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The Paladin' Castle
The Paladin is one of my favorite character classes. They stand for all that is good in the world and have the abilities to prove it too. The thing I like the best are he restrictions though. I have a bad habit of making characters do strange things unless they are not allowed. All the restrictions that Paladins have make it alot harder for me to mess up a Paladin character compared to a Mage or Thief. I try to play Paladins like the most self - riteous person you ever met. They beleive so much in their cause they would gladly die at he chance to take a Death Knight or Warlord down with them. Paladins probably take more damage than any other class. Since they dislike missle combat (they agree with its use but they find it hard to shoot a bow from horse back) and just love to be the first in line to take a crack at that Troll surrounded by bodies of fallen soldiers. The only real problem with Paladins is trying to decide what to say. All the good stuff has been used so much it isn't worth saying "I shale smite thee!!" anymore. (if you have any really good idea I can use please e-mail me)
Strongholds
Paladin strongholds are usually
small and self-supporting. Making enough gold to break even with
the occational surplus. Some 
though
are massive castles that rival the kings in power and strength.
These are usually gifts from gods of extremely powerful people as
a reward for some service. probably the hardesting thing to do
though is save up the money for the building of the actual
stronghold. Paladins are supposed to give away most of their
extra money ot the needy. But a paladin saving for a stronghold
finds himself looking for a way to make 130,000 GP so he can
build a castle to protect the surrounding villages. Another large
problem faced by Paladins looking to build a stronghold is the
people they can hire. Paladins can only hire people of LG (lawful
good oh evey alignment on my pages is abbreviated NE for nuetral
evil ect.) alignment. A great way to get the land for a
stronghold is to do some great favor for a town and refuse their
reward and ask instead for a grant of land he could have so he
could build a stronghold that would in turn protect the town and
give jobs to laborers in the near future. (Remember this is all
relevant to your (
DM's
approval). Strongholds are a big investment, especially for
monitarily low classes like Paladins. So make sure you can afford
it before you try to build one.
| Small Castle | Average Castle | Large/Massive Castle |
| 40,000 - 60,000 GP | 80,000 - 120,000 GP | 130,000 - 170,000 GP |
Small Castle: a small keep and a surrounding wall with no support buildings. Basically a fortified house.
Average Castle: a modest villa surrounded by a moat (or other boundary) with a 50 foot keep (about 5 stories), a small temple, and one or two stone towers for defense.
Large Castle: 80 foot keep, 50 foot protective wall with battlements, a moat, three or more towers, several auxilary buildings (blacksmith, stable, ect), and a attached temple.
Holy Swords
Holy Swords are probably the most powerful magical items besides Artifacts in the whole AD&D game. In he hands of a Paladin a Holy Sword is so powerful they could take on five times as many people than their party and have a good chance of getting out alive (rememeber this is totally dependent on the relative level of the Paladin's party and what type of holy sword he has). Here are the abilities of all Holy Swords IN THE HANDS OF A PALADIN. (when used by other classes they operate as normal swords +2)
When unsheathed and held by a paladin it projects a circle of power 10 feet in diameter. The hand of the Paladin is the center of the circle and it moves with it (it works if a glove or guantlet is covering the hand too).
Within its range it [the circle of power] dispels all hostile magic of a level less than or equal to the Paladin's level, and creates a Magic Resitance of 50% in the circle (for things like fireballs centered outside the circle which would not be negated by the circle). Specifically (these are things of a lower level than the paladin):
1.) All evil opponents in the circle cannot cast spells within the circle or they instantly fizzle including monsters extraplanerbeings and ANYTHING else with a casting level less than the Paladins level. Oppenents get no saving throw to resist the power of the circle and it affects people charmed by a evil caster as well.
2.) Once they leave the circle their spell use returns but spells cast on the Paladin or in the Circle still fizzle and have no effect.
Magical items created by evil casters won't work within the circle. I ignore this unless the item is obviously evil ie intellegent evil weapons and stuff like "The Hammer of the Warlord of Blood" ect.
RESTRICTIONS
Paladins are always vulnerable to make of a casting level higher than their own level
The sword functions only as long as the Paladin grips it. If he sheathes it or drops it the circle comes down. Or if he loses conciousness or falls asleep the circle drops.
The powers of a Holy Sword may be teporarily negated by a dispel magic spell cast on the sword. This makes the sword lose all powers, including the circle, for 1d4 rounds.
And he is totally affected by indirect effects like lighting bolt triggered avalanches.
A example of a Holy Sword is the Holy Avenger in the DMG. It is one of the more powerful swords with these stats: +5 to hit, +5 damage, all holy sword abilities, and +10 dam to CE (chaotic evil) opponents.
The War Horse
One of the more neglected abilities of the Paladin is his ability to call a war horse. He doesn't nessecarily call it. Usually the steed is aquired after a small quest has been preformed. For examply he might have to surround a stone with a type of rare flower and it will turn into his new mount. The mount of a Paladin doesn't nessecarily have to be a horse. Mostly it depends on the DM and the player as to what type of mount your Paladin aquires. To help those of you who have DMs that don't care or for DM who like to role for everything a table.
