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.