Prestige Class - Order of the Silver Chapel

[maddman75]

This is a class for my under-construction campaign world. The area I'm developing has an emphasis on various knightly orders. This order is dedicated to the great god Auros, and are his holiest warriors. It is essentially a paladin that gives up extra remove diseases, mount progression, and hit dice in exchange for extra smites and other abilities.

Knight of the Silver Chapel
Hit Dice d8

Requirements
Base Attack Bonus: +5
Alignment: Lawful or Neutral Good
Skills: Knowledge: Religion 5 Ranks
Ability to Lay on Hands

Class Skills
Concentration(Con), Heal(Wis), Knowledge Religion(Int), Ride(Dex), Sense Motive(Wis)
Skills per Level: 2 + Int Modifier

ClassLevel BaseAttackBonus FortSave RefSave WillSave Special
1st +1 +2 +0 +2 Spellcasting, Lay on Hands, Turn Undead
2nd +2 +3 +0 +3
3rd +3 +3 +1 +3 Smite 1/day
4th +4 +4 +1 +4
5th +5 +4 +1 +4 Blessing of Auros
6th +6 +5 +2 +5
7th +7 +5 +2 +5 Pure Soul
8th +8 +6 +2 +6
9th +9 +6 +3 +6 Smite 2/day
10th +10 +7 +3 +7 Wrath of Auros

Spellcasting, Lay on Hands, Turn Undead – Order of the Silver Chapel levels stack with any previous levels the Knight may have had. If they character does not have those abilities, they may use them as a paladin of level equal to their Order of the Silver Chapel level. Spellcasting as paladin in this case. If the character has more than one class, he must choose which class each level will apply to.

Smite – The Knight can smite, as per the paladin ability. The number of times the character can use Smite stack with a any previous class.
Blessing of Auros – The power of Auros will allow the character to Turn evil or chaotic outsiders as if they were undead.

Pure Soul – The Knight is completely immune to any magical effects that would cause him to compromise his Code or morality, such as a Charm or Domination spell.

Wrath of Auros – Should the knight die in combat against an evil foe, he is immediately resurrected with no loss of level. In addition, he gains a +2 Sacred bonus to all ability scores and saving throws. Once the battle is over (all enemies are driven off or defeated), the Knight returns to Auros.

 

[hong]

0. The lay on hands ability pretty much requires a LG character, so the separate alignment prereq to take this class seems moot. Although you may have house ruled paladin alignment restrictions in your game.

1. A spellcasting PrC should probably have spellcasting as a prerequisite. This would also allow you to remove the rather clumsy "if you can't cast spells, you gain spellcasting ability" clause.

2. The skill list is pretty sparse, even by cleric/paladin standards. Bumping it up wouldn't go astray. Scry, Knowledge (Arcana), Spellcraft, Craft, Profession, Diplomacy and Handle Animal are all good ones.

3. Turning outsiders is a VERY powerful ability, because a lot of outsiders have low HD compared to their CR. Canonical example: marilith, 9 HD, CR 17. I'd either give them a big turn resistance bonus, or a save to avoid the effect.

4. Immunity to charm and compulsion is also very strong. Consider making it a +2 or +4 bonus to saves instead.

5. Does the bonus damage from smite stack with other smiting abilities? If not, it's pretty weak (+3 when you get it, +10 maximum).

 

[Chacal]

I basically agree with hong's remarks. Except maybe the skill part.
I don't see why it should have scry and knowledge(Arcana), and since its mount doesn't progress, handleAnimal isn't really needed.
Perhaps your knight have specific knowledge you might want to add to the class list or prerequisites.
Would using CR instead of HD be too hard for turning Outsiders ?
I think the class might be too much tempting for Cleric X/Pal 1 (full CLERIC spell progression, 2 good saves, full BAB, Turn progression, a few abilities).

I like the Wrath of Auros, it would be cool to add a Bless-like effect for other Auros Followers when it is active.


Chacal

 

[maddman75]

0. The lay on hands ability pretty much requires a LG character, so the separate alignment prereq to take this class seems moot. Although you may have house ruled paladin alignment restrictions in your game.

This is a holdover from a previous train of thought, where I thought cleric/fighters might take the class.

1. A spellcasting PrC should probably have spellcasting as a prerequisite. This would also allow you to remove the rather clumsy "if you can't cast spells, you gain spellcasting ability" clause.

I've changed this as well, giving them a spell list and progression. This works out for paladins, and won't overpower clerics.

2. The skill list is pretty sparse, even by cleric/paladin standards. Bumping it up wouldn't go astray. Scry, Knowledge (Arcana), Spellcraft, Craft, Profession, Diplomacy and Handle Animal are all good ones.

Agree, just need to figure out what ones to give him.

3. Turning outsiders is a VERY powerful ability, because a lot of outsiders have low HD compared to their CR. Canonical example: marilith, 9 HD, CR 17. I'd either give them a big turn resistance bonus, or a save to avoid the effect.

Hmm. Maybe I'll change it so Outsiders are turned as if HD x 2.

4. Immunity to charm and compulsion is also very strong. Consider making it a +2 or +4 bonus to saves instead.

This has been changed as well. Made it so the knight can still fall under a spell, but if he's commanded to do something that would violate his Code the spell is broken.

5. Does the bonus damage from smite stack with other smiting abilities? If not, it's pretty weak (+3 when you get it, +10 maximum).

The idea isn't to stack the damage together, but to stack the number of times a day you can Smite. Need to clarify that and make the levels from paladin+Knight stack.

I have posted the latest version in tha nuthowze, as people didn't seem as interested here.