Besides the lightning shock ability which has now been clarified, is the only issue with my final character the fact that he is a paladin? He is, by his very nature and the god he worships, fundamentally different to the already existing paladin.

I feel I am now being nitpicked in an attempt to prevent me from participating in this roleplay.

EDIT: What is the traditional position regarding white magic for Paladins? Paladins in other lore possess skills such as Lay On Hands and Turn Undead, but this has not been covered in the OOC post.

EDIT: What is the traditional position regarding white magic for Paladins? Paladins in other lore possess skills such as Lay On Hands and Turn Undead, but this has not been covered in the OOC post.

Paladins don't have magic in this. And 'traditional' paladin spells would be doubly redundant.

<Snipped quote by Boomrocker>

Paladins don't have magic in this. And 'traditional' paladin spells would be doubly redundant.

Then doesn't that just make them fighters?

<Snipped quote by Boomrocker>

Paladins don't have magic in this. And 'traditional' paladin spells would be doubly redundant.

In terms of mechanics, then, they are fighters. Large parties often have multiple fighters to serve as front-line defenders while the mages do their work. I fail to see how two fighters are redundant.

<Snipped quote by Raineh Daze>

Then doesn't that just make them fighters?

... this isn't a D&D campaign. By that logic, Charlemagne's paladins wouldn't be paladins, and D&D paladins may also not be paladins because of varying features. Classes aren't required to be selected from a pre-approved list of abilities equalling certain classes. >.>

<Snipped quote by Raineh Daze>

In terms of mechanics, then, they are fighters. Large parties often have multiple fighters to serve as front-line defenders while the mages do their work. I fail to see how two fighters are redundant.

Which makes the addition of a fourth fighter who occupies the exact same character niche a worse overlap.

Hold a moment.

How is it that you know additional details of the setting of which the rest of us appear to be unaware?

Hold a moment.

How is it that you know additional details of the setting of which the rest of us appear to be unaware?

... because I've helped come up with parts of it and this is the third time the RP's been started?

<Snipped quote by IncredibleBee>

... this isn't a D&D campaign. By that logic, Charlemagne's paladins wouldn't be paladins, and D&D paladins may also not be paladins because of varying features. Classes aren't required to be selected from a pre-approved list of abilities equalling certain classes. >.>

<Snipped quote by Boomrocker>

Which makes the addition of a fourth fighter who occupies the exact same character niche a worse overlap.

In game terms, paladins are generally defined as a tanky class that relies primarily on melee combat with a touch of white magic to support their allies and boost their own longevity.
You see, historical terms are put aside for games, because it's easiest to associate names with a general set of abilities so you know what you're using. If you selected "Fighter" in an RPG, for example, and found the class wasn't very good at fighting but did have a fireball, most people would be confused or even angry.

In short, a paladin with no white magic is just a fighter.

<Snipped quote by Raineh Daze>

In game terms, paladins are generally defined as a tanky class that relies primarily on melee combat with a touch of white magic to support their allies and boost their own longevity.
You see, historical terms are put aside for games, because it's easiest to associate names with a general set of abilities so you know what you're using. If you selected "Fighter" in an RPG, for example, and found the class wasn't very good at fighting but did have a fireball, most people would be confused or even angry.

In short, a paladin with no white magic is just a fighter.

Except the classes here are blatantly more about their jobs. Otherwise I'd have done 'Cleric'. In essence: the classes aren't intended to be ability shorthand, but character profession.

<Snipped quote by IncredibleBee>

Except the classes here are blatantly more about their jobs. Otherwise I'd have done 'Cleric'. In essence: the classes aren't intended to be ability shorthand, but character profession.

In that case, "Class" should be replaced with "Occupation" to avoid confusion.

<Snipped quote by Raineh Daze>

In that case, "Class" should be replaced with "Occupation" to avoid confusion.

Except there's no confusion if you just look at the ability section of the GM's character. And that it's not a problem because this roleplay's been done several times before and hasn't had any issue. If words having several meanings are too complicated for someone to understand, it seems unlikely that they'll be roleplaying.

Class is being used to describe what the character does. In this case, from the majority of fantasy settings and historical things I know about, "paladin" was used to describe a holy knight, and sounds better than just saying "holy knight".

In terms of my setting a paladin is a religiously-motivated knight who uses holy symbols and often enchantments on their weaponry tied to their deity, in Tanya's case the divine fires of Reon granted to Repharion.

As this is not D&D I assumed people would take paladin to simply mean "religiously-motivated knight" as it does in many non-D&D settings and not begin arguing over the definition of it.

Class is being used to describe what the character does. In this case, from the majority of fantasy settings and historical things I know about, "paladin" was used to describe a holy knight, and sounds better than just saying "holy knight".

In terms of my setting a paladin is a religiously-motivated knight who uses holy symbols and often enchantments on their weaponry tied to their deity, in Tanya's case the divine fires of Reon granted to Repharion.

As this is not D&D I assumed people would take paladin to simply mean "religiously-motivated knight" as it does in many non-D&D settings and not begin arguing over the definition of it.

Paladin meaning "tank with white magics" isn't a strictly D&D thing; it's present in virtually every RPG that includes the class. Even in games that don't have strict class systems, "Paladin Builds" pretty much always mean having white magic on the side. If you lack them, you're a "Knight Build", since knights are expected to obey a code of chivalry in the first place. In Dragon's Dogma, for example, you'd go Mystic Knight, and pick the Holy Wall, Holy Glare, and Holycounter techniques. Dark Souls is more flexible in weapon choice and also more melee-oriented in the first place, but has a number of useful Miracles that any decent paladin build wouldn't neglect.

In hard RPG terms, Tanya's a fighter with a lawful good alignment.

Enchantments, as a thing that affects specifically weapons and not people, wouldn't be typically limited to a singular class unless that particular enchantment made a note thereof, and even then, if the enchantment is caused by a divine blessing they typically only restrict the weapon to certain alignments, if that. And Repharion isn't even noted to have those restrictions.

Knights are expected to follow a code of honor and often be pretty religious on top, so you could have just listed her occupation as "Knight" and it would make sense. Maybe Templar or Crusader, if you want that religious fervor flavor.

@IncredibleBee: this rp isn't exactly a "role-playing game". This is a forum rp meant for fun (I suppose you could call it an "rpg", but you know what I mean). Point is, this isn't a video game, or a table-top, or anything that involves those mechanics. This is our own story, in our own world, with our own rules. This world has little correlation to those you are referencing. Let's just leave it at that and set aside the small misconceptions, and just have fun with the story.

<Snipped quote by VitaVitaAR>

Paladin meaning "tank with white magics" isn't a strictly D&D thing; it's present in virtually every RPG that includes the class. Even in games that don't have strict class systems, "Paladin Builds" pretty much always mean having white magic on the side. If you lack them, you're a "Knight Build", since knights are expected to obey a code of chivalry in the first place. In Dragon's Dogma, for example, you'd go Mystic Knight, and pick the Holy Wall, Holy Glare, and Holycounter techniques. Dark Souls is more flexible in weapon choice and also more melee-oriented in the first place, but has a number of useful Miracles that any decent paladin build wouldn't neglect.

In hard RPG terms, Tanya's a fighter with a lawful good alignment.

Enchantments, as a thing that affects specifically weapons and not people, wouldn't be typically limited to a singular class unless that particular enchantment made a note thereof, and even then, if the enchantment is caused by a divine blessing they typically only restrict the weapon to certain alignments, if that. And Repharion isn't even noted to have those restrictions.

Knights are expected to follow a code of honor and often be pretty religious on top, so you could have just listed her occupation as "Knight" and it would make sense. Maybe Templar or Crusader, if you want that religious fervor flavor.

Um... You do realise you're trying to tell the person who created this world how the world works? I'm pretty sure she knows it better than you.

<Snipped quote by IncredibleBee>

Um... You do realise you're trying to tell the person who created this world how the world works? I'm pretty sure she knows it better than you.

I am offering a helpful suggestion to avoid confusion over this matter in the future.

Is my character accepted?

Or do I have to manufacture a fourth one in order to actually participate?

<Snipped quote by Lost Cause>

I am offering a helpful suggestion to avoid confusion over this matter in the future.

There is nothing confusing here. A common video game design feature is not, in fact, a binding definition of the word, and people are free to use it in other ways if they want to. People can happily drop the 'always lawful good' or 'strongly religious' parts of being a paladin, and thus they are perfectly entitled to drop the magic whilst retaining the term if they so choose.

And, again, the word comes from a reference to twelve of Charlemagne's knights, and going back further a hill in Rome. "But lots of video games do it" is not a sufficient reason to lock a word to one set of abilities.

And 'people make assumptions that take one sentence to correct' is not a reason to change the term. "Paladins in this do not have magic" is not a hard thing to say if someone thinks that.

<Snipped quote by IncredibleBee>

There is nothing confusing here. A common video game design feature is not, in fact, a binding definition of the word, and people are free to use it in other ways if they want to. People can happily drop the 'always lawful good' or 'strongly religious' parts of being a paladin, and thus they are perfectly entitled to drop the magic whilst retaining the term if they so choose.

And, again, the word comes from a reference to twelve of Charlemagne's knights, and going back further a hill in Rome. "But lots of video games do it" is not a sufficient reason to lock a word to one set of abilities.

And 'people make assumptions that take one sentence to correct' is not a reason to change the term. "Paladins in this do not have magic" is not a hard thing to say if someone thinks that.

How can you drop the "strongly religious" part of being a paladin? They're explicitly defined as warriors of God.

Their historical origin dates back to Charlemagne's twelve greatest knights, who were defenders of Christianity. If you take the religious fervor away they don't even remotely resemble the original.

@IncredibleBee: As Rain said, no-one else has expressed confusion about it any other time I've tried this RP. I was under the impression, as were a fair amount of other people, that the word was used to describe holy/religious knights. Templar or Crusader actually have more connotations to me than paladin. Most of them going with fanaticism.

In fact, though I didn't realize it would be relevant, Repharion's enchantments are completely exclusive to the Church. Divine Solar Fire is not accessible outside of Church Enchanters. And... again, not something I thought would be relevant, but if you are an actual, pure evil being(not even orcs qualify as this is something on a spiritual level), any Church-enchanted weapon would probably burn your hand off if you tried to use it. Repharion is counted amongst these weapons.

This has turned into a very pendantic argument that's taking up a lot space and time and I'd rather not spend any more time on it. If you're trying to make a suggestion, fine, but I don't see it as necessary and since it's turned into an argument I'd like for it to stop now.

@Boomrocker: I'm not trying to go after you for anything. I just think that two paladins is a bit weird given that they're the same kind of character... and from the same religion for that matter. Reon worship and Mayon worship are both the same dualistic religion.