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Settra the Imperishable

2021-07-11T09:04:29Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D59E:DFF5:7DF1:633A:

[[Image:Badass Settra.png|400px|thumb|right|Doctor Doom bends to one knee when a depiction of Settra is in his presence.]]

{{Topquote|There are great deeds that remain undone, enemies yet to conquer and raptures yet to rejoice in. So as it is written, so shall it be done. I, Settra, have proclaimed it - let none dare oppose my will.|Settra the Imperishable}}

{{Topquote|The last enemy to be destroyed is death.|1 Corinthians 15:26}}

{{Topquote|If there's anything more important than my ego on this ship, I want it caught and shot right now!|Zaphod Beeblebrox}}

The one who made Nehekhara a unified kingdom, first king of the first dynasty, greatest badass of the [[Tomb Kings]] and he with the most magnificent beard outside Dwarfs.

Though he was a tyrannical ruler, '''Settra the Imperishable''' is regarded as Nehekhara's best king. This is because he united the cities of Nehekhara into one kingdom and rebuilt the realm after it had been devastated by civil war, plague and drought. While he was ruthless dealing with dissenters, he was generous when his people came through, doing things such as praising the peasants and slaves when they did well and giving lots of rewards.

In essence, he had mastered one of the most famous (and the most widely misunderstood) of Machiavelli's ideas - a ruler should be both feared and loved, only choose fear if they can't have both, and always avoid being hated. In practice, Settra is Warhammer's answer to Qin Shi Huang - the man who united China and became its first Emperor and even searched for immortality before he died, Alexander the Great - being a guy who tried to rule the world and was mad when he couldn't, and a bit of Seti I. He's probably best friends with Zod (Terrence Stamp Zod obviously).

==Personality==
{{Topquote|Think your arrogance can match mine, Elf? I am Settra!|[[Total War: Warhammer II]]}}

Originally Settra was a powerful king, but a vain and egotistical tyrant as well. He actually renamed Nehekhara Khemri in his vanity. He was the founder of the city of Khemri and the first Priest King to have his body buried in a pyramid. When Settra died, the people rejoiced but preserved his body out of tradition. When Nagash's magic inundated the land, Settra rose and rallied armies of undead to make an anti-Nagash resistance, the other kings joining him due to their shared hatred of Nagash. But after Nagash and Arkhan were driven out, the other kings refused to obey Settra. Furious, Settra waged war against them, but the other kings united against Settra and he was forced to retreat and turtle up in Khemri, vowing revenge. Settra then sent his army to raid other lands and bring back living captives to be killed in horrible rituals to bolster his army, with the goal of bringing all Nehekhara under his iron-fisted rule.

In later editions, some of this is still true with several major changes. Settra became a very skilled - albeit tyrannical - ruler who, while hard on dissenters and failures, was generous with people who succeeded which is unlike most Nehekharan monarchs. He also founded the Mortuary Cult as a way for him to achieve immortality because he didn't want to die. Newer lore also made Settra the king who successfully unified Nehekhara through cleverness, strength and the blessings of their gods.

He was ruthless towards anyone who challenged or even questioned his rule, from bandits to leaders of other kingdoms who thought they were "equal", having them [[blam|dealt with]] [[Inquisition|loudly and publicly]]. In undeath, he became strong enough that he can tear anyone who invites his wrath limb from limb, [[Fist of the North Star|with his bare hands]]. The combination of brutal efficiency and effective rule brought about an unequaled golden age for Nehekhara that trumped everything humans (and came close to the height of elves) that had ever been before or after. He also considered ruling the world to be his destiny, to the point not even his own sons were considered worthy to take up the mantle of all that he has wrought.

He is also a textbook example of the Knight Templar trope (doing terrible things to get his point across for a greater goal, seeking the best for people, self-righteous, bonus points for being religious too). The man sacrificed his own children without a second thought to the gods to prove his devotion to them (whether this makes him a dedicated ruler or an evil zealot is [[Skub|a matter of debate]]).

In all fluff, Settra wound up with more titles than an [[Ogre Kingdoms|Ogre Tyrant]] and had servants whose entire job was reciting them (punishment for those who fucked up) all day, every day. It took his heralds nearly two hours to say them all. Unlike many people with a ton of titles, [[Awesome|he earned most of them]]. They include:

* Khemrikhara
* Mighty Lion Of The Infinite Desert
* Emperor Of The Shifting Sands
* He Who Holds The Sceptre
* Great Hawk Of The Heavens
*King of Kings
*Monarch of the Sky
*Majestic Emperor of the Shifting Sands
*High King of Nehekara
*Ruler of the Four Horizons
*[https://www.reddit.com/r/totalwar/comments/7sjs6l/for_your_copypastin_pleasure_setttras_titles/ and many, many, more...]

==The Legend==
===Life===
Of all the kings of Nehekhara, none could match the splendor, cruelty and arrogance of Settra, first King of Khemri (<s>Except Nagash</s> Usurpers don't count, and Settra made Nehekhara a splendid unified kingdom while Nagash fucked it over). Before he became king Settra saw a lot of shit as Nehekhara was a desolate place torn apart by wars between cities. Wanting his subjects to love him, Settra listened to the advice of his priest who stated only a king with the gods on their side could command the respect of their people. So, alone amongst the kings, Settra rebuilt the gods temples, made statues of them, attended sermons, prayed to them nightly all that stuff. On the first anniversary of his coronation, Settra organized a huge ceremony where he prayed for an end to the drought and asked them to bless the kingdom [[Grimdark|sacrificing his own children to show his dedication to the gods]]. The next day there was a huge rainstorm, the Nile-equivalent river flooded, washing away plague and the farmer's harvest was the best in history (at the time), proof that the gods favored Settra.

Settra had fought alongside his father's legion for many years before ascending to Khemri's throne. As a result, he had the skill of a ruthless warlord, and his keen tactical and strategic sense was matched only by his courage and martial skill. From there he started reunifying Nehekhara under his rule, [[Blam|giving a beatdown]] to anyone who even slightly challenged his authority. He sent envoys and armies across the world, promoting trade or taking plunder, making Nehekhara a rich kingdom in material wealth, intellectual drive and faith, Nehekhara became the pinnacle of human civilization that has rarely been equaled (maybe Cathay) and only surpassed by the Elder races, such as the High Elves, at the height of their power. At some point he got his herald, Nekaph, a man (implied to be of [[Warriors of Chaos|Norsii]] descent) strong enough to crush a person's skull with his fists but smart enough to remember everything important about Settra. Nekaph may have been like a replacement son to him, as Setty gave Nekaph an awesome hand-me-down, his old weapon the Flail of Skulls.

When he was forty (or in the fortieth year of his reign; thank you very much vaguely-worded fluff), he grew vexed with the idea that he would grow mortal and die, as there would be lands left unruled by him. Even worse, death would rob him of all of his achievements in life. He gathered the priesthood and demanded they find a way to stop him dying. While their views on the matter were unknown, the priest agreed searching far and wide across the world. Various methods, including so-called immortality elixirs, rejuvenating treatments and even skin creams, were tried. Those attempts did slow down the king's ageing, but were ultimately unsuccessful at granting him the true immortality he craved. As time went on the Priests discovered a lot and extended their own lives as well. There were limits but they didn't tell Settra that [[Blam|for obvious reasons]].

According to the Nagash novel, at some point in life he could no longer offer his sons to the gods in order to honor their pact (<s>infertility at old age? or he has gone soft?</s>Seriously? This ''is'' Settra the <s>Chad</s> Thad we're talking), so he married a high priestess of Ptra named Hatsushepra instead. Since Hatsushepra was of royalty from Lahmia, Settra's act of marriage had started a tradition where the priest king of Khemri must marry the princess of Lahmia in order to fulfill their pact with their gods. Despite sacrificing many of his sons to the gods, his bloodline continued with his fifth son '''Amenophis''', who was exiled by Settra for the suspicion of murdering Settra's other son Djoser. With some luck and talent, Amenophis's descendant eventually found their way to form a royal family at Rasetra and continued the bloodline, which eventually lead to Alcadizzar the Conqueror, whom killed Nagash at the cost of his life and his kingdom.

After living for several hundred years beyond a human's natural span (even among the long-lived Nehekharans), Settra became frail enough to be said to be on his deathbed. During this time the priests came forth and told Settra that while they could not prevent his death ''right now'', they could find a way for him to return to life later and then reign for eternity (sweetening the deal with the mention of an immortal, immaculate gold body). Pissed off that he was going to die but, for once up against an enemy he couldn't defeat, Settra agreed to their plan. He ordered a HEUG pyramid tomb complex built for himself and his army and gave a last speech to the Khemrians. After that, Settra died with a curse on his lips that would do an [[Angry Marine]] proud.

A boss to the end.

===Death (and all the bullshit that happened when he wasn't around to keep the peace)===
After his death and burial (including the customary ritual suicide of his army to serve him in the afterlife; <s>by the way, Nehekhara must have been full of carefree sex if they can afford to keep the population up despite sacrificing an army every time the reigning king dies</s> remember "there are as many elves as the plot requires." [[Derp|Consistency and logic can take a back seat to rule of cool, it's all good]]), another king took the throne. This continued for generations, bringing the kingdom of Nehekhara further into contact with the outside world. Each king built a grand tomb for when they died, but none of them (except the Usurper mentioned below) dared make one bigger or better than Settra's. In the first version of Settra's lore, back in 4th edition when Vampire Counts and Tomb Kings were just Warhammer: Undead, Settra was a tyrant and his death was met with much rejoicing throughout the land. Suffice it to say the newer lore has been better received.

The Mortuary Cult went on to become more powerful, even harnessing magic. Despite various types of kings Nehekhara remained strong until the reign of king Thutep. While his older brother was given to the Priesthood as is traditional, Thutep was a diplomatic but overly accommodating king, leading to the kings of other cities trying to get one over on Khemri. Despite that, the worst-case scenario would have been a change in Khermi's socio-political position; Nehekhara would likely still have thrived.

Unfortunately for Nehekhara and much of the world, that aforementioned older brother of Thutep was [[Nagash|a certain someone we all know and love to hate]]. You can read what he did on his page, but tl;dr Nagash’s dying dick move was to flood the land with necromantic energies, spreading the curse of undeath over all Nehekharan lands.

After the fall of Nehekhara, the now-undead Kings had regained their will they realised that the Mortuary Cult's preservation methods were not 100% perfect; they had succeeded in keeping their souls in their corpses but their bodies had nonetheless shrivelled up and decayed somewhat, with the most decayed being almost mindless. Naturally, one can imagine that this was a depressing situation for them. Many generations of kings from each city had to decide who got to hold the throne they all had at some point. Weaker kings who had sat on the laurels of stronger kings now had to contend with those stronger kings. Countless generations of dynasties took one look at having to spend the rest of eternity alongside each other and started beating the shit out of each other, trying to figure out who could be top dog. Throughout it all Settra and his forces were still resting in the peace of death, the wards on Settra's pyramid protecting the occupants from the necromantic magic that had inundated the land.

===Return===
The Liche Priests eventually despaired that the incessant fighting between the returned dynasties was Not Good. In fact, there was a very real chance that the Tomb Kings would destroy each other out of sheer pride. Finally, the head of the Mortuary Cult, Grand Hierophant [[Khatep]], decided he would get shit done. He broke the seals on Settra's pyramid, scurried inside, and deliberately awoke Settra, who promptly rode out like a sandstorm from nowhere and smashed heads together until all of the other lesser Tomb Kings agreed to sit down and shut up. Even [[Arkhan the Black]] was driven back, although his sorcerous powers are mighty enough that even Settra can't beat him permanently and he has to give Arkhan the occasional pimp-slapping to make him keep his nose out of Settra's business. Unfortunately the question of why he didn't order the other Tomb Kings to join in the war so that he could permanently kill Arkhan is never answered, aside from author favouritism for Arkhan.

After he finally had a chance to sit down and hear what happened during the two thousand years he was dead, Settra was pissed. Seriously pissed. In his rage, he declared Khatep an exile, forbidden to ever set foot in any of the great cities until such a time that he can fulfill the Mortuary Cult's ancient promise and reinstate the golden age of Nehekhara. At first he declared the kings return to their sleep and await his call; he vowed never to sleep again lest his kingdom fall to ruin. Ever since, Settra focused on trying to restore his former empire, rebuilding damaged structures, taking back stolen treasures and driving out occupying enemy forces and bandits. Throughout he kept a particular watch for the inevitable return of [[Nagash]], determined to kill the Liche Lord and ensure only one undying monarch would rule over Nehekhara; he also had the side project of trying to destroy Nagash's Black Pyramid in older lore but every attempt, be it by war-machine or magic, failed.

Along the way, Settra had many legendary exploits that undoubtedly earned him new titles. At one point, a mad liche priest accidentally opened a rift to the realm of chaos, allowing a vast daemon legion to spill right into the heart of Khemri. Settra returned from campaign, furious that the daemons DARED set foot in his city, and went on to solo a [[Great Unclean One]] (who was likely bummed that the dead can't be made to sicken) that was leading the invasion. He then grabbed the idiot liche priest that caused this in the first place and threw him into the rift, sealing the breach forever. Another daemonic invasion occurred elsewhere later which was defeated when Settra, in a generous mood, accepted the help of a nearby group of High Elves led by Prince Althran, who were allowed to leave with their dignity afterwards.

One of his shining moments came after an army of Chaos Warriors, led by Valgar the Butcher, invaded Nehekhara to loot it. Settra led an army against and fought Valgar, but it ended up being a mutual kill. The Tomb Kings army was defeated but there were only the twelve survivors from the Norsii. Those survivors had rallied under Valgar's lieutenant, Khagul Bloodfist, and fled with as much Nhekharan treasure as they could carry, including Settra's crown which Khagul himself took. When he came back a decade later, Settra was filled with RAGE over the whole thing (most of all them taking his crown), and swore that he wouldn't return to Khemri until he'd killed the survivors and reclaimed all the stolen treasures right down to the last coin. [[Awesome|He proceeded to do just that. He mustered the mightiest of Nehekhara's troops into a massive army and tracked down the twelve survivors via magic and his spy network]] (since they'd become stinking rich from the loot, each one had become powerful and well-known and thus easy to find). Using Zandri's fleet as transport, [[Awesome|Settra and his army traveled to the Northern Wastes and wiped the twelve men out along with their tribes and mutated monsters in a long campaign of battles that ended with Settra retaking his crown and Khagul killed by Prince Apophas]] (High Elves wanting the Phoenix Crown back, takes notes).

Many years passed, then Settra woke all of the other kings up. He declared an age of expansion and massed the armies to expand Nehekhara beyond its previous boundaries and make the name of Settra once again feared (but not hated) across the world.

==The End Times==
[[File:Settra Rules.jpg|thumb|right|400px|"He who reigns within himself and rules passions, desires, and fears is more than a king."]]
Before Settra can begin his expansion, he finds out that Nagash has returned. Death magic runs rife through Nehekhara, and many Tomb Kings hear whispers in it; the voice of Nagash entreating them to serve. Undaunted, Settra commands the Tomb Kings to make the most of it. The forces he was going to use to spread his rule instead were mobilized to defend Nehekhara. He commissioned all the best troops from various cities to defend Khemri, knowing Nagash would seek his Black Pyramid, and ordered Nehekhara's best architect, Rahmotep, to get some skeletal work crews and build walls around the city. When Nagash used magic to shroud the land of Nehekhara in darkness the Tomb Kings did not despair, they just worked harder.

During the final battle for Khemri, Khatep broke his exile to tell Settra about the Destroyer of Eternities, a weapon that may be able to permanently stop Nagash. Settra listened then executed him for breaking his exile. He didn't find the blade in its place, as unknown to him Apophas stole it (at the behest of a Skaven assassin) to kill Nagash and claim his soul for Usirian. He later fought Arkhan and, sick of his nonsense, chased Arkhan down and bifurcated the snarky lich. Chaining Arkhan's halves to his chariot, Settra took his remains to priests who had a ritual to stop Arkhan from being reanimated. But one of the priests was a traitor who paralyzed the others with a spell, and Nagash emerged from inside Arkhan's ribcage. It turned out Arkhan's capture was a plan to smuggle Nagash into Khemri without him having to wear himself down fighting.

Settra and his forces were on the verge of defeating the forces of the Vampire Counts when Nagash emerged from his Black Pyramid. Nagash, super powered after nomming Nehekhara's death god Usirian and taking over the underworld, turns the tables. Eventually the two face off, trading blows before Settra loses his chariot and charges Nagash. The two engage in a battle of wills with Nagash discovering that Settra's willpower is still equal to his own, despite Nagash's divine supercharge. So Nagash decides to cheat and Settra doesn't even land a hit before Nagash sends swarms of spirits to restrain Settra and lift him into the air. Nagash complimented Settra and offered him a place as one of his Mortarchs, threatening destruction if he refused. In response Settra looked Nagash in the eye and said:

'''"SETTRA DOES NOT SERVE" he shouted, trembling with rage, "SETTRA RULES!"''' [[Awesome|Utterly badass]].

This doesn't phase Nagash, who just says "fuck it" and casually blows up Settra and scatters his bones across the sands of Khemri before claiming leadership of the Tomb Kings from Settra. As a final insult, Nagash destroys Khemri, forcing Settra's still-animate head to watch helplessly from the sand, and makes everyone leave Settra stuck there with the ruins of his city. After fuck knows how long, and getting tired of yelling to scare off hungry vultures, Settra reached his lowest point, and started to wish he were mortal just so he could truly die. Then, four unknown beings (revealed to be the Chaos Gods, though it's obvious in hindsight) put his body back together and fill him with new power, to Settra's surprise. Speaking as one they tell him his battle with Nagash doesn't have to end this way and that he can be a king again. Settra doesn't answer.

While there isn't a peep about him in the subsequent End Times armybooks, not even the last one "End Times:Archaon", Josh Reynolds comes to the rescue. According to Reynolds; After being put back together and having a moment of introspection Settra '''walked all the way from Khemri to Middenheim''' and approached Archaon as an ally (before he started digging for the Old Ones artifact beneath the city). To test his worth, Archaon ordered Settra to kill Kholek Suneater as Kholek was so arrogant as to be uncontrollable, and thus no use to Archaon. Settra and Kholek battled for four days, leveling much of the forest around Middenheim. But Settra was victorious, decapitating Kholek and dragging the head back to Archaon's throne room. He encountered Mannfred at Middenheim after the latter betrayed Nagash but gave no acknowledgement of this. At some point before the Incarnates arrived, Settra went his own way unbeknownst to anyone. When the Incarnates attacked Middenheim, Settra confronted Nagash during the final battle. He pointed his khopesh (his awesome sword) at Nagash, and calls him a usurper then explains the Chaos Gods (Settra refers to them as the "howling jackals" here) resurrected him to kill him. (There was a scene where Settra saw the Troll King [[Throgg]]'s dead body near Nagash, which foreshadows the fate of all chaos worshippers, as well as his fate if he were to kill Nagash) Settra then performs a flip and beheads a [[Dragon Ogres|Shaggoth]] that was about to attack Nagash, points his khopesh at him again informs him that '''"NOBODY COMMANDS SETTRA!"''' Settra called Nagash a "prince of Khemri" as if Nagash serves him, then told tell Nagash that he will temporarily forgive his past actions if he were to make the Chaos Gods suffer for DARING to offer him immortality and the chance to conquer all realities in exchange for ''servitude''. He finishes by saying that after he's done killing the Chaos Gods, Nagash is next with a promise to take Nagash's skull and retake rulership of the Nehekharans, right before charging into battle against the Chaos monsters by himself, killing a giant for good measure. He's last seen fighting them as the world is consumed.

For those keeping score at home, that makes Settra the ONLY being in any Warhammer setting who was offered literally everything there is to be offered (everything that someone could want from the Chaos Gods such as money, power, even immortality and worship via becoming a Daemon Prince or even true Godhood as a minor Chaos God like the [[Horned Rat]] to name a few; he might even have gotten that immaculate living gold body and had the option of sex again he was promised), and instead chose to give Chaos the middle finger in response.

Because Settra does not serve. Settra rules.

Settra the Imperishable, Settra the Incorruptible, Settra Da Best.

==GUESS WHO (isn't) BACK! (Age of Sigmar)==
At first, there was no confirmed sign of Settra in Age of Sigmar, which fueled no end of speculation. Many were convinced that the Celestant-Prime (first of the Stormcast Eternals) was Settra brought back by Sigmar, as he fit the description, however later evidence challenged that, and now we're back to square one.

Despite this, fans of Settra still held a torch for the Khemrikhara, and their faith was eventually kicked in the balls because the different writers/editors at GW don't bother speaking to one another and are more comfortable retconning what they write than planning anything out.

To get into this fully, in the novel [[Hamilcar Bear Eater|Hamlicar]]: Champion of the Gods there is a mention of a Lord Celestant Settrus of the Imperishables warrior chamber. It is said he has a special loathing for Nagash, and has a reputation for getting shit done and commands the respect and obedience of guys like Hamilcar Bear-Eater through sheer gravitas and force of will alone. So, yeah, it looked like Settra did indeed get Sigmarined; it may not be as the Celestant-Prime, but hey, at least the man was back. As you could predict, most WFB fans raged at it while AoS players either were excited at the possibility of <strike>Thousand Sons</strike> Khopesh-wielding Sigmarines, or just shrugged at a reference they didn’t get and don’t care about. At any rate, David Guymer indicated he was not done with “Settrus” yet.

It soon came out that Settrus really was Settra as a Stormcast... BUT GW's higher-ups told David he could not bring Settra back as Settrus, so they tried to sweep this whole misstep under a rug by perma-killing Settrus, but not before [[Mannfred von Carstein|Man-child von Carstein]] made fun of him, saying he would be already dead if Settrus was really Settra. In order to stop the world's bitchiest Mortarch from looting a Stormvault for some edgy named weapon, Settrus overloaded the Penumbral Engine that concealed the vault, which in turn consumed him. Hamilcar himself stated that he felt in his gut he was truly gone as not even [[Grugni]] would have managed to extract what fragments may remain from the orrery. Of course, Hamilcar is frequently wrong/hyperbolic, so who knows if Settrus will return - unlikely, for now. Farewell Settrus, whoever you were.

==GUESS WHO'S BACK! (The Old World)==
In [[The Old World]] Settra will return, alongside just about everyone else.

<gallery>
File:GW_meme.jpg|Because you can't keep a good undead down ([[Awesome|GW made this, by the way]]).
File:Perish not.jpg|GW made this too. Pandering, maybe. True, yes.
</gallery>

==On the Tabletop==
Settra has had a model since [[Rogue Trader (Sourcebook)|the days Tomb Kings and Vampire Counts were just Warhammer: Undead, which looked like he was pulled from the Boris Karloff mummy movies]]. In gameplay, his only notable features were being slow (footslogging like a Dwarf with movement 3 and a lower initiative), Toughness 6 and Settra carried the Flail of Skulls as his weapon instead of the Blessed Blade of Ptra (guess which Ancient Egyptian god he's based on; subtlety, what's that?)

He got a new model when Tomb Kings became their own army, and it's absolutely MAGNIFICENT. From his pose to the details on the chariot, he epitomizes the look of the army and if you are trying to proxy something else as him you should be prepared for other Tomb Kings players to remove your head and use your still-living skull as artillery to fire at Games Workshop headquarters after updates. He's fairly expensive point-wise, but unlike most named Lords is actually worth considering outside large-scale games (to the point that, along with Khalida, he is actually the only other truly competitively viable choice when named characters are allowed). Between 4th and 8th Edition Settra got a huge boost in rules (including terror, ward saves, an ASF sword that blinded people and arguably his best item; The Chestplate of Golden Magnificence that gave him a 2+ Armour Save which couldn't be reduced to worse than a 4+ even if hit by attacks that ignore armour saves). This is also where he gained his chariot, a super pimped out one called the Chariot of the Gods.

In the latest edition, going by his profile Settra's also the strongest man in the Warhammer World; he has a basic strength of 6. That's right 6, meaning he could beat a Chaos Lord or an Ogre Tyrant in an arm-wrestling match! He can be fielded without his chariot (which can now burn things with magical fire when it hits or runs over them), but he becomes less effective as he's somewhat fragile without the bonuses from it.

Besides that however, the best fluff and crunch army for him is a full chariot charge anyways with him at the front. Screaming Skull Catapults are also advised, as they are Settra's main method of dealing with uppity <strike>boneheads</strike> Tomb Kings who think they don't have to salute when he passes or jump when he commands.

==Total War: Warhammer II==
[[File:OkQNjvO - Imgur.jpg|thumb|right|400px|"No Kneeling"]]
In Total War Warhammer II, the Tomb Kings have returned as DLC, though appear on both campaigns whether you buy it or not. Even better, Settra returned with his shiny chariot of the gods. He is the Tomb Kings faction leader who this time planning to put the kibosh on Nagash's return. Rather than bother with the Vortex, he's hunting the Nine Books of Nagash. Several quotes in-game reflect the fact that he DOES NOT SERVE.

In a hilarious turn of events, and a deviation from the game's lore, if the Tomb King's win it's revealed that the priest who narrates to the player is Thutep, Nagash's younger brother. After being sealed into a tomb to die (and appearing as a ghost to tell off Nagash), Thutep gets his body back and somehow becomes a Lich Priest. The funny part is that in this scenario, the Black Pyramid is under Settra's control, who puts it under Thutep's control, once again putting Nagash under his brother.

==Fan Tributes==
"''Good morning. In less than an hour, Entombed Necropolis Knights from here will join others from around Nehekhara. And you will be launching the largest ground battle in the history of the Old World.''
''Tomb Kings. Those words should have new meaning for all of us today.''
''We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore.''
''We will be united in our common interests.''

''Perhaps it's fate that today is my birthday, as it is every day, and you will once again be fighting for my crown, not from tyranny, oppression, or that bastard Phar, but from annihilation.''
''We're fighting for our right to unlive, to exist.''
''And should we win the day, my birthday will no longer be known as a Nehekharan holiday, but as the day when the master race declared in one voice:''
''We will not go quietly into the night!''
''We will not vanish without a fight!''
''We're going to unlive on!''
''We're going to survive!''
''Today, we celebrate our Imperishable Day!''"

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Settra_WAU4.jpg|The original artwork for Settra.
Image:Setty's original model.jpg|Settra's first model. Note the crown and weapon.

Image:Settra Model.png|Settra's new model. The hardest thing about painting it is resisting the urge to kiss his tiny feet long enough for the paint to dry.
Image:Settra Chariot.jpg|Settra riding his pimped out chariot.
Image:Settra V Nagash Dawn of Boner.jpg|Settra popping wheelies around Nagash's broke bus-riding ass.
File:Settra's return.png|"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBAmLm_jYyY| As the gods are my witnesses, I'll never serve]."
File:Settra Titles.jpg|Settra's achievement list.

</gallery>

{{Tomb Kings}}
[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]

Settra the Imperishable

2021-07-11T09:03:57Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D59E:DFF5:7DF1:633A:

[[Image:Badass Settra.png|400px|thumb|right|Doctor Doom bends to one knee when a depiction of Settra is in his presence.]]

{{Topquote|There are great deeds that remain undone, enemies yet to conquer and raptures yet to rejoice in. So as it is written, so shall it be done. I, Settra, have proclaimed it - let none dare oppose my will.|Settra the Imperishable}}

{{Topquote|The last enemy to be destroyed is death.|1 Corinthians 15:26}}

{{Topquote|If there's anything more important than my ego on this ship, I want it caught and shot right now!|Zaphod Beeblebrox}}

The one who made Nehekhara a unified kingdom, first king of the first dynasty, greatest badass of the [[Tomb Kings]] and he with the most magnificent beard outside Dwarfs.

Though he was a tyrannical ruler, '''Settra the Imperishable''' is regarded as Nehekhara's best king. This is because he united the cities of Nehekhara into one kingdom and rebuilt the realm after it had been devastated by civil war, plague and drought. While he was ruthless dealing with dissenters, he was generous when his people came through, doing things such as praising the peasants and slaves when they did well and giving lots of rewards.

In essence, he had mastered one of the most famous [and the most widely misunderstood] of Machiavelli's ideas - a ruler should be both feared and loved, only choose fear if they can't have both, and always avoid being hated. In practice, Settra is Warhammer's answer to Qin Shi Huang - the man who united China and became its first Emperor and even searched for immortality before he died, Alexander the Great - being a guy who tried to rule the world and was mad when he couldn't, and a bit of Seti I. He's probably best friends with Zod (Terrence Stamp Zod obviously).

==Personality==
{{Topquote|Think your arrogance can match mine, Elf? I am Settra!|[[Total War: Warhammer II]]}}

Originally Settra was a powerful king, but a vain and egotistical tyrant as well. He actually renamed Nehekhara Khemri in his vanity. He was the founder of the city of Khemri and the first Priest King to have his body buried in a pyramid. When Settra died, the people rejoiced but preserved his body out of tradition. When Nagash's magic inundated the land, Settra rose and rallied armies of undead to make an anti-Nagash resistance, the other kings joining him due to their shared hatred of Nagash. But after Nagash and Arkhan were driven out, the other kings refused to obey Settra. Furious, Settra waged war against them, but the other kings united against Settra and he was forced to retreat and turtle up in Khemri, vowing revenge. Settra then sent his army to raid other lands and bring back living captives to be killed in horrible rituals to bolster his army, with the goal of bringing all Nehekhara under his iron-fisted rule.

In later editions, some of this is still true with several major changes. Settra became a very skilled - albeit tyrannical - ruler who, while hard on dissenters and failures, was generous with people who succeeded which is unlike most Nehekharan monarchs. He also founded the Mortuary Cult as a way for him to achieve immortality because he didn't want to die. Newer lore also made Settra the king who successfully unified Nehekhara through cleverness, strength and the blessings of their gods.

He was ruthless towards anyone who challenged or even questioned his rule, from bandits to leaders of other kingdoms who thought they were "equal", having them [[blam|dealt with]] [[Inquisition|loudly and publicly]]. In undeath, he became strong enough that he can tear anyone who invites his wrath limb from limb, [[Fist of the North Star|with his bare hands]]. The combination of brutal efficiency and effective rule brought about an unequaled golden age for Nehekhara that trumped everything humans (and came close to the height of elves) that had ever been before or after. He also considered ruling the world to be his destiny, to the point not even his own sons were considered worthy to take up the mantle of all that he has wrought.

He is also a textbook example of the Knight Templar trope (doing terrible things to get his point across for a greater goal, seeking the best for people, self-righteous, bonus points for being religious too). The man sacrificed his own children without a second thought to the gods to prove his devotion to them (whether this makes him a dedicated ruler or an evil zealot is [[Skub|a matter of debate]]).

In all fluff, Settra wound up with more titles than an [[Ogre Kingdoms|Ogre Tyrant]] and had servants whose entire job was reciting them (punishment for those who fucked up) all day, every day. It took his heralds nearly two hours to say them all. Unlike many people with a ton of titles, [[Awesome|he earned most of them]]. They include:

* Khemrikhara
* Mighty Lion Of The Infinite Desert
* Emperor Of The Shifting Sands
* He Who Holds The Sceptre
* Great Hawk Of The Heavens
*King of Kings
*Monarch of the Sky
*Majestic Emperor of the Shifting Sands
*High King of Nehekara
*Ruler of the Four Horizons
*[https://www.reddit.com/r/totalwar/comments/7sjs6l/for_your_copypastin_pleasure_setttras_titles/ and many, many, more...]

==The Legend==
===Life===
Of all the kings of Nehekhara, none could match the splendor, cruelty and arrogance of Settra, first King of Khemri (<s>Except Nagash</s> Usurpers don't count, and Settra made Nehekhara a splendid unified kingdom while Nagash fucked it over). Before he became king Settra saw a lot of shit as Nehekhara was a desolate place torn apart by wars between cities. Wanting his subjects to love him, Settra listened to the advice of his priest who stated only a king with the gods on their side could command the respect of their people. So, alone amongst the kings, Settra rebuilt the gods temples, made statues of them, attended sermons, prayed to them nightly all that stuff. On the first anniversary of his coronation, Settra organized a huge ceremony where he prayed for an end to the drought and asked them to bless the kingdom [[Grimdark|sacrificing his own children to show his dedication to the gods]]. The next day there was a huge rainstorm, the Nile-equivalent river flooded, washing away plague and the farmer's harvest was the best in history (at the time), proof that the gods favored Settra.

Settra had fought alongside his father's legion for many years before ascending to Khemri's throne. As a result, he had the skill of a ruthless warlord, and his keen tactical and strategic sense was matched only by his courage and martial skill. From there he started reunifying Nehekhara under his rule, [[Blam|giving a beatdown]] to anyone who even slightly challenged his authority. He sent envoys and armies across the world, promoting trade or taking plunder, making Nehekhara a rich kingdom in material wealth, intellectual drive and faith, Nehekhara became the pinnacle of human civilization that has rarely been equaled (maybe Cathay) and only surpassed by the Elder races, such as the High Elves, at the height of their power. At some point he got his herald, Nekaph, a man (implied to be of [[Warriors of Chaos|Norsii]] descent) strong enough to crush a person's skull with his fists but smart enough to remember everything important about Settra. Nekaph may have been like a replacement son to him, as Setty gave Nekaph an awesome hand-me-down, his old weapon the Flail of Skulls.

When he was forty (or in the fortieth year of his reign; thank you very much vaguely-worded fluff), he grew vexed with the idea that he would grow mortal and die, as there would be lands left unruled by him. Even worse, death would rob him of all of his achievements in life. He gathered the priesthood and demanded they find a way to stop him dying. While their views on the matter were unknown, the priest agreed searching far and wide across the world. Various methods, including so-called immortality elixirs, rejuvenating treatments and even skin creams, were tried. Those attempts did slow down the king's ageing, but were ultimately unsuccessful at granting him the true immortality he craved. As time went on the Priests discovered a lot and extended their own lives as well. There were limits but they didn't tell Settra that [[Blam|for obvious reasons]].

According to the Nagash novel, at some point in life he could no longer offer his sons to the gods in order to honor their pact (<s>infertility at old age? or he has gone soft?</s>Seriously? This ''is'' Settra the <s>Chad</s> Thad we're talking), so he married a high priestess of Ptra named Hatsushepra instead. Since Hatsushepra was of royalty from Lahmia, Settra's act of marriage had started a tradition where the priest king of Khemri must marry the princess of Lahmia in order to fulfill their pact with their gods. Despite sacrificing many of his sons to the gods, his bloodline continued with his fifth son '''Amenophis''', who was exiled by Settra for the suspicion of murdering Settra's other son Djoser. With some luck and talent, Amenophis's descendant eventually found their way to form a royal family at Rasetra and continued the bloodline, which eventually lead to Alcadizzar the Conqueror, whom killed Nagash at the cost of his life and his kingdom.

After living for several hundred years beyond a human's natural span (even among the long-lived Nehekharans), Settra became frail enough to be said to be on his deathbed. During this time the priests came forth and told Settra that while they could not prevent his death ''right now'', they could find a way for him to return to life later and then reign for eternity (sweetening the deal with the mention of an immortal, immaculate gold body). Pissed off that he was going to die but, for once up against an enemy he couldn't defeat, Settra agreed to their plan. He ordered a HEUG pyramid tomb complex built for himself and his army and gave a last speech to the Khemrians. After that, Settra died with a curse on his lips that would do an [[Angry Marine]] proud.

A boss to the end.

===Death (and all the bullshit that happened when he wasn't around to keep the peace)===
After his death and burial (including the customary ritual suicide of his army to serve him in the afterlife; <s>by the way, Nehekhara must have been full of carefree sex if they can afford to keep the population up despite sacrificing an army every time the reigning king dies</s> remember "there are as many elves as the plot requires." [[Derp|Consistency and logic can take a back seat to rule of cool, it's all good]]), another king took the throne. This continued for generations, bringing the kingdom of Nehekhara further into contact with the outside world. Each king built a grand tomb for when they died, but none of them (except the Usurper mentioned below) dared make one bigger or better than Settra's. In the first version of Settra's lore, back in 4th edition when Vampire Counts and Tomb Kings were just Warhammer: Undead, Settra was a tyrant and his death was met with much rejoicing throughout the land. Suffice it to say the newer lore has been better received.

The Mortuary Cult went on to become more powerful, even harnessing magic. Despite various types of kings Nehekhara remained strong until the reign of king Thutep. While his older brother was given to the Priesthood as is traditional, Thutep was a diplomatic but overly accommodating king, leading to the kings of other cities trying to get one over on Khemri. Despite that, the worst-case scenario would have been a change in Khermi's socio-political position; Nehekhara would likely still have thrived.

Unfortunately for Nehekhara and much of the world, that aforementioned older brother of Thutep was [[Nagash|a certain someone we all know and love to hate]]. You can read what he did on his page, but tl;dr Nagash’s dying dick move was to flood the land with necromantic energies, spreading the curse of undeath over all Nehekharan lands.

After the fall of Nehekhara, the now-undead Kings had regained their will they realised that the Mortuary Cult's preservation methods were not 100% perfect; they had succeeded in keeping their souls in their corpses but their bodies had nonetheless shrivelled up and decayed somewhat, with the most decayed being almost mindless. Naturally, one can imagine that this was a depressing situation for them. Many generations of kings from each city had to decide who got to hold the throne they all had at some point. Weaker kings who had sat on the laurels of stronger kings now had to contend with those stronger kings. Countless generations of dynasties took one look at having to spend the rest of eternity alongside each other and started beating the shit out of each other, trying to figure out who could be top dog. Throughout it all Settra and his forces were still resting in the peace of death, the wards on Settra's pyramid protecting the occupants from the necromantic magic that had inundated the land.

===Return===
The Liche Priests eventually despaired that the incessant fighting between the returned dynasties was Not Good. In fact, there was a very real chance that the Tomb Kings would destroy each other out of sheer pride. Finally, the head of the Mortuary Cult, Grand Hierophant [[Khatep]], decided he would get shit done. He broke the seals on Settra's pyramid, scurried inside, and deliberately awoke Settra, who promptly rode out like a sandstorm from nowhere and smashed heads together until all of the other lesser Tomb Kings agreed to sit down and shut up. Even [[Arkhan the Black]] was driven back, although his sorcerous powers are mighty enough that even Settra can't beat him permanently and he has to give Arkhan the occasional pimp-slapping to make him keep his nose out of Settra's business. Unfortunately the question of why he didn't order the other Tomb Kings to join in the war so that he could permanently kill Arkhan is never answered, aside from author favouritism for Arkhan.

After he finally had a chance to sit down and hear what happened during the two thousand years he was dead, Settra was pissed. Seriously pissed. In his rage, he declared Khatep an exile, forbidden to ever set foot in any of the great cities until such a time that he can fulfill the Mortuary Cult's ancient promise and reinstate the golden age of Nehekhara. At first he declared the kings return to their sleep and await his call; he vowed never to sleep again lest his kingdom fall to ruin. Ever since, Settra focused on trying to restore his former empire, rebuilding damaged structures, taking back stolen treasures and driving out occupying enemy forces and bandits. Throughout he kept a particular watch for the inevitable return of [[Nagash]], determined to kill the Liche Lord and ensure only one undying monarch would rule over Nehekhara; he also had the side project of trying to destroy Nagash's Black Pyramid in older lore but every attempt, be it by war-machine or magic, failed.

Along the way, Settra had many legendary exploits that undoubtedly earned him new titles. At one point, a mad liche priest accidentally opened a rift to the realm of chaos, allowing a vast daemon legion to spill right into the heart of Khemri. Settra returned from campaign, furious that the daemons DARED set foot in his city, and went on to solo a [[Great Unclean One]] (who was likely bummed that the dead can't be made to sicken) that was leading the invasion. He then grabbed the idiot liche priest that caused this in the first place and threw him into the rift, sealing the breach forever. Another daemonic invasion occurred elsewhere later which was defeated when Settra, in a generous mood, accepted the help of a nearby group of High Elves led by Prince Althran, who were allowed to leave with their dignity afterwards.

One of his shining moments came after an army of Chaos Warriors, led by Valgar the Butcher, invaded Nehekhara to loot it. Settra led an army against and fought Valgar, but it ended up being a mutual kill. The Tomb Kings army was defeated but there were only the twelve survivors from the Norsii. Those survivors had rallied under Valgar's lieutenant, Khagul Bloodfist, and fled with as much Nhekharan treasure as they could carry, including Settra's crown which Khagul himself took. When he came back a decade later, Settra was filled with RAGE over the whole thing (most of all them taking his crown), and swore that he wouldn't return to Khemri until he'd killed the survivors and reclaimed all the stolen treasures right down to the last coin. [[Awesome|He proceeded to do just that. He mustered the mightiest of Nehekhara's troops into a massive army and tracked down the twelve survivors via magic and his spy network]] (since they'd become stinking rich from the loot, each one had become powerful and well-known and thus easy to find). Using Zandri's fleet as transport, [[Awesome|Settra and his army traveled to the Northern Wastes and wiped the twelve men out along with their tribes and mutated monsters in a long campaign of battles that ended with Settra retaking his crown and Khagul killed by Prince Apophas]] (High Elves wanting the Phoenix Crown back, takes notes).

Many years passed, then Settra woke all of the other kings up. He declared an age of expansion and massed the armies to expand Nehekhara beyond its previous boundaries and make the name of Settra once again feared (but not hated) across the world.

==The End Times==
[[File:Settra Rules.jpg|thumb|right|400px|"He who reigns within himself and rules passions, desires, and fears is more than a king."]]
Before Settra can begin his expansion, he finds out that Nagash has returned. Death magic runs rife through Nehekhara, and many Tomb Kings hear whispers in it; the voice of Nagash entreating them to serve. Undaunted, Settra commands the Tomb Kings to make the most of it. The forces he was going to use to spread his rule instead were mobilized to defend Nehekhara. He commissioned all the best troops from various cities to defend Khemri, knowing Nagash would seek his Black Pyramid, and ordered Nehekhara's best architect, Rahmotep, to get some skeletal work crews and build walls around the city. When Nagash used magic to shroud the land of Nehekhara in darkness the Tomb Kings did not despair, they just worked harder.

During the final battle for Khemri, Khatep broke his exile to tell Settra about the Destroyer of Eternities, a weapon that may be able to permanently stop Nagash. Settra listened then executed him for breaking his exile. He didn't find the blade in its place, as unknown to him Apophas stole it (at the behest of a Skaven assassin) to kill Nagash and claim his soul for Usirian. He later fought Arkhan and, sick of his nonsense, chased Arkhan down and bifurcated the snarky lich. Chaining Arkhan's halves to his chariot, Settra took his remains to priests who had a ritual to stop Arkhan from being reanimated. But one of the priests was a traitor who paralyzed the others with a spell, and Nagash emerged from inside Arkhan's ribcage. It turned out Arkhan's capture was a plan to smuggle Nagash into Khemri without him having to wear himself down fighting.

Settra and his forces were on the verge of defeating the forces of the Vampire Counts when Nagash emerged from his Black Pyramid. Nagash, super powered after nomming Nehekhara's death god Usirian and taking over the underworld, turns the tables. Eventually the two face off, trading blows before Settra loses his chariot and charges Nagash. The two engage in a battle of wills with Nagash discovering that Settra's willpower is still equal to his own, despite Nagash's divine supercharge. So Nagash decides to cheat and Settra doesn't even land a hit before Nagash sends swarms of spirits to restrain Settra and lift him into the air. Nagash complimented Settra and offered him a place as one of his Mortarchs, threatening destruction if he refused. In response Settra looked Nagash in the eye and said:

'''"SETTRA DOES NOT SERVE" he shouted, trembling with rage, "SETTRA RULES!"''' [[Awesome|Utterly badass]].

This doesn't phase Nagash, who just says "fuck it" and casually blows up Settra and scatters his bones across the sands of Khemri before claiming leadership of the Tomb Kings from Settra. As a final insult, Nagash destroys Khemri, forcing Settra's still-animate head to watch helplessly from the sand, and makes everyone leave Settra stuck there with the ruins of his city. After fuck knows how long, and getting tired of yelling to scare off hungry vultures, Settra reached his lowest point, and started to wish he were mortal just so he could truly die. Then, four unknown beings (revealed to be the Chaos Gods, though it's obvious in hindsight) put his body back together and fill him with new power, to Settra's surprise. Speaking as one they tell him his battle with Nagash doesn't have to end this way and that he can be a king again. Settra doesn't answer.

While there isn't a peep about him in the subsequent End Times armybooks, not even the last one "End Times:Archaon", Josh Reynolds comes to the rescue. According to Reynolds; After being put back together and having a moment of introspection Settra '''walked all the way from Khemri to Middenheim''' and approached Archaon as an ally (before he started digging for the Old Ones artifact beneath the city). To test his worth, Archaon ordered Settra to kill Kholek Suneater as Kholek was so arrogant as to be uncontrollable, and thus no use to Archaon. Settra and Kholek battled for four days, leveling much of the forest around Middenheim. But Settra was victorious, decapitating Kholek and dragging the head back to Archaon's throne room. He encountered Mannfred at Middenheim after the latter betrayed Nagash but gave no acknowledgement of this. At some point before the Incarnates arrived, Settra went his own way unbeknownst to anyone. When the Incarnates attacked Middenheim, Settra confronted Nagash during the final battle. He pointed his khopesh (his awesome sword) at Nagash, and calls him a usurper then explains the Chaos Gods (Settra refers to them as the "howling jackals" here) resurrected him to kill him. (There was a scene where Settra saw the Troll King [[Throgg]]'s dead body near Nagash, which foreshadows the fate of all chaos worshippers, as well as his fate if he were to kill Nagash) Settra then performs a flip and beheads a [[Dragon Ogres|Shaggoth]] that was about to attack Nagash, points his khopesh at him again informs him that '''"NOBODY COMMANDS SETTRA!"''' Settra called Nagash a "prince of Khemri" as if Nagash serves him, then told tell Nagash that he will temporarily forgive his past actions if he were to make the Chaos Gods suffer for DARING to offer him immortality and the chance to conquer all realities in exchange for ''servitude''. He finishes by saying that after he's done killing the Chaos Gods, Nagash is next with a promise to take Nagash's skull and retake rulership of the Nehekharans, right before charging into battle against the Chaos monsters by himself, killing a giant for good measure. He's last seen fighting them as the world is consumed.

For those keeping score at home, that makes Settra the ONLY being in any Warhammer setting who was offered literally everything there is to be offered (everything that someone could want from the Chaos Gods such as money, power, even immortality and worship via becoming a Daemon Prince or even true Godhood as a minor Chaos God like the [[Horned Rat]] to name a few; he might even have gotten that immaculate living gold body and had the option of sex again he was promised), and instead chose to give Chaos the middle finger in response.

Because Settra does not serve. Settra rules.

Settra the Imperishable, Settra the Incorruptible, Settra Da Best.

==GUESS WHO (isn't) BACK! (Age of Sigmar)==
At first, there was no confirmed sign of Settra in Age of Sigmar, which fueled no end of speculation. Many were convinced that the Celestant-Prime (first of the Stormcast Eternals) was Settra brought back by Sigmar, as he fit the description, however later evidence challenged that, and now we're back to square one.

Despite this, fans of Settra still held a torch for the Khemrikhara, and their faith was eventually kicked in the balls because the different writers/editors at GW don't bother speaking to one another and are more comfortable retconning what they write than planning anything out.

To get into this fully, in the novel [[Hamilcar Bear Eater|Hamlicar]]: Champion of the Gods there is a mention of a Lord Celestant Settrus of the Imperishables warrior chamber. It is said he has a special loathing for Nagash, and has a reputation for getting shit done and commands the respect and obedience of guys like Hamilcar Bear-Eater through sheer gravitas and force of will alone. So, yeah, it looked like Settra did indeed get Sigmarined; it may not be as the Celestant-Prime, but hey, at least the man was back. As you could predict, most WFB fans raged at it while AoS players either were excited at the possibility of <strike>Thousand Sons</strike> Khopesh-wielding Sigmarines, or just shrugged at a reference they didn’t get and don’t care about. At any rate, David Guymer indicated he was not done with “Settrus” yet.

It soon came out that Settrus really was Settra as a Stormcast... BUT GW's higher-ups told David he could not bring Settra back as Settrus, so they tried to sweep this whole misstep under a rug by perma-killing Settrus, but not before [[Mannfred von Carstein|Man-child von Carstein]] made fun of him, saying he would be already dead if Settrus was really Settra. In order to stop the world's bitchiest Mortarch from looting a Stormvault for some edgy named weapon, Settrus overloaded the Penumbral Engine that concealed the vault, which in turn consumed him. Hamilcar himself stated that he felt in his gut he was truly gone as not even [[Grugni]] would have managed to extract what fragments may remain from the orrery. Of course, Hamilcar is frequently wrong/hyperbolic, so who knows if Settrus will return - unlikely, for now. Farewell Settrus, whoever you were.

==GUESS WHO'S BACK! (The Old World)==
In [[The Old World]] Settra will return, alongside just about everyone else.

<gallery>
File:GW_meme.jpg|Because you can't keep a good undead down ([[Awesome|GW made this, by the way]]).
File:Perish not.jpg|GW made this too. Pandering, maybe. True, yes.
</gallery>

==On the Tabletop==
Settra has had a model since [[Rogue Trader (Sourcebook)|the days Tomb Kings and Vampire Counts were just Warhammer: Undead, which looked like he was pulled from the Boris Karloff mummy movies]]. In gameplay, his only notable features were being slow (footslogging like a Dwarf with movement 3 and a lower initiative), Toughness 6 and Settra carried the Flail of Skulls as his weapon instead of the Blessed Blade of Ptra (guess which Ancient Egyptian god he's based on; subtlety, what's that?)

He got a new model when Tomb Kings became their own army, and it's absolutely MAGNIFICENT. From his pose to the details on the chariot, he epitomizes the look of the army and if you are trying to proxy something else as him you should be prepared for other Tomb Kings players to remove your head and use your still-living skull as artillery to fire at Games Workshop headquarters after updates. He's fairly expensive point-wise, but unlike most named Lords is actually worth considering outside large-scale games (to the point that, along with Khalida, he is actually the only other truly competitively viable choice when named characters are allowed). Between 4th and 8th Edition Settra got a huge boost in rules (including terror, ward saves, an ASF sword that blinded people and arguably his best item; The Chestplate of Golden Magnificence that gave him a 2+ Armour Save which couldn't be reduced to worse than a 4+ even if hit by attacks that ignore armour saves). This is also where he gained his chariot, a super pimped out one called the Chariot of the Gods.

In the latest edition, going by his profile Settra's also the strongest man in the Warhammer World; he has a basic strength of 6. That's right 6, meaning he could beat a Chaos Lord or an Ogre Tyrant in an arm-wrestling match! He can be fielded without his chariot (which can now burn things with magical fire when it hits or runs over them), but he becomes less effective as he's somewhat fragile without the bonuses from it.

Besides that however, the best fluff and crunch army for him is a full chariot charge anyways with him at the front. Screaming Skull Catapults are also advised, as they are Settra's main method of dealing with uppity <strike>boneheads</strike> Tomb Kings who think they don't have to salute when he passes or jump when he commands.

==Total War: Warhammer II==
[[File:OkQNjvO - Imgur.jpg|thumb|right|400px|"No Kneeling"]]
In Total War Warhammer II, the Tomb Kings have returned as DLC, though appear on both campaigns whether you buy it or not. Even better, Settra returned with his shiny chariot of the gods. He is the Tomb Kings faction leader who this time planning to put the kibosh on Nagash's return. Rather than bother with the Vortex, he's hunting the Nine Books of Nagash. Several quotes in-game reflect the fact that he DOES NOT SERVE.

In a hilarious turn of events, and a deviation from the game's lore, if the Tomb King's win it's revealed that the priest who narrates to the player is Thutep, Nagash's younger brother. After being sealed into a tomb to die (and appearing as a ghost to tell off Nagash), Thutep gets his body back and somehow becomes a Lich Priest. The funny part is that in this scenario, the Black Pyramid is under Settra's control, who puts it under Thutep's control, once again putting Nagash under his brother.

==Fan Tributes==
"''Good morning. In less than an hour, Entombed Necropolis Knights from here will join others from around Nehekhara. And you will be launching the largest ground battle in the history of the Old World.''
''Tomb Kings. Those words should have new meaning for all of us today.''
''We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore.''
''We will be united in our common interests.''

''Perhaps it's fate that today is my birthday, as it is every day, and you will once again be fighting for my crown, not from tyranny, oppression, or that bastard Phar, but from annihilation.''
''We're fighting for our right to unlive, to exist.''
''And should we win the day, my birthday will no longer be known as a Nehekharan holiday, but as the day when the master race declared in one voice:''
''We will not go quietly into the night!''
''We will not vanish without a fight!''
''We're going to unlive on!''
''We're going to survive!''
''Today, we celebrate our Imperishable Day!''"

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Settra_WAU4.jpg|The original artwork for Settra.
Image:Setty's original model.jpg|Settra's first model. Note the crown and weapon.

Image:Settra Model.png|Settra's new model. The hardest thing about painting it is resisting the urge to kiss his tiny feet long enough for the paint to dry.
Image:Settra Chariot.jpg|Settra riding his pimped out chariot.
Image:Settra V Nagash Dawn of Boner.jpg|Settra popping wheelies around Nagash's broke bus-riding ass.
File:Settra's return.png|"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBAmLm_jYyY| As the gods are my witnesses, I'll never serve]."
File:Settra Titles.jpg|Settra's achievement list.

</gallery>

{{Tomb Kings}}
[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]

Paladin

2021-07-11T08:53:07Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D59E:DFF5:7DF1:633A: /* 5th Edition */

[[Image:Colbert paladin.jpg|thumb|The typical Paladin, note the colors, and the symbol of the eagle, an important core of their faith]]

'''Paladins''' are a class from [[D&D|Dungeons and Dragons]], inspired by a mixture of the idealistic views of the Crusades in late 70s/early 80s Western culture (never forget, [[Gary Gygax]] was a devout Jehova's witness) and the "Knight in Shining Armor" archetype of Chivalric Romances and the Arthurian Mythos. They are divine warriors of a somewhat more martial bent than [[Cleric]]s, receiving a variety of powers generally focused around smiting the enemies of their god, and tend to have high Charisma scores to fuel their holy powers. Many a fictitious maiden that hasn't been seduced by the party's [[bard]] has benefited from a Paladin's Laying On of Hands. (Purely to heal their injuries, you understand. Unless they're into that sort of thing, of course. Not every god demands chastity of their warriors, after all.)

In addition to consistently being little different from a cleric/fighter multiclass character, they have earned a rather unfair reputation as a "troublemaker" class in D&D circles, the kind of class that must be watched because [[That Guy]] tends to be drawn to them. Rather like the [[Xaositect]] or the [[Kender]]... except, of course, the Paladin actually has numerous saving graces, so it has earned defenders, unlike either of the aforementioned troublemakers.

The cause? Simple: in the 1st through 3rd editions of the game, due to their "holy knight" origins, Paladins were game-mandated to uphold a Lawful Good alignment (which makes no sense, since any god would have use for paladins, not just LG ones). If they failed, they lost the bulk of their special abilities, leaving them as at-best a sub-par version of the [[Fighter]] until and unless they either Atoned - a process that could be very painful and often railroady - or changed classes entirely.

Now, this wouldn't be so bad in and of itself - alignment restrictions are hardly unique in any of those editions, even if most of them moved to much broader requirements under 3e and Pathfinder. However, for some reason, Paladins just seem to bring out [[That Guy]] in [[DM]]s. Why? Nobody really knows. The most logical reasons are a three-part combination; the "Fall from Grace" angle is a pretty well-worn story-angle, especially for more lackluster DMs, it makes a handy hook for railroading the party on, and most importantly of all: "Old School DMing". See, back in OD&D's day, D&D hadn't come far from its wargame roots, and so there was still a pretty strong "competitive" mindset in the culture. DM vs. Players was very common, if not the norm, with players trying to get all the loot and power they wanted and DMs trying to stop them. Thusly, the Paladin's "you must do what the DM thinks is Lawful Good behavior or lose all your power" ruleset was a built-in weakness. Of course, none of these may be true; some DM's are simply put, for the lack of a better word, little Cartmans who want "their authoritah to be respected", and likes to abuse and make people squirm because their lives were miserable.

This magnet for "moral dilemmas" and similar bullshit was bad enough, but on top of that, you had players who overplayed themselves, often for sheer fear that if they ''didn't'' act [[Lawful Stupid]], the DM would strip them of their power. And whereas the "I drop my pants and piss on the King!" Chaotic Neutral, the "of course I steal from the party too!" klepto-[[Rogue]] or the fireball-happy [[Wizard]] were purely a player using fluff to be a dick, in this case, the Paladin had actual mechanical enforcement to make it ''be'' a dick.

And from these roots, their reputation grew.

Eventually, after two decades of it, WoTC made the decision to try and fix this undeserved reputation - first by dropping the alignment restriction requirement entirely in 4e, and then switching from the annoyingly vague and open to interpretation "Must be Lawful Good" to "must follow this specific oath, which requires you to do X, Y and Z" in 5e. Although this has been met with the usual amount of [[rage]] and [[skub]], and hasn't completely shaken off the stigma yet, it has opened up the Paladin and attracted a lot more players than it's ever enjoyed before.

==Dragonladieshere and Beldak_Serpenthelm tell it like it is==
[[File:Doing it Wrong.jpg|250px|right|thumb|We said SLAY the dragon, not LAY the dragon!]]
<blockquote>
''There is none of that, "Oh well if you're truly sorry, there's nothing I can do." horseshit. No, he coup de graces your ass because he's a goddamn paladin. His job is killing evil. You know what his job doesn't entail? Being a sympathetic ear for every whiny NE or CN or LE douchebag who's only being evil because the world is unfair to him or every punk that lets his own dislikes or laziness overcome his own personality. You know what unfair is? Being able to know what kind of person everyone is before you even talk to them. Smelling evil so potent on a motherfucker that you want to sink your fingers in his chest and pull that tar out until the screaming stops. Having the psychotic urge to murder people that you've never even met, for the sole reason that your God decided that you ought to be his right hand without your choice in the matter, that's unfair.

''But unlike Evil McBlacknails over there, that Paladin puts on his helmet, sharpens his sword, and then continues walking through crowds of people day by day, resisting the urge. Seeing evidence of injustice so black it makes him sick. Seeing murderers and rapists walk the street, watching good men hang as evil ones pull the lever. Saving his righteous violence for when the situation exactly, specifically, precisely calls for it. Surgically removing that which is most evil. Because he's a Paladin. And if he gave in to the urge, what would he be? Who will right the true wrongs if not he? It's not about not falling as a Paladin. It's about falling so fucking hard you crash through the planet and stand up on the other side.'  - '''Dragonladieshere'''
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
''Some of the misconceptions that I am aware of some people having are: self-righteously throws fights by using the word "dirty" to refer to "realistic fighting", doesn't care about murderous tyrants as long as they gave themselves legal permission, believes that strategic retreats are always "cowardly", doesn't believe in letting the other people fight when "talking" would be more "right" in a "fighting" game."
 
''Counter: A paladin’s code of honor is not about throwing fights; it’s about not starting them. If someone is as evil and dangerous as you think they are, then they will have no problem throwing the first blow, and if they do not do so, then perhaps they are not as dangerous as you think. How many have been killed in fights that they picked with somebody whom they FALSELY believed would’ve attacked them first, but who in fact had no intention of doing so until he himself was attacked and had to defend himself? And yet, how many people have killed in self-defense in the same circumstance, when they in fact could’ve simply incapacitated their attacker and learned that his only real crime was stupidity?''
 
''More importantly, a paladin learns to pick her battles, but BEFORE the battle actually starts. If you attack something that you know to be dangerous, and then run off without planning to finish the job, then you have put others in danger by angering the enemy you attacked and encouraging him to lash out. If you plan to help people by deposing a tyrant, and you don’t bother gathering enough allies to ensure that you actually defeat him when you engage him, then the tyrant needs to know that when – not if – he defeats you, his quarrel with you will be finished, and he needs not burn entire villages to the ground looking for where you fled to and who helped you. If he was not the kind of ruler who would do that after a half-assed assassination attempt, then you would not have needed to depose him in the first place, and thus, if you are stupid enough not to bring enough allies to ABSOLUTELY guarantee victory, then you would need him to know that you acted alone and never had a chance worth him getting worried about after you are dead.'  - '''Beldak_Serpenthelm'''
</blockquote>

For a player who understands what a paladin is like, see also [[Powder Keg of Justice]].

==Paladins in different editions of D&D==
{{dnd-stub}}

===BECMI===
Introduced in the Companons Set for [[Dungeons & Dragons]], the Paladin in this iteration of D&D is a kind of proto-prestige class. A [[Fighter]] with a Lawful alignment who reaches 9th level can choose to swear fealty to a Lawful church to be inducted into their order. This causes them to gain certain abilities as if they were a [[Cleric]] of much lower level, namely casting clerical magic and turning undead, as well as an innate ability to detect evil. Their only restrictions are that they must obey their churchly superiors (unless commanded to do evil), and they must offer what assistance they can to non-evil people in need of help, unless already on a mission for a higher authority.

This same edition introduced the [[Avenger]] as the Chaotic counterpart to the Paladin, essential a proto-[[Blackguard]].

===AD&D 1st Edition===
[[Alignment|Lawful Good]]. If you fuck up at being Lawful Good, you're busted down to Fighter at the same level, and your church shuns you. The controversial [[Unearthed Arcana]] book adds the chance to play Paladin-[[Cavalier]]s, who are incredibly ridiculous in power level (can stay conscious and retreat at negative hit points, can boost Str, Con, Dex, and Cha a little bit each level up, immunity to fear, etc).

Only humans can become Paladins in this edition.

===AD&D 2nd Edition===
A sub-class of Warrior, 2e Paladins are notable primarily by their potential to use Holy Avenger swords, which inflict an additional +10 damage versus Chaotic Evil foes (which is a lot for 2e), and create a circle of power that is a selective antimagic field versus lower level magical effects (so all enemy buffs and enemy magic items created by a level 12 wizard power down when a level 13 paladin walks up). The Paladin's [[kits]] have their own brands of notoriety. Most notably, the [[Cavalier]] kit recreates about half of the abilities they used to have for a Paladin; in fact, the 3e Paladin actually takes its Fear Immunity trait from this kit, rather than the core AD&D Paladin. Meanwhile, the Inquisitor was probably pound-for-pound the best anti-mage fighter in the game, with a redonkulous amount of Dispel Magic spells per day so potent [[Monte Cook]] ''still'' has bitch-fits at the thought of adapting the Inquisitor to 3.X. A straight Paladin probably does not have a good chance of being worthwhile compared to a fighter if they cannot expect to find their holy sword, however.

As in 1e, Paladin is ''the'' most racially restricted class, only being open to humans, for the most part. However, certain other races were also able to become Paladins:
* [[Rakasta]] could be Paladins in Basic, but in AD&D, only the Sibasta strain from Dragon #247 retained this trait.
* [[Lupin]]s could be Paladins in Basic, and the Maremma, Golden Retriever, Zvornikian Sentinel strains and "Mongrel" breeds from Dragon #237 were Paladin-capable for AD&D.
* [[Saurial]]s of the Finhead strain had a special "pseudo-paladin" [[fighter]] [[kits|kit]] available to them, called the Saurial Paladin.
* [[Aasimar]] could become straight-up paladins, as you'd expect given they are the children of [[angel]]s.
* [[Bariaur]] males could become paladins since their introduction in the [[Planescape]] campaign setting - surprisingly, given the race's association with the Chaotic side of the [[Upper Planes]].
* Earth [[Genasi]], at the DM's discretion, could be paladins - ironically, they could reach 15th level, whilst the aasimar could only reach level 14!
* [[Irda]] could be Paladins when they came out in AD&D.
* Black [[Swanmay]]s (Dragon #266) can be Paladins, Clerics or Crusaders, whilst the White Swanmays can only be Druids or Rangers.
* Daergar, Hylar and Theiwar dwarves could be Paladins in the Dragonlance Monstrous Compendium.
* Silvanesti elves could be Paladins in the Tales of the Lance boxed set and in the Dragonlance Monstrous Compendium.
* Dargonesti and Dimernesti sea elves could be Paladins in the Dragonlance Monstrous Compendium.

===3rd Edition===
[[Alignment|Lawful Good]], with an explicit Code of Conduct, in exchange gains a number of immunities to various status effects, their famous ability to Smite Evil, and the service of an intelligent and useful mount. Splatbooks introduced various alternative-alignment variants. The first and most well-known is the Blackguard prestige class from the DMG, which could be any flavor of evil and could gain additional abilities for every level of Paladin that the player had prior to becoming a Blackguard. Later, [[Complete Divine]] introduced the Holy Liberator prestige class as a Chaotic Good version of a Paladin. There are also options to make the Paladin more cleric-like in Dungeonscape, or completely remove spells such as in Complete Warrior.

3rd Edition Paladins are [[Tier System|tier 4]]: Good (but not amazing) at destroying evil creatures, competent at diplomacy and good at pretty much nothing else. They also suffer from a severe case of [[MAD]], relying on Strength and Constitution to be decent in combat, and Wisdom and Charisma for spellcasting.

===D20 Modern===
[[Urban Arcana]] adds the (Un)Holy Knight prestige class which requires one have Good or Evil allegiance. As a prestige class, it's fairly late to qualify for (8 BAB in a system where full BAB is rare) but it packs the main Paladin abilities into five levels. Since it gives Divine Grace at first level, it's a good way to finish off a Sorcerer or Telepath build and is still solid for any combat brute.

===Pathfinder===
[[File:Seelah.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Seelah, Pathfinder's Iconic Paladin/Champion]]
[[Pathfinder]] made a number of mechanical improvements (''beefy'' ones, Pathfinder paladins are ''badass''), but mostly left them alone conceptually. Now they cast spells off charisma rather than wisdom ([[MAD|and praise Saerenrae for that]]. One unusual consequence of this is that thanks to high natural will save and adding charisma to all saves, Paladins are now free to [[Stupid Good|dump wisdom]] as low as it can go.), and their Smites, on top of granting better defensive and offensive bonuses, ''keep Smiting'' until they either Smite something else or the Smitee is dead. (Sure, it can ''theoretically'' run out in twenty-four hours, but almost nothing suffering from a Smite is going to live that long). The Code of Conduct was also softened a little to allow paladins to more easily be team players and not 100% stick-in-the-mud party cops. One problem, if you can call it that, is that the paladin is ''too'' specialized (even with Pathfinder's improvements he still won't break tier 4): If the DM keeps throwing evil outsiders or undead into the campaign as [[BBEG]]s a modestly-well-prepared paladin will be able tear through them like a holy-powered buzzsaw without a lot of effort, since he deals better "burst" damage than almost any of them and has great saves and immunity to shit like ''mummy rot'', so he won't be afraid to charge in and [[rip and tear]] when another class would be adverse to taking risks around one. If the final boss keeps getting one-shotted by a well-timed Smite Evil ''litany of righteousness'' power attack/deadly aim combo, it may very well be time to invest in "moral complexity." (Read: throw some constructs or wild animals at him.). Despite this the Paladin still struggles to be worthwhile outside his niche. A major reason for this is that Paladins have only 2+int skill points per level, being the only player class in the system aside from Fighter to have only 2 skill points without getting at least 6th level spells. Their class list is at least much better than the Fighter’s, and they do have some spellcasting and healing for out of combat utility.

Thanks to their variety of class abilities that can be traded away, a Paladin has some of the most varied archetypes in the game, second only to [[Monk]]. These range from simple (Divine Hunter, which trades melee abilities for ranged ones) to "free planar ally and more casting" (Sacred Servant, which can shoot a Paladin up to tier 2 if they worship a deity that gives a good planar allies and tier 3 even if they give something lame like elementals).

===Pathfinder 2nd Edition===
[[Pathfinder Second Edition]] decided to drastically change the class, with the least of these being its name: Yes, the Paladin is now called the '''''Champion'''''. This along with the option for any good alignment (evil later featured in Advanced player's guide and neutral is TBD) rather than the explicit Always Lawful Good nonsense. The limited spellcasting has also been condensed into Focus Casting (meaning you have spells that you cast using limited points, but you recover them with a 10 minute rest). Smite has been removed and replaced with a counter-attack based on the Champion's specific alignment (Either a flat counter-attack while protecting an ally, force the enemy to choose between dealing no damage or dealing less damage and being weakened, or giving an ally a chance to break free of a restraining condition and escaping with protection. The evil versions spin on this by making it revenge whenever the champion takes damage, either forcing them to kneel lest they take mental damage, extra damage resistance or taking bonus damage that's reflected onto the enemy). Like the 1E Paladin, you also get a Divine Bond, though you also have the option to use it on a shield (to make it capable of absorbing more damage than normal) instead of a weapon or summoning a steed.

All in all, the Champion focuses on being a defender/striker (depending on alignment) and supporter type, with spells being a minor feature that's not quite as hamstringing thanks to how Focus Points and how some feats grant more of them (Especially when taking from a Cleric Domain) and how the class itself is practically divorced from needing any spellcasting stat.

===4th Edition===
In 4th Edition, the paladin must be the same alignment as their deity; no more [[Lawful Stupid]] out of fear of falling. The slightest deviation from one's alignment no longer results in a DM bitchslap and losing class features; instead, you get vague threats that the other faithful of the paladin's religion will seek you out to administer chastisement for your failings. You would ''think'' that since this removes one of the oldest mechanical complaints about the class, fans would be happy, but "Paladins must be Lawful Good!" is such a sacred cow that people were bitching over its loss even as they bemoan the Lawful Stupid Paladins and Orc Baby Dilemmas of old editions. Because of this beloved sacred cow, /tg/ likes to joke that this applies literally, making a [[meme]] out of 4e-paladins taking no falling damage.

As they were mechanically slotted to the role of Divine Defender, Paladin abilities are more focused on being a meat-shield than being a holy avenger; for more smite-evil action, you want the [[Avenger]] class from Player's Handbook 2. What this enabled, though, was the ability to focus your paladin into two different styles: either the full Str-meathead attacking tank pally and the Cha-based casting-and-curing paladin. Regardless of which path you picked, Paladins have two features by default: Divine Challenge (Your alignment-neutral Smite Evil that now forces an enemy to fight you or suffer damage that scaled by tier) and Channel Divinity (Your 1/fight special powers weren't part of your leveling scheme that you only get more of by getting feats). There is ultimately one way paladins can differentiate yourself, and it was only realized with the advent of the ''Divine Power'' [[splatbook]]:
* '''Lay on Hands''': That old staple that the PHB held onto. You spend one of your Healing Surges to heal an ally as if they spent it.
* '''Ardent Vow''': A damage-focused power that dealt extra damage the next time a paladin hit the designated enemy as well as designating them to the newly-made Divine Sanction (A challenge-lite that also hurt an enemy when they don't target a paladin but has far less restrictions on usage).
* '''Virtue's Touch''': Not quite as strong as Lay on Hands, but this allowed a paladin to cure various conditions they might run into.

The ''Essentials'' books later gave the Paladin two variant classes: The Cavalier (a very simplified paladin that pretty much exemplified the stereotypical "Essentials Class") and the [[Blackguard]] (A sort of bizarro-paladin that went more offensive and gained powers from their vices without becoming completely evil).

===5th Edition===
Mechanically speaking, 5th ed paladins have a few minor differences; their "detect evil" is now 1+Cha mod uses per day, and can no longer be used on the same turn as a smite because move actions no longer exist. Additionally, it has changed from detecting alignment to detecting Celestials, Fiends, and Undead, as well as if areas have been consecrated or desecrated, meaning that the paladin can now be caught by surprise by mundane evil (Which makes sense, since Alignment is now strictly for roleplaying purposes, and has little to no mechanical backing). Smiting now uses spell slots, with higher spell slots dealing more damage. They also get different types of Smite spells as they level up, with additional effects. And their "lay on hands" power taps into a reservoir of hitpoints-per-day that expands with each level, rather than healing for a fixed value a fixed number of times per day, and, taking a page from ''Pathfinder'', removes diseases and poisons. This new setup sacrifices raw healing power for flexibility of use to let them fill in a different niche from, say, a Life domain [[Cleric]].

Really got the shaft, like the [[ranger| other half-caster this edition]], with [[Fail|"dead levels"]] where they literally gain nothing but hitpoints, proficiency, and a single spell slot, are heavily-reliant on a ''very'' limited resource pool that only ever recharges on a long rest, and generally suffer, like the [[bard]] of previous editions, from being not quite good enough at any one thing to outshine the specialists, but at least, unlike the ranger, they have ''some'' abilities that scale naturally with their level, and they get a better version of the ranger's third-level Nature Sense power at level one, that ''also'' doesn't eat a spell slot to use. [[Troll| And ''their'' animal companion is summoned via a re-castable spell rather than an archetype feature, so they don't have to spend their own actions getting the damn thing to move and attack]].

However. The best Paladin in 5th edition is not actually a paladin, but a Hexblade, Sorcerer, or Bard with some levels of Paladin. Because spell failure is no longer a thing, a Paladin who soon multiclasses into a normally squishy arcane caster class will still be rocking heavy armor and a shield. To start with, a single level dip into Warlock lets the Paladin pick the Hexblade feature, making her melee attack and damage scale off of charisma rather than strength or dexterity. This has the tremendous benefit of making them highly single-attribute dependent as they literally cut people in half with their sexiness-boosted melee attacks. Levels of Bard and Sorcerer, apart from the obvious benefit of giving the Paladin access to powerful charisma-based arcane spells, increase their smiting ability much faster than actual Paladin levels... meaning a "Paladin" who has six levels in Paladin and eight in Sorcerer is going to be laying sown hugely damaging smites all day long. While giving the party huge boosts to saving throws. And they can use sorcery points to supercharge their spells while also having massive single-damage melee capability.

In 5th Edition, paladins no longer must adhere to any alignment (though the fluff still talks like they're all Lawful Good and are effective against fiends and undead regardless of alignment). However, when they reach 3rd level they swear their Paladin Oath, which gives him a code of conduct for him to follow. Also, since paladins have their codes of conduct clearly stated in the PH, rather than leaving it up to the nebulous personal decisions of a DM as to what actually ''constitutes'' "Lawful Good" and its required behavior, it's a lot harder for DMs to force a paladin to fall on grey area moralities. A paladin that breaks his oath must seek atonement and absolution. An unrepentant paladin, a paladin who abandons their quest for justice, or a paladin whose repeated oathbreaking demonstrates an unwillingness to follow their chosen path may become an Oathbreaker (see [[Blackguard]]).

If you want to add more complexity to the Paladin Oath, maybe because you want to push it more towards the flavor of the elder editions, the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide gives an example of "general oaths" for Paladins. No mechanical crunch is enforced, so you don't have to uphold everything, but they offer great examples for more ways of fleshing out paladins in your setting, with tenets like "be honest and keep promises" or "be generous and tolerant".

There are three oaths in the corebook: the Oaths of Devotion, the Ancients, and Vengeance, each of which requires behaving a specific way and which gives specific powers.

* '''Oath of Devotion''' is the closest to the iconic Paladin archetype. This Oath requires you uphold the principles of Honesty (don't lie or cheat, let your word be your promise), Courage ("Never fear to act, though caution is wise" in the book proper, which basically means "don't be a coward, but don't be [[Leeroy Jenkins]]ing dat shit either"), Compassion (Aid others, protect the weak and punish those who threaten them, show mercy to your foes but temper mercy with wisdom), Honor (treat others fairly, do as much good as possible with as little harm as possible, be an example to others) and Duty (be responsible for your actions and their consequences, protect those entrusted to your care, obey those who have '''just''' authority over you, so you don't have to [[Lawful Stupid| obey the local tyrant because s/he is technically the ruler now]]).
:In exchange for all that, you get iconic Paladin type spells like protection from evil, lesser restoration, beacon of hope, etc, the Sacred Weapon (you can charge up a weapon to become a glowing magical weapon) and Turn the Unholy (make undead and fiends flee from you) uses of Channel Divinity, the Aura of Devotion feature (immunity to charm and give this to close-by allies), the Purity of Spirit feature (constant Protection From Evil on self) and the Holy Nimbus (create an aura of radiant damage-dealing, fiend & undead spell-weakening light once per day).
* '''Oath of the Ancients''' is a bit of an oddity, and possibly owes its origins to the [[Warden]] of 4th edition. Basically, this is a paladin who sides with the light due to their appreciation for beautiful, life-giving things of the world, making them allies of more benevolent druids, wilderness fae like [[dryad]]s and nature deities, in theory. In reality, this is a class people take because it has by the far the best defensive aura in the game, halving the damage from all spells taken by allies in their aura. Between passively boosting saves and passively cutting incoming spell damage in half, Ancients Paladins are one of the most potent anti-magic classes in the game. An Ancients Paladin with levels in Bard for counterspell purposes will make your DM cry any time he tries to throw casters at your party.
:They're frankly kind of hippyish, with the tenets of "Kindle the Light" (promote hope in others with mercy, kindness and forgiveness), "Shelter the Light" (protect beauty, love, good and laughter), "Preserve Your Own Light" (try to avoid turning into a bitter cuss) and "Be the Light" (serve as an example of why hope and joy are important to believe in).
:If you take this Oath, you get druidic spells like ensnaring strike, speak with animals, moonbeam and tree stride. Your Channel Divinity can be used to create entangling vines with Nature's Wrath, or to Turn the Faithless and so repel fiends and fey. Your Aura of Warding grants you and nearby allies resistance to damaging spells. Undying Sentinel lets you cheat death once per day and makes you immune to aging. Finally, the Elder Champion is a nature spirit-like form you can assume once per day for a number of benefits, including regeneration and more potent paladin spells.
* '''Oath of Vengeance''' is similar to the Grey Guard of 3rd edition, and probably best fits characterization like [[Batman]] or [[Judge Dredd]]. It's all about punishing the wicked and the sanctity of vengeance. Of course, you don't have to portray this guy as a total asshole - in fact, the 3rd edition [[Greyhawk]] Knights of the Chase are pretty applicable examples for a Vengeance Paladin.
:The tenets of this creed are "Fight the Greater Evil" (basically, measure the evil you see vs. the evil your sworn enemy would do; if the guy you really have a hate-on for is less of a threat, then focus on stopping this douchebag first, otherwise focus on your sworn enemy), "No Mercy for the Wicked" (you can spare lesser foes, but sworn enemies need to die or otherwise be punished), "By Any Means Necessary", and "Restitution" (it's your fault that your enemies hurt people, so you have the responsibility of helping those that they hurt).
:A Vengeance Paladin's spells, as you might expect, focus on impeding the ability of enemies to escape and enhancing the paladin's ability to go after them - hold person, dimension door, scrying, etc. They can Channel Divinity to Abjure Enemy (frighten an enemy so bad they can't move) or declare a Vow of Enmity (make it easier to kick that creature's ass), gain the Relentless Avenger feature (free move if you score an attack of opportunity), gain the Soul of Vengeance feature (Vow of Enmity lets you get free attacks if the target tries attacking), and culminate with the Avenging Angel feature (transform into an angelic form once per day).
* '''Oath of the Crown''' essentially more fully embraces the [[knight]] archetype of the Paladin's history, with the paladin's devotion being given specifically to society and the laws that built it up from the wilderness. You could alternatively flavor it as a hyper-patriotic (or nationalistic, depending on alignment) character like Stephen Colbert in the picture up top.
:This is a breed of paladin that focuses more on Law than on Good, with its tenets being Law (respect the law and hold it paramount), Loyalty (your word is your bond), Courage (do what needs to be done for the sake of order, no matter the odds) and Responsibility (the shit you do is all on you, so keep that in mind - also, you have duties & obligations, so you better damn will fill them). This means that Crown Paladins are the most likely archetype to fall back into the [[Lawful Stupid]] behavior feared and condemned of old, but they can also be sources of old-school Lawful douchebag character themes (i.e. "you lie, cheat and steal; you are scum and I must punish you!") and arrogant prick character themes (e.g. hating [[druid]]s, [[barbarian]]s, and nature [[cleric]]s for being primitives that don't appreciate the value of civilization).
:Because the Crown Paladin's focus is on the sanctity of law and society, with the specific ideology that the paladin is an Agent of Authority, their spells all fit into that theme, from the likes of zone of truth to outright mind-control spells like command and geas. They can use their Channel Divinity to issue a Champion Challenge (compel a creature to try and fight you) or to Turn the Tide (mass heal for allies). Divine Allegiance lets them soak up hits for nearby allies, Unyielding Spirit makes them harder to paralyze or stun, and their Exalted Champion feature means that, for an hour once per day, they can gain damage resistance vs. mundane weapons and grant advantage on death saving throws and Wisdom saving throws to themselves and allies.
:A comment on using Crown Paladins in homemade worlds in the back of the SCAG admits their magical powers don't quite mesh with the knightly archetype, but notes they make excellent examples of theocratic knightly orders - or even mystic ones, if one simply changes their flavor from "divine" to "arcane".
* '''Oath of Conquest''' is at best a fairly [[Lawful Stupid]] themed Oath and at worst goes all the way to Lawful Evil levels of tyranny; it dictates that its adherents should Douse The Flame Of Hope (use fear to intimidate defeated foes so badly they will never dare oppose you again), Rule With An Iron Fist (brook no dissent from those you have conquered) and to hold Strength Above All (what goes around comes around; if you can't beat someone, then either get stronger or be crushed in turn- there's no place for weakness in this Oath).
:Because Conquest Paladins are often allied to arch-devils, their bonus spells have a fairly [[Warlock]]ish feel to them, with spells like Armor of Agathys, Hold Person and Bestow Curse. Their Channel Divinity can be used to deliver a Conquering Strike (inflict fear with your weapon attack) or Guided Strike (big bonus to your To Hit roll), they exude an Aura of Conquest (disadvantage on saves vs. fear) at 7th level, they gain immunity to charming from their Implacable Spirit at 15th level, and at 20th level they become the Invincible Conqueror. This lets them buff themselves up for 1 minute once per day, during which time they Resist all damage, gain a bonus attack each turn, and deal critical hits on a 19-20 when making melee attacks.
* '''Oath of Redemption''', in stark contrast to the Oath of Conquest, is an oath dedicated to personal redemption for past misdeeds, using combat as a last resort. Of course, some morons might see this as an excuse to be [[That Guy]] and try to not help their allies in combat. However, the subclass is very good for support. They have shielding abilities and have an emphasis on rebuking those who attack first.

* '''Oath of Glory''', first printed in ''Mythic Odysseys of Theros'' and later reprinted in ''Tasha's Cauldron of Everything'', focuses on emulating legendary semi-divine heroes, such as Gilgamesh, Hercules, and Achilles. Its tenants are '''Actions Over Words''' (gain renown by actually ''doing'' awesome things, not just boasting), '''Challenges Are But Tests''' (don't get discouraged by hardship), '''Hone the Body''' (be swole), and '''Discipline the Soul''' (work to overcome your flaws).
:Oath of Glory paladins get spells related to buffing themselves and others, like ''Heroism'', ''Enhance Ability'', and ''Haste'', with a few 'ask the gods for help' spells thrown in. Their Channel Divinity can make them a Peerless Athlete (you're extra swole for a while) or deliver an Inspiring Smite (heals allies after you hit an enemy really hard). At 7th level, they gain an Aura of Alacrity, which increases the speed of anyone in its area of effect. At 15th level, they can mount a Glorious Defense, which makes an enemy attack more likely to miss, and allows the paladin to counter-attack if that happens. At level 20, they become a Living Legend, allowing them to draw upon the stories told about them to buff themselves, granting them boosts to charisma checks and saving throws, plus allowing them to hit an attack they would have missed.
* '''Oath of the Watchers''' is Men In Black Paladin or maybe [[HFY]] Paladin sworn to protect mortal realm from extraplanar beings - this includes the obvious culprits like fiends, aberrations, genies, slaadi and elementals, as well as less malicious types, such as fey and celestials. Because they're dicks to mortals too, using us as pawns in their games. Their oath requires them to be vigilant to the point of paranoia and beyond and put the interest of mortals above all.
:Watchers get a set of spells best suited for locating, protecting from and BTFOing outsiders back to their planes, can turn all kinds of extrapanar creatures like priests turn undead, or give their allies advantages for most common saving throws used by outsiders. Their aura gives bonus initiative which is always nice, they can retaliate with force damage when someone casts spells around them and as a capstone get to channel the power of HFY to get truesight, advantage on attacks against outsiders, banishing them on a successful hit.

Also, got several new fighting styles with the new Expanded Class Features UA, namely a sweet new fighting style to let them poach two cleric cantrips for a ranged combat option and some extra utility, as well as the fighting styles everyone else got, namely 1)Blind fighting, which lets you effectively fight a creature you can't see as long as it's not hidden from you; 2)Interception, which works like the protection fighting style except that it a] reduces damage by 1d10 plus your proficiency bonus instead of imposing disadvantage, and b] works with either a shield ''or'' a weapon instead of just a shield; 3)Thrown weapon fighting, which lets you draw a thrown weapon as part of the attack you make with the weapon, and grants you a +1 to the damage roll; and 4)unarmed fighting, which changes your fists to 1d6 plus strength (1d8 if both your hands are free) instead of the flat 1 plus strength, although <s>[[What| it isn't clear if divine smite even works on your fists]]</s> [[FAIL| it has been stated that RAI you can't smite enemies using your fists]]; RAW however smite merely requires you to make a attack in melee with something other than spells so it works.

==See Also==
*[[Story:Holy Opposites|Holy Opposites]], a lengthy novel about two Paladins.
*[[Sameo]], a short story about a Paladin who dies awesomely.
*[[Lawful stupid]], a particularly annoying way to play a Paladin.
*[[Space Marines]], who are like [[grimdark]] Paladins '''[[Warhammer 40,000 | IIIIN SPAAAACE]]'''.
*[[Grey Knights]], who are like the above, but even more so.
*[[Detect Evil]], about a common problem with that spell/ability.
*[[Detect Evil Storytime]], a short story about what Detect Evil feels like to the Paladin.
*[[Powder Keg of Justice]], a short story about a Paladin who explains why his order has so many rules.
*[[The Orc Baby Dilemma]], a topic of much debate amongst /tg/ regarding how a paladin falls
*[[Gideon Jura]] and [[Elspeth Tirel]], [[Magic the Gathering]] characters based on the paladin archetype with [[skub|varying degrees of success]]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Cleveandsmiteevil.jpg|No John, you are the smiteings
Image:Paladin_x_Giant.png|Detect and smite paladin hard at work.
Image:Paladin_button.png|PRO DM SKILLZ
Image:Paladins.jpg|Intelligence and wisdom are sadly frequent [[Dump Stat|dump stats]] for Paladins.
Image:Miko_ready_to_smite.png|Nothing says "fallen paladin" like smiting your teammates. Though murdering her boss was what actually did the trick.
File:Paladin demo.jpg|Evildoers, prepare your anus. [[Order of the Stick|That eighteen charisma is ''crazy'' "under the hood."]]
</gallery>

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Paladin

2021-07-11T08:51:27Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D59E:DFF5:7DF1:633A: /* 5th Edition */

[[Image:Colbert paladin.jpg|thumb|The typical Paladin, note the colors, and the symbol of the eagle, an important core of their faith]]

'''Paladins''' are a class from [[D&D|Dungeons and Dragons]], inspired by a mixture of the idealistic views of the Crusades in late 70s/early 80s Western culture (never forget, [[Gary Gygax]] was a devout Jehova's witness) and the "Knight in Shining Armor" archetype of Chivalric Romances and the Arthurian Mythos. They are divine warriors of a somewhat more martial bent than [[Cleric]]s, receiving a variety of powers generally focused around smiting the enemies of their god, and tend to have high Charisma scores to fuel their holy powers. Many a fictitious maiden that hasn't been seduced by the party's [[bard]] has benefited from a Paladin's Laying On of Hands. (Purely to heal their injuries, you understand. Unless they're into that sort of thing, of course. Not every god demands chastity of their warriors, after all.)

In addition to consistently being little different from a cleric/fighter multiclass character, they have earned a rather unfair reputation as a "troublemaker" class in D&D circles, the kind of class that must be watched because [[That Guy]] tends to be drawn to them. Rather like the [[Xaositect]] or the [[Kender]]... except, of course, the Paladin actually has numerous saving graces, so it has earned defenders, unlike either of the aforementioned troublemakers.

The cause? Simple: in the 1st through 3rd editions of the game, due to their "holy knight" origins, Paladins were game-mandated to uphold a Lawful Good alignment (which makes no sense, since any god would have use for paladins, not just LG ones). If they failed, they lost the bulk of their special abilities, leaving them as at-best a sub-par version of the [[Fighter]] until and unless they either Atoned - a process that could be very painful and often railroady - or changed classes entirely.

Now, this wouldn't be so bad in and of itself - alignment restrictions are hardly unique in any of those editions, even if most of them moved to much broader requirements under 3e and Pathfinder. However, for some reason, Paladins just seem to bring out [[That Guy]] in [[DM]]s. Why? Nobody really knows. The most logical reasons are a three-part combination; the "Fall from Grace" angle is a pretty well-worn story-angle, especially for more lackluster DMs, it makes a handy hook for railroading the party on, and most importantly of all: "Old School DMing". See, back in OD&D's day, D&D hadn't come far from its wargame roots, and so there was still a pretty strong "competitive" mindset in the culture. DM vs. Players was very common, if not the norm, with players trying to get all the loot and power they wanted and DMs trying to stop them. Thusly, the Paladin's "you must do what the DM thinks is Lawful Good behavior or lose all your power" ruleset was a built-in weakness. Of course, none of these may be true; some DM's are simply put, for the lack of a better word, little Cartmans who want "their authoritah to be respected", and likes to abuse and make people squirm because their lives were miserable.

This magnet for "moral dilemmas" and similar bullshit was bad enough, but on top of that, you had players who overplayed themselves, often for sheer fear that if they ''didn't'' act [[Lawful Stupid]], the DM would strip them of their power. And whereas the "I drop my pants and piss on the King!" Chaotic Neutral, the "of course I steal from the party too!" klepto-[[Rogue]] or the fireball-happy [[Wizard]] were purely a player using fluff to be a dick, in this case, the Paladin had actual mechanical enforcement to make it ''be'' a dick.

And from these roots, their reputation grew.

Eventually, after two decades of it, WoTC made the decision to try and fix this undeserved reputation - first by dropping the alignment restriction requirement entirely in 4e, and then switching from the annoyingly vague and open to interpretation "Must be Lawful Good" to "must follow this specific oath, which requires you to do X, Y and Z" in 5e. Although this has been met with the usual amount of [[rage]] and [[skub]], and hasn't completely shaken off the stigma yet, it has opened up the Paladin and attracted a lot more players than it's ever enjoyed before.

==Dragonladieshere and Beldak_Serpenthelm tell it like it is==
[[File:Doing it Wrong.jpg|250px|right|thumb|We said SLAY the dragon, not LAY the dragon!]]
<blockquote>
''There is none of that, "Oh well if you're truly sorry, there's nothing I can do." horseshit. No, he coup de graces your ass because he's a goddamn paladin. His job is killing evil. You know what his job doesn't entail? Being a sympathetic ear for every whiny NE or CN or LE douchebag who's only being evil because the world is unfair to him or every punk that lets his own dislikes or laziness overcome his own personality. You know what unfair is? Being able to know what kind of person everyone is before you even talk to them. Smelling evil so potent on a motherfucker that you want to sink your fingers in his chest and pull that tar out until the screaming stops. Having the psychotic urge to murder people that you've never even met, for the sole reason that your God decided that you ought to be his right hand without your choice in the matter, that's unfair.

''But unlike Evil McBlacknails over there, that Paladin puts on his helmet, sharpens his sword, and then continues walking through crowds of people day by day, resisting the urge. Seeing evidence of injustice so black it makes him sick. Seeing murderers and rapists walk the street, watching good men hang as evil ones pull the lever. Saving his righteous violence for when the situation exactly, specifically, precisely calls for it. Surgically removing that which is most evil. Because he's a Paladin. And if he gave in to the urge, what would he be? Who will right the true wrongs if not he? It's not about not falling as a Paladin. It's about falling so fucking hard you crash through the planet and stand up on the other side.'  - '''Dragonladieshere'''
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
''Some of the misconceptions that I am aware of some people having are: self-righteously throws fights by using the word "dirty" to refer to "realistic fighting", doesn't care about murderous tyrants as long as they gave themselves legal permission, believes that strategic retreats are always "cowardly", doesn't believe in letting the other people fight when "talking" would be more "right" in a "fighting" game."
 
''Counter: A paladin’s code of honor is not about throwing fights; it’s about not starting them. If someone is as evil and dangerous as you think they are, then they will have no problem throwing the first blow, and if they do not do so, then perhaps they are not as dangerous as you think. How many have been killed in fights that they picked with somebody whom they FALSELY believed would’ve attacked them first, but who in fact had no intention of doing so until he himself was attacked and had to defend himself? And yet, how many people have killed in self-defense in the same circumstance, when they in fact could’ve simply incapacitated their attacker and learned that his only real crime was stupidity?''
 
''More importantly, a paladin learns to pick her battles, but BEFORE the battle actually starts. If you attack something that you know to be dangerous, and then run off without planning to finish the job, then you have put others in danger by angering the enemy you attacked and encouraging him to lash out. If you plan to help people by deposing a tyrant, and you don’t bother gathering enough allies to ensure that you actually defeat him when you engage him, then the tyrant needs to know that when – not if – he defeats you, his quarrel with you will be finished, and he needs not burn entire villages to the ground looking for where you fled to and who helped you. If he was not the kind of ruler who would do that after a half-assed assassination attempt, then you would not have needed to depose him in the first place, and thus, if you are stupid enough not to bring enough allies to ABSOLUTELY guarantee victory, then you would need him to know that you acted alone and never had a chance worth him getting worried about after you are dead.'  - '''Beldak_Serpenthelm'''
</blockquote>

For a player who understands what a paladin is like, see also [[Powder Keg of Justice]].

==Paladins in different editions of D&D==
{{dnd-stub}}

===BECMI===
Introduced in the Companons Set for [[Dungeons & Dragons]], the Paladin in this iteration of D&D is a kind of proto-prestige class. A [[Fighter]] with a Lawful alignment who reaches 9th level can choose to swear fealty to a Lawful church to be inducted into their order. This causes them to gain certain abilities as if they were a [[Cleric]] of much lower level, namely casting clerical magic and turning undead, as well as an innate ability to detect evil. Their only restrictions are that they must obey their churchly superiors (unless commanded to do evil), and they must offer what assistance they can to non-evil people in need of help, unless already on a mission for a higher authority.

This same edition introduced the [[Avenger]] as the Chaotic counterpart to the Paladin, essential a proto-[[Blackguard]].

===AD&D 1st Edition===
[[Alignment|Lawful Good]]. If you fuck up at being Lawful Good, you're busted down to Fighter at the same level, and your church shuns you. The controversial [[Unearthed Arcana]] book adds the chance to play Paladin-[[Cavalier]]s, who are incredibly ridiculous in power level (can stay conscious and retreat at negative hit points, can boost Str, Con, Dex, and Cha a little bit each level up, immunity to fear, etc).

Only humans can become Paladins in this edition.

===AD&D 2nd Edition===
A sub-class of Warrior, 2e Paladins are notable primarily by their potential to use Holy Avenger swords, which inflict an additional +10 damage versus Chaotic Evil foes (which is a lot for 2e), and create a circle of power that is a selective antimagic field versus lower level magical effects (so all enemy buffs and enemy magic items created by a level 12 wizard power down when a level 13 paladin walks up). The Paladin's [[kits]] have their own brands of notoriety. Most notably, the [[Cavalier]] kit recreates about half of the abilities they used to have for a Paladin; in fact, the 3e Paladin actually takes its Fear Immunity trait from this kit, rather than the core AD&D Paladin. Meanwhile, the Inquisitor was probably pound-for-pound the best anti-mage fighter in the game, with a redonkulous amount of Dispel Magic spells per day so potent [[Monte Cook]] ''still'' has bitch-fits at the thought of adapting the Inquisitor to 3.X. A straight Paladin probably does not have a good chance of being worthwhile compared to a fighter if they cannot expect to find their holy sword, however.

As in 1e, Paladin is ''the'' most racially restricted class, only being open to humans, for the most part. However, certain other races were also able to become Paladins:
* [[Rakasta]] could be Paladins in Basic, but in AD&D, only the Sibasta strain from Dragon #247 retained this trait.
* [[Lupin]]s could be Paladins in Basic, and the Maremma, Golden Retriever, Zvornikian Sentinel strains and "Mongrel" breeds from Dragon #237 were Paladin-capable for AD&D.
* [[Saurial]]s of the Finhead strain had a special "pseudo-paladin" [[fighter]] [[kits|kit]] available to them, called the Saurial Paladin.
* [[Aasimar]] could become straight-up paladins, as you'd expect given they are the children of [[angel]]s.
* [[Bariaur]] males could become paladins since their introduction in the [[Planescape]] campaign setting - surprisingly, given the race's association with the Chaotic side of the [[Upper Planes]].
* Earth [[Genasi]], at the DM's discretion, could be paladins - ironically, they could reach 15th level, whilst the aasimar could only reach level 14!
* [[Irda]] could be Paladins when they came out in AD&D.
* Black [[Swanmay]]s (Dragon #266) can be Paladins, Clerics or Crusaders, whilst the White Swanmays can only be Druids or Rangers.
* Daergar, Hylar and Theiwar dwarves could be Paladins in the Dragonlance Monstrous Compendium.
* Silvanesti elves could be Paladins in the Tales of the Lance boxed set and in the Dragonlance Monstrous Compendium.
* Dargonesti and Dimernesti sea elves could be Paladins in the Dragonlance Monstrous Compendium.

===3rd Edition===
[[Alignment|Lawful Good]], with an explicit Code of Conduct, in exchange gains a number of immunities to various status effects, their famous ability to Smite Evil, and the service of an intelligent and useful mount. Splatbooks introduced various alternative-alignment variants. The first and most well-known is the Blackguard prestige class from the DMG, which could be any flavor of evil and could gain additional abilities for every level of Paladin that the player had prior to becoming a Blackguard. Later, [[Complete Divine]] introduced the Holy Liberator prestige class as a Chaotic Good version of a Paladin. There are also options to make the Paladin more cleric-like in Dungeonscape, or completely remove spells such as in Complete Warrior.

3rd Edition Paladins are [[Tier System|tier 4]]: Good (but not amazing) at destroying evil creatures, competent at diplomacy and good at pretty much nothing else. They also suffer from a severe case of [[MAD]], relying on Strength and Constitution to be decent in combat, and Wisdom and Charisma for spellcasting.

===D20 Modern===
[[Urban Arcana]] adds the (Un)Holy Knight prestige class which requires one have Good or Evil allegiance. As a prestige class, it's fairly late to qualify for (8 BAB in a system where full BAB is rare) but it packs the main Paladin abilities into five levels. Since it gives Divine Grace at first level, it's a good way to finish off a Sorcerer or Telepath build and is still solid for any combat brute.

===Pathfinder===
[[File:Seelah.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Seelah, Pathfinder's Iconic Paladin/Champion]]
[[Pathfinder]] made a number of mechanical improvements (''beefy'' ones, Pathfinder paladins are ''badass''), but mostly left them alone conceptually. Now they cast spells off charisma rather than wisdom ([[MAD|and praise Saerenrae for that]]. One unusual consequence of this is that thanks to high natural will save and adding charisma to all saves, Paladins are now free to [[Stupid Good|dump wisdom]] as low as it can go.), and their Smites, on top of granting better defensive and offensive bonuses, ''keep Smiting'' until they either Smite something else or the Smitee is dead. (Sure, it can ''theoretically'' run out in twenty-four hours, but almost nothing suffering from a Smite is going to live that long). The Code of Conduct was also softened a little to allow paladins to more easily be team players and not 100% stick-in-the-mud party cops. One problem, if you can call it that, is that the paladin is ''too'' specialized (even with Pathfinder's improvements he still won't break tier 4): If the DM keeps throwing evil outsiders or undead into the campaign as [[BBEG]]s a modestly-well-prepared paladin will be able tear through them like a holy-powered buzzsaw without a lot of effort, since he deals better "burst" damage than almost any of them and has great saves and immunity to shit like ''mummy rot'', so he won't be afraid to charge in and [[rip and tear]] when another class would be adverse to taking risks around one. If the final boss keeps getting one-shotted by a well-timed Smite Evil ''litany of righteousness'' power attack/deadly aim combo, it may very well be time to invest in "moral complexity." (Read: throw some constructs or wild animals at him.). Despite this the Paladin still struggles to be worthwhile outside his niche. A major reason for this is that Paladins have only 2+int skill points per level, being the only player class in the system aside from Fighter to have only 2 skill points without getting at least 6th level spells. Their class list is at least much better than the Fighter’s, and they do have some spellcasting and healing for out of combat utility.

Thanks to their variety of class abilities that can be traded away, a Paladin has some of the most varied archetypes in the game, second only to [[Monk]]. These range from simple (Divine Hunter, which trades melee abilities for ranged ones) to "free planar ally and more casting" (Sacred Servant, which can shoot a Paladin up to tier 2 if they worship a deity that gives a good planar allies and tier 3 even if they give something lame like elementals).

===Pathfinder 2nd Edition===
[[Pathfinder Second Edition]] decided to drastically change the class, with the least of these being its name: Yes, the Paladin is now called the '''''Champion'''''. This along with the option for any good alignment (evil later featured in Advanced player's guide and neutral is TBD) rather than the explicit Always Lawful Good nonsense. The limited spellcasting has also been condensed into Focus Casting (meaning you have spells that you cast using limited points, but you recover them with a 10 minute rest). Smite has been removed and replaced with a counter-attack based on the Champion's specific alignment (Either a flat counter-attack while protecting an ally, force the enemy to choose between dealing no damage or dealing less damage and being weakened, or giving an ally a chance to break free of a restraining condition and escaping with protection. The evil versions spin on this by making it revenge whenever the champion takes damage, either forcing them to kneel lest they take mental damage, extra damage resistance or taking bonus damage that's reflected onto the enemy). Like the 1E Paladin, you also get a Divine Bond, though you also have the option to use it on a shield (to make it capable of absorbing more damage than normal) instead of a weapon or summoning a steed.

All in all, the Champion focuses on being a defender/striker (depending on alignment) and supporter type, with spells being a minor feature that's not quite as hamstringing thanks to how Focus Points and how some feats grant more of them (Especially when taking from a Cleric Domain) and how the class itself is practically divorced from needing any spellcasting stat.

===4th Edition===
In 4th Edition, the paladin must be the same alignment as their deity; no more [[Lawful Stupid]] out of fear of falling. The slightest deviation from one's alignment no longer results in a DM bitchslap and losing class features; instead, you get vague threats that the other faithful of the paladin's religion will seek you out to administer chastisement for your failings. You would ''think'' that since this removes one of the oldest mechanical complaints about the class, fans would be happy, but "Paladins must be Lawful Good!" is such a sacred cow that people were bitching over its loss even as they bemoan the Lawful Stupid Paladins and Orc Baby Dilemmas of old editions. Because of this beloved sacred cow, /tg/ likes to joke that this applies literally, making a [[meme]] out of 4e-paladins taking no falling damage.

As they were mechanically slotted to the role of Divine Defender, Paladin abilities are more focused on being a meat-shield than being a holy avenger; for more smite-evil action, you want the [[Avenger]] class from Player's Handbook 2. What this enabled, though, was the ability to focus your paladin into two different styles: either the full Str-meathead attacking tank pally and the Cha-based casting-and-curing paladin. Regardless of which path you picked, Paladins have two features by default: Divine Challenge (Your alignment-neutral Smite Evil that now forces an enemy to fight you or suffer damage that scaled by tier) and Channel Divinity (Your 1/fight special powers weren't part of your leveling scheme that you only get more of by getting feats). There is ultimately one way paladins can differentiate yourself, and it was only realized with the advent of the ''Divine Power'' [[splatbook]]:
* '''Lay on Hands''': That old staple that the PHB held onto. You spend one of your Healing Surges to heal an ally as if they spent it.
* '''Ardent Vow''': A damage-focused power that dealt extra damage the next time a paladin hit the designated enemy as well as designating them to the newly-made Divine Sanction (A challenge-lite that also hurt an enemy when they don't target a paladin but has far less restrictions on usage).
* '''Virtue's Touch''': Not quite as strong as Lay on Hands, but this allowed a paladin to cure various conditions they might run into.

The ''Essentials'' books later gave the Paladin two variant classes: The Cavalier (a very simplified paladin that pretty much exemplified the stereotypical "Essentials Class") and the [[Blackguard]] (A sort of bizarro-paladin that went more offensive and gained powers from their vices without becoming completely evil).

===5th Edition===
Mechanically speaking, 5th ed paladins have a few minor differences; their "detect evil" is now 1+Cha mod uses per day, and can no longer be used on the same turn as a smite because move actions no longer exist. Additionally, it has changed from detecting alignment to detecting Celestials, Fiends, and Undead, as well as if areas have been consecrated or desecrated, meaning that the paladin can now be caught by surprise by mundane evil (Which makes sense, since Alignment is now strictly for roleplaying purposes, and has little to no mechanical backing). Smiting now uses spell slots, with higher spell slots dealing more damage. They also get different types of Smite spells as they level up, with additional effects. And their "lay on hands" power taps into a reservoir of hitpoints-per-day that expands with each level, rather than healing for a fixed value a fixed number of times per day, and, taking a page from ''Pathfinder'', removes diseases and poisons. This new setup sacrifices raw healing power for flexibility of use to let them fill in a different niche from, say, a Life domain [[Cleric]].

Really got the shaft, like the [[ranger| other half-caster this edition]], with [[Fail|"dead levels"]] where they literally gain nothing but hitpoints, proficiency, and a single spell slot, are heavily-reliant on a ''very'' limited resource pool that only ever recharges on a long rest, and generally suffer, like the [[bard]] of previous editions, from being not quite good enough at any one thing to outshine the specialists, but at least, unlike the ranger, they have ''some'' abilities that scale naturally with their level, and they get a better version of the ranger's third-level Nature Sense power at level one, that ''also'' doesn't eat a spell slot to use. [[Troll| And ''their'' animal companion is summoned via a re-castable spell rather than an archetype feature, so they don't have to spend their own actions getting the damn thing to move and attack]].

However. The best Paladin in 5th edition is not actually a paladin, but a Hexblade, Sorcerer, or Bard with some levels of Paladin. Because spell failure is no longer a thing, a Paladin who soon multiclasses into a normally squishy arcane caster class will still be rocking heavy armor and a shield. To start with, a single level dip into Warlock lets the Paladin pick the Hexblade feature, making her melee attack and damage scale off of charisma rather than strength or dexterity. This has the tremendous benefit of making them highly single-attribute dependent as they literally cut people in half with their sexiness-boosted melee attacks. Levels of Bard and Sorcerer, apart from the obvious benefit of giving the Paladin access to powerful charisma-based arcane spells, increase their smiting ability much faster than actual Paladin levels... meaning a "Paladin" who has six levels in Paladin and eight in Sorcerer is going to be laying sown hugely damaging smites all day long. While giving the party huge boosts to saving throws. And they can use sorcery points to supercharge their spells while also having massive single-damage melee capability.

In 5th Edition, paladins no longer must adhere to any alignment (though the fluff still talks like they're all Lawful Good and are effective against fiends and undead regardless of alignment). However, when they reach 3rd level they swear their Paladin Oath, which gives him a code of conduct for him to follow. Also, since paladins have their codes of conduct clearly stated in the PH, rather than leaving it up to the nebulous personal decisions of a DM as to what actually ''constitutes'' "Lawful Good" and its required behavior, it's a lot harder for DMs to force a paladin to fall on grey area moralities. A paladin that breaks his oath must seek atonement and absolution. An unrepentant paladin, a paladin who abandons their quest for justice, or a paladin whose repeated oathbreaking demonstrates an unwillingness to follow their chosen path may become an Oathbreaker (see [[Blackguard]]).

If you want to add more complexity to the Paladin Oath, maybe because you want to push it more towards the flavor of the elder editions, the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide gives an example of "general oaths" for Paladins. No mechanical crunch is enforced, so you don't have to uphold everything, but they offer great examples for more ways of fleshing out paladins in your setting, with tenets like "be honest and keep promises" or "be generous and tolerant".

There are three oaths in the corebook: the Oaths of Devotion, the Ancients, and Vengeance, each of which requires behaving a specific way and which gives specific powers.

* '''Oath of Devotion''' is the closest to the iconic Paladin archetype. This Oath requires you uphold the principles of Honesty (don't lie or cheat, let your word be your promise), Courage ("Never fear to act, though caution is wise" in the book proper, which basically means "don't be a coward, but don't be [[Leeroy Jenkins]]ing dat shit either"), Compassion (Aid others, protect the weak and punish those who threaten them, show mercy to your foes but temper mercy with wisdom), Honor (treat others fairly, do as much good as possible with as little harm as possible, be an example to others) and Duty (be responsible for your actions and their consequences, protect those entrusted to your care, obey those who have '''just''' authority over you, so you don't have to [[Lawful Stupid| obey the local tyrant because s/he is technically the ruler now]]).
:In exchange for all that, you get iconic Paladin type spells like protection from evil, lesser restoration, beacon of hope, etc, the Sacred Weapon (you can charge up a weapon to become a glowing magical weapon) and Turn the Unholy (make undead and fiends flee from you) uses of Channel Divinity, the Aura of Devotion feature (immunity to charm and give this to close-by allies), the Purity of Spirit feature (constant Protection From Evil on self) and the Holy Nimbus (create an aura of radiant damage-dealing, fiend & undead spell-weakening light once per day).
* '''Oath of the Ancients''' is a bit of an oddity, and possibly owes its origins to the [[Warden]] of 4th edition. Basically, this is a paladin who sides with the light due to their appreciation for beautiful, life-giving things of the world, making them allies of more benevolent druids, wilderness fae like [[dryad]]s and nature deities. In theory. In reality, this is a class people take because it has by the far the best defensive aura in the game, halving the damage from all spells taken by allies in their aura. Between passively boosting saves and passively cutting incoming spell damage in half, Ancients Paladins are one of the most potent anti-magic classes in the game. An Ancients Paladin with levels in Bard for counterspell purposes will make your DM cry any time he tries to throw casters at your party.
:They're frankly kind of hippyish, with the tenets of "Kindle the Light" (promote hope in others with mercy, kindness and forgiveness), "Shelter the Light" (protect beauty, love, good and laughter), "Preserve Your Own Light" (try to avoid turning into a bitter cuss) and "Be the Light" (serve as an example of why hope and joy are important to believe in).
:If you take this Oath, you get druidic spells like ensnaring strike, speak with animals, moonbeam and tree stride. Your Channel Divinity can be used to create entangling vines with Nature's Wrath, or to Turn the Faithless and so repel fiends and fey. Your Aura of Warding grants you and nearby allies resistance to damaging spells. Undying Sentinel lets you cheat death once per day and makes you immune to aging. Finally, the Elder Champion is a nature spirit-like form you can assume once per day for a number of benefits, including regeneration and more potent paladin spells.
* '''Oath of Vengeance''' is similar to the Grey Guard of 3rd edition, and probably best fits characterization like [[Batman]] or [[Judge Dredd]]. It's all about punishing the wicked and the sanctity of vengeance. Of course, you don't have to portray this guy as a total asshole - in fact, the 3rd edition [[Greyhawk]] Knights of the Chase are pretty applicable examples for a Vengeance Paladin.
:The tenets of this creed are "Fight the Greater Evil" (basically, measure the evil you see vs. the evil your sworn enemy would do; if the guy you really have a hate-on for is less of a threat, then focus on stopping this douchebag first, otherwise focus on your sworn enemy), "No Mercy for the Wicked" (you can spare lesser foes, but sworn enemies need to die or otherwise be punished), "By Any Means Necessary", and "Restitution" (it's your fault that your enemies hurt people, so you have the responsibility of helping those that they hurt).
:A Vengeance Paladin's spells, as you might expect, focus on impeding the ability of enemies to escape and enhancing the paladin's ability to go after them - hold person, dimension door, scrying, etc. They can Channel Divinity to Abjure Enemy (frighten an enemy so bad they can't move) or declare a Vow of Enmity (make it easier to kick that creature's ass), gain the Relentless Avenger feature (free move if you score an attack of opportunity), gain the Soul of Vengeance feature (Vow of Enmity lets you get free attacks if the target tries attacking), and culminate with the Avenging Angel feature (transform into an angelic form once per day).
* '''Oath of the Crown''' essentially more fully embraces the [[knight]] archetype of the Paladin's history, with the paladin's devotion being given specifically to society and the laws that built it up from the wilderness. You could alternatively flavor it as a hyper-patriotic (or nationalistic, depending on alignment) character like Stephen Colbert in the picture up top.
:This is a breed of paladin that focuses more on Law than on Good, with its tenets being Law (respect the law and hold it paramount), Loyalty (your word is your bond), Courage (do what needs to be done for the sake of order, no matter the odds) and Responsibility (the shit you do is all on you, so keep that in mind - also, you have duties & obligations, so you better damn will fill them). This means that Crown Paladins are the most likely archetype to fall back into the [[Lawful Stupid]] behavior feared and condemned of old, but they can also be sources of old-school Lawful douchebag character themes (i.e. "you lie, cheat and steal; you are scum and I must punish you!") and arrogant prick character themes (e.g. hating [[druid]]s, [[barbarian]]s, and nature [[cleric]]s for being primitives that don't appreciate the value of civilization).
:Because the Crown Paladin's focus is on the sanctity of law and society, with the specific ideology that the paladin is an Agent of Authority, their spells all fit into that theme, from the likes of zone of truth to outright mind-control spells like command and geas. They can use their Channel Divinity to issue a Champion Challenge (compel a creature to try and fight you) or to Turn the Tide (mass heal for allies). Divine Allegiance lets them soak up hits for nearby allies, Unyielding Spirit makes them harder to paralyze or stun, and their Exalted Champion feature means that, for an hour once per day, they can gain damage resistance vs. mundane weapons and grant advantage on death saving throws and Wisdom saving throws to themselves and allies.
:A comment on using Crown Paladins in homemade worlds in the back of the SCAG admits their magical powers don't quite mesh with the knightly archetype, but notes they make excellent examples of theocratic knightly orders - or even mystic ones, if one simply changes their flavor from "divine" to "arcane".
* '''Oath of Conquest''' is at best a fairly [[Lawful Stupid]] themed Oath and at worst goes all the way to Lawful Evil levels of tyranny; it dictates that its adherents should Douse The Flame Of Hope (use fear to intimidate defeated foes so badly they will never dare oppose you again), Rule With An Iron Fist (brook no dissent from those you have conquered) and to hold Strength Above All (what goes around comes around; if you can't beat someone, then either get stronger or be crushed in turn- there's no place for weakness in this Oath).
:Because Conquest Paladins are often allied to arch-devils, their bonus spells have a fairly [[Warlock]]ish feel to them, with spells like Armor of Agathys, Hold Person and Bestow Curse. Their Channel Divinity can be used to deliver a Conquering Strike (inflict fear with your weapon attack) or Guided Strike (big bonus to your To Hit roll), they exude an Aura of Conquest (disadvantage on saves vs. fear) at 7th level, they gain immunity to charming from their Implacable Spirit at 15th level, and at 20th level they become the Invincible Conqueror. This lets them buff themselves up for 1 minute once per day, during which time they Resist all damage, gain a bonus attack each turn, and deal critical hits on a 19-20 when making melee attacks.
* '''Oath of Redemption''', in stark contrast to the Oath of Conquest, is an oath dedicated to personal redemption for past misdeeds, using combat as a last resort. Of course, some morons might see this as an excuse to be [[That Guy]] and try to not help their allies in combat. However, the subclass is very good for support. They have shielding abilities and have an emphasis on rebuking those who attack first.

* '''Oath of Glory''', first printed in ''Mythic Odysseys of Theros'' and later reprinted in ''Tasha's Cauldron of Everything'', focuses on emulating legendary semi-divine heroes, such as Gilgamesh, Hercules, and Achilles. Its tenants are '''Actions Over Words''' (gain renown by actually ''doing'' awesome things, not just boasting), '''Challenges Are But Tests''' (don't get discouraged by hardship), '''Hone the Body''' (be swole), and '''Discipline the Soul''' (work to overcome your flaws).
:Oath of Glory paladins get spells related to buffing themselves and others, like ''Heroism'', ''Enhance Ability'', and ''Haste'', with a few 'ask the gods for help' spells thrown in. Their Channel Divinity can make them a Peerless Athlete (you're extra swole for a while) or deliver an Inspiring Smite (heals allies after you hit an enemy really hard). At 7th level, they gain an Aura of Alacrity, which increases the speed of anyone in its area of effect. At 15th level, they can mount a Glorious Defense, which makes an enemy attack more likely to miss, and allows the paladin to counter-attack if that happens. At level 20, they become a Living Legend, allowing them to draw upon the stories told about them to buff themselves, granting them boosts to charisma checks and saving throws, plus allowing them to hit an attack they would have missed.
* '''Oath of the Watchers''' is Men In Black Paladin or maybe [[HFY]] Paladin sworn to protect mortal realm from extraplanar beings - this includes the obvious culprits like fiends, aberrations, genies, slaadi and elementals, as well as less malicious types, such as fey and celestials. Because they're dicks to mortals too, using us as pawns in their games. Their oath requires them to be vigilant to the point of paranoia and beyond and put the interest of mortals above all.
:Watchers get a set of spells best suited for locating, protecting from and BTFOing outsiders back to their planes, can turn all kinds of extrapanar creatures like priests turn undead, or give their allies advantages for most common saving throws used by outsiders. Their aura gives bonus initiative which is always nice, they can retaliate with force damage when someone casts spells around them and as a capstone get to channel the power of HFY to get truesight, advantage on attacks against outsiders, banishing them on a successful hit.

Also, got several new fighting styles with the new Expanded Class Features UA, namely a sweet new fighting style to let them poach two cleric cantrips for a ranged combat option and some extra utility, as well as the fighting styles everyone else got, namely 1)Blind fighting, which lets you effectively fight a creature you can't see as long as it's not hidden from you; 2)Interception, which works like the protection fighting style except that it a] reduces damage by 1d10 plus your proficiency bonus instead of imposing disadvantage, and b] works with either a shield ''or'' a weapon instead of just a shield; 3)Thrown weapon fighting, which lets you draw a thrown weapon as part of the attack you make with the weapon, and grants you a +1 to the damage roll; and 4)unarmed fighting, which changes your fists to 1d6 plus strength (1d8 if both your hands are free) instead of the flat 1 plus strength, although <s>[[What| it isn't clear if divine smite even works on your fists]]</s> [[FAIL| it has been stated that RAI you can't smite enemies using your fists]]; RAW however smite merely requires you to make a attack in melee with something other than spells so it works.

==See Also==
*[[Story:Holy Opposites|Holy Opposites]], a lengthy novel about two Paladins.
*[[Sameo]], a short story about a Paladin who dies awesomely.
*[[Lawful stupid]], a particularly annoying way to play a Paladin.
*[[Space Marines]], who are like [[grimdark]] Paladins '''[[Warhammer 40,000 | IIIIN SPAAAACE]]'''.
*[[Grey Knights]], who are like the above, but even more so.
*[[Detect Evil]], about a common problem with that spell/ability.
*[[Detect Evil Storytime]], a short story about what Detect Evil feels like to the Paladin.
*[[Powder Keg of Justice]], a short story about a Paladin who explains why his order has so many rules.
*[[The Orc Baby Dilemma]], a topic of much debate amongst /tg/ regarding how a paladin falls
*[[Gideon Jura]] and [[Elspeth Tirel]], [[Magic the Gathering]] characters based on the paladin archetype with [[skub|varying degrees of success]]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Cleveandsmiteevil.jpg|No John, you are the smiteings
Image:Paladin_x_Giant.png|Detect and smite paladin hard at work.
Image:Paladin_button.png|PRO DM SKILLZ
Image:Paladins.jpg|Intelligence and wisdom are sadly frequent [[Dump Stat|dump stats]] for Paladins.
Image:Miko_ready_to_smite.png|Nothing says "fallen paladin" like smiting your teammates. Though murdering her boss was what actually did the trick.
File:Paladin demo.jpg|Evildoers, prepare your anus. [[Order of the Stick|That eighteen charisma is ''crazy'' "under the hood."]]
</gallery>

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Mark Hamill

2021-07-11T05:23:35Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D59E:DFF5:7DF1:633A: /* Capeshit */

{{stub}}
{{Meh}}
Mark Richard Hamill is an american actor who is known by many people for many different reasons, but his two most iconic roles are arguably [[Star Wars|Luke Skywalker]] and The Joker from Batman media. However, he is iconic for his very distinctive and skilled voice acting.

Hamill was acutely aware of the fact that he could easily be typecasted, so he worked in films besides Star Wars, though most people wouldn't know them off the top of their head. He also is a a self-described massive comic book nerd, which when you look at what he has done with his career is hardly a surprise

==In Star Wars==
Luke Skywalker: If you don't know who Luke is, where have you been the past half century.

Darth Bane: Yes. HE VOICES MOTHERFUCKING DARTH BANE. And he does a proper job of it too, though he sounds an awful lot like another [[Avatar: The Last Airbender|evil bastard he's voiced]]

==Capeshit==
Joker: The Man is synonymous with the Joker due to his amazing work in Batman The Animated Series. Most superhero fans regard him, Heath Ledger, and Joaquin Phoenix as the best of Joker acting.

Trickster: In a less iconic role, Hamil has both voiced and live action performed The Trickster in various media, with his live action appearence being in the CW's '''The Flash''' series.

He has also written comics, as if his already impressive work wasn't enough.

==Other Performances of Note==
Big Red One: A movie that follows the US army during WWII.

Fire Lord Ozai: Hot damn, Hamill really turns his evil on for this character. Everything from child abuse to mass murder is on the table in what is one of his most evil roles. He alone adds to why this show is so good.

Regular Show: He voices Skips. The character starts out interesting, but gets ruined by both dumb story writing and the overall decrease in quality in Season 8. Still, wonderful to hear him even if the role isn't the best.

Child's Play: FUCKING CHUCKY

==Wait, he did what?==
There is also stuff most people didn't know he did, but is largely unremarkable. A brief list is detailed here with some of the more interesting ones
* Clifford The Big Red Dog

* Codename Kids Next Door

* Alfred Hitchcock Presents

* General Hospital

* SWAT Kats

Mark Hamill

2021-07-11T05:21:52Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D59E:DFF5:7DF1:633A: /* Capeshit */

{{stub}}
{{Meh}}
Mark Richard Hamill is an american actor who is known by many people for many different reasons, but his two most iconic roles are arguably [[Star Wars|Luke Skywalker]] and The Joker from Batman media. However, he is iconic for his very distinctive and skilled voice acting.

Hamill was acutely aware of the fact that he could easily be typecasted, so he worked in films besides Star Wars, though most people wouldn't know them off the top of their head. He also is a a self-described massive comic book nerd, which when you look at what he has done with his career is hardly a surprise

==In Star Wars==
Luke Skywalker: If you don't know who Luke is, where have you been the past half century.

Darth Bane: Yes. HE VOICES MOTHERFUCKING DARTH BANE. And he does a proper job of it too, though he sounds an awful lot like another [[Avatar: The Last Airbender|evil bastard he's voiced]]

==Capeshit==
Joker: The Man is Synonomous with Joker due to his amazing work in Batman The Animated Series. Most superhero fans regard him, Heath Ledger, and Joaquin Phoenix as the best of Joker acting.

Trickster: In a less iconic role, Hamil has both voiced and live action performed The Trickster in various media, with his live action appearence being in the CW's '''The Flash''' series.

He has also written comics, as if his already impressive work wasn't enough.

==Other Performances of Note==
Big Red One: A movie that follows the US army during WWII.

Fire Lord Ozai: Hot damn, Hamill really turns his evil on for this character. Everything from child abuse to mass murder is on the table in what is one of his most evil roles. He alone adds to why this show is so good.

Regular Show: He voices Skips. The character starts out interesting, but gets ruined by both dumb story writing and the overall decrease in quality in Season 8. Still, wonderful to hear him even if the role isn't the best.

Child's Play: FUCKING CHUCKY

==Wait, he did what?==
There is also stuff most people didn't know he did, but is largely unremarkable. A brief list is detailed here with some of the more interesting ones
* Clifford The Big Red Dog

* Codename Kids Next Door

* Alfred Hitchcock Presents

* General Hospital

* SWAT Kats