After seeing another thread where someone wanted a good paladin character it got me thinking.

What's the difference between and knight and paladin?

I did a google search but nothing came up

In terms of fantasy classes a Paladin tends to use Healing/Holy magic in addition to his fighting abilities. A Warrior tends to lack any kind of magical abilities.

Knight = no magic. They're a real-life class.

Paladin = Knight with magic.

Well, as far as I'm concerned (and more lore I've seen) a knight is just like a noble warrior. Sometimes, depending on the lore of the specific game/story, they may also be more charismatic than your typical warrior. So in Skyrim, for instance, it would make sense to have speech as a somewhat focused skill.

Paladins, on the other hand, are like battle mages, but more on the battle side than the mage side. Generally, you'd only see them using healing or defensive schools of magic (restoration/alteration) and they would otherwise focus entirely on combat. Paladins are also more prone to be pro-religion of some kind, and tend to be pledged to destroying some kind of evil. (generally undead, demons, etc.)

Either one could be more offensive or defensive in combat styles, just based on what they're trying to accomplish or just plain preference. I've probably left some other defining details out, but that's the best I could think of, at the moment.

You're assuming that Paladins are wholly fictitious.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paladin :wink_smile:

The nametag they wear at parties.

Thanks for the info guys.
Personally I like playing a spell sword/battlemage. I love the axe in one hand and destruction in the other. It's very satisfying to me.
But for my next character I might switch it up a bit and go a different route and I could use idea right now

Paladin Skills:
-One-Handed
-Heavy Armour
-Restoration

Knight Skills:
-One-Handed
-Heavy Armour
-Block

Fair play, so essentially the real life counterparts were similar to templars in that respect; Knights with a religious background which became twisted in fantasy lol.

And blessed weapons. Can't forget the blessed weapons...

I've actually found it's more likely that my perks will be split between 4-5 different trees, throughout my game. Simply because I'll hit a spot where none of my main skills are able to get a perk I want, until leveled further. So, I end up perking into another tree of something else I'm focusing on.

So, in this case...

Paladin:
-Onehanded
-Block
-Heavy Armor
-Resoration
-Alteration (For armor buffs and the spell block/absorb perks.

Knight:
-Onehanded
-Block
-Heavy Armor
-Speech
-Archery? (Damn you, no crossbows!)

Hmm, interesting,;

In terms of Fiction

Lancelot, Gawain etc = Knight

Sparhawk (David Eddings) = Paladin

the difference being, as others have said, magic (with a preference for the healing arts)

I would try and fit smithing and/or enchanting in. And speech is a bit useless for perks.

I would have added in smithing/enchanting before I had played the game as much as I have. But now, I try to not use them simply because it makes it too easy for me. Speech is pretty much just one of those "it's never really that useful, but it has some fun additions" types of perk trees. The only reason I really added it is just to fit the character-type.

Well, another difference I didn't see mentioned (I just skimmed) is a Paladins drive, and superfluous, strengths to deplete the world of any undead or devilish kind. He/she is a holy warrior with healing and holy magic prowess.

Also on the same not, you really don't need every perk point in every tree some you can just forget about (usually the one that requires 100 skill is just kind of meh.) on the same token perks don't stop until level 81 I'm level 58 right now and I have many perk trees encompased in my character.

Knights and Paladins in previous Elderscrolls games always had speechcraft as primary skills.

This^

The Paladins were extremely close to Charlamange and were extremely devout, high ranking knights(effectively generals as they were themselves fuedal lords) and were instrumental in subjecting the Nordic peoples both militarily and through conversion to Christianity.

A paladin in elder scrolls has generally been called a 'crusader' in class. In Kotn, you were a crusader, but there was references to being a holy knight. Skills for the crusader were usually blade/blunt, heavy armor, restoration, and also destruction

Historically, a Knight was allied to a king or other ruler while a Paladin was allied to the church. Things get messy when the King prounces himself the head of the church and the two terms get blurry.

I always heard the distinction was as mentioned above: Secular vs. Religious

Paladin: Holy Warrior
Knight: Secular Warrior

And again, as mentioned above: The lines blur when you get into divine rights rulers

Paladin is just an Anglicized version of the word Palestine.

And if you want to take it a step further, Knight usually minimal morals free to choose what you want. A paladin based on fantasy games is a goody goody sort of character.

Paladins are holy. Knight is just a title.

Don't be ridiculous. Everyone knows Blizzard invented Paladins.