Sea Paladins

[Icewalker]

This is sort of a combination of D20 gaming and OOTS, but after reading todays comic I am totally making an ocean based paladin. As a character, not a class.

Shark mount...fun.


This will also come up hugely in my sea-based campaign world I'm working on. I can see some special order of paladins with sharks...maybe. I've already got a pair of good groups fighting evil. And one is already goes by the title Order.

Anybody got a better name for a group of paladins? Possibly something along the lines of a small elite corps, instead of a larger order, like a wing of Shark Paladins. :smallwink:

[BardicDuelist]

I would highly suggest Stormwrack, as it would be very useful for your campaign world.

A cool thing for a group of paladins who have shark companions would be to make them constantly recruit a new member when one dies, like a shark regrows a new tooth.

In Stormwrack, there is an acquatic race with paladin as a favored class, the Aventi. There is also the Knights of the Pearl, an aquatic paladin order.

[Accolon]

The names of the sharks themselves could form your "knightly" orders. The overall order could be The Knights of the White Fin, or something like that. Then there is the Order of the Mako, or the Order of the Great White, or the Order of Posiedon's Teeth, etc. I would be careful, though, because sharks just don't lend themselves to heroic, paladin like actions. Remember that the Sauhaugin revere sharks. And the names of sharks reflect the fear: tiger shark, (more for its coloration, I know) bull shark (blunty nose, a smaller version of the great white) The White Death, (although a lot of these attacks are really from bull sharks or White tipped ocean sharks) thresher shark, etc.

This is a tough sell for Paladins. Most people have a visceral, horrific reaction when they even hear the word "shark." A shark is a perfect killing machine. It's whole body, from the electromagnetic sensors around its snout (called ampuallae of Lorinzini) that detect electric pulses like heartbeats, to the lateral, fluid filled lines along its dorsal side, which detect the frequincies of struggling fish or swimming humans (they share the same pitch in the water) to its unhingable jaw and serrated, cutting teeth, are designed to hunt and kill. It's body is even designed to protect itself during the killing strikes, with nictating membranes that cover the eyes, and tough, sandpaper like skin that cuts and tears at flesh. And there's always the "blood in the water" attraction.

Check out a few non fiction books: Devil's Teeth, Monsters of the Sea, and Great White Shark to also help you.

In thinking about it, you may want to use the idea for a Sauhaugin Order of Blackguards who revere the sharks and their sick shark-god. IMHO that would be a better fit and make some pretty tough hombres. A 9th level, 4 armed Sauhagin Blackguard riding a 20' long Great White shark ready to smite good and bite and tear is a pretty terrifying image.

Just my 10 coppers

[Droodle]

I would be careful, though, because sharks just don't lend themselves to heroic, paladin like actions. Remember that the Sauhaugin revere sharks. And the names of sharks reflect the fear: tiger shark, (more for its coloration, I know) bull shark (blunty nose, a smaller version of the great white) The White Death, (although a lot of these attacks are really from bull sharks or White tipped ocean sharks) thresher shark, etc.I wouldn't worry. Sharks are predators, but that doesn't mean they are evil. If it did, then only vegetarians would be good aligned. Sharks kill other fish because, if they don't, they will die.

[Evil DM Mark3]

In my game world there are many differant paladin orders but they all belong to the Terrestial consil of the White circle (the celestial consil is a group of solars who do the admin on paladin powers for the LG gods, thus meaning no paladin is beholden unto one deity). I have now added two more to make three oceanic orders. The old one (The order of the Ocean Banner) used ships and where mostly concerned with costal priating etc. The two new ones are The Order of the Western Ocean and The Order of the Silver Scale. (They get named after juristiction unless they possess a powerful artifact like the Ocean Banner or the Silver Scale.) That makes 47 Paladin Orders.

Lien is by far my favourate Saphire Guild Paladin now.

On sharks? Like Lions they are predators. They are also aglie, noble, fearless and resolute. It is all about how you do the interpritation. Wheresharks in my world are Allways either CE or LG.

Guess what all of the Silver Scale are?

[AslanCross]

Well, to be fair the Lion has been commonly used as a symbol of royalty and nobility in various cultures while the shark is generally seen as a primordial force of nature. Of course I'm pretty sure that there are cultures that venerate sharks in the same way. That said, the idea of paladins on sharks is not only awesome, it's also suggested in the core rules.

A possible naval Paladin order name: Blue Jaws of Justice

[ArmorArmadillo]

This is sort of a combination of D20 gaming and OOTS, but after reading todays comic I am totally making an ocean based paladin. As a character, not a class.

Shark mount...fun.


This will also come up hugely in my sea-based campaign world I'm working on. I can see some special order of paladins with sharks...maybe. I've already got a pair of good groups fighting evil. And one is already goes by the title Order.

Anybody got a better name for a group of paladins? Possibly something along the lines of a small elite corps, instead of a larger order, like a wing of Shark Paladins. :smallwink:

Ditto on Stormwrack, especially Knight of the Pearl, a Sea-Paladin PrC.

Depending on how heavily your campaign is aquatic, I'd go for either a full shark mount or an amphibious mount like a sea lion, crocodile, or elephant seal.
As a California native, I can safely say I'd much rather face an angry wolf than a charging bull elephant seal.

[captain_decadence]

Well, to be fair the Lion has been commonly used as a symbol of royalty and nobility in various cultures while the shark is generally seen as a primordial force of nature. Of course I'm pretty sure that there are cultures that venerate sharks in the same way.

The ancient Hawaiian culture venerated sharks and even have stories of sharks rescuing people who have fallen in the ocean. I think they thought that sharks were the spirits of ancestors, but I can't remember exactly. So you can totally use them as a noble mount and be able to point out at a real world culture to back it up if you need to.

And lions are a really stupid symbol of royalty and nobility when you actually know something about lions. I've always been annoyed by that. Stupid Simba.

[Greenfaun]

And lions are a really stupid symbol of royalty and nobility when you actually know something about lions. I've always been annoyed by that. Stupid Simba.

Uh... or your notions of nobility and royalty are naively romantic. Nobles are just the descendants of the people who successfully stole and murdered and fought their way into power generations ago. Big lazy bully-cats are a pretty good metaphor IMO.

As for the original question, sharks are okay, but sharks aren't very social animals. What about Orcas? They're badass and also actually make social bonds. I suppose you'd have to be a pretty high-level paladin to get one, though.

Hey, that brings up another question: What do the paladins who don't have mounts yet do? boats? Trained mundane sharks?

[captain_decadence]

The idea of trained mundane sharks is very very funny. Mostly because the first time they fail a ride check, they get eaten by their own mount. Also, if it goes under water.

[horseboy]

It's shark week on Discovery. Now's a good time to do research.:smallsmile:

[Macrovore]

Well, in Stormwrack, it says that pallies can get porpises, or hippocampi (which are statted in the book. basically large-sized seahorses).

[Bassetking]

Well, in Stormwrack, it says that pallies can get porpoises, or hippocampi (which are statted in the book. basically large-sized seahorses).

If you make a paladin order concerning Porpoises, consider calling it a Pod, and making it a Matriarchal order; mimicing whale behavior. Also consider using bardic histories, as sound/sonics are vital to many, many sea creatures.

[Norsesmithy]

It's shark week on Discovery. Now's a good time to do research.:smallsmile:

One of the programs had these crazy bastards swiming without cages around Great Whites, and a couple of them even grabbed a fin and hitched a ride.