User:TK-Squared/MudBox/Paladin (3.5e Prestige Class)

Paladin
"I am the divine hand of my lord, I am his blade and I am his shield."

A Paladin is a righteous and divine crusader of his patron deity; he follows their wishes to the letter and enacts their creed to the very last. A Paladin's divine fervour is matched only by their dogging tenacity and commitment to their causes.

Becoming a Paladin
The Paladin is an exemplar of his alignment and of his religion. The Paladin offers a divine and righteous path to vanquishing enemies that would threaten the way of their religion. A Paladin relies on his wisdom for his divine inspiration and spell casting and his charisma for other abilities, such as turning and his divine gift.

Class Features
A Paladin's powers stem directly from his deity; even the most uncaring gods bestow a portion of their mighty power upon their most loyal of servants. All of the following are class features of the Paladin.

Neutrality: If the Paladin is neutral on the Good/Evil axis, then he is treated as good for purposes of abilities if he chose to channel positive energy as a cleric or evil for the purposes of abilities if he chose to channel negative energy. If the Paladin is neutral on the Law/Chaos axis, he must choose either Law or Chaos to be his "focus". This focus is used for determining alignment.

Restrictions: A Paladin is a divine vassal for his deity and should demonstrate his piety. All the Paladin's abilities, except for Judgement and Heretic's Bane require the Paladin to have a Holy Symbol of his deity. Judgement and Heretic's Bane require the Paladin to be wielding his deity's favoured weapon.

He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If you had more than one divine spellcasting class before becoming a Paladin, he must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining spells per day, caster level, and spells known. The Paladin also adds all Paladin spells to his spell list.

 (Ex): The Paladin's aura is equal to it's Paladin Levels and levels in cleric.

 (Su): The Paladin can focus himself on uncovering his true enemies. He gains the ability to use both the detect spells that corresponds to the opposite of his alignment. He can use this ability at will. For example, if the Paladin is Lawful Good, he gains both Detect Evil and Detect Chaos

 (Su): The Paladin's levels stack with those of his levels in Cleric for the purpose of turning.

 (Su): The Paladin's divine fervour is evident in his quest to vanquish those that dare oppose his deity. A number of times per day equal to his Paladin level, the Paladin may use a smite attack. This attack only works on an enemy that has an alignment that is the opposite of the Paladin's good-evil alignment (good -> evil, evil -> good). The attack must be declared before being made and a miss still counts against the daily limit. A smite attack allows the Paladin to add his charisma modifier to his attack roll and it deals damage equal to his caster level (in the class that Paladin increases in spellcasting). If this attack is used on an invalid target, it is a normal attack and the smite attempt is expended.

 (Su): At 2nd level, the Paladin receives a great blessing from his deity. He gains either the ability to add his charisma modifier as a bonus to all his saving saves or a shield bonus to his AC.

 (Su): The Paladin is graced with a gift of a pool of energy swirling throughout his body; energy channelled directly from his deity's essence. This pool of energy is either (if good) positive or (if evil) negative. The pool has a number of points equal to the Paladin's charisma modifier times his caster level (in the class that Paladin increases in spellcasting). This energy can be used (if positive) to heal living creatures or harm undead creatures; or (if negative) to heal undead creatures or heal undead creatures. Using this energy as an attack requires a melee touch attack and the target gets a will save for half damage (DC 10 + half character level + wisdom modifier).

 (Su): The Paladin is gifted with a sacred level of health. He becomes immune to all mundane and supernatural diseases.

 (Su): The Paladin exudes an aura of powerful righteousness, a radiant aura of power directly descendant from his deity. The aura has two abilities; one that effects the Paladin himself and another that radiates 20 feet from the Paladin.

The first ability is dependant on the Good-Evil axis of alignment; The second ability is dependant on the Lawful-Chaotic axis of alignment;
 * Good: All allies within the Paladin's aura gain a +2 sacred bonus to attacks.
 * Evil: All enemies within the Paladin's aura take a -2 profane penalty to AC.
 * Lawful: The Paladin is immune to fear.
 * Chaotic: The Paladin is immune to compulsion effects.

 (Su): The Paladin's divine energy gifts him with the ability to channel the true energy of his deity through his weapon. If the Paladin is good, his weapon gains the Holy property. If the Paladin is evil, his weapon gains the Unholy property. This property is only on the weapon while the Paladin is holding the weapon.

 (Su): The Paladin is gifted with the true power to smite those heretics that dare slight his deity. The Paladin's weapon is even further enhanced. If the Paladin is lawful, his weapon gains the Axiomatic property. If the Paladin is chaotic, his weapon gains the Anarchic property.

Ex-Paladins
If the Paladin loses favour from his deity or if his alignment changes from that of his patron deity, then he becomes an Ex-Paladin. He loses the following abilities; Detect Heretic, Divine Health, Divine Gift, Heretic's Bane, Judgement and Smite Heretic. He cannot gain any more levels in Paladin after he becomes an Ex-Paladin, he may regain his Paladin powers via atonement.

Playing a Paladin
Combat: The Paladin is a divine crusader who seeks to enact the will of his deity upon those that oppose his creed. He seeks to enact his patron's own sense of justice upon the world. In combat, he is oft at the front of battle, searching for heretics to smite.

Advancement: Advancing in Cleric or a prestige-centred prestige class is a logical advancement for the Paladin.

Resources: A Paladin is the holy crusader of his church and can expect support from his church or deity.

Paladins in the World
"His devotion protected him and his righteousness slew his enemies"

A Paladin is part of a church and a divine crusader. Their presence is very well known amongst many people, for their zealot-like crusade against the enemies of their church.

NPC Reactions: A Paladin is easily recognizable from his air of authority or his zealotry and NPCs may react to this in ways depending on their religion; fear or respect is often the way that Palains are remembered.

Paladin Lore
Characters with ranks in Knowledge (Religion) can research Paladins to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.

Paladins in the Game
The Paladin is a crusader for a cause; his deity's cause and will usually stop at nothing to see that his mission is complete. The Paladin is tenacious in his pursuits and unwavering in his faith.

Adaptation: The Paladin replace the Paladin base class.

Sample Encounter: Within the Twelve Pillows inn, a bar room brawl has occured; and a Paladin is on one side of it. The one that the party isn't.

EL 13: Jim Whiteblade

Martial Adept Variant
Not all Paladins are divine spellcasters; but instead they are mighty martial adepts, who wield their weapons against the enemy with even more skill and determination.

Creating a Martial Paladin
The disciplines for this class are Devoted Spirit, Diamond Mind, Iron Heart, Stone Dragon and White Raven.

 : You gain Mettle, as per the Crusader's ability, instead of Turn/Rebuke Undead.

 : You are treated as having all, if good, Paladin spells or, if evil, Blackguard spells on your spell list for the purposes of casting spells from items.

Caster Level: Any ability that relies on caster level from the Paladin class (Such as Divine Touch) is reliant on initator level instead.

Neutrality: If the Paladin is of a neutral alignment, he must choose to channel negative or positive energy when he starts taking levels in Paladin. This corresponds to a Cleric's channeling of energy and determines the alignment for abilities.

Tome Variant
For those that are using the Tome variants, this variant can be used instead. They are similar to Martial Paladins, but do not use maneuvers. Instead, they are intended for the Races of War classes.

Creating a Tome Paladin
 (Sp): The Paladin gains access to a sphere at second and fifth level. If good, they can choose any non-fiendish sphere. If evil, they may choose any sphere from the Tome of Fiends.

Caster Level: Any ability that relies on caster level from the Paladin class (Such as Divine Touch) is reliant on base attack bonus instead.

Neutrality: If the Paladin is of a neutral alignment, he must choose to channel negative or positive energy when he starts taking levels in Paladin. This corresponds to a Cleric's channeling of energy and determines the alignment for abilities.

 : You are treated as having all, if good, Paladin spells or, if evil, Blackguard spells on your spell list for the purposes of casting spells from items.