Critique my paladin code/oaths

[dascarletm]

Hello.
I've made a paladin and have been charged with writing his code/oaths. (This is pathfinder, and I have the oath against undeath and vengeance). I was wondering what you all thought of what I've come up with so far. The DM is fairly lax, so he won't pull any of the paladin BS we all hear about.

My character is the last of a Pelorian order that was closely tied to a nation that was recently destroyed. I escaped with the last heir (the other PC) and was charged with protecting him. The order saw themselves above mortal laws, though they respected them for bringing people stability. Those of the royal line even were not above them in a command sense.

Here are the codes:

Lightbringer Code

1. Seek to do good within the world, and promote it whenever possible.
2. Promote order whenever doing so would benifit good.
3. Defend those who endure in life from those which endure in undeath.
4. Protect those who live in the light from those who seek to defy it.
5. Safeguard Pelor's chosen, the royal blood of Mezzanotte is sacred.

Oath of Vengeance

1. Remember Mezzanotte. Keep this tragedy from happening again.
2. Let not those who were responsible go unpunished.

Oath Against Undeath

1. Suffer not those which endure in undeath. Purge them from the mortal realm, and lay their souls to rest.
2. Bring to justice those that would desecrate the sanctity of life through necromantic means.


What do you think? Missing anything? Anything too ambiguous? Anything contradictory?

[Blackhawk748]

Seems solid, enough rules for it to be Lawful but enough wiggle room to be sure that you can do as much Good as possible.

[Michael7123]

Hello.

Lightbringer Code

1. Seek to do good within the world, and promote it whenever possible.
2. Promote order whenever doing so would benifit good.
3. Defend those who endure in life from those which endure in undeath.
4. Protect those who live in the light from those who seek to defy it.
5. Safeguard Pelor's chosen, the royal blood of Mezzanotte is sacred.

Oath of Vengeance

1. Remember Mezzanotte. Keep this tragedy from happening again.
2. Let not those who were responsible go unpunished.

Oath Against Undeath

1. Suffer not those which endure in undeath. Purge them from the mortal realm, and lay their souls to rest.
2. Bring to justice those that would desecrate the sanctity of life through necromantic means.


Section by section:

Lightbringer:
1. Check. Can't really go wrong with a general "be good" rule.
2. Good is valued over law. Check.
3. Protect folks from undead. Sure. Never hurts to narrow things down a bit.
4. Sure.
5. This raises a few eyebrows, but the type that turn into good moral dilemmas. What if this "royal blood" turns into someone who is evil. There should be a part of the code to deal with this.

Vengance
1. Sold.
2. Good.

Undead
1.See response for #2.
2. [Resisting speaking from my Dread necromancers perspective on the matter] Sure. Although, at some point in your campaign, throw a true nuetral (or better yet, lawful neutral) Necromancer character who is, say.... defending a village from orc raids using a small army of undead. Have the villagers think that he's some shady person who lives in the woods (or hills, swamp, other uninhabited zone outside of the city).