The paladin is a combination fighter and cleric, although probably more oriented towards the fighter side. You get the attack abilities of a fighter and the spell casting of a cleric. Paladins are also more resistant to disease than other classes, gaining +8 to disease resistance. Because they have a limited healing ability, Paladins spend a lot less time sitting on their butt than regular fighters. Nevertheless, they are really a tank with some healing ability rather than a substitute for a cleric. The Lay on hands skill is like getting a get out of jail free card. Once per day you can avoid almost sure death by completely healing yourself. In a game where you spend a lot of time looking for your corpse, this means a lot. While not quite as powerful as a warrior, you are still pretty good at dishing out punishment and can take a pretty good licking. In addition, some of the more interesting weapons in the game can only be used by a Paladin. When you play a paladin, you have to keep in mind that you are the embodyment of good. This means that NPC's with an evil bent will not like you very much. This can lead to some problems navigating some of the cities with a strong evil presence such as Freeport. Like all of the fighter classes, Paladins can be soloed on a limited basis, but are better playing in a group.