Base Class Blackguard

[karlbadmanners]

Hey all just trying to get some input on a conversion to make a blackguard a base class in PF. Thanks :)
Lvl 1 - Aura of Evil, Detect Good, Poison Use, Smite Good 1/day
Lvl 2 - Dark Blessing( +Cha mod to saves), Deadly Touch( as Lay On Hands)
Lvl 3 - Aura of Despair
Lvl 4 - Smite Good 2/day, Channel Negative Energy, Sneak Attack +1D6
Lvl 5 - Divine Bond
Lvl 6 - Command Undead
Lvl 7 - Sneak Attack +2D6, Smite 3/day
Lvl 8 - Aura of Resolve
Lvl 9 -
Lvl 10 - Smite 4/day, Sneak Attack +3D6
*Standard Pally spell list(with the obvious evil tweaks), and per day/known per level progression.( I will probably drop my spells for feats a la Paladin variant from CW)

Notes:
-I'm almost positive this campaign will not go past lvl 10 so w/o further inquiries I am stopping there for now.

-I've been thinking about taking away poison use and swapping it for Armored Stealth(no armor penalty to stealth checks) to keep the flavor of the class and the power balanced.

-I made the sneak attack progression slower than a rogue's for balance, but I'm honestly not all that interested in having the ability, as I will be the "tank"(ugh I hate that word), any suggestion on what I could swap it with(perhaps fighter feats? a la Rogue Variant from UA) or perhaps something more "inline" with the blackguard's theme.

Thank you all so much for your input :)

[Kvantum]

You do realize the antipaladin variant base class is going to be in the Advanced Player's Guide, releasing at GenCon on August 5th, right?

[karlbadmanners]

Kvantum wrote:

You do realize the antipaladin variant base class is going to be in the Advanced Player's Guide, releasing at GenCon on August 5th, right?

lol nope didn' know, thanks. Either way I like working on my characters enough to spend the time to create this anyways, and to enjoy converting it to the Anti-Paladin. On a side note I really hope they don't cop-out with the name, Anti-Paladin is a very bleh class name imho. Any word on wether or not the abilities will be straight-mirrored off the pally or will the class be more akin to a base class blackguard.

[Morgen]

Yeah but Anti-Paladin has been around for a while. It's got legacy in the game. :)

The Advanced Player's Guide seems like it will have cool stuff in it, but your blackguard base class didn't look too bad either.

[Trainwreck]

A paladin gets a bunch of cool powers, but is constrained by a code of conduct that no other class has to work with.

Now you're creating an evil paladin class that has all of the LG paladin's powers, but doesn't have the limitations of the code of conduct.

That isn't balanced.

Evil paladin and LG paladin face off in a fight. Evil paladin says put down your sword or my henchman will murder this child. Evil paladin disguises herself as a damsel in distress. Evil paladin poses as cleric of LG paladin's god and feeds him poison from a flask labelled "cure light wounds." Evil paladin sets fire to a house full of innocent people to distract the LG paladin while the evil paladin escapes.

The LG paladin can't pull any of these tricks. Your evil paladin is seriously overpowered.

[AoOKnight]

I also feel they should have a code of conduct. Being an anti-paladin would require you to do evil acts instead of good acts...to remain evil in alignment. Playing by a code of evil conduct is far harder than one would think. I like the idea of a black guard base class but you should penalize the player for doing blatantly good acts not minor transgressions.

I think your version is well balanced.

[Remco Sommeling]

Kvantum wrote:

You do realize the antipaladin variant base class is going to be in the Advanced Player's Guide, releasing at GenCon on August 5th, right?

If I recall correctly the anti-paladin was cut from the APG for various reasons. I might be wrong, but I seem to recall it being mentioned in a thread.

[Gorbacz]

The Antipaladin stays. Actually, his artwork was previewed last week.

The Templar (non-LG/CE holy warrior) got cut due to lack of space.

[Anburaid]

karlbadmanners wrote:

Hey all just trying to get some input on a conversion to make a blackguard a base class in PF. Thanks :)

Lvl 1 - Aura of Evil, Detect Good, Poison Use, Smite Good 1/day
Lvl 2 - Dark Blessing( +Cha mod to saves), Deadly Touch( as Lay On Hands)
Lvl 3 - Aura of Despair
Lvl 4 - Smite Good 2/day, Channel Negative Energy, Sneak Attack +1D6
Lvl 5 - Divine Bond
Lvl 6 - Command Undead
Lvl 7 - Sneak Attack +2D6, Smite 3/day
Lvl 8 - Aura of Resolve
Lvl 9 -
Lvl 10 - Smite 4/day, Sneak Attack +3D6
*Standard Pally spell list(with the obvious evil tweaks), and per day/known per level progression.( I will probably drop my spells for feats a la Paladin variant from CW)

Notes:
-I'm almost positive this campaign will not go past lvl 10 so w/o further inquiries I am stopping there for now.

-I've been thinking about taking away poison use and swapping it for Armored Stealth(no armor penalty to stealth checks) to keep the flavor of the class and the power balanced.

-I made the sneak attack progression slower than a rogue's for balance, but I'm honestly not all that interested in having the ability, as I will be the "tank"(ugh I hate that word), any suggestion on what I could swap it with(perhaps fighter feats? a la Rogue Variant from UA) or perhaps something more "inline" with the blackguard's theme.

Thank you all so much for your input :)

Looking at the 3.5 blackguard, I think sneak attack was a blackguard replacement for Lay on Hands. However, rather than sneak attack, what about using negative energy channeling, and as it advances the blackguard can add status conditions to those effected. You might even allow it to work like death knell, if the blackguard kills any foes with the channeling, seeing as the paladin can heal himself quite reliably. Its a tricky balance, since you don't want channeling to be too good. In general it should probably be a better offensive tool than a healing tool, since the blackguard is more of combative class.