15 thoughts on “Do you think a neutral paladin could work? If so, what changes would it need?”

  3. To me, a Paladin is someone who has been chosen by a god (or other power) to be their mortal vessel. Someone who embodies an ideal or a code .You could have a neutral Paladin, I guess. Someone who is concerned with keeping Good and Evil in check so that neither gain the upper hand.

    That has the potential to be fairly boring though, as a Neutral Paladin is really just maintaining the status quo. Their goal is to make sure things essentially don’t change.

  7. A Paladin only has to be Lawful or Good until they mark xp for following their alignment. They can easily change to be whatever they like! What kind of Alignment moves a Neutral Paladin might have will vary, but Neutrality in DW is generally about the preservation of self-interest without harming anyone else.

  8. But wouldn’t there only be status quo if the world is at complete balance? I find it really hard to think of a setting that has balance, everywhere there is always evil or good reigning.

    Tim Franzke  For some reason I can’t seem to access that.

  9. What you can do is have the paladin a lawful character of a neutral nauture/balance deity so he will want balance. If you have a paladin in a game going off the alignment of lawful or good, change him temporarily to a fighter until he is forgiven by the deity or temple and goes back to the paladin alignments.

  12. My questions to a player interested in a neutral paladin would be, “What do you fight for? What sort of concrete actions will you take to accomplish that?” And generally drill down until I get a concrete sense of the paladin’s goal. That might help, because it seems tough to me. The paladin is about strong views, which can be tough with a view toward balance. I’d be interested, for example, in knowing what they would do I a highly lawful, peaceful city where the populous was large generous and “good”.

  14. I see two scenarios.

    A) The neutral paladin represents a voice of moderation in a world of excess, like a Buddhist walking the Middle path and seeking to purify him or herself of desire, aversion and ignorance. It’s a bit like the Jedi seeking to remove the strong emotional core that’s leads to suffering and angst.

    What would the Jedi paladin think of a lawful city full of “good” people? They may be loud, boorish, ignorant and unenlightened, but perhaps they are worthy of protection, knowing the alternative would be to watch them slip further into slaking their materialistic lusts. Perhaps a few might be awake enough to meditate more on what life could be…

    B) Or they start sounding a bit like a Druid — which makes sense, since they are the archetype of balance in nature. (Although the modernized version may seem to be similar to other justice-seeking nature-mongers 😉

    What would a Druid paladin think about a lawful city full of “good” people? Look at all of the pollution that the city creates — and the classist system that it propagates. There’s countless examples of the unseen injustices that occur in the name of the ‘greater good’ or are swept under the rug to maintain stability. Consider the animals slaughtered, the downtrodden poor, the cultural violence and oppression built by the System…

  15. Ezequiel Etche To your original question, I do think it can work, and as far as changes go I think some tweaking in the Quest move might be in order.  

    That being said, I personally prefer the Paladin to be in service to a god with particular sphere or influence rather than a Paladin of “generic good” or “generic neutrality.” So is the Paladin  Neutral, or do they serve a Neutral God of SomethingNeutral? The answer could be “both,” but it’s not necessarily so, right?

    “How did a black hearted-lady such as yourself come to be bound in the service of the god of charity?” is something you might ask of an evil paladin in the service of a good god. The tension of an alignment mismatch can be fertile ground, even if it’s not as stark as this example.

    An optional move such as this could serve this goal.

    “In Service of a Higher Power: Choose your alignment move based on your diety’s alignment rather than your own.”

    I think it’s always better to be specific about who the paladin’s boss is and what they want the paladin to do.

Comments are closed.