Showdowdark Class Design: The Paladin! Live with Kelsey Dionne.

[DarkCrisis]

Alternately, some goof at your table is going to warble "I'm not dead yet" when the paladin helps them recover from near-certain death.

 

[Fenris-77]

Can't the Paladin also get a Magic weapon though and bond with it?

I'm on my phone, near death post workout..

Edit, no, I don't think so. So there is that.

The most recent version I've seen does say you can go on a quest to find or designate a new sword as your blessed blade, and doesn't put any restrictions on what kinds of swords might be designated. I don't want to be a munchkin, but the black and white seems to allow it (unless there's newer B&W than what's at the end of the AMA video).

 

[Bill Zebub]

The most recent version I've seen does say you can go on a quest to find or designate a new sword as your blessed blade, and doesn't put any restrictions on what kinds of swords might be designated. I don't want to be a munchkin, but the black and white seems to allow it (unless there's newer B&W than what's at the end of the AMA video).

I don't think so...

It's one of the things keeping Paladins from stealing the Fighter's thunder.

 

[Fenris-77]

I don't think so...
View attachment 401276
It's one of the things keeping Paladins from stealing the Fighter's thunder.

Ineed, you are correct. I just looked at the finalized version (which is hteat IMO).

 

[Bill Zebub]

I'm not a fan of that design, honestly. It means the Paladin would have to forego one of their core abilities in order to use a magic weapon they find, and...let's be honest...finding magic weapons is one of the best parts of RPGs for most people. (Before any of you outliers argue, please recognize that you are an outlier.)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'm not a fan of that design, honestly. It means the Paladin would have to forego one of their core abilities in order to use a magic weapon they find, and...let's be honest...finding magic weapons is one of the best parts of RPGs for most people. (Before any of you outliers argue, please recognize that you are an outlier.)

It's definitely a class where the player will need to trust their DM isn't going to be a jerk for the sake of being a jerk and constantly try to nuke their class ability like that.

If I had a paladin in my Shadowdark campaign -- and the new class has been received well on our end, so maybe -- if the paladin loses their sword, it'll be because I've got a holy quest locked and loaded for the next adventure.

 

[Scribe]

I'm not a fan of that design, honestly. It means the Paladin would have to forego one of their core abilities in order to use a magic weapon they find, and...let's be honest...finding magic weapons is one of the best parts of RPGs for most people. (Before any of you outliers argue, please recognize that you are an outlier.)

Its a choice though right? I do think that if you could 'bond' a found Magic Item, that it would start to push into Fighter territory too much, which was my kneejerk reaction.

They can use the Magic weapon, but the Named Blade is part of them, its part of their story and journey.

This meme right? I have no idea how old this is.

 

[Bill Zebub]

It's definitely a class where the player will need to trust their DM isn't going to be a jerk for the sake of being a jerk and constantly try to nuke their class ability like that.

If I had a paladin in my Shadowdark campaign -- and the new class has been received well on our end, so maybe -- if the paladin loses their sword, it'll be because I've got a holy quest locked and loaded for the next adventure.

Hmm...I think I poorly expressed my concern. I'm not talking about the Paladin losing their sword. I mean that if the Paladin were to find a cool magic sword, they would probably not actually use it because they have their Named Blade. Which means that the player knows that "finding a cool magic weapon" is not part of the game for them. And that's a big part of the game!

And maybe that's ok? I'm not sure.

The original design addressed this, because the Paladin could designate a new weapon, and the benefits stack. I wouldn't imagine that actually happening more than once or twice in a campaign, if at all, but just knowing that it's possible would be a boon, in my opinion.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Hmm...I think I poorly expressed my concern. I'm not talking about the Paladin losing their sword. I mean that if the Paladin were to find a cool magic sword, they would probably not actually use it because they have their Named Blade. Which means that the player knows that "finding a cool magic weapon" is not part of the game for them. And that's a big part of the game!

And maybe that's ok? I'm not sure.

The original design addressed this, because the Paladin could designate a new weapon, and the benefits stack. I wouldn't imagine that actually happening more than once or twice in a campaign, if at all, but just knowing that it's possible would be a boon, in my opinion.

I would definitely jump into the Kickstarter comments or Discord to express that. It's something worth considering on her part, I agree.

 

[Scribe]

Hmm...I think I poorly expressed my concern. I'm not talking about the Paladin losing their sword. I mean that if the Paladin were to find a cool magic sword, they would probably not actually use it because they have their Named Blade. Which means that the player knows that "finding a cool magic weapon" is not part of the game for them. And that's a big part of the game!

And maybe that's ok? I'm not sure.

The original design addressed this, because the Paladin could designate a new weapon, and the benefits stack. I wouldn't imagine that actually happening more than once or twice in a campaign, if at all, but just knowing that it's possible would be a boon, in my opinion.

Its a fair concern for sure, but I do think there is some balance issue in there as well.

I mean the art for the Paladin even has a broken sword. Likely carried that Paladin's whole adventuring life, and doing the job, but it does cut out a piece of the gameplay loop for sure.