Inevitability
2023-08-04, 03:03 PM
The Dragon Compendium feat 'Scalding Faith of the Sun' says:
Prerequisite: Divine grace, Patron deity Pelor, Turn Undead,
Benefit: You turn undead as a cleric of your class level.
Normal: A paladin turns undead as a cleric three levels lower would.
The intent here is pretty clear: the feat lets paladins turn as if they're a cleric of their paladin level, rather than their paladin level minus three. And for a single-classed paladin, that's exactly what happens. But what if the character taking this is, say, a paladin 2 / cleric 1? Or a fighter 5 / holy liberator 7 / sacred exorcist 1?
Where the SRD defines the term 'class level', it writes the following.
"Class level" is a character’s level in a particular class. For a character whose levels are all in the same class, character level and class level are the same.
Typically, a reference to class level occurs in the context of some particular class. But in this case, we aren't in the description of a class, but of a feat, and the feat could be talking about your paladin level, your level in whatever class granted you divine grace, or your level in whatever class granted you turn undead. Which of these should we go by for characters where those aren't all the same? The intent is probably the first, but is there a RAW take on it?
Prerequisite: Divine grace, Patron deity Pelor, Turn Undead,
Benefit: You turn undead as a cleric of your class level.
Normal: A paladin turns undead as a cleric three levels lower would.
The intent here is pretty clear: the feat lets paladins turn as if they're a cleric of their paladin level, rather than their paladin level minus three. And for a single-classed paladin, that's exactly what happens. But what if the character taking this is, say, a paladin 2 / cleric 1? Or a fighter 5 / holy liberator 7 / sacred exorcist 1?
Where the SRD defines the term 'class level', it writes the following.
"Class level" is a character’s level in a particular class. For a character whose levels are all in the same class, character level and class level are the same.
Typically, a reference to class level occurs in the context of some particular class. But in this case, we aren't in the description of a class, but of a feat, and the feat could be talking about your paladin level, your level in whatever class granted you divine grace, or your level in whatever class granted you turn undead. Which of these should we go by for characters where those aren't all the same? The intent is probably the first, but is there a RAW take on it?