Paladin ( character class ) Paladin is a character class in Dungeons & Dragons ( D & D ) and later role-playing games , many of which were influenced by D & D. The class is loosely based on the paladins of medieval romance . The name of this class is often abbreviated to `` Pally '' or `` Paly '' in online role-playing games . Dungeons and Dragons Main article : Paladin ( Dungeons & Dragons ) In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game , paladin is one of the base character classes . The paladin is a holy knight , crusading in the name of good and order , and is a divine spellcaster . By definition and game restriction , paladins are always of the Lawful Good . Paladin characters are expected to demonstrate and embody goodness and law - they are not supposed to lie or use poison , and some interpretations say they should use stealth as a last resort . Switching to any alignment other than Lawful Good or breaching part of the Paladin 's code of conduct results in a loss of all class abilities . The paladin is a champion of justice and destroyer of evil protected and strengthened by an array of divine powers . Most of these powers relate to providing benefits to those around the paladin . These include healing and curing of disease , morale in combat and turning of undead . Most of the abilities are similar to but of a lower level than the cleric 's abilities . Paladins are knights , working for their church or an order . Qualifying for an order is often difficult , and membership always requires that the paladin follow a specific code of conduct . These orders often allow non-paladins as members , with good-aligned rangers and fighters being the most common sort of nonpaladin members . Paladins can serve in the military force of an aristocrat sanctioned by their religion , or within some autonomous church-based military order established for defense . The epic paladin stands in the forefront of the battle against chaos and evil in the world , shining as a beacon of hope to all who fight the good fight . Later editions brought forward the more generalised concept of the `` paladin '' just being the pinnacle of combat related to a particular religious organisation . This allowed `` paladins '' of various gods that were of an alignment other than Lawful Good . All `` paladins '' had a code or set of rules that must be followed but because of the differences in point of view between the alignments the rules governing behavior changed from order to order . This allowed for one of the more heinous villains in the game setting , the `` Anti-Paladin '' . A complete and utter opposite of a proper paladin he is one of the dark champions of an evil order . Everything about him is a twisted visage of a paladin . Where the paladin is charismatic in a charming or trustworthy way , an anti-paladin 's charisma came from being frightening or manipulative . A paladin 's abilities were also mocked with the anti-paladin 's abilities being things like `` Harm '' `` Cause Disease '' and `` Cause Fear '' . These were never recommended as player characters . Warcraft Main article : Paladin ( World of Warcraft ) Human Male Paladin as seen in the World of Warcraft . In the MMORPG World of Warcraft , Paladins are a class exclusive to the Alliance Humans , and Dwarves . In the upcoming expansion , the class will be made available to the new Draenei race of the Alliance , as well as the Horde race with the Blood Elves . In the Warcraft universe 's lore , the Paladin was first conceived by Archbishop Alonsus Faol of Northshire Abbey . Faol felt that the war effort put in by pure clerics during the First Great War ( Warcraft I ) was not going to be sufficient enough for the battles ahead . Faol decided to create a more versatile cleric that did n't need protection in combat . Faol 's apprentice Uther the Lightbringer became the first Paladin . Uther used his natural leadership skills to rally the best knights of Azeroth to be blessed as Paladins and formed the Knights of the Silver Hand ( upgraded knights in Warcraft II that could heal and exorcise undead ) . At this point , Paladins were amongst the Alliance 's most powerful offensive units , when it came to close combat , since they were upgraded knights . By the time of Warcraft III Paladin has become a career or class of its own ( i.e. people are trained straight to Paladin , rather than becoming Knights and converting ) . Due to this , they converted to more pious means , being more general support troops . In-game , they were `` Hero '' units , and possessed the weakest direct offensive skills of the four Alliance heroes , instead protecting the troops with their aura , healing , and resurrection abilities . During his later life Uther trained Prince Arthas as a Paladin . However , in Warcraft III , Arthas was corrupted by the Scourge and ultimately abandoned the way of the Paladin , killing his father the King and betraying the Alliance to the Scourge . Uther became possessor of the late King 's ashes placed in a special magical Urn , but was killed by Arthas in order to take the urn . This led directly to the collapse of the Silver Hand and the Paladins became scattered . They can now can be found fighting under any Alliance flag . In World of Warcraft gameplay , the Paladin is considered to be a melee-oriented `` hybrid class '' ( a class that fills more than one role ) . Paladins have auras they extend to party members , short-duration `` blessings '' they can cast on allies , the ability to heal allies , a unique system of `` seals '' and `` judgments '' for combat , and a few special anti-undead/demon spells . Paladins can be specialized ( using `` talent points '' rewarded at each level ) among three `` talent trees : `` holy , protection , and retribution . In theory , the holy tree helps the paladin specialize as a healer , the protection tree toward the role of a damage-absorbing `` tank `` in a group , and the retribution tree towards increasing the paladin 's ability to do damage . In general , the Paladin is viewed as a class that can take a lot of damage ( in large part because of their heavy armor and healing abilities ) but their DPS ( damage per second ) takes a turn for the worse . Unfortunately , this has caused quite a bit of consternation amongst World of Warcraft 's Alliance players , with the Paladin being viewed as plate wearing Priests . There has also been quite a bit of outcry stemming from comparisons against the currently Horde-only Shaman class ( and , to a lesser degree , all other classes ) . Of course , there are also some on the opposite side of the fence who view the Paladin to be overpowered , although complaints tend to focus more towards the length of time it takes to kill a Paladin , rather than their actual effectiveness in combat . Final Fantasy XI In the MMORPG Final Fantasy XI , Paladin is an advanced job that can be accessed after completing a special quest . It functions like a Warrior , but with more defensive abilities . It can also use White Magic . A Paladin 's main function is defense . Because of this , players often set Warrior as a support job . This allows them to use the Provoke ability and draw enemies ' attacks towards them and away from party members ( referred to as tanking ) . At higher levels , Paladin/Warrior , along with Ninja/Warrior , is seen as the best job for tanking by the majority of Final Fantasy XI players . Quest for Glory In the Quest for Glory adventure games , the Paladin 's most important 'ability ' is the Honour , which also shows alignment in that game 's system . Fighters and Wizards can achieve the Paladin rank at the end of the second chapter of the series , and be imported as Paladins in the third chapter . They can also undergo training in the third but this is usually regarded as difficult if the player is not using exploits to raise his or her honor . Recently discovered on the questformoreglory.com forums is that there 's a way , albeit difficult , for thieves to become Paladins . Other computer role-playing games Other computer role-playing games featuring a paladin class or character include : Adventure Quest ( class led by the avatar of the game 's creator , Artix Von Krieger ) Angband ( computer game ) Ancient Domains of Mystery Baldur 's Gate Series Bard 's Tale Dark Age of Camelot ( as a member of the realm of Albion ) Diablo II Dragon Quest II ( as the class of the Prince of Cannock ) EverQuest EverQuest II ( a Fighter/Crusader subclass ) Final Fantasy IV ( as the class of Cecil Harvey , after he changes from Dark Knight ) Final Fantasy IX ( General Beatrix ) Final Fantasy Tactics ( as Holy Knights ) Final Fantasy Tactics Advance Fire Emblem ( as a promoted version of the Social Knight ( Cavalier ) base class ) Golden Sun ( as one of the final titles achievable for Earth adepts , with Djinn ) Heroes of Might and Magic ( as a hero class in Heroes IV , as troops in most others ) Icewind Dale King 's Bounty Lineage II ( a heavily armored class that kills undead and has limited healing ability ) Mabinogi ( can transform into Paladin by the skill - Spirit of Order ) MapleStory Might and Magic ( all installments except the eighth , typically a cross between Knight and Cleric ) Moria Nexus War ( as a Good combat class ) Ragnarok Online ( an advanced version of crusader with additional skills ) RuneScape ( Note : although not a set character class , as these do not exist in the game , the character has an opportunity to join a group of paladin-like knights . ) Seiken Densetsu 3 ( as Duran of Forcena 's Light/Light class ) Shining Force series ( as the promotion of a Knight , and almost always a centaur in species ) Tibia ( used as an archer ) Travian Ultima III through Ultima Online ( With the Ultima Online Paladin coming from the Chivalry skill ) ( Honor/Trinsic ; Dupre is the most significant example ) Wizardry ( The class is here referred to as a `` Lord '' ) See also Paladin ( World of Warcraft ) Paladin ( Dungeons & Dragons ) Final Fantasy character classes Further reading Defenders of The Faith - A Guidebook to Clerics and Paladins D & D Accessory by Rich Redman & James Wyatt. 2001 Categories : Character classes | Final Fantasy character classes In other languages : עברית Paladin ( Dungeons & Dragons ) Paladin ( World of Warcraft ) 