Sympathy for an Antipaladin

Art by Boybogart, truly displaying the chibi cuteness of a champion of the dark gods.

I keep getting inspired by Spoony's channel on Youtube, especially the bits where he rants about RPG's. he touched upon a subject in a more recent video where he defined an Anti-Paladin in ADnD, and it reminded me just how much I loved the class.  I've recently been in a bit more of a DnD mood, having started being playing an Antipaladin in a 5th Ed game run by one of my friends, and being in the process of starting a Planescape game for one of my other friends. Antipaladins are a weird class, because they're something that's implied in the player's core book, and as Spoony mentions, something that probably leaped into the mind of every player and GM when he took a look at the Paladin class.

Paladins, are, as a class, one I like, and probably my favorite to play, but to be honest, I'm a lot more a fan of playing DnD more for the monsters and the storylines. When you think about it, most medieval fantasy worlds and heroes can be quite generic, as they probably had some pretty conservative cultures, and playing the guardian of that kind of status quo is cool, but it's not exactly mind blowing. Being an Antipaladin is something different. To be ordained as a champion of darkness literally means being singled out by a power most would consider 'evil' and being given powers that most would consider a curse. Even for most evil aligned people, that's a pretty big deal, psychologically speaking. To be an Antipaladin is to be an outcast, a pariah, and not a mere rogue or scoundrel, but a walking disruption of the natural order. Besides, the black armor looks bitching.

Playing the Dark Lord

Possible signs your paladin may be turning evil: Buying a full set of pitch black platemale.

Either as a player or a GM, there's an interesting appeal to playing an Antipaladin. As a GM, they are amazingly cool antagonists, stepping out from behind the horde of minions with an aura of near palpable evil and terror. There's something unbelievably cool and special about the relationship between the ordained champions of light and darkness, squaring off, especially if both of them are honorable and devoted warriors. While they may never see eye to eye, an Antipaladin may well be the only person who can understand the depth of responsibility and the burden on a Paladin's shoulders. As both of them square off, maybe bow and salute, you know they aren't just people, they're the forces of cosmic light and darkness facing off.

Portraying an Antipaladin as a player character is something that's even harder, because it means wrapping the player's mind around a completely alien outlook. By definition, the Antipaladin will not be a nice person, but as I've mentioned time and time again, being evil does not necessarily make you unsympathetic. Gods don't just pick any random asshole off the street to be the heir to their dark legacy, they pick true believers, people who really identify and agree with the god's philosophy. Remember that most people don't believe they're truly evil. Antipaladins are probably the biggest example of this, because they are fervent, fanatical believers that a world ruled by a demon, or some dark god would be better. To play this class properly, you really need to get into the mindset of someone like that, and that's why so few people can do it justice. 

Take the 5th Ed game where I'm portraying an Antipaladin, I'm a worshipper of Hextor, god of Dominance and Fascism, and that's arguably the most 'sane' of the various evil deities of DnD. The character is as much of an idealist as any of the Paladins I've portrayed. He's devoted to a cause, that cause just happens to be militaristic order and oppression, but that's because he genuinely believes that the common man needs guidance. I'm not trying to excuse his actions or the actions of fascists everywhere, but he comes from a place that ultimately originates from good intentions. Evil has more meaning if it springs from good intentions, especially if you remember that even someone as black and white as an Antipaladin, is still first and foremost a person, a person with real feelings and dreams. Even the most unpleasant gods like Nerull and Erythnul and other such nasty deities HAVE to have something positive about them, or else no one would be stupid enough to worship them. Just like realistic heroes like Paladins need to have flaws to be interesting, the same holds true for villains. The best villains have some small points of light and hope inside them, and it just makes their vile acts that much blacker.

Flavors of Villainy

Antipaladins have come in many flavors since their inception in Dragon Magazine #30. Some of them are marauding dark knights that simply exist to spread chaos, plagues and death, acting more as walking plot devices than anything else. That's fine, but I felt that it really didn't delve into the myriad of possibilities that existed for the Antipaladin. In ADnD 2nd Edition, as all Paladins had to be Lawful Good, all Antipaladins had to be Chaotic Evil, a flavor I wasn't too big a fan of. Every time I run a game, I'm happy to allow Paladins and all their variants be whatever alignment they like, so long as they stay absolutely and unerringly true to the tenants of their deity. DnD 3.5 released my favorite two variations, the Paladin of Tyranny and the Blackguard. Blackguard was a prestige class (class you can take on top of another class), and I liked it a lot because it showed that champions of the dark gods can come from all walks of life, from Monks to Bards to Rogues. Anyone could summon up the power to call an evil outsider and become a Blackguard, and while fallen Paladins were the favorites of the dark gods, they aren't picky. 

The Paladin of Tyranny is probably my favorite of these classes because it represents everything I want out of an Antipaladin. Honorable, with a mission, just as true and unswerving as a true Paladin, and absolutely and irredeemably evil. Most Chaotic Evil Antipaladins (and the 3.5 variation Paladin of Slaughter) strike me as lacking in that level of discipline and commitment that it takes to be a champion and would be more suited to a rampaging barbarian or marauder class. The Oathbreaker Paladin of 5th edition is a nice return to form, being a mixture of fallen Paladin and a chosen badass of darkness, (and it's also the variation of mechanics I'm playing with), and while they do lose a few things flavorfully, they more than make up for it with the ability to smite goody-goody fluffy things way more times a day and way earlier than any of the previous variations did. 

Movies and Books and Stuff

Carnivale: I mentioned this one before in my post about Nephandi, but Carnivale is just as good a show now as it was then. With one of the two very sympathetic main characters being a champion of light and one a champion of darkness, it's an amazing exploration of the psychology of a supposed 'chosen one' and a fantastic, and at times chilling deconstruction. Not to spoil the show, but the one who ends up being the creature of darkness arrives at it through very reasonable and human means, and shows that the road to hell is very much paved with good intentions.

Star Wars (Preferably the good ones): Spoony mentioned this in his video, but Star Wars is probably the most iconic story of good and evil fighting that most of the current roleplaying generation has been exposed to. Everyone thought Darth Vader was fucking awesome when  he appeared, and everyone wanted to see Luke finally face off against him. The duel where Luke loses his hand is an exploration of that theme, as well as what it means to be the sole hope of their respective orders. Throughout the fight, both of them talk, and both of them try to reason with the other. Even without being his father (It's not a spoiler if it's past two decades old), Darth Vader gives off the impression of being like Luke many years ago, before he became the bitter burnout he is now, and understanding the young hero better than almost anyone else. 

Skyrim: Probably a pretty weird one, but I think this game is a great exploration of what it means to be pre-ordained to be someone not very nice. The Dragonborn may be a hero to the Nords, but Parthurnax flat out tells him that he has a dragon's soul, and it destined to destroy and conquer, being the same kind of being as the omnicidal dragon god Alduin. By the end of the game, the player has essentially usurped Alduin's place as lord of all dragons in Skyrim, and where they go now is up to them. In my opinion, while a bit flawed as an example, Skyrim shows a very sympathetic character, chosen to do great and terrible things, but ultimately earns the right to make his own path.

- Kephn