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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 258330" data-attributes="member: 3146">This is not true.First your potential paladins need a 13 intelligence for expertise and improved disarm. They may obtain this through a stat increase but that doesn't change the fact that they need a 13 int.Second, your paladin prestige class needs 5 above average stats not 3. It needs Strength, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. A 13 (or even a 12) int is above average. And any character whose abilities come in to play only on the front line of combat (and improved disarm, smite evil, etc won't come into play anywhere else) needs a con bonus in order to survive the amount of damage that melee foes like trolls, xorns, umber hulks, huge and greater elementals dish out.Stat increases could be used to augment intelligence in order to qualify for the character class but that would only exacerbate the paladins problems of having a bunch of mediocre stats and not being good at what he's supposed to do. Effective use of stat increases (and you don't get many) almost always entails putting them into one stat which directly effects the character's abiltity to do what he does best. (Fighters increase strength or con, rogues increase dex, spellcasters increase their spellcasting attribute, etc). A character who starts out with marginal scores in his prime attributes (str, con, cha in this case) and then fails to increase them with his limited stat increases will increasingly fall behind the power curve and become more of a liability than an asset to his party.I'm not sure what kind of system your players use to create characters but this prestige class is not viable for most point buy systems less than 32 points. At 32 points, it is still marginal (15 str, 14 con, cha, 12 wis, 14 int, 10 dex.) By 36 points, the character is looking much more viable and if you allow more points than that, any character class and concept can be made viable. Of course, the average set of rolls for 4d6 drop the lowest supposedly works out to about 28 points and usually includes a few low scores so I suspect that unless you use a very high point buy system this will not really be a viable class.Also, it's worth noting that you haven't merely copied the blackguard. By substituting improved disarm and leadership for power attack, cleave, and sunder, you have given the paladin prerequisites that dilute his effectiveness whereas the blackguard's prerequisite feats are must have feats for any strength based fighter. Based upon these prerequisites, I would expect that, all other things being equal (equipment, level, and point buy or rolls for stats) a duel between a paladin and a blackguard would have the blackguard wipe  the floor with the less melee-effective paladin until the paladin's cohort came to the rescue of his master and they double-teamed the blackguard. While this may actually be your intention, my impression is that it would be much more appropriate for the paladin to be holding his own with the blackguard. The blackguard should be the one who brings a friend to a one on one duel and dishonorably attempts to double team his foe. (After that, the paladins' friends would jump to his rescue).</blockquote>

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