Mace or sword for a paladin?

[Generic User]

OK so im playing an imperial crusader paladin type build with ordinator, as i wanted to do the civil war and become a "true dragonborn" but i honestly cant decide witch i want to use more, ive basically just started so i haven't really got any perks yet, though to me the mace seems more "paladin-y" but i also want to get/use dawn breaker and become, kind of like a divine crusader, the thing is with ordinator however alot if the perks for maces seem more geared towards paladin types than the sword or axe perks do, and i worry if i where to use a sword it'd feel too similar to my other spellsword build despite that the paladin has a shield and the spellsword does not, i don't know why but im really having a hard time choosing here, if anyone would like to weigh in with their thoughts/opinions id be greatly appreciative

[258789553873]

Paladins (and other 'divine warrior') characters tend to use maces. This goes back to d&d, where undead, the primary adversary of such warriors, were often immune to bladed weapons, making blunt weapons the best option.

I don't know much about ordinator, but both it and its more minimalist counter-part Vokrii differentiates the weapon types more from each other. This is because in the vanilla game, the weapon-specific perks didn't really do much of anything. For axes and swords, the bonus damage from bleed and critical hits was always based on the BASE damage of your weapon, never taking into account extra damage brought from your skills, perk points, or smithing. This meant the extra damage is negligible and hardly noticible. Maces are worse, since they lower armor by a percentage. This may look good on the surface, but few enemies in the game have an armor rating at all, and the few that do don't have that high of one. Its common for perk overhauls to fix this by changing up what the weapon-specific perks do.

For paladins, they tend to lean more towards defense than offence (mainly done to differentiate their functionality from warriors). You could choose the more defensive weapon of the two. I don't know about ordinator, but in Vokrii swords reduce the opponent's damage, while maces now reduce armor by a flat amount, meaning they cause extra damage to all opponents regardless of their armor rating. Thus, swords are the defensive option, while maces are for offense. I don't know if this mirrors how they work in ordinator though. When I go for a defensive melee build in my games, I normally go sword. Maces and axes are for damage. I tend to favor axes if I have a follower, though I'm not 100% sure if the 'extra damage' they give also benefits followers or not.

Scanning through ordinator, it would seem the weapon types have similar themes (at least, early on). Maces seem the better option if you use followers. If you don't plan to do that, you'd probably get more benefit out of a sword. For you, I would pick based on whether or not you plan to have a follower tag along. Of course, I've never played ordinator much, so I'm not that familiar with it.

Just know, whatever you pick, all the weapon types should be equally useful, unlike the vanilla game where one-handed swords trumped axes and maces, while two-handed axes trumped greatswords and warhammers. Both of these are purely do to dps. Swords swing the fastest, which means they have a dps higher than axes or maces. Two-handed axes however hit harder than greatswords, but also swing just as fast, which is why they beat greatswords in terms of dps (though it should be noted that this is fixed with the unofficial patch).

Another thing about swords, is there is this one sword in the game that's popular with paladin characters. There isn't really a mace in the game that suits a paladin sadly. The sword isn't super necessary though, and there are reasons why a paladin wouldn't use it (its more an anti-undead weapon than a holy weapon).

Again, I would go mace if you plan to use a follower, and sword if you plan to go it alone. The mace will only benefit you if you have followers, while the sword will work just as well regardless if you're alone or not. There's also a unique sword in the game that happens to be popular with paladin builds, though an argument could be made that it makes no sense for a paladin to take the weapon. Personally, I wouldn't myself.

[slayor3000]

I have always considered "Paladins" as 2-handed sword and back-up/ buff magic.

[Valden21]

The classic D&D paladin, and indeed the very concept of the paladin itself in modern culture, is based on the story of "Roland and the 12 Peers", who are basically the French equivalent of the Knights of the Round Table. Roland's signature weapon was a sword, so I would go with a sword for a paladin build. Going off the D&D concept, it's clerics that use maces, as they're limited to blunt weapons; paladins could use swords, as they're usually regarded as being akin to knights.

If you're truly dedicated to role-playing your character as a paladin, and you want the best weapon for a paladin, go with sword. The best "holy" weapon in the game is a sword, and it's great for battling undead. The best non-DLC mace in the game is most definitely unholy, including what you have to do to get it. Not a weapon for paladins.

[alexander_dougherty]

Arguements can be made for either sword or mace, in D&D clerics and paladins often use maces, because of undead being more vulnerable to bludgeoning weapons. In books however the Sword tends to take precedent over everything, that said in Forgotten realms Paladins of Tyr never use swords, at least according to the Pools of Radiance book, but other orders/religions do.

At the end of the day, as with everything else people ask, choose what you yourself want.

[voehringer_nitron]

In the Baldur's Gate games, Forgotten realms campaign setting, Ajantis (Paladin of Helm, god of guardians) uses hand-and-a-half swords, and Keldorn (Paladin of Torm, god of duty and loyalty) uses greatswords and long swords.

[Rez Elwin]

The closest thing in Elder Scrolls to a Paladin is a Knight of the Nine. I remember getting a flaming sword during the Oblivion DLC. So perhaps a flame enchanted sword would match best.

[258789553873]

Originally posted by Rez Elwin:

The closest thing in Elder Scrolls to a Paladin is a Knight of the Nine. I remember getting a flaming sword during the Oblivion DLC. So perhaps a flame enchanted sword would match best.

I've normally seen it said that the vigilants of stendarr are ES's equivalent of paladins, though they come across more like clerics. Honestly, I never saw much of a line between Paladins and Clerics. Paladins are basically just clerics with more martial abilities. I mean, in 3e you could easily have gotten something functionally equivalent by just multiclassing as a cleric-fighter. Yeah, I always thought the classes overlapped too much in WoTC's editions, and the first I ever ran into was 3e!

As for the vigilants of stendarr, believe they always use maces? Of course, they're more mages than warriors (they do use alteration spells, probably because they don't wear armor). Also, funny enough, despite hating daedra they can spawn with daedric maces once you get high enough level (the unofficial patch fixes this I think).

That said, The Elder Scrolls have never really had an equivalent to the d&d paladin. Ironnically, it was easier to make one i oblivion than in Skyrim because you could cast a spell while keeping your weapon and shield equipped (it used the same button that shouts do in Skyrim).

As for paladin builds I've seen people come up with, they tend to lean towards one-handed weapons. Swords and maces seem to be the most popular. The classic d&d paladin uses a shield, which is probably why you don't see too many people making two-handed paladins (though fudgemuppet's paladin build does use a two-handed weapon, specifically a warhammer). Of course, in Skyrim a paladin is pretty much just a standard warrior but with restoration magic and maybe enchanting (personally, I never liked my holy characters trapping souls to feed their weapon, but that's just me).

I still stand by what I said before though. Swords and maces are very different functionally in ordinator. Which you go with should be dictated by which you think will benefit your playstyle the most.

[Generic User]

Originally posted by IXBlackWolfXI:

Originally posted by Rez Elwin:

I still stand by what I said before though. Swords and maces are very different functionally in ordinator. Which you go with should be dictated by which you think will benefit your playstyle the most.

Well thats the thing tho, i am using aft with inigo and lydia plus one of my own characters (brought over with familiar faces) so an ordanator mace would be best in that respect, tho i still cant get over dawnbreaker and (for me) how cool it is, plus typically most imp soldiers would use a sword with makes it even more appealing for me

[258789553873]

Dawnbreaker is actually really bad to use if you have followers. It regularly releases a magical explosion that I think can harm followers, and possibly make them mad enough to attack you. I would advice you NOT make use of Dawnbreaker if you have followers. Other swords would be fine though.

That said, the weapon does technically come from a daedric prince, not one of the nine divines. It could be argued that a holy character would never seek nor make use of the weapon since it originates from a daedric prince, albeit one that doesn't seem all that bad. Dawnbreaker may be better suited for an undead-hunting anti-hero. If you're planning on being a member of the dawnguard, then yeah, such a weapon may make sense, but if you plan to have a character that worships the nine divines you probably shouldn't take it regardless of if you plan to join the dawnguard or not.

[Generic User]

Originally posted by IXBlackWolfXI:

Dawnbreaker is actually really bad to use if you have followers. It regularly releases a magical explosion that I think can harm followers, and possibly make them mad enough to attack you. I would advice you NOT make use of Dawnbreaker if you have followers. Other swords would be fine though.

That said, the weapon does technically come from a daedric prince, not one of the nine divines. It could be argued that a holy character would never seek nor make use of the weapon since it originates from a daedric prince, albeit one that doesn't seem all that bad. Dawnbreaker may be better suited for an undead-hunting anti-hero. If you're planning on being a member of the dawnguard, then yeah, such a weapon may make sense, but if you plan to have a character that worships the nine divines you probably shouldn't take it regardless of if you plan to join the dawnguard or not.

i appreciate this, but in all honesty im not really that much of a role player, i generally just stick to a rough idea of what i want the character to be, this character for example, his whole thing is just "is paladin" and it doesn't go much farther than that (tho sometimes ill do a backstory for them, tho it never really factors in) and besides ive gotr zimms immersive artifacts so that should make dawnbreaker at least somewhat viable

[Valden21]

Originally posted by generic user:

Originally posted by IXBlackWolfXI:

Dawnbreaker is actually really bad to use if you have followers. It regularly releases a magical explosion that I think can harm followers, and possibly make them mad enough to attack you. I would advice you NOT make use of Dawnbreaker if you have followers. Other swords would be fine though.

That said, the weapon does technically come from a daedric prince, not one of the nine divines. It could be argued that a holy character would never seek nor make use of the weapon since it originates from a daedric prince, albeit one that doesn't seem all that bad. Dawnbreaker may be better suited for an undead-hunting anti-hero. If you're planning on being a member of the dawnguard, then yeah, such a weapon may make sense, but if you plan to have a character that worships the nine divines you probably shouldn't take it regardless of if you plan to join the dawnguard or not.

i appreciate this, but in all honesty im not really that much of a role player, i generally just stick to a rough idea of what i want the character to be, this character for example, his whole thing is just "is paladin" and it doesn't go much farther than that (tho sometimes ill do a backstory for them, tho it never really factors in) and besides ive gotr zimms immersive artifacts so that should make dawnbreaker at least somewhat viable

Sounds good. Meridia and Azura are kind of strange when it comes to whether they're good or evil, because Meridia's priests work alongside Arkay's followers from time to time, and Azura has shown multiple times that she genuinely cares for her followers. I tend to think of her as the ultimate "strict, but loving" mother, and let it go at that.

[slayor3000]

Originally posted by Valden21:

Originally posted by generic user:

i appreciate this, but in all honesty im not really that much of a role player, i generally just stick to a rough idea of what i want the character to be, this character for example, his whole thing is just "is paladin" and it doesn't go much farther than that (tho sometimes ill do a backstory for them, tho it never really factors in) and besides ive gotr zimms immersive artifacts so that should make dawnbreaker at least somewhat viable

Sounds good. Meridia and Azura are kind of strange when it comes to whether they're good or evil, because Meridia's priests work alongside Arkay's followers from time to time, and Azura has shown multiple times that she genuinely cares for her followers. I tend to think of her as the ultimate "strict, but loving" mother, and let it go at that.

Totally agree, I always do Meridia and Azura quests. To me they are the "eptiomy" of what "godliness" is, even though Daedra.

[alexander_dougherty]

Originally posted by Valden21:

Originally posted by generic user:

i appreciate this, but in all honesty im not really that much of a role player, i generally just stick to a rough idea of what i want the character to be, this character for example, his whole thing is just "is paladin" and it doesn't go much farther than that (tho sometimes ill do a backstory for them, tho it never really factors in) and besides ive gotr zimms immersive artifacts so that should make dawnbreaker at least somewhat viable

Sounds good. Meridia and Azura are kind of strange when it comes to whether they're good or evil, because Meridia's priests work alongside Arkay's followers from time to time, and Azura has shown multiple times that she genuinely cares for her followers. I tend to think of her as the ultimate "strict, but loving" mother, and let it go at that.

Azura is definitely a strict but caring God, she genuinely cares about her followers.

Meridia is a callous hardline opposer of Evil, but is rather apathetic towards mortals, so long as they are Killing Evildoers in her name she is happy, but doesn't really get mortal limitations and doesn't care enough to learn them.

Both are forces of Good in the Elder Scroll universe, but I personally would rather worship Azura out of the two.

[xxx]

alexander_dougherty - just remember it was Azura that cursed the Dark Elves (turned their skin grey and make them looked ugly) and outside of Morrowind many have claimed that they saw her running around with Molag Bal.

anyway here's a video that explain her a little bit better

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epWKlXyDLxA

and a mace for paladins

[Generic User]

Originally posted by Master Mold:

alexander_dougherty - just remember it was Azura that cursed the Dark Elves (turned their skin grey and make them looked ugly) and outside of Morrowind many have claimed that they saw her running around with Molag Bal.

anyway here's a video that explain her a little bit better

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epWKlXyDLxA

and a mace for paladins

Cool cool, she is petty i think yeah, but to my knowledge she is still massively worshipped by most if not all dark elves witch certainly proves something i think