Paladins and Thieves

[The Red Priest]

Premise: Assume that an expedition could entail an ongoing adventure, a la Giants, Drow or Slave Lords.

Let's say a party, which includes a paladin, cleans out the Caves of Chaos. There's a neutral good thief, so the paladin bids the party goodbye without animosity.

The party goes on w/o the paladin, and they checkout Quasqueton, and then maybe ransack the Silver Princess' palace.

Now they're going to go investigate the nonsense going on in Highport.

If invited, would you allow the paladin to re-join the group for A1-4? Meanwhile, maybe he's had an adventure or two of his own and gained a couple of levels, and that makes it worth inviting him.

Strictly, it violates the one expedition rule, but as long as the party "behaved" I'd allow it. We play so little D&D compared to what we did 20 years ago, I'd hate to see a terrific character sit idle.

[thedungeondelver]

Premise: Assume that an expedition could entail an ongoing adventure, a la Giants, Drow or Slave Lords.

Let's say a party, which includes a paladin, cleans out the Caves of Chaos. There's a neutral good thief, so the paladin bids the party goodbye without animosity.

The party goes on w/o the paladin, and they checkout Quasqueton, and then maybe ransack the Silver Princess' palace.

Now they're going to go investigate the nonsense going on in Highport.

If invited, would you allow the paladin to re-join the group for A1-4? Meanwhile, maybe he's had an adventure or two of his own and gained a couple of levels, and that makes it worth inviting him.

Strictly, it violates the one expedition rule, but as long as the party "behaved" I'd allow it. We play so little D&D compared to what we did 20 years ago, I'd hate to see a terrific character sit idle.

I'd probably allow it under those circumstances, really.

To be honest a "thief" who was more "sapper/scout" in their mannerisms and how they execute their theifly roles would probably be OK to most paladins. I've thought about this in the time since I posted the thread and I think Gary's admonishment about Paladins adventuring with thieves probably stemmed from original D&D and playtest AD&D thieves as being all basically borderline kleptomaniacs, rather than the resourceful trap-finders and lock-pickers that they have evolved in to.

I might bend the admonishment to say that single adventure = module (i.e., the defenestration of evil in the Temple of Elemental Evil), or that the aforementioned neutral good thief who was, again, more sapper/reconnaissance man and less pickpocket would allow further adventures.

With that said, if our hypothetical "good" thief suddenly decided to start pocketing things in the market square, etc., I would firmly expect the Paladin (assuming they're aware of the activity) to turn the rogue in to the gendarme, posthaste!