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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Primitive Screwhead" data-source="post: 3258186" data-attributes="member: 20805">Variant Paladin : Skills-n-FeatsCurse you Solkan-UK!Just because of you this idea has been bouncing around in my head for the last day... so I wrote it down:Caveat: This is a day's worth of thinking.. I am sure there are loopholes with it and possibly something that will get tucked into a dark, unused corner of my HR folder <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />[title]Variant PaladinA Skills-n-Feats adaptation[/title]    Chosen of the Gods is, under normal 3.x rules, a tightly bound class. This has necessitated creation of other classes to reflect a Chosen who does not follow the same battle-ethics. As each Deity has differences, so too should their followers.    This variant disposed of the Core Paladin, Anti-Paladin, and their bastard children. Instead a character devoted to a Deity may take feats to gain the special abilities. One can replicate the Core Paladin through the Fighter class and these Feats.New Mechanics:    New Skills:        Devotion (WIS): This skill represents your investment into your Deity, as well as your Deities investment into you. When you gain a Divine Feat, your current level of Devotion becomes a pre-requisite for that feat.You can use this skill as a replacement for Knowledge: Religion regarding your own Deity. You can also use it to determine if a given course of action goes against your Code. The DC for this based on severity of the violation: Minor Violation DC 15. Major Violations DC 5    This skill is Exclusive and can only be accessed through the Feat ‘Chosen of the Gods’Changed Mechanics:    Falling from Grace.        When a Chosen of the Gods goes against their Code, they may suffer a drain of Devotion Ranks. This will directly affect the abilities granted to them. If the character violates their Code, they must make a Devotion skill check vs DC 20. The amount they fail the check by is the amount of Devotion ranks that are drained.     The DC of this check is modified by the severity of the violation. A major violation increases the DC by +10. If the character knows in advance that the course of action will be a violation, the DC increases by +10.If the character’s ranks are reduced to zero, they have fallen from grace. An ‘Atonement’ spell will return their status, or begin their status anew with a different Deity. The spell recovers 1 rank in Devotion.    Recovering drained ranks: Lesser Restoration recovers 1D4 ranks and Restoration recovers all drained ranks. However, the caster of the spell must be a Chosen of the same Deity as the character. Additionally, casting a Restoration on an unrepentant Chosen usually violates the casters own Code. As such, a quest is often required before such services will be rendered.Feats:    Chosen of the Gods        When this feat is selected, the character must announce the Deity they are allied with and the Code by which they will live. The code at <a href="http://www.farlandworld.com/paladin.html" target="_blank">http://www.farlandworld.com/paladin.html </a> is an excellent version. The chosen code should highlight aspects of the Deity and must be agreed upon by the DM.    Benefits: You gain Devotion as a Class skill.    You gain an Aura of Good equal to your ranks in Devotion.Divine Grace:    Prereq: 3 ranks in Devotion    Benefits: Gain the Divine Grace Paladin class ability    Gain the Divine Health Paladin class abilityDivine Wrath:    Prereq: 3 ranks in Devotion    Benefit: Gain the Aura of Courage Paladin class ability    At will, use ‘detect evil’, as the spell. Your caster level is equal to your ranks in Devotion –3.    Gain the ability to Smith Evil {or Good} as if you had Paladin levels equal to your ranks in Devotion –3Greater Divine Wrath    Prereq: Divine Wrath    Benefits: As a free action and expending a Smith Evil use, you can infuse your Weapon with the Holy {or Un-Holy} enhancement. This enhancement lasts a number of rounds equal to your CHR Mod.Divine Healing    Prereq: 3 ranks in Devotion    Benefit: Gain the ‘Laying on Hands’ Paladin class ability. The amount of healing available is the number of Devotion ranks * Charisma bonusDivine Rage    Prereq: 4 ranks in Devotion    Benefit: You can fly into a rage, gaining +4 to Strength, +4 to Constitution, and a +2 bonus to Will saves, but taking a –2 penalty to AC. Like the Barbarian rage, the new CON adds temporary hit points. Unlike the Barbarian rage, you are not limited in your choice of actions. The rage lasts a number of rounds equal to the your CHR mod and your new CON Mod added together. At the end of the rage, you become Fatigued.    You can fly into a Divine Rage only once per encounter. This ability is usable once per day for each 4 ranks of Devotion.Divine Skill    Prereq: 3 ranks in Devotion    Benefit: You gain +2 skill points each time you level, including the level you gain this feat. These points are not retroactive.    Special: If this Feat is lost due to Falling from Grace, you lose an additional number of ranks in Devotion equal to the number of levels since gaining this feat. {This mechanic avoids the problem of tracking which skill points were spent where}Greater Divine Healing    Prereq: Divine Healing    Benefit: You gain the ability to Remove Disease once a week per 4 ranks of Devotion. The caster level for this ability is equal to your ranks in Devotion.Greater Divine Rage:    Prereq: Divine Rage    Benefit: The bonus gained by the Rage increases to +6 to STR and CON, and +3 to Will saves.Tireless Divine Rage:    Prereq: Greater Divine Rage    Benefit: You are no longer Fatigued at the end of your rageTurn Undead:    Prereq: 3 ranks of Devotion    Benefit: Gain the ability to Turn undead. You gain a virtual level of Cleric for each rank of Devotion beyond 6th. These virtual ranks stack with actual Cleric levels, however they cap at your characters total level. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + CHR Mod. Domain Access:    Prereq: 3 ranks of Devotion    Benefit: Select one Domain your Deity owns. You gain the Domain Power and may select spells from the Domain list.Spell Casting:    Prereq: 3 ranks in Devotion    Benefit: You gain the ability to cast spells from the Paladin spell list as if you had Paladin levels equal to your ranks in Devotion –3.Divine Mount:    Prereq: 3 ranks in Devotion    Benefit: You gain a Paladin Mount as if you had Paladin levels equal to your ranks in Devotion –3Addendums:Changing Deities. It is possible to change deities, but this is mildly painful. You must first renounce your current Deity and accept the resulting fall from grace. Then you must gain Absolution from the new Deity. However, the new Deity cannot restore drained Devotion, so you start out at 1 rank of Devotion and must rebuild.While rebuilding, if a previously selected Feat does not fit the new Deity, the GM may either select one for you or be nice and let you change it yourself. Options on previously selected feats, such as with Domain Power, are up to the players choice as to what to change it to.</blockquote>

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