Paladins shouldn't go screaming at a dark elf thats minding his own business as he walks down the street I don't care what world your in. A paladin aught to calmly walk up to them and be like "You follow the wrong path dark-one, is there any way I can sway you from your path to distruction?".

I think you're advocating a fairly stilted, theatrical style of roleplay there, and claiming it's the only valid style. As for "I don't care what world you're in"... how did the heroes of Lord of the Rings treat orcs?

I think you're applying human mindsets to the races in question. I wrote quite a bit about that topic here, using dark-elves as an example, specifically because we had seen a few too many humans-in-dark-elf-suits at the time. The way we've defined our mythos, good and evil are much more polarized than here on Earth, because it lends a more epic style, and makes more sense in a world where necromancers and anti-paladins walk the land.

That said, just because someone is your sworn enemy doesn't mean there can be no meaningful roleplay. Plenty of interesting interactions go on between enemies here. However, it's with sensible timing-- people don't stop swinging mid-combat to deliver a sermon, and that paladin would be a fool to give that dark-elf a chance to slip away or land the first blow.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com