I did this up for a Player who wanted me to suggest and describe some knightly orders for him, here are seven takes on the paladinic orders of some of the Major Deities of Golarion.
Just thought I'd share my love of faith-specific paladins.
Erastil
The Holy Orders of Erastil are tasked with protecting communities on the borders of civilisation, and of hunting down and either placating or removing beasts that threaten small towns and hamlets. Wearing green cloth and tabards over their well-kept but functionally unadorned armor the Paladin’s of Erastil are masters of the longbow and are as often seen wearing breastplate and firing blessed arrows from their stag paladin mounts as they are stemming the hordes of darkness with sword in hand.
Such Orders include the Order of the Golden Hart, and the Order of the Bow Unbroken.
Iomedae
The Paladin of The Inheritor are vocal and devout in their beliefs and practices, in many ways the have begun and continued the clichéd iconic belief of what a paladin is. Wearing their full-plate armor and wielding longswords marked with a sunburst over their hilts the passionate paladin of Iomedae are beacons of the justice they seek to represent.
Torag
The god of the forges paladins wear fire coloured robes under their amazing suits of armour. Many construct and make their own suits of the full-plate, and each wears individual, beautiful sets, small friendly competitions running among them as they compare their protective gear, their armour is not simply for show however and the neatly-bearded defenders of the weak wield their warhammers with righteous fury, protecting the living and their forge shrines with fervour, they often work together with the faithful of Abadar to defend civilisation itself, and, in their practical and pragmatic manner have even allied with hellknights in order to save humanity from greater evils.
Such Orders include the Order of the Searing Hammer, and the Brotherhood of the Forge Renewed.
Saranrae
The gentle paladins of Saranrae do not see themselves as crusaders or devout warriors, they see themselves as heralds, as the first light before the Dawn. They wrap their swords into their scabbards with golden silk and draw them with great regret when the time comes to defend the weak and needy, to save the light of day for the good and pure Not known to evangelise and leaving preaching to clerics these soft-spoken men and women when asked why they do not seek to spread their faith simply reply, “I do simple acts of good, brother, and so that you too may carry good in your heart, and if you share in an act of kindness you already do the will of the Everlight.”
Such Orders include the Order of Light Eternal, and the Watchers of the Gentle Way.
Shelyn
The rare dedicated knights of Shelyn’s faith are not part of the church proper, they are often young men and women (though the greater majority are women), attractive and open faced. Many were foppish and vain nobles before an act of revelation, or the sight of great beauty being defiled led them to cat away all mirrors and jewellery and seek to protect the beauty of the rest of the world. They wear reds and rose coloured cloth, and a smattering of other ribbons of silk in the other colours of the Rainbow over their armour which though forged of the strongest steel is often laquered to seem gold or bronze, the unofficial defenders of the Eternal Rose’s gentle faith are their with glaive in hand when thugs threaten a budding young artist, when raiding orcs seek to lay waste to a pristine and beautiful spring, when dirt and grime and evil seek to overwhelm beauty and love, the paladin’s of Shelyn are their, not wishing to be venerated or vindicated by their church, only seeking to do what is necessary to protect the compassion and joy their goddess spreads.
Such Orders include the Daughters of the Rose, and the Un-Mirrored Order.
Abadar
Atop the walls of great cities, among the caravans of dedicated and pious merchants and dutifully bringing criminals to justice the primarily urban justicars of Abadar are the defenders of law and civilisation. Wearing their simple grey uniforms and routinely maintained armour the paladins of Abadar police crime, and defend walls in the great cities of Golarion, there are the defenders of law and settlements, they wield their crossbows and longswords with the conviction and weight of the law and the people on their side, protecting the wards and markets of the settled and civilised from ravening hordes, from dangerous urban menaces and from the occasional fanatic druid or follower of Gozreh intent on removing the cities they defend from the face of the world.
Such Orders include the Order of The Rigorous Truth, and the Keepers of the Silent Key.
Pharasma
While the paladins are rare, the paladins of Pharasma are almost unheard of, and they would have it no other way. Donning, ornate, eerie and beautiful, fate-masks along with their armor, they seek to keep the skeins of fate and laws of death intact, they are a mysterious group of often silent warriors, keeping souls on their rightfully journey, through both life, death and what destiny remains on Golarion. Their black robes conceal darkly laquered armour and often many daggers, some ceremonial some functional accompany their swords in their quests to keep the unfathomable, far reaching threads woven by Pharasma in place.
It is not known whether these paladins all consider themselves one order, or a collection of like minded individuals. Some call them Weave-Wardens or The Gentle Repose.
Wow this is a great bit of creative writing on an area which has yet to be really detailed. I really enjoyed reading it. The descriptions in particular are really strong. I can fully imagine a warhammer weilding paladin of Torag resplendant in his own hand crafted armour.
I thought that these where all really strong entries the only criticism I have and it is incredibly minor is that the paladins of Pharasma seems to be more like LN fighters than paladins unholding the greater good. While this is very appropriate for a Goddess of fate I'd think maybe that the paladins could use something to make there actions seem a bit more good. Maybe just a little bit about them trying to protect the innocent from the cruelest twists of fate or some other nice action. Anyway that's just my personal taste. Again really great descriptions of Pharasma paladins. They gave of a mysterious defender of fate vibe with out being creepy despite the whole black armour/uniforms and I don't think creepy and paladin go together very well.
Anyway I am rambling on. Great job on this keep up the good work.
Very nice. I especially liked the stag mount for Erastil's paladin. Consider this yoinked.
@Warforged Goblin: By all means that's why I shared it.
@Cheddar Bearer: Hmm, that's true, but I wanted to keep to the the kind of alignment being a loose guide thing, as far as the paladin of Pharasma are concerned by keeping things in their destined path they are doing the greatest good imaginable, and while they are good guys and willing to fight evils, they're more interested in the long term good, the greater good. Altough they seem more cold to other paladins, they see other paladins and hot-headed do-gooders as short-sighted, and possibly doing more damage than good.
Also I wanted them more detached and mystical given their goddess!
I had that kind of theme in mind with trying to make Abadar's clerics seem closer to law that good within the LG spectrum!
Ahh fair enough I never really thought of it that way. I suppose if they believe in pharasma absolutely then they would believe that there is no greater good than making sure the fate she has laid out for the world comes to fruition. When put like that they wouldn't necessaily act like stereotypical paladins as their plans are far more long term. You got a great idea there.
I also think the more lawful leanings really suit the Abadar paladin. I like the idea that their convinced that the law is righteous that they think by enforcing it they simply must be doing good.
Most competetions and stuff like that are only usually open to be people from either the U.S. or the UK, so I never even look at application details to things anymore.
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Most competetions and stuff like that are only usually open to be people from either the U.S. or the UK, so I never even look at application details to things anymore.
Those are really cool, vagrant-poet.
Re: RPG Superstar - you should definitely try for it next year. It's not restricted to just the US or UK. I'm American, but I live in the Czech Republic, and Christine Schneider (another Top 6) is from Germany. And in previous rounds, we've had US, UK, more Germany, and the Netherlands. So keep it in mind next time around!
Thanks!
I'm glad these could help add a little individualism to paladins!
And about RPG Superstar I wasn't aware, I may give it a go.
Erastil
The Holy Orders of Erastil are tasked with protecting communities on the borders of civilisation, and of hunting down and either placating or removing beasts that threaten small towns and hamlets. Wearing green cloth and tabards over their well-kept but functionally unadorned armor the Paladin’s of Erastil are masters of the longbow and are as often seen wearing breastplate and firing blessed arrows from their stag paladin mounts as they are stemming the hordes of darkness with sword in hand.
Such Orders include the Order of the Golden Hart, and the Order of the Bow Unbroken....
Love this idea. This would work great with the Sentinel, the Paladin variant class found in Dragon 310 (Champions of the Divine). We are starting the Runelords soon and I had been struggling with what to class to play. Thanks for the spark, I am off to make my new character.
Loved the articles...great descriptions...just a thought though..ever thought of tying the 7 paths to the 7 virtues (wealth, fertility , honest pride, abundance, eager striving, righteous anger and rest)
eg. Wealth-Abadar, Fertility-Shelyn, Honest Pride-Iomedae, Abundance-Erastil, Eager Striving-Sarenrae, Righteous Anger-Torag, and Rest-Pharasma
Just a thought...ties to ancient Thassilon are always cool in my eyes...
Loved the articles...great descriptions...just a thought though..ever thought of tying the 7 paths to the 7 virtues (wealth, fertility , honest pride, abundance, eager striving, righteous anger and rest)
Are those the seven virutes that the runelords were originally stewards of before they got corrupted . . . i seem to remebmer there was some debate on which seven virutes they were.
Loved the articles...great descriptions...just a thought though..ever thought of tying the 7 paths to the 7 virtues (wealth, fertility , honest pride, abundance, eager striving, righteous anger and rest)
eg. Wealth-Abadar, Fertility-Shelyn, Honest Pride-Iomedae, Abundance-Erastil, Eager Striving-Sarenrae, Righteous Anger-Torag, and Rest-PharasmaJust a thought...ties to ancient Thassilon are always cool in my eyes...
I can't beleive I didn't think of that, and I love the Seven sins thing, that said as much as I do love Thassilon alot of these gods came to power in the 10,000 years since. But I really like that idea nonetheless, if you wanted to do it though, maybe swap Torag and Iomedae's virtues, Torag the pride in the self wrought armor and acheivments at the forge, and Iomedae the passion of young god and crusades against evil.
Are those the seven virutes that the runelords were originally stewards of before they got corrupted . . . i seem to remebmer there was some debate on which seven virutes they were.
Yeah they are. It says in Pathfinder 1: Burnt Offerings, in the article about Thassilon (near the beginning)
Most competetions and stuff like that are only usually open to be people from either the U.S. or the UK, so I never even look at application details to things anymore.
Didn't a german gal win one of the earlier RPG Superstar contests?
EDIT: Oops. Sorry for thread necromancy. Didn't notice the thread was that old...