Variant Custom-made Character #8: The Paladin


Homebrew and House Rules


Korress (Female Half-Elf Paladin)

Skill:
STR 1d10 []+1 []+2 []+3 []+4 Melee +2
DEX 1d4 []+1 []+2
CON 1d6 []+1 []+2 Fortitude +1
INT 1d6 []+1 []+2
WIS 1d6 []+1
CHA 1d10 []+1 []+2 []+3 []+4 Divine +1, Diplomacy +2

Card: Favored Card Type: Weapon
Weapon 3 []4 []5
Spell - []1 []2 []3
Armor 2 []3
Item -
Ally 4 []5
Blessing 6 []7 []8 []9

Power: Hand Size 4 []5 []6
light Armor [x] Heavy Armor [x] Weapons [x]
* You may recharge a card with the divine trait to have a character at your location recharge a random card ([]2 random cards) from your discard pile.

*You may recharge a card to add 1d6 ([]with the magic trait) to a check to defeat a bane.

Here's my paladin. He has a limited form of regeneration, but it costs him is ability to explore. I have a couple of ideas for roles kicking around in my brain, but I wanted to get this out there before I got pulled away by work. As always, I welcome comments and feedback!


First, you double posted.
Second, your first power should say, "their" discard pile instead of "your" discard pile.
And third, your power says nothing about costing an explore, what do you mean by your last line? (Or do you mean it cost an explore because you have to use a blessing with which you could have explored again?)


@Fenris: Not sure, but he might be referring to the fact you can't use the blessing to explore (since that's probably the divine card you're using. Not sure, though

@Vrog: I like her overall. I'm glad you got Divine on Cha where it belongs. I have a couple thoughts:

1. You might want to consider rewording the first power to something like this:
You may recharge a card with the divine check to have a character at your location recharge 1 ([] 2) random card(s) from their discard pile.

2. Is the second power supposed to work on anyone? It looks like it does, but based on the die size I was thinking it was meant only for yourself. If you do want to have it affect anyone, I'd suggest lowering it to d4 (compare to Harsk & Lem), and possibly exchanging a hand-size increase for an optional +1.
a) You may recharge a card to add 1d6 ([] with the magic trait) to your check to defeat a bane.
b) You may recharge a card to add 1d4 []+1 ([] with the magic trait) to a check to defeat a bane.


ya, I meant that by burning blessings, you have less explores than a comparable character would.

You are correct, Fenris235, I should have made it "their" instead of "your".

Isaic16: While either is fine grammatically, I have no problem changing a to 1. and yes, I should have made it clear that it's her own check to defeat a bane.

I'll get updates posted here momentarily.


Korress (Female Half-Elf Paladin)

Skill:
STR 1d10 []+1 []+2 []+3 []+4 Melee +2
DEX 1d4 []+1 []+2
CON 1d6 []+1 []+2 Fortitude +1
INT 1d6 []+1 []+2
WIS 1d6 []+1
CHA 1d10 []+1 []+2 []+3 []+4 Divine +1, Diplomacy +2

Card: Favored Card Type: Weapon
Weapon 3 []4 []5
Spell - []1 []2 []3
Armor 2 []3
Item -
Ally 4 []5
Blessing 6 []7 []8 []9

Power: Hand Size 4 []5 []6
light Armor [x] Heavy Armor [x] Weapons [x]
* You may recharge a card with the divine trait to have a character at your location recharge 1 random card ([]2 random cards) from your discard pile.

*You may recharge a card to add 1d6 ([]with the magic trait) to your check to defeat a bane.

Updated with suggestions above. I'm still kicking around ideas on what to do for paths (as I have no idea, tbh). Thanks for the feedback, and I'd welcome suggestions on what paths to take!


Vrog Skyreaver wrote:

Korress (Female Half-Elf Paladin)

Skill:
STR 1d10 []+1 []+2 []+3 []+4 Melee +2
DEX 1d4 []+1 []+2
CON 1d6 []+1 []+2 Fortitude +1
INT 1d6 []+1 []+2
WIS 1d6 []+1
CHA 1d10 []+1 []+2 []+3 []+4 Divine +1, Diplomacy +2

Card: Favored Card Type: Weapon
Weapon 3 []4 []5
Spell - []1 []2 []3
Armor 2 []3
Item -
Ally 4 []5
Blessing 6 []7 []8 []9

Power: Hand Size 4 []5 []6
light Armor [x] Heavy Armor [x] Weapons [x]
* You may recharge a card with the divine trait to have a character at your location recharge 1 random card ([]2 random cards) from your discard pile.

*You may recharge a card to add 1d6 ([]with the magic trait) to your check to defeat a bane.

Updated with suggestions above. I'm still kicking around ideas on what to do for paths (as I have no idea, tbh). Thanks for the feedback, and I'd welcome suggestions on what paths to take!

Here are some thoughts I had for roles you might take:

One of a Paladin't biggest decision is their Divine Bond, so you could have a role focused on the weapon bond, and another focused on the mount bond.
Similar to Seelah's card, you could have an offense and defense focused role.
Another option would be a role built more around diplomacy and getting along, versus a more combat focus.

Hope that gives you some thoughts!


I like the divine bond ability for a role, so I think i'll go with that.

I'll have something posted shortly here.


Role: Shining Knight
Hand Size: 4 []5 []6
* You may recharge a card with the divine trait to have a character at your location recharge 1 random card ([]2 random cards) from their discard pile.

*You may recharge a card to add 1d6 []+1 []+2 ([]with the magic trait) to your check to defeat a bane.

[]When you play an ally with the animal trait, you may recharge it ([]or put it on top of your deck) instead of discarding it.

[]When you are making a combat check, you may discard ([]recharge) an ally to add it's difficulty to acquire to your combat check.

[]When you play a blessing of Abadar, you may recharge it instead of discarding it ([]Or put it on top of your deck).

Role: Warrior of The Holy Light
Hand Size: 4 []5 []6 []7
* You may recharge a card with the divine trait to have a character at your location recharge 1 random card ([]2 random cards) ([]3 random cards)from their discard pile.

*You may recharge a card to add 1d6 ([]with the magic trait) ([]and/or the fire or acid trait) to your check to defeat a bane.

[]You may recharge weapons instead of discarding them.

[]You may recharge a card to look at the top card of your location deck. If it is a bane, you may encounter it.

[]Add +2 []+4 to your checks to acquire a weapon ([]or armor).

[]When you play a blessing of Abadar, you may recharge it instead of discarding it.


Overall, it looks pretty good. I don't have a good gauge on how powerful the add ally to your check, or encounter a bane for recharge is (I'd consider using 'must encounter' instead of 'may' to add a bit more downside to it). I'm also not sure about the flavor of a shining knight recharging animals, but I'm betting it makes sense in context.

Let me know how it goes!


Character Name: Verdrea

Role: Knight

STR 1d10 []+1[]+2[]+3[]+4 Melee +2
DEX 1d4 []+1
CON 1d10[]+1[]+2 +1 Fortitude
INT 1d4 []+1
WIS 1d8 []+1[]+2[]+3[]+4 +2 Divine
CHA 1d6 []+1[]+2[]+3 +1 Diplomacy

Weapons 3 []4[]5
Armor 5 []6[]7[]8
Spell 2 []3[]4
Item -
Ally 1[]2
Blessing 4[]5[]6
Favored card type: Armor

Proficient +L Armor +H Armor +Weapons
Hand Size 4 []5 []6

*Armor does not count against your hand size
*May Reveal a shield card to add +2 to Melee check
*Once at the beginning of your turn you may choose a character at your location to recharge one card from their discard pile into their deck [] hand

Still working on the other roles. I wanted to make armor a better choice for the paladin character to have as a favored card.


First advise, keep the numbered bonis behind the skills, it´s easier to read that way.

Secondly, I would change all of your powers slightly.

I would change your first to: If you have a Card with the Armor trait in hand, your Hand Size is increased by 1.
With this you can have 1 free armor in your hand and couldn´t end up with a "theoretical" hand size of 9+. Perhaps upgradable to +1 per armor on a role card.

You should add to your second power that it only works if the Melee check doesn´t have the 2-hand trait. Would fit the theme of a shield bash.

And for your last power, either make it a random card, or drop the power feat for the hand. Beeing able to use the same card every single turn (for free) is really big.
(Oh, and you are missing a power feat.)

These are my 2 cents, and as always, i hope they are helpful.


Fenris235 wrote:

First advise, keep the numbered bonis behind the skills, it´s easier to read that way.

Secondly, I would change all of your powers slightly.

I would change your first to: If you have a Card with the Armor trait in hand, your Hand Size is increased by 1.
With this you can have 1 free armor in your hand and couldn´t end up with a "theoretical" hand size of 9+. Perhaps upgradable to +1 per armor on a role card.

You should add to your second power that it only works if the Melee check doesn´t have the 2-hand trait. Would fit the theme of a shield bash.

And for your last power, either make it a random card, or drop the power feat for the hand. Beeing able to use the same card every single turn (for free) is really big.
(Oh, and you are missing a power feat.)

These are my 2 cents, and as always, i hope they are helpful.

Thanks a ton. That was my very first try at making a character. Leading a group of five people with the regular box characters through Pathfinder right now and was thinking that afterward we could all try creating new characters and going through the game again. I'll keep working on it while reading how others are making their characters especially the Paladin since Sheela seems to be the person struggling the most in our group.


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I'd be curious how that armor power works in practice. One major potential pitfall I see is that it effectively reduces your starting deck size to 10 (Since there's no option, you'd have to draw right past your armors). This could serve to make you exceptionally vulnerable. I might consider an option like Fenris suggested, or give you the option once you reset your hand to reveal armor to draw extra cards (something Orbis suggested in another thread).

I concur with Fenris' thoughts about the second and third power.

For your skills, you seem to have a fair number, especially compared to Seelah, who only had melee and divine (and both were on a d8). On the other hand, Fort is not a gamebreaker, and diplomacy being only d6+1 also shouldn't set off any alarms. I'd strongly consider dropping one of your +2's to a +1, but if you want to give it a try as is, I'm not gonna fuss.

I only see 3 power feats on her card right now, am I missing one?

Overall, it's an interesting design. It certainly breaks some new ground that might be interesting to experiment with. The terminology also needs cleaning up to work rules-wise, but it's easy enough to understand. Let me know how it goes!


isaic16 wrote:

I'd be curious how that armor power works in practice. One major potential pitfall I see is that it effectively reduces your starting deck size to 10 (Since there's no option, you'd have to draw right past your armors). This could serve to make you exceptionally vulnerable. I might consider an option like Fenris suggested, or give you the option once you reset your hand to reveal armor to draw extra cards (something Orbis suggested in another thread).

I concur with Fenris' thoughts about the second and third power.

For your skills, you seem to have a fair number, especially compared to Seelah, who only had melee and divine (and both were on a d8). On the other hand, Fort is not a gamebreaker, and diplomacy being only d6+1 also shouldn't set off any alarms. I'd strongly consider dropping one of your +2's to a +1, but if you want to give it a try as is, I'm not gonna fuss.

I only see 3 power feats on her card right now, am I missing one?

Overall, it's an interesting design. It certainly breaks some new ground that might be interesting to experiment with. The terminology also needs cleaning up to work rules-wise, but it's easy enough to understand. Let me know how it goes!

Ok, how about this, cause I've been thinking about it while playing through adventure deck 1 yesterday with my buddies.

Power 1.-May equip one chest and shield armor card on character card (Basically helps with hand management)
Power 2.-If combat damage from a bane has been reduced to 0 using equipped armor without banishing the armor, bane is defeated. (quite powerful, still confusing but I'm working on it :P )
Power 3.-reveal a shield or have one equipped on character card to add +2 to melee if your melee check doesn't use the 2-handed trait.
Power 4.-May use equipped armor to reduce combat damage for characters at your location, (Power 2 applies).

Eh? Better armor ideas?


Matt Scott 90 wrote:


Ok, how about this, cause I've been thinking about it while playing through adventure deck 1 yesterday with my buddies.

Power 1.-May equip one chest and shield armor card on character card (Basically helps with hand management)
Power 2.-If combat damage from a bane has been reduced to 0 using equipped armor without banishing the armor, bane is defeated. (quite powerful, still confusing but I'm working on it :P )
Power 3.-reveal a shield or have one equipped on character card to add +2 to melee if your melee check doesn't use the 2-handed trait.
Power 4.-May use equipped armor to reduce combat damage for characters at your location, (Power 2 applies).

Eh? Better armor ideas?

Power 2 is way too powerful, IMO, it makes armor into super luckstones for combat. The other powers could work with some tinkering. Playtest and let us know.


A few point/observations:

Power 1: There is no game terminology "equip" so you'll have to explain it in actual game terms. I'll assume you mean something like "display X card next to your character card; it still counts as being in your hand".

That's fine, but this functionally serves no purpose. Keep in mind that there is no actual rule stating that you hand must be physically in your hand and/or secret. Many people play with their cards face-up on the table for all to see.

If your intent was that it does not count toward your hand size, I think Fenris said it best: "If you have a Card with the Armor trait in hand, your Hand Size is increased by 1." Whether you hold the card or set it down is up to you.

Power 2: Take a look at "Greater Luckstone" (Item-4):

Greater Luckstone wrote:
If you would fail a check by 2 or less, you may bury this card to succeed.

And consider Chainmail, which reduces combat damage 2 on a recharge. You've basically turned your basic starting armor into one of these, (albeit for combat only), given it a much reduced cost (recharge vs. bury), and given yourself 5 -> 8 of them in your deck (when GLS is unique).

I don't have words to describe how overpowered this is.

Power 3: I don't see an issue with this power (the "equipped" status is still ineffectual though).

Power 4: I also don't see an issue with this, except the "Power 2 applies" part; aside from the issues pointed out above, I think the use of armor to reduce combat damage for others would be powerful enough.

EDIT: Point 2 was ninja'ed by jones314!


Flat the Impaler wrote:

A few point/observations:

Power 1: There is no game terminology "equip" so you'll have to explain it in actual game terms. I'll assume you mean something like "display X card next to your character card; it still counts as being in your hand".

That's fine, but this functionally serves no purpose. Keep in mind that there is no actual rule stating that you hand must be physically in your hand and/or secret. Many people play with their cards face-up on the table for all to see.

If your intent was that it does not count toward your hand size, I think Fenris said it best: "If you have a Card with the Armor trait in hand, your Hand Size is increased by 1." Whether you hold the card or set it down is up to you.

Power 2: Take a look at "Greater Luckstone" (Item-4):

Greater Luckstone wrote:
If you would fail a check by 2 or less, you may bury this card to succeed.

And consider Chainmail, which reduces combat damage 2 on a recharge. You've basically turned your basic starting armor into one of these, (albeit for combat only), given it a much reduced cost (recharge vs. bury), and given yourself 5 -> 8 of them in your deck (when GLS is unique).

I don't have words to describe how overpowered this is.

Power 3: I don't see an issue with this power (the "equipped" status is still ineffectual though).

Power 4: I also don't see an issue with this, except the "Power 2 applies" part; aside from the issues pointed out above, I think the use of armor to reduce combat damage for others would be powerful enough.

EDIT: Point 2 was ninja'ed by jones314!

I haven't gotten into anything past adventure 1 cards so I had no idea about the greater luck stone. Maybe i'm going about Armor all wrong to make it new and could avoid it altogether making a new character. The mechanics make it seem like a waste of hand space and pisses off my friend who is playing Seelah currently. Oh well, back to the drawing board.


Matt Scott 90 wrote:


I haven't gotten into anything past adventure 1 cards so I had no idea about the greater luck stone. Maybe i'm going about Armor all wrong to make it new and could avoid it altogether making a new character. The mechanics make it seem like a waste of hand space and pisses off my friend who is playing Seelah currently. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

Maybe don't give up on trying to make an armor-friendly paladin. Take a look at this thread. Also keep in mind that armor sometimes seems like a drag on your character until the time it really saves your bacon. Especially later adventures really smack around your characters. I played a campaign with Seelah where she was the character that never seemed in danger of dying when the rest of us skated dangerously close.


If the main problem you have with armor is that it takes up valuable space in hand, I think the "if armor in hand, then increase hand size by 1" power somewhat mitigates that. Or consider a character power (or house rule) along the lines of "When you reset your hand, you may recharge an armor card" instead.

There's no need to go overboard. Make small tweaks to address the issue, then test. Don't go making major overhauls that break the game, especially if you haven't played beyond adventure 1 (it's hard to judge what works and what doesn't work based on such a limited experience).

Or try a different character that doesn't have (as much) armor. If I hate how the play/recharge aspect of spells, why would I choose a spell caster?


Aha! I'm back procrastinating on homework to bring you another crazy probably overpowered Idea for a character :P (At least I'm being creative right?) What do you think?

Yes she starts out weaker than most with D6's to everything, but increases faster than other classes as well. It should be considered a blank slate style class that specializes in support of other characters through her powers.

Adventurer Class
SKILLS
STRENGTH d6 ☐+2 ☐+4 ☐+6
DEXTERITY d6 ☐+2☐+4 ☐+6☐+8
CONSTITUTION d6 ☐+2 ☐+4
INTELLIGENCE d6 ☐+2 ☐+4
WISDOM d6 ☐+2 ☐+4
CHARISMA d6 ☐+2 ☐+4

Reflexes: Dexterity +2
Perception: Wisdom +1
Survival: Wisdom +2
POWERS
HAND SIZE 7 ☐8☐9
PROFICIENT WITH X Light Armor ☐Heavy Armor ☐Weapons

Akiala is considered dead when she does not have any cards from her deck to draw from, and her hand is empty.

At the start of your turn you may look at the bottom card of a location deck, if it is a boon you may encounter it immediately ☐ Or exchange it for a random boon of that type from the box.

You may give up to three cards instead of one to other players at the start of your turn ☐ If you give two or more cards take one random blessing from the box and put it in your hand.

May use cards that allow exploration to be used on other characters at your location.

CARDS
WEAPON 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4
SPELL - ☐ - ☐ - ☐ -
ARMOR 1 ☐ 3 ☐ 4
ITEM 4 ☐ 5 ☐ 6
ALLY 4 ☐ 5
BLESSING 4 ☐ 5 ☐ 7
Favored Card Type: Blessing


I think a different character deserves its own thread.

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