From the original Monster Manual (1st Edition):
"Drow: The "Black Elves," or Drow, are only legend. They purportedly dwell deep beneath the surface in a strange subterranean realm. The drow are said to be as dark as faeries are bright and as evil as the latter are good. Tales picture them as weak fighters but strong magic-users."
From Vampire: the Masquerade (Second Edition):
"It is whispered that the Sabbat knows of ways to break the Bond, but it is said that one must pledge to the sect before the process will be imparted. Whatever the case, those who most resent their Bondage and retain the free will to act independently flee to the Sabbat - fearing the Black Hand less than continued servitude to an elder."
My Point:
When Drizzt hit us, or when the guides to the Sabbat were published, the ability of these creatures to inspire any sense of wonder and mystery disappeared. If a DM wants to provoke any sort of awe and mystery about his criminal mastermind, he really can't make it a Mind Flayer. Similarly, Storytellers can't inspire any real mystery in Vampire any more, since the players are just too blase about garou, mages, inconnu, and everything else. There's no mystery any more, and no sense of wonder.
Perhaps White Wolf are right to end the World of Darkness. If they do the reset right, they might even build some new mysteries into the setting.
What this means for the individual games master is that he has three choices:
1) Play with newbies. To the new player, everything is new and mysterious again. They've never heard the name Illithid, so might rightly be scared of it.
2) Accept that the wonder is gone. Okay, so your PCs will never be scared of the Sabbat. This doesn't mean that you can't run a decent Vampire game, just assume that everyone knows all this stuff, and build accordingly.
3) Try new settings. When starting an Exalted game, immediately shoot any player who even thinks about reading the core book and supplements. Then, you can build on the mystery of the deathlords. Similarly, build a homebrew D&D setting with an entirely different set-up of NPC races and monsters (although you don't necessarily have to change the PC races, since these should be known anyway).
4) Move the goalposts. It doesn't matter how much your players know about Werewolf: the Apocalypse if the werewolves in your Vampire game aren't what that book claims. Likewise, if the Sabbat really are a canibalistic cult of death-worshippers whose only interest in other vampires is in killing them, your know-it-all player is in for a nasty shock.
Of course, if option 4 is in use, be sure to let your players know this before starting play, or they may well cry foul. It may be their own fault their elder Ventrue just got himself diablerised, but they'll probably not see things that way.
Right, I'm off to right an adventure about an attack on the fourth annual Granny Rally tournament by cyborg zombies, and the need for Ethel, Maisy, Jess and Dorothy to re-form their ninja-squad and fight back...
Tuesday, 30 September 2003
Monday, 29 September 2003
Star Wars Revised (again)
Huh, it turns out that I really had read enough to comment sensibly - the changes to starship combat boiled down to "use a battlemap".
So, here goes:
PC Races
This could be fixed in the original by simply using the Alien Anthology supplement, but it is nice that this version has more races available.
Classes
Truth be told, I didn't have any great problems here, but the addition of the Tech Specialist class is welcome.
Armour as Damage Reduction
It's nice to see that they've made armour even less useful than it already was. Good move.
Truthfully, I don't mind armour operating as damage reduction, but it should apply to all attacks. However, this ties in to a larger rant that I'll get into below. See "Wounds/Vitality", below.
Autofire
Why, why, why did they implement this rule like this? "Take a penalty to hit, and get one or two extra attacks per round". Quality.
Autofire should be implemented as it is in d20 Modern - pick an area to effect, roll vs AC10 to hit, and everyone in the area must roll a Ref save or take damage. That's not a perfect autofire rule, but it is the best one I've seen so far under d20.
Wounds/Vitality
This system makes no sense, and makes critical hits far too deadly.
If Vitality represents a character's ability to avoid harm, turning a killing blow into a near miss, why do weapons do different amounts of Vitality damage? Also, isn't that the roll of a character's Defense score? If it represents the character's ability to roll with damage, turning a killing blow into a lesser blow, why doesn't armour apply?
Worse still, since critical hits ignore Vitality, you have to balance encounters knowing that a freak dice roll can leave a PC dead in a single round. This is fine if it's what you want, but it's really not Star Wars.
Starship Combat
This was the big problem with the original edition of the game, and has at least been fixed in this version. However, the new version still has a significant problem in that the skill of the pilot is still of minor importance in vehicle combat. Okay, they roll Pilot checks for maneuvers, and their BAB applies to weapon fire, but this just leaves characters hideously vulnerable as their Defense value is limited to that of the ship, and their 100 Vitality Points are utterly useless when the ship explodes around them.
House Rules
To whip the game into a shape I'd actually be happy running it in would require a horrible number of house rules. Since I'm really not fond of such things, this leaves me with something of a problem.
Anyway, bearing that in mind, here's what I feel I'd need to do:
Return to the hit point system. Mooks still only have hit points equal to their Constitution score (poor Stormtroopers), but other characters have hit points equal to their previous Vitality totals. All damage codes are reduced by one die (that is, 3d6 weapons become 2d6, and so on). Critical hits do double damage in all cases, and armour applies to all attacks. Unarmed attacks now do subdual damage, as does any other attack that can only do Vitality damage (I don't think there are any of these, but there we go).
Force powers now do subdual damage to a character rather than Vitality damage. This is my big worry when it comes to balancing all this - I'm afraid I may have just crippled Jedi characters.
The autofire rules from d20 modern, along with the related feats, are used here in place of the existing rules.
Starship combat needs re-done (again). This is going to be a huge change, as I've outlined in previous posts.
Essentially, on a starfighter scale, ships have hit points equal to their pilot at full health (a wounded pilot in a fresh fighter returns to full hit points in the fighter; a fresh pilot in a damaged ship would have a percentage hit point loss equal to the percentage damage of the fighter. In all cases, a character returns to their previous total when they leave the ship). The defense value of the ship would equal that of the character, with a modifier based purely on the size and maneuverability of the ship. Armour and energy shielding would act as damage reduction.
That's pretty much it. I've not yet worked out quite what place the pilot's ranks in Pilot has in all of this. Nor have I worked out the details of different ship scales. And, of course, I'd need to write new stats for every ship in existence.
It's all a mess, as you can see. However, I really don't care for the elements of the system I've discussed above, and wouldn't like to run the game without house rules.
It's a damn shame - Star Wars deserves better.
So, here goes:
PC Races
This could be fixed in the original by simply using the Alien Anthology supplement, but it is nice that this version has more races available.
Classes
Truth be told, I didn't have any great problems here, but the addition of the Tech Specialist class is welcome.
Armour as Damage Reduction
It's nice to see that they've made armour even less useful than it already was. Good move.
Truthfully, I don't mind armour operating as damage reduction, but it should apply to all attacks. However, this ties in to a larger rant that I'll get into below. See "Wounds/Vitality", below.
Autofire
Why, why, why did they implement this rule like this? "Take a penalty to hit, and get one or two extra attacks per round". Quality.
Autofire should be implemented as it is in d20 Modern - pick an area to effect, roll vs AC10 to hit, and everyone in the area must roll a Ref save or take damage. That's not a perfect autofire rule, but it is the best one I've seen so far under d20.
Wounds/Vitality
This system makes no sense, and makes critical hits far too deadly.
If Vitality represents a character's ability to avoid harm, turning a killing blow into a near miss, why do weapons do different amounts of Vitality damage? Also, isn't that the roll of a character's Defense score? If it represents the character's ability to roll with damage, turning a killing blow into a lesser blow, why doesn't armour apply?
Worse still, since critical hits ignore Vitality, you have to balance encounters knowing that a freak dice roll can leave a PC dead in a single round. This is fine if it's what you want, but it's really not Star Wars.
Starship Combat
This was the big problem with the original edition of the game, and has at least been fixed in this version. However, the new version still has a significant problem in that the skill of the pilot is still of minor importance in vehicle combat. Okay, they roll Pilot checks for maneuvers, and their BAB applies to weapon fire, but this just leaves characters hideously vulnerable as their Defense value is limited to that of the ship, and their 100 Vitality Points are utterly useless when the ship explodes around them.
House Rules
To whip the game into a shape I'd actually be happy running it in would require a horrible number of house rules. Since I'm really not fond of such things, this leaves me with something of a problem.
Anyway, bearing that in mind, here's what I feel I'd need to do:
Return to the hit point system. Mooks still only have hit points equal to their Constitution score (poor Stormtroopers), but other characters have hit points equal to their previous Vitality totals. All damage codes are reduced by one die (that is, 3d6 weapons become 2d6, and so on). Critical hits do double damage in all cases, and armour applies to all attacks. Unarmed attacks now do subdual damage, as does any other attack that can only do Vitality damage (I don't think there are any of these, but there we go).
Force powers now do subdual damage to a character rather than Vitality damage. This is my big worry when it comes to balancing all this - I'm afraid I may have just crippled Jedi characters.
The autofire rules from d20 modern, along with the related feats, are used here in place of the existing rules.
Starship combat needs re-done (again). This is going to be a huge change, as I've outlined in previous posts.
Essentially, on a starfighter scale, ships have hit points equal to their pilot at full health (a wounded pilot in a fresh fighter returns to full hit points in the fighter; a fresh pilot in a damaged ship would have a percentage hit point loss equal to the percentage damage of the fighter. In all cases, a character returns to their previous total when they leave the ship). The defense value of the ship would equal that of the character, with a modifier based purely on the size and maneuverability of the ship. Armour and energy shielding would act as damage reduction.
That's pretty much it. I've not yet worked out quite what place the pilot's ranks in Pilot has in all of this. Nor have I worked out the details of different ship scales. And, of course, I'd need to write new stats for every ship in existence.
It's all a mess, as you can see. However, I really don't care for the elements of the system I've discussed above, and wouldn't like to run the game without house rules.
It's a damn shame - Star Wars deserves better.
Losing the will to read (Star Wars Revised Core Rulebook)
I got the Star Wars Revised Core Rulebook a couple of weeks ago, and it has been in my to-read pile ever since. Since I already have, and have read, the previous version, I'd approached this one with some hesitation, mostly since d20 core rulebooks, particularly from Wizards of the Coast, are awful.
The problem is that the d20 system is now fairly stable, but the details invariably change from one book to another. Consider the death by massive damage rule. In D&D, if you take 50 hit points of damage from a single attack, you must make a Fortitude save or die. In Call of Cthulhu, you must save after 10 hit points of damage. In d20 Modern, you must save after Con hit points of damage, or drop to -1 hit point. It's madness.
Since the variations aren't clearly spelled out, you have to read the whole book carefully to find them. And since there are generally only half a dozen such changes, you end up re-reading much the same material over and over again.
And heaven forbid you wish to master more than one version of the d20 rules.
I haven't read enough of SWRev to comment sensibly on it as a whole yet, so I'll hold off on that rant. However, this should do for now.
The problem is that the d20 system is now fairly stable, but the details invariably change from one book to another. Consider the death by massive damage rule. In D&D, if you take 50 hit points of damage from a single attack, you must make a Fortitude save or die. In Call of Cthulhu, you must save after 10 hit points of damage. In d20 Modern, you must save after Con hit points of damage, or drop to -1 hit point. It's madness.
Since the variations aren't clearly spelled out, you have to read the whole book carefully to find them. And since there are generally only half a dozen such changes, you end up re-reading much the same material over and over again.
And heaven forbid you wish to master more than one version of the d20 rules.
I haven't read enough of SWRev to comment sensibly on it as a whole yet, so I'll hold off on that rant. However, this should do for now.
Friday, 26 September 2003
Exalted and Stunts
Well, Exalted was fun. Lots of stuff going on, lots of flashy combat, and plenty of opportunity to annoy the other players (in character, of course). It uses the Storyteller system, which is quick and fairly easy to understand (balacing can be a bit of a problem, but that's another rant).
The one mechanic I'm not so sure I like, however, is the Stunt mechanic, whereby a player describes some outrageous maneuver that his PC is going to pull off, and the Storyteller assigns a one to three dice bonus to pools for the roll.
This is fine, right up to the point where the character becomes capable of feats that he couldn't have normally pulled off, but that become possible with a Stunt. The problem there is that there might be another PC in the group who has spent lots of XP to get those precise abilities, and suddenly this other guy can do it for free.
Hmm...
Then again, the mechanic is quick, simple, and does exactly what it sets out to do.
And, of course, the alternative is to put lots of restrictions on the use of Stunts, which kills the mechanic dead. So, I guess it's just a taste thing.
The one mechanic I'm not so sure I like, however, is the Stunt mechanic, whereby a player describes some outrageous maneuver that his PC is going to pull off, and the Storyteller assigns a one to three dice bonus to pools for the roll.
This is fine, right up to the point where the character becomes capable of feats that he couldn't have normally pulled off, but that become possible with a Stunt. The problem there is that there might be another PC in the group who has spent lots of XP to get those precise abilities, and suddenly this other guy can do it for free.
Hmm...
Then again, the mechanic is quick, simple, and does exactly what it sets out to do.
And, of course, the alternative is to put lots of restrictions on the use of Stunts, which kills the mechanic dead. So, I guess it's just a taste thing.
Wednesday, 17 September 2003
What is D20?
Archiving a thread started by Mort:
As usual I've been reading rpg.net, and happened upon the standard d20 moaning thread. Wherein the question about what d20 really is was asked.
So, what is d20 really? Obviously to use the d20 logo you have to follow the guidelines set up by WotC, which has been nerfed badly lately from what I've seen. But is a OGL game also a d20 game? Only without the license? Or is it something else? Can you make a OGL where you roll only d10's?
From what I've understood d20 is basically two things:
You have six stats, with the standard names.
You roll a d20 to beat a DC.
But this is not the OGL, as the OGL just basically lets you take advantage of the system developed for d20 in your own games. From my understanding of the license (I don't read legaleese very well so I might be wrong) there's nothing stopping you from making a d10 dice pool OGL game. So in other words OGL is not d20.
This means that what d20 is is rather more defined than most people think, d20 is what is covered by the d20 license, which is much more restrictive than the OGL license, and thus d20 is a distinct and only to a limited extent mutable system.
Did that make any sense at all?
As usual I've been reading rpg.net, and happened upon the standard d20 moaning thread. Wherein the question about what d20 really is was asked.
So, what is d20 really? Obviously to use the d20 logo you have to follow the guidelines set up by WotC, which has been nerfed badly lately from what I've seen. But is a OGL game also a d20 game? Only without the license? Or is it something else? Can you make a OGL where you roll only d10's?
From what I've understood d20 is basically two things:
You have six stats, with the standard names.
You roll a d20 to beat a DC.
But this is not the OGL, as the OGL just basically lets you take advantage of the system developed for d20 in your own games. From my understanding of the license (I don't read legaleese very well so I might be wrong) there's nothing stopping you from making a d10 dice pool OGL game. So in other words OGL is not d20.
This means that what d20 is is rather more defined than most people think, d20 is what is covered by the d20 license, which is much more restrictive than the OGL license, and thus d20 is a distinct and only to a limited extent mutable system.
Did that make any sense at all?
Monday, 15 September 2003
What's Left to Do?
I was reading a "Previews" column on the Wizards web-site a few minutes ago, and was reading about the upcoming "Book of Exalted Deeds" and the "Miniatures Handbook". For both books, the sample material was in the form of a monster from the book. I didn't read the specifics of the monsters, so can't comment on them, but my response was, "Big deal".
It seems that every D&D book, and a large number of d20 books, contain lots and lots of pages of Prestige Classes, Feats, Monsters and Spells. I'm sorry, I don't want any more.
The thing is, I already have the Monster Manual, Monster Manual 2, Fiend Folio, Creature Collection, Creature Collection 2, the Tome of Horrors, Legions of Hell and Armies of the Abyss. I have enough monsters for a million and one adventures, and only ever use about 20 of them in the course of a campaign.
In terms of spells, I have the Players' Handbook, Relics & Rituals, Relics & Rituals 2 and Magic of Faerun. PCs in my games have never strayed beyond the PHB, and are unlikely ever to use all these spells.
And, for feats, I have the Players' Handbook, Ultimate Feats, and all the Wizards splatbooks. I also have all the Quintessential books dealing with core and psionic classes, except Ranger.
Now, I feel somewhat sorry for game designers in this: I just don't want any more feats, monsters or spells. Until 4th Edition, you should feel free to never publish another one of these things. The reason I feel sorry is that there are some wonderful ideas out there that I'm rejecting out of hand, and there is the problem that those were probably the easy bits of the books to fill. But, I don't want them.
This leaves the question at the top of the post: what's left to do? What do I want to see?
Well...
I don't particularly want more settings, or more information on any existing setting. I usually create my own settings anyway, and would rather use a 'sparse' setting than a 'packed' one like the Forgotten Realms anyway (not that I have anything against the Realms - I just don't intend to use it).
I don't want an epic dungeon campaign, like Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. I can't see my players going for a campaign of nothing but dungeoneering. And I don't want any books describing alignment - my views on the topic don't seem to match those of the current crop of designers, and in my game, my way rules. In any event, if we don't agree, your book is useless to me.
What I would love to see, although it would probably die a death on the market, is a serious book on campaign development, dealing with everything from cartography to altering the rules, to creating new races, to setting up 'realistic' cultures and religions. Ideally, this would contain a CD-ROM containing cartography and campaign-management programs, and a proper character generator (which would need to be scalable, and fully licensed to use any d20 materials).
I would also like to see a mega-campaign adventure that doesn't deal with dungeon crawling. I'm not sure that's actually possible, though, without becoming hopelessly nebulous. It would need to include extensive advice to the GM on tailoring the material for his game.
And, that's about it. I'm starting to think I might not be spending much money on RPGs in the next few months :-)
Any thoughts?
It seems that every D&D book, and a large number of d20 books, contain lots and lots of pages of Prestige Classes, Feats, Monsters and Spells. I'm sorry, I don't want any more.
The thing is, I already have the Monster Manual, Monster Manual 2, Fiend Folio, Creature Collection, Creature Collection 2, the Tome of Horrors, Legions of Hell and Armies of the Abyss. I have enough monsters for a million and one adventures, and only ever use about 20 of them in the course of a campaign.
In terms of spells, I have the Players' Handbook, Relics & Rituals, Relics & Rituals 2 and Magic of Faerun. PCs in my games have never strayed beyond the PHB, and are unlikely ever to use all these spells.
And, for feats, I have the Players' Handbook, Ultimate Feats, and all the Wizards splatbooks. I also have all the Quintessential books dealing with core and psionic classes, except Ranger.
Now, I feel somewhat sorry for game designers in this: I just don't want any more feats, monsters or spells. Until 4th Edition, you should feel free to never publish another one of these things. The reason I feel sorry is that there are some wonderful ideas out there that I'm rejecting out of hand, and there is the problem that those were probably the easy bits of the books to fill. But, I don't want them.
This leaves the question at the top of the post: what's left to do? What do I want to see?
Well...
I don't particularly want more settings, or more information on any existing setting. I usually create my own settings anyway, and would rather use a 'sparse' setting than a 'packed' one like the Forgotten Realms anyway (not that I have anything against the Realms - I just don't intend to use it).
I don't want an epic dungeon campaign, like Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. I can't see my players going for a campaign of nothing but dungeoneering. And I don't want any books describing alignment - my views on the topic don't seem to match those of the current crop of designers, and in my game, my way rules. In any event, if we don't agree, your book is useless to me.
What I would love to see, although it would probably die a death on the market, is a serious book on campaign development, dealing with everything from cartography to altering the rules, to creating new races, to setting up 'realistic' cultures and religions. Ideally, this would contain a CD-ROM containing cartography and campaign-management programs, and a proper character generator (which would need to be scalable, and fully licensed to use any d20 materials).
I would also like to see a mega-campaign adventure that doesn't deal with dungeon crawling. I'm not sure that's actually possible, though, without becoming hopelessly nebulous. It would need to include extensive advice to the GM on tailoring the material for his game.
And, that's about it. I'm starting to think I might not be spending much money on RPGs in the next few months :-)
Any thoughts?
Tuesday, 9 September 2003
The Paragon
Everywhere I look, people are wanting Paladins of non-LG alignments, Paladins of specific deities, or generic Champions of a cause. Arcana Unearthed has the Champion, Dragon has non-LG Paladins, and FR has every Paladin tied to a specific deity.
Personally, I don't see the need for non-LG Paladins, since I like my knights in shining armour as they are, thank you very much. Still, as a thought experiment, I gave some thought to how I would construct a variant Paladin class to allow access to all alignments, and to represent any deity or alignment force.
I'm only going to describe the rules information associated with the class; I'm sure the reader can understand the concept I'm aiming for. Note also that the Paragon is not a Paladin - you can't build a Paladin by selecting a Paragon of Good with the right powers. (To be honest, I'm also not 100% happy with the disease mastery power. I think I'd prefer a more tailored power for the specific deity in question, but can't think of an easy way to implement that.)
Here's what I came up with:
The Paragon
Paragons have the following game statistics.
Abilities: Charisma enhances the paragon's self-protective capabilities and undead influencing abilities. Strength is important for her because of its role in combat. A Wisdom score of 14 or higher is required to gain access to the most powerful paragon spells, and a score of 11 or higher is required to cast any paragon spells at all.
Alignment: The paragon's alignment must exactly match that of her deity. If the paragon serves an alignment instead, her alignment must match that served, with a neutral alignment in the other component. For example, a paragon of good must be neutral good, while a paragon of chaos must be chaotic neutral.
Hit Die: d10.
Class Skills
The paragon's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge(nobility and royalty) (Int), Knowledge(religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex) and Sense Motive (Wis). See the PHB for skill descriptions.
Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) X 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the paragon.
Weapon and Armour Proficiency: Paragons are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all types of armour (light, medium and heavy), and with shields (except tower shields).
Aura(Ex): A paragon os a chaotic, evil, good or lawful deity (or of the alignments themselves) has a particularly powerful aura corresponding to the alignment in question (see the detect evil spell for details).
Domain: A paragon selects one of the domains of her chosen deity. If a paragon of an alignment, she gains access to the associated domain instead (Chaos, Evil, Good or Law). She immediately gains access to the granted power of the domain, and adds the domain spells of 1st through 4th level to the list of paragon spells (see below).
Smite enemy: A paragon must declare a particular group as a chosen enemy. This should be an enemy of his deity or alignment. The choice of enemy can be quite broad, so a paragon might declare all servants of a rival deity as her enemy, all evil creatures, or all heretics within her own religion. Once per day, a paragon may attempt to smite a member of this enemy group with one normal melee attack. She adds her Charisma bonus (if any) to her attack roll and deals 1 extra point of damage per paragon level. For example, a 13th-level paragon armed with a longsword would deal 1d8+13 points of damage, plus any additional bonuses for high Strength or magical effects that would normally apply. If the paragon accidentally smites a creature that is not part of the enemy group, the smite has no effect, but the ability is still used up for that day.
At 5th level, and at every 5 levels thereafter, the paragon may smite her enemy one additional time per day, as indicated in the table above, to a maximum of five times per day at 20th level.
Divine Grace(Su): At 2nd level, a paragon gains a bonus equal to her Charisma bonus (if any) on all saving throws.
Lay on Hands (Su): Beginning at 2nd level, a paragon with a Charisma score of 12 or higher can heal or harm by touch. A good paragon gains the ability to heal wounds, while an evil paragon may inflict wounds. A neutral paragon may choose which ability to use, although once made this choice cannot be altered (a neutral paragon who heals by touch also turns undead, while one who inflicts by touch rebukes undead. See below.) Each day, she can heal or inflict a total number of hit points of damage equal to her paragon level x her Charisma bonus. For example, a good 7th level paragon with a 16 Charisma (+3 bonus) can heal 21 points of damage each day. A paragon may choose to divide this among multiple recipients, and she doesn't have to use it all at once. Using lay on hands is a standard action. Using this power to inflict wounds requires a successful touch attack, which does not provoke an attack of opportunity, and allows no saving throw.
When used on undead, a paragon who heals by touch can instead inflict damage, while one who inflicts wounds by touch instead heals. Using lay on hands to harm undead also requires a successful melee touch attack and does not provoke an attack of opportunity. The paragon decides how many of her daily allotment of points to use as damage after successfully touching an undead creature.
Aura of Courage(Su): Beginning at 3rd level, a paragon is immune to fear (magical or otherwise). Each ally within 10 feet of her gains a +4 morale bonus on saving throws against fear effects. This ability functions while the paragon is conscious, but not if she is unconscious or dead.
Divine Health(Ex): At 3rd level, a paragon gains immunity to all diseases, including supernatural and magical diseases (such as mummy rot and lycanthropy).
Turn or Rebuke Undead(Su): When a paragon reaches 4th level, she gains the supernatural ability to turn or rebuke undead. A paragon of good alignment can turn undead, while paragons of evil alignment rebuke undead. Neutral paragons may select whether to turn or rebuke undead, but once this choice is made, it cannot ever be changed. A paragon may use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + her Charisma modifier. She turns or rebukes undead as a cleric of three levels lower would.
Spells: Beginning at 4th level, a paragon gains the ability to cast a small number of divine spells (the same type of spells availabel to the cleric, druid and ranger), which must be drawn from the paragon spell list (see below). A paragon must choose and prepare her spells in advance.
To prepare or cast a spell, a paragon must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level (Wis 11 for 1st-level spells, Wis 12 for 2nd-level spells, and so forth). The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a paragon's spell is 10 + the spell level + the paragon's Wisdom modifier.
Like other spellcasters, a paragon can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily allotment is given in the table above. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Wisdom score (see the PHB). When the table indicates that the paragon gets 0 spells per day of a given spell level (for instance, 1st-level spells for a 4th-level paragon), she gains only the bonus spells she would be entitled to based on her Wisdom score for that spell level. The paragon has access to a single domain, but receives no additional spell slots for these spells; they must be selected from the paragon's regular allotment of spells instead.
A paragon prepares and casts spells the way a cleric does, though she cannot lose a prepared spell to spontaneously cast a cure or inflict spell in its place. A paragon may prepare and cast any spell on the paragon spell list, provided that she can cast spells of that level, but she must choose which spells to prepare during her daily meditation.
Through 3rd level, a paragon has no caster level. At 4th level and higher, her caster level is one-half her paragon level.
Chaotic, Evil, Good and Lawful Spells: A paragon can't cast spells of an alignment opposed to her own or her deity's (if she has one). For example, a neutral good paragon cannot cast evil spells. Spells associated with particular alignments are indicated by the chaos, evil, good and law descriptors in their spell descriptions.
Special Mount(Sp): Upon reaching 5th level, a paragon gains the service of an unusually intelligent, strong, and loyal steed to serve her. This mount is usually a heavy warhorse (for a Medium paragon) or warpony (for a Small paragon).
Once per day, as a full-round action, a paragon may magically call her mount from the celestial (or infernal) realms in which it resides. The mount immediately appears adjacent to the paragon and remains for 2 hours per paragon level; it may be dismissed at any time as a free action. The mount is the same creature each time it is summoned, though the paragon may release a particular mount from service (if it has grown to old to serve, for instance). Each time the mount is called, ir appears in full health, regardless of any damage it may have taken previously. The mount also appears wearing or carrying any gear it had when it was last dismissed (including barding, saddlebags, and the like). Calling a mount is a conjuration (calling) effect.
Should a paragon's mount die, it immediately disappears, leaving behind any equipment it was carrying. The paragon may not summon another mount for thirty days or until she gains a paragon level, whichever comes first, even if the mount is somehow returned from the dead. During this thirty-day period, the paragon takes a -1 penalty on attack and weapon damage rolls.
Disease Mastery (Sp): At 6th level, a paragon can channel energy to either create or remove diseases. A good paragon may produce a remove disease effect, as the spell, once per week, while an evil paragon produces a contagion effect. Neutral paragons may select which effect to generate, but once this choice is made it cannot be altered. Moreover, a neutral paragon who turns undead also removes disease, while one who rebukes undead also creates disease. A paragon may use this ability one additional time per week for every three levels after 6th, and indicated in the table above, to a maximum of five times per week at 18th level.
Code of Conduct: A paragon must maintain her alignment correctly at all times. A paragon who changes alignment, or willingly acts in a manner directly contrary to this alignment immediately loses all class abilities. Additionally, the paragon's code requires that she obey the commandments of her deity, and uphold the tenets of the corresponding religion, as would a cleric of the same faith.
Associates: While she may adventure with characters of any alignment within one step of her own (including diagonally), a paragon will never knowingly associate with characters of another alignment, nor will she continue an association with anyone who consistently offends her moral code. A paragon may accept only henchmen, followers or cohort who share her alignment exactly.
Ex-Paragons
A paragon who ceases to share the alignment of her deity, who willfully commits an act contrary to her alignment, or who grossly violates the code of conduct loses all paragon spells and abilities (including the service of the paragn's mount, but not weapons, armour and shield proficiencies). She may not progress any farther in levels as a paragon. She regains her abilities and advancement potential if she atones for her violations (see the atonement spell description), as appropriate.
Like a member of any other class, a paragon may be a multiclass character, but multiclass paragons face a special restriction. A paragon who gains a level in any class other than paragon may never again raise her paragon level, though she retains all her paragon abilities. The path of the paragon requires a constant heart. If a character adopts this class, she must pursue it to the exclusion of all other careers. Once she has turned off the path, she may never return.
Paragon Spell List
1st-level: Bane, Bless, Bless Water, Bless Weapon, Cause Fear, Corrupt Weapon, Create Water, Cure Light Wounds, Curse Water, Detect Chaos/Evil/Good/Law, Detect Poison, Detect Undead, Divine Favour, Doom, Endure Elements, Inflict Light Wounds, Magic Weapon, Protection from Chaos/Evil/Good/Law, Read Magic, Resistance, Restoration (Lesser), Summon Monster I, Virtue
2nd-level: Bull's Strength, Darkness, Death Knell, Delay Poison, Eagle's Splendour, Owl's Wisdom, Remove Paralysis, Resist Energy, Shatter, Shield Other, Summon Monster II, Undetectable Alignment, Zone of Truth
3rd-level: Blindness/Deafness, Cure Moderate Wounds, Daylight, Deeper Darkness, Discern Lies, Dispel Magic, Heal Mount, Inflict Moderate Wounds, Magic Circle against Chaos/Evil/Good/Law, Magic Weapon (Greater), Prayer, Protection from Elements, Remove Blindness/Deafness, Remove Curse, Summon Monster III
4th-level: Break Enchantment, Cure Serious Wounds, Death Ward, Dispel Chaos/Evil/Good/Law, Freedom of Movement, Holy Sword, Inflict Serious Wounds, Mark of Justice, Neutralise Poison, Poison, Restoration, Summon Monster IV
Personally, I don't see the need for non-LG Paladins, since I like my knights in shining armour as they are, thank you very much. Still, as a thought experiment, I gave some thought to how I would construct a variant Paladin class to allow access to all alignments, and to represent any deity or alignment force.
I'm only going to describe the rules information associated with the class; I'm sure the reader can understand the concept I'm aiming for. Note also that the Paragon is not a Paladin - you can't build a Paladin by selecting a Paragon of Good with the right powers. (To be honest, I'm also not 100% happy with the disease mastery power. I think I'd prefer a more tailored power for the specific deity in question, but can't think of an easy way to implement that.)
Here's what I came up with:
The Paragon
Paragons have the following game statistics.
Abilities: Charisma enhances the paragon's self-protective capabilities and undead influencing abilities. Strength is important for her because of its role in combat. A Wisdom score of 14 or higher is required to gain access to the most powerful paragon spells, and a score of 11 or higher is required to cast any paragon spells at all.
Alignment: The paragon's alignment must exactly match that of her deity. If the paragon serves an alignment instead, her alignment must match that served, with a neutral alignment in the other component. For example, a paragon of good must be neutral good, while a paragon of chaos must be chaotic neutral.
Hit Die: d10.
Class Skills
The paragon's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge(nobility and royalty) (Int), Knowledge(religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex) and Sense Motive (Wis). See the PHB for skill descriptions.
Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) X 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier.
| Level | Base Attack Bonus | Fort Save | Ref Save | Will Save | Special | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | ||
| 1 | +1 | +2 | +0 | +0 | Aura, domain, smite enemy 1/day | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2 | +2 | +3 | +0 | +0 | Divine grace, lay on hands | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3 | +3 | +3 | +1 | +1 | Aura of courage, divine health | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4 | +4 | +4 | +1 | +1 | Turn or rebuke undead | 0 | -- | -- | |||
| 5 | +5 | +4 | +1 | +1 | Smite enemy 2/day, special mount | 0 | - | - | - | ||
| 6 | +6/+1 | +5 | +2 | +2 | Disease mastery 1/week | 1 | - | - | - | ||
| 7 | +7/+2 | +5 | +2 | +2 | 1 | - | - | - | |||
| 8 | +8/+3 | +6 | +2 | +2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | |||
| 9 | +9/+4 | +6 | +3 | +3 | Disease mastery 2/week | 1 | 0 | - | - | ||
| 10 | +10/+5 | +7 | +3 | +3 | Smite enemy 3/day | 1 | 1 | - | - | ||
| 11 | +11/+6/+1 | +7 | +3 | +3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | |||
| 12 | +12/+7/+2 | +8 | +4 | +4 | Disease mastery 2/week | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | ||
| 13 | +13/+8/+3 | +8 | +4 | +4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | |||
| 14 | +14/+9/+4 | +9 | +4 | +4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |||
| 15 | +15/+10/+5 | +9 | +5 | +5 | Smite enemy 4/day, disease mastery 4/week | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 16 | +16/+11/+6/+1 | +10 | +5 | +5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 17 | +17/+12/+7/+2 | +10 | +5 | +5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |||
| 18 | +18/+13/+8/+3 | +11 | +6 | +6 | Disease mastery 5/week | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | ||
| 19 | +19/+14/+9/+4 | +11 | +6 | +6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | |||
| 20 | +20/+15/+10/+5 | +12 | +6 | +6 | Smite enemy 5/day | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | ||
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the paragon.
Weapon and Armour Proficiency: Paragons are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all types of armour (light, medium and heavy), and with shields (except tower shields).
Aura(Ex): A paragon os a chaotic, evil, good or lawful deity (or of the alignments themselves) has a particularly powerful aura corresponding to the alignment in question (see the detect evil spell for details).
Domain: A paragon selects one of the domains of her chosen deity. If a paragon of an alignment, she gains access to the associated domain instead (Chaos, Evil, Good or Law). She immediately gains access to the granted power of the domain, and adds the domain spells of 1st through 4th level to the list of paragon spells (see below).
Smite enemy: A paragon must declare a particular group as a chosen enemy. This should be an enemy of his deity or alignment. The choice of enemy can be quite broad, so a paragon might declare all servants of a rival deity as her enemy, all evil creatures, or all heretics within her own religion. Once per day, a paragon may attempt to smite a member of this enemy group with one normal melee attack. She adds her Charisma bonus (if any) to her attack roll and deals 1 extra point of damage per paragon level. For example, a 13th-level paragon armed with a longsword would deal 1d8+13 points of damage, plus any additional bonuses for high Strength or magical effects that would normally apply. If the paragon accidentally smites a creature that is not part of the enemy group, the smite has no effect, but the ability is still used up for that day.
At 5th level, and at every 5 levels thereafter, the paragon may smite her enemy one additional time per day, as indicated in the table above, to a maximum of five times per day at 20th level.
Divine Grace(Su): At 2nd level, a paragon gains a bonus equal to her Charisma bonus (if any) on all saving throws.
Lay on Hands (Su): Beginning at 2nd level, a paragon with a Charisma score of 12 or higher can heal or harm by touch. A good paragon gains the ability to heal wounds, while an evil paragon may inflict wounds. A neutral paragon may choose which ability to use, although once made this choice cannot be altered (a neutral paragon who heals by touch also turns undead, while one who inflicts by touch rebukes undead. See below.) Each day, she can heal or inflict a total number of hit points of damage equal to her paragon level x her Charisma bonus. For example, a good 7th level paragon with a 16 Charisma (+3 bonus) can heal 21 points of damage each day. A paragon may choose to divide this among multiple recipients, and she doesn't have to use it all at once. Using lay on hands is a standard action. Using this power to inflict wounds requires a successful touch attack, which does not provoke an attack of opportunity, and allows no saving throw.
When used on undead, a paragon who heals by touch can instead inflict damage, while one who inflicts wounds by touch instead heals. Using lay on hands to harm undead also requires a successful melee touch attack and does not provoke an attack of opportunity. The paragon decides how many of her daily allotment of points to use as damage after successfully touching an undead creature.
Aura of Courage(Su): Beginning at 3rd level, a paragon is immune to fear (magical or otherwise). Each ally within 10 feet of her gains a +4 morale bonus on saving throws against fear effects. This ability functions while the paragon is conscious, but not if she is unconscious or dead.
Divine Health(Ex): At 3rd level, a paragon gains immunity to all diseases, including supernatural and magical diseases (such as mummy rot and lycanthropy).
Turn or Rebuke Undead(Su): When a paragon reaches 4th level, she gains the supernatural ability to turn or rebuke undead. A paragon of good alignment can turn undead, while paragons of evil alignment rebuke undead. Neutral paragons may select whether to turn or rebuke undead, but once this choice is made, it cannot ever be changed. A paragon may use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + her Charisma modifier. She turns or rebukes undead as a cleric of three levels lower would.
Spells: Beginning at 4th level, a paragon gains the ability to cast a small number of divine spells (the same type of spells availabel to the cleric, druid and ranger), which must be drawn from the paragon spell list (see below). A paragon must choose and prepare her spells in advance.
To prepare or cast a spell, a paragon must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level (Wis 11 for 1st-level spells, Wis 12 for 2nd-level spells, and so forth). The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a paragon's spell is 10 + the spell level + the paragon's Wisdom modifier.
Like other spellcasters, a paragon can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily allotment is given in the table above. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Wisdom score (see the PHB). When the table indicates that the paragon gets 0 spells per day of a given spell level (for instance, 1st-level spells for a 4th-level paragon), she gains only the bonus spells she would be entitled to based on her Wisdom score for that spell level. The paragon has access to a single domain, but receives no additional spell slots for these spells; they must be selected from the paragon's regular allotment of spells instead.
A paragon prepares and casts spells the way a cleric does, though she cannot lose a prepared spell to spontaneously cast a cure or inflict spell in its place. A paragon may prepare and cast any spell on the paragon spell list, provided that she can cast spells of that level, but she must choose which spells to prepare during her daily meditation.
Through 3rd level, a paragon has no caster level. At 4th level and higher, her caster level is one-half her paragon level.
Chaotic, Evil, Good and Lawful Spells: A paragon can't cast spells of an alignment opposed to her own or her deity's (if she has one). For example, a neutral good paragon cannot cast evil spells. Spells associated with particular alignments are indicated by the chaos, evil, good and law descriptors in their spell descriptions.
Special Mount(Sp): Upon reaching 5th level, a paragon gains the service of an unusually intelligent, strong, and loyal steed to serve her. This mount is usually a heavy warhorse (for a Medium paragon) or warpony (for a Small paragon).
Once per day, as a full-round action, a paragon may magically call her mount from the celestial (or infernal) realms in which it resides. The mount immediately appears adjacent to the paragon and remains for 2 hours per paragon level; it may be dismissed at any time as a free action. The mount is the same creature each time it is summoned, though the paragon may release a particular mount from service (if it has grown to old to serve, for instance). Each time the mount is called, ir appears in full health, regardless of any damage it may have taken previously. The mount also appears wearing or carrying any gear it had when it was last dismissed (including barding, saddlebags, and the like). Calling a mount is a conjuration (calling) effect.
Should a paragon's mount die, it immediately disappears, leaving behind any equipment it was carrying. The paragon may not summon another mount for thirty days or until she gains a paragon level, whichever comes first, even if the mount is somehow returned from the dead. During this thirty-day period, the paragon takes a -1 penalty on attack and weapon damage rolls.
Disease Mastery (Sp): At 6th level, a paragon can channel energy to either create or remove diseases. A good paragon may produce a remove disease effect, as the spell, once per week, while an evil paragon produces a contagion effect. Neutral paragons may select which effect to generate, but once this choice is made it cannot be altered. Moreover, a neutral paragon who turns undead also removes disease, while one who rebukes undead also creates disease. A paragon may use this ability one additional time per week for every three levels after 6th, and indicated in the table above, to a maximum of five times per week at 18th level.
Code of Conduct: A paragon must maintain her alignment correctly at all times. A paragon who changes alignment, or willingly acts in a manner directly contrary to this alignment immediately loses all class abilities. Additionally, the paragon's code requires that she obey the commandments of her deity, and uphold the tenets of the corresponding religion, as would a cleric of the same faith.
Associates: While she may adventure with characters of any alignment within one step of her own (including diagonally), a paragon will never knowingly associate with characters of another alignment, nor will she continue an association with anyone who consistently offends her moral code. A paragon may accept only henchmen, followers or cohort who share her alignment exactly.
Ex-Paragons
A paragon who ceases to share the alignment of her deity, who willfully commits an act contrary to her alignment, or who grossly violates the code of conduct loses all paragon spells and abilities (including the service of the paragn's mount, but not weapons, armour and shield proficiencies). She may not progress any farther in levels as a paragon. She regains her abilities and advancement potential if she atones for her violations (see the atonement spell description), as appropriate.
Like a member of any other class, a paragon may be a multiclass character, but multiclass paragons face a special restriction. A paragon who gains a level in any class other than paragon may never again raise her paragon level, though she retains all her paragon abilities. The path of the paragon requires a constant heart. If a character adopts this class, she must pursue it to the exclusion of all other careers. Once she has turned off the path, she may never return.
Paragon Spell List
1st-level: Bane, Bless, Bless Water, Bless Weapon, Cause Fear, Corrupt Weapon, Create Water, Cure Light Wounds, Curse Water, Detect Chaos/Evil/Good/Law, Detect Poison, Detect Undead, Divine Favour, Doom, Endure Elements, Inflict Light Wounds, Magic Weapon, Protection from Chaos/Evil/Good/Law, Read Magic, Resistance, Restoration (Lesser), Summon Monster I, Virtue
2nd-level: Bull's Strength, Darkness, Death Knell, Delay Poison, Eagle's Splendour, Owl's Wisdom, Remove Paralysis, Resist Energy, Shatter, Shield Other, Summon Monster II, Undetectable Alignment, Zone of Truth
3rd-level: Blindness/Deafness, Cure Moderate Wounds, Daylight, Deeper Darkness, Discern Lies, Dispel Magic, Heal Mount, Inflict Moderate Wounds, Magic Circle against Chaos/Evil/Good/Law, Magic Weapon (Greater), Prayer, Protection from Elements, Remove Blindness/Deafness, Remove Curse, Summon Monster III
4th-level: Break Enchantment, Cure Serious Wounds, Death Ward, Dispel Chaos/Evil/Good/Law, Freedom of Movement, Holy Sword, Inflict Serious Wounds, Mark of Justice, Neutralise Poison, Poison, Restoration, Summon Monster IV
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