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The Making of a Paladin
Being good is not easy -- nor is it
enough
by Eric Oppen
Paladins are a favorite character class in
AD&D® games, and some players
prefer
playing paladins to any other kind of character.
However, many players and DMs
alike take little time to figure out what
makes paladins tick. Too often, paladins
are played as though they were ordinary
fighters with a few special powers?but
they?re not. Paladins are the product of
years of training and education, with a
fanatical purpose in life equalled only by
certain priests.
Gaming groups may use the paladin of
the 1st Edition Players Handbook,
the
paladin-cavalier of Unearthed Arcana,
or
the revised paladin of the 2nd Edition
Player's Handbook. It may be assumed that
LG religions with heavily aristocratic
congregations produce paladincavaliers
as detailed in Unearthed Arcana.
Other religions with less aristocratic pretentions,
or those based in areas where
cavaliers and the feudal system are not
known, have their paladins-to-be trained
by ordinary fighters, producing paladins
as detailed in either of the other two
sources, All of these characters may be
considered true paladins, though the
paladin-cavalier has a much harder time in
training and should therefore be rarer
than the ?common? paladin.
Getting started
In areas having LG religions
that produce paladins, the children of the
congregations are constantly observed and
evaluated by the clerics in charge of the
local temples. This scrutiny serves several
purposes, one of which is to identify potential
candidates for paladin training. The
qualities sought are strength, bodily vigor,
intelligence, curiosity, an adventuresome
spirit, and unforced, natural piety. The
children themselves are often (though not
always) unaware of this constant evaluation.
Some of the tasks children are set in
these temples are designed to give the
clergy a clear idea of the potential of the
children performing them.
The children selected as potential paladins
are usually 10-13 years old. Their
parents are asked to allow those children
to learn to serve their religion in a special
capacity. To realize this opportunity, the
children will be given training at a churchrun
facility, at no expense to the parents.
Since selection for this sort of training is
an honor, the parents do not usually object.
In fact, if the child?s services are
needed at home, the church will often pay
the parents the equivalent of any money
the child could bring in. The prospect of
getting a new paladin for the faith is easily
worth reimbursing the parents for the
money the child could have earned.
Along with the candidates for clerical
training, the paladin trainees are brought
to special schools, often set away from
major cities but in safe territory. These
schools are usually held in monasteries or
castles owned by the religious order that
will be training them, with the school
governed by retired paladins or clerics.
Here, the future paladins and clerics study
holy writings, learn relevant lessons from
history, memorize the doctrine and organizational
structure of their church, and
exercise hard. The regime is austere, with
half the day devoted to exercises and the
other half to study. Prayer, of course,
punctuates the day and night alike.
At age 15, the courses of the future
paladins and clerics diverge. The protopaladins
are introduced to weapons training
and must devote a great share of their
time in mastering the weapons preferred
by their church?s paladins. Proto-clerics
concentrate on the basics of spell-casting;
their own weapons classes are of less
importance than the paladins?.
Weapons training for paladins does not
take up all of the students? time. Classes in
schoolroom subjects now build heavily on
topics of use to future foes of Evil. Lowlevel
undead such as skeletons and zombies
are created and introduced, to show
the future paladins the strengths and
weaknesses of such monsters, as well as to
accustom the students to the sight of
corpses and skeletons staggering about
under their own power. (The creation of
such undead for learning purposes is one
of the few times that lawful-good clerics
may justify such actions. The clerics need
to get permission from their deities first,
and they should also have the permission
of those whose bodies are to be made into
such undead, using speak with
dead
spells.) Intensive study
goes to the lifestyles
and habits of the various evil humanoids,
as well as what is known of the
evil religions that have dealings in the
area. The whole subject of Evil is dissected
thoroughly, with particular attention to
the weak points in the existing evil coalitions
and any other knowledge that might
help a paladin defeat them.
During and after his training, the
paladin-to-be must pass certain tests.
These tests offer temptations to break the
rules of the church, to show cowardice,
and to cooperate with evil. If the tests are
failed, the candidate is rarely given a second
chance, often being sent away to be
no more than an ordinary fighter or cavalier.
If the tests are passed, the paladin
takes vows of fidelity and allegiance to his
church and its teachings, swears eternal
enmity toward evil, and affirms that he
will protect those who cannot protect
themselves. Oath-taking is a solemn ceremony,
often lasting several days. Once the
ceremony is over, the new paladins are
ready to assume their duties.
Swords of the church
What many players forget about paladins
is that they are representatives of
their churches and religions just as clerics
are. Clerics are usually trained in weapons
that are not as effective as swords or pole
arms, while paladins are able to use almost
any sort of weapon. If fighting clerics are
a church?s shield, paladins are its sword.
After years of intensive training, many
paladins yearn to do more than merely
stand guard against evil. These paladins
take the offensive to keep evil forces off
balance and unable to attack in turn.
Aggressive paladins go adventuring for
long periods of time, and the church usually
takes the attitude that their elite fighters
are improving their skills and dealing
with their foes at the same time. The loss
of a paladin is never good news to a
church, but since most such religions
believe that dying for the faith ensures a
blissful afterlife, the loss is not entirely
bad news.
Since a paladin is a walking reminder of
his religion, he must obey its tenets strictly
and do penance for any deviation. His
church, as outlined by the DM, demands
much of him, even in his personal life.
Some time ago, there was a minor controversy
about whether and whom paladins
could marry. The answers vary
according to the teachings of the churches
involved, but since most of them do not
have the taboos of medieval Christianity,
generalizations from the legends of
Charlemagne's court should not apply.
Some lawful-good religions that worship
fertility deities, particularly those operating
in areas where humans are threatened
by sheer numbers of evil enemies, might
not only allow marriage but require it.
Others, for the sake of ensuring that their
paladins are as undistracted as possible,
might forbid marriage to paladins on
active service, but permit it upon retirement.
Still others might forbid marriage to
paladins entirely. The DM will have to
make the decision in each case, based on
the situation in the campaign world and
the deity followed by a particular paladin.
A paladin might also choose his friends
based on alignment, as dictated by the
church. Some religions, such as that of St.
Cuthbert in the WORLD OF
GREYHAWK®
fantasy setting, stress the lawful aspect of
lawful-good beliefs. A paladin of such a
faith would be friendlier to lawful-neutral
beings than chaotic-good beings. Other
religions might take the opposite tack,
believing that association with good beings
is more critical.
No retirement
Despite the dangerous nature of their
duties, and their own training that makes
them almost suicidally indifferent to peril,
some paladins do survive to old
age. Their
churches are proud to honor them, but
their lives of action and adventure make
sitting in retirement almost pure torment.
Almost any paladin who attains retirement
age unmaimed begs for something useful
to do.
Some of the luckier paladins amass
enough wealth to purchase or build small
strongholds, which are devoted to the
causes of their churches in all possible
ways. When a paladin builds a new stronghold,
it will be in an area where it will
either be a useful outpost against the
enemies of humanity, or be used as a
school for paladins and clerics.
With or without a stronghold, many
elderly paladins wish to ensure that the
upcoming generation of future paladins
will be the best one possible. They may
join the faculty at a paladins? school, passing
on their skills and knowledge to the
young. They might also make trips to
churches and villages in the area to judge
and evaluate youth. On these trips, they
are often joined by their retired colleagues
whose injuries prevent them. taking a
more active role in church affairs,. As
these elderly, famous warriors watch the
children at play with a critical eye, the
circle is completed?and the next generation
of paladins is selected.
[Recent articles on paladins include: "A
Plethora of Paladins," in DRAGON®
issue
#106; "The Code of Chivalry"
and "Glory,
Danger, and Wounds" in issue
#125,
""Good" Does Not Mean "Boring","
in issue
#148. "It's Not Easy Being Good,"
in the
Best of DRAGON Magazine anthology,
volume III, is also about paladins.]
THE FORUM
I am writing in response to Eric Oppen's
article, "The Making of a
Paladin," in issue #154.
I agreed with and enjoyed
reading his views of
the training and lives of
paladins, except for one
paragraph. Personally, I
cannot believe a lawfulgood
cleric would animate corpses
in order to
better instruct paladins
or even clerics on the
strengths and weaknesses
of such monsters,
regardless of whose permission
the cleric obtains.
Wouldn?t it be better to
take the students
on a field trip to a haunted
house? At least this
way the cleric will not be
looked upon with
disfavor from his deity for
not letting those who
have passed away rest in
peace. The third-level
cleric spell, animate
dead, from the 1st Edition
Players Handbook,
states, ?The act of animating
dead is not basically a good
one, and it must be
used with careful consideration
and good reason
by clerics of good alignment.?
But the 2nd
Edition Players Handbook
clearly points out,
?Casting this spell is not
a good act, and only evil
priests use it frequently.?
Let the students adventure.
There?s no better way than
to let them
get ?hands-on? experience
in the real fantasy
world!
Brian Smarker
Kansas City MO
(Dragon #158)