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Kelvin360
2013-05-05, 06:16 PM
No points for guessing where I got the inspiration. This class was originally made for the Forgotten Realms setting, but can be easily refluffed to suit others. Essentially, I wanted to add some versatility to holy warriors who find themselves up against mages a lot, but don't want to be a Forsaker. A benefit for the Templar over the Forsaker, for example, is that the former can still use magic items. Other benefits below.

Pre-emptive footnote:

* - Spellbinder is a separate prestige class that I may or may not make at some point in the future.

Also, from this point forward, 'mage' means any sentient arcane spellcaster (for the moment, Warlocks qualify, though this may be subject to change).


TEMPLAR
In almost every major city, settlement, or landmass on Faerun, there are mages. Men and women who, by blood or by study, have tapped the secrets of the Weave to unleash terrible power. Karsus. Szass Tamm. Manshoon. Time and again, evil magi with naught but experience and lack of moral compass come into the world and carve a swath of destruction in their image.
And then, there are those who hunt them.
The Order of the Shattered Rune (also known to most as simply the Templars) are an organization of Knights, Squires, and Warriors who have banded together to address the growing threat of out-of-control arcane spell casters across Toril. Their mission is to seek out and assess potential threats; and if need be, eliminate them.
However, the Templars understand that magic cannot always be fought merely with steel. Thusly, if they encounter goodly mages, or those who understand the power they wield enough to use it wisely, the Knights will often assist their ventures or be assisted in their own. Particularly stalwart mages may even be asked to join the Templars as assistants and advisors. These rare (and very respected) few are known as Spellbinders.*
Hit Die: d10

Requirements
To qualify to become a templar, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Alignment: Any non-evil and non-chaotic
Base Attack Bonus: +6
Spellcraft: 6 ranks
Knowledge (Arcana): 6 ranks
Feats: Iron Will
Special: Must be inducted into the Templar order by at least a Junior Knight, and kill a non-good mage in single combat.

Class Skills
The templar’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Arcana) (Int), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Spellcraft (Int).

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.


{table=head]Class Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special

1st|+1|+2|+0|+2|Templar Oath, Anti Magic Training +1
2nd|+2|+3|+0|+3|Smite Mage
3rd|+3|+3|+1|+3|Defense, Willpower
4th|+4|+4|+1|+4|Anti Magic Training +2, Silence
5th|+5|+4|+1|+4|Cleansing Strikes, Annulment
6th|+6|+5|+2|+5|Junior Knight, Righteous Blow
7th|+7|+5|+2|+5|Anti Magic Training +3, Cleanse
8th|+8|+6|+2|+6|Power of Faith
9th|+9|+6|+3|+6|Absolute Willpower
10th|+10|+7|+3|+7|Senior Knight, Anti Magic Training +4
[/table]

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the templar prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Templars are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all types of armor, and with shields, but not tower shields.

Templar Oath: Upon entering the ranks of the Templars, an aspiring character must swear an oath to the cause. A character who breaks any of the clauses therein is dishonorably discharged effective immediately, and cannot take further levels in the prestige class unless they undertake a quest (chosen by their superior) and retake the oath, as well as the initial qualification. The clauses are thus:


A Templar must obey all orders from his superiors. However, if the order is suspect or goes against the code, a Templar may report it to another superior. This superior may also veto said order.
A Templar must not willingly commit an evil act with malevolent intent. There are two concessions to this; First, a Templar under the effects of mind-altering magic is not liable for his actions. Second, while most (if not all) Templars are expected to have significant presence of mind, an act that results in evil but is performed for benevolent reasons will be judged on a case by case basis (for example, giving money to a beggar whom you do not know is a doppleganger).
A Templar must do his utmost to stop and apprehend or kill a mage of malevolent intent when he learns of them. However, if he is obviously outmatched, he is required to contact the Templar headquarters or find suitable reinforcements.


Anti-Magic Training (Ex): Templars are specially trained to combat mages, and thus have learned certain techniques for fighting this foe. At 1st level, Templar adds a +1 bonus to attack rolls, damage, and skill rolls directed at finding or interacting with an arcane spellcaster. This bonus stacks with any bonuses gained from Ranger levels or any other classes that give similar abilities to Favored Enemy, provided the mage also falls under such parameters.
For example, a Ranger/Templar with Favored Enemy: Elf would combine his training bonus with his favored enemy bonus when dealing damage to an elven sorcerer, but would only use the former against a human wizard.
As well, whenever a Templar strikes a mage in a situation that would require an immediate concentration check on the part of the mage, the concentration DC is increased by double the Templar’s training bonus.
This bonus increases by +1 for every 3 Templar levels above 1st a character has, to a maximum of +4 at 10th level.

Smite Mage (Su): Once per day, a templar of 2nd level or higher may attempt to smite magi with one normal melee attack. He adds his Charisma modifier (if positive) to his attack roll and deals 2 points of extra damage per class level. This ability can only be used against characters with at least one level in an arcane spellcasting class. However, if the mage is of evil alignment and the Templar has the smite evil ability, he can use both types of smite in one attack, combining the respective attack and damage bonuses.

Defense (Ex): Mages are rarely alone - they can summon all sorts of terrible creatures to fight on their behalf. Thus, Templars are specially trained to fight both at once. At 3rd level, a Templar who is fighting a summoned creature of any kind or alignment (including outsiders and elementals) adds half his Templar level as a sacred bonus to his armor class. As well, if a mage who has an obscured view of the battling templar casts a targeted spell on the templar, the summoned creature counts as half cover if it is medium-size or larger. If the spell misses, it hits the creature instead.

Willpower (Ex): Templars are trained to defend not only their bodies, but their minds. At 3rd level, a Templar gains a +2 bonus to will saves. Essentially, he gains the iron will feat again, but the effects stack.

Silence (Sp): A Templar can use silence as a cleric of the same level as the character has levels in Templar. Starting at 4th level, the Templar can use this spell-like ability once per day.

Cleansing Strikes (Su): Templars are trained to funnel divine and spiritual energy into their blows, disrupting magic surrounding a subject. A Templar of at least 5th level who succeeds in smiting (whether via 'Smite Mage' or 'Smite Evil', or similar abilities) a creature or person also dispels any magic affecting them. This acts exactly like dispel magic as cast by a cleric of the Templar’s class level.

Annulment (Su): At 5th level, a Templar strengthens his mental and physical defenses by focusing himself into a walking antimagic ward. This grants the Templar a Spell Resistance of 15.
At 10th level, this increases to 20 Spell Resistance.

Junior Knight: At 6th level, the Templar has proven himself a viable asset to the order, and becomes a Junior Knight. Junior Knights have access to all minor-to-moderate resources of the order, including room and board, access to the main library (though not the forbidden tomes), and the ability to recommend people for induction into the order.
Junior Knights are not paid, but by the same token, all of the above is free, and Junior Knights have a much easier time requesting additional resources than rank-and-file Knights.

Righteous Blow (Su): At 6th level, a Templar who confirms a critical hit or succeeds in smiting a mage has a chance of channeling so much divine fury into the hit that it stuns the target. This acts as an automatic stunning blow against the proper target at a will save DC of 10+Cha modifier+½ the character’s Templar level. Creatures immune to stunning, critical hits, or death by massive damage are unaffected.

Cleanse (Sp): Upon reaching 7th level, a Templar can channel the power of his cleansing strikes in an outward blast that rips apart all magic in the area. This acts as a greater dispel magic effect in a 30-foot radius centered on the Templar, cast at his class level.

Power of Faith (Ex): At 8th level, the Templar’s faith in his cause is absolute, unwavering, and powerful. The Templar chooses one ability; from that point onward, he can increase that ability by 4 for a number of minutes equal to his Templar level twice per day. This stacks with similar effects from items, but not with spells of equal or lesser power (a Templar who chooses 'Strength' would gain no benefit from 'Bull's Strength', for example).

Absolute Willpower (Su): At 9th level, no magical force can turn the Templar against his cause. The Templar gains immunity to any magical effect that would force him to do something against his oath. This applies to spells such as suggestion, dominate person, and geas. However, if the hostile spell forces him to perform an action that does not violate the code, he rolls relevant saves as normal.

Senior Knight: At 10th level, the Templar is a true and full member of the order, gaining virtually unlimited access to resources, supplies, magic, allies, and information. At this point, the Templar’s title becomes ‘Knight-Captain’, and they only answer to the Knight-Commander in terms of authority. However, they are still subject to their oath.


This is mostly to put my thoughts out to the public. I'm on the fence as to whether this is too weak, too strong, or just right. Though, the previous version was DEFINITELY too OP, so I think I did well at toning it down. One of my main concerns is whether Power of Faith is too weak, and should be reset to the previous version's '+2 to one attribute permanently'.

eftexar
2013-05-05, 07:03 PM
You should change Smite to per encounter. The per day is brutal on an ability that really isn't all that powerful and, on top of that, is usually considered a signature ability for paladin-types.

As a class ability Dispel Magic, or Cleanse I should say, shouldn't have a cap to caster level check.

Power of Faith is ok I guess, but kind of boring. I would say replace it with an at will dimension door (something along the lines of flicker might even be more appropriate). A class specializing in fighting spellcasters has to have mobility.

I would set Righteous Blow to work with any smite ability. If you limit too many things by theme, then you get abilities that are useless against more foes than necessary. It's why the Draconomicon has so many useless classes that would would have otherwise been cool.

I would just replace Absolute Willpower with immunity to "any effect that would alter, read, or control his mind." Basically all effects except for illusions.

I feel as if Senior Knight should lessen limitations somehow, but I really don't know how. I don't usually include codes, not even with paladin like classes, in my homebrew.

anacalgion
2013-05-05, 07:28 PM
PEACHing, in bold. Skipping fluff.



Requirements
To qualify to become a templar, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Alignment: Any non-evil and non-chaotic
Base Attack Bonus: +6
Spellcraft: 6 ranks
Knowledge (Arcana): 6 ranks
Feats: Iron Will
Special: Must be inducted into the Templar order by at least a Junior Knight, and kill a non-good mage in single combat.

Looks fine, no comment really.

Class Skills
The templar’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Arcana) (Int), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Spellcraft (Int).

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Good to see 4+int skill points

{table=head]Class Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special

1st|+1|+2|+0|+2|Templar Oath, Anti Magic Training +1
2nd|+2|+3|+0|+3|Smite Mage
3rd|+3|+3|+1|+3|Defense, Willpower
4th|+4|+4|+1|+4|Anti Magic Training +2, Silence
5th|+5|+4|+1|+4|Cleansing Strikes, Annulment
6th|+6|+5|+2|+5|Junior Knight, Righteous Blow
7th|+7|+5|+2|+5|Anti Magic Training +3, Cleanse
8th|+8|+6|+2|+6|Power of Faith
9th|+9|+6|+3|+6|Absolute Willpower
10th|+10|+7|+3|+7|Senior Knight, Anti Magic Training +4
[/table]

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the templar prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Templars are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all types of armor, and with shields, but not tower shields.

Templar Oath: Upon entering the ranks of the Templars, an aspiring character must swear an oath to the cause. A character who breaks any of the clauses therein is dishonorably discharged effective immediately, and cannot take further levels in the prestige class unless they undertake a quest (chosen by their superior) and retake the oath, as well as the initial qualification. The clauses are thus:


A Templar must obey all orders from his superiors. However, if the order is suspect or goes against the code, a Templar may report it to another superior. This superior may also veto said order.
A Templar must not willingly commit an evil act with malevolent intent. There are two concessions to this; First, a Templar under the effects of mind-altering magic is not liable for his actions. Second, while most (if not all) Templars are expected to have significant presence of mind, an act that results in evil but is performed for benevolent reasons will be judged on a case by case basis (for example, giving money to a beggar whom you do not know is a doppleganger).
A Templar must do his utmost to stop and apprehend or kill a mage of malevolent intent when he learns of them. However, if he is obviously outmatched, he is required to contact the Templar headquarters or find suitable reinforcements.


Alright, code of conduct. It's generally better to imply this than state it, but if you want it as part of the class, it's your call.

Anti-Magic Training (Ex): Templars are specially trained to combat mages, and thus have learned certain techniques for fighting this foe. At 1st level, Templar adds a +1 bonus to attack rolls, damage, and skill rolls directed at finding or interacting with an arcane spellcaster. This bonus stacks with any bonuses gained from Ranger levels or any other classes that give similar abilities to Favored Enemy, provided the mage also falls under such parameters.
For example, a Ranger/Templar with Favored Enemy: Elf would combine his training bonus with his favored enemy bonus when dealing damage to an elven sorcerer, but would only use the former against a human wizard.
As well, whenever a Templar strikes a mage in a situation that would require an immediate concentration check on the part of the mage, the concentration DC is increased by double the Templar’s training bonus.
This bonus increases by +1 for every 3 Templar levels above 1st a character has, to a maximum of +4 at 10th level.

I'm pretty sure (correct me if I'm wrong) you could just write favored enemy (arcane spellcasters). Might be easier wording.

Smite Mage (Su): Once per day, a templar of 2nd level or higher may attempt to smite magi with one normal melee attack. He adds his Charisma modifier (if positive) to his attack roll and deals 2 points of extra damage per class level. This ability can only be used against characters with at least one level in an arcane spellcasting class. However, if the mage is of evil alignment and the Templar has the smite evil ability, he can use both types of smite in one attack, combining the respective attack and damage bonuses.

Not bad, but it's got to be more than just once per day. I second a per encounter version, maybe even once per encounter for every three levels or something alone those lines. It's a nice ability, but it needs more.

Defense (Ex): Mages are rarely alone - they can summon all sorts of terrible creatures to fight on their behalf. Thus, Templars are specially trained to fight both at once. At 3rd level, a Templar who is fighting a summoned creature of any kind or alignment (including outsiders and elementals) adds half his Templar level as a sacred bonus to his armor class. As well, if a mage who has an obscured view of the battling templar casts a targeted spell on the templar, the summoned creature counts as half cover if it is medium-size or larger. If the spell misses, it hits the creature instead.

Nice idea, but the second part of the ability, the cover, feels awkwardly worded. I'm not exactly sure how to fix it, but it's a neat idea none the less.

Willpower (Ex): Templars are trained to defend not only their bodies, but their minds. At 3rd level, a Templar gains a +2 bonus to will saves. Essentially, he gains the iron will feat again, but the effects stack.

This feels bland. Maybe something a little more interesting, like rolling twice and taking the better roll for will saves?

Silence (Sp): A Templar can use silence as a cleric of the same level as the character has levels in Templar. Starting at 4th level, the Templar can use this spell-like ability once per day.

This needs more uses. Maybe cha modifier per day, maybe something else, but once per day is not enough.

Cleansing Strikes (Su): Templars are trained to funnel divine and spiritual energy into their blows, disrupting magic surrounding a subject. A Templar of at least 5th level who succeeds in smiting (whether via 'Smite Mage' or 'Smite Evil', or similar abilities) a creature or person also dispels any magic affecting them. This acts exactly like dispel magic as cast by a cleric of the Templar’s class level.

Eh... Again the problem here is that you can only smite once per day. This would be better if you could smite more often.

Annulment (Su): At 5th level, a Templar strengthens his mental and physical defenses by focusing himself into a walking antimagic ward. This grants the Templar a Spell Resistance of 15.
At 10th level, this increases to 20 Spell Resistance.

And here I was hoping we were going to get an actual antimagic field. The SR is too low, you might want to make it scale better, and you could consider adding a clause about 'only effective vs arcane spells' or something, so the Templar's allies can still cast spells on him.

Junior Knight: At 6th level, the Templar has proven himself a viable asset to the order, and becomes a Junior Knight. Junior Knights have access to all minor-to-moderate resources of the order, including room and board, access to the main library (though not the forbidden tomes), and the ability to recommend people for induction into the order.
Junior Knights are not paid, but by the same token, all of the above is free, and Junior Knights have a much easier time requesting additional resources than rank-and-file Knights.

Ok.

Righteous Blow (Su): At 6th level, a Templar who confirms a critical hit or succeeds in smiting a mage has a chance of channeling so much divine fury into the hit that it stuns the target. This acts as an automatic stunning blow against the proper target at a will save DC of 10+Cha modifier+½ the character’s Templar level. Creatures immune to stunning, critical hits, or death by massive damage are unaffected.

Again, not enough uses of smite for this to be good.

Cleanse (Sp): Upon reaching 7th level, a Templar can channel the power of his cleansing strikes in an outward blast that rips apart all magic in the area. This acts as a greater dispel magic effect in a 30-foot radius centered on the Templar, cast at his class level.

Needs a higher caster level or you won't be able to dispel anything.

Power of Faith (Ex): At 8th level, the Templar’s faith in his cause is absolute, unwavering, and powerful. The Templar chooses one ability; from that point onward, he can increase that ability by 4 for a number of minutes equal to his Templar level twice per day. This stacks with similar effects from items, but not with spells of equal or lesser power (a Templar who chooses 'Strength' would gain no benefit from 'Bull's Strength', for example).

Feels generic. Might want to consider something else.

Absolute Willpower (Su): At 9th level, no magical force can turn the Templar against his cause. The Templar gains immunity to any magical effect that would force him to do something against his oath. This applies to spells such as suggestion, dominate person, and geas. However, if the hostile spell forces him to perform an action that does not violate the code, he rolls relevant saves as normal.

Probably better to just say immune to mind influencing effects.

Senior Knight: At 10th level, the Templar is a true and full member of the order, gaining virtually unlimited access to resources, supplies, magic, allies, and information. At this point, the Templar’s title becomes ‘Knight-Captain’, and they only answer to the Knight-Commander in terms of authority. However, they are still subject to their oath.

Fun.


Alright, that's about it. I guess my biggest suggestion would be to take out Power of Faith, Cleanse, and the other spell like abilities and just give them a spell list. Copy over the paladin list, give them silence as a first level spell, dispel magic as a second level spell, and then antimagic field and greater dispel magic as fourth level spells. I think that would help the class be a little more effective, and you could replace the spell likes with more flavorful abilities.

Kelvin360
2013-05-05, 08:20 PM
All riiiight, let's see here...

I appreciate the quick responses, they gave me a whole slew of ideas.

I'll repost these in order, along with some new ideas -


Spells Per Day: Every other Templar level, the character gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in a spellcasting class he belonged to before adding the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained, except for an increased effective level of spellcasting. If a character had more than one spellcasting class before becoming a Templar, he must decide to which class he adds the new level for purposes of determining spells per day.

This one is fairly straightforward; for the Templars who call upon the gods for help, you don't just lose that divine connection after taking up the path. I feel this somehwat alleviates the need for the Templar to have their own spell list, since they can just use the Paladin's, Cleric's, or what have you.


Smite Mage (Su): Once per encounter, a templar of 2nd level or higher may attempt to smite magi with one normal melee attack. He adds his Charisma modifier (if positive) to his attack roll and deals 2 points of extra damage per class level. This ability can only be used against characters with at least one level in an arcane spellcasting class. However, if the mage qualifies as the potential target of another smiting ability and the Templar has access to that ability, he can use both types of smite in one attack, combining the respective attack and damage bonuses. NOTE: The feat 'Extra Smiting' doubles the amount of times per encounter this ability can be used.

I agree wholeheartedly with the 'more uses' assessment. I didn't consider 'once per encounter' because I thought it was a Pathfinder-specific thing. Whoops! I also brought to bear some of the concept of stacking with other smite classes; 'Another smiting ability' and the Extra Smiting clause are meant to represent this. However, I could use some help with figuring out how to phrase 'other smiting abilities' so that it's broad, but clearly defined.


Willpower (Ex): Templars are trained to defend not only their bodies, but their minds from hostile attack. At 3rd level, if a Templar is affected by an enchantment spell or effect and fails his saving throw, he can attempt it again immediately at the same DC. He gets only this one extra chance to succeed on his saving throw.

I elected to make this a Slippery Mind bonus feat, rather than a flat Will bonus. I feel like this might be a little much, though...specifically, any comments on limiting this to just a few spells per encounter?


Magically Attuned (Su): Starting at 4th level, a Templar has fought so many times against magical beings that he himself has been granted special capacity for magic, either by his deity (if he already had a divine spellcasting class previously) or simple proximity.
The Templar gains Spell Resistance of 10 + his Templar level, and can cast the spell Silence a number of times per day equal to 3 + his relevant modifier (either Charisma by default or whatever the primary spellcasting attribute was for his previous divine spellcasting class, if any). However, the DC of this silence spell is equal to 12 + Templar level + the attribute modifier used to determine additional uses, and the spell can only target one creature.

Rather than a mere spell-like ability, now it's enhanced and comes with its own defense. Also, this ability is the first of three 'Attunement' specials that come with the PrC. They'll be replacing things like Silence, Greater Dispel, and Power of Faith.


Cleansing Strikes (Su): Templars are trained to funnel divine and spiritual energy into their blows, disrupting magic surrounding a subject. A Templar of at least 5th level who succeeds in smiting (whether via 'Smite Mage' or 'Smite Evil', or similar abilities) a creature or person also dispels any magic affecting them. This acts exactly like dispel magic as cast by a cleric of the Templar’s character level, with the provision that, unlike the usual dispel magic, the caster level check is not capped at +10.

The essence here remains the same, but now it should scale a bit better.


Magical Cleansing (Su): At 7th level, the Templar's attunement to magic improves. His Spell Resistance increases to 15 + Templar level, and he gains the ability to cast Greater Dispel Magic at his character level. Each use of this ability takes one use out of the Templar's daily allotment of his previously-gained Silence ability.

More defense, better offense, but now you gotta choose how you disable the mage during the round. You may have noticed that I didn't post the changes for 'Annulment' yet. Welll....


Annulment (Su): At 8th level, the Templar can erect an aura of antimagic to severely hinder a magical opponent. Once per encounter, this antimagic field can extend around the Templar and out to 30 feet.
However, this is not like the typical antimagic field. Firstly, a caster within the 30 feet can still cast spells. However, any spell with a duration is instantly dispelled upon entering the field, and any spell with a duration cast inside the field lasts for one round before being dispelled. As well, spells cannot directly target the Templar for the duration.
Annulment lasts a number of rounds equal to the Templar's level + his Cha modifier.

I wasn't sure whether to make this an x per day thing or not, so I left it at per encounter for now.


Absolute Willpower (Su): At 9th level, no magical force can turn the Templar against his cause. The Templar gains immunity to any effect that would alter, read, or control his mind.

Better, stronger, faster, moving on.


Bane of Magic (Su): At 10th level, the Templar becomes the epitome of a magician's worst fears. A Senior Knight is a walking beacon of the stalwart, and almost nothing stands in their way.
First, the Templar's Spell Resistance is set at 32.
Secondly, the Templar gains the ability to teleport up to 15 feet per level of Templar plus Cha modifier in any direction twice per encounter. However, the Templar only needs to visualize the end destination to teleport there, and anything short of spells that specifically block teleportation set in the Templar's path does not deter him. As long as the Templar has seen the place he is teleporting to and can remember it, he can go there. If a solid object has been placed on the spot, this ability simply fails to work.

It's Dimension Door, essentially.

Also, a footnote on Righteous Blow. Not only does it not require uses of smite to work (it triggers if you crit a mage, too), but the description states that it triggers 'if the Templar successfully smites a mage'. Not with the 'Smite Mage' ability, mind you, but using a Smite ability on an arcane caster. So, technically, I addressed your concerns about it before they were brought up! :smallsmile:

eftexar
2013-05-06, 05:52 PM
Looking better now, but the mechanics for Dimension Door seem a bit superflous. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think effects like wall of force and prismatic wall actually block teleportation through them.

Kelvin360
2013-05-06, 06:12 PM
You're right; I just checked, but didn't before. For some reason. I'll fix that real quick.