Paladin Redemption

[MintyNinja]

TL;DR: The Paladin's been bad, but not outright evil. What kind of quest should his god send him on to clean that slate?

Refresher Course:

Oath of Devotion
Honesty
Courage
Compassion
Honor
Duty

This specific God is the God of Courage and Self Sacrifice.

The Long and Short of it:

In my homebrew setting, the Paladin PC has recently been struggling with his Oath of Devotion. By which I mean I put him in a precarious position where playing nice with a Necromancer was necessary for the greater good. The moment the Paladin got the information he needed, he attacked. And while he never did promise to be civil as the Necromancer asked, his allies (the other two in the party) did. So, looking at it from the God's perspective, the Paladin knowingly acted in a way to besmirch the honour of his allies, which reflected poorly on him. The Paladin's defence is that the Necromancer doesn't really count, because he's a Necromancer.

Just before that, he had acted without compassion, barging into a woman's room when she had asked him not too. Perhaps he was flustered, perhaps he didn't believe her, but to his own admission when she said "Don't come in," he kicked her door down. She isn't faultless, but there were more reasoned ways to handle the matter.

At a previous encounter he had lied to a person he had no reason to suspect. The man turned out to be a Demon worshipping cultist, but the lie and the result were not related.

What I Have In Mind:

So far I'm just thinking Holy-Fetch Quest into a region the party hasn't explored yet. The twist on it would be that the Paladin has to abide by his Oath while going into a region that despises him more because of his heritage than of his quest.


I am open to suggestions on what to do. As well as suggestions on what to fetch. As well as Suggestion. My Wisdom's been taking a hit.

[Pex]

Talk to the player. Hear what he has to say about his playing of the character. He's acting Chaotic Neutral to put some label on it. If you're ok with it, the player is ok with it, and there's an understanding he's not going full evil and disrupt the campaign, an option is his character abandons the faith and he becomes an Oathbreaker Paladin. He's lost his way, doesn't know what to do, but some deity has a use for him to be revealed eventually.

There is the possibility the player doesn't know or understand how his behavior is ill-suited for the Oath and faith. The player may really want to atone, so to speak, along with his character. Have him travel with an NPC cleric or paladin of the same faith and Oath to show how it should be done and learn. Provide for an event that makes it hard on the Oath, but the NPC abides by it and perseveres to success. This is to teach the player that even when things are difficult for him you as DM aren't trying to make him worthless on purpose and want to strive for success which will be so sweet and rewarding when it happens.

[Nidgit]

I think it depends on your player, and if they're straining against the Oath for RP purposes or just for more personal freedom.

Either way, a good way would be for this quest to include features like compassion or sacrifice for those who have been previously ungrateful or antagonistic. The helped NPCs should then show a change and reward the player in some respect- the Oath of Devotion is important because it makes others' lives better, and you need to show those positive consequences in some regard. A player interested in RP will allow their character to learn those lessons on their own, while a less invested character might need a magical carrot waved around to incite that behavior. In both cases, there should be a lesson that righteous behavior is it's own reward, but there might be some material benefits too.

One option, somewhat in line with your Holy Fetch Quest, might be to have this paladin attempt to redeem or correct an accompanying wayward NPC by leading by example. Perhaps that NPC is the key to some greater plotline you have going on, and by showing them a more righteous path they'll be of more use in the future.

[strangebloke]

Honestly I wouldn't be so restrictive. I think that most of your examples are edge cases at best. If I did anything at all, I would just give him a sternly worded vision from his patron, and maybe talk to him OOC about what a paladin is in your setting.

If he ignores the sternly worded vision consistently? Make him repay the fault to the injured party. For concealing a secret by lying, he must expose a lie to the world. For besmirching the party's honor, he must work to restore their reputation by donating to charity in the name of the party and fulfilling their debts. For failing to show compassion, have him show kindness to that same injured party....


but once again, I don't think he's done anything wrong.

[banthafett]

Your should try discussing these infractions with the player. They may not be aware that they are pushing the bounds of their Oath. Try to come to an understanding together of what following the Oath looks like, and establish that their will be consequences if the character steps outside those bounds. Then, if the character transgresses follow up with consequences. At this point it may be a bit premature to bring down divine intervention.

[Davrix]

Some things I would like to know.


Who is his god? What are said gods values.
Was the necromancer doing evil things? Just because the allies gave their word, doesn't mean the paladin can over look forever a creature harming innocents. Your never going to get a perfect world where one idea sometimes doesn't conflict with another.
What was the women doing exactly to cause such a reaction? You don't flag compassion against the paladin if the pretty young girl just committed a crime and says oh please Mr. paladin don't come into my room.
Did he use his divine sense at all on said person? Though judging by your statement I guess not. So my question would be is what was the lie and what provoked it?



I am not saying he isn't a little off the reservation here but I don't think you've given enough details here to explain the persons logic behind his actions. Also some things to note below about paladin in 5th.


Keep in mind in a 5th ed paladin ideals and the words he swears can grant divine power. Deity no longer required. People seem to forget this in 5th.

Another thing to note the tenants listed in devotion are the standard guidelines or cookie cutter paladin build. You can do custom oaths and still be a devotion paladin. You just need to use the ones listed as guidelines for the oaths.