I've got a paladin that's been traveling with a group of adventurers, and we stopped in a city that's under the rule of a king. In outward appearances he seems good, however, we find out that his imperial guards are evil, and yet they have a lot of powers. These guards intimidate the townsfolk, murder people, etc. Now we've been asked to overthrow the king, or at the very least put down the imperial guards.
Given that these guards are working within the confines of the city's law, how does a lawful paladin handle something like this?
The Paladin will try to get to the kind and convince him that the guards are abusing their power. Since they are evil, or mostly evil, he will fight them if necessary but he wont set out to do so. A paladin would want to work within the frame work of the law if possible, and bring evidence to convince the king to imprison the imperial guard seems like the best way to do this.
There are probably other options too.
If you bring convincing evidence to the King and he doesn't care that the guard is committing crimes under his authority then he is not good, and the paladin will not view him as a legitimate authority. After which, the paladin would work to end the kings tyrannical reign.
legal doesn't always equal lawful, so a paladin doesn't always have to follow legal codes, and certainly he can oppose evil legal codes.
That said, the lawful portion of a Paladin does mean he will be at least hesitant to overthrow an established system, even if that system is evil, because the chaos that results might be worse. He would want to have a plan in place for establishing order afterwards, not just kill the bad king and ride off. and of course if he could change things without a revolution, that would be preferable.
Basically, he would pay a lot of attention to just war theory.
1-Go through normal legal means of redresses of grievances. If none exists that is part and parcel of the problem, no ability to hold leaders accountable breeds corruption and injustice.
2-Form an organized political body that has goals, rules and clear hierarchy. This is not anarchy its citizens wronged by the government that should protect them who are acting to end the injustice of tyranny and establishment of just leadership.
3-Declare war fight the evil imperial guard.
Some good answers here.
@Gnomezrule: Point number 1 pretty much qualifies for any system of government that's undemocratic or without representation for the people. Monarchy, despotism, oligarchy, feudalism... essentially the most common D&D systems of governance.
A Paladin should not try to overthrow the government just because it doesn't have checks and balances or democratic rights for it's citizens.
2. It can still backfire. Remember the Bolsheviks? The Tsarist Russia may have been a tyranny, but what came after may be considered even worse.
3. Should be the last resort. Just look at Syria today. Has things really improved for the people there since the revolt against Assad?
Still, sometimes the Revel Alliance wins the day and everyone's happy, this is fantasy roleplay after all.
Some good answers here.
@Gnomezrule: Point number 1 pretty much qualifies for any system of government that's undemocratic or without representation for the people. Monarchy, despotism, oligarchy, feudalism... essentially the most common D&D systems of governance.
A Paladin should not try to overthrow the government just because it doesn't have checks and balances or democratic rights for it's citizens.
2. It can still backfire. Remember the Bolsheviks? The Tsarist Russia may have been a tyranny, but what came after may be considered even worse.
3. Should be the last resort. Just look at Syria today. Has things really improved for the people there since the revolt against Assad?
Still, sometimes the Rebel Alliance wins the day and everyone's happy, this is fantasy roleplay after all.
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