Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
You are approaching the problem from completely wrong angle.
Actually, I think you and I have a completely different view of the relationship between church and state in a pre-democratic kingdom.

When I look at historic examples, the church very rarely acknowledged the state as being in charge of them. In a D&D setting, the Paladin's church would believe that their god out-ranks any mortal king. Where as the king would believe that since they live in a Kingdom, his rule is the highest. Hierarchy and power are not as cut-and-dry as they are in modern day real world. Simply put, the king and the head priest would not agree on who is in charge. The poor paladin could be stuck in the middle of a power struggle.

The order is unreasonable, because there is no way for the Paladin to carry it out without breaching his Code of Conduct. This isn't the Paladin's problem - it's the King's.
Well then the paladin can wash his hands of it and feel no guilt when the enemy hoards come rushing into village after village, brutally killing innocent peasants. Doesn't matter that he could have stopped this by lying to his church, that's the King's fault not his.

I realize that sounds flippant, but I'm trying to show that ethical dilemmas can exist where a Lawful individual is stuck in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" scenario.