Paladins are fighters of a higher calling then most common warriors.  They fight for strongly held moral and ethical cod, and are held to exacting standards in all their actions.  Failure to live up to there moral and ethical alignment results in their downfall, and the stripping of all special abilities granted by the paladin class.

            There is no specific paladin’s code, no set of do’s and don’ts by which paladin are graded on a pass/fail basis.  The closest thing to such a code is “Quentin’s Monograph,” a short treatise on the nature of alignment and paladinhood by a retired paladin.  In addition to flowery descriptions of early endeavors and practical advice on the care of weapons and animals, the monograph summarizes what it calls the Paladin’s Virtues.

            The listing is not all-inclusive, and every paladin grades and emphasizes these virtues based on his or her own personal ethos and religious background.  Paladins may obey all these virtues to the letter and still lose their special status, or flout one virtue in the name of and still retain paladinhood.  In this fashion, a paladin ma exist outside an organized hierarchy or even lead rebellions and wars against unjust or evil causes.  It is possible under these virtues that one paladin may even fight another, both seeking to defend a different paladin’s virtue or interpretation of all of them.  Paladin’s in the realms, like priests, are devoted to a particular deity.  The most common paladin deities are those which embody action, decision, watchfulness, and wisdom.  These deities are usually good and lawful in nature. 

            Paladins also serve deities who present themselves as being good but not necessarily lawful in nature, and lawful but not necessarily good.  No gods who claim true neutrality, evil, or chaos in their ethos and morals have paladins operating in their name.