Editing Paladin (section)

===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.