Paladins Detect Evil?

[Spartan]

I've been playing a Paladin a little bit. Upon meeting some players, especuially those who i think are sereg or strike me as evil, i attempt to detect evil on them. I acomplish this by basically sending them a tell saying *Attempts to detect evil on you*.

Some people react by either saying i sense no evil or i sence slight evil etc.. but most look at me like i have three heads. I just found out that some 'Holy Warriors' get the actual ability to detect evil.
Is there an actual reason why a lawful good paladin (such as myself) does not get this ability? Above that, should I stop attempting to "detect evil" when i meet someone? (awesome job for those people who actually catch on and roleplay right along with me heh)
Personally i think it only stands to reason that a paladin, an aasimar paladin at that, can detect evil in people(especially a sereg hiding behind a helmet).
Perhaps all good paladins should get the detect evil ability and vice versa for evil holy warriors?

[Titanium Dragon]

There actually is a scripted detect evil. HOWEVER, because your character was not made on Avlis (Aasimir are not native Avlissian creatures) you didn't get the feat at character creation. I suppose it might stand to reason you cannot dectect evil if you're an offworlder as the only god who grants paladins power on Avlis is Gorethar.

[Vichan Lyonsen]

I've been playing a Paladin a little bit. Upon meeting some players, especuially those who i think are sereg or strike me as evil, i attempt to detect evil on them. I acomplish this by basically sending them a tell saying *Attempts to detect evil on you*.

Some people react by either saying i sense no evil or i sence slight evil etc.. but most look at me like i have three heads. I just found out that some 'Holy Warriors' get the actual ability to detect evil.
Is there an actual reason why a lawful good paladin (such as myself) does not get this ability? Above that, should I stop attempting to "detect evil" when i meet someone? (awesome job for those people who actually catch on and roleplay right along with me heh)
Personally i think it only stands to reason that a paladin, an aasimar paladin at that, can detect evil in people(especially a sereg hiding behind a helmet).
Perhaps all good paladins should get the detect evil ability and vice versa for evil holy warriors?

Actually there are Avlissian paladins that have the feature, though you arent missing much. The Paladin class should have the option when you create , if not then it has broken. you can edit the .bic file to add the feat ( which is how the rest of us got it I believe)..the problem is there is a save against it, its dc is fairly low...so really only high level paladins have much of a chance to be successfull a reasonable amount of time.

I believe it also sends a message much like a spell cast so everyone in the area knows you have tried to detect evil. and just about everybody got upset with the possibility anyway...

viewtopic.php?t=19829&highlight=detect+evil+paladins

[Spartan]

Thanks for the link to the post.
I always considered the paladins ability to detect evil a personal thing opposed to god given power (ever meet someone in real life and get bad vibes from them?).

I'll look into editing the .bic file (any advice on this? not very computer literate). Atleast this way i can make the attempt. Today my character let someone go who he felt was a sereg because he tried to detect evil and didnt get a response.

this also brings up a good point, what happens when someone off world like a paladin comes to alvis? My paladin whorships the "silent lord". As far as alvis goes i'm drawing conclusions that this silent lord is the actual father to the 9 gods. (makes for good ingame debates) . When push comes to show though do i have to whorship one of the 9 gods? even though im not techn ically from alivis?

[Furin]

I played in a PnP game once where my paladin was guarding a room in an inn, in which the rest of my company was sleeping. An old woman walked slowly down the corridor ... and another player in that game started screaming, "Ping her! Ping her!"

He meant, of course, that I should use detect evil. I pointed out that since it's a standard action and behaves almost exactly like the spell, it's a sort of incantation/divine focus type thing and would be rude (or at least frightening) to a random old lady in an inn. Plus, I had no reason to do so. He kept on shouting, "Ping her! Ping her! Ping her!" But I demured.

As the old lady reached me, my DM said to me, "Make a will save." I made it, rolling very high. He said, "The old lady mumbles something and waves her hands in your face; you feel a tingle, but nothing more."

"Ping her! Ping her! Cut her open!" Instead, I asked the old lady what she'd just done. To placate my fellow player, I also decided to roll sense motive as I asked this--but I rolled a 1.

"Oh, just an old charm my grandmother taught me: a sort of forest blessing," she smiled.

What the hell? I rolled a 1. "Thank you kindly, ma'am. Have a good night!" She shuffled past, down the hall and out of sight.

The other player nearly shit himself that I didn't cut the old lady open. His character, Big Daddy Stratford, was eaten by wolves shortly thereafter, and he left the group in a move that was mutually beneficial to everyone.

Just thought I'd share...

[Mistcaller]

Ah, I wish you could post more often Furin, I really do...

[Vichan Lyonsen]

Thanks for the link to the post.
I always considered the paladins ability to detect evil a personal thing opposed to god given power (ever meet someone in real life and get bad vibes from them?).

Of course, but then this would be a skill that everybody has and not just paladins....Here it is part and parcel of the blessing received by Gorethar.

I'll look into editing the .bic file (any advice on this? not very computer literate). Atleast this way i can make the attempt. Today my character let someone go who he felt was a sereg because he tried to detect evil and didnt get a response.

this also brings up a good point, what happens when someone off world like a paladin comes to alvis? My paladin whorships the "silent lord". As far as alvis goes i'm drawing conclusions that this silent lord is the actual father to the 9 gods. (makes for good ingame debates) . When push comes to show though do i have to whorship one of the 9 gods? even though im not techn ically from alivis?

Which world are you from? you might have a problem , as editing the bic file (which isnt terribly hard but requires someone on the team to insert it into your vault) might make your PC unplayable elsewhere.

On avlis, a Paladin worships Gorethar and Gorethar only, no other god can (or rather will) bestow paladinhood upon a person, the other 8 greater gods have their own Holy Warrior.

Now for me, if you come from another world, where obviously Gorethar doesnt exist, you would not be a worshipper of him, also here on Avlis there is no "Silent Lord" and therefore your powers should be limited. any spell or spell like ability above 2nd level will not (should not rather) function. Below is a quote from the grand High Poobah of Avlis....his words are gospel

let me clarify.

When you go to another world or planet, you do not have contact with your native gods unless they have temples and worshipers where you are travelling to. This basically means that if you worship Gorethar, and you go to FR, you are screwed for spells. Conversely, if you worship a LG god of FR and you come to Avlis, you are also screwed spells.

There are two exceptions to this rule, and I'm not making this up. It's from Spelljammer rules 2nd Edition:

1) You can still cast spells under 2nd level no matter what world you go to.

2) Paladin/holy warrior abilities are all considered to be 2nd level for the purposes of this rule.

So,

Example 1:
Gorethar paladin goes to FR. ---> He can no longer cast any cleric spells above 2nd level... cure serious wounds is a no go. However, he can still use his paladin abilities, i.e. detect evil, smite evil, lay hands, etc.

Example 2:
FR paladin goes to Avlis ---> He can no longer cast any cleric spells above 2nd level... cure serious wounds is a no go. However, he can still use his paladin abilities, i.e. detect evil, smite evil, lay hands, etc.

So yeah, a paladin from another CoPaP world could technically come over here and do that kind of thing. I'd like to see how OoG deals with that though. Might not be pretty. The above rules basically apply to all holy warrior classes on Avlis.

So as you can see, you can use your various innate abilities...lay on hands etc....but spells above 2nd level are right out, and you should not use them.

Hope that helps.

[_Wake_]

grand High Poobah of Avlis.

[Spartan]

Someone mentioned to me that the god my paladin was worshiping could infact be the father of the 9 alvis gods. Pretty interesting twist but i don't think it'll fly with the residents so i think i'll end up searching for the OgG and presenting myself to them. Is there an area they reside typically that i could stumble across and attempt to sort myself out?

[Vichan Lyonsen]

Someone mentioned to me that the god my paladin was worshiping could infact be the father of the 9 alvis gods. Pretty interesting twist but i don't think it'll fly with the residents so i think i'll end up searching for the OgG and presenting myself to them. Is there an area they reside typically that i could stumble across and attempt to sort myself out?

I think I can safely say that unless your god has fathered mortal humans on other planets in other planes then he IS NOT the father of the nine Avlissian Gods. Each of whom were mortal humans before they were captured and brought to Avlis.

The Supreme, (creator of Avlis) arranged the nines escape, they ascended to godhood when they grasped the Eternal spark because the Negerai found them.

As for finding members of the OoG, your best bet is to hang around elysia, the ordained members wear blue and gold platemail. there is a Hostel of Gorethar in the Nobles district, but it would be uncommon to find one on the main floor. You also have the option of speaking with a cleric of Gorethar in his temple and converting to teh worship of Gorethar.

[Aradan Kir]

i'll end up searching for the OgG and presenting myself to them. Is there an area they reside typically that i could stumble across and attempt to sort myself out?

or look for me, usually in Mikona

[Spartan]

I plan to, thank you. One last question though if i may. Can a holy warrior be dual classed or would he or she have to be a pure paladin/holy warrior?

[Aradan Kir]

I plan to, thank you. One last question though if i may. Can a holy warrior be dual classed or would he or she have to be a pure paladin/holy warrior?

I believe (but please correct me if I'm talking crap here) that you can become a holy warrior if you start out as another class, but once you take levels as a holy warrior and stray away ... you can never return.

so for example, if you start out getting to level 5 as a paladin, then take 2 levels as a cleric, you can't take any more levels as a paladin.

[Starslayer_D]

I still wish they had implemented the *overload of detect evil in the presence of overwhelming evil* effect. Paladin lvl 3 detects evil near Amonien... faints in shock...

[Aradan Kir]

I still wish they had implemented the *overload of detect evil in the presence of overwhelming evil* effect. Paladin lvl 3 detects evil near Amonien... faints in shock...

fine .... so long as 1st level evil clerics in the vicinity of Aradan spontaneously burst into flames !!

[Sindol]

I might be wrong on this, but I think the paladin detect evil ability should be available copap-wide, not just on Avlis. I've once made a paladin in a local mod with the copap haks attached and he could use his detect ability just fine, so it's not necessarily linked to Avlis, just to the haks...

[Spell Singer]

I played in a PnP game once where my paladin was guarding a room in an inn, in which the rest of my company was sleeping. An old woman walked slowly down the corridor ... and another player in that game started screaming, "Ping her! Ping her!"

He meant, of course, that I should use detect evil. I pointed out that since it's a standard action and behaves almost exactly like the spell, it's a sort of incantation/divine focus type thing and would be rude (or at least frightening) to a random old lady in an inn. Plus, I had no reason to do so. He kept on shouting, "Ping her! Ping her! Ping her!" But I demured.

As the old lady reached me, my DM said to me, "Make a will save." I made it, rolling very high. He said, "The old lady mumbles something and waves her hands in your face; you feel a tingle, but nothing more."

"Ping her! Ping her! Cut her open!" Instead, I asked the old lady what she'd just done. To placate my fellow player, I also decided to roll sense motive as I asked this--but I rolled a 1.

"Oh, just an old charm my grandmother taught me: a sort of forest blessing," she smiled.

What the hell? I rolled a 1. "Thank you kindly, ma'am. Have a good night!" She shuffled past, down the hall and out of sight.

The other player nearly shit himself that I didn't cut the old lady open. His character, Big Daddy Stratford, was eaten by wolves shortly thereafter, and he left the group in a move that was mutually beneficial to everyone.

Just thought I'd share...

Just a thought from a DM in PnP for many years.

Detect evil is a supernatural ability, it is one of the gifts from their diety. It requires no overt action on the part of the paladin, there is no indication that the paladin is doing anything, it is not a spell but a spell like ability. It is activated merely by concentrating and unless you are a 1st level paladin one can assume that you can concentrate without putting your fingers to your temples and chanting "Omni Pondi Hummm" or something.

So where and when a Paladin uses this ability is pretty much up to the paladin, and 99% of the time it would unknown to anyone around them. Also unless the person you are using it on is a cleric you are going to have to concentrate for 3 rounds before you realy get any information, and if it is a cleric you are detecting the tie to the god.

Randomly checking an old lady in an inn? Depends on the inn I would guess.

After she cast a spell at you, you did nothing? Casting a spell is something that you would recognise as it is a specific action...I would do a detect evil at that point especially as you made a will save...so something tried to take over your mind and you resisted it.

Odd you would need to make a will saving throw anyway since you should have been covered by protection from evil which prevents mind effects. I miss the Paladins radiating that actually.

Also on a skill roll a 1 is not an auto failure. It is just a 1. So if your sense motive was good you should still have sorted it out. Since you should have gotten a +2 bonus minimum given you just made a save and watched her cast a spell.

On avlis I use it rarely, only after someone has been in Kaelyn's presence for a long time. And by our own guidelines it take 2 positives generally to make the detection valid.

[Titanium Dragon]

Spell-like abilities work almost exactly like spells in 3rd edition; you can tell they're doing something pretty significant and magical.

[Glocknal]

I still wish they had implemented the *overload of detect evil in the presence of overwhelming evil* effect. Paladin lvl 3 detects evil near Amonien... faints in shock...

Glok usually faints when Amonien starts talking....

[Brian Deville]

All the paladins I spoke with (including my character) don't have this feat if recently created.

[Meriado]

Agreed.But one character that was created recently that I knew, had it,like Mouse for example.

[Stormhammer]

My recently made character is also without this feat.

[Brian Deville]

Mouse is a wemic, perhaps custom classes are generated in a different manner?

[Fifty]

*laughs at Star and Aradan*

You guys crack me up.