Delericho's page

Since paladins are called by their gods (rather than choosing for themselves), what about the unwilling Paladin? He's got a god-given calling to fight Evil, and all the powers that go with it, but he'd really rather be at home wooing his childhood sweetheart.

What stops such a character just violating his code and going home, you ask? Well, to answer one question with another - when your god says "Go!", who are you to refuse?

I take a different tack. I informed my players quite some time ago of how I interpret alignment (the short version is that good places others over self, evil places self over others, law places society over the individual and chaos places the individual over society. Please note that this is an extremely abbreviated version of the whole). From then on, they've been on their own. I don't do warnings or 'last chances' or anything of that sort. If your actions are at odds with the alignment on the sheet, then the sheet will be changed, without fuss or fanfare.

For most characters, I change the alignment listed on the sheet (if appropriate) when the character levels up, as I keep electronic versions of all character sheets, and that's when they get redone. For characters without an alignment restriction, or for characters who remain within their alignment restrictions, this is enough.

If a character has an alignment restriction that they're exceeding, I will typically make the change between sessions, and inform the player by email. Thus far, this hasn't actually come up.

The only exception is the Paladin, which has that "if he ever commits and Evil act" restriction. In this case, the penalty is applied immediately. This, also, has never actually come up.

(IMC alignment changes don't come as a surprise. I take the view that your actions define your alignment, not the other way around. So, if you're acting in a manner at odds with the sheet, the sheet is wrong... but it's no surprise, since you've chosen your actions along the way. Additionally, I don't like the notion that a player should modify his character's behaviour to keep within some alignment - he should play the character as he feels is appropriate, and have the alignment assigned that this happens to match.)

Evilturnip wrote:

... a nice adaption of the gazebo classic

ED: (Thoroughly frustrated) It's too late. You've woken up the tureen, and it catches you and eats you.

Heh.

Did I ever tell the story of the time I actually was attacked by a gazebo?

It was May 2004 and so, it being Scotland, the weather was foul. The winds were high, and there were periodic and heavy falls of rain, hail and snow. However, being hardy sorts, my pipe band were out at the Bargeddie gala day (a gala day is a sort of village festival; they've more or less gone out of fashion these days).

Anyway, we did the big parade, and got thoroughly soaked. After the parade, the band were scheduled to play for a time on the main stage, which was open to the air, but covered with a cheap plastic gazebo (bought from B&Q) lashed down with ropes. So, we played for a while.

And as we played, the wind gradually rose up. But we persevered. After the first set of tunes, I told the rest of the band to take a break, while the highland dancers danced. And, as I struck up to play the accompanying music, a gust of wind lifted the gazebo, and it lunged menacingly towards myself and the dancer (actually, I think it wanted her, being almost draconic in its tastes).

Fortunately, several local men were on hand to grab hold of the ropes. They made their grapple checks, and the beast was constrained once more.

Having checked the PHB, there's nothing in the "flurry of blows" description to prevent it from being used alongside two-weapon fighting. Therefore, I would allow it.

Oh, yes, I'm reminded of one more I've seen but never tried. You need a deck of cards, but take out all the cards numbered 7 and above (so only the Aces through 6's are left).

The player shuffles the cards, and deals out six hands of four cards each. Turn them over, discard the lowest card from each hand, and there are your six ability scores.