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Paladins have powers. It says so in the Paladin article. What it doesn't say, unless I missed it, is which powers a paladin has. The article refers the reader to the chapter on spells, and powers are listed in the alphabetical list of spell descriptions in that chapter. However, there's no list of which powers a paladin might get, and some don't seem appropriate to the class. There's also nothing in the powers' descriptions that refers to paladins. Apparently there can be other sources for powers, though I haven't run across any yet. So are the powers described in the spells chapter all available to all paladins, and no one else (unless there is some other source for them somewhere), or have I missed something?
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From Paladin->Champion Powers section
Champion Powers
Divine power flows through you......Champion powers are available only to paladins, and they
can’t be learned by other characters. They appear in the Spells
chapter (page 192). Some paladin feats grant you additional
champion powers, and such feats typically increase your
pool of Spell Points. The spell level of each of your champion
powers is equal to half your character level, rounded down,
and produces heightened effects (see page 192) for those
champion powers that have heightened entries.You gain the ability to cast the lay on hands champion
power by spending 1 Spell Point.
The last part of the champion powers section says they start off with the Lay on Hands power.
Edit: other powers you can use your spell points on
(up to paladin 10th lvl feats):
Deity's Domain
Channel Life
Litany Against Wrath
Advanced Domain
Litany Against Sloth
Edit: you can find these powers in the spells section (non-intuitive that they don't get their own section)
Okay, Lay on Hands is something a paladin might do. Doesn't mention paladins in the description. Advanced Domain? Where is that description? I found the Litanies, but the others don't seem to be in there. They're in the Cleric class description? Oh. The Paladin class description doesn't say so. Very confusing. Also, how do we know that these are the powers the paladin gets, and not others from the spell descriptions? Either I'm missing something obvious, or the folks who wrote this book did.
The other powers come from Feats you can take, and are listed under the appropriate feat.
Otherwise you just get Lay on Hands.
I think I have it figured out now. Powers are associated with a spell pool, and clerics, druids, monks, paladins, and sorcerers can gain such a pool through either a class ability or a class feat (depending on the class). Once you have the pool and a beginning spell power, other powers are gained through class feats. So it seems that alchemists, barbarians, bards, fighters, rangers, rogues, and wizards don't get powers or a spell pool. Unless there's some other way to get them or I missed it in the class description.
Innate spells come, it says here "typically from your ancestry or a magic item". Haven't checked magic items, and didn't see anything about innate spells in the ancestry chapter. Did I miss it?
I think I was confusing powers and innate spells, and thinking there was a source other than through "special class features" for powers but I see now that's wrong. I think. :-)
Specialist Wizards get powers from their school and most level 8 class feats. Universalist wizards can get the hand of the apprentice power via feat.
Bards gain a spell pool to cast counter performance with their first composition class feature at level 1 and can learn more powers via feats.
Get a list with all spells and powers here. You can set the filter to powers and filter or sort by source to see who has access to which powers.
Possible sources for innate spells are the cantrips you can get via ancestry feats if you are gnome or elf. There's also a general feat that let's you cast detect magic as an innate spell at will.
I wish they would of separated the powers and spells instead of mixing them in.
I think I have it figured out now. Powers are associated with a spell pool, and clerics, druids, monks, paladins, and sorcerers can gain such a pool through either a class ability or a class feat (depending on the class). Once you have the pool and a beginning spell power, other powers are gained through class feats. So it seems that alchemists, barbarians, bards, fighters, rangers, rogues, and wizards don't get powers or a spell pool. Unless there's some other way to get them or I missed it in the class description.
Innate spells come, it says here "typically from your ancestry or a magic item". Haven't checked magic items, and didn't see anything about innate spells in the ancestry chapter. Did I miss it?
I think I was confusing powers and innate spells, and thinking there was a source other than through "special class features" for powers but I see now that's wrong. I think. :-)
Elf, gnome, and half elf have innate spell ancestry feats.
I've read the paladin section several times, and I am still unclear about the spell list. Do they have access to all spells in the Divine pool? Do they have any innate spells? Do they even have to take spells as part of their build?
Paladins do not get spell slots or access to a spell list. They have only access to their champion powers. Those are
Heroe's Defiance
Lay on hands
Litany against sloth
Litany against wrath
Litany of righteousness
Paladin's Sacrifice
All except Lay on Hands must be chosen via feat.
Their powers are divine spells. This is only a reference for effects based on spell type (like which skill is used to identify them).
I've read the paladin section several times, and I am still unclear about the spell list. Do they have access to all spells in the Divine pool? Do they have any innate spells? Do they even have to take spells as part of their build?Paladins do not get spell slots or access to a spell list. They have only access to their champion powers. Those are
Heroe's Defiance
Lay on hands
Litany against sloth
Litany against wrath
Litany of righteousness
Paladin's SacrificeAll except Lay on Hands must be chosen via feat.
Their powers are divine spells. This is only a reference for effects based on spell type (like which skill is used to identify them).
Hero's Defiance doesn't need a feat either, as paladins get it automatically at 19th level. It's an almost easily missed thing that I could see being confused with a feat.
Mercy is another champion power you need a feat for, but it's one of the many such feats that requires the Lay on Hands power in its text. Channel Life also requires Lay on Hands, but instead grants you the ability to cast heightened heal with Spell Points.
Hero's Defiance doesn't need a feat either, as paladins get it automatically at 19th level. It's an almost easily missed thing that I could see being confused with a feat.
I went by my spell list and have erroneously marked Hero's Defiance as a feat. Thanks for the heads-up. I'll have to change that.
Mercy is another champion power you need a feat for, but it's one of the many such feats that requires the Lay on Hands power in its text. Channel Life also requires Lay on Hands, but instead grants you the ability to cast heightened heal with Spell Points.
Mercy is a meta magic feat, not a power. I left out channel life because it's not quite a power from my perspective. More like "cast a normal spell and pay with spell points" kinda deal. A power is something with an individual effect (for me, at least).
Should have included Channel Life in my listing for Anonymous Visitor 682 866 anyway. Thanks for catching that.
"Powers are a special type of spell that you can learn only through special class features" -- Playtest Rulebook, p. 193.
Channel Life is not a power, as it's not listed in the spell descriptions in chapter seven. It's a Paladin class feat that has a power (Lay On Hands) as a prerequisite. The feat gives the paladin the ability to use spell points to cast a heal spell even without the Spellcasting ability.
At least, that's how I read it.
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"Powers are a special type of spell that you can learn only through special class features" -- Playtest Rulebook, p. 193.
Channel Life is not a power, as it's not listed in the spell descriptions in chapter seven. It's a Paladin class feat that has a power (Lay On Hands) as a prerequisite. The feat gives the paladin the ability to use spell points to cast a heal spell even without the Spellcasting ability.
At least, that's how I read it.
My reading is that you can cast heal as a power. In fact, I think everything that is cast with spell points is a power (they really should be renamed power points).
It's probably possible to find some extreme cases of powers cast as spells and more common case of spells cast as powers. And that is probably why both are sharing the same section.
In fact, I think everything that is cast with spell points is a power (they really should be renamed power points).
Maybe.