Does an Anti-Paladin impact a party's APL?

[awesometori]

I'm hosting an evil campaign, and combat has been my number one struggle as a DM. I've finally figured out how CR's and APL's work, and have been able to figure out potentially balanced matches. However, one of my party members is an Anti-paladin. Everyone is level 2. And they'll probably get to level 8 by the end of the campaign(just a 4-5 session campaign). I've been looking over the Anti-paladin, and they have a LOT of options available to them. I'm worried that a normal "challenging" encounter will be annihilated by the Anti-paladin alone.

I will have 3 party members.
All level 2.

Any and all advice would be very much appreciated.:smallsmile:

[Der_DWSage]

The advice will be much more helpful if you give more information. Posting the Anti-Paladin's build would be a good first step, as would telling us more about the other two players.

That said, exactly how is the Anti-Paladin expected to blitz through your encounters? Are they primarily good-aligned Clerics, Dragons, and Outsiders? (If so, remember that the Antipaladin only has one smite per day, so several opponents will be your best bet for not letting him smash through everything effortlessly.)

But to answer the thread title:No, an Antipaladin doesn't affect your APL. Balance? Maybe, depending on your encounters. But not your APL.

[awesometori]

Party consists of:
Rogue Kobold
Human Wizard
Nagaji Anti-paladin

All level 2.

I'm not expecting a lot of pure good encounters. There first encounter is actually going to be highwaymen. I'm just not sure how much regular damage an anti-paladin does on average. The anti-paladin is still in the making, but the character sheet is being sent to me when it's finished.

[Ssalarn]

To answer your title question: no.

As to whether the Antipaladin makes your team noticeably stronger than another option... Also probably no. There's a lot of material out there, and I certainly wouldn't see an Antipaladin as changing the game more than a Wizard or Cleric, or really any of the many expanded classes like Inquisitor, Bloodrager, or Magus. He'll be a big heavily armored brute with a limited spell selection and an array of supernatural abilities, but there's a lot of those out there. Also remember, almost all of his abilities are offensively focused, and compete with standard attacking options so he'll generally be choosing one or the other and won't even be as indestructible as a standard Paladin would have been in a non-evil campaign.

Also, just to clarify in my head, are we talking Pathfinder Antipaladin, 3.5 Dragon Magazine Antipaladin, or something else? It probably won't change the answer, but could influence future input.

[awesometori]

Sorry, knew I was forgetting something in the OP. Pathfinder. That's all good to know, yea it sounds like I can keep my regular encounters and it's not going to skew my combats too much. Thank you so much!

[Ssalarn]

Sorry, knew I was forgetting something in the OP. Pathfinder. That's all good to know, yea it sounds like I can keep my regular encounters and it's not going to skew my combats too much. Thank you so much!

You're welcome! I tweaked my answer slightly to be more Pathfinder specific, but the gist is the same: the Antipaladin is actually a bit weaker than the standard Paladin; his Touch of Corruption ability competes with his standard attack, he doesn't get all the amazing self-heals, doesn't gain immunity to fear, etc. He shouldn't throw things out of whack or be any more dangerous than the next guy in full plate with a greatsword (though his saves might be a bit better).

[deuxhero]

Touch of Corruption is actually interesting if make an unarmed antipaladin with Crusader's Fist, Pummeling Charge a Clockwork Prosthesis arm (making it magic uses the normal cost for magic weapons AND it stacks with a property only Amulet of Mighty Fists)

But yes, Anti-Paladin is NOT going to have a bigger impact than the wizard if the Wizard is played competently. The Rogue has less of an impact, but only because of problems with the Rogue as a class.