Saving Face - A Paladin Playtest [ EDIT ]

✅ System: Shadow of the Demon Lord

✅ Prompt: This is a playtest of the Paladin Expert Path - straight from the core book. Why am I playtesting a core path that has been published for almost eight years, you ask? Great question! Thank you for asking.

There has been a long time debate on various forums and chats about whether expert paths which are reliant on Power and Magic are "trap" options if you select a non-magic novice path. The paladin is often used as the worst of these examples for this, with those who believe it's a trap claiming that you can't do worse than going warrior-paladin within the core book. The reason is because the paladin has specific talents which are directly dependent on your power score and spell castings. As such, if you start the game as a warrior, you will have fewer paladin resources at your call. For example, a priest-paladin will have several smites on hand to use throughout the day, while the warrior-paladin has barely any.

Others claim that these people are ignoring just how much of an impact the rest of your character has, including professions, novice, etc. While the warrior-paladin may not have as many castings, they are the only ones who can attack multiple times per round. This makes it much more likely for you to hit for when you want to use your limited smites and land that extra damage when you want it.

So here I am, actually putting it to the test. I've been wanting to try this playtest for a few years now, and I'm finally getting around to it.

✅ Adventure Prompt: You are a squad of six paladins working for the Church of the New God. A noble by the name of Eidella Haraldsdottir has sent in a request to the church to visit a small fishing village within her lands. The village is the host of the annual clam festival, which is a huge local event and brings in lots of people (and money) from all over. There have been some strange events leading up to the festival, and she wants it sorted out before the crowds get too big. The six of you were nearby, just completing another mission, when you received a message directing you to drop by the clam festival on the way home. Sending all six of you is overkill, but it doesn't cost the church much as you were already nearby.

✅ Special Note: This is a mechanics playtest. While there is a story and an adventure, if you are not interested in playtesting the mechanics of the game, then this one may not be for you.

✅ Adult Content or Controversial Themes: Shadow of the Demon Lord is a fantasy horror game. There will be horror themes in this adventure, including descriptions of graphic violence and body horror.

✅ Number of Players: I would like to have 6 players total for this one-shot.

✅ Game Duration and Post Frequency: I expect this game to last no more than two months so long as everyone posts daily. I would like everyone to post daily (weekends optional).

✅ Character Creation: This adventure will be at level 6. All books are allowed.

There will be six players. All players must select paladin as their expert path.

For your novice path, you must select one of these. Once an option is taken, it cannot be selected again:

1) Any Ancestry, Mage Novice
2) Any Ancestry, Priest Novice
3) Any Ancestry, Rogue Novice (cannot select Magic as your roguery talent)
4) Any Ancestry, Warrior Novice (cannot select Spellguard or any other magic based warrior path)
5) Any Powerful Ancestry, Magic Option
6) Any Powerful Ancestry, Non-Magic Option

You can choose or roll on any character creation table. You can choose your professions. You can choose any reasonable gear for your PC. You can select two enchanted items that are reasonable for your PC.

At the end of the adventure, I would like each player to give their opinions and comments about how their character felt in relation to the other PCs. Did your PC feel too strong or too weak? Did you have a better or worse experience with the paladin based on your novice path? If you felt your PC was under-tuned or over-tuned, which mechanics or combinations of mechanics led you to this opinion? If you felt your PC was right on par with the other PCs (or on par with level 6 PCs that you have played in the past), also express your thoughts on this. Your thoughts and opinions should include both your own PC and other PCs in this game - perhaps you felt your PC was solid, but someone else's was under or over performing, or perhaps you felt another PC was right where they should be even if that player felt like they were too good or not good enough - let me know that, too! I think its important to have a diverse group of opinions on this.

A friend of mine even wrote something on this, as well. This document also has information for how to build a paladin PC based on if you are going magic or non-magic.

A Tale of Two Paladins

✅ Player Experience Requirements: I always accept new players to this system, but as this is a higher level game testing out the mechanics, those who have never played may struggle a bit during character creation. If you are ok with that, then you are welcome.

✅ How to Apply: Post your interest and state which options you're interested in. If more than one person is interested in the same option, then you will force me to choose. Please don't force me to choose.

✅ Welcome Marginalized Groups: Everyone is welcome in my games. Those who know me know that I don't put up with bigots or jerks. Those that don't know me, see the previous sentence.