Book of Exalted Deeds Paladin Stuff

[Cornelius Grim]

So I just made a paladin for a campaign my Dad, brother, his friend, and I are playing. I was looking at stuff in the Book of Exalted Deeds, and decided to make this an Exalted Paladin. On the first session, I had a goblin who surrendered, and as the Book said, I took him prisoner. I took his weapon, had my monk buddy tie him up, and healed him. Two of the party members were trying to use him as a slave (by forcing him to carry all of their stuff), and the other wanted to break his legs (so he couldn't escape). They're neutral, both of them, and eventually, after the goblin escaped from the ropes and was running, and I almost had caught up to him and grappled him, one of them, a wilder, killed him. I wasn't allowed to do anything strict about it, since, according to them, I'd lose my paladin powers for anything rash, but I've kept a wary eye on them. So, the first question. Is this close to the right way to play an Exalted character? I'm doing my best to stay good, and this is my first paladin ever. Second good character out of dozens.

My second question involves the Saint template that can be acquired, as detailed in Chapter 2 of the Book of Exalted Deeds. Does anyone have advice on said template? My DM and I decided to nerf the immunity(ies) down to resistance 10, at least until higher level. We decided to keep the Lesser Globe of Invulnerability for a little bit, until we see what it does. So, basically, what are your views on the Saint template?

Third question, and I apologize for the long post, and never-ending stream of questions. What exalted feats does everyone seem to like? This is for a paladin in a group consisting of a wilder, a rogue, a monk, and said paladin. I am acting as the tank; the damage soaker. I am taking an alternate class feature to get a Drakkensteed as my mount, and so I was planning on taking Celestial Mount. The list of choices I have narrowed down to are as follows: Celestial Mount, Gift of Grace, Hands of a Healer, Knight of Stars (for fluff reasons), Nimbus Light (as well as Holy Radiance), Ranged Smite Evil, and Touch of Golden Ice (or possibly some homebrew version of this feat using different ravages). I know that's a long list, but if someone could help me sort this out, so I know how to best optimize my character, that'd be great.

Thank you guys so much for your help. Sorry for such a long post, and I hope you guys can help me. If any more details are required, simply ask. :smallredface:

[Namfuak]

I've never really looked too much into BoED feats since I don't tend to play exalted characters, so I can't answer 3.

1. If you had killed a fleeing captive, that might be cause for your God to warn you about doing something bad, but since it sounds like you had every intention of trying to keep him alive until he could be given a fair trial, I don't think that you are obligated to do any more than give the captive a good burial and maybe say a few hail marys. You could take a finger from him and keep it so you can try to resurrect him later, but that's up to you. And exalted good doesn't mean exalted stupid - you realize the people you are traveling with are not going to hold your standards, so long as they aren't doing evil you should be OK keeping with them.

2. Considering that you are a paladin focusing on exalted feats, I'd say that you would be hard pressed to become overpowered just from that template. The template itself is relatively strong for a +2 LA (assuming you are actually a paladin, which it is obviously intended for. It's not worth 2 cleric/druid caster levels though), with the obvious inherent drawback of reducing your BAB by 2 and your HD by 2, which most of its abilities are cued off of. I might be inclined to withhold the immunities until ECL 10 if I were your DM, but that's about it.

[Cornelius Grim]

I've never really looked too much into BoED feats since I don't tend to play exalted characters, so I can't answer 3.

1. If you had killed a fleeing captive, that might be cause for your God to warn you about doing something bad, but since it sounds like you had every intention of trying to keep him alive until he could be given a fair trial, I don't think that you are obligated to do any more than give the captive a good burial and maybe say a few hail marys. You could take a finger from him and keep it so you can try to resurrect him later, but that's up to you. And exalted good doesn't mean exalted stupid - you realize the people you are traveling with are not going to hold your standards, so long as they aren't doing evil you should be OK keeping with them.

2. Considering that you are a paladin focusing on exalted feats, I'd say that you would be hard pressed to become overpowered just from that template. The template itself is relatively strong for a +2 LA (assuming you are actually a paladin, which it is obviously intended for. It's not worth 2 cleric/druid caster levels though), with the obvious inherent drawback of reducing your BAB by 2 and your HD by 2, which most of its abilities are cued off of. I might be inclined to withhold the immunities until ECL 10 if I were your DM, but that's about it.

Thanks for responding! I gave the goblin a silver piece for his soul's departure on the Styx, and made amends. That's not a bad idea though. I think I'll cut off his finger for Resurrection. And I understand I'm not Exalted Stupid; as I said, this is my first solidly good character, so I'm still learning I suppose. I don't plan on actually having to take a stand against my party members, and I don't expect them to be as exalted as I am; they aren't obligated to.

My DM and I both agreed the Immunities were a bit too overpowered, so we just make them Resistance 10. I don't plan on taking a ton of Exalted Feats. Just the ones I have to take to become a Saint (any three I want) and any more I deem necessary. I'm not running solely off of them. The only thing my DM wasn't able to make a final decision on was the Lesser Globe of Invulnerability; he wants to at least test it to see how overpowered it is.

Thanks for the response.

[ngilop]

I am not sure if you are too young to get what I am about to say or not

but when you hit apoint and you are wondering what action you should take think "what would Optimus Prime do?"

I'm talking about G1 Transformers and teh 80s-90s comics not the micheal bay version.

[Flickerdart]

Being Exalted is a measure of intent, not success. You ought to, however, give your party members a stern talking to.

[Cornelius Grim]

Being Exalted is a measure of intent, not success. You ought to, however, give your party members a stern talking to.

Yeah, I plan to... I would have done it sooner but by the time they had slaughtered my soon-to-be-redeemed captive, the session was over. Next week though, I plan to incorporate my paladin-ly justice on those two. I had every intent to redeem the goblin, after giving him a fair trial. I would even have vouched for him in the court of law; I had memorized the rules of Redemption as detailed in Chapter 2 of the BoED. That takes dedication for me. I had every intent for him to live, but the ropes weren't secure enough... :smallfrown:

To the sir who asked WWOPD, this is a good point. Also, G1 Optimus Prime was an insanely better rolemodel than modernday Optimus Prime. Unfortunately, Optimus Prime is not my deity, and I feel traitorous to my God when asking this question; There is no reason to cause a fight between Optimus Prime and my paladin's deity. Seriously, imagine the consequences.

[ngilop]

To the sir who asked WWOPD, this is a good point. Also, G1 Optimus Prime was an insanely better rolemodel than modernday Optimus Prime. Unfortunately, Optimus Prime is not my deity, and I feel traitorous to my God when asking this question; There is no reason to cause a fight between Optimus Prime and my paladin's deity. Seriously, imagine the consequences.

No i mean YOU the player asking that.. not your character.

but only in regards of " hmm would Optimus Prime do X." if the answer is 'no' then do not make your character do it.

[Cornelius Grim]

No i mean YOU the player asking that.. not your character.

but only in regards of " hmm would Optimus Prime do X." if the answer is 'no' then do not make your character do it.

I fully understand what you meant, I was just making an ill-conceived reference to what Durkon's view on the matter would be... Nevertheless, there are a number of rolemodels who aren't Auto-Bots. :smalltongue:

Needless to say, I understand the purpose of your response; I shall take it to heart as best I can.

[Arcanist]

Thanks for responding! I gave the goblin a silver piece for his soul's departure on the Styx, and made amends. That's not a bad idea though. I think I'll cut off his finger for Resurrection. And I understand I'm not Exalted Stupid; as I said, this is my first solidly good character, so I'm still learning I suppose. I don't plan on actually having to take a stand against my party members, and I don't expect them to be as exalted as I am; they aren't obligated to.

Wow, I usually play Evil characters and I would have respected you for that man... (And I'm talking EVIL! to the point of I would have pushed to murder the damn Goblin animating him and then forcing the zombie to carry me around everywhere) But i seriously applaud you for your actions... :smallsmile:

ANYWHO! I'm a little curious for your parties reasons for wanting to execute the Goblin... Honestly? At this point all you can do is give them a stern talking... If you defended the Goblin while they were trying to unlawfully execute him then you would be completely justified in killing them...

Personally? I think you broke your code of conduct by just standing idly by when a rehabilitated villain was unlawfully executed... However, I'm the wrong guy to ask when it comes to Paladins :smallamused:

[eggs]

Rule of thumb:

If your RL friends haven't disowned you yet, you aren't playing an exalted character right.

:smalltongue:

[Arcanist]

Rule of thumb:

If your RL friends haven't disowned you yet, you aren't playing an exalted character right.

:smalltongue:

I would never excommunicate a friend because He is choosing to play a particular character style... I mean sure I usually play Evil evil aligned characters and as long as he doesn't play Smite makes right then I don't care what he does... Just don't detect evil on me or I'll have a lawsuit on you so fast that you'll blow up :smallamused:

[moritheil]

So I just made a paladin for a campaign my Dad, brother, his friend, and I are playing. I was looking at stuff in the Book of Exalted Deeds, and decided to make this an Exalted Paladin. On the first session, I had a goblin who surrendered, and as the Book said, I took him prisoner. I took his weapon, had my monk buddy tie him up, and healed him. Two of the party members were trying to use him as a slave (by forcing him to carry all of their stuff), and the other wanted to break his legs (so he couldn't escape). They're neutral, both of them, and eventually, after the goblin escaped from the ropes and was running, and I almost had caught up to him and grappled him, one of them, a wilder, killed him. I wasn't allowed to do anything strict about it, since, according to them, I'd lose my paladin powers for anything rash, but I've kept a wary eye on them. So, the first question. Is this close to the right way to play an Exalted character? I'm doing my best to stay good, and this is my first paladin ever. Second good character out of dozens.

Uh, per the book, when you take a prisoner he gives his word to not attempt to escape. Your companions were killing an evil being who escaped (presumably to cause more evil, at some point in the future.) While not exalted behavior, it is not grounds to cause you alignment problems; the book explicitly says that your allies can kill them if they break their terms of surrender. Your allies have acted in character as neutrals, and I disagree with the poster who said you as a player should take issue with their behavior.


My second question involves the Saint template that can be acquired, as detailed in Chapter 2 of the Book of Exalted Deeds. Does anyone have advice on said template? My DM and I decided to nerf the immunity(ies) down to resistance 10, at least until higher level. We decided to keep the Lesser Globe of Invulnerability for a little bit, until we see what it does. So, basically, what are your views on the Saint template?

I generally allow the Saint template only as a way to make up for people being hosed by Vow of Poverty. Consider that unless they happen to be full spellcasters themselves, they have no other way to get lasting immunities. Other people can just buy rings.


Third question, and I apologize for the long post, and never-ending stream of questions. What exalted feats does everyone seem to like? This is for a paladin in a group consisting of a wilder, a rogue, a monk, and said paladin. I am acting as the tank; the damage soaker. I am taking an alternate class feature to get a Drakkensteed as my mount, and so I was planning on taking Celestial Mount. The list of choices I have narrowed down to are as follows: Celestial Mount, Gift of Grace, Hands of a Healer, Knight of Stars (for fluff reasons), Nimbus Light (as well as Holy Radiance), Ranged Smite Evil, and Touch of Golden Ice (or possibly some homebrew version of this feat using different ravages). I know that's a long list, but if someone could help me sort this out, so I know how to best optimize my character, that'd be great.

Seems reasonable. Really the big ones for melee are Nymph's Kiss, Touch of Golden Ice, and possibly Celestial Mount. Nimbus makes you unmistakably good, which helps settle a lot of misunderstandings rather quickly, which can be either good or bad depending on your campaign. (A lot of people find it very contrived.)


Thank you guys so much for your help. Sorry for such a long post, and I hope you guys can help me. If any more details are required, simply ask. :smallredface:

It's why we're here.