D&D 5E Building a Tiefling Paladin!

[Herosmith14]

So, I have been building a Devil's Tongue Tiefling Paladin, and I'm conflicted about a couple of things. He's level 5 (and AL legal). His basic backstory is he grew up homeless until age 15, when he was adopted by the noble house of Ziatorm. For the next 10-12 years he served as a liaison to the Royal court. He's ashamed of his infernal heritage and faced constant prejudice. Eventually he got framed for a horrific crime and had to flee from his home, though his family know the truth. Now he roams the land doing good and wearing a custom helmet meant to hide his Tiefling identity (his tail was cut off when he was on the streets).

My first problem is that I'm not dead set on the framing thing. I've also considered having his family have been murdered, or having him hide his race from the court and fled because he was found out, but I'm open to other ideas.

Number 2 is whether I should tie him to a god. The Ziatorms carry the blood of Torm, but he's adopted, and I was thinking of having him draw power from his NG morals. What are your thoughts?

The previous 2 are more RP focused, and so is #3, but it's also a bit mechanical. I'M conflicted about which oath to give him. Vengeance is rather liberating in terms of alignment, but I don't see him being that blood thirsty. Ancients sounds fun, but I'd probably want to do a reskin of the flavor text. Devotion is probably the best thematic fit, and its mechanics look fun, but it's way to easy to break (especially for someone who usually plays Chaotic characters like me.) Crown is, well Crown, so that's out the window. I do realize that in AL games oaths aren't as strictly enforced, so I could probably get away with Devotion and how I play, but that would depend on the DM.

PS. I'm keeping this no matter what, but what do you think about the hiding his Tiefling stuff thing. His helmet is designed with a visor that hides his eyes, and it has holes in the top that make his gazelle horns look like they are a part of his helmet.

 

[jaelis]

Devotion is probably the best thematic fit, and its mechanics look fun, but it's way to easy to break (especially for someone who usually plays Chaotic characters like me.)

Your oath can be an ideal you aspire to, not necessarily rules you must always follow.

 

[ccs]

If being a tiefling is something to be ashamed of & draws constant prejudice, why would a noble family adopt a homeless one off the streets & use it a a royal court liason?
Wouldn't that be ineffective? Maybe even offensive or scandalous?

Anyways, if you want your tiefling pally to be 1) homeless, 2) tied to the nobility, 3) dead family, 4) facing shame & prejudice to the point of hiding his heritage ....
How about this?
He's the legit son of House Ziatorm. A family well known & respected for thier blood ties to Torm himself.
Unfortunately someone in the family (on wich side? Mother or Father? How far back?) isnt as pure as believed.... This caused baby PC to be born a tiefling. He looked normal - except for the tail.
To hide this fact his tale was cut off at birth & it was hoped that he wouldn't grow horns, wings, fangs, change colors, or anything as he grew.
Whatever changes he manifested were able to be concealed for a good long while & he grew up a pious member of the local nobility like any other Ziatorm.
Eventually though the disguise failed/the secret came to light & great (and fatal) scandal resulted. Though he escaped, his immediate family was put to death for impurity. And although Torm accepts him, PC carries a death mark from the rest of the nobility. Thus he has to hide his true nature.

Order wise? I'd go devotion & challenge yourself playwise. Because even though this guy might really WANT some vengance? He was simply raised better than that & to give in means that he is the monster everyone is afraid of.

 

[Sunseeker]

I have a more important question: why is he doing good?

He was raised on the streets (not the best place to grow up with good morals or be taught how to live a righteous life). Then he served as a liaison to the royal court, a place that is typically full of intrigue and wealthy, powerful people with a dim view of morality. He faced constant prejudice for just existing to the point that someone mutilated his body (cut off his tail) and then he was framed for something terrible.

If you can't choose between being framed for a horrible crime and his family being murdered, why not both! After all his family likely garnered some very real hatred from the other nobles for his adoption, so someone up and had them killed just to blame him.

I mean, this guy must have a heart of freaking GOLD PLATED LATINUM to still see the good in others after that.

Personally, I'd be inclined to go Oath of Vengeance for RP reasons. This guy has had it up to his eyeballs with people treating him like dung for what, his entire life? To the point where they had to destroy the one good thing that happened to him for no reason other than spite and malice. He may not be out for everyone's blood, but I think he'd be very much out for very specific people's blood.

If being a tiefling is something to be ashamed of & draws constant prejudice, why would a noble family adopt a homeless one off the streets & use it a a royal court liason?
Wouldn't that be ineffective? Maybe even offensive or scandalous?


Anyways, if you want your tiefling pally to be 1) homeless, 2) tied to the nobility, 3) dead family, 4) facing shame & prejudice to the point of hiding his heritage ....
How about this?
He's the legit son of House Ziatorm. A family well known & respected for thier blood ties to Torm himself....

As an alternative playing with this theme, a member of House Ziatorm fooled around with a tiefling lady and has a legitimate heir in the OP's PC, when they found out about this son, they "adopted" him as a "hey look at us we're so noble and kind to raise up this poor little demon-kid!" which was of course, cover for the family bringing in the child close to keep an eye on him and make sure he didn't find out about his own lineage and thus attempt to make a claim for noble status.

...a claim that, if his parents were dead, he would now have. A claim that other noble houses were not aware of when they conspired to have his parents murdered for the audacity of subjecting the other Nobles to having to be around and interact with demon-boy.

 

[Immoralkickass]

I have a serious question: How the hell does he put on or take off his helmet?

 

[gyor]

I'd have him gain his spells from Torm, I don't that 5e allows Paladins without a deity in FR, (or settings I don't mind).

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

I'd have him gain his spells from Torm, I don't that 5e allows Paladins without a deity in FR, (or settings I don't mind).

Are you sure? I'm not too current on AL setting-specific rules, but in 5e Paladins do not require any connection to a deity going by the PHB. Unlike Clerics, they get their powers from their Oath, which could be sworn to a deity, or to their ancestors, their tribe, or even just to themselves.

Having a Paladin with proficiency in disguise kit in order to hide their race is an interesting concept. The background is a bit of a grab-bag of almost every origin story stereotype though.

Regarding Oaths, as mentioned, you don't have to swear them to a deity. You could go on the basis of being upset that Torm allowed such injustice to happen, and swear that if the gods won't take a hand in preventing this sort of thing, then its up to you.

It sounds like Devotion is the most fitting for what the character is. Its quite possible that roleplaying a character slightly differently from the way you usually do will be an interesting change.

 

[Herosmith14]

I have a serious question: How the hell does he put on or take off his helmet?

I was thinking it would slide up and off (if not smoothly) the horns


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[Herosmith14]

I have a more important question: why is he doing good?

He was raised on the streets (not the best place to grow up with good morals or be taught how to live a righteous life). Then he served as a liaison to the royal court, a place that is typically full of intrigue and wealthy, powerful people with a dim view of morality. He faced constant prejudice for just existing to the point that someone mutilated his body (cut off his tail) and then he was framed for something terrible.

If you can't choose between being framed for a horrible crime and his family being murdered, why not both! After all his family likely garnered some very real hatred from the other nobles for his adoption, so someone up and had them killed just to blame him.

I mean, this guy must have a heart of freaking GOLD PLATED LATINUM to still see the good in others after that.

Personally, I'd be inclined to go Oath of Vengeance for RP reasons. This guy has had it up to his eyeballs with people treating him like dung for what, his entire life? To the point where they had to destroy the one good thing that happened to him for no reason other than spite and malice. He may not be out for everyone's blood, but I think he'd be very much out for very specific people's blood.




As an alternative playing with this theme, a member of House Ziatorm fooled around with a tiefling lady and has a legitimate heir in the OP's PC, when they found out about this son, they "adopted" him as a "hey look at us we're so noble and kind to raise up this poor little demon-kid!" which was of course, cover for the family bringing in the child close to keep an eye on him and make sure he didn't find out about his own lineage and thus attempt to make a claim for noble status.

...a claim that, if his parents were dead, he would now have. A claim that other noble houses were not aware of when they conspired to have his parents murdered for the audacity of subjecting the other Nobles to having to be around and interact with demon-boy.

Nice idea. I'm not completely sold on it, but it's a fun backstory and it would be wicked irony on the rival nobles if they find out that they pretty much put "demon-boy" even closer to them in the social ranks.


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[Herosmith14]

Nice idea. I'm not completely sold on it, but it's a fun backstory and it would be wicked irony on the rival nobles if they find out that they pretty much put "demon-boy" even closer to them in the social ranks.


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