Sworn to the eight Virtues, paid in tithed gold, and carrying a sword that burns the undead. If something in this realm needs smiting, you are the one holding the receipt.
A paladin is a knight who swapped raw bandage-and-swing simplicity for a toolbox. You still stand at the front and hit things, but you also cure your own poison, remove curses, bless your weapon against the undead, heal a friend across the room and teleport the party to a shrine.
Two systems make it work. Chivalry is your prayer book and it runs on tithing points — gold you donate at a shrine, not mana — so your magic keeps working when every mage in the party is empty. Bushido is the combat half: parry-counterattacks, a damage-soaking stance, and Enemy of One, which makes you frighteningly good at killing one type of creature at a time.
The honest downside: a paladin is busier than a knight. More buttons, more upkeep, more things to forget in a panic. If this is your very first character in Britannia, read the Knight file first and come back when swinging and bandaging feels automatic.
You get 700 skill points in total, which is seven skills at 100 (Grandmaster). Here is a sheet that works, and why each line is on it. You can load this exact spread on the hero sheet in the magazine and slide the numbers around.
| Skill | Points | Why it's here |
|---|---|---|
| Chivalry | 100 | The prayer book: Close Wounds, Cleanse by Fire, Consecrate Weapon, Enemy of One, Sacred Journey. |
| Swordsmanship | 100 | Weapon skill. Swap for Fencing or Mace Fighting freely — all three work the same here. |
| Tactics | 100 | Damage multiplier. Non-negotiable for anyone who swings. |
| Anatomy | 100 | More damage, and it powers the Bushido stances that scale with it. |
| Bushido | 100 | Evasion, Confidence, Counterattack and Lightning Strike — the difference between a tough fighter and an unkillable one. |
| Parrying | 100 | Blocks whole hits, and Bushido's counterattacks trigger off successful parries. |
| Resisting Spells | 100 | Caster insurance. Paralyse is what kills paladins who skipped this. |
| Total | 700 | of 700 |
Close Wounds replaces bandages, and Confidence heals you for fighting well. That frees 100 points for Bushido. If you'd rather keep bandages — they still out-heal Close Wounds in a long fight — drop Bushido instead and you are a Knight with extra steps, which is a perfectly good character.
It massively boosts your damage against one creature type while making everything else hit you harder. On a dedicated undead or dragon hunt it is the strongest thing on this sheet. In a mixed room it will get you killed. Learn when to cast it.
Skills go up by using them, and they go up fastest on a task that is just barely hard for you. Climb the rungs in order — each one stops paying off, and that's your cue to move up.
NPC trainers for Swordsmanship, Tactics, Anatomy and Parrying. Chivalry and Bushido can't be bought from trainers — those two you earn the whole way.
Chivalry trains by casting, whether or not you need the effect. Stand in town and loop Close Wounds and Divine Fury until your tithing runs out, then donate more gold and keep going. It is dull, it is cheap, and it is far faster than hoping for gains mid-fight.
Deceit is the paladin's playground. Cast Consecrate Weapon, turn on Enemy of One against undead, and work through the skeletons and zombies. Chivalry, weapon skill, Tactics and Anatomy all climb together, and the loot pays for your tithing.
Bushido gains come from using the stances in real danger — Evasion when a fight turns, Lightning Strike on every swing you can afford. Go somewhere that genuinely threatens you: deeper Deceit, Destard's lower level, a Fire dungeon run with a friend.
Pick a target worth killing — a dungeon boss, a champion spawn with the family — and bring Enemy of One. The last stretch is slow for everyone; a paladin at least gets paid in artifacts while grinding it.
Buy this before you do anything else. Total damage to your purse is small, and every item on the list earns itself back in an hour.
| What | Where | What it's for |
|---|---|---|
| A Book of Chivalry | Paladin NPCs, Trinsic | The prayer book itself. Buy it before anything else. |
| A Book of Bushido | Samurai NPCs, Zento | Unlocks the combat stances. One purchase, forever. |
| A fast weapon | Weaponsmith | A katana or kryss. Lightning Strike triggers per swing, so faster weapons get more out of Bushido than big slow ones. |
| A shield | Blacksmith | Parrying and Bushido's counterattacks both need it. |
| 5,000gp for tithing | Any shrine | Sounds like a lot. It is roughly a thousand prayers, and you will burn through it while training Chivalry. |
| Some bandages anyway | Tailor | Even with Close Wounds, carry a stack. Prayers fail; bandages don't. |
The right room makes training three times faster. These are the spots worth a rune.
The paladin city, and where the Book of Chivalry is sold. Thematically and practically your home town — though the magazine's story starts up in Britain.
Wall-to-wall undead, which is exactly what a consecrated weapon is for. The best Chivalry training in Britannia.
Tithing. Put a rune in your runebook — you'll be back constantly, especially while training.
Across the sea in the Tokuno islands. The Bushido book and the samurai trainers live here.
New paladins cast a few prayers, see nothing happen and assume Chivalry is broken. You are simply out of tithing points. Visit a shrine, drop gold, try again. Check your tithing before a dungeon, not during.
It converts your weapon's damage to whatever type your target resists least. Against most monsters that is a straight, free damage increase for one prayer. Cast it at the start of every serious fight.
Great against a room of one creature. Suicidal in a room of five different ones, because everything not named takes less damage from you and deals more to you. Read the room first.
It's Recall, as a prayer, on your runebook. A paladin never needs to beg anyone for a gate. This alone is worth the Chivalry points.
Britannia runs on favours. These are the people you want in your party and on your friends list.