The Paladin is a holy knight, crusading in the name of good and Life/Order. The Paladin is honourable and chivalrous in all dealings and must protect the weak from the strong.
Kingdom: Knight High Paladin Avalon
Barony Van Heusen: Paladin Tristram
A starting character can join the guild immediately.
A non-starting character must prove they can adhere to the guild requirements; this will take a minimum of 5 ranks where they must have no guild affiliation. The Character Ref will decide if/when they are ready.
A member of the Paladins of the North must
The interpretation of the restrictions based on protecting “allies” and the “weak” is deliberately left to the Paladin. For example, defending weaker characters who are opposed to his Path is a grey area. However, the Paladin may be called upon to justify his actions to his peers and, in exceptional circumstances, to his Path. If a Paladin breaks one of his restrictions, he will lose all his special abilities until he atones, usually by performing a difficult and dangerous quest.
10%
A member of the Paladins of the North has access to
A member of the Paladins of the North gains the following bonuses.
Example: Vertonius, a Rank 90 Paladin, casts Cure Disease 9 as Disease Resistance 4 for 48 Hours at the beginning of a long adventure, costing 11 Lay on Hands to do so. On the following two days, his maxmimum Lay on Hands are 79.
Example: Lucius is a fairly easily swayed Paladin who has no Willpower. As a result, he has no Aura of Courage.
Example: Darius, a Rank 15 Paladin, has 1 point of Willpower. He has an Aura of Courage 1. After going on several missions fighting vampires, he buys a second point of Willpower. He now has an Aura of Courage 2
The Aura of Courage:
Example: Lexi, a Humact, is immune to Death and Necromantic Fear. During a mission to fight some Drow Necromancers, she recieves a rousing speech from Glamoria, giving her Fear Resistance 1. The undead cast a Death Fear 4 at her. This has no effect and her Fear Resistance 1 is not used up. Then, the Drow Necromancer casts Dark Fear 4 at her. This is resisted by her Fear Resistance, which is then used up.
Example: Trevelyan, a Healer, is given a Fear Resistance 1 by Remora. He also has Death Resistance 1 active. He is targeted by Death Fear 2. The Fear Resistance 1 resists the fear, and the Death Resistance is not used up.
Extra uses of this ability are gained every 10 Guild Ranks.
The Paladin’s main weapon is dedicated by his Path. The weapon chosen for this dedication will be normal (and can never be enchanted/consecrated to hold a spell/miracle) and will become a Superior Weapon, if it is not already Superior (i.e. +1 base damage) and gain a permanent miraculous effect based on the Paladin’s Path.
The level of the dedication starts at level 0 (Strengthen 0 or Bless 1) and increases by 1 each time chosen to a maximum of level 10 (Strengthen 10 or Bless 11). In addition when the weapon reaches level 5 it is improved to a Master Weapon and when the weapon reaches level 10 it is further improved to a Legendary Weapon.
In an exception to the normal rule, additional miracles can still be cast on the weapon. For example, a Sword blessed with a Bless 1 can still have a Strengthen 2 cast on it. However, it can never have an enhancing miracle of the opposite Principle cast on it. For example, the Sword above can never have an Unholy Blade miracle cast on it.
The dedicated weapon can be used by anybody and confers the same bonus. However a Paladin who gives/lends his weapon to another would be looked upon very unfavourably by the Paladins. Note that the Paladin will only receive the dedication once. If he proves himself unworthy by losing his dedicated weapon, he will not gain another without performing some extremely difficult task as atonement. When a Paladin dies his weapon should be returned to the Paladins.
There are rumours that the Paladins can perform rituals to destroy a dedicated weapon that has fallen into enemy hands or even harm the wielder.
The Paladin’s dedicated weapon follows the same rules as for normal permanent items with regard to Dispel i.e. if the dedication is dispelled, it is suppressed for 15 minutes then returns.
A Paladin’s dedicated weapon bonus CANNOT be applied to fists/claws.
A Paladin’s dedicated weapon bonus can be applied to missile weapons, in which case each arrow/quarrel fired from the bow/crossbow has the appropriate dedication (Bless or Strengthen). Note that as soon as the arrow/quarrel has been fired and hit a target the dedication disappears so your dedicated arrows/quarrels cannot be used by other people! Note though that a Paladin using a missile weapon is not particularly honourable, so you may incur negative points if you are not seen to be acting chivalrously and defending the weak from the strong.