Cortillaen's page

I think you discount Paladin a bit too much and give Redeemer a bit too much credit, but I'm happy to see someone who appreciates the power Liberator actually wields. I also think each cause really needs an "Overall" rating combining the Reaction, Divine Smite, and Exalt, along with consideration of their cause-specific feat options, for the simple reason that they are package deals. Some may have a weaker reaction but a stronger Exalt, for example. All three reactions provide the same base damage mitigation, so that can be mostly discounted for purposes of comparing them. Likewise with the effect of the Divine Smite, while the trigger is what changes. It may also become apparent that I find the three causes surprisingly well balanced, certainly more than I expect going in to examine options.

Paladin - 3-stars overall, but 4-stars for players wanting specifically to make an offense-oriented Champion; the low-benefit Exalt is what really hurts

Paladin is clearly the offensive Champion of the three. Retributive Strike is effectively an attack of opportunity (albeit with a different trigger and larger range). Ranged Reprisal is almost a must-take for any Paladin. You won't care about the ranged weapons part since it doesn't remove the "within 15ft" part of Retributive Strike's trigger, but effectively expanding your reach, to the whole trigger range of Retributive Strike if you have a Reach weapon, is gold. All three reactions are great at what they are supposed to do, so we're starting with a base of 3-stars

Divine Smite - 3-stars

The Divine Smite triggers on a successful hit with that attack, so it's only moderately reliable. Nothing much else to say about it.

Exalt - 2-stars

The Exalt looks exciting but is actually a disappointment. It provides nearby allies with an ersatz Attack of Opportunity, but at a -5 penalty to the attack roll. Note that I'm actually assuming the -5 penalty is to the attack roll because the feature doesn't specify; it could be to damage, or to both. In any case, this ability is disappointing because characters who care about having a reaction attack usually already have access to one (Fighters, Barbarians, Rangers, Monks, and Rogues all have varying versions) long before you get this Exalt, and the ones who don't have access to reaction attacks (Clerics, Druids, Bards, Wizards, Sorcerers, and Alchemists) will usually have poor attack rolls and weak damage to begin with. They also have to be in melee reach of the target, not where most of them will want to be. That said, the Exalt can provide a little bit of extra damage and gets better if other non-Fighter martials have something they desperately want to take instead of their reaction attack, so it's not awful.

Aura of Vengeance - 2-stars

If you can afford to throw both a 2nd-level and 14th-level feat at it to pick up Aura of Vengeance, you can reduce the penalty on those Exalt reaction attacks to only -2 (still no confirmation on attack roll or damage), which makes it a more viable option for letting other martials pass on taking their own reaction attack feats. The cost is just pretty severe for something so dependent on your party dynamic for value, and the different positioning and trigger requirements may also make a difference.

Vengeful Oath - 1/2-stars

Paladin is interesting for granting a unique 2nd-level Oath feat: Vengeful Oath. Too bad it's pretty meh. Dealing 1d6 per focus spell level to an enemy is rarely going to be a worthwhile use of that focus point when you could just hit them instead. Having that "Back on your feat, buddy!" in your back pocket is just too handy. One caveat is the secondary effect of using Lay on Hands for damage if your party doesn't have many sources of Status penalties that affect AC (Frightened, Sickened, Clumsy, etc). That -2 penalty for a round is wonderful in a martial-heavy party, though targeting Fortitude to proc it is a little rough. This is also a prereq for Aura of Vengeance, unfortunately.

Blade of Justice - 2/3-stars

The other Paladin feat is Blade of Justice, and I have mixed opinions on it. It's similar to Power Attack but costs a much higher feat slot in exchange for triggering your Divine Smite damage and Exalt effect, but the Exalt isn't much use to trigger more than once per turn anyway. Probably quite good for fighting things with Good weakness and Evil creatures with physical resistances, but just alright otherwise.

Redeemer - 3-stars overall, but 4-stars for defense-focused players; the Exalt and 1st-level feat aren't likely to fulfil their potential

Redeemer is just as clearly the defensive Champion. Glimpse of Redemption will usually slap bruisers with a nasty debuff, but some enemies may choose to just negate their own damage to avoid the debuff. Simple, easy to use, and powerful defense. One thing to note, though: Effects that trigger on a hit (like some poisons, other afflictions, and the Grab effect some enemies have) will still trigger even if the enemy chooses to do no damage. Some effects specify that they need to do damage to proc additional effects, but many just require a hit.

Divine Smite - 4-stars

Ironically, this is the easiest smite to proc, giving Redeemers the most reliable way to trigger that persistant Good burnin'. At the same time, it also provides an even stronger incentive for enemies to just negate their whole attack damage.

Exalt - 2-stars

Like the Paladin, the Exalt is the weakest part of the Redeemer package. You get to apply the damage resistance (slightly reduced) to yourself and all allies within 15ft, which sounds great for screwing over those Fireball-chucking enemy casters. Problem is, the 15-foot range is rarely going to encompass the enemy using the AoE, and the Exalt doesn't modify Glimpse of Redemption's trigger requiring the enemy to be within 15ft of you. It might be handy for things like Dragons that don't mind being in the middle of the melee when they pop an AoE (although Dragons have few reasons not to spend a single action flying a bajillion feet to line up the perfect blast from outside your anemic range), but it's just not going to be the caster-frustrator it sounds like initially.

Weight of Guilt - 2-stars

The stupified condition is brutal to casters (it's worse than Enfeebled and Dazzled combined for bruisers), but good luck applying it very often. Most self-respecting casters are going to stay away from your party, and you really don't want to go running after them. Even if you get right in their face, if their target isn't also nearby, you're out of luck. This will most commonly be useful after the caster's companions are gone, and the battle is already done at that point.

Lasting Doubt - 3-stars

All of the above applies to this in regards to casters, and making the Stupified last longer really doesn't help the vast majority of the time. Slapping two enemies (once you have Divine Reflexes) with effectively-permanent Enfeebled 1 each turn, though, that's just good fun.

Liberator - I really want to give this 4-stars, but that Divine Smite... I'll call it 3-stars, but 4-stars if your party builds tactics around your granted movement.

Liberator is what I call the "technical" Champion, the one that can do both offense and defense but depends on a party that plans for his abilities to get the most out of them. Liberating Step can get allies out of reach or into better position to start their own turns. This one has been panned by a lot of other reviewers, so I'm glad to see someone recognizing just how powerful it can be. You can cost a melee enemy an extra action to chase their target and often prevent a second attack that turn, you can help your martial buddy step into a flanking position before his turn or just get in the perfect spot to unleash an Attack of Opportunity, and so many other uses. The power of this effect is most dependent on how tactical your party is.

Divine Smite - 1-star

And then the cause falls flat on its face. This is going to be far and away the least common Smite to trigger. Worth noting that it does appear to trigger even on a simple attack so long as the attacker is also doing bondage things to the target, like an animal that has your ally Grabbed and then bites them... except for the part where most animals are immune to Good damage, but you get what I mean. In two games I'm played with a Liberator, I have never seen the conditions for this activated. I'm sure it will on occasion, but the other two Smites will be way more consistent.

Exalt - 4-stars

Luckily, the Exalt is incredible to make up for the garbage Smite. Everything great about Liberating Step gets applied to you and all allies in your 15ft range. Reposition the whole party out of danger or turn an enemy-inviting formation into a deathtrap. If you can plan out how your party will (ab)use this (especially after getting Divine Reflexes), it is immensely powerful in a game that turns so heavily on positioning. The Tactician in your group is probably salivating at the mention of a Liberator in the party.

Unimpeded Step - 2/3-stars

This is really meh most of the time. Handy when it is applicable, but rarely applicable. The usefulness scales up fast as you pick up the Exalt and Divine Reflexes, though, since more Steps means more chances they will need to Step through difficult terrain.

Liberating Stride - 3-stars
It's not Exalt-levels of awesome, but this can still be very nice. Note that the movement becomes a Stride (so it triggers reactions) and halving 25ft is only 10ft because of rounding down (but who doesn't grab Fleet and/or Nimble Elf and try to get a source of Longstrider by 12th-level). Turning 1 square of movement into 3 or more isn't sexy, but it'll open up some brilliant off-turn maneuvers for your party.