Blackguard

[lidmith]

Well, I'm a bit surprised to find so many pro-Miko posters on the forums. It seemed to me that she was as bad as a LG character can be.

But forget about that. People seem to think that a LG character that does one thing evil isn't necessarily bad. They are pointing out all the good things that Miko has done. But if she hadn't been good, what would be the point of her fall? Evil to more evil?

A blackguard (who was a former paladin), or, less bad, an ex-Paladin, is a character that exemplified good, and turned away from it, for some reason or another.

A paladin who sticks to their allignment because of upbringing and convenience (what I get from Miko) is more likely to fall, since they don't have the mentality of good, just the belief in its practicality (and if it seems to be impractical, that is, if it goes against what they want to be true, they are ready to fall).

I'm curious about the talk of her redemption. I know it's a bit different in d&d, where a murder is really only an inconvenience, and can hurt the victim's pocketbook, but can some simple spell of atonement make up for someone murdering an innocent?

Can anything?

[Doglord]

Sorry, I fell asleep, that was a very long post.

But I dont think she should be allowed to atone. Just read the rules for atone spell

[lidmith]

Ack, my phb and phb 2 are at a friend's house.

And all my other books are at the appt. of one of our group's players.

[Glome]

well the spell is laid out here in the srd:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/atonement.htm

Of course gaining back paladin status should have no legal ramnification at all, so she could still be put away for murder even if she did atone and become a paladin again. With the cost of the spell, nobody would atone her unless she was truly repentent and did some quest to prove her repentence anyway.

I don't see her atoning at this point, but even if she did she would still be out of the picture. I don't think Hinjo would pardon her for murder even if she was truly repentant and even managed to become a paladin again.

[saral]

Personally I feel Miko cannot repent, even when she realises she's changed alignment. After all someone who uses detct evil so much doesn't believe in redemption. That's why I feel Hinjo felt he had to offer the atonement to Miko.

No instead of being someone dangerous and liable to fall, and become a blackgaurd. She is one now, and all that is required is the actions to grant her the power.

She's gone from an interesting aponent to a plain villain

[Iranon]

From what we have seen, she is hard on everyone including herself (self-centered delusions aside). I think the main reason she is so deeply in denial is that she would be unable to request or even accept forgiveness.

She has pretty much burned her bridges - no 'quick fix' back to paladinhood for her. I still have high hopes for her as an antihero... the journey towards becoming a darker, wiser and more thoughtful champion of Good could be fascinating.

By now, a heroic quest followed by a simple casting of Atonement would seem cheesy. So would most descents into outright evil I can imagine, but I'm sure the Giant can pull that one off convincingly if he takes that route.

[Mordaedil]

As long as it doesn't go like this:

:mitd: : Could I interest you in a dubious solution to all your problems?

:miko: : Sure! Even though I have no reason to believe you, I'm compelled to deny a lifetime of hard work, training, and benevolence in exchange for a vague promise of revenge against the Order of the Stick for no reason beyond my vague mode of paranoia even rejected by the gods.

:smallfurious: : WHAT?