This is the third post in our series on moral codes as class features in Pathfinder. Click here to start with the introductory post.

Now that we have a basic framework for understanding how the iconic “holy crusader”-type paladin should relate to her moral code, it’s time to take a detour and consider how this approach should differ for that most morally interesting of archetypes, the grey paladin!

Mechanically, grey paladins are allowed a wider alignment range: instead of being restricted to LG, they can also be LN or NG. In exchange, many of their core class features get…watered down, shall we say? The trademark Smite Evil paladin ability comes online later (leaving them as little more than an alignment detector with good equipment proficiencies at 1st level), and they never get Aura of Good or Divine Grace; several other peripheral paladin abilities are rather nerfed as well. The presumptive message, I take it, is that since the core of a paladin’s might comes from her moral righteousness, a grey paladin’s being less straightforwardly righteous makes her less mighty as well.

The story is a bit more nuanced and complex than that, though. Leaving aside the Enhanced Health and Aura of Subtlety class features (which I interpret as just throwing grey paladins a bone in order to make them not obviously and straightforwardly inferior to core paladin mechanics, and tied to the grey paladin first appearing in Ultimate Intrigue), the key mechanical advantage that grey paladins have is Smite Foe, which allows a grey paladin to expend two Smite Evil uses in order to gain the advantages of Smite Evil against a neutral (i.e., relevantly non-evil) foe, so long as the grey paladin “truly believe[s] that the creature she smites is an opponent to the cause of good.”

There is also another bit of wording about how grey paladins differ from their more clean-handed kin. In the description of the grey paladin code of conduct, we are told that a grey paladin “should strive to act with honour and uphold the tenets of her faith, but failing to do so is not a violation of her code, and other than evil actions, she can do whatever else she feels is necessary to uphold the causes of law and good.” [emphasis added]

These two key changes (the Smite Foe ability and the more flexible paladin code) together form a rather interesting picture of how we should interpret the code of ethics for grey paladins, and how it differs from core paladins.

The first thing that strikes me about this is that grey paladins are significantly more consequentialist than other paladins. While I argued in the preceding post that the best paladins should be far more concerned with the intentions of their actions and striving toward virtuous conduct than just the consequences of their actions and judgements (thus the evaporation of the “paladin trap”), a grey paladin has a good deal more leeway in how she conducts herself in terms of duty at the cost of what looks like a good deal less leeway in terms of results.

This is not to say, of course, that grey paladins are necessarily more susceptible to paladin traps than core paladins; those key differences above still come down to what a grey paladin “truly believes” and “feels is necessary,” rather than pure moral luck.

But a grey paladin remains a paladin nonetheless, and should be a force for good in the world, even if she can’t be quite the same kind of beacon as a core paladin. So we shouldn’t think of the changes in the grey paladin’s code and abilities as some kind of loophole mechanism, a get-out-of-jail-free card for sort of good folks who can’t quite cute the paladin mustard.

Rather, the grey paladin is forced to walk a very narrow line indeed, where she can do things and go places other paladins never could, but also has to be much more careful about why she does those things and goes to those places, both in terms of the reasons behind her own motivations and the good results she (hopefully) achieves.

To my mind, these murkier moral waters and the greater focus on results are what really present the greatest risk of falling for a grey paladin, relative to core paladins, because this kind of code is far more susceptible to slippery slopes.

Now, let’s be clear: “slippery slope” is jargon for a type of argument which is generally (and correctly) considered invalid. A quick example: the argument that legalizing same-sex marriage will inevitably lead to legalizing interspecies marriage (and so should not be allowed) because there is a “slippery slope” from the former to the latter is invalid (short answer why: it’s missing premises, and supplying those premises makes the argument unsound because they are rather implausible, to say nothing of how circuitous they make the argument).

But while slippery slope arguments don’t work, that doesn’t mean that an analogous phenomenon isn’t very much a part of humanoid moral psychology, including that of grey paladins. Consider:

Presumably, being paladins, even grey paladins start off as pretty virtuous, and don’t go around pushing every moral envelope their first day on the job (this kind of person is not likely to become a paladin in the first place, even a grey one). But assuming that this person lives the life of a grey paladin, and couldn’t just as easily be a core paladin, the day will soon come when she has to tell a small lie, or offer a small bribe, or even smite a dangerous but non-evil creature in order to advance the cause of good and law. She searches her conscience, scours her soul for any hint of motivations other than “The Cause,” finds the act to be both justified as far as she can tell and necessary if one wants to avoid worse consequences…and she does it.

This is fine, of course; it’s what grey paladins are for, and she will hardly lose her powers over it. But it will also make it easier the next time she has to walk that line, to go to that place where other paladins won’t follow. It’s only natural that in time, she stops questioning herself quite so thoroughly about every little minor violation, condident that she always does her due diligence.

Eventually, of course, those necessary lies become deeper, the bribes become bigger, the smitten foe less dangerous (perhaps even less far away from good). This was bound to happen; The Cause is what really matters after all, and as long as she is acting in service to it, those infractions remain justified. And, of course, every time she has to cross some new line, she searches her soul that much more carefully. She’s still a paladin, after all.

Until one day she’s not. One day, she’s gotten so used to acting in these ways that she crosses a line without realizing it. She smites someone who was not a real danger, and whom she could have easily discovered was not a real risk to The Cause…but whom she failed to investigate properly because of her growing complacency. And now, she’s in so deep, and has spent so many years doing more and more questionable things, that genuine atonement seems that much further away, a radical change she has trouble imagining after all this time. Indeed, the easier way might be to just stay the course, continue trying to do what’s right and lawful in the dark places, behind the scenes, like she has been, but without her grey paladin powers and class features. After all, the alternative would probably require severing all of her underworld connections and what have you, throwing away years of work, changing her whole lifestyle in order to atone…and for what? A watered down Smite Evil at twice the cost? Hardly seems worth it…

Not long after this, she is truly lost. She may only realize it when she finds herself facing down a group of paladins she would have once called brothers, defenseless as their Smite Evil works on her and there’s nothing she can do. More likely, she never realizes it at all, and goes to her grave still thinking she was a fighter for The Cause the entire time.

The above scenario is not a major problem for core paladins: they don’t have that initial moral leeway, and always have to be striving to do their very best in every moment, so psychological slippery slopes are just not going to present themselves very often. But it’s the stuff of nightmares for grey paladins, and should motivate them to scrutinize themselves ever more closely, to ensure that they do not stare into the Abyss long enough to find it staring back at them. While grey paladins aren’t more susceptible to paladin traps in the traditional sense than core paladins, they are far more likely to trap themselves.

These difficult, complex circumstances are what make the grey paladin so interesting and tricky to play. So while it undoubtedly takes virtue, moral courage, and humility to be any kind of paladin, a grey paladin requires all of that plus tremendous wisdom and self-awareness if she is to remain a paladin in more than name.

That’s about the extent of my superficial thinking on this. But I’m really interested to hear what kinds of experiences you might have had with the grey paladin archetype, and how your experiences might align with or differ from what I imagine here.

Beyond that, feel free to start getting excited for the next post in the series, where I’ll discuss moral codes for clerics of goodly gods.