Quote:
Originally posted by Azaghal:
Nerull, I am afraid your history is indeed a bit long ago and the subject foggy  During the crusades there were three major knights orders: The Templars, the Johannites (spelling in English?) and the Teutonic order. All were a mixture of military formations and health- and pilgrimcare organizations. But their members were NO priests of the catholic church, though they were living mostly according to certain monk rules and principles (chastity, personal poverty, obedience). Some of the members received lower sacraments, but - again - they were not ordained priests.
And the knights and soldiers of the orders were as (lat.) milites christi not subject to a bloodspilling prohibiton (as long as it was infidel's blood) according to medieval church laws. So there was no self restriction to certain weapons (Whatfor? A morning star or warhammer will make as awful a mess as a sword if used professionally).
The knights orders are actually the archetype of the paladin in fantasy games. "First on the battlefield, last to leave" was their motto and their valor, fighting skills, faith, selfrighteousness, pride and stubborness was infamous (at least later on).
There were actually other knights orders, for example during the Spanish reconquista, and though this is not my specialty, I am pretty sure they did not selfrestrict their use of weapons as well. Their principles and ideas were very much the same as in the crusades.
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Thank you for the correction! It is VERY foggy for me (I had the class back in my second semester of college, which was back in the 1980s), and we barely touched on the subject. I wanted to just post the part I remembered, knowing that someone would come along and either state I was on the right path or set me straight.
Oh, and Six, I stated that the coin and die roll method was challenging (more like crazy). Yes, you would end up with some crazy stuff going up against some of the nastiest encounters in the game, but how would your character know what he/she is going up against beforehand? Does he/she know that behind the door is Critter X, and he/she know that you would be better off with Character A in the party instead of Character B? When I suggested that, I was thinking more of Two-Face in the old Batman comics. That would be more something he would do.
I do not know about Icewind Gate having the class changes, but if it is translating over the 3rd edition rules to the engine, then more than likely it will (since the changes are an integral part of the classes in the new edition).