Sir Randolph
Male Human Pal 13: CR 13; Medium-size humanoid (human); HD 13d10+13; 89 hp; Init +1; Spd 20 ft. (4 squares); AC 24 (+1 Dex, +10 full plate, +3 heavy shield), touch 13, flat-footed 23; BAB/Grapple +12/+15; Atk +18 melee (1d8+5/17-20, +2 axiomatic longsword), +16 melee (1d8+3/19-20/x3,lance), or +15 ranged (1d10/19-20, masterwork heavy crossbow); SA smite evil 3/day, spell-like abilities, spells; AL LG; SV Fort +13, Ref +9, Will +11; Str 16, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 16, Cha 18.
Skills and Feats: Concentration +5, Craft (toymaking) +8, Diplomacy +20, Handle Animal +10, Heal +6, Knowledge (history) +4,Knowledge (nobility & royalty) +4, Knowledge (religion) +4, Listen +3, Profession (teacher) +4, Ride +17, Sense Motive +7, Spot +3, Improved Critical (lance), Improved Critical (longsword), Mounted Combat, Ride-by Attack, Spirited Charge, Trample.
Paladin Spells per Day: (2/2/2: base DC 13+ spell level)
Typical Spells Prepared: 1st—bless, cure light wounds; 2nd—shield other, zone of truth; 3rd—discern lies, prayer.
Aura of Good (Ex): Sir Randolph’s aura is overpowering, and lingers for 1d6 days. See the spell description for detect evil in the Player’s Handbook.
Detect Evil (Sp): Sir Randolph can use detect evil, at will, as the spell.
Smite Evil (Su): 3/day, Sir Randolph may attempt to smite evil with a normal melee attack. He adds his Charisma bonus of +4 to the attack roll and deals 13 extra points of damage. If he accidentally smites a creature that is not evil, the smite attempt has no effect, but one use of the ability is still used up.
Divine Grace (Su): Sir Randolph gains a bonus equal to his Charisma bonus on all saving throws.
Lay on Hands (Su): Sir Randolph can heal wounds (his own or those of others) by touch. Each day he can heal 52 hit points of damage. He may choose to divide his healing among multiple recipients, and he doesn’t have to use it all at once. Using lay on hands is a standard action.
Alternatively, Randolph can use any or all of this healing power to deal damage to undead creatures. Using lay on hands in this way requires a successful melee touch attack and doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity. Randolph decides how much of his daily allotment of points to use as damage after successfully touching an undead creature.
Aura of Courage (Su): Sir Randolph is immune to fear (magical or otherwise). Each ally within 10 feet of her gains a +4 morale bonus on saving throws against fear effects. This ability functions while he is conscious, but not if he is unconscious or dead.
Divine Health (Ex): Sir Randolph is immune to all diseases, including supernatural and magical diseases.
Turn Undead (Su): Sir Randolph can turn undead 7/day as a 10th level cleric.
Special Mount (Sp): Once per day as a full-round action, Sir Randolph may magically call Relentless, his mount, from the celestial realms in which it resides. This ability is the equivalent of a spell of 4th level. Relentless immediately appears adjacent to him and remains for up to 26 hours; he may be dismissed at any time as a free action.
Each time Relentless is called, he appears in full health, regardless of any damage he may have taken previously. He also appears wearing or carrying any gear he had when he was last dismissed. Calling Relentless is a conjuration (calling) effect.
Should Relentless die, he immediately disappears, leaving behind any equipment he was carrying. Randolph may not summon another mount for thirty days or until he gains a paladin level, whichever comes first, even if Relentless is somehow returned from the dead. During this thirty-day period, Randolph takes a –1 penalty on attack and weapon damage rolls.
Remove Disease (Sp): Sir Randolph can produce a remove disease effect 3/week, as the Possessions: +2 full plate armor, +1 heavy steel shield, +2 axiomatic longsword, masterwork heavy crossbow, 20 bolts, 1d6 lances.

Relentless (Sir Randolph’s Mount)
Heavy Warhorse: CR 2; Hit Dice: 10d8+40; 85 hp; Init +5; Spd 60 ft.; AC 22 (–1 size, +1 Dex, +12 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 21 BAB/Grapple +9/+18; Atk +13 melee (1d8+5, hoof) Full Attack: +13 melee (1d8+5, 2 hooves) and +8 melee (1d4+2, bite); Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.; SQ command creatures of type 6/day, empathic link, improved evasion, low-light vision, improved speed, scent, share saving throws, share spells; SA Fort +11, Ref +8, Will +4; Str 21, Dex 13, Con 18, Int 8, Wis 13, Cha 6.
Skills and Feats: Listen +8, Spot +7; Endurance, Improved Initiative, Improved Natural Attack (Hoof), Run.

Tactics:
If encountered randomly, Randolph is likely to have only his armor and sword. Both are the badge of office for a knight and a paladin, so they are worn anytime he is outside of his quarters. The shield is usually worn for special occasions and battle and rarely any other time (when he is not carrying his shield, remove it from your calculation of Sir Randolph’s Armor Class). Randolph cares deeply for Relentless and rides him daily. When occasion requires, as in a battle or joust, he keeps from one to six lances immediately available. In a battle, lances break far too often to depend on just one. He could have one enchanted, but in a match of honor, that would be cheating. Randolph usually prepares at least one combat spell and one utilitarian spell of each level he can cast, usually choosing spells that determine truth or aid his allies.

The story of Sir Randolph is one of loyalty, honor, failure and betrayal. In his youth, Randolph was a steadfast supporter of the crown, marching to every war and gladly leading into every battle. His reputation and skill made him a friend of the king and earned him a knighthood. The king was a good man, who shared Randolph’s piety. The two men became close friends, the older man instructing Randolph in the ways of diplomacy, nobility, and statecraft. When old age took the king, and some would say the loss premature, Sir Randolph stood by his bedside until the end. On his deathbed, the king asked Sir Randolph to help his son become as good a king as he’d tried to be. Sir Randolph drew his sword and immediately swore an oath on everything he held dear that he would do just that. It is this oath, Randolph knows, that will soon cost him everything.

Randolph’s efforts to educate the new king were truly heroic. To a point, he succeeded. However, the new king was never quite as pious as his father. Lately, the lack of faith has grown. Randolph has sensed that he is losing the boy. The new king is not as kindly as the old. He cares little for his people and has demonstrated a notable cruel streak. So far, the king has not done anything evil enough to allow Randolph to act, but he knows it is only a matter of time. Sir Randolph, defender of the land, is now caught between his oath to the king’s father, his dedication to the legitimate heir to the throne, and his paladin’s oath to oppose evil at all turns. Randolph knows the day is coming when he will be forced to choose between lawfulness and goodness. He knows that day will be the day of his downfall. He does not yet know what will happen, how he will act, or if he will survive.

The Man Himself:
As a boy, Randolph was always impressed and excited whenever knights paraded through the streets. He played war, like the other boys, and assembled a small collection of lead soldiers, with which he reenacted or reinvented a number of famous battles, real and fiction. He was always a good boy, allowing “opponents” to retrieve a lost weapon. When his playmates became apprenticed to cobblers, smiths, bakers, and other craftsmen, Randolph joined the church (any appropriate LG god as determined by the Dungeon Master). He never had a doubt about his calling. He knew he had a mind for strategy and wanted desperately to put it to use.

But commoners seldom lead armies. As a young paladin, Randolph was eager and earnest. Whatever his initial reasons, he took to the religious teachings with zeal. He relished battle against the forces of evil and chaos and made a personal vow to stand between his homeland and any threat that offered itself. As his skill with the sword improved, so did his skill as a strategist. He made good on his vow many times over, and his valiant actions quickly garnered the attention of the king. Very few of the royal cavalry officers could match Randolph’s skill on horseback and none could best him. Only Randolph’s common birth prevented a friendship from beginning at that time. It was a few years later, again in defense of the kingdom, that Randolph’s actions brought him to the attention of the king.

A small battle had occupied the attention of the king’s army. Victory seemed close when Randolph sensed something sinister on the right flank. He told the nearest officer to wheel the reserves and part of the front line to the right and then galloped over the hill. A stray arrow took the officer’s life before he could relay the order. Randolph held off a company of cavalry, on his own, for nearly ten minutes before the noise of the fight was noticed and help sent. If not for his actions, the king’s generals would have been attacked from behind. The ensuing chaos would probably have left the army in ruins and the kingdom undefended. For these actions, Randolph was knighted. With the matter of birth no longer an issue, the king made a point of befriending the young paladin and their friendship grew strong. Randolph was often present when the generals discussed strategy, and their scale models of local battlefields reignited an old hobby when the counters and markers seemed inadequate. The first few attempts were crude, but soon the battalions of the king marched across miniature hills and fields in the form of detailed lead soldiers, painted in unit colors and armed appropriately.

After the king’s death and the fateful deathbed oath, Sir Randolph set about to educate the young king as he’d been taught. The king resisted most of these attempts, though he took to swordplay and strategy with vigor. As the boy turned into a man, however, traits that had not been seen in the father became obvious. The king seemed to enjoy inflicting suffering, though he quickly learned to hide this from his mentor. He tended towards selfishness, again keeping this a private matter. Sir Randolph, however, could sense the dark turn his charge took and tried harder to mold the young king into the image of his father. The harder Randolph tried, the harder the king resisted.

Sir Randolph, now, is a haunted man. He has seen enough to know that his failure to instill the tenets of his deity will likely result in his own downfall. By solemn oath, he is bound to the king. The king is the rightful heir, thus he is the legal authority. Randolph knows he will soon be forced to choose between lawfulness and goodness, and that the choice will likely destroy him.

Randolph is aging. He is not as spry, as strong, or as robust as he once was. However, his mind is strong and despite an occasional haunted look, he is as friendly and charismatic as ever. He still makes lead soldiers, and his quarters have been transformed into a model of the city and its surroundings. When he requires diversion, he fights miniature sieges and skirmishes, allowing the heat of war to blot out, for a time, his unfortunate situation. He still makes efforts to steer the king to the righteous path, but tends to focus on law enforcement around the capitol. Sir Randolph is the lieutenant of the king. Oaths keep him in the king’s service. Law-breakers will be punished, with the truly evil bearing the brunt of his frustration.

Encountering Sir Randolph:
The party’s experience with Sir Randolph will depend on their alignment. Since the king is a villain, the party may very likely be trying to counter something the king is trying to accomplish. Since this means working against the legal authority, most parties may be expected to be chaotic in nature. Any direct action will likely bring Sir Randolph, an agent of law, into the picture. If the party is evil, Randolph will see them as the threat they are and take whatever action he must to end the threat. If the party is good, he will try to arrest them and then counsel what leniency the law allows. If the party has been framed, Sir Randolph is likely to discover it through the use of his truth-detecting spells, and may help the party clear their names.

Since it was probably the king that set them up or ordered them set up, this will certainly hasten Sir Randolph's doom. The key point to remember is that the king is the law and that Sir Randolph must obey and enforce the law. He certainly regrets having to enact strict punishment on a good party, but he will do it. Afterwards, he may help them recover, depending on their actions.

While Sir Randolph may seem limited to a set scenario, changing the alignment of the king can open up many other possibilities. If the king is good, the aspect of tragedy disappears. There is no crisis of faith, and Sir Randolph becomes an agent of a good king out to foil an evil party. The conflict would be similar if chaos and law are pitted against each other.

Scaling the Encounter:
Sir Randolph is a potent character. The challenge he poses, however, can vary a great deal. If he faces a lower level party, the Dungeon Master may have rule that already lost his paladinhood by refusing to leave a king who has turned to evil. He would not have the trust and support of the king or army, and while still potent, would lose a good deal of power.

If the party is good-aligned and circumstances allow, Randolph would be willing to pull his punches, using only as much force as needed to subdue a group of criminals (real or framed). He would also be quite willing to accept the surrender of a good or neutral party. To strengthen the challenge, give Sir Randolph soldiers and guards to command. They are the king’s men and not directly loyal to Randolph (so there is no need for him to have the Leadership feat), but they will still follow his orders. It will be much harder for a good party to win him over, especially if there are chaotic player characters among their number.