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Reefy
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
892 Posts |
 Posted - 14 Apr 2006 : 02:04:17
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This didn't seem to fit in any of the other forums, so I thought I'd put it here. I've been working on a Holy Champion of Torm prestige class for one of my players, based on the 2E specialist priest from Faiths and Avatars, and am looking for some feedback/opinions. My reasoning will follow.
Holy Champion of Torm
Hit Die: d8.
Requirements
To qualify to become a holy champion, a character must fulfil all of the following criteria.
Alignment: Lawful Good.
Base Attack Bonus: +4
Skills: Diplomacy 6 ranks, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) 4 ranks, Ride 2 ranks.
Feats: Armour Proficiency (Heavy), Leadership, Weapon Focus (greatsword).
Spells: Ability to cast 3rd level divine spells.
Special: The character must have made a donation to the Church of Torm of at least 1,000 gp. Every time the character wishes to gain a new level in holy champion, they must donate a further 1,000 gp to the Church of Torm.
Patron: Torm.
Class Skills
The holy champion’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (nobility and royalty) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride, Scry (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int).
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Table:
BAB, saves and spellcasting progression are the same as is standard for a cleric.
1 - Command, detect evil
2 - Atonement for persecution
3 - Sword of duty +1 holy
4 - Atonement for dereliction
5 - Shield of the True
6 - Dispel evil
7 - Atonement for dereliction
8 - Bolt of glory
9 - Sword of duty +2 holy keen
10 - Atonement for destruction
Class Features:
All of the following are Class Features of the holy champion prestige class.
Weapon and Armour Proficiency: Holy champions gain no proficiency with any weapon or armour.
Spells per Day: When a new holy champion level is gained, the character gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in a spellcasting class he belonged to before adding the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained, except for an increased effective level of spellcasting. If a character had more than one spellcasting class before becoming a holy champion, he must decide to which class he adds the new level for purposes of determining spells per day.
Command (Sp): Once per day, a 1st level holy champion can use command, as the spell.
Detect Evil (Sp): At will, a holy champion can use detect evil, as the spell.
Atonement for Persecution (Sp): Once per day, a 2nd level holy champion may cast aid. This ability can only be used on a worshipper of a good aligned deity.
Sword of Duty (Su): At 3rd level, any greatsword wielded by the holy champion is treated as a +1 holy greatsword. If it leaves the hand of the holy champion it reverts to its original abilities. If the weapon has additional abilities, these still apply, and if the weapon has a higher than +1 bonus, the higher of the two bonuses is used. At 9th level, the weapon is treated as a +2 holy keen greatsword.
Shield of the True (Su): At 5th level, once per day a holy champion can call on Torm to defend her. This ability creates a shield of force that moves to defend the holy champion, giving her a +3 bonus to her Armour Class and a +3 bonus to all saves. It lasts for a number of rounds equal to 3 plus her Charisma bonus.
Atonement for Dereliction (Ex): At 4th level, the holy champion acquires a favoured enemy from the following list: the Church of Bane, the Church of Cyric, or the Zhentarim. The holy champion gains a +1 bonus on Bluff, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, Wilderness Lore checks and weapon damage against the favoured enemy. At 7th level, the holy champion acquires a new favoured enemy from the list and the bonus against the existing favoured enemy increases to +2.
Dispel Evil (Sp): Once per day, a 6th level holy champion can cast dispel evil, as the spell.
Bolt of Glory (Sp): An 8th level holy champion can cast bolt of glory, as the spell.
Atonement for Destruction (Su): Once per week, a 10th level holy champion may permanently repair a dead or wild magic zone in a 30-foot radius area, as if she had cast a wish or miracle spell.
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Life is either daring adventure or nothing. |
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Reefy
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
892 Posts |
Posted - 14 Apr 2006 : 02:06:26
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Here is my reasoning for the abilities.
Requirements:
BAB, spells, religion and alignment all fairly obvious and based on similar faith-specific prestige classes.
Skills are based on the 2E required and bonus non-weapon proficiencies for the holy champion, these being etiquette, heraldry and ride, so I translated these into diplomacy, knowledge (nobility and royalty) and ride.
With the feats, I realise martial weapon proficiency is needed to fight with a greatsword anyway, and note that in my campaign I house rule that clerics don’t get heavy armour proficiency. Leadership seems appropriate to the leaders of an ordered religion, and also the Dreadmaster of Bane requires it, so I though it was a nice counter-foil.
The special bit is to reflect the 25% tithe the priest had to make in 2E, and as well as flavour, I think this helps balance what I perceive to be a fairly powerful prestige class. I’m certainly open to suggestions on this last bit.
Class skills – gain knowledge (nobility and royalty) and ride for the same reasons they are prerequisites.
Table – I see no reason why the standard cleric BAB, saves and spells should not apply to the class.
Special:
Command – This was an ability of the speciality priest and seems a straight-forward inclusion.
Detect evil – Seems appropriate for the deity of paladins, may be of limited use anyway if a paladin takes the prestige class.
Atonement for persecution – The atonements are all based on the Penance of Duty as detailed in Faiths and Avatars and Faiths and Pantheons. It seems fitting for me that a holy champion would gain special abilities to help serve the penance. Aid, with the restriction seemed appropriate.
Sword of duty – This ability is based on the similar weapon enhancing ability of the Silverstar prestige class. Holy reflects Torm’s nature. Keen is there because I couldn’t think of anything more appropriate. I recognise this is a fairly powerful ability.
Atonement for dereliction – See atonement for persecution. Favoured enemy seemed the easiest way to translate this in game terms. Note that I am using 3E not 3.5 rules here.
Shield of the True – I wanted something to aid the holy champion in melee more, as the speciality priest is strongly combat orientated so came up with this ability.
Dispel evil – Corresponds with the speciality priest’s ability to cast this.
Bolt of glory – A conversion I made of the Tormish spell. I thought it made a better high level offensive power than the speciality priest’s power word, stun and power word, blind.
Atonement for destruction – See atonement for persecution. This is a very powerful ability, but I think it is balanced because only a character of the highest rank in Torm’s church could attain it, and in game terms the character would be a minimum of 16th level. |
Life is either daring adventure or nothing. |
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Arivia
Great Reader
Canada
2965 Posts |
Posted - 14 Apr 2006 : 06:38:54
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| Other than the Shield of the True probably needing to grant sacred bonuses, I can't see any problems. |
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Reefy
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
892 Posts |
Posted - 14 Apr 2006 : 20:27:33
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| Excellent, thanks Arivia. |
Life is either daring adventure or nothing. |
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Holy Champion of Torm
