General Prestige Class : Pious Templar
Sworn to the defense of a temple site, the templar is a holy warrior blessed by her deity with combat prowess and great endurance. She bears her deity's favored weapon into battle and fights her deity's enemies without question or hesitation. In addition to defending the temple itself, a templar may be charged with additional duties, including a campaign to attack foes on their own home ground.
Faithful people of all professions can enter the ranks of the templars; clerics and paladins are especially likely to do so. Some temples (such as those of Boccob or Wee Jas) welcome wizards and sorcerers to become templars, valuing those characters' ability to use arcane magic combined with the martial training of the templar. Likewise, Olidammara's temples are often guarded by rogue/templars, who combine combat training with sneak attack tactics. Ranger/templars serve in temples of Ehlonna and Obad-Hai, while barbarian/templars are not unknown in temples of Kord or Erythnul. Only monks, with their own specialized combat training, are unlikely to adopt the templar class.
NPC templars usually live cloistered in temple buildings or attached quarters.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Pious Templar, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Skills: Knowledge (religion) 4 ranks.
- Feats: True Believer, Weapon Focus (with her deity's favored weapon).
- Base Attack Bonus: +5.
Class Skills
The pious templar's class skills are Climb, Concentration, Craft, Heal, Jump, Knowledge (religion), Profession, and Swim.
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the templar prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Templars are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all types of armor, and with shields.
Mettle (Su): A templar's special blessing allows her to shrug off magical effects that would otherwise harm her. If a templar makes a successful Will or Fortitude saving throw that would normally reduce the spell's effect, she suffers no effect from the spell at all. Only those spells with a Saving Throw entry of "Will partial," "Fortitude half," or similar entries can be negated through this ability.
Weapon Specialization: A templar gains the Weapon Specialization feat with her deity's favored weapon.
Spells per Day: A templar has the ability to cast a small number of divine spells. To cast a spell, the templar must have a Wisdom score of at least 10 + the spell's level, so a templar with a Wisdom of 10 or lower cannot cast these spells. Templar bonus spells are based on Wisdom, and saving throws against these spells have a DC of 10 + spell level + the templar's Wisdom modifier. When the templar gets 0 spells of a given level, such as 0 1st-level spells at 1st level, she gets only bonus spells. (A templar without a bonus spell for that level cannot yet cast a spell of that level.) The templar's spell list appears below. A templar has access to any spell on the list and can freely choose which to prepare, just like a cleric. A templar prepares and casts spells just as a cleric does (though the templar cannot spontaneously cast cure or inflict spells).
Smite (Su): Once per day, a templar of 2nd level or higher may make a single melee attack with a +4 attack bonus and a damage bonus equal to her templar level (if she hits). The templar must declare the smite before making the attack. At 7th level, the templar can smite twice per day.
If the templar has a smite evil or smite ability (for being a paladin or a cleric with the Destruction domain) already, she can use the ability one extra time per day (two extra times at 7th level). The attack bonus does not increase, but the damage bonus is based on the character's combined level (templar level plus cleric or paladin level).
Damage Reduction (Ex): Starting at 3rd level, templars have the ability to shrug off some amount of injury from each blow or attack. Subtract 1 from the damage the templar takes each time she is dealt damage. At 6th level, this damage reduction rises to 2, and at 9th level, it rises to 3.
Bonus Feat: At 4th level and again at 8th level, the templar gets a bonus feat. These bonus feats must be drawn from the following list: Blind-Fight, Combat Reflexes, Dodge (Mobility, Spring Attack), Exotic Weapon Proficiency*, Expertise (Improved Disarm, Improved Trip, Whirlwind Attack), Improved Critcal*, Improved Initiative, Improved Unarmed Strike (Deflect Arrows, Stunning Fist), Mounted Combat (Mounted Archery, Trample, Ride-By Attack, Spirited Charge), Point Blank Shot (Far Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Shot on the Run), Power Attack (Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Sunder, Great Cleave), Quick Draw, Two-Weapon Fighting (Improved Two-Weapon Fighting), Weapon Finesse*, Weapon Focus*.
Feats dependent on other feats are listed parenthetically after the prerequisite feat. A character can select feats marked with an asterisk (*) more than once, but it must be for a different weapon each time. Characters must still meet all prerequisites for a feat, including ability score and base attack bonus minimums.
Templar Spell List
Templars choose their spells from the following list:
- 1st - bless, cause fear, command, divine favor, entropic shield, magic weapon, mount, shield of faith.
- 2nd - aid, bulls strength, calm emotions, endurance, enthrall, hold person, shield other, spiritual weapon
- 3rd - blindness/deafness, daylight, dispel magic, invisibility purge, magic vestment, negative energy protection, prayer, searing light
- 4th - divine power, freedom of movement, greater magic weapon, status.
| Pious Templar | Hit Die: d10 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | Spells per Day | |||
| 1st | +1 | +2 | 0 | +2 | Mettle, Weapon Specialization | 0 | - | - | - |
| 2nd | +2 | +3 | 0 | +3 | Smite l/day | 1 | - | - | - |
| 3rd | +3 | +3 | +1 | +3 | Damage reduction 1/- | 1 | 0 | - | - |
| 4th | +4 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Bonus feat | 1 | 1 | - | - |
| 5th | +5 | +4 | +1 | +4 | - | 1 | 1 | 0 | - |
| 6th | +6 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Damage reduction 2/- | 1 | 1 | 1 | - |
| 7th | +7 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Smite 2/day | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 8th | +8 | +6 | +2 | +6 | Bonus feat | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 9th | +9 | +6 | +3 | +6 | Damage reduction 3/- | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 10th | +10 | +7 | +3 | +7 | - | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
Source: Defenders of the Faith
Complete Divine