Alternative to the Paladins Mount

[daTim]

I've seen people discuss this subject before and I had wondered about it myself, as having a mount isnt viable in all campaigns. Here is what I came up with so far, though it may be a tad overpowered; the xp cost definatly helps to lower the power. Comments and suggestions are welcome!

At lvl 5, instead of calling a mount, a Paladin may pray and fast to his patron God in an attempt to call a deceased Paladin or Celestial's soul to take up residence in his weapon of choice. A Paladin may only have one such weapon at any time. If the weapon is destroyed or lost forever somehow, the Paladin must spend all the xp and time meditating to again achieve its previous level of power.

Sword Benefits (need filler, may just spread out some abilities, but I liked the pattern it made) Ego's are fairly accurate.

5 (Ego 6) - +2, semi-empathetic
6 (Ego 6) -
7 (Ego 7) - Primary Ability I
8 (Ego 7) - (+1 Ability Score), Empathy
9 (Ego 9) - Holy or Lawful
10 (Ego 11) - +3, Primary Ability II
11 (Ego 11) - Speach
12 (Ego 13) - (+1 Ability Score)
13 (Ego 15) - Extraordinary Ability I
14 (Ego 16) - Telepathy
15 (Ego 18) - Bane (any)
16 (Ego 22) - +4, (+1 Ability), Primary Ability III
17 (Ego 22) -
18 (Ego 22) -
19 (Ego 24) - Extraordinary Ability II
20 (Ego 25) - (+1 Ability Score)

All of these abilities cause subtle but noticable physical changes on the Paladins chosen weapon, such as it glowing white if Holy, or becoming cold and very hard if Lawful etc.

Primary/Extraordinary Abilities - Either selected by the DM as appropriate to the God followed, or rolled randomly. Not quite sure on this yet.
Holy/Lawful - Choses one
Bane (any) - Generally something which is relevant to the paladins Gods mantra. God of elves may hate orcs etc. May not choose Outsiders (Good)

Other bits

- Sword is the channeled soul of a deceased Paladin or Celestial and is always LG in alignment. If the Paladin does something, with the sword that may violate that alignment it will flex its fairly impressive Ego to first talk the Paladin down, or only if necesary force the Paladin to stop.
- Swords base Abilities: Int - 3d6, Wis - 2d6+7, Chr - 2d6+7. Increases at every level divisible by 4, just like a PC as shown on the chart.
- If the paladin changes alignment, the sword functions for one month, or until the Paladin attones and changes his alignment back to LG. After that time the swords power fades forever as the soul leaves this plane dissapointed and a failure of its God.
- If the Paladin multiclasses, but remains LG, the sword continues to function at its achieved level but will always be guiding the PC back to Paladinhood.
- At each level the paladin must fast and pray for a number of days equal to 1/2 his new level before the sword gains its new abilities. Praying must be for 8 hours each day, though not necessarly continuous and other actions may be taken that day as normal. (no effects for fasting have been worked out yet. Maybe a fortitude save every day past the 3rd or be fatigued?)
- Experience spent every level starts at 300, and increases by 50 for each level gained. (Ex: 350 at 6th, 400 at 7th) It isnt exactly a scaling xp formula, but it came out to almost 10,000 xp at lvl 20, which is equal to the xp spent to make a 250,000 gp weapon, about what the weapon is equivelant too.

(Edit: Edited for some consistancy and Grammer/Spelling problems)

 

[Quip]

Hard to say about the power level, depends a lot on what abilties are gained. Not to comportable with the idea of a holy sword with an ego either, not as a class feature anyways. In any case gaining certain kinds powers at certain levels can be annoying, like if its not really approriate or useful to have a bane enchantment.


I had an idea along similar lines, figure the idea of a holy sword is as much a part of the paladin ideal as his mighty steed if not more so. Mine was a bit simpler though:

-Starts off with a +1 enhancement bonus.
-Is considered blessed (or made of Holy Steel, for 3.5).
-Acts as a phylactery of faith.
-Can be improved by voluntarily spending xp, using identical rules as a samurais ancestrial weapon.

Conceptually, the weapon itself is a sliver of his gods power. The phylactery of faith function represents a sort of empathic bond with the god. No specific rules about what kind of powers gained when of what kind, as long as its something the gods not opposed to (i.e. the DM okays it). My versions not that strong though, since you have to spend the xp for everything.


All in all, I like the paladin sword concept, dislike the intelligent version. Needs more enahancements, less abilities. Probably good if you add a few smites with it. Or have it progress into a Holy Avenger or somesuch.

 

[Spatzimaus]

To me, the intelligent sword would be more appropriate as a cohort from the Leadership feat. But, the basic idea's not bad.

I think you've given it way too many powers, though. A mount is useful, sure, but it's a secondary effect. In combat, the mount won't swing the battle one way or the other. The holy sword abilities you're listing, on the other hand, give you a weapon far superior to what a player would normally have at that level.

IMC, we let Paladins pick non-ridable creatures as "mounts", and let the template apply to them in the usual way. It ends up as more of a "companion", but it lets you fit into far more campaigns. (The Halfling Paladin took a Dire Weasel companion)