okay so long story short, my character is a Brass Dragonborn Paladin from a noble background. He follows the dragon god of justice, Bahamut and in our campaign, joins a monster hunting guild in order to enact justice and do good deeds etc.
Recently, the character reached level 4, meaning I chose the feat “magic initiate”, bringing in a few warlock spells into my armoury. However the DM was soon to point out that Bahamut doesn’t like warlocks (soon to be followed by a spooky dream and a warning from Bahamut via prayer). I kept the spells but started to wonder where this new direction could take my character.
To be clear, my character is a noble. They are strong, pretty overpowered, and as a result, slightly arrogant. They like to think they are always right, bringing about good, and that makes them feel powerful and mighty. But this recent move has really stirred things up. He brings in the warlock spells to make himself more powerful and therefore do good with his new power, but this worries Bahamut. The dragon God sees good and evil as black and white. My character sees the world more grey.
So how do you think I should tackle this? I could distance myself from my god, breaking my path to become a chaotic good fighter. Or I could stay and see how things go. In the next session we will be visiting a temple of Bahamut, so there’s an opportunity there possibly. I want to create an interesting story arc that goes beyond the just and noble paladin stereotype that I’m playing at the moment. So what do you think? Any tips that I should know about or different paths I could take? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Though this probably belongs more in the general/story parts of the forum, I think it is an interesting question.
From a mechanical standpoint; there is no reason for a paladin to be forced to act according to the whims of a deity; if you're a paladin of justice and good, you could follow pelor, bahamut, lady justice, superman whatever. The only thing you can "break" is your oath (which is mentioned in the PHB) but as long as you don't do that, mechanically you are ok. This would also depend on the DM and their view on the oaths.
That said, storywise there are some interesting things going on... A Warlock gets their magic from a pact with an entity. Since Bahamut specifically isn't providing you with these powers, who or what does? Is that the reason why Bahamut doesn't like Warlocks? Bahamut may be a deity of good, but he's also a dragon. What if he is too self-righteous to allow his followers to gain power from any other source? Even if the pact is with a good creature (like pact of the celestial for instance) and Bahamut does not approve, why is that?
Personally I'd delve deeper into the rabbit hole and find out why in the world you're playing in this is the case. As long as you stick to your oath of doing good and bring justice, you should be fine. And have fun doing it :)
okay so long story short, my character is a Brass Dragonborn Paladin from a noble background. He follows the dragon god of justice, Bahamut and in our campaign, joins a monster hunting guild in order to enact justice and do good deeds etc.
Recently, the character reached level 4, meaning I chose the feat “magic initiate”, bringing in a few warlock spells into my armoury. However the DM was soon to point out that Bahamut doesn’t like warlocks (soon to be followed by a spooky dream and a warning from Bahamut via prayer). I kept the spells but started to wonder where this new direction could take my character.
To be clear, my character is a noble. They are strong, pretty overpowered, and as a result, slightly arrogant. They like to think they are always right, bringing about good, and that makes them feel powerful and mighty. But this recent move has really stirred things up. He brings in the warlock spells to make himself more powerful and therefore do good with his new power, but this worries Bahamut. The dragon God sees good and evil as black and white. My character sees the world more grey.
So how do you think I should tackle this? I could distance myself from my god, breaking my path to become a chaotic good fighter. Or I could stay and see how things go. In the next session we will be visiting a temple of Bahamut, so there’s an opportunity there possibly. I want to create an interesting story arc that goes beyond the just and noble paladin stereotype that I’m playing at the moment. So what do you think? Any tips that I should know about or different paths I could take? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Hi samcoates11, welcome to the forum.
Though this probably belongs more in the general/story parts of the forum, I think it is an interesting question.
From a mechanical standpoint; there is no reason for a paladin to be forced to act according to the whims of a deity; if you're a paladin of justice and good, you could follow pelor, bahamut, lady justice, superman whatever. The only thing you can "break" is your oath (which is mentioned in the PHB) but as long as you don't do that, mechanically you are ok. This would also depend on the DM and their view on the oaths.
That said, storywise there are some interesting things going on... A Warlock gets their magic from a pact with an entity. Since Bahamut specifically isn't providing you with these powers, who or what does? Is that the reason why Bahamut doesn't like Warlocks? Bahamut may be a deity of good, but he's also a dragon. What if he is too self-righteous to allow his followers to gain power from any other source? Even if the pact is with a good creature (like pact of the celestial for instance) and Bahamut does not approve, why is that?
Personally I'd delve deeper into the rabbit hole and find out why in the world you're playing in this is the case. As long as you stick to your oath of doing good and bring justice, you should be fine. And have fun doing it :)
Subclass: Dwarven Defender - Dragonborn Paragon
Feats: Artificer Apprentice
Monsters: Sheep - Spellbreaker Warforged Titan
Magic Items: Whipier - Ring of Secret Storage - Collar of the Guardian
Monster template: Skeletal Creature