New Warpriest archetype idea: the Heartwarden


Homebrew and House Rules


Hello!

I'm brainstorming a new archetype for warpriests of Sune (a deity from the Forgotten Realms, with a portfolio resembling Shelyn with a dash of Callistria). This is based off the classic Heartwardens, which originated as a type of specialty priests in AD&D 2nd edition, then later a knightly order for paladins (yes, a chaotic good deity with paladins; those were the days) and a prestige class in the 3.x days.

Feel free to give me feedback, especially if you see balance issues. I suspect that most people will promptly propose to multiclass it with 2 levels of paladin, but that's on them :).

As it stamds, I suspect it's slightly weaker than the standard warpriest, since it's more MAD, but that is mostly a drawback to optimizers - I'm not a fan of dump scores myself. Even so, I did take it into account.

Heartwardens
The specialty priests of Sune

Heartwardens are an archetype for the Warpriest class of the Pathfinder roleplaying game. They function as the special emissaries of the faith of Sune in the Forgotten Realms, tasked with bringing inspiration to the despondent, grace to the downtrodden, and protection to those who create beauty. As such, it is a martial class and the Heartwardens are expected to be able to hold their own in a fight, if necessary, although they are encouraged to find non-combat means of conflict solution if at all possible.

Alongside the above tasks, they are charged with spreading the faith of Sune by example. As such, they should always aim to present themselves in a pleasing way and to encourage love, friendship and merriment in their wake by their words and actions.

Alignment: Heartwardens must be Chaotic Good or Neutral Good.

Class Skills: Heartwardens lose access to Intimidate and Knowledge (Engineering) as class skills, and gain Knowledge (History), Knowledge (Local), Knowledge (Nobility) and Perform (all). They have 4 skill points per level instead of 2. This changes the warpriest's class skills. They must at all times have maximum ranks in either one Craft or Perform skill, and are encouraged to develop further artistic abilties when they have reached their potential in a prior skill.

Weapon and Armour Proficiency: Heartwardens are proficient with simple and martial weapons, plus the sacred weapon of Sune (a wimple, sash or other ornamental piece of accoutrement used as a whip); they are proficient with light armour and bucklers, but not medium armour, heavy armour, or shields larger than bucklers. When using armour heavier than light, or shields heavier than a buckler, Heartwardens lose their AC bonus (see below).

AC Bonus (Su): Sune smiles upon those spreading her word, and protects those who show off her grace. As long as Heartwardens are unencumbered and not wearing any armour, nor shields (not even a buckler), they receive an Armour bonus equal to their Charisma bonus, to a maximum of twice their Heartwarden level.
In addition, they can, as a full round action, enhance their armour (either physical armour or the bonus armour from this ability). This grants a +1 Sacred bonus at 4th level, increasing to +2 at 7th and an additional +1 every 3 levels thereafter, to a maximum of +6 at 19th level. These bonuses can be used for special abilties off the following list: Calming, Fortification, Glamoured (counts as +1), or Harmonizing (counts as +3). The duration of this enhancement is one hour per Heartwarden level, or until she is no longer within eyesight of other people (whichever comes first). This works otherwise as Sacred Armour, and replaces that ability.

Blessings: Heartwardens can choose from the following Blessings: Charm, Glory, Good, Healing, Liberation. This is otherwise identical to the standard Blessings ability.

Fervor: The number of times per day that a Heartwarden can use Fervor is equal to 1/2 her Heartwarden level + her Charisma modifier, rather than 1/2 her Heartwarden level + her Wisdom modifier. It is otherwise unchanged.


A cool idea- I would ask though why the removal of the engineering class skill? If the focus is protecting and fostering love and creativity I would imagine something like engineering, which at its core is a type of creating, would be looked upon warmly by their goddess. I also wonder what you think of tieing one of their abilities to having a maxed out craft or preform stat, so instead of simply saying they must have a skill maxed out, perhaps if they don't they get fewer fervors or less blessings, or counted as a lower level for certain abilities etc, that way it feels like there's more personal choice involved, yanno?

I also wonder, since there's that emphasis on these artistic skills if you might give them an ability to use a fervor to grant a bonus on a preform or craft check? Maybe a once per day, grace-of-god kinda deal where they can expend a use of fervor and roll with advantage, or add the die they would normally heal to their result instead, that sort of thing. If you're worried about being underpowered that's a nice small boost that I think has good flavor. Another idea in this same vein is giving them the ability to use fervor like a cavalier uses their battle standards, since this class seems to revolve around helping and inspiring others. Giving them bonuses similar to a bard or cavalier when they use fervor allows them to fufill this role in a more technical sense I think. I don't know a lot about balance but I think those could be fun tweaks that give the archetype a little more personality and uniqueness


I've always felt that the Knowledge (Engineer) so many warrior types get is because of it's role in siege engineering, rather than inventions. I agree that were it for the letter, it wouldn't be a bad fit!

I do like the Fervor-for-arts concept, by the way. It's a good fit. What would you say regarding adding "Benevolent" to the list of Sacred Armour enchants, as a +1 equivalent?


I think it's a great fit, although I am curious as to why this archetype gains both sacred armor and a passive bonus to AC from their charisma. The sacred armor bonus they gain goes to +6, higher than most, but that makes sense with the loss of heavy armor, except that they also gain charisma AC as well if they're unarmed, which suddenly starts stacking up. By level 20 it's easy to get 30-35 charisma, meaning your AC is now + 21-22. The sacred fist archetype follows the monk armor path and gets rid of sacred armor all together. I would suggest balance wise replacing the sacred armor with something like the cavalier or bars inspire others abilities and just keep the charisma into AC, as that's the way similar archetypes made by paizo do it


Hmmm. I guess that's fair although a lot depend on the gaming environment you're used to. I tend to play in campaigns were wealth-by-level is ignored or reduced, and where magic-mart does not exist, so attributes tend to end up not to spiral out of control as much.

Also, since the spellcasting is still based on Wisdom, I figured Charisma would not run out of hand quite as much (especially since you'll want either dex or strength, plus some constitution, as well).

Do you feel that, with the above in mind, the Charisma will replace armour outright too early, and turn them into veritable charisma-turtles? I realize that in the long run it will happen, and that's part of the idea - Sune is all about being confident in your appeal, after all.

Mind, I'm not adverse, conceptually, to changing Sacred Armour to some kind of bardic-style inspiration ability, even though that seems like a really powerful exchange to me on first thought.


I should mention one of the reasons I'm so interested in this is my first big pathfinder character was a warpriest of Shelyn (hence the avatar). I started as a normal war priest and eventually went though a major character metamorphosis and was allowed by my DM to re-outfit myself as a sacred first so I could go the non-leathal route. I really love the flavor of this class, and think the idea of creating a archetype around a loving goddess of creation and crafts and love etc is awesome. I think the more you sort of step away from the regular path and tailor it to be your own unique archetype, the better off you'll be


To reply to your comments though, I don't play the game regularly or claim to have any skill in balancing or anything like that. I just noticed that it was possible to double stack your AC which I thought could scale quickly, and in a party with lots of other adventurers if you have one character who's AC rapidly surpasses others it can be difficult for a GM to balance encounters. I agree with all the points you've brought up, and don't think there's really a right or wrong way to do it, I just simply noticed other content produced by this game did things a bit differently and thought I'd bring it up. I know for instance that sacred fist gets ki-points instead of sacred armor and is basically ends up a monk with some modifications. So if you want to stay closer to the warpriest idea you might want to ignore everything I'm saying and try to keep it within one class. The things I noted were just abilities that I thought I might have enjoyed when I played my character before if that makes sense


Oh, I hear you! One of my first was a paladin of Shelyn. Spent a trait to get Perform, since that was more important than Percpetion, obviously. Not everyone agreed with me, but I'm pretty sure I made the right choice for her.


The more I think about it, the more I feel that you are correct. I had wanted to use an Armour bonus, rather than a Dodge bonus, to reduce stacking opportunities, but I see how this may actually work against it.

AC Bonus (Su): Sune smiles upon those spreading her word, and protects those who show off Her grace with confidence. As long as Heartwardens are unencumbered and not wearing any armour, nor shields (not even a buckler), they receive a Sacred bonus to their AC equal to their Charisma bonus. This effect requires no activation, and works similarly to the Monk ability of the same name, with two exceptions: it works at all times (even when helpless or immobilized), and it does not add to CMD. As with the Monk ability, this bonus increases by +1 at 4th level and every four levels thereafter, to a maximum of +5 at 20th level.

Fervor: The number of times per day that a Heartwarden can use Fervor is equal to 1/2 her Heartwarden level + her Charisma modifier, rather than 1/2 her Heartwarden level + her Wisdom modifier. In addition to the other uses a warpriest has for Fervor, a Heartwarden can choose to spend a use of Fervor and add +1 per die to the bonus granted by an Aid Another attempt (eg, +2 at 5th level).

Mercy: At 5th level and every five levels thereafter, Heartwardens learn to heal others (and themselves) to a greater extend than other warpriests are able to. This works identical to the Paladin ability of the same name, using Fervor instead of Laying on Hands. The Paladin's 3rd level Mercy is gained at 5th level, the 6th level at 10, the 9th level at 15, and the 12th level at 20. This replaces all versions of Sacred Armour.


A very cool idea! I think it fits nicely within the team player theme you've got going on. Combine that with the healing blessing (my favorite one) and you're gonna be one mean, fervor machine. I can just imagine citizens fleeing as the local library is burned down by marauding barbarians. A Warpriest, clad in a simple white robe with the symbol of Sune emblazoned upon the chest places a hand upon one of the terrified townsfolk and the sudden feeling of relief is nearly indescribable as a wave of warm healing energy knits the skin under his burns together again. A sense of peace and calm falls over him as the warpriest stands, almost glowing in the light of the flames. The bandits aren't yet afraid of the woman approaching, but villager knows they will be soon. Perhaps though, if Sune sees fit to spare them, they can be taught a better way of life an make amends for their misdeeds.

I hope you find a place to put your archetype to good use! I'll be keeping an eye out for any other homebrew stuff you post in the future


Thank you1

I don't post homebrew stuff very often, but at times there's a lacuna where a moment of inspiration and a whisper of grace can find a way.

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