How would you play a roguish paladin? Is such a thing even possible?

Pic sort of related, grabbed the first pic of both rogue and paladin-looking guy from google images.

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Yeah sure. Why not?

A paladin isn't just the big guy in plate. He's the fury of mortals against an unjust world given divine blessings.
They can go about that any way they like, so long they still inspire the weak, defeat those who would do innocents harm and smite the evil.

That said, you might want to shop around for a more fitting class and just refluff it as paladin.
No idea what though, but there's bound to be a sneaky divine magic caster somewhere..

>inb4 LE KEK BUT PALADINS DONT STEAL!!!! XDDDDD


Usually a Paladin is a warrior devoted to pursuing the cause of a good deity. There's nothing that says they can't do this using stealth or even subterfuge. If a Paladin is the kind who roots out evil cultists in their city hideouts then being able to pick locks and disarm traps is an advantage. A Paladin might well use stealth and guile to gather information before deciding on a course of action.

If you're in DnD and using alignment, then Lawful Good DOES allow a character to break the law and do shady things, provided they are following a higher authority and are principled about what they do. A Paladin-rogue would probably be following the orders of his church or of a good monarch/lord to whom the Paladin had sworn service, and acting in their interest for a good cause.

Yeah of course, if anything a pally/rogue would have an even greater willpower than a regular pally.
He would infiltrate evil and kill it from the inside, persuade and charm his way through challenges, defend his people through political machinations or assassinations.

Think of Vernon Rouche from the Witcher.

Batman.

Sure - one of the big tenets of several religions is the idea of redemption; take a rogue, have them find a god, now they steal from evildoers, sneak into cults, smite with a backstab and spread the word of their god to the commoners in the low places

Personally I'd play it as someone picked up off the streets and given another chance by a cleric/paladin. You could just play it like a mix of the two, a good guy that's more than fine playing "dirty" (sneaking, surprise attacks) to get the good deed done.

Jaguar warrior.
Either make him as a paladin of one of Mezoamerican gods, or a straight up catfolk.

It's also a good opportunity to have a somewhat more "street smart" paladin if you can avoid going full smite. He knows from experience how to deal with low-level criminals and is willing to work with them, to very limited extent, to go after the threats that matter.

Sam Vimes in Discworld is a great example of this. He grew up in a street gang in a city that was more or less the physical manifestation of corruption, crime, and debauchery. When he joined, the city Watch had no real power or respect but one day his burgeoning sense of justice overruled his self-preservation and he began a long and successful campaign to totally revolutionize the Watch. And while he can certainly dole out the righteous vengeance he also just understands people and how his city works. He's not particularly rogue-y at all to be honest but I think he's a good starting to point to add some of those qualities on to.

the Doctor from Doctor Who is a pretty good example of a lawful good rogue:
>picks locks
>dodges traps
>uses disguises
But he's also a good example of a neutral good paladin:
>Heals people that deserve it
>Smites the bajeezus out of creatures that deserve it
>Can convince people to do the right thing, through words or by force

Of course I'm thinking of when Russel T. Davies was in charge of the show and the Doctors were better defined...

Someone who understands that people are not angels, that evil outnumbers good and that good must use guerilla tactics as befits an underdog.

I'd argue that Vimes is pretty much a warlord at this point. Except, with a civilian security force.
Though he definitely has a few levels in rogue from his early days, and fights as one.

His Grace Sir Samuel Vimes inspires people, manages them and keeps his anger largely under control to do good and keep the peace.
Sam Vimes is a roguish shit who will use every dirty trick he has learned over decades and basically pour himself into fucking you over for trying to hurt him, anything dear to him or anything he has a claim to.

Inquisitor from PF is decent.

if you're doing pathfinder or if you don't mind adapting from it to d&d, the inquisitor class is exactly what you're looking for.

"Grim and determined, the inquisitor roots out enemies of the faith, using trickery and guile when righteousness and purity is not enough. Although inquisitors are dedicated to a deity, they are above many of the normal rules and conventions of the church. They answer to their deity and their own sense of justice alone, and are willing to take extreme measures to meet their goals."

d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/inquisitor

High charisma, decent dex, be suave as fuck.

Actually thinking about it i'd say Tony Stark is a good example of a roguish paladin in terms of personality. Strong sense of right and wrong, can be plenty fun, prefers to tackle things head on but more than willing to be clever about his problems of he needs to be.

forgot image

Think Zorro or similar pulp fiction dashing rogue

>There's nothing that says they can't do this using stealth or even subterfuge. If a Paladin is the kind who roots out evil cultists in their city hideouts then being able to pick locks and disarm traps is an advantage. A Paladin might well use stealth and guile to gather information before deciding on a course of action.

A Witchhunter-type? I know some systems incorporate them under the rogue archetypes already.

isnt that just batman op?

No, batman is a mentally ill fighter/rogue.

>ONT STEAL!!!! XDDDDD

I'm really beginning to wonder when Lawful Stupid stopped being joke and started becoming the only acceptable way to play a Paladin.

Some smite-happy assassin type, I imagine. The kind of paladin who figured out that it is in fact wrong to ruin the lives of hundreds of guards who are just doing their job to get to the one guy who's keeping the oppressive regime standing.

D&D morality is pretty retarded though. Kill hundreds of somewhat innocents to get to the Dark Lord and fight him in a battle you may very well lose? Perfectly fine.

Slip poison into his tea, killing him and only him? Evil act.

Only Frank Miller Batman.

This guy in this specific series.

Kanan from Rebels also counts.

As a smart-mouth who drinks, smokes, uses "earthy" language, and sleeps around?

Yes to all this

How else do you get your noire on, OP?

Indiana Jones, if you want to lean a bit more towards rogue.