A Paladin's Personality

I recently got a shirt that says, in golden-ish yellow-ish writing, "Always be yourself, unless you can be a dragon, then always be a dragon." This shirt has inspired me to make a Dragonborn D&D character, especially a gold one, and picking which class the character should be has been easy. Dragonborn have racial ability score bonuses that make them good Paladins, and Gold Dragonborn are, traditionally, morally-aligned to Good.

What I have been trying to work out about this character is his personality and backstory. What sort of adventurer is he, and why did he become an adventurer? I'm somewhat thinking of basing his backstory on ours. He could be of a noble background, sent out into the world to gain experience, develop a host of divine attributes, and prove his worth. It's an odd custom for royalty to have, but he is Dragonborn, and they likely have different customs than human nobility. But, given that background, I have an important question that will greatly affect his personality and behavior during the adventure: How does he feel about having been sent out?

I wouldn't mind having this character be an ideal Paladin: Chivalrous, Virtuous, and Honorable. Lawful/Good, almost to a fault. As such, he would accept the authority of his royal superiors, and he would go out willingly. But would he do so only out of a sense of duty, or would he have other motivations that would make that choice harder or easier to make? How would an ideal Paladin feel about an opportunity and duty to go adventuring? How would an ideal son of God feel about mortality?

I cannot use myself as a model here. I am not a fan of mortality. I am not eager to face many of the challenges I've been asked to face. In fact, I've shrunken away from a few of the challenges I've been asked to face. A Paladin would not have done that.

However, would a Paladin be eager to face such challenges? He would be willing, of course; but would he be eager? I'm not sure. Paladins aren't stupid. They know that the road will be hard. And they're not crazy. They probably don't enjoy facing hardship just for the sake of facing hardship. Yet, mortality isn't just hardship for hardship's sake. There is a purpose. Several purposes, in fact. A Paladin may not enjoy enduring hardship, but he may look forward to the growth that such hardship would foster. He might be interested in proving to others, and perhaps to himself, that he can rise to those challenges. He might be eager to prove himself.

We might have been. When we heard the plan in the counsel in heaven, we shouted for joy. I think we were excited. And maybe my Dragonborn Paladin was excited at first, but many of us are less excited now. Is that because it's difficult to remain excited in the face of hardship or because we are less-than-ideal children of God? Would an ideal child of God be eager to overcome the hardships of life?

No, he wouldn't. Or should I say, He wasn't. Jesus Christ was, apparently, not excited to face the challenges of life. When Jesus had an opportunity and a duty to overcome all of the world's challenges at once, He didn't necessarily want to do it. Perhaps that's an extreme example. How could anyone be eager to suffer what Jesus suffered? But that experience did prove Jesus' infinite purity and monumental spiritual strength. If Jesus was eager to prove Himself, that was the ultimate test of worth.

But Jesus wasn't trying to prove Himself, perhaps because a desire to prove oneself stems, or at least can stem, from pride. Pride, being the universal sin and great vice, is not a good motivation for an ideal Paladin or child of God. Jesus' motivation was much holier: Love. Jesus serves people because He loves people. He performed the Atonement because of His desire for the welfare of our souls. Ideally, we should be motivate by love in everything we do as well. How can a Paladin show that he is motivated by love?

An adventurer's life is often a violent one. There are always monsters to fight and villains to defeat. Jesus defeated villains as well, but when He faced mortal foes, he usually did so with kindness and rarely with violence. Yes, he cleansed the temple once or twice, but other than those moments, I don't think He ever raised His hand against anyone. Then again, that wasn't His calling. That wasn't how He could best serve others. If the best way a Paladin could serve a group of people is to defend them from orcs and goblins, perhaps that is what he must do. A Paladin should seek out peaceful solutions, but when force is necessary, a Paladin should be physically and mentally prepared to provide it.

So, a Paladin, while perhaps not eager to experience hardship, should be eager to serve others, even if that service requires sacrifice and puts them through hardship and/or pain. We should also be eager to do good, despite the difficulties involved, not because we enjoy facing difficulty, but because we love God and our neighbors and love serving Them, even though it's hard sometimes. So, if my new Dragonborn Paladin is meant to be an ideal Paladin, he should be eager to help others, despite the difficulties and dangers involved.

I'm glad I blogged about this. It helped me figure out a bit of what my new character's attitude toward adventuring should be and what my attitude toward mortality should be as well. While we are here to prove ourselves, proving ourselves shouldn't be our motivation. We should focus on loving and serving God and our neighbors. If we do that, our worthiness and nobility will prove themselves.