Exchanging Paladin Spells for Divine Feats

[tmaaas]

I am considering adding an option to the Paladin class which will allow the Paladin to select divine feats (from Complete Warrior and Compete Divine; I'll also allow Extra Turning) in lieu of spellcasting.

At fourth level, the Paladin would have to irrevocably choose whether to receive spells (a normal Paladin) or divine feats (a Paladin-Channeler).

Which feat progression would be balanced against the loss of all the Paladin spells:

Option a: levels 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 (five total)
Option b: levels 4, 9, 14, 19 (four total)
Option c: levels 4, 10 16 (three total)

I am personally leaning towards Option b, but I would welcome your feedback and any other (related) thoughts.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I think the best option would probably be to allow it at each level at which the Paladin would normally gain a new level of paladin spells:

d) 4, 8, 1, 14

 

[the Jester]

Four sounds like a good total number to me- I'd prolly do 'em at 4th, 9th, 14th and 19th.

 

[tmaaas]

Thanks for the feedback.

Plane Sailing, I'd thought about giving the feats at levels a Paladin would first gain access to a new level of spells, but they were too closely packed for my taste. I prefer spreading them out a bit over the remainder of the progression.

 

[lobo]

How many feats

I would allow five feats. The Palidin has a pretty good spell list. Also the progression of the five feats encourages the palidin to go through 20 levels.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

I would do it at levels where the paladin gets spells assuming they don't have enough wisdom for the early bonus.

What is that: 6, 10, 13, 16? Just like out of the CW no spell variant.

Also bare in mind that wisdom has just become a dump stat candidate.

 

[Gort]

True, but paladins need enough good stats as it is...

 

[Darklone]

Since we're talking about houserules... add Wisdom 13+ to the prerequisites of these feats.

 

[tmaaas]

Once again, thanks for all the replies.

I'm with Gort regarding the Wisdom "dump stat." One of the common complaints with Paladins (and Monks) is multiple stat dependency. Reducing it by one might even be considered good...

 

[mercucio]

...Option a: levels 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 (five total) ...

I like option B myself. The reason for this is that a paladin will typically be able to use his divine feats less often than his spells. At 20th level a paladin can cast a minimum of 4 1st, 4 2nd, 3 3rd, and 3 4th level spells (the extra 1st and 2nd levels spells are granted by a minimum Wis 14, necessary to cast 4th level spells). A paladin with a Cha of 16 can only turn undead 6 times per day, just about half the total number of spells he could cast.

However, I would suggest allowing paladins to select all turning feats (i.e. empower turning, quicken turning, ect). Also IIRC, paladins already have access to the Extra Turning feat since they have the ability to turn undead.