Planning on reworking the paladin handbook

[Dictum Mortuum]

I am planning on reworking the paladin handbook. I believe that we know the state of D&D 3.5e as a whole, so I am in a much better position to create a guide that won't need to be updated whenever a new sourcebook is released.

The new information that I am going to introduce to the guide is a more thorough breakdown of the paladin class. I'm planning on having the following arbitrary aspects:


The champion is the warrior aspect; a champion paladin tries to optimize his main combat skill, smite evil, in order to deal high amounts of damage.
The cavalier is the horseman; a cavalier paladin improves his performance in combat by focusing on the synergy between him and the special mount.
The templar is the aspect with the most connection to the divine. A templar paladin uses spells. turn undead, [domain] and [divine] feats to increase his combat prowess.
The lord is the leader of the group. A lord paladin supports his followers by applying buffs and acting as the party face with his skills.
This way a player can focus on the aspect(s) that he prefers and maximize it.

Do you find this class breakdown useful?
Would you change any of the names to something more fitting?
Would you like it if the combinations (e.g. lord-cavalier or templar-champion) had distinct names and description?
Are there any other aspects that I am missing?
Would you move an ability to a different aspect? (e.g. skills to the templar)

Thank you in advance, Dimitris

[IlPazzo]

I find the names fitting, but if we really wanna get autistic with them I'd like a set of four names originated from the same language instead of two latin, one english and one german

I think combinations should be mentioned and can be named, but referring to them with specific names trough the guide could be confusing, unless in places like a title where using both names doesn't make the text unnecessarily heavy, e.g.

(click to show/hide)

Section on styles:
Holy Knight
Templar-Cavalier
This style is referred to as either holy knight or templar-cavalier in this section
[...]
Section on feats:
feat_name: [...] this feat is good for a templar-cavalier

Spoilered not to metaforically punch everyone's eyes with that colored text

Also, I do find the breakdown useful both from a character building and roleplay perspective: it makes the former simpler and the latter more defined.

[Necrosnoop110]

I like it and think the names are largely on target. To avoid confusion in the guide how about appending the word style or focused, etc. to each for clarity? Like so...

A Champion Style Paladin   
A Cavalier Focused Paladin
A Templar Style Paladin 
etc.

My least favorite name is Lord. What about Leader. Or Noble. Or Commander. Or Captain. hmmmm...   

I find the names fitting, but if we really wanna get autistic with them I'd like a set of four names originated from the same language instead of two latin, one english and one german

They are all English 

[awaken_D_M_golem]

The alignment restrictions are game-historic b.s.
It's kinda like the 1e Clerics being some oddball Beat- The- Snot- Out- Of- Things- But- No- Blood- PLEASE makes you closer to medieval Jesus-y something.

1e put the other 8 (+1) alignments into Dragon mag.
Official, and ordained by Gygax so 
3.0e put the other 8 also into Dragon mag.
Also Officially official.
3.5e has the LE CG and CE "Paladins" official in the SRD.  They even call them Paladins.
3.0e and 3.5e had the "F"-allen paladin the Blackguard in the PHB.
The most argued thread in the history of the WotC boards, was Pally CoC = stupid.
4e Paladins could be all 5 alignments (though naughty naughty, no playing evil).
The 5e Paladin can be any of the 9 usable alignments.
Get over it, kids. 
Ain't asking anybody to get over themselves, that ain't happening ... 

Re-fluffing any random one PrC can go something like this :
http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=5448.msg78308#msg78308

[Endarire]

Consider this: "A"-Game Paladin

Also consider the Harmonious Knight ACF which trades Smite Evil for Bardic Music.

[awaken_D_M_golem]

Divine Agent PrC is an OK spells catch-up
to near Wilder levels, via the Spell Domain.
Seemingly weaker than Divine Crusader,
it's got early(-er) entry.  And we know a Pally
shouldn't break Caelic's Commandments too.

(click to show/hide)

Rager Varrangoin is the best Barb.

(edit --- holy tangent batman, wtf was I thinking)

While Realmshelps has most of it :
http://www.realmshelps.net/monsters/block/Varrangoin,_Rager
... for the real goodies, Fiend Folio is necessary.
No official racial prog  but that's easy enough.

[awaken_D_M_golem]

Tier 6 ... do in-combat healing, don't read a guide, Warrior with class abilities that don't make up for the in-combat healing action loss.

Tier 5 ... don't do in-combat healing, don't read a guide, try to figure out how to work with the Mount, Smite accidentally makes a difference

Tier 4 ... read a guide

pushing Tier 3 ... near max c.o.-ing full splat dumpster dive

High Tier 3 ... bloodlines to double up the builds, recharge magic (!) for nobody else, some Supermount for levels 10+


solid Tier 2 ... Golarion Cleric with Prestigious Paladin , though mostly outside the scope of what's a Paladin Guide.
http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=2342.msg315577#msg315577

[awaken_D_M_golem]

Special Mount (SP) ... This ability is the equivalent of a spell of a level equal to one-third the paladin’s level.

So early qualifying is available, and bloodlines effect this.
Nar + prestigious Bard + SubChord, etc

(I don't recall anyone building for this, to take advantage of it, might be interesting)

[Dictum Mortuum]

So up until now I have these from your comments:

- Naming combinations of aspects is going to result in a lot of arbitrary names, so I shouldn't do it.
- Rename lord to something else. Commander is better I think.
- Harmonious knight, inspire courage, from smite to song and all those abilities are fitting to the "Commander" archetype I think.

@aDMg I have the following draft planned to put in the guide regarding alignments (OK, I am referring to LG, but you get the idea) :

moral dilemmas

The paladin is the base class out of the Player's Handbook that has the most strict alignment restriction. By definition, paladins are always of the lawful good alignment and they don't only have to act in the name of good and order, but they also have a code of conduct that they must abide to.

Before you continue reading the guide, it's important to refresh the definition of alignment, as it is a mechanic that causes a lot of problems within groups. As mentioned in Player's Handbook:

Alignment is a tool for developing your character's identity. It is not a straitjacket for restricting your character. Each alignment represents a broad range of personality types or personal philosophies, so two characters of the same alignment can still be quite different from each other. In addition, few people are completely consistent.

I have encountered people with different opinions on alignments that range from indifference to extremism. My personal view on alignment is that it's a good mechanic to determine the outcome of certain spells and effects and to give your character a roleplay direction. However, it is not a good mechanic to use if you want to resolve philosophical arguments on ethics or determine which NPC you should punish.

Ethics is a branch of philosophy that investigates questions like "Is this action right or wrong?". Philosophers like [Plato](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato), [Immanuel Kant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel_Kant) and [Friedrich Nietzche](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche) have been trying to resolve questions like this for thousands or years. Based on these facts, it's understandable that these ethical questions are not going to be solved by the alignment system.

The problem here lies in the simplicity of the alignment system. It uses two axes - good/evil and law/chaos, which is suitable for a fantasy game like Dungeons and Dragons; the alignment system tries to make choices simple and not complicated. This works fine for most classes that do not have mechanical implications, but in the case of paladins and their code of conduct, the ethical simplicity of alignments and the ambiguity of the code do not mix that well.

If you want to play a paladin and your party is cool about it, then great. If you feel that your dungeon master or teammates are punishing you because of your class choice, this is not cool and you should have a talk about it. Remind them that, according to the rules, alignment is not meant to restrict your character and that it should not be taken far too seriously. Additionally, the restrictions that paladins get compared to the benefits that the class provides are just not worth it; you are not playing this class for the mechanical benefits - you are doing it for the style.

[awaken_D_M_golem]

That's just ... about perfect 

"Leader" evokes the 4e perhaps too much, but
it works for a Frontliner that also Party Buffs.
(and no possibility for a Lazy Lord pally)

[Dictum Mortuum]

Here's the piece about the aspects

## class breakdown

Here's a detail regarding paladin: it's a complicated class. Most of the classes have a degree of complexity to them and some have a deceptively simple class features table, like the cleric or the wizard. A simple look at the paladin's table is enough to understand that there are multiple things going on at the same time, especially at the early levels.

The truth is that unless you just spend all of your levels in the paladin class, you will have a very hard time keeping all your class features in the same power level; this is not generally encouraged in the optimization community, as paladin is already a weak class, so you'll have to specialize to make yourself useful.

Indeed, don't let yourself get fooled to think that most of the abilities of the paladin are acquired at the first five levels. It seems that the class is front-loaded, when in reality each additional paladin level improves many of its abilities. Smite evil, turn undead, spellcasting and special mount are all abilities that are not static.

In order to help you pick up abilities and prestige classes as you progress in the paladin class, I will categorize the paladin's class abilities in four aspects with distinct names. These are the champion, the cavalier, the templar and the commander.

The champion is the warrior aspect; a champion paladin tries to optimize his main combat skill, smite evil, in order to deal high amounts of damage.

The cavalier is the horseman; a cavalier paladin improves his performance in combat by focusing on the synergy between him and his special mount.

The templar is the aspect with the most connection to the divine. A templar paladin uses spells, turn undead, [domain] and [divine] feats to increase his combat prowess.

The commander is the leader of the group. A commander paladin supports his followers by applying buffs and acting as the party face with his skills.

These categories are an abstraction that I have devised and they are meant to give you a direction during character creation and when you need to make a choice at level-ups. They are not to be blindly followed. For example, if your champion just gained a level and you are pondering whether you should get a feat that increases your special mount or your smite ability, think it through; that special mount enhancing feat may be the correct choice for you after all. In this distinction there is room for hybrids and at a certain point it is encouraged.

Here is how the class feature chart should look, with some additional breakpoints that aren't visible in the one in Player's Handbook:

| Level | Special                                  |
| ----- | ---------------------------------------- |
| 1     | Aura of good, detect evil, smite evil 1/day |
| 2     | Divine grace, lay on hands               |
| 3     | Aura of courage, divine health           |
| 4     | Turn undead, spell level 1               |
| 5     | Smite evil 2/day, special mount          |
| 6     |                                          |
| 7     |                                          |
| 8     | Mount advancement, spell level 2         |
| 9     | Remove disease 1/week                    |
| 10    | Smite evil 3/day                         |
| 11    | Mount advancement, spell level 3         |
| 12    | Remove disease 2/week                    |
| 13    |                                          |
| 14    | spell level 4                            |
| 15    | Remove disease 3/week, smite evil 4/day, mount advancement |
| 16    |                                          |
| 17    |                                          |
| 18    | Remove disease 5/week                    |
| 19    |                                          |
| 20    | Smite evil 5/day                         |

[Dictum Mortuum]

If anyone wants to contribute, use this link https://www.penflip.com/DictumMortuum/paladin-handbook?invite=dAhnbJK6

[nijineko]

bardbarian with an axitar?

[Arz]

Here is some methods to abuse fallen paladins...

Paladin 4/Bloodline 3/Gray Guard 1/Shadowbane Inquisitor 4
Falls into
Bloodline 3/Gray Guard 1/Shadowbane Inquisitor 4/Blackguard ∞
Paladin 4/Bloodline 3/Gray Guard 1/Blackguard ∞
Paladin 1/Bloodline 3/Gray Guard 1/Shadowbane Inquisitor 1/Blackguard ∞
Still counts as a Paladin 11+ for extra fallen abilities.
You could also use these to convert an ECL 15 Blackguard into a Epic Blackguard 21.
Fun with paladin of slaughter or hellbred.
Add in Corrupt Avenger if using taint.

[awaken_D_M_golem]

bardbarian with an axitar?

barB + barD = barC
+   = 

(that's barbarian math for you)