How do you play a paladin without turning him/her into a Mary Sue or a self-loathing emo in the end?
>>46451378
Before I answer that question, I have to ask why you think a paladin might become a self-loathing emo in the end.
>>46451394
Oath of Vengeance, perhaps?
what if your paladin seriously struggles with temptations that go against his/her faith?
>>46451394
I always seem to stumble to fallen paladins that hates himself for falling from the light, etc
>>46451420
Well to do that, you have to fall from the light. So it may sound obvious, but as long as you don't fall from the light, you won't have to deal with that.
Really, just try to make a good person that's doing the best they can by what they believe. They don't have to be constantly detecting evil and hunting after it - they're still mortal, after all. A little blindness is allowed, and it gives you some wiggle room if your party wants to do something evil as long as they help you look the other way and keep themselves hidden. There are still limits to your abilities, and you aren't the only paladin out there, so you can't really be a Mary Sue unless you try too hard.
>>46451378
Just be a good guy who does good and it'll all be good.
Have an interesting retirement plan. Paladins in my most recent setting either retire to have families or take up watch in an ancient stone port near the continent's western sea. The sea doesn't have an ounce of wind upon it apart from storms every now and again which either take things away from the shore or leave them there.
Very little that crosses that sea is good. None of it is wholesome. So old paladins who've never settled down and added to the next generation say goodbye to their order to go live in a town where every resident is born with a thousand yard stare, watching and guarding the realm from the horrors across the Silent Sea.
Also most of them tend to drink, swear, and basically be angry old men a whole lot more than they could have gotten away with back home.
>>46451378
>read OotS
>take special notice of O-Chul
one of the best paladins I've seen. perfectly compliant with all the criteria, exceptionally Good, yet not Stupid, not is he a Mary Sue or an emo.
also look at Miko to see how to NOT play paladin.
>>46451378
simply play him/her out as a good, mild, well-mannered guy who simply wants to do the right thing. emphasis on the latter since the golden rule of paladins is simply doing the right thing. juctice is more important than law for them after all
>>46451378
First of all make sure the rest of your group is comfortable with a strictly Lawful Good character joining the party. Don't be the dude who brings a Paladin into a party of rapacious murder-hobos.
The best paladin I've ever seen was played by my friend. We were both playing paladins; I was the gallant and impetuous knight-errant who had freshly earned his spurs as a Paladin while my friend played a more seasoned Paladin whose desire to do good had been tempered my experience and wisdom.
The following quote summed up our party dynamic best:
Two monks had taken a vow of celibacy which forbade them to so much as touch a woman.
One day, while taking walking through the woods, they came upon a river. As they were about to cross, a woman lying on the riverbank called out to them. “Please sirs, I have twisted my ankle and need to get across the river to return home. Would you carry me across?”
The first monk began to respond about how this was impossible given their vow but to his surprise, the second monk had already bent down, carried the woman on his back, and started wading through the strong currents.
They made it across the river and to the woman’s village where the second monk left her with the village doctor. The two monks then resumed their trek through the woods.
After two hours, the first monk said, “Brother, I have to talk to you. I cannot stand it anymore. I am so disturbed by what you did back there. Why did you carry the woman? Have you forgotten our sacred vow? Does it have no meaning for you? Our superior has told us that we must not even graze a single strand of a woman’s hair, and yet here you are brazenly carrying one across your back!”
The second monk replied, “Brother, I left the woman in her village two hours ago. Why do you still carry her?”
>>46451378
Consider Qui-Gonn or Obi-Wan or Wyatt Earp or Harry Callahan as paladins.
>>46451693
Qui-Gonn and Obi Wan are lifeless cardboard cutouts with no character. Nobody should ever take them as an example.
>>46451731
Take them as an example with a grain of salt and a little more to round them out.
You could argue Ben Kenobi was a better paladin, or Luke.
Make him lawful evil.Or a blackguard.
>>46451891
That's not really solving the problem. That'd be like saying the best way to make a paladin is to make a cleric instead.
>>46451822
Luke is a good example of a paladan-like character with some depth. He's undisciplined and emotional at first, then grows into wise stoicism, though still falling into his emotions at extreme moments.
>>46452926
The moment in the last movie where he says, "No, I am a Jedi, like my father before me." is an especially good point to take influence from as to a paladin.
He is tempted, he falls into anger for a moment, but he holds back at the last second. The Emperor gets too hasty at the last second, and accidentally gives Luke a glimpse at what he would become. But Luke's decision is so firm that even the Emperor, who'd been acting as if his fall was inevitable this whole time, simply says "So be it."
The last time I played a paladin he was basically the parties grampa.
He didn't get mad when someone did something wrong, he was just disappointed because he knows you have it in you to be such a good boy.
There were real tears when he died.
>>46451378
By having uncompromising principles (like pic related) that overwrite any and all moral code with a Zeroth Law Rebellion.
Your motto should be 'Give no Fuck, Take no Shit' when it comes to right and wrong.
>>46453103
That keeps you from going Mary Sue or emo, but it sure as hell won't make your party happy.
>>46451504
/thread
Not fucking rocket science
If you need more instructions just ask yourself what would Captain America do
>>46451378
>be a good man
>fight for what is right
>pray alot
>always choose what is better for all even if it brings you shame>get to old for this shit
???
heaven
>>46451378
Fall.
Then be redeemed.
>>46451571
Roy is also a good example and him not being a paladin is just Burlew being silly
>>46451378
>People think I'm a magus or psychic-warrior.
>Make a big story about how I saw some shit on another plane and survived only by putting my faith in (insert god here) and don't cuck his honor by worshiping lesser deities.
>Don't even attempt to convert people, that's the clerics job. I'll let you experience your own hell when the time comes, I've got assholes to kill who give me PTSD flashbacks of those horrors.
>Takes a few sessions for players to realize I'm a paladin and guess what? Never once did they ask me if I was following mu'h code or that I should fall for being mean to someone.
>>46451693
I thought Qui-Gonn wasn't that bad of a character.
>>46451378
Just don't be a dick. Don't be lawful stupid. And always choose the good option if you are choosing between lawful and good.
