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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TwinBahamut" data-source="post: 5852222" data-attributes="member: 32536">I know this question has been answered already by a few people, but it is an interesting one that I felt like answering too.For me, a Paladin and a Cleric are very different concepts. The Cleric is defined at its very core by being a member of the clergy, but that idea is not at all a part of the Paladin. The Cleric is an intellectual who studies in order to lead a holy life, but the Paladin is more a warrior who lives a holy life without even needing someone to guide them on that path. The Cleric studies divine teachings in order to become more good, but the Paladin is naturally good. The Cleric's powers come from study and diligence (really not that different from a Wizard's), but the Paladin's powers are holy blessings that arise from their natural goodness. The Cleric serves a community as an intermediary between people and gods, and the Paladin is the "chosen hero" selected by the gods to undertake holy quests.Overall, I think a Paladin's powers should represent that idea of "innate holiness". Evil powers dissipate upon contact with a Paladin leaving them unharmed, and they serve as a "shield of light" to protect their allies from evil effects. Their swords (and other weapons) shine brightly to smite foes with punishing attacks. They heal, bot not necessarily through spells. They have innate divine powers, but are not spellcasters who gain abilities through acquired knowledge.On the other hand, Clerics are spellcasters who gain abilities through acquired knowledge. They learn rituals and doctrines as part of their religious duties, and use this knowledge to cast protective spells. They are magic-users, different from Wizards only in the nature of the spells they use. They offer up praise and offerings to the gods, and receive divine power in return. Armor and weapons are an option for them, but I don't think it is essential to the class.In addition to Paladins and Clerics, there are two more really strong archetypes of divine class relevant to this discussion.One would be the monk, the regular clergy different from the secular clergy embodied by the Cleric. Unlike the Cleric, who acts as the intermediary between their community and the gods, the monk simply seeks personal holiness and a life dedicated to praising the gods. This leans towards a mix of the "innate holiness" of the Paladin and the knowledge of the Cleric, but lacking in the physical discipline and heroism of the former and the social role of the latter. This, of course, is somewhat separate from the basic concept of the classic Monk class, but is still somewhat connected...The other archetype is the prophet who conveys the direct will of the gods, embodied by figures like Moses or by the Invoker class in 4E. This kind of character is aided by true miracles and calls down angels to help him and his allies. Basically, it is the other sort of "divine calling" than the Paladin archetype...In summary, the Cleric is the secular clergy, the monk/cloistered cleric is the regular clergy, the Paladin is the saintly warrior, and the Invoker is the saintly prophet.To bring this all back to mechanics and the original article, I'll say that I don't think a Cleric/Priest split really works. You need to define one or the other more clearly than that to properly differentiate them. A Cleric/Invoker split works better. A cleric doesn't need to have heavy armor for its concept, but I think it works fine to leave it in as a domain benefit or some other choice with opportunity costs. After all, "wearing armor or not" is a fairly trivial character concept difference, so it shouldn't be the key thing to separate two different classes. A Fighter who doesn't wear armor is still a Fighter, after all.</blockquote>

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