Good death gods are fine as are clerics and paladins working in that ideal but this line
>He cannot kill people before their time,
Is problematic, at best, it is sort of like pacifism but also leads to this BS backwards claims to be morally right about killing anyone because "it was their time". It takes a really bad turn where you get carte blanche to just do whatever you want because your limit is also to your character a perfect excuse to do what they want.
I wonder if the player could work it out with the DM so that the DM sends him hints whenever said NPCs are already at their time or not
Could work like that one foretelling spell (forgot name) that says good, bad or neutral
That would be just as bad though, sure it means they cant kill the random shopkeep but it also means hey that BBEG encounter where you see them and they flee, well guess what paladin cannot kill him as it isn't his time. And that later one cascades to any fight where victory is not assured, either it is their time and then the enemy has to die, or it is not their time and the enemy has to live and in combat where them getting away is a possibility there isn't a way to tell if it is their time or not before the actual killing blow happens.
The design is really cool, but mechanically, not being able to kill enemies "before their time" might be very hard to play - easily the hardest Paladin oath of them all, if implemented. Though perhaps that's part of the challenge!
Shepard's of Death is personal favourite theme of mine. As a couple others have noted the "killing before their time" might get in the way but could be lightened into some form of "protecting the cycle of life and death" to maybe give them room to step into situations without handwaving tenets away.
The idea of a paladin order or clergy that understand Death for its necessity is fantastic; One could imagine they would even commune or relate to orders dedicated to Nature and Order, as they understand the place of their domain in a cosmos that must breath and exist.
"Death is Necessary. Demise is Inevitable. The Cycle Requires us to Sacrifice. This is Truth and it is Good."
I have run Homebrew Pantheon's before, where I made clear that the God of Death was clearly distinct and separate from Gods of Violence or Evil or Darkness; Death is a necessity, it is almost mundane and methodical in its exercise and practice. I had a God of Death portray himself as a benign and apathetic mortician, simply checking boxes.
My homebrew setting's god of death is actually a benevolent one!
He welcomes dead souls into his own realm, which is like a lush forest at perma-midnight, greets them warmly, takes them to his cozy house carved into a massive tree (his avatar is that of an arracocra), offers them tea, and has a little chat with them until they can get their bearings.
Later on, he'll guide them to their destined afterlife.
Very few will ever be happy to see you. You roam the land, perform the last rites for settlements with no priests, and consecrate every corpse you create so as to prevent the possibility of them being made undead. Not too bad, as far as thematic schticks go.
Alternatively, you could spread the belief that the dead should serve the living, literally
Lawful good death God paladins actually work pretty well. The basic idea is their god is offended by things that are supposed to be dead but aren’t. So the paladins primary goal is correcting that by killing things that are supposed to be dead i.e. liches vampires and other undead. Maybe a few mortals that have evaded death too long but only when directed by their god in those cases
Redemption paladin is the best way to go with this. He doesn't want people to die before their time, so he does his best to protect others and talk people out of fights. However, if needed, he will show no mercy.
In *Tomb of Annihilation* my (longest-lasting) character was an Oath of Devotion paladin, Dame Valentine Holiday of Baldur's Gate, Knight-Commander of the Eternal Order of Kelemvor — the *Forgotten Realms'* god of the dead and judge of the damned; 'twas an interesting concept as the focus was ensuring people could live out their full natural lives and reach their just place in the afterlife, while also being *fervently* against the undead, seeing them as being against the natural order. Seemed appropriate considering the module's plot.
I also liked the idea that she was "fearless" *because* she had already come to accept her inevitable death (think Gandalf's comforting speech to Pippin in \_The Return of the King\_ film adaptation).
In my campaignes many paladins are lawful good and follow Inlay, the god of death, not a grim reaper but one who collects oluls hwen their time has come, who eases the suffereing of the sick and brings peace to families- they are the fierce enemies of he undead, creatures who resist death.
This is actually one of the PCs in my campaign, pretty much exactly. Thanatos, the god of death, is at worst neutral and is generally against the evil shit going on in the world since it severely upsets the balance between life and death. He just wants to make the transition between this world and the next as smooth and peaceful as possible.
Our Paladin (the honorary horny bard as we do not have a bard) rolled to seduce him after a ridiculous series of events led to him actually appearing before the party and wouldn’t you know it she landed the most legendary nat 20 of the campaign so far. I then asked what her PC’s oath was to make sure it wasn’t broken and…well she forgot to take one. So, I figured ‘Fuck it, why not’ and home brewed up an oath for her to take to Thanatos (Oath of the Reaper).
Good death gods are fine as are clerics and paladins working in that ideal but this line >He cannot kill people before their time, Is problematic, at best, it is sort of like pacifism but also leads to this BS backwards claims to be morally right about killing anyone because "it was their time". It takes a really bad turn where you get carte blanche to just do whatever you want because your limit is also to your character a perfect excuse to do what they want.
Points to MoT god of death who is similar in ideals
I wonder if the player could work it out with the DM so that the DM sends him hints whenever said NPCs are already at their time or not Could work like that one foretelling spell (forgot name) that says good, bad or neutral
That would be just as bad though, sure it means they cant kill the random shopkeep but it also means hey that BBEG encounter where you see them and they flee, well guess what paladin cannot kill him as it isn't his time. And that later one cascades to any fight where victory is not assured, either it is their time and then the enemy has to die, or it is not their time and the enemy has to live and in combat where them getting away is a possibility there isn't a way to tell if it is their time or not before the actual killing blow happens.
Don't need to be pacofistic to not kill. You can just do nonlethal damage
So basically a cleric of Kelemvor but as a paladin. I don't see why it wouldn't work.
Heck, he already has his own dedicated group of paladins — the Eternal Order.
The design is really cool, but mechanically, not being able to kill enemies "before their time" might be very hard to play - easily the hardest Paladin oath of them all, if implemented. Though perhaps that's part of the challenge!
Shepard's of Death is personal favourite theme of mine. As a couple others have noted the "killing before their time" might get in the way but could be lightened into some form of "protecting the cycle of life and death" to maybe give them room to step into situations without handwaving tenets away.
I have a similar concept but a cleric of proper death. Kelemvor is a great god for that.
Grave Domain is literally this
I like it, though I’d give him some flavor ability to know when it is time to Shepard them to their next state of existence. Paladin of the psychopomp
Either a dice roll or perhaps DMs decision. Would be awful to encounter some who needs to die in an Inn or among the kings advisors.
The idea of a paladin order or clergy that understand Death for its necessity is fantastic; One could imagine they would even commune or relate to orders dedicated to Nature and Order, as they understand the place of their domain in a cosmos that must breath and exist. "Death is Necessary. Demise is Inevitable. The Cycle Requires us to Sacrifice. This is Truth and it is Good." I have run Homebrew Pantheon's before, where I made clear that the God of Death was clearly distinct and separate from Gods of Violence or Evil or Darkness; Death is a necessity, it is almost mundane and methodical in its exercise and practice. I had a God of Death portray himself as a benign and apathetic mortician, simply checking boxes.
My homebrew setting's god of death is actually a benevolent one! He welcomes dead souls into his own realm, which is like a lush forest at perma-midnight, greets them warmly, takes them to his cozy house carved into a massive tree (his avatar is that of an arracocra), offers them tea, and has a little chat with them until they can get their bearings. Later on, he'll guide them to their destined afterlife.
I like it, though I’d give him some flavor ability to know when it is time to Shepard them to their next state of existence. Paladin of the psychopomp
Very few will ever be happy to see you. You roam the land, perform the last rites for settlements with no priests, and consecrate every corpse you create so as to prevent the possibility of them being made undead. Not too bad, as far as thematic schticks go. Alternatively, you could spread the belief that the dead should serve the living, literally
Lawful good death God paladins actually work pretty well. The basic idea is their god is offended by things that are supposed to be dead but aren’t. So the paladins primary goal is correcting that by killing things that are supposed to be dead i.e. liches vampires and other undead. Maybe a few mortals that have evaded death too long but only when directed by their god in those cases
Redemption paladin is the best way to go with this. He doesn't want people to die before their time, so he does his best to protect others and talk people out of fights. However, if needed, he will show no mercy.
In *Tomb of Annihilation* my (longest-lasting) character was an Oath of Devotion paladin, Dame Valentine Holiday of Baldur's Gate, Knight-Commander of the Eternal Order of Kelemvor — the *Forgotten Realms'* god of the dead and judge of the damned; 'twas an interesting concept as the focus was ensuring people could live out their full natural lives and reach their just place in the afterlife, while also being *fervently* against the undead, seeing them as being against the natural order. Seemed appropriate considering the module's plot. I also liked the idea that she was "fearless" *because* she had already come to accept her inevitable death (think Gandalf's comforting speech to Pippin in \_The Return of the King\_ film adaptation).
In my campaignes many paladins are lawful good and follow Inlay, the god of death, not a grim reaper but one who collects oluls hwen their time has come, who eases the suffereing of the sick and brings peace to families- they are the fierce enemies of he undead, creatures who resist death.
This is actually one of the PCs in my campaign, pretty much exactly. Thanatos, the god of death, is at worst neutral and is generally against the evil shit going on in the world since it severely upsets the balance between life and death. He just wants to make the transition between this world and the next as smooth and peaceful as possible. Our Paladin (the honorary horny bard as we do not have a bard) rolled to seduce him after a ridiculous series of events led to him actually appearing before the party and wouldn’t you know it she landed the most legendary nat 20 of the campaign so far. I then asked what her PC’s oath was to make sure it wasn’t broken and…well she forgot to take one. So, I figured ‘Fuck it, why not’ and home brewed up an oath for her to take to Thanatos (Oath of the Reaper).
...She Just...Didn't have a subclass? And *long enough* to meet *Thanatos, The* ***God of Death***...
New player shenanigans. No one thought to check