03/27/2024

We continue with the new classes from Into the Shadowlands from House DM. We look at the next two classes: Knight and Paladin.

The Knight Class

“Honor-bound fighters, swift cavaliers, and heavily armored soldiers who draw steel with
focus and purpose.”

The Knight can use any weapon and all armor and shields.

Knights get 4 features: Mount, Martial Adept, Armor Mastery, and Knighthood.

The Mount feature gives the Knight a reliable mount to ride into battle. The mount can be replaced if lost during downtime.

Martial Adept gives the Knight a +1 to attack and damage from a selected weapon type.

Armor Mastery gives the Knight an additional +1 to AC and the armor takes 2 less gear slots (minimum 0).

Knighthood is a feature that, at 3rd level, the Knight can get knighthood granted from another Knight or the Knight’s liege. When the Knight is granted their knighthood, they get two benefits: Once a day they can gain Advantage on any roll, and get knight gains hospitality from other knights and people of similar alignment.

Overall Take: The knight suffers the same problem as the Desert Rider from Cursed Scroll #2 – A lot of the time the Knight might be in a dungeon that will limit the Mount feature. The martial adept is similar to the Fighter but not as good. The Armor Mastery is a cool feature that cements the Knight as the heavy armor warrior on the front lines of the battle. Knighthood is a strange feature – You don’t get to use it until 3rd level and then you need it to be given to you by another. While this could be an interesting hook for the Knight character, it is a delayed feature that your Knight might get if they live that long.

The Paladin Class

“Lawful warriors, righteous leaders, and divine protectors who will stop at nothing to fulfill
their duty to strength, honor, courage, and most importantly, their sacred oaths.”

The Paladin gets all weapons and can use any armor and shields.

The Paladin gets “5” Features: Sacred Oath, Turn Undead, Lay on Hands, Smite, Divine Resistance.

Sacred Oath is less of a Feature and more of a guideline for the Paladin’s behavior. If the Paladin commits an evil act or gains corruption (A new mechanic in this supplement), the Paladin loses access to one of their other features until they complete ritualistic penance.

Turn Undead is the same as the Cleric from the core rules (It is a Cleric Spell).

Lay on Hands gives the Paladin a healing pool of their level x 2 HP that they can bestow on any creature they can touch.

Smite gives the Paladin 3 charges that they can use to do any extra 1d8 damage to any melee hit, 2d8 if the target is undead or a fiend.

Divine Resistance gives the Paladin Advantage on rolls to resist corruption and disease.

Overall Take: I really like the idea of the Paladin. The Sacred Oath is a great way to make the Paladin’s players behave like the holy warriors they are. In 5E, nothing is stopping a Paladin from behaving badly besides the DM saying something. (I have been guilty of this in my playing past.)

I would like to see a merger of the Knight and the Paladin. Start with the Paladin Class and remove the Turn Undead Feature (Keeping it only for Clerics; Paladins still Smite Undead and Fiends for more damage) and replace it with the Armor Mastery from the Knight. This makes an awesome front-line holy fighter who is a beacon of goodness in the dark dungeons. Paladins still have 4 features but the Sacred Oath limitation keeps the Paladin in check. The Mount can be a Boon from the Paladin’s God as a gift for doing a good job.

Keep on gaming!