How I'd go with it would be basically RP a more mortal Superman. Still is a bit of a Paragon, and holds the same personality, but as a bit more fallible.
When I play a paladin, I always choose a sin that they aren't very good at dealing with. Maybe he has an anger problem and loses his temper - Wrath. Maybe he believes that being chosen by the divine makes him better than the people around him (Pride). Maybe he's a womanizer (Lust). It helps to give them something to strive against as a flaw, rather than just being noble and good all the time - that's not very interesting.
Paladins I've Played:
A paladin/sorcerer, the son of a pair of powerful wizards. He was a champion of the goddess of magic, and fought against those who used magic irresponsibly. His sin was pride - he came from a powerful, famous family, and was wealthy from birth, and believed he was better than others. Still, he fought against evil and protected everyone as well as he knew how - he just wasn't all that considerate about it sometimes.
A Catholic demonslayer paladin whose family was killed by demons. His sin was Wrath - he couldn't keep things together very well when people disagreed with him or made things more difficult, whether by hurting others or getting in his way.
A swashbuckling paladin/rogue that ran a detective agency. He was a cat burglar in his youth, and steadfastly ignored the call to service by the twin gods of justice (Mercy and Vengeance). When he got drafted, though, he served under a paladin that recognized his calling and taught him what it meant. He fought against corruption and acted as sort of a Batman figure in his town. In a noir-ish twist, his sin was Lust - he had a difficult time believing anything bad about women, and was a sucker for a damsel in distress.
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For the last few years I've wanted to play a paladin that was a mixture or Ace Rimmer and Captain Jack Harkness. Overly charming and flirty with anyone that's gorgeous enough while also being bold, confident, and self sacraficing.
There can be something cheesy about paladins; sometimes it's fun to just play to type and not try and fight it.
But in high school I played a very different paladin. Over the course of the campaign he lost his home, family, and wife. He turned to drink becoming a bitter, depressed man. He was still good and heroic but spent his free moments drinking to bear the weight of his responsibility. Being the chosen warrior of a god can be a lonely life filled with pain.
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When I play a paladin, I always choose a sin that they aren't very good at dealing with. Maybe he has an anger problem and loses his temper - Wrath. Maybe he believes that being chosen by the divine makes him better than the people around him (Pride). Maybe he's a womanizer (Lust). It helps to give them something to strive against as a flaw, rather than just being noble and good all the time - that's not very interesting.
I have a paladin whose entire personality is built around the Seven Deadly Sins.
If you look at them, these particular sins aren't really very Evil, and tend to affect the sinner way more than they affect anyone else.
Greed, Sloth, Vanity, Envy and the rest just aren't good justification for a major alignment shift.
Theodore Horatio Earnest Onceler, Esquire, tends to be more worried about the fact that his armor got dinged than that you almost died.
He did lay hands on you when you were at -5HP and saved your life. You should be grateful.
He expects to get the biggest share of the treasure, because, after all, he did most of the actual fighting and took most of the damage.
And assorted things like that.
Sort of annoying, but not really Evil.
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This is why it's important to get DM input I think.
There's a few Paladis in here I wouldn't put in the lawful good category.
I liked the drinking one though. Very noir, dick Tracy kind of thing.
It doesn't really matter what I think though, as long as your DM is happy with it.
As for worshipping other gods, I have no problem with it as long as the back story makes sense. You might find the god isn't wiling to share his/her divine power unless you're f the right race though. I don't think this is an issue in Golarion however.
Cheers
There's an NPC in the NPC codex with 12 paladin levels, I believe, who's sole purpose is the hunting and killing of evil dragons. It's stated that he enjoys it, but I can't remember which deity works well with it.
Do GM's tend to not allow Humans to worship another races deity? For example, human worshiping Torag?
I've never heard of a GM who would disallow a Human from worshiping Torag, or anything like that. Essentially, any of the core 20 are fair game for any race, as I see it (though some would not really suit PCs, like evil aligned gods and the like). There are write ups in various books for minor gods of various races, which I'd potentially look deeper into before accepting, but my opinion is that if you deny Torag from non-dwarves, you'd have to deny Abadar or Cayden Cailean from non-humans.
The 3.5 book Player's Handbook 2 was spectacular for this. Tons of treat ideas for fleshing out all classes. A few:
1. Faithful. Find a faith and stick with it. Faiths of Purity is great for this. You should go with your God's favored tactics (like Redemption for Shelyn) and when successful, have others take note. But remember that annoyance is not a conversion tool.
2. Humility. Do not gloat about your achievements, but accept praise freely given. Stress how your companions were brave and their successes.
3. Merciful. A friend gained strengthens you while weakening your enemies. More importantly, one who walked in evil has come to the blessing of goodness.
A Paladin should be everyone's second best friend. The wizard prefers the fighter who doesn't preach. The rouge prefers the wizard's magic. But everyone knows, when the chips are down, the Paladin will always come through, or die trying.
The 3.5 book Player's Handbook 2 was spectacular for this. Tons of treat ideas for fleshing out all classes. A few:
1. Faithful. Find a faith and stick with it. Faiths of Purity is great for this. You should go with your God's favored tactics (like Redemption for Shelyn) and when successful, have others take note. But remember that annoyance is not a conversion tool.
I disagree with this; Paladins are, while divinely powered, not by necessity, servants of a deity. While this has more or less become the norm, the only requirement is that the character be a righteous warrior who upholds the paladin's code and LG alignment. Paladins can exist who champion no god, just as easily as you could have a paladin of Abadar or Iomedae or Sarenrae.
I disagree with this; Paladins are, while divinely powered, not by necessity, servants of a deity. While this has more or less become the norm, the only requirement is that the character be a righteous warrior who upholds the paladin's code and LG alignment. Paladins can exist who champion no god, just as easily as you could have a paladin of Abadar or Iomedae or Sarenrae.
It wasn't meant as an absolute, merely a suggestion. I personally prefer Paladins of a God, though.
Likewise, a Paladin could also be vengeful instead of merciful. Depends on the player.
Also, I do believe Paladins should be "better" than others, in the sense that they should resist certain vices that lesser men indulge in. They should be paragons of LG.
How bout I ( the player) am loving every gory second of smashing skulls reaving limbs and crushing ribcages.
Yet I (The character) am simply doing my god given duty and take no pleasure other than that of serving my god to the letter.If you like cracking evil skulls Chronicle of the Righteous offers you the empyreal lord Ragathiel.
Basically, in order to gain his divine boon, you must sacrifice an evil being who has committed an evil or unlawful deed. This doesn't need to be wholly brutal; there are some ways of approaching it that can make you a wrathful and awesome hero without making you a serial killer. I really like angles that others have been making in threads here and here; a LG paladin of Ragathiel wouldn't be killing every day - instead, she/he would only gain her/his boons when they needed it most.
It might be an interesting turn from the "redeemer" trope and push you into the "avenger" trope that you seem to be interested in pursuing.
And now I'M interested in playing a LG paladin of Ragthiel...leave it to Mikaze to convince me that being good could be fun :D
admittedly the ragathiel thing does sound cool, really dig the ascended demon thing and really dig avenging type pally as well.
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> How Would You Roleplay A Paladin?
Kill paladin. Put on it paladin armor. Grab it paladin weapon. Grunt at buddies, "Hurg, hurg. Look at me a paladin!"
Be an example for others, whether knowingly or not.
That's what Superman is, an example for humanity.
That's what Galahad is, and Roland.
Even when you fail, you try harder next time.
Flaws are great, not just for a paladin, but for any character.
Just don't be a bully, that's what Lawful Stupid tends to be.
As for interacting with the party:
Be tolerant. Let minor transgressions slide with no more than a "that's not really a good thing", and even less than that. If you smell a conflict coming in character, address it out of character before it hits the fan.
And definitely talk to your GM. Try to encourage them to be lenient: A paladin who isn't shackled by your GM's code is much more fun.
And then be the best damn hero you can be.
You may find yourself living at the crossroads of faith and doubt.
Have your convictions. But also question yourself in the search for what is just.
Just remember two things about you paladin. Int was probably your dump stat and you are Immune To Fear!
2) The fettered. Batman (some versions, let's not get into a batman alignment debate) or Samuel Vimes. This route is open to anyone with sufficient self discipline, even sociopaths.
In the last campaign I played in (I normally DM), I played a Paladin who was very similar to bits and pieces of some Batman incarnations. I remember finding a site that really help me nail down how this works, but it's been well over a year and I can't seem to find it again.
I discussed it with my DM and he agreed that it would fit. I ended up finding some item that allowed me to know whether or not an action would cause me to fall and was a great investment as I got a feel for the DM and how he approached Paladins.
The other players in my group weren't keen on the idea but after the first session, they really had little issue with it.
I have a paladin ninja who is honorable, but uses every advantage she can in combat (excluding poison) if her opponent is clearly outmatched then she leaves him to another party member or offers a surrender. All bets are off vs "extreme" evils though, and she revels in using shadows to destroy the darkness. Concerning strict matters of the law, she interprets to the letter, even to the favor of an evil person. But if she witnesses evil, she will confront it right away, or wait till a more opportune time to meet out justice. She is lawful and good more so than lawful good, and plays more like a stealth paladin than a holy ninja.
Paragon Commander Shepard. :)
Basically an anthropomorphic pistolwhip to the notion that Good is either dumb or soft. And s/he does it without sacrificing an ounce of compassion.
Actually I remember paragon as being a total pushover and renegade as being a jerk. I may just be hard to please...
Don't suppose there's a sweet middle road between militaristic "kill em all" and total pushover "We can talk everything out!"
There are a lot of ways to play a paladin. Depending on your GM of course. Some GMs won't let a kill em all paladin into the game and another might think that's the only way to play it right. YMMV.
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The paladin I played for Carrion Crown followed Iomedae and had an oath of vengence. I played him as the sacrificial leader type (though not bossy) who really just wanted nothing more than to destroy every undead and evil outsider in glorious combat. His LG paladin zeal came from his devotion to the destruction of evil. He had an evil party member (a summoner with, as far as he was concerned, a demon) that he was devoted to turning to the ways of goodness.
Basically, anything irredeemably evil was destroyed on sight, but those that could be redeemed were given every chance possible. He was also a bit of a cynical adventurer. Things like, "That room looks dangerous. Unless there is evil to be vanquished there, or loot to be gained, it can rot for eternity." and, "This looks like certain death. Summoner, send your demon in there."
He even made friends with the vampires, since they seemed like nice enough "people", at least compared to the Whispering Way. Duristan the werewolf hunter was shown compassion and pity after he turned instead of being struck down.
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I've got a concept for a Paladin...well, an ElK, really...he's Pal2/Sor6/ElK10/Sor2...Aasimar (angelic)...
The twist is that the angel fell, so he'll have Eldritch Heritage and Improved Eldritch Heritage: Abyssal...struggling with the knowledge that his ancestor fell, and he could, too...though he won't understand it for a while...
I'd look to the Faiths of Purity book and read up on the different gods/goddess, then look through each of their various codes/tenets. From there I'd pick a deity to follow and build a paladin around those codes, strive to keep in line with them as much as possible knowing that my paladin is mortal. A mortal who can and will make mistakes along the way, a mortal who will not fall unless he does evil willingly and goes against what his deity wishes.
I would also look through the new Ultimate Campaign book and pick up a drawback or two, give him some real fluff and personality to go with a fun background. I love having a good story behind my characters on how and why they got to be X class, what their strengths and weaknesses are and then go about adventuring and enjoying the campaign.
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I always wanted to play a paladin who's basically a hippy. He believes in peace and love and forgiveness, and goes into every encounter with a smile and a Diplomacy check. And by "Diplomacy check", I mean "offer you a drink". Kill 'em with kindness all the way.
Another route you could take is a paladin who stands as an example, by making the holy path look GOOD. Strength and Charisma are your best stats, so be a show-off! Take Dazzling Display and show the wayward ones what you can do! Let the townsfolk see you destroy the ghoul with your bare hands! Then take the tavern wench to bed as your reward and make no secret of it! And if asked, tell the wayward ones that if they opened their eyes to the path, they could have all this and Heaven too.
Another resource you can use is the "Book of Exalted Deeds" and "Champions of Valor"
Both are 35 or 30 books but they work really well
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Constable Benton Frasier of the RCMP . Nuff said.