D&D 5E Killed Me a Lawful Stupid Paladin

[Zardnaar]

Thought these kinda existed only in online stories.

Newer player couple of weeks ago. Session was heading towards a 0 combat session RP and a bit of skill checks for exploration.

Pirate themed game.

PCs sail into Sasserine ( from Savage Tide) returning from Isle of Dread.

Elven cutter coming in fast. Sailor background decides to beat them in via sailing checks.

Elves are imperialistic jackasses based on East India Company ruling from UK, placed Sasserine in Cuba. Using earth map.

Anyway they win mildly annoying the captain but the crew on other ship are insectoid.

Elven ship, elves so rare though they don't tend to use their own ships.

Anyway they also beat the ship in the harbor and "steal" the best spot on the dock. PCs have "won".

Lawful Stupid Jackass decides to pick a fight with the half elf captain. Challenges them to a one on one duel.

Captain assigns on of his guards Tik Tok 12. I use the NPC stats for gladiator give Lawful Stupid a chance to back down but he insists on it despite being told they're elite guards.

They have a showdown to the death, if Paladin wins he gets his apology, if Tik Tok 12 wins he gets to eat the Paladin.

Tim Tok 12 CR 5.
Lawful Stupid level 5.

Suffice to say nom nom nom.

Process kinda took 20-30 minutes to play out. Only combat of the night.

Said player missed session 0 when I told them don't take to long on solo escapades (you get around 5 minutes out of combat 1 minute in combat).

Totally avoidable fight over stupid stuff when they already "won" via skill checks. Derailed the last hour or so if the session.

 

[ccs]

Congrats!
But why would the Paladin even want to be having/accept a duel to the death? For what? What was his thinking? Why not 1st blood or x hits or such?

 

[ph0rk]

Oath of Hubris?

 

[Olrox17]

Oh, they absolutely exist. They're just not the only type of "stupid" character archetype you can find out there. I've had my fill of chaotic stupid characters, as well.

 

[MarkB]

Did the "Paladin" bit really play any major part in the player's decision process? I've seen plenty of prideful players who'd do something equally reckless in response to some real or imagined slight, regardless of character class or alignment.

 

[Oofta]

Why is it that people feel the need to focus on stupid things that lawful paladins do? I've had plenty of PCs do dumb things over the years. I once killed a player's PCs twice in the span of two sessions (it took him twice to realize that playing a low level rogue as a kleptomaniac in a city run by pirates was a bad idea).

The other thing is ... yeah it was probably a dumb thing to do. But, was it really clear that the guy they were fighting was significantly better? Is it just a DM punishing a player for having their PC do what made sense at the moment?

I mean, I wasn't there, it just feels odd for a DM to brag about ending a character's story arc.

 

[jasper]

oofa, Agree. It not lawful stupid, but stupid actions by the player.

 

[Helldritch]

Lawful stupid paladin. Nope, just dumbass player. A simple bad play.

 

[ph0rk]

Why is it that people feel the need to focus on stupid things that lawful paladins do?

There was a time when paladins could potentially lose their class abilities due to actions of the party, and tended to boss everyone around as a result. It could result in lots of party friction in previous editions.

That isn't the case anymore, but the behavior sometimes sticks; no matter how chaotic or swears-oath-to-what-is-probably-an-abyssal the subclass fluff actually is.

 

[shadowoflameth]

I played a very arrogant paladin once. party came to heavy gate. Mix of men and women playing. Paladin 'You'd better let a man handle this m'lady.' puts away weapon, high strength score rolls well, handily lifts rusted old gate. Ogre on the other side readied action, crit with a greatclub.