Paladin

After training in the arts of combat and the mysteries of the divine, the paladin is anointed as a holy warrior dedicated to the protection of law and goodness.

Most paladins are priests or fighter/priests.

NPC paladins usually belong to a holy order dedicated to a lawful good deity. Some are lone wanderers, dealing out justice while walking the earth.

Compared to the core paladin, the prestige paladin gives up a small amount of combat prowess in exchange for a larger spell list and a higher top end of his spellcasting powers. Also, his class features aren't quite as powerful as the core paladin's as a result of his reduced paladin class level.

Requirements

To qualify to become a paladin, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

Alignment: Lawful good.

Base Attack Bonus:+4.

Skills: Knowledge (religion) 2 ranks, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) 2 ranks, Ride 4 ranks.

Feats: Mounted Combat.

Spellcasting: Ability to cast protection from evil as a divine spell.

Special: Access to divine sphere abilities; must worship a Lawful or Good deity.

Game Rule Information

Class Skills: The paladin's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (nobility and royalty) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), and Sense Motive (Wis).

Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Hit Die:d10.

Class Features

All the following are class features of the paladin class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: No new armor or weapon proficiencies.

Spells per Day: A paladin's training focuses on divine spellcasting. At every odd numbered level reached, the paladin gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in whatever divine spellcasting class he belonged to before he added the prestige class.

Detect Evil (Sp): As the standard paladin ability of the same name.

Smite Evil (Su): As the standard paladin ability of the same name.

Sphere Powers (Su): A paladin retains his ability to use his divine sphere powers. He does not gain additional uses per day, but his paladin levels and priest levels stack when determining all level related effects.

Divine Grace (Su): As the standard paladin ability of the same name.

Lay on Hands (Su): As the standard paladin ability of the same name, except that the total number of hit points of damage that a paladin can heal per day is equal to his Charisma modifier x (his paladin level + 3). For example, a 3rd-level paladin with a Charisma of 16 (+3 modifier) can heal 18 points of damage per day.

Special Mount (Sp): As the standard paladin ability of the same name, except treat the paladin's effective level as three higher when calculating the mount's bonus Hit Dice, powers, and so forth.

Aura of Courage (Su): As the standard paladin ability of the same name.

Divine Health (Ex): As the standard paladin ability of the same name.

Remove Disease (Sp):As the standard paladin ability of the same name, except that a paladin gains the ability at 4th level and can use this ability one additional time per week for every four levels gained thereafter (twice at 8th and three times at 12th).

Code of Conduct and Associates: These restrictions are the same as those described for the standard paladin class.

Ex-Paladins

Same as for the standard paladin, but with no restrictions on multiclassing.