Paladin

'''Paladins are a prestige class. Please read this introductory section first.'''

Paladins' lives revolve around virtue and the pursuit of honor and justice. Becoming a paladin is a trying experience that may come at great personal cost.

A character that wishes to take the Paladin prestige class must be at least level 6 and one of the three listed alignments (Lawful Good, Lawful Neutral, or Neutral Good).

Becoming a Paladin does not affect a character's advancement on saves, base attack bonus or hit die, as granted by their primary character class. No Thief, Darkhand or Brigand may become a Paladin.

Characters may not take the Paladin prestige class freely. Access to the Paladin is at the GM's discretion and is dependant on the character's actions in the campaign. Furthermore, the character must have access to one or more individuals that will educate them on the ways of the Paladin.

A Paladin’s granted spell-like abilities are all Charisma-based and do not require an empty hand to activate unless they have a range of Touch or Ranged Touch. They are considered innate.

Proficiencies, Alignment, and Progression

 * Armor Proficiencies: As their base class, plus all Light armor
 * Weapon Proficiencies: As their base class, plus the Longsword and all Spears
 * Alignment: Lawful Good, Lawful Neutral, or Neutral Good

Rites of the Paladin
You have been given access to a highly-exclusive Order that has sworn an oath to fight with honor and protect those unable to defend themselves. By earning the Rites of the Paladin, you are granted special powers by an unknown source, often referred to as Justice or Honor. The abilities granted as a Paladin will stay in place and fully accessible as long as you follow the Oath: If at some point you break your oath or do not fulfill your duties as a member of the Order of the Paladin, you may find yourself stripped of rank and priviledge, unable to use the powers granted to you, until such time that you perform Acts of Attrition.
 * You forego any bonus you would gain from flanking, though you do not prevent your allies from using it.
 * Never strike a Flat-footed opponent. Allow the opponent to become ready before attacking.
 * Never do lethal damage to a helpless opponent; non-lethal damage is acceptable.
 * Begin each engagement against a perceivably intelligent creature with the use of the Diplomacy skill to discourage coming to blows.

The First Step
Depending on your character's current abilities, you will gain something different. Characters who do not have Karma Shield from their primary class will gain Karma Shield and never acquire Sense Danger. Characters that do have Karma Shield already will instead gain Sense Danger.

Karma Shield

 * As a Paladin, you gain +1 flat-footed AC, +1 AC vs. traps, +1 Reflex save vs. traps, +1 Fort save vs. poisons, and +1 to Will saves vs. mind-affecting abilities. The Karma Shield is a permanent effect, and emits a specific aura that Paladins can detect on sight.

Sense Danger

 * The aura of your Karma Shield extends to a 40’ radius and can detect ill will to-wards you or your allies inside of this radius. The aura detects hostility from monsters and humans, and residual spell effects left by enchantments from spellcasters of opposing alignments. It does not detect natural catastrophes or machinations such as mechanical traps. The aura is also vague in its assessment, and typically does not direct towards the sources of danger.

My Flashing Blade
When you receive your Rights of the Paladin, you are awarded a specially-crafted Paladin's Sword or Paladin's Spear (your choice). My Flashing Blade allows you to properly use it. Paladin cantrip:


 * Lv3 [evoc] Swift, Personal, V, lasts 2 + Paladin level rounds(D), 1 mana


 * Your Paladin Sword or Paladin Spear is engulfed in a blue flame that deals +1d6 damage to creatures with an Evil alignment, an additional +1d6 damage to undead creatures, and removes the half-damage vs. Incorporeal creatures. These values each become +2d6 at Paladin level 4, and +3d6 at Paladin level 6.

Calm Emotion
Your aura within 30' can be used to calm the emotions of hostile individuals with an Intelligence score of 4 or higher. Paladin cantrip:


 * Lv6 [ench (mind-affecting)] Standard, VS, lasts 1 round per Paladin level, WillNeg, 2 mana


 * All creatures in a 30' emanation from the caster with an Intelligence score of 4 or higher who fail their Will saves lose the urge to fight even if in the middle of combat. This effect is cancelled by being attacked or otherwise aggressed, and lasts until Calm Emotion ends.

Mana
The Paladin is granted 2 + Cha mana for use exclusively with spellcasting. As soon as their mana runs dry, the Paldin must use their normal stamina to cast spells.

Characters who already have Mana from their original class do not gain Mana from the Paladin class, except for Paragons that have taken the Student of the Old Ways Parable, or Polymaths who have taken the Mana ability.

Familiar

 * The auras of Paladins and individuals with either the Karma Shield or Honor Shield ability are now visible to you.

Alien

 * You can now see the aura of any character that has the ability to use spells or spell-like abilities (except Darkhands). If you pass a DC 25 Perception check, you can discern the alignment of any character whose aura is visible to you.

Protection from Magic
The aura of your Karma or Honor Shield may now pull in to form a protective barrier against harmful spells. Paladin cantrip:


 * Lv6 [abj] Standard, Personal, V, lasts 2 rounds per Paladin level, 3 mana


 * While Protection from Magic is active, you lose the effects of Sense Danger.


 * Protection from Magic grants the user a universal Spell Resistance of 7 + Paladin level for the duration of the ability, and this protection cannot be dispelled by magical means.


 * You must pass your own spell resistance in order to cast non-Paladin spells or spell-like abilities while Protection from Magic is in effect.

Lay-On Hands
You are able to perform the rare feat of healing wounds without potions or natural intervention. Paladin cantrip:


 * Lv4 [trans] Full-round, Touch, VS, 3 mana


 * Touched willing subjects heal for 3d8 + Cha hp. Against undead creatures, this ability has the opposite effect, damaging them for the same amount of hit points.

Carried By a Cause
The Paladin gains an amount of stamina equal to their Charisma modifier at level 6.

Honor Shield
The Honor Shield replaces the Karma Shield as a new, stronger aura. Sense Danger works with Honor Shield the same as it did with Karma Shield.

You gain +2 Flat-footed AC, a +2 Deflection bonus to AC vs. ranged attacks with weapons, +2 AC vs. traps, +2 Reflex save vs. traps, +2 Fortitude save vs. poisons, and +2 Will save vs. mind-affecting abilities. The Honor Shield is a permanent effect, and emits a specific aura that Paladins can detect on sight.

Dictum
Paladin cantrip:


 * Lv7 [evoc (lawful, sonic)] Full-round, V, 10 mana


 * Any non-Lawful creatures within a 40' radius Spread who can hear the "dictum" & that has no more HD than the caster suffer from the following effects (no save):


 * up to Caster level: Deafened for 1d4 rounds;
 * up to Caster level - 1: As above, plus Staggered for 2d4 rounds;
 * up to Caster level - 5: As above, plus Held for 1d10 minutes;
 * up to Caster level - 10: As above, plus Dead.
 * In addition, if the caster is on their home plane of existence, any non-Lawful Extraplanar creature in the area of effect (even if the "dictum" cannot be heard) that has no more HD than the caster is driven back to its home plane for at least 1 day (WillNeg; the subjected creature takes a -4 penalty to their save).


 * Dictum does not distinguish between allies and enemies, and does not care about any particular subject's known languages.