Paladin (Final Fantasy XIV)

The Gladiator is a Disciple of War in Final Fantasy XIV, introduced in the original release, with a guild situated in the Coliseum in Ul'dah. It can be upgraded to the Paladin job via the quest "Paladin's Pledge" with a level 30 Gladiator.

Gladiator
Gladiators attack using a variety of styles of sword and is the only Discipline of War capable of equipping a shield. The Gladiator's primary role in a party is that of a tank, and therefore their focus is to shield their allies from enemy ire by forcing them to focus their attacks on them.

The Gladiator's skillset contains many abilities that allow them to increase enmity with enemies, as well as abilities that increases their defense. As such Gladiators tend to have the highest defense of all roles in the game, being able to equip heavy armor. This is offset with having one of the lowest damage per second ratio of any role.

Paladin


Paladins further increases the defensive capabilities of its base class. Paladins gain abilities that sacrifice offense for defense and vice versa. They also make use of healing and barrier spells.

Equipment
The Gladiator class is defined by wielding a one-handed sword. Since they are also meant to use a shield, they are the only combat class without two-handed weapons. For this reason, Paladin is the only job to have two Relic/Zodiac weapons.

In terms of late game armor and accessories, Gladiators and Paladins share "Fending" gear with Marauders, Warriors, and Dark Knights.

Job Gauge
Job gauges were introduced in 4.0 Stormblood. The Paladin uses the Oath Gauge.

The Oath Gauge displays an icon that changes color depending on whether the Paladin is in a defensive or offensive stance. The gauge also displays the strength of Sword or Shield Oath. Defensive stance (Shield Oath) reduces the damage take and increases enmity. Paladins in offensive stance (Sword Oath) increases damage after each auto-attack. Several actions require a stronger Oath before they can be used, and will weaken Oath with each use. Using auto-attacks will strengthen Sword Oath and blocking attacks will strengthen Shield Oath.

In PVP, Oath is used to activate Cover and the gauge will gradually deplete when Cover is in effect. Using combo actions will refill the Oath Gauge.

Abilities
Note: As MP cost for spells vary depending on the class and level of the character, these values are not listed here.

Role Actions
Role actions are abilities common to classes and jobs with the same role. Jobs can select and use up to five role actions, while classes can select and use up to ten.

Additional PvP Actions
These actions are common to all jobs, and can only be used in PvP areas. The number of additional actions that can be set is limited to two.

PvP Traits
These traits are common to all jobs, and only take effect when in PvP areas. The number of PvP traits that can be set is limited to three.

Limit Break
Gladiators' and Paladins' Limit Breaks focus on drastically raising the defense and magic defense of the entire party for a short period of time. They both have the same Level 1 and Level 2 limit breaks as other Tanks.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Paladin and Gladiator appear in Final Fantasy Trading Card Game with Thunder-elemental cards.

Trivia

 * After patch 1.20, gladiators received many of the abilities from the scrapped Sentinel discipline, and lost a bit of attack power in exchange for better defense and tanking abilities.
 * Gladiator animations are used by any Disciple of the Hand or Land that enters combat with their tools.