D&D 5th Editon Discussion: 6th thread and counting

[Anderlith]

I've already thrown my two coppers in the bucket a while ago on the Wizard site but I'll copy/paste my thoughts on this. It's kind of close to what Cheese is saying
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So the paladin has always been a weird class, it has it's roots in the myths & fables of King Arthur & other tales of shining knights bootkicking evil in the face, but the classes have always felt lackluster. So here's my thoughts on how they could change it & make it interesting


Take away the traditional spellcasting, they don't need to be casting spells like a cleric
Take away their service to a god, paladins are pillars of good who may serve a god but it isn't required
Don't focus them on horseback, it's hard to lead a destrier into a dungeon or to make climb checks
The fighter gets styles, the rogue gets schemes, the sorcerer gets heritages. A paladin should be able to pick a "Virtue"

Valor = A holy warrior that fights on the front line
Purity = A paladin who's devotion to remain pure strengthen's his mind & body
Justice = A holy bounty hunter, bonuses to find evil & punish them
Faith = More like the traditional Paladin, light spellcasting
Truth = bonuses on Insight and abilities to see invisable & hidden things


These virtues would give them bonus & come with a code of conduct, such as Paladins of Purity cannot drink intoxicants, & have to remain "pure" but in return they recieve bonuses to all their Saving Throws & AC

Here's an example of Valor following the DDN format

You must fight fair you can't benefit from bonuses from flanking & such, you cannot kill an intelligent unarmed foe etc.

In return you gain divine focus in the eternal fight against evil.
+1 to melee attack, +1 to Str or Con

First Level- Smite- If you hit a (evil?) target you can choose to deal 2d8 additional Holy damage

Third Level- Discretion- Enemies (who are evil?) gain disadvantage to strike you until the end of your next turn

Yeah these probably arent balanced but with this you can kind of see what I'm going for. As well as Virtures I can see other options for maybe a mage hunter theme & "Sins" that are the opposites of the "Virtues"


So tell me what you think, am I totally off the mark or would this maybe make a cool paladin?