Violations and Penalties
When a paladin violates his ethos—that is, when he violates any stricture, virtue, or edict he has sworn to uphold—he suffers a penalty. This penalty is in addition to any punishments required by applicable laws or local customs. For instance, if a paladin robs a merchant, he suffers an ethos penalty and he may also be imprisoned.
Two methods are provided for determining ethos violations and penalties. The Standard Method, derived from a strict reading of the Player's Handbook rules, is the easiest to referee, but generates the harshest penalties. The Alternative Method is easier on the players, but requires more effort from the DM. Whichever method you prefer, it's best to stick with it throughout the entire campaign.
In all cases, the DM has the final word on whether a violation has occurred. At the DM's discretion, he may allow the paladin to appeal his decision. If the paladin argues convincingly that his actions didn't violate his ethos, the DM may suspend the penalty.
If the paladin's violation isn't especially severe, the DM has the option of letting him off with a warning. If the paladin picks up a new magical item and already has 10, the DM might remind him of the relevant stricture, giving him the chance to put the item down before he claims ownership. One warning, however, is plenty; if the paladin commits the same act a second time, a penalty should be applied immediately.
The DM may bypass both the Standard and Alternate Methods, instead considering each ethos violation on its own merits and assessing any penalty that seems appropriate. A willful and deliberate evil action results in the irrevocable loss of the paladin's status. Lesser violations should result in minor penalties, such as the temporary loss of one or more of the paladin's abilities. A suitable quest, the clerical atonement spell, or both may be used as penance for lesser violations.
Standard Method
This method weighs the severity of an ethos violation purely in terms of alignment. The DM decides if a violation is chaotic or evil, and then applies the appropriate penalty.
Chaotic Violations
Chaotic acts include violations that are inadvertent, impulsive, and relatively benign. The violation cannot have directly or indirectly resulted in physical harm to any non-evil person. Examples:
• A moment of panic.
• Opposing the judgment of officials from his government or church. If the paladin refuses a just edict, the violation becomes evil.
• Failure to display proper courtesy to an elder or peer.
• Arrogance.
• Telling a "white lie" or couching the truth. If the lie results in harm to another person, the violation become evil.
Penalty: If a paladin knowingly commits any chaotic violation of his ethos, he must seek out a lawful good cleric of 9th level or higher. A cleric of the paladin's faith is preferable but not mandatory. The paladin must locate the cleric as soon as possible. An undue delay—say, of more than a few weeks—changes the violation to an evil one.
Once the paladin locates a cleric, he must make a full confession of his transgression and ask for forgiveness. The cleric will prescribe an appropriate penance. The paladin must execute the penance immediately; failure to do so constitutes a further violation. Typical penance's include:
• 1-4 weeks laboring at a monastery or church.
• A day or two in complete isolation, where the paladin does nothing but contemplate the wrongness of his action.
• Completion of a modest task (such as retrieving a medicinal herb from a mountain top or ridding the monastery basement of a snake infestation).
Evil Violations
Evil violations include intentional acts of theft, treason, cowardice, betrayal, greed, cheating, and blasphemy. Any ethos violation resulting in deliberate physical harm to a lawful good character is considered evil.
Penalty: Even a single evil violation results in the immediate and irrevocable loss of the paladin's status. He forfeits all benefits, powers, and privileges associated with the paladin class, none of which may be restored by magic or any other means. From that point on, the character exists as a fighter; he keeps the same level and adjusts his experience points as necessary. Because he wasn't a fighter at the beginning of his career, he isn't eligible for weapon specialization.
Magically Influenced Actions
The DM may excuse chaotic acts performed by an enchanted or magically controlled paladin. Optionally, he may impose a small penalty, such as those in "Self-Administered Penalties," on p. 43.
If a paladin commits an evil act while enchanted or controlled by magic, he immediately loses his paladin status and becomes a fighter as described above. However, because the evil act wasn't intentional, the status loss is temporary. To regain his status, the character must complete a dangerous quest or important mission on behalf of his government, church, or mentor. Possibilities include recovering an artifact in another plane of existence, accumulating enough treasure to build a spectacular monastery, or singlehandedly slaying an evil dragon. The character acquires no experience points as long as he remains a fighter. If the character completes his mission, he becomes a paladin again. He has the same level and number of experience points that he did when he lost his status.
A character who doesn't wish to undertake such a grueling mission may abandon his paladinhood altogether and remain a fighter. From that point on, he acquires experience points and attains new levels the same as any other fighter. Once he abandons his paladinhood, he may never regain it.
Alternate Method
This method gives the DM more latitude in determining the severity of ethos violations and also allows for a variety of penalties. To determine the severity of a violation, the DM must consider the paladin's intention, the consequences of the action, and who is affected.
Ethos violations fall into four general categories of increasing severity. Categories 1 and 2 include minor violations affecting non-evil characters other than the paladin's peers and superiors. Most violations belonging to Categories 1 and 2 are thoughtless, selfish, and insensitive actions which may not be evil in a strict sense. Deliberate or unambiguously evil actions belong in Categories 3 and 4. Additionally, all ethos violations involving an official of the paladin's government or church, or any organization or person to whom he's pledged fealty, belong to Category 3 or 4.
As these categories are necessarily broad, each includes several examples to help the DM make his decisions. Several possible penalties are also given. The DM should choose a penalty that fits the crime. He's also free to make up his own penalties based on these samples.
Category 1: Incidental Violations
This category includes accidental, inadvertent, and careless violations with insignificant consequences. The paladin doesn't benefit from this type of violation in any way. Nor do these violations jeopardize the safety of any non-evil person, either directly or indirectly. Examples include:
• Hesitating before entering a dark room. If the paladin is too fearful to enter at all, this becomes at least at Category 2 violation (higher, if his reluctance results in harm to a companion).
• Failing to return a friendly stranger's greeting. If the paladin's indiscretion is due to arrogance rather than a simple mistake, this becomes a Category 2 violation. Likewise, this belongs to Category 2 if the stranger takes offense.
• Brushing against a stranger's dinner table and knocking a pitcher of ale into his lap.
Sample penalties include:
• Apologize to anyone slighted by his actions, as well as to anyone observing the indiscretion.
• Champion the slighted person in an upcoming tournament.
• Meditate for an hour each night for the next 1-2 weeks, contemplating the wrongness of the action.
Category 2: Grave Violations
This category includes serious violations of trust and judgment, including accidental or careless acts that might jeopardize the safety of non-evil characters. It also includes intentional acts that offend, disappoint, or mislead non-evil characters, but don't jeopardize their safety. (Intentional acts that jeopardize the safety of others belong to Category 3). Examples include:
• Failing to keep armor or weapons in optimum condition.
• Neglecting personal hygiene.
• Lying to a vendor about the quality of his merchandise. If the paladin lies to take advantage of the vendor—for instance, to make the vendor more cooperative or to get a better price—this becomes a Category 3 violation.
• Lose or misplace a small trinket carried for a companion.
Sample penalties include:
• Seek out a high-level lawful good cleric and complete a penance (as described in the "Chaotic Violations'' section above).
• Forfeit a small sum to a charity (perhaps 2d10 gp or a day of work).
• Pay double or triple all tithes for the next 1d4 months.
• Temporarily lose the ability to cast spells, detect the presence of evil, remain immune to disease, radiate an aura of protection, or cure diseases. The loss persists for 1d4 weeks.
• Earn only half of the normal number of experience points for the next 1-10 weeks.
Category 3: Extreme Violations
This category covers acts that call into question the paladin's commitment to his ethos, such as intentional acts that jeopardize the safety of non-evil characters. Examples include:
• Delaying the execution of an edict, or failing to satisfactorily complete an edict.
• Informing travelers that the road ahead is safe, declining to mention the rumors of bandits.
• Inadvertently inflicting great harm on the patron's cause, such as failure to protect an artifact or important official.
• Avarice, usury, or preoccupation with worldly goods.
• Failing to aid a dying person.
• Panicking and retreating from a battle.
Sample penalties include:
• Forfeit his stronghold and all other property holdings.
• Permanently lose the ability to cast spells (or the spells of a particular sphere) until appropriate atonement is made.
• Permanently lose one of the following abilities: detect presence of evil, disease immunity, aura of protection, or laying on hands to cure disease until appropriate atonement is made.
• The bonded mount leaves, never to return. The paladin never acquires a replacement.
Category 4: Execrable Violations
This category includes the most intolerable and unforgivable ethos violations, the worst deeds a paladin can commit. Any direct violation of a stricture or edict belongs here, as do violations that result in physical harm to any lawful good character. This category also includes any violation affecting an official of the paladin's government or church. Examples include:
• Refusing or ignoring a just edict.
• Habitual cowardice.
• Committing an act of blasphemy.
• Betrayal of the patron.
• Concealing funds, hoarding more than 10 magical items, or purposely neglecting to tithe.
There is but one penalty here:
• The paladin immediately loses his status, as described in the "Evil Violations'' section above. Heinous crimes against the monarch may merit execution. Crimes against the church may result in a vengeful deity striking the paladin dead with a lightning bolt or causing the earth to swallow him up. (If in doubt, roll 1d20. On a roll of 1, the deity kills the blasphemous paladin; otherwise he is just subject to institutional penalties.)
Magically Influenced Actions
If paladin commits an evil act while enchanted or controlled by magic or psionics, the DM determines the category of the violation, then applies a penalty from Table 15.
Table 15: Penalties for Enchanted Paladins (Alternate Method)
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Violation |
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Category |
Penalty |
|
|
1 |
Apply normal Category 1 penalty or forego penalty entirely |
|
|
2 |
Apply Category 1 penalty |
|
|
3 |
Apply Category 2 penalty |
|
|
4 |
Paladin temporarily becomes a fighter (as described in
the "Magically Influenced Actions" section of the Standard Method) |
Ceremony of Disgrace
At the DM's option, a paladin guilty of an ethos violation may have to submit to a Ceremony of Disgrace in addition to a penalty. Usually, Ceremonies of Disgrace accompany punishments for heinous crimes involving government or church officials (defined as "Evil Violations" in the Standard Method, and Category 3 and 4 Violations in the Alternate Method), but they may be used for lesser violations as well.
A typical Ceremony of Disgrace requires the guilty paladin to appear before one or more representatives of his government or church. The more serious the crime, the higher the station of the presiding official; a low-level bureaucrat may suffice for a Category 2 violation, but the king himself may choose to oversee the ceremony for a Category 4 violation. To compound the paladin's shame, a Ceremony of Disgrace is often held before an audience in the town square or other public forum with the accused paladin standing on a raised platform for all to see.
The ceremony begins with the presiding official declaring the paladin's crime. The official chastises the paladin for betraying his Code of Ennoblement, then announces the penalty. For a minor violation, the paladin may ask for one of the paladin's non-magical weapons. The official destroys the weapon by throwing it into a fire or snapping off the blade.
For a heinous violation, more elaborate humiliations may be involved. In addition to destroying one of the paladin's weapons, the official may demand that the paladin hand over each piece of his armor. The official flings each piece into a fire or has an aide pound the pieces with a mallet, rendering them useless. The official may then slap the paladin's face, douse him with a bucket of offal, or roughly shear the hair from his head until only a stubble remains. Finally, the official strips the paladin of his name; the paladin must call himself by a new name from that point on.
Throughout the ceremony, the paladin must remain silent. Speaking during a Ceremony of Disgrace may be considered an ethos violation in itself, requiring an additional penalty.
Self-Administered Penalties
Occasionally, a paladin may commit an ethos violation that the DM considers irrelevant. The paladin might think lustful thoughts about an attractive hireling, mutter an insult under his breath about a hated foe, or accidentally eat a soup containing chicken broth when he's vowed to be vegetarian. While all of these examples might technically be ethos violations, they're so trivial that the DM will probably overlook them (assuming he's aware of them in the first place).
But even when the DM overlooks a trivial violation, a truly conscientious paladin player may insist on a penalty anyway. In such cases, the paladin is free to punish himself and choose his own penalty; the DM may veto a penalty he deems too severe. Typical self-imposed penalties might include:
• Apologies to the affected parties, with assurances the offensive act will never be committed again.
• A vow of silence for the next 1-2 days.
• Becoming consumed with guilt and self-loathing for the next 1-2 days, during which time he makes all combat rolls and ability checks at a –1 penalty.
• A special tithing, donation, or service for which the paladin accepts no return.
Anti-Paladins
What better nemesis for a paladin than his direct opposite, an "anti-paladin" that embodies the forces of evil? As the mirror image of a normal paladin, an anti-paladin might be able to detect the presence of good, generate a aura of protection against good creatures, and wield an "unholy" sword.
Though DMs may experiment with any type of character they like, we discourage the use of anti-paladins. Good and evil are not merely mirror images of each other. Just as the forces of evil have their unique champions, the paladin is intended as a unique champion of good. The paladin originates from a tradition of dynamic balance, in which the forces of good are few and elite and in which forces of evil are numerous and of lesser quality. Allowing anti-paladins blurs this basic relationship.