Spell-less Paladin

Paladins have the compassion to pursue good, the will to uphold good and the power to defeat evil given to them by their chosen deity. Following this path they are given the ability to protect, heal and smite for the good of society.

Role: Tank Support

Characteristics: As paladin, without spells! They gain other divine features instead!

Source: Complete Warrior

Game Rule Information

The Spell-less Paladin has the following game statistics.

Abilities: Strength for combat use and class skills, Constitution for bulk, Charisma for your abilities

Alignment: Lawful Good or Chaotic Good

Hit Die: d10

Starting Gold: 6d4 x 10

Class Skills

The Spell-less Paladin's class skills are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (nobility and royalty) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis).

Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) × 4

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Spell-less Paladin.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Spell-less Paladin is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, all armor and shields except tower shields

Aura of Good Ex: The power of a paladin’s aura of good (see the detect good spell) is equal to her paladin level.

Detect Evil Sp: At will, a paladin can use detect evil, as the spell.

Smite Evil Su: Once per day, a paladin may attempt to smite evil with one normal melee attack. She adds her Charisma bonus (if any) to her attack roll and deals 1 extra point of damage per paladin level. If the paladin accidentally smites a creature that is not evil, the smite has no effect, but the ability is still used up for that day. At 5th level, and at every five levels thereafter, the paladin may smite evil one additional time per day, as indicated on Table: The Paladin, to a maximum of five times per day at 20th 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.

Turn Undead Su: When a paladin reaches 4th level, she gains the supernatural ability to turn undead. She may use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + her Charisma modifier. She turns undead as a cleric of three levels lower would.

Spells: The paladin does not gain the ability to cast divine spells.

Special Mount Sp: Upon reaching 5th level, a paladin gains the service of an unusually intelligent, strong, and loyal steed to serve her in her crusade against evil. This mount is usually a heavy warhorse (for a Medium paladin) or a warpony (for a Small paladin). Once per day, as a full-round action, a paladin may magically call her mount from the celestial realms in which it resides. This ability is the equivalent of a spell of a level equal to one-third the paladin’s level. The mount immediately appears adjacent to the paladin and remains for 2 hours per paladin level; it may be dismissed at any time as a free action. The mount is the same creature each time it is summoned, though the paladin may release a particular mount from service. Each time the mount is called, it appears in full health, regardless of any damage it may have taken previously. The mount also appears wearing or carrying any gear it had when it was last dismissed. Calling a mount is a conjuration (calling) effect. Should the paladin’s mount die, it immediately disappears, leaving behind any equipment it was carrying. The paladin may not summon another mount for thirty days or until she gains a paladin level, whichever comes first, even if the mount is somehow returned from the dead. During this thirty-day period, the paladin takes a -1 penalty on attack and weapon damage rolls.

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).

Bless Weapon Su: Any melee weapon wielded by a paladin of 6th level or higher is treated as good-aligned for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Divine Might Su: At 11th level and higher, the paladin can use a standard action to add a +4 bonus to her Strength, Wisdom, or Charisma score. This ability may be used once per day, and its effect lasts for 1 minute per class level

Tend to Mount Su: A paladin of 13th level or higher who uses her lay on hands ability to heal her mount cures 5 points of damage per point of healing spent. In addition, the paladin may use her lay on hands ability to end any one of the following adverse conditions affecting her mount, at the cost of 5 points of healing per condition unless otherwise noted: ability damage (costs 1 point per ability point restored), blinded, confused, dazed, dazzled, deafened, diseased, exhausted, fatigued, feebleminded, insanity, nauseated, sickened, stunned, or poisoned. The paladin can remove adverse conditions at the same time that she heals damage, but any points of healing spent to end adverse conditions don’t also cure hit point damage.

Holy Sword Su: At 16th level, a paladin gains the ability to use holy sword once per day, as a caster whose level is equal to one-half the paladin’s class level.

Code of Conduct: A paladin must be of lawful good or chaotic good alignment and loses all class abilities if she ever willingly commits an evil act. Additionally, a paladin’s code requires that she 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 ends), and punish those who harm or threaten innocents.

Associates: While she may adventure with characters of any good or neutral alignment, a paladin will never knowingly associate with evil characters, nor will she continue an association with someone who consistently offends her moral code. A paladin may accept only henchmen, followers, or cohorts who are good.

Table 1-1: Spell-less Paladin Progression

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1st	+1	+2	+0	+0	Aura of good, detect evil, smite evil 1/day
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+0	Divine grace, lay on hands
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+1	Aura of courage, divine health
4th	+4	+4	+1	+1	Turn undead
5th	+5	+4	+1	+1	Smite evil 2/day, special mount
6th	+6/+1	+5	+2	+2	Remove disease 1/week, Bless Weapon
7th	+7/+2	+5	+2	+2	—
8th	+8/+3	+6	+2	+2	—
9th	+9/+4	+6	+3	+3	Remove disease 2/week
10th	+10/+5	+7	+3	+3	Smite evil 3/day
11th	+11/+6/+1	+7	+3	+3	Divine Might
12th	+12/+7/+2	+8	+4	+4	Remove disease 3/week
13th	+13/+8/+3	+8	+4	+4	Tend Mount
14th	+14/+9/+4	+9	+4	+4	—
15th	+15/+10/+5	+9	+5	+5	Remove disease 4/week, smite evil 4/day
16th	+16/+11/+6/+1	+10	+5	+5	Holy Sword
17th	+17/+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+5	—
18th	+18/+13/+8/+3	+11	+6	+6	Remove disease 5/week
19th	+19/+14/+9/+4	+11	+6	+6	—
20th	+20/+15/+10/+5	+12	+6	+6	Smite evil 5/day

Ex-Paladins

A paladin who ceases to be lawful good, who willfully commits an evil act, or who grossly violates the code of conduct loses all paladin spells and abilities (including the service of the paladin’s mount, but not weapon, armor, and shield proficiencies). She may not progress any farther in levels as a paladin. She regains her abilities and advancement potential if she atones for her violations (see the atonement spell description), as appropriate.

Like a member of any other class, a paladin may be a multiclass character, but multiclass paladins face a special restriction. A paladin who gains a level in any class other than paladin may never again raise her paladin level, though she retains all her paladin abilities.

Paladin's Mount

The paladin’s mount is superior to a normal mount of its kind and has special powers, as described below. The standard mount for a Medium paladin is a heavy warhorse, and the standard mount for a Small paladin is a warpony. Another kind of mount, such as a riding dog (for a halfling paladin) or a Large shark (for a paladin in an aquatic campaign) may be allowed as well.

A paladin’s mount is treated as a magical beast, not an animal, for the purpose of all effects that depend on its type (though it retains an animal’s HD, base attack bonus, saves, skill points, and feats).

Table 1-3: Paladin's Mount

Paladin Level	Bonus HD	Natural Armor Adj.	Str Adj.	Int	Special
5th-7th	+2	+4	+1	6	Empathic link, improved evasion, share spells, share saving throws
8th-10th	+4	+6	+2	7	Improved speed
11th-14th	+6	+8	+3	8	Command creatures of its kind
15th-20th	+8	+10	+4	9	Spell resistance

Paladin’s Mount Basics

Use the base statistics for a creature of the mount’s kind, but make changes to take into account the attributes and characteristics summarized on the table and described below.

Bonus HD

Extra eight-sided (d8) Hit Dice, each of which gains a Constitution modifier, as normal. Extra Hit Dice improve the mount’s base attack and base save bonuses. A special mount’s base attack bonus is equal to that of a cleric of a level equal to the mount’s HD. A mount has good Fortitude and Reflex saves (treat it as a character whose level equals the animal’s HD). The mount gains additional skill points or feats for bonus HD as normal for advancing a monster’s Hit Dice.

Natural Armor Adj.

The number on the table is an improvement to the mount’s existing natural armor bonus.

Str Adj.

Add this figure to the mount’s Strength score.

Int

The mount’s Intelligence score.

Empathic Link (Su)

The paladin has an empathic link with her mount out to a distance of up to 1 mile. The paladin cannot see through the mount’s eyes, but they can communicate empathically.

Note that even intelligent mounts see the world differently from humans, so misunderstandings are always possible.

Because of this empathic link, the paladin has the same connection to an item or place that her mount does, just as with a master and his familiar.

Improved Evasion (Ex)

When subjected to an attack that normally allows a Reflex saving throw for half damage, a mount takes no damage if it makes a successful saving throw and half damage if the saving throw fails.

Share Saving Throws

For each of its saving throws, the mount uses its own base save bonus or the paladin’s, whichever is higher. The mount applies its own ability modifiers to saves, and it doesn’t share any other bonuses on saves that the master might have.

Improved Speed (Ex)

The mount’s speed increases by 10 feet.

Command (Sp)

Once per day per two paladin levels of its master, a mount can use this ability to command other any normal animal of approximately the same kind as itself (for warhorses and warponies, this category includes donkeys, mules, and ponies), as long as the target creature has fewer Hit Dice than the mount. This ability functions like the command spell, but the mount must make a DC 21 Concentration check to succeed if it’s being ridden at the time. If the check fails, the ability does not work that time, but it still counts against the mount’s daily uses. Each target may attempt a Will save (DC 10 + ½ paladin’s level + paladin’s Cha modifier) to negate the effect.

Spell Resistance (Ex)

A mount’s spell resistance equals its master’s paladin level + 5. To affect the mount with a spell, a spellcaster must get a result on a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) that equals or exceeds the mount’s spell resistance.