A Tale of Two Paladins, Part 1.
The paladins, sometimes known as the Twelve Peers, were the foremost warriors of Charlemagne‘s court, according to the literary cycle known as the Matter of France.[1] They first appear in the early chansons de geste such as The Song of Roland, where they represent Christian martial valor against the Saracen hordes.
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The paladin is a hybrid class with the ability to play a variety of different roles — including healing (Holy), tanking (Protection), and DPS (Retribution). They have auras, blessings and seals that provide useful buffs for other players while withstanding heavy physical damage with plate armor and strong defensive abilities. Paladins are also considered to be holy knights[1] or blood knights.
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The paladin is one of the standard playable character classes in most editions of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.[1] The paladin is a holy knight, crusading in the name of good and order, and is a divine spellcaster. From 1st through 3rd edition, paladins were always of the Lawful Good alignment.
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Prefacing this post is three quotes as you can see. Though it is only about to specific characters I write, I felt a little background on the title they bear would bring my fascination with them to light. I have read Cligès, Yvain, the Knight of the Lion, Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart, and Perceval, the Story of the Grail by Chrétien de Troyes, as well as The Song of Roland. These works made me fascinated by the Holy Warrior, the Righteous Knight, and the Chivalrous Hero. Though these characters were bound to their religious beliefs, it was not the religion that fascinated me. More to the fact of their complete devotion to their code, their ideals, more than the works they did for their God.
I’ve started playing Dungeons and Dragons in 1997, it led me to play other table top games similar to it. Mostly I would play a fighter class or a rogue/thief class. Always in the thick of battle these characters were. It wasn’t until many years later, I discovered I rather enjoyed the healing classes, the clerics in these games. I never have played a paladin in a table top game. I was always dissuaded from it because of the alignment restriction, Lawful Good, also described as Lawful Stupid. The paladin was the greater moral compass for any group. Thieves hated them, those of chaotic alignment, even if good always seemed to be chafed by a paladins presence. They were more trouble in a campaign than what they were truly worth. So, I always steered clear even with my penchant for the tales of paladins in Arthurian legends. I could go into the root of the word, and discuss the palatinus, the Imperial Guard of Ancient Rome, but I’ll spare all of you and finally get to the actual meat of my post.
I play a Paladin in World of Warcraft. In this game I am not burdened by the alignment restriction placed upon playing such a character in D&D. The decisions I make in game, have no effect on whether or not my character can continue being a paladin. I love Kasxa, she was the second character I made and actually actively leveled. She is now my primary character in the game. I took on the role of healer with her, a tender of wounds, instead of the Righteous Knight going into the heat of battle.
She looks rather harmless does she not? While the game doesn’t support a way to define your character beyond class, race, and gender, I have found myself developing a rich back story and personal motivations for this character. I have many other characters I play in WoW, but none I have made such an attachment too. Her background involves her brother wanting to become a knight of Lordaeron, her family’s death during the scourge plague, her fostering in the cathedral in Stormwind, her training as a Paladin, and her striking it out on her own. I even fancy that she’ll someday discover that her brother still lives. Well calling him alive is saying a lot. Before the most recent expansion I had determined that her brother had become a Forsaken, an undead warrior. Now it seems more fitting that he would be a Death Knight. It would be such a sweet polarity. I tend to think of the bittersweet moment when they finally meet one another again, and realize who each other are. Of course, I’m not much of a writer really, so these ideas, this background and storyline will probably never see any further details than this blog.
Visually I get somewhat aggravated with gear choices. The items they choose to make specifically for a paladin, never really seem to fit with the idea I have for her in my head. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the crystal power ranger-like tier 5 set (easily seen as my Twitter background), but it just didn’t seem to fit with the idea of a holy warrior. I know its a fantasy game and things will look different than expected. Still it defeats a bit of my own personal immersion into my character. When I show my helm, she looks more like a steampunk militant nun, than a warrior of the light.
In our next entry, we’ll go into Kasxa, only a little bit more, but this time it will be comparing her to my most recent paladin character, Moira, who I made on Neverwinter Nights 2. Until next time, when I can ramble and bore you more!
