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So I plan to play a character who worships Shelyn and whose goal is to travel the world entering ancient ruins and the like to preserve ancient art. Of course he also does what he can to spread love, mercy, laughter, music and stem the spread of hate and destruction. Of course the issue is that Pathfinder is often a combat focused game and looking at the tenets for Paladins of Shelyn I can see having some difficulty:
-I am peaceful. I come first with a rose. I act to prevent conflict before it blossoms.
-I never strike first, unless it is the only way to protect the innocent.
-I accept surrender if my opponent can be redeemed—and I never assume that they cannot be. All things that live love beauty, and I will show beauty's answer to them.
-I will never destroy a work of art, nor allow one to come to harm unless greater art arises from its loss. I will only sacrifice art if doing so allows me to save a life, for untold beauty can arise from an awakened soul.
-I see beauty in others. As a rough stone hides a diamond, a drab face may hide the heart of a saint.
-I lead by example, not with my blade. Where my blade passes, a life is cut short, and the world's potential for beauty is lessened.
-I live my life as art. I will choose an art and perfect it. When I have mastered it, I will choose another. The works I leave behind make life richer for those who follow.
How would guys go about playing such a character? Perhaps a non-lethal damage build? Or it may be more worthwhile to play an Inquisitor instead and take a harder line to those who damage art and spread hate? This character is for the Serpent's Skull AP by the way.
If you have Inner Sea Combat, she has an interesting paladin oath.
I played one briefly, and I just played it as giving my enemies a chance to surrender before attacking.
Spend the first round of combat Radying or buffing and asking if anyone would like to surrender and redeem themselves, or be struck down by divine judgement.
I'm actually currentlty considering a Half-Elf Oradin, take the first two levels in Hospitaler Paladin, grab some life Oracle levels to get life link. Probably try to have at least 12 intelligence so I can grab a perform skill. Be a healbot who fights when he has no other options. Not sure what combat style I want to go with though.
Plus is seems like a heal bought would be a huge help in Serpent's Skull.
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"Healbot" is usually not a good option.
Ending a combat fast, is always better than trying to out-match damage dealt, with damage healed.
Going with a reach weapon, such as the Glaive, is a good option.
As an Inquisitor, you can nab Enforcer, and Creed of Mercy, to frighten foes, into surrendering.
This make you more of an advocate of less bloodshed, than any "healbot" would.
Well, in opposed to the smite happy paladin everyone expects, when I see think class, I think 'this is a tank'. And I then ask 'how can that best serve the paladin's ideals?'
The answer I found- if you see some giants, try to talk things out and negotiate. Because you are the one that can best handle things if the answer is 'no'.
Now, this would appear to be against the typical way parties operate. But you do not have to be 'lawful stupid'. No, you can be 'decoy'.
Basically- there is a reason why readied actions exist. Just have everyone else circle around, and prepare an action to 'blast the first freak that looks at goody two shoes funny'. If things go well, they can circle back around and you can introduce them....if things go 'normal'...then they are getting an unexpected fireball/arrow/charging greatsword to the face. That maintains a lot of the element of surprise...and it means you do not need to compromise your ideals to insure the basic safety of your team.
So, how to build such a character? Eh, I would go with ranks in diplomacy and linguistics (and perception...cause obviously). Diplomacy to try to talk them down, linguistics to be able to talk to as many creatures as possible. Maybe grab quick draw so you can keep your weapon stored...but ready at any time. After that, you can make a nice, boring, normal paladin.
I played one briefly, and I just played it as giving my enemies a chance to surrender before attacking.
Spend the first round of combat Radying or buffing and asking if anyone would like to surrender and redeem themselves, or be struck down by divine judgement.
This is what I did, and I also left flowers behind on every corpse there was time to do so on.
I was also only 3 levels of paladin and the rest bard, so I had plenty of buffs to cast and social skills to back up the negotiations.
my tiefling shelynite inquisitor is currently getting ready for Eyes of the Ten, one of the PFS retirement arcs
he is a glaive-wielding melee-focused reach build
took the conversion inquisition
I have never had trouble with his roleplay
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Ooh, Shelynite thread. :D
Oath of Loyalty and Oath of Charity is where I'd be (does Oath against Grotesquery stack with those?). Or, a Chosen One with the Protector's Strike feat.
In Serpent's Skull, Clarifying Channel would be huge for a paladin. I'd also recommend the Virtuous Creed feat - probably for Mercy, although with a glaive, Virtuous Creed (Protection) into Combat Reflexes and Bodyguard could be very helpful. :)
Evangelist isn't too bad (I'm playing an Evangelist of Shelyn in CotCT currently). Note that a Sentinel of Shelyn gets a Smite-specific boon, although it might not be worth it. Maybe a Sentinel splash to change your Boon path?
As for skills, I'd definitely check out the Background Skills variant from Pathfinder Unchained and start lobbying your GM - this is the exact sort of character who needs that system. A variant multiclass into Life Oracle might be good, although your feats will be tight. :)
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I'm actually currentlty considering a Half-Elf Oradin, take the first two levels in Hospitaler Paladin, grab some life Oracle levels to get life link. Probably try to have at least 12 intelligence so I can grab a perform skill. Be a healbot who fights when he has no other options. Not sure what combat style I want to go with though.
Plus is seems like a heal bought would be a huge help in Serpent's Skull.
Hello, I'm Lyric the Singing Paladin!
I'm Hmm's deaf Oradin PFS character. Like your above plan, Lyric is a half-elf healer. You can see her crunch if you click this avatar.
She fights with Glaive using reach tactics most of the time, but I'd like to get into how I roleplay Lyric.
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I've posted elsewhere about Lyric's bawdy sense of humor and how well that served her when she had to be a Goblin Babysitter for a recent PFS mission. Read the post -- it gives you a great idea of my take on how a Shelyn Paladin works.
Lyric loves life. She will drink with friends, make up songs on the spot, and loves jokes and rude songs. Unfortunately, when Shelyn gave her Oracle levels, she also gave Lyric the challenge of deafness. My character loves bards, and wants to touch their instruments so that she can "hear" the music she still loves. And yes, she still performs the music she hears in her heart.
The idea of a paladin and the Shelynite dogma and, well, mechanical benefits would make me want to try a zone control tank, using the glaive to prevent people from reaching you or your allies, probably with combat reflexes and feats that prevent a target from moving on a successful AoO. Half-elf paladins can also consider multiclassing into bards - no, I'm not quite kidding. No one goes ham quite like a bardadin, and being able to sway the hearts and minds of everyone fits the archetype of a Shelynite paladin to a T. From a mechanical perspective, a dip in bard gets you several useful abilities and a great way to expand on your skill selection through versatile performance, while a dip in paladin in an overall bard build gives a bit more toughness, smite and divine grace to a combat-oriented bard such as an arcane duelist.
By the way, my first idea of a Shelynite inquisitor is a sanctified James/Jane Bond. Some inquisitor archetypes and inquisitions help with that, such as the infiltrator (though losing stern gaze hurts, you become great at undercover work) or the conversion, reformation or redemption inquisition. All your peers can make people quiver with a look, but you are one of Shelyn's own smooth operators - sometimes it is fitting to show some taste and grace.
Overall, when it comes to roleplaying I'd say think out of the box and keep an eye on diplomancing the pants of everything that you should not 100% kill. Many games have a whole lot of encounters that can be resolved peacefully - with a kind word or a hard glare, especially if the kind word is accompanied by just a bit of guile (or a whole lot if you are an inquisitor). That may require some cooperation with the DM, btw - the concept really depends on how gritty the DM wants the game to get, i.e. if villains or at least their minions can be converted or if they will just ignore your diplomacy check result of 40 because they are evil and will try to screw you over, or if you get docked XP because of NOT killing the minions or, for that matter, the boss herself. It is good if the DM keeps in mind that a mid-to high level social character can be persuasive to the degree only legendary and mythical figures can be. There will be times when you need to destroy your enemy in order to achieve peace, but you believe these times are indeed quite rare - and strive to ensure just that.
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With the introduction of Variant Multiclassing, you can grab grab Life Link (and later another Channel pool and one more Revelation) by trading half your feats for VMC Oracle of Life. With the tongues curse, you can make it that you can only speak in the airy and bell-like tones of Celestial when you're stressed, which kind of strikes me as a very Shelyn-y deal.
You have all the combat potency of a normal Paladin (maybe even grabbing the Redeemer archetype, if being a Half-orc doesn't clash with your concept?) and you can be a very effective combat healer, as well. If you grab a Glaive, you can still do reach shenanigans (though you're admittedly pretty starved for feats with this build, because you'd probably want Fey Founding, Combat Reflexes, maybe Enforcer? on top of Power Attack) and
My paladin of Sheyln has a level of Kata Master monk, so he can present himself to the enemy without attacking, but parry and riposte once the enemy makes an attack.
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FOr some reason I picture an inquisitor of Shelyn as sailor moon.
"By the bonds of friendship, I summon the power of the Ruby Magical Princess Amulet! Armored by the beauty within, I am... Magical Princess Warrior Vanessa!
"The ugliness of your soul shows through! In the name of the Eternal Rose, the darkness in your heart shall be purged!"
"On the wings of the Composite Songbow, the melody of our friendship shall pierce through the darkest shade!"
I can see an Inquisitor of Shelyn as a dynamic theatre director or drama coach, going from troop to troop and company to company, ensuring the best possible performances of the actors and players while also rooting out corruption.
-If an obsessive masked man is stalking and haunting the diva of the opera house, then the Inquisitor of Shelyn tracks him down to his subterranean lair and silences him forever.
-If a star courtesan and the song composer secretly fall in love, but the courtesan is trapped in a contract to marry an evil nobleman, the Inquistor finds a way to break that contract and preserve that love.
-If a LE general orders the fiery destruction of priceless elven paintings, well, the Inquisitor of Shelyn will see to to it that he is burned in accord.
FOr some reason I picture an inquisitor of Shelyn as sailor moon.
Personally, I've always viewed an Inquisitor of Shelyn to be more like Tuxedo Mask. A mysterious figure with impeccable style that pops up when ever beauty is in danger.
