Hardened Paladin (3.5e Class)

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A hardened Paladin Granted Absolution By his Order and deity , you have earned the freedom to seek out and destroy corruption through any means necessary.

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"holy" is not in the list (Prepared Arcane Spellcasting, Spontaneous Arcane Spellcasting, Prepared Divine Spellcasting, Spontaneous Divine Spellcasting, Arcane Spellcasting, Divine Spellcasting, Prepared Spellcasting, Spontaneous Spellcasting, Alternate Magic, Psionics, ...) of allowed values for the "Class Ability" property.

Full

Grey Guard

You have seen the horrible reality of the world: Children dying in the gutter as the rich feast a hedge-wall away; law used to imprison and terrify those it was created to protect the supposedly devout ignoring and abusing those they deem beneath their interest or contrary to their faith Although you work toward the same goals as other members of your faith, many within it do not trust you. They believe that you and your fellows at best flirt with corruption and at worst embrace it. Paladins see freedom from their code of conduct as weakness, an inability to mete out justice through honorable means, and do not consider you to be their equal. You are not proud of your role, but you accept that one must sometimes embrace a lesser evil to combat greater injustice. Your freedom is not a boon but a loss of innocence, a permanent tarnish on a once-pristine soul. Solidifying your resolve, you face the world of cruel reality, ready to do battle just as valiantly as any paladin but also just as brutally as the monstrosities you oppose.

Making a Grey Gaurd

Abilities: Charisma is the most important ability for a paladin. She also needs high strength and constitution scores to fulfill her role as a martial character. Finally, paladins will want a moderately high wisdom score for spell casting

Races: Any

Alignment: Nuetral Good

Combat: In battle you are not just a warrior, but also a judge. If you can, you engage your opponent in honorable combat to prove the valor of your cause. However, you are no fool. If the only sure way to finish the high priest of a cult of Vecna is to stab him as he sleeps or lie in wait and attack from the shadows, you make such sacrifices of character to put a permanent end to the threat. Thus, your tactics must change to suit the enemy and the conditions of battle , You May even Torture Evil If You Must. Your mercy also must conform to the necessities of the moment. Ideally you would bring defeated enemies before the proper authorities for righteous judgment, but the reality of your situation might prevent you from taking prisoners, especially if they are likely to escape or impede your greater aims. Some powerful threats simply cannot be permitted to live and potentially rise again. A momentary prayer and a coup de grace end the lives of many of your foes.

Starting Gold: 4d6 x 10gp

Starting Age: fighter

Table: The Grey Guard

Hit Die: d1d10

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+1	+2	+0	+2	Detect Evil, Aura of Good, Smite Evil 1/day
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+3	Divine Grace, Lay on Hands
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+3	Aura of Courage, Divine Health
4th	+4	+4	+1	+4	Stigmata, Smite Evil 2/day, Turn Undead
5th	+5	+4	+1	+4	Blinding Light, Divine might
6th	+6/+1	+5	+2	+5	Torch Undead, Divine Flame
7th	+7/+2	+5	+2	+5	Smite Evil 3/day, Divine Armor
8th	+8/+3	+6	+2	+6	Channel Against Outsiders
9th	+9/+4	+6	+3	+6	Divine Retribution
10th	+10/+5	+7	+3	+7	Aura of Discipline
11th	+11/+6/+1	+7	+3	+7	Divine Ghost Weapon
12th	+12/+7/+2	+8	+4	+8	Confuse Undead
13th	+13/+8/+3	+8	+4	+8	Mettle, Smite Evil 5/day
14th	+14/+9/+4	+9	+4	+9	Divine Touch
15th	+15/+10/+5	+9	+5	+9	Divine Dispel
16th	+16/+11/+6/+1	+10	+5	+10	Divine Aid, Smite Evil 6/day
17th	+17/+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+10	Aura of Conviction
18th	+18/+13/+8/+3	+11	+6	+11	Extra Turning
19th	+19/+14/+9/+4	+11	+6	+11	Rebuke Death, Smite Evil 7/day
20th	+20/+15/+10/+5	+12	+6	+12	Divine Champion
Class Skills (2 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (nobility and royalty) (planes) (religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Grey Guard.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Paladins are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all types of armor (heavy, medium, and light), and with shields (except tower shields).

Aura of Good (Ex): The power of a paladin’s aura of good (see the detect good spell) is equal to her paladin level.

Detect Evil (Sp): At will, a paladin can use detect evil, as the spell.

Smite Evil (Su): Once per day, a paladin may attempt to smite evil with one normal melee attack. She adds her Charisma bonus (if any) to her attack roll and deals 1 extra point of damage per paladin level. If the paladin accidentally smites a creature that is not evil, the smite has no effect, but the ability is still used up for that day.

At 4th level, and at every three levels thereafter, the paladin may smite evil one additional time per day, as indicated on the above table, to a maximum of seven times per day at 20th level.

Divine Grace (Su): At 2nd level, a paladin gains a bonus equal to her Charisma bonus (if any) on all saving throws.

Lay on Hands (Su): Beginning at 2nd level, a paladin with a Charisma score of 12 or higher can heal wounds (her own or those of others) by touch. Each day she can heal a total number of hit points of damage equal to her paladin level × her Charisma bonus. A paladin may choose to divide her healing among multiple recipients, and she doesn’t have to use it all at once. Using lay on hands is a standard action.

Alternatively, a paladin can use any or all of this healing power to deal damage to undead creatures. Using lay on hands in this way requires a successful melee touch attack and doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity. The paladin decides how many of her daily allotment of points to use as damage after successfully touching an undead creature.

Aura of Courage (Su): Beginning at 3rd level, a paladin is immune to fear (magical or otherwise). Each ally within 10 feet of her gains a +4 morale bonus on saving throws against fear effects.

This ability functions while the paladin is conscious, but not if she is unconscious or dead.

Divine Health (Su): At 3rd level, a Gray Guard gains immunity to all diseases, including supernatural and magical diseases.

Stigmata: When a Grey Guard reaches 4th level, she gains the ability to make her enemies suffer along with her. Any enemy who does damage to the champion must make a Fortitude save with a DC of 10+ 1/2 paladin level + paladin CHA modifer, or suffer half of the damage they dealt to the champion. She may use this ability a number of rounds per day equal to 3 + her charisma modifier. These rounds do not need to be consecutive

Divine Retribution (Ex): It is only fitting that those who oppress the faithful with the power of evil gods should feel that power themselves. Divine retribution works exactly like the spell reflection class ability described in Complete Mage, except that it is limited to the divine spells cast by evil casters.

Aura of Discipline (Su): A paladin is immune to charm spells or spell-like effects. Each ally within 10 feet of her gains a +4 morale bonus on saving throws against charm effects.

Mettle (Ex): If a paladin succeeds on a Fortitude or Will save against an attack that would normally produce a lesser effect on a successful save (such as a spell with a saving throw entry of Will half or Fortitude partial), she instead negates the effect. She does not gain the benefit of mettle when she is unconscious or sleeping.

Divine Aid (Su): All restoration spells cast by a paladin, or in her presence automatically succeed. In addition, all heal spells cast by the paladin, or in her presence automatically heal the maximum amount of points.

Aura of Conviction (Su): A paladin is immune to compulsion spells or spell-like effects. Each ally within 10 feet of her gains a +4 morale bonus on saving throws against compulsion effects.

Rebuke Death: A paladin is so closely associated with the power of her patron deity that a small portion of the divine spark comes to dwell within her. Once a week, if a paladin is killed, she will automatically resurrect one hour later without penalties. Her body travels to the plane of her deity during this hour, then reappears at an appropriate location (e.g. a local temple or church dedicated to her deity), depending on campaign environment.

Divine Champion: Upon reaching level 20, a paladin becomes the ultimate champion of good against the forces of evil. She gains DR 10/evil, as well as a +2 bonus to her Charisma ability score. Furthermore, she no longer needs to eat or sleep (though she may choose to do so), as she is sustained directly by her deity so that she might focus on the struggle against evil.

Channel Against Outsiders: Select one group of Outsiders (such as fire elementals, demons or devils) that are either hostile to your faith/alignment (for turning) or associated with your faith/ alignment (for rebuking). You can channel divine energy against this type of outsider to turn or rebuke them as if they were undead of twice their Hit Dice. When turning outsiders, those whose modified Hit Dice are half your turning level or less are dismissed to their home plane rather than destroyed. On their home plane, you turn or rebuke these Outsiders as undead of four times their Hit Dice, but there they really can be destroyed instead of merely dismissed. This feat can be taken several times. It does not stack. Each time, you may choose a new type of outsider to turn or rebuke.

Confuse Undead: You can employ one of your daily uses of Turn/Rebuke Undead to confuse undead (as per Confusion spell). Make a normal turning check, but undead that would be turned are confused for 10 rounds, and those who would be destroyed are permanently confused. This power surpasses the immunity to all mind-affecting effects gained by the undead type. Intelligent undead (Int 5 or higher) are especially weak against this effect and suffer a -2 penalty to their effective HD against this power, while mindless undead (no Int score) are hard to affect and receive a +2 bonus.

Divine Armor: By spending one of your turn or rebuke undead attempts, your armor or body gains a sacred (if you channel positive energy) or profane (if you channel negative energy) bonus to Armor Class equal to your Charisma bonus for a number of rounds equal to your Charisma bonus. When active, your armor or body glows with divine light (or a profane aura) in a radius of 5 feet. The bonus provided by Divine Armor is fully effective against incorporeal creatures.

Divine Dispel: You can dispel or counter a magic spell by making a turning check as if turning an undead creature of the opposing spellcaster's level. You can only dispel spells with the 'evil' descriptor (if you turn undead) or the 'good' descriptor (if you rebuke undead). A spell that is dispelled as it is being cast has no effect whatsoever; otherwise, it ends as if its duration had run out. This power cannot affect spells immune to dispel magic. Each attempt to use Divine Dispel uses up one of your turn or rebuke attempts for the day, whether the attempt is successful or not.

Divine Flame: By spending one of your turn or rebuke undead attempts, you can sheath your weapon with sacred or profane flame for a number of rounds equal to your Charisma bonus. If you channel positive energy, your weapon is sheathed in white flames that inflict +1d6 points of sacred damage against evil opponents. If you channel negative energy, you weapon is sheathed in black flames that inflict +1d6 points of profane damage against good opponents instead. These flames do not give off heat or ignite flammable objects, though sacred flames give off light equal to a torch. The sacred or profane damage inflicted by Divine Flame is unaffected by protection from elements and similar spells and abilities.

Divine Ghost Weapon: By spending one of your turn or rebuke undead attempts, your weapon can be used to attack incorporeal opponents as if it had the ghost touch power, negating an incorporeal creatures ability to ignore 50% of successful attacks from a corporeal source. Though you do not gain a bonus on attack or damage rolls with this feat, you can also negate the damage reduction of incorporeal or undead opponents as if wielding a +1 magic weapon. The bonuses provided by this feat last for a number of rounds equal to your Charisma bonus.

Divine Might: As a free action, spend one of your turn or rebuke undead attempts to add your Charisma bonus to your weapon damage for 1 full round.

Extra Turning: Each time you take this feat, you can use your ability to turn or rebuke creatures four more times per day than normal. If you have the ability to turn or rebuke more than one kind of creature each of your turning or rebuking abilities gains four additional uses per day.

Ex-Gray Gaurd

As a gray guard, you are less at risk of permanently losing your abilities than a paladin is. You might lose them temporarily for committing dishonorable acts, but you are granted clemency for performing such deeds in the name of your faith and can atone more easily. Nevertheless, if you commit unforgivably evil acts (such as slaughtering innocents or despoiling a temple of your faith), take action that opposes your faith’s tenets, or habitually violate your code of conduct, you risk permanent expulsion from the holy order

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