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So I have contemplating a possible character concept, a lawful good pali of Ragathiel. My only issue though if I how can I stay a lawful good pali of Ragathiel and take his celestial obedience feat. Right now I see two major conflicts. The first being the conflict his followers who have taken the celestial obedience feat to remain good.
One of the descriptors of good is:
Mercy: You believe all beings should be treated with
compassion, even if they are transgressors. For instance, you
would rather imprison a murderer than kill him outright for
his crimes. Also, you do not believe in exterminating the
offspring of wicked creatures when they are encountered, as you
believe the innocent young should not be punished for the crimes
of their elders. Instead, you might seek to find a place for them
to be taken in.
The problem is the obedience to Ragathiel would seem to have me forgo mercy in general and slay the wrong-doer straight out.
Obedience Slay a proven wrongdoer in Ragathiel’s name.
It is not enough for the sacrifice to have an evil heart or
evil intentions; the sacrifice must have committed evil or
unlawful deeds.
So lets say we find some evil wrong doers that are humanoid like the Aspis Consortium. If the party I am in is able to bring one of the gentlemen or ladies down to incapacitated, the good side of the character seems to suggest mercy should be shown and the individual stabilized. However the faith side, which is suppose to be good also, seems to demand the execution of the individual.
So any thoughts or suggestions on remaining good while being called to execute evil?
Likewise any suggestions on how to deal with the lawful aspect of being lawful good here? Particularly since the land probably has established executioners to enforce the laws.
I would love to pull this character concept off, but I am not exactly sure how I could be obedient to Ragathiel and remain lawful good in pfs.
Every god that fosters paladins has a slightly different take on how those paladins should be Lawful Good. A lot of the main gods, like Iomedae and Torag, have specific paladin codes written for them players can follow (Iomedae and Torag are probably the worst examples I could have quoted, but they were the first to come to mind - Iomedae's code is rather lax, while Torag's is extremely bloodthirsty). But what happens when you follow a god who doesn't have a code written out specifically for them?
In the specific situation you describe, note the word "proven" in the first sentence. Has your character witnessed this person commit an evil act? Can they in some other fashion prove that this specific individual has committed evil acts? If not, then your character should be showing them mercy, since their evil cannot be proven - unless your character in specific considers a person worshiping an evil god or having an evil aura proof enough. Ragathiel is an Empyreal Lord of very unusual origin, and he likely disapproves of his followers executing creatures like tieflings or goblins just because they are likely to be evil. In fact, he's likely to approve of his worshipers avoiding the fatal blow if there is doubt in their hearts as to whether the target is truly an evildoer.
I play a paladin of Ragathiel myself, and I can't claim to be an expert on either Ragathiel or paladins - writing this actually made me think really hard about how to run my own paladin - but the way I run mine is by looking at Ragathiel's specific areas of interest: vengeance, duty, and chivalry. Since those are Ragathiel's specific areas of concern, they should be the primary things his worshipers keep in mind, and the things that are most important to Ragathiel when he judges whether or not his servants are worthy of his divine might. This can easily be used to reflect on the subject of mercy. Has the individual committed an evil act against someone? Then Ragathiel's vengeance is there to strike them down for it. Has the paladin been given the duty to take down this individual? Go for it. Has the individual acted in a non-chivalrous manner? The paladin can reserve their own judgment on how said action should be punished.
Smite evil heartily. Make SURE it's irredeemably evil before smiing. Works pretty well.