Luhood's page

I guess one big question is: Why?

I mean, what about Pharasma makes her unavailable to Paladins? A Paladin isn't prevented from following a Neutral Deity as long as that deity doesn't work in Evil ways, but more importantly as long as the Paladin himself doesn't do Evil deeds. Pharasma wants her followers to take down the Undead and those who raise them, something Paladins can be rather good at.

Or in this case: A Paladin "of Pharasma" would most likely be a prominent Undead Hunter, out to deal with Necromancy and protect those who risk being harmed by it. They hunt down Undead and Necromancers whenever they find out about them, they give worship on days important to Pharasma's church, they help mothers give birth when they run upon them and they oversee funerals, and all in all they uphold the things important to Pharasma. Other than that, in regards to how much they follow different parts of Pharasma's tenets it's really all up in the air as long as they stay true to the core (Kill the Undead!) and stay Paladin-y.

I guess what I'm asking is: What is it you want to do with it that separates it from an ordinary Paladin or Anti-Paladin?

The Holy Grace - Swashbuckler/Paladin
While most Paladins normally favour a large sword and a tough armour the Holy Grace instead favours speed and manoeuvrability. A healing hand and a scarring blade, the Holy Grace is a giver in more than one way.

The Spellsword - Swashbuckler/Magus(ES)
With a rapier in one hand and a spell in the other, the Spellsword is both an arcane and a martial force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. He may not be the most flexible spellcaster, and neither may he be the strongest of fighters, but combined his quick blade and wit is a glory to behold and a danger to face.

Eldritch Champion - (Anti)Paladin/Magus(ES)
There are many a Paladin who targets the arcane as a source to be dealt with. The Eldritch Champion on the other hand seeks out the Arcane and uses it for her own benefit. Clad in full plate and chanting as she swings, the Eldritch Champion is a prominent spellcaster in her lord's name. Oh my word do I wish I could deliver Touch of Corruption with Spellstrike, but alas...

I've thought of just creating a pantheon of 9 gods, one for each alignment, but I don't know how to best assign the domains, so that idea just sits on the burner.

Well, the best way I've found is to make the Mythology as a whole. Don't just make Deities, figure out What the different Deities do and why. Where did these Deities come from? What do they wish to achieve? And so on and so forth.

I have actually started the same way as you did, wanting to do a "One for Each Alignment" Pantheon. I started by figuring out how I COULD divide them, and in the end settled for two sets of four and a Ninth: One for each Element (Fire, Air, Earth, Water), one for each Alignment (Good, Evil, Law, Chaos), and then the unaligned ninth.

Then I tried to figure out: What other characters besides the Deities do I have in my mythology? I got stuck on a Divine Lion being the literal Sun, and thus I needed someone to tame it to travel across the skies.
But why would they need to tame it if it wasn't hostile, and if it was hostile wouldn't it just burn everyone? Thus I decided that the God of the Sun had to go and tame it.
But why would he just do it? Pride, he was in it to prove to the other deities that HE was the greatest, the best hunter, and the best warrior. He started by wanting to hunt it, but elusive as it was it always got away from him. He carolled all the Animals of the world to one place in order to lure the Divine Lion there and then he waited. When the Lion finally came it was starving, and just desperate for a meal as it neared the Deity, far from the fight Fire-God had expected. So he nurished the Lion back to health, got to know and respect it, and then sent it across the Heavens rather than freely into the world and would bring it food in exchange. Thus Fire-God now had Fire, Sun and War (in the end I also gave him Glory, mostly because of PF Spells like Solar Ray).

And from there I just continued. In the end I had the eight figured out, but was left with the Nine having almost nothing. He became the Ymir of the World, the other gods creating the Material Realm from his Divine Body. He became the Overgod, similar to Ao from Forgotten Realms, technically there in the world around everyone but not responding to Prayers.

If you're gonna go with your Full 9 your big problem will be the fact that there are 33 Domains, which leaves 3 Each and then 6 remaining. But I'd still hint towards figuring out the Lore before the Stats, things tend to go better that way.

As a player when I play a Cleric/Paladin/Religious Character I tend to do like most people: I pick a god I follow and stick to it.

When I play a non-religious character (as in not actually working for the Temple of one of the deities) I tend to pick a 2-3 gods I venerate and give worship to, since that is how Polytheism used to work back in the days.

In my own settings I usually try to have a varied set of gods by dividing Domains according to the Mythology I create. Why and How the gods did something back in the days gives each of them a Domain, and amongst the Major gods I try to have Domains not stack. There are still Lesser Deities who's domains stack with the Greater Deities, but they are usually Racial Deities (one per race).

One thing that tends to remain constant between each setting though is Lux, Goddess of the Sun and the Hunt, along with her animal companion Zun the Golden Lion (I.E. the Sun itself). Some times she might be male, some times she might have a few different Domains, but she's always a Sun and Hunting Deity with a Solar Lion for an Animal Companion.

The White Hand Clan only respect 'people' who ride well. Most of their treaties involve letting them ignore borders.

Yeah, pretty much. If you can prove your worth as One with your Mount you'll have the White Hands' respect. They only plunder when the times are harsh, no point in making enemies when you can survive without it.

Also, they obviously make tributary treaties in addition to the open borders. They won't plunder your settlements if you agree to provide them with some food come winter. In return they'll defend you from other invaders. Quite simple really.

Is it okay to bump stuff? 'Cause if so I'd like to bump it. I'm sure it could help someone.

Hmm... how about..

The White Hand Clan, under Jochi the Golden. Where most clans tends to be settled the White Hand Clan more or less lives from the back of their wolves. Some time between Arrival and Now they travelled Eastwards, and came to somewhat assimilate with the local Nomadic tribes. The White Hands just like their Altaic blood brethren now travel the Steppes, following wherever the Land leads them and driving their cattle-like boars before them.

Location: The Eastern Steppes
Leader: Jochi "the Golden"
Totem: Boar
Flag: Black Boar's head on Red banner.
Allies: Different Altaic tribes of the Steppes.

System-wise they'd obviously get a bonus to Ride, Handle Animal and Survival, living off the land on hound-back as they do. Sadly I don't have the "Kobolds of Golarion" book so I don't know how the Clan system really works, but these are my two cents at least.

WAAAGHladin, Raging Paladins of Gork and/or Mork.

So when I first looked over the Swashbuckler I, like many people, thought I could apply the Riposte after every Parry and thus have an awesome replacement for AC. Action Economy went and ruined that for me though, thus I went and played a normal Swashbuckler for a while, which is fun. I like it.

Then I got thinking - Couldn't I just make an Archetype which specializes in Parrying? With obvious drawbacks like "If I want to meet an attack I have to be in the way of it"-dumping of AC? So I got to work, and this is what I came up with. Would this be a viable if obvious homebrew, or is it horribly imbalanced in the long run? Criticism is gladly welcomed, since that is why I posted here in the first place.

-----

Defensive Duellist
Mobility/AC -> Parry (AKA the Glass-cannon Build)
Most Swashbucklers know that a quick blade can't win a fight alone, that a swift pair of legs and a buckler is as important if not even more so. The Defensive Duellist didn't get the memo. Instead she focuses fully on the blade and all the wonders that come with it. Regular Swashbucklers bring a shield, the Defensive Duellist makes her own.

Riposting Panache (Ex): At 1st level, when an opponent attempts a Combat Maneuver against the Defensive Duellist, she can as an immediate action spend 1 panache point to add her Charisma modifier to the CMD roll against it. If the maneuver is successfully defended against it counts as a parry for the sake of the Defensive Parry and Riposte Deed and can thus be riposted against as the Deed describes.
This ability replaces the Dodging Panache deed.

Defensive Parry and Riposte (Ex): At 1st level, when an opponent makes a melee attack against the Defensive Duellist, she can attempt to parry that attack if she has at least 1 panache point. The Defensive Duellist makes an attack roll as if she were making an attack of opportunity; for each size category the attacking creature is larger than the swashbuckler, the swashbuckler takes a –2 penalty on this roll. If her result is greater than the attacking creature's result, the creature's attack automatically misses. The swashbuckler must declare the use of this ability after the creature's attack is announced, but before its attack roll is made. Upon performing a successful parry the Defensive Duellist can spend 1 panache point to make an attack of opportunity against the creature whose attack she parried, provided that creature is within her reach. This deed's cost cannot be reduced by any ability or effect that reduces the number of panache points a deed costs.
This ability replaces the Opportunate Parry and Riposte deed.

Deflective Blade: At 3rd level, while the Defensive Duellist has at least 1 panache point, she gains the benefits of the Deflect Arrows feat even if she doesn't meet the prerequisites.
This ability replaces the Kip-Up deed.

Flick of the Wrist (Ex): At 3rd level, a Defensive Duellist gains a +1 bonus to attacks of opportunity and attack rolls using the Defensive Parry and Riposte deed. This bonus increases by 1 for every 4 levels beyond 3rd (to a maximum of +5 at 19th level), and it stacks with the bonus gained from the Swashbuckler's Weapon Training.
This ability replaces Nimble.

Duellist's Stance (Ex): At 7th level, while the Defensive Duellist has at least 1 panache point, she counts as 1 size category larger for the sake of calculating CMD and Defensive Parry and Riposte penalties. This increases to 2 size categories at level 15.
This ability replaces the Swashbuckler's Grace deed and the Dizzying Defense deed.