Hi! I'm running a homebrew campaign and have a player who is playing an Oath of Redemption Paladin. When they pitched the character they told me that they'd be wanting to seek peace and use violence as a last resort, which I was fine with since those are main tenants of the oath. All of the characters have home brew items that tie into their backstory and when I crafted theirs I gave special bonuses to attempts at "good faith" peaceful resolutions. The item even gives advantage on persuasion checks intended to diffuse tense situations and mediate toward peace. However I've noticed that in social situations, the Paladin often ends up further escalating tensions and acting hostilely toward NPCs. I don't want to over-police the oath, but they seem to be skirting up to that line quite a bit. Short of having their deity call them to task, how can I remind them in-game of the spirit of the oath they swore, if not the letter? This is also my first time DMing for a paladin so having to keep an eye on the oath is somewhat new to me.
I wouldn’t remind them in game. I’d talk with them out of game. The player is the one doing this and controlling the pally. It’s the player who needs the reminder. You might find you and the player have different ideas about how the oath works, and you can sort that out. Also, it’s important to give players some leeway to develop the character. Could be they’ve changed their mind about how they want the character to behave, it can be good to check in.
Trying to fix things like this in game can lead to players feeling like they are being picked on. And sometimes the player doesn’t realize what you are trying to do. So be clear and explicit.
I agree you sohuld (at least initially) deal with this out of game.
TIs the player aware the paladin is acting agaist their oath? Remain them doing so is likely to have consuences, it is possible they want to explore that avenue in which case the handling of it can go in game. It is more likely that they are forgetting the role playing aspect and they are thinking what they would do rather than what their character would do in which case a reminder out of game will hopefully put them back on track.
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Hi! I'm running a homebrew campaign and have a player who is playing an Oath of Redemption Paladin. When they pitched the character they told me that they'd be wanting to seek peace and use violence as a last resort, which I was fine with since those are main tenants of the oath. All of the characters have home brew items that tie into their backstory and when I crafted theirs I gave special bonuses to attempts at "good faith" peaceful resolutions. The item even gives advantage on persuasion checks intended to diffuse tense situations and mediate toward peace. However I've noticed that in social situations, the Paladin often ends up further escalating tensions and acting hostilely toward NPCs. I don't want to over-police the oath, but they seem to be skirting up to that line quite a bit. Short of having their deity call them to task, how can I remind them in-game of the spirit of the oath they swore, if not the letter? This is also my first time DMing for a paladin so having to keep an eye on the oath is somewhat new to me.
I wouldn’t remind them in game. I’d talk with them out of game. The player is the one doing this and controlling the pally. It’s the player who needs the reminder. You might find you and the player have different ideas about how the oath works, and you can sort that out.
Also, it’s important to give players some leeway to develop the character. Could be they’ve changed their mind about how they want the character to behave, it can be good to check in.
Trying to fix things like this in game can lead to players feeling like they are being picked on. And sometimes the player doesn’t realize what you are trying to do. So be clear and explicit.
I agree you sohuld (at least initially) deal with this out of game.
TIs the player aware the paladin is acting agaist their oath? Remain them doing so is likely to have consuences, it is possible they want to explore that avenue in which case the handling of it can go in game. It is more likely that they are forgetting the role playing aspect and they are thinking what they would do rather than what their character would do in which case a reminder out of game will hopefully put them back on track.