Paladin

Lore & Background

The development of the Dungeons & Dragons Paladin, first introduced in the original Greyhawk supplement, was heavily influenced by the fictional character Holger Carlson from Poul Anderson's novel Three Hearts and Three Lions, which was in turn based on the epic poetry of the chansons de geste. Gary Gygax himself stated the class was actually drawn from the paladins of Charlemagne, Arthurian legend, and the historical code of chivalry. The paladin was first introduced in Supplement I – Greyhawk (1975), as a subclass of fighting man. In the 1st edition of Dungeons & Dragons the paladin class had very high ability score prerequisites, and stipulated that only human characters could be paladins. Despite this, several Dragon magazine articles describe paladins of other races besides human and of other cultures besides the Western European chivalric romance notion of a true Christian knight. The second edition Player's Handbook gives several examples of heroes throughout legend and history who could be called paladins: Roland and the 12 Peers of Charlemagne, Sir Lancelot, Sir Gawain, and Sir Galahad. As in 1st edition, the paladin class had very high ability score prerequisites, and stipulated that only human characters could be paladins.

In Their Own Story

The paladin, as part of the 'warrior' group, was one of the standard character classes available in the second edition Player's Handbook. The paladin, like all other classes, eventually received its own specific handbook, The Complete Paladin's Handbook, published in 1994. In 3rd edition, while there are no specific ability score requirements, a paladin character is still advised to have some high scores in order to be effective. These abilities are: Strength and Constitution (as their class makeup and general code of conduct favors front-rank combat), Charisma (key to Lay on Hands, Smite Evil, and Divine Grace), and Wisdom (necessary to access divine spells at higher levels). Other Paladin class abilities include the ability to detect evil at will, immunity to fear and disease, the ability to cure disease, the opportunity to use 'holy avenger' swords with imbued divine spells or extra damage to evil creatures, and to summon a 'special mount' – usually a heavy warhorse of unusual strength and intelligence. Their spell-casting and Turn Undead abilities are similar to but weaker or more specialized than comparable cleric abilities.

Reader's Guide

A Paladin in Edition 3.0 has a specified Code of Conduct section: A Paladin must be of Lawful Good alignment. A Paladin will lose all special class abilities if they ever willingly commit an evil act. A Paladin must act with honor (not lying, cheating, not using poison, etc.). A Paladin must help those who need help, provided they do not use the help for evil or chaotic ends. A Paladin is required to punish those that harm or threaten innocents. A Paladin will never knowingly associate with evil character. A Paladin in Edition 3.0 also has a specified Association section: A Paladin will not continue an association with someone who consistently offends their moral code. A Paladin may only hire henchmen and accept followers who are Lawful Good. As of 3.5 the explicit Code of Conduct and Association sections have been removed. A Paladin in Edition 3.5 no longer has a defined Code of Conduct section. However, a reference to a loosely defined Code of Conduct was added to the class Alignment section as a qualifier: 'Additionally, paladins swear to follow a code of conduct that is in line with lawfulness and goodness.' Unlike earlier releases, in 3rd edition, when designing your character, the Paladin Code of Conduct offers steadily greater flexibility. There is no longer a single, specific, 'Code of Conduct that governs all Paladins'. This seems likely, due to a tandem decoupling of the Paladin with a specific deity requirement complete with a switch to a concept of internal righteousness as per the Religion section Player's Handbook - Paladin Class: 'A paladin need not devote herself to a single deity, deity, devotion to righteousness is enough.' A paladin who ceases to be lawful good, who willfully commits an evil act, or who grossly violates the code of conduct loses all special abilities and spells. They also may not progress in levels as a paladin. They regain their abilities if they atone for their violations. The paladin class is available to all races, although most paladins are still human. Similarly to monks, paladins cannot consistently multiclass. Adding levels to any other class permanently halts progression as a paladin, to reflect the devotion and single-mindedness of purpose expected of the class. However, all class abilities are retained in such cases. Exceptions to Multiclass Restrictions: Certain feats found in the source material permit unrestricted multiclassing with Paladin: The Complete Adventurer offers a general feat called Divine Inquisitor for the Paladin Rogue multiclass option, coupling the Paladin's Sneak Attack with their Smite Evil attack to Daze their opponent, additionally it allows unrestricted multiclassing between the two classes. The Eberron campaign setting permit normal multiclassing (e.g. Eberron's Knight Training feat permits multiclassing with any one chosen class, and permits the same benefit to monk levels if that is the class chosen). Some prestige classes also waive this restriction (typically classes built especially for paladins). A fallen paladin can choose to trade in their levels for equivalent Blackguard powers. Certain accessory products, most notably the Unearthed Arcana, feature variant Paladins such as the Lawful Evil Paladin of Tyranny, the Chaotic Evil Paladin of Slaughter, and the Chaotic Good Paladin of Freedom (with the base paladin being called 'Paladin of Honor'). Under this scheme, paladins become complementary to druids, championing the extreme 'corner' alignments just as druids are champions of the partly Neutral 'cross' alignments. However, issue 310 of Dragon magazine featured a 'paladin' for each alignment (for example, a Neutral Good Sentinel). Aasimar have paladin as their favored class. With the installment of Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition, paladins are now champions of a chosen deity rather than just being a righteous warrior. As such, paladins may also have a different alignment from the traditional lawful good, but the paladin's alignment must correspond with his/her chosen god. Another new feature is the permanence of paladinhood. Once a character is ordained as a paladin, he/she cannot fall or have powers stripped in any way. This can allow players to avoid having to 'police' their fellow party members, but depending on one's god, it may be encouraged to curb any excessively evil behavior. It is stated that failing to live up to one's deity's tenets will result in that paladin's compatriots hunting down and judging their wayward members. Smite Evil has also been replaced with various 'smites' and 'strikes' as part of the paladin's power set, which are defined as Prayers (the term used for divine classes' powers). Two builds are presented in the Player's Handbook: the Avenging Paladin, based on Strength and offense, and the Protecting Paladin, based on Charisma and defense. Strength-based attack prayers are generally weapon-based and limited to melee range, while Charisma-based attack prayers include both melee weapon attacks and ranged implement-based attacks. Paladins also have the divine challenge class feature, which causes a targeted opponent to take damage when it makes an attack which does not include the paladin, as well as 'marking' that opponent.

Did You Know?

• The paladin was first introduced in Supplement I – Greyhawk (1975), as a subclass of fighting man.
• Gary Gygax stated the class was drawn from the paladins of Charlemagne, Arthurian legend, and the historical code of chivalry.
• In 1st and 2nd edition, only human characters could be paladins.
• The Complete Paladin's Handbook was published in 1994.
• In 4th edition, once a character is ordained as a paladin, he/she cannot fall or have powers stripped in any way.