D&D 3E/3.5 Are there any role-play differences between Paladin and Cleric?

[Tonguez]

My take on it, partly from lore, partly from game.

1) Any member of a faith may try to become a cleric. It’s a hierarchical position that seeks to spread the faith and tend the flock. They handle the ceremonies. If the mortals running the church say you’re a cleric, you’re a cleric, unless & until the divine says otherwise.

2) Paladins are chosen by divine beings or philosophies to be their martial champions. They generally exist outside the hierarchy of the faith. There are few ceremonies they can actually do, and those they can are generally minor.

except very little in the Cleric abilities says they are spreading the faith or tending to the flock, especially with someone like the Dragon Queen as diety.

DnD Clerics tend to be militant, trained to fight with weapons and magic while also being on call for healing of the injured and sick.
Problem is Paladins are also militant, trained to fight with weapons and magic while also being on call for healing of the injured. The only thing Paladins get extra is Smites per alignment.

I tend to think of Clerics as Temple Guards, faithful to their religion and trained to defend it, whereas Paladins are Zealots on a crusade against their dieties Enemies (capital E), they embody their dieties blessing not just channel it.

The priest attending the congregations are Acolytes and Sages rather than clerics

 

[GreyLord]

It used to be (though, I suppose with some changes and how the game defines it, it could be more difficult to see now) that the Paladin was a Holy Knight.

This means that they were like other Knights, but dedicated to a Higher Purpose.

It was done in the same vein as the idea of Knights being ordained by the Church as Protectors of the Faith. They were still knights, they had their lands and titles, but they were also given special purvue by the Church.

One main inspiration behind the Paladin name was the 12 Paladins of Charlemagne from legend. All Noble Lords of Charlemagne, but also given special authority by the Church and the Lord to fulfill their callings as protectors of the faith, the people, justice, and truth.

In a similar vein, many of the Knights of the Round Table were considered Paladins in Legends and Lord and other D&D books of the past.

In essence, a Paladin is a Knight, but is called by the deities to also be a special protector that shows the ideals of that deity, as well as one who protects others, the faith, and truth. In D&D, that gives the Paladin special powers as well.

A Cleric on the other hand is not nobility, is not a special fighter exhibiting the ideals of a deity, nor representing the idealistic portrayal of one who is a defender of the Faith.

They could be part of the Clergy (hence the name...Cleric) and were more focused on the Religious part rather than the Nobility part. In the Medieval times Clerics were still involved with fighting in many cases. Many were the second sons of Nobility, sent to be retained in the Church unless they were needed (aka...older brother gets killed). At times, they got involved with wars and armies and dressed and fought accordingly. Brothers fought side by side, one the Knight, one the Priest or Bishop, in battles against enemies to their lands or kingdom. Clerics were focused more on the Church, however (At least in theory), than on defending the people and the land.

Thus, the big difference could be seen as their focuses. Paladins were Warriors and focused on defending the people and their lands. Clerics were Priests and were focused on the Faith.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

IMO the Paladin is a knight-errant, a romantic chevalier. Even when evil (and I’m my games they rarely are because there aren’t any evil gods, and the divine is Good while Evil is demonic), they are honorable, and bound by a code.

The Cleric, in my games, is not a part of the normal clergy. They’re an adventurer, a priest-errant, if you will. Their role is not to tend a flock, but to seek the place and situations where they are needed, and support and lead others in helping people and stopping evil.

They are two sides of a coin, given different gifts, and different responsibilities, but they are both there to stand against supernatural evil in defense of the common folk.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

except very little in the Cleric abilities says they are spreading the faith or tending to the flock, especially with someone like the Dragon Queen as diety.

It’s not super explicit, but it’s clear from the early signature power (Turn/Rebuke undead) and reading a lot of their spells.

Many of those were clearly cribbed from Judeo-Christian ceremonies and tales from the Bible (and other religious texts) regarding the actions of priests and prophets, not warriors: Bless, Ceremony, Raise Dead, Divination spells, Abjuration spells, Create food & water, etc. Even their attack spells are like this. Look at Sticks to Snakes, Insect Plague and Meteor Storm to name a few. While there is overlap with other casters, nobody else has that percentage of spells devoted to helping others outside of combat. And they get access to all of them without having to research, transcribe and memorize them. Just pray & pick.

 

[Deset Gled]

My view is based a little bit more on function and profession.

Paladins are like the police officers of a god. They are given authority to smite and fight, enforcing their god's will directly as front line tanks.

Clerics are the lawyers. They are the ones that apply their god's power to the world through magic, using divine and domain spells to change the world to fit their god's interpretation of what reality should be.

 

[John R Davis]

Clerics look after the home front.
Paladins do quests

 

[Voadam]

Arneson originally created a set of special mechanics for a Van Helsing PC character who was designed as a foil against a specially designed Sir Fang vampire character. I think that is where we get turning undead.

Gygax liked the concept and adapted it for core OD&D as a mix of fighting man and magic-user with a lot inspiration using Bishop Odo as an archetype. Odo was a brother of William the Conqueror, was part of the invasion and conquering of England, was part of the battle of Hastings, and commissioned the tapestry of Bayeux and is shown there in full armor wielding a club. There is the (now generally discredited) apocrypha about him as a clergyman being forbidden to shed blood so he uses a club instead of a sword which Gygax pulled in as a rule for clerics.

Gygax then threw in every Judeo-Christian miracle type thing as specific cleric magic that magic-users did not get for a little flavor distinction, so healing, raising the dead, speaking in tongues, parting water, sticks to snakes, creating food and water, calling down fire from the sky, etc.

So we get full armor no bladed weapons religious warriors with holy magic and Van Helsing turning.

Being pulp fantasy there is also a secondary mix of pagan god things so Conan's Thulsa Doom the priest-sorcerer of Set is a bit of an influence as well along with some Cthulhu cultists when you have bad guy anti-clerics.

So we get full armor no bladed weapons religious church warriors with holy magic and Van Helsing turning connected to polytheistic gods.

Later there was OD&D Supplement IV Gods, Demi-Gods, and Heroes which further established a base of polytheistic pantheons for D&D including a mix of historical such as Greek and Norse along with full fantasy Conan Hyborian and Moorcock Melnibonean pantheons. Greyhawk eventually developed its own pantheon.

2e exploded with specialty priests allowing huge variation in priestly class mechanics and flavor including non-theistic philosophy and force clerics, and then 3e being decades in built on these bases for its cleric class.

So while a paladin might be based on King Arthur or Lancelot, a cleric is based on an ordained Norman warlord who loopholes religious restrictions with a little bit of vampire hunting doctor and sorcerer priest thrown in.

 

[le Redoutable]

Paladins ===> Str x Cha
Clerics ===> Str x Wis

 

[EdenNotRaven]

Dear everyone... we talked about Role-play!

 

[Voadam]

For example, the Paladin and the Cleric are Lawful \ Chaotic Evil.
Their goddess is the dragon queen... the dark lady... the queen of chaos.
How much are the differences between them gonna be?

As a DM I might roleplay the cleric as a more Thulsa Doom sorcerer-priest type while the Dragon Queen paladin as going for a bit of a Lord Soth vibe.

Lots of options though.