Hellknight Alignment and Paladins...

[Mikhaila Burnett]

Ok, so now that the Hellknight PrC is available I have a question about how others will be playing it.

Specifically, how are people currently playing/planning to play a Paladin/Hellknight character. I know there are a number of them as NPC's in the Hellknight ranks, but that's NPC's.

How does (for example) a Paladin of Iomedae, a champion of all that is Good, Lawful and Valorous justify working with an organization that styles itself after the ranks of Hell and employs within its membership a number of people who directly affiliate themselves with Things Infernal?

I personally am completely willing to buy into the adage of "Evil can be brought back to the light, while Chaos is more difficult to redeem" but it really doesn't cover all cases.

Thoughts?

[Xuttah]

Simple. It's a trick, get an axe. All one big marketing scam designed to reap more souls into the Hellish legions.

[Maezer]

Mikhaila Burnett wrote:

Specifically, how are people currently playing/planning to play a Paladin/Hellknight character. I know there are a number of them as NPC's in the Hellknight ranks, but that's NPC's.

Well. First you could fairly easily play as an EX-paladin. You became disillusioned with the whole goody two shoes aspect and realize that the iron fisted application of law will serve the people best.

But I assume you want to keep all the benefits. Even if you find the particular band of hellknights evil the core book writes:

Quote:

Under exceptional circumstances, a paladin can ally with evil associates, but only to defeat what she believes to be a greater evil. A paladin should seek an atonement spell periodically during such an unusual alliance, and should end the alliance immediately should she feel it is doing more harm than good.

So you could take that option. But I think the simplest option is not to join a group of evil hellknights. A number of the orders don't seem to traffic heavily (or at all) with devils as far as I could tell. And your purpose has just alters slightly. So that if you have the to choose between fighting against the forces of chaos, or the forces of evil... you stamp out chaos first. And with luck good will result from this reduction in chaos. Or at least good works can be done through lawful means.

[Zurai]

Do note two things (all based on information previous to the Hellknight PrC, as I don't have that module):

1) Hellknights, even Hellknight orders, aren't always evil.
2) They don't worship devils or even treat with them. They emulate certain aspects of devils -- the extreme discipline and dedication to Law. Heck, their initiation is to defeat a devil in single combat, not summon one up and sell your soul to it.

That still doesn't leave much room for Paladins, but there's a few cracks.

[Mikhaila Burnett]

Ok, that's pretty much how I was thinking too. There are a number of NPC's listed in the book that are listed as "Paladin/x Hellknight/y" not Ex-paladin.

I always saw Paladins as being champions of Law first, Good second. Maybe it's just my read of Lawful Good overall. What's weird about that, however, is how I've played my Paladins. One's very much Good first, Law second. The other, just the opposite. Guess which one's the Aasimar?