“This class of character bears a certain resemblance to religious orders of knighthood of medieval times.”
Quick! What AD&D character class is that about?
Did you say “paladin?” If you did, you’re wrong. That quote is from the AD&D Player’s Handbook section about clerics.
So if the cleric is supposed to be the holy knight, imbued with miraculous powers by his faith in the god(s), then what’s the point of the paladin? The only answer I can come up with is “to let the paladin’s player annoy everyone else around the table by saying ‘I’m just playing my character.’”
As you can tell, I’m not a fan of paladins. That’s okay though, because it’s really impossible to roll one up.
How impossible? Let’s look!
(Original) Dungeons & Dragons
The paladin was not part of the 1974 rules. It was added in 1975’s Supplement I: Greyhawk. In that book, a character needed a Charisma score of 17 or better to be a paladin, which means that only 1.85% of characters–or 1 in 54–would qualify for the class.
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
In AD&D Gygax doubled down on the stupidity. In this edition not only does a character need a Charisma score of 17, they also need a Wisdom of 13+, a strength of 12+, and both Intelligence & Constitution has to be 9+.
What’s the chance of rolling those numbers? I ran a quick analysis using the Monte Carlo method, and determined that, rounded to the nearest whole number, a player has a 0% chance of legitimately rolling the needed scores. The actual chance is 0.099%, or 1 in over a thousand.
But AD&D was also a march towards munchkinism. Characters got more hit points and the Dungeon Masters Guide provided new ways to roll ability score to give players higher numbers. How do those methods skew the odds?
| DMG Method | Description | Percent | One in |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | By the book: Roll 3d6 for each attribute, in order. | 0.099% | 1:1010 |
| — | Common house rule: Roll 3d6 six times, and arrange as you like. | 1.137% | 1:88 |
| I | Roll 4d6 and discard the lowest. Do this six times, and arrange as you like. | 13.647% | 1:7 |
| II | Roll 3d6 twelve times. Keep the highest six rolls and arrange as you like. | 16.528% | 1:6 |
| III | Roll 3d6 six times and keep the highest. Do this for each attribute, in order. | 8.325% | 1:12 |
| IV | Roll 3d6 for each attribute, in order. Do this twelve times, and keep the one set of scores that you like the best. | 1.187% | 1:84 |
That’s all
I was just curious how possible it was to be a paladin, so I ran the numbers. I thought I would share them.
It amazes me how many rules are dedicated to a class that’s virtually impossible to roll up.
Haha, very interesting! I would be curious how the likelihood changes as one gains levels, to see how easy it is to switch to a paladin.
ReplyDeleteUnlike Third Edition, AD&D characters do not gain automatic attribute increases as they gain levels, so it wouldn't make it any easier (unless they found a Wish spell or something).
DeleteIt would, though, be harder. In order to switch character classes in AD&D "the character must have an ability score of 15 or more in the principal attribute(s) ability of the original class and a 17 or 18 in the principal attribute(s) of the class changed to." The principal attributes of a Paladin are Strength and Wisdom. That means a character needs STR, WIS, and CHR to all be 17 or 18.
Good luck with that! :)
Oh, I hadn't realized that! That's quite an additional hindrance, I agree!!
Delete