In the spirit of the E6 system and full acknowledgment of the quadratic power of casters, I am rewriting all the core classes to play with classic D&D flavor up to level 6, then ramp up from there to match the power of casters.
Warning: Expect the lower levels to look amazing, but not answer any of the real problems of a class. (casters vs mundanes, etc.) 1-6 form the class chassis, while the rest of the class adds new abilities depending on the benchmarks we set.
Special Thanks: bkdubs, for originally writing this paladin. I just tweaked it.
The PaladinAlignment: Lawful Good or Lawful Evil
Hit Die: d12
Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special
1st +1 +2 +0 +2 Aura, Smite 1/day, Steely Gaze
2nd +2 +3 +0 +3 Divine Grace, Smite 2/day
3rd +3 +3 +1 +3 Channel Divinity
4th +4 +4 +1 +4 Aura of Defiance, Spellcasting
5th +5 +4 +1 +4 Smite 3/day
6th +6/+1 +5 +2 +5
7th +7/+2 +5 +2 +5 Aura of Ardor, Baleful Scowl
8th +8/+3 +6 +2 +6
9th +9/+4 +6 +3 +6 Smite 4/day
10th +10/+5 +7 +3 +7
11th +11/+6/+1 +7 +3 +7 Swift Channeling
12th +12/+7/+2 +8 +4 +8 Smite 5/day, Aura of Salvation
13th +13/+8/+3 +8 +4 +8
14th +14/+9/+4 +9 +4 +9 Penance Stare
15th +15/+10/+5 +9 +5 +9 Smite 6/day
16th +16/+11/+6/+1 +10 +5 +10
17th +17/+12/+7/+2 +10 +5 +10 Aura of Faith
18th +18/+13/+8/+3 +11 +6 +11 Smite 7/day
19th +19/+14/+9/+4 +11 +6 +11
20th +20/+15/+10/+5 +12 +6 +12 Overwhelming Glare, Divine Apotheosis
Class Skills (4 + Int modifier): Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), and Swim (Str).
Proficiencies: All simple and martial weapons, all light, medium, and heavy armors, and all shields. The best of the best.
Aura (Su): A Paladin has a particularly powerful aura corresponding to her alignment (see the detect evil spell for details).
Smite (Su): Once per day, a Paladin can call upon divine power to transform her attacks into a righteous engine of destruction. As a swift action, she chooses one target within sight to smite. The Paladin adds her Charisma bonus (if any) to her attack rolls and adds twice her class level to all damage rolls made against the target of her smite. This extra damage is the same type as the attack, but is not multiplied with a confirmed critical hit. If the target's alignment opposes the Paladin's her smite attacks automatically bypass any DR and/or Energy Resistance the creature might possess.
The smite effect remains until the target of the smite is dead or the next time the Paladin rests and regains her uses of this ability. At 2nd, 5th, 9th and at every three levels thereafter, the paladin may smite one additional time per day.
Steely Gaze (Su): A Paladin has a
Gaze attack with a range as far as her line of sight. Enemies within range must succeed a Will save (DC 10+1/2 Paladin level+Paladin's Charisma modifier) before they are able to attack or include any creature other than the Paladin within the area or as a target of any harmful effect. Failure indicates that, though their action is not spent or wasted, they must choose another course of action. Enemies who succeed on their saves suffer a -2 penalty to attack rolls against creatures other than the Paladin for 1 round.
Divine Grace (Su): A Paladin of 2nd level and higher adds her Charisma modifier to all saving throws.
Channel Divinity (Su): Starting at 3rd level a Paladin can release a wave of energy by channeling the power of her faith. Unlike a Cleric, a Paladin needs no holy symbol to do this. This energy can be used to cause or heal damage, depending on the type of energy channeled and the creatures targeted.
All Paladins channel raw axiomatic energy bolstering her allies' defenses and crippling her foes (see spoiler below), but some Paladins may also channel positive energy and others negative energy. A good Paladin channels positive energy and can choose to deal damage to undead creatures and to heal living creatures. An evil Paladin channels negative energy and can choose to deal damage to living creatures and to heal undead creatures. A Lawful Evil Paladin, for example, may choose to channel axiomatic energy or negative energy each time she uses this ability.
Channeling divinity is a standard action which causes a burst that affects all creatures in a 30-foot radius centered on the Paladin. This does not provoke attacks of opportunity. A Paladin may channel divinity a number of times per day equal to 3 + her Charisma modifier. A Paladin can choose whether or not to include herself in this effect.
Axiomatic energy channeled in this way grants allies a perfection bonus to AC and saving throws equal to 1+1/4 the Paladin's class level for 1 round. Enemies caught in within the burst move at half their normal speeds. This effect lasts 1 round.
Positive energy channeled in this way heals living allies in the burst for 1d6 hit points +1d6/two Paladin levels and deals an equal amount of damage to undead foes in the burst.
Negative energy channeled in this way heals undead allies in the burst for 1d6 hit points +1d6/ two Paladin levels and deals an equal amount of damage to living foes in the burst.
Starting at 4th level, a Paladin adds her Charisma modifier to any checks she or allies within 5ft per class level make to resist Bull Rush, Disarm, Grapple, Overrun, Sunder, and Trip attempts. Furthermore, if the Paladin herself isn't surprised she may spend an immediate action to relieve allies within the aura of the flat-footed condition.
Spells: As the
SRD PaladinAura of Ardor (Su): Whenever a Paladin of 8th level or higher hits an enemy with an attack she and allies within 5ft per Paladin level regain a number of hit points equal to the Paladin's Charisma modifier and may make an extra save against any one effect they suffer from.
Baleful Scowl (Su): Starting at 8th level, whenever an enemy fails its saving throw against the Paladin's Gaze attack it gains 1d4 negative levels. Further, enemies that succeed on their saving throws suffer a -4 penalty to attack rolls against creatures other than the Paladin, rather than -2.
Swift Channeling (Su): Starting at 11th level, a Paladin may use her Channel Divinity feature as a swift action.
Aura of Salvation (Su): Starting at 12th level, the Paladin and allies within 5ft per class level add her Charisma modifier to AC. Allies within the aura also gain the benefit of the Paladin's Divine Grace feature. Finally, the Paladin and allies within the aura are immune to all disease and poisons, even those that are magical and supernatural.
Penance Stare (Su): Starting at 14th level, whenever an enemy fails its saving throw against the Paladin's Gaze attack, in addition to gaining negative levels, the enemy is Confused for 1d4 rounds. Further, even enemies that succeed on their saving throws suffer 1
temporary negative level in addition to the -4 penalty to attack rolls against creatures other than the Paladin, which lasts for 1 round.
Aura of Faith (Su): Starting at 17th level, the Paladin and all allies within 5ft per class level gain Fast Healing equal to her Charisma modifier and are immune to negative levels and Death effects.
Overwhelming Glare (Su): Starting at 20th level, whenever an enemy fails its saving throw against the Paladin's Gaze attack, it gains 2d4 negative levels rather than 1d4 and is permanently Confused as the
Insanity spell. On rounds in which the foe is able to act normally it may choose to Cower before the Paladin, begging for forgiveness until the end of the encounter, during which time the Paladin may spend a standard action to redeem the foe, permanently changing its alignment to match her own as through the
Atonement spell. Finally, even foes that succeed on their saving throws suffer 1d4
temporary negative levels in addition to the -4 penalty to attack rolls against creatures other than the Paladin, which lasts for 1 round.
Divine Apotheosis (Su): At 20th level a Paladin becomes a being of true divinity. She becomes an Outsider native to all planes and gains DR 10/-- as well as Regeneration 10 which is overcome only by attacks whose alignment opposes her own. Finally, any hostile creature within a 30-foot radius of the Paladin must succeed on a Will save to resist the effects of the Paladin's overwhelming divinity (DC 14+1/2Paladin level+the Paladin's Charisma modifier). Those who fail take a -2 penalty on attacks, AC, and saves for 24 hours or until they successfully hit the Paladin.[/spoiler]
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Discussion:On the changes from bkdub's paladin: I moved things around to fit the E6 Chassis design goal. I also removed his "assault" abilities to make room for paladin spells (his was a noncaster).
