Roleplaying a Dragonborn Paladin of Io

[Genoin]

So, when I was perusing the Dragonborn Race, I noticed a small passage saying that a few Dragonborn worship Io, the Ninefold Dragon, who is all alignments at once. That made me wonder how you could possibly build a backstory for and roleplay a Dragonborn Paladin of Io. Thoughts?

[Unoriginal]

So, when I was perusing the Dragonborn Race, I noticed a small passage saying that a few Dragonborn worship Io, the Ninefold Dragon, who is all alignments at once. That made me wonder how you could possibly build a backstory for and roleplay a Dragonborn Paladin of Io. Thoughts?

Where is that passage?

[Damon_Tor]

Well Paladins are less tied to a God than tied to a philosphical concept.

It would be interesting to see and "Oath of Balance" or something, for Paladins who recognize that good, evil, order and chaos all have a place in the world and that no one alignment should overshadow the others. Basically the "true neutral" alignment, which is distinct from the apathetic "neutral" or "unaligned".

[Genoin]

Where is that passage?

Away from my books at the moment, but I believe it is in the alignment section of the Dragonborn entry.

[strangebloke]

worshippers of Io include dragons of all alignments. Tiamat and Bahamut both bow to him, after all. The whole point of Io is that he is too large, expansive, and all-encompassing for his worshippers to reach any kind of consensus.

So in other words, you need to pick an aspect (alignment) and ride it to the rails.

...DND religions make no sense.

[Theodoric]

Just take the concept of 'dragon' and boil it down to its essentials, and develop something from that. Io is a high-concept deity, so you need to abstract the concepts he personifies.

I'll give it a go. I just ask myself, 'What are dragons?' They:
A) Are big, potentially massive, with egos to match
B) They're scaly pseudo-reptiles, obviously not humanoid in any sense
C) Are ancient, both as a whole, and often individually
D) Have each internalised some sort of elemental power, and can channel it by breathing it out
E) Are proud, independent and wilful
F) Place great value on possessions in the broadest sense; usually material wealth, but often also power and/or connections

A Paladin who serves Io tries to embody at least some of those concepts. I'd go for combining a certain aloofness and alien inscrutability with strong personal internal drives (both selfish ones as selfless ones), and a great priority on personal strength and self-reliance (so, not necessarily power at the cost of others).
If you use alignment, I'd really try to hammer home the 'Neutral' aspect of Io. Make it seem like your character is above those petty moral issues that restrict humanoids and the beings they worship.

[Genoin]

Just take the concept of 'dragon' and boil it down to its essentials, and develop something from that. Io is a high-concept deity, so you need to abstract the concepts he personifies.

I'll give it a go. I just ask myself, 'What are dragons?' They:
A) Are big, potentially massive, with egos to match
B) They're scaly pseudo-reptiles, obviously not humanoid in any sense
C) Are ancient, both as a whole, and often individually
D) Have each internalised some sort of elemental power, and can channel it by breathing it out
E) Are proud, independent and wilful
F) Place great value on possessions in the broadest sense; usually material wealth, but often also power and/or connections

A Paladin who serves Io tries to embody at least some of those concepts. I'd go for combining a certain aloofness and alien inscrutability with strong personal internal drives (both selfish ones as selfless ones), and a great priority on personal strength and self-reliance (so, not necessarily power at the cost of others).
If you use alignment, I'd really try to hammer home the 'Neutral' aspect of Io. Make it seem like your character is above those petty moral issues that restrict humanoids and the beings they worship.

Lots of good ideas here, thanks. I was really interested by a deity that is all alignments af once, but I guess that really only works as an idea, role playing a character like that without some sort of split personality aspect seems daunting at the least. It seems the best way to role play it is to try to really play up the traits that dragons share while also occasionally playing with traits that certain types of dragons share. So some common characteristics might be

1. Big ego, very proud, not likely to submit to an authority he considers to be unworthy, and likely unwilling to submit to any non dragon authority unless that authority has personally proved itself worthy to the character.
2. Probably more than a little fond of material wealth. Definitely has or will have a treasure hoard.
3. Strongly concerned with the well being of dragons in general, without much concern for what kind of dragon, but at the same time the good of dragonkind as a whole would be more important than any one dragon.

While some occasionally displayed characteristics might also include

1. Selfishness, and an unwillingness to go out of his way to help non dragons without adequate reward.
2. Selflessness, generally when the cause is one that has some personal significance to the character.

Basically I see that he would consider morality to be beneath him in general. When he is good or evil it's mainly because that is the best course of action in his mind. Evil without cruelty, good without altruism.

All in all it does sound like a very challenging (in a good way) character to roleplay well, without descending into the chaotic neutral trope of I just do whatever I want.