[PF] Paladins of Lawful Neutral Deities

[Desril]

We're all aware they exist, but this question is rather specific. Some backstory: A friend of mine plans to play a monk/paladin/champion of Irori in the upcoming Rise of the Runelords game we're planning. Personally, I think he plays paladins terribly but that's beside the point.

The question is thus:

What are paladins to do when encountering members of the faith/clergy who are of evil alignment? Irori, and all Lawful Neutral deities, are capable of having clergy who are Lawful Evil. Something that most paladins aren't really allowed to associate with, and the kind of people my friend smites first and doesn't ask questions about. What are paladins supposed to do with evil clergy of their own faith? I can't figure it out, and I don't want to bring up the topic until I have something to say other than "Hrm....that's a good question"

[Kelb_Panthera]

Unless they changed it in the PF conversion, paladin's don't actually suffer any mechanical effects for associating with evil.

The associates section and the Code of Conduct section in the class description are seperate. The associates section is a bit of flavor text that got shoved into a place it doesn't belong.

Unless the paladin knows of a deed that a cleric of his faith has committed that is both evil and against the faith, he just keeps his mouth shut and tries his best to follow the god's dictates while setting a better example than his fellows.

Also, schisms are a thing. Just because the god allows evil clergy and sponsors paladins doesn't mean any particular branch of the church does both.

Take St. Cuthbert the Cudgel for example. His dictates are that noone is above the law, period; the law being both the dictates in the holy book of his faith and the law of the local government, providing the church recognizes that government. Though the god himself may not care how you go about upholding the law, a branch of the church in a particular city may sponsor paladins but brooke no tolerance for evil.

Meanwhile in another city the church has used legal trickery to -become- the local government to better uphold the law with little concern for the people under it; read, many of the clerics that consider this their home church are evil.

You could even set each of these churches in a particularly large city, the latter example only holding sway over its district rather than the whole city, and watch the conflict between members of the same faith play out.

Note: Cuthbert may not be the best example. I think I may remember something about Cuthbert explicitly -not- tolerating evil clerics wielding power in his name. My point remains though.

[Vaern]

Easy. He simply does not associate with them. If he comes across an evil cleric in a temple, he simply refuses to speak to that cleric and asks if there is someone else he can speak with.

If he catches that cleric committing an evil act for his own benefit, that cleric is evil and should be punished regardless of religion.

If he catches the cleric performing some sort of evil ritual in the name of his deity, then there might be a problem (assuming that the deity isn't picky between good and evil followers).

Now he has found himself in a situation where the Lawful and Good portions of his alignment are in a disagreement. It would be an evil act to turn away and allow the cleric to empower his deity, but it would be a defiant act against the church to do the good thing and disrupt the ritual.
Either path he takes will break his paladin code, unless he thinks of some creative way to solve the problem otherwise. Whether he violates the code badly enough to lose his paladinhood, however, is up to the DM, and no fair DM should punish a paladin after throwing him into a situation that he can't possibly win (unless the resulting Atonement spell is absolutely essential to the storyline).