Paladin
Description
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 a final hope that cannot be extinguished.
Adventures: Paladins take 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 to do good. Still, the paladin really comes into her own when leading a mighty campaign against evil, not when merely looting ruins.
Characteristics: Divine power protects the paladin and gives her special powers. It wards off harm, protects her from disease, lets her heal herself, and guards her heart against fear. The paladin can also direct this power to help others, healing their wounds or curing diseases. Finally, the paladin can use this power to destroy evil. Even the least experienced paladin can detect evil, and more experienced paladins can smite evil foes and turn away undead. In addition, this power draws a mighty steed to the paladin and imbues that mount with strength, intelligence, and magical protection.
Alignment: Paladins must be lawful good, and they lose their divine powers if they deviate from that alignment. Additionally, paladins swear to follow a code of conduct that is in line with lawfulness and goodness.
Religion: Paladins need not devote themselves to a single deity – devotion to righteousness is enough. Those paladins devoted to a god are scrupulous in observing religious duties and are welcome in every associated temple.
Background: No one ever chooses to be a paladin. Becoming a paladin is answering a call, accepting one's destiny. No one, no matter how diligent, can become a paladin through practice. The nature is either within one or not, and it is not possible to gain the paladin's nature by any act of will. It is possible, however, to fail to recognize one's own potential, or to deny one's destiny. Occasionally, one who is called to be a paladin denies that call and pursues some other life instead.
Most paladins answer the call and begin training as adolescents. Typically, they become squires or assistants to experienced paladins, train for years, and finally set off on their own to further the causes of good and law. Other paladins, however, find their calling only later in life, after having pursued some other career. All paladins, regardless of background, recognize in each other an eternal bond that transcends culture, race, and even religion. Any two paladins, even from opposite sides of the world, consider themselves comrades.
Races: Humans, with their ambitious souls, make great paladins. Half-elves, who often have human ambition, may also find themselves called into service as paladins. Dwarves are sometimes paladins, but becoming a paladin may be hard on a dwarf because it means putting the duties of the paladin's life before duties to family, clan, and king. Elf paladins are few, and they tend to follow quests that take them far and wide because their lawful bent puts them out of synch with life among the elves. Members of the other common races rarely hear the call to become paladins.
Among the savage humanoids, paladins are all but unheard of.
Other Classes: Even though paladins are in some ways set apart from others, they eagerly team up with those whose skills and capabilities complement their own.
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. Charismatic, trustworthy, and well respected, the paladin makes a fine leader for a team.
Role: The paladin's chief role in most groups is as a melee combatant, but she contributes other useful support as well. She makes a good secondary healer, and her high Charisma opens up fine leadership opportunities.
Game Rule Information
Paladins have the following game statistics.
Abilities: Charisma enhances a paladin's healing, self-protective capabilities, and undead turning ability. Strength is important for a paladin because of its role in combat. A Wisdom score of 14 or higher is required to get access to the most powerful paladin spells, and a score of 11 or higher is required to cast any paladin spells at all.
Alignment: Lawful good.
Hit Die: d10.
Class Skills: The paladin's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (nobility and royalty) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Profession (Int/Wis), Ride (Dex), and Sense Motive (Wis).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) × 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the paladin.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Paladins are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all types of armor (heavy, medium, and light), and with shields (except tower shields).
Aura of Good (Ex): The power of a paladin's aura of good (see the detect good spell) is equal to her paladin level, just like the aura of a cleric of a good deity.
Detect Evil (Sp): At will, a paladin can use detect evil, as the spell.
Smite Evil (Su): Once per day, a paladin may attempt to smite evil with one normal melee attack. She adds her Charisma bonus (if any) to her attack roll and deals 1 extra point of damage per paladin level. For example, a 13th-level paladin armed with a longsword would deal 1d8+13 points of damage, plus any additional bonuses for high Strength or magical affects that would normally apply. If the paladin accidentally smites a creature that is not evil, the smite has no effect, but the ability is still used up for that day.
At 5th level, and at every five levels thereafter, the paladin may smite evil one additional time per day, to a maximum of five times per day at 20th level.
Divine Grace (Su): At 2nd level, a paladin gains a bonus equal to her Charisma bonus (if any) on all saving throws.
Lay on Hands (Su): Beginning at 2nd level, a paladin with a Charisma score of 12 or higher can heal wounds (her own or those of others) by touch. Each day she can heal a total number of hit points of damage equal to her paladin level × her Charisma bonus.
For example, a 7th-level paladin with a 16 Charisma (+3 bonus) can heal 21 points of damage per day. A paladin may choose to divide her healing among multiple recipients, and she doesn't have to use it all at once. Using lay on hands is a standard action.
Alternatively, a paladin can use any or all of this healing power to deal damage to undead creatures. Using lay on hands in this way requires a successful melee touch attack and doesn't provoke an attack of opportunity. The paladin decides how many of her daily allotment of points to use as damage after successfully touching an undead creature.
Aura of Courage (Su): Beginning at 3rd level, a paladin is immune to fear (magical or otherwise). Each ally within 10 feet of her gains a +4 morale bonus on saving throws against fear effects. This ability functions while the paladin is conscious, but not if she is unconscious or dead.
Divine Health (Ex): At 3rd level, a paladin gains immunity to all diseases, including supernatural and magical diseases (such as mummy rot and lycanthropy).
Turn Undead (Su): When a paladin reaches 4th level, she gains the supernatural ability to turn undead. She may use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + her Charisma modifier. She turns undead as a cleric of three levels lower would.
Spells: Beginning at 4th level, a paladin gains the ability to cast a small number of divine spells (the same type of spells available to the cleric, druid, and ranger), which are drawn from the paladin spell list. A paladin must choose and prepare her spells in advance.
To prepare or cast a spell, a paladin must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level (Wis 11 for 1st-level spells, Wis 12 for 2nd-level spells, and so forth). The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a paladin's spell is 10 + the spell level + the paladin's Wisdom modifier.
Like other spellcasters, a paladin can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily spell allotment is given on the accompanying table. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Wisdom score. When the spells per day table indicates that the paladin gets 0 spells per day of a given spell level (for instance, 1st-level spells for a 4th-level paladin), she gains only the bonus spells she would be entitled to based on her Wisdom score for that spell level The paladin does not have access to any domain spells or granted powers, as a cleric does.
A paladin prepares and casts spells the way a cleric does, though she cannot lose a prepared spell to spontaneously cast a cure spell in its place. A paladin may prepare and cast any spell on the paladin spell list, provided that she can cast spells of that level, but she must choose which spells to prepare during her daily meditation.
Through 3rd level, a paladin has no caster level. At 4th level and higher, her caster level is one-half her paladin level.
Special Mount (Sp): Upon reaching 5th level, a paladin gains the service of an unusually intelligent, strong, and loyal steed to serve her in her crusade against evil. This mount is usually a heavy warhorse (for a Medium paladin) or a warpony (for a Small paladin).
Once per day, as a full-round action, a paladin may magically call her mount from the celestial realms in which it resides. The mount immediately appears adjacent to the paladin and remains for 2 hours per paladin level; it may be dismissed at any time as a free action.
The mount is the same creature each time it is summoned, though the paladin may release a particular mount from service (if it has grown too old to join her crusade, for instance). Each time the mount is called, it appears in full health, regardless of any damage it may have taken previously. The mount also appears wearing or carrying any gear it had when it was last dismissed, including barding, saddle, saddlebags, and the like. Calling a mount is a conjuration (calling) effect equal to a spell level 1/3 the paladin level.
Should the paladin's mount die, it immediately disappears, leaving behind any equipment it was carrying. The paladin may not summon another mount for thirty days or until she gains a paladin level, whichever comes first, even if the mount is somehow returned from the dead. During this thirty-day period, the paladin takes a –1 penalty on attack and weapon damage rolls.
Remove Disease (Sp): At 6th level, a paladin can produce a remove disease effect, as the spell, once per week. She can use this ability one additional time per week for every three levels after 6th (twice per week at 9th, three times at 12th, and so forth).
Code of Conduct: A paladin must be of lawful good alignment and loses all class abilities if she ever willingly commits an evil act.
Additionally, a paladin's code requires that she respect legitimate authority, act with honor (not lying, not cheating, not using poison, and so forth), help those in need (provided they do not use the help for evil or chaotic ends), and punish those who harm or threaten innocents.
Associates: While she may adventure with characters of any good or neutral alignment, a paladin will never knowingly associate with evil characters, nor will she continue an association with someone who consistently offends her moral code. A paladin may accept only henchmen, followers, or cohorts who are lawful good.
Ex-Paladins
A paladin who ceases to be lawful good, who willfully commits an evil act, or who grossly violates the code of conduct loses all paladin spells and abilities (including the service of the paladin's mount, but not weapon, armour, and shield proficiencies). She may not progress any farther in levels as a paladin. She regains her abilities and advancement potential if she atones for her violations, as appropriate.
Like a member of any other class, a paladin may be a multiclass character, but multiclass paladins face a special restriction. A paladin who gains a level in any class other than paladin may never again raise her paladin level, though she retains all her paladin abilities.
The path of the paladin requires a constant heart. If a character adopts this class, she must pursue it to the exclusion of all other careers. Once she has turned off the path, she may never return.
Level Progression
| Level | Base Attack | Fort Save | Ref Save | Will Save | Special |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | +1 | +2 | +0 | +0 | Aura Of Good, Detect Evil, Smite Evil 1/day |
| 2 | +2 | +3 | +0 | +0 | Divine Grace, Lay On Hands |
| 3 | +3 | +3 | +1 | +1 | Aura Of Courage, Divine Health |
| 4 | +4 | +4 | +1 | +1 | Turn Undead |
| 5 | +5 | +4 | +1 | +1 | Smite Evil 2/day, Special Mount |
| 6 | +6/+1 | +5 | +2 | +2 | Remove Disease 1/week |
| 7 | +7/+2 | +5 | +2 | +2 | 0 |
| 8 | +8/+3 | +6 | +2 | +2 | 0 |
| 9 | +9/+4 | +6 | +3 | +3 | Remove Disease 2/week |
| 10 | +10/+5 | +7 | +3 | +3 | Smite Evil 3/day |
| 11 | +11/+6/+1 | +7 | +3 | +3 | 0 |
| 12 | +12/+7/+2 | +8 | +4 | +4 | Remove Disease 3/week |
| 13 | +13/+8/+3 | +8 | +4 | +4 | 0 |
| 14 | +14/+9/+4 | +9 | +4 | +4 | 0 |
| 15 | +15/+10/+5 | +9 | +5 | +5 | Remove Disease 4/week, Smite Evil 4/day |
| 16 | +16/+11/+6/+1 | +10 | +5 | +5 | 0 |
| 17 | +17/+12/+7/+2 | +10 | +5 | +5 | 0 |
| 18 | +18/+13/+8/+3 | +11 | +6 | +6 | Remove Disease 5/week |
| 19 | +19/+14/+9/+4 | +11 | +6 | +6 | 0 |
| 20 | +20/+15/+10/+5 | +12 | +6 | +6 | Smite Evil 5/day |
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Starting Packages
Race: Human.
Armor: Scale mail (+4 AC, armor check penalty –4, speed 20 ft., 30 lb.).
Heavy wooden shield (+2 AC, armor check penalty –2, 10 lb.).
Weapons: Longsword (1d8, crit 19–20/×2, 4 lb., one-handed, slashing).
Shortbow (1d6, crit ×3, range inc. 60 ft., 2 lb., piercing).
Skill Selection: Pick a number of skills equal to 3 + Int modifier.
| Skill | Ranks | Ability | Armor Check Penalty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heal | 4 | Wis | – |
| Ride | 4 | Dex | – |
| Diplomacy | 4 | Cha | – |
| Spot (cc) | 2 | Wis | – |
| Listen (cc) | 2 | Wis | – |
| Climb (cc) | 2 | Str | -6 |
| Search (cc) | 2 | Int | – |
Feat: Weapon Focus (longsword).
Bonus Feat: Improved Initiative.
Gear: Backpack with waterskin, one day's trail rations, bedroll, sack, flint and steel. Hooded lantern, three pints of oil. Quiver with 20 arrows. Wooden holy symbol.
Gold: 6d4 gp.
