3.5 Complete Character Change - Divine Intervention: Help?

[D4saken1]

What is happening:

Briefly what is happening is that my Hobgoblin fighter in Ebberon is changing to a Paladin via a divine act of the god Dol Arrah changing both part of who he is and purposing the character.

Why I need help:
The GM is making me figure out how I want that to play out which I find odd but I need some help fleshing it out for the other players and the DM to see/use RP wise in the future.

Character Info:

Prechange
Name/Nickname - Draug "Headsman"
Alignment - Neutral (Semi CN in aspects)
Class - Fighter

Behavior/Morals - Apathetic to good/evil. Morally & Intellectually apathetic with exceptions to love for fighting/drinking/adventure. Inclined to care about companions over time.

Pregame History - A member of the Ghaal'dar as the role of executioner. Exiled/Fled, for refusal to execute a good warrior on false charge/murder of superior officer during confrontation. Wandering mercenary/adventurer for several years before campaign start.

Campaign History - Mercenary job acquired in sharn with party of 3 others. 1 Original character from beggining of game to current besides Draug. Mission lead through various combats including captured into gladiator arena and traveling through a magical forest involving a beholder & colossal t-rex (chance encounters). Odd hairy looking goblin lead them to an ancient Dargun (Dargoon) temple opposed to the Dhakaani Empire where a ancient hobgoblin horn/sword & few non relic items were found. The horn once taken down and played gave the mage of the group horrific visions which were undisclosed. Leaving with the sword in hand Draug and the others decided to take the coast line being discovered by a dwarven warship to the dwarven capital. Mage (telling/taking Draug) upon request asked the mage's guild to examine the horn after several previous holy seer types died in agony upon touching the horn (only hobgoblins seem to be immune to the effects). Long story short all bad factions showed up killing each other (rakasha etc) for the item and no answer was found so departure for sharn is afoot.

Postchange
The Mystic Sword is a holy relic to slay evil and aberrations leading into the whole divine scene while on the airship back to sharn.

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If anything needs clarifying or elaboration let me know. I didn't want to have a massive text wall.

The idea would be a sort of forced penance for releasing the horn/evil back into the world or the item being a chosen symbol and thus being forced to be the chosen warrior for that weapon/god.

Thank you for any feedback or ideas.

Edit:

Note 1

I should note we do not play Paladins in the world as the standard. They are more clerical in a sense but yes most Paladins in the gm's eberron world are LG just not all, especially not divinely conscripted.

Note 2

He plans to progress into Gray Knight as well for a bit more ambiguity as of now we are treating him as such without the benefits basically.

[D4saken1]

I wanted to move this up once to see if any replies come up. This will be the first and last before I let it die.

[Kol Korran]

Ok, I'll try to help, though I'm not quite certain I understand things, so I'll ask a few questions:
1) Why do YOU as a player, wish this change to happen? what do you seek out of playing Draug as a paladin? how do you envision him?

2) Is he supposed to be forced to become LG paladin? against his will? or does he choose to "take this burden/ make the change" himself? is the nobility/ commitment/ moral of the paladin code something he accepts upon himself, or is the change a sort of a "personality transplant, want it or not?"

3) I don't quite understand what the DM wants- what does it mean you choose "how it plays out"? the trasnforamtion scene/ sequence? how Draug chooses/ is forced to become a paladin? or how you play as a paladin from now on?

4) side note- in Eberron the gods are meant to remain unproven myths. they do not, and never had been proven to interact in the world (priests will disagree, but still- nothing that can't be easily explained otherwise). most "divine powers/ acts/ spells" come from the power of belief in an ideal or a god, not the god itself...

it's your game, so you might decide to play it differently, but i'll need to know how you DO play it in order to answer your question.

5) what powers EXACTLY do you know have an interest in the horn? in the sword? what do you know about each of them? about their connection?

I may have other questions or thoughts or ideas once you answer the above, and if i can get my ideas straight. can't promise, but I will try...

[Need_A_Life]

I'd go with Crusader, not just because I hate the Paladin class with an irrational passion, but because their "more mundane than magic" style fits really well with Eberron.
If I ever get to run/play Eberron again, most of the Paladins encountered will be Crusaders, Warriors or Fighters.

Roleplaying-wise? A CN "Paladin" I would play like Cedric the Paladin (http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?113405-Would-you-allow-this-paladin-in-your-game-(new-fiction-added-11-11-08)), only less disciplined and even more likely to question authority.
The kind of guy who'd dare call Jaela Daran "kiddo."

[D4saken1]

1) Apathetic nature, the character as a whole is deep under his hobgoblin roots and raising a decent guy who has always subconsciously wanted something more important to life; a purpose.

2) Basically the "Option" is openly given but he would refuse another's will be it god or man if its a big enough change. The small part of him inside wanting something more would let him grudgingly agree but he would not be willing to be more than a take on the lawful side as apposed to the whole personality taking on the chipper good aspect. Though he would act for the survival of all beings as a whole.

3) I asked he just said do it really. Basically I have to figure it out how it should go and let it be known and he can go from there if he ever brings it up in future tense.

4) Makes sense, I never read up how Eberron gods interacted yet. The item itself is an ancient sword except its not an intelligent item but possibly the good inside it could influence his decision itself.

5) As far as i know Cults of the Dragon Below, Blood of Vol, & Path of Light. The horn and sword were ancient relics of hobgoblins apposed to the main Dhakaani empire and evil in general. The horn and sword have no true connection we know of yet but the horn seems to be linked to a great evil we have yet to been able to dig into. All scryers etc have died trying even a master magus.

Draug is curious and only found out his race protected him when he touched the horn unlike others. The sword's power basically awoke as he used it in a desperate combat when his axes were lost for the time.

Note on 4:

Basically the sword's aura itself could propel his inner desire to become something more and give off a powerful divine energy of sorts that could say alter him in several ways. Possibly like a weapon from old supposedly touched or blessed by the god Dol Arrah.

[Kol Korran]

I'm still having trouble to understand you, but I'll try to answer as best I can. As far as I understand it, Draug is a sort of a rebel by choice, not wanting to have anything to do with the normal concepts of morals (or alignments) in the world, but inwardly seeking something more, a higher purpose of a sort, but not quite admitting to it. And basically, if given a situation he would probably "do what is right"?

My thoughts are as follows:
1) this could prove like a great roleplay opportunity, and I think you and your DM should play it as such.
2) The sword sounds to me both as an item of great good, but also as a relic for goblinoid kind. I think it should be played to that effect.
3) from what I understand you don't have a lot of time? you're on an airship and you need to make the change happen till the airship lands? where does it go to? you mentioned a "dwarven capital", but on Eberron that would be in the Mror Holds (no other dwarven nation) which is far, far, far away from Sharn. My suggestions assume this is the case, if you happen to have more time on your hand, and especially if you are still in Darguun, I would have more ideas.

Testing by dreams
The sword is vaguely, emotionally intelligent (I know you said that it isn't, but assume that it is just for the sake of the "testing"). while you sleep on board, it sends you dreams, in which she tries to test you, see where your true heart lies, what is in your inner core. the dreams can take many forms, such as events from your past, or perhaps your adventures, or perhaps situations whcih requires for "paladin decisions" (a small village of farmers is beset by enemies, some might flee, but the enemies need to be held back long enough for most to succeed. will you flee or do the brave thing. Or being told you will be given great riches, and prestige, if you'll just tell this little lie about this criminal. he is bad anyway, it won't matter much, would it?) I'll let the DM and you come up with the details (you know the character better. I suggest 3-4 such scenes, each drawing Draug more and more to accept in himself the nature of a paladin.

problem: this involves just you. the other party members might be bored. I suggest meeting with the DM some time before hand and play it out.

test by trial
this can take two forms. The first one is by dreams, but perhaps not originating from the sword. there are quite a few interested parties in the sword and horn in Eberron, and some of them might have versions of the Dream or Nightmare spells that might do this: basically in your dream you are confronted by (the possibly elusive) agents of some power, seeking to learn who and what you are. they have actually monitored your activities (and searched your past extensively), and will now try to see if you are worthy, or should be exterminated.

this could be very real, with possible danger, or just played out between you and DM as previously described.

Another way to do this- either on the ship or upon arrival atthe destination, you are taken under custody, and put on a similar trial. a few more mundane powers of Eberron (most notably the dragonmarked houses I think, or perhaps agents ofthe Sovereign Host... "special forces?" (not surethey have any. not like the Silver Flame)) wish to gauge who these "new found heroes" are.

the main benefit is that it's a trial for THE WHOLE GROUP, so they get to play along, and also be questioned, but within it Draug motives and personality can be questioned quite a few times. the downside is that the party members might potentially mess this up for you, but a word of preparation to them should be enough to prevent this happening. At the end of the trial, one of the paladins/ Sentinal Marshals gives draug some item that has "the essence of a paladin" within it (once Draug was more confronted with his own "true self" sort of thing), imbued with the essence of paladinhood, which might give his inner-paladin room to grow. a sort of a minor relic, preserved for times of great need, for a great hero.

Trial by Hell
While on the airship, there is suddenly an outbreak- all kind of fiends/ abominations/ undead start coming on the ship from the inside (the exact nature I leave to your Dm, I imagine it is either something connected to the powers of the Horn, or to the summoning abilities of someone following you) they start killing crew men, and though some are taken down, the monsters keep coming through. You and your party fight your way through to some sort of portal/ summoner/ creature/ seething blob of darkness or so, which you find cannot be directly defeated. which is when Draug gets some sort of premonition that only some sort of fairly hard, desperate, heroic act could solve this (needing the sword as well)- you need to crash the gate, running through a dozen fiends, or kill the dreamer spawning nightmares, even though it's someone you care about (an important NPC) or flung yourself to the other side of the portal, crushing the summoning stone there, knowing you'll be trapped.

only once you do choose to do this "paladinish" thing, you turn to a paladin, and the sword's powers come through for you, somehow helping to save you, despite the odds.

benefits: the most heroic, the most instinctual for Draug I think- paladinhood by acting like a paladin, less by words.

also- it involves the entire team in the effort, and the DM might use it to increase the nature of the threat you face.

problem: it requires a nice bit of work from the DM, and very careful balancing. also, other party members might not be thrilled that you concocted this threat just for your story point (though if they are any good players, they'll go for it i think)

potential intermingling of this last idea with the first one: as you fight the monsters, apparitions appear to Graud eyes only- possibly entities questioning him, testing him, perhaps past people he knows or had known, testing him through words through this ordeal, while fighting. Might give the scene a more roleplay oriented theme, if it fits you.

...
so these are my ideas so far, might have more later. do they appeal to you at all? are they on the lines of what you meant?

[D4saken1]

Kol I wanted to say thank you for all your help. My GM decided to run a session last night -1 of our players to get further along.

It ended up being he was a ex-paladin before hand in his backstory (changed part of his back story) and he kept it hidden. Short hand he paid penance and prayed to Dol Arrah and had his powers again.

A bit more to it but really all the roleplay ended up being in my head so eh.. got kinda frustrated.

[Kol Korran]

hhmmmmm... it sounds like you didn't likethe way it went. sorry to hear that. I hope you find it fun to play your paladin.

if you're interested in hobgoblin culture, i highly recommend a trio of books dealing with Darguun, politics, and a strange group of heroes. I don't remember all the books, but the first is called "doom of kings".

(note: this trio of books follows another trio of books, and most of it's heroes, but i don't remember their names, except for "the grieving tree". but you don't much need to read the previous trilogy to read this trio)