Paladins: Why are they balanced?

[Nightfall]

Drowsbane,

I'm not quite ready to do that but with certain players I might. Considering there's one guy that ALWAYS go paladin 7 then ex paladin followed by Blackguard.

 

[Wik]

Y'know, I like the paladin's code. My favourite paladin was a depressed guy, who was upset because he still had his paladin's powers, despite all of the "questionable" (in his mind at least - he was protecting prostitutes, gamblers, and street people from thugs, by dealing with the thugs as nonviolently as possible) activities he had undertaken. The fact that he still had his powers made him question his deity's commitment to goodness.

Fun character, that.

I really like the Grey Guard, a PrC in COmplete Scoundrel that lets the paladin player "bend" his paladin's code a little bit. I think it expands upon the flavour of the paladin's code.

All that being said, I think the paladin is a bit underbalanced at times. In our group, he doesn't have the pure combat potential as the goliath fighter, although the paladin's use of cure wands has kept the party alive. The Code has never got in the way of the character, though - I wouldn't really even call it a "weakness", because a properly played character will never come up against it. Compare this to some of the flaws in other classes - the barbarians fatigue after raging, for instance.

 

[Hussar]

Hmmn, I think this is a very good question to ask, because the paladin should be mechanically more powerful than other classes. Why is that? Because they are unique in having a mechanical penalty for not being roleplayed properly.

Actually, that's not even true. Clerics, druids, bards, barbarians all suffer for not being rp'd properly. It's just that DM's don't enforce things with those classes. A LG cleric shoudl be pretty much IDENTICAL to a paladin in terms of code of conduct. But, most DM's are perfectly ok with the player ignoring his alignment and his class and moving along.

 

[Nightfall]

Just curious and slightly out of context here, but has anyone else encountered a guy that goes paladin only to ex-paladinize himself so that he can go blackguard?

Or is it just this one guy I know?

 

[Darklone]

Just curious and slightly out of context here, but has anyone else encountered a guy that goes paladin only to ex-paladinize himself so that he can go blackguard?

Or is it just this one guy I know?

Drow playersTM? You know, these guys who want to play half-demonic vampire warlocks that are sooo kewl eeevil?

 

[Nightfall]

Dark,

Sadly or perhaps happily, I quit playing with the guy so no idea if he'd do that. I can say he never played drow.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Why are paladins 'balanced'? Because D&D is first and foremost a game. This is also the reason black doesn't start down a rook in chess.

That was easy. Next question!

Isn't it wasteful to have nipples on men?

 

[Nightfall]

Whiz,

I thought it was bulls.

 

[Falkus]

Weak core class, frequently crippling code of conduct that controls the group as well, endless arguments.

I hate paladins.

Paladin is my very favorite class to play, and in my experience, it's the other players who are the problem, not the Paladin. Most telling was a case a few years ago in a new campaign. I was playing a paladin, and we'd played for about three sessions, when a new guy came in. He looked over the party rooster, and decided that his character, for god knows what reason, would be a blackguard.

 

[Felix]

The paladin code needs to EXPLICITLEY say a few minor things that cant be done, instead of the nebulous mess that exists now, where the average DM will yoink your powers for lying to save an innocent life.

The code is written the way it is so DMs have the flexibility to explicitly state what a paladin may or may not do. The rules stay out of the DM's way, and because this is a role-playing issue, this is a very good thing.

If you have a toolbag running the game, then yes, it's going to be frustrating to play a paladin; but then, if he's a toolbag, won't it be frustrating to play any class? So the problem is not the system, but the DM. Don't blame the rules for your bad luck.