Paladins as Divine Item User... sort of.

[Minigiant]

I was brainstorming a long time ago about paladin and how to make them special.

At one point I had this crazy idea about basing most of the paladin's divine ability around his weapon. During the process of becoming or realizing himself as a pairing, the divine knight would be gifted with a holy weapon. As his faith increased, his divine unbreakable weapon (or armor) would grow in power.

Basically paladins start with a magic item.

Players would have the ability to customize this divine piece of equipment. It could heal with a touch it they want. It could be a bane to demons, devils, undead, and the othe enemies of their deity. It could grant flight or invisibility. It could fight on it own or come when called. It could allow the paladin to cast spells. Or it could just grant +'s.

This would differentiate itself from fighters who use training and barbarian who use rage and raw emotion. The paladin's faith would be channeled into the item.

This could be modular as DMs could control which enhancements match his or her setting. The customizable item could be as complex or simple as the player wants going from daily and encounter abilities to basic bonuses.

Who would like or object to the idea?

 

[mkill]

Who would like or object to the idea?

Cool idea? Yes. Replacement for the Paladin? No. I think 3E had something like that with the Weapons of Legend sourcebook. I think it could be a theme, or simply a houseruled reskin.

If you'd play a Paladin in my campaign, I'd definitely let you reflavor him like that (regardless of edition).

 

[dangerous jack]

The 3e Samurai from Oriental Adventures book had the "Ancestral Daisho" feature that started them with a sword that gained powers as they leveled. So it can work. Personally, it's not exactly what I want from a Paladin though.

 

[Quickleaf]

I like the idea itself, and I welcome differentiating paladin from cleric, but this particular idea doesn't quite map to the paladin.

Possibly derailing your thread a bit, but I often have trouble explaining the difference between a warrior-type cleric and a paladin to players. The spellcaster/healer (sounds like 5e calls this a "priest" is different enough, but the mace-wielding undead-turning cleric sure seems a lot like a paladin.

Even if I don't agree about this particular idea, I welcome a fresh take on the paladin (or cleric) that distinguishes the two.

 

[Starfox]

The Samurai works fairly well, but depending on the scarcity of magic items in the campaign may end up very under or overpowered.