Two cheese-related questions.

[ArqArturo]

A couple of new players are coming to my one-shot game, but, there are some rules questions that I have to bring up:

One of them is a Paladin with levels of Fist of Raziel, but in his story, while he still feels well-connected with Raziel's overzealous war vs. Evil, he's got problems with mastermind villains, and he (the player's choice) is considering accepting an invitation to enter the Church's Grey Guards. Would he lose his FoR abilities if he gains a Grey Guard level?.

Second (started roleplaying in my recent Pathfinder campaign, actually), is a Magus with a Legacy weapon, and wants to take levels in Anointed Knight. How do I even approach this? The rules in Weapons of Legacy give no hindsight in the Anointed Knight, and I'm actually thankful that he did not chose the Bladebound archetype, since that's another bag.

And yes, we're doing a bit of mashing in the rules, since the idea of this one-shot session is to play cherished characters we have from campaigns past.

[BowStreetRunner]

As a DM, I would not allow an Exalted character to play Gray Guard. Read the requirements for Exalted feats (of which one is a prerequisite for Fist of Raziel). Highest Moral Standards does not exactly describe the Gray Guard. But ultimately it is up to the DM to adjudicate whether a character is sufficiently exalted.

As for the Legacy Weapon, the Ancestral Relic feat at the core of the Anointed Knight class has a limit to the maximum value of the item by character level. By having a single weapon as both an ancestral relic and legacy item, the player actually short-changes himself. I would suggest the player consider a two-weapon fighting build with one legacy weapon and one ancestral weapon or something along those lines.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Taking a level in grey-guard doesn't automatically disqualify the character for exalted status and the options that require it, however the mindset of a fist of raziel and a grey-guard should be so diametrically opposed to one another that the FoR wouldn't even be approached by the grey-guard sect of his paladin order.

If he was, for whatever contrived reasons are cooked up by you or the player, he'd get a very minimal benefit from it since making use of the most prominent feature of grey-guard, the ability to break the code and get atoned easily, -would- strip him of his exalted status until he properly atones.

Grey-guard only relaxes the restrictions on atonement for paladin, not exalted status, and atonement normally requires that the character make amends for his transgression and that he genuinely declare his intention to not transgress that way again. The class' other features aren't that impressive, overall, IIRC, and he'd be better off just sticking with FoR.

[ArqArturo]

Yup, I discussed this with him, and ended up telling me he would remain a FoR.

As for the Magus, he decided against the Anointed Knight (he thought it had spell progression) and decided to go pure Magus, something I think for the best.

[Barsoom]

One of them is a Paladin with levels of Fist of Raziel, but in his story, while he still feels well-connected with Raziel's overzealous war vs. Evil, he's got problems with mastermind villains, and he (the player's choice) is considering accepting an invitation to enter the Church's Grey Guards.Ah, the 'laundry list' backstory - one that serves no purpose except to explains all the mechanical abilities the player possesses and/or intends to possess. I have nothing to add to the discussion except that I hate this type of backstory and I would rather have a player give me no backstory at all.

[ArqArturo]

Ah, the 'laundry list' backstory - one that serves no purpose except to explains all the mechanical abilities the player possesses and/or intends to possess. I have nothing to add to the discussion except that I hate this type of backstory and I would rather have a player give me no backstory at all.

Yup, that was the initial argument. And you know when it's a strawman argument when it's the first thing to backpedal.

There is a fluff question, however. Since these two (along with others) are high-powered, magic-infused and blessed (the FoR pally, alongside a cleric and a Divine Agent), are pretty much doing the world jump from Sigil (the starting point), to Eredane (Midnight's world), I'm guessing The Shadow is not going to react kindly to this, especially with Exalted character.

My guess is the reaction would be the same as with good characters growing in power in Ravenloft (as they grow in power, the Dark Powers can sense where they are), and he'll be sending them waves of everything against the players.