Would a Vengeance Paladin be obligated to do something very evil, if it meant destroying someone evil?
Like, for example, let's say there's a sworn enemy in an orphanage full of kids, and there are explosives or something rigged around the building. Would the Oath of Vengeance require a paladin to detonate the explosives? This is my main reservation about the Oath of Vengeance; if I'm not obligated to murder the innocent in order to destroy evil, I think I could probably get behind a Vengeance pally.
Paladins don't have to fit any paticular motive or method.
I imagine some would, and some would not. You can play it however you like.
Yzarro wrote:
The fluff text in the book is a guideline, nothing more. I do see a vengeance paladin as someone that is willing to do things that are in a morally gray area if end result is the greater good.
However as a DM I wouldn't force a player to do things they (or their character) would not be comfortable with. It is something you should discuss with your DM ahead of time if you haveany questions because they're the one that matters.
Also, I also just have to say ... Baron Kittensquisher. 
your QUALMS do not get in your way.
Not wanting to kill orphan kid I would rule this as being a LOT MORE then just a qualms.
a qualm is a small thing:
your religion forbid you from working on saturday, but your sworn ennemy is right there, well screw your qualms and you'll go do your duty and kill the target even if it's saturday.
you are scared of spider and your target is hiding in a spider infested cave, well screw your qualm and go foward (you might want to get a torch first and burn the webs)
your girlfriend giving you an ultimatum: you come with me right now or we break up, you will still leave her to go kill your target.
Killing innocent children... that is not a qualm, that is a big deal, this is huge, this is bigger then just you, so no you are not force to go in the building killing the entire children, but you will patrol around the building and as soon that your target get outside (or once the gnome tell you the he disarm the bombs) then you go in and make him pay.
Thank you for your answers, everyone! They were very helpful, and I hadn't had much luck just looking it up. I think I can definitely do a Vengeance paladin. I might roll one for my next character, now that my ranger is dead.
I think it is also an issue of your character's bonds, traits, and flaws and the alignment you chose for your character. If your PC is a CE vengeance paladin with "I don't allow myself to get distracted from my mission" as a trait or flaw, then I would wonder why your PC didn't just blow up the orphanage. If your PC is a LG vengeance paladin with "it is important to me that my enemy is brought to a public trial in MiddleofNowhere", then you would probably not blow up the orphanage, and you probably wouldn't try to kill your enemy (and think of the fun of the only way to get back to MiddleofNowhere is to help the party complete a quest while dragging Baron Kittensquisher along with you).
Yzarro wrote:
Whatever the decision, the self-doubt and questioning and internal conflict aferwards are an excellent opportunity for roleplaying.
Yzarro wrote:
An Oath of Vengance does not require you to become the supercomputer behind the Terminator series, spectacularly destroying everything / everybody in your path.
The Oath might require you to acquire an Oathbow (the one that gives you lots of extra damage against HIM but not THEM) if you know one is available, before assaulting the villian's elaborately-trapped and hostage-filled hideout.
Vengeance paladin seems at first glance to be a way for a paladin to be as evil as he likes, without any consequences. This seems like getting all of the good paladin stuff without any of the paladin drawbacks.
But when you look again, you see that it's just a different set of drawbacks, ones we are not used to. Those drawbacks, those oaths, are every bit as important to this type of paladin as the traditional paladin's tenets are to the traditional paladin.
So it is certainly possible to play a vengeance paladin 'wrong'. Take Judge Death, for example. In the Judge Dredd srories from the British comic 2000AD, the Judges of Mega-City One were the judge/jury/executioner. They are usually portrayed as the good guys, but could be a bit fascist-ey if you weren't careful. Then they discovered a parallel world where the Judges had decided that since laws were broken by people, all they had to do to ensure that no law was ever broken again was to kill every single person. Problem solved!
A vengeance paladin still want to make the world a better place for 'good' people, and sacrifices her own happiness in order to do so.
Incidentally, am I the only one who wants to see the stats for Baron Kittensquisher?
Yzarro wrote:
Orethalion wrote:
Yzarro wrote:
Yzarro wrote:
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ArialBlack wrote:
DaomSlayer wrote:
DaomSlayer wrote:
Breefolk wrote:
I don't know if this will contribute much, but my inspiration for my NG Vengence Pally was Jack Bauer from "24".
Everything he did was for his president, his country, his comrades, and the innocent.
He had zero tolerance for evil-dooers or anything that threatened the way of life or the people he had taken an oath to protect.
Was he, overall, a good person? I think so.
Did he let his own feelings interfer on occasion? yes, and always seemed to tear him up and forced him to re-evaluate things.
Would he likely have done things just the same if given that chance for a do-over?
Probably.
Those who choose the path of the Vengence Paladin are not ones to be envied.