[3.5] A Few Paladin Feats

[Xefas]

Just a few ideas I had while working on other Paladin-related things.

Illuminating Sinful Lives
"Why do you travel with the wicked, and the heathen? One so pure as you deserves the company of far better men."

"It is not the healthy that need a doctor. My soul is one of mercy, not vengeance. And for this, I must call not the righteous, but the sinner."
Prerequisite: One level of Paladin
Benefit: Your Code of Conduct is amended. You may adventure and associate with Evil characters, and those that offend your sensibilities. And you may have henchmen, followers, and cohorts of any alignment. None of these things will cause you to lose your Paladinhood on their own.

In addition, when you prepare spells (or meditate for 1 hour, if you do not yet have access to spells), if you have spent time in the last 24 hours attempting to teach your Evil companions the merits of virtue and righteousness, you may treat your Paladin level as 3 higher for the purposes of your caster level and the number of spells you may prepare that day. (If this would increase your effective level to 21, 22, or 23, for which there is no class spell progression, simply add one spell of each spell level, for each effective class level you have above 20th.)

Finally, if you have a Paladin level of 6th or higher, and you succeed in redeeming an Evil character (with an ECL equal to or greater than your own) all the way up to a Good alignment, turning their life around, and creating a new scion of heroism in the world, you may request a boon from your deity in the form of a new spell added to your Paladin spell list. The granted spell must be appropriate to your deity's nature, but may be of any level you can currently cast.

If such a redeemed character falls from their new grace, and you become aware of this fact, you become obligated to help them back onto the path of righteousness, or else lose access to the new spell granted by your deity.

Honing the Sacred Technique
"A warrior practices a sword-stroke ten thousand times, until it becomes an extension of himself, and so he may call upon it, even in the chaotic din of a life-or-death battle. I am not a warrior, and cannot pursue such militance with single-minded focus. But I have devoted my life to a higher cause, and in that, I have become an extension of my deity. When He call upon me, even in the face of chaos and death, I am his sword-stroke, and I will never fail Him."
Prerequisite: Four levels of Paladin, Martial Study in your deity's "Favored Maneuver" (see below)
Benefit: At any time after you have expended the once-per-encounter use of your deity's Favored Maneuver, you may spend a free action to expend one daily use of your Turn Undead Paladin class feature. By expending this use of Turn Undead, you recover your Favored Maneuver, and may use it again in this encounter. You may perform this recovery as many times in an encounter as you are willing to spend Turn Undead uses.

In addition, when you use your Paladin's Smite Evil class feature in the same round as your deity's Favored Maneuver, that maneuver's once-per-encounter use is not expended.

{table=head]Deity|Favored Maneuver
Ehlonna|Moment of Perfect Mind
Garl Glittergold|Counter Charge
Heironeous|Vanguard Strike
Moradin|Stone Bones
Pelor|Burning Blade
Saint Cuthbert|Leading the Attack
Wee Jas|Shadow Blade Technique
Yondalla|Crusader's Strike[/table]

Order of Militant Faith
You hail from a more militant order of Paladins than most.
Prerequisite: Three levels of Paladin
Benefit: You qualify for feats that usually require a minimum number of Fighter levels (such as Weapon Specialization) as if you had a Fighter level equal to your Paladin level -2. This stacks with actual Fighter levels, or levels in other classes that grant effective Fighter levels (such as the Warblade).

In addition, you do not gain the Remove Disease Paladin class feature. Instead, each time you would gain a new weekly use of that class feature, you instead gain a Bonus Feat, which must be either a Fighter Bonus Feat, or a feat that has a minimum number of Paladin levels required to take it.

[SowZ]

Some of the effects are a little strong for feats, but it is for a Paladin so I don't mind that.

[Xefas]

Some of the effects are a little strong for feats, but it is for a Paladin so I don't mind that.

That is quite intentional. Similar to the Complete Champion "Battle Blessing" feat - if it were for most other classes, it would be unpleasantly overpowered. But it's for the Paladin, so why not?

[Lix Lorn]

These don't look too strong even with a fixed paladin. xD
(Although mine renders the former largely irrelevent...)

[T.G. Oskar]

Let's get straight to the point: of all three feats, I like the second the most. However, that doesn't mean I like the other two.

The first has the problem of consuming a feat slot to "amend" some of the points of the Code of Conduct. The core of the problem is essentially the Code itself: the Code is a roleplaying aspect that influences mechanically on the character. I'm sure you've probably seen some Paladin fixes that nix the whole Code already, depending mostly on having the Paladin be good (and sometimes, not even that); this is because, while an admirable set of guidelines for behavior, they can force undesirable ways of playing (both for the player, who's scared of losing his powers, and for the others who won't withstand a nagging, lecturing, goody-two-shoes guy stepping on their toes for everything they do). This feat, in essence, consumes a feat slot to make you even more nagging, because you gain an actual benefit from doing so (pester someone into becoming Good, your deity prizes you with better spellcasting. This mechanic could have been resolved in a different way: essentially, not make it a feat, and instead make it a rewrite of the code that provides a boon if everyone agrees to be lectured once in a while. Even then, the problem's not solved: you're providing a mechanical benefit to roleplaying, which isn't always balanced (i.e.; traits and flaws). But, this version deals directly with the Code problem, allows it to remain, and provides a benefit to its pursuit (instead of a penalty) but keeps it right on the side of the gentleman's agreement. That way, everyone wins: no one is forced to follow the Code if they want to play a more "darker" or sterner Paladin, but they can get something from following it. Fax's version of the Paladin (and a few others) manage the Code in the same way, but their problem is making them class features instead of alternative boons.

The second has all the construct of a feat, but the secondary benefit has a slight problem. The first part is nice: you expend a use of Turn Undead to recover a maneuver, but only a specific maneuver. However, making it limited only to Paladins (which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but for this feat it IS) can be quite a bummer: a Crusader/Cleric could easily exploit the bonus as well, and with less of an effort. Thus, work with these considerations: you might be capable of expanding it and make it a Divine feat, only requiring the use of Turn Undead and knowledge of the "favored maneuver". THEN, to make it nice for paladins, add a "Special" entry below that mentions the following: "a character with 4 levels of paladin may choose another maneuver from the schools it has access to; this extra maneuver is not considered as if choosing the Martial Study feat". That way, the paladin gets a return from all the effort (you're spending 2 feats on a class that's feat-starved, even on Pathfinder). The second part is the problem: all maneuvers save for Moment of Perfect Mind and Counter Charge require a standard action to execute, thus they don't allow Smite Evil to be used in conjunction. Thus, you never recover your maneuver, and on the other two, the choices are far more limited. Try to fix that; the tag mentions [3.5] and Turn Undead, so you don't have Pathfinder's Smite Evil to compensate.

The third is actually nice, but it has one blaring problem: it's essentially an ACF. The benefit it provides isn't worth expending a feat slot, and it essentially replaces one thing for another, which is the nature of an ACF. I recommend replacing the feat format for the Alternate Class Feature format, replacing Remove Disease for bonus feats. Though as an ACF it'll be VERY powerful, it essentially aids the Paladin on its biggest problem, and you can limit the options to Fighter bonus feats and Divine feats (and Domain feats, if you feel particularly generous) to reduce the punch. With the spells and the feats, you can at least equal a Fighter 12/Cleric 8 in terms of effectiveness.

[toapat]

The third is actually nice, but it has one blaring problem: it's essentially an ACF. The benefit it provides isn't worth expending a feat slot, and it essentially replaces one thing for another, which is the nature of an ACF. I recommend replacing the feat format for the Alternate Class Feature format, replacing Remove Disease for bonus feats. Though as an ACF it'll be VERY powerful, it essentially aids the Paladin on its biggest problem, and you can limit the options to Fighter bonus feats and Divine feats (and Domain feats, if you feel particularly generous) to reduce the punch. With the spells and the feats, you can at least equal a Fighter 12/Cleric 8 in terms of effectiveness.

Actually, the feat has even larger problems then being an ACF. 6 feat slots with inherent fighter levels says weapon spec line. It is a feat that doesn't provide it's own weight