D&D General March Madness 2024 - Round 6 - Martials Semi-Final

[CleverNickName]

The #1-ranked Fighter vs. the #3-ranked Paladin! Only one can advance to the Finals--so who will it be?

Here's where the bracket currently stands.

How This Works

• This is the fifth round of elimination, and it will focus only on the two remaining "Martial" classes on the right side of the bracket. The winner will go on to challenge the Druid for the Championship!
• Unlike the previous rounds, there is only one single contest in this bracket: Fighter vs. Paladin.
• Vote for the class you would most like to see advance to the next round.
• Vote for any reason you like, too: personal favorite/least favorite, most/least powerful, most/least fun, oldest/newest, most/least played, etc. Vote for whatever you think makes the class worthy of advancing to the final round.
• When the poll closes, the votes will be applied to the bracket and the one with the most votes wins. Thus, one these classes will be eliminated, and the other will advance to the Final round on April 2nd.
• In the event of a tie, the winning class will be determined by alphabetical order.
• For the folks playing to win: each correct guess on your bracket is worth 1 point. Scores will be tallied when the poll closes, and posted to the Leaderboard.
• For the folks playing for fun: you can still post your bracket to the Leaderboard thread. You might not win a prize, but you'll still get to join the party.

Important! Read before voting!

• You won't be able to change your vote once you submit it, so vote with conviction.
• You won't be able to see the poll results until after you vote, so you can vote with clarity.
• Your vote will remain anonymous, so vote with confidence.

 

[Cadence]

I couldn't get Cleric... but I guess Druid vs. Paladin is about as close as I can get without that.

 

[RoughCoronet0]

Of course I’m going to pick Paladin, it was the first class I played in 5e and I have fond memories of it.

 

[CleverNickName]

I couldn't get Cleric... but I guess Druid vs. Paladin is about as close as I can get without that.

When I first started playing D&D (with the BECM rules), Druids were just nature-worshipping Clerics. I've never been able to train my brain to think otherwise.

I'm voting Paladin as well, in honor of Weylin Cairn, my shifter Oath of Ancients paladin who was killed by a hurricane. Rest in peace, you scruffy wolf-man...you were so much cooler than my half-elf Champion fighter, who drank himself to death in a pub trying to win a bet.

 

[Tonguez]

I'm smitten with the Paladin

 

[GuardianLurker]

@Tonguez I see what you did there.

For all the noise that surrounds them, I've always loved the Pally as a class. But they are definitely (thanks to the RP aspects) always a class I discussed with my GMs and players first. My first (and most telling) question: Name three examples of paladins from myth, books, comics, film, or TV. It's actually quite surprising how few people can name three. The next question is why.

Can you do better? Zero points for King Arthur, Lancelot, Galahad, or Roland.

 

[TwoSix]

Druid v Paladin...an unlikely Finals matchup, and an even more unlikely multiclass combination.

 

[ezo]

Druid v Paladin...an unlikely Finals matchup, and an even more unlikely multiclass combination.

Smiting while wild shaped??? Is it even possible...

 

[TwoSix]

@Tonguez I see what you did there.

For all the noise that surrounds them, I've always loved the Pally as a class. But they are definitely (thanks to the RP aspects) always a class I discussed with my GMs and players first. My first (and most telling) question: Name three examples of paladins from myth, books, comics, film, or TV. It's actually quite surprising how few people can name three. The next question is why.

Can you do better? Zero points for King Arthur, Lancelot, Galahad, or Roland.

That is tough. Off the top of my head:

Any of the Knights of the Cross from the Dresden Files, although Michael is the purest example.
Cecil from Final Fantasy IV, literally a redemption of a dark knight to paladinhood.
Paksenarrion from the Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon.

Edit: Oh, and Arthas Menethil (from Warcraft) is probably the best example of the fallen paladin trope.

 

[Mind of tempest]