Narrative-Style Powers

[tzar1990]

I've been thinking about the Paladin class, and how to make them better at fulfilling their narrative role - the Knight in Shining Armor who shows up when you need them most, regardless of the obstacles between you or them.

My first thought was to give them spells for this - divinations to know where and when they're needed, and transport spells to get there in time. But that doesn't seem quite right to me. I rarely see that kind of actual spellcasting in the characters I look at as Paladins, and it seems somewhat out of theme...

But what if I just gave them a class ability to Be There. Something like, "At fifth level, a Paladin may designate a target as their Ward as a full round action. Should the Ward be truly threatened, the Paladin may immediately appear at their side so long as any possible means of entry to their location exists. The Paladin is not informed of the nature or magnitude of the danger, only that it exists and that it is a legitimate threat to the character." Maybe let it upgrade as they level, so that they can appear in places they couldn't conceivably have gotten to, or send an ally there in their stead.

Does this seem reasonable to you, or do you think that narrative powers like this have no place in D&D?

[Kane0]

Story/Plot powers definitely have a place in the game. My warlock wouldnt be the same without his power to store souls of those he has defeated in a crystal in order to bargain for the return of his own.

The easiest way i can think of implementing this kind of thing is to consult with your DM/player and organize something that makes sense in the game. But, be prepared to alter it, especially if it turns out to be too powerful or useful in ways it wasnt meant to be then speak to the DM/player and come up with something, the more creative the better. This is best done on a character basis rather than a class or role basis. If every paladin could teleport to protect their charge it wouldn't be as awesome a plot ability, just another mechanic at his disposal.

[HalfQuart]

I think the way you phrased the ability leaves a lot of room for abuse. Also, I don't think of the Paladin's ability so much as a teleport, but rather as they just happen to show up when they're most needed because of divine direction. So I would role-play that, more than make it a class feature. Perhaps they get 'a strong feeling' that someone is in danger in a particular direction... as a premonition even before the person is actually threatened.

[Jeff the Green]

I think the way you phrased the ability leaves a lot of room for abuse. Also, I don't think of the Paladin's ability so much as a teleport, but rather as they just happen to show up when they're most needed because of divine direction. So I would role-play that, more than make it a class feature. Perhaps they get 'a strong feeling' that someone is in danger in a particular direction... as a premonition even before the person is actually threatened.

In the right kind of game, I think, this could be a class feature. Something like:

Be There (Ex): At nth level, a paladin gains the ability to protect a chosen person regardless of where he goes. At any time, he may choose a ward in an hour-long ceremony, during which his ward must be present. Until the paladin chooses to terminate this relationship, whenever the ward is in danger the paladin is there. The ward is never in danger of severe bodily harm except when the paladin is within one mile unless they deliberately put themselves in such danger.
Normally I'm not a huge fan of mixing narrative elements with mechanical ones, but I think this could work. It constrains the DM a bit, but in a way that also provides storytelling options. So if the paladin is sworn to protect the King but is currently residing in his castle on the borders of the country, the King couldn't be assassinated in his own castle, but he could be assassinated when the King decided to make a diplomatic trip and stopped at the paladin's castle on the way over. Maybe even by one of the paladin's servants in a way that suggested the paladin was behind it.

[NichG]

In some sense, a good reason to do it as a power rather than an RP thing is to adjust for the fact that the DM may not know 'your ward is going to be threatened later today' in time to give a premonition, because while the characters may be aided by powerful beings capable of seeing past, present, and future, the DM can't actually do that.

I can't help someone play a character who has a plan for every contingency and prepares responses to all possible outcomes - the standard Xanatos archetype - because neither I nor they will necessarily know how the game is going to proceed. Maybe I had some plans for a raid on some cultists, but the party decides to planeshift to Baator and deal with the cultists by attacking their deity. It'd be cool if the party mastermind could have foreseen that and prepared for it, but at that point I need to invent narrative mechanics to enable it because it goes beyond our OOC abilities.

So I kind of feel the same way here. It makes sense that if you want the paladin to fulfill certain difficult narrative tropes like arriving at the nick of time, you could invent narrative powers to do it.

I do think the real trick is separating out things that are narrative powers and things that are in-character powers. If the paladin is using his 'arrive at the nick of time' power to invent an FTL drive, this separation has been violated. The paladin shouldn't actually be aware he has the power to suddenly arrive as needed - from his in-character point of view he had the premonition a few days ago and made preparations to get there in time, or whatever. But sometimes the players need to be reminded about that, and its hard to enforce that 'in the rules' in a very clear way.

For example, a player could maneuver into a position that exploits the power ('lets' his ward get jailed by the villain, and then uses his ward to find the villain's lair). This is kind of a form of cheating, but there's no easy way to identify it or distinguish it from 'it just turned out that way'.

Somehow solidifying 'how this power should be used' is important to doing this well.

[Person_Man]

This is an excellent idea. I think I'll add it to my Knight Champion homebrew (see signature). Here's my attempt at implementing it for a Paladin:


Talisman of Faith (Su): At 6th level, the Paladin may spend 1 hour praying over an item in their possession that has some religious or personal significance, such as a holy symbol, ring, or other similar keepsake. From that point forward, the item is designated as their Talisman of Faith. Any non-Evil creature in possession of the designated talisman may attempt to magically summon the Paladin to their side once per day as an Immediate Action. When the attempt is made, the Paladin becomes aware of the true identity of who is attempting to summon them (disguises or magical protections do not obscure it), and a basic description of their current circumstance (trapped in prison, under attack, etc). If the Paladin agrees to answer the call, they are immediately teleported to an unoccupied space of their choice within 5 feet of the creature that summoned them. If no unoccupied space exists, the attempt fails.

In addition, the Paladin is always intuitively aware of the general direction and how far away their Talisman of Faith is. Therefore, even if they cannot or choose not to answer a summons (or the person they give it to is separated from it), they can always track the Talisman down to it's location. The Paladin may repeat the process of creating a Talisman of Faith as often as they like, but they may not have more then one Talisman of Faith in existence at any given time. If they designate a new object as their Talisman, the previously designated object loses the designation.