FR Deity for a Paladin of Freedom? (3/3.5e)

[hafgan]

Hey guys and gals. I'm trying to pick out a good deity for a Human Paladin of Freedom in the Forgotten Realms setting, but I'm having a bit of trouble in it. The campaign will be taking place within Aglarond and Thay (I think).


The Deity will most likely have to be CG or NG.


So far the only deities I've found that really seem to fit the Paladin of Freedom idea are race-specific for non-humans, but I don't have a whole lot of experience with FR so I'm not sure if I'm missing any.


Sune seems a bit odd, although she is CG and has an order of paladins.
Tymora is also CG, but again more rogue oriented.
Selûne seems to be mainly worshiped by women.
Lathander probably fits the best, but he seems a bit too bland.
Anhur seems pretty cool, but he's part of the Mulhorandi Pantheon and very Mulhorand-centric.
Lliira seems pretty cool and funny, although I don't know how motivated her followers would be.
Labelas Enoreth also seems like he'd have unmotivated followers and is an elven deity.
Corellon Larethian would fit, but he's the super elf deity and I don't really want to play an Elf paladin.


So! Does anyone have any suggestions of who'd be a good deity for a Freedom Pally to worship?

[hamishspence]

Do they absolutely have to be those two? What about the nicer kind of Chaotic Neutral deity?

EDIT:

Possibly Finder Wyvernspur?

Shaundakul (deity of travellers) Sharess (deity of hedonism), maybe Valkur (deity of sailors) if he's CN rather than CG.

Uthgar, god of several barbarian tribes, might also be a good fit.

[hafgan]

Shaundakul seems decent. Mainly paladins seem very motivated and jealous to their causes in my mind, while many of the CG and NG deities just weren't designed for the same motivations that paladins of freedom are.

I guess I could got the route of one of the hedoist deities like Sune or Sharess, but again, they don't seem to fit right.

[hamishspence]

Might depend on what kind of freedom the Paladin is supposed to promote.

There's quite a lot of CN deities who have fairly relaxed attitudes to what their worshippers do- as long as the worshipper doesn't offend the deity outright.

Tempus, CN god of war, may qualify as one of these.

on NG deities- how about one like Mielikki, goddess of rangers?

[BobVosh]

There is CG or NG god of the tribal people of the desert near Cormyr. Very little support for him, other than I remember Kossuth hates him.

I can't for the life of me remember any more than that. All I know is he worked well for what was close to a pally of freedom I had.

[Amphetryon]

Milil. Great sub levels, IIRC.

[PhoenixRivers]

I'll double up on Mielikki.

Lathander is another one that's only a step away.

Selune doesn't follow mostly females. Also a sailor god, a good lycanthrope god, and more. Anyone who has a strong night connection works.

Shaundakul is an unusual option, for lesser deities.

Now Sune? Sune's clergy are 80% female. If that's a hangup for you, then steer clear. If not, then no worries. Very free spirit oriented.

Tymora may be roguish, but daring acts, luck, and the like? Tymora's a god of playful luck, adventuring... Definately one of the stronger choices. Remember: Paladins of Freedom have a certain element of roguishness in their ethos.

[Optimystik]

Sune! CG, order of Paladins, great dogma! "Follow your heart and make friends" - doesn't get much more CG than that.

And you can arrest evildoers by shouting - "Stop! In the naaaaaaaame of love..."

[Toxic Avenger]

I don't really see why Lliira can't work - liberty is part of her portfolio, is it not? As for motivation, paladins are usually a cut above the rest in this department anyway.

[Morty]

Sune is a good fit, but she already has an order of LG paladins, as mentioned. Other than that, I agree that Tymora and Lliira are good fits. I think you're applying too strict standards to those gods anyway - after all, Azuth and Chauntea have their own LG paladins, so the precedent is there for not typically "paladinish" deities having paladin orders.

[Optimystik]

Sune is a good fit, but she already has an order of LG paladins, as mentioned.

They are LG only because UA is not default in FR. If UA is incorporated I'm sure her paladins (and other orders like Corellon's) would become CG.

Chauntea and Azuth are fine even without UA; they're both one step away from LG.

[Morty]

They are LG only because UA is not default in FR. If UA is incorporated I'm sure her paladins (and other orders like Corellon's) would become CG.

I guess that's true.

Chauntea and Azuth are fine even without UA; they're both one step away from LG.

What I meant is that neither of them is what people tend to think of as a "paladin god" - as in, likely to have armored knights at their command - yet they have paladins. So Tymora, Liira etc. are just as likely to have Paladins of Freedom on their own.

[Person_Man]

Check out the FR wiki. Your CG options are:

• Aerdrie Faenya
• Angharradh
• Anhur
• Corellon
• Deep Sashelas
• Dugmaren Brightmantle
• Eilistraee
• Haela Brightaxe
• Hanali Celanil
• Labelas Enoreth
• Lliira
• Lurue
• Nephthys
• Rillifane Rallathil
• Sehanine Moonbow
• Selûne
• Sharess
• Sharindlar
• Solonor Thelandira
• Sune
• Thard Harr
• Tymora
• Valkur

I suggest Tymora (Luck & Change) or Sune (Love, Beauty), or Sharess (Hedonism, Cats).

[Yora]

I think Tymora and Selune are the two most obvious choices.

I think Selunes chaotic aspect is her no nonsense approach about how to deal with troublemakers, but she's generally benign and cares a great deal for the safety of common people. And her clerics fight against evil lycanthropes and the cults of Shar, two of the most dangerous factions of the Realms (when it comes to personal power of individual members).

Tymora isn't about rogues, but about adventurers. That means jumping traps and stealing the warlords crown, but also charging into the battle without fear and confidence that luck is with the couragous.

While Paladins of Freedom of Selune strike me as more serious, but unbound by social norms in their quest to do good, Paladins of Freedom of Tymora would probably be much more daring and focus on the aspects of excitement and taking risks.

[Optimystik]

Check out the FR wiki. Your CG options are:

• Aerdrie Faenya
• Angharradh
• Anhur
• Corellon
• Deep Sashelas
• Dugmaren Brightmantle
• Eilistraee
• Haela Brightaxe
• Hanali Celanil
• Labelas Enoreth
• Lliira
• Lurue
• Nephthys
• Rillifane Rallathil
• Sehanine Moonbow
• Selûne
• Sharess
• Sharindlar
• Solonor Thelandira
• Sune
• Thard Harr
• Tymora
• Valkur

I suggest Tymora (Luck & Change) or Sune (Love, Beauty), or Sharess (Hedonism, Cats).

Just wanted to point out there's some overlap on your list there; Selune = Sehanine and Sune = Hanali.

[Yora]

Which is a fault of the setting, having two and more deities for different races, that are almost identical in most aspects.

[Optimystik]

Which is a fault of the setting, having two and more deities for different races, that are almost identical in most aspects.

To be fair, it wasn't canon until recently. (I believe, just before the 4e update.)

And gods should be above such petty contrivances as "race" anyway. "Humans call me X, Elves call me Y, either way I get the worship" - seems a much better system to me than having "I'm the god of the human moon, she's the goddess of the elven moon, he's the god of the dwarven moon..."

[LibraryOgre]

So, what's the character's personality like? What's he interested in, and what's the campaign about?

[AslanCross]

Sune! CG, order of Paladins, great dogma! "Follow your heart and make friends" - doesn't get much more CG than that.

And you can arrest evildoers by shouting - "Stop! In the naaaaaaaame of love..."

Or raising your holy symbol to cast Holy Sword---and your Verbal component is HEART!

I'd go with Sune or Tymora, maybe even Shaundakul. Free spirit who likes helping travelers seems like a better fit to a Paladin of Freedom than say, Sharess. ("As punishment for your crimes, evildoer, you shall come with me to the government district of Waterdeep and we shall streak at least five different offices. Any questions?")

[hafgan]

Wow, thanks for all the replies.



From what I've gathered I think Tymora is an appropriate deity and one I could have fun with. Since part of her portfolio is good luck that opposes bad luck, a paladin of hers could easily be dedicated to find those who have been hurt by bad luck and turning things around for them. He could also be dutybound to assist adventurers in improving their luck and helping them on adventures.

The more i think about it, the more I like it.

thank you everyone!

[Excession]

I'd go with Lliira, partly because it would be an odd choice. She seems at first to nothing but a goddess of parties, but the bit where she took over from Waukeen indicates she can handle responsibility. And when it comes to enemies such as Loviatar it would appear she is also perfectly capable of fighting.

See http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/rl/20061115a for instance. The Scarlet Mummers sound pretty sensible for a Paladin of Freedom.

[Renegade Paladin]

They are LG only because UA is not default in FR. If UA is incorporated I'm sure her paladins (and other orders like Corellon's) would become CG.

No, actually; she supports paladins because she finds chivalry sexy, to cut most of the chase. Remove the chivalric element (i.e. law) and while she would certainly probably support a non-paladin of freedom, it wouldn't be for the same reason. I do not believe the existence of non-paladins of freedom would change her support for paladins.

[taltamir]

To be fair, it wasn't canon until recently. (I believe, just before the 4e update.)

And gods should be above such petty contrivances as "race" anyway. "Humans call me X, Elves call me Y, either way I get the worship" - seems a much better system to me than having "I'm the god of the human moon, she's the goddess of the elven moon, he's the god of the dwarven moon..."

now, is that the goddess of moon elves or the the goddess of the moon of regular elves? likewise for dwarves and humans... (well, canonically I think there are no "moon-humans"... but elves and dwarves have like a bazillion sub races).

OP, choose whichever CG deity you are most comfortable with following. Remember that deities will gladly accept worship from across the spectrum, and that even allow clerics that are some steps away from their alignment.

[herrhauptmann]

Sune is the first one which came to mind for me. You can play the 'love' angle in many ways, though I believe too many authors have clerics of Sune be total whores (male or female).

Lathander could fit, especially if you're a heretic of the faith. Power of Faerun details the risen sun heresy, which states that lathander god of the dawn, will be reborn as the ancient god of the sun Amaunator (4E proved them right).
The odd thing, is that while there's a lot of bad blood between the two sects, Both still get the power to cast spells. Making phrases like "The true faith" rather difficult.
The heresy has a level 25 cleric as the instigator, but sadly, aside from a high level cohort, I believe all the rest of the heretics are level 9 or lower. So if your DM decides to have the orthodox church chase you down, you're going to be rather low on dependable allies by the time you hit the teens.

[Yora]

Amaunator is the LN aspect of Lathander, which would be very unfitting for a Paladin of Freedom.

[KurtKatze]

And you can arrest evildoers by shouting - "Stop! In the naaaaaaaame of love..."

what else do you need xD pick Sune!

She has an LG order of Paladins? Nothing a nice little backgroundstory can't fix. I even think this offers some great possibilities for your characters background.

Dunno, being outcast by some elder having a vision/dream where Sune' avatar appears in front of the character telling him to follow his heart because he really is her chosen one?
A never ending quest to reform said order into the "real" way of Sune? I would totally go with Sune ;)

[Killer Angel]

Remember: Paladins of Freedom have a certain element of roguishness in their ethos.

Women and wine, Party and dine...

[Mordokai]

I'm a big fan of paladins (freedom or otherwise) of Sune and Mielikkis is a fine choice, as far as I'm concerned. Selune too. But really, you can't miss with any of the choosen deities and in the end it all depends on your character personality.

[PhoenixRivers]

Note: A paladin of freedom can be played a lot like Han Solo (later on, rather than earlier on), especially one of Tymora. "Better Lucky than good" is a great motto.

While helping those down on their luck is a good way to venerate Tymora, remember. Gods of Luck are all about taking chances. You don't take gamble without a risk of failure, so don't be too hateful of bad luck. Two sides of the same coin, and all.

Such a character could be fiercely competitive (a risk taker), or philosophical ("Tymora shows us misfortune so that we can better appreciate the good fortune. What would the thrill of a successful venture be, without knowing what the sting of failure is?")

But venerating Tymora is, above all, venerating a playful, lighthearted deity.

[SilverStar]

I cannot fathom a paladin of Sharess. I can't.