actually, a LaVeyan paladin is entirely possible, you just have to divest the philosophy(an ye harm none, do as thou wilt) from the symbols(Satan/Asmodeus). There is nothing in the core paladin CoC that says they cannot indulge in lust, pride, wrath, gluttony, greed, sloth, avarice, or vanity. Now of course it does get into a "proper time and place" thing, but that's the difference between indulgence and compulsion. There is nothing saying that the paladin cannot accompany the rogue to the brothel after a tough adventure to relax and unwind while an attractive entity polishes his knob. Now, if he witnesses an injustice, he is required to do something about it, but that something could very well be notifying the city guard and going about his business since he's on R&R. If he finds out the brothel is actually slavery, then he should probably do something about it, and should certainly stop patronizing it. There is nothing saying the paladin cannot primp and groom and be very proud of himself, even to the point of considering intentional destruction of his meticulos image as a grave personal insult, but he shouldn't, for example, ignore a burning orphanage just because he's wearing his new surcoat.
It also goes into more than just a paladin being "sinful", there is nothing in the paladin CoC or the Nine Satanic Statements(or Eleven Satanic Rules of the Earth) that contradict the other:
A paladin must be of lawful good alignment and loses all class abilities if she ever willingly commits an evil act.
religion and alignment are completely separate, or at least, they should be... granted, if you're a cleric, you have to be one of three(ish) alignments, but that's realy just "don't be too different in view from your god"
1. Satan represents indulgence instead of abstinence!
already covered
2. Satan represents vital existence instead of spiritual pipe dreams!
basically, live your life, don't be delusional over the afterlife. granted, this statement should be dropped in a world were you can seriously plane shift and go say hi to/kick god in the face.
3. Satan represents undefiled wisdom instead of hypocritical self-deceit!
don't lie to yourself
4. Satan represents kindness to those who deserve it instead of love wasted on ingrates!
okay, this is where it gets questionable, but for a paladin, it'd likely translate to "kindness to innocents, punishment to those who would prey upon them"
5. Satan represents vengeance instead of turning the other cheek!
again, questionable, but for a paladin it'd be "if they've attacked, defend yourself" no vow of peace/non-violence for these paladins.
6. Satan represents responsibility to the responsible instead of concern for psychic vampires!
psychic vampire was LaVey's title for those people that guilt you into caring about them when you can't even stand them. This would translate to "your life is your responsibility, if you need help, ask, don't guilt""Don't pretend you're any better than the animals of the wild"
8. Satan represents all of the so-called sins, as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification!
"Don't shy away from what some would call sin, as they all will likely make you feel better in one way or another"
9. Satan has been the best friend the Church has ever had, as He has kept it in business all these years!
"Evil and adversaries keep the hero/saviour in business"
1. Do not give opinions or advice unless you are asked.
this is basically "mind your own business" and would probably be cautiously ignored by paladins who practically are required by their occupation to investigate screams of pain, injustice, etc. but usually those are screams for help anyway, sooo....
2. Do not tell your troubles to others unless you are sure they want to hear them.
again, "mind your own business" and "take responsibility for your own life", also the "don't sob about your troubles over you drink to some drun who probably couldn't care less" rule"Respect Legitimate Authority" though generally ignorable as an "invading force" when in the BBEG's lair... there's also the tactic of luring the BBEG out of his tower for the battle.
4. If a guest in your lair annoys you, treat him cruelly and without mercy.
I'd think a paladin would interpret this as throwing people out of his keep if they did not respect him while within it.
5. Do not make sexual advances unless you are given the mating signal.
basically "don't rape people" but also "don't be a nuisance"
6. Do not take that which does not belong to you unless it is a burden to the other person and he cries out to be relieved.
"don't steal", obviously, buit also "don't take another's matters into your hands"(unless the person cannot handle it...)
7. Acknowledge the power of magic if you have employed it successfully to obtain your desires. If you deny the power of magic after having called upon it with success, you will lose all you have obtained.
"don't diss the forces that have helped you in the past"
8. Do not complain about anything to which you need not subject yourself.
"don't whine about situations you put yourself into", ie, if you chose to accept the quest of finding the mayor's kidnapped daughter in the sewer lairs of the troglodytes, you don't get to complain.
9. Do not harm little children.
self explanitory, but apparently needed... probably made an official tenant during the time of the "Satanic Panic" as a way of distancing the church from the supposed "ritual satanic abuse" shit. Also helpful in the "Kill the baby or the Demon gets loose" scenario of which asshole dms are so fond.
10. Do not kill non-human animals unless you are attacked or for your food.
"don't murder animals/kill them for sport" or "don'tbe a sociopathic killer"
11. When walking in open territory, bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask him to stop. If he does not stop, destroy him.
again, "mind your own business" and "defend yourself"
incase anyone's interested, there're also the Nine Satanic Sins, things which satanists(and coincidentally, paladins) should avoid:
So obvious, that it's painful, but really needs to be said for both satanists and players of paladins"don't get too big for your britches" again, so obvious, it's painful.this is really just "be mindful of the potential validity of other points of view", or, "you are not the end all and be all or even neccessarily correct."again, "don't lie to yourself"basically, "think for yourself", which, again, is something that both satanists and paladins need to be doing, especially since we are long past the days of paladins having to swear fealty to anything other than a kind of generic force of "good""look at the big picture", again, Something Paladins Should Be Doing Anyway(hereafter known as "SPSBDA"). Also, "don't be Lawful Stupid"SPSBDAself explanitory, and SPSBDAThis is primarily important for rituals, but it can also be applied as "don't just be different or contrary for it's own sake, in other words, "don't be Chaotic Stupid"
it's probably painfully obvious that I've put way too much thought into this... and it actually evolves into a better and more logical arguement each time I go through and make it... but the point is that it's perfectly possible and acceptable for a paladin to be played from a quasi-satanic viewpoint(obviously working in the survival of the strongest and "the weak should serve the strong" stuff needs a very specific philosophy to work in a paladin, but even that can be looked at and interpreted in such a way as to work in a paladin, as well there always being the possibility of making a character who is LG, and a paladin and yet believes in some very LE things, and struggles with it, and it would probably make a very interesting character.)
All that being said, this thread is about satinisim in DnD. Satinisim, or more properly LeVayinisim (satinisim happening to already be the name for something) does not work in DnD. It is a subjective, re-interpretive religion. DnD has an objective cosmology. Bad is bad and Good is good. Not to mention the fact that it is polytheistic in nature as well.
Actually, most properly, it's "LaVeyan Satanism," because there's really no such thing as "LaVeyanism," except, possibly, the act of living your life like the man did... But... the real point I wanted to make was that
Core D&D has an objective cosmology, while specific settings can have subjective cosmologies, or there's even the fact that it's never been made entirely clear, except in a very RAW way, What the Hell Asmodeus is up to or all about. However, let's examine this from the pov of fitting a
character into a campaign rather than
crafting an aspect of an campaign setting. If your DM uses BoED, or at least the arch-celestials within, the philosophy would probably be very fitting for the Arch-guardinals, or whatever the furry unique celestials were called. Yes, I know, guardinals are, like, CG, but... hell, it's a less major change to allow CG paladins then it is to say that Asmodeus was really trying to help humanity or throwing alignment out altogether, or whatever else you'd have to do to make Asmodean Paladins work. You could even say that there is a LG order of paladins that overlooks the chaotic nature of the guardinals, and serves the Furries.
What is the point of the religion in the game? Does it create interesting conflicts? Does it drive a story on? What use is LeVayisim?[/quote]