402 – “Well, I’m not MOST people!”

Well, that’s that. Becky’s a paladin. Kinda.

A commenter from the previous strip named Norman mentioned Steve Weber’s Oath of Swords books. Well, waaaaaaaay back when the world of Ardris was just my campaign world, I initially modeled a good deal of my world on Norfressa, the fantasy world in which Mr. Weber set his story. Didn’t have Hradhani in it, though; just the standard D&D races. Weber’s first two fantasy books in this world, Oath of Swords and The War God’s Own are great reads, but the following two, Wind Rider’s Oath and War Maid’s Choice, didn’t quite do it for me. They felt rushed, especially the fourth book. I’m just holding out until Brandark finally gets his ship (because, c’mon, that’s where he’s headed, IMHO.)

Take care,

~Rob

17 Comments

Like I said….. Whether she wants to be or not. Whether she realizes it or not.

Haven’t read the War Maids Choice yet. David Weber tends to write more space opera than fantasy.
Don’t worry Becky, being a paladin isn’t so bad. At least you can cast some healing spells and lay down some righteous wrath on the undead abominations.

Nooooooooo!

Face it, you can change your armor, you can change your party, but your class is chosen by a higher power. Sometimes it is some random dude in a parallel plane of existence, sometimes it is the DM who really hates your usual playstyle.

I enjoyed David Weber’s Honor Harrington series. I wasn’t as big a fan of his high fantasy writings. I have found quite a few good new authors from the free section of iBooks in the SciFi and Fantasy genres.

Subconsciously summoned the Hammer? Exellent. Now, can she summon it deliberately from across the room, in time to disrupt the ritual?

“I’m just holding out until Brandark finally gets his ship (because, c’mon, that’s where he’s headed, IMHO.)”
So, which god has laid claim to him do you think? We know it isn’t the god of bards…

Bunshichi: Well, I don’t want to ruin anything for those who haven’t read the books, but it’s pretty obvious from the first two books. In Oath of Swords, Chesmirsa tells Brandark that he’s too much her brother’s to ever fully be hers – Korthrala, the god of the sea is one of her brothers. In the first chapter of War God’s Own, mention is made about how Brandark really learned how to run a ship from the Marfang Islander halflings, and later in the book he perks up in the clock store when he learns that mariners need accurate timepieces to take their headings. That’s my opinion, anyway.

Well, at least she can lay about some mighty fine smiting on those cultists.

It’s the whole Celibacy thing.

Rob: You’ve raised some good points, but have you considered Hirahim Lightfoot (in his prankster aspect)?

@Hornet That would depend on the rules her god has on the matter. Some religions prohibit sex and marriage for the holy ones and some allow it.

For example if you got picked as paladin for a fertility god you would probably get to fornicate all you want.

Hey, Paladins are cool. I always play a Paladin, and not a celibate one, either

Anyone who wants to play or GM a paladin really needs to read Elizabeth Moon’s most excellent trilogy, “The Deed of Paksennarion,” and perhaps Butler’s “Lives of the Saints.” The ethos Moon writes for paladins is excellent, and I used it to make party with a pack of mostly neutral and evil PCs who wound up liking and respecting me … the only one who attacked me did so out of a sense of duty! Another good way to think about it is probably to presume that you’re a military officer who holds honor very highly, and deals honestly in war. Within that, you can be as Nightcrawler flamboyant, Robin Hood merry, monk-mystical, or Wolverine gruff and stolid as you like. There is no given Paladin personality; there are only Paladin codes of behavior. It is absolutely NOT a class to be played by somebody who resents God; they will make the character a caricature of what they think those who love God are.

A paladin doesn’t have to be good, it all depend of the god they follow. Its the lawful part that is harder to get on. As a representation of their deity, they must follow all their precept(all the rules and laws surrounding their god), making them lawful in theory, but if their god is fully chaotic, will the paladin be chaotic?

@Bunshichi: Hirahim isn’t (as far as we know) related to the other Norfressan gods, so he’s (probably) not the brother Chesmirsa mentioned. Korthrala is my choice also, for the reasons Rob mentioned and also for the swashbuckling possibilities a good sailing ship brings; Brandark seems to have that sort of personality. Absent the “brother” comment, though, and Hirahim would definately be in the running ^_^

@ Grimlock13: I’ll disagree that the difficulty of a Paladin is from the “Lawful” side. I mean, most societies in human history are lawful, most people have few problems following the laws. It’s only when they decide they have to be good as well as lawful that they start bringing the violent crusades.

The lawful side would believe that an ordered and fair society is the only thing which in the long run will keep people safe and happy. Once law becomes bound up with good, the laws once content to keep people safe are now directed at their moral conduct, and at punishing those who don’t meet the exact code. The good has subverted the law.

Consider a hypothetical Paladin of Order, rather than of Goodness. He’s still LG, but he’s willing to work with Lawful Evil folks, the same way the classic paladin is willing to work with Chaotic Good. His motivation is that the law, even with some people taking advantage for their own goals, is the way to bring about the most goodness and care in society. He’s not bent out of shape by another person lying or cheating, only by them doing things which will damage an ordered society. Ultimately, he isn’t a moral crusader. He’s probably going to deal harshly with anarchists, even if their intentions are good. But looking at this, it’s clearly the law that makes this particular paladin a hardass, not goodness. When a normal paladin harshes on the evil, and tolerates the chaotic good, it’s clearly the GOOD rather than the law which causes his nonsense.

Another related problem with paladins is the lack of their portrayal as anything other than uptight tossers harms PC and GM mindsets about them. Or at least, the lack of honesty about paladin portrayals. Aragorn out of LotR is way more of a paladin with nature feats and crossclass skills, than he is a D&D rulebook Ranger. Jules, at the end of Pulp Fiction, has probably just made the conversion from Blackguard to Paladin. He knows that there is a wickedness in his soul, one that wants to prey on lesser men, but also that he’s got to fight against that impulse as much as anything else. For Wheel of Time readers, it’s easy to fixate on Galad Damored as the Lawful Good one, but also to forget that Perrin and Rand probably are LG as well, and pretty much all the Aiel. And it isn’t because Galad has an overdeveloped sense of law that he’s a tightass, but because he’s too good, and gotten caught up in the Whitecloak’s understanding of Goodness.

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MeatShield by Rob Chambers

Bi-Weekly D&D-style Fantasy Hijinks!

402 – “Well, I’m not MOST people!”