Ah to play a paladin

[sircaren]

One of my players is starting a Paladin in our campaign; he's never played one before. He has asked for advice on how to play the paladin, which I was happy to give. Personally, paladins are my favorite class. BUT, I don't want to jade him with only my views on some ideas for motivations, or how a paladin might react in certain situations. I'd like a little help here. First what advice, hints, tips, etc would you give to someone playing a paladin for the first time? Second, does anyone know of a good sourcebook, or any online resources that he might turn to for some other opinions or inspiration?

 

[BryonD]

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=331&


I contributed to this, but I don't see why I can't join the honored ENworld tradition of self promotion.

3 5-star reviews at RPGnow and 3 4-star reviews at ENWorld.

It includes lots of great advice from James for paladin players of all ages. (not to mention the great selection of feats and prestige classes and other cool bits and pieces)

 

[CrusaderX]

Have the player watch a bunch of episodes of the Samurai Jack cartoon on Cartoon Network.

Seriously.

Jack is an excellent Paladin rolemodel.

 

[Henry]

Sir Malachite, Played by our fellow poster Blackjack in Piratecat's Story Hour, is one heck of an example of a paladin.

My advice:

---make sure that your ideas of law and good mesh with those of the DM. If they don't, then you will have problems keeping your paladin status.

---Define your code before you play. it doesn't have to be all-encompassing, but it needs to apply to general situations. What do you do when you find an unfortunate person trying to rob you? What do you do when an evil creature surrenders in a lawless environment? What do you do when the local authority is unjust? etc.

---Recognize that there are many ways to play a paladin. Stern, corrective, jovial, fanatical, sagacious, or even quiet and introspective. It is not a paladin's job to proselytize - that is the job of the cleric. It is the paladin's job to right wrongs.

 

[Damon Griffin]

One of my players is starting a Paladin in our campaign; he's never played one before. First what advice, hints, tips, etc would you give to someone playing a paladin for the first time?


One thing is to realize he's going to decide up front what his own strengths will be, and make choices based on that. I know that sounds like a really obvious statement for any D&D character, but this is more true for paladins than for other character classes.

Holy warriors are still fighter-types at their core, so you'd like them to have good STR and CON; DEX is universally useful for its AC, Initiative and Reflex save bonuses (and paladins don't have good Reflex saves). If you are going to be effective in terms of laying on hands and casting divine spells, you need a high CHA and a WIS of 14+. INT is probably the least important stat for paladins, except that an INT bonus is the only way you'll get a decent number of skill points.

See? Fighters, wizards and rogues pretty much know where to put their points when they are created. Fighters want STR and CON; wizards want INT and DEX; rogues want DEX and WIS. Everything else is just gravy for them. Paladins, unless they have stat bonuses across the board, have to make choices. Strong as possible in combat, at the expense of some spellcasting power? Vice versa?

The only advice I can offer for shaping a paladin's attitude is to have the player look around, especially at non-gaming media, and identify some "paladin" characters in comics, TV and movies. It may help the player, during a D&D game, to ask himself "What would Captain America (or whatever non-D&D character the player has selected as a model) do in this situation?"


Second, does anyone know of a good sourcebook, or any online resources that he might turn to for some other opinions or inspiration?

I picked up Call of Duty a few days ago, and I cannot remember much in the way of specifics, not having read the whole thing yet, but I know there was some material in there I looked at for use with the paladin that I'm creating for a new game right now.

Definitely pick up The Quintessential Paladin and look at the sections on Combat Prayers, Oaths and Vows. Some good material here on paladin attitude and behavior, as well.

The $2.95 booklet from Mongoose, Power Classes V: Knight might be worth a look, as there is a short section on the chivalric code the Knight is expected to live by.

The Book of Hallowed Might didn't impress me as much as I thought it would, where paladins are concerned. There is a variant paladin class offered there, and it does look good, but you have plenty of time to decide if you want to use it; it's identical to the PHB paladin in every respect until you get to 9th or 10th level. BoHM also has some rules for oaths and vows, but I preferred the mechanic offered in The Quintessential Paladin.

Noble Steeds from Avalanche has some excellent optional rules for advancing horses -- including but not limited to the paladin's special mount -- through experience levels. Horses use XP donated by their owner to advance in Destrier, Courser or Palfrey classes, gaining feats and class abilities as well as a few extra h.p. and stat increases.

 

[hong]

It is not a paladin's job to proselytize - that is the job of the cleric.

Depending on the setting, it may be nobody's job at all....

It is the paladin's job to right wrongs.

And depending on the tone of the campaign, it may be everybody's job.

Really, if it's all about "righting wrongs", what is the difference between a LG fighter and a paladin?

 

[Rashak Mani]

Divine Sponsorship !?

 

[hong]

Divine Sponsorship !?

In that case, what's the difference between a LG cleric and a paladin?


Hong "rant coming on" Ooi

 

[Yellow Sign]

I am running a Paladin for the first time through City of the Spider Queen. As it is pretty much a dungeon crawl or I think it is, I have not called my special mount yet. We have a pretty big party (8 players) and I don't want to drag a horse through a dungeon crawl. What would be a good ability or such that I could get instead of the special mount or should I just run with out the mount?

 

[Joshua Randall]

I've been thinking a lot about paladins lately; I'd like to play one, and advance him to high level. Anyway...

I own the aforementioned Call of Duty. It think its strengths are in giving role-playing and characterization advice. I think its weaknesses are uninspiring (to me) Prestige Classses and unbalanced Feats and Spells. But, if your campaign is high-powered, you might not mind.

WotC's Defenders of the Faith is unfairely maligned, in my opinion. If you're making a militant paladin you should check out the Divine XXX feats; I'm a particular fan of Divine Shield and Divine Might. Also, the Hunter of the Dead, Knight of the Middle Circle, and Templar PrCs are nifty ones if you want to take your paladin in different directions.

Here's a link to something from the WotC message boards about defining the paladin code. I agree with others who have said that DM and player need to get this sorted out before the campaign begins, so that they don't have misunderstandings later.

Finally, the min/max'er in me suggests the following stat distribution for a combat-oriented paladin.

(25 point buy) Str 13, Dex 8, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 15
(28 point buy) Str 13, Dex 8, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 16

You need Wis 14 to cast 4th-level spells, but these don't kick in until Pal15, so you can bump up your Wis later. You want high Cha to power your lay on hands, divine grace, and turn undead. I've used Dex as the throwaway stat because your paladin will be wearing heavy armor anyway. Likewise, Int is not all that important for a militant paladin, because there aren't a lot of skills you need. Finally, I favor Con slightly over Str but you could easily swap them. (You do need Str 13 at minimum to qualify for feats like Power Attack.)