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Lysander
2009-06-28, 02:11 AM
Pilgrims are holy wanderers who travel the world to learn truths at holy sites and spread their wisdom to any who will listen. Any good person with a respect for the divine can become a pilgrim.

Pilgrims are easily identified by a holy symbol of travel that appears on their foreheads. They are highly revered throughout most parts of the world, and can usually get free food and lodging as they journey. They thank those that aid them with a blessing. Sentient creatures will rarely attack a pilgrim as it is common knowledge that killing them invokes a powerful curse, although a careful bandit might try to rob them by using non-lethal damage.

Becoming a pilgrim requires a day long ritual led by a good cleric. One must also invest at at least two ranks in Knowledge (Religion) and Survival.

Any ideas what the level adjustment on this should be?

Attributes:

Oath of Pilgrimage
Pilgrims travel by mundane means to better explore and connect with the world. They cannot use magic like teleporting or flying to bypass large distances except in extreme emergencies. Violating this oath can cause them to lose all pilgrim abilities, reversible only through an atonement spell.

Good Aligned
A pilgrim has an aura of good. If their alignment changes so they are no longer good they lose all special Pilgrim abilities, reversible only through an atonement spell.

Detect Good
Pilgrims can use detect good at will. Additionally they can instantly identify which deity a good divine caster or holy site is affiliated with. They can also detect the presence and direction of any Hallowed land within ten miles, but gain no other information until they reach it.

Geas Immunity
Pilgrims have their own journey and are immune to geas/quest spells and Mark of Justice. However they will usually do what they can for a good cause willingly.

Holy light
At will they can emit light as bright as a torch from their hands or from a wooden staff they hold. Unlike the normal light holy light illuminates within but doesn't dispel magical darkness.

Protection From Evil
Pilgrims are under a permanent Protection From Evil effect, with an equivalent caster level equal to their total character level.

Holy Symbol
A holy mark of travelers appears prominently on a pilgrim's forehead. This mark cannot be hidden with the disguise skill or spells like Disguise Self, and persists if a pilgrim's form is altered. It can be covered up though, and doesn't interfere with disguises that involve a hat, wig, or other garment that covers the forehead. The holy symbol provides a +4 modifier to diplomacy checks with good creatures and makes it easy to gain free food and lodging.

Blessing
Once a day a Pilgrim may bestow a permanent blessing of fortune by touching a person. The blessed person gains a +2 modifier when performing any trained profession check and any future children they have will be free of birth defects. Multiple pilgrim blessings do not stack. Pilgrims are themselves automatically blessed.

Safe Travel
The holy symbol on a pilgrim's head is a warning sign. Any sentient creature responsible for killing a pilgrim, even indirectly through a summoning spell or by dominating another creature, must succeed on a DC20 will save or be permanently cursed to avoid the day. The curse causes the creature to take 1d6 damage for each round they are in direct sunlight. Break Enchantment can end this curse, but if the spellcaster is a lower level than the slain pilgrim the curse will resume in 1d4 days. The curse does not affect animals, outsiders or undead.

The Mentalist
2009-06-28, 03:20 PM
I would say +1 LA tops, and that's only for the death curse.

But why only Good people?

GreatWyrmGold
2009-06-28, 03:38 PM
Meh...lots of flavorful abilities, none game-breaking...I agree with ^. Maybe it should just be a feat, what with the Pilgrim's Oath.
There should probably be an evil version...I'll make one.
Good Alinged/Detect Good/Protection from Evil/Holy Symbol: Use evil versions. (What a no-brainer.)
Holy Light: Replac with Unholy Dark, which negates nonmagical light sources within 30 feet.
Blessing: Replace with a curse that gives a -2 to trained Profession checks and doubles the chance of any future children having birth defects.

Lysander
2009-06-28, 08:15 PM
But why only Good people?

Because Pilgrims aren't soldiers of good like paladins who seek out evil to destroy it. They're travelers who seek out holy places and wise clerics, so their abilities are aimed towards finding good and getting there safely.

The Mentalist
2009-06-28, 09:58 PM
You're thinking "real world" where there are no major evil religions, why wouldn't say the faithful of Nerull make a pilgrimage to places of mass death, or to trek through the blasted wastelands to receive a blessing from the high priest.

Debihuman
2009-06-28, 11:35 PM
Wouldn't "pilgrim" be a better prestige class than a template?

Debby

The Mentalist
2009-06-28, 11:36 PM
A feat would work too, How much is there to you walk places?

sigurd
2009-06-29, 12:38 AM
I agree with the alignment question. Any alignment might be possible so long as a varied pantheon is involved. Even in the real world, I'm not sure an Asian Thugee wouldn't qualify for an evil pilgrim if they spent enough time on the roads. I think its a useful template idea for npcs. This pilgrim is way too successful though. I'd at least call him a 'Blessed Pilgrim'.

I think the template works for a blessing because really the benefits should fade when the pilgrimage is over, the job has been done or the pilgrim re-enters normal life.

The majority of pilgrims on the road would be lesser than this.


Repentant sinner atoning.
Young person coming of age.
Old person walking the lonesome highway before they die.
Acolyte achieving a goal.


All of these might be regular NPCs on a bit of well traveled road. They might not be that different from commoners but there would be some changes. A modest template would compliment this one very well.


Sigurd

Gorgondantess
2009-06-29, 02:07 AM
I'd call it LA+0. That restriction against teleportation is crippling at higher levels. You can't even leave the plane, because that's impossible through non-mundane means. It's really not a template for PCs because of it- in fact, I'd probably just give it a CR adjustment and call it a day.

Lysander
2009-06-29, 08:16 AM
I'd call it LA+0. That restriction against teleportation is crippling at higher levels. You can't even leave the plane, because that's impossible through non-mundane means. It's really not a template for PCs because of it- in fact, I'd probably just give it a CR adjustment and call it a day.

They can still teleport, but only in extreme situations, not as a regular means of avoiding travel. If it's a choice between letting a wizard teleport you to safety or getting eaten by a dragon, that oath wouldn't prevent you from escaping.

It also wouldn't prevent plane shift, because Plane Shift doesn't bypass mundane travel.

Lysander
2009-06-29, 08:37 AM
You're thinking "real world" where there are no major evil religions, why wouldn't say the faithful of Nerull make a pilgrimage to places of mass death, or to trek through the blasted wastelands to receive a blessing from the high priest.

There could definitely be an evil counterpart to this. People are willing to help pilgrims whose goals they agree with though. If most people are good aligned they will probably dislike an evil pilgrim, and be less willing to help them.

I'd use these changes for an evil pilgrim:

Good/Hallow ----> Evil/Unhallow
Change every instance of good/hallow to evil/unhallow in all their abilities. So now they'd have Protection from Good and Detect Evil. Also the Holy Symbol on their foreheads would instead be an Unholy Symbol, and would readily identify them as an evil pilgrim.

Replace Holy Light with Darkvision
An evil pilgrim can make their eyes glow red and see in perfect darkness. Unlike normal darkvision this ability can see even in magical darkness. A pilgrim's red eyes may be visible in normal darkness but will not illuminate the surroundings for any other creature.

Curse
Instead of being able to Bless people in thanks for food and lodging, a pilgrim can threaten people to get what they need with a curse. The curse is also permanent unless magically removed, and causes a -2 modifier on all trained profession checks and causes a 50% chance any children that person has will be born with a disfiguring birth defect.

Safe Travel
Works the same except the curse caused by killing an evil pilgrim instead causes 1d6 damage for each round the person is in darkness. This damage can be avoided even with candlelight or bright moonlight.

chiasaur11
2009-06-29, 06:12 PM
Looks good, even if I'm not the best at judging these thing, and no LA sounds fair, but all this brings to mind a stupid and almost entirely unrelated question.

So, what would a Scott Pilgrim template do?

DracoDei
2009-07-01, 06:36 AM
Perminant Protection from Evil is worth more than a feat. For one thing it makes them immune to all Charm (and Dominate?) spells. Of course, the "No long-range flight or teleportation" thing could make life slightly interesting at higher levels... but only slightly since you either have an emergency, or the difficulties of traveling are trivial. How do they feel about Far-strider?