[3.5 Base Class]The Judicar- The Paladin's Morally Grey Cousin

Pyromancer999 · 05-13-2011, 06:40 PM

Background- For some reason, people have been talking about ethics where I am lately. Part of the discussion is about what is right and what is wrong. This got me thinking about the Paladin. Nobody, and I mean, NOBODY is as uptight and rigid as the stereotypical member of that class. I got to thinking about what if there was a class for people who judged others for their sins(like Paladins), but weren't necessarily proponents of law, making decisions based on what is necessary and just, also taking in the balance of the universal forces? And so this class was born.

The Judicar

"You think you can get away with doing whatever you want until Justice's Hammer comes down upon you. Literally. Nothing personal, but I'm going to have to beat you unconscious with it so you can face punishment for your deeds."
-Tel Azod, Judicar who just came across a criminal

Judicars are of a complicated sort. They all try to maintain the balance of the forces in the universe, but do so differently.While one may go after evil beings for crimes against good beings, it is equally likely that the same one will go after a good being for crimes against evil ones. After all, just because someone is a monster does not mean that one should not pay the price for murdering such a being. Judicars find out wrongs committed against beings, and then seek to deliver retribution to transgressors.

A History:

Spoiler

Judicars were originally formed around the same time Asmodeus and his followers truly became devils. Originally good-aligned outsiders with a more neutral bent, they initially joined Asmodeus and his kind, thinking to fittingly punish rightfully those who disturbed the balance between good and evil and that between law and chaos, as they realized that neither should gain an advantage, as should one force prevail, without an opposite it should be destroyed. However, once they realized Asmodeus and his followers restricted their focus mainly to mortals, and tempted them to commit such acts themselves, most of them left, disgusted with this perversion of Justice and Balance, although a few stayed, fully converted to the devils' points of view, although they did not leave without converts of their own. Upon this escape, they attempted to administer Justice themselves, as they could not go back to the deities they strayed from, for they had initially sided with the devils. However, no matter how powerful they were, the facts were that they were too few in numbers to manage to make any serious dent in the administration of Justice.

As such, they taught a sizable number of mortals who, while not being too righteous, knew how to correctly administer Justice. Through such tutoring, these mortals learned how to draw upon their strong sense of Justice in order to gain powers that helped administrate it. However, once the deities, good and bad, got wind of such actions, they all, even lawful deities, teamed up to seek out these Judicars and stamp them out, for even the lawful deities did not agree with their judgement on sins. As such, celestial armies and clerics hunted down most of the Judicars, slaying them by numbers if they could not with power. If the Judicar was too powerful, then they tried to capture him or her and bring them before their deity to be punished. The gods of Law passed this judgement upon them: Either the Judicars agreed to administer punishment as they saw fit, or perish. The Judicars were mostly won over to the gods' side. However, these Judicars lost most of their powers as, by agreeing to such a deal, their sense of Justice had been corrupted. The deities agreed to supply some of their own power to these former Judicars, but even then they could not equal the Judicars or completely regained their powers, becoming a mere shadow of what they had been, now calling themselves Paladins.

At this point, there were few Judicars left, the precise number of which most accounts agree was 21, 11 standing before the gods, and 10 having concealed themselves from the search for them. As the gods were about to have the existing Judicars executed, gathering their power for a divine blow that would even destroy their very souls, thus not allowing them to pass on their techniques even from the grave, or come back as Undead, the outsiders who taught the Judicars in the first place, now called Grey Angels or Grey Devils(collectively known as the Grey), broke through a barrier that had been meant to block them out in the first place, the barrier weakening as the gods took power from it to gather their divine blow. The Grey swooped in and got the Judicars away from the attack. Some of the Grey were annihilated by the attack, being reduced to only the barest scraps of their being. In order to preserve their kin, the Grey gathered power to create a place between the planes where they could go to keep on living in only the barest of senses, becoming the first, and most ancient, vestiges. After the Grey escaped with the Judicars, many deities were eager to hunt them down as before. However, their clerics and many other deities, even Erythnul, it is said, were tired of the bloodshed. After a while, the rest of the deities agreed, seeing the rapid growth of their paladins upon the Material Plane, while the Judicars that survived only continued to have a few disciples at best. As such, they felt confident in their numbers, and agreed to leave them alone. As of recently, at least so it would seem to the gods, Judicars have become more commonplace than before. However, still confident in their numbers and power, the deities remain uninvolved in such matters, trusting that the Judicars have learned their lesson and not to grow too numerous once again.

Adventures: Judicars often adventure in order to deliver punishment to those who deserve it, as was their original purpose. While some Judicars serve as judges for disputes in some rural districts, such positions do not lead to much chance to punish major wrongdoers, and thus adventure in order to find wrongs to right.

Characteristics: Judicars, unlike their Paladin cousins, are not very similar. Judicars can be of any alignment, including evil, or surprisingly, chaos. However, Judicars share in common a good deal of their powers, although those vary too, and a few personality characteristics. The prevalent one is a strong sense of Justice. Another is a tendency to be informal, even amongst lawful Judicars, as they tend to see Paladins as a lot with a you-know-what up their you-know-where.

Alignment: Many shy away from being Lawful, although there is a sizable number of Lawful Judicars, and a very small few are even Chaotic. On the Good vs. Evil axis, Judicars are almost as equally likely to be good as they are evil, with good Judicars having a slight advantage. However, the most prevalent alignment is True Neutral, and most Judicars have at least one Neutral component to their alignment. However, it should be cautioned that Judicars do not always act corresponding to their alignment, with sometimes Good Judicars commiting evil acts(no matter how small), and the inverse applying to evil Judicars, as many still follow the principle of Balance, and seek to balance out their normal acts with acts of the opposite nature, in order to disturb the balance of forces in the universe, although a sizable minority act as they please, figuring that someone somewhere, probably a Judicar, is doing the same and committing acts of the opposite nature.

Religion: Most Judicars tend to shy away from deity worship. However, some worship or pay homage impartial judges like Chronepsis, or uncaring gods like Boccob either because they agree with the god's dogma or else to at least show the deities that they respect them in order to not incur divine wrath. Many also worship the concepts of Balance and Justice.

Background: Judicars can come from any social or economic class. However, most have received training from an older Judicar, who, after watching them for a while, select them as their apprentice. However, some manifest their powers from an innately strong sense of Justice, or manifest them due to being descended from one of the Grey.

Races: Members of most races have equal probability of being a Judicar, but races that tend towards neutrality tend to be selected most. Also prominent amongst the ranks of the Judicar are humans, being numerous, some elves and half-elves, as many elves were Judicar in ancient times, and surprisingly, some Aasimar or Tieflings, having been descended from one of the Grey in their original incarnations.

Other Classes: Judicars tend to get along with members of most classes, tending to serve as mediators in conflicts between members of the party, although Judicars and Paladins tend to often get into conflict, even should they be friends, due to their history, and any classes that excessively focus on one alignment or aspect of alignment tend to receive quite a bit of lecturing on Balance, sometimes intentionally causing enmity.

Role: Judicars primarily serve as front-line fighters, and sometimes as tanks. Judicars also are good for healing and some divination ability, and the occasional AoE as they get more powerful, although these are not their prime specialties.

Adaptation: This can easily just be formatted to simply pander to people who wanted a better paladin, saying that the paladins today are the mere shadows of what they were in the past, and that Judicars in the day of your campaign are the disciples of the true Paladin's Path.

GAME RULE INFORMATION
Judicars have the following game statistics.
Abilities: Many Judicars tend to have high Wisdom scores for their abilities, and also tend to have high Constitution Scores, followed by Strength as an important score.
Alignment: Any
Hit Die: d10
Starting Gold: 4d4 x 10 gp

Class Skills:Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (nobility and royalty) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), and Sense Motive (Wis). Also, as Judicars are encouraged to make use of whatever skills their background provides, Judicars also add any 3 skills of their to this list.

Skill Points at First Level: (4 + Int modifier) x 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier

The Combatant
[

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1st	+1	+2	+0	+1	Warhammer of Justice 1d8, Healing Power of Justice, Justice Detection
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+1	Power of Justice
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+2	Ally of Justice(Personal), Warhammer of Justice 2d8
4th	+4	+4	+1	+2	Power of Justice
5th	+5	+4	+1	+3	Healing Power of Justice(Ability Points), Warhammer of Justice 3d8
6th	+6	+5	+2	+3	Power of Justice
7th	+7	+5	+2	+3	Grand Warhammer of Justice, Warhammer of Justice 4d8
8th	+8	+6	+2	+4	Power of Justice
9th	+9	+6	+3	+4	Ally of Justice(Other), Warhammer of Justice 5d8
10th	+10	+7	+3	+5	Power of Justice, Healing Power of Justice(Conditions)
11th	+11	+7	+3	+5	Enhanced Ally of Justice(Self), Warhammer of Justice 6d8
12th	+12	+8	+4	+6	Power of Justice
13th	+13	+8	+4	+6	Healing Power of Justice(Negative Levels), Warhammer of Justice 7d8
14th	+14	+9	+4	+6	Power of Justice
15th	+15	+9	+5	+7	Enhanced Ally of Justice(Other), Warhammer of Justice 8d8
16th	+16	+10	+5	+7	Power of Justice
17th	+17	+10	+5	+8	Impact of Justice, Warhammer of Justice 9d8
18th	+18	+11	+6	+8	Power of Justice
19th	+19	+11	+6	+9	Mjolner's Strike, Warhammer of Justice 10d8
20th	+20	+12	+6	+9	Power of Justice, Eternal Judge

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Judicars are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, armors, and shields(except tower shields)

Warhammer of Justice: At 1st level, you may manifest your strong sense of Justice in material form. This forms as a Warhammer, and may be formed at any time as a move action. It deals 1d8 damage, regardless of size, and this damage increases by 1 die at every odd level.Should it lose contact with you for more than one round, it disappears, but may be remade with another move action.

Healing Power of Justice: All Judicars knows the healing power Justice has on the body and soul. They gain the ability to heal others as a standard action by touching them. They learn to heal their level x their Wisdom modifier + 1 hit points per day, being able to split them amongst multiple uses.

At 5th level, by expending 5 hit points, you may remove 1 damage of ability point damage or remove the dazed, fatigued, or sickened condition from an individual.

At 10th level, by expending 10 hit points, you may remove the exhausted, nauseated, poisoned, or stunned condition from one individual.

At 13th, you may expend 15 hit points to remove a negative level or the blinded, deafened, or diseased condition of an individual.

Justice Detection: As a standard action, you may choose to try and detect the wrongdoing in the area around you. This acts as Detect Evil, except that you choose to try to detect wrong acts around you. By concentrating for 1 round, you may determine the magnitude of an act(treat act as having an HD equal to the absolute difference between the perpetrator and the victim, and must qualify by being an act that harms someone in some way). By concentrating for 2 rounds, you may discern whether or not someone is dealing with the act.

Power of Justice: At 2nd level, your sense of Justice starts to see fit that you are equipped with increased power. You gain this class feature again at each even level. When you gain this class feature, select 1 ability from the list below:

Spoiler

Ally of Justice: At 3rd level, you learn how to assume a form to dispense Justice in that not only disguises you to your enemies, but also enhances your abilities. You may assume the form of an Ally of Justice for a number of rounds per day equal to your level. These rounds need not be spent consecutively. When in this form, your armor and such change. So long as they did not see you transform, nobody recognizes you or connects the fact that you and you in the form of an ally of Justice are the same person. Also, all physical ability scores are increased by 2. Also, your speed is enhanced by 5 ft in this form.

At 9th level, you gain the ability to turn others into Allies of Justice. This can be done once per day per 5 class levels. You grant a target ally within 20 ft the same benefit as the Ally of Justice ability for a number of rounds equal up to 1/2 your Judicar level. Additionally, they gain one Power of Justice ability you have for the duration, but such effect only may be used once during the time they are transformed, or should the benefit be constant, benefits them with 1/2 the normal strength.

Grand Warhammer of Justice: At 7th level, you learn how to hinder your foes with it. You may, as a standard action, transform your Warhammer into a greater version of a Warhammer for a number of rounds per day equal to 1/2 your level + 1. This doubles all weapons statistics for the Warhammer, except damage, to which one die is added.

Enhanced Ally of Justice: At 11th level, the power of your Ally of Justice form is enhanced. While in it, you gain immunity to one type of effect that is not death effects(ex. mind-affecting, feat, etc.), and all physical ability scores are enhanced by 4. Also, your speed is enhanced by 10 ft in this form.

At 15th, your Ally of Justice enhancement also applies to your Ally of Justice as applied to others. Also, the one Power of Justice ability granted works at full effect, instead of limited uses per day or halving the effect.

Impact of Justice: At 17th level, you learn how to give more impact to a blow by your Warhammer. You may increase your Warhammer's damage by 2 dice for a number of rounds per day equal to 1/2 your level.

Mjolner's Strike: At 19th level, you learn how to make use of a fragment of the power a rare deity of Justice once used. You gain a number of uses of this ability equal to 1/3 your level. By expending one use, you may double the damage one attack with a Warhammer against an enemy, and gain a +2 bonus to the attack. By expending two uses, you may create an effect that is similar to Earthquake, except that it is an Extraordinary effect, and all within the area are dealt damage equal to 1/2 your Warhammer's damage, in addition to any dealt by the Earthquake effect.

Eternal Judge: At 20th level, your very being is made out of Justice. Your type changes to Outsider, and you gain the ability to enter the Form of the Eternal Judge. While affected by this, your size increases by one size, and your Warhammer deals twice as much damage upon impact. You may enter this Form for a number of rounds equal to your Judicar level, which need not be spent consecutively. Also, once per day per 10 levels of Judicar you have, you may call down the ultimate divine punishment. This acts as an Instant Death effect, that can even bypass immunity. Before you do so, you must first accuse a being of a crime worthy of death(such as murder or treason), and if they truly did so, they are affected by the ability. However, if it turns out they are innocent of such a crime, you are instead dealt 1d6 damage per Judicar level.

Later on, I may make a Grey template and/or a few Grey Heritage feats, if there's enough interest in them, but that's all for now.

Please comment/PEACH, and if you want to, give a tier estimate.

Starbuck_II · 05-14-2011, 12:40 PM

Thematically I like it.

So they heal at first.

Quote:

Mark of Justice: Prerequisite: Detect Crime. Upon detecting a crime, you may decide to leave an effect similar to an Arcane Mark upon him. However, this mark also lets you know once per day per two levels what direction the criminal is located in and the distance between you two. In combat, this translates to a +1 per 4 levels to all attack and damage rolls against the target. You may leave a number of marks equal to 1/4 your level + your Wis modifier.

Upon him =yourself or criminal? Just checking

I like the ability to see past crimes.

So Ally of Justice transforms you, but what exactly does this look like: is it He-Man like?

Not sure on power level but seems not overpowered.

Pyromancer999 · 05-14-2011, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starbuck_II

Upon him =yourself or criminal? Just checking

On the criminal.

Quote:

So Ally of Justice transforms you, but what exactly does this look like: is it He-Man like?

It pretty much looks like how you want. Your Ally of Justice form could look He-Man like, like Spiderman, Thor, or whatever kind of superhero you can think of. When I had it playtested, one of my players decided to have his male character's Ally of Justice form look like a magical girl. Just because he could. Kind of interesting, though.

Pyromancer999 · 05-16-2011, 05:36 PM

Anyone else want to comment/PEACH this?