Corrupting a Paladin into an Antipaladin of Haagenti

[Madokar]

Been mulling over something for a home campaign. I've got this Antipaladin I want to be a major, end-game antagonist. Mechanically, he's sound. But for the life of me, I can't figure out his backstory. Let alone his name.

He's a human male Antipaladin of Haagenti. Through the Cult of Haagenti, the Antipaladin is performing the Rituals of Fiendish Apotheosis from the Demonic Volume of the Book of the Damned. Towards the mid-end portion of the campaign, he transforms into a Half-Balor. So he has to be a particularly vile person.

Since he becomes a Half-Balor before the campaign is over, he has to be performing all kinds of sins in order to trigger such a transformation. Off the top of my head, I see a heady mix of Lust, Wrath, Envy, and Pride to trigger the change.

Antipaladin's of Haagenti are relatively rare. But this particular cult of Haagenti has a Succubus who is one of the leaders the faith. She's been producing half-succubus Antipaladins of her own as a means to bolster the cult's standing armed forces. These Daughters of Sin could be a stepping stone to how this Antipaladin came to be. But I'm drawing blanks on how that can work.

I was toying with the idea that the Daughters of Sin would go out to corrupt someone into furthering the designs of the Whispers Within. But the idea seems to be going nowhere fast. After all, Alchemists are the primary targets for the cult. The cult itself is based in Oenopion but has dispatched several key agents to Cheliax, where the campaign takes place.

If the Antipaladin used to be a proper Paladin, then what faith was he a member of before his fall?
Why would he be targeted by the Cult of Haagenti? Why would he want to undergo the Rituals of Fiendish Apotheosis?

[Coventry]

Been mulling over something for a home campaign. I've got this Antipaladin I want to be a major, end-game antagonist. Mechanically, he's sound. But for the life of me, I can't figure out his backstory. Let alone his name.

I am better than he was. Yet still his memory haunts me. He would have achieved power like this more quickly than I, and probably would done it more panache than I. That is just the way it was.

Yes, I am still competing with him, all these years later.

As a child, I was stronger. I was faster. I was healthier. I was smarter. I was wiser. I looked better. My parents were wealthier. With all of that, I should have been better than him at everything that was important. And yet, my losses piled up over time. He was popular. He got the attention from the prettiest girls (they only noticed me when he ignored them). Fate seemed to favor him in ways I could never match.

At first, it did not matter that he was always chosen before I was as we were growing up. I was chosen second, unlike all the rest. As we entered our apprenticeships in the Temple, his victories were the catalyst that enticed me to work harder, be better, learn more. My efforts paid off - when he washed out as a paladin in the service, I persevered, and finally achieved something that he could not do. He became a merchant peddling his alchemical wares, while I was a powerful warrior defending our people, using his toys in real combat.

And then there was fair Heather Londgren. Golden hair, green eyes. I quested with the Order not for myself, but for her. I courted her as I made a name for myself. I married her, and he was my best man. I know that I was happy then, but these days I cannot even recall what that feeling was like.

The Order needed us - needed me. That was how things went so wrong. I would awaken on campaign, having dreamt I was at home with her, only to find myself bivouacked in some forsaken forest. We defeated that enemy, and three more over the next few years. But those dreams continued and grew ever colder, and brought doubt to my mind.

After that last victory against Balad Naran, I got home faster than the rest of my team. I rode home to her, except my home was empty - she was gone. My fears realized, I found her ... with HIM. I became rage.

When I could think clearly again, I saw that I must have slaughtered everyone in that accursed house. I also found that I did not care. Once again, he had taken everything important from me. Now he could not take anything else, ever again. But I could take something from him. I searched his house and found his alchemical formulae, which I took with me when I fled.

Eventually, I met Diamond. She is even prettier than Heather, and had never been tainted by him. Or maybe it was Diamond that found me?

All these years later, I still have dreams where he is taking away what is rightfully mine as if Fate was on his side. So I still push myself to be better. To be faster. To be stronger. He will not beat me, ever again.


Pride is the primary driving force, but that background hits envy, lust and wrath along the way.

Some notes:

• I was hoping that a name would come to me while writing that; but alas. Instead, I will suggest "Edgar Sandstorm".
• Edgar is an "unreliable narrator" in that backstory. The "losses" he remembers as a child may not have happened in reality, but in his mind, they certainly did.
• Diamond is what he calls the succubus, even if that is not her real name.
• Those dreams he had on campaign might have been natural, or might have been planted.
• Option - the "Heather" he found with "him" might have been the succubus shape-changed into a similar form to trigger the fall. If so, then the real Heather could still be alive.
• Option - that book of alchemical formulae could be a key item that turns up in the campaign. Some special secret recipe from that book turning up in the possession of the cultists of Haagenti could be the clue that leads to the other side of the backstory, above.

[Madokar]

I am better than he was. Yet still his memory haunts me. He would have achieved power like this more quickly than I, and probably would done it more panache than I. That is just the way it was.

Yes, I am still competing with him, all these years later.

As a child, I was stronger. I was faster. I was healthier. I was smarter. I was wiser. I looked better. My parents were wealthier. With all of that, I should have been better than him at everything that was important. And yet, my losses piled up over time. He was popular. He got the attention from the prettiest girls (they only noticed me when he ignored them). Fate seemed to favor him in ways I could never match.

At first, it did not matter that he was always chosen before I was as we were growing up. I was chosen second, unlike all the rest. As we entered our apprenticeships in the Temple, his victories were the catalyst that enticed me to work harder, be better, learn more. My efforts paid off - when he washed out as a paladin in the service, I persevered, and finally achieved something that he could not do. He became a merchant peddling his alchemical wares, while I was a powerful warrior defending our people, using his toys in real combat.

And then there was fair Heather Londgren. Golden hair, green eyes. I quested with the Order not for myself, but for her. I courted her as I made a name for myself. I married her, and he was my best man. I know that I was happy then, but these days I cannot even recall what that feeling was like.

The Order needed us - needed me. That was how things went so wrong. I would awaken on campaign, having dreamt I was at home with her, only to find myself bivouacked in some forsaken forest. We defeated that enemy, and three more over the next few years. But those dreams continued and grew ever colder, and brought doubt to my mind.

After that last victory against Balad Naran, I got home faster than the rest of my team. I rode home to her, except my home was empty - she was gone. My fears realized, I found her ... with HIM. I became rage.

When I could think clearly again, I saw that I must have slaughtered everyone in that accursed house. I also found that I did not care. Once again, he had taken everything important from me. Now he could not take anything else, ever again. But I could take something from him. I searched his house and found his alchemical formulae, which I took with me when I fled.

Eventually, I met Diamond. She is even prettier than Heather, and had never been tainted by him. Or maybe it was Diamond that found me?

All these years later, I still have dreams where he is taking away what is rightfully mine as if Fate was on his side. So I still push myself to be better. To be faster. To be stronger. He will not beat me, ever again.


Pride is the primary driving force, but that background hits envy, lust and wrath along the way.

Some notes:

• I was hoping that a name would come to me while writing that; but alas. Instead, I will suggest "Edgar Sandstorm".
• Edgar is an "unreliable narrator" in that backstory. The "losses" he remembers as a child may not have happened in reality, but in his mind, they certainly did.
• Diamond is what he calls the succubus, even if that is not her real name.
• Those dreams he had on campaign might have been natural, or might have been planted.
• Option - the "Heather" he found with "him" might have been the succubus shape-changed into a similar form to trigger the fall. If so, then the real Heather could still be alive.
• Option - that book of alchemical formulae could be a key item that turns up in the campaign. Some special secret recipe from that book turning up in the possession of the cultists of Haagenti could be the clue that leads to the other side of the backstory, above.

Someone on the Paizo forums suggested that my Antipaladin could very well have been once a paladin of Bharnarol. I honestly didn't know that there was an Empyreal Lord of Alchemy, but he could very well be worked into this backstory. Thank you very much for your input.

[Madokar]

Taking into consideration both what's been said here and on the Paizo boards, I think I have something. My antipaladin shall have a personality somewhat like one Major Frank Burns. Except that the antipaladin is competent. He was once had an affair with a cleric of Bharnarol (a Major Houlihan expy), but was constantly shown up by a very skilled alchemist (Dr. Hawkeye Pierce).

After awhile, the cleric began to see the future antipaladin's flaws more easily when compared to the alchemist, and X-Burns (a placeholder title until I give him a proper name) and he snapped. His behaviour became more and more erratic until he finally fell from grace (he went from LG to NG).

The final straw was when the Succubus from the Cult of Haagenti set her sights on X-Burns. She sent out a pair of her Daughters of Sin to emulate that X-Houlihan and X-Pierce were finally consummating the relationship that X-Burns imagined them to be in. X-Burns slaughtered the Daughters of Sin in a rage after seeing them together. That event pushed him into evil out of spite instead of admitting his flaws (going all the way from NG to CE).