Help with potential PvP resolution...

[foolsjourney]

Please- any suggestions greatly appreciated...

So, we're playing a very sandbox, very rules fluid game. The party members in question, all level 3, are a human LG monk, a gnome LG paladin, and a half ork wild mage who, through his casting, has found his alignment shifted to CE- though temporary.

The paladin arrived to the sight of said wild mage torching the bad guys, and was very unhappy about it. Her detect evil recognised the mage's alignment, but also knew he was not evil earlier. She's used a tangleweb bag to immobilise the mage, however the monk is not happy and at the climax of the last session the paladin was pointing her rapier at the mage, and indeed the monk who's trying to intervene on the mage's behalf.

So, that said, how would you guys fudge/play smite evil or some other ability/feat? The paladin doesn't want to harm the ork- indeed she spends much of her time healing the antagonists her fellow party members have felled- but is keen somehow to exorcise him.

The monk of course doesn't want the mage harmed, and there is a currently a stand off between the two, while the ork, tangled, looks on bemusedly.

So, as a DM, how would you try to steer it? Is there scope in Smite Evil to smite the essence of evil without the spirit within?

Remember we're rather fluid with the rules as long as the narrative fits, but I don't want to veer off too wildly.

Mike

[idilippy]

The first thing I'd do is make sure to take a moment to talk with the players out of game to see how they are feeling. Are they having problems with how this thing is going down or is it just the characters in game that are having the stand off? So long as it is just in game, and the players are all happy and having fun with role playing the situation as is, I say let them play out a confrontation.

If, however, there are any out of game ill feelings, or even if the players are just not having fun with the situation as it currently stands, then you should do something. It was a wild surge that made the orc evil, so say that the flighty nature of wild magic has shifted again and the orc is no longer evil. Or, if you want and think your players would agree, let the paladin use a smite evil attempt to try and "exorcise" the evil of the orc. Let the paladin put a hand on the orc and expend a smite evil use and have it "smite" away the evil caused by the wild magic. The holy energy dispelling the chaotic mass of wild magic.

[foolsjourney]

Thanks. There's definitely no out of character dissent- all parties are loving the plot twist in and of itself. The final suggestion you make is the one I'm leaning towards.