Paladin's Code, Help

[DMBlackhart]

So, to make a long story short, I have a fierce case of writers (world-builders) block. This has put the work I am trying to devote to my ever-evolving campaign world (3.5 D&D) to a stand-still. Anyways, I need some advice from the playground.

The topic today, A Paladin's code of conduct. The campaign world I am designing has the neat little hook of allowing paladins to devote themselves to nearly any god (not counting lesser deities.) The problem I am having is figuring out logical and/or flavorful codes for the following deitie's paladins.

Wee-Jas (That's an obvious one, evil is always difficult)
Obad-Hai (Keep note that Obad-Hai is personified as the "father" of all elemental nature, such as storms, droughts, etc.)

Hmm, cool the list got shorter. Anyways any and all advice is appreciated. I am mostly looking for logical "Dos and Donts" of being a paladin for the god as well as any secondary interesting rules.

[Golden-Esque]

I'd say that you shouldn't allow Paladins to revere any god or goddess; like Clerics, they should be restricted to Gods within one step of their alignment. If you're playing a stricter, traditional game of D&D, this means that Paladins would be Lawful Good, and therefore restricted to Good Deities, Lawful Deities. Going off of Unearthed Arcana, a Paladin of Slaughter would be Chaotic Evil, a Paladin of Tyranny would be Lawful Evil, and a Paladin of Freedom would be Chaotic Good, and the deities they could pick from would shift accordingly.

I don't think you can justify a Paladin of Honor (Lawful Good) worshiping a Neutral-Evil deity like Wee Jas without removing alignment restrictions all together.

[DMBlackhart]

I'd say that you shouldn't allow Paladins to revere any god or goddess; like Clerics, they should be restricted to Gods within one step of their alignment. If you're playing a stricter, traditional game of D&D, this means that Paladins would be Lawful Good, and therefore restricted to Good Deities, Lawful Deities. Going off of Unearthed Arcana, a Paladin of Slaughter would be Chaotic Evil, a Paladin of Tyranny would be Lawful Evil, and a Paladin of Freedom would be Chaotic Good, and the deities they could pick from would shift accordingly.

I don't think you can justify a Paladin of Honor (Lawful Good) worshiping a Neutral-Evil deity like Wee Jas without removing alignment restrictions all together.

I believe you miss-interpreted my meaning, which is understandable. No, paladins of any alignment cannot worship any deity. You must still remain within so many steps of the deity's alignment.

However, it is entirely possible to play a paladin devoted to ANY deity. (I have been working on a paladin re-design for this exact purpose).

But yeah alignment restriction will be an obvious element in the deity's code of conduct.

[boomwolf]

Oban-Hai paladins should be protectors of the wild, some sort of militaristic druic style.

Wee-Jas paladins are zealots of knowledge, they seek libraries and such to study, even if it requires to kill the current owner first, and perhaps then to allow all to see. they should also be into leaving a mark, recording all they learn for future generations to see and learn.

[Soren Hero]

Oban-Hai paladins should be protectors of the wild, some sort of militaristic druic style.

Wee-Jas paladins are zealots of knowledge, they seek libraries and such to study, even if it requires to kill the current owner first, and perhaps then to allow all to see. they should also be into leaving a mark, recording all they learn for future generations to see and learn.

the wee-jas paladins of knowledge sound like the an evil version of the brotherhood of steel from the fallout universe...

i think this idea of paladins devoted to any god is a great idea mostly because of the flavor...im very interested to see the paladin class you are working on

[boomwolf]

Actually its almost possible with the normal paladins, as long you allow them to be one step away from their god (as clerics) you can have paladins of any non-TN god using the standard paladin and the UA variants.


Also, totally agree on the evil brotherhood of steel thing.

[DMBlackhart]

Things I find interesting about this thread...

1. That the brotherhood of steel managed to get mentioned

I am definately using that suggestion thanks. Unfortunately the Obad-hai suggestion doesent work. Ehlonna is already a "protector" of nature. Obad-Hai is the more elemental / quasi-physical aspect. Thunder, Fire, Storms, etc.

And as soon as I make some real progress I will be sure to submit my paladin varient on gitp for those who would like to see it.

[Pyrite]

Paladin of Wee Jas could be about keeping people from burning all those wonderful books of the darkest arts that are bound in human flesh and all, and punishing the people who do. Preserve all knowledge, books are more important than people, etc.

The Obad-hai one is a bit more difficult... Maybe keeping people from messing with weather patterns to make their farmland have nice weather all the time, killing mages who use spells to protect ships that should be making offerings to Obad-hai for the privaledge of a storm-free day, etc.


Other than that, I'm not sure what Obad-hai would care about.

[RedSun]

When I think "Paladin," I think people who are very principled (by their standards) and are willing to fight for it.

A "Knight of the Elements" is hard to do because it's not very descriptive. Or exciting. It's like Aquaman. He's the champion of the marine ecology. *yawwwwn*

[DMBlackhart]

When I think "Paladin," I think people who are very principled (by their standards) and are willing to fight for it.

A "Knight of the Elements" is hard to do probably because it's not something Obad-hai is into. It sounds boring to boot. So I'd be in favor of scrapping the idea altogether.

Unfortunately this may just be what I go with. I suppose not EVERY deity needs to be followed by a paladin. Leaving one or two on the side isn't so bad.

Anyways thanks for all the help guys! happy gaming!

[Zeta Kai]

The gods presented here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=177086) each have their own unique paladin codes. So far, the only major complaint is that people don't like to be restricted from associating with characters of opposing alignment. You may wanna avoid that pitfall & ditch that clause, even though most people don't complain about the standard pally restriction on associating with evil characters. I guess that it's because there are so many other things to complain about with the paladin.

As for which gods do & do not support paladins, I have a simple formula, based on the deity's alignment:

{table]LG (honor only)|NG (honor/freedom)|CG (freedom only)
LN (honor/tyranny)|TN (NONE)|CN (freedom/slaughter)
LE (tyranny only)|NE (tyranny/slaughter)|CE (slaughter only)[/table]

For those not familiar with the alternative-alignment paladins (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#paladinVariantsFreedom SlaughterAndTyranny), Honor is the standard LG pally, Freedom is the CG pally, Tyranny is the LE pally, & Slaughter is the CE pally. For once, True Neutral gets hosed, & has no paladin support, which is good, because TN has too many advantages already.

[Lord_Gareth]

It should also be noted that RAW paladins need not serve a god, though this is often changed from setting to setting.

Small nitpick - Wee Jas is LN, not NE.

[RedSun]

Personally, I never liked the one-size-fits-all solution for paladins of different alignments. Nor do I like the idea of an alignment restriction, mostly because alignments are patently useless.

I see the former problem as an outgrowth of the latter. If alignments are never an issue, nobody would come up with the contrivance of a paladin of different but interchangeable non-flavors.

So the Paladin of Freedom and Tyranny stuff just annoys me. You want to play a "Chaotic Good" paladin? Nope, you are barred on the basis of an arbitrary label.

A problem which would have been easily avoided if the PhB simply suggested that the DM/player come up with a code of ethics that the Paladin upholds.

[DMBlackhart]

Personally, I never liked the one-size-fits-all

A problem which would have been easily avoided if the PhB simply suggested that the DM/player come up with a code of ethics that the Paladin upholds.

Best suggestion in this thread. I am implementing this, thankyou.

[Zeta Kai]

Best suggestion in this thread. I am implementing this, thankyou.

So, are you saying that you won't be pursuing the creation of a standard code for each god? Doesn't that invalidate the concept of a code? After all, if the code is different for each individual, then it's not really codified is it?

[Mulletmanalive]

Oban-Hai paladins should be protectors of the wild, some sort of militaristic druic style.

Not really seeing this mostly because that's not really what Obad-Hai does...In the actual writeups of the gods, Elhona is the guardian of nature and the representitive of it's succor while Obad-Hai is sort of the personification of nature in all of its fabulousness and capriciousness.

He has no real reason to protect "nature" as the weather and seas will continue even if towns conquer the land from forests. The ecosystem changes but doesn't vanish as rats move in, fungus takes hold and tiny trees grow in the thatch...change is part of the natural order, after all; just look at wildfires.

He could be quite well represented by allowing a paladin to opt to switch between Paladin of Freedom and Paladin of Slaughter once per season or so