Tips for playing a Paladin

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Evermeet is the archipelago of islands to which elves have been forced to migrate from Faerun in Forgotten Realms.

Deities from other systems aren't so much of a problem. They can have incarnations in many systems more or less independently. For example, elven or dwarven deities tend to. Lloth is a good example.

As the deity is so closely related with omens and divinations, I suggest some visions and voices on the roleplaying side. Perhaps a kind of ESP or a trace of psionics. Or something Jedi-style.

If your DM allows, perhaps you could make a unique feat for him, something similar to those ancestry feats from Forgotten Realms selectable only at level 1? Whatever it takes to make your character really special, not just an elven female paladin with a couple of numbers for stats.

The feats choice would depend on the selection. I would be in favour of the Divine Might and Divine Shield feats for a paladin with a high Charisma score. Extra Turning sounds nice. You could also take another feat to improve the turning (Improved Turning IIRC). I'm not 100% sure about the feat names.

As for other feats... well, if you see a feat giving +2 to saves vs something on the list, why not make a custom one giving the same kind of bonus against an analogous type of attack? Just a suggestion. I would suggest focusing on saves against the attacks of the undead, like draining and paralysing.

If there is something like Extra Smiting or Extra Turning, I see no reason why you shouldn't make a custom Extra Cure Disease feat, for example.

And if there's an Improved Turning feat working as if your level had been slightly higher for turning and those Spell Focus magic school feats, why not a custom feat to make you two levels higher for e.g. the purpose of laying on hands?

If you don't use a shield for reasons related to sneaking skills or whatever such, perhaps Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Dire Mace would be a good choice.

There's also a feat improving Diplomacy and Sense Motive by 2. IIRC the name was Negotiator.

 

Eh? Who said I was playing a women?

 

Got something wrong. Now I see you were referring to his deity. Sorry for the confusion.

 

So you wish to become a Baelnorn, don't you?

A few questions that popped up in my mind...

About your deity: Sehanine Moonbow is Chaotic Good. I don't remember she'd allow paladins in her church, but I think she wouldn't mind, seeing her as a protactor of the dead and such. (I never took these rules too strict) If your DM allows a paladin of a Chaotic Good deity, then it should be fine.

About the Feat: What level are you? Paladins get Turn Undead ability at level 3, so if you are of lower level, pick an other for your first level and take a Turn Undead related at 3rd level (unless you prefer an other, of course.)

Your weapon: Sehanine's favoured weapon is a quarterstaff, a perfect blunt weapon, but it wouldn't allow you to carry a shield. You could pick up a light mace and get some advantage with your +2 dex if you pick up Weapon Finesse. But this are game mechanical matters. If you prefer to wield a maul, then do that.

I still got this idea in mind for a background story

 

Aye, We start at level one, I forgot Paladin got turn undead only at level three. I never heard of that ancestry thing. A quaterstaff? Sounds nice to me. Maybe I'll trade my +2 agaisnt fear for a permament +1 Attack against undead, I don't see why the DM wouldn't allow it.

 

It's level 3 in 3E and even level 4 in 3.5E. You can't get feats dealing with turning undead before you get the main ability itself, either.

 

There is a *peep*load of info on Sehanine in Faiths and Pantheons. Want more info?

Ancestry thing?

A Baelnorn is an elf who willingly became a (good-aligned) undead to protect the dead (and some other causes, IIRC). Perhaps you could start your background with a task for that baelnorn. Just an idea.

If your DM is not too strict with the application of game-rules: Most of the clergy duals as diviners or illusionists. I can imagine paladin/diviner of Sehanine, too.

 

My IWD2 paladin was a paladin/diviner of Mystra. That I don't remember him casting a single divination spell is another thing.

 

Mmmm, Never been a fan of a fighter class multiclassed to a wizards though. Unfortunately I don't have any money to buy Faith and Pantheons.

A diviner who doesn't cast a spell? Try explain it to me role-play wise eh?

 

It was quite tricky, actually. It was in the guy's personality, sort of. Not like you get many divination spells in IWD2. Detect Invisible wasn't so needed. No clairvoyance or anything. True Sight didn't have many opportunities. In fact, the are two divination spells in there that you ever use: Identify (lev. 1) and Executioner's Eyes (lev. 9). There was a conversation specifically for diviners and the guy had a large level of Knowledge (arcane) for identifying items, from ranks and INT and items, so he didn't need the Identify spell. He was a Gandalfish type of wizard. Like a seer. No matter he always ended up making lots of fire damage.

 

I usually see people play a paladin as the heavy-armored smiter of everything; right now, though, I've got a dude I'm running who's doing a Paladin of Ilmater, and he's quite good at it. Firstly, he went for a strange weapon--the rapier. He's a fencer. May not sound like roleplaying at first glance, but ... I assure you, get rid of the huge sword/axe/whatever and the whole attitude changes. He doesn't rush headlong to the front of the fight; he flanks and jabs. That goes for social situations, too--he flanks and jabs, eventually unravelling the mental/emotional defenses of his enemies.
I damned near had to change a whole adventure because his persuasiveness caused the enemy flunkies to flock to him, and away from the badguy ...
Lots of things to do with a paladin that don't involve cutting things up and smashing them.

 

i think characters who constantly shout 'it's evil, kill it' would be CG, not LG. Anyway, i'd say with stats like 9, 11, 14, 16, 17, 13, go like this:

STR 16
DEX 9
CON 13
INT 11
WIS 14
CHA 17

kinda depends; if you're going to play high-level campaings, you should get higher WIS. also, if INT is only 9, which means you can speak properly, but only barely. so to rp being charming, you'd need an extensive vocabulary, so i made int 11. you DO have a 9 for dex, but if you use a longsword+shield, i wouldnt see that as much of a problem...

 

Characters who shout "it's evil, kill it" are of the Metagaming-Stupid alignment. It's a special alignment, for special players. Or well, that's my opinion anyway

 

i dunno, i often play a fighter who kills evil no matter the cost....VERY interesting....killed a corrupt captain of the guard, got into a LOT of trouble...

 

Problem is, by simply killing all that is supposedly 'evil' you have a good shot of becoming it yourself. Does someone who is corrupt deserve death for his crimes? Are you justified?

 

Or, tips for playing in a party with a paladin:

1) convince the guy rping the paladin that they need to dispense serious and deadly justice at every turn;

2) slip notes to the DM questioning whether the paladin's bloodthirsty behavior justifies an alignment shift and change to "fallen" status...

 

nah he's not evil, he kills all that is evil, but only the bog forms of evil...think of it as this; people who do it because they have no choice i dont attack, people who are beyond hope, i DO attack...but it's all up to my char's own judgement

 

Which, by placing at your judgement instead of a set of laws, you're really playing chaotic more than lawful. Even with the fallback of Detect Evil, you're still going to wind up violating a large part of the law if you can't prove anything beyond "He seemed evil to me!"

 

well, i said i was a chaotic good fighter....it was off-topic, i know, but i felt it was interesting to discuss...but you're right, a paladin should NEVER act that way

 

Following the character's own judgement might be arbitrary enough to mark a chaotic streak, but going by the society's commonly accepted norms still doesn't make you a law officer.

And no, paladins aren't any sort of policemen. Sure, maybe you will find a paladin in the command of a guard unit every couple of kingdoms or cities, but they are mostly counterpart to mediaeval knights errant.

Following that way, no one should mind if you slaughter a couple of orcs or even a whole settlement. Except your deity maybe. No one cares if bandits survive a fight with you. If you're a petty noble of a knight errant, you might even have some right to exercise minor justice or even more, especially in urgent cases on public roads. Your ties with your ruler or temple might have something to do with this, as well. You will more than likely be called to adjudicate in disputes by the parties involved.

But all this still doesn't mean you can just run around with your sword, deciding who's worthy to live and who deserves to die. When you fight, you fight. If you have to kill someone in the process, be it. But you have laws in place for dealing with the captives. Unless you actually do have some formal authority (as, imaginably, the knights of the round table would have in Arthur's realm, a noble in his domain, possibly a knight in his lord's realm, a military commander in a war zone, etc etc). Even then, you're generally supposed to employ at lest some degree of due process.

At other times, you might actually still find yourself on the receiving end of the country's laws and stepping against time-honoured customs with nothing but your conscience to guide you, doing Robin Hood's job. After all, what do you think you have Conceal Alignment (unique 1st level paladin spell) for?

Think of a complex system, a moral philosophy based on a religion and/or traditions and accomplishements of an advanced civilisation. Or a lawful good deity's will. Just not what seems immediately convenient or desirable, let alone merely justified.