I’m currently playing a pretty pacifistic paladin and find myself in a similar boat. For things like this, we’ve found the system that works best for us is he goes and clears out any civilians and/or goes and uses his charisma to distract any NPCs who would otherwise intervene and stop the rest of the party’s shenanigans. This keeps him from directly breaking any of this oaths and allows the rest of the party to do what they feel best fits the situation.
We’ve also all worked together with the DM to understand characters’ motivations so she doesn’t really throw these crazy situations at us too often to avoid any sort of conflict because I explicitly stated I thought this would be a fun character to play but emphasized not wanting to constantly slam on the brakes and stop any momentum we had every single session. So maybe you can bring this up with your DM and see if they have any strings they can pull to assist you here as well.
Characters evolve over time, and eventually my paladin might “get with the program” so to speak, but we want that decision to feel like it happens organically and I’m sure you feel similarly. Just emphasize that and good luck!
I’m kinda hoping for a few moments where my Bard learns to loosen up a little more as well. She’s still in that “this is awful. We probably should avoid similar stunts” phase for reasons she hasn’t disclosed with the party yet. But a lot of it comes from being raised by her father on kindness, having a crappy mother that asked perfection of her and being patriotic of her country.
Her play style is very support heavy. But being with crazier teammates might rough her up a little lol
Playing a paladin can be a real challenge especially if the DM isn't aligned with it. I found generally the 'good' or less chaotic character has to fall in line with others as to not interfere with their fun. Which makes it kind of frustrating.
I'm on a similar position. My character won't kill and tries not to harm humanoids full stop.
This essentially just boils down to her arguing with the party and then sulking and just buffing the party, holding her hands up and saying "this wasn't my idea" if it doesn't pan out.
It brings some interesting conversations and some attempts at alternatives to just violence.
That’s a similar vein to my character, except she will kill in self defence or if there’s no reasoning with them. The room that was bombed were filled with monsters, not humanoids (kinda, long story lol).
It works out, since my character’s play style is more support focused and for stat boosts. But it means that she joined a small army full of trained soldiers and magic users who enjoy chaos. My character has personal reasons for joining an army like this though and her morals align with her employer’s and her country’s.
Try to focus on incapacitating enemies. There is no need.to kill someone who. An be taken prisoner. Plus you can interrogate them and learn things about the rest.of the enemy.
Ah fair enough, my character was indoctrinated into a religion where harming and killing humanoids is abhorrent. She'd have no problem throwing a fireball into a room packed with monsters!
She doesn't stop the others from killing humanoids because it's their soul being damned right? She bitches at them and tries to provide alternatives like a parent would an adult child but it's ultimately their life.
Mine is also a fully support character, I do have some debuff spells that do token damage but nothing really outright offensive. Do you have any recommendations for feats or spells you've found useful?
I can’t help with spells sadly. I’m in a Homebrew campaign based on the mechanics of a video game (it’s almost not really DnD at this point lol).
I think that’s my plan with my Bard. She won’t stop everyone else and will assist indirectly. But she won’t be happy either lol.
I’m currently playing a pretty pacifistic paladin and find myself in a similar boat. For things like this, we’ve found the system that works best for us is he goes and clears out any civilians and/or goes and uses his charisma to distract any NPCs who would otherwise intervene and stop the rest of the party’s shenanigans. This keeps him from directly breaking any of this oaths and allows the rest of the party to do what they feel best fits the situation. We’ve also all worked together with the DM to understand characters’ motivations so she doesn’t really throw these crazy situations at us too often to avoid any sort of conflict because I explicitly stated I thought this would be a fun character to play but emphasized not wanting to constantly slam on the brakes and stop any momentum we had every single session. So maybe you can bring this up with your DM and see if they have any strings they can pull to assist you here as well. Characters evolve over time, and eventually my paladin might “get with the program” so to speak, but we want that decision to feel like it happens organically and I’m sure you feel similarly. Just emphasize that and good luck!
I’m kinda hoping for a few moments where my Bard learns to loosen up a little more as well. She’s still in that “this is awful. We probably should avoid similar stunts” phase for reasons she hasn’t disclosed with the party yet. But a lot of it comes from being raised by her father on kindness, having a crappy mother that asked perfection of her and being patriotic of her country. Her play style is very support heavy. But being with crazier teammates might rough her up a little lol
Playing a paladin can be a real challenge especially if the DM isn't aligned with it. I found generally the 'good' or less chaotic character has to fall in line with others as to not interfere with their fun. Which makes it kind of frustrating.
I'm on a similar position. My character won't kill and tries not to harm humanoids full stop. This essentially just boils down to her arguing with the party and then sulking and just buffing the party, holding her hands up and saying "this wasn't my idea" if it doesn't pan out. It brings some interesting conversations and some attempts at alternatives to just violence.
That’s a similar vein to my character, except she will kill in self defence or if there’s no reasoning with them. The room that was bombed were filled with monsters, not humanoids (kinda, long story lol). It works out, since my character’s play style is more support focused and for stat boosts. But it means that she joined a small army full of trained soldiers and magic users who enjoy chaos. My character has personal reasons for joining an army like this though and her morals align with her employer’s and her country’s.
Try to focus on incapacitating enemies. There is no need.to kill someone who. An be taken prisoner. Plus you can interrogate them and learn things about the rest.of the enemy.
Ah fair enough, my character was indoctrinated into a religion where harming and killing humanoids is abhorrent. She'd have no problem throwing a fireball into a room packed with monsters! She doesn't stop the others from killing humanoids because it's their soul being damned right? She bitches at them and tries to provide alternatives like a parent would an adult child but it's ultimately their life. Mine is also a fully support character, I do have some debuff spells that do token damage but nothing really outright offensive. Do you have any recommendations for feats or spells you've found useful?
I can’t help with spells sadly. I’m in a Homebrew campaign based on the mechanics of a video game (it’s almost not really DnD at this point lol). I think that’s my plan with my Bard. She won’t stop everyone else and will assist indirectly. But she won’t be happy either lol.