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Paladin

"My faith is the sword. The sword is also the sword."

Role: Holy warrior. Martial discipline + divine magic. Slowest to ramp, hardest to kill, best one-vs-many class in the game.

At a glance
Stat bonuses Strength +3, Faith +3, Constitution +2, Willpower +2
Allowed weapons Sword, Mace, Hammer
Starting skills One-Handed Swords (5), Faith Magic (3), Holy Strike (3), Holy Ward (2), Maces (3)
Starting kit Iron Sword, Holy Symbol, Chain Shirt, 2× Mana Potion, 2× Health Potion, Bandages
Best faction Temple of the Dawn (your home order) + Town Guard (your allies)
Best merc team Old Guard - Hendrik's healing pairs with your sustain; Maelis covers ranged

First 30 minutes

You're built for the long game.

  1. Visit the Temple. Your trainer + chapel-yard for drills.

    walk to temple
talk paladin_captain

  2. Drill at the chapel-yard. Like sparring - free combat SP + a small chunk of Faith SP per session. This is the Paladin's "tutorial loop."

  3. Buy a holy symbol upgrade. The starter symbol is wood; a bronze or silver symbol scales Holy Strike damage. Mid tier.

  4. Don't pick fights you can't finish. Paladins don't run from fights - they end them. If a fight looks long, smite the biggest target first.

Skills to focus first

  1. Holy Strike (3 → 5) - your signature attack. Faith-scaling damage on top of weapon damage.
  2. Holy Ward (2 → 4) - protective buff on self or ally. Reduces incoming damage by ~30% for 3 turns.
  3. Lay on Hands - unlocks at Faith rank 3. Yes, you heal too.

After Faith Magic rank 5, branch into Templar (martial focus, sword + faith mastery) or Oathkeeper (defensive focus, ally protection).

Suggested merc team

Old Guard - Hendrik's healing is a force-multiplier on your sustain; Maelis covers the ranged threats your front-line can't reach. Together you can sustain fights twice as long as any other Grigg team.

Quest or grind?

Quests, dignified ones. Temple paladin chain + Town Guard joint operations + the rare Crusade events (gated behind both Temple and Town Guard honored rep).

Avoid the Thieves Guild / Velvet Curtain questlines - your class has visible Faith aura; some quests refuse to start.

Mid-game arc

  • Faith Magic rank 5 - Templar or Oathkeeper path.
  • Temple of the Dawn honored rep - full chapel access, blessed weapon ceremony, paladin retinue.
  • Town Guard friendly rep - joint operations + bounty reduction for "necessary force" situations.
  • The Warhorse. Paladins are flagged for a starter mount at chargen - once MOUNTS Tier A lands, that mount will materialize as a paladin's warhorse.

Training & Practice

Where the work happens between adventures.

Head to the Temple of the Dawn - Chapelyard (temple_chapelyard, the walled court behind the main chapel). Talk to Knight-Brother Valen - he runs the yard, keeps the duty roster, and decides which work the chapel's ready to put you on.

The chapelyard is a composed venue: a single 4-hour shift cycles through three kinds of work - martial drills at the sword-stake, oath-vigils in front of the altar, and the petitioners' line where common folk bring grievances for the chapel to judge. One queue, three hats.

How it works:

  1. /shift start at the chapelyard to take a 4-hour duty shift. Valen posts the day's roster - usually a mix of all three queues, scaled to your rank.
  2. Resolve tasks with the yard's verbs: drill <form> for sword and shield work (One-Handed Swords), vigil <oath> to stand the altar watch (Faith Magic), judge <petitioner> to weigh a commoner's complaint (Diplomacy). Each resolution credits SP plus a small stipend from the chapel coffer.
  3. /shift end to close early (or let the timer expire).

Tier ladder (Valen decides which you're ready for based on rank): easy → standard → challenging → esoteric. The esoteric clears - the dawn-vigil and the dawn-litany, drawn at first light - mint a once-per-day faith-favor reroll token on top of the stipend. New brothers start with pad-drills and small-claims petitioners and earn the dawn work by handling the easy queues clean.

Why bother:

  • Steady SP across three sub-skills from a single venue - rare in this game.
  • Small stipend per resolved task (the chapel's purse, not adventure pay).
  • Twenty clean shifts typically earn a referral letter the other chapels honor - opens doors at sibling chapelyards in other cities.
  • The esoteric-tier reroll token is a real combat resource for a faith-scaling class.
  • Valen teaches up to rank 70 in Faith Magic, One-Handed Swords, and Diplomacy.

Capstone - Divine Intercession

Unlocked at rank 30 in faith magic. Heal yourself and one ally to full HP. Both gain immunity to the next death blow - a single attack that would reduce you to 0 HP leaves you at 1 HP instead.

Light pours through you. The veil between life and death pauses, deferring its claim.

Once per long rest. The capstone that makes the Paladin the party's true tank. Use it on the round when the ally tank is at 20% HP - the death-blow immunity is the kit's signature beat.

See also