COMMUNITY - FORUMS - GUILDS
Using Contracts for Knights/Paladins

Just a quick fridge thought I had. In traditional fantasy, a knight takes a vow. In CoE I can forsee contracts being very useful for this. In my head there are two ways to do this with distinctions for Knights and Paladins.

A knight can only be knighted by a King. And only once they're at a certain combat ability with their chosen weapon. Let's say they need to reach at least Master level. Once knighted, the king gives the knight a vow which he must uphold. A vow is special contract that only Kings and Religious heads have access to. A vow must be upheld at all times. The exact vow is made at the discretion of the King. But a potential knight can refuse this vow. As long as they are willing to deal with the concequences of defying their monarch. A knight must follow this vow and if broken, they are punished. The exact punishment is again at the discretion of the King but will most likely involve stripping of titles and assets if not execution.

A knight upon accepting their vow is given modest land, usually no more than a manor, some small farmland and a title. They can join knightly orders and share an armoury within that order. But the focus on being a knight is upholding your vow. You must be seen to be pursuing the spirit of that vow. If your vow is to uphold the kingdom and defeat it's enemies, then that is what you must do at all times. Being a Knight is a huge responsibility. It should be considered carefully by both Player and King if a Knighthood is in their best interests. It is not an "alpha class". If anything it is a hardcore mode. You are restricted from engaging in dishonest tactics, can never run from a battle or slight your king. And must hold to the code of chivalry. Even if it's a ball ache and you really want to slap around that twelve year old who just disparaged the virtue of your mother.

A Paladin works very similarly with a key difference. Whilst they take a vow, a Paladin is embued with holy power. They can only be knighted by the head of their religion and only once reaching legendary status with their chosen weapon. There can only be one Paladin per religion per server. A paladin has access to holy spells that vary depending on their religion. But will contain powerful buffs and healing magic unavailable to everyone else. A Paladin can expect youth for much longer than a common man and their live span is doubled. They are immune to poison, and do not fatigue as easily as lesser men. However A Paladin's lot is a hard one. They live for his religion and nothing else. They cannot Marry or have children. They can hold no land, nor property beyond their armour and weapons which are provided by the church. They live in poverty and humility. While their powers are great, the gods are fickle and one must tread carefully to not anger them.

A Religious head can also strip you of paladin hood even if they're not the religous head who knighted you in the first place. Political machinations can screw you over (This is tempered by only legendary warriors being allowed to be paladins). Being a Paladin makes you a constant target. A Paladin is rare, and the prestige of killing one is too hard for most to resist. Rival religous NPCs will attack you at every oportunity. And if a player kills you. They receive a phenominal amount of Story Points. If you manage to make it to the end of your life whilst still holy, your soul is touched by the gods. This is a special buff that your next subsequent character will have. The buff marks you as a decendant of a noble lineage and you will train in your previous character's favoured weapon 50% faster. However this buff is only active for that character. If they do not become a Paladin the next character you make with that soul will not have the buff.

Anyways, that's my verbal diahrea. Anyone have any thoughts?


1/19/2019 7:47:26 PM #1

The thing with the knight seems reasonable. However the plan for the paladin is probably not feasible within the game. There's no such thing as "magic" in CoE. ^^

It seems all too restrictive. I understand it should be an exclusive club but it might just be too exclusive.

Have you taken a look at the Holy Swords of the Neran yet? It is a religious knightly order that comes directly from the devs.

In real life history many of those that trained to become a knight actually refused being knighted because it was too much of a financial burden for them. Instead they remained heavy cavalry without the fancy title.

I guess I'd rather stay a spearman then. ;)

1/20/2019 12:01:02 AM #2

Many of the in-game religions do not have a single religious head, and some tribes are a-religious.

Further, a Paladin couldn't be imbued with Holy Power because supernatural phenomenon are extremely rare in Elyria. Even if you hold high religious office you really can't guarantee anyone supernatural abilities, neither could you be sure of your ability to remove them if you wanted to later on.


1/20/2019 2:51:06 AM #3

"Holy power" doesn't have to mean bright glowy magic. It can mean you are not just a warrior but a representative for a religion with mechanics to throw around to prop it up a little better. I'm just now sure how it would be done for tribes like Brudvir, Janoa, Kypiq, To'resk and Dras. But they could simply change the name in Brudvir culture from "Paladin" to "Berserker" who is imbued with the spirit of a white wolf, or something like that.


1/20/2019 8:37:07 AM #4

Posted By Turlorn at 01:17 AM - Sun Jan 20 2019

There's no such thing as "magic" in CoE. ^^

Stop spreading lies. Magic is a thing in Elyria, It will be rare. Caspian has stated this himself.


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1/20/2019 5:27:15 PM #5

Posted By Turlorn at 7:47 PM - Sat Jan 19 2019

The thing with the knight seems reasonable. However the plan for the paladin is probably not feasible within the game. There's no such thing as "magic" in CoE. ^^

It seems all too restrictive. I understand it should be an exclusive club but it might just be too exclusive.

Have you taken a look at the Holy Swords of the Neran yet? It is a religious knightly order that comes directly from the devs.

In real life history many of those that trained to become a knight actually refused being knighted because it was too much of a financial burden for them. Instead they remained heavy cavalry without the fancy title.

I guess I'd rather stay a spearman then. ;)

In my mind, Knighthood would be a reward from a King. Yes, both knighthood and paladinhood is exclusive. That's the point. It's also a massive burden. You are penalised and restricted from many things depending on your vow, your religion, and your Kingdom's culture. A Knight is someone you can absolutely trust to be a good player who can uphold the kingdom. You can trust they can take these burdens on. Doubley so for a Paladin. Being a Knight is achievable from dedicated play. Being a paladin is something that only the best can do. You can't pay for it, you have to put the time and effort in and it may just fissle out. But that can be a narrative hook for your personal story. Just because you want to be a knight doesn't mean you should just do it. But if you really want it, you can struggle through the game same as the rest of us and gain the favour of the King. Maybe that's your objective for that char.

Also in regards to "holy power" that's just a phrase I used. Holy power can mean anything, but the spirit of it is abilities the common player will not possess. Same as Religous head. It's an abstraction designed to losely fit generally over everything. I can see different religons doing different ceremonies depending on organisation. With Areligious people just not having Paladins at all due to a lack of belief. It will be up to the players to find an alternative. Bearing in mind, Paladins are so rare, (Only one per religion per server and only after reaching legendary combat skill) that one croping up is an event that can galvanise other players and religions. Causing a mad scramble for land, prestige and war. A paladin is the elite of the elite. A reward for dedication to an aspect of the game that borders on ludicrous but also rewarding the community as a whole with a cool player driven event that will change the landscape of the server.


3/15/2019 12:52:08 PM #6

Masterskill as a prerequisite is utopian.


3/15/2019 7:01:27 PM #7

Caspian mentioned on discord about religions that they will track religious devotion, but whether or not religion has any impact at all will be deliberately left ambigious.
Religion will therefore require real faith, just like in real life, it may or may not be real, and it may or may not impact your life.

Therefore, having paladins with magical powers would be way too obvious. Some very religious people may at some point get a talent because of their religion, but it won’t be anywhere near that obvious. If religion would be a free ticket to a talent everyone would be religious.

I’m sure the church will have paladins, at least some churches where it makes sense, like the neran church. But the paladins will not all have magical powers (only some might get it and not neccesarily because of the Church).


Count LizenÇace VeLeîjres of Mydra's Crossing, VII of the order of the IX.

Order of IX