Crafting the Perfect 5E Replacement, Part 6

"What happens when you give a cleric a sword and shield?"

"A paladin shows up."

Into the Wild makes a few interesting design decisions, like when you pick a cleric, you get three weapons your deity approves of, and these can be edged weapons. It makes sense, and I never really got the D&D-style nonsense of clerics not using edged weapons, when some of the classic gods are shown with spears, bows, two-handed swords, and all manners of blades and piercing weapons. You mean, my goddess uses a spear, but I have to use a mace?

This has always been a strange "show mercy" holdover from a Christian tradition in D&D, but ancient religions were not always so merciful and peaceful, just ask a cleric of Ares, the god of war. Maces crush skulls and break skin easily enough, there is little difference other than a damage die limitation.

Also, you are not a half-caster, so you still function as a cleric in the party, which is nice. The whole concept of a half-caster class is lame when they can easily be variants of a stronger, more iconic role.

So, Into the Wild foregoes having a paladin class, and just lets clerics be clerics and use whatever weapons their god prefers. They are full casters, too, with no spells at first level, so the balance works out. You also get knacks at level 1, 5, 9 and 13; which can increase your hit die by a size (from a d6 to d8), give you a lay on hands ability, and offer other interesting customization options.

So you can play a "paladin" with a d8 hit die at level one, get lay on hands at level 5, and extra weapon mastery maneuvers (or leadership) at level 9. There is enough here to simulate a traditional paladin role quite nicely, and since you are the holy warrior, you can call yourself whatever you want.

You could customize this class to be more "priest like" and get extra spell slots, lay on hands, and improved turning. There is even an option to get a spell from another spell list (one per level they can cast) and slot it in as a level higher, so your fire priestess can have a fireball as a level 4 spell. this is an area I would allow training to add to, as well, to expand the character's available fire spells if they were in the domain.

Yes, you begin to overload characters if you go overboard, but as long as you are careful things will work out. Ask yourself, "Will this ruin the game?" and "Is this fair?" 

There is a lot more in the Into the Wild book than I expected, and some interesting options for characters. I like that paladins are full clerics with weapon choice, and the ability to customize the class with knacks and skills. Add a few more training options from On Downtime and Demesnes, and you start to have a system that does more customization and specialization than 5E could ever dream of.

All without having to pay people to host your characters.