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## About This Content
## D&D Classics: PHBR12 The Complete Paladin’s Handbook

In the fight against evil, the paladin stands as Good’s supreme, undaunted
champion. This 128-page accessory helps you play the noblest warriors of the
AD&D game. Create or enhance your paladin with new proficiencies and
equipment, new rules for bonded mounts, and paladin kits like the divinate,
envoy, ghosthunter, skyrider, and the indomitable wyrmslayer.

The Complete Paladin’s Handbook attends the world’s finest heroes as they
achieve their lofty ideals.
## Product History

PHBR12: The Complete Paladin’s Handbook (1994) is by Rick Swan, the same
author as PHBR11: The Complete Ranger’s Handbook and the man who previously
penned Nightmare Keep, an adventure that takes place inside the body of a
petrified lich. The authorship is fortunate, as writing skill is needed when
approaching paladins, historically considered the most challenging class to
play and one that players often needed the most advice for. How do you play a
lawful good hero who isn’t either stupid or a prig? How do you handle a hero
with unbreakable morals in a party that may contain thieves?

And perhaps more importantly, how does detect evil work without intrinsically
spoiling adventures?

This supplement does its best to answer all of these concerns. It approaches
the paladin’s ethos, discussing the code of ennoblement and the paladin’s
virtures and ethics, and it walks the player through roleplaying someone who
is the embodiment of heroism and faith. Mechanically, the supplement gives
details on paladin abilities, character kits, gear and proficiencies. The
result is a well-written and useful guide to playing a paladin in 2nd edition
AD&D.

Detect Evil is not Radar. The chapter on paladin abilities starts out with a
several page discussion of what detect evil can and can’t accomplish. It’s a
good start to the book, as it addresses one of the misunderstandings and
complaints that players and DMs run into. By giving specific examples of what
detect evil feels like and what it can detect, DMs are given tools to help
make their adventures more fun without shortchanging the paladin’s player.

This chapter on paladin abilities also discusses the paladin’s mount at
length, including tables for other sorts of appropriate mounts. Want to ride
an elephant or a great cat into battle? This gives methods for doing so,
including training, care, tricks and samples of the warhorse quest.

Doing the Right Thing. The chapter on the paladin’s ethos lays out their
strictures, the inviolable rules that a lawful good paladin must follow. It
draws a distinction between these and edicts, the rules that a paladin has
pledged to obey but which are given to him by his patron. Religion, government
and philosophy affect edicts, while roleplaying quirks are restrictions that
add flavor to a character.

Finally, the chapter discusses virtues, the traits of high morality and
decency: Fealty, honesty, courtesy, valor, and honor are all virtues. In
comparison, the chapter also runs through the ways to violate oaths and the
typical penalties for doing so. Execrable violations such as habitual
cowardice are going to strip a paladin of his paladinhood, but less severe
offenses have lesser penalties. These guidelines help DMs and players
adjudicate the appropriate responses to possible violations, and give players
a feel for what’s appropriate when playing a paladin.

Wait, the Inquisitor is a What? The paladin kits use a combination of
mechanical and roleplaying hindrances to balance out the mechanical advantages
granted by the kits. These kits, more than in many other books, help round out
the paladin’s role in unexpected ways and act to give depth to the character
beyond simply a knight in shining armor. A diplomatic envoy, a particularly
holy warrior for a church, a noble knight, a master horseman, a wandering and
liege-less hero, a soldier, a healer, a ghost-hunter, a sky-rider – the
paladin kits are well-balanced, interesting, and provide alternative roles for
a paladin in the world. Mechanical benefits are balanced by a combination of
mechanical and role-playing hindrances.

Joust! I’m a little surprised by the quantity of new rules, such as for new
proficiencies such as jousting and new gear such as lower-powered holy swords,
and new roleplaying and campaign-building guidelines, such as the role of
faith and fealty in the world and the administration of tournaments. Courtly
love, economics, strongholds, a paladin’s daily activities, holy orders,
sample divine orders of paladins are all covered in great depth. The
appendices even include a bibliography of useful reading and the original 1e
AD&D paladin.

This book is without question one of the best of the Complete series: Solid
and well-balanced mechanically, full of flavorful ideas and good advice, it’s
a book that paladin players of any edition won’t want to miss – and if
paladins haven’t traditionally been your cup of tea, this is the book that
could change that for you too.

About the Creators. Rick Swan is the author of The Complete Guide to Role-
Playing Games and also wrote material for Dragonlance, the Forgotten Realms,
and core AD&D.

Adapted for Fantasy Grounds by: Mike Wilson

Released on December 04, 2019. Designed for Fantasy Grounds version 3.3.7 and
higher.

Requires: An active subscription or a one time purchase of a Fantasy Grounds
Full or Ultimate license and the included 2E ruleset.

Fantasy Grounds – D&D Classics: PHBR12 The Complete Paladin’s Handbook (2E)