Specialization is a great enhancement for your Paladin. Not only does it give you the option of individualizing your character, making him or her different from other Paladins around you, it gives you the chance of becoming quite a bit stronger in some aspect of your character that you choose.

What is specialization in game terms? Once you obtain the level of 10/10, you will be able to declare a specialty for yourself, choosing one of the six skill families as your focus. You will from this point on be able to train your skill value in that focus up to a maximum number of 2.5 times your level, not just 2 times your level as is the normal. The only other guild at this time that has something comprable are the Fighters, who can choose a weapon specialization skill both at 7th level and again at 17th level. Our specialization is infinately more versitile, for while the Fighters can enhance their weapon skills, we as Paladins can enhance an entire skill family, thus making all the abilities controlled by that skill all the better.

Still a little confused? Say for example that you decide to specialize at 10/10 in Prowess. Until you declare it, your maximum Prowess skill value would be, at 10/10, a 20 (this being your player level times two max) once you declare Prowess as your focus, you can now train this skill immediately to a max of 25, this being your player level (10) times 2.5, even though the rest of your skills remain maxed at 2 times your player level.

Below are some notes on all of the skill families that we as Paladins enjoy. Reasons are listed both for and against each. We hope that this assists you greatly in your own decision once you hit this turning point in your Paladinhood.

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Discernment is the controlling skill for our abilities regarding perception, these being Appraise, Divine, Reveal, Sense and Strike. The only reason at all to specialize in Discernment is to enhance Strike. A paladin specialized in discernment can easily become an "enforcer" Strike was meant to be an equalizer skill, and it does the job very nicely. But it is not recommended for the inexperienced players, or those not experienced in player confrontation. Strike is useless really against monsters, but incredibily effective against players. Not many Paladins have taken Discernment at this time.

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Healing is self-explanitory. It controls abilities such as Cleanse, Detoxify, Mend and Preserve. Mend is one of the staple combat skills, and can easily save someone's butt. Higher skill value in healing gives more hp when used. And this ability, when used on others besides yourself, heal more than when used on you. So if you want to play a helpful, healing type of Paladin, this one is for you. Not many Paladins have taken Healing either.

Influence is the skill that defines abilities that affect the actions of others around us. Abilities such as Calm, Convert, Recite, Warcry and Witness. Out of these, Calm and Warcry are the only skills you will use regularily. This is a skill family to think long and hard about specializing in, especially if you do plan on sticking around and levelling yourself past 25 or so. In theory (this has not been proven yet, but it should work) a Paladin specialized in Influence at higher levels (28-30+) can keep a monster stunned so it cannot act by himself, using a combination of Warcry and Bludgeon. Once you hit 30th level, specialized in Influence, your skill level will be greater than that of a 36th level not specialized in it. Using Warcry in combat past this level while specialized should generate a stacked stun starting around level 33 or 34, certainly coupled with Bludgeon. Once again, not many Paladins take this skill as a focus.

This skill family affects those abilities related to your communication with our lord Artrimas. Abilities controlled by Prayer are Bless, Ceremony, Disrupt, Purify and Shine. There are a few abilities that make specializing in this skill worth it. Bless acts as extra damage per attack against non-good things, and a higher Prayer skill will increase this duration. Ceremony will give back a small amount of hp and sp when you pray over the corpse of a fallen foe. The higher your Prayer skill the more you regain. Disrupt is a chance at a one-shot against an undead monster, and will damage the creature if it fails in the attempt. A higher Prayer will surely increase the chance of the one-shot and/or increase the amount of damage dealt. With Shine, it is quite possible for a 15/15 Paladin to solo Nightmares, which makes this skill family one to think about, as the damage goes up with an increase in skill value. There are a few Paladins who have taken this skill as their specialization.

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Prowess

By far the most popular skill family to focus in is Prowess. This skill controls all of your physical hand-to-hand combat abilities. Avatar, Bludgeon, Dazzle and Defend are all affected by Prowess. This is the skill recommended for the beginning player, or the average player who just wants to be a combat machine. It is very easy to advance as a Paladin while specialized in Prowess. Your Defend lasts longer, your Dazzle lasts longer, your Avatar gives you higher skill bonuses for a longer period of time, and your Bludgeon will do more damage. Most of the Paladins are specialized in Prowess, and there are some Paladins who question those of us who dont specialize in it.

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Sanctity

Sanctity is what defines us as the physical incarnations of Artrimas upon the realm of Astaria. These abilities controlled by this skill all reflect the state of holiness of ourselves. These abilities are Illuminate, Imbue, Shard, Shroud and Soulblade. Each of these skills takes a bit of our Holy Aura and forms an effect from it, some of lesser effect, some to great extent. Shard is a great automatic damaging ability for combat, and the damage increases as the skill level does. Soulblade is our formweapon, and the weapon seems to be better as the skill level increases. As with other skill families, not many Paladins take Sanctity as a focus.