DnD/Class Handbooks/Paladins/Call of Duty - Paladin

Recommendations

Info

Call of Duty – A Paladin’s Sourcebook: Chapter 3: A Variety of Paladins Paladin Orders Paladins, due to their lawful nature, usually belong to some type of organization. Most paladin organizations are called “orders”. Orders can be secular or religious, and may be part of a larger organization, such as a church or kingdom. Some orders are autonomous and take commands only from the divine. Orders are typically well organized with a military-like hierarchy. Everyone knows their place in the chain of command, and understands their responsibilities to the letter. Some orders are not like this at all, however. Some are loosely organized associations of paladins adventuring in the same geographical area, and may not even have a formal name, headquarters, or leader. These types of orders are commonly referred to as brotherhoods (for those with male and female members) or sisterhoods (for all female groups). The first step to creating a customized paladin order is to decide why the order exists in the first place. You can pick more than one, and the order’s purpose may have changed over time. Even if you pick several purposes, choose one as its primary function in current times. Some Purposes for a Paladin Order: 50 • Specific Enemy: Long ago, a great evil threatened the land. Many paladins united in an order dedicated to destroying that evil, and the organization still exists. The ancient threat that catalyzed the birth of the order may be destroyed, it may still be active, or it may be dormant. Perhaps it has been sealed away beneath the order’s headquarters. • General Defense: The paladins are there to protect the land from invasions of any sort. • Law Enforcement: The order is there to enforce the laws of legitimate authority. This could be the laws of a king (secular) or of a church (religious). • Tradition: The order has been around so long that no one knows why it was formed, but it has a grand history and joining brings much prestige. These types of orders usually have a lawful neutral tilt. (See Chapter 2 about alignment tilts). • Source of Power: In some campaign worlds, it may be that a god of paladins requires them to join the order. Being expelled from the order results in a becoming an ex-paladin until you are allowed to rejoin. Instead of a god, it might be the presence of the other paladins that is it the source of their power, or some mysterious artifact that the paladin order guards. • Religion: Paladins may be required to take a vow of loyalty to an organized church or temple. The paladin order may be merely a department within a large church hierarchy. It may be a department with much freedom, or it may serve the priests. The paladin order could be answerable only to the highest religious leader or leaders, and could act as their right hand as a sort of elite divine task force. Violating the commands of a priest may be considered a gross violation of the Code, but it is likely that paladins in such an organization would know their chain of command very well, and would certainly know who has the right to order them around. • Cadre: Paladins sometimes form the core of a larger military organization. They are often the elite fighting force within a lawful good military. Some orders define an entire knighthood, for example, while other orders may be elite units within a larger organization of knights. • Camaraderie: Paladins share an uncommon bond. They enjoy each other’s company and want to adventure with each other. Paladins have a strong sense of duty, however, and go where they are needed. An organization based on camaraderie may be loosely organized to enable members to come and go as they need to, or it might even be mobile. • Prestige: Paladins are rarely proponents of pride, and usually let personal glory take a backseat to protecting the innocent and fighting evil. Nevertheless, there are those who take great pride in simply being paladins, and see others as less worthy. Such individuals often band together in very formal knighthoods to revel in their own godliness. Unfortunately, orders of this type sometimes fall into corruption as a whole, creating powerful legions of blackguards. Example: We will create a religious order that now exists primarily for law enforcement. After you have decided what prompted the creation of the order, you need to answer some critical questions about the order.
Questions about the order: • What is the name of the order? • How many members does it have? • How much territory does the order influence? • How do you become a member? Some orders may require that you take on a quest for the order, or that you are capable of casting a particular paladin spell. Others welcome any paladin into their ranks. • Is there a rank structure or hierarchy? How is rank determined? Often the top leaders are elected or ascend because of right of birth. Even though your exact level probably cannot be determined by NPCs, your ability to cast certain paladin spells may be used to determine your particular rank in the order. • Who is in charge? What does the organization chart look like? Where does one start in the organization, and how does one advance? • What are the benefits of being a member? Usually the benefits of a paladin order are that the resources of all the paladins are pooled, with the exception of personal equipment. Therefore, if you have need of a place to stay, a meal, or healing, the order is usually a good place to go. • Who are the order’s enemies? Evil creatures, obviously, but this could also include corrupt governments, or even a corrupt church. This could also be an individual, such as a powerful lich or devil. • Who are the order’s allies? Monks and clerics are commonly allies of paladins, but so are governments, and other lawful good organizations. Celestial creatures, good rangers, or even a good rogue’s guild might be allies. Allies might aid the order from outside the ranks, or they may be allowed in the order as honorary members. Call of Duty – A Paladin’s Sourcebook: Chapter 3: A Variety of Paladins • What are the order’s assets? Does the order have strongholds? Treasure? How does a member get to use any of it? • Does the order have any legal authority in the land? A lawful good king might grant a paladin order within his realm the ability to arrest, or even the power to execute lawbreakers. • Does the order add to the Code of Conduct with tenets? (See Chapter 2 about tenets.) • Is there a tilt to the order’s alignment? (See Chapter 2 for information about alignment tilts.) • Sample Order: The Silver Hand Our organization will be called the Silver Hand. Its members include 25 paladins, 2 cleric/paladins, 51
Page 3 and 4: Call of Duty Preface The paladin cl
Page 5 and 6: Call of Duty - A Paladin’s Source
Page 7 and 8: Call of Duty - A Paladin’s Source
Page 9 and 10: Lvl Base Attack Bonus Class Skills
Page 11 and 12: Archon “Everyone is guilty of som
Page 13 and 14: Verdict (Sp): Once per week, you ma
Page 15 and 16: Chaos Knight “This is boring. Let
Page 17 and 18: Ex-Chaos knights: If your alignment
Page 19 and 20: given the choice, they will defend
Page 21 and 22: Golden Pride Hunter “What lion wa
Page 23 and 24: chosen. Like the spell, you heal an
Page 25 and 26: possible. Associates: Mersi follow
Page 27 and 28: Penitent Sniper “Thou shalt kill.
Page 29 and 30: Sample NPC “And Siditherus let lo
Page 31 and 32: or armor. Fey Friend (Ex): You are
Page 33 and 34: The real complications of these tas
Page 35 and 36: associate with evil creatures over
Page 37 and 38: Sword Saint “Battle is righteous.
Page 39 and 40: She sometimes uses this ability to
Page 41 and 42: Given the choice of defending a rav
Page 43 and 44: Handbook, Chapter 6: Description, A
Page 45 and 46: “help those who need help (provid
Page 47 and 48: • Mercy must never be shown to an
Page 49 and 50: would likely prefer that the cleric
Page 51: Wizard/paladins and sorcerer/paladi
Page 55 and 56: Variant: Customizing Paladins Palad
Page 57 and 58: Chapter 4: New Magic Spells Divine
Page 59 and 60: Add your special mount’s hit poin
Page 61 and 62: Magic Items Creating Memorable Magi
Page 63 and 64: Caster Level: 5 th ; Prerequisites:
Page 65 and 66: Any paladin wielding wyrmseeker lea
Page 67: OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a The

DnD/Class Handbooks/Paladins/Call of Duty - Paladin

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?