Power Enhancement Feats: Paladin Powers

FireLance

FireLance

Legend
Power enhancement feats improve the effect of a specific power. They are conceptually similar to feats such as Elven Precision, Halfling Agility, Empowered Dragon Breath, Feywild Protection, and Fiery Rebuke, even though these are currently classified as racial feats as they improve racial powers.

The following feats improve the 1st-level paladin encounter powers.
Dazzling Flash (Paladin, Power Enhancement)
Prerequisites: Paladin, radiant smite power
Benefit: When you use your radiant smite power and hit with the attack, the target also takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls until the end of your next turn.

Deep Pierce (Paladin, Power Enhancement)
Prerequisites: Paladin, piercing smite power
Benefit: You add your Wisdom modifier to the damage roll for your piercing smite power.

Shielding Interrupt (Paladin, Power Enhancement)
Prerequisites: Paladin, shielding smite power, divine challenge power
Benefit: When the target of your divine challenge power makes an attack that does not include you as a target, you may use your shielding smite power against it as an immediate interrupt instead of dealing radiant damage. The ally that gains the AC bonus from your shielding smite power must be one of those attacked by your target.

Unnerving Strike (Paladin, Power Enhancement)
Prerequisites: Paladin, fearsome smite power
Benefit: When you use your fearsome smite power and hit with the attack, the target also takes a penalty to damage rolls equal to your Wisdom modifier until the end of your next turn.​
Thoughts?
 

log in or register to remove this ad

The following feats improve the 3rd-level paladin encounter powers.
Improved Invigoration (Paladin, Power Enhancement)
Prerequisites: Paladin, invigorating smite power
Benefit: When you use your invigorating smite power and hit with the attack, you may add your Charisma modifier to the number of hit points you regain if you are bloodied, and to the number of hit points regained by bloodied allies within 5 squares of you.

Righteous Resolve (Paladin, Power Enhancement)
Prerequisites: Paladin, righteous smite power
Benefit: When you use your righteous smite power and hit with the attack, you may add your Charisma modifier to the number of temporary hit points gained by you and each ally within 5 squares of you.

Triple Arc (Paladin, Power Enhancement)
Prerequisites: Paladin, arcing smite power
Benefit: You may attack up to three targets with your arcing smite power.

Unbalancing Stagger (Paladin, Power Enhancement)
Prerequisites: Paladin, staggering smite power
Benefit: When you use your staggering smite power and hit with the attack, the target must also make an immediate saving throw. If it fails the saving throw, it is knocked prone in addition to being pushed.​
 

I hate to be a Debbie Downer since you've clearly put some good thought into these, but I find the very concept to be fundamentally boring. Character class is already giving the player a lot -- all those class features and most of your powers and eventually a paragon path. Feats should be reserved for doing something else. Every class already has 80+ powers to choose from, and introducing 80+ companion feats (one for each power) is just information overload. If a book of these came out I wouldn't waste my time reading them; I'd rather read about something fresh and new. In this vein, feats should be more generally applicable than just enhancing a single power, and class-specific feats should introduce some interesting synergies with existing powers, not just improve a single one. There are exceptions of course but in general I think that the classes already have enough going on and that the paladin (or any other) doesn't need to start consuming the feat "design space" too.

-- 77IM
 

Thanks for your comments, 77IM. :) I certainly see where you are coming from and I do recognize that these feats may not be for everyone.

However, I think that the way in which characters gain powers mitigates some of the information overload. Since each feat is tied to a specific power, every time the player has to choose a feat, there is only one additional feat choice for every power he has. Alternatively, if he looks at the feats before choosing the power, at any one level a character usually has no more than five power choices, so he does not have to look at more than five feats at any one time.

In addition, I'm focusing mainly on the encounter powers for now. Each of these feats effectively grants an additional advantage once per encounter, so I can make the advantage better than one that I would give to an at-will power, while giving the player the assurance that he will see the benefits come up in play fairly often. I may tackle daily and utility powers at some point in the future, perhaps with a basic mechanic similar to the reserve feats that came out in late 3.5e.
 

The following feats improve the 7th-level paladin encounter powers.
Arresting Beckons (Paladin, Power Enhancement)
Prerequisites: Paladin, beckon foe power
Benefit: You may increase the range of your beckon foe power to 1 + your Wisdom modifier.
In addition, when you use your beckon foe power, hit with the attack and end your turn adjacent to the target, it must make an immediate saving throw. If it fails the saving throw, it is also immobilized until the end of your next turn.

Dazing Thunder (Paladin, Power Enhancement)
Prerequisites: Paladin, thunder smite power
Benefit: When you use your thunder smite power and score a critical hit, the target is also dazed until the end of your next turn.

Divine Languor (Paladin, Power Enhancement)
Prerequisites: Paladin, divine reverence power
Benefit: When you use your divine reverence power and hit with an attack, the target you hit is also slowed until the end of your next turn.

Healing Transposition (Paladin, Power Enhancement)
Prerequisites: Paladin, benign transposition power, lay on hands power
Benefit: In the same round that you use your benign transposition power, you may use lay on hands on the primary target even if he is not within melee reach of you.​
 
Last edited:

Here are a couple of new Channel Divinity feats that give a paladin a bit more flexibility when it comes to power selection.
Spirit of Power (Paladin, Divinity)
Prerequisites: Paladin, Channel Divinity class feature
Benefit: You can invoke the power of your deity to use spirit of power.
Channel Divinity: Spirit of Power
Class Feat Power
Your physical strength fuels your next attack.
Encounter * Divine
Minor Action
Personal
Effect: You may use your Strength modifier instead of your Charisma modifier when making attack rolls and damage rolls for the next paladin attack power you use this turn.​
Strength of Spirit (Paladin, Divinity)
Prerequisites: Paladin, Channel Divinity class feature
Benefit: You can invoke the power of your deity to use strength of spirit.
Channel Divinity: Strength of Spirit
Class Feat Power
Your strength of personality fuels your next attack.
Encounter * Divine
Minor Action
Personal
Effect: You may use your Charisma modifier instead of your Strength modifier when making attack rolls and damage rolls for the next paladin attack power you use this turn.​
 

The following feats alter the paladin's basic divine challenge power by giving the paladin additional ways to engage his challenged target. The normal means of engagement, i.e. attacking the target or ending his turn adjacent to it, still apply.

A DM may add further prerequisites to these feats, e.g. by making some of them available only to paladins of certain deities or alignments.

A paladin may take more than one of these feats, but may only apply the benefit of one of these feats each time he uses divine challenge.
Baiting Challenge (Paladin)
Prerequisites: Paladin, divine challenge power
Benefit: You are also considered to have engaged your challenged target if it has line of sight and line of effect to you at the end of your turn, and you are not invisible or otherwise hidden from it.

Circling Challenge (Paladin)
Prerequisites: Paladin, divine challenge power
Benefit: You are also considered to have engaged your challenged target if you end your turn within 5 squares of it.

Duellist's Challenge (Paladin)
Prerequisites: Paladin, divine challenge power
Benefit: You are also considered to have engaged your challenged target if at the end of your turn, it has not been attacked by an enemy other than you since the end of your last turn.

Hunter's Challenge (Paladin)
Prerequisites: Paladin, divine challenge power
Benefit: You are also considered to have engaged your challenged target if you end your turn closer to it than you were at the start of your turn.​
 

The following feats improve the 13th-level paladin encounter powers.
Concealing Radiance (Paladin, Power Enhancement)
Prerequisites: Paladin, radiant charge power
Benefit: When you use your radiant charge power, you gain concealment while you fly.

Inspiring Renewal (Paladin, Power Enhancement)
Prerequisites: Paladin, renewing smite power
Benefit: When you use your renewing smite power and hit with the attack, the ally who regains hit points may also spend a healing surge.

Reaping Whirlwind (Paladin, Power Enhancement)
Prerequisites: Paladin, whirlwind smite power
Benefit: When you use your whirlwind smite power and miss with an attack, the target you missed takes damage equal to your Strength modifier.

Restraining Strike (Paladin, Power Enhancement)
Prerequisites: Paladin, entangling smite power
Benefit: When you use your entangling smite power and hit with the attack, the target must also make an immediate saving throw. If it fails the saving throw, it is restrained until the end of your next turn.​
 
Last edited:

The following feats improve the 17th-level paladin encounter powers. Stumbling Retreat is basically the same as Unbalancing Stagger, since terrifying smite is basically an upgraded version of staggering smite.
Enfeebling Enervation (Paladin, Power Enhancement)
Prerequisites: Paladin, enervating smite power
Benefit: When you use your enervating smite power and hit with the attack, the target also takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls until the end of your next turn.

Fury Of The Gods (Paladin, Power Enhancement)
Prerequisites: Paladin, hand of the gods power
Benefit: When you use your hand of the gods power, allies in the burst also gain a power bonus to damage rolls equal to your Wisdom modifier until the end of your next turn.

Invigorating Fortification (Paladin, Power Enhancement)
Prerequisites: Paladin, fortifying smite power
Benefit: When you use your fortifying smite power and hit with the attack, you also gain temporary hit points equal to 10 + your Wisdom modifier.

Stumbling Retreat (Paladin, Power Enhancement)
Prerequisites: Paladin, terrifying smite power
Benefit: When you use your terrifying smite power and hit with the attack, the target must also make an immediate saving throw. If it fails the saving throw, it is knocked prone in addition to being pushed.​
 
Last edited:

Just wanted to encourage you on your project - I actually wanted to do something much like this myself, though I was more focused on making feats to bring subpar powers up to par.

On the divine challenge feats... I really don't like any of them - duelists is probably the one I find most acceptable. It just feels like you encourage the paladin to "kite" the enemy by letting him challenge then run away, fight other things, make it near impossible for the target to get to him, etc. Not a big fan of encouraging that behavior. I would be okay with the mark not disappearing if the paladin is unable to engage due to daze, stun, immobilize, or the target fleeing out of range... just trickier to word that :)
 

Similar Threads

Xeviat
D&D General Eldritch Smite vs Paladin Smite (plus a house rule already)
2
Replies
19
Views
5K
Xeviat
Xeviat
Xeviat
D&D (2024) Hunter's Mark, Hex, and the illusive balance
2 3 4
Replies
33
Views
2K
Horwath
Horwath
Xeviat
D&D (2024) Alternative Paladin Smite
Replies
9
Views
2K
Xeviat
Xeviat
J
D&D 3E/3.5 Homebrew Content
Replies
2
Views
815
John98GR
J
S
Unearthed Arcana UA Phantom Rogue still seems BORING and feels OUTDATED in 5e2024. It's basically a vanilla Rogue before 9.
2
Replies
10
Views
2K
mellored
mellored
Remove ads

Top