I only brought up reality wrinkles as they're the closest thing the Ravenloft setting has to a codified system for this, that can be compared to the Paladin class "feature", which is never really given anywhere near as much detail. For the most part we get snippets like this from the 2nd Ed Campaign Setting book;Maiyannah wrote: ↑Sat Apr 20, 2024 10:18 am I kind of agree and disagree with this response, and it basically gets down to the brass tacks of what a reality wrinkle or reality wrinkle adjacent thing is. It isn't, neccesarialy, the byproduct of strong virtue - thats more the second order consequence, than the first. Rather a reality wrinkle is a distortion in the reality of the semi-material plane of the Core, for lack of better terms, caused by beings whom are inherently different. Any outsider casts one, even imperceptibly, according to the Van Richten's guides, and as such, even a monk should have one if even an imperceptible, minor one, when they get the capstone achievement. Strong, steadfast, determined virtue such as a paladin's is merely the easiest way to create one, as the Domains of Dread are by definition an evil setting. But you create one just by being different. You are not homoeusian - you are not of the same stuff. In the Book of Secrets, I think it was, it was stated by one of the Ravenloft contributors that even outlanders would create very small ones, and this is why concentrations of any large amounts of outlanders would aggrivate the Darklords. Strahd must love the outskirts.
This feature is tangled up in a bunch of the other alterations to Paladin, such as their altered Detect Evil feature, the narratively fraught nature of their now silenced connection to whatever Deity they once pledged service to, etc. The overarching design goal is to take the Paladin, a previously unambiguously morally virtuous class, drag it down into the mud of moral dilemmas faced in the Demiplane and add much higher stakes to the outcomes. Reality Wrinkles have some parallels; they're innate features of any Outsider, have a similar detection clause for Darklords, etc, but other than that they're not really comparable at all.
The easiest way to look at Paladins and their heightened suffering and difficulties is that it's the intent of the Dark Powers. Whether they want to forge a peerless weapon in the fight against evil through the trials and tribulations they face, or cause them to fall from grace and become some of the most heinous villains imaginable is largely up to the DM and what they believe the Dark Powers' driving goal is. This was always left ambiguous for obvious reasons and up to individual interpretation.
Paladins are not the sole owner of indefatigable virtuousness; there's plenty of characters that match them note for note in that regard. The difference is that having class levels in Paladins is sending up a big glowing signal that you're here to ruin evil's day and are in turn opening up the doors to really getting sucker punched constantly by the horror of the setting. They're the only class that functions in this regard, because it's the polar opposite of the implicit lesson taught by the Demiplane of Dread; evil is easy, evil is a quick road to great power, evil is deeply rewarding but also deeply wounding. Being good is hard, being good is a slow and endless journey fraught with peril, it's rarely rewarding beyond the individual's witnessing of positive events and instead of suffering personal slights, the wounds a Paladin takes are witnessing others suffering in their stead.
TL;DR, assigning the Paladin's class "feature" of drawing attention from Darklords to other classes is in my opinion, missing the forest for the trees.
