Li Shenron said:
The Pious Templar is definitely a renamed version of the Templar from Defenders of the Faith, which I don't remember now what benefits used to give compared to the revised one in CD. I would have definitely preferred it to have its own spell list, otherwise it is just too similar to a Paladin (the only unique feature left is Mettle). However it seems pretty balanced.
Changes are as follows:
Pre-reqs: Knowledge (religion) from 8 ranks to 4 ranks.
Pre-Req Feats: lost Endurance, gained True Believer
Spell-Use: used to have unique list, now uses Paladin/Blackguard list
Smite: used to be 7th: 2/day; now 6th: 2/day, 10th: 3/day.
Damage Reduction: used to me 3rd: DR 1/-, 6th DR 2/-, 9th DR 3/-; now 3rd: DR 1/-; 7th DR 2/-
Weapon Specialisation: Used to gain at 1st level, now 3rd level.
Bonus Feat: used to draw from unique list, now from Fighter list.
Look like good changes to me; beforehand, there was no real reason to take the 10th level in templar. (An extra 3rd level spell? Please).
They haven't given the new progression but here it is alongside the old:
1st: Mettle, Weapon Specialization;
now Mettle
2nd: Smite 1/day;
now Smite 1/day
3rd: DR 1/-;
now Weapon Specialization, DR 1/-
4th: Bonus feat;
now Bonus Feat
5th: nothing (gains 3rd level spells)
6th:
now Smite 2/day
7th:
DR 2/-
8th: Bonus Feat;
now Bonus Feat
9th: DR 3/-;
now nothing
10th:
now Smite 3/day
Cheers!