Ajadea
2012-05-19, 07:57 PM
No one ever chooses to be a paladin…. The nature is either in one or not, and it is not possible to gain the paladin’s nature by any act of will
– Player’s Handbook 3.5
Paladins are not made. They are chosen, most often from a very young age. Some paladins may be found and formally trained as knights with a code and a liege and a deity to obey. Most are not. While the iconic paladin is a heavily armored warrior on a horse with a sword or a lance, a paladin could become an archer, or a dagger-wielding rogue, or never learn to fight at all. They are united by their eternal drive to do good, nothing more and nothing less.
Special: All paladins must be Lawful Good. A paladin who ceases to be Lawful Good loses all benefits from this bloodline until she becomes Lawful Good again and atones for her misstep (see the atonement spell). Even if she becomes non-Lawful Good, she must still take the bloodline levels when appropriate.
{table=head]Level|Minor|Intermediate|Major
1|||Sense Motive +2, Aura of Good
2||Sense Motive +2, Aura of Good|Smite Evil 1/day
3|||Strength/Dexterity +1
4|Sense Motive +2, Aura of Good|Smite Evil 1/day|Lay on Hands
5|||Paladin Affinity +2
6||Strength/Dexterity +1|Blessed Strike
7|||Knowledge (religion) +2
8|Smite Evil 1/day|Lay on Hands|Aura of Courage
9|||Constitution +1
10||Paladin Affinity +2|Smite Evil 2/day
11|||Paladin Affinity +4
12|Strength/Dexterity +1|Blessed Strike|Divine Grace
13|||Diplomacy +2
14||Knowledge (religion) +2|Aura of Resolve
15|||Charisma +1
16|Lay on Hands|Aura of Courage|Shattering Smite
17|||Paladin Affinity +6
18||Constitution +1|Smite Evil 3/day
19|||Knowledge (the planes) +2
20|Paladin Affinity +2|Smite Evil 2/day|Aura of Protection[/table]
Aura of Good (Su): A paladin’s aura of good is equivalent to the aura of a cleric of a good god with a class level equal to her effective paladin level*, depending on the strength of her bloodline.
Smite Evil (Ex): Beginning at 2nd level, a paladin may smite the foes of good with strength beyond what she is normally capable of. Once per day, she may smite with a single attack (melee or ranged). She adds her Charisma modifier (minimum 1) to the attack roll and adds her effective paladin level* to the damage roll. If the paladin accidentally attempts to smite a being that is not evil, the smite has no effect and it is not used up for the day.
She may smite an additional time per day at 10th level and 18th level.
Lay on Hands (Su): Beginning at 4th level, a paladin may heal wounds with just a touch. Each day she may heal a number of hit points equal to her Charisma modifier (minimum 1) x her effective paladin level*. 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 swift action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity.
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.
Paladin Affinity: Paladins recognize each other, even if they do not realize it. The paladin gains the listed bonus on all interaction checks performed on other paladins.
Blessed Strike (Su): A paladin is pretty much as close to an angel as mortals get. So that comes with a taste of that power. All attacks a paladin makes are treated as good-aligned for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Aura of Courage (Ex): Some say paladins are without fear. They are wrong, but it is understandable. A paladin feels fear just like any other. But she holds her ground when others flee and does not let herself be affected by the terror she feels. Starting at this level, a paladin is immune to fear and fear effects (such as cause fear and a dragon's frightful presence). In addition all allies within 10 feet of her gain a +4 morale bonus on saves against fear and fear effects.
Divine Grace (Su): Sometimes it takes the form of ridiculous levels of confidence. Sometimes it looks like nothing more than luck. But no one can argue with the fact that paladins tend to be annoyingly difficult to kill. Starting at 12th level, she adds her Charisma modifier, if positive, as a bonus to all saves.
Aura of Resolve (Ex): No evildoer can sway a paladin from doing what is right. The paladin becomes immune to all compulsion spells and effects, and grants all allies within 10 feet gain a +4 morale bonus on saves against compulsion. In addition, the radius of her Aura of Courage extends to 20 feet.
Shattering Smite (Su): Such paltry things as thick skin and swift healing should not stop a paladin from destroying evil. When she smites evil, all damage dealt to that creature by that attack is treated as divine damage and cannot be resisted or reduced by any means, including damage reduction and regeneration.
Aura of Protection (Su): No enemy shall harm the paladin or the paladin's allies. The paladin emanates a magic circle against evil, as the spell, except only allies gain the listed bonuses. The magic circle is always focused outward. The paladin can suppress or resume this effect as a free action. Caster level equals her effective paladin level*. In addition, the radius of Aura of Resolve and Aura of Courage each extend 10 feet.
*A paladin's effective paladin level equals her character level if she has a major bloodline, half her character level if she has an intermediate bloodline, and 1/4 her character level if she has a minor bloodline.
So, this is my first foray into bloodline making, inspired by the above PHB quote. I've cut some stuff I thought was a bit incidental to the concept and added some more abilities to help them kill evil things effectively. I'm afraid it's overpowered given that I haven't scaled down the power of the paladin's abilities, but it's definitely supposed to be better for martial characters than casters.
EDIT: This isn't supposed to be an imitation paladin - this is my attempt at condensing all the important parts of a paladin into 3 levels worth of goodies. No magic horse, no turn undead, no spellcasting... but everything else is here and then some.
Scrapped abilities:
Hero Ascendant (Ex): Paladins strive to epitomize Law and Good all their lives, and now they are rewarded for that. The paladin becomes a native outsider with the Good and Law subtypes, though they can still be resurrected as if they were members of their previous type. In addition, all weapons they wield are treated as Holy weapons.
– Player’s Handbook 3.5
Paladins are not made. They are chosen, most often from a very young age. Some paladins may be found and formally trained as knights with a code and a liege and a deity to obey. Most are not. While the iconic paladin is a heavily armored warrior on a horse with a sword or a lance, a paladin could become an archer, or a dagger-wielding rogue, or never learn to fight at all. They are united by their eternal drive to do good, nothing more and nothing less.
Special: All paladins must be Lawful Good. A paladin who ceases to be Lawful Good loses all benefits from this bloodline until she becomes Lawful Good again and atones for her misstep (see the atonement spell). Even if she becomes non-Lawful Good, she must still take the bloodline levels when appropriate.
{table=head]Level|Minor|Intermediate|Major
1|||Sense Motive +2, Aura of Good
2||Sense Motive +2, Aura of Good|Smite Evil 1/day
3|||Strength/Dexterity +1
4|Sense Motive +2, Aura of Good|Smite Evil 1/day|Lay on Hands
5|||Paladin Affinity +2
6||Strength/Dexterity +1|Blessed Strike
7|||Knowledge (religion) +2
8|Smite Evil 1/day|Lay on Hands|Aura of Courage
9|||Constitution +1
10||Paladin Affinity +2|Smite Evil 2/day
11|||Paladin Affinity +4
12|Strength/Dexterity +1|Blessed Strike|Divine Grace
13|||Diplomacy +2
14||Knowledge (religion) +2|Aura of Resolve
15|||Charisma +1
16|Lay on Hands|Aura of Courage|Shattering Smite
17|||Paladin Affinity +6
18||Constitution +1|Smite Evil 3/day
19|||Knowledge (the planes) +2
20|Paladin Affinity +2|Smite Evil 2/day|Aura of Protection[/table]
Aura of Good (Su): A paladin’s aura of good is equivalent to the aura of a cleric of a good god with a class level equal to her effective paladin level*, depending on the strength of her bloodline.
Smite Evil (Ex): Beginning at 2nd level, a paladin may smite the foes of good with strength beyond what she is normally capable of. Once per day, she may smite with a single attack (melee or ranged). She adds her Charisma modifier (minimum 1) to the attack roll and adds her effective paladin level* to the damage roll. If the paladin accidentally attempts to smite a being that is not evil, the smite has no effect and it is not used up for the day.
She may smite an additional time per day at 10th level and 18th level.
Lay on Hands (Su): Beginning at 4th level, a paladin may heal wounds with just a touch. Each day she may heal a number of hit points equal to her Charisma modifier (minimum 1) x her effective paladin level*. 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 swift action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity.
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.
Paladin Affinity: Paladins recognize each other, even if they do not realize it. The paladin gains the listed bonus on all interaction checks performed on other paladins.
Blessed Strike (Su): A paladin is pretty much as close to an angel as mortals get. So that comes with a taste of that power. All attacks a paladin makes are treated as good-aligned for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Aura of Courage (Ex): Some say paladins are without fear. They are wrong, but it is understandable. A paladin feels fear just like any other. But she holds her ground when others flee and does not let herself be affected by the terror she feels. Starting at this level, a paladin is immune to fear and fear effects (such as cause fear and a dragon's frightful presence). In addition all allies within 10 feet of her gain a +4 morale bonus on saves against fear and fear effects.
Divine Grace (Su): Sometimes it takes the form of ridiculous levels of confidence. Sometimes it looks like nothing more than luck. But no one can argue with the fact that paladins tend to be annoyingly difficult to kill. Starting at 12th level, she adds her Charisma modifier, if positive, as a bonus to all saves.
Aura of Resolve (Ex): No evildoer can sway a paladin from doing what is right. The paladin becomes immune to all compulsion spells and effects, and grants all allies within 10 feet gain a +4 morale bonus on saves against compulsion. In addition, the radius of her Aura of Courage extends to 20 feet.
Shattering Smite (Su): Such paltry things as thick skin and swift healing should not stop a paladin from destroying evil. When she smites evil, all damage dealt to that creature by that attack is treated as divine damage and cannot be resisted or reduced by any means, including damage reduction and regeneration.
Aura of Protection (Su): No enemy shall harm the paladin or the paladin's allies. The paladin emanates a magic circle against evil, as the spell, except only allies gain the listed bonuses. The magic circle is always focused outward. The paladin can suppress or resume this effect as a free action. Caster level equals her effective paladin level*. In addition, the radius of Aura of Resolve and Aura of Courage each extend 10 feet.
*A paladin's effective paladin level equals her character level if she has a major bloodline, half her character level if she has an intermediate bloodline, and 1/4 her character level if she has a minor bloodline.
So, this is my first foray into bloodline making, inspired by the above PHB quote. I've cut some stuff I thought was a bit incidental to the concept and added some more abilities to help them kill evil things effectively. I'm afraid it's overpowered given that I haven't scaled down the power of the paladin's abilities, but it's definitely supposed to be better for martial characters than casters.
EDIT: This isn't supposed to be an imitation paladin - this is my attempt at condensing all the important parts of a paladin into 3 levels worth of goodies. No magic horse, no turn undead, no spellcasting... but everything else is here and then some.
Scrapped abilities:
Hero Ascendant (Ex): Paladins strive to epitomize Law and Good all their lives, and now they are rewarded for that. The paladin becomes a native outsider with the Good and Law subtypes, though they can still be resurrected as if they were members of their previous type. In addition, all weapons they wield are treated as Holy weapons.