Dragon’s-Eye View: Wandering Monsters

This week we get a reveal that there will be a new weekly article coming out next week, where James Wyatt will talk about the “story behind the world”. Hopefully this means that we will get some semblance of a default campaign setting, though I am stoked about getting a peak into general flavor content. Jon also wraps things up by asking a familiar question; what does a paladin look like?

As with the wizard that depends on a bunch of factors: race, country of origin, upbringing, climate, culture, how she became a paladin (did she choose, or was she chosen?), what god does she serve (if required), etc. Given all of these factors, I can make a case for a paladin to dress, wield, and act almost any way she wants (and “appear” like most any class).

The whole “knight in shining armor” look, while iconic, should not be necessary. In “vanilla” campaigns I could see paladins of Pelor, Moradin, and Erathis going that route, but not necessarily Sehanine or Kord. A paladin might wear simple clothing, donating all but the necessities to those less fortunate. She might wear an elaborate tabard befitting her station. A champion of a nature deity might clad herself in rough-hewn skins, while one of a god of death would shroud herself in dark colors.

When compared specifically to the fighter it could be really hard to differentiate the two. I mean, both can wear holy symbols, the same armor, and wield the same weapons. A code of honor is not just a class feature, and neither is a particularly chivalrous personality; the fighter and paladin could be mistaken by those who tend to judge stereotypes, especially if the fighter likes to keep her gear clean and the paladin follows the tenants of Moradin, drinking it up in a tavern and causing brawls after hours.

The main difference that I can infer from what we have been told is that the fighter will be more skilled with weapons, while the paladin will be able to levy divine retribution.

I would like to see an edition where paladins are not all wearing full plate, packing longswords, and/or riding atop horses. You can give us that, but also something different, like that Wayne Reynolds drawing from Defenders of the Faith of the guy on the armored lion; show us paladins from a variety of races, cultures, and gods. Like, halflings with shortbows on riding dogs, elves with spears on stags or wolves, etc. Most importantly, cleave to 4th Edition and give us options that still work.

The Cleric, the Paladin, and Multisysteming

Not all paladins ride horses or wield swords.

So the majority vote is that a good chunk of voters believe that the cleric concept is wide enough to be an armor-clad warrior type, or a robe-wearing spellcasting type, while another hefty chunk–coming in at a close second–think that both concepts should be divvied up. I think that a cleric’s god and/or domains should be a key factor in determining the things that a cleric can wear, wield, and do; cleric’s of a god of strength could wear heavy armor and wield lots of weapons, while those worshiping a god of knowledge might stick more with light-or-no-armor and get lots of spells, while those that worship nature might stick with leather and hides, using hunting weapons like spears and bows.

At the concept level I would wonder what actually makes a cleric and paladin distinct. Both are holy warriors that wear heavy armor, attack things in melee, and can cast divine spells. Going to the mechanical level using that mission statement, I guess you could just combine some elements of the cleric and fighter to make a new class…but then why not just let players use the 3rd Edition multiclass method that it sounds like 5th Edition will use to do it themselves?

3rd Edition gave the paladin exclusive class features like detect evil, smite evil, immunity to fear and diseases, the ability to summon a celestial horse, Lawful Stupid jokes…things that you could not get no matter how you tried to mix and match the fighter and cleric. 4th Edition made it possible to blur the line between a cleric and paladin by taking the right feats and prayers, though clerics still got turn undead, encounter-based healing, and at-will ranged attacks, while paladins were more melee focused, and got Divine Challenge and lay on hands.

To me it is not about mixing and matching until you get an iconic result. I want the paladin–or any class for that matter–to provide features and options that you cannot get just by mashing two other classes together. That just sounds lazy. I am hoping that the designers at least give us iconic paladin stuff that we have seen before; even a rehash sounds better than something that anyone could have just done themselves.

What sort of class features do you think a paladin needs to be a paladin?