Paladin of Honor v Paladin of Justice

[weckar]

So the above are table terms where the PoH is the "more good than lawful" Paladin, and the PoJ is the "more lawful than good" paladin. Assuming using the same base class is used (3.5 Paladin), what build aspects could we use to differentiate the two?

[Zaq]

Honestly, that seems like a roleplaying issue rather than a build issue, don't you think?

There are some Paladin spells in the Spell Compendium that are explicitly Law-based rather than Good-based, so maybe your PoJ could focus on them while the PoH focuses more on the Good-based ones? Of course, since all Paladins know all Paladin spells, it's really a matter of what the individual in question chooses to use more than anything else.

(I will note that Paladins don't automatically fall for a single Chaotic act unless it's a gross Code violation, but they do fall for a single Evil act, lending credence that a "PoJ" is, if not doing it wrong, at least probably doing it less right than a "PoH" is. But that doesn't mean that the mindset doesn't exist, of course.)

[Inevitability]

Replace 'evil' with 'chaos' and 'good' with 'lawful' in the class abilities and you're halfway there.

Remove Disease could be replaced with a spell for finding fugitives (Circle Dance) or seeing through lies (Zone of Truth).

For a more substantial rework (that would also somewhat reduce MADness), let the paladin key his special abilities off intelligence rather than charisma.

[ATHATH]

There are variant Paladins (technically, they're considered to be variants of the "Holy Warrior" class... but they're basically Paladins) for each alignment except the original LG (the Good and Neutral ones appeared in Dragon Magazine #313, while the Evil ones appeared in Dragon Magazine #315, IIRC)- have your PoH take the NG Paladin variant and your PoJ take the LN Paladin variant.

[fire_insideout]

There are variant Paladins (technically, they're considered to be variants of the "Holy Warrior" class... but they're basically Paladins) for each alignment except the original LG (the Good and Neutral ones appeared in Dragon Magazine #313, while the Evil ones appeared in Dragon Magazine #315, IIRC)- have your PoH take the NG Paladin variant and your PoJ take the LN Paladin variant.

T.G Oscar did almost exactly this in his Project Heretica (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?193554-Project-Heretica-not-just-a-Paladin-retooling): Four different paladin variants: Paladin, Blackguard, Justiciar and Anarch (Justiciar and Anarch are found on page 2).

It's an interesting take on the trope and one I quite like.

[Waker]

Are you asking how one would go about differentiating between the two concepts via the choice of feats, PrCs and the like or are you asking us for homebrew type approaches? I'm assuming the former.

[weckar]

Are you asking how one would go about differentiating between the two concepts via the choice of feats, PrCs and the like or are you asking us for homebrew type approaches? I'm assuming the former.

The former indeed, but I enjoyed reading the other banter thus far.

[fire_insideout]

BoED should give your Goodie paladin a lot of new options (new mounts, exalted feats etc.) while CD has feats more in line with a lawful paladin, I think. Those two sources is where I would start.