I'm about to jump into a rotrl campaign at lvl 12, and i'm playing a hellknight. There is another player at the table you is upset with my choice stating that a hell knighth would never work with heros to good and that he would imedatliy try to kill any party member who tried to praise or seek help from a god other then asmodeus. Where as ii see hellknights as more of strict law enforcer the has no room for compasion or mercy, but and help push a good cause if it somehow benifits the organiztion of hell knights. Any tips or hints on rping a hell knight, or do you agree with him that its a prc best avoided?
As an organizaiton they are not directly affiliated with Hell. The HellKnights saw the effectiveness of the command structure and the intimidating power or Hell and decided to emulate it. Some members are lawful evil, some are lawful neutral, and some are lawful good, and in fact the founding members of the Order of the God Claw were Lawful Good Paladins on the way to crusade in Mendev.
Hell Knights are actually all about law, not about Hell.
http://pathfinder.wikia.com/wiki/Hellknight
Think of HellKnights as Judge Dredd mostly. They enfore the law, regardless of whether or not it is fair or just. It can make roleplaying a Paladin Hellknight difficult, but any other class with Hellknight should be fine.
Also, Hellknights gather their power from the likes of Abadar, Asmodeus, Iomedae, Iori, and Torag. You will note, that only Asmodeus is evil.
Hell no don't avoid it if that's what you want to play! Not sure where this other player is coming from really. Is it stated somewhere that every hellknight is a devil worshiping mortal hell-bent on collecting the souls of the innocent? In fact I could be wrong but I'm sure I've seen Lawful Good hellknights discussed. They're just elite soldiers after all.
As it happens we've just had a replacement character join us for Hook Mountain who is playing a retired hellknight with a German accent and he's been a blast to play with so far. Our characters are mostly a bit suspicious of him, and he plays him as a gruff, tired, old dude who's used to people being cautious of him.
"It comes with zee territory!" he said.
So it's made for some great RP thus far.
But even if you are evil - it sounds like this other player at the table thinks a bit two-dimensionally when it comes to alignments. Personal gain is a huge motivator for all alignments but especially evil, and who better to ally yourself with for personal gain than heroes successfully gaining power and riches as they curb-stomp their way through adventures? :)
Personally I'd tell the other player (tongue in cheekly) to mind his own character motivations and let you worry about yours.
Beyond that Lawful Evil characters are the one type of evil characters I worry least about. They will keep their word when they tell you they wont kill you in your sleep for no reason. They might be evil, but they're not indiscriminately evil. They're evil as a means to gain more power, but aren't necessarily interested in killing and maiming people for fun. Rather they're evil as a means to reach power and control.
LE is probably the easiest alignment for good adventurers to work with that isn't already good or LN.
Agree with that, wholeheartedly ;)
Thanks guys sounds like i'm on the right frame of mind in my think just wanted a few others in put.
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I actually play a Hellknight in a homebrew and the Judge Dredd personality Claxon mentioned is exactly how I aim to do it. Good or Evil mean nothing to me. Are you inhibiting my organization or somehow breaking the law? Well here comes the law to smack you back into place and/or remove you to Phrasma's queue. One of the 7th level abilities is called "Lawbringer" for crying out loud.