[net.games.frp] paladins and tragedy

bingham@mruxe.UUCP (B Bingham) (05/09/85)

	Paladins present great opportunities in FRP, both to the DM and
	to players.  But most DMs and players I've known haven't really
	done much with them -- possibly because it is hard for any normal
	(well, normal within the set of all FRPlayers) persons to 
	empathasize with a paladin character.  Possibly also because
	AD&D doesn't really give DMs or players enough guidance and
	background information to help them build an interesting character
	or interesting scenarios involving paladins.  While this is
	also true of other character classes the paladin is worse off
	then most, because it is so easy to play or DM them as one-dimensional
	Turing machines with no individuality or flexibility.  

	The stated rules of "NO SINNING!" "NO CONSORTING WITH EVIL"
	"NO CONSORTING W/NEUTRALS EXCEPT ONCE" are just accepted
	by players and DMs dont see that besides restricting
	the actions and activities of paladins, these sorts of rules
	really set up such a  character for lives of tragedy.
	And tragedy, epic tragedy, is a great element of FRPlaying.

	The paladin as Western literature has written about him is 
	a more tragic character than almost any other.  Paladins in
	the great romances such as the Morte d'Arthur and Orlando
	Furioso live lives of great travail and suffering, with
	very little pleasure, even when not off fighting, and often
	lose their lives over meaningless trifles or through treachery
	that their vaunted skills and abilities in combat could not
	protect them from.  The life of such paladins is one continual
	search for happiness and rest but those things are forever
	denied them by their God, their duty, or just by cruel Fate,
	which is forever kidnapping their loved ones, killing their
	comrades, or forcing them to act according to their code to
	protect their honor or King while giving them nothing in return
	but more of the same.  And the more perfect or glorious the 
	knight, the more terrible and tragic his life is.  The
	secondary characters and lesser knights of Orlando Furioso
	live and a couple even manage to marry (Female knight/paladins
	are a relative rariety in the romances, esp. as main characters)
	but Orlando is treacherously betrayed and slain in a hopeless
	battle, after a whole book of other pretty bad things happen to him.
	Lancelot of course is another example.  He is NEVER happy, never
	contented, even though he is the perfect knight and unbeatable
	in battle.  His son Galahad is even more perfect than he, so
	perfect in fact that he doesn't seem human, and his own perfection
	leads him to commit unfilial acts and the finally to a reward that was
	greatly desired by many, the Holy Grail, but which the reader 
	cannot be sure was worth the  sacrifice of that which would have 
	made him more human and able to understand and forgive the 
	only too human frailties and sins of his father.  Galahad is not
	a sympathetic character. 

	However, it usually isn't in a DM's mind to make a paladin PC's
	life a tragedy.  And, FRPlaying is more earthy and pragmatic 
	than the great romances -- more like Conan than Parsifal. 
	I have never seen a campaign with an epic enough atomosphere for
	player characters to behave the way paladins do in Orlando, say.
	So player paladins tend to be less than perfect and DMs trouble
	them with loss of powers, quests to pay for old sins, and with 
	threatened or actual revocation of paladin status.  I DM'd a group with 
	a young female paladin (played by a female), who, after only 
	5 sessions or so, gave totally into temptation and started
	fornicating with a lecherous halfing (her husband in real life)
	by the name of Lovegood Longroot -- merrily kissing her healing
	hands goodbye, even though I tried to keep her pure, she said she
	just didn't want to have to hassle with playing a character
	that had to be so uptight all the time.  Many players are like
	that, and many others ruin paladin characters by concentrating
	on their special abilities and ignoring character development.

	Well, where does that leave the DM who would like to use paladins?
	With NPC paladins, and here I think the paladin class is truly
	interesting.  When players meet and deal with a tragic NPC paladin
	they can at the same time envy him or her for their skills and
	purposfulness, yet feel for them as they come to understand what
	sacrifices paladins make for their God(s).

	In my most recently completed campaign, my players, a mixed bag
	of "look out for #1" knights and adventurers, met Palleas, a 
	young paladin princess with a terrible burden; a Holy Sword
	with wonderous powers, Ablatane the Smiter of Evil.
	This blade, forged by her royal and holy ancestors, would
	heal the bearer of any sort of wound short of instantly fatal,
	would converse with her on diverse matters of life and morality,
	and had perhaps other powers not yet known to her.
	A marvelous weapon, my party thought, though they knew enough
	already to know that they wouldn't want to own it themselves.
	Indeed, the weapon, combined with her inflexible and absolute
	devotion to her family, her traditions, and her patron saints,
	were leading her from one heroic and awful task to the next.
	The sword would castigate her verbally and physically punish
	her for trangressions or failure.  If her mind was weakened
	from lack of sleep or loss of blood it would forceably take over
	her body, healing her while speaking from her lips and controlling
	her destiny, forcing her to say and do things it thought
	appropriate.  All for the Good of course. When holding or carrying
	Ablatane, Palleas was incredibly fearsome, yet when Ablatane was
	dropped or put aside somehow, she, still possessing a paladin's
	"natural" skills, was so convinced and certain of her worthlessness
	and ineptitude, was a pushover.  She willingly carried Ablatane,
	and shared almost all of it's beliefs and prejudices on her own.
	She was truly a good person, but was not and will never be a full and
	happy person until Ablatane decides to choose another of her line
	to wield it as she did.  Although she saved their butts on
	more than one occasion afterwards, the party realized that the
	sword invited more trouble and evil than it destroyed and 
	basically rejected it and her, as she had been rejected by many
	before and after them. (Thanked of course, but rejected none the
	less).  Such is the life of a many a paladin in my campaigns.