The True King - A Simple Paladin Archetype


Homebrew and House Rules


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As kingdoms and empires squabble relentlessly over land and resources, the gods of law and justice sometimes choose more than just a champion for a cause; they choose a king (or queen) to rule. True Kings are divinely ordained individuals appointed by the forces of order and good to tame lands of conflict into realms of peace. Though rare, even amongst other paladins, they are few and far between for a reason: they are the intended sovereigns of all nations not yet founded.

Bend the Knee! (Ex): The True King adds Intimidate to his class skill list. He adds 1/2 his paladin level to intimidation checks against sentient evil creatures. His paladin code prohibits the use of this skill on good creatures.

Divine Right (Su): The gods see fit to assign soldiers to your cause. At 5th level, the True King gains the Leadership feat, even if he does not meet the prerequisites. His paladin level is treated as 2 levels higher when determining the level and number of their cohort and followers.
This replaces Divine Bond.

The King's Justice (Su):
At 11th level, your just deeds extend throughout your soldiers. This functions just like Aura of Justice, but only effects the True King's followers and cohort as long as they are within 20ft of the True King.
This replaces and augments Aura of Justice.


I like the concept.

I would amend Bend the Knee slightly to say that his code prohobits knowingly using Intimidate against good creatures. You might want this ability to replace something, instead of just getting something for free.

I think you should dump Divine Right. First off, some GMs don't want the Leadership feat in theirgame. Secondly, a divinely enchanted weapon would be a great fit for this class (Ever heard of Excalibur?).


Ciaran Barnes wrote:

I like the concept.

I would amend Bend the Knee slightly to say that his code prohobits knowingly using Intimidate against good creatures. You might want this ability to replace something, instead of just getting something for free.

I think you should dump Divine Right. First off, some GMs don't want the Leadership feat in theirgame. Secondly, a divinely enchanted weapon would be a great fit for this class (Ever heard of Excalibur?).

You are right about everything, I'm afraid. I just wanted to take the historic idea of "the divine right of kings" and make it a game thing. Perhaps someone else can make the concept work in another way.


I would change some of the class features so the class is a little better at group buffing. Paladin already has a bit of that, with auras and healing, but maybe lose spellcasting for improved auras.


Could give them an aura like an archon that works against evil creatures. That'd be pretty fun. If you stack that with something (maybe 1/day) that buffs the aura into something that also helps allies out similar to a bard's song, that could be useful and much more manageable than Leadership.

You could go further, too, if you wanted an aura archetype, and do funky things like dole out Inquisitor judgments to your allies, probably starting with the basic bonuses around level 5 and replacing spell casting. Could follow the Skirmisher Ranger's lead and have a list of buffs to certain auras that the Paladin chooses from so they can tailor it to their party's needs.

I like that idea. I'm going to make that now, I think.... =P

Shadow Lodge

Maybe look at the auras from dragon shamen, and take some of the feel of 2e to grant special abilities should they get their hands on a holy avenger sword.

Scarab Sages

I actually would endorse changing Divine Right so that you don't get Leadership, per se, but you do get a small coterie of lesser knightly comrades (so, more like Charlemagne's historical Paladins than King Arthur's idealized ones).


I'm Hiding In Your Closet wrote:
I actually would endorse changing Divine Right so that you don't get Leadership, per se, but you do get a small coterie of lesser knightly comrades (so, more like Charlemagne's historical Paladins than King Arthur's idealized ones).

I'm not sure those historical paladins would live up to the ideals of that class. :)

Scarab Sages

Jaelithe wrote:
I'm Hiding In Your Closet wrote:
I actually would endorse changing Divine Right so that you don't get Leadership, per se, but you do get a small coterie of lesser knightly comrades (so, more like Charlemagne's historical Paladins than King Arthur's idealized ones).
I'm not sure those historical paladins would live up to the ideals of that class. :)

Hey, I'm not saying otherwise. Call what we're doing "progress."


Jaelithe wrote:
I'm Hiding In Your Closet wrote:
I actually would endorse changing Divine Right so that you don't get Leadership, per se, but you do get a small coterie of lesser knightly comrades (so, more like Charlemagne's historical Paladins than King Arthur's idealized ones).
I'm not sure those historical paladins would live up to the ideals of that class. :)

They don't have to. That's the job of the character picking this archetype.


Icyshadow wrote:
Jaelithe wrote:
I'm Hiding In Your Closet wrote:
I actually would endorse changing Divine Right so that you don't get Leadership, per se, but you do get a small coterie of lesser knightly comrades (so, more like Charlemagne's historical Paladins than King Arthur's idealized ones).
I'm not sure those historical paladins would live up to the ideals of that class. :)
They don't have to. That's the job of the character picking this archetype.

Dude ... it was a joke—hence the smiley face.


I was not being super serious with my comment either. :P

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