Starfinder Paladin Homebrew

[HWalsh]

So, here is a home brew version of the Starfinder Paladin I made for use in my campaign.

At this time this is an NPC only class.

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PALADIN

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Once believed (incorrectly) to be tied to divine power these individuals are those with a unique connection to the Galactic source of Good. Though many are religious, this is not a requirement. Paladins are people possessing of two requirements that, while often existing separately, when combined within a being create something much greater than the sum of the parts.

The first of these is a metaphysical element called a "Spark" that exists within the core of their being. This is something that they are born with, cannot be developed, and cannot be artificially created, even by the power of a God. It cannot be taken, it cannot be extracted, and it cannot be transferred. It is one of the greatest mysteries of the Universe.

The second element is that the potential Paladin must be an equal conduit for both the fundamental forces of Law and the elemental force of Good. This is a mindset that can, over time, be developed or lost. This means that many who have the potential to be Paladins never achieve this state.

When a sufficiently pure Law/Good energy matrix interacts with a Spark an event known as an Awakening occurs. This requires that unique Law/Good matrix to function, any other combination, or even one that is not sufficiently pure, causes the matrix to destabilize and the Spark to return to a dormant state. Even one evil action is enough to pollute the Matrix and it takes time and effort to "atone" for such transgressions, these used to be corrected by magic, but certain meditative techniques can also purify the Matrix, though they take considerable time.

When the Spark is Awakened the Paladin gains extraordinary power and becomes a living conduit for Positive Energy. This gives them fantastic abilities that allow them to perform near superhuman feats. Many an evil-doer has been undone by the sword of a Paladin.

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Key Ability Score:
Charisma, the force of personality a Paladin possesses allows them to open themselves up to the source of Good and allows them to greatly enhance their abilities. Other ability scores that help a Paladin are Strength, Dexterity, and Wisdom.

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Class Skills:
Paladins gain 4+Int Bonus class skills per level.

Class skills are:

Acrobatics
Athletics
Culture
Diplomacy
Medicine
Mysticism
Perception
Profession
Sense Motive

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Proficiencies:

Armor:
Light Armor, Heavy Armor.

Weapon:
Basic and Advanced Melee Weapons, Small Arms and Long Arms.

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Base Attack Bonus: Full (Gains +1 BAB per level)

Saves: Fort/Ref/Will
01: +02/+00/+02
02: +03/+00/+03
03: +03/+01/+03
04: +04/+01/+04
05: +04/+01/+04
06: +05/+02/+05
07: +05/+02/+05
08: +06/+02/+06
09: +06/+03/+06
10: +07/+03/+07
11: +07/+03/+07
12: +08/+04/+08
13: +08/+04/+08
14: +09/+04/+09
15: +09/+05/+09
16: +10/+05/+10
17: +10/+05/+10
18: +11/+06/+11
19: +11/+06/+11
20: +12/+06/+12

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Abilities:

*****

1st:

Smite
A Paladin can, as a standard action, activate "Smite" when they do, for a number of turns equal to their 1 + their Paladin Level the Paladin gains a +1 to their Attack and Damage rolls. While using Smite the Paladin ignores any enemy Damage Reduction or Resistance scores and his/her strikes count as magical weapons. Once used this ability cannot be used again until the Paladin recovers their Stamina following a 10 minute rest. The bonus to this improves by +1 at levels 4, 8, 12, and 16.

Skilled
A Paladin's training is quite diverse and they come from many walks of life. As such the Paladin chooses 1 skill and adds it to the Paladin class skills list.

Detect Evil
A Paladin may, as a move action, detect evil within a 60 foot radius.

*****

2nd:

At the beginning of each day, following a long rest, a Paladin may choose one of the following two abilities, these abilities cannot be exchanged again until another full day has passed.

Paladin's Charge
A Paladin can, as a standard action, perform the charge action. When doing so the Paladin suffers none of the normal charge penalties. While Smite is active the Paladin may make a full attack at the end of their charge.

-OR-

Paladin's Protection[b]
As a move action a Paladin may grants +1 to the EAC and KAC of any adjacent allies, including the Paladin herself, within 5 feet. This bonus improves by +1 at levels 4, 8, 12, and 16.

*****

3rd:

[b]Weapon Specialization
Weapon Specialization, a Paladin gains weapon specialization in the weapons their class is proficient in.

Channel Healing
As a move action, a Paladin may Spend 1 Resolve and heal 1d6 Hit Points per every 2 Paladin Levels to a target. This requires a free hand and the Paladin must be able to physically touch the recipient.

*****

4th:

Divine Grace
The Paladin may use their Charisma Bonus in place of their Dexterity Bonus, Constitution Bonus, or Wisdom Bonus, whichever is higher, for the purposes of determining the ability bonus to their saves.

*****

5th:

No new abilities.

*****

6th:

Divine Bond
The Paladin may spend a resolve point and a standard action to form a bond with their weapon or armor, causing the energies within them to flow into their weapon or their armor.

If the item is a weapon the weapon it becomes surrounded in a brilliant white glow and now targets EAC instead of KAC, the Paladin also adds the Holy weapon property to it. These bonuses and modifications only apply as long as the Paladin is wielding it.

If the item is armor, it sprouts wings of white light and the Paladin gains the ability to fly at a rate equal to their normal movement speed.

This bond lasts for 1 minute.

*****

7th:

Bonus Feat
The Paladin may select a bonus (combat) feat.

*****

8th:

Divine Skill
The Paladin may choose any Charisma-based skill, once chosen this cannot be changed until the Paladin gains a level, the Paladin gains 1d6 to all skill rolls with that skill.

*****

9th:

Divine Courage
The Paladin gains immunity to [Emotion] effects.

*****

10th:

[b[Divine Health[/b]
The Paladin gains immunity to [Poison] and [Disease].

*****

11th:

Paladin's Onslaught
The Paladin can now make 3 attacks when they full attack, However they take a penalty of -6 on each of these attacks.

*****

12th:

Bonus Feat
The Paladin may select a bonus (Combat) Feat.

*****

13th:

Divine Resiliance
If a Paladin fails a Save, they may spend 1 resolve point to attempt to re-roll the save. Once used, this ability cannot be used again until a Paladin finishes a 10 minute rest to regain Stamina.

*****

14th:

Divine Resistance
A Paladin gains DR equal to 1/2 their Paladin level against enemies of the Evil sub-type. The Paladin also gains Resistance equal to their Paladin Level against enemies of the Evil sub-type.

*****

15th:

No new abilities.

*****

16th:

Cure Poison and Disease
When a Paladin uses Channel Healing on another, it will automatically end any Poison or Disease effects on that person.

*****

17th:

Bonus Feat
The Paladin may select a bonus (Combat) feat.

*****

18th:

Extra Smite
The Paladin may use Smite one additional time between recharges.

*****

19th:

Divine Skill
The Paladin may choose a second skill to benefit from the bonus of Divine Skill.

*****

20th:

Divine Transformation
The Paladin spends a full action and 1 resolve point to transform into a semi-divine being. While transformed they are treated as though they have Smite Active, Divine Bond Active (Both Effects), and all movement speeds are increased by two. These uses of Smite/Divine Bond do not count against their usual total uses. While transformed the Paladin possesses DR 10/- and Resistance (to all) 20/-.

While transformed they may make unlimited use of their Channel Healing ability. This transformation lasts for two minutes. Once used this ability may not be used again for 24 hours.

[Metaphysician]

Not bad. I am more inclined to make it an archetype, but this class conversion looks viable.

Main suggestions I would point out are:

1. Empty levels look bad. Perhaps stick an extra bonus feat on those levels?

2. That Smite attack bonus looks a little iffy, given that it applies to any target for the duration. I would suggest either bringing back the "pick a target" requirement, or put in the "target must be evil" requirement.

[HWalsh]

Metaphysician wrote:

Not bad. I am more inclined to make it an archetype, but this class conversion looks viable.

Main suggestions I would point out are:

1. Empty levels look bad. Perhaps stick an extra bonus feat on those levels?

2. That Smite attack bonus looks a little iffy, given that it applies to any target for the duration. I would suggest either bringing back the "pick a target" requirement, or put in the "target must be evil" requirement.

Those empty levels often coincide with healing or smite becoming stronger.

I didn't want to limit the Paladin to single or evil targets because detect evil in Starfinder only finds Supernatural evil.

It is much weaker on the whole than the Paladin smite from Pathfinder.

[Metaphysician]

It looks much weaker, but I still am suspicion of that scaling attack bonus. Remember, attack bonuses are *much* rarer in Starfinder.

[Khr0m]

Pretty awesome home brew class. I'm sure my players will like it

[baggageboy]

Hwalsh I think it is a good effort, but this is really really powerful. Aside from the code of conduct limitations I can't see why there would be much reason not to play this in place of either a soldier or solarian.

Also a few specifics and suggestions.

What is wisdom doing for the paladin? I didn't see any abilities tied to it to justify calling it out as a primary attribute. Maybe missed it (very possible) and maybe it isn't really a primary which would be ok too.

As metaphysition has said the soaking bonus of smite evil is very very powerful. Consider how a plus 1 or plus 2 bonus that an envoy can give people is considered a very good choice. Something that give a 4 or 5 bonus to hit is too powerful in my opinion. Maybe you could tone it down a bit by making it cost resolve, or limit who it can be applied against.

The immunities are also very powerful. Poisons and diseases are much stronger in starfinder from what I and others have seen, so an ability that gives complete immunity to those is much more powerful than the same ability was in pathfinder. Given that the paladin will likely have the best saves in the game again using your current class build I think a bonus against those rather than immunity would be more appropriate. You'd be nearly immune, but still have some small risk.

Overall I like that you've keyed off of abilities that are pulled from the solarian and soldier, but it seems kinda Cheryl picked, almost every ability is quite desirable. The other two classes both have a mix of great abilities and some so so abilities. I'm not seeing many lesser abilities and so the overall impression is that currently it is overpowered. Also most starfinder classes offer quite a bit of choice on you're abilities, and the paladin class you've laid out so far has little in the way of such things. I understand that that is difficult to emulate as it requires way more material and so a lot more work, especially because as you give more choices players can cherry pick and build op combinations and ignore lesser abilities. One way you could allow for some choice easily would be to allow picking abilities form other classes at certain levels. For instance choosing a soldier gear boost, or a mystic connection.

I'm sorry if it feel like a lot of criticisms, and I hope that you find some of the suggestions helpful. I don't mean to simply criticize that is easy and not helpful.

[Ciaran Barnes]

I feel that in many cases you have taken the names fo paladin class features and just made a different class feature. And what’s more this paladin doesn’t need to be religious. Why not just make a new class?

The smite feature last for a number of rounds equal to level +1. At 1st a character will be hard pressed to spend a round activating an ability to gain a +1 for 2 rounds. By mid level the ability will last longer than the combats. At 18th level, he can use it twice per combat, but one use lasts much longe than a combat anyways.

Using smite again requires spending resolve to regain stamina. Your 2nd level ability also requires spending resolve (to heal 1d6 HP. Not a great trade off). Then at 1eth level there is another ability that spends resolve. This character will be burning through resolve faster than everyone else.

I don’t get why you are making the paladin a skill class. Choose a class skill, add d6 to a skills. Again, I think you should just make a new class, instead of reinventing the paladin.

Paladin’s protection doesn’t lists a duration. How long does the bonus last?

Divine grace seems overly complicated. If you want the paladin to have good saves, you could just grant a bonus.

[JetSetRadio]

baggageboy wrote:

What is wisdom doing for the paladin? I didn't see any abilities tied to it to justify calling it out as a primary attribute. Maybe missed it (very possible) and maybe it isn't really a primary which would be ok too.

I read on another thread that Hwalsh is not the biggest fan of Charisma in general. So lets talk about the Solarian problem...

[HWalsh]

Wisdom is important because of their class skills 1/3 of which Use Wisdom.

It is also a nod to the original Paladin (2nd Edition AD&D) where Paladins used Wisdom for their spells as per clerics.

[Space McMan]

I agree that this class is objectively better than any of the PC classes by a significant degree. If this remains an NPC class that's fine. NPCs play by different rules and should be challenging for players to fight. That said I would never allow a PC to play this class under any circumstances.

My issue with the core class design is how the concept of the class (a champion of cosmic Good) doesn't have any effect on the mechanics of the class. All the class's mechanics just work in all situations, regardless of the moral implications or alignment of the enemy. I feel like the excess of power you've given this class should be tempered with restrictions based on their nature as paragons of Good. Can't Smite non-evil creatures, can't get bonus saves against non-evil sources, ect.

Outside of the strict Lawful Good requirement, there's nothing in this class that makes it play like a paladin. Instead it gets universally powerful abilities that could be added to any other class without conflict because none of the abilities have any real tie to the paladin concept.

[Xuldarinar]

An interesting interpretation. I honestly would use the version printed in the Starfarer's Handbook first but thats just me.

Couple nitpicks here that it being an NPC class doesn't quite save it from:

This guy is a paladin, and so a Champion of Good! He can cartwheel up to little Timmy, cast Detect Evil on him, find nothing. Then he can smite him anyways because he is CE and Smite has no baring on alignment. Yes there is a fluff statement on alignment, but there is no mechanical aspect.

Divine Grace
The Paladin may use their Charisma Bonus in place of their Dexterity Bonus, Constitution Bonus, or Wisdom Bonus, whichever is higher, for the purposes of determining the ability bonus to their saves.

So, Strictly hypothetically:

Dex 12
Con 16
Wis 14
Cha 18

This guy is allowed to use their Charisma in place of their Constitution for the purpose of determining their Fort save? Not Dexterity because it needs it, one don't get Cha mod to everything, and.. God forbid if their Charisma matches their highest between the three.

[HWalsh]

Xuldarinar wrote:

An interesting interpretation. I honestly would use the version printed in the Starfarer's Handbook first but thats just me.

Couple nitpicks here that it being an NPC class doesn't quite save it from:

This guy is a paladin, and so a Champion of Good! He can cartwheel up to little Timmy, cast Detect Evil on him, find nothing. Then he can smite him anyways because he is CE and Smite has no baring on alignment. Yes there is a fluff statement on alignment, but there is no mechanical aspect.

Divine Grace
The Paladin may use their Charisma Bonus in place of their Dexterity Bonus, Constitution Bonus, or Wisdom Bonus, whichever is higher, for the purposes of determining the ability bonus to their saves.

So, Strictly hypothetically:

Dex 12
Con 16
Wis 14
Cha 18

This guy is allowed to use their Charisma in place of their Constitution for the purpose of determining their Fort save? Not Dexterity because it needs it, one don't get Cha mod to everything, and.. God forbid if their Charisma matches their highest between the three.

No as in:

If his Charisma is higher than his Con, he can use it for Fort saves.

If his Charisma is higher than his Wis, he can use it for Will saves.

If his Charisma is higher than his Dex, he can use it for Reflex saves.

In the example you posted, he would use Charisma in place of all 3 as it is higher.

[Xuldarinar]

HWalsh wrote:

Xuldarinar wrote:

An interesting interpretation. I honestly would use the version printed in the Starfarer's Handbook first but thats just me.

Couple nitpicks here that it being an NPC class doesn't quite save it from:

This guy is a paladin, and so a Champion of Good! He can cartwheel up to little Timmy, cast Detect Evil on him, find nothing. Then he can smite him anyways because he is CE and Smite has no baring on alignment. Yes there is a fluff statement on alignment, but there is no mechanical aspect.

Divine Grace
The Paladin may use their Charisma Bonus in place of their Dexterity Bonus, Constitution Bonus, or Wisdom Bonus, whichever is higher, for the purposes of determining the ability bonus to their saves.

So, Strictly hypothetically:

Dex 12
Con 16
Wis 14
Cha 18

This guy is allowed to use their Charisma in place of their Constitution for the purpose of determining their Fort save? Not Dexterity because it needs it, one don't get Cha mod to everything, and.. God forbid if their Charisma matches their highest between the three.

No as in:

If his Charisma is higher than his Con, he can use it for Fort saves.

If his Charisma is higher than his Wis, he can use it for Will saves.

If his Charisma is higher than his Dex, he can use it for Reflex saves.

In the example you posted, he would use Charisma in place of all 3 as it is higher.

I can see that interpretation but the wording needs to be just a little clearer to avoid confusion.

Divine Grace

The paladin may use their Charisma score for the purpose of determining their Fortitude, Reflex, and Will saves. This is done in place of their normally associated ability scores (Constitution, Dexterity, and Wisdom respectively) and this decision is made for each save separately.

While this does open up the theoretical of a paladin with a Charisma penalty and strong Wisdom, Constitution, and Dexterity scores choosing to use Charisma in place of them all, it does make sure that it is clear in its intention.

[JetSetRadio]

The bonus should only apply to one save and not all. Just my opinion. Seems a little too powerful if it applies to all.