Unorthodox Paladins is a pdf product from The Le Games, one of several products in The Le Games' Unorthodox series of class books. Unorthodox Paladins features six new paladin core classes, as well as two prestige classes, two artifacts, eight new spells, four stories of paladin related fiction and several magical baubles and urus or mini artifacts. This pdf has a page count of 104 pages, 4 of which are devoted to OGL declarations, and 2 which are devoted to a title page with credits and a table of contents, leaving 98 pages to detail the unorthodox classes in this product. Unorthodox Paladins normally retails on RPGNow for $9.95.
Initial Impressions:
This is the largest pdf produced by The Le Games so far, and the quality is much improved on older products. The usual array of files is present in the archive, including onscreen version, print version, rich text version and a new addition, a plain text version. The latter two are particularly handy for copy and paste work when creating your own campaign or character notes. There are two versions of the cover art - one of a drow by Melissa Cox, a good piece of artwork, and the other a mosaic of faces which I found rather effective and appealing. There is a back cover as well using a different arrangement of the same mosaic of faces, and I think it rounds the product off very nicely. Interior art is taken from a variety of sources, with some Larry Elmore and World of Ronin Arts work prevalent, and it enhances the feel of the pdf. Layout, which is quite simple, and art, in general, is well done, and the editing and writing only shows the occasional error.
The pdf includes six classes and two prestige classes, and I was pleased to see some solid mechanics, although there is still room for improvement. The writing is clear, includes pertinent descriptions from the SRD, and the flavour is well detailed and mostly ample in the class write-ups. The pdf also includes some infrequently seen fantasy fiction in d20 supplements. The latter part of the pdf details some major and minor artifacts (baubles and ururs) and spells, which make a useful addition to this pdf. In general, I think this is a good pdf, with some interesting and inspiring material, with a well-rounded feel enhanced by some good artwork.
The Details:
Fiction: The pdf jumps in with the four pieces of paladin related fiction. These are mostly along established or known themes, although the last story, Hidden, about a paladin out to slay a dragon was a worthwhile read and I quite enjoyed that one. It's rare to see pdfs contain fiction and I'm rather undecided as to whether its a good idea or not. Certainly works of fiction have sold well in the past from other publishers, so perhaps it's not a bad idea after all.
Classes: There are six new base classes presented in this book, all of them variants of the paladin, and as such having paladin-like abilities although the themes of each paladin variant are vastly different. I was perhaps hoping to see something that wasn't so 'paladinny' or at least deviated from just calling standard paladin abilities by another name or slightly changing how, for example, lay on hands works. In any event, there is some good stuff in here and the character write ups are detailed, giving the reader something to work with and mostly a clear indication of the class' intent. There are some confusing abilities, and the saving throw progressions often appear non-standard, but generally the mechanics are good. The six classes presented are as follows:
- Adjudicator: This variant can be called a paladin of balance, one who always seeks to maintain the balance of power and correct it if need be. As such this is a true neutral paladin, something that can be interesting particularly when such a paladin reaches a position of power and will be feared by both good and evil, lawful or chaotic. It makes for an interesting class to play, and the decision on what exactly balance is becomes very important - some might argue that civilizations of elves or humans disrupt the balance in favour of good, particularly if there are no evil creatures around to balance it. In that sense it might be a class difficult to play, since predominantly fantasy worlds and campaigns are good. How does the Adjudicator address this balance? In any event, the adjudicator gains standard paladin abilities, although they're expanded too, for example, allow the smiting of chaos, law, good and evil creatures, or turning of these or the detection of these. Spell lists are suitably crafted along these lines. I think this is a challenging concept to play in standard fantasy games, certainly not something for inexperienced players, but it can be rewarding if done correctly and with a DM who creates a world to fit the class.
- Echo Paladin: I found this class rather confusing, and the write up didn't clearly describe the intent or function of the class. At its core it's a bard-paladin variant whose abilities improve depending on those that the paladin associates with and who's goodness the paladin can reflect back to the world. By making the world a better place, the paladin can himself can be perceived as a good person in the world that he reflects. The class balances music and combat, and the idea of echoes reflects in the class' abilities. Abilities increase in the presence of bardic music, for example, or the paladin can use his Echo Healing to duplicate healing done to an ally in the past. In fact, the class can actually duplicate himself as well. I thought this was a confusing concept, and probably the weakest class in the book, with some rather strong abilities.
- Fist of God: This is a monk-paladin variant, a stubborn and determined paladin brawler with a strict code that believes that the end justifies the means and laws as mere guidelines. Good and justice must prevail at all costs. This paladin is an expert grappler, with smite and healing abilities, but no spellcasting ability. The class maintains Turning, although this doesn't really seem to fit the concept. In general it's a well described class with good opportunities although given the bonuses to grappling (+8 by 20th level, which stacks with Improved Grapple), probably a bit on the strong side in that area.
- Order of the Barbed Cross: This paladin variant is a punisher, aiming to absolve their own guilt by punishing others. As a skilled torturer and executioner, this is almost a anti-paladin but with a paladin's zeal. Abilities range from auras of fear, to pain strike which inflicts pain on the paladin's enemies, to thorns that can grow on the wielder's weapons, to flesh to flesh where the class can torture the guilty by bringing back memories of old wounds. It's a darker paladin, something some may wish to play, although the class might not fit well in some campaigns.
- Righteous Advocate: The righteous advocates are those that act on their beliefs and faith, teaching and guiding, and maintain a spiritual responsibility to others. These are akin to righteous enforcers of a church's doctrine, making sure that faith is active, not merely something to believe in. The class is a knowledgeable and social (oratory) paladin who can probably talk himself out of most situations, and is powerful in smiting the heathen and delivering the message of his faith. A well-rounded class.
- Vigil Knight: These are the vigilantes of paladinhood, a city paladin that understands the streets and the needs of a city society. Abilities include the ability to extract information more easily from people, defensive abilities due to wearing light armor, fast reactions and the ability to blend into a crowd without being noticed. This is a good class to play in a city based campaign, and has some interesting roleplaying opportunities.
Prestige Classes: The Divine Crusader and the Divine Seeker are the two prestige classes presented in this pdf. Both rely on the smite ability, and can do some interesting things with that ability, such as turning smite damage into elemental damage for the Divine Crusader or the Tornado Smite of the Divine Seeker that allows the prestige class to smite all adjacent foes. The Divine Seeker is a light-armored, dual wielding prestige class, almost a dualist-paladin variant. Both are well done, although once again the Divine Seeker has a rather strange saving throw progression.
Artifacts, baubles, urus and spells: Two artifacts, Azariel's Might and Zipay's Dreams, are described in this pdf. Azariel's might is a two-part artifact consisting of sword and helm, each with their own abilities and additional abilities when used in conjunction with another - an interesting idea. In addition, they grow in power as the wielder's character level increases. Zipay's Dreams is a magical deck of cards, offering various abilities to those that draw cards from it. Both are well-written and have brief histories and background details.
There are also a number of mini-artifacts, baubles and urus, that can be fused with weapons or other equipment to grant them additional abilities. I quite like that idea - rather than having to find items with these specific abilities or craft them, the baubles and urus can be formed into existing items. Since they're mini-artifacts, no pricing details are given, but the idea certainly has merit for more mundane magic as well.
Lastly, there are eight new paladin spells. Examples include All Seeing Eyes, which prevents a paladin from being flat-footed and grants additional attacks of opportunity, Target Infidel that enables a paladin to see the most evil creature he's fighting, and Holy Rain, a rain of holy water devastating to undead. A good selection, and an improvement on some of the mechanical issues I saw in 17 Paladin Spells.
Unorthodox Paladins is a solid performance from The Le Games. There are some good ideas supported by good mechanics, and there's a lot of useful material in this pdf. Here and there are some minor errors, confusing descriptions or poor mechanics, but overall this is a good pdf and worth a look if you're a fan of the paladin class.
Conclusions:
Unorthodox Paladins is a class supplement detailing six new paladin variants and two paladin prestige classes. It's a crunchy pdf, with lots of details, and it's got some good additions for those looking for something different to the standard paladin. In addition there are a number of extras in fantasy fiction, artifacts, and eight new paladin spells. I was quite pleased with this pdf, being probably one of The Le Games' best. If you're interested in paladins, then this is worth a look. Based on content, good balance of fluff and crunch, but also occasional editing issues and clumsy mechanics, I'd give this pdf a rating of 3.5 stars, rounding up to four stars.
