One of the players in my campaign is a current member of the Order of Silver, a paladin who has dedicated himself to vanquishing planar foes and banishing summoned outsiders. His task is subtly different than that of the average paladin, as freely admitted in Secrets and Societies.
My player and I were discussing the Silver Knight prestige class, which he fully intends to take when he reaches level 7. We were talking about how much of his current abilities will be all but cast aside when he starts advancing in his prestige class. As I said, there is a subtle difference between an average paladin and a Silver Knight and some of the skills one accrues as an average paladin aren't well suited to the PrC.
This provoked further conversation into how it almost seems as if each of the four Coreanic paladin prestige classes are Alternate Paladins, in a manner similar to that of Monte Cook's Alternate Ranger. And of the four Swords of Corean, the silver variety is the one that is most like an alternate class, as it breaks the traditional mold in the strongest manner.
So I got to thinking; maybe I should tweak things so that the Silver Knight is a base class, a variant on the paladin. Such sweeping changes as the alteration of a base class usually sicken me to my stomach, because I loathe home rules. I typically prefer to leave game mechanics alone and focus more on my campaign. I feel as though game designers are better at these things than I am and that I'm bound to break what ain't broken to begin with.
However, I really like the idea of the Silver Knight, but truly believe that the implementation of it from a rules perspective is somewhat off-course. The Silver Knight suffers from an overload of abilities when one combines the prestige class with the base paladin class. Some of these abilities speak perfectly to the specific nature of the Order of Silver, some are standard paladin fare that is generic enough to fit the theme, and some just don't
seem all that necessary when one considers what it is that Silver Knights do. I want to streamline it into a condensed, well-thought out and focused class.
So here's the rough draft of my new base class that I am calling Paladin (Silver Knight variant). As mentioned above, it is the synthesis of the Paladin base class and the Silver Knight prestige class. Some abilities have been dropped and some have been altered. Some abilites are available at earlier levels than normal while some are available at higher levels than normal. Asteriks will notate deviations from an ability's stated description in
Secrets and Societies.
Again, this is all done in the interests of streamlining the Coreanic orders and may well be something I pursue with each of the four orders. Since this is the class that I have a player pursuing, it is the one I will modify right now.
The base Paladin class as presented in the PHB will be used for knights-errant; those paladins of Corean who eschew the hierarchy of the Swords. These paladins would either refuse prestige classes all together or take those such as Keeper of the Eternal Flame, Aerial Cavalier, or those from the "splat" books. The PHB base class would also be used for the occasional paladin of Madriel.
So without further adieu, here it is:
------------------------------------------------------------
Paladin (Silver Knight variant)
Alignment: Lawful Good
Hit Die: d10
Deity: Corean
Class Skills: Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge: Arcana (Int), Knowledge: Planes (Int), Knowledge: Religion (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Ritual Casting (Con, exclusive skill), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) x 4
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier
Class Features:
Base Attack Bonus: as Paladin
Saving Throws: as Paladin
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: as Paladin
Spells per Day: as Paladin
1st: Detect evil, divine grace, lay on hands, divine health
2nd: Aura of courage, sense for evil, smite outsiders 1/day
3rd: Turn outsiders
4th: Sacred defense*
5th:
6th:
7th: Holy aegis (SR 15), smite outsiders 2/day
8th: Protective enlargement*
9th:
10th: Holy strike*
11th: Protective extension*
12th: Holy aegis (SR 20)
13th: Banish summonings
14th: Protective quickening*
15th:
16th: Consecration of silver, smite outsiders 3/day
17th: Holy aegis (SR 25)
18th:
19th: Holy banishment
20th:
Sacred Defense: This ability has been altered so that it functions in a manner similar to Divine Grace. A Silver Knight adds his Cha modifier to his AC against outsiders and elementals.
Holy Strike: This ability now includes a modified version of the removed Blade Blessing. Think of it in a manner similar to Divine Might from Defenders of the Faith. Expend one Turn Outsiders attempt to add your Cha modifier to your weapon for the express purpose of overcoming an outsider's damage reduction. Like Blade Blessing, this does not confer any real attack or damage bonus. In addition, Holy Strike continues to function like it is written in Secrets and Societies (only stipulation is that the Silver Knight need not have "blessed" his blade before hand).
Protective Enlargement, Extension, and Quickening: This ability will now include all Abjuration spells on the Paladin spell list.
------------------------------------------------------------
Turn Undead was removed in favor of Turn Outsiders. In a similar vein, Smite Evil was removed in favor of Smite Outsiders. Remove Disease was removed because I feel that it is not within the realm of a Silver Knight and is something better suited for Gold Knights. Likewise, I removed Blade Blessing in order to streamline the class a bit more and remove excess, superfluous abilities. Five levels of progression for Blade Blessing was both cumbersome and unwieldly when combined with all of the other numerous abilities that a Silver Knight gains.
I changed the Protective enhancements because the only official Protective spell that a paladin has is Protection From Evil. There are other spells that I think fit this bill in spirit, though, such as Endure Elements, Reist Elements, Magic Circle Against Evil, Dispel Evil, etc. In fact, these are all Abjuration spells and that's why I made the edit that I did.
I also wanted to go ahead and give this "new" base class the class skills of the Silver Knight PrC. This is one of my player's biggest gripes right now. He's a paladin who has been raised and trained by the Order of Silver and yet he doesn't have class access to the most crucial skills of a Silver Knight. The skills that it seems as though he'd be learning from day one.
Finally, I removed Special Mount because I've always felt that this ability was more of a throw-back to the concept of paladins as chivalrous knights mounted on horseback. I think that this model has shifted to the holy warrior perspective and, as such, the special mount is somewhat outdated. A paladin may well be an excellent rider, but I don't really go for that bond that forms between man and beast. Your mileage may vary. And naturally, this flies in the face of the Coreanic Steed. Ahh well.
So what do you think?
Gaius
My player and I were discussing the Silver Knight prestige class, which he fully intends to take when he reaches level 7. We were talking about how much of his current abilities will be all but cast aside when he starts advancing in his prestige class. As I said, there is a subtle difference between an average paladin and a Silver Knight and some of the skills one accrues as an average paladin aren't well suited to the PrC.
This provoked further conversation into how it almost seems as if each of the four Coreanic paladin prestige classes are Alternate Paladins, in a manner similar to that of Monte Cook's Alternate Ranger. And of the four Swords of Corean, the silver variety is the one that is most like an alternate class, as it breaks the traditional mold in the strongest manner.
So I got to thinking; maybe I should tweak things so that the Silver Knight is a base class, a variant on the paladin. Such sweeping changes as the alteration of a base class usually sicken me to my stomach, because I loathe home rules. I typically prefer to leave game mechanics alone and focus more on my campaign. I feel as though game designers are better at these things than I am and that I'm bound to break what ain't broken to begin with.
However, I really like the idea of the Silver Knight, but truly believe that the implementation of it from a rules perspective is somewhat off-course. The Silver Knight suffers from an overload of abilities when one combines the prestige class with the base paladin class. Some of these abilities speak perfectly to the specific nature of the Order of Silver, some are standard paladin fare that is generic enough to fit the theme, and some just don't
seem all that necessary when one considers what it is that Silver Knights do. I want to streamline it into a condensed, well-thought out and focused class.
So here's the rough draft of my new base class that I am calling Paladin (Silver Knight variant). As mentioned above, it is the synthesis of the Paladin base class and the Silver Knight prestige class. Some abilities have been dropped and some have been altered. Some abilites are available at earlier levels than normal while some are available at higher levels than normal. Asteriks will notate deviations from an ability's stated description in
Secrets and Societies.
Again, this is all done in the interests of streamlining the Coreanic orders and may well be something I pursue with each of the four orders. Since this is the class that I have a player pursuing, it is the one I will modify right now.
The base Paladin class as presented in the PHB will be used for knights-errant; those paladins of Corean who eschew the hierarchy of the Swords. These paladins would either refuse prestige classes all together or take those such as Keeper of the Eternal Flame, Aerial Cavalier, or those from the "splat" books. The PHB base class would also be used for the occasional paladin of Madriel.
So without further adieu, here it is:
------------------------------------------------------------
Paladin (Silver Knight variant)
Alignment: Lawful Good
Hit Die: d10
Deity: Corean
Class Skills: Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge: Arcana (Int), Knowledge: Planes (Int), Knowledge: Religion (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Ritual Casting (Con, exclusive skill), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) x 4
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier
Class Features:
Base Attack Bonus: as Paladin
Saving Throws: as Paladin
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: as Paladin
Spells per Day: as Paladin
1st: Detect evil, divine grace, lay on hands, divine health
2nd: Aura of courage, sense for evil, smite outsiders 1/day
3rd: Turn outsiders
4th: Sacred defense*
5th:
6th:
7th: Holy aegis (SR 15), smite outsiders 2/day
8th: Protective enlargement*
9th:
10th: Holy strike*
11th: Protective extension*
12th: Holy aegis (SR 20)
13th: Banish summonings
14th: Protective quickening*
15th:
16th: Consecration of silver, smite outsiders 3/day
17th: Holy aegis (SR 25)
18th:
19th: Holy banishment
20th:
Sacred Defense: This ability has been altered so that it functions in a manner similar to Divine Grace. A Silver Knight adds his Cha modifier to his AC against outsiders and elementals.
Holy Strike: This ability now includes a modified version of the removed Blade Blessing. Think of it in a manner similar to Divine Might from Defenders of the Faith. Expend one Turn Outsiders attempt to add your Cha modifier to your weapon for the express purpose of overcoming an outsider's damage reduction. Like Blade Blessing, this does not confer any real attack or damage bonus. In addition, Holy Strike continues to function like it is written in Secrets and Societies (only stipulation is that the Silver Knight need not have "blessed" his blade before hand).
Protective Enlargement, Extension, and Quickening: This ability will now include all Abjuration spells on the Paladin spell list.
------------------------------------------------------------
Turn Undead was removed in favor of Turn Outsiders. In a similar vein, Smite Evil was removed in favor of Smite Outsiders. Remove Disease was removed because I feel that it is not within the realm of a Silver Knight and is something better suited for Gold Knights. Likewise, I removed Blade Blessing in order to streamline the class a bit more and remove excess, superfluous abilities. Five levels of progression for Blade Blessing was both cumbersome and unwieldly when combined with all of the other numerous abilities that a Silver Knight gains.
I changed the Protective enhancements because the only official Protective spell that a paladin has is Protection From Evil. There are other spells that I think fit this bill in spirit, though, such as Endure Elements, Reist Elements, Magic Circle Against Evil, Dispel Evil, etc. In fact, these are all Abjuration spells and that's why I made the edit that I did.
I also wanted to go ahead and give this "new" base class the class skills of the Silver Knight PrC. This is one of my player's biggest gripes right now. He's a paladin who has been raised and trained by the Order of Silver and yet he doesn't have class access to the most crucial skills of a Silver Knight. The skills that it seems as though he'd be learning from day one.
Finally, I removed Special Mount because I've always felt that this ability was more of a throw-back to the concept of paladins as chivalrous knights mounted on horseback. I think that this model has shifted to the holy warrior perspective and, as such, the special mount is somewhat outdated. A paladin may well be an excellent rider, but I don't really go for that bond that forms between man and beast. Your mileage may vary. And naturally, this flies in the face of the Coreanic Steed. Ahh well.
So what do you think?
Gaius
Last edited:
