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First, I’m just interested in role-playing/lore advice, not anything mechanical. I’m not looking to create a “paladin of Calistria” class or anything along those lines.
Second, a little background, this is in regards to one of my PFS characters, Candi Payne, an 8th level female ½-orc arcane bloodrager who has been a follower of Calistria for all of her PFS career. She’s got the sacred tattoo trait, and I’ve always described these tattoos as Calistrian in terms of images, themes, and colors. She started off neutral chaotic but the love of Miss Feathers and the other girls at the Blushing Rose in Kaer Maga recently moved her up to chaotic good.
So, I’m wondering how to role-play her as something which might generally be described as a chaotic good “paladin” of Calistria.
1) What should she call herself? Two options are “Champion of Calistria” and “Calistrian Knight” (sort of a dig at Hellknights who she despises). I’m very open to other ideas, though I don’t want to use any variant of the word “paladin.”
2) How about a code with the following elements (adapted from the Calistrian antipaladin code):
i) My life is my path, and none will sway me from it. (unaltered from antipaladin code)
ii) I devote myself to the pursuit of my passions. (again, unaltered from the antipaladin code)
iii) I vow to free and protect those who are enslaved, controlled, or made powerless by others and unable to follow their own paths and pursue their own passions. (new and somewhat influenced by material from Faiths of Purity and Champions of Purity)
iv) All affronts and assaults against me and those I protect will be repaid tenfold. (added “and those I protect” to the antipaladin code)
v) I am the instrument of retribution for myself and those I protect. If I or they are wronged, I will take vengeance with my own hands. (modified version of the antipaladin code)
3) How do you think others, both followers of Calistria and others, might react to such a character?
Callistria is true chaotic, she has anti-paladins with a specific oath set. They embody her revenge aspect quite well.
ADD (Had to take care of a couple things.)
CALISTRIA'S ANTIPALADIN CODE
Antipaladins of Calistria do not demand great things of others, but rather seek to emulate the Savored Sting in their manner. Most are women; their ranks are filled with those devoted to bloody vengeance and the shining lusts that spark it. Their tenets include the following adages.
• My life is my path, and none will sway me from it.
• I devote myself to the pursuit of my passions.
• I take what I desire, by trick or by force. If others resent my actions, they may attempt to take vengeance against me.
• All slights against me will be repaid tenfold.
• I am the instrument of my own justice. If I am wronged, I will take vengeance with my own hands.
Play them like any television bad-girl/bad-boy.
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Hmm. Well, the Choice is a huge thing. She would certainly make rapists, molesters and the like pay. Sex traffickers would be favored enemies. Actually, a vigilante is almost perfectly flavored for this, even down to the information networks.
"Unhand that woman, I am the Wasp, and your rein of terror is Over."
Would that fit your idea?
More on target to your question, your character would probably be treated with bemused fondness by the Callistrians. She totally loves the cooks as much as she loves the meal. Now tweaking the Hellknights stuffiness will be appreciated.
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Hmm. Well, the Choice is a huge thing. She would certainly make rapists, molesters and the like pay. Sex traffickers would be favored enemies. Actually, a vigilante is almost perfectly flavored for this, even down to the information networks.
"Unhand that woman, I am the Wasp, and your rein of terror is Over."
Would that fit your idea?
More on target to your question, your character would probably be treated with bemused fondness by the Callistrians. She totally loves the cooks as much as she loves the meal. Now tweaking the Hellknights stuffiness will be appreciated.
Yeah, something along these lines, though Candi would more likely say "You F***ed Up! Time to Sing Castrato!"
I'll look at role-playing ideas associated with vigilantes, though I'm not interested in the secret identify part of the class.
I'm still trying to process the "Love the food, not the chef" saying in the context of this character. I think part of the challenge will be balancing the pursuit of one's own passions and making it possible for others to do the same.
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FYI -- The novel Queen of Thorns by Dave Gross has an inquisitor of Calistria as one of its major characters.
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I would play up the revenge against those who have wronged you, or those who have wronged your community. Vengeance against evil is something a good follower of Calistria could embrace, as is engaging in acts of pleasure with consenting partners, and also seeking out secrets.
Consider the deity "Arshea," whose a Neutral Good Empyreal Lord, therefore perfect for Paladins to worship (since many people say that in order to recieve powers from a deity, you have to be within one step in alignment from your deity's alignment on either the good/evil or law/chaos scale).
Arshea is very similar to Calistra in many respects, and your Paladin Code of "pursuing your passions" as well as your code to bring freedom to the oppressed is exactly the sort of stuff she does.
Little light on the "revenge" aspect though, if that was your thing...
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You know, you don't have to be perfectly in lockstep with your diety. It is arguably more interesting RP-wise if you are not. The concept of the perfect match is one of the things I seriously dislike about the 1001 Flavors of Diety that so many campaign setting go by.
Callistria fits with the backstory, with the whole red-lit connections. Candi cares for her Callistrian friends, that's cool. That she doesn't quite match the Callistrian Ideal. that's interesting.
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Kaouse, OP doesn't want to actually play a paladin, OP wants to play a CG martial follower of Callistra with a code. A paladin of Arshea would be cool, though.
I like the title "Callistran Knight."
Emphasizing the idea of consent is a good idea. Respecting your partners and attempting to satisfy their desires in addition to your own would also be suitable. Consider playing up the trickery aspect, shaming and embarrassing others for minor bad behavior, while reserving violent retribution for serious offenses.
I'm still trying to process the "Love the food, not the chef" saying in the context of this character. I think part of the challenge will be balancing the pursuit of one's own passions and making it possible for others to do the same.
Keeping in mind the "you don't have to be in lockstep" idea, you could interpret this as a reminder that lust and love can be separate rather than a requirement that they always be separate - your love for the food is different from your love for the chef, and you don't have to love a chef to love their food.
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Wasp-Knight sounds cool though. I'm just saying :)
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Wasp-Knight sounds cool though. I'm just saying :)
Ah, but would yellow and black horizontal stripes on your armour make you look fat?
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Black and GOLD armor is cool though.
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The Knight of Calistria. 'Safe,Sane,Clean. Pick two."
Dot
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Thanks for the many good ideas. I'm leaning strongly toward "Knight of Calistria," and Candi's new mithral breastplate will definitely have a cool black and yellow logo.
And no, she's not the "Calistrian ideal" on a number of levels. For one, Candi is much more punch you right in the face rather than create a subtle, long-term scheme of revenge. In large part, this is because she has an intelligence of 8.
Also, I think that one of her passions is beating on a******s who exploit or abuse the less powerful, taking vengeance on behalf of others as it were. This is, of course, in addition, to her other Calistria-approved passions for sex, cigars, and whiskey.
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Really loose guidelines that can be changed on the fly as long as they follow the teachings of Calistria.
After all, this is chaotic. For example, Paladin codes don't say, you cannot kill another. It makes circumstances you can't, and specific exceptions. A chaotic good code will say don't kill, but you are trusted to make good judgment calls when appropriate, and common sense plays into it.
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Since I was the one who started out not addressing this...
The character in question, the eponymous Candi Payne is an existing character, Bloodrager L7, Brawler L1. She has developed friendships with the "Red Light Women" in Kaer Maga, apparently Callistrians, so has developed her own attachment to the goddess.
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So, not exactly relevant, here and here I go into a few ideas about how to play an Antipaladin, in a pro-party context, and I figure that, even if it doesn't exactly work for you (since you're a bloodrager looking for a concept), but I figured dropping it in here might still be useful if you're looking for alternate takes on Calistrians, and maybe how you've seen other people from your own faith behave, and how that can function within a party.
Or not! :D
Either way, good gaming!
Also, "Paladin of Calistria" or "Calistrian Knight" works fine as a way to think of yourself, but you could work to the title of "The Wasp Knight" (which sounds super-cool and like a personal title, along with a weapon-of-choice being "the Knight's Sting" which, you know, could sound like double entendre or something), and you can "fake" divine magic and whatever with a combination of your arcane whatnot, and magic items - especially magic tattoos or imbedded ioun stones that let you do "divine-like" magic things.
One of the things I'd strongly recommend is bestow grace of the champion - try and grab any item that lets you use that ability as much as possible, and thus fake being a real paladin... and Cindi may well believe it herself! After all, she worships a god of trickery, and tricking yourself is super-valid...
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Also gaining access to such spells as lover's vengeance or powers or spells from the lust domain (and charm domain for that matter), and maybe talk to your GM about massaging the prerequisites for the wasp familiar feat , or some such.
Calistrians with religious training would likely think you're a bit odd, and maybe mad, if you claim to be a paladin, but so long as you kept vengeance, lust, trickery, and Calistria in the fore-front (more or less), you're probably just fine (so long as you don't cross an Antipaladin, naturally). You don't have to live up to the ideal - no one does, after all, except the goddess herself - but you can easily squeak by via being within one step of her alignment and loving her aspects.
Less religiously trained would likely believe your claims at paladinhood, if you showed strong enough power and had a decent bluff check (not sure if that's necessary, but I'm throwing that out there).
Non-Calistrians with religious training would probably distrust you greatly, assuming you meant anti-paladin, but they'd likely either get over it (if good) upon bearing witness to your actions and style; or despise you (if evil) upon the same.
Non-Calistrians without religious training would probably accept what you're saying, and then expect great things from you. If they trust you completely ("You say you're a paladin, than you must always tell the truth: do these pants make me look fat and/or un-sexy?"), and you "abuse" that ("Well, uh... yeah! Totally hot! Go woo some dudes!"), some paladins might get very grumpy at you (intentionally or not) "besmirching" their reputation (and many may have problems with you anyway; lawful v. chaotic and all that). In the end, so long as you're not awful (and your character sounds pretty awesome, actually), most people should be willing to accept you at most gaming tables.
Either way, I wish you good luck and good gaming!
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Really loose guidelines that can be changed on the fly as long as they follow the teachings of Calistria.
After all, this is chaotic.
A very good point, and I think a whole formal code might be a bit much for Candi.
Since I was the one who started out not addressing this...
The character in question, the eponymous Candi Payne is an existing character, Bloodrager L7, Brawler L1. She has developed friendships with the "Red Light Women" in Kaer Maga, apparently Callistrians, so has developed her own attachment to the goddess.
Mostly correct, and the inaccuracy is due to my poor telling of Candi's story. Candi has been a Calistrian ever since she was created. However, until recently she was chaotic neutral. (Slight spoiler ahead) Rescuing Miss Feather's colleagues and killing the folks who had done them wrong was the final step in Candi moving to chaotic good as she realized she liked obtaining vengeance for others.
I'm confused, are you still playing her in PFS
Still in PFS, perhaps the Great and Might Gods of Paizo will create a boon which lets one get a wasp familiar.
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*bursts down your door*
Nobody expects the Calistrian Inquisition!
We heard you weren't thinking lustful thoughts and were considering only engaging in sex after marriage. The rack should straighten you out! And by that, we mean we're going to have you touch the rack of the bustiest inquisitor until you start acting more Calistrian!
Our chief weapon is boobs! And dick! And ruthless foreplay! And an almost fanatical devotion to wasps.
Our chief weapons are boobs, dick, ruthless foreplay, and an almost fanatical devotion to wasps.