7th Annual Paladin court

>The normalizing of relationships with demons, both platonic and nonplatonic. This issue is a much bigger problem for members proselytizing in world lacking technology or having too much loose magic.

Look I tried to do the whole talking thing and I had to get a cybernetic arm for my troubles. That said, in makes wielding my thermal lances far easier.

I don't know where you guys come from but my demons arn't one's to initiate very philosophical debates that don't involve biting.

>The normalizing of relationships with demons, both platonic and nonplatonic.
A demon is but a fallen angel, and it is a mark of veterancy to drag one back into the path of righteousness. Verily, many lesser paladins will claim that they have redeemed a demon only to have been later tricked: it is important to not soften one's vigilance on them simply due to amiable acts, for demons are great actors, and only a true act of selflessness is a sure indicator they are safe. Caution is advised as always.

>The average age of a paladin has finally passed into the thirties.
As you all know, the role of the paladin is in many ways a derivative of the knightly orders preceding and contemporary to us from ages prior. It is traditional for a paladin to chose a squire, be it an orphan, a young farmhand showing strength of heart, or their offspring. The other two require generational friendships which I find to be disturbingly lacking in many of our number, while the last is explained by less and less paladins settling down; though it is true that certain deities forbid the making of love, I believe many mistakenly take this to apply to themselves regardless of deity, or otherwise fear that starting an intimate relationship with another would eventually jeopardize them.

>We will finally codify the difference between being Lawful and Good and being Lawful Good.
Agreed. Though might I suggest a standardized aesthetic that is not easily counterfeited by wicked forces who wish to sully the reputation of light and holiness? In this day and age, evil dresses as us more often than they do daemons!

>Our last issue is the codifying for new holy gods.
Related to item #3, we must monitor new deities with the utmost care to ensure they are not a lawful evil entity masking themselves as otherwise. Who here knows of a proactive deity willing to directly aid us in this endeavour?

Hi everybody, sorry I'm la...

Oh dear... this IS room 32B right?

Dude you're always bad with directions. This is the A wing, let's go before these goody two shoes decide to get in our shit.

>Order on the floor!
I resent your implication that there was anything but order in the room to begin with!

Hey am I a Paladin if I use various types of straight swords, spears, a heater shield, heavy mail or plate armor but only slay dragons? Like I don't advocate any gods, or honor codes just killing those dragons?

Cleric here, I propose that paladins cease refusing rewards and send them on to the church. We need more money for dem programs and shit.

>We need more money for dem programs and shit
I just lost so hard

A paladin question, Veeky Forums.

Do you choose to punish the guilty, causing the death and suffering of many innocents in the long term, more so than the guilty party caused in the first place?

If someone goes and punishes this guilty party in such a manner, should he be held accountable for the death and suffering that resulted?

lol above my paygrade I just get to smite ppl and som shit

IT IS I, GARETH RENTHANE, ADVOCATE FOR THE BLACKGUARD'S GUILD. AS PART OF THE ASSEMBLY, I WILL ANSWER THE DOCKET'S PROCESSES!

>Item One
The normalizing of relationships with demons, both platonic and nonplatonic. This issue is a much bigger problem for members proselytizing in world lacking technology or having too much loose magic.

WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH DEMONS- THAT'S OUR JOB, DICK!

>Item Two
The average age of a paladin has finally passed into the thirties. We need to recruit young, able-bodied men and women to carry on our holy crusade before we're ALL confined to giant golden thrones.

DON'T MAKE THIRD WALL BREAKING REFERENCES, WE CAN'T AFFORD THEM. SECONDED, THOUGH. TOO MANY OLD HAGS, NOT ENOUGH HOT BITCHES.

>Item Three
We will finally codify the difference between being Lawful and Good and being Lawful Good. This confusion has gone on for too long.

CAN WE ALSO CODIFY LAWFUL EVIL?

>Item Four
Our last issue is the codifying for new holy gods. Any paladin who worships a divine god not listed in the Tome of Gods, please prepare a new entry for your deity. Please work with other members of your faith to craft the passage about your god.

BLASPHEMOUS AS FUCK!

Can we take a moment to cover the prejudices the order holds with the subject of undead paladins? I get it, were undead, sort of the number one extermination order for paladins, but my god brought me back and filled me with divine wrath and might and sent me to work, were on the same side, so can you stop trying to turn me everytime you see me?

>item one
Leave them alone as long as they promise by their name to never harm the inhabitants.
>item two
It better to start when they are young when their mind is still learning
>item three
It is chaotic but is it a choatic good
>item four
Make sure it not evil divine god.
I see is not the mage knight room. Which way is to level 3 third core room?

I say that demons are fine if properly dominated. Personally I prefer relying on the unwavering loyalty of the undead, but there is no accounting for taste.

Our average age will always be older than a paladin because they are naive children without vision or ambition.

I vote that all evil should be accepted into our ranks, methods are pointless to results.

Venerating any of the dark gods should be universal.
I also move that our brothers who bow to no will save their own be allowed as well.

>the difference between being Lawful and Good and being Lawful Good
There is none. Your spirit is lacking and you're looking for an excuse to call yourself lawful, when really you're too incompetent to maintain your ideals of order when striving to do good.

I have seen this many times. Paladins that think the response to an unwinnable game is to "change the rules". A dangerous subversion of the creed. The correct answer is to refer to the wisdom of your god, not to sacrifice law for good or good for law. Anybody that would lose faith after such a dilemma was never truly lawful good in the first place.
I advise you all spend time in the paladin academy for just a few days every couple of months, even old dogs benefit in the sharing of wisdom that goes on there.

I hardly believe registering our patrons is tantamount to blasphemous. Besides, that's what avatars and messengers are for in your god's name is forbidden to be known by outsiders and lay persons.

That said, I'm firmly in the belief we need a more rigourus training regime to instill some discipline into these kids instead of letting them stumble their way onto the path like many of us no doubt did.

7th annual...

So I see we're ignoring last year then?

Always punish the guilty. No matter the crime.

What if the guilty caused all that death and suffering trying to punsih someone they saw as guilty?

Then clearly they were tricked by an evil god and should be puncished for that.

I have a question. To what extent to we negotiate with evil? I myself have never been one to bargain with the enemy, no matter what the situation is, but what about you? How many hostages and innocents are you willing to let die to ensure justice is brought upon the evildoer?

We agreed to never speak of it again.

Ah I stepped out after the bit with the Dryads and the Urn.

Each man is responsible for his actions and his actions alone. No one makes choices for him

You punish the guilty. Then you punish those causing more death and suffering. You punish and punish until none wicked are left. We are the knives of God, we do not deal in nonsense.

>not smiting evil to save hostages.

This is the oldest trick in the evil book. Ignore the hostages and smite evil. Whats important is smiting, not saving lives.

This. You aren't here to save anyone.

How do I stop my paladin comrade from staying lawful stupid? Girl is a complete novice, thinking she can even the worst kind of Lich.

My personal preference, and one which my god appears to accept given that I still receive his blessings, is to have the reward used to pay for the construction and ongoing maintenance of a shrine dedicated to him.

I would like to put forth a hypothetical to the floor.

I assume the rest of you gentlemen, and our representatives of the Blackguard's court, too, have heard of certain knightly-types that gain holy powers, yet either do not serve or are not beholden to a single god's influence.

Can this new generation of paladins still be called paladins, as long as they uphold their oaths?

To speak as one who has seen such; I would say yes. So long as they uphold the codes of good and law and strive to leave the world a better place than the day before, who are we to claim they are lesser simply by virtue of being Unbeholden? I saw a group of them, not six months ago; a horde of orcs backed by demons bearing down on a fertile valley and the villages within. I had been passing through on pilgrimage, and of course swore my aid; this group of Unbeholden appeared more or less out of the woordwork--one even used a bow, yet his powers were undoubtedly the same as my own! Wanderers, woodsmen, town guards; normal people given to acts of holy greatness in a time of need.'

How can we call them anything but Paladins?

I find that after my order adopted this policy of disregarding hostages when deciding wether to smite evil or not (Answer: always smite evil), the immediate result was a rise in the death toll of innocents. However, as we continue to act in the same lines for over two years, there was a definite measurable trend for evil doers to take less and less hostages as it doesnt provide them with the leverage they want.

Always smite evil.

If we are not the shield to grant succor to the innocent, then how, praytell, would this line of thinking separate us from the common though well-intentioned banneret?

We are not merely a scythe taken to the fields of grain, let alone a torch.

Is there such a thing as too much redemption?

Oaths sworn in private to no-one in particular are not worthy of our trust.

Never.

>that cat

>I concede the floor.
Cowardice!

I third! This craven knave has no right to speak such blasphemies, if he will not even stand fast and hold the floor!

Before you stand 4 holy men, with 4 very different concepts of morality. They are in a heated argument in which no progress is being made and, realizing this, express each of their arguments to you.

The first believes that morality is primarily external; that the intent does not matter. To him, a man who kills from bloodlust is just as bad as a man who kills in self-defense, but that killing an evil or unimportant man is worse than killing a good or important man.

The second believes that morality is primarily internal; that the intent matters most. He considers accidental or justified death to be entirely blameless, and that hatred and the intent to kill are just as bad as actual murder.

The third believes that morality is primarily based on the future; that a person is good or bad if they are likely to do good things or bad things. To him, a criminal should be punished not because he is guilty of a crime, but because he will likely commit more crimes in the future. However, since the crimes of the past matter little, redemption and penance can be offered to anyone.

The fourth believes that morality is primarily based on the past; that a person is good or bad based on the sum of all their virtues and sins. To him, past crimes can be ignored if the guilty performed an equally noteworthy good deed. A thief need only return what he stole to be forgiven. However, to those who commit murder or other crimes that charity cannot replace are truly unforgivable, and may never be offered redemption.

Having heard each of their arguments, the holy men ask that you end their argument once and for all by judging which morality is the best and which is the worst.
How do you answer them, Veeky Forums?

Seconded.

Speaking hypothetically, if I were to reserect a dead dwarven goddess who turned out to be on good terms with other good gods, and now wants me to spread her good news if her reserection.

Up until this point I worshipped was the sun, and the concept of glorious sunlight, but now I have a dwarven goddess, who represents much of what I believe, and so far as I can tell genuinely is a good goddess.

So I bring this question to the council, as it troubles me greatly.

That depends. Does your god has a rule to serve him and only him? I mean, in a setting were good gods work together I think they are less clingy.

Ever heard of Monolatry?

The fourth sounds like a reasonable fellow.

>Whats important is smiting, not saving lives.

gtfo with your Helmite propaganda

In setting he is/was worshipping the sun which, aside from being heavily connected to Pealor, wasn't an actual god per say so much as something he drew inspiration from and acted as an object of worship and adoration, as a paladin of freedom.

So while there isn't really a god to piss off if he begins to consider her his patron, it's more of a conflict of how he can combine both following that fiery orb and this new dwarven goddess(haela brightaxe if your interested in knowing who).

So, how many times have you guys slingshotted between good and "evil"

I've fallen at least 12 times already, and had my 12th official atonement the other day. This one wasn't that bad tho; All I did was poison a tyrant and lie to save some refugees, so the elders were lenient and gave me back my official paladin status win only a minor penance.

Has anyone else Atoned recently? What'd BS regulation did you break that time?

Well, seeing how she is real, you can technically spread about her resurrection without actually worshiping her.

At least until your PC feels enough attached to actually do so.

No actual, at least not the term itself, but the paladin in question has already been doing this anyway, considering we have another paladin in the party, and we get along just fine, hell seeing as we both serve good gods we generally assist each other most of the time.

So there you have it. Your paladin worships The Sun, but his true god is hte ultimate force of Good in the universe.

Therefore, by spreading the world of a newly revived Good dwarf god, you strengthen the forces of Good, and you are therefore actually aiding The Sun.

Checked, and more likely than not this will be the case, though with me being her only current "worshiper" i think she's already considering herself my patron goddess, considering she had my character grow a full dwarven beard overnight.

Shit that's good, that's really good, A+ user.

divine bump

Anyone have any against the grain dual wielding paladins?, (ie sword and dagger, maces, hammers, axes etc)
Trying to make a paladin that dual worlds and can't find any truly amazing artworks.

Even though they worship the same god, and perform roughly the same duties should male and female Paladins serve separately in different cathedrals or even different orders?

Depends entirely on how your order sees celibacy.

Cooties are the vanguard of Evil.

Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!

Asking for help when at your lowest point is the first step to rising again.

Even if it's not a sin to engage in romance, it's still a distraction. A paladin doesn't have to fall to cease being useful to us. It's prudent to take those most inclined to sloth and wantonness and send them far away from anything that might tempt them to lead less productive lives.

Emotional connection strengthens the heart, and keeps you grounded in the real world. Focus too much on the spiritual, and you end up like the Monks, all peaching peace and love but spending their lives in their monasteries, away from the evil of the world.

Put this idea of yours to the test. Look at those with the most emotional connections. Those with the most children, friends, lovers. They're common folk, doing work that is vital in its own way, but quite unlike the work we must do. Ask them to make the sacrifices required of a paladin and almost all of them will balk. And who can blame them? They are needed where they are. You can't go crusading when you have too many responsibilities at home. We must not allow our youngest and most easily-distracted paladins to fancy themselves needed anywhere but on the battlefield.

I do not propose to keep young paladins cloistered in monasteries. Quite the contrary, I propose to keep them hip-deep in the evil of the world, fighting it until they are spent, in distant lands and even in the Lower Planes themselves if need be. That is the lot of a paladin. Everyone needs us, though none will miss us much when we're gone.

If I may, brothers and sisters, I would like to bring to fore the question of ranged combat. My nation, always lesser in the arcane arts, has turned to Dwarven ingenuity to help defend our borders from invasion; her armies produce fewer swordsmen by the year, and many more crossbowmen--and even regiments of gunners and arquebusiers. A number of these young soldiers have approached me the flame of righteousness in their hearts; but no paladin I am aware of uses crossbows, much less gunpowder weapons. What should I do?

If I find love with another paladin, then the battlefield IS my home. Better our younger members fraternize with eachother, and fall in love, so that they may die for love while they die for Good.

>but no paladin I am aware of uses crossbows, much less gunpowder weapons
You called?

There are some obscure orders to the east who use ranged weapons - Avengers they are called.
You must go on a quest to the east, and return with the teachings of an Avenger, so that your kingdom may always know paladins, even when gives up the sword for the gun.

Paladins must be disposable, even to each other. Thinking oneself or one's favorites more precious than any others under our care stinks of pride and vanity. Just as we must be ready to die in an instant, we must be ready for any of our brothers and sisters to do the same.

>the champions of their gods, who can heal wounds with a mere touch, cure disease effortlessly, and whose weapons can channel the divine might of their god(Christ help you if it's a charging smite) should be disposable

No, they should be willing to lay their lives down in the persute of making a good wholesome world but let's not act like they've something we can just use and throw away thoughtlessly.