Discussion:What is a paragon?

What is a paragon?

Chainer 18:16, 14 December 2007 (MST)

Could someone explain what paragons are? Are they templates like 'vampire' or 'zombie'? Do they function like a class?

Daniel Draco 18:54, 14 December 2007 (MST)

They are a type of class introduced in Unearthed Arcana. They never impose a multiclass penalty, can be taken at any level (including first), and the only prerequisite is a specific race. They are three levels long and increase one ability score by two points at third level, with relatively minor abilities that vary from class to class at first and second levels. A character can only ever take one racial paragon class, unless of course an ability states otherwise (as in the half-elf and half-orc paragons).

Sledged-20071214185828

Sledged (talk) 2007 December 14 18:58 (MDT)

There's also the paragon creature template, which is something completely different from racial paragon classes. The paragon creature is just a template like the vampire or half-dragon.

There's no better laugh than the one that you're ashamed to share with your mother. —Stephen Notley, creator of Bob the Angry Flower A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof was to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools. —Ford Prefect in "Mostly Harmless" by Douglas Adams

Chainer 18:16, 17 December 2007 (MST)

Cool, thank you. Paragons act like classes except the ones that are templates. I think I'll just act as if they dont exist the way I do with sock gnomes.

Eiji 23:39, 19 December 2007 (MST)

WE SOCK GNOMES ARE WATCHING YOU.

You really think you can ignore us? You just wait til we... re-arrange your sock drawer! Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!

Azernath (talk) 22:45, 7 July 2016 (MDT)

What about Paragon Classes in 5e? Is there an idea on how to input them in a game?

I was thinking it would be a class you take (With certain requirements from level, class, and/or race) that would allow you to go to level 30, and it by itself has features that would go till 10 levels by itself, so you can mix a 17th level fighter with 3rd level from the paragon class and still have 10 levels to gain experience with to reach level 30.

Marasmusine (talk) 01:49, 8 July 2016 (MDT)

In 3rd edition, a paragon class represented an individual that exemplified a particular race (and in fact the dictionary definition is "a person or thing viewed as a model of excellence.") In 4th edition, it referred to the mid tier (levels 11 to 20).

As to making paragon classes in 5e: There's nothing stopping you mechanically from letting PCs gain levels beyond 20th, although doing so should disqualify you from being awarded epic boons. Conceptually, this "epic" period is when PCs are going on to achieve godhood, I'm not sure if "paragon" is the right word.

I wouldn't mind see a return of paragon racial classes, it shouldn't be too hard to do homebrew conversions of the 3rd edition classes, and I've already experimented with making 5-level racial classes. Marasmusine (talk) 01:49, 8 July 2016 (MDT)

--Kydo (talk) 05:46, 14 July 2016 (MDT)

Yeah, what you're talking about sounds like a very limited prestige class- one that can only be taken by a levl 20 character. This would enable epic level play, but why an epic level cap of 30? Why not 40? Or any ther number for that matter? In Basic D&D, you could have characters with levels as high as 38 and still not even be at max level play!

Speaking of Basic, there was no such thing as "epic" level back then. The level cap was the absolute limit. Rather, players who wished to go beyond that limit had to engage a gameplay variant called Immortals rules- which was basically a series of quests which convert your old PC into a set of material that is usable in a completely different game system. That was pretty cool, but it was also inordinately complex, especially compared to the core rules of Basic.

Paragon classes were just normal classes that had a racial restriction. I don't think the 5e classes page is structured to display class restrictions, as they're kind of antithetical to the design premises of 5th edition. Mainly, having restrictions of any sort to access a class is kind of a developmental step backwards for D&D, it's kind of an old-school gaming thing.

"Epic" has referred to campaigns and characters set past the level limit since 3rd edition. (Maybe 2nd? I didn't really hear people saying it until 3rd came around.)

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