I have a player who wants to play a paladin of Sarenrae, of the distinctly crusader-like mentality. We started to work on the character's background and personality, and have both gotten rather excited about it, but I was wondering if anyone cared to give some input on the nature of the knightly order in question. The basic idea is that in the nation of Cheliax, ever since the death of their god has led to the present trend of demonic pacts as a path to power, a small underground priesthood of Sarenrae has arisen.
In reaction to Chelaxian society falling into darkness and depravity, an order of knighthood has arisen devoted to Sarenrae, whose goal is "to bring her light into the darkest of places," by force if necessary.
I'll be honest, I don't have much experience running paladins, as most of my players have historically been more of a mind to assume a certain ethical flexibility, to say the least. I want to set up a more thorough background for this Order, and would like to solicit some ideas from you good folks.
If nothing else, it will take people's minds off of waiting for the pdf to show up in our email boxes...
Apparently, paladins are stinky. Pfft.
In reaction to Chelaxian society falling into darkness and depravity, an order of knighthood has arisen devoted to Sarenrae, whose goal is "to bring her light into the darkest of places," by force if necessary.
Two thoughts for you.
1. You might be better served to steer your paladin-wannabe towards Iomedae. That priesthood was designed by Erik and he mentioned the goddess of valor specifically has the crusader-type of paladins and priests opposing the darkness and depravity of Cheliax. I could see Sarenrae's followers having an interest in supporting or joining Iomedae's crusaders, of course. Just, in general, I think Iomedae is being set up as the Heironeous/Tyr/Torm derivative for the Pathfinder world.
2. A previous blog post about Kyra -- i.e., the iconic pregen cleric devoted to Sarenrae -- described two approaches within Sarenrae's clergy. There's the diplomats who patiently try to win over evil and redeem its followers (e.g., redemption is part of Sarenrae's portfolio). And then there's the crusaders who dispense with the talking and focus primarily on fighting evil directly in order to end its existence, satisfying themselves that some evil just isn't redeemable (is that a word?)...therefore, it's better to end that evil creature's life rather than spend precious time trying to convince it to change its ways while it continues committing atrocities. It sounds like a paladin devoted Sarenrae along the order of what you've described with crusades into Cheliax would fall into the latter category. Kyra does too. So you might to re-read her character background to get a sense of her mentality and how she justifies that in the name of her goddess. It might spark some further ideas for developing your knighthood if you go with Sarenrae.
Just my two-cents,
--Neil
You might be better served to steer your paladin-wannabe towards Iomedae.
That had been the original plan, and yes it made the most sense to em as well on a doctrinal basis. But the player and I were discussing the various gods, and he pretty much fell in love with the idea of a paladin of Sarenrae, even if it renders the order in question mildly heretical in nature.
That priesthood was designed by Erik and he mentioned the goddess of valor specifically has the crusader-type of paladins and priests opposing the darkness and depravity of Cheliax. I could see Sarenrae's followers having an interest in supporting or joining Iomedae's crusaders, of course. Just, in general, I think Iomedae is being set up as the Heironeous/Tyr/Torm derivative for the Pathfinder world.
...two approaches within Sarenrae's clergy. There's the diplomats who patiently try to win over evil and redeem its followers (e.g., redemption is part of Sarenrae's portfolio). And then there's the crusaders who dispense with the talking and focus primarily on fighting evil directly in order to end its existence, satisfying themselves that some evil just isn't redeemable
Thanks for the pointer, I must have missed that somewhere along the way. I think a sort of mix of the two views is pretty much what he has in mind, i.e. evil will be redeemed by seeing Sarenrae's light one way or the other, if he can't get them to see it in life, then they'll see it in death. I always saw paladins as fairly grim overall, so it makes sense to me.
I'll look for the blog post on Kyra, thanks!