On The Paladin

A Paladin is a Lawful human fighting-man of at least fourth level who is recognized by God as one of His best warriors against evil.

Responsibilities of the Paladin:

A Paladin must always remain Lawful. Furthermore, he must promote the philosophy of Law and the Word of God to his fellows and other Men (but not to the point of boorishness.) A Paladin must strive to live by the following words:

“So help me God, uphold this Oath: The Paladin is Chaste and Temperate, Charitable and Diligent, Grateful and Humble, Valorous and Just; and so will I remain.”

 

It behooves the player to keep this saying at the top of the Paladin’s character sheet.

 

The Path to Grace:

 

It takes a full year to train to be a Paladin. Upon February 2, Candlemas, the Lawful fighting-man presents himself at a monastery of his denomination and humbly asks to serve as  “God’s sword-and-scales on Earth.” (He informs his particular church of his intent beforehand.) Until March 25, Lady Day (or the Feast of the Annunciation,) he must stay inside the monastery and its grounds. He will pray, fast and study theology there. All the while, he will serve as the sexton or assistant sexton.

He is then released until the end of harvest on September 28. During this time, he must be available to whatever church is nearest to him on Sundays and Holidays.  On Christmas Day, he must report back to his monastery. There he will pray, fast and study again until January 6th, Epiphany. Then he is released again. 

He must return to the monastery on Candlemas, February 2. Upon the final day of Candlemas, February 5, he will be anointed by the abbot there and released from his toil. He has earned the title and privileges of a Paladin.

 

Privileges of the Paladin:

 

A Paladin is immune from laws which apply only to commoners. He may dispense justice upon them as needed. Commoners will seek out a Paladin to adjudicate their disputes and so maintain the peace. If not already nobility, the Paladin is raised to a noble rank equal to a Count, and must Squander same in order to maintain his station and standard of living.

 

Powers of the Paladin:

• The Paladin is immune to disease and poison. He is immune to all touch attacks from the undead.
• He may Turn Undead as a Cleric three levels lower.
• He may Lay On Hands and cure 1d6 + character level in Hit Point damage once per day, to himself or to another willing target. Against an unwilling target, this is a touch attack (Armor bonus does not apply.) This touch attack damages the undead instead of healing them.
• At level 6, he may cure one disease in the same manner, once per day.
• At level 8, he may break one curse in the same manner, once per day.
• At level 10, he may banish an evil outsider or disjoin an evil magic item once a day as a special attack at a range of 3 scale inches.
• He may call forth a special war horse. See below.
• In his hands, a Holy Sword is a +5 weapon instead of a +3 weapon.

The Laying of Hands abilities are discontinuous and situation-sensitive, like clerical spells are. 

Falling from Grace:

 

Should a Paladin’s alignment change through play or by foul magic, he will immediately fall from grace. This means he loses all of his special powers until he seeks out his priest, does penance for 3d6 weeks, and fulfils a special quest the priest assigns such as aiding pilgrims or slaying a particular evil beast.

The Paladin’s War-Horse Quest:

Those fighting-men both lawful and devout may undertake the quest to win a war-horse of exceptional quality.

To do so, they will pray for 24 hours during a quarter or cross-quarter holiday and thereafter receive a vision of an ideal steed. The steed will be 1d8 days’ ride away and be guarded by a foe equivalent in strength to the fighting-man himself, such as an Antihero or equivalent evil fighter, or a cunning monster or monsters. This horse might be of any color or colors or of any breed (as researched and determined by the player,) except for this: the horse may never be fallow, (the color of misfortune for Lawful riders.)

 

A fallow horse.

The horse, once captured and broken, will serve the fighting-man. It will consume a Retainer slot, never check morale, and be exceptionally smart (INT 11) and brave for its kind.

A lady fighting-man of intact virtue will instead find and tame a unicorn.

Should such a fighting-man change alignment, his steed will desert him immediately. Should he atone and become lawful again, he may call a replacement steed in a year and a day.

Should his steed die, he may not call another for a year and a day.

In the case of the lady fighting-man who loses a unicorn in any fashion, she may never call another, but may call an exceptional equine mount instead.

Should she become married, or should she or lose her maidenhood in manner fair or foul, the unicorn will desert her forever.

Magic Item: Sovereign’s Orb

The Sovereign’s Orb is a symbol of Godly power. A cross above a globe, it represents ‘Christ’s dominion over the world’, as the Cleric is God’s representative on Earth.

It is a blue metal sphere 12” in diameter, engirdled with platinum set with diamonds and emeralds. 

It is capped by a wooden cross about 3” tall traced by the finest platinum wire. This ornament is taken from the One True Cross and would be on its own a relic of exquisite power. 

If a layman should touch the Orb, it will discharge electricity which will arc between all non-lawful figures within 1 scale inch, dealing 1d6 hits to each such figure (save vs breath for half.)

Should a neutral or Chaotic Cleric handle the Orb, it will discharge electricity as above but also burn that figure for 1D6 acid damage each Round, no save. 

Any earnest Lawful supplicant may hold this artifact, but only a few can activate power. Only Lawful clerics of 5th level or higher may successfully equip this item. 

The Orb is a divine casting focus. It casts continuous Protection from Evil on the bearer and grants a +2 to Saves. Spells cast while equipped are -2 to Save and have double range or double effect, DMO. It functions as a holy symbol +2 to Turn undead. 

Because it is so large, the man so equipped cannot equip a weapon or shield in addition, but may use it in one hand while stationary by resting that hand upon it. 

When combined with the Crown and Scepter, it raises the bearer’s Charisma to 18 and immunizes him from hold, charm and curse type spells. 

There is an opposite Orb, the Orb of Perdition, which has similar benefits for the Chaotic Anti-Cleric. It is distinguished only by a slight difference in the cut of the emeralds, noticeable only by a Cleric or Dwarf. 

Undead Fighting Tactics for Laymen

This article originally appeared August 18, 2017.

Undead are such a threat to PCs level by level that they became one of the focuses of one of our core classes, the Cleric. And rightly so. They are completely silent when approaching. They are quite likely to attack and are never friendly by default.  They cannot be reasoned or negotiated with. And they never stop, ever, until one side or the other is dead.

But what if your group doesn't have a Cleric?  And what about the poor common folk who might never meet a real Cleric in their grimy, drudging lives?  How do you, and they, deal with the Undead without the silver bullets a Cleric carries with him every day?

Undead Warlord by ArtDeepMind

Holding Undead At Bay

Any Lawful layman of any of the common races may attempt to hold undead at-bay with a cross (or their holy symbol) or a silvered mirror.  By presenting the dread object forcefully and earnestly toward the undead, the layman may make a Turn Undead check with his caster level equal to half his character level, rounded up. This means normal men will have a caster level of 0, but adventurous types will have at least some nonnegative caster level. This special ability affects up to 9 HD of undead and triggers Combat Round time. A Neutral layman may attempt this too, if he is an earnest devotee to a Lawful god.

Effects: The undead will shrink back. They will not depart, but they will not be able to touch or attack the presenter or anyone who he shields. The presenter may not take any action other than to continue to present the dread object and to move 1/3 their speed each Round. The effect is broken if either party is attacked or otherwise takes hit point damage.  This makes it useful for lay people to buy their own holy symbol and identify themselves as earnest supplicants of some Lawful god.

Using A Holy Relic

A Holy Relic is an especial blessed or accursed object such as the finger bone of a martyr or a splinter from the club of a saint of some religion. Pilgrims often purchase these relics from the destinations of their pilgrimages. A Lawful lay person can use his Relic in an attempt to Turn Undead. If successful, the restless dead are dissolved away rather than being turned. A Chaotic layman can use his cursed Relic to Beckon Undead to his service for one Turn or one combat. A Neutral layman can use either one kind or the other depending upon his religion. Such Turning and Beckoning attempts are made as a 5th Level Cleric. After a Relic is used, roll 1d6. On a 6, it crumbles into dust. Relics cost 250 GP, are not widely available for sale, and they only work for a person of the correct religion.

Mundane Tactics

·        Corporeal undead are all damaged by fire, except for Skeletons who don't have any flesh. Nagzúl also fear fire. If you can't bring a cleric, then bring oil and holy water!

·        Ditches and man-traps require labor, but are good ways to keep walking undead away. Skeletons, Zombies, Ghouls and Shadows should be too dumb to defeat these barriers.  Thouls (technically NOT undead but functionally similar) might be able to bypass them, and smarter undead certainly can.

·        Skeletons of course require bludgeoning weapons.  Piercing weapons deal no damage and slashing weapons deal half hits. Fire doesn't damage them but it does turn them a toasty brown.

·        Zombies are destroyed by 1 lb. or more of salt. Salt also kills slimes, oozes and jellies when applied in amounts of 1 lb. to 1 HD or fraction. Burning oil works against Zombies.

·        Feed raw meat to Ghouls and then burn them with oil.

·        Shadows dislike limelight, it burns them like fire for 1d6 hits per round.

·       Wraiths and Nagzúl will not approach within 5' of an open flame. The Nagzúl especially are harmed only by fire, magic and magic weapons.

·       Mummies dissolve in two Rounds in an excess of water.  Wearing heavy perfumes, such as dousing your clothing in rosewater or lavender, will make you invisible to a mummy.

·       Vampires have their own well-known rules of course. But to ward oneself against their blood sucking attack specifically, coat your exposed skin with a tincture made from the black bile of a magical beast or dire predator.  This tincture is also good against stirges.

·       Liches love ancient and forbidden knowledge. They may spare your life for a spell or other arcane morsel, just as they might have done in life.  Many of them hate the taste and smell of fresh mint sprigs, but some will overcome this to attack you anyway.