Paladin vs Blackguard question of bias

[John Q. Mayhem]

Next time I play straight D&D, I'm going to use the Pious Templar class for paladins.

 

[Aust Diamondew]

In my game both paladin and black gaurd are PRCs with similar abilities and prerequisites because it didn't make sense to me having one be a PRC and the other not. Fallen Paladins can convert their levels into black gaurd but gain no other special abilities for left over paladin levels (many if they fall and become very evil and start worshiping dark gods and stuff all paladin levels become black gaurd levels). I suppose I might allow a black gaurd to do the opposite but it hasn't come up yet.

 

[Enchelion Derabdur]

I never really liked the idea of the Paladin as a core class. Why can't people just multi-class as a Cleric/Fighter? There are way to many Classes out there that are simply multi-classes but without the multi part.

I have the Paladin House-Ruled as a PrC, based on the Blackguard. Clerics of any deity can take it, and they get a 1/2 spell progression and abilities based on their alignment (Cha to saves, or as a curse on others for the evil ones, ect...)

 

[Nyaricus]

threadjack: ya know, it's kinda funny; last month there were like 4 threads about bard, before that it was half-orcs. Now it's paladins. kinda odd, eh? /endthreadjack

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

The compensation levels are there for ex-paladins because within the rules a fallen paladin is utter rubbish. Now some may wag their finger and say something along the lines of "you should've thought of that" but that ignores the fact that the ex-paladin character is simply going to be dumped for a new character. The blackguard gives the player a double whammy goal of both restoring their power to par & advancing their character plot.

To say the ex-paladin blackguard is more powerful than their character level is flat out wrong.

 

[Li Shenron]

Why a +5 BAB to qualify for blackguard? Why do you need to be a fallen Paladin in order to have abilities equal to that of a Paladin of same level? We usually house rule evil gods have lawful evil Paladins (a LE Blackguard) with equal abilites...

Malum
role playing the bad guy from time to time is a good thing I just like to do so on a even playing field.

The Blackguard PrCl in the DMG is just an option. You don't have to be a DMG Blackguard to be "the evil warrior with some divine powers".

You could be a combat-focused evil cleric, an evil fighter with some cleric levels or some strange feats, you could be one of the many classes (base or prestige) with the same concept from various sources, or design yourself a well-balanced variant and discuss your DM to let you play it.

If your DM only allows the DMG Blackguard, it's his problem.