Paladin

Paladins are oath-bound champions whose faith is expressed through action. They stand where the struggle is hardest, pairing martial discipline with sacred power to defend the innocent, confront evil, and live up to the promises that define them.

Paladin Gameplay

Below is a list of information needed to play a Paladin at the various levels of play.

Requirements and Requisites

To become a Paladin, you must meet the following attribute requirements:

Your Brawn score must be 13 or higher.
Your Heartiness score must be 11 or higher.
Your Logic score must be 9 or higher.
Your Reason score must be 13 or higher.
Your Savvy score must be 11 or higher.
Your Presence score must be 13 or higher.

These demanding requirements reflect the exceptional character expected of a paladin. Few possess the strength, resolve, wisdom, and force of personality required to uphold the sacred oath.

Priest, Soldier, Paladin, Sacred

Your prime requisites are brawn, reason, and presence, and you gain bonus experience points based on these scores.

If your brawn, reason, and presence scores are 13 or higher, you gain a +5% bonus to all experience points earned.
If your brawn, reason, and presence scores are 16 or higher, you gain a +10% bonus to all experience points earned.

As a Paladin, your path is one of strict adherence, and as such you cannot be a multi-class character, even if you meet all other prerequisites.

A Paladin is expected to uphold the following tenets:

Honor the Law. Respect just authority, keep your word, and uphold the lawful customs of the lands you travel whenever doing so does not conflict with your other tenets.
Protect the Innocent. Defend those who cannot defend themselves and stand against cruelty, tyranny, and needless suffering.
Act with Honor. Show courage, mercy, and integrity in both victory and defeat. Do not lie, betray those under your protection, or resort to dishonorable means when an honorable path remains.
Serve the Greater Good. When your tenets come into conflict, the protection of innocent life and the cause of righteousness take precedence over obedience to law.

A Paladin who willfully and knowingly violates the tenets of their oath immediately loses the benefits of any class feature marked Oath-Dependent. While fallen, you are treated as though you do not possess the Paladin or Priest keywords for the purpose of meeting prerequisites, selecting character features, and using abilities. Additionally, you no longer have the Sacred keyword, and are unable to gain it back.

A fallen Paladin may seek redemption through sincere repentance and by completing whatever penance the Game Master determines is appropriate. Once the Paladin has atoned for their transgression, these class features are immediately restored.

If you continue to adventure while fallen, you continue to gain experience as a Paladin normally. However, you do not gain the benefits of any oath-dependent class features you would otherwise acquire while fallen. If your paladinhood is restored, you immediately regain all lost class features, including any you would have gained by advancing in level during that time.

Proficiencies

Class Table

Level	XP To Level	Grit	Combat	Skill	Doom	Device	Binding	Breath	Spell
1	0	+1d8 + 3	+2	+0	14	15	15	15	16
2	2,250	+1d8 + 3	+2	+0	13	14	14	15	16
3	4,500	+1d8 + 3	+3	+0	13	14	14	14	16
4	11,250	+1d8 + 3	+3	+0	12	13	13	14	15
5	22,500	+1d8 + 3	+4	+0	12	13	13	14	15
6	45,000	+1d8 + 3	+4	+1	11	12	12	13	15
7	112,500	+1d8 + 3	+5	+1	11	12	12	13	14
8	225,000	+1d8 + 3	+5	+1	10	11	11	13	14
9	450,000	+1d8 + 3	+6	+1	10	11	11	12	14
10	675,000	+3	+6	+1	9	10	10	12	13
11	900,000	+3	+7	+1	9	10	10	12	13
12	1,125,000	+3	+7	+2	8	9	9	11	13
13	1,687,500	+3	+8	+2	8	9	9	11	12
14	2,250,000	+3	+8	+2	8	9	9	11	12

Spell Progression Table

Class Level	Cantrips		Spell Slots
Class Level	Preparations	Casts	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3
1	-	-	-	-	-
2	-	-	-	-	-
3	-	-	-	-	-
4	-	-	-	-	-
5	-	-	-	-	-
6	-	-	-	-	-
7	2	3	1	-	-
8	2	3	2	-	-
9	2	4	2	-	-
10	3	4	2	1	-
11	3	5	2	2	-
12	3	5	3	2	-
13	4	6	3	2	1
14	4	6	3	2	1

Paladin Features

As a Paladin, you gain the following class features.

1st Level: Holy Symbol

1st Level: Lay on Hands

1st Level: Order

You belong to an Order: an organization, fellowship, or tradition dedicated to a shared purpose. Your chosen Order grants you unique features based on its teachings, practices, and methods. When you select an Order, you must also select one of its available Traditions. Your chosen Tradition determines the features you gain.

As a Paladin, you can select from the Military and Stewardship Traditions.

You can find a list of Orders and their available Traditions in your campaign guides. However, the Orders and Traditions listed below are available in any generic campaign.

Mercy through sacrifice

Members of the Brotherhood of the Ashen Cross uphold the virtues of sacrifice, endurance, and compassion. They are renowned for their skill as healers, and many serve alongside knightly orders as battlefield medics and caretakers.

Regardless of whether you belong to its Military, Devotional, or Stewardship tradition, you gain the Brotherhood of the Ashen Cross Adventure Keyword.

Dedicated Ally

You begin play Familiar with Clubs and Maces, Hammers and Picks, Staves, and Crossbows.

Any time you use the Help action in combat, or cast a spell that restores Grit to an ally, you can perform the activity 1 Phase earlier than listed.

Attending Physician

You begin play Familiar with Clubs and Maces, Staves, and Crossbows.

When you preform the Caregiving downtime activity, you can double the number of creatures you can have under your care. Additionally, if you are the primary caregiver, all support caregivers under you gain this benefit.

If you are able to cast spells, when you cast any spell that restores grit, you can add two times the spell's level to the ammount healed by the spell. If you are able to cast cantrips, increase the grit healing provided by any cantrip by 1.

Honor and protection

The Knights of the Black Lion uphold the virtues of loyalty, honor, and martial excellence. They do not seek to destroy every threat they encounter, but instead dedicate themselves to maintaining order and defending those placed under their protection.

Regardless of whether you belong to its Military, Devotional, or Stewardship tradition, you gain the Knights of the Black Lion Adventure Keyword.

Consummate Protector

You begin play Familiar with Single-Handed Swords, Long-Gripped Swords, Spears, and Polearms.

For 1 Action starting in Phase 1, you can designate an adjacent ally as the target of your protection. So long as they are adjacent to you, they gain a +1 situation bonus to AC. This benefit lasts until you protect another ally.

Guardian's Eye

You begin play Familiar with Single-Handed Swords, Staves, and Crossbows.

You are unable to be surprised. Additionally, while exploring, you reduce the chances of any surprise ambush for your entire party by -1-in-Y.

Order is the foundation of peace

Members of the Confraternity of the Iron Crown uphold the virtues of authority, command, and discipline. They believe strength and conviction are necessary to guide society, and that those entrusted with power have a responsibility to protect the common folk. Their methods often bring them into conflict with rulers and nobles, though they maintain that their cause is just.

Regardless of whether you belong to its Military, Devotional, or Stewardship tradition, you gain the Confraternity of the Iron Crown Adventure Keyword.

Commanding Presence

You begin play Familiar with Single-Handed Swords, Long-Gripped Swords, Pikes, and Flails.

If your allies can see and hear you, they can utilize the Help Activity 1 Phase earlier than normal. Additionally, such allies increase the bonuses provided by taking the Focus on Defense action by +1.

Voice of the Iron Crown

You begin play Familiar with Single-Handed Swords, Staves, and Crossbows.

You gain a bonus to your maximum henchmen and your hencmen's loyalty base equal to 1/2 your class level.

1st Level: Smite

When you deal damage with a weapon attack against a Valid Creature, you deal an extra dice of damage.

Some Paladin spells are cast in conjunction with utilizing this feature. When they do so, you must announce that you are casting the spell before making the attack roll. If your attack roll is unsuccessful, your spell is still expended.

A creature with the Necros or Umbra keyword is a Valid Creature.
A creature with the Aeon, Animus, Cosmic, Elemental, or Fey keyword is a Valid Creature only if it also has the Profane keyword.

Starting at 4th level, when you utilize this feature, you also can add 1/2 your Paladin Level to the damage done.

3rd Level: Turn Undead

Upon reaching 3rd level, Paladins can channel sacred power to drive back the undead. To use this ability, you must openly present a symbol of your faith. Turn Undead requires 1 Master Action and may be performed beginning in Phase 1. You must present your holy symbol to Turn Undead.

When you attempt to Turn Undead, first determine the highest-level Valid Creature you can affect.

Roll 1d20 and compare the result to your Presence Attribute using the table below. The result determines the highest creature level that can be affected by this attempt.

Valid Creatures 2 or more levels higher than your Paladin Level cannot be affected. Likewise, Valid Creatures 5 or more levels lower than your Paladin Level are always affected, regardless of your roll.

d20 Result	Highest Creature Level
Presence +6	Paladin Level -4
Presence +3	Paladin Level -3
Presence	Paladin Level -2
Presence -3	Paladin Level - 1
Presence -6	Paladin Level
Presence -9	Paladin Level +1

Next, determine the total number of creature levels you can affect. Roll 2d6 and add** half your Paladin Level** (rounded down), then subtract 1. The result is your Turning Capacity.

Beginning with the lowest-level Valid Creature within 60 feet that can see you, subtract each affected creature’s level from your Turning Capacity until you either have insufficient capacity to affect another creature or there are no more Valid Creatures.

Affected creatures immediately flee from you by the safest available route. Instead of fleeing, creatures that are 7 or more levels lower than your Paladin Level are instantly destroyed, crumbling to dust.

A creature with the Necros keyword is a Valid Creature.

3rd Level: Divine Health

4th Level: Smite

5th Level: Keyword Feature

6th Level: Aura of Power

7th Level: Spellcasting

Through prayer, unwavering faith, and devotion to your oath, you have learned to prepare sacred miracles within your mind. Each miracle is a blessing that can be held only temporarily. When invoked, it is expended and slips from memory until granted again through prayer.

Your spells are clerical spells, and you use the Sacred casting method. You otherwise follow the general rules in Chapter 09: Spellcasting.

As part of a Safe Rest, you may perform a personal ritual to prepare your spells. During this ritual, you offer prayers to a higher power and beseech it to grant you sacred miracles.

You may prepare any spell on the Paladin spell list for which you have a spell slot of the appropriate level. The spells you prepare take effect when you complete the Safe Rest. If the Safe Rest is not completed, the spells are not prepared.

You may prepare only the primary form of a reversible spell. You cannot prepare or cast its reverse form, even if the reversible spell appears on the Paladin spell list.

You use the Sacred casting method described in the spellcasting chapter. You must present your holy symbol when casting a spell, and the hand used to present it is your Casting Hand. Your Holy Symbol feature explains how you present it.

Cantrips are simple prayers that require little devotion to prepare.

When you prepare your spells as part of a Safe Rest, you may also prepare the number of cantrips shown on your Spell Progression table from the Paladin cantrip list.

You always have the Minor Healing cantrip prepared. It does not count against the number of cantrips you can prepare.

Your Spell Progression table also shows the number of cantrip casts in your shared pool. You regain all expended cantrip casts when you complete a Night’s Rest.

10th Level: Establishment

Upon reaching 10th level, your accomplishments have earned you the influence and resources needed to establish a lasting presence in the world.

You may construct, claim, or restore an establishment. The establishments available to you are determined by the keywords you possess. Each keyword grants access to one or more establishments, allowing you to found organizations, strongholds, places of learning or worship, centers of commerce, and other holdings appropriate to your expertise.

If you possess multiple keywords, you may select an establishment from any one of them, provided you meet its prerequisites. Additional establishments may also be available through your ancestry or campaign guides.

An establishment serves as more than a place to reside. It becomes the center of your growing influence, allowing you to attract followers, train retainers, conduct research, manage lands or organizations, craft items, and undertake other long-term endeavors. The benefits and requirements of each establishment are described with the establishment itself.

If you are a multi-class character, you gain this feature only once, when one of your classes first reaches 10th level. When determining whether you meet a feature's prerequisites, consider all keywords you possess, regardless of the level of the class that granted them.