Paladin new player guide

This is a page for the Paladin specific page for the Newbie Help Guide. Whenever possible, overlap with the general guide should be minimized.

For details, rules, and the other pages involved, see Category:Newbie Guide Contest.

What is a Paladin?

A Paladin holds a unique position: they are Holy Warriors, graced by the gods, though not as tied to them in service as a Cleric. Their gifts are more firmly rooted in the physical realm, and they hold the position of Masters of Armor. Clad in Plate armor and wielding tower shields they are shining beacons for others to follow, and are at their best when leading others into combat. Paragons of self-sacrifice, they are the only guild capable of protecting others, shielding them from blows with their own bodies. Everything a Paladin does revolves around a strong sense of ethics and justice, reflected in their Soul State. Though it is within their ability to ignore that inner voice, acting against it will require repentance later. This it both the Paladin's greatest blessing and greatest curse.

Mechanically Speaking:

Paladins are Armor Primary, Lore and Weapons secondary, Magic and Survival tertiary. Having armor as a primary skillset allows them several perks: they can eventually train all armor types simultaneously with no 'armor mixing' penalty. They can wear a large-sized shield on their arm, leaving both hands free. In addition, they can train armor down to a lower hindrance than any other guild, and are the only guild that can become minimally hindered while wearing the heaviest of Plate armors. They have the ability to PROTECT other adventurers, intercepting each blow aimed at them. They wield weapons as well as most other guilds, but will excel with them due to higher circling requirements. Magic is a tertiary skill which means it will take extra effort to ensure those skills do not fall far behind. A Paladin is inexorably tied to the state of their soul, which reflects their adherence to an unwritten code of justice that a Paladin cannot escape.

*PLANNED*Sometime in the not too distant future, the Paladin-exclusive skill Endurance will go live, granting feats of umm...endurance-y type things. Ways to shrug off poison, stuns, basically increasing survivability in more interesting ways than just reducing damage.

Beginning Choices

Race

In Dragonrealms, there are no particular races that are 'better' than others. Paladins are primarily a physical guild, with magic that skews heavily towards defensive buffs. They have very few offensive magics, so if you want to specialize, it is a bit easier. Paladins will always benefit from the primary defensive/survival attributes: Reflex, Stamina, and Discipline, so you can't go wrong with Races that focus on any of those stats. Strength and Agility are important for melee offenses, so a Paladin wishing to excel in that sphere could go with a race that suits those attributes. Strength is also important for shield skill. Every attribute has a place, and there is no 'wrong' race. Read through the guide, figure out where you want to place emphasis, but for the most part - pick the race you want to play and go from there.

Racial attribute bonuses/penalties are balanced so that if you trained every single stat evenly, to say 20, 40 or even 80 points, each race will require the same TDP investment to do so.

Attributes

Attributes contribute to almost every aspect of the the game. Each attribute is associated with various Skills, and plays a role in many Contested Abilities. For general and long-term Attribute training plans, be sure to read the guide in its entirety so you have a good idea of which Attributes contribute to what. Then you can train with a good idea of what you want your character's focus to be. For starting out, I *VERY* highly recommend training stats in the following order: (and remember DIRection will get you to each)

1. Get equipped with the armor and weapon(s) you plan on training
2. Train STAMINA to 14 (16 if you plan on doing a lot of combat)
3. Train STRENGTH until you check ENCUMBRANCE and see Encumbrance : None
4. Train REFLEX to 14-16 (depending on Racial modifier)
5. Do whatever else you want

Starting Equipment

If you're following the Newbie Walkthrough, you should understand how to get the gear you want from the Veteran or Robyn.

For a Paladin, I would very strongly recommend that being Plate Armor. Buying accessories that are a separate type of armor is also recommended. Eventually (by 50th Circle) a Paladin will be able to train each and every type of armor at once without the mixing armor penalty. This is a perk of having Armor as your primary skillset that no other guild can claim, so you should definitely take advantage of it.

For weapons, it is mostly a roleplay choice. Though if you ever want to participate in the Jousting tournaments hosted across the realms, I would recommend at least eventually training polearms.

Starting Spell Choice

A Paladin only has 3 choices for their first spell: Aspirant's Aegis (Warding), Heroic Strength (Augmentation) or Stun Foe (Debilitation). As magic tertiary, Paladins earn spell slots rather slowly, so I recommend placing emphasis on picking up a spell from each Magic Skill group so that you can self-train them all as early as possible.

1. Aspirant's Aegis
2. Stun Foe
4. Footman's Strike
6. Heroic Strength
8. Righteous Wrath
12. Anti-Stun

By 12th Circle you will be able to train every magic skill (except Sorcery) on your own. You can switch around the SF>FST branch for RW>Anti if you want to switch Debil/TM with Utility, but I personally place emphasis on Debilitation and Targeted Magic. As a Magic tertiary guild however, TM will not be your strongest tool for killing.

Notes on Roleplaying a Paladin

There will be a more detailed discussion of the mechanics of Soul State later in this guide, but before delving that deeply I feel it is necessary to cover some of the over-arching theories behind the Paladin guild. Paladins are quite literally, White Knights, with all of the stereotypes that entails. Some fantasy settings have Dark Paladins, and while that is an avenue of roleplay that is available to you here, it is important to understand the differences. In Dragonrealms, you will not mechanically benefit your character by say, scourging innocents. The 'code of ethics' behind the Soul State is inescapable, so to be a Dark Paladin in this setting - to quote GM Armifer "Do what you must - and then pay for it". If you are so inclined, there is a great piece written on the topic here: The Sacred and the Profane

Training Your Paladin

Armor Skillset

Shield Choice

Beginning at 5th Circle, Paladins have the unique ability of being able to wear a large-sized shield on their arm, leaving both hands free for things like 2-handed weapons.