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DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS See Also: Paladin (Dungeons & Dragons) In Dungeons and Dragons, the paladin is featured a holy knight, crusading in the name of a specific god ( Divine Spellcaster ). Generally, paladins are of the Lawful Good Alignment , though some products of the 3.5 edition of Dungeons & Dragons have created variants such as the Lawful Evil paladin of tyranny, the Chaotic Evil '''paladin of slaughter''', and the Chaotic Good '''paladin of freedom'''. Under this arrangement, Paladins become the champions of the "corner" alignments, with Druid s (who must have some "neutral" component to their alignment) being the champions of the "cross" alignments. Originally, only humans could be paladins, but in later editions, there is no such limit in race. In addition, the paladin class is one of the most difficult to roleplay due to the singlemindedness and utter devotion to good. Paladin characters are expected to demonstrate and embody goodness—they are not supposed to lie or use poison, and some interpretations say they should use stealth as a last resort. In older editions of ''Dungeons & Dragons'', the paladin class has the most severe ability score prerequisites. These ability prerequisites were abolished for the third Edition of the game, but a paladin character is still expected to have high scores in order to be effective. The ability scores most usually important to paladin characters are Strength, as they are a melee fighter class, Wisdom, as they can cast divine spells, and Charisma , which is the basis of their "Lay on Hands" ability and their "turn undead" ability. High Constitution (to increase Hit Point s) and Intelligence (to improve the paladin's poor skill progression) are also very helpful. Software versions of D&D such as Neverwinter Nights often loosen what few requirements there are for playing a Paladin to simply being lawful good in alignment. This bothers many "hardcore" pen-and-paper role-players who see the paladin's limitations as part of what makes it an interesting class to play. The paladin's specialties in ''Dungeons & Dragons'' are its high defense, its ability to cast defensive spells, the ability to heal (with the class ability "Lay on Hands" and spells), and especially its proficiency against Undead monsters. WORLD OF WARCRAFT See Also: Paladin (World of Warcraft) ''.]] In the MMORPG World Of Warcraft , Paladins are a class exclusive to the Human and the Dwarf races of the Alliance . In the ''Warcraft'' universe's lore, the Paladin was first conceived by Archbishop Alonsus Faol of Northshire Abbey . Faol felt that the war effort put in by pure clerics during the First Great War (''Warcraft I'') was not going to be sufficient enough for the battles ahead. Faol decided to create a more versatile cleric that didn't need protection in combat. Faol's apprentice Uther The Lightbringer became the first Paladin. Uther used his natural leadership skills to rally the best knights of Azeroth to be blessed as Paladins and formed the Knights Of The Silver Hand (upgraded knights in ''Warcraft II'' that could heal and exorcise undead). During his later life Uther trained Prince Arthas as a Paladin. However, in ''Warcraft III'', Arthas was corrupted by the Scourge and ultimately abandoned the way of the Paladin, killing his father the King and betraying the Alliance to the Scourge. Uther became possessor of the late King's ashes placed in a special magical Urn, but was killed by Arthas in order to take the urn. This led directly to the collapse of the Silver Hand and the Paladins became scattered. They can now can be found fighting under any Alliance flag. In ''World of Warcraft'' gameplay, the Paladin is considered to be a melee-oriented "hybrid class" (a class that supports more than one role). Paladins have auras they extend to party members, short-duration "blessings" they can cast on allies, the ability to heal allies, a unique system of "seals" and "judgements" for combat, and a few special anti-undead/demon spells. Paladins can be specialized (using "talent points" rewarded at each level) among three "talent trees:" holy, protection, and retribution. In theory, the holy tree helps the paladin specialize as a healer, the protection tree toward the role of a damage-absorbing " Tank " in a group, and the retribution tree towards increasing the paladin's ability to do damage. In general, the Paladin is viewed as a class that can take a lot of damage (in large part because of their heavy armor and healing abilities) but their DPS (damage per second) takes a turn for the worst. QUEST FOR GLORY In the Quest For Glory adventure games, the Paladin's most important 'ability' is the Honour, which also shows alignment in that game's system. Fighters and Wizards can achieve the Paladin rank at the end of the second chapter of the series, and be imported as Paladins in the third chapter. They can also undergo training in the third but this is usually regarded as difficult if the player is not using exploits to raise his or her honor. OTHER COMPUTER ROLE-PLAYING GAMES Other computer role-playing games featuring a paladin class or character include:
SEE ALSO FURTHER READING
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