Request for opinions about falling paladins

And no, it won't help with this thread. I would compare toee to nwn oc in that in the nwn oc a Paladin can do almost anything. That is stupid. I found toee to not be restrcitive at all for a Paladin.

 

I agree. But the six episode (6h) mini-series is even better. :yes:

 

A Paladin is not merely a fighter for good. Not even only a Knight with a strict code of conduct that might forbid turning their back on any foe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chivalry#Ancient_Code_of_Chivalry
A Paladin is there to aid those in need. Now a character who can´t make his own decisions and charges into mortal danger certainly needs aid. To continue fleeing while an innocent will be slaughtered certainly is *smart* but it´s selfish.

The result justifying the means? Assasinating someone is evil. A Paladin would perhaps challenge that person to single combat but not assasinate someone.

 

l

For me the exemplar of the Paladin is Sir Lancelot in TH White's The Once and Future King. Trains for years to be the perfect Knight and prays that he will one day be permitted to perform a miracle in recognition of his purity. Unfortunately this proves his downfall as the girl he miraculously rescues falls in love with him and seduces him with the aid of her old nurse's magic, causing him to fall. He continues as a LG fighter, on the whole (though with some LN tendencies, particularly with respect to his relationship to the legal status of his relationship with Guinevere). More fitting than becoming one of these melodramatic Blackguards. His son, Galahad, does remain pure and finds the Holy Grail, though the quest deprives King Arthur of the better half of his Round Table.
The only literary references to Paladins that I have come across are Peregrin Took's father, who had Paladin as a given name, and mistaken references to Harry Flashman as being on the side of the angels (rather than a coward and a liar) in the Flashman Papers. 2nd Ed PH cited the Peer of Charlemagne as examples, IIRC.

 

In D&D, Sturm Brightblade in Dragonlance is another good example; on the whole the Knights of Solamnia aren't (though they give a good example of the dangers of Falling through stagnation).

 

Re: l

If you are seeking for examples in literature look for the books of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon "The deed of Paksenarrion" 1-3.