The Paladin Help Hotline

[GoblinSapper]

Playing a paladin is hard. Is it the ethos? The limitations of the character class? The giant bullseye painted on your chest? The unwanted unrequested OOC pestering tells informing you what a Paladin would and wouldn't do in any situation?
 
Well, yes, but what i'm here to talk about is the questing.
 
You can't.
 
Quest.
 
With Evil people.
 
Which, on EFU, can commonly and effectivly translate into:
 
You Can't.
 
Quest.
 
Period.
 
I whole heartedly encourage people to roll good or non-good PC's. More then just being a quest crushbot crew, through the schemes of the Saurian Foundation, Team Good is actually making moves to effect the server and make waves. In ways besides getting ganked in the ruins by the latest Dockside gangster.
 
Natch, my play times probably affect my problems somewhat, but it can be very discouraging when you see a group of 4 or 5 people you could quest with abandon you to quest with someone else, who is evil, just because they like the rewards elsewhere better, or because they know that person.
 
The trials a Paladin faces ICly are unavoidable and part of the class, but I encourage people to think outside the bun. The bun is evil.
 
Which makes Taco Bell LG, I guess.
 
?

[TheDarkMoon]

I was able to get a paladin to level 9, This included heavy quest smashing some days to spread the light. There are evil people, Thier are good people. You as the paladin have to make yourself worth more then they are. So when you join a group -THEY- Are asked to go away. You dont need more allies, You just need to start hunting them. Grab them force them to your char. Make a close knit circle of holy chars. And when a new one pops up snatch them before an evil faction moves to take the bait. It is very obviously not a numbers game. You just need to have the allies to be able to nabbed. You can make a group, you just actualy need to role play that 14-16 charisma score..

[Egon the Monkey]

THE PALADIN HELP HOTLINE

Here you go! (That's actually a picture of the Pope's old telephone)

Play to the class's strengths. They are heaven-on-wheels for blowing undead into teeny bits, which is why my PC took your char over an Evil fighter for a Jergal run. People KNOW you will and cannot steal from the loot and are honour bound to open a can of whupass or dismissal on anyone who does. A well played paladin can be trusted never to screw over a team in other ways either.

I would certainly agree there's a big Evil>Good tendency for mages in my experience, which can be a problem for questin'. This may have a lot to do with both loot and necromancy. Still, grab the Neutral people and offer them a faction that gives a damn and will treat them fairly, rather than betrayal like an Evil team.

[Gwydion]

Playing my first pally, I'm a bit surprised at the percentage of evil characters on the server.  I'm even more surprised when I see them hanging out by the Kingsman Inn, shooting the breeze with others and basically acting like decent folk.

When I subtract the characters that are RPed to be good from the ones that are evil, it leaves very few neutral characters.  I would think the greatest percentage of characters would likely be neutral.  Maybe it's just a phase, but I would say the server frequently is 80%+ evil.  

So here's a suggestion:   DMs see evil characters hanging out and engaging in pleasant chit-chat and mindless RP - give them Lawful and Good points.  Eventually they won't be evil anymore and thus won't make it so tough for pallys to RP and quest with them, or to be excluded from quest groups.  

Personally I think alignment point adjustments are awesome and I would like to see more of it.  It shows that the DMs are watching and rewarding (or reminding) the player about the role of alignment in RP.

[Nightshadow]

My recommendation: If you're going to be something other than True Neutral, come up with a reason why your character is that alignment. If you really just don't care, be True Neutral, and let your own actions and other people's influences on you gradually move you toward a particular alignment.

[Egon the Monkey]

EfU is populated hugely with Affably Evil. They just do their jobs, have a beer after and occasionally sacrifice beggars to Orcus or beat the crap out a suspect. My preference for Evil tends to be playing total bastards largely because of its relative novelty. The thing is that only Paladins can see an evil past and judge from it. THat's why they have DE in the first place, because not every villain wears demonhide halfplate and carries a whip. That said, those that DO go in for bright neon I AM A MALICIOUS SCUMBAG signs do seem to duck hate/concern/dismissive attitudes from Neutral PCs a lot.

[tropic]

I've never understood this. Why do people default to evil when they are rolling new characters?

[Kinslayer988]

Brethren before wenches, always

[Divine Intervention]

There are lots of evil pcs yes, however I don't understand why so many people seem to think evil means you must be doing evil stuff every single minute.  Just as good guys don't rush from saving babies to helping old ladies across the road 24/7 evil people also prioritise and take breaks.  Murderers do not constantly and blatantly murder one person every hour.

[GoblinSapper]

I'm not saying that either. I'm just suggesting people roll Neutral or Good, because theres some stuff happening and Paladins are involved.