Author: Jim Cannon (---.map.com)
Date: 03-25-2002 12:19
...just found it, to my chagrin, so apologies if this is appearing long after everyone else has lost interest.
As always, good stuff.
Since reading _The Deed of Paksennarion_ myself a year or two ago I've bene itching to play a paladin myself, preferably one that isn't tied to a specific deity (as Paks was not). I was pleased to see in D&D 3E the notion that paladins could dedicate themselves to Law and Good rather than a specific deity. I think this opens the archetype up a little bit, beyond the knights of yore, into some less Christian or European models.
A paladin dedicated to Law and Good feels more like a philosopher or monk, I suppose, than a religious warrior, but it gives you an opportunity to play a paladin who isn't all about heavy plate mail and always telling the truth. Take the Jedi Knight, for example. Lucas used an Eastern glaze on the paladin archetype, and ended up with a pretty dynamic character class that could easily be applied to a D&D style game world. Just substitute Law and Good for "the Force," and a katana or bastard sword for the lightsaber, and you've got some pretty cool paladins.
After all, Jedi Knights operate under many of the same strictures paladins possess. They take vows of chastity and (I think) poverty, they serve as teachers, justiciers, and diplomats, and their supernatural powers come from a dedication to the Light Side of the Force. Giving in to baser emotions -- hate, fear, greed -- leads to a fall from grace. Paladin to Blackguard (or Anti-Paladin) pretty neatly.
It would also be easy to play a Jedi as a monk, I'd guess, but I think they're closer to the paladin ideal than the monastic one.
Jim Cannon
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