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View Full Version : The Templar [3.5e Class, WATERMELON]



Athaniar
2008-12-05, 04:49 PM
OK, so here's something I posted in some contest back in May, which I have now decided to finally put in it's own thread. Please note that this is my first attempt at a class, and that I'm not really good at this.

Templar
“Clerics? They haven’t got what it takes. Paladins? Good potential, but their silly moral code and healing abilities hinder them. Favored Souls? Don’t even get me started. We are Templars. We are the chosen warriors of our Gods. None will defy us and live afterwards. To victory in the name of Heironeous! Strike the heathens down!”
-Victorius Invictus, Templar of Heironeous


Templars are the ultimate warriors, the champions of their respective deities, unrelenting in their resolve. Healing is for healers, the true soldier of faith is an engine of pure warfare.


Adventuring Templars
Templars mostly adventure to further the cause of their religion. Though they may be nice, they usually are very zealous, and often annoyed at those who do not follow their code of faith. Common adventures for a templar may be to destroy a stronghold of an opposing faith, or to retrieve a powerful artefact.

Religion
This is what this class is for. They may follow any lawful god, but they must do so zealously.

Races
If a templar is a follower of a deity who favors a specific race, the templar most likely is of that race. Of the core races, humans and dwarves are the most likely templars, the others are too chaotic.

Role
Templars aren’t the healers paladins are. Templars are at their best when smashing some heathen heads on the frontlines.

Place in a Setting
Wherever there are lawful warrior gods, there are templars. There might even be templar devoted to more peaceful gods, with a shrewd perspective on morality.

Other Classes
Templars tend to only really trust others of the same faith, but those of allied faiths may be acceptable as well. Some very zealous templars only trust other, same-faith templars.

- - -

Tables:

The Templar
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort Save|Reflex Save|Will Save|Special
1st|+1|+2|+0|+2|Aura, Detect Heathen, Smite Heathen 1/day, Divine Armament
2nd|+2|+3|+0|+3|
3rd|+3|+3|+1|+3|Fearless, Divine Armament (Focus)
4th|+4|+4|+1|+4|
5th|+5|+4|+1|+4|Divine Grace, Smite Heathen 2/day
6th|+6/+1|+5|+2|+5|Divine Armament (Specialization)
7th|+7/+2|+5|+2|+5|Divine Health
8th|+8/+3|+6|+2|+6|
9th|+9/+4|+6|+3|+6|
10th|+10/+5|+7|+3|+7|Smite Heathen 3/day
11th|+11/+6/+1|+7|+3|+7|
12th|+12/+7/+2|+8|+4|+8|
13th|+13/+8/+3|+8|+4|+8|
14th|+14/+9/+4|+9|+4|+9|
15th|+15/+10/+5|+9|+5|+9|Smite Heathen 4/day
16th|+16/+11/+6/+1|+10|+5|+10|
17th|+17/+12/+7/+2|+10|+5|+10|
18th|+18/+13/+8/+3|+11|+6|+11|
19th|+19/+14/+9/+4|+11|+6|+11|
20th|+20/+15/+10/+5|+12|+6|+12|Smite Heathen 5/day[/table]

Spells per Day
{table=head]0SL|1SL|2SL|3SL|4SL|5SL|6SL
2|—|—|—|—|—|—
3|0|—|—|—|—|—
3|1|—|—|—|—|—
3|2|0|—|—|—|—
3|3|1|—|—|—|—
3|3|2|—|—|—|—
3|3|2|0|—|—|—
3|3|3|1|—|—|—
3|3|3|2|—|—|—
3|3|3|2|0|—|—
3|3|3|3|1|—|—
3|3|3|3|2|—|—
3|3|3|3|2|0|—
4|3|3|3|3|1|—
4|4|3|3|3|2|—
4|4|4|3|3|2|0
4|4|4|4|3|3|1
4|4|4|4|4|3|2
4|4|4|4|4|4|3
4|4|4|4|4|4|4[/table]

Spells Known
{table=head]0SL|1SL|2SL|3SL|4SL|5SL|6SL
4|—|—|—|—|—|—
5|2*|—|—|—|—|—
6|3|—|—|—|—|—
6|3|2*|—|—|—|—
6|4|3|—|—|—|—
6|4|3|—|—|—|—
6|4|4|2*|—|—|—
6|4|4|3|—|—|—
6|4|4|3|—|—|—
6|4|4|4|2*|—|—
6|4|4|4|3|—|—
6|4|4|4|3|—|—
6|4|4|4|4|2*|—
6|4|4|4|4|3|—
6|4|4|4|4|3|—
6|5|4|4|4|4|2*
6|5|5|4|4|4|3
6|5|5|5|4|4|3
6|5|5|5|5|4|4
6|5|5|5|5|5|4[/table]


- - -

Alignment
Any Lawful (same as patron deity)

Starting Gold/Age
As Paladin.

Hit Die
d10.

Class Skills
The Templar’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Sense Motive (Wis).

Skill Points at 1st Level
(2 + Int modifier) Χ4.

Skill Points at Each Additional Level
2 + Int modifier.

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Templar.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Templars are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all types of armor (heavy, medium, and light), and with shields (except tower shields).

Aura (Ex)
A templar's aura matches her alignment.

Detect Heathen (Sp)
At will, a Templar can use detect heathen. It works as detect evil, except that it detect servants of other deities than her own instead of evil alignment. Those of no faith (such as most beasts and all atheists) do not register. The templar does not gain information on which the deity or pantheon in question is, except if the target draws his/her power from the deity (such as a cleric or another templar).

Smite Heathen (Su)
The templar has the smite heathen ability, the supernatural ability to make a single melee attack with a +4 bonus on attack rolls and a bonus on damage rolls equal to your templar level (if you hit). You must declare the smite before making the attack. This ability is usable once per day. The ability oly works against those of a different faith (see Detect Heathen above). If the smite is used in this way on another templar of the same faith, the templar falls (see Ex-Templars).
At 5th level, and at every five levels thereafter, the Templar may smite heathen one additional time per day, as indicated on Table: The Templar, to a maximum of five times per day at 20th level.

Divine Armament (Ex)
The Templar is always proficient with her deity’s favored weapon. At 3rd level, the Templar gains Weapon Focus with that weapon, without having to meet the prerequisites. At 6th level, the Templar gains Weapon Specialization with that weapon, without having to meet the prerequisites.

Spells
A Templar has the ability to cast divine spells, which are drawn from the Cleric spell list. A Templar must choose and prepare her spells in advance.
To prepare or cast a spell, a Templar must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a Templar’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the Templar’s Wisdom modifier.
Like other spellcasters, a Templar can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily spell allotment is given on Table: The Templar. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Charisma score. When Table: The Templar indicates that the Templar gets 0 spells per day of a given spell level, she gains only the bonus spells she would be entitled to based on her Charisma score for that spell level. The Templar does not have access to any domain spells or granted powers, as a cleric does.

A Templar prepares and casts spells the way a cleric does, though she cannot lose a prepared spell to spontaneously cast a cure spell in its place. A Templar may prepare and cast any spell on the Templar spell list, provided that she can cast spells of that level, but she must choose which spells to prepare during her daily meditation.

A templar can’t cast spells of an alignment opposed to her own/her deity’s. Spells associated with particular alignments are indicated by the chaos, evil, good, and law descriptors in their spell descriptions.

Fearless (Su)
Beginning at 3rd level, a Templar is immune to fear (magical or otherwise).

Divine Grace (Su)
At 5th level, a Templar gains a bonus equal to her Charisma bonus (if any) on all saving throws.

Divine Health (Ex)
At 7th level, a Templar gains immunity to all diseases, including supernatural and magical diseases.

Code of Conduct
A Templar must be of the same lawful alignment as her patron deity and loses all class abilities if she ever commits an act that opposes the code of her deity.
A Templar has no such restrictions as to respect legitimate authority, act with honor (not lying, not cheating, not using poison, and so forth), help those in need (provided they do not use the help for evil or chaotic ends), and punish those who harm or threaten innocents. That’s for those gullible paladins.

Associates
A Templar will never knowingly associate with characters radically opposite to her/her deity’s alignment (for example, Chaotic or Evil to a Lawful Good Templar), nor will she continue an association with someone who offends her moral code. A Templar may accept only henchmen, followers, or cohorts who are the same alignment as herself/her deity.

Ex-Templars
A templar who ceases to be the same alignment as her deity or who commits an act opposed to her deity’s code of conduct loses all templar spells and abilities (not including weapon, armor, and shield proficiencies). She may not progress any farther in levels as a templar of the same deity. She regains her abilities and advancement potential if she atones for her violations. The only way to do this is to complete a difficult quest (usually involving an attack against an opposing faith), or forever be banished from her templar order. An ex-templar can take new levels of a templar of another deity as long as she fulfils the requirements, but her previous templar abilities and spells are forever gone.
Like a member of any other class, a templar may be a multiclass character, but multiclass templar face a special restriction. A templar who gains a level in any class other than templar may never again raise her templar level, though she retains all her templar abilities. The only exception may be certain prestige classes.

Lappy9000
2008-12-05, 04:57 PM
Please Evaluate And Critique Honestly

Wait And Telepathically Evaluate Really Magnificient Elegant Lable Ordinated Non-Creation.

Seriously, though, Templar ain't bad, although they seem to have the same flaws as the paladin. Namely, getting cool stuff in the beginning, then getting next to nothing as levels add on.

6th level Cleric spells are nice, and Heathen Smiting will almost assuredly result in hilarious situations, but they could really use more class abilities later on.

EDIT: On second thought, I'm not so sure about that. 6th level cleric spells and a d10 hit die means this is a pretty tough gish class. Mabe some weaker class abilities, just for flavor.

Fako
2008-12-05, 07:05 PM
Looks great! I agree with Lappy that this could use some weaker class abilities to help remove dead levels. I have some ideas if you want to use them:

Never Hesitate(Ex): Heathens exist for one of two reasons: to be converted, or to die. Heathens who dare to draw a weapon deserve to die faster. This viewpoint allows templars to act without hesitation in combat, providing them with the listed bonus to initiative.

Terrify Heathen(Ex): Templars are incredibly devoted to their devoted, to the point of exacting righteous fury on their enemies, even with a glare. Against heathens, a templar adds their Wisdom bonus as a sacred bonus to intimidate checks.

Like I said, just my ideas...good class though :smallbiggrin:

Juhn
2008-12-05, 07:22 PM
So wait, anyone who doesn't follow the Templar's god is a heathen? A Lawful-Good Templar of a warrior diety has the ability to Smite a Neutral-Good cleric of a healer diety?

Or better yet, to use a Dragonlance example, a Templar of Kiri-Jolith (LG Warrior God) is able to Smite a Paladin of Paladine (LG Warrior/Protector/Father God)?

Fako
2008-12-05, 08:29 PM
So wait, anyone who doesn't follow the Templar's god is a heathen? A Lawful-Good Templar of a warrior diety has the ability to Smite a Neutral-Good cleric of a healer diety?

Or better yet, to use a Dragonlance example, a Templar of Kiri-Jolith (LG Warrior God) is able to Smite a Paladin of Paladine (LG Warrior/Protector/Father God)?

Sounds like it. By the look of the class, Templars are... overzealous when it comes to worshipping their deity. However, you also have to consider the alignment: Unless provoked, it's doubtful that a LG Templar would actually smite a healer from a NG deity, as they are doing good acts...even if they need to be converted.

Juhn
2008-12-05, 08:30 PM
This sounds like a recipe for broken parties to me...

Al-Ashrad
2008-12-05, 08:45 PM
So wait, anyone who doesn't follow the Templar's god is a heathen? A Lawful-Good Templar of a warrior diety has the ability to Smite a Neutral-Good cleric of a healer diety?

Or better yet, to use a Dragonlance example, a Templar of Kiri-Jolith (LG Warrior God) is able to Smite a Paladin of Paladine (LG Warrior/Protector/Father God)?

Yeah... I was thinking the same thing. Also, in the Forgotten Realms setting, atheists, who are seen as accursed, don't even register as a heathen to a Templar.

I think it has to depend on the setting for this one. If the setting is like Medieval Europe, with the vast majority of the populace believing in only one diety, then it may work. If the setting is like FR, where there are umpteen bajillion dieties, then this power may be a little off.

Fako
2008-12-05, 08:47 PM
This sounds like a recipe for broken parties to me...

I agree with you on that, however, it is (unfortunately) not without precedent. The major examples I can think of are the Frenzied Berserker (you have to "love" killing off the party...), and the Paladin (which effectively neuters any deceptive tactics the party might use).

Also, like the Paladin, it depends on the maturity of the player as well. The extremes they take it to, and how quickly and forcefully they attempt to convert or kill "heathens" are up to the DM and the player in question.

Juhn
2008-12-05, 09:04 PM
I suppose. But then, the Frenzied Berserker is a PrC, and one of a multitude of those.

And the Paladin is limited, yes, but he's allowed to hang around with anyone who's nonevil essentially. This class considers anyone who doesn't worship his god (even if said person or said god is of the same alignment) a heathen who is targetable by a Smite ability. Admittedly, the player doesn't have to use it, but it does seem to come with a lot of inherent hostility.

Xefas
2008-12-05, 09:20 PM
I like it much better than the Paladin, though I have the same problems with the Templar that I have with every class with an alignment restriction, code of conduct, and overly specific fluff. Some DMs actually enforce the premade fluff, so if I like the mechanics of your class and want to play it, then I'm shoehorned into roleplaying my character a certain way based solely on what mechanics I want to represent his combination of offensive spellcaster and face-smashing.

This sort of thing makes Clerics, Favored Souls, and Crusaders far more desirable, as they have far less (if any) restrictions and their fluff is very mutable from the get-go. If I want to play a Crusader with a Code of Conduct as strict or stricter than a Paladin's, I can just slap it on there as a roleplaying point. If not, hey, that's fine too. I'm not penalized for my mechanics.


I agree with you on that, however, it is (unfortunately) not without precedent. The major examples I can think of are the Frenzied Berserker (you have to "love" killing off the party...),

Iron Heart Surge helps.


and the Paladin (which effectively neuters any deceptive tactics the party might use).


Undetectable Alignment is a Paladin spell. I've used this in the past to set a precedence for my fellow players not having to act like dumbasses. Maybe it can help?

Athaniar
2008-12-07, 07:02 AM
I kind of agree that there is something wrong with the definition of "Heathen" and how it's handled. Any suggestions? And I will tone down the fluff a little.

Draken
2008-12-07, 10:04 AM
On a scenario where most religious organizations, even the good ones, are at odds with each other, your definition works fine.

On most others, maybe tone smite heathens down to mere "smite opposition". Affecting individuals whose alignment is opposed to the templar's in at least one way. (Lawful Neutral, smite chaos. Lawful Evil, Smite chaos or good. Neutral Good, smite evil. Etc.)

I would also consider taking out the Lawful alignment requirement.

Athaniar
2008-12-07, 01:46 PM
I would also consider taking out the Lawful alignment requirement.


And your reasoning for removing Lawful alignment from a class that's supposed to follow a specific set of rules and regulations to the point is...?

Of course, if you remove the whole alignment concept (my favored course of action), this doesn't matter anyway.