Draft:Order of Paladins

Omega 0.90.4

The Order of Paladins is a Lawful martial order in Rampart, led by the Justiciar. Its members receive a horse and blessed spear, free recovery on eligible return visits, and increasingly valuable equipment as they advance. Membership rewards a sustained commitment to Law.

Headquarters	City travel name	Opening hours
Southern Rampart, south of the gaol	order of paladins	All hours while the headquarters is accessible

Joining

You need positive alignment and no Legion or Arena membership. A new neutral character can donate 1 Au at the hospice to meet the alignment requirement. There is no physical-attribute test or entry fee.

Joining makes you a Gallant. You receive a fully identified, blessed +1 spear and a horse, and are immediately mounted. The horse contributes +10 to both melee hit and damage while mounted; it is not a bonus unique to the spear. You do not receive body armor on this first visit.

Return services

An eligible returning member receives a replacement mount if unmounted, has poison and disease removed, has HP set to maximum, and receives a meal setting food to 40. These services are free. They do not remove equipment curses. The meal does not provide portable rations.

The headquarters can become unavailable when the city guard is alerted. It is not a reliable refuge from guards you have just antagonized, and city travel itself still consumes time. The headquarters can also be destroyed as part of a conflict involving the LawBringer and the city's remaining defenders.

Advancement

Guild experience starts on joining and shares ordinary experience awards with other experience-based memberships. Return to headquarters to advance; the Order checks the next rank, rather than awarding every earned promotion at once.

New rank	Conditions	Reward
Guardian	400 Order experience; alignment at least +50	Fully identified Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch
Chevalier	1,500 Order experience; alignment at least +125	Fully identified mace of disruption
Paladin	4,000 Order experience; alignment at least +200	Fully identified blessed mithril plate armor; knowledge of Heroism
Justiciar	Already a Paladin; character level above the incumbent's; alignment greater than +300; Star Gem returned to the LawBringer	Blessed shield of deflection; +5 current and maximum Strength and Power; succession to the office

The final task requires giving the Star Gem to the LawBringer, not merely possessing it or taking it back to headquarters. Quest dialogue points to the LawBringer on Star Peak and the Prime Sorceror beyond the Astral Plane. Returning the Gem itself grants +200 alignment, among other benefits.

At exactly +300 alignment, the promotion does not occur even though the headquarters' reminder can stop complaining about insufficient Law. Exceed the threshold. The supplied initial Justiciar, Morgon, has character level 10, but the incumbent and required level can change with recorded history.

Expulsion and forgiveness

Returning with zero or negative alignment results in expulsion and invokes the jail procedure. Being sent to jail while a member also expels you. Simply becoming Lawful again does not let an expelled character enlist anew.

There is a specific exception to the apparent permanence: giving the Star Gem to the LawBringer restores an expelled character to the first Order rank and raises alignment. This is a major quest reward, not an inexpensive way to alternate between crime and free treatment.

Strategy

The immediate mounted bonuses and free recovery make the Order attractive for a beginner who can maintain its alignment. Try the issued spear before paying for a replacement, and plan return trips while headquarters remains accessible.

Later promotion requires much more Law than entry. One-Au donations stop helping at +10; large hospice donations can go higher but become expensive with character level. Do not mistake initial eligibility for a completed promotion plan.

Preserve the benefits by avoiding actions that provoke city law enforcement. Keep food and suitable remedies for travel, because the Order only helps when you can return to it and still qualify.

History and trivia

Rick Garner Sanders's 1995 Omega FAQ recommends the paladins to undecided beginners, especially for their recovery services. It also distinguishes older versions that removed equipment curses from later ones that did not; the latter matches these headquarters in 0.90.4.

The Guardian reward and the accompanying instruction about counting to three quote the Holy Hand Grenade scene in the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. See the background to the film's grenade.