So i’m creating another dark iron and i just can’t decide on the class. It boils down to warrior or paladin because the heritage armor basically only fits plate wearers. This isn’t exactly something that bothers me though since paladins and warriors are my two favorite classes in the game, but nevetheless i’m very torn.
Right now i’m not really feeling like leveling another warrior, but it feels like the more lore appropriate combo. But, the dark iron paladins do get a sick ram and to be fair, there were dark iron dwarves in old Blackrock Depths that used holy magic but then we have the key charecteristics of the dark irons that sets them apart from the bronzebeards and wildhammers. They are pragmatic, devious schemers who are not afraid to dabble in forbidden magics, arguably the antithesis of a light wielding paladin and they strike me as unabashed. So with that in mind, would a dark iron with these characteristics even be able to wield the light?
I feel that if i wanted to play an honorable upstanding dwarf i might as well create a bronzebeard dwarf.
So in summary: how lore appropriate are dark iron paladins really and would a pragmatic dark iron who harbors some contempt and values his own kin over all else even wield the light, realistically?
They clearly do the wield the Light, so yeah of course it is possible. As long as they believe what they do is just and for the right cause, they’ll be able to wield the Light. The Light only being a force of good has never been the case in WoW. Arthas has been able to commit much evil (even while using Shadowmourne) and was still able to cast Light magic.
Just make sure you are aware of what your character considers right and wrong and what actions are against his principles.
The first thing to bear in mind is: the Light isn’t inherently good. Paladins are typically righteous, sure, but as we see with multiple fanatics and zealots in-game (e.g. the Scarlets or Yrel’s troops in the Mag’har storyline) they don’t have to do nice things to use the Light. Using this as a starting point, it seems pretty fair to me that a Dark Iron might wield the Light as just another power to exploit. Abilities such as Holy Fire go very well with the DID Ragnaros theme as well.
Furthermore, if you’re not dead-set on playing a scheming Dark Iron, you could absolutely make a good-natured one or one that’s trying to return to their roots. If we’re to believe the ghost of Franclorn Forgewright, Dark Irons apparently weren’t always as “evil” as they appeared under Ragnaros’ influence. A character that’s trying to use the Light to better themselves now that Ragnaros is gone might be pretty interesting to roleplay.
Then maybe he’s just a good guy that studied alongside the human / dwarven paladins of Stormwind/The Silver Hand or wherever else, abiding to the three virtues. That’s totally cool, too.
It’s really up to the individual character and you can make almost anything work.
Don’t see why you couldn’t do that and still be a Dark Iron. A pretty obvious justification here would be something along the lines of “it’s for the good of the clan”. If paladins never did anything that put their own interests above others’, they wouldn’t even be able to fight in wars. As long as your character believes what he’s doing is right (which doesn’t have to be to a fanatical degree, e.g. “the Light is great, the Light is perfect”) this sounds fine to me.
A paladin doesn’t have to follow the Church’s Virtues. Especially not a Dark Iron that might not have been trained by them.
Then isn’t that an interesting area for character development / RPing out the struggles of faith and your own worthiness?
I think that’s one of the most interesting parts about RPing a paladin. What does your character do in such situations and what does it mean for his future as a light-wielder.
DIron paladins are quite cool, especially those that look at a little more twisted nature of the light and personal convictions.
If you decide to play this then I think [PCU] Gnome RP - Assemblage of Uld 🔧 Is a sick place to try it out. That’s a guild that’ll really help you explore a more nuanced storylines.
Personally quite liked the idea that a friend once mentioned of Dark Iron paladins drawing on the power of ancient oaths as the main source of power; pretty headcanon, and I’m not entirely sure if it’s possible within the lore, but found it cool all the same. I think if you wanted to go the most obvious Dark Iron paladin ““path””, I’d focus on holy fire being the outcome of the majority of your spells.
You can totally do a DI paladin. You don’t even have to have them be a “paladin” exactly. Mine is a “Herald of Blackrock” who believes they are drawing the power from the mountain itself and manifests it in divine fire against the enemies of the DI.
And you don’t need to be a “good” person to even wield the light (Realizing it or not). You basically just have to have enough resolve and will in your cause to zap the enemy with the glowy stuff.
I just came here to point out that the Blackrock Depths have a Ring of Law. That alone SCREAMS paladin from any and all venues.
As for contempt, that is something derived from one’s judgement, is it not? The whole thing about three virtues everybody brings up when citing paladin lore is inherently a human concept. According to the creation screen:
This is the call of the paladin: to protect the weak, to bring justice to the unjust, and to vanquish evil from the darkest corners of the world.
As long as your paladin considers Queen Moira a legal authority, follows the laws of Shadowforge (and Ironforge, considering she has a seat in it and it would be idiotic to jeopardize the good reputation of the clan) and believes their cause just, then your dwarf is a textbook paladin in my book.
I mean yes, of course, paladins can be evil, blah, blah, blah, but the Dark Iron Clan is a very different culture from the other two clans, and especially draenei.
tl;dr: Paladin. Paladin. PALADIN. PA LA DIN
PS: Paladins are perfect for RP that involves being conflicted about what is just and right. You’ll ALWAYS have an excuse to be part of the argument!
When you take and remove the term “paladin” out of paladin, you have already gotten rid of humans stuff. Tennets and so on. I was always taking it as if paladin in itself was a human only class. Vindicators are not sharing 1:1 view on the Light with humans. Humans in majority give 0 damns about Naaru and clinge to their “good power”-thing. Sunwalkers believe it’s the Light of the Sun, Zandalari are prelates. Dwarves take from human’s faith.
I always felt like directly calling them “paladins” is just humanising them when its totally not true, despite the power being kind of the same.
Imo. Paladin is a paladin and vindicator is a vindicator, the same but not really. What stops a dark iron from being a hand of the law? I say, go for it!
Shame on you brother, do not dismiss the glories plate armored wizard or warlock.
Anyway to answer some of your questions
The light ultimately don’t really care if you are good or bad, as long as you think you are doing good, it is there for you.
the scarlet crusade are good examples of this
also if you don’t feel like leveling a warrior, don’t. Play the paladin
be the divine warrior of holy fire your heart really aims to be!
here is the thing about being a good person, you don’t need to be nice and friendly, you can be mean, grumpy and down right nasty but as long as you do good, make the world safer and help those who need it, you are by nature a good person, others may not see it but you are.
My paladin essentially acts as a law enforcer, chasing down notorious troublemakers and bringing them over to the arena. I’m personally going with a pretty standard faith in the Light with more of a pragmatic mindset, but I’ve seen people chanelling it through more of a fire-centric worship, a Holy Forge or whatnot, which seems acceptable in a society that only 15 years ago was enslaved by and worshipping the Firelord. Also ngl, the herritage exists to be complimented with the ram.
LA