| Drache Rott |
So I just finished reading many many responses to this post, Several links to various other notable people and then your own blog. Thinking about this for several minutes I think that while I understand what you are trying to say I think that you are missing several fundamental concepts here.
Starting with your own example. Two Child Thieves steal in your sight. You chase them down and go to turn them into the guard. The Guard is angry at you and arrest you. Not very likely to happen EVER in real life or fantasy. First off you did not kill the kids. Second off you brought them to the authority who would finish judging and dealing with their crimes so you did not actually try to usurp their authority in the first place and you probably very well had the cart owner chasing along with you to file charges against the little brats. The only way the guards are going to give you grief is if they were on the take for the thieves guild and the kids were high enough in the guild to get its protection for stealing bread?(Not Very Likely...stupid enough to be seen and caught...stupid enough to get left to rot). Most Likely the guards are going to thank you for nabbing the little buggers. Sure there can be story line reasons like one of the two kids is the Son of a Higher ranking noble so his kleptomania get ignored by the guards but I think my 3rd point will cover that.
The Next point to make is historical precepts that people have in regards to Knights and Paladins(Knights Templar). Knights under almost all situations were landed Nobles and did in fact wield Authority as a knighted agent of the King and could make decisions as needed. All a paladin was in historical Context of the Knights Templar Was landed Knights who owed a fierce Loyalty to BOTH the church and the King and anything that did not fall into the kings Direct Pervue fell to the church and then to the Paladin. So Historically and common culturally speaking people have a reasonable expectation that a Knight/Paladin wields authority over commoners ANY WHERE, Guards and other non Noble authorities or nobles lesser then him in his sphere of influence. If the guards did not believe his credentials they could ASK the Paladin to come with them to prove his credentials and if he refused they could try to force him to come but if they harmed him and his story proved true they were going to jail for Harming a noble. Given the cost of a Paladin/Knights Various Arms and Armour a common city guard is going to look at him and know he comes from either money or authority (and money = authority try pissing off a non landed knights benefactor).Also Historically it most countries for ages have been theocracies and the king/queen themselves crowned by the most power religion in the area which gives reasonable expectation that a paladin would wield some authority.
3rd and final point. As a DM it is YOUR world. YOU can make changes to any of this to suit your whim as it is YOUR story, But it is also YOUR JOB as DM to inform people of their standings and authorities if they are different from common cultural expectations. Having the guards arrest a Paladin for running down a thief that they did not even kill is way outside of common cultural expectations. If I saw a man snatch a woman's purse and ran him and and held him for/took him to the police they would take him into custody, Take my information from me. Check out the purse or talk to the woman...Not arbitrarily arrest me. It is also your job to Tell people the story of your world. You should tell your players within reason a Paladin/Knight or what ever other class with a reasonable expectation of authority what and where their common scope of authority is. IN their own area it is a given. IN the lands near their it would depends on their relationship with the noble in that area. I am pretty sure they will know if they are on good terms, neutral terms or bad terms with their local peer group. Now if you are 150+ miles from home then yes a good knowledge local or history check is in order or Maybe a really high knowledge Geography check is in order but it is still YOUR job to to inform your players not just go *BOOM* The guards just arrested you for being too full of your self for chasing down the kid that they would have cut the hands off of if they caught him themselves. Leaving the player going...WTF just happened I thought I was playing XYZ. Good DM'ing Can fix a new or poor player, Bad DM'ing can ruin the best player and the best story ever told.
A few things before I start off. One, this isn't JUST a post about paladins; they just happen to be the class this happens with the most. And Two, the main thrust of this post is questioning the assumptions that we make as gamers, and getting us to hold them at arm's length to get a better look at them.
Cool? Cool.
Anyway, this week I put together a fluff post titled You Don't Have Any Actual Authority, Just Because You're A Paladin, and there has been a lot of popular support for it. So I wanted to share it with the folks here, and hope that I could get some reasoned thoughts, and if any of my statements are incorrect, to get a page number with the rulings so I can alter what I said.
In short, I feel that too often we, as players, forget that having PC levels doesn't give our characters legitimate authority in the game world. Having levels of Inquisitor doesn't give you the ability to walk onto a murder scene and start ordering around NPCs like you're a watch detective, for example. Being a paladin doesn't automatically make you a recognized secular authority like a sheriff. If you do have that kind of authority, it typically comes as a part of your character's story, which includes membership in a law enforcement organization. Sometimes you might get limited authority as part of a prestige class (Grand Marshal, Hellknight, Eagle Knight, etc.), but if you're level one, it's probably because you and your DM agreed on a certain background.
The other point, and one that's gotten lost in the cross-talk up until now, is that because secular authority in the game world is granted through your story (for the most part), you don't have to have it if you don't want to. If you want to play a paladin who's just a lone adventurer, with no ties to a church or to a nation, you can do that. It's kind of like the lawful good rogue... we overlook it so often that we eventually forget it's something we can make, if we want...