My Paladin Kludge

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SphereOfFeetMan
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My Paladin Kludge

Post by SphereOfFeetMan »

Heya. Although I’m on the Pc side of things the majority of the time I play dnd, I have a list of houserules that I update periodically when I believe I have a better balance solution than that which is presented in the book. As such, I thought I should de-lurk for a bit and see what you guys think of my version of the paladin. It annoys me that the game designers pretty much quit giving the paladin class abilities after level 5. I guess they saw something shiny and forgot about it or something.

Anyways, what follows is my interpretation of the paladin. I had four main goals for this revision. Firstly, I wanted to stay as thematically close to the constraints of the source material as possible. Secondly, I wanted to give the paladin level appropriate class abilities that were unique and useful. Thirdly, I wanted the paladin to resemble what I think of as holy warrior. Finally, I wanted the paladin to be a playable choice for new players that don’t want to heavily multiclass to make a viable melee build.



Paladin progression:
1 Aura of good, detect evil, smite evil 1/day
2 Divine grace, lay on hands
3 Aura of courage, divine health
4 Turn undead
5 Smite evil 2/day, special mount
6 Remove disease
7 Aura of courage 7
8 Smite evil 3/day
9 Divine resistance
10 Aura of courage 10
11 Smite evil 4/day
12 Disease Suppression
13 Aura of courage 13
14 Smite evil 5/day
15 Disease Suppression, Greater
16 Aura of courage 16
17 Smite evil 6/day
18 Disease Suppression, Greatest
19 Aura of courage 19
20 Smite evil 7/day


As Phb: Aura of good, detect evil, Divine grace, lay on hands, divine health, Turn undead, Spellcasting.

Smite evil: Activating Smite evil is a free action, and can be applied on any melee attack. Add your Charisma bonus to an attack roll and your Paladin level to damage. Smite evil applies to 1 attack a round up to 5th level, 2 attacks a round at 6th level to 10th level, and every attack a round at 11th level and higher.

Special Mount: As Phb, except as follows: The paladin's mount gains enough bonus hd so as to equal the paladin's character level. The paladin's mount also gains a number of bonus hit points equal to twice the paladin's class level.

Aura of Courage: This ability has cumulative effects that improve as the paladin gains levels.

Aura of courage level 3: Beginning at 3rd level, a paladin is immune to fear (magical or otherwise). Each ally within 5 feet per paladin level of him gains a +4 morale bonus on saving throws against fear effects. This ability functions while the paladin is conscious, but not if he is unconscious or dead.

Aura of courage level 7: Allies within range are immune to shaken status, but they can still be frightened or panicked. Effects that cause frightened status cause shaken effects instead. Effects that cause panicked status cause frightened effects instead.

Aura of courage level 10: Allies within range are immune to shaken and frightened statuses, but they can still be panicked. Effects that would cause panicked status cause shaken effects instead.

Aura of courage level 13: Allies within range are immune to fear effects.

Aura of courage level 16: By 16th level the paladin’s fearlessness has grown so strong that it causes enemy creatures that exploit the power of fear to recoil in revulsion from the Paladin. Enemy creatures that target fear effects on the paladin, or have the paladin in the area of their fear effects must make a fortitude save (Dc 10 +1/2 paladin’s character level + paladin’s Charisma bonus) or be nauseated. This effect lasts one round.

Aura of courage level 19: By 19th level the Paladins Fearlessness has grown so strong that it causes enemy creatures that exploit the power of fear to recoil in revulsion from the Paladin and his allies. Enemy creatures that use fear effects on the Paladin or the Paladins allies in his aura of courage radius must make a Fortitude save (Dc 10 +1/2 Paladins character level + Paladins Charisma bonus) or be nauseated. This effect lasts one round.

Remove Disease (As the spell): Usable a number of times per day equal to the paladin’s class level starting at level 6.

Divine Resistance: A paladin of 9th level or higher can use this ability. Subjects cured of a disease by the paladin have a +4 bonus to further exposure to that particular kind of disease for the rest of their natural life. Additionally, anyone in the paladin’s Aura of courage radius has a +4 bonus to resist contracting a disease.

Disease Suppression (Su): A paladin of 12th level or higher can use this ability. The paladin’s contempt for the corruption of disease has grown so great that he can restrain the disease in creature attacks. A paladin may spend a daily use of his Remove Disease ability to power his Disease Suppression ability. Activating this ability is a free action. For one round all creature special attacks that inflict disease, or cause an effect which can be removed by the remove disease spell (such as mummy rot) within the area of his Aura of Courage radius are suppressed. This ability suppresses the disease, not mundane attacks. For example, a mummy could still slam a creature, but not inflict mummy rot. There is no save for this effect.

Disease Suppression, Greater (Su): A paladin of 15th level or higher can use this ability. The paladin’s contempt for the corruption of disease has grown so great that he can restrain diseased attacks. A paladin may spend a daily use of his Remove Disease ability to power his Greater Disease Suppression ability. Activating this ability is a free action. For one round all creature attacks that inflict a disease, or cause an effect which can be removed by the remove disease spell within the area of his Aura of Courage radius (such as mummy rot) are suppressed. This ability also causes all creature attacks that inflict disease to be unusable as well. For example, a mummy could not use its slam attack. In addition, a creature may not substitute an unarmed or manufactured weapon attack for its normal disease attack. There is no save for this effect.

Disease Suppression, Greatest (Su): A paladin of 18th level or higher can use this ability. The paladin’s contempt for the corruption of disease has grown so great that he can instantly paralyze or destroy creatures with disease attacks. A paladin may spend a daily use of his Remove Disease ability to power this ability. Activating this ability is a Swift action. All creatures that have disease special attacks, or have a special attack which can be removed by the remove disease spell within the area of his Aura of Courage radius (such as a mummy) must make a fortitude save (Dc 10+1/2 paladin’s character level + Paladins Charisma bonus) or be paralyzed or destroyed at the paladin’s option. Creatures remain paralyzed for a number of rounds equal to the paladin’s character level.



The following are possible rule changes that I am considering and want more input on:
Specific level progression: The levels at which specific abilities are gained: The Aura of courage, remove disease, and smite evil progression might need to be tweaked more.
Other?


So my paladin has class abilities focused around, and heavily expanded upon, those in the Phb. Here are a few of the reasons I created the new class abilities: I want a paladin to be a beacon of courage for his allies, and the Phb Aura of courage is just plain crap. This version is much more respectable. As for the remove disease abilities, a Rp in-game effect of Divine Resistance is that all the villagers love the paladin and clamor around him whenever he enters a town. This is caused by the fact that he can use his remove disease ability so the villagers have resistance to further exposure to chronic diseases that plague their particular region. Finally, I think this version of the paladin fits the role of the “tank” much better. Creatures that use either fear or disease will want the Paladin dead first and fast, so that his auras will no longer strengthen his allies.

So I guess the short Rp description of my paladin is someone who provides great resistances against fear and disease for his allies, is hounded by the poor and sickly to restore their health wherever he goes, and is the target that gets the most “hate” from those who use fear and disease.

Let me know what you think,
There is nothing worse than aggressive stupidity.
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Judging__Eagle
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Re: My Paladin Kludge

Post by Judging__Eagle »

Unless you have Disease and Fear play central roles in your game; this class isn't really giving out anything that anyone would want to have.

Evn if Disease and Fear are central roles in a game, a cohort caster can use stuff like Calm Emotions or Remove Disease with a wand.



I should know, I sent a Hamatula (CR 11) against 1 Wish-Economied lvl 6 PC (so... CR 7) and 3 Magically geared lvl 6 PCs (CR 6 each).

Total PC CR
= CR 6 + CR 6 = CR 8

=CR 6 + CR 7 = CR 9

CR 8 + CR 9 = CR 10-ish; but they also had more actions per round


In any case, the CR 7's lvl 4 cohort kept tossing out Calm Emotions, which negated a CR 11 monsters best party-juggling ability.


I'd suggest checking out the Kantian Paladin that Iaimeki wrote up on this sub-board. I've got a player who is loving it.
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SphereOfFeetMan
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Re: My Paladin Kludge

Post by SphereOfFeetMan »

Judging_Eagle wrote:Unless you have Disease and Fear play central roles in your game; this class isn't really giving out anything that anyone would want to have.


Yeah. I considered that. I've been hesistant of making houserule changes to the base classes, as my first revision shows. I was trying to expand upon the existing class as best I could. Giving the Fighter a bonus feat every level was easy,...not so much with the paladin.

I think you are right, it is best just building from the ground up. I looked at the thread you mentioned, and it has some good ideas I can incorporate into my own version.

Its kinda funny. I thought I was making a significant powerup on the fear/disease angle of the paladin, and people still think its crap. lol
There is nothing worse than aggressive stupidity.
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Judging__Eagle
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Re: My Paladin Kludge

Post by Judging__Eagle »

Well, it's not crap.

It's just not what most people need.


If the game is: "Journey into the fetid swamp realm of Putreous the Fearsome"; where the PCs have to deal with disease carrying monsters and fear-inducing monsters, then this class is good.

Most of the time that won't be the case.

Really, the best balance point is comparing the class to the monsters it should be facing.
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