Kobold-Bard
2010-05-05, 02:53 PM
I'm sure this has been suggested before but this is something that just came to me. The Monk is considered bad because (among other reasons) it has lots of abilities throughout that don't really do anything. The Paladin is considered bad because (among other reasons) it is very front loaded.
So what if we considered merging the two of them into one class, fixing a couple of abilities along the way. Then we get rid of the Monk and replace it with an awakened housecat or something.
Paladin
Alignment
Lawful good.
Hit Die
d10.
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) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), and Sense Motive (Wis).
Skill Points at 1st Level
(4 + Int modifier) ×4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level
4 + Int modifier.
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|0lvl|1st|2nd|3rd|4th
1st|
+1|
+2|
+2|
+2|Aura, Detect Foe, Smite Foe (5 rounds)|2|-|-|-|-
2nd|
+2|
+3|
+3|
+3|Divine Grace, Lay on Hands|2|1|-|-|-
3rd|
+3|
+3|
+3|
+3|Aura of Courage, Divine Health|-|-|-|-|-
4th|
+4|
+4|
+4|
+4|Turn Undead|-|-|-|-|-
5th|
+5|
+4|
+4|
+4|Smite Foe (4 rounds), Special Mount|-|-|-|-|-
6th|
+6/+1|
+5|
+5|
+5||-|-|-|-|-
7th|
+7/+2|
+5|
+5|
+5|Mettle|-|-|-|-|-
8th|
+8/+3|
+6|
+6|
+6|Devoted Strike (First)|-|-|-|-|-
9th|
+9/+4|
+6|
+6|
+6||-|-|-|-|-
10th|
+10/+5|
+7|
+7|
+7|Smite Foe (3 rounds)|-|-|-|-|-
11th|
+11/+6/+1|
+7|
+7|
+7|Diamond Body|-|-|-|-|-
12th|
+12/+7/+2|
+8|
+8|
+8|Warrior's Wings|-|-|-|-|-
13th|
+13/+8/+3|
+8|
+8|
+8|Diamond Soul|-|-|-|-|-
14th|
+14/+9/+4|
+9|
+9|
+9|Devoted Strike (Second)|-|-|-|-|-
15th|
+15/+10/+5|
+9|
+9|
+9|Smite Foe (2 rounds)|-|4|3|2|1
16th|
+16/+11/+6/+1|
+10|
+10|
+10||4|4|4|3|2
17th|
+17/+12/+7/+2|
+10|
+10|
+10|Timeless Body, Tongue of the Sun and Moon|4|4|4|4|3
18th|
+18/+13/+8/+3|
+11|
+11|
+11||4|4|4|4|4
19th|
+19/+14/+9/+4|
+11|
+11|
+11|Empty Body|4|4|4|4|4
20th|
+20/+15/+10/+5|
+12|
+12|
+12|Perfect Self, Smite Foe (1 round)|4|4|4|4|4[/table]
Class Features:
All of the following are class features of the paladin.
Aura (Ex)
Paladin's are surrounded by a powerful aura of Law and Good. The power of a paladin’s aura (see the detect good spell) is equal to her paladin level.
Detect Foe (Sp)
At will, a paladin can use detect evil & detect chaos, as the spell.
Smite Foe (Su)
Once every five rounds, a paladin may attempt to smite a foe 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 target that is not chaotic or evil, the smite has no effect, but the ability is still used.
At 5th level, and at every five levels thereafter, the paladin reduces the wait time between smite uses by one round, so at 20th level the paladin may use smite foe every round.
Spells
A paladin casts divine spells, which are drawn from the paladin spell list plus the one cleric domain of the paladin's choice from the following list: Good, Law, Protection, Strength & War. They may not change their decision after it is made and may only choose to prepare spells from these lists, they do not gain the special ability from the domain. A paladin must choose and prepare her spells in advance.
To prepare or cast a spell, a paladin must have a Charisma 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 Charisma 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, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Charisma 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 and her chosen domain, provided that she can cast spells of that level, but she must choose which spells to prepare during her daily meditation.
The Paladin may not cast any spells that are opposed to her alignment.
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 Once per day produce the effect of any Conjuration (Healing) spell that a cleric of level equal to her paladin level could cast. The exception to this is that she may not produce any effect that returns a creature from the dead. She can use this ability one additional time per day for every three levels after 2th (twice per day at 8th, three times at 11th etc.).
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.
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.
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. This ability is the equivalent of a spell of a level equal to one-third the paladin’s 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.
Mettle (Ex)
At 7th level and higher, a paladin can resist magical and unusual attacks with great willpower or fortitude. If she makes a successful Will or Fortitude save against an attack that normally would have a lesser effect on a successful save (such as any spell with a saving throw entry of Will half or Fortitude partial), he instead completely negates the effect. An unconscious or sleeping paladin does not gain the benefit of mettle.
Devoted Strike (Su)
From 8th level, a paladin's attacks are empowered by her devotion. At 8th level her attacks are treated as Axiomatic or Holy weapons for the purpose of dealing damage to creatures with damage reduction and dealing extra damage. At 14th level, her attacks are also treated as Axiomatic or Holy (whichever she didn't choose at 8th level) weapons for the purpose of dealing damage to creatures with damage reduction and dealing extra damage. Weapons only retain this quality whilst in the paladin's possession, and as such they never result in negative levels for evil or chaotic aligned creatures.
Diamond Body (Su)
At 11th level, a paladin gains immunity to poisons of all kinds.
Warrior's Wings (Su)
At 12th level a Paladin is rewarded for her service with a pair of golden feathered wings. She gains a Fly speed equal to twice her base land speed with Good Manoeuvrability. The wings are translucent, pass harmlessly through any armour or other impediments and can be suppressed or regained as a swift action.
Diamond Soul (Ex)
At 13th level, a paladin gains spell resistance equal to her current paladin level + 10.
Timeless Body (Ex)
Upon attaining 17th level, a paladin no longer takes penalties to her ability scores for aging and cannot be magically aged. Any such penalties that she has already taken, however, remain in place. Bonuses still accrue, and the paladin still dies of old age when her time is up.
Tongue of the Sun and Moon (Ex)
A paladin of 17th level or higher can speak with any living creature. I addition any creature she converses with has an attitude one step better towards the Paladin, to a maximum of Fanatical. This only affects any creature once per day, though additional diplomacy checks or other factors may change it's attitude again.
Empty Body (Su)
At 19th level, a paladin gains the ability to assume an ethereal state for 1 round per paladin level per day, as though using the spell etherealness. She may go ethereal on a number of different occasions during any single day, as long as the total number of rounds spent in an ethereal state does not exceed her paladin level. She may take her mount with her as long as she is in contact with it, and it returns to it's celestial home if she breaks contact with it.
Perfect Self
At 20th level, a paladin becomes a magical creature. She is forevermore treated as an outsider rather than as a humanoid (or whatever the paladin's creature type was) for the purpose of spells and magical effects. Additionally, the paladin gains damage reduction 5/-, which allows her to ignore the first 5 points of damage from any attack made by a weapon or by any natural attack made by a creature. Unlike other outsiders, the paladin can still be brought back from the dead as if she were a member of her previous creature type.
In addition she now summons four angelic wings instead of just two. This increases her Fly speed to triple her base land speed with perfect manoeuvrability.
I'm still doing the spells/day, just eating now so will sort out that mess in a bit.
The alignment based abilities are a personal annoyance, so I changed them.
Replaced Evasion with Mettle because Evasion + heavy armour = :smallfrown:
All the rest are just some more ideas I had.
Thoughts on the idea in general?
Edit: Fixed the Wisdom stuff to make it Charisma.
Fixed skill points.
Fixed Healing Touch.
Fixed Tongue of the Sun and Moon. I'm assuming that your attitude returns to normal after a day, if it doesn't I'll need to reword that.
Edit2: Removed Cleric casting and replaced it with 2 domains.
Made Healing Touch part of Lay on Hands.
Edited the monks out of TotSaM and Timeless Body.
Replaced Abundant Step with Warrior's Wings.
Added Wings boost to Perfect Self.
Still working on Spells/day.
Edit3: Understood what people meant by Healing Touch so it became Lay on Hands.
So what if we considered merging the two of them into one class, fixing a couple of abilities along the way. Then we get rid of the Monk and replace it with an awakened housecat or something.
Paladin
Alignment
Lawful good.
Hit Die
d10.
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) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), and Sense Motive (Wis).
Skill Points at 1st Level
(4 + Int modifier) ×4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level
4 + Int modifier.
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|0lvl|1st|2nd|3rd|4th
1st|
+1|
+2|
+2|
+2|Aura, Detect Foe, Smite Foe (5 rounds)|2|-|-|-|-
2nd|
+2|
+3|
+3|
+3|Divine Grace, Lay on Hands|2|1|-|-|-
3rd|
+3|
+3|
+3|
+3|Aura of Courage, Divine Health|-|-|-|-|-
4th|
+4|
+4|
+4|
+4|Turn Undead|-|-|-|-|-
5th|
+5|
+4|
+4|
+4|Smite Foe (4 rounds), Special Mount|-|-|-|-|-
6th|
+6/+1|
+5|
+5|
+5||-|-|-|-|-
7th|
+7/+2|
+5|
+5|
+5|Mettle|-|-|-|-|-
8th|
+8/+3|
+6|
+6|
+6|Devoted Strike (First)|-|-|-|-|-
9th|
+9/+4|
+6|
+6|
+6||-|-|-|-|-
10th|
+10/+5|
+7|
+7|
+7|Smite Foe (3 rounds)|-|-|-|-|-
11th|
+11/+6/+1|
+7|
+7|
+7|Diamond Body|-|-|-|-|-
12th|
+12/+7/+2|
+8|
+8|
+8|Warrior's Wings|-|-|-|-|-
13th|
+13/+8/+3|
+8|
+8|
+8|Diamond Soul|-|-|-|-|-
14th|
+14/+9/+4|
+9|
+9|
+9|Devoted Strike (Second)|-|-|-|-|-
15th|
+15/+10/+5|
+9|
+9|
+9|Smite Foe (2 rounds)|-|4|3|2|1
16th|
+16/+11/+6/+1|
+10|
+10|
+10||4|4|4|3|2
17th|
+17/+12/+7/+2|
+10|
+10|
+10|Timeless Body, Tongue of the Sun and Moon|4|4|4|4|3
18th|
+18/+13/+8/+3|
+11|
+11|
+11||4|4|4|4|4
19th|
+19/+14/+9/+4|
+11|
+11|
+11|Empty Body|4|4|4|4|4
20th|
+20/+15/+10/+5|
+12|
+12|
+12|Perfect Self, Smite Foe (1 round)|4|4|4|4|4[/table]
Class Features:
All of the following are class features of the paladin.
Aura (Ex)
Paladin's are surrounded by a powerful aura of Law and Good. The power of a paladin’s aura (see the detect good spell) is equal to her paladin level.
Detect Foe (Sp)
At will, a paladin can use detect evil & detect chaos, as the spell.
Smite Foe (Su)
Once every five rounds, a paladin may attempt to smite a foe 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 target that is not chaotic or evil, the smite has no effect, but the ability is still used.
At 5th level, and at every five levels thereafter, the paladin reduces the wait time between smite uses by one round, so at 20th level the paladin may use smite foe every round.
Spells
A paladin casts divine spells, which are drawn from the paladin spell list plus the one cleric domain of the paladin's choice from the following list: Good, Law, Protection, Strength & War. They may not change their decision after it is made and may only choose to prepare spells from these lists, they do not gain the special ability from the domain. A paladin must choose and prepare her spells in advance.
To prepare or cast a spell, a paladin must have a Charisma 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 Charisma 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, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Charisma 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 and her chosen domain, provided that she can cast spells of that level, but she must choose which spells to prepare during her daily meditation.
The Paladin may not cast any spells that are opposed to her alignment.
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 Once per day produce the effect of any Conjuration (Healing) spell that a cleric of level equal to her paladin level could cast. The exception to this is that she may not produce any effect that returns a creature from the dead. She can use this ability one additional time per day for every three levels after 2th (twice per day at 8th, three times at 11th etc.).
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.
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.
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. This ability is the equivalent of a spell of a level equal to one-third the paladin’s 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.
Mettle (Ex)
At 7th level and higher, a paladin can resist magical and unusual attacks with great willpower or fortitude. If she makes a successful Will or Fortitude save against an attack that normally would have a lesser effect on a successful save (such as any spell with a saving throw entry of Will half or Fortitude partial), he instead completely negates the effect. An unconscious or sleeping paladin does not gain the benefit of mettle.
Devoted Strike (Su)
From 8th level, a paladin's attacks are empowered by her devotion. At 8th level her attacks are treated as Axiomatic or Holy weapons for the purpose of dealing damage to creatures with damage reduction and dealing extra damage. At 14th level, her attacks are also treated as Axiomatic or Holy (whichever she didn't choose at 8th level) weapons for the purpose of dealing damage to creatures with damage reduction and dealing extra damage. Weapons only retain this quality whilst in the paladin's possession, and as such they never result in negative levels for evil or chaotic aligned creatures.
Diamond Body (Su)
At 11th level, a paladin gains immunity to poisons of all kinds.
Warrior's Wings (Su)
At 12th level a Paladin is rewarded for her service with a pair of golden feathered wings. She gains a Fly speed equal to twice her base land speed with Good Manoeuvrability. The wings are translucent, pass harmlessly through any armour or other impediments and can be suppressed or regained as a swift action.
Diamond Soul (Ex)
At 13th level, a paladin gains spell resistance equal to her current paladin level + 10.
Timeless Body (Ex)
Upon attaining 17th level, a paladin no longer takes penalties to her ability scores for aging and cannot be magically aged. Any such penalties that she has already taken, however, remain in place. Bonuses still accrue, and the paladin still dies of old age when her time is up.
Tongue of the Sun and Moon (Ex)
A paladin of 17th level or higher can speak with any living creature. I addition any creature she converses with has an attitude one step better towards the Paladin, to a maximum of Fanatical. This only affects any creature once per day, though additional diplomacy checks or other factors may change it's attitude again.
Empty Body (Su)
At 19th level, a paladin gains the ability to assume an ethereal state for 1 round per paladin level per day, as though using the spell etherealness. She may go ethereal on a number of different occasions during any single day, as long as the total number of rounds spent in an ethereal state does not exceed her paladin level. She may take her mount with her as long as she is in contact with it, and it returns to it's celestial home if she breaks contact with it.
Perfect Self
At 20th level, a paladin becomes a magical creature. She is forevermore treated as an outsider rather than as a humanoid (or whatever the paladin's creature type was) for the purpose of spells and magical effects. Additionally, the paladin gains damage reduction 5/-, which allows her to ignore the first 5 points of damage from any attack made by a weapon or by any natural attack made by a creature. Unlike other outsiders, the paladin can still be brought back from the dead as if she were a member of her previous creature type.
In addition she now summons four angelic wings instead of just two. This increases her Fly speed to triple her base land speed with perfect manoeuvrability.
I'm still doing the spells/day, just eating now so will sort out that mess in a bit.
The alignment based abilities are a personal annoyance, so I changed them.
Replaced Evasion with Mettle because Evasion + heavy armour = :smallfrown:
All the rest are just some more ideas I had.
Thoughts on the idea in general?
Edit: Fixed the Wisdom stuff to make it Charisma.
Fixed skill points.
Fixed Healing Touch.
Fixed Tongue of the Sun and Moon. I'm assuming that your attitude returns to normal after a day, if it doesn't I'll need to reword that.
Edit2: Removed Cleric casting and replaced it with 2 domains.
Made Healing Touch part of Lay on Hands.
Edited the monks out of TotSaM and Timeless Body.
Replaced Abundant Step with Warrior's Wings.
Added Wings boost to Perfect Self.
Still working on Spells/day.
Edit3: Understood what people meant by Healing Touch so it became Lay on Hands.