Templar Abilities

[MrRager 7]

So, I'm curious of what others think of Templar abilities. In the Argent Dawn Templar prestige class from the RPG, its says " As an Argent Dawn Templar delves deeper into studies of the Light, he abandons his old teachings and connections to the world. Many Templars sacrifice much of their wealth in their continuing battle against the forces of darkness in the world, but the greatest are more greatly transformed." It goes on to say how they're greatly respected in combat and basically goes on about their strength, glorifying them. Im interested however in creative ideas for abilities- abilities you can develop with your character as he learns more. I've tried finding actual Templar abilities but havent had much success. Thoughts? 

[Dizzy 26]

Well, the first thing that you need to know is that the World of Warcraft RPG and the one that came before it are sadly listed as non-canon, and a majority of the server deem it unfit for most public and private RP as a result, That includes all the lore in the book, now, it was a pretty good splat book and system with some really solid lore but it also came with some bad lore, some really bad lore that was filtered in through the good stuff. It's ultimately a matter of debate.



This puts most of the cool classes and concepts that Blizzard had a hand in relatively moot, not to say they weren't great ideas to begin with. Many ideas from the RPG have steadily made their way into the game and defied their earlier noncanon status but remain clouded in mystery. Lilian Voss as a Lightslayer, Arator the Redeemer as a templar, and in some way, the troll primals. The likelihood of them being their RPG counterparts is low though, as Scarlet Templars have existed long before the new Silver Hand Templar introduced in Legion.

To answer your question, though. In the same way that a Scarlet Crusader is a paladin, so are Templars, a paladin is just as respected on the battlefield as a Templar, and twice as glorified. Human paladins are the legends of two score great wars, and infamous for being living legends. Dathrohan, Uther, Arthas, Tirion Fordring and others have a legendary status as examples.

Templars seem cool, but ultimately an unnecessary extrapolation on the lore. Having a battle-hardened, veteran holy-light using machine of a man already exists as a paladin. Glowing eyes already come in gold and red in the cases of Uther & Scarlet Crusade paladins who retain their faith.

Creativity is only limited by you as the writer, it is not completely lorebreaking for a player character to throw blades of Light as their judgement, or have a silver hammer, or even red given their existence in the game already but every class, every hero of Azeroth has their abilities and traits change, it's the way of things, a blade always dulls and is sharpened again.

[Romeo 320]

I agree with Dizzy.

 

But if I remember correctly, and if there even was a need to know some templar abilities, I know that they could shape the light into whatever shape they wanted, and so shaped it to weapons and bolts instead of the softness of light that came to priests or fire of a regular paladin. I don't know if it is specifically only light, or if they were tampered with by arcane somehow. But regardless, imagine a templar's capabilities to be able to shape holy bolts, like a mage. I don't know if this statement still stands, as I heard it long ago, years ago even. It may have changed, but I remember them having at least these special powers from that time.

[TheDemon 109]

Pretty much what Dizzy said. Templars are 'just' glorified paladins.

But any ability you think of for them is fine as long as you explain it (or it's obvious how it works) and as long as it's not overpowered really just about anything goes: You want to shape light into weapons - why not?, you want to infuse your armour with power of light - do so.

Abilities of classes are never set in stone, what you see in game is just a selection of iconic/common/useful abilities.

[Insomnia 76]

I agree with the others.  The RPG class 'Templar' doesn't exist in the World of Warcraft universe, as the RPG universe is completely different due to non-canon lore. 

However, I can explain what a templar in canon Wow lore is.  Though it may be saddening to hear, they are not actually a class- they are a rank within the Silver Hand.  The Templars as detailed by Wowpedia (a canon source) are a group of officers/high ranking members of the Silver Hand.  They are a type of priest/paladin combatant, so I suppose in a way they could be anywhere from a priest to paladin, or even in between with some form of Battle Priest or Knight Priest concept. 

All together, I think you'd be far better off playing a normal paladin.  There aren't really physical differences between a majority of Paladins due to the Light being faith based.  If you believe in a cause, the Light will back it, of course the more or less you believe in it being right or wrong will dictate how much strength the Light gives you.  If you don't believe something is right, you'll have little to no aid from the Light.

 

Source: https://wow.gamepedia.com/Templar

[MrRager 7]

Well it seems many of you got the wrong idea, though the responses provided some insight. I ask for my guild, as I'm looking for ways for characters to learn something new. I'm aware of the difference between the Templar from RPH and the Silver Hand Templar, but what I'm trying to do is generate a new idea for them, using some RPG sources such as the original Templar in itself coming from the Argent Dawn. 

Understandably abilities have their limits, but I want to find creative ways that a typical paladin or priest would find, quoting the page, unorthodox. As it stands, what I'm trying to build is an outcast order- not like the Scarlet Crusade, but one working to fight corruption within the factions. This involves new some new ideals and a sort of philosophy im working on called the Path. 

 

The whole idea is still coming together, but its getting there.

 

Edited January 21, 2018 by MrRager

[TheDemon 109]

Drawing inspiration for ability and philosophy from RPG (or even other non-WoW RPGs) is definitely not a bad idea. Especially when it is for your guild, where you can set your own canon.

Generally I will say that I like the concept behind the Templar, obviously you'll have to balance it for your own needs.

 

[Insomnia 76]

To be honest, Light doesn't really have methods of being used that hasn't been explored.  There's always the Holy Warrior format from RPG, but that's RPG once again.  It's all faith based, as I had said... 

[Dizzy 26]

As a bonus; the Judgement armour set featured in the T2 redesign and forwards through the purple, teal and red recolors are actually now canonized as the uniform of the Silver Hand elite, the Scarlet Crusade elite and even featured on high-ranking individuals. For all intents and purposes, Judgement is the uniform of the high-ranking paladins that I think you're going for. 

Let us not forget that the Light is very flexible. The Scarlet Crusade featured Armsmasters and Scourge Hewers, who were warriors who harnessed the Light instead of rage as referenced in their abilities and backstories for Herod and Harlan, speaking to the 'Light Warrior' concept that Insomnia is talking about. The RPG was majority written by Blizzard, and then as it seems to be, too many cooks entered the kitchen and they said it was no longer canon, but a lot of their class ideas and ideals were simply translated from stuff already in the game. Taking and burrowing concepts and reduxing them in your own writing is a beautiful thing.