[sblock=Holy Voice]
HOLY VOICE
Many deities grant powers to paladins, who serve as a weapon against their deity's enemies. Holy orders of Paladins quest against demons, undead, and abberations, whether it be in the name of Hyrag, Halina, or any of the other gods of the land.
However, some paladins are more than just dedicated to their holy patron. Some, for reasons unknown to them, feel a direct bond to their deity that transcends that typically felt by holy men. Some paladins instead become almost an avatar of their deity, someone infused with just a spark of divine will.
These paladins, referred to as Holy Voices, have been placed in the faith of their patron. No longer do they follow the precepts of their church; they are the will of their lord, on the mortal planes. While many churces resent the independance of Holy Voices, they do not question the ultimate source of the Voice's power.
Deities do not maintain many holy voices at once - the number of Holy Voices dedicated to any single deity at any one time is usually less than five. Instead, each deity makes use of his holy voices sparingly, sending them on quests that are sometimes beyond the reach of churches occasionally bogged-down by bureaucracy.
While Holy Voices can often hear their deity speak to them in (often cryptic) dreams, they do not have a direct link to their deity at all times. They can contact their deity through spells beyond the ken of most paladins, but are not the deity's mouthpiece by any stretch. In fact, many Holy Voices resent their deities at times, feeling that their god has placed too much responsibility on their mortal shoulders.
Holy Voices are seperate entities of their church, and often feel as if their powers and obligations override those of their god's church. In fact, subtle struggles between Holy Voices and church leaders occur all too often, with Holy Voices often pursuing a more active (and typically a little less "realistic") pursuit of their deity's goals on the material plane.
Holy Voices have always remained "behind the scenes", quietly pursuing their patron god's agenda. Hey are the brave knights of Hyrag who fight lone battles against a horde of orcs, or the noble warriors of Zephos who seek to bring peace to the dying on a battlefield, regardless of personal cost.
Curiously, Halina has never had a Holy Voice known to be connected to her.
Holy Voices are typically known only to senior members of the church; lay folk simply regard Holy Voices as lone followers of a deity.
Hit Die: d8
Requirements
Skills: Knowledge (Religion) 8 ranks, Concentration 5 ranks
Feat: Extra Turning,
Iron Will
Special: Lay on Hands
Language: Celestial
Class Skills
The Holy Voice's Class skills are Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Handle Animal, Heal, Knowledge (nobility and royalty), Knowledge (the planes), Knowledge (religion), Ride, Sense Motive, and Spellcraft.
Skill Points: 2 + Int modifier
Code:
Table: Holy Voice
Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special
1 +1 +2 +0 +0 Paladin Spells, Lay On Hands, Fearless Aura
2 +2 +3 +0 +0 Extra Domain
3 +3 +3 +1 +1 Morale Aura
4 +4 +4 +1 +1 Voice's Wrath
5 +5 +4 +1 +1 Healing Aura
Weapon and Armour Proficiencies: If the character is not already proficient, he receives proficiency in his deity's favoured weapon.
Paladin Spells: The character continues to gain spells as a paladin. Holy Voice levels count as paladin levels for determing the number of spells a paladin can cast per day, caster level, etc.
However, Holy Voice levels do not improve upon the number of times per week a Paladin can cast Remove Disease, a Paladin's Smite Attack, Paladin's Mount, or Turning Undead.
Lay on HandsHoly Voicelevels stack with paladins when determining the amount of hit points healed by the lay on hands ability.
Extra Domain: At 2nd level, the Holy Voice can select one domain granted by his deity. He gains one additional spell slot for each paladin spell level he has access to; this spell must be taken from this extra domain. Thus, a 5th level Paladin/2nd Level Holy Voice with the Healing Domain could cast Cure Light Wounds as a bonus Domain spell.
However, the Holy Voice does not benefit from the regular domain ability.
If the character already has domain spells (such as if he were a cleric), this bonus stacks with the Cleric's existing domains.
Fearless Aura: By spending one of his daily turn undead attempts as a standard action, the Holy Voice projects an aura that calms his allies. For a number of rounds equal to his Holy Voice level plus his charisma modifier, all allies that remain within 20 feet of the Holy Voice are immune to all fear effects.
Note that allies within the aura are immune to further fear effects; any fear effects that they suffered before the aura was activated still remain.
Morale Aura: By spending one of his daily turn undead attempts for the day as a standard action, the Holy Voice projects an aura that invigors his allies. All allies that remain within 30 feet of the Holy Voice receive a +1 morale bonus on melee attack rolls and damage rolls. This ability lasts for a number of rounds equal to the character's Holy Voice level plus his charisma modifier.
Voice's Wrath: By spending one of his daily turn undead attempts, the Holy Voice can make a single attack infused with a little bit of divine essence. He spends the Turn undead attempt as part of making a standard attack.
The Voice's Wrath attack is considered to be made by a Good weapon, for purposes of overcoming Damage Reduction. It has a +4 bonus to attack, and deals a number of points of extra damage equal to the Holy Voice's class level.
In addition, the attack deals +1d6 damage against Evil creatures.
A character cannot activate Voice's Wrath any round in which he is also making a smite attack.
Healing Aura: At 5th level, the Holy Voice is able to heal nearby allies. By spending one of his daily turn undead attempts as a free action, the Holy Voice can use his Lay on Hands ability on any willing target within 20 feet. Lay on Hands can be used as normal, with the exception that the Holy Voice does not need to physically lay hands on the target.
The Holy Voice can, if he so chooses, heal multiple targets with this ability, splitting up points from his Lay on Hands ability among all eligible targets.
Note: Holy Voice levels do not count as taking levels in another class, for purposes of a Paladin's multi-class restrictions. A 5th level Paladin/2nd Level Holy Voice can freely multi-class between both. Taking levels in other classes (such as fighter) still counts as multi-classing, and thus prevents taking levels in the Paladin class. [/sblock]
There, added Iron Will as a feat, and further clarified the multi-classing.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
