Serpents and Sewers - Character Classes

[Satyr]

Paladin
The only thing harder to become a Paladin is to fulfill the expectancies of a Paladin’s life. The Paladin is a warrior and a poet, a leader and an example of a great man. Through their force of their will and their honor alone, Paladins manage to learn magic, even though most of them do not have the Gift, while they are also great warriors. The life of a Paladin is glorious, but often short. A Paladin is a beacon of light and hope in a grim and dark world.

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The Paladin was meant to be the single most powerful class in the game - because who else deserves this honor but the most honorful man? Paladins are great warriors and gain several supernatural abilities. As a side note, a Paladin does not necessarily need to be good, as long as he is honorable.
Due to the numerous different brotherhoods to chose, the Paladin also includes the variability I find essential to create versatile and interesting characters.

Hit Points at 1st Level: 20 + Con modifier
Hit Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Con modifier.

Class Skills: The paladin’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con+Wis), Craft (Int+?), Decipher Script (Int+Wis), Diplomacy (Wis+Cha), Handle Animal (Wis+Cha), Heal (Wis+Cha), Knowledge (nobility and royalty) (2xInt), Knowledge (war and tactics) (2xInt), Knowledge (religion) (2xInt), Perform (sing) (Con+Cha), Profession (Wis+?), Ride (Dex+Cha), Sense Motive (Wis+Cha), Spellcraft (Int+Wis) and Swim (Str+Con)

Skill Points at 1st Level: (5 + Int modifier) x 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 5 + Int modifier.
Spell Points at 1st level: 0
Spell points at each additional level (starting at level 5): 1 + Wis modifier
Spell point regeneration (per hour of meditation): 2d10 +Wis modifier

Table: The Paladin
{table=head]Level|BAB|BDB|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|

+1

|

+0

|

+2

|

+1

|

+2

| Paladin’s oath, Brotherhood, smite Cha mod/day

2nd|

+2

|

+1

|

+3

|

+1

|

+3

| Divine grace, lay on hands

3rd|

+3

|

+2

|

+3

|

+2

|

+3

|Aura of courage, divine health

4th|

+4

|

+3

|

+4

|

+2

|

+4

| art of war, simple

5th|

+5

|

+3

|

+4

|

+3

|

+4

| Smite +1, basic energy control

6th|

+6/+1

|

+4

|

+5

|

+3

|

+5

| Remove disease 1/week

7th|

+7/+2

|

+5

|

+5

|

+3

|

+5

| Fanatic 1/day

8th|

+8/+3

|

+6

|

+6

|

+4

|

+6

| art of war, simple

9th|

+9+4

|

+6

|

+6

|

+4

|

+6

| Remove disease 2/week

10th|

+10/+5

|

+7

|

+7

|

+5

|

+7

| Smite +1, armored caster +2

11th|

+11/+6/+1

|

+8

|

+7

|

+5

|

+7

| Paragon of virtue

12th|

+12/+7/+2

|

+9

|

+8

|

+6

|

+8

| Remove disease 3/week, art of war, advanced

13th|

+13/+8/+3

|

+9

|

+8

|

+6

|

+8

| Mettle

14th|

+14/+9/+4

|

+10

|

+9

|

+6

|

+9

| Fanatic 2/day

15th|

+15/+10/+5

|

+11

|

+9

|

+7

|

+9

| Remove disease 4/week, smite +1, advanced energy control

16th|

+16/+11/+6/+1

|

+12

|

+10

|

+7

|

+10

| art of war, advanced

17th|

+17/+12/+7/+2

|

+12

|

+10

|

+8

|

+10

| Armor of Faith

18th|

+18/+13/+8/+3

|

+13

|

+15

|

+8

|

+8

|Remove disease 5/week

19th|

+19/+14/+9/+4

|

+14

|

+16

|

+9

|

+9

| Improved Mettle

20th|

+15/+10/+5

|

+15

|

+9

|

+6

|

+12

| Smite +1, art of war, complex
[/table]

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

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

Paladin’s Oath: A Paladin must uphold an at least significant code of honor, without receiving the normal bonus from such an oath. A Paladin who breaks her code of honor loses her paladin spells and supernatural abilities. She may not progress any farther in levels as a paladin. She regains her abilities and advancement potential if she atones for her violations, as appropriate for a code violation. A paladin can follow a major code of honor but gets only the bonus of a minor code.
A Paladin’s oath is powerful enough to empower their supernatural powers, and replace the need of the Gift to learn spells and similar powers. Still, the Paladin’s powers are considered to be magic and all rules for magic are applied.

Brotherhood: A Paladin is a member of one of the faith militant orders or a brotherhood of fighters. The different brotherhoods give additional benefits to the paladin dependant from the focus of the brotherhood and add a unique flavor to your paladin.

Smite (Su): A paladin may attempt to smite an enemy with a normal melee attack. Activating the Smite is a move action. She adds her Charisma bonus (if any) to her attack roll and deals 1 extra point of dam-age per paladin level. At first level, the Smite ability can be used Cha modifier times per day, with an additional use every five level.

Divine Grace (Su): At 2nd level, a paladin gains a bonus equal to her Charisma bonus (if any) on all saving throws.

Lay on Hands (Su): Beginning at 2nd level, a paladin with a Charisma score of 12 or higher can heal wounds (her own or those of others) by touch. Each day she can heal a total number of hit points of damage equal to her paladin level × her Charisma bonus. A paladin may choose to divide her healing among multiple recipients, and she doesn’t have to use it all at once. Using lay on hands is a standard action.
Alternatively, a paladin can use any or all of this healing power to deal damage to undead creatures. Using lay on hands in this way requires a successful melee touch attack and doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity. The paladin decides how many of her daily allotment of points to use as damage after successfully touching an undead creature.

Aura of Courage (Su): Beginning at 3rd level, a paladin is immune to fear (magical or otherwise). Each ally within 10 feet of her gains a +4 morale bonus on saving throws against fear effects.
This ability functions while the paladin is conscious, but not if she is unconscious or dead.

Divine Health (Ex): At 3rd level, a paladin gains immunity to all diseases, including supernatural and magical diseases.
Spells: Beginning at 5th level, a paladin gains the ability to cast a small number of divine spells, which are drawn from the paladin spell list. A paladin must choose and prepare her spells in advance.
The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a paladin’s spell is the spell level + the paladin’s Wis-dom modifier +1d20.
Like other spellcasters, a paladin can cast only a certain number of spells per day, limited by the number of spellpoints. Starting at 4th level, a Paladin gains 1 + Wis modifier spell points per level.
A paladin prepares and casts spells the way a cleric does, though she cannot lose a prepared spell to spontaneously cast a domain spell in its place. A paladin may prepare and cast any spell on the paladin spell list, provided that she can cast spells of that level, but she must choose which spells to prepare during her daily meditation.
For the first four levels, a paladin has no caster level. At 5th level and higher, her caster level is one-half her paladin level.

Basic energy control: At 5th level, a paladin cam channel one spell energy point per turn and can keep a total amount of energy under control equal to her wisdom modifier or three, whichever is lower. The ability to control the spell energies steadily increases while the paladin becomes more experienced.

Remove Disease (Sp): At 6th level, a paladin can produce a remove disease effect, as the spell, once per week. She can use this ability one additional time per week for every three levels after 6th (twice per week at 9th, three times at 12th, and so forth).

Fanatic (Ex): Starting at 7th level, once per day, the Paladin’s righteous zeal allows her to reroll any attack or saving throw. On 14th level, she get another reroll, but every roll can only be rerolled once.

Armored Caster (Ex): While a paladin has access to a small collection of spells, she is a warrior at heart and trains both her magical abilities and her fighting prowess to forge them into one ability. A paladin of the 10th level is used to cast her spells while wearing arms and armor and therefore reduces the armor penalty of her spellcasting checks by 2.

Paragon of Virtue (Ex): A Paladin of 11th level has reached a certain popularity with those she gas sworn to protect. A Paladin gets a +2 Bonus to Diplomacy and Sense Motive.

Mettle (Ex): Starting at 13th level, a Paladin has mastered a stronger resistance against magic. She can resist magical attacks with her great willpower and fortitude. If she makes a successful fortitude or will save against an attack that normally would have a lesser effect (such as any spell with a saving throw entry of will half or fortitude partial) she instead completely negates the effect. An unconscious or sleeping paladin does not gain the benefit of mettle.

Advanced Energy Control: At 15th level, a paladin has improved her ability to control her magic abili-ties a lot better than before. From now on, she can channel two spell energy points per turn and there-fore increase the casting speed of complex spells, and the maximum of energy he can keep under his control increases to her Wisdom modifier +1 or five points, whichever is lower. Since the Paladin has no access to fifth level spells, the maximum spell energy can only be used with Metamagic powers, though.

Armor of Faith (Ex): A Paladin of 17th level is protected by her trust in all things good and holy. When a critical hit or sneak attack is scored on her, there is a 25% chance that the critical hit or sneak attack is negated and damage is instead rolled normally.

Improved Mettle (ex): This ability works like Mettle, except that while the Paladin still takes no dam-age on a successful Fortitude or Will Save saving throw against attacks henceforth he takes only half damage on a failed save. A helpless Paladin does not gain the benefit of improved evasion.


Paladin Orders
At first level, every Paladin character chooses an order or brotherhood she belongs to. Dependant from the chosen Order, the Paladin gets different additional benefits, but sometimes additional obligations and limitations. A paladin can only change her Order through extraordinary circumstances.

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The Brotherhood of Fire
The Brotherhood of fire is a cult of paladins who are weapon smiths and armorers as well as warriors. The Brotherhood entertains several arsenals and smithies and many of the Brothers only wear armor or weapons, which were created by them. The crest of the brotherhood is a red and golden flame on grey field.
Requirements: Str 13, Con 13, 4 Ranks Craft (Weaponsmith) or Craft (Armorer)
Benefits: Members of the Brotherhood of Fire get Skill Focus (Craft) as a Bonus Feat on 1st Level. On 7th level they get Craft Magical Arms and Armor as a Bonus Feat. A Brother of fire add +3 to his caster level for the enchantment of magical weapons and armors that he has forged himself.
Obligations: A Brother of the fire may not sell magical weapons or armors he has created; he may give them away to other honorable allies though; obedience towards his order
Limitations: A Brother of the fire does not get the Fanatic ability on 7th level. He gets the ability at 14th level, but only with one use per day.

The Dragon Legion
The Dragon Legion is the largest order of Paladins – mostly because it does not limit itself to recruit only potential men and women of honor who have access o the gift of magic. The Dragon Legionaries are expert warriors who focus completely on their fighting abilities and their supernatural gifts but who do not learn how to cast spells actively. The crest of the Dragon Legion is a green dragon on a red field.
Requirements: Strength 13, Dexterity 13, Constitution 13
Benefits: At 1st level, a Dragon Legionnaire gains Weapon Focus for a weapon of her choice she is pro-ficient with as a bonus feat. At. 4th level, she gains Weapon specialization for the same weapon as a bonus feat. At 8th level, she gains greater weapon focus, at 12th level greater weapon specialization and on 16th level she gains the melee weapon mastery feat for the type of damage of her Chosen Weapon. She does not need to fulfill the bonus feats’ requirements. Additionally, the rigorous martial training of the Dragon Legion grants their members an additional +2 bonus to initiative checks when they are equipped with their weapon of choice.
Obligations: Loyalty to the Legion and those countries and people under its protection.
Limitations: Dragon Legionnaires have no access to spellcasting and don’t get any abilities, which relate to spellcasting like simple energy control or armored caster.

The Glorious Inquisition
The Inquisition is perhaps the most feared of all Paladin orders. The Glorious Inquisitors are traveling through the country, but in opposite to other Paladin Orders, they do not look for outside threats of the society but for inside ones - traitors, heretics, infernalists and warlocks are the prey of the Inquisition and while their efforts and motives are honorable, their methods sometimes aren’t. Sometimes, the Glo-rious Inquisition looks worse than those they hunt and judge.
Requirements: Wisdom 13 +, 4 ranks in Sense Motive
Benefits: A Glorious Inquisitor can use Detect Evil as a cantrip at will. They gain intimidate as an addi-tional class skill. When a Glorious Inquisitor reaches 5th level, he can always take 20 on all casting checks to cast Detect Evil and Discern Lies and may add his Wisdom Modifier to the difficulty to resist those spells. Additionally, an Inquistor gains a +2 Bonus to all Intimidate and Sense Motive checks when he reaches 11th level.
Obligations: Loyalty towards the order, search ad hunt for traitors and heretics, no mercy for the wicked.
Limitations: Inquisitors do not gain the bonuses associated with the Paragon of Virtue trait.

The Green Knights
The Green Knights are an Order of Elves, and Elves only, that is sworn to protect the remaining holds of the Elves against their enemies. The Green Knights are better trained in the mystic ways of magic than most other paladins and share a vast knowledge about spells. The Green Knights’ crest is a pure green shield.
Requirement: Elf, Wisdom 14, 3 Ranks in Spellcraft
Benefits: A Green Knight can chose spells from both the Paladin and the Ranger Spell list.
Obligations: The Green Knights may not attack a fellow Elf without provocation (this does not include Drows) and treat other Elves with respect and generosity; every Green Knight is oath-bound to an Elven monarch or other noble.
Limitations: None

The Knights Errant
This is no brotherhood, but of those paladins who are no member of a larger organization. The knights errant are independent and have no obligations towards any superiors.
Requirements: None.
Benefits: The knights errant are a heterogeneous group with little in common. To express this diversity a knight errant may chose a bonus feat from the following list at 1st level: Acrobatic, Agile, Alertness, Animal Affinity, Athletic, Investigator, Negotiator or Toughness and can chose an additional skill as a class skill.
Obligations: None.
Limitations: None.

The Lions of the Battlefield
The Lions are as depicted as a paladin order can be – they are seen as little more than mere mercenaries that fight for almost everyone who offers them good gold. In truth, the Lions choose very carefully for who they kill and die, and while the order indeed sell their swords as mercenaries, they never does this without consideration – their code of honor may be different from the more traditional brotherhoods, but is just as strong. The crest of the Lions is a golden rampant lion on black field.
Requirements: Str 13, Con 13
Benefits: The lion knights are the most potent warriors among the paladin orders. They get Intimidation as a class skill and Power Attack as a Bonus Feat on 3rd level. Their mercenary attitude also grants them the double amount of starting gold.
Obligations: A Lion Knight may fight as a mercenary, but he is obligated to pay 10% of his pay to the order and may not fight for a dishonorable employer. The Lion knights must be obedient towards their order as well.
Limitations: The Lion Knights do not share the good reputation of other Paladins. They receive only half benefits from the Paragon of Virtue ability.

The Merciful Hand
Not all paladins focus on war and destruction: The Order of the Merciful Hand is more focused on the healing than on the infliction of wounds. They are more combat medics and less warriors – but they are still paladins and they are still chivalric defenders of the helpless. The crest of the merciful hand is a white hand on a blue field.
Requirements: Wis 13, Cha 13
Benefits: Paladins of the merciful hand double their class level to determine how many hitpoints they can heal with their lay on hands ability.
Limitations: Paladins of the Merciful Hand are not proficient with heavy armor.

The Order of the Ram
The Order of the Ram was founded to drive an invading army away and pursue the attackers into their own territory. The Rams as they call themselves are the most aggressive Paladin Order, and well known and feared for their hot-headed attacks and their stubbornness. The members of the Order of the Ram embraces their righteous anger and directs it on any one they deem as evil. The Order is quite badly reputed among those who prefer laid out plans or careful tactics and shun the impulsiveness of the Rams, who on the other hand rarely differentiate between caution and cowardice. The crest of the Order of the Ram is the white head of ram on a green field.
Requirements: None, with the potential exception of impulsiveness and bad temper.
Obligations: Loyalty towards the order, and never show fear.
Benefits: On 1st level, Paladins of the Order of the Ram gain the ability to Rage, like the Berserker ability. On 11th level, they gain the Berserker ability of Indomitable Will and on 17th level the ability of Tireless Rage.
Limitations: Paladins of the Order of the Ram do not have the ability to Smite or the Paragon of Virtue or Armor of Faith class features.

The Radiant Blades
The radiant Blades are one of the most fanatical orders of paladins – the order consists completely of humans and is known for their radical positions and views. Because of their uncompromising attitude, other paladin orders stay on a distant to the fanatics of the radiant blades. The crest of the order consists of three crossed silver swords on a red field.
Requirements: Human
Benefits: Starting at 1st level, a radiant blade gains an additional use of the fanatic ability. At 6th, 12th and 18th level, a Radiant Blade gats a favorite enemy (like the ranger ability of the same name)
Limitations: Paladins of the Radiant Blades do not get the Cure Disease Ability at 6th, 12th and 18th level. They still get this ability at 9th and 15th level.

The Shield of the Realm
The Shield knights, the paladins of the Shields of the Realm are an old and very traditional brotherhood that patrol the border of the civilization and fights against berserkertribes and monsters in the border-lands. The Shields are not very well organized, and most of the paladins of the brotherhood act inde-pendently. The crest of the order is a green oak on golden field.
Requirements: Con 13, Ride 3 Ranks
Benefits: A shield knight gains Knowledge (Nature) and Survival as additional class skills and gets the Endurance Feat at 3rd level as a bonus feat.
Obligations: Obedience towards the Order
Limitations: None.

The Sisterhood of the Bow
The sisters of the bow are a small mystery cult, which only accommodates women. The sisters hunt rapists and war criminals and are very vigilant and sometimes even cruel in their tactics. But the sister-hood does not only prey on the delinquents, it also take care for their victims. The crest of the order is a silver bow with three arrows on blue field.
Requirements: Only female characters can join the sisterhood.
Benefits: A Sister of the bow can use the smite ability with ranged attacks. At 3rd level, A Sister of the Bow gets Point Blank Shot as a Bonus Feat.
Obligations: The sisters of the bow are obligated to support and protect females in peril and to revenge rape; obedience towards the order
Limitations: The sisterhood has a reputation of killing men and favoring women. They only get a +1 Bonus from the Paragon of Virtue ability when dealing with male characters.

The Eagles
The Eagles or Sky Knights are a very rare of Paladins – only a very few are ever chosen into the Order and those who are allowed to join the order have to prove their honor and worthiness before they are allowed into the inner circle of the Order – the community of the Eagle Riders, who are among the most prestigious brotherhood of Paladins. The Eagle Riders share a bond with an Aerie of Giant Eagles and glide through the sky. The Crest of the soaring eagles is a black Eagle on a blue field.
Requirements: A Paladin of the Eagles must uphold a major Code of honor, not only a signifi-cant one. They still gain only the limited benefit of the codex, though.
Benefits: On 8th level, a Paladin of the Eagles gains a Giant Eagle as a Wild Cohort. The Eagle improves in Levels like any Animal Companion, but its strength is determined on the base of the Paladin’s full character level.
Obligations: Paladins of the Soaring Eagles have to follow a more rigid code of honors (see above). They are also supposed to be loyal to their order and actively hunt down and destroy ‘the forces of evil’ on the back of their Eagle Mounts.
Limitations: The stronger bond of the code of honor is limiting enough.

The Stonelords
The Stonelords are the brotherhood of Dwarven Paladins who protect the mountain halls and fortresses of the Dwarven people. In the mountainous and underground environment of the Dwarf realms, they have little need for horses or other mounts and prefer to fight on foot. Even for dwarves, they are ex-tremely resilient. The Stonelord’s crest is a silver axe on a black field.
Requirements: Dwarf, Constitution 16
Benefits: Starting at 6th level, a stonelord paladin gains a natural DR of 1/-. This increases at 9th, 12th, 15th and 18th level.
Limitations: Stonelords do not gain the ability to heal diseases like other Paladins do.