I have found there to be some reactions of intrigue around here whenever I mention the “faith man” approach or archetype. I also remember there being some confusion about the identity of the Crusader in Diablo 3 which is obviously relatable to the Paladin of this game. Maybe the “faith man” is what the Paladin always was… but then we’d have to ask how the game, if at any point, properly represented this archetype. One thing that currently bothers me about the Paladin is that he interferes with my theory that the Amazon dominates in both Str and Dex between two handed spear and one handed spear mode which when considering signature weapons, it can be shown that she’s part of two primary trinities of golden oval structure in the 12 archetype circle of orientation. On my last thread, I told how to properly establish this with stat adjustments to the Barbarian and Amazon. But then this may have ended up phasing out the Paladin’s presence. So here’s my follow up solution that specifically addresses the Paladin.
The Paladin starts with just 10 of each stat across the board. Take this as that the Paladin is relying on the subtlety of faith and hope rather than raw visible substance. But of course this lack of stats has to be made up for at some point. My last post, suggesting the reduction of the Barbarian’s dex, somewhat pushed him more towards two handed and throwing weapons. Conversely for the Paladin in this case, he would be pushed even more towards using a shield if the skill Holy Shield added 1 point to all stats for every point invested with a base cap of 20 all stats.
But I think there has to be some kind of liberating compensation in this to ensure a positive step forward. Maybe when say a two handed weapon rolls with paladin skills it reduces both stat AND skill requirement by 20%. This reduction of level requirement could be a special Paladin thing. Maybe there would be an opportunity for every hero to benefit if it was always possible to roll a 3rd modifier of ease or simplicity, except it would be “of ______ AND” ease or simplicity.
I think that there is an overall statement that could be made about the Paladin and Barbarian in all of this. It’s that the Paladin should naturally lean towards shield use, but the possibility of using two handed weapons should be kept on the table. A double use between offensive and defensive auras considered if they only apply to him. And then in the same light, the Barbarian’s potential EFFECTIVE use of a shield should be kept on the table as well. But I’m not exactly sure at the moment how that would work for the Barbarian. What would be the unique “give and take” so that the Barbarian could keep effective shield use on the table?
The biggest buff for Paladin identity is to freeing right click from auras
Right click has a special mechanic for melee that auto attacks anything in its way, greatly reducing click spam and targeting
That’s what I did with my mod but without hardcoding I had to work around it and instead gave the auras to immortal minions that follow you closely, it end up being the same as regular auras but it frees up right click for active skills
This aura bearer is simply “The dark wanderer” model repurposed as “Chanting Priest”
This then unlocked special perks like being able to have multiple of them for certain scenarios
Ie: each 10 level vengeance grants +1 to maximum Chanting Priest for Holy auras. So at level 20 vengeance you can have holy fire, holy freeze and holy shock at the same time
Similar thing happens with Sacrifice which not only now add magic damage to the hit equal to life sacrificed but also does +1 maximum chanting priest for sanctuary each 20 level
Useless skills can easily be repurposed as well
Like conversion that is now just a passive that gives you a chance to convert monsters in kill, they return as Zealots
So whatever melee attack you use while having specced into conversion, you get some zealots to spawn aiding you in combat
When I came back to D2 in Remastered, I figured out a Paladin support build that made viable use of conversion and I was very satisfied so I think this skill is fine except for maybe not working with bows at least.
Before jumping to the conclusion that these paladin skills should be stacked without a “give and take”, consider that the Paladin is properly less of a mage and more of a warrior than the Barbarian is. I know that FOH, and BM are strong, but I’d like to see them more based on weapon used similar to Assassin traps. Don’t assume that I’m saying that the Assassin is more of a warrior than a mage though. The Assassin is the “Melee Mage” of the game, hence dominant energy stat.
Realize that Paladin offensive auras and even Defensive auras are not mage functioning spells. They don’t drain mana with their use for some excessive or additional output. With that said, they are also pure and absolute in their limitation of design aspect which would naturally classify them more in alignment with a Sorceress elemental mastery. This is and has always been problematic and improper game design. Paladin auras either need secondary aspects or some aspect to them that indicates they are warrior classified. For example, you could have holy freeze, fire and lightning all apply to the attacks of warriors. Of course in that case there would be no secondary aspects. I don’t think offensive auras need to add the aura itself to other warriors, just the bonus of elemental damage to their attacks. I also don’t think offensive auras should stack this elemental damage. The higher level aura should overwrite.
But with 2 handed weapons used on the Paladin, this is where I could see your aura complaint quite well as this is where I have my complaint also. It’s as if the Paladin should be able to assign an offensive aura to the left click and a defensive aura to the right click which would sacrifice his ability to attack. An easy cruise control approach. But if he switches to an attack skill from an offensive aura while using a two handed weapon then both auras should remain for either just himself or him and his mercenary. Sacrificing the AOE aura for allied heroes as he benefits specifically while using a two handed weapon.
At any rate, I think we can both earnestly criticize the fact that 1 dimensional auras of mage classification are entirely occupying and limiting a whole slot. It’s BS.
Everything you said there was total cringe. Supporting as a role is not a comparable contrast to the warrior/mage classification. The Paladin is a warrior entirely, but has a few ranged skills that are mage-like to make him a more complete hero. He has a few of these significant mage-like skills because he positions next to the Barbarian who places on the line between mage and warrior. The Amazon as the arch-warrior of the game has literally no mage-like skills at all.
Shamen/Support has nothing to do with Mage/Warrior.
You’re thinking Mage/Warrior/Rogue
And the only rogues are pure summoning or support builds. Paladin in one build, Necromancer in another, and now the Druid.
With sunder charm combos, more like general type of Sorceress to reduce the gamer experience quality of feeling special and different to be more like modern Diablo and less like classic Diablo. But of course that experience was more of a deception when there was a Tornado Druid running around in the early game ruining the sense of achievement when finding high roll ED weapons for physical damage output for the late game.
Yeah but the joke is on us because it’s pay for the original game before you play a different game and we had the option to play without pay to justify the “being taken advantage of” that we signed up for.
The best PK paladins use charge with a maul Have you taken into account that the paladin is the best character to make to wipe out entire parties and ruin their fun as they are trying to progress through the game?
Also, as much as it was implied that Sunder charms were put in the game to “make it fair” for some heroes vs others, you actually have to deeply understand the energy shield build and -damage taken goes to mana, to fully grasp the impact that the sunder had on the Sorceress. Did you know that when you have enough -damage taken goes to mana, that you actually don’t want real high elemental resist in order to achieve maximum durability with the energy shield build? What this ultimately means is that the -75 resist of your sunder isn’t even as bad as it seems. Sunders may seem like they could be intended for other heroes besides the Sorceress, but what other hero would actually take the time to kill the monsters that are primarily immune to their element? Only a hero that does massive amounts of damage can take down immunity broken monsters in a reasonable amount of time. All the Sunder charm does is benefit the Sorceress at best.
But why would they buff the already most powerful hero in the game(from teleport)? To “protect” her from being perceived as a partially completed hero that has been singled out in the “dependant” role, which comes from a term relatable trichotomy of Soloist, Support, Dependant. But as soon as they made this change it was either an admission of guilt that the Sorceress was an incomplete hero or that the role of dependency was a legitimate term to describe her situation, even though it isn’t quite that simple as each of the primary heroes in particular major and minor in a rearrangement of said trichotomy. For example, the Amazon majors as a Soloist and could or would minor as a Dependent in alternative builds, but you can’t exactly mix soloist and dependant together so dependency is omitted with this hero. The Barb majors Support and minors Soloist, and the Sorceress majors Dependant and minors Support. Just as the Barbarian had to sacrifice to bend his potential into soloing, the Sorceress pays a massive amount of mana for enchant cast, which if actually was functioning properly from the very intention behind the high cost, it would actually be a threat to her energy shield in live combat.
I found the physical sunder to be useful with my bowzon (also using atmas scarab to proc amp damage), and the magic sundie is enough for a geared hammerdin to take down wave 2.
I don’t even use the sunder on sorc unless I have infinity also.
Well i think ChatGPT needs an update then, it is in fact possible to have multiple diagnoses, besides reading through the replies in this topic i believe he is not the only troll around. I think its very possible we have ourselves a gathering
Have you taken into account that the paladin is the best character to make to wipe out entire parties and ruin their fun as they are trying to progress through the game? 
