Imagine the most powerful weapon in the entire game. A sword that can cut through evil like nothing else on Faerun. A true weapon of justice.
Such a majestic holy armament would require a huge quest to attain it. You would have to accomplish great deeds and pass many tests.
But then, at the end, you are required to finish one last trial: do something heinously evil. A thing that keeps children up at night. You have to weigh the benefits you can do with such a powerful weapon with the sheer depravity of the act you have to perform.
But here is the catch: unknown to the player, the act is so despicable and so unholy that it would cause any paladin to fall immediately upon its completion, rendering them unable to wield this weapon that is reserved solely for the most honorable among us. It will still sell for a ton with the right buyer, but nobody who could ever obtain such an item of great power would ever be able to use it.
It is the ultimate test for a paladin: they must sacrifice great power, one of the biggest temptations for any adventurer with the goal of doing good and improving their world, in order to maintain their honor. If you can resist then you are what a paladin is meant to be: a disciplined agent of righteousness. But only if you cast Excalibur back into the lake.
WWKD? (What would Keldorn do?)
Such a majestic holy armament would require a huge quest to attain it. You would have to accomplish great deeds and pass many tests.
But then, at the end, you are required to finish one last trial: do something heinously evil. A thing that keeps children up at night. You have to weigh the benefits you can do with such a powerful weapon with the sheer depravity of the act you have to perform.
But here is the catch: unknown to the player, the act is so despicable and so unholy that it would cause any paladin to fall immediately upon its completion, rendering them unable to wield this weapon that is reserved solely for the most honorable among us. It will still sell for a ton with the right buyer, but nobody who could ever obtain such an item of great power would ever be able to use it.
It is the ultimate test for a paladin: they must sacrifice great power, one of the biggest temptations for any adventurer with the goal of doing good and improving their world, in order to maintain their honor. If you can resist then you are what a paladin is meant to be: a disciplined agent of righteousness. But only if you cast Excalibur back into the lake.
WWKD? (What would Keldorn do?)