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General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
[COMPLETE] Looking back at the leatherette series: PHBR, DMGR, HR and more!
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<blockquote data-quote="Orius" data-source="post: 8198570" data-attributes="member: 8863"><p>Paladin is probably the weakest of the more specialized PHB class splats. Barbarian is IMO even weaker, but it's an update of the 1e class, and not a standard 2e class, but we'll get to that in a bit. </p><p></p><p>The holy swords were pretty good, and the NWPs weren't bad either, as they were the sort of skills that felt appropriate for an aristocratic or religious warrior. The kits were fairly hit or miss though, with some creative elements and stuff that was fairly obvious. Demihumans got shafted here though, because Bard and Ranger (and upcoming Druids IIRC) had actual kits while Paladin was just a warmed over variant rule for Fighter/Clerics.</p><p></p><p>The biggest weakness though was something that plagued 2e for a good long while, namely the insistance that campaigns should stick as close to a historical medieval Europe model as possible (and I'm saving a rant up for this when we get to the DMGR books). Now while Paladin should have at least given some nod to the medieval romances that are the primary source material for the class archetype, particularly the Matters of Britain and France, the sections on the development of knighthood in medieval Europe was little more than padding IMO, particularly since the book does give a decent bibliography of inspirational works on the Paladin. (I'd add Edding's Elenium and Tamuli trilogies to that list since they provide some excellent examples of paladins who are not Lawful Stupid, though of course those books were being published in the same timeframe as the Paladin's Handbook.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Orius, post: 8198570, member: 8863"] Paladin is probably the weakest of the more specialized PHB class splats. Barbarian is IMO even weaker, but it's an update of the 1e class, and not a standard 2e class, but we'll get to that in a bit. The holy swords were pretty good, and the NWPs weren't bad either, as they were the sort of skills that felt appropriate for an aristocratic or religious warrior. The kits were fairly hit or miss though, with some creative elements and stuff that was fairly obvious. Demihumans got shafted here though, because Bard and Ranger (and upcoming Druids IIRC) had actual kits while Paladin was just a warmed over variant rule for Fighter/Clerics. The biggest weakness though was something that plagued 2e for a good long while, namely the insistance that campaigns should stick as close to a historical medieval Europe model as possible (and I'm saving a rant up for this when we get to the DMGR books). Now while Paladin should have at least given some nod to the medieval romances that are the primary source material for the class archetype, particularly the Matters of Britain and France, the sections on the development of knighthood in medieval Europe was little more than padding IMO, particularly since the book does give a decent bibliography of inspirational works on the Paladin. (I'd add Edding's Elenium and Tamuli trilogies to that list since they provide some excellent examples of paladins who are not Lawful Stupid, though of course those books were being published in the same timeframe as the Paladin's Handbook.) [/QUOTE]
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[COMPLETE] Looking back at the leatherette series: PHBR, DMGR, HR and more!
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