Alternate Class - Anti-Paladin
by James Jacobs, Dragon #313
Of the three variants of unholy warrior, the anti-paladin is certainly the most notorious. A loner, he eschews prolonged contact with all forms of society and companionship except on a temporary basis as his desires, needs, and lusts demand. He wanders the fringe of civilization, always seeking justice to upend, happiness to quash, and faith to destroy. Many anti-paladins are truly mad, completely overwhelmed with the burning desire to tear down what others have toiled to create, be it a comfortable home, a loving family, or even a powerful nation.
Anti-paladins must be chaotic evil, since they personify the raw destructive force of entropy and hatred without focus or direction. Evil deities of destruction often count anti-paladins among their devoted, but powerful beings from the lower planes (especially demon lords) also enlist these hateful souls as minions. Anti-paladins do not form knighthoods or similar societies, but they do work as mercenaries. An anti-paladin who finds himself in charge of a contingent of like-minded killers usually grows tired of his "allies" before long and leads them to their doom or kills them himself.
Class Skills
The anti-paladin's class skills are Bluff, Climb, Concentration, Hide, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (religion), Knowledge (the planes), Ride, and Survival.
Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) x 4.
Skill Points at each additional level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the anti-paladin:
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: All unholy warriors are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all types of armor (heavy, medium, and light), and with shields (except tower shields).
At 5th level, and at every five levels thereafter, the unholy warrior may smite one additional time per day, to a maximum of five times per day at 20th level.
Divine Grace (Su): At 2nd level, the unholy warrior gains a bonus equal to her Charisma bonus (if any) on all saving throws.
Aura of Fear (Su): Beginning at 3rd level, an unholy warrior exudes an almost palpable aura of menace and evil. Each enemy within 10 feet of her suffers a -4 morale penalty on saving throws against fear effects. The unholy warrior herself is deadened to the emotion of fear, and is immune to all fear effects. This ability functions while the unholy warrior is conscious, but not if she is unconscious or dead. An unholy warrior can suppress or activate this aura as a free action.
Spells: All unholy warriors gain the ability to cast divine spells as early as 4th level (if their Wisdom score is high enough to grant bonus 1st level spells). Each unholy warrior has a unique spell list, and members of these classes must choose and prepare their spells in advance. Unholy warriors gain spells at the same rate as paladins.
Aura of Evil: The power of an anti-paladin's aura of evil (see the detect evil spell) is equal to his anti-paladin level.
Detect Good (Sp): At will, an anti-paladin can detect good, as the spell.
Smite Good (Su): All unholy warriors can smite a certain type of enemy a number of times per day. Smiting a target requires a normal melee attack. The unholy warrior adds her Charisma bonus (if any) to her attack roll and deals 1 extra point of damage per unholy warrior level. If the unholy warrior accidentally smites a target that is inappropriate, the smite attack has no effect, but the ability is still used up for that day.
At 5th level, and at every five levels thereafter, the unholy warrior may smite one additional time per day, to a maximum of five times per day at 20th level. An anti-paladin's smite targets creatures of a good alignment.
Slaughter the Weak (Ex): Beginning at 2nd level, an anti-paladin takes a perverse and horrendous glee when facing opponents in battle that are weaker than himself. He gains a +2 morale bonus to attack and damage rolls with melee weapons when he attacks any creature that has fewer Hit Dice than he does.
Dying creatures who have less Hit Dice than the anti-paladin suffer a -2 penalty to save against death knell spells cast by the anti-paladin.
Death Knell (Sp): The anti-paladin can cast death knell, as the spell, once per day at 3rd level, at a caster level equal to his anti-paladin level. At every five levels thereafter the anti-paladin can cast death knell an additional time each day.
Turn or Rebuke Outsider (Su): When an anti-paladin reaches 4th level, he gains the supernatural ability to turn or destroy good outsiders by channeling energy. He can instead rebuke or command evil outsiders with a use of this ability if he chooses. The anti-paladin may use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + his Charisma modifier. The anti-paladin turns or rebukes outsiders as a cleric of three levels lower would turn undead.
Fiendish Mount (Sp): Anti-paladins gain a fiendish mount at 5th level. This ability functions just like the special mount ability of the paladin class except that an anti-paladin's special mount always has the fiendish template, and it remains for 1 hour per anti-paladin level once called.
Contagion (Sp): At 6th level, an anti-paladin gains the ability to cast contagion, as the spell, once per week. He may use this ability an additional time each week every additional three levels, to a maximum of 5 times a week at 20th level. Caster level is equal to the anti-paladin's class level.
Code of Conduct: An anti-paladin must be of chaotic evil alignment and loses all class abilities if he ever willingly commits a good act. He must work at all times to undermine the works of civilization and good peoples, and must never offer mercy or grant quarter unless he betrays his word within the next hour. He cannot join an organization, but he can perform services for others as long as the services are for pay and ultimately lead to chaos and devastation.
Associates: An anti-paladin may adventure with any non-good alignment, but remains hateful and distrustful of any "allies." As soon as an ally is no longer useful, the anti-paladin usually kills her (or at the very least, sacrifices her for his own personal gain). He never knowingly associates with good characters, nor will he continue an association with someone who balks at senseless murder or refuses to reward him for his aid. An anti-paladin may only accept henchmen, followers, or cohorts who are chaotic evil. Anti-paladins always suffer the -2 penalty for cruelty when determining their effective Leadership score to recruit a cohort.
| Anti-Paladin | Hit Die: d10 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | Spells per Day | |||
| 1st | +1 | +2 | +0 | +0 | Aura of evil, detect good, smite good 1/day | - | - | - | - |
| 2nd | +2 | +3 | +0 | +0 | Divine grace, slaughter the weak | - | - | - | - |
| 3rd | +3 | +3 | +1 | +1 | Aura of fear, death knell 1/day | - | - | - | - |
| 4th | +4 | +4 | +1 | +1 | Turn outsider | 0 | - | - | - |
| 5th | +5 | +4 | +1 | +1 | Fiendish mount, smite good 2/day | 0 | - | - | - |
| 6th | +6/+1 | +5 | +2 | +2 | Contagion 1/week | 1 | - | - | - |
| 7th | +7/+2 | +5 | +2 | +2 | - | 1 | - | - | - |
| 8th | +8/+3 | +6 | +2 | +2 | Death knell 2/day | 1 | 0 | - | - |
| 9th | +9/+4 | +6 | +3 | +3 | Contagion 2/week | 1 | 0 | - | - |
| 10th | +10/+5 | +7 | +3 | +3 | Smite good 3/day | 1 | 1 | - | - |
| 11th | +11/+6/+1 | +7 | +3 | +3 | - | 1 | 1 | 0 | - |
| 12th | +12/+7/+2 | +8 | +4 | +4 | Contagion 3/week | 1 | 1 | 0 | - |
| 13th | +13/+8/+3 | +8 | +4 | +4 | Death knell 3/day | 1 | 1 | 1 | - |
| 14th | +14/+9/+4 | +9 | +4 | +4 | - | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 15th | +15/+10/+5 | +9 | +5 | +5 | Contagion 4/week, smite good 4/day | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 16th | +16/+11/+6/+1 | +10 | +5 | +5 | - | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 17th | +17/+12/+7/+2 | +10 | +5 | +5 | - | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 18th | +18/+13/+8/+3 | +11 | +6 | +6 | Contagion 5/week, death knell 4/day | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 19th | +19/+14/+9/+4 | +11 | +6 | +6 | - | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 20th | +20/+15/+10/+5 | +12 | +6 | +6 | Smite good 5/day | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Anti-Paladin Spell List
- 1st Level: Bane, cause fear, curse water, deathwatch, doom, inflict light wounds, magic weapon, profane weapon, protection from good, protection from law, ray of enfeeblement, read magic, summon monster I.
- 2nd Level: Bull's strength, darkness, desecrate, shatter, summon monster II, undetectable alignment.
- 3rd Level: Bestow curse, blindness/deafness, deeper darkness, greater magic weapon, heal mount, inflict moderate wounds, magic circle against good, magic circle against law, summon monster III.
- 4th Level: Death ward, dispel good, dispel law, fear, inflict serious wounds, poison, unholy sword.
Source: Dragon #313
Alternate Character Classes
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