Okay, be nice. Here we go!

Lots of complicated things provoke thought from me and I try not to be shallow. As for a paladin, things like a person's upbringing (or any char), maintaining honor and loyalty, I know about that.

There's no wrong or right answer...right?

So one day I asked myself: Why do they [ Paladins ] exist in D&D-based worlds? Why are there very few? Is it for the convenience of the setting (as it, because of their abilities, there should be few in number) or something else?

Why would a God create one? To make the hero contiune being a good example for the planet and God itself?

Paladin handbook covers different ways as to how a person becomes a paladin but why choose that person? Aren't there a ton of people who carries exquisite faith in their God?

There isn't a truly pure or perfect person? Thus, a paladin is capable of making mistakes and getting its powers/position revoked.

The greatest heroes in medieval times or myth have long or magnetic stories about their feats. So I thought that maybe that's why paladins are so few -- they reflect these people and earned such honor.

I guess becoming a great hero, like in out time, requires a lot of faith and courage. It's a beautiful thing. With that, it could be said that you truly do have a God on your side. Cept in D&D, it's taken to another level.

But I make it seem that faith/courage just builds up unconsciounesly. A paladin is required to pay tithes, so there's a God attachment that has to be withheld. Religion is not negotiable and they were prettttttttty religious back then. God is above all, and all there is left to think over is justice and good.


What do you think of this?

There is a wonderful trilogy of books by Elizabeth Moon. The Deed of Paksennarion The first books is "THe Sheepfarmer's Daughter", the second in "Divided Alligence", And the last "Oath of Gold". EM really made sense of what a Paladin is and how they come to be, and is great fantasy fiction.

I suppose that the D&D Paladin is the fantastical equivalent of real-world mythical and possibly historical 'Knights in Shining Armour', the honourable and noble (not class-wise, but adjective-wise) champions of society, who take on the forces of evil and injustice with a resolved heart and a highly-posished sword.

Or at least that's part of my impression- I don't know if it actually gives food for thought or no.

As for gods choosing Paladins, though I haven't read the Paladin's Handbook, I have to say that I've come to have a bit of a problem with 'chosen ones' of any type. To me a Paladin should be the type of person who earns his or her powers through the strength of their faith and through the nobility of their actions. Sure there are those who come to grow out of their honourable ways and begin to misuse their power, or even take their ideals too far, to the point that it becomes a challenge to live up to their standards, but that is why there are ex-paladins. Nobody is perfect (and if they were, I have good information that they wouldn't be all that great anyway) and sometimes a person's faith can be lost or misplaced, or they can be tempted out of grace, but those who do fall out of favour with Paladinhood always have the ability to realize their wrongdoings and atone, assuming that they haven't been so blinded as to not know why they have fallen.

I agree with you that paladins make some of the greatest heroes of stories (I agree even more when you look at Paladins of Freedom who are devoted to ensuring that there is never so much security placed on the people that their personal freedom has to be suppressed).

I also have a slightly off-topic note about a Paladin's courage. I like to think that being immune to fear effects says less about the fact that a paladin does not experience the emotion of fear- that seems to me like a death wish taped to the Paladin's shoulder, and makes me ask questions about scenarios when a normal person would, for example, fear for a loved one. I don't know if I'm not the only one who has thought this, but I would say that the paladin can feel fear just as any normal person, but has the courage and maybe the divine help not to be ruled by this emotion. The line here is "To be courageous does not mean to have no fear, that is stupidity. Te be courageous means to have fear, and to face it."

I know I kind of picked only a few things to comment on. I have to admit that some questions I didn't really quite know how to respond to. I just put down some of my thoughts on Paladins; personally, the exemplar classes of the good alignments are some of my favourites.

(By the way, if you respond to me, I have to warn that I won't likely have much Inn access over the next while)

Dragon: That sounds very interesting! I looked up it up on Wiki...but, it's an old book. How dependable is Amazon? Also, something else did intrigue me from one of the Amazon reviews:

>>Rather than being written either as a sort of record of someone's favorite character in a game, or as a publicity/demonstration piece for some gaming system or mechanic, Paksenarrion was born (according to an email exchange I had with the author) from bad roleplaying: Elizabeth Moon, not gaming herself, heard some people playing "Paladins" (Holy warriors in the service of a god) and doing so very poorly. Her reaction was of course that "such a person wouldn't ACT like that"...<<

Lol, how badly are we talking? Anyone with personal examples?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0671721046#R3EQN1RCIQ0ACN

Sibel: That's a nice thought! Fear is only natural. The fear immunity sounds very magical and doesn't make the paladin a complete human. I don't think some fear destroys complete valor.

I believe, as far a games are concerned, they speak of certain monsters having the ability to cause fear. I think that immune to fear is for that reason and not for the common fears that that plague all sentient beings. like fear of snakes, of fear of failure.

Ande do read the Paksennarion trilogy--you will really understand the making of a Paladin.