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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7365527" data-attributes="member: 4937">Well, I did want a Paladin niche.  And in particular, I wanted a class that could be 'the Paladin' but didn't require me to create a different class for every alignment and every deity that might come into play.There is precedence in both animism and early and even late polytheism though.   In animism, the role of the Shaman is to be this intermediary between the spirit world and the mortal world.   When a Shaman puts on say a wolf's head or a bison head, he's inviting the animal spirit to take possession of him.  He's effectively becoming the spirt of that animal or whatever other spirit he's trying to get to communicate with the tribe.   You can see this develop in early polytheism, most notably in West African polytheism and its diasapora offshoots.  A west African priest or a Haitian Voodoo doctor is again inviting the God to come among the worshippers by possessing his body, using it as a conduit to make the spirit world accessible to the mortal world.   As polytheism develops further and begins to revolve around narrative and heroic ideals, the same idea starts appearing in a new but related form - the incarnation of the divine.  For example, in Hinduism you see this idea of the incarnated Vishnu appearing and reappearing in new forms.  You see what I think is a related idea in Greek polytheism with the 'demigod' or 'hero', who by virtue of his divine blood is essentially bringing the divine among the people.  Heracles for example could be understood to be a champion of Zeus, or Jason as a sort of champion of Hermes.  Of course, this isn't a perfect one to one with the idea of Champion as it exists in my game.  I'm still mostly trying to have a paladin niche.Playing a Champion is rather different than playing a Cleric, or even a melee spec'd cleric.  You don't get really notable spell casting ability until your level is in the teens.  I think at 10th level you have something like 4 spell slots.  It's not even a half-caster like a bard, although it shares with Bard that it's often a support class.   What you are instead relying on in the early game is your potent class abilities and the boosts you have in particular skills related to your theme.  Early on it actually plays more like a fighter than it does a cleric, but instead of relying on your feats you are relying on a few innate magic powers.  You're if nothing else a full BAB fighter and you don't need buffs to make an impact early game.   If you do buff in some way, it typically doesn't cost actions the way a low level cleric tends to need to trade off.  In the later game, it plays more like a fighter that has dipped into shaman for some buffs and an animal companion.  That said, it's possible to build a Champion to be a cleric replacement, focusing on healing and turning undead (Compassion + Righteousness for example).</blockquote>

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