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  1. #11
    Gary V. Foss
    Guest

    Paladins for Everyone

    Ryan Freire wrote:

    > >Have you ever actually had a paladin do that with any regularity in a
    > campaign? I
    > >can't remember it happening in a campaign I ran, at least not any more
    > than the rest
    > >of the PCs inspired people to take up swords against their
    > oppressors....
    > >
    > >Gary
    >
    > That comes from the players not playing the paladin well, Dragon
    > Magazine has a very good article about roleplaying high charismas in
    > number 243, basically outlining how a paladin should act to show a high
    > charisma and still be a noble holy warrior. The purpose of a paladin is
    > to spread the faith and inspire people to want to worship his deity, the
    > same as priests (who i think should have high charisma's as well) and
    > people arent going to want to follow someone who isnt any more
    > charismatic than a good barmaid, much less someone who is offensive and
    > holier-than-thou.

    I think it is generally a bad idea to tell players how to play their
    characters. The fact that paladins get played so badly seems to be a fault of
    the character class description rather than the fault of all the players who
    play them.

    Part of the problem with the paladin character class as I see it is that its
    description is too restrictive. If a player wants to play his character as you
    suggest, then he is welcome. If he wants to play his character some other way,
    I think he should be encouraged to do so. I don't think charisma should be the
    defining characteristic of a holy warrior unless the player wants that to be
    the way the character is run.

    Even with your comments, however, why should paladins be required to have a 17
    charisma? That's the very top end of the scale, making the character class
    incredibly restrictive. It defines the class in a way that gets in the way of
    role-playing. I just don't see why it should be like that.

    As I see it, paladins should be "lightened up" a little bit. They should be
    holy warriors in the same way that rangers are warriors who emphasize nature.
    I've never heard of someone keeping a ranger out of a dungeon adventure simply
    because his skills are geared towards the outdoors. Similarly, I think
    paladins should be given more leeway. If a player in my campaign wants to play
    a hard-drinking, foul-mouthed warrior for Cuiraecen then I think he should be
    allowed. It makes sense given the philosophy. I say go with it.

    > As for the thought of paladins for everyone, the closest i think erik
    > would come would be a ranger, ruonil would be more interested in fighter
    > mages, or solid mages. i see belinik as being the only evil diety to
    > actually have the antipaladin, seeing as kriesha comes off as more
    > priestly, and elole has her thieves, who operate more in her style.

    I'd like to fundamentally redefine the paladin class. That is, I'd like to
    define paladins as holy warriors rather than as knights of law and good. This
    would eliminate the term that seems to have offending the AD&D designers so
    much: Anti-paladin. If paladins can exist for any god, then they can be as
    variable and interesting as the gods....

    In the Oriental Adventures book gone OOP many moons ago, they had a character
    class called the Sohei, which were sort of monk-warrior types. I like the idea
    of paladins being a kind of a blend of their current description as modified by
    BR and the sohei class, which would make them less restricted in theme and
    playability.

    This is, of course, a change from the core rules that I will make part of my
    house rules which people are free to ignore, but I'd suggest that it makes a
    lot of sense and might be something that should be incorporated into the system
    as a whole.... The restrictiveness of the paladin character class interferes
    with play, and I don't like that. If we loosen things up a bit game mechanics
    flow more easily and a gaming session is more fun.

    Gary

  2. #12
    Tony Lemmers
    Guest

    Paladins for Everyone

    Hi,

    The Dragon of Feb 1986 (Yes I know I am old;-\ ) there was an article 'A
    Plethora of Paladins' which presented a paladin for the missing alignments,
    the Anti-paladin had already appeared in a previous Dragon (#39). With a bit
    of polishing up the could do shut fine ( I hate reinventing everything).

    The Myrikhan (NG); Eric
    The Garath (CG); Learme
    The Lyan (LN); - (Avani ?)
    The Paramander (N); Ruornil
    The Fantra (CN); Eric (alternative)
    The Illringer (LE); Eoele / Kriesha
    The Arrikhan (NE); Kriesha
    The Anti-Paladin (CE); Belinik

    Hope this helps.

    Tony Lemmers



    "May the silver light of the sacred Moon
    protect you from the Shadow World
    and lead you to secret sources of power."

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