Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (
More info?)
Jeff Goslin wrote:
> "Malachias Invictus" <capt_malachias@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:rcOdncC5ruga0cvfRVn-1w@comcast.com...
>
>>>meaning that the paladin is little more than a fighter on massive
>>>steroids.
>>>However, he assured me to no end that he could role play the character
>>>well
>>>enough, so I relented from my previous decision not to allow player
>>>character paladins. Sure enough, within one session, he had abandoned
>
> the
>
>>>guidelines of how I expected a paladin to be played in our campaign in
>>>almost every way.
>>
>>...which are *what*, exactly?
>
>
> In a nutshell, he was a champion of good, always did the right thing, never
> did the morally wrong thing(either by action or omission of action), and
> tried to defeat evil whenever realistically possible. I didn't expect him
> to start taking on demons and devils single handedly, but I *DID* expect him
> to prevent the party from mercilessly interrogating (via torture) a
> prisoner, I expected him to prevent the unnecessary slaughter of captured
> prisoners by party members, I expected him to never lie. These are not
> unreasonable expectations of a paladin.
Turning a blind eye to torture and slaughter of prisoners... That's not
even garden variety Lawful Good, let alone the standard to which a
paladin should be held.
The only way I could see such a "Paladin" retaining his or her powers is
if those powers come from a deity/power source that has woefully below
average omniscience in regard to its followers.
>>A character who is a trained warrior and is expecting life-threatening
>>danger would pick the weapons that were the most effective in combat,
>
> unless
>
>>he was either stupid, culture-bound, or had some other weird reason.
>
>
> I have to wonder exactly how short the weapon list is in your campaign.
> Nobody picks anything but EXACTLY the most effective weapon, metagame
> mechanics wise, huh?
I don't think metagame thinking has anything to do with it. Even in
real-life, people struggled to find the most effective weapons for a
required task and fighting style. Now, they didn't have a big
stat-block like a player does, but they knew if their fighting style
requires a big, heavy weapon, they should be using a big-ass sword or
ax. If they need something they can hide easily, they'd know a dagger
would be appropriate. If they needed something a bit more versatile, a
standard long sword would do.
Unfortunately, D&D doesn't explicitly model many of the real-life
factors that went into deciding whether or not to use a weapon. This is
particularly true in the case of all those specialized pole arms. So
D&D players a left to measure effectiveness based almost solely on
damage, weapon size, and weapon reach.
- Tialan
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