Paladin Rising Paladins are warriors who are sworn to uphold the cause of Good. It is the dream of every paladin to transcend this corrupt world and become a demigod. During this Journey to Ascension, a paladin will face many moral dilemmas, for things are never as they seem. This is a game about good people who do bad things.You are tightly bound by your oath to never do evil. The more good things you do, the higher you rise. The more evil things you do, the faster you fall. As a paladin, you will be thrown into morally obnoxious situations where you must avoid doing evil at all costs. Concoct a plan on the edge of logical absurdity. Get someone else’s hands dirty. Whatever it takes. As long as you didn’t technically do anything wrong, you’ll be in the clear.

Character Creation

Holy Points (HP): Each paladin begins play with four Holy Points. Holy Points are the core of this game. When a paladin performs a good deed, regardless of intention, he gains a number of Holy Points. When a paladin performs an evil deed, regardless of intention, he loses some Holy Points. When a paladin’s HP falls below zero, he falls from grace and loses his status as a paladin, along with all of his paladin powers. He can only be redeemed by going on an Apology Quest. If a paladin obtains twelve Holy Points, he becomes a demigod. Skills: Skills indicate what a paladin is good at. A paladin has 24 skill points to allocate to his skills as he sees fit. The lower the scores the better. Skills are divided into three categories:

Fighting Fighting Unarmed Fighting Close (melee) Fighting Ranged

Sensing Sensing Evil Sensing Things Doing Doing Acrobatics Doing Athletics Doing Sneaking

Equipment: The primary conflicts in Paladin Rising are moral, rather than violent ones. Thus, ordinary armor and weapons do not have any special rules, or any rules at all for that matter. Melee weapons use the paladin’s Fighting Close Skill. Ranged weapons use Fighting Ranged. Thrown weapons can use either Fighting Unarmed or Fighting Ranged, depending on what feels appropriate to the Controller. Paladins may or may not have horses. The players could decide their paladins have a certain weapon in the middle of combat if the Controller chooses to allow it. It really doesn’t matter. Note that this does not apply to magical weapons or items with special properties. A short list of special items is given at the end for the Controller to make use of. As for other items such as rope, they don’t matter unless the Controller finds some time where their inclusion or exclusion would aid the story.

Special Abilities: “Just because he looks evil, that doesn’t mean he’s evil. But if he smells evil, well that’s just evil.” —Arch Paladin Dave

These are unique abilities that only paladins can use. If a paladin falls, they lose these powers. Sensing Evil: On a roll within 50, a paladin can know the Alignment of the individual in question. Note: some enemies have sneaky ways of making it more difficult to tell their alignment. Sometimes the Controller will just make the difficulty higher to screw with the players. Holy Strike: A powerful attack that instantly vanquishes its target. If the target was evil, the paladin gains +1 HP for killing them. If they were not evil, they lose an extra HP. This ability is usable only once per day. By default, the player must declare they are using this ability before rolling to hit. However, if the Controller thinks that’s super lame (and it is), they may allow the player to retroactively declare a Holy Strike after a hit has been rolled. The first approach is more dramatic, the second is more cinematic.

Doing Things “Whenever it’s a bad idea to do good, it’s still a bad idea to do bad.” —Arch Paladin Dave Paladin Rising is a player facing game. This means that the players roll dice, not the Controller. When a paladin wishes to do something, he rolls 1d100 (2d10) plus his Skill rating and compares it to a difficulty rating determined by the Controller. Rolling equal to or under this number indicates success. This is referred to simply as "rolling within". Example Difficulties: Easy: 70 Medium: 60 Difficult: 50 Challenging: 40 Hard: 30 This is why lower Skill ratings are better. The lower your roll, the higher your chance of success.

Opposed Skill Rolls When a paladin wants to do something but another player’s character is trying to stop him from doing it, both people roll with their relevant skills and whoever rolls lowest wins!

Combat “A good vampire? The only good vampire is a dead vampire.” —Arch Paladin Dave

In Paladin Rising, combat always contains or comes as a result of a moral dilemma. Therefore, combat in this game is merely a means to an end, and the system is in no way intended to model realistic tactical combat. Combat does not follow a rigid structure of "rounds". Rather, the Controller moves from character to character in a way that best fits the flow of the action. Combat should be cinematic. A character might even perform two actions in a row. A player may shout out what he would like his character to do in the middle of someone else's action. The Controller has final say about when that action takes place.

Most NPCs have a standard series of damage conditions:* 1. Shaken 2. Wounded 3. Vanquished *Note: some powerful foes will have more than these. When a paladin attacks, he rolls 1d100 plus his relevant Fight skill. If he rolled within the NPC’s defense rating, the NPC takes the next damaged condition. If a paladin rolls within half of the NPC’s defense rating, the paladin may chose to skip the next damage condition. This is called a CRITICAL HIT and represents the paladin striking his foe with an extra degree of accuracy. Example: An evildooer is Shaken and Heathcliff the Paladin needs to roll within 60 to hit. Heathcliff rolls within 30 (half of 60), so he chooses to Vanquish his foe instead of only wounding him. Alternatively, Heathcliff is fighting someone and is not sure if he is good or evil. He again needs 60 to hit, and again rolls within 30.To buy himself more time to discover his foe's intentions, he will only wound his target, to avoid murdering a potentially innocent man. Like NPCs, paladins also have three damage conditions: 1. Shaken 2. Wounded 3. Vanquished When an enemy makes a successful attack against a paladin, the paladin moves to the next damage condition. Most NPCs have one of a few standard attack ratings: Skilled: 40 Average: 50 Untrained: 60 When an NPC attacks a paladin, the player describes how his character will defend himself and declares which of his skills he will use to do so. For example, ducking and dodging out of the way would be Doing Acrobatics. Deflecting with a sword would be Fighting Close. Certain arguments could also be made for Sensing Things, and other skills. If the paladin rolls within the enemy’s attack rating, he avoids harm. Otherwise, he gets his next damaged condition. When a paladin is Wounded, he is in dire straights. If he is damaged one more time, he will die! Recommended courses of action are: 1. Running away.

Non-Lethal Damage If a paladin wishes to deal non-lethal damage, his attacks function as normal until the foe would be considered "Vanquished." At this time, the paladin makes a skill check with the skill he was using to attack. He rolls against a difficulty of 50. If he passes, then the target is Incapacitated. Otherwise, the target is Vanquished.

Targeting Specific Body Parts If a paladin wishes to target a specific body part (i.e. shooting at the leg to get around the non-lethal lethality rule), the difficulty to do so is -15 (recall that lower difficulties are harder). If the paladin would have hit had it not been for the greater difficulty, it counts as a hit by a normal attack.

Morality

Alignment “Good and evil exist in all creatures — is a lie that an evil person made up.” —Arch Paladin Dave

Every character in Paladin Rising has a basic moral center called an alignment. A person’s alignment is essentially a measure of how good or evil they are. There are four alignments, as follows: Pure Good Medium Good Medium Evil Pure Evil All Paladins must be either Pure Good or Medium Good. The Controller should remind his players to roleplay their paladins in a way that reflects their alignment.

The Paladin Oath “Good paladins are hard to come by these days.” —Arch Paladin Dave

Paladins may worship any number of gods, but their primary allegiance is to the force of Good. When a paladin is in training, the order he joins teaches him morality. He then makes a solemn oath to do only what is good and to never to do what is evil. His soul is bound to this contract for as long as he remains a paladin. The paladin’s intentions don’t matter, only his behavior. When a paladin does something good, he gains Holy Points. When a paladin does something evil, he loses Holy Points.

Chart of Deeds Note: This is not an exhaustive list, and the Controller may modify it as he sees fit. Saving the lives of a whole country +7 HP Saving the lives of a whole village/city +5 HP Saving a group of innocents +4 HP Saving the life of an innocent or two +3 HP Slaying a Pure Evil being +3 HP Slaying a Medium Evil being +2 HP Stopping a theft or similar minor crime +1 HP

Telling a lie -1 HP Committing a theft or similar minor crime -2 HP Slaying a non evil sentient being -4 HP Torturing anyone -4 HP Slaying several innocents -5 HP Slaying a Celestial Being -6 HP

Being able to stop someone from committing an evil action and not doing so is just as bad as doing it, and so the paladin would lose HP accordingly. If the paladin knows his actions would indirectly cause evil to be done, he still loses HP accordingly. Exactly how far this can be taken is up to the Controller. The paladin can fudge his actions somewhat. The paladin can mislead, but as long as he doesn't say anything absolutely untrue he doesn't lose Holy Points. Similarly, the paladin cannot torture anyone or order anyone to be tortured, however, he may look the other way while someone else is doing it, as long as he can’t be shown to have known about what was going on.

How to Make Morality Rulings “I once had an evil fellow say to me, ‘Good and evil are two sides of the same coin.’ What does that even mean?” —Arch Paladin Dave

This simple breakdown should clarify when committing an evil action causes a paladin to lose HP. Did the paladin directly commit an evil act? • Whether they knew their action was evil or not, they lose HP. Did the paladin indirectly or through inaction, cause evil to be done? • If the paladin knew* evil would happen, they lose HP. • Otherwise, they do not • If the paladin did not know that evil would happen, but secretly hoped it might, he is still not penalized. *Note, defining what it means to know is beyond the scope of this rulebook. All players must abide by the definition the Controller gives them. Strong proponents of Cartesian philosophy are invited to leave.

Controller’s Section “Personally, I don’t even believe in the Controller. I think this whole world just imagined itself.” —Arch Paladin Dave

This section will give you the tools you need to turn any ordinary roleplaying session into a sadistic Kantian thought experiment.

Controlling a game of Paladin Rising requires the ability to improvise. It is not possible to plan for every idiotic thing your players will do. If inventing moral dilemmas on the fly seems too difficult, FEAR NOT! You will learn the ways now.

How to Make it All Happen

Adventure Structure Paladin Rising lends itself very well to one-shot play. That is, a game that only lasts for one session. While campaign play is surely possible, this play style has not yet been tested. An adventure usually begins with the PCs (Paladin Characters) receiving a mission from another paladin of high rank. After facing minor complications, the PCs discover that their mission is not nearly as straightforward as they thought. The PCs then take action, usually involving a convoluted plan that they think is genius. After this comes the end, where some have risen and others have fallen.

Constructing Moral Dilemmas The paladin’s code of honor makes it easy for you to throw the PCs off balance. Because of the Holy Point system, all immoral actions have direct consequences for the PCs. Thus, almost any ordinary circumstance can be turned into a terrifying dilemma by asking a simple ‘what if’ question. The method is as follows: Ask a question, then consider how the answer would cause problems for the PCs. Good questions to ask: • What if so and so was evil? • What if so and so was really good? • What if doing the right thing causes something bad? • What if doing the wrong thing would result in something good? • What if there were multiple evil things in different places at the same time? • What if so and so was actually behind this whole thing? • What if the PCs’ plan got out of their control? • What if this situation got out of hand? A good way to think as you run this game is that if something is as straightforward as it seems, you should probably add in a complication that could result in HP loss for the PCs.

Example: The PCs meet a farmer and his family. The Paladins want to ask them where they could stay for the night. The Controller asks herself, “What if the farmer was evil?” The Controller decides that the farmer’s alignment is Medium Evil and that he is an abusive father. The PCs will gain Holy Points if they kill him, but his wife and children will surely starve. All the Controller has to do is help the PCs find out about this. She could further rule that once they know about the father, they have a moral obligation to stop the abuse or suffer HP loss.

Controller-Player Relationship It may seem as though the Controller’s job is to actively ensure that the players fail. This is only half true. Thinking of yourself as being opposed to the players can certainly help you come up with challenges for them. However, your ultimate purpose is to create a fun and challenging game. In general, you present the PCs with two options, both of which are horrible. The players usually devise a third option where they can escape all (or most) negative consequences and still do good. Allow the players to taste success. You can throw them another curveball if you really feel it is appropriate, but if your players escape from what you thought was the perfect lose-lose with Holy Points to spare, that’s okay. Players have fun when they win. In a game like this, it’s very important to allow your players to actually enjoy themselves. It can quickly become frustrating to have everything you do explode in your face. So fine tune the level of fail in your games. Every group is different, so the line between moralistic satire and nit-picky BS is one you have to find for yourself.

What if they Fall? “‘Sometimes you have to fall before you can fly.’ —Sleeping with Sirens” — Arch Paladin Dave When a paladin’s Holy Points drop below zero, he falls from grace. Paladins who have fallen are subject to these rules: • They can no longer use Sensing Evil or Holy Strike. They also lose access to any other special paladin abilities. However, item abilities are still fair game unless its description says so. • They can still gain and lose Holy Points, but their Holy Point total cannot go above -1. When a paladin falls, he has been stripped of his honor and must go on an Apology Quest if he wants to restore it. An Apology Quest usually entails performing some great act of Good. This could be slaying Arch Lord Vondaltrix or rescuing a baby angel who fell out of Heaven. He may drag his friends along, but he must be the one to perform the deed. A fallen paladin may, at the discretion of the Controller, choose to become a blackguard, or antipaladin: a champion of evil. That character’s player stops playing Paladin Rising, and instead engages in a parallel game of Blackguard Falling. That game will take place in the same universe as the current one. The rules for Blackguard Falling have not yet been written. Sorry.

Villains This section provides you with some example bad guys to include in your game world. Use these as a guide when creating your own. Notice that each of the villains provided isn’t just a bad guy the PCs must kill. A good Paladin Rising villain is a walking Kantian thought experiment. Fighting them always involves greater moral implications that the players must work around. Thus, when creating your own villains, think of the moral dilemma you want to create, then build a character around engineering that situation.

Arch Lord Vondaltrix Master of the Black Fortress in the Dead Mountains, Arch Lord Vondaltrix was once a paladin who was seduced by the power of Evil. He wields a broadsword and is a master of Dark Purple Magic. He wears a cloak of infants, harvested from nearby towns. He uses this cloak to stop the attacks of those with morality. Attack Rating: 40 Defense Rating: 50 Alignment: Pure Evil Damage: 1. Soaked in the blood of the recently born 2. Scratched 3. Wounded 4. Running low on babies 5. Vanquished Specials: Armor of Innocents: Arch Lord Vondaltrix has a mass of live infants chained to his body. Any attack against him that rolls above 10 will kill at least one baby. Missed attacks will kill 1-2 babies, unless they roll over 60. Using Holy Strike will murder several babies. Just So Evil: Holy Strike will only kill him if he is Wounded. Otherwise, it immediately wounds him.

Rathgar: Barbarian King! Strongest of the Tribes of the Lower Plains, Rathgar: Barbarian King! is feared throughout the land. He has united all of the warring tribes under his banner, and plans to "Squish the puny insect city dwellers like insects." Many tribes have put aside their grudges because of his strength and charisma. If he were to die, war would return to the Lower Plains, and not even the innocent will be spared. Attack Rating: 45 Defense Rating: 50 Alignment: Medium Evil Damage: 1. Bleeding 2. Wounded 3. Injured 4. Vanquished Specials: RAGE: When Rathgar: Barbarian King! becomes Wounded or worse, he flies into a mad rage. His Attack Rating becomes 30 and his Defense Rating becomes 55.

Special Items “Do you even know how magic works in this setting? It’s messed up, man!” —Arch Paladin Dave

Kill You Jelly A small vile of vile goo. Benefits: Apply to body of a living being. Instantly indicates whether the recipient is Good or Evil Drawbacks: If the recipient is evil, it indicates this by doing nothing. If the recipient is good, it indicates this by burning through their skin and killing them. The recipient must be scraped clean of the acidic solution before it spreads to their entire body. If the administer of the Kill You Jelly did not intend for the item to be used as a torture method, this does not count as torture for the purposes of HP reduction. It is only murder.

XCaliberX This black, straight edged blade is feared by all evil beings who consume magic compounds and elixirs to obtain power. Benefits: -3 to Fighting Close while using this weapon Drawbacks: The wielder must abstain from the use of alcohol, potions, and recreational drugs. If they do not, this weapon becomes very heavy, giving a +5 to Fighting Close while using this weapon. The Controller may come up with other ways that this negatively affects the wielder. The Controller may rule that this weapon forbids the wielder from extramarital sex as well. In any case, these effects last until the wielder can somehow make it up to XCaliberX. Pact: A paladin can make a pact with this weapon, swearing his allegiance to its power. If he does so, the sword gives -5 to Fighting Close. Additionally, two new items are added to his personal Chart of Deeds: • Preventing someone from engaging in one of the sword’s banned behaviors +1 HP • Engaging in one of the sword’s banned behaviors -1 HP (plus Drawbacks, above) Book of Nice Things to Say A large, golden tome filled with encouraging sayings Benefits: A paladin may read one of the sayings contained within this book to another paladin. If they do so, he loses a Holy Point and the other paladin gains one. Drawbacks: The player whose character uses this book must come up with the saying himself. No saying may be used twice, even by different characters, or across multiple games. The Controller may rule that the saying must pertain to the situation at hand, but it can be pretty funny to throw out a saying that makes no sense in context.

Child Protection Sword The hilt of this sword is a firm, stuffed teddy bear. Benefits: -5 to Fighting Close when helping children in some way. Drawbacks: New item added to Chart of Deeds: -1 HP for allowing a child to come to harm. This only applies if the paladin is carrying the CPS at the time. Pact: While in a pact, the CPS has the ability to detect the presence of pedophiles and child abusers, and will relay this information to its wielder. New items are added to the paladin’s Chart of Deeds: • +1 HP when doing good for a child. • -2 HP for allowing harm to come to a child

Item Description Benefits: text Drawbacks: text Pact: text