>How could I as a holy warrior of the light justify the fact
>that the very source of my powers is completely corrupt and
>tainted with evil? Having an evil god empower me would be
>even worse than grabbing an evil weapon and using it to slay
>evil. Sure, the end result is good in that evil is slain, but
>I've corrupted myself by resorting to using the tools of
>darkness to accomplish my goals.
>
>IMO, paladins are the one class where the ends never justify
>the means. If the means aren't pure, the result is foul.


That is a perfectly valid role to play for the reasons you mentioned above. I had a Dawnie paladin who believed the same thing and berated a Zulg pally so much so often that a HeroImm pulled me aside to get me to stop.

All IC, of course.

I've also had a paladin of that old Empire god of war who worshipped the concept of what his faith represented under the sphere of Wisdom. He believed that it was best for the light that War should be waged wisely, not honorably.

Both were empowered, did well, and never lost their empowerment.

Some religions arn't really good or evil in and of themselves, but represent concepts or ideas or ways of accomplishing something. Anger, Justice, Victory, these things simply are.

One way of looking at it is these faiths are like a weapon, they can be used for good or evil.

However, if you char believes that something made by evil hands is evil itself and should not be used, that works also.