Rules for Paladins

Laws of the Faithful

You shalt honor the Lord each day.

You shalt protect the weak

(Author's Note: The "weak" are also captives who were disarmed or have surrendered to the Paladin and his group)

You shalt show gratitude to the church and to the believers

You shalt show bravery before the foe

You shalt fight with honor

(Author's Note: This rule doesn't seem to be true for horrors or those "who betray the Lord")

You shalt spread the word of the Lord

Your faith shalt be the foundation for our victory

As you can see the laws are quite strict and the punishment for failing them are very harsh.
I did this because the Paladin is a very powerful Discipline and needed strong rules to focus their impact on the game.
They are probably the most powerful discipline when it comes to the main foe in the Earthdawn game - HORRORS.
They gain many abilities which can, if overused, severely impair the game balance, but I have trust in most GM's that they can and will change my rules to fit in their style of gaming and there campaign.

I know that many players dislike to play a Paladin and that others will think of them as the only true class, I can understand both of them. It is hard to play a character with so many limitations as the Paladin, but on the other hand these same limitations make playing a Paladin very interesting.
The first group of players have probably never played a Paladin and will never do so (you should try, it's great fun, sometimes) most of them also 'hate' the Paladin in the group and keep on whining about the effects it has on their group and their ability to roleplay their own character, which in my opinion, is wrong. A group can include a (good-played) Paladin and still not be 'Lawful-Good' it is simply more difficult to play, if you can't plunder the dead like you did when John was still playing the warrior adept, it is a challenge to do so nevertheless (everybody does it) not a burden.
To the second group try to play a Paladin like a Paladin, not like a warrior with some spells and a stupid god he follows, don't turn around after the fight to let the others plunder the dead and torture the survivors even when it's sometimes hard to see a big treasure slipping by just because it didn't feel right.

For the GM's: Paladins are of course very easy to predict which makes them an optimal choice for placing adventure hooks and starting a campaign, but be careful not to overuse this option unless you want the rest of the group to feel like the followers of Sir Paladin.

Hope you like(d) it. Comments, questions and suggestions are welcome, flames are not !

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