olePigeon's page

http://wreckcenter.com/exarch/index.html

A friend of mine who's really good at min-maxing took a look at the class. He noticed that you didn't really need Charisma, even though I had originally designed the class to be Charisma based. He also offered a bunch of other constructive criticism and how he thought it might be too powerful in some areas, and not good enough in others.

So I've tweaked the abilities to be more dependent on Charisma. I removed the class ability to later affect creatures immune to mind-affecting abilities. It was thought of as too powerful. An exarch should focus on supporting her party if she runs into that type of situation.

Each exhortation may now only affect the exarch herself + 1 creature per Charisma modifier.

Making a saving throw to resist an exhortation makes the creature immune for 24 hours. This keeps it in line with the majority of affects from other similar creature abilities or affects.

Conviction now works like the Charmed Life class ability for the Swashbuckler.

Purify the Wicked, Punish the Sinners, Mark the Betrayers, and Sanitize the Mad now do 2 points per multiplier.

Summer's Burn, Winter's Chill, Monsoon's Mark, Lightning's Spark now reduce resistance by 5 instead of having a Percentage vulnerability. He said this would be better so you don't have to invent a new type of damage.

I didn't think that I was inventing a new type of damage. Vulnerability is normally a 50% increase in damage. Setting it at 10% didn't seem like it was inventing a new one to me. I may add both at some point.

http://wreckcenter.com/exarch/index.html

Tiny update to the new weapons. I misread how the total design points worked. Had an extra 3 because they're two-handed weapons.

So I adjusted them slightly.

Shepherd's Staff is now a simple weapon.

Crosier is now a martial weapon and significantly cheaper.

Spring-Loaded crosier is still an exotic weapon, and is sold at 4x the base price. I couldn't find a weapon that was similar to it to figure out how they factored in the cost, so I had to take some liberties with the pricing.

It functions as two different weapons, but it's not a double weapon. It's a single-ended quarterstaff when not extended, then it becomes a crosier when extended. Because it's exotic and spring-loaded, I doubled the base cost. Because it functions as a second weapon, I doubled the base cost again.

Awesome, thanks.

That's unfortunate, since the haunt only targets one character per hour.

The GM must have missed that part. :o

Time to track down that session. 5/6 of the party didn't die! It was years ago, though.

I haven't played PFS in over a year. I recall there was a faction change last year and something to do with vanities not transferring. I did a lot of Lycosing and I couldn't find an answer to what I was looking for.

Are the vanities in the Field Guide still valid? Can I still buy Taldor vanities? I have a 1st level character I made ages ago pending another character's run of Eyes of the Ten. That was originally Taldor, now I guess the character is Sovereign Court.

Can I still buy the Noble Title? That's the one I wanted for that character.

We had a TPK by the haunt in The Temple of Empyreal Enlightenment scenario. Seems pretty lame to have an IK trap at that level. One after another: fail *splat* fail *splat* fail *splat* fail *splat* fail *splat* ... game over.

http://wreckcenter.com/exarch/index.html

So after reading through the Custom Class guidelines for Pathfinder, I've retooled the Exarch.

Although I really liked the Indulgence point system, it wouldn't have followed the guidelines very well. One too many primary class features. I may revisit it in the future and put up an alternate version with a medium BAB. Perhaps I can convince people to take a look at both and tell me which they like better? Interest appears to have all but disappeared, so I may just stick with latest version. It seems pretty solid.

In any event, the class has been streamlined even more. Now it's more of a Hybrid class (Paladin / Bard) instead of a base class, sharing some of the class mechanics of each

The exhortations now operate more like miniature Bard songs, but since the class doesn't have spells, the exhortation bonuses/penalties progress faster, can have more than one exhortation active at once (though this uses up your rounds faster), and have more options in the types of bonuses or penalties provided.

I changed the Crosier a little bit. It now requires the exotic weapon proficiency, however, it is treated as a martial weapon for divine casters. Exarch is proficient with crosiers.

I also added a couple more abilities to round it out and help match the number of secondary features for a Paladin or Bard:

Ablation (Su)
Beginning at 2nd level, an exarch can grant temporary hit points (to herself or to others) by touch. Each day she can use this ability a number of times equal to 1/2 her exarch level plus her Charisma modifier. With one use of this ability, an exarch can grant 1d6 temporary hit points for every two exarch levels she possesses, lasting 1 hour per 2 levels of exarch. Using this ability is a standard action, unless the exarch targets herself, in which case it is a swift action. An exarch only needs one free hand to use this ability. Temporary hit points from this source do not stack, but the highest result from multiple uses is used.

And I changed Mantle just a tiny bit to synergize with Ablation:

Mantle (Su)
At 2nd level an exarch may choose one Mantle from the list below. Mantles are the foundation of an exarch's faith, providing continuous bonuses to her and her allies while under the influence of her zealous aura. At 6th level, and every 4 levels thereafter, an exarch may choose one additional mantle. In addition, at each such interval, the bonus to all mantles increases by +1. Furthermore, whenever an exarch uses Ablation on a creature affected by a condition covered by one of her mantles, the creature immediately receives a new saving throw to avoid that condition.

And finally, at 5th level, they now get Deafening Silence:

Deafening Silence (Su)
At 5th level, as a part of a full round action, an exarch may end all active exhortations, dealing 3d4 points of sonic damage per exhortation ended to all enemies within the radius of the zealous aura. Affected creatures must make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + 1/2 exarch level + charisma modifier) to avoid being deafened for 1d6 rounds. Using this ability makes the exarch fatigued.

You know, I had never played a Bard before. I tend to have bad experiences with magic users in general, so I avoid them. Looks like I was trying to reinvent a mechanic that already existed.

Only now do I realize how Bard songs work. I thought that bard songs lasted a whole combat, I didn't realize that you have a set number of rounds per day that can perform Bard songs.

I was trying to balance duration with power, and it was already done for me with the Bard songs.

Now I'm thinking of going back to the fixed bonuses, but with the same pool of rounds per day like a Bard. However, I do like the Indulgence mechanic and having to spend the points. If I use the Bard system, I no longer need the point system.

Sigh.

Thanks. :) Was trying to mix it up a bit.

OK, back from the game session, and it went fairly well. :)

Lots of little combats, so I actually ran out of indulgence points to spend. Perhaps most annoying for my character was that we fought nothing but vermin and undead so far (we went into a haunted, ruined, ancient school house.) That meant, at my current level, my offensive exhortation had no affect. :o

Also, no one in our party are healers. So it's not looking too good. Next game session we'll like have to retreat outside to recuperate and buy some more healing items. We used to have a cleric NPC, but the NPC left.

Anyway, we might level during our current respite, and if we do, I'll have an ew exhortation to pick. I'm going to take the Revivification exhortation for a little bit of healing.

--------------

OK, so, for the issues that came up:

I was asked why the DC for the offensive acid exhortation was a Will save and not a Reflex save. I hadn't thought about it because 90% of the exhortations would have been Will saves, and I wanted them to have a simple saving throw regardless of which one you use.

So the excuse I came up with was that Exhortations are all about the power of suggestion with some help of divine magic to help manifest a creature's own fears. If they think they're burning in acid or being scorched by fire, then that's what happens.

So I may need to clarify that in the exhortation descriptions, even though I stated that they're mind-affecting abilities.

Creatures that are resistant or immune to those energy types still get those resistances.

--

Another issue that we discussed was whether or not my character should be allowed to maintain an exhortation outside of combat. If an exarch did so, they're giving up a move action to do it. Unless on mounts (which is unlikely in a dungeon unless you're a small sized character), the exarch would be moving at half speed compared to everyone else.

Added a Spring-Loaded Crosier (ala Ladyhawke). Also adjusted the gold piece value using the Design Point system.

Small update: Added a new weapon, the shepherd's staff.

http://wreckcenter.com/exarch/index.html

Small update: Added a new reach weapon, the crosier.

One more tiny change before the game: The exarch itself has to get the killing blow while either an ally or an enemy is under the influence of an exhortation (this includes dropping an enemy below zero with a damaging aura such as Purify the Wicked [Aura of fire damage 1])

This should reduce the amount of indulgence points gained during combat and encourage an exarch to enter melee combat rather than just only rely on auras.

We have a game this weekend, I'll give the revised exarch another go and report back here how it went.

http://wreckcenter.com/exarch/index.html

Heh, OK. I've come full circle. I experimented with treating the exhortations like bard songs, except that unlike bard songs, you can have as many exhortations as actions/indulgence available to use. So having a fixed bonus and trying to limit duration didn't work, and made it way too powerful at later levels.

So instead I've gone full circle, back to having fixed duration and using indulgence to buff the exhortations. This way the total amount of bonuses will rarely exceed the same amount of bonuses you'd get from a similar level bard.

The duration is 1 round +1 round per 3 levels. You can maintain an exhortation for free as a move action, or as a free action for 1 point of indulgence.

Affirmation is now back as a single ability acquired at 4th level: Starting at 4th level, and every 3 levels thereafter, an exarch may spend 1 additional point of indulgence when she starts an exhortation, multiplying the numerical effects of an exhortation by the total number of indulgence spent. For example, a 7th level exarch may spend 2 additional points of indulgence when starting an exhortation, increasing the bonus for Zealous Strike to +3 damage, or Enduring Cold to cold resist 15, or Light From Within to 60 foot dark vision. Revelries are not affected by affirmation.

I added more Revelries. They always cost 2 to start.

http://wreckcenter.com/exarch/index.html

As promised, some more changes.

Exhortations cost 1 indulgence and now last 1 round. They may be maintained as a move action at no additional cost, or as a free action for 1 indulgence.

Removed channel energy.

Conviction now only works if you have at least 1 indulgence point.

Updated and added more Revelries.

Updated feats.

Added a new Religion Trait: Solid Foundation. +2 trait bonus to a single Mantle.

Updated and modified Mantles. Now an incremental bonus every 4 levels.

Updated Favored Class options.

Added Ritual Self-flagellation as an option to regain Indulgence points: An exarch may spend 1 hour in ritual self-flagellation inflicting 1d4 points of Constitution damage. For every point of Constitution damage an exarch receives, she also receives 1 point of indulgence.

Even though I'm designing the class, I keep forgetting how small 10' is. They're not even 20' auras like a Paladin.

The effects of exhortations or other abilities should be small, short in duration, costly to maintain, but also powerful. Balancing the power with cost and duration has proven very difficult.

I'll be making some more significant changes shortly. One is that I'm removing Channel Energy again. It just doesn't fit the Fire & Brimstone theme of an exarch. They're not about fluffy healing, they're about enacting righteous retribution and enforcing their laws.

http://wreckcenter.com/exarch/index.html

Some more changes. Make sure to shift-reload after clicking the link to refresh the page and not load the cached version.

Exhortation duration is now dependent on the Affirmation value.

Updated Mantles.

Added more Revelries.

Exarchs can now channel energy at level 2 for 1d4 + 1d4 every 2 levels after 2nd. Consumes 2 indulgence.

Added another trait.

Added some Favored Class options.

Already see an issue with the durations. At higher levels you'll likely never need to spend indulgence to maintain an exhortation. :/

http://wreckcenter.com/exarch/index.html

Some more feedback from friends has resulted in lots more changes.

Cleaned up the abilities granted per level in the advancement table. I realized I had left a bunch of crap from older versions of the class.

Exhortations are back to lasting 1 round +1 round per 2 levels. They cost 1 indulgence to start an exhortation as a standard action, but can be maintained as a move action at no cost. You can maintain an exhortation as a free action at the cost of 1 indulgence per round.

I removed advanced exhortation, but added in Revelries (to be expanded.) Revelries are exhortations without a numerical component, and are not dependent on Affirmation. They provide unique effects to that of the normal bonuses or penalties that exhortations provide.

I removed all the immunities, then added in a new ability called Mantles. This is to give the zealous aura a passive bonus that would apply even outside of combat with no exhortations.

I added two new abilities at 6th and 12th called Devotion and Blind Faith. At 6th level, so long as an exarch has at least 1 indulgence, allies or enemies normally immune to mind-affecting effects and are subjected to one or more exhortations still receive 50% of the effects of each exhortation. At 12th level, so long as an exarch has at least 1 indulgence, enemies and allies normally immune to mind-affecting effects are no longer immune to the effects of exhortations.

Exemplar (and Practiced Exhortation) was updated to reflect the new action based mechanic for the exhortations. You now pick 2 exhortations you already have. So long as you have 1 indulgence, you can start (and maintain as a free action) the exhortation at no cost. Additional costs from feats still apply.

http://wreckcenter.com/exarch/index.html

OK, major overhaul to the class. I completely reversed the mechanics and streamlined all the exhortations into a smaller list. There are no longer targeted exhortations. Exhortations either affect all allies or all enemies within the zealous aura radius.

Now the exhortations advance in power automatically every 3 levels similar to Bard, but you pick them like Rogue Talents. So all the exhortations are available with no level restriction.

At 11th level you get access to Advanced Exhortations that you can pick in place of a regular exhortation.

Indulgence is instead used to increase the duration of an exhortation. This gives you more control over whether you want more bonuses over a shorter period of time, or fewer but more sustained bonuses, but the relative power of the bonuses doesn't change. I'm hoping this will solve the problem of reduced effectiveness at higher levels.

Let me know what you guys think of this more streamlined version.

I also added a new religion trait and changed the feats a bit.

Thanks?

Also, something that occurred to me: Instead of using the Indulgence Coins to increase the power of an exhortation, perhaps all the Exhortations increase in relative power at regular intervals like a Bard's Inspire Courage, then you spend coins to set the number of rounds the exhortation lasts.

So at 15th level, for example, all the Exhortations would be a 3x multiplier (i.e. +3 to hit, energy resist 15, 3 targets get something, etc.) Then you'd use the coins to make an aura last for X number of rounds per coin spent.

At 15th level, it wouldn't be unreasonable to have a 26 Charisma (20 at level 1, +2 or +3 from levels, +4 from magic items or spells) for a total of 8 coins.

So you could have 8 auras last for 1 round each, or you could have 4 auras last for 2 rounds each, or have 2 auras last for 4 rounds each (or 1 aura last for 7 rounds, and 1 aura last for 1 round.) Anyway, you get the idea.

Then the rate at which I was getting back coins wouldn't seem too bad because you'd be spending those coins like mad for relatively short, but powerful bursts.

It would also force you to choose between shorter duration but more powerful bonuses or penalties, or, much longer duration but smaller effect to maximize your chances of regaining Coins during combat. This would be especially important at higher levels when you typically don't one-shot everything, and combat can potentially last much longer.

Something that came up was that since you don't get the bonuses or penalties until the start of your turn, my ally couldn't benefit from the extra +1 to hit for an attack of opportunity because the monster moved before the start of his first turn (he wasn't flat footed because of a class feature.)

OK, we played a 3rd level game yesterday with heroic stat block.

By shear coincidence, we also had a Bard, a Sorcerer/Witch/Ranger Freebooter (I think), and a half-orc Viking in the game. The bonuses got pretty insane.

Combat didn't last longer than 5 rounds, and I never had to renew the exhortations which lasted 3 rounds.

I made a LN Human Exarch Justicar follower of Erecura, picking the Positive Energy path, and took Power Attack, Overtone Chanting, and Lingering chant. For my Exhortations I picked Zealous Charge (+1 hit) and Punish the Unworthy (-1 to AC.)

The most entertaining combat was when rolled an encounter during camp (20% chance, and we rolled an 8 on percentile). so we were ambushed by a small band of goblins. Since we were all concentrated around the campfire, it worked out pretty well. I was able to position my Exarch to include 4 goblins and 2 allies.

2 of the 4 goblins failed their DC 16 will save and had -1 to armor class for that round. By the time the 1st round was over, we had +1 luck to hit & damage, +1 competence to hit & damage, and for 2 of my allies, they had +1 sacred to hit. Against 2 of the goblins, one of my allies had an effective total bonus of +4 to hit and +2 damage, and against one of the goblins that had Freeboter's Bane, it was +5 to hit and +3 damage. :o It was pretty nuts.

The half-orc Viking wielding a Falchion with power attack one-hit all the goblins, and with at least a +3 to hit and extra +2 damage, it wasn't hard to hit them. :P

So, some observations: I'm glad I had decided on 1 round + 1/2 level for duration and a 10' radius instead of my original 15', because Sacred/Infernal bonuses stack with a LOT of stuff. The bonuses got pretty darn crazy.

I never dropped below my maximum Indulgence coins. My friends were really good and staying close to my character and drawing in the monsters, so either they or a monster were almost always under the influence of an exhortation when something died.

However, I felt that I got them back too easily. I'll need to reexamine the conditions upon which an exarch gets back indulgence coins.

Something else I noticed was that I was often in the middle of a combat to maximize the effectiveness of my auras, but I also wasn't adjacent to any baddies to personally engage in combat. I'm going to retrain my 1st level feat from Power Attack to Phalanx Formation, and then get a longspear or pike. With the 10' radius aura, it occurred to me that a reach weapon would be just about perfect. I'll also want to take a Polearm weapon trick so I can choke up at a -2 and still attack stuff adjacent to me.

http://wreckcenter.com/exarch/index.html

I made a website now that I can update, and the link is now at the very top of the thread so people will always see the latest revision. I also Photoshopped a picture and added that in. I don't know who drew the original, so I can't credit it. If someone finds out, I'll put that in.

Hopefully with the Easier to Read Edition I can get a little more feedback as the first thread I made probably scared people off. I'm (hopefully) going to play test the class this weekend in a friend's campaign. I'll see how it goes and report back.

Ideas I'm toying with:

* Aura is centered on a standard or flag instead of the Exarch.
* A smaller, condensed list of Exhortations from which you choose if it's a Buff or a Penalty.
* Rogue Talent style list with basic and advanced Exhortations instead of being separated by level.

I'll post variants of the class as I make the changes.

Here's the old thread so you can read through it. Best to scroll down near the bottom.

In this most recent change, I removed the DR Piercing, Slashing, & Bludgeoning.

Seems like the perfect job for an Alchemist ... if Alchemists in Pathfinder could transmute metals. ;)

http://www.wreckcenter.com/exarch/exarch.txt
http://www.wreckcenter.com/exarch/exarch.rtf

I was reexamining Gunslinger, and their ability to regain grit is pretty limited. Not including the optional rules, they only regain grit when they either score a critical hit (with all guns only critting on a 20 ... so at best 19-20 with a feat), or when they get the killing blow.

Granted, the exarch uses coins as one of its primary functions, so it'll use them more often than a Gunslinger. However, I think the fact that all allies can potentially restore indulgence to the exarch is more than enough.

Ideally I'd like to play the class out and see how it works. The whole indulgence system may need some balancing. "Bolster an ally" still seems too powerful. I'm not sure what to do with the second option. Perhaps I could write up a bunch of more specific ways like Dares.

So I've redone the two ways an exarch regains indulgence, and it's more agreeable whether your character is good or evil:

Bolster an ally: Each time an ally reduces a creature to 0 or fewer hit points while either the ally or an enemy is under the influence of an exarch's exhortation, she gains 1 indulgence coin.

Rebuke the enemy: Each time an enemy fails a saving throw against an exarch's targeted exhortation, she gains 1 indulgence coin.

I've also went ahead and reorganized the exhortations into a Rogue Talent style system, with Advanced Exhortations becoming available at level 11:

http://www.wreckcenter.com/exarch/exarch-remix.txt
http://www.wreckcenter.com/exarch/exarch-remix.rtf

I added a .RTF version of the class.

http://wreckcenter.com/exarch/exarch.rtf

It's better formatted. I think later on I'll just make an HTML version so it's viewable inside the browser.

Just to throw this out there: What would you guys think about the aura being centered on a Standard or Banner instead of the exarch? The exarch could either carry it with her or plant it into the ground as a rallying point.

I like the idea of banners. Might see some synergy with a few magic items, or maybe multi-class into a Cavalier or Tactician fighter.

Thanks for the feedback. :)

It's currently just a plain text file, but I could make it an RTF and format it so it's easier to read.

Good catch, I'll adjust the abilities. They're supposed be in the order of level that you receive them.

As for the "coins," I can see how it can be confusing. But I saw it sort of a mix between Grit and a spell component. I just like the flavor, is all.

In terms of getting coins back, you can also do it by having an enemy dropped below zero while either an enemy or ally is under the influence of an Exhortation. So there's a good path for either LG or LE.

However, I'll look into maybe making a Good or Evil path for getting coins back.

Although it'd take you a while to gain the benefits, the Low Templar prestige class is both hilarious and useful for hiding your alignment. Plus, it has the added bonus that you never suffer penalties with cohorts no matter WHAT you do. Murdered your previous cohort for eating your last candy bar? Obviously he had it coming!

You can also check out Mythic. Mythic gives the enemy more options, such as extra standard action, extra move action, surging a die roll by 1d6 (or more), etc.

My main misunderstanding concerning the Fire and Brimstone was, that I read the limitation about the Exarch not being able to affect both the allies and enemies at the same time to be more general one. Meaning, that if the Exarch already had a buffing aura on-going, the Exarch could not start a debuffing aura, only another buffing aura. Now I understand, that your restriction was per an exhortation.

Whether or not an exhortation would be considered a buff or debuff is dependent on the target. :) Glad it's more clear.

How I read the Universal Monster Rules, "Vulnerability" only increases the damage you take from a specified energy type? If you don't take damage, then there's no increase, so I don't *think*, that by making an undead vulnerable to negative energy you would increase its healing...

You are correct. I thought Vulnerability was more general, but it's specific to damage. At least you understand where I was going with the feat.

I think I may just remove the feat. Now the only time it might come in handy is if a party member is charmed and you want to remove them from a fight.

I also realized that you can obtain the exact same thing by comboing Defy Life & Life's Radiance exhortations. Defy Life causes damage from positive energy healing, coupled with the Life's Radiance vulnerability, you could then channel energy for healing. Shazaam! Lots o' healing and lots o' damage, and they don't even have to be undead. :D Life Oracle would love to hang out with a 15th level Exarch.

You're correct. I simply meant, that you have a limited number of exhortations to pick while leveling. I think, that this naturally tends to cause people to choose the exhortations that have the highest value, especially since the exhortations are the bread...

It's the same for feats, traits, archetypes, and especially prestige classes. Plus, there may be some synergies that we don't see yet. I only just realized the Defy Life/Life's Radiance combo. Who knows?

One option would be to increase how often an exarch can swap out exhortations. Currently it's at 4th, 10th, and 16th, but I could change it so it's more like a Fighter's bonus feats (4th, 8th, 12th, etc.).

I'm still flip-flopping over the idea of making them all into one single list like Rogue Talents. Then maybe have Advanced Exhortations for the more powerful ones (like Spell Resistance.)

As a side note, I hope people got the Reactionary Sermon joke. :)

OK, I've updated the class to reflect changes:

http://wreckcenter.com/exarch/exarch.txt

I clarified Exhortations some more:

* Individuals attempting to resist an Exhortation make a Will save.
* The exarch chooses whether or not to include herself in the effects of an exhortation at no additional cost, including targeted effects.
* There's no limit to the number of exhortations being performed provided the exarch has the requisite actions and coins to perform them.

Changed Zealous Focus to Combat Maneuver Checks. Might move it to level 3.

Clarified the Overtone Chanting, Fire and Brimstone, Practiced Exhortation, and Reactionary Sermon:

* Overtone Chanting: Perform two Exhortations in a single action instead of just one. You must pay indulgence coins for both Exhortations.
* Fire and Brimstone: Instead of choosing between allies or enemies, an exarch may affect both allies and enemies simultaneously for 1 additional indulgence coin. [Requires Overtone Chanting, Exarch Level 7]
* Practiced Exhortation: Reduce the speed of a single Exhortation by one category. You can only reduce reduce the speed in this way if you have at least 1 indulgence coin. This feat does not stack with itself or the bonuses provided by the level 20 Exemplar. [Exarch Level 11]
* Reactionary Sermon: Give up an action the following turn to immediately perform a single Exhortation for 1 additional indulgence coin. [Requires Practiced Exhortation]

Changed Mirror of Souls to Insightful Prayer, then added Confusing Limerick.

* Insightful Prayer: 10% Concealment
* Confusing Limerick: 10% Miss Chance

- About the 5th level exhortations: I'd consider removing some of choices. This is mainly because I think at the moment there are some, which are simply inferior compared to other options, so I just think, that it's perhaps needless to even offer the less-good ones. I'd remove Sonic resist, probably also DR/bludgeoning, DR/slashing. I'm on the fence about fast healing. In the beginning it's about as good as DR/piercing, but as soon as enemies start to have more attacks, DR/piercing can be better. Of course, DR/piercing is not good against arrows, so maybe fast healing is still useful.

Well, why don't you use both? The exhortations don't compete with each other. Their durations overlap. If you take Overtone Chanting, you can do 2 exhortations in a single action. Fighting skeleton archers? Have both DR Piercing and fast healing going in round 1. No reason to pick between the two.

That's my reasoning, anyway.

As for Sonic Resist, it doesn't hurt to have it there. It's a more esoteric damage type, but there could be some magic or item combinations that might work well with having resistance. Thematically, it'd be fun to have an Exarch with all the DR auras. He's got ya covered. :)

- Just to make sure, the Mirror of Souls is 10 % miss chance for enemies and not a 10 % concealment for nearby allies? This miss chance applies for all the attacks from enemies, regardless if their targets are not within the Zealous Aura?

Oh, good catch. That should be 10% concealment for allies. I suppose I could make an offensive version that's a 10% miss chance for enemies.

Eeew. Enemy would have to make a will save, and failing that, would have to roll a miss chance twice if you had both exhortations up and they were fighting you or your allies from within your aura. That could ruin their day.

- I'd consider ramping up the base DR's at level 17th and 19th. I think the damage at these levels starts to be considerable, so then to make DR's an option worth of considering, they should probably be higher. Maybe a DR2/adamantine and DR3(or even 5?)/alignment. Also, considering the background, I would maybe not give the Exarch an access to Chaotic Protection. I assume Exarch is in serious internal distress, if the opponents have lawful-aligned weapons or natural attacks?

Oh man, the DR exhortations have been a real pain. How to make them not overpowered at lower levels, but not underpowered at higher levels. That's why I added the Empowered Chant feat which bump it to DR7 at 20th level.

I was basing it off the Paladin, which gets DR5/Evil at 20th. If you think about it, that's DR7 to everyone within the aura's radius. If you had, say, 4 people, then that'd be potentially 28 damage negated every single round. If you couple that with Fast Healing 7, that's potentially 56 damage negated every single round (not to mention energy resistance Exhortations, etc.)

If you look at it as party support instead of individual support, in my opinion, it really adds up.

- What's the idea behind giving incorporeal and ethereal form? I mean, is this supposed to temporarily incapacitate an enemy in-combat or give a benefit for ally out-of-combat (in terms of increased mobility through solid objects)? Or can be used for both? Will the effect extend beyond the radius of Exarch's aura or will it stop once the creature is out-of-range? I'm just asking, because the things you can do while in Ethereal Plane or in incorporeal form without ghost touch weapons are fairly limited.

Good question, I'll need clarify the Zealous Aura & Exhortations a bit. They gain the effects of an Exhortation when they begin their turn inside the aura. It lasts until the beginning of their next turn. So, yes, they can leave the aura after gaining the effects. When their turn starts again, if they're not within the aura, the effects immediately end. This goes for enemies, too, obviously.

So if you made 2 members of your party Incorporeal and they ran off into solid rock expecting you to join them, but something happens and you don't make it, at the beginning for their turn they would become corporeal. I'm not clear on the rules for that, but I think they get shunted and take 1d6 damage per foot of shunting.

Being incorporeal or ethereal are similar, but different. Ghost touch doesn't work while ethereal, only incorporeal. These auras are potentially very powerful in combat with the right equipment. However, think of all the non-combat applications, too.

- About the affirmation: There seems to be some contradiction in wording and in example calculation - or then I misunderstand again... Anyway: if beginning at 5th level, and every five level there after, you can spend 1 *additional* coin etc. then at 15th level you should be able to spend, I think, *3 additional* (15/5=3) coins, which leads to a total of 4 coins. Unless you meant that in calculating the multiple, you only note the additional coins and the first one spent to start the exhortation(?) is not taken into account?

You are correct, and that is how I intended it, I goofed on the math. When I originally wrote it, I gave a 10th level character as an example, then changed it to 15th and forgot to change the numbers. :P

At 15th level you can spend a total of 4 coins per Exhortation. 1 coin + 3 additional coins (15/5=3) at 15th. 5 coins total per Exhortation at 20th.

- Overtone Chanting: I would clarify, that this still has restrictions (that Fire and Brimstone removes).

When you perform and Exhortation, you must choose whether it affects your allies or your enemies. It doesn't affect both.

Under most conditions, you can only perform 1 type of action per round, be it a Standard, Move, Swift, etc. Unless you're level 20 or take the Practiced Exhortation feat (which I'll address later), all your Exhortations are the same type of action. At 1st-11th, they're Standard Actions, at 12th level, they're Move actions, etc.

So under normal conditions with no special feats, you can only perform one Exhortation per round. Overtone Chanting lets you perform two exhortations simultaneously. So at 12th level, an Exarch could perform TWO exhortations in the first round at the cost of a single Standard Action (or even at 3rd level, 2 exhortations in one round at the cost of a Standard Action that provokes an attack of opportunity.)

With Fire & Brimstone, instead of choosing whether your Exhortations affect either your allies or enemies, you can have them affect both allies and enemies simultaneously. Fire & Brimstone alone does not allow you to perform more than Exhortation, it just makes it so your Exhortations affect both your allies and your enemies.

An example where this may be useful: You're fighting powerful undead and are low on hit points. You have the Life's Radiance Exhortation (10% positive energy vulnerability.) You use Fire & Brimstone and choose to affect both your allies and the undead within your aura. Now both your allies and your enemies have a 10% positive energy vulnerability. The following round you channel energy to heal while your Cleric/Oracle/Paladin buddy channels energy to damage. You pumped 4 points into your Exhortation, so for the next few rounds, your allies get 40% bonus to healing, and the undead take a 40% bonus to damage.

- Practiced Exhortation: I don't think, that "reduce speed" is what you're aiming here :) ? Isn't this like "Choose one exhortation you know. You can always start this exhortation with an action that's one category faster (standard becomes move and move becomes swift action), than normally required. You can't start the exhortation faster than with swift action." Or can the speed increase all the way to immediate action?

I should clarify that while you can take the feat multiple times, you can only apply it to any given Exhortation once.

Swift becomes a Free action, but it's not an immediate action (you can't use it when it's not your turn.)

The idea behind these feats is this: You just hit 14th level. You have 7 Exhortations to choose from. All of them take Swift actions. You already have Overtone Chanting, so you you take Practiced Exhortation and apply it Endurance of the Bear. This single Exhortation now only takes a Free action.

Example: Middle of combat. Move action: strategically position yourself between 3 allies who are being attacked by 3 enemies. Swift Action: Activate Sword of Truth for 3 allies & Zealous Defense at +2. Free Action: Also Activate Endurance of the Bear that same round because it's now a Free Action instead of a Swift action like your other Exhortations.

At level 20, you could have 4 exhortations go off the 1st round. If you took Practiced Exhortation twice, you could have 4 more the following round. 8 Exhortations going at the same time would be pretty awesome. :) You could probably put no more than 1 or 2 coins into each aura, but it's still be cool.

- Exemplar: The speed category progression skips immediate action (between swift and free). Is this intentional?

My understanding of how actions work is that a Swift becomes a Free. A Free Action is a type of immediate action, but it can only be used on your own turn. Feats like Reactionary Sermon allow you to use an Exhortation as an immediate action in response to something (even if it's not your turn, i.e. an enemy casts a spell during a surprise round.)

I do need to change Reactionary Sermon. You give up your action the following round to use it as an immediate action.

- General background question: how do the Exarchs generally feel agains lawful creatures? Going against devils is okay? Going against other Exarchs is okay?

Exarchs aren't Paladins anymore, that's why they have to pay indulgence to get their powers. Because of this, their moral compass leans towards what's lawful and unlawful versus what's good or bad. Law is good. Chaos is bad. Within those confines there may be some moral ambiguity, which is why they have 3 branches that work together. Typically, the LG and LN keep the LE in check in terms of the evil part of things (such as slavery, which may be Lawful, but is definitely not "good".)

Would a LG Exarch free a bunch of slaves captured and enslaved in accordance to local laws? No. Would he work within the system to free the slave through legal means? Absolutely! Even to the point of working on technicalities ... the slavers just passed the border 5 minutes ago to a kingdom where slavery is illegal and is punishable by death. You bet your buns a LG Exarch would demand surrender and possibly kill every single one of those slavers. The exception being, of course, if the god the LG or LN Exarch worships explicitly states that Slavery is evil and should be stopped at all costs. But that would be a fun moral exercise for the player. Do you stop that band of slavers right then and there? Or do you allow a small band of slavers to go knowing you can end ALL slavery in the territory eventually?

Their willingness to work with Devils or Angels is certainly affected by their alignment, but as zealots true to their cause, it's always about the greater good. If working with a Devil further's their cause, then they'll work with Devils (if, and only if, their god's laws don't expressly forbid them from doing so.) LG and LN Exarchs can be just as cunning as any Devil when interpreting religious texts, laws, etc. to further their cause.

Do they get up in each other's grills? Typically no. Think of it as a modern military, if that helps. The Army doesn't tell the Air Force what to do, and if they do stuff together, it's the people at the top that coordinate their actions.

When adventuring as an Exarch, it's important to ask first is it expressly forbidden by the God they worship, then ask second is it Lawful or Unlawful? If the answer is that it's lawful and not forbidden, then that limits an Exarch's actions in terms of making a situation "good" or "evil."

Thanks a bunch for another round of feedback. This is helping out a ton.

- What Save do the enemies use to resist? I assume Will?

Will save, yes.

- Is it true, that starting an exhortation does not require you to pay one indulgence coin?? I could not find any mention about that, just a general statement about "When indulgence coins are spent", but no mention of amount...

No, you pay one (or more at higher levels) indulgence coin as a part of the action of performing an exhortation. It's the same as when a Gunslinger uses Grit.

- Concerning the exhortations (and I guess this is more a question of taste), I would maybe remove the extra mentions after some of exhortations that "effects last only for the duration of exhortations", as this is the general rule. If you want to emphasize this, you could maybe do so in the introduction text in a way of: "Any benefits or penalties from the exhortation(s) last only for the duration of the exhortation(s), even if the effect of the exhortation(s) refer(s) to abilities/spells having longer duration."

That's a good idea, I'll add it to the Exhortation description in general. Some of the spells that an Exhortation replicated had different durations and/or radius than that of the Exhortation, so I wanted it to be clear that they're not just casting that spell. The effects of the spell are identical.

- Also, now that I think of it, I'd maybe remove the reference to paladin's "Aura of Justice". The exhortation and the Aura only share the general idea of giving smite ability to somebody non-paladin (even the radius can be different, if the Exarch has Aegis), so I think they have more things they don't have in common than things they have. But again, matter of taste.

That was the only thing I found that was initially similar. The short descriptions are practically just notes I put in there to describe the effects. I'll definitely need to work on the wording.

- About the 1st level exhortations: I'd maybe remove the Zealous Focus. Considering the other options, the class' lean towards martial and the limited number of choices the Exarch has, I think this probably won't make it to the top 5. Generally, many of the 1st level exhortations are so universally usable instead of more contingent ones given at later levels, that if I'd be playing, I would probably keep picking some of the 1st level exhortations even at later levels.

Zealous Focus is a weird one, and I think I agree with you. What would you say about +1 to Combat Maneuver Checks? This would help grapplers, trippers, disarmers aiders, etc.

As for going back and picking 1st level Exhortations, I didn't really see a problem with that. When one of my friends looked at the class, he actually liked that aspect of it. He hates it when you pick a class and the earlier abilities, spells, etc. become useless at higher levels. He wanted staying power.

However, I had toyed with the idea of just having a single large list of Exhortations that you can pick from, kind of like Rogue Talents. The problem is that some of them seemed too powerful at lower levels. On the other hand, at lower levels, they only last a handful of rounds at best. It's a tough call.

- About the 5th level exhortations: I'd consider removing some of choices. This is mainly because I think at the moment there are some, which are simply inferior compared to other options, so I just think, that it's perhaps needless to even offer the less-good ones....

Which of them aren't as good as the others? I'm not sure I completely follow.

Edit: Just realized the nested quoting was truncated. I'll need to finish my responses below.

OK, below is a link to the class. Guess it's easier to edit the text file than to keep reposting the class with minor changes. So here's the latest version:

http://www.wreckcenter.com/exarch/exarch.txt

In the AD&D Deities & Demigods book, the most powerful god in all of the multiverse was Thor.

Nearly all the gods had an ability that, if they fight anyone or anything, they always go first, they always hit, and they automatically destroy whatever it is they're fighting. If two deities go up against each other and they both have the Always Go First ability, then they roll regular initiative, then basically whoever gets lucky on the D20 destroys the other.

HOWEVER, Thor had a very special ability: Should he square off with any other being that also has the Always Go First ability, Thor still goes first. No other god had Thor's ability. Hehe.

So that makes Thor the most powerful god. He can slay any other god, guaranteed. Keeps everyone in line ... mostly.

Didn't think to look at Witch hexes. That's a great place to look for good ideas. :)

Something like Misfortune would be fun, forcing an enemy to roll two dice and take the lower result. That could really ruin someone's day with a Saving Throw or Attack debuff going at the same time. :)

I'll make some changes and repost.

I think I'll remove Riding. Exarchs no longer have mounts like Paladins do. I'll replace it with Knowledge (nobility) and add Appraise.

Awesome! Exactly the type of feedback I was looking for. Thanks. :)

I'm not a pro in anyway, so I therefore have very shallow comments.

Neither am I. :)

-What's the BAB progression? Or did I just miss it?

-Same for the Saves?
-Why Knowledge (arcana)? Why not Knowledge (history)? Also, I'm not sure, would Appraise be a background-appropriate?

Oops. BAB and Saves is the same as Paladin.

Knowledge (arcana) because Exarchs are heavily involved in rituals, traditions, and ancient mysteries. Unless I misread what Knowledge (arcana) is. Maybe History would be better? Not sure.

Appraise might work. Figuring out the value of items when determining a punishment.

-Some exhortations seems a lot better in terms of indulgence pay-back. Mainly, all that boost your allies, since as written there's no indulgence pay-back in those, that affect the enemies when your allies kill them (not to mention, that enemies also get a save to resist the effect). You could argue, that even in that case you can get some indulgence from healing your allies from sub-zero HP, but I'd say that if you get huge flow of indulgence from that, you'd still have a problem.

I need to tweak the wording. How I intended it to work is if any ally or enemy is under the influence of any exhortation when an enemy is dropped below zero, then you get a coin back.

-Same pay-back issue is between exhortations affecting all allies vs. chosen target(s), although I do admit that the ability to switch the chosen targets from round to round alleviates this somewhat and offers some room to increase the indulgence payback.

Yes, but keep in mind you can have more than one exhortation going. So a careful player could have a constant aura going, then use a targeted aura. The targeted auras tend to be more powerful, but require a larger investment to affect more people.

-5th level DR's vs. slashing or bludgeoning or piercing are fairly powerful DRs in general, since you can't bypass them similarly with weapon enchantment bonus as you can bypass magic, cold iron, silver, adamantine and alignment. DR vs. piercing is especially useful. That's why, I think, they tend not to be very available for PC's.

That's a good point. For some reason I was thinking it was easy to bypass with a +2 weapon or something. I'll need to mull that one over.

-What's the point of Divine Intervention and Divine Retribution (just out of curiosity)? Teamwork and teamwork (betrayal) feats require, that two allies have the same feat, so is the idea here, that the Exarch has the same feat and can temporarily gain the benefit of that, because an ally now also has the same feat?

Yes. The exarch could imbue herself and an ally, or, 2 allies not including herself (or more at higher levels) with a teamwork feat. If the exarch herself already has one of the teamwork feats, then the exhortation becomes even more useful. At level 7, if an exarch took a teamwork feat, she could theoretically give 2 more allies the same feat (if she also has the Fire & Brimstone feat), making 3 members in the party temporarily all have the same teamwork feat. Potentially very powerful.

But that's the general idea behind exhortations in the first place, providing short, yet powerful, boosts.

-Since exhortations are fairly static, I would perhaps consider dumping exhortation "Spear of Destiny", which usefulness is heavily dictated by situation, so it's perhaps unlikely to be picked.

Yeah, I wasn't too keen on that one myself.

- By the way, what's the "Indulgence" at level 12? I couldn't find it from the text.

Ignore it, I forgot to delete it. It's left over from some changes I made to the core class.

-How are the modifiers calculated for exhortations granting the Smite ability? Is the calculation based on the Exarch's Cha and class level? Considering you're probably boosting at least Cha 22 at that point, for me at least this +11 to dmg, auto-bypass DR, +6 to hit and +6 sacred to AC for potentially all your party members (if you indulgence yourself :) ) sounds fairly strong. Granted, it's only against one target, but still, considering other buffs and abilities available at that level, especially against BBEGs it feels a bit overpowered. With multiple enemies the effect is less drastic, but still there.

Oops, it should also read something like "... as the paladin's Aura of Justice class ability, using the exarch's charisma and level to determine bonuses."

It's the same as the Paladin's 11th level ability, but not as good. First, it doesn't affect everyone in the 10' radius, only select targets. It also only lasts for the duration of the aura and not for a full minute like the Paladin's ability.

In short, it's a not-as-good-as-paladin's Aura of Justice. The other one is the Antipaladin version.

Something else I forgot to put in there is that Exarchs following a Lawful Good deity wouldn't be able to take Champion of Unholy Darkness or Defile the Idolators, and vice versa for Evil Exarch not being able to use Champion of Holy Light, etc.

Again, thanks for the feedback. Exactly what I was looking for. :)

Unfortunately I didn't get much feedback from here, but I did solicit some feedback from my friends in my gaming group. A lot more fixes, adjustments, etc. Some criticism is that the later auras with conditions overlap and even upstage Paladin & Antipaladin mercies and cruelties (even though they're higher level and get a saving throw.) Although we all had issues trying to come up with new auras, so they stayed in.

Some ideas floated around was to just combine them all into one giant list like Feats, then add level requirements to some of them.

So I suppose I'm updating the class to Beta status. :) I would love some feedback. In any event, here its:

-----------------------

Exarch

Exarchs are an ancient organization that splintered from even older paladin orders, formed out of a need to provide redemption, justice, and law in a world that is more gray than it is black and white. The Exarch Temple has three spires (one each for a different lawful deity) representing the three branches: the Avatar, offering redemption to the accused; the Justicar, offering justice to wronged; and the Templar, enforcing law and punishment to the chaotic and condemned. Exarchs are devoted to law and their respective deities to the point of zealotry, and are unwavering to their cause. Exarchs usually (though not always) form a triad in major cities, providing support for (or even coordinating) local law enforcement, judgment, and punishment from their triple-spired temples. Initiates are sent out into the world to find their path, then return to join the ranks of the Exarch Temple. Exarchs from all three branches adhere to a strict hierarchy, with each branch headed by an Exarch Septum.

Role: Exarchs enforce law, defend their allies, and pass judgment upon their enemies. These ancient orders radiate an aura of influence, using sacred chants, prayers, hymns, or personal rituals to help inspire friends or hinder foes. They are judge, juror, and if need be, executioner.

Alignment: Any Lawful

Hit Die: d10

Class Skills

The exarch's class skills are Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), (Int) Knowledge (religion) (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Survival (Wis)

Skill Ranks per Level: 2 + Int modifier.

1 Zealous Aura, Indulgence, Exhortation, Detect Truth (Zone of Truth)
2 Redemption
3 Exhortation, Mantle of Courage (Immune to Fear)
4 Bonus Feat, Energy Conduit
5 Exhortation, Affirmation
6 Indulgence
7 Exhortation
8 Bonus Feat, Mantle of Conviction (Immune to Charm)
9 Exhortation
10 Affirmation
11 Exhortation
12 Bonus Feat, Indulgence
13 Exhortation
14 Mantle of Resilience (+4 Resistance to Poison)
15 Exhortation, Affirmation
16 Bonus Feat
17 Exhortation, Mantle of Resolve (Immune to Compulsion)
18 Indulgence
19 Exhortation
20 Affirmation, Bonus Feat, Exemplar

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Exarchs are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all types of armor (heavy, medium, and light), and with shields (except tower shields).

Indulgence (Ex)
Because of their parting from traditional paladin roles, the Exarch's sometimes less-than-godly actions require penance in the form of indulgences. In game terms, indulgences is a fluctuating number of magical coins that imbue an exarch with temporary abilities. At the start of each day, an exarch gains a number of indulgence coins equal to her Charisma modifier (minimum 1). Her indulgence coins go up or down throughout the day, but usually cannot go higher than her Charisma modifier (minimum 1), though some feats and magic items may affect this maximum. An exarch pays indulgence to gain favor with their god (see below), and regains indulgence coins in the following ways. Indulgence coins can not be lost, stolen, traded, or spent as money.

Revive an ally: Each time an exarch heals herself or an ally to positive hit points from 0 or fewer, she gains 1 indulgence coin.

Bolster an ally: Each time an ally reduces a creature to 0 or fewer hit points while under the influence of an exarch's exhortation, she gains 1 indulgence coin.

Zealous Aura (Ex)
An exarch radiates an aura of powerful influence in a 10' radius based on the deity's alignment (see detect evil for details.)

Detect Truth (Sp)
An Exarch can, as a move action, concentrate on an individual. While in the Exarch's gaze, the individual is affected as if under a Zone of Truth spell (DC 10 + 1/2 level + Cha modifier.) Any action that would break an exarch's concentration requires a concentration check to maintain the gaze.

Redemption (Su)
At 2nd level, so long as an exarch has at least 1 indulgence coin, she gains a bonus equal to her Charisma bonus (if any) on all Saving Throws.

Mantle of Courage (Su)
At 3rd level, an exarch is immune to fear (magic or otherwise.)

Bonus Feats
At 4th level, and at every four levels thereafter, an exarch gains a bonus feat in addition to those gained from normal advancement. These bonus feats must be combat or divine feats.

Energy Conduit (Su)
At 4th level, so long as an exarch has at least 1 indulgence coin, she gains the supernatural ability to channel energy like a cleric within the radius of her zealous aura. An exarch uses her level as her effective cleric level when channeling energy. This is a Charisma-based ability.

Exhortations (Su)
Exhortations come in many forms such as sacred chants, prayers, hymns, personal rituals, sermons, etc., providing temporary enhancements to an exarch and her allies, as well as penalties to her enemies. When indulgence coins are paid, an exarch begins one exhortation as a part of the payment to expound their influence on any creature within the radius of their zealous aura, choosing to positively affect all allies or negatively affect all enemies. Exhortations last for 1 round plus a number of rounds equal to half the exarch's level, rounded down (minimum 1). This ability functions only while the exarch remains conscious, not if she is unconscious or dead. The DC to resist the affects of an exhortation is 10 + 1/2 the exarch's character level + their Charisma modifier. Creatures that start their turn inside the zealous aura and affected by an exhortation must make a new saving throw each round to avoid the affects. Targets are chosen immediately upon performing an exhortation, then at the beginning of each Exarch's turns. If affected targets can not be seen, they are chosen at random.

Performing an exhortation requires a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity. At 6th level, it no longer provokes attacks of opportunity. At 12th level the time to perform an exhortation is reduced to a move action. At 18th level the time to perform an exhortation is reduced to a swift action. Ending an exhortation is a free action.

At 1st level, and at every two levels thereafter, an exarch selects one exhortation from the list below. The same exhortation can not be selected more than once.

At 4th, 10th, and 16th level, an exarch may choose to learn a new exhortation in place of one she already knows.

At 1st level, the following exhortations become available:

Zealous Defense (+1 Sacred to AC)
Zealous Resistance (+1 Sacred to Saving Throws)
Zealous Strike (+1 Sacred to Dmg)
Zealous Charge (+1 Sacred to Hit)
Zealous Focus (+1 Sacred to Skills & Ability Checks)
Abjure the Unworthy (-1 Sacred Hit)
Deprive the Unworthy (-1 Sacred to saving throws)
Punish the Unworthy (-1 Sacred to AC)
Quell the Unworthy (-1 Sacred to Combat Maneuver Defense)
Apprentice's Armor (DR1 / Magic)

At 3rd level, the following exhortations become available:

Cleansing Fire (Fire Resist 5)
Enduring Cold (Cold Resist 5)
Resilient Acid (Acid Resist 5)
Reviving Electricity (Electricity Resist 5)
Feet of Flame (Base Speed +5)
Walk the Walk (1 target does not provoke attacks of opportunity when moving)
Fight the Fight (1 target does not provoke attacks of opportunity when attacking)
Light From Within (1 target receives Low Light Vision)
From Dusk 'til Dawn (1 target receives Dark Vision)

At 5th level, the following exhortations become available:

Rock Masters (DR1 / Bludgeoning)
Paper Tiger (DR1 / Slashing)
Scissors of Discord (DR1 / Piercing)
Revivification (Fast Healing 1)
Resounding Sonic (Sonic Resist 5)
Unerring Devotion (Negative Resist 5)
Undying Conviction (Positive Resist 5)
Sword of Truth (1 target receives an extra attack)
Spear of Destiny (1 target may set to receive a charge as an immediate action)

At 7th level, the following exhortations become available:

Purify the Wicked (Aura of Fire Damage 1)
Punish the Sinners (Aura of Cold Damage 1)
Mark the Betrayers (Aura of Acid Damage 1)
Sanitize the Mad (Aura of Electricity Damage 1)
Divine Intervention (1 target gains a teamwork feat)
Divine Retribution (1 target gains a betrayal feat)
Word of the False Prophet (1 target is Sickened)
Visions of Strife (1 target is Shaken)

At 9th level, the following exhortations become available:

Silence the Dissenters (Aura of Sonic Damage 1)
Cleanse the Heretics (Aura of Positive Energy 1)
Defile the Idolators (Aura of Negative Energy 1)
Armor of the Gods (10% Fortification)
Dust to Dust (1 target receives Tremor Sense)
Life Everlasting (1 target is subject to Life Link as the Oracle revelation for the duration of the exhortation)
Pain Everlasting (1 target is subject to Pain Link, same as Life Link, except when the exarch takes damage, the target also takes damage.)
Embrace Death (Heal from channeled negative energy.)
Defy Life (Damaged from channeled positive energy.)

At 11th level, the following exhortations become available:

Strength of the Bull (+1 Sacred to Strength)
Grace of the Cat (+1 Sacred to Dexterity)
Endurance of the Bear (+1 Sacred to Constitution)
Cunning of the Fox (+1 Sacred to Intelligence)
Wisdom of the Owl (+1 Sacred to Wisdom)
Splendor of the Eagle (+1 Sacred to Charisma)
For Great Justice (1 target gains Smite Evil)
For Assured Destruction (1 target gains Smite Good)
For Absolute Order (1 target gains Smite Chaos)
Hymns of the Necronomicon (1 target is Staggered)

At 13th level, the following exhortations become available:

Lycanthropic Armor (DR1 / Silver)
Iron Hide (DR1 / Cold iron)
Mirror of Souls (10% miss chance)
Summer's Burn (10% Fire vulnerability)
Winter's Chill (10% Cold vulnerability)
Monsoon's Mark (10% Acid vulnerability)
Lightning's Spark (10% Electricity vulnerability)
Dreadful Presence (1 target is Frightened; requires Visions of Strife)
Defiled Communion (1 target is Nauseated; requires Word of the False Prophet)

At 15th level, the following exhortations become available:

Miraculous Resistance (Spell Resistance 5)
Leading the Blind (1 target receives Blind Sense)
Thunder's Roar (10% Sonic vulnerability)
Life's Radiance (10% Positive energy vulnerability)
Death's Defiance (10% Negative energy vulnerability)
Miracles Aren't Magic (1 target is subject to Antimagic Field as the spell for the duration of the exhortation)

At 17th level, the following exhortations become available:

Clockwork Armor (DR1 / Adamantine)
On the Wings of a Dove (1 target has Freedom of Movement as the spell for the duration of the exhortation)
Blinded by Truth (1 target is Blinded)
Deafened by Radiance (1 target is Deafened)
Leave This Mortal Coil (1 target becomes Incorporeal)
Champion of Holy Light (1 target receives the Holy property on one weapon of their choice)
Champion of Unholy Darkness (1 target receives the Unholy property on one weapon of their choice)

At 19th level, the following exhortations become available:

Infernal Protection (DR1 / Good)
Holy Protection (DR1 / Evil)
Chaotic Protection (DR1 / Law)
Lawful Protection (DR1 / Chaotic)
Untouchable Faith (1 target becomes Ethereal)
Revelations (1 target is panicked; requires Dreadful Presence)

Affirmation (Ex)
Starting at 5th level, and every 5 levels thereafter, an Exarch may spend 1 additional indulgence coin to increase the numerical value of an exhortation by the multiple of the number of coins spent. For example, a 15th level exarch may spend 2 additional coins for a total of 3 coins when performing an Exhortation, then multiply the Exhortation's numerical value by 3. (i.e. Strength of the Bull would be +3 strength, Divine Intervention would be 3 targets, and Resilient Acid would be Acid Resist 15.)

Mantle of Conviction (Su)
At 8th level, so long as an exarch has at least 1 indulgence coin, she is immune to charm spells and spell-like abilities.

Mantle of Resilience (Su)
At 14th level, so long as an exarch has at least 1 indulgence coin, she gains a +4 bonus to resist poisons.

Mantle of Resolve (Su)
At 17th level, so long as an exarch has at least 1 indulgence coin, she is immune to compulsion spells and spell-like abilities.

Exemplar (Ex)
At 20th level, an exarch picks two Exhortations that she has access to. So long as she has at least 1 Indulgence Coin, she can perform these Exhortations one category faster (e.g. a standard becomes a move, a swift becomes a free action, etc.)

Indulgence Feats

Aegis of Loyalty (Increase Zealous Aura 5 feet)
Extra Exhortation (Choose 1 additional exhortation)
Extra Indulgence (Gain 2 extra Indulgence Coins)
Lingering Chant (Exhortations last 50% longer, rounded down.)
+ Empowered Chant (Exhortation numerical values are increased by half for 1 additional indulgence coin [Requires Lingering Chant])
Exuberant Exhortation (+2 bonus to Exhortation DC.)
Overtone Chanting (Perform two Exhortations simultaneously instead of just one.)
+ Fire and Brimstone (Affect both allies and enemies simultaneously for 1 additional indulgence coin. [Requires Overtone Chanting, Exarch Level 7])
Practiced Exhortation (Reduce speed of a single Exhortation by one category. [Exarch Level 11])
+ Reactionary Sermon (Immediately perform a single Exhortation for 1 additional indulgence coin. [Requires Practiced Exhortation])

Code of Conduct

An exarch must be of lawful alignment and within one step of her deity.

Additionally, an exarch's code requires that she respect legitimate authority, uphold local laws, the laws of their deity, and the enforcement of such laws. When given the option, an exarch will choose their deity's laws above all others.

An exarch who grossly violates the code of conduct required by her god loses all class features, except for armor, shield, and weapon proficiencies. She cannot thereafter gain levels as an exarch of that god until she atones for her deeds (see the atonement spell description).

Though rare, an exarch may change deities and join a different sect. She must complete a week long trial, costing 100 GP per level in addition to the cost of an atonement spell to the new god.

5e has so many great fixes for 3.PF, it's a shame the system they built around that ended up being so terrible though.

They kinda had to. 4e was just terrible. Hasbro dusted off the old AD&D 2nd Edition books and fixed a lot of stuff.

LOTS of big changes this time around. Had some friends take a look. It's amazing what you miss when other people read it. For example, I completely forgot to include the Zealous Aura radius. :o Should've been 10'. Also forgot Armor & Weapon Proficiencies, which is important. :P

Lots more auras, Divine Feats, and some balancing.

Removed Lay on Hands and gave them Channel Energy at the cost of 2 indulgence coins.

I revamped the Exhortation mechanics. Performing an exhortation still requires a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity. (at 6th level, it no longer provokes, 12th is a move action, 18th is a swift.) However, there's no limit to the number of ongoing Exhortations being performed. So at 3rd level, if you have a reasonable 4 coins (18 charisma), you could do an Exhortation on the first round, then do another one the following round. They last 2 rounds each. You could either toggle them a round apart and maintain at least one of the auras for a combined 8 rounds, or, you could have them overlap and gain the benefits of both auras for 6 rounds. If that's ALL you do, and don't actually fight. With Lingering Chant, they'd last 3 rounds each at 3rd level.

You'd blow through all your coins in one combat, though, but hopefully combat won't last longer than 6 to 9 rounds, and you'll get one or two coins back.

I thought you meant Neccomancer, the dark wizards responsible for conjuring up the evil that is Necco Wafers. Yuck!

That can be the only reason why they exist. Evil Wizards. No one in their right mind would willingly eat Necco wafers.

I didn't realize I was forfeiting copyright by posting here. I thought that was only for the RPG Allstars.

It's certainly not in their FAQ.

Quite a few changes. Changed some aura, added some new auras, changed the skills a bit. Could still use more aura ideas, balance suggestions, etc.

For clarification, the aura's number is multiplied by Affirmation. So at 1st level, everything is just as it's listed. At 5th level, you may multiply by 2 for 2 Indulgence coins. At 10th, 3 ... and so forth until 20th when you may multiply everything by up to 5 at the cost of 1 indulgence coin per multiplier.

For example, a 15th level Exarch with 8 indulgence coins could use his Strength of the Bull aura and spend 4 indulgence coins to give everyone within his aura +4 Strength for 12 rounds (he took the Lingering Chant feat), while simultaneously (through use of the Overtone Chanting feat) to force 4 enemies within his aura to make a saving throw at the beginning of their turns or be staggered.

Granted, he just blew through all his coins, but he would have likely gained 2 or 3 back during the course of combat (and could just have easily used them as he gained them, as well, giving his allies +2 to AC during the remained of the combat.)

The idea behind this class is to give very short, but powerful bonuses or hindrances. A Bard on steroids, but with very limited duration. So choose your auras carefully, and use them wisely.

Exarch

Exarchs are an ancient organization that splintered from even older paladin orders, formed out of a need to provide redemption, justice, and law in a world that is more gray than it is black and white. The Exarch Temple has three spires (one each for a different lawful deity) representing the three branches: the Avatar, offering redemption to the accused; the Justicar, offering justice to wronged; and the Templar, enforcing law and punishment to the chaotic and condemned. Exarchs are devoted to law and their respective deities to the point of zealotry, and are unwavering to their cause. Exarchs usually (though not always) form a triad in major cities, providing support for (or even coordinating) local law enforcement, judgment, and punishment from their triple-spired temples. Initiates are sent out into the world to find their path, then return to join the ranks of the Exarch Temple. Exarchs from all three branches adhere to a strict hierarchy, with each branch headed by an Exarch Septum.

Role: Exarchs enforce law, defend their allies, and pass judgment upon their enemies. These ancient orders radiate an aura of influence, using sacred chants, prayers, hymns, or personal rituals to help inspire friends or hinder foes. They are judge, juror, and if need be, executioner.

Alignment: Any Lawful

Hit Die: d10

Class Skills

The exarch's class skills are Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), (Int) Knowledge (religion) (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Survival (Wis)

Skill Ranks per Level: 2 + Int modifier.

1 Zealous Aura, Indulgence, Exhortation, Detect Truth (Zone of Truth)
2 Hand of Righteousness
3 Exhortation, Mantle of Courage (Immune to Fear)
4 Bonus Feat
5 Exhortation, Affirmation
6 Indulgence
7 Exhortation
8 Bonus Feat, Mantle of Conviction (Immune to Charm)
9 Exhortation
10 Affirmation
11 Exhortation
12 Bonus Feat, Indulgence
13 Exhortation
14 Mantle of Resilience (Immune to Poison)
15 Exhortation, Affirmation
16 Bonus Feat
17 Exhortation, Mantle of Resolve (Immune to Compulsion)
18 Indulgence
19 Exhortation
20 Affirmation, Bonus Feat, Exemplar

Indulgence (Ex)
Because of their parting from traditional paladin roles, the Exarch's sometimes less-than-godly actions require penance in the form of indulgences. In game terms, indulgences is a fluctuating number of magical coins that imbue an exarch with temporary abilities. At the start of each day, an exarch gains a number of indulgence coins equal to her Charisma modifier (minimum 1). Her indulgence coins go up or down throughout the day, but usually cannot go higher than her Charisma modifier (minimum 1), though some feats and magic items may affect this maximum. An exarch pays indulgence to gain favor with their god (see below), and regains indulgence coins in the following ways.

Revive an ally: Each time an exarch heals herself or an ally to positive hit points from 0 or fewer, she gains 1 indulgence coin.

Bolster an ally: Each time an ally reduces a creature to 0 or fewer hit points while under the influence of an exarch's exhortation, she gains 1 indulgence coin.

Zealous Aura (Ex)
An exarch radiates an aura of powerful influence based on the deity's alignment (see detect evil for details.)

Detect Truth (Sp)
An Exarch can, as a move action, concentrate on an individual. While in the Exarch's gaze, the individual is affected as if under a Zone of Truth spell (DC 10 + 1/2 level + Cha modifier.) Any action that would break an exarch's concentration requires a concentration check to maintain the gaze.

Hand of Righteousness (Su)
Beginning at second level, an apprentice exarch's path is solidified. If an exarch is Lawful Good, or, Lawful Neutral and worships a good deity, then her energy is positively charged and sacred for the purpose of abilities and effects, and gains the paladin ability of Lay on Hands. If an exarch is Lawful Evil, or, Lawful Neutral and worships an evil deity, then her energy is negatively charged and profane for the purpose of abilities and effects, and gains the antipaladin ability of Touch of Corruption. If an exarch is Lawful Neutral and worships a neutral deity, she must decide on one path only. Profane and sacred bonuses from multiple exhortations do not stack with each other.

Mantle of Courage (Su)
At 3rd level, an exarch is immune to fear (magic or otherwise.)

Bonus Feats
At 4th level, and at every four levels thereafter, an exarch gains a bonus feat in addition to those gained from normal advancement. These bonus feats must be combat or divine feats.

Exhortations (Su)
Exhortations come in many forms such as sacred chants, prayers, hymns, personal rituals, sermons, etc., providing temporary enhancements to an exarch and her allies, as well as penalties to her enemies. When indulgence coins are paid, an exarch begins one or more exhortations as a part of the payment to expound their influence on any creature within the radius of their zealous aura, choosing to positively affect all allies or negatively affect all enemies. Exhortations last for 1 round plus a number of rounds equal to half the exarch's level, rounded down (minimum 1). This ability functions only while the exarch remains conscious, not if she is unconscious or dead. The DC to resist the affects of an exhortation is 10 + 1/2 the exarch's character level + their Charisma modifier. Creatures that start their turn inside the zealous aura and affected by an exhortation must make a new saving throw each round to avoid the affects.

Performing an exhortation requires a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity. At 6th level, it no longer provokes attacks of opportunity. At 12th level the time to perform an exhortation is reduced to a move action. At 18th level the time to perform an exhortation is reduced to a swift action. Ending an exhortation is a free action.

At 1st level, and at every three levels thereafter, an exarch selects one exhortation from the list below. The same exhortation can not be selected more than once.

At 4th, 10th, and 16th level, an exarch may choose to learn a new exhortation in place of one she already knows.

At 1st level, the following exhortations become available:

01 Zealous Defense (+1 Sacred to AC)
01 Zealous Resistance (+1 Sacred to Saving Throws)
01 Zealous Strike (+1 Sacred to Dmg)
01 Zealous Charge (+1 Sacred to Hit)
01 Zealous Focus (+1 Sacred to Skills & Ability Checks)
01 Abjure the Unworthy (-1 Sacred Hit)
01 Deprive the Unworthy (-1 Sacred to saving throws)
01 Punish the Unworthy (-1 Sacred to AC)
01 Quell the Unworthy (-1 Sacred to Combat Maneuver Defense)
01 Apprentice's Armor (DR2 / Magic)

At 3rd level, the following exhortations become available:

03 Cleansing Fire (Fire Resist 5)
03 Enduring Cold (Cold Resist 5)
03 Resilient Acid (Acid Resist 5)
03 Reviving Electricity (Electricity Resist 5)
03 Feet of Flame (Base Speed +5)
03 Channel Energy (Channel 1d6)

At 5th level, the following exhortations become available:

05 Rock Masters (DR2 / Bludgeoning)
05 Paper Tiger (DR2 / Slashing)
05 Scissors of Discord (DR2 / Piercing)
05 Revivification (Fast Healing 1)
05 Resounding Sonic (Sonic Resist 5)
05 Unerring Devotion (Negative Resist 5)
05 Unerring Conviction (Positive Resist 5)
05 Sword of Truth (1 target receives an extra attack)

At 7th level, the following exhortations become available:

07 Purify the Wicked (Aura of Fire Damage 1)
07 Punish the Sinners (Aura of Cold Damage 1)
07 Mark the Betrayers (Aura of Acid Damage 1)
07 Sanitize the Mad (Aura of Electricity Damage 1)

At 9th level, the following exhortations become available:

09 Silence the Dissenters (Aura of Sonic Damage 1)
09 Cleanse the Heretics (Aura of Positive Energy 1)
09 Defile the Idolators (Aura of Negative Energy 1)
09 Armor of the Gods (10% Fortification)

At 11th level, the following exhortations become available:

11 Strength of the Bull (Strength +1)
11 Grace of the Cat (Dexterity +1)
11 Endurance of the Bear (Constitution +1)
11 Cunning of the Fox (Intelligence +1)
11 Wisdom of the Owl (Wisdom +1)
11 Splendor of the Eagle (Dexterity +1)
11 Power Compels You (1 target gains Protection From Evil)
11 We Are Legion (1 target gains Protection From Good)

At 13th level, the following exhortations become available:

13 Lycanthropic Armor (DR2 / Silver)
13 Visions of Dread (1 target is shaken)
13 Mirror of Souls (10% miss chance)

At 15th level, the following exhortations become available:

15 Web of Deceit (1 target is staggered)
15 Divine Intervention (1 target gains a teamwork feat)
15 Divine Retribution (1 target gains a betrayal feat)
15 Miraculous Resistance (Spell Resistance 5)

At 17th level, the following exhortations become available:

17 Clockwork Armor (DR2 / Adamantine)
17 Pure Faith (1 target is immune to fear)

At 19th level, the following exhortations become available:

19 Infernal Protection (DR2 / Good)
19 Holy Protection (DR2 / Evil)
19 Chaotic Protection (DR2 / Law)
19 Lawful Protection (DR2 / Chaotic)
19 Pure Wrath (1 target is feared)

Affirmation (Ex)
Starting at 5th level, and every 5 levels thereafter, an Exarch may perform one additional Exhortation. In addition, the Exarch may spend 1 additional indulgence coin to increase the bonus or penalty multiplier of an Exhortation by 1.

Mantle of Conviction (Su)
At 8th level, an exarch is immune to charm spells and spell-like abilities.

Mantle of Resilience (Su)
At 14th level, an exarch is immune to poisons.

Mantle of Resolve (Su)
At 17th level, an exarch is immune to compulsion spells and spell-like abilities.

Exemplar (Ex)
At 20th level, an exarch picks two Exhortations that she has access to. So long as she has at least 1 Indulgence Coin, she can perform these Exhortations one category faster (e.g. a standard becomes a move, a swift becomes a free action, etc.)

Indulgence Feats

Aegis of Loyalty (Increase Zealous Aura 5 feet)
Extra Exhortation (Choose 1 additional exhortation)
Extra Indulgence (Gain 2 extra Indulgence Coins)
Lingering Chant (Exhortations last 50% longer, rounded down.)
Exuberant Exhortation (+2 bonus to Exhortation DC.)
Overtone Chanting (Perform two Exhortations simultaneously per round instead of just one.)
Practiced Exhortation (Reduce speed of a single Exhortation by one category. [Exarch Level 11])

Code of Conduct

An exarch must be of lawful alignment and within one step of her deity.

Additionally, an exarch's code requires that she respect legitimate authority, uphold local laws, the laws of their deity, and the enforcement of such laws. When given the option, an exarch will choose their deity's laws above all others.

An exarch who grossly violates the code of conduct required by her god loses all class features, except for armor, shield, and weapon proficiencies. She cannot thereafter gain levels as an exarch of that god until she atones for her deeds (see the atonement spell description).

Though rare, an exarch may change deities and join a different sect. She must complete a week long trial, costing 100 GP per level in addition to the cost of an atonement spell to the new god.

That was the idea, to a maximum of Resist 10 at 20th.

Also, I like having a lot of silly enchantments. It's always fun to have custom magic items that are powerful, but have just ridiculous crap on them. See how far a player is willing to go to get that +3 returning hammer ... especially if it squeaks when it hits stuff and screams in abject terror when thrown. :D