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I'm thinking of having a lawful evil Paladin whose reason for being evil is it is the word of his god.
Would this work?
Is this a good idea?

KorvinStarmast
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Sam
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    Hello there! Welcome to the RPG Stack Exchange! We're happy to have you around but a couple points. One, it's a good start to look at the Help Center and to take a Tour of the stack. This will help you immensely when it comes to questions and answers on this stack. Two, this question is likely to have issues moving forward because it is opinion based. We at the stack cannot tell you whether something is a good idea or not, only if it's feasible. The stack is for objective answers or well reasoned/researched conclusions. Please keep that in mind as you explore the stack. – GuidingOlive Oct 05 '23 at 16:01
  • What are your concerns? Why do you think it is a good idea? Why do you think it might be a bad idea? Is a Lawful Evil character compatible with the other PCs? – Michael Richardson Oct 05 '23 at 17:21
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    I think this question as written is a really bad fit for this site. As the other comments say, do you have any specific concerns? Do you know anytihng about the other characters or the campaign? – SeriousBri Oct 05 '23 at 17:27
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    For "Is this a good idea?" see https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/2478/what-are-some-of-the-major-challenges-in-playing-an-evil-character – John Montgomery Oct 05 '23 at 18:12
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    As others have said, it's hard to answer "is this a good idea" without the answer just being pure opinion. This site's voting mechanism works by ensuring "best" answers gradually float to the top - but if the answers are pure opinion, that mechanism breaks down, since there's no way to judge which opinion is better than another except more opinion. – GMJoe Oct 05 '23 at 21:44
  • There are two fine answers already, showing that this is answerable as written. – fectin Oct 06 '23 at 19:06
  • @SeriousBri I'm uncertain it was the intent of the OP, but I took "is this a good idea?" to mean 'would it strain the boundaries of the rules or the immersion of the (core 5e) lore?' If that's correct, question could lend itself less to opinions by replacing that language, but I'm not comfortable making that call without confirming OP's intention, even if it might get the question re-opened. – TheFallen0ne Oct 07 '23 at 01:52
  • This similar-themed question may be of interest: https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/125286/are-lawful-evil-tiefling-paladins-possible – Valley Lad Oct 07 '23 at 04:46
  • @TheFallen0ne the question could easily be workable with a little more info, but we should be careful answering because of he said he was playing a Christmas one shot where everyone was a young child the answer would be very different. Things like this do have average cases, but answers are often better given a specific case. – SeriousBri Oct 07 '23 at 08:55
  • @fectin fine answers to possibly the wrong interpretation of the question. I rail against the closure policy here a lot, but this is a perfect example of how more clarity would yield even better answers. I for example would never let a new player start at lawful evil, it takes skill to pull off in a normal game. – SeriousBri Oct 07 '23 at 08:57
  • I think that this question could be more suitable for this site if it asks something like "could a paladin have a lawful evil alignment?" Or "is there any restriction about alignment for Paladin class?". Than, apart rules-based answer, one could deepen some aspects as already done on the present answers. – Eddymage Oct 07 '23 at 09:11

2 Answers2

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Depends on what you mean by "works".

Following the rules of your god, who demands you do unspeakable things, because you are their servant, is pretty clearly in the "Lawful Evil" sector of the alignments.

Whether or not that works for your game, depends on the rest of the party and the mood of the story, so as always before you play an evil character, discuss with your group (players and DM both).

Erik
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Paladins are not alignment-bound in 5e.

Your paladin can be any alignment they want- rather than being bound strictly to lawful good, 5e paladins are bound by the tenets of their oath.

Some oaths are easier to follow for a Good character than an Evil character, but they're no longer mutually exclusive. Whereas in the past any paladin might lose their powers and have to atone for an evil act, now this is more likely to happen due to directly violating the oaths of their subclass.

TheFallen0ne
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