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Altair_the_Vexed
2009-10-01, 05:51 AM
I've never been entirely satisfied with the Paladin as a core class - the fluff seems to point to them being prestige: they're selected by the celestial powers, granted divine awesomeness and all that. Blackguards need to contact evil outsiders to get as evil as they are, so why don't paladins need to contact good outsiders..?

The PrC version of the Paladin in Unearthed Arcana depends on one being a divine caster before one joins the class. I've never been keen on that idea.

Here's a version that doesn't need divine caster levels, but benefits from them so the cleric types don't feel left out.
(EDITED to include changes as suggested.)
(UPDATED with further suggestions.)
(FURTHER UPDATES added - I call this done now.)

PRESTIGE PALADIN (PrC)

Hit Die: d10.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Prestige Paladin, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Alignment: Lawful good.
Base Attack Bonus: +4
Skills: Knowledge (Religion) 3 ranks, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) 3 ranks, Ride 4 ranks
Feats: Mounted Combat, Ride-by-Attack
Special: Must have made friendly contact with a Lawful Good outsider

Class Skills
The paladin’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (nobility and royalty / religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), and Sense Motive (Wis).
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Table: Paladin (PrC){table=]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Spells|||
||||||1st|2nd|3rd|4th|
1st|+1|+2|+0|+0|Aura of good, detect evil, mercy, smite evil 1/day|2|0|-|-
2nd|+2|+3|+0|+0|Aura of courage, divine grace, lay on hands, turn undead|3|1|-|-
3rd|+3|+3|+1|+1|Divine health, lay on hands (remove disease)|3|2|0|-
4th|+4|+4|+1|+1|Smite evil 2/day, special mount|3|3|1|-
5th|+5|+4|+1|+1|Improved lay on hands|3|3|2|0
6th|+6|+5|+2|+2|Improved smite evil|3|3|3|1
7th|+7|+5|+2|+2|Smite evil 3/day|4|3|3|2
8th|+8|+6|+2|+2|Greater smite evil|4|4|3|3
9th|+9|+6|+3|+3|Greater lay on hands|4|4|4|3
10th|+10|+7|+3|+3|Aura of Salvation, Smite evil 4/day|4|4|4|4[/table]

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.

Detect Evil (Sp): At will, a paladin can use detect evil, as the spell.

Mercy (Ex): A paladin may choose to convert any melee damage she deals to nonlethal damage without suffering the usual -4 penalty. She may not use this ability on creatures that are immune to critical hits.

Smite Evil (Su): ): Once plus Charisma bonus (if any) 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. 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 4th level, and at every three levels thereafter, the paladin may smite evil one additional time per day, as indicated on Table: The Paladin, to a maximum of four times plus Charisma bonus (if any) per day at 10th level.
At 6th level, the paladin adds her Wisdom bonus (if any) to her attack roll when smiting evil.
At 8th level, the paladin adds her Charisma bonus (if any) to both her attack roll and damage roll when smiting evil.

Spells: A paladin gains the ability to cast a small number of divine spells, 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. 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 Table: The Paladin. In addition, if she has no previous divine spellcasting class, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Wisdom score. When Table: The Paladin indicates that the paladin gets 0 spells per day of a given spell level, she gains only the bonus spells she would be entitled to based on her Wisdom score for that spell level. Prestige Paladins with previous divine spellcasting class levels do not gain additional paladin spells due to a high Wisdom score.
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.
A paladin’s caster level is equal to her paladin level, or her previous divine caster level, whichever is higher.
If the character had no divine spellcasting class before she became a paladin, she may select a Cleric Domain power and cast the Domain bonus spells as though she were a cleric equal to half her paladin level.

Aura of Courage (Su): Beginning at 2nd 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 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 x her Charisma bonus. 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.
At 3rd level, the paladin can use her lay on hands ability to remove disease, as the spell of the same name. To do so, she must expend all points of healing from her daily allotment.

Turn Undead (Su): When a paladin reaches 2nd 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 her paladin level would.
If the paladin already has the ability to turn undead from her previous classes, she gains an additional 3 uses of the power per day, and use her previous class level or paladin level, whichever is higher, for the check.

Divine Health (Ex): At 3rd level, a paladin gains immunity to all diseases, including supernatural and magical diseases.

Special Mount (Sp): Upon reaching 4th level, a paladin gains the service of an unusually intelligent, strong, and loyal steed to serve her in her crusade against evil (see below). 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. This ability is the equivalent of a spell of a level equal to one-third the paladin’s class level. 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.
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. Calling a mount is a conjuration (calling) effect.
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.

Improved Lay on Hands (Su): At 5th level, a paladin’s lay on hands ability improves, so she may remove disease by expending only 5 points of healing from her daily allotment.

Greater Lay on Hands (Su): Upon reaching 9th level, the paladin’s lay on hands ability increases. She adds her Wisdom bonus (if any) to her paladin level before multiplying by her Charisma bonus to calculate the amount of healing he can do each day. This greater allotment effects all her lay on hands abilities.

Aura of Salvation (Su): At 10th level, a paladin may heal her allies without having to touch them. Once, plus her Charisma bonus (if any), per day she may heal all allies within 10 feet of 10 hit points of damage, or remove one of the following conditions: confusion, fascination, paralysis, stunned, or reduce any fear conditions by one step.

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, armor, 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 (see the atonement spell description), 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 PALADIN’S MOUNT
The paladin’s mount is superior to a normal mount of its kind and has special powers, as described below. The standard mount for a Medium paladin is a heavy warhorse, and the standard mount for a Small paladin is a warpony. Another kind of mount, such as a riding dog (for a halfling paladin) or a Large shark (for a paladin in an aquatic campaign) may be allowed as well. A paladin’s mount is treated as a magical beast, not an animal, for the purpose of all effects that depend on its type (though it retains an animal’s HD, base attack bonus, saves, skill points, and feats).{table=]Paladin Level|Bonus HD|Natural Armor Adj.|Str Adj.|Int|Special
4th–5th|+2|+4|+1|6|Empathic link, improved evasion, share spells, share saving throws
6th–7th|+4|+6|+2|7|Improved speed
8th–9th|+6|+8|+3|8|Command creatures of its kind
10th|+8|+10|+4|9|Spell resistance[/table]

Paladin’s Mount Basics: Use the base statistics for a creature of the mount’s kind, but make changes to take into account the attributes and characteristics summarized on the table and described below.
Bonus HD: Extra eight-sided (d8) Hit Dice, each of which gains a Constitution modifier, as normal. Extra Hit Dice improve the mount’s base attack and base save bonuses. A special mount’s base attack bonus is equal to that of a cleric of a level equal to the mount’s HD. A mount has good Fortitude and Reflex saves (treat it as a character whose level equals the animal’s HD). The mount gains additional skill points or feats for bonus HD as normal for advancing a monster’s Hit Dice.
Natural Armor Adj.: The number on the table is an improvement to the mount’s existing natural armor bonus.
Str Adj.: Add this figure to the mount’s Strength score.
Int: The mount’s Intelligence score.

Empathic Link (Su): The paladin has an empathic link with her mount out to a distance of up to 1 mile. The paladin cannot see through the mount’s eyes, but they can communicate empathically. Note that even intelligent mounts see the world differently from humans, so misunderstandings are always possible.
Because of this empathic link, the paladin has the same connection to an item or place that her mount does, just as with a master and his familiar (see Familiars).

Improved Evasion (Ex): When subjected to an attack that normally allows a Reflex saving throw for half damage, a mount takes no damage if it makes a successful saving throw and half damage if the saving throw fails.

Share Spells: At the paladin’s option, she may have any spell (but not any spell-like ability) she casts on herself also affect her mount. The mount must be within 5 feet at the time of casting to receive the benefit. If the spell or effect has a duration other than instantaneous, it stops affecting the mount if it moves farther than 5 feet away and will not affect the mount again even if it returns to the paladin before the duration expires. Additionally, the paladin may cast a spell with a target of “You” on her mount (as a touch range spell) instead of on herself. A paladin and her mount can share spells even if the spells normally do not affect creatures of the mount’s type (magical beast).

Share Saving Throws: For each of its saving throws, the mount uses its own base save bonus or the paladin’s, whichever is higher. The mount applies its own ability modifiers to saves, and it doesn’t share any other bonuses on saves that the master might have.

Improved Speed (Ex): The mount’s speed increases by 10 feet.

Command (Sp): Once per day per paladin level of its master, a mount can use this ability to command other any normal animal of approximately the same kind as itself (for warhorses and warponies, this category includes donkeys, mules, and ponies), as long as the target creature has fewer Hit Dice than the mount. This ability functions like the command spell, but the mount must make a DC 21 Concentration check to succeed if it’s being ridden at the time. If the check fails, the ability does not work that time, but it still counts against the mount’s daily uses. Each target may attempt a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 paladin’s level + paladin’s Cha modifier) to negate the effect.

Spell Resistance (Ex): A mount’s spell resistance equals its master’s paladin level + 15. To affect the mount with a spell, a spellcaster must get a result on a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) that equals or exceeds the mount’s spell resistance.

Altair_the_Vexed
2009-10-02, 04:11 AM
Please excuse my replying to myself, but after some feedback on another forum, I've updated and changed this PrC. It now has a more balanced spell progression and allows both divine casters and non-caster classes to qualify on equal footing.

Let me know what you think!

Draken
2009-10-02, 11:29 AM
Well. Few things.

Smite Evil is weakened in this form, since it will give 10 damage at best (not like it was that great to begin with). If it will remain at that low a bonus I would at least make it per encounter, not per day.

Ah, who am I kidding. I would make it per encounter even as it is in the base class.

More than ever, Turn Undead is only useful to power divine feats.

Rawr! I turn you, CR 15 undead, with my effective turning level of 5! Be afraid!

That wasn't even funny. Ok, it was. To me.

The special mount... Progresses much too poorly. Check the progression for the Ashworm Dragoon's special mount in Sandstorm. That one is very good, as in, it is workable.

I recommend exchanging Divine Grace and Divine Health. Because Divine Grace is worth much, much more than Divine Health.

Remove Disease! The glorious, glorious remove disease! On weekly uses!

Just so it can't be said that no one was ever excited about that particular feature.

PairO'Dice Lost
2009-10-02, 11:53 AM
Smite Evil is weakened in this form, since it will give 10 damage at best (not like it was that great to begin with). If it will remain at that low a bonus I would at least make it per encounter, not per day.

Ah, who am I kidding. I would make it per encounter even as it is in the base class.

Yeah, smites should definitely be per-encounter, particularly given the weakening of the damage boost. Bump cure disease up to /day as well.

In general, I would suggest that anything based on class level should be based on 2*level. That would fix the smite, turn undead, and mount abilities to workable levels (though of course they could always stand to be improved a bit more).

Altair_the_Vexed
2009-10-02, 12:46 PM
The changes that Pair'oDice and Draken suggest seem to make this PrC way better than the base class paladin, which I guess is fitting, given that it is a prestige class...
Don't the increased frequencies in the powers' and special mount's progressions help? I've crammed most of the 20 levels of the base class into 10...
The spells per day progression is faster than the base class paladin, better than the blackguard, and better than the Unearthed Arcana PrC paladin. Doesn't that balance out the less large, class-level dependent features?

FYI, in case it isn't obvious: I'm planning to use this class (when I'm satisfied with it) as a replacement for the base class.

PairO'Dice Lost
2009-10-02, 01:03 PM
The changes that Pair'oDice and Draken suggest seem to make this PrC way better than the base class paladin, which I guess is fitting, given that it is a prestige class...

The paladin is already sub-par, and this being a PrC lets you up the power levels a bit.


Don't the increased frequencies in the powers' and special mount's progressions help? I've crammed most of the 20 levels of the base class into 10...

1) It does help, but not quite enough; the abilities are too infrequent/too slow by far, and even improving them as you have doesn't really get them to the right point.

2) Putting 20 levels' worth of stuff into 10 is part of the problem--the paladin already does too little smite damage and has too low a turning level when it's equal to your character level, and making it half that is even worse. Putting the abilities into 10 levels but progressing as if it were still 20 levels helps alleviate that.


The spells per day progression is faster than the base class paladin, better than the blackguard, and better than the Unearthed Arcana PrC paladin. Doesn't that balance out the less large, class-level dependent features?

Not really. Getting 1st-level spells at 1st level is level appropriate; getting them at 4th (for the base paladin) or 6th (for this one) is too little, too late, unless you make some 2nd-4th level spells 1st-level spells for the paladin...which introduces a heck of a lot more problems. You might want to consider doing what the Sublime chord does and start the progression at higher than 1st level, i.e. giving the paladin 3rd/4th/5th/6th level spells instead of 1st/2nd/3rd/4th.

Altair_the_Vexed
2009-10-02, 01:54 PM
How about increasing the frequency of use of powers, and bumping the spells per day to reflect something more like a compressed bardic progression - starting at more than 1 1st level per day, with 0 2nd level (+ bonus), and ending in 4 spells per day of each of the 4 levels?

(I want to stick with the 4 level spell list: it's just easier, and doesn't make the paladin into a full caster.)

Another thought I've had is to add increasing bonuses to Smite Evil - say, adding the WIS bonus at about 6th level.

PairO'Dice Lost
2009-10-02, 02:04 PM
How about increasing the frequency of use of powers, and bumping the spells per day to reflect something more like a compressed bardic progression - starting at more than 1 1st leve1 per day, with 0 2nd level (+ bonus), and ending in 4 spells per day of each of the 4 levels?

Sounds good; I might even make it end up with 5 or 6 spells of each level, but you don't have to if you don't want to.


Another thought I've had is to add increasing bonuses to Smite Evil - say, adding the WIS bonus at about 6th level.

That's a good idea. Maybe add Wis to damage at 6th and Wis to attack and damage at 8th, to fill both dead levels?

Altair_the_Vexed
2009-10-03, 01:36 PM
Right - updated the OP with the following changes: better spell progression extra smite attack bonus and damage to fill up the dead levels dropped the BAB requirement to allow entry at 5th (for fighters)

Glimbur
2009-10-03, 02:28 PM
Because this offers separate casting instead of progressing existing casting, I wouldn't take this for a cleric. It could be useful for a mounted combatant, for example a fighter, who wants a better steed and spells.

PairO'Dice Lost
2009-10-03, 02:34 PM
Looks much better now. I wouldn't be too worried about a cleric not wanting to take it as much as a fighter; thematically speaking, a paladin is much more a holy warrior who gets a few divinely-powered perks than a priest who wants to learn to hit things better.

Mulletmanalive
2009-10-03, 03:05 PM
Just a few thoughts from when i first refitted the Paladin [compete with new behaviour codes] for my own games:

1) - There is little reason in D&D to split up uses of Lay Hands, so it comes out as a 1/day ability, no matter what people say about it. That and with this progression, it would be utterly out stripped by the Complete Champion feat, Healing Hands [the Reserve feat, i think that's what it's called].

Might be worth changing the underlying mechanic there a little, perhaps points equalling dice or something so that they're more useful split up than in desperation...

{table=head]points|Dice

1|
1d4
2|
1d6
3|
2d4
etc|
etc[/table]
Or something like that anyway.

2) Cure Disease is somewhat lost in usefulness in 3.5. In the original print of the AD&D books, it used to also cure Blindness, Deafness and a bunch of other things . As a compromise, how about having it cost something like 3-5 points from your Lay Hands pool or something like that?

3) [B]Smite Evil - is it just me that wondered, "why don't you add your Cha bonus to damage as well? That'd make it more useful at low levels..." The WOW RPG paladin had the interesting twist of causing save or stunning for one round, which went along way with the 'wracking the enemy with purity' bit.

4) Mount - Never was really sure about the mount feature. I started out when you just had a really smart horse and it seemed bizarre that it was generally as dangerous as the Paladin riding it at low levels.

My only real thought thereafter [aside from Ooo Charging Smite...] was a line from [i think] Charlemagne that i was quoted: "And he and his mount fought as one, such that they bled from each other's wounds and did tend each other's folly". How about a continuous Shield Other effect on the horse with the Paladin given the option to shunt his damage onto the horse too if need be [and you like the idea]?

Also, why is this version of the Paladin punished really harshly for the mount dying? The normal logic is that as a Celestial creature, if it's killed on a plane other than its own, it reforms there after death, but otherwise none the wiser...[standard thing for Outsiders according to the Fiendish Codexes apparently]. The connection with the deity shortens this to an 8 hour regeneration for normal paladin mounts [the once per day thing....], i'm just wondering why its so harsh, no other animal feature is, to my knowledge.

Altair_the_Vexed
2009-10-03, 03:25 PM
Also, why is this version of the Paladin punished really harshly for the mount dying? The normal logic is that as a Celestial creature, if it's killed on a plane other than its own, it reforms there after death, but otherwise none the wiser...[standard thing for Outsiders according to the Fiendish Codexes apparently]. The connection with the deity shortens this to an 8 hour regeneration for normal paladin mounts [the once per day thing....], i'm just wondering why its so harsh, no other animal feature is, to my knowledge.
This is the standard rule for the paladin's mount.
It's more like the familiar rule. The difference is that animals companions are still individuals, whereas the familiar and paladin mount are empathically linked to the character.
Losing your empathically linked creature is worse than losing your special furry friend.

Mulletmanalive
2009-10-03, 03:45 PM
Huh...Y'know, i'd never actually noticed that clause; rarely accept the mount as a Paladin because it'll inevitably steal my thunder/luck.

Still seems really...oh, i see! This standard one doesn't have the Celestial template... that explains how my rhino kept coming back!

Draken
2009-10-03, 04:20 PM
These placeholder names for the sixth and eight level improvement to Smite Evil look really silly.

Anyway, rewinding:

Smite Evil: Improved. Still think that should be /encounter instead of /day.

Divine Grace is still vastly superior do Divine Health and is still gained first. Also giving potential users of this prestige class an easier time getting divine grace (currently, if you want Divine Grace, you need to burn two levels into Paladin/Blackguard/something).

Turn undead is still a bad joke by itself.

Lay on Hands is weak as well.

Special Mount caps at a whooping 9 HD. Seriously. Ashworm Dragoon. Look at it.

Remove Disease /week is still silly. But Mulletmanalive gave an interesting suggestion. Make it... I don't know. Purify X/week, removes any disease, poison, curse, blindness, deafness, genderbending, unexpected pregnancyand other long lasting nuisances. That would make it nice and interesting and worth keeping as X/week.

Also, on the subject of class and prestige class design, a capstone is always recomended. And no, an extra daily use of a class feature is not a capstone. An extra spell slot isn't a capstone either.

PairO'Dice Lost
2009-10-03, 06:06 PM
Remove Disease /week is still silly. But Mulletmanalive gave an interesting suggestion. Make it... I don't know. Purify X/week, removes any disease, poison, curse, blindness, deafness, genderbending, unexpected pregnancyand other long lasting nuisances. That would make it nice and interesting and worth keeping as X/week.

I remember seeing one class feature (don't know if it was official or homebrew) that was essentially phrased "[Feature] can remove any effect that could be removed with the cure disease, remove curse, or break enchantment spell," so something similar might be a good idea in this case.

Altair_the_Vexed
2009-10-03, 07:29 PM
Paladins get all those other effects as spells, though. The only spell on the "remove X" list they don't get is remove disease.

I've added Remove Disease into lay on hands, so it stops being once per week, and improves in number of uses; and lay on hands improves in hit points allotted.
I've added the 1st level feature "mercy" that lets the paladin deal nonlethal without penalty in melee.
I've bumped divine grace up to 2nd level (and divine health up to 3rd - yes, I know it's not as good as grace, but it fits the flavour of gaining remove disease at the same level better).
I've added a "capstone" - the aura of salvation, that lets the paladin heal in a radius or remove certain conditions.

I'm not changing the mount much - now it's just the same as it's written in the PHB, but with a faster progression. All I've done is alter the "per-paladin-level" bits to reflect the shorter path to the top of this class (and restored the bonus HD).

All of that is on my file, ready to write into BB code and post - but now I really must sleep. It's 0130 here in the UK, and I have games to run in the morning.

ShneekeyTheLost
2009-10-03, 08:31 PM
A few suggestions:

1) Make their CL and their turning level equal to their class level, rather than half. Seriously, you've already gimped them by making it a 10 level PrC, so at most they'll have CL 10, which is where a Paladin at level 20 will be. Same thing with Turning.

2) Cure Disease and Remove Blindness/Deafness are jokes, which can be done with their spell list much more effectively. Do something creative, like letting them blow their turn attempts to remove a status effect from an ally. You can let it start off with Disease, then Blindness, then Poison, then eventually stat damage (probably 1d4 per turn attempt), and finally negative levels (1 per turn attempt). This gives them something to do with their turn attempts, it carries the flavor of "Holy Knight who does things with divine power", and it is not the same old boring thing.

3) Mount should be moved up. Significantly. You're already at 5th level when you enter the class. As is, you'll be 9th character level before you can get the Mount. Move it up. It's not going to break the game.

4) Smite Evil. Yea, this needs to get changed. How about this instead:

Holy Aura (Su): A Paladin is a warrior blessed by the Divine and charged to defend the helpless against evil. At 1st level, as a free action, a Paladin can activate a holy aura which allows any weapon he wields to have the Holy weapon enhancment property for a number of rounds equal to his Charisma modifier (Minimum 1). At 4th level and every three levels thereafter, he may do this one additional time per day.

This gives him +2d6 damage per hit against evil creatures for one fight. Per use. This saves him from having to buy a +2 enhancement bonus for his weapon, but is otherwise not game breaking. It is, however, useful. Unlike Smite as currently written.

Altair_the_Vexed
2009-10-04, 05:36 AM
Uploaded the changes as promised.

Now we have a PrC that makes the 10th level Prestige Paladin as powerful as the 20th level base class (aside from 5 points of BAB, a few points of saves and the other stuff that comes from being 15th level rather than 20th).

Remove disease has become a daily power, and later, has multiple uses per day. Other Remove X features are covered by the spell list.
Smite evil improves with level, beyond the standard "+ paladin level to damage" track.

I'm done. If I do anything more to this class, it'll be to nerf the lower levels a little.