The (quintessential) paladin prestige class

[Sonofapreacherman]

Version 1.3.

- Changed the Leadership feat prerequisite to Mounted Combat.
- Increased the number of times a paladin can smite evil per day.
- Rewrote the Honorable Combat ability to function like turning undead.
- Added Leadership to the prestige class abilities (with stacking potential).

*

INSERT
Page 86 of the DUNGEON MASTER's Guide, between the loremaster and the shadowdancer.

Paladin
Every description in the Player's Handbook between pages 41 and 44 holds sway, except where indicated below.

No one ever chooses to be a paladin. Becoming a paladin is answering a call, accepting one's destiny. The compassion to pursue good, the will to uphold law, and the power to defeat evil-these are the three weapons of the paladin. Few have the purity and devotion that it takes to walk the paladin's path, but those few are rewarded with the power to protect, to heal, and to smite. In a land of scheming wizards, unholy priests, bloodthirsty dragons, and infernal fiends, the paladin is the final hope that cannot be extinguished.

The paladin takes their adventures seriously and have a penchant for referring to them as "quests". Even a mundane mission is, in the heart of the paladin, a personal test-an opportunity to demonstrate bravery, to develop martial skills, to learn tactics, and to find ways of doing good. Clerics, monks, rangers, and warriors primarily answer the call of paladinhood, while ex-bards, rogues, sorcerers, and wizards are more inclined towards artifice and subterfuge than paladins generally embrace. Berserkers and druids rarely become paladins, as doing so contradicts the instinctive nature of who they are.

As NPCs, paladins really come into their own when leading mighty campaigns against evil, or setting off on their own to further the causes of good and law. They work well with good and lawful clerics, and they appreciate working with those who are brave, honest, and committed to good. While they cannot abide evil acts by their companions, they are otherwise willing to work with a variety of people quite different from themselves. All paladins, regardless of background, recognize in each other an eternal bond that transcends culture, race, and even religion.

Hit Die: d10.

Requirements
To qualify to become a paladin, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Alignment: Lawful good.
Base Attack Bonus: +6.
Concentration or Knowledge (religion): 2 ranks.
Ride: 5 ranks.
Feats: Improved Disarm, Mounted Combat.
Special: The paladin must have made peaceful contact with a good outsider from whom they successfully preformed a quest and were deemed worthy of divine blessing.

Class Skills
All of the following are class features of the paladin prestige class.
The paladin's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Ride (Dex). See chapter 4: Skills for skill descriptions.

Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Table 2-16: The Paladin
Class-Base-Fort-Refl-Will
Level-Attk-Save-Save-Save-Special
1st---+1---+2---+0---+0---Detect evil, divine health,
--------------------------lay on hands
2nd---+2---+3---+0---+0---Divine grace, smite evil 1/day
3rd---+3---+3---+1---+1---Aura of courage, turn undead
4th---+4---+4---+1---+1---Remove disease 1/week
5th---+5---+4---+1---+1---Special mount, smite evil 2/day
6th---+6---+5---+2---+2---Honorable combat
7th---+7---+5---+2---+2---Remove disease 2/week
8th---+8---+6---+2---+2---Smite evil 3/day
9th---+9---+6---+3---+3---Leadership
10th--+10--+7---+3---+3---Remove disease 3/week

Table 2-16: The Paladin (continued)
Spells per Day
Class
Level-1st-2nd-3rd-4th
1st---0
2nd---1
3rd---1---0
4th---1---1
5th---1---1---0
6th---1---1---1
7th---2---1---1---0
8th---2---2---1---1
9th---2---2---2---1
10th--2---2---2---2

Class Features

Spells: Beginning at 1st level, a paladin gains the ability to cast a small number of divine spells. To cast a spell, the paladin must have a Wisdom score of at least 10 + the spell's level, so a paladin with a Wisdom of 10 or lower cannot cast these spells. Paladin bonus spells are based on Wisdom, and saving throws against these spells have a DC of 10 + spell level + the paladin's Wisdom modifier (if any). When the paladin gets 0 spells of a given level, such as 0 1st level spells at 1st level, the paladin gets only bonus spells. (A paladin without a bonus spell for that level cannot yet cast a spell of that level.) The paladin's spell list appears below. A paladin has access to any spell on the list and can freely choose which to prepare, just like a cleric. A paladin prepares and casts spells just like a cleric does (though the paladin cannot spontaneously cast cure spells).

Divine Grace (Su): At 2nd level, a paladin applies their Charisma modifier (if positive) as a bonus to all saving throws.

Smite Evil (Su): Once per day, a paladin of 2nd level or higher can attempt to smite evil with one normal melee attack. The paladin adds their Charisma modifier (if positive) to their attack roll and deals 1 extra point of damage per paladin level (e.g., an 5th level paladin armed with a longsword would deal 1d8+5 points of damage, plus any additional bonuses for high Strength or magical effects that normally apply. If the paladin accidentally smites a creature that is not evil, the smite has no effect but is still used up for that day. Paladins can use this ability more often as they advance in levels (twice pre day at 5th level and thrice per day at 8th level).

Aura of Courage (Su): Beginning at 3rd level, a paladin is immune to fear (magical or otherwise). Allies within 10 feet of the paladin gain a +4 morale bonus on saving throws against fear effects.

Remove Disease (Sp): Beginning at 4th level, a paladin can remove disease, as the spell remove disease, once per week. Paladins can use this ability more often as they advance in levels (twice per week at 7th level and three times per week at 10th level).

Honorable Combat (Su): A paladin of 6th level or higher may channel positive energy to ensure that any two creatures, who are either currently or about to engage each other in combat, will do so without interference. The paladin spends one of their turn undead attempts, makes a Charisma check (1d20 + the paladin's Charisma modifier) and then consults Table 8-16: Turning Undead (see the Player's Handbook, page 140). Treat the paladin's character level as the cleric's level and the highest level or Hit Dice of the two combatants as the Most Powerful Undead Affected. If the roll on Table 8-16 is high enough, then divine forces prevent all other creatures from directly or indirectly assisting either combatant. If the roll is only high enough to affect one combatant, then this ability fails. If the paladin is themselves one of the combatants, then this Charisma check only needs to affect their opponent's level or Hit Dice.
Important: This ability does not force two affected creatures to fight each other. It only guarantees that should combat erupt between two such creatures, nobody else will become involved.
An evil creature with the ability to channel negative energy may spend one of their rebuke undead attempts to dispel the paladin's honorable combat effect. If the evil creature makes a turning check as if attempting to rebuke undead, and the check result is equal to or greater than the turning check result of the paladin, then the honorable combat effect is dispelled. Honorable combat may be dispelled at will by the paladin, but the effect otherwise lasts until one of the two combatants is defeated or flees (placing at least one mile distance between both combatants). Activating honorable combat works like turning undead in all other respects.

Leadership (Ex): At 9th level, the paladin gains the Leadership feat. If the paladin has already chosen the Leadership feat, then the two feats stack, allowing the paladin to add their Charisma modifier to their Leadership score twice.

Paladin Spell List
Paladins choose their spells from the following list:
1st level-bless, bless weapon, cure light wounds, detect poison, detect undead, divine favor, endure elements, magic weapon, protection against evil, read magic, resistance, virtue.
2nd level-aid, bull's strength, cure moderate wounds, daylight, delay poison, remove paralysis, resist elements, shield other.
3rd level-cure serious wounds, discern lies, dispel magic, greater magical weapon, heal mount, magic circle against evil, prayer, remove blindness/deafness.
4th level-cure critical wounds, death ward, dispel evil, freedom of movement, holy sword, neutralize poison.

SPECIAL MOUNT
Table 2-17: Special Mounts
Paladin
Character--Bonus-Natural-Str
Level------HD----Armor---Adj.-Int-Special
12 or less-+2 HD-+1------+1---6---Empathic link, improved evasion,
----------------------------------share saving throws, share spells
13-15------+4 HD-+3------+2---7---Command creatures of its kind,
----------------------------------speak with paladin
16-18------+6 HD-+5------+3---8---Blood bond
19-20------+8 HD-+7------+4---9---Spell resistance

Paladin Character Level: The character level of the paladin (paladin levels plus all other class levels).

Blood Bond: The mount gains a +2 bonus to attacks, checks, and saves if it witnesses the paladin threatened or harmed. This bonus lasts as long as the threat us immediate and apparent.)

-----

Table 2-12: Fallen Paladin Blackguard abilities
Paladin Extra
Levels / Abilities
1 Lay on hands. Once per day, the blackguard can cure themselves of damage equal to their Charisma bonus times their blackguard level. The blackguard can only cure themselves or their fiendish servant with this spell-like ability.
2-3 Smite good once per day. (This in addition to the ability granted to all blackguards at 2nd level, so that a fallen paladin blackguard can smite good a total of twice per day.)
4-5 Sneak attack damage increased by +1d6.
6-7 Fiendish summoning. Once per day, the blackguard can use a summon monster I spell to call forth an evil creature. For this spell, the caster level is double the blackguard's class level.
8-9 Undead companion. In addition to the fiendish servant, the blackguard gains (at 5th level) a skeleton or zombie of equal size to themselves as a companion. This companion cannot be turned or rebuked by another and gains all special bonuses as a fiendish servant when the blackguard gains levels.
10 Favored of the dark deities. Fallen paladins of this stature combine their former paladin levels to their blackguard levels for the purposes of calculating the benefits of lay on hands and smite good.

 

[Jerrid Al-Kundo]

Oh, bloody hellions, yourself...

What? You missed the smilies?

 

[reapersaurus]

you're still missing the Turn Undead ability description....

for that matter, where's the Lay On Hands ability description?

And in hindsight, if those abilities are based off of PrC level, and not total character level, they are too weak and come too slow at the beginning of the class.

 

[Sonofapreacherman]

you're still missing the Turn Undead ability description....

for that matter, where's the Lay On Hands ability description?

Those descriptions are included in the following line of text taken from the paladin prestige class.

"Every description in the Player's Handbook between pages 41 and 44 holds sway, except where indicated below."

...if those abilities are based off of PrC level, and not total character level, they are too weak and come too slow at the beginning of the class.

Correct. Those abilities are based off prestige class level, not character level. As for being too weak, I disagree. Turning undead and laying on hands are no different than the identical abilities used by blackguards. As with the blackguard prestige class, turning undead and laying on hands are not meant to be more than *mildly* useful. So the power levels, as I see them, seem just about right for a paladin prestige class. Especially since I added more smites per day and two other details nobody else has yet noticed...

The spells aid and bull's strength have been added the paladin's spell repertoire.

 

[Spatzimaus]

Sonofapreacherman, I had run into the same situation as you; people became Paladins for the cool abilities but never really came close to following the codes of conduct.
Ironically I did the exact opposite as a solution. Here's what my friends and I came up with. Feel free to use whatever you want.

Instead of making Paladin a Prestige Class, make it a more open core class and in the process remove a few of the Prestige Classes made for them. Effectively this involves making four separate subclasses.

PALADIN
> A Paladin is a special type of holy warrior: the epitome of an extreme philosophy, granted divine power by a deity who exemplifies that extreme. Paladins can have one of four alignments, and their title will reflect which one they choose: Guardian (LG), Blackguard (LE), Crusader (CG), or Shadow Knight (CE). Each has a code of conduct related to this alignment. Any rules for ?Paladins? apply to all four variants, unless specified otherwise.
> Paladins are no longer immune to disease, can remove disease, etc. Instead, they choose one Domain of their patron deity and gain the Granted Power of that Domain. (I added the Purification domain that gave them the disease abilities back if they want them)
> Class abilities are as appropriate: the good ones get Smite Evil, the evil ones get Smite Good. Lawful ones get Aura of Courage, Chaotic ones get Aura of Despair (see Blackguard in DMG). Instead of Lay Hands, the evil ones get the negative-energy Harm Touch.
> When you reach the appropriate level you may choose to summon a Companion or Mount (two separate tables of abilities); these are magical creatures that take on a mundane appearance. In general, Mounts are big and can carry you, while Companions are smaller but have more special abilities. By default the LG and CE Paladins take a Mount while the CG and LE take a Companion.
> The spell list completes all the usual sets; good Paladins can get Bless, Holy Sword, etc. while evil get Bane, Unholy Sword, etc. "Heal Mount" works whether you're good or evil, and works on Mounts or Companions despite the name.
> Good Paladins can use positive energy, casting Cure spells, turning undead, etc., while Evil Paladins use negative energy (Inflict spells, rebuke undead).

End result, if you want to be an Evil divine warrior you don't need to do the "Fallen Paladin Blackguard" route or try to compensate with a Fighter/Cleric hybrid. If you want to follow a more chaotic code of conduct, you could do that too.

 

[Shirt Guy John]

Very Nice, Spatzimaus.

 

[Sonofapreacherman]

Spatzimaus.

Very well thought out. Good sound ideas. I'm even drawn to your method a little. Honestly, I believe that your way of resolving the blight of poorly role-played paladins is no less effective than my own. Either can work. My preference, however, is not to create addition "core" classes, but that's all it is... a preference. Your method works just fine.

My only critique is the domain power. I like the idea of a single domain power, but that requires worship of a god, and I do not require my paladins to believe in a god if they can demonstrate righteousness on some personal "driven" level.

My only nitpick is that you allow the heal mount spell to heal companions. You said it yourself... companions/servants have more cool powers. Mounts don't have as many. That's the balance. Paladin-type characters have so many natural healing abilities to look after their companions/servants that healing them like a rideable animal seems excessive. A companion/servant can also drink a healing potion at their own discretion (for the most part). A mount cannot.

 

[Spatzimaus]

Originally posted by Sonofapreacherman
My preference, however, is not to create addition "core" classes, but that's all it is... a preference. Your method works just fine.

I think of it similar to how there are six types of Psion, or eight types of Wizard. Same class, same progression of abilities, but some variation in the rules. It's not a large enough variation that I would think of them as separate core classes, just like a Nomad and a Seer are the same class.

My only critique is the domain power. I like the idea of a single domain power, but that requires worship of a god, and I do not require my paladins to believe in a god if they can demonstrate righteousness on some personal "driven" level.

In my world it's the reverse. I don't allow non-deity Clerics, because divine power (which I separate from the "natural" power Druids and Rangers get) ALWAYS comes from a god, and your use of it is subject to their approval. Their abilities aren't the result of training, it's a direct gift from a deity who approves of your actions. That's why the Domain thing fits so well.

If you don't want to force Paladins to pick a god, I'd suggest having Evil ones swap the disease abilities for Poison Use (see DMG), which by the way is the granted power of a new Domain I made just for the evil Paladins. Convenient, eh?

My only nitpick is that you allow the heal mount spell to heal companions. You said it yourself... companions/servants have more cool powers.

I didn't really give all the information. What I meant is, make two tables that are balanced but different. I really didn't like the standard progression so I tweaked it heavily, combining the Mount table for Paladins with the Blackguard's table, and throwing in some stuff from the Celestial and Infernal templates.
The terms "Mount" and "Companion" aren't really restrictive; I was assuming that anything big enough to ride would be a Mount and anything less is a Companion. Being large is both a plus and a minus; while having something to ride is a plus, you can't usually bring a horse into a dungeon, or a tavern, or when you Teleport, etc.

A Mount will have movement bonuses, a higher Natural Armor modifier, more STR, and in general gets more physical abilities like DR. A Companion focuses more on Spell Resistance, DEX, elemental resists and so on. By level 20 both tables end up with roughly the same list of abilities, but when you get them and how strong they are will vary. For example, in the PHB Mounts get SR (level+5) at some high level. In these rules, Companions get SR (level+5) earlier, and Mounts get SR (level) later. But, to compensate, Mounts get a Barbarian-like DR.

A Companion isn't inherently more powerful than a Mount, it's just a different focus. That's why "Heal Mount" should work on both.

I was thinking of reworking it as a more open-ended system where every few levels you could pick a few Mount abilities to add/improve. Still working out the kinks, though, but it adds some nice possibilities: high-level Mounts being able to Teleport or Plane Shift, for example.

If you don't like this, just say that all four Paladin subtypes use the standard Mount rules in the PHB.

 

[Sonofapreacherman]

Spatzimaus.

My only lingering concern about your paladin solution is the accessibility factor. I'll explain.

Whether a player chooses to become a paladin (guardian), paladin (crusader), paladin (blackguard), or a paladin (shadowknight), you have essentially created a paladin to suit everybody. More than that, however, every one of these four paladins gains access to the most powerful features that come with this class, with the exception of divine health and remove disease (arguably the least powerful paladin abilities). That still leaves aura of courage/despair, detect evil/good, divine grace/dark blessing, lay on hands/poison use, smite evil/good, special mount/fiendish servant, and turn/command undead.

Well, that's where I take exception to your solution. I think that if a person wants access to all of those (admittedly powerful) abilities, then their individual playing style should conform to the paladin, not the other way around (the paladin conforming to individual playing styles). That way the act of becoming a paladin regains some its lost dignity and symbolizes, once again, the highest standards of righteous devotion. For it is that devotion (the process of meeting the paladin prestige class requirements) which helps players to realize that this path is not to be walked half-heartedly.

See what I mean? To solve your role-playing problem (of player's not really grasping what it means to be a paladin), rather than making it more difficult to become one, you have made it much, much easier. Effectively your solution, in my opinion, cheapens the dignity/power of this class by handing it out freely.

I honestly don't think that's what you intended Spatzimaus, but that is ultimately the final effect.

 

[Spatzimaus]

The PHB Paladin has a strong list of abilities. The balancing factor is that you have to play within a strict LG Code of Conduct. It's not just LG, it's EXTREMELY LG, reinforced by the "do it or else!" clause about losing your powers. For this discussion to work, we have to assume that the PHB class is balanced.
I've got four Paladin subclasses. Each has a list of abilities comparable to the PHB Paladin, so no change there. Each has a strict code of conduct corresponding to their alignment, and that's the key: the CG code of conduct is different than the LG one, but it's no less strict. The CE one is really nasty, involving lots of death and the destruction of government/society.
Basically, they should be REALLY strict. Normally a LG and a CG will group together just fine since they at least agree on the Good part. A Guardian (LG) and a Crusader (CG) should believe so strongly in their respective alignments that they can't work together for anything less than the end of the world. A Crusader will believe so strongly in Chaos that he'll actively try to "bring true freedom to the masses" (i.e., get rid of strict governments).

I don't believe that the specific alignment should matter; the challenge of a Paladin is in how strictly he follows the alignment he's chosen. Yes, a player will be able to find a one more suited to their character, but I think that's a GOOD thing. If you don't give them an option like this, you end up with these possibilities:
A> They play a Paladin anyway but don't follow the alignment well, in which case you either strip them of their powers (end of character) or let them get away with it (ruins campaign).
B> They play a Fighter/Cleric hybrid until they qualify for one of the Prestige Classes that gives these abilities (see below) and then you're left with a big balance headache. If you don't allow the Prestige Classes, it gets even worse.
C> They drop the whole concept.

Pretty much sucks no matter which way it ends up.

Look at Prestige Classes. In the DMG we have the Blackguard, which gives the special abilities of the Paladin to any Evil character. But, it has a few flaws:
> Weak spellcasting
> No real code of conduct
> Too many "required" high stats
and the whole "Fallen Paladin" thing has its own balance headaches, especially the part about swapping levels.
Then, in one of the splatbooks is a Prestige Class (Liberator?) that gives Paladin abilities to CG people.

With access to those Prestige Classes, people WILL end up with a CG/LE/CE character with Paladin abilities. The question is, will it be handled in a way that makes sense, or will they end up min/maxxing their classes to get to a Prestige Class faster? I dislike adding tons of Prestige Classes in general, because people eventually find ways to munchkin their way through five or six of them to get all kinds of special abilities. For me, the ideal system is one where you take one or two normal classes, and one Prestige Class at the end of your career.
(You ought to see the Halfling Barbarian/Bard/Ranger/Fighter/Psychic Warrior/Shadow Dancer/Blackguard/Assassin (12 levels total) I made to torment my players. I named him Tattoo. Practically impossible to kill, and THAT was before I had access to the class books.)

To top it all off, there's an immersiveness problem, in the core books: Good has more options than Evil. You simply can't find a Blackguard with character level less than about 8, so in the core rules you don't have to worry about enemies with these abilities until you're high level, while they have to worry about Paladins from the start.
If this was a low-magic campaign then it'd be okay to make Paladin, Ranger, etc. into Prestige Classes and have them only show up at high levels, but if you're playing in a world where the gods are granting magic all over the place, then both sides need to be able to have divine warriors at their disposal from the start.

Oh well, I'm going on vacation so I won't be able to finish this debate. But hey, if you've got to this point and we still don't agree, then there's not much else to say.