Why This Classic DnD Character Class Continues to Divide Many Fans

Paladins are among the most popular classes in Dungeons and Dragons. These holy warriors are not only some of the most powerful characters in the game, but they are also semi-spellcasters, with a unique array of spells at their disposal if the player so desires. The class itself has seen a recent surge in popularity in later editions, and remains powerful regardless of what type of build players create with it. That said, there was a point where the paladin wasn't such a great class to play. In fact, it could be argued that being a paladin in earlier editions may have been a bigger hurdle than most thought.

Let's take the third edition paladin variant as an example. While there are many basic similarities that have carried over to today's Role playing gameThere were also some things that were left out for good reason. Paladins, like many classes in Dungeons & Dragons, are an archetype. They are the warriors of pure good, the champions of justice, the assassins of evil. They are essentially the simplest heroes possible, and this came through a lot in the design choices made in previous editions. Today, however, paladins are an excellent class, even for beginners, and the changes made along the way make them exceptionally fun to play.

Why the Paladin is one of the best classes in D&D

The perfect mix of melee and throwing

• Paladins deal some of the most damage of all Dungeons and Dragons class.
• They can use magic or spend their spell slots to increase the damage of their physical attacks.
• They also have other passive abilities to offset the risk of jumping into combat.

Paladins are somewhere between a melee and a magical class: they are what players would call half-casters. Their design is more focused on combat, but they still have an arsenal of spells to use. What makes these spells so powerful is that they are unique to the paladin and are fully charged. All a paladin has to do is decide for themselves which spells to prepare to use that day, and they can select anything from their list, as long as they have the levels to do so. While paladins certainly have strong spellcasting powers, traditional spells aren't even where the bulk of their power comes from.

The paladin's true strength comes from his unique Divine Strike ability. —by spending a spell slot, a paladin can deal additional radiant damage to their enemy. Depending on the level of spell slot the paladin uses, they can deal even more damage. Combine this with other passive abilities that increase their damage, such as Improved Divine Smite, and they suddenly become a massive DPS machine.

This means that paladins are usually the ones who charge into combat, their proficiency with heavy armor and all weapons makes them a valuable melee class. It also doesn't hurt that their sixth-level ability increases their saving throws by an amount equal to their Charisma modifier, something any paladin worth their salt will have high stats in.

In the end, Paladins are one of the best classes available when it comes to multiclassing. Charisma-based classes like the paladin are ideal for synergizing with other charisma-based classes. These include warlocks, sorcerers, or bards. Even briefly tapping into one of these classes gives the paladin greater spellcasting versatility or improved damage output. With all this in mind, it’s no wonder the fifth edition paladin is appealing to so many players.

Paladins are suitable for beginners in D&D

The class's more complicated skills scale well as players learn

• The simple mechanics of the paladin class at early levels make it an excellent introductory class to Dungeons and Dragons.
• It allows players to explore both martial and magical abilities.
• They can then use these to determine their preferred play style.

Paladins are also an excellent starting class for new players, as they are incredibly simple to learn at level one; they don't get most of their more complicated abilities until they reach levels two and three. At their base level, the paladin is little more than a martial character with a few extra tricks. These are obviously only Divine Sense, which is basically a magical enemy detector, and Lay on Hands, a limited form of healing that is hard to misunderstand.

The second level is when the paladin's spells and divine smite ability are activated. At this point, players should be familiar with the basics of the game. Dungeons and DragonsThe paladin's simplistic start then gives way to a more complicated playstyle, offering players the opportunity to experiment with increased spells and damage.

At low levels, playing a paladin is a good lesson in conserving spell slots and learning to find the right time to spend all the power they hold, even at low levels. In fact, A paladin is a great companion for low-level groups because their high armor class and offensive capabilities mean that few normal enemies would dare to openly challenge them.

So, in short, the paladin provides a steady learning curve for players. It starts them off with baby steps, learning to crawl before walking and finally running. Then, as their abilities become available at higher levels, players can start to learn more about the intricate character designs. It gives them a taste of both the martial and spellcasting classes, allowing them to determine what kind of character they enjoy. As ideal as it may seem, the paladin hasn’t always been this easy to use. In fact, third edition made it quite difficult for paladins to have friends who didn’t have to adhere to their rigid moral code.

Why Third Edition Paladins Are More Limited Than Fifth Edition

Their strengths clashed with equally powerful disadvantages.

• The third edition paladins were too morally restrictive.
• They could not interact with evil characters and their abilities were less powerful than current versions of the class.
• Failure to uphold a paladin's oath will result in the player being banned from the class until they have atoned.

Much of what makes a paladin mechanically very good has been carried over from third edition. Divine Smite is a spiritual successor to the third edition's far inferior Smite Evil ability, which allowed the paladin to deal additional damage equal to his level. This ability is certainly a boon in combat, but it comes with a few caveats: it can only be used once per day, and can only be wielded on truly evil characters. Any enemy whose alignment is not strictly evil would render the ability useless, as it would not deal damage. This then leads to the third edition paladins' biggest problem: their unshakable moral code.

These versions of paladins are relentlessly devoted to their oath. Nothing can really dissuade them from this, often to the detriment of both party interactions and the characters' combat efficiency. For example, if the party suddenly finds itself in a group of neutral-aligned enemies, the paladin's smite ability would be useless. Even worse, because of their oath, paladins are only allowed to interact with other characters who share their alignment.

They cannot be friendly to creatures that identify as evil. This limits the amount of interaction they can have with other players who want to be more morally nuanced. If nothing else, it suggests that the paladin at one point lived in a black and white world where there were no shades of gray, compromising the class's ability to work well with others.

There is no better example of this than the knowledge that if a paladin betrays their oath, they are stripped of all their abilities and cannot advance further in the class unless they atone. Oathbreaker paladins exist in fifth edition, but even those are powerful in their own right. In this past iteration, having a moment of moral failure means the paladin is essentially put on hold until the matter is resolved. So, as is clearly demonstrated, the class has had its weaknesses throughout history, often to the detriment of player enjoyment. Thankfully, recent iterations of the class have made it more flexible when faced with the uncomfortable realities of the world.