dspeyer
2012-07-19, 01:30 AM
Consular Paladin
Not all who are called to the light are called to the sword.
Consular Paladins (often shortened to "Consulars") are called by the forces of good just as traditional Paladins are, but they do not specialize in violence. The adventures on which a Consular might find herself are widely varied. One day she might negotiate peace between warring tribes, the next sniff out corruption in a civilized government and the next stealthfully recover an artifact from the horde of a red dragon. And on occasion she might slay a monster. Consulars are generally not opposed to violence in just cause, they simply do not specialize in it.
LevelBABFort SaveRef SaveWill SaveSpecial1st2nd3rd4th
1st0020Aura Of Good, Detect Evil, Trapfinding, Outwit Evil 1/Day————
2nd1030Evasion, Divine Grace, Lay On Hands, Smite Evil 1/Day————
3rd2131Trap Sense +1, Aura Of Courage/Resolve, Divine Health, Knowledge Of The Saints————
4th3141Uncanny Dodge, Turn Undead0———
5th3141Outwit Evil 1/5hours, Companion0———
6th4252Remove Disease, Outwit Evil 2xcha, Trap Sense +21———
7th5252Smite Evil 2/Day1———
8th6262Improved Uncanny Dodge10——
9th6363Special Ability, Trap Sense +310——
10th7373Outwit Evil 1/Hour11——
11th8373Outwit Evil 3xcha110—
12th9484Summon Conscience, Trap Sense +4111—
13th9484Special Ability111—
14th10494Smite Evil 3/Day2110
15th11595Outwit Evil 1/10minutes, Trap Sense +52111
16th125105Outwit Evil 4xcha2211
17th125105Special Ability2221
18th136116Tongues, Trap Sense +63221
19th146116Bestow Skill3332
20th156126Smite Evil 4/Day, Outwit Evil 1/Min3333
Hit Die: d6
Skills: 8+int
Class Skills: Appraise (Int), Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Concentration (con), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (any) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Open Lock (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), and Use Rope (Dex).
Code: A Consular Paladin must always be of good alignment, protect the innocent, help those in need (provided they do not plan to use that help for evil purposes) and oppose the evil. A Consular who fails to follow this code loses all supernatural class abilities until she receives an Atonement spell.
Spellcasting: A Consular Paladin prepares and casts divine spells like a traditional Paladin, except that she uses her charisma and casts from the following list:
Bless, Bless Water, Bless Weapon, Create Water, Cure Light Wounds, Detect Poison, Detect Undead, Divine Favor, Endure Elements, Feather Fall, Ghost Sound, Jump, Magic Weapon, Obscuring Mist, Protection from Evil, Read Magic, Resistance, Lesser Restoration, Sleep, Virtue
Alter Self, Cat's Grace, Comprehend Language, Delay Poison, Eagle's Splendor, Fox's Cunning, Guidance of the Avatar, Invisibility, Owl's Wisdom, Remove Paralysis, Resist Energy, Pass Without Trace, Shield OtherF, Spider Climb, Undetectable Alignment, Zone of Truth
Cure Moderate Wounds, Daylight, Deep Slumber, Discern Lies, Dispel Magic, Magic Circle against Evil, Greater Magic Weapon, Major Image, Prayer, Remove Blindness/Deafness, Remove Curse, Tongues
Atonement, Break Enchantment, Clairaudience/Clairvoyance, Cure Serious Wounds, Death Ward, Dimension Door, Dispel Evil, Freedom Of Movement, Holy Sword, Glibness, Greater Invisibility, Locate Creature, Mark of Justice, Minor Creation, Neutralize Poison, RestorationM
Aura Of Good (su): As Paladin
Detect Evil (su): As Paladin
Trapfinding (ex): As Rogue
Outwit Evil (su): When a Consular makes an opposed skill check against an evil creature, she may use the Outwit Evil power to add her charisma bonus to the check. At first she may do this only once per day, but as she progresses this period shrinks. Also, the bonus increases to multiples of her charisma bonus.
Evasion (ex): As Rogue
Divine Grace (su): As Paladin
Lay On Hands (su): As Paladin
Smite Evil (su): As Paladin, except that the bonus damage is only 3/4 of her class level (rounded down).
Trap Sense (ex): As Rogue
Aura Of Courage/Resolve (su): A Consular gains a +6 sacred bonus on saves against fear or compulsion. All allies within 30 ft gain a +2 bonus.
Divine Health (su): As Paladin
Knowledge Of The Saints (su): A Consular can attune her mind to all the righteous experts who have gone before. To do so, she must meditate for an hour. At the end of that hour, she makes a knowledge check (she may take 10) and add her class level to the result. She treats all knowledge skills as trained while using this power.
Uncanny Dodge (ex): As Rogue
Turn Undead (su): As Paladin
Companion (su): Like a Paladin's mount, but a leopard, rat or owl (The Consular generally does not ride it)
Remove Disease (su): A Consular can Remove Disease (as the spell), by performing a 1 minute ritual which deals 1 point of nonlethal damage to her. She may do this as often as she wishes (until she passes out from accumulated damage).
Improved Uncanny Dodge (ex): As Rogue
Special Ability: One of the following:
Improved Evasion (ex): As Rogue
Skill Mastery (ex): As Rogue
Sacred Skill (su): A +6 sacred bonus to each of two related skills. Skills are treated as related if there exists a feat which gives a +2 bonus to each of them, but additional thematically-linked pairs may be selected with GM's approval.
Wings (su): Retractable feathered wings, which allow the Consular to fly at twice her base speed.
Feat: Any for which she qualifies
Summon Conscience (ex): A Consular knows there is goodness in unlikely people. With a few minutes of conversation, she can bring that goodness to the forefront. After five minutes of talking to a nongood, free-willed creature, she makes a diplomacy check opposed by the target's will save (evil creatures get a +5 bonus). If she succeeds, the target acts as a good creature for the next hour. This does not necessarily make the target a hero, or an ally. While setting-specific exceptions may apply, a creature is free-willed if it has an intelligence score of at least 3 and its alignment is not described as "always".
Tongues (su): Like Angels, Consulars can communicate with any creature that has a language.
Bestow Skill (su): Often, the greatest good is not simply to help others but to empower them. A Consular can do this quickly and directly, joining her mind to another and sharing her skills. She may grant a total number of ranks equal to her class level. She can never bring a recipient above his hit-die limit or above half her ranks if the skill. The bestowal of skills takes an hour, during which neither the Consular nor recipient may take any other action. The bestowed skills may be temporary or permanent. Temporary skills fade after one day. No one may posses multiple batches of temporarily bestowed skills at once. Permanent skills cost 100xp/rank to bestow.
Naming
In settings where Consular Paladins are common, non-Consular Paladins are referred to as "Guardian Paladins".
Author's Notes:
It's always bugged me how only warriors could be champions of goodness, while in real life many of the best people ever never raised a hand in violence. This is my attempt to answer that.
I figured UA indicated sneak attack and bonus feats were roughly comparable, so if a paladin is fighter - bonus feats + holy class features this should be rogue - sneak attack + holy class features. Then I tweaked things until they made sense. I added a bunch of late-game stuff because both classes are somewhat front-loaded. I changed the spellcasting to charisma because this was looking completely MAD. I also dropped all the lawful stuff because you can't really serve both law and good.
I'm still not satisfied with the name. I spent ages looking through the history of the Holy Roman Empire (where "paladin" comes from), the Orders of the Catholic Church, the sayings of the Talmud before I finally settled on this from Star Wars. Ah well. How important are names, anyway?
Not all who are called to the light are called to the sword.
Consular Paladins (often shortened to "Consulars") are called by the forces of good just as traditional Paladins are, but they do not specialize in violence. The adventures on which a Consular might find herself are widely varied. One day she might negotiate peace between warring tribes, the next sniff out corruption in a civilized government and the next stealthfully recover an artifact from the horde of a red dragon. And on occasion she might slay a monster. Consulars are generally not opposed to violence in just cause, they simply do not specialize in it.
LevelBABFort SaveRef SaveWill SaveSpecial1st2nd3rd4th
1st0020Aura Of Good, Detect Evil, Trapfinding, Outwit Evil 1/Day————
2nd1030Evasion, Divine Grace, Lay On Hands, Smite Evil 1/Day————
3rd2131Trap Sense +1, Aura Of Courage/Resolve, Divine Health, Knowledge Of The Saints————
4th3141Uncanny Dodge, Turn Undead0———
5th3141Outwit Evil 1/5hours, Companion0———
6th4252Remove Disease, Outwit Evil 2xcha, Trap Sense +21———
7th5252Smite Evil 2/Day1———
8th6262Improved Uncanny Dodge10——
9th6363Special Ability, Trap Sense +310——
10th7373Outwit Evil 1/Hour11——
11th8373Outwit Evil 3xcha110—
12th9484Summon Conscience, Trap Sense +4111—
13th9484Special Ability111—
14th10494Smite Evil 3/Day2110
15th11595Outwit Evil 1/10minutes, Trap Sense +52111
16th125105Outwit Evil 4xcha2211
17th125105Special Ability2221
18th136116Tongues, Trap Sense +63221
19th146116Bestow Skill3332
20th156126Smite Evil 4/Day, Outwit Evil 1/Min3333
Hit Die: d6
Skills: 8+int
Class Skills: Appraise (Int), Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Concentration (con), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (any) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Open Lock (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), and Use Rope (Dex).
Code: A Consular Paladin must always be of good alignment, protect the innocent, help those in need (provided they do not plan to use that help for evil purposes) and oppose the evil. A Consular who fails to follow this code loses all supernatural class abilities until she receives an Atonement spell.
Spellcasting: A Consular Paladin prepares and casts divine spells like a traditional Paladin, except that she uses her charisma and casts from the following list:
Bless, Bless Water, Bless Weapon, Create Water, Cure Light Wounds, Detect Poison, Detect Undead, Divine Favor, Endure Elements, Feather Fall, Ghost Sound, Jump, Magic Weapon, Obscuring Mist, Protection from Evil, Read Magic, Resistance, Lesser Restoration, Sleep, Virtue
Alter Self, Cat's Grace, Comprehend Language, Delay Poison, Eagle's Splendor, Fox's Cunning, Guidance of the Avatar, Invisibility, Owl's Wisdom, Remove Paralysis, Resist Energy, Pass Without Trace, Shield OtherF, Spider Climb, Undetectable Alignment, Zone of Truth
Cure Moderate Wounds, Daylight, Deep Slumber, Discern Lies, Dispel Magic, Magic Circle against Evil, Greater Magic Weapon, Major Image, Prayer, Remove Blindness/Deafness, Remove Curse, Tongues
Atonement, Break Enchantment, Clairaudience/Clairvoyance, Cure Serious Wounds, Death Ward, Dimension Door, Dispel Evil, Freedom Of Movement, Holy Sword, Glibness, Greater Invisibility, Locate Creature, Mark of Justice, Minor Creation, Neutralize Poison, RestorationM
Aura Of Good (su): As Paladin
Detect Evil (su): As Paladin
Trapfinding (ex): As Rogue
Outwit Evil (su): When a Consular makes an opposed skill check against an evil creature, she may use the Outwit Evil power to add her charisma bonus to the check. At first she may do this only once per day, but as she progresses this period shrinks. Also, the bonus increases to multiples of her charisma bonus.
Evasion (ex): As Rogue
Divine Grace (su): As Paladin
Lay On Hands (su): As Paladin
Smite Evil (su): As Paladin, except that the bonus damage is only 3/4 of her class level (rounded down).
Trap Sense (ex): As Rogue
Aura Of Courage/Resolve (su): A Consular gains a +6 sacred bonus on saves against fear or compulsion. All allies within 30 ft gain a +2 bonus.
Divine Health (su): As Paladin
Knowledge Of The Saints (su): A Consular can attune her mind to all the righteous experts who have gone before. To do so, she must meditate for an hour. At the end of that hour, she makes a knowledge check (she may take 10) and add her class level to the result. She treats all knowledge skills as trained while using this power.
Uncanny Dodge (ex): As Rogue
Turn Undead (su): As Paladin
Companion (su): Like a Paladin's mount, but a leopard, rat or owl (The Consular generally does not ride it)
Remove Disease (su): A Consular can Remove Disease (as the spell), by performing a 1 minute ritual which deals 1 point of nonlethal damage to her. She may do this as often as she wishes (until she passes out from accumulated damage).
Improved Uncanny Dodge (ex): As Rogue
Special Ability: One of the following:
Improved Evasion (ex): As Rogue
Skill Mastery (ex): As Rogue
Sacred Skill (su): A +6 sacred bonus to each of two related skills. Skills are treated as related if there exists a feat which gives a +2 bonus to each of them, but additional thematically-linked pairs may be selected with GM's approval.
Wings (su): Retractable feathered wings, which allow the Consular to fly at twice her base speed.
Feat: Any for which she qualifies
Summon Conscience (ex): A Consular knows there is goodness in unlikely people. With a few minutes of conversation, she can bring that goodness to the forefront. After five minutes of talking to a nongood, free-willed creature, she makes a diplomacy check opposed by the target's will save (evil creatures get a +5 bonus). If she succeeds, the target acts as a good creature for the next hour. This does not necessarily make the target a hero, or an ally. While setting-specific exceptions may apply, a creature is free-willed if it has an intelligence score of at least 3 and its alignment is not described as "always".
Tongues (su): Like Angels, Consulars can communicate with any creature that has a language.
Bestow Skill (su): Often, the greatest good is not simply to help others but to empower them. A Consular can do this quickly and directly, joining her mind to another and sharing her skills. She may grant a total number of ranks equal to her class level. She can never bring a recipient above his hit-die limit or above half her ranks if the skill. The bestowal of skills takes an hour, during which neither the Consular nor recipient may take any other action. The bestowed skills may be temporary or permanent. Temporary skills fade after one day. No one may posses multiple batches of temporarily bestowed skills at once. Permanent skills cost 100xp/rank to bestow.
Naming
In settings where Consular Paladins are common, non-Consular Paladins are referred to as "Guardian Paladins".
Author's Notes:
It's always bugged me how only warriors could be champions of goodness, while in real life many of the best people ever never raised a hand in violence. This is my attempt to answer that.
I figured UA indicated sneak attack and bonus feats were roughly comparable, so if a paladin is fighter - bonus feats + holy class features this should be rogue - sneak attack + holy class features. Then I tweaked things until they made sense. I added a bunch of late-game stuff because both classes are somewhat front-loaded. I changed the spellcasting to charisma because this was looking completely MAD. I also dropped all the lawful stuff because you can't really serve both law and good.
I'm still not satisfied with the name. I spent ages looking through the history of the Holy Roman Empire (where "paladin" comes from), the Orders of the Catholic Church, the sayings of the Talmud before I finally settled on this from Star Wars. Ah well. How important are names, anyway?