The Paladin: Race and Deity

[Ephirith]

Originally Posted by Lorraine [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

inb4 LOLRPER

I won't argue that Human should be the only race capable of being Paladins, that's another topic altogether (not to mention rolling a 17+ charisma with your sixth 3d6 roll) - but

Paladins are Lawful in regards to the 'Society' aspect; They are bound to respect,follow,honor the Laws of a land and follow the protocol. They can only question them when they deem they are directly opposed to their morals or sense of fairness towards the people (or their own religion). They are also 'Good' when it comes to how they treat other forms of life (intelligent or not), again obeying a morality and ethics code that is in direct contrast with nature.

Nature on the other hand is never governed by such fair laws. The weak get culled; Always food for the strong. Natural selection. Nature is neutral in every sense - even her devoted 'protectors' are either True Neutral, Neutral Good, Chaotic Good, or even Chaotic Neutral (druids & rangers).

Paladins would never side with that aspect of Nature. Why?
Simple as this -

Disorder leads to spiritual weakness.
Spiritual weakness leads to evil.
And evil will not be tolerated.

A lot of the class framework was founded on the DnD rulesets, but there's no way I'm going to be that hidebound when it comes to class definition.

The way I see it, a paladin is just a knight in service of an idea, and they have devoted themselves to whatever liturgy that entails. A shadow knight is the same thing, except where a paladin's service is benevolent, a shadow knight's is malevolent.

A paladin of Mithaniel Marr would be very, very different from a paladin of Tunare.

Followers of Tunare believe that we are all Tunare's children. The children of Tunare seek to help Norrath, which they believe to be a living and breathing being, to blossom and grow. Followers believe that the world of Norrath gave birth to Tunare and from her all life has sprung forth. Thus, by worshiping and protecting the land, followers are paying homage and respect to the Mother of their Mother, who in turn protects and provides for them. Followers of Tunare will fight to the death to protect nature in all its forms. Many Druids, Rangers, and a great many of elves follow the ways of Tunare.

I see a Tunare paladin as being dedicated to the protection of natural purity, and directly antithetic to the corruption wrought by followers of deities like Bertoxxulous. Blights on the land like rabid grizzlies or undead infestations are just as reprehensible to a paladin of Tunare as they are to one of Marr.

Nothing in Everquest's interpretation of nature implies the disorder and lawlessness you find in the DnD version, where if I'm not mistaken you can have neutral-evil rangers. Even if such a thing existed in EQ, a Tunare paladin charged with the protection of nature may need only protect the system itself from evil interference and corruption, without participating in the moral ambiguity of the system itself.

Anyway, I was a big fan of paladins my first time around EQ, but now I'm 100% shadow knights [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]