I had to rewrite the paladin class, because the version in the PHB is an incredibly weak class that deserves much more love and attention. I opened the alignment up to any good, because I view paladins as holy champions of good, not just warriors that act like Judge Dredd with a few divine effects. I also removed the special mount in favour of other abilities to enhance the paladin directly, though I left the mount in at the bottom as an ACF.
PaladinAlignment: Any Good
Hit Die: d12
Table: | Saves | | Spellcasting |
Lv | Base Attack Bonus | Fort | Ref | Will | Class Abilities | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th |
1 | +1 | +2 | +0 | +2 | Aura of Good, Detect Evil, Smite Evil 1/encounter | - | - | - | - |
2 | +2 | +3 | +0 | +3 | Divine Grace, Lay on Hands | - | - | - | - |
3 | +3 | +3 | +1 | +3 | Aura of Courage, Divine Health | - | - | - | - |
4 | +4 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Turn Undead, Bonus Feat | 1 | - | - | - |
5 | +5 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Heavenly Weapon, Smite Evil 2/encounter | 1 | - | - | - |
6 | +6/+1 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Restoring Touch 1/day | 2 | - | - | - |
7 | +7/+2 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Invigorating Smite, Bonus Feat | 2 | 1 | - | - |
8 | +8/+3 | +6 | +2 | +6 | Aura of Protection | 3 | 1 | - | - |
9 | +9/+4 | +6 | +3 | +6 | Holy Wings | 3 | 2 | - | - |
10 | +10/+5 | +7 | +3 | +7 | Smite Evil 3/encounter, Bonus Feat | 4 | 2 | 1 | - |
11 | +11/+6/+1 | +7 | +3 | +7 | Holy Weapon, Restoring Touch 2/day | 4 | 3 | 1 | - |
12 | +12/+7/+2 | +8 | +4 | +8 | Dazing Smite, Mettle | 5 | 3 | 2 | - |
13 | +13/+8/+3 | +8 | +4 | +8 | Aura of Life, Bonus Feat | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
14 | +14/+9/+4 | +9 | +4 | +9 | Heavenly Guidance | 5 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
15 | +15/+10/+5 | +9 | +5 | +9 | Tongues, Smite Evil 4/encounter | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 |
16 | +16/+11/+6/+1 | +10 | +5 | +10 | Restoring Touch 3/day, Bonus Feat | 6 | 5 | 4 | 2 |
17 | +17/+12/+7/+2 | +10 | +5 | +10 | Dispelling Smite, Sacred Weapon | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
18 | +18/+13/+8/+3 | +11 | +6 | +11 | Aura of Clear Thought | 6 | 5 | 5 | 3 |
19 | +19/+14/+9/+4 | +11 | +6 | +11 | Bonus Feat | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 |
20 | +20/+15/+10/+5 | +12 | +6 | +12 | Holy Champion, Smite Evil 5/encounter | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 |
Class Skills (4+int mod skill points per level, x4 at 1st level) Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information, (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Nobility & Royalty) (Int), Knowledge (Religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), and Swim (Str)
Weapon and Armour Proficiencies: A paladin is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with light, medium, and heavy armour, and with shields, including tower shields.
Aura of Good (Ex): A paladin's aura of good radiates a power equal to his level, just like the aura of a cleric. See the
Detect Good spell in the PHB, pg. 219 for further information regarding the power of the aura.
Detect Evil (Sp): Paladins can use
Detect Evil as a spell-like ability, at will.
Smite Evil (Su): A paladin can channel holy wrath into his blows, allowing him to smite creatures of evil with his attacks. Once per encounter, he may choose to activate Smite Evil as a free action. Until the start of his next turn, all his normal attacks, whether with melee or ranged weapons or unarmed strikes, against an evil creature adds his Charisma bonus (if any) to the attack rolls, and if the attack is successful, he adds his paladin level plus his Charisma bonus (if any) to his damage. If the target is not evil, the smite has no effect. Smite Evil attacks are good-aligned.
At 5th level and every 5 levels thereafter, the paladin gains one extra use of Smite Evil per encounter. The feat Extra Smiting (CW, pg. 98) and other sources that grant bonus smite attempts per day instead grant the extra smite attempts per encounter.
Divine Grace (Su): At 2nd level, the paladin gains a bonus to his saving throws equal to his Charisma bonus (if any), up to a maximum equal to his paladin level.
Lay on Hands (Su): Also at level 2, a paladin gains the ability to heal with his touch. As an attack action, he may touch a creature to deliver healing. If the target does not wish to be touched, the paladin must succeed on a melee touch attack. Upon a successful touch, he heals the target as many HP as he chooses to allocate from his healing pool, divvying these points up however he chooses among each touch. The healing pool is equal to his Charisma score times his paladin level in HP. For example, a level 5 paladin with a Charisma of 17 has a healing pool of 85. The pool refreshes after 8 hours of rest.
If used on an undead creature, it instead takes damage equal to the amount the touch would normally heal.
Aura of Courage (Su): Starting at 3rd level, a paladin begins to radiate an aura which bolsters the courage of his allies. He gains immunity to fear effects, and all allies within 30' of him get a morale bonus to saves against fear effects equal to the paladin's Charisma bonus. The paladin cannot radiate his aura while unconscious or dead.
Divine Health (Ex): Paladins of at least 3rd level also gain an immunity to all diseases, including supernatural and magical diseases such as lycanthropy and mummy rot.
Turn Undead (Su): Upon reaching level 4, a paladin gains the ability to turn undead, much like a good cleric. He may use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3+ his Charisma modifier (minimum 1). His effective cleric level for turning is equal to his paladin level. See Turn or Rebuke Undead, PHB pg. 159.
Bonus Feat: At 4th level, and every 3 levels thereafter, a paladin gains a bonus feat from the following list. He must still meet any prerequisites for the feat in order to take it.
Animal Affinity, Battle Blessing, Blind-Fight, Close-Quarters Fighting, Combat Casting, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Empower Turning, Endurance, Diehard, Extra Smiting, Extra Turning, Great Fortitude, Improved Critical, Improved Smiting, Improved Turning, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Negotiator, Power Attack, Awesome Smite, Cleave, Great Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Overrun, Improved Sunder, Quick Draw, Quicken Turning, and any divine feat.
Spells: At level 4, a paladin begins to cast spells. He casts divine spells, which are drawn from the paladin spell list. He must choose and prepare his spells in advance.
To cast a spell, a paladin must have a Charisma score of 10 + the spell's level. The Difficulty Class for saving throws against a paladin's spell is 10 + the spell's level + his Charisma modifier.
Like other spellcasters, a paladin can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given in the table above. In addition, he receives bonus spells for a high Charisma score (see Table 1-1, page 8 of the PHB).
A paladin prepares and casts spells much like the way a cleric does, but has no spontaneous casting option or domains. He may prepare and cast any spell on his spell list, provided he can cast spells of that level, but must choose which spells to prepare during his daily meditation.
Up to 3rd level, the paladin has no caster level. At 4th level and higher, his caster level is equal to his paladin level.
Heavenly Weapon (Su): At 5th level, a paladin's holy power infuses his armaments. Any weapon wielded by the paladin automatically gains the Heavenly Burst weapon property (MIC, pg. 36), but the save DC against the blindness effect is 10 + ½ the paladin's level + his Charisma bonus. This stacks with any enchantments already on the weapon, except for Heavenly Burst.
Restoring Touch (Sp): A paladin of 6th level gains the ability to remove ailments with a touch. Once per day, plus one every 5 levels after 6, a paladin may use Restoring Touch as a standard action. It functions as
Remove Disease, Remove Curse, or
Break Enchantment as appropriate. If multiple effects could be affected, then each is dealt with using the most appropriate spell effect. Treat the paladin's class level as his caster level for this ability.
Invigorating Smite (Su): One he reaches level 7, the paladin gains the ability to augment his smites. If he chooses to expend one additional Smite Evil use when he activates his Smite Evil, every smite attack for the round which hits an evil foe heals the paladin or an ally of his choice within 30' a number of HP equal to the paladin's Charisma bonus (minimum 1). If this would bring the recipient over his maximum, the excess is gained as temporary HP, which last for up to 10 minutes.
Aura of Protection (Su): Upon reaching 8th level, a paladin's aura improves. He now radiates an aura which protects himself and his allies within 30', granting a bonus equal to his Charisma bonus to their Armour Class, to a maximum of +2, plus an extra 1 every three levels thereafter. Much like his Aura of Courage, it does not function when the paladin is unconscious or dead.
Holy Wings (Su): At level 9, a paladin can conjure himself a pair of wings. The wings do not physically connect to his back, so they do not interfere with worn armour or the like, and they resemble softly glowing white feathered wings. The wings grant the paladin flight equal to twice his land speed, with good manoeuvrability. The paladin may still fly even when wearing heavy armour or carrying a heavy load, but still suffers the associated speed reduction. It takes a standard action to create or dismiss the wings, though they automatically vanish if the paladin should lose consciousness. If he should be in the air when his wings disappear, he gains the effects of a
Feather Fall spell for up to 3 rounds, or until coming into contact with the ground. He may use the wings for a total of 1 hour per paladin level each day, though each use uses a minimum of 1 minute of the time.
The paladin may also use his wings to fly short distances very quickly. As a swift action, he may move up to his fly speed, but this uses up 30 minutes of his time for the day with the wings.
Holy Weapon (Su): A paladin of at least 11th level further infuses holy power into his weapon. Any weapon wielded by the paladin gains the Holy weapon property (DMG, pg. 225) so long as he keeps it in hand. This stacks with Heavenly Weapon, and with any enchantments already on the weapon, except for Holy.
Dazing Smite (Su): Once a paladin reaches 12th level, he gains a further method to augment his smite attacks. Whenever he uses his Smite Evil, the paladin may choose to spend an extra use for the encounter to cause his smite attacks to daze evil foes for 1 round if hit, unless they make a Will save against a DC equal to 10 + ½ the paladin's level + his Charisma bonus. Dazing Smite may be used in addition to Invigorating Smite on the same round, so long as each has been paid for.
Mettle (Ex): Paladins can resist magical attacks with greater effectiveness than others. Beginning at 12th level, a paladin can shrug off effects that would hinder even the toughest warrior. If he succeeds on a Fortitude or Will save against an attack that would normally produce a lesser effect on a successful save (such as a spell with a saving throw entry of Will half or Fortitude partial), he instead negates the effect. The paladin does not gain the benefit of mettle while unconscious.
Aura of Life (Su): At level 13, a paladin gains a 3rd aura. This one grants him immunity to death effects, and gives a bonus equal to his Charisma bonus to saves against death, effects from undead or evil outsider abilities and spells, and negative energy effects to himself and all allies within 30'. Any undead and evil outsiders within the aura instead get a penalty to all saving throws equal to the paladin's Charisma bonus, and undead also receive a penalty to their effective Hit Dice equal to the paladin's Charisma bonus for the purposes of Turn Undead. The paladin keeps the immunity to death effects, but does not otherwise radiate the aura when unconscious.
Heavenly Guidance (Sp): After reaching 14th level, a paladin may pray directly to his god for answers. Twice per week, the paladin may cast
Commune, with a caster level equal to his paladin level. This takes 10 minutes of prayer, and the use is lost if the prayer is interrupted. The god is also not limited to just a yes or no answer, and can give a short sentence or two in response to each question. If the paladin does not worship a specific deity, he may choose a deity whose alignment is within one step of his own to commune with, though once chosen, the paladin cannot change his choice unless his alignment changes first.
Tongues (Su): A paladin of 15th level gains the ability to communicate with nearly any other creature. He is now under the effects of a constant
Tongues spell. If the effect gets dispelled or otherwise cancelled, it returns automatically on the start of his next turn.
Dispelling Smite (Su): Upon reaching 17th level, a paladin learns one final augment for smiting evil. With the expenditure of one extra Smite Evil use when he activates his Smite Evil for the round, all his successful smiting attacks against evil foes create a
Dispel Magic effect on them. Treat is as the targeted version of
Greater Dispel Magic, using the paladin's class level as the caster level. This ability may be used in conjunction with Invigorating Smite and Dazing Smite, so long as an extra Smite Evil attempt is expended for each augment.
Sacred Weapon (Su): At 17th level, a paladin's holy weapon powers improve one last time. Weapons wielded by the paladin gain the Sacred and Sacred Burst properties (MIC, pg. 42) while held. This stacks with Heavenly Weapon and Holy Weapon, and also with any enchantments already on the weapon, except for the Sacred and Sacred Burst enchantments.
Aura of Clear Thought (Su): A paladin that makes it to level 18 gains a fourth and final aura. From now on, he is immune to mind-affecting effects, and grants a bonus equal to his Charisma bonus to saves against such effects for his allies within 30'. This aura's bonus stacks with Aura of Courage, effectively doubling the save bonus against fear effects. The paladin keeps the immunity, but does not otherwise radiate the aura when unconscious.
Holy Champion (Ex): A paladin who attains 20th level gains an aspect of true divinity. His type changes to outsider with the native and good subtypes, gets DR 10/evil, and gains darkvision 60' or gets +30' to his existing darkvision. He also gains a permanent +2 bonus to both Strength and Charisma. He no longer ages, though he still needs to eat, breathe, and sleep as normal.
Code of Conduct: A paladin must stay of good alignment, and loses all class abilities if he ever willingly commits an evil act. Additionally, a paladin's code requires that he respect legitimate authority, act with honour (no cheating, stealing, using poisons, or the like), though lying may be allowed, so long as it directly furthers his cause and would not cause harm to others. He must help those in need, so long as it is not used to evil ends, and must punish those who harm or threaten innocents.
A paladin can never knowingly associate with evil characters, nor can he continue association with those who continually offend his moral code. He may only accept followers, cohorts, and henchmen who are of good alignment.
Alternate Class FeatureSpecial Mount: You may take the original mount rules as an ACF, gaining it at level 5. In exchange, the class loses Heavenly Weapon, Holy Wings, Holy Weapon, and Sacred Weapon as class abilities. Add the following to the bonus feat list: Mounted Combat, Mounted Archery, Ride-By Attack, Spirited Charge, Swift Call, and Trample.