Listening to the MnM soundtrack while having my morning ginger ale and feeling inspired, so here goes.
Since the Paladin rework is soon this post might be too late — as Charlemagne was too late to rescue Roland at Roncevaux Pass — but I shall press on regardless.
I'll preface this by saying that I love paladin lore and roleplay and I'll play it whenever I get the chance. The only reason I have yet to touch Paladin in MnM is that I'm waiting for the rework.
What is Paladin?
I recently became interested in the origin of the paladin. As I understand it, they are basically the French (Frankish) equivalent of King Arthur's knights of the round table except:
- The king they served — Charlemagne — was an actual historical figure though the events of the famous poem are likely made up.
- They have a very particular connection with their (Christian) faith.
- So the supernatural aspects of the story insofar as they exist are divine rather than magical.
The epic poem The Song of Roland_ thrust the paladin into popular culture. Infused with themes of loyalty, valour and sacrifice, I would describe a paladin as:
A knight who entrusts his fate not only to his martial prowess but to the divine will, to which he has aligned himself through piety
Indeed original poem features a duel in which a paladin defeats a stronger opponent through divine intervention.
Specifically my view is that the paladin aligns himself with the divine will, not the other way around. It cannot be arbitrarily summoned to achieve his own ends.
So for me, the key building blocks for a Paladin class would be
- A warrior and commander — has not only individual skill at arms but is focussed on strategy, tactics, positioning and the flow of battle.
- Can call upon powerful interventions which have a high chance to fail while the paladin is unaligned (low level) but increases has he becomes more aligned (levels up).
Why bring Paladin?
One of the key aspects of any battle is positioning and the control of space and territory. This core theme could make for a unique and interesting class design and give a reason to bring a paladin no matter the role.
From the paladin class page my impression is that this general approach would align with the direction the class is already moving in, with a focus on auras, consecrated ground and the "Physical expression of divine power through strikes, touch, and presence".
The Paladin should be at their strongest when allies and enemies are close. So gathering allies together, clumping enemies, repositioning and assessing the flow of battle and looking for the right moment to use their powerful interventions — whether offensive or defensive — would be the essence of the playstyle.
In my view the paladin should be desirable to bring even if you already have a tank and that this power budget should mainly be in the form of utility rather than damage. This would mainly be short duration, long cooldown, high impact abilities which the paladin is often better off not pressing, so good judgement becomes their main skill expression.
What do Paladin?
I do have some specific ideas for Paladin abilities or design directions. I'll try to avoid mentioning the ones which are already considered like consecrated ground and auras. Forgive the names.
- Blessed Warhorn: In The Song of Roland the titular character and leader of the rearguard has a horn which he uses to call Charlemagne and the main army when ambushed while travelling through the mountains. The Paladin could have a divine horn which he uses to bring his allies to his side. This ability would have a relatively short range — let's say 30 - 40 yards — so it has no value as a broader summon. Its main purpose is to gather allies together in chaotic fights. So the Paladin could gather everyone together and protect them while the Wizard casts his evacuation. It can be a "get behind me" action if the puller gets caught out. Using this at the right time would save your party but at the wrong time could doom you all.
- Angelic Return in the poem, spoiler warning Roland's soul is said to be carried to heaven by angels after his death in battle. Angelic Return would be a Paladin flavoured resurrection where he pleads with the angels to put the ally's soul back into their body — a plea the angel may refuse. This would be an instant resurrection with a long cooldown and a high chance to fail (or to restore no xp) at lower levels. This would mean Paladins could access it early and have it scale over time, with higher ranks having a higher success rate / giving back more experience. It isn't designed to bring back an entire party, just save one ally who made a mistake or got caught out. It's something which you might even consider not using when someone dies because you want to save it for a difficult boss fight at the end of the dungeon.
- I did say I wouldn't mention auras but I think an aura that allows allies to heal when they damage an enemy or allows the paladin's damaging hits to heal allies could be an interesting form of paladin specific healing. I've seen similar ideas implemented but only as very supplementary healing. Having a healing style that differs so much from the others and compliments the paladin's martial origins could be interesting. Specifically I'd be interested in a style of healing that doesn't revolve around health bar whack-a-mole, where your attention is constantly on the party frame ui and not on the game itself (I do hope that the "sacrifice mechanics that absorb harm on behalf of allies" goes some way towards improving this). The ability could also be implemented as part of the consecrated ground, so that allies heal when they stand on it, giving further utility to the horn ability.
- Angelic March(Rallying Aura? Charge of the Light? Divine Inspiration?): The paladin grants movement speed and haste to nearby allies for a short duration. This fits with the theme of controlling the flow of battle. The haste addition would differentiate it from the druid wolf pack ability and bard travel march by making it an ability you would use even while stationary to turn the tide of battle. It would have a longish cooldown, designed to rescue a sketchy looking pull rather than something to be spammed.
- Conversion of Faith (Forceful Conversion?): The paladin converts a humanoid enemy to their side for < 10 seconds. This might be used to gain a particular buff from an enemy or even as an interrupt. A very short duration paladin themed "charm". There could also be a secondary effect when the charm breaks, like the enemy taking damage, having reduced defences or doing reduced damage through a debuff that implies their relunctance to harm you, their former ally for however brief a time.
- Fealty in Arms : A buff on the paladin that grants mana regen and wisdom and scales with the number of allies there are within a certain range. So it's a small buff when solo, a medium buff in a group and big buff in a raid, further incentivising grouping with other players. It also has the effect of helping with mana management in larger group sizes with larger pulls. It essentially scales paladin's mana usage to the size of group they are in and could somewhat smooth out the mana usage disparity of having to tank for / heal only themselves vs 5 other people and beyond
Some other notes and ideas:
- Crown of Thorns: Paladin damage shield. Secondary utility like small heal?
- Spirit of the Pilgrim: Small movement speed buff to help the paladin travel long distances. Has a drawback like reduced defenses or slowed when hit so it isn't useful in combat
- Divine Aspect: High level cooldown that causes the paladin to take on the aspect of angel, increasing damage and healing done and resetting most cooldowns. The goal of this is to make playing paladin a bit more fun and forgiving at higher levels. Could use it just to get a second resurrection for example.
- Pls put "Martyr" in the name of one of the self-sacrifice abilities
- Some damage abilities that scale through a combination of strength and wisdom, adding a bit of viability to a holy damage based paladin build or to allow a paladin with all their healing gear on to do some supplementary damage/play a support dps role.
- One of my favourite practical rp moments on paladin is saving passersby from danger, so if the combination of paladin abilities allowed them to rescue someone from a train (if cooldowns are up) that would be one of my measures for an immersive class design.
How is Paladin?
Even though paladin lore has moved on greatly in the last 1000 years, I felt that going to its roots for inspiration could surface ideas which feel distinctly paladin-like while being very different from other forms of paladin in modern media.
Whatever it ends up being, I can't wait to reroll Paladin the second the rework is live!
By Faith and by Love.
Genten
