with your HP. Archer and Dwarf: Brings on more hurt. Round 4: Prepare your awesome last words now, because this is as far as you will probably get (with luck too!). I would recommend, "For just a moment I wished to shine as brightly as the Sun, but as a mortal, this only burns out our candles quicker." And go for the grapple. You probably won't Pin, him, but it would make an awesome finish before that Rogue puts a dagger through your heart. Imagine though, holding the beast down, arms pulling his horns up so that your Fighter has a chance to power attack the beasts exposed neck.
_SIN_ 04-05-07, 09:26 PM	I'd go with the above posters plan.
StrangeGuy 04-05-07, 11:11 PM	My WoW addict instinct is to say yell out your name as loud as you can and charge.... (go leroy!).... however, the uber nerd in me says pull an Obi-Wan... tell your friends to run, and try to hold off the Minotaur and the baddies, but pull out all the stops use any tricks you can, kick chairs and tables at them... dust in the eyes... hurl gnomes if you have to.... but when one of them is about to kill you, just smile knowingly (their assumption will be that you're chillaxing with your god and are happy with that).... but that's my opinion.
Fatalis_902 04-05-07, 11:42 PM	.... however, the uber nerd in me says pull an Obi-Wan... tell your friends to run, and try to hold off the Minotaur and the baddies, but pull out all the stops use any tricks you can, kick chairs and tables at them... dust in the eyes... hurl gnomes if you have to.... but when one of them is about to kill you, just smile knowingly (their assumption will be that you're chillaxing with your god and are happy with that).... but that's my opinion. Every nerdy fiber of my being agrees with this plan. It is very much made of win. Or death, depending on how you look at it.
Saberus 04-06-07, 01:36 AM	Strap 30+ alchemist's fires to your chest, run into the room screaming the name of your god, and pull the cork! /although this "Blaze of glory" would work better w/ my homebrew fireballs (3d6 fire (DC20 for half), 15 ft Diameter, craft(alchemy) DC 25, cost to create 150)