Templar (3.5e Class)

Author: Tarkisflux (talk) Co-Authors: ThunderGod Cid Date Created: July 2012 Status: Complete Editing: Clarity edits only please

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Templar

The power of my deity flows through me, and will cut you down should you cross me.

Every religion has clerics, those tasked with performing the duties of the religion. Many also have faithful members who leave their homes to travel distant lands, spreading the word of their god or pantheon. Templars are ordained warriors tasked with spreading the faith and defending the faithful, while also beating down the foes of a deity.

Templars are the militant arm of their church and/or cause. They are often guards of sacred places, dispatched away from the temples as agents of higher powers, or simply wander to share the virtues of their philosophy and ideal with others. Initially able and zealous warriors combining martial abilities with the power of their deity, they eventually become an active sword or shield for their deity, with high levels of offensive prowess and devastating crowd control. Whether as a bodyguard or a support character, they often find themselves in the ranks of adventuring parties who can make use of the talents.

A templar generally exemplifies a particular ideology of life, and associated nomenclature may depend on the side with which he aligns himself. A good templar, for instance, might assume the title of paladin while those who embrace evil are often known as blackguards and those who serve neutrality are called gray wardens. What truly differentiates these characters are the vows that they swear to uphold.

Making a Templar

Templars are often on the front lines, attempting to spread the word of their deity or knock some sense into the heads of unbelievers and enemies.

Primary Abilities: Templars value Charisma greatly, as it allows them to better convince those they encounter of the importance of their deity and provides force to their spells. They also value Strength as it allows them to beat up those who steadfastly refuse to believe and get in the way of the templar's work.

Secondary Abilities: Constitution is often the third most important ability for a templar, as it allows them to stand longer in the fray.

Races: Any. Every race that has deities has templars to spread their teachings.

Alignment: Any, though a templar may only select a deity who allows worshipers of the templar's alignment. Conversely, a templar of a specific deity is limited to only those alignments which would be allowed by the deity for a follower. Templars without a patron deity may select any alignment they like.

Starting Gold: 3d10×10 gp (165 gp).

Starting Age: Moderate.

Table: The Templar

Hit Die: d10

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Spells per Day
		Fort	Ref	Will		0	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
1st	+1	+2	+0	+2	Code of Conduct, Divine Vow, Spells, Vow of Allegiance	2	—	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+3	Avenger of the Faith (Primary)	3	—	—	—	—	—	—
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+3	Divine Vow	3	2	—	—	—	—	—
4th	+4	+4	+1	+4	Avenger of the Faith (Secondary)	3	2	—	—	—	—	—
5th	+5	+4	+1	+4	Divine Vow	3	3	2	—	—	—	—
6th	+6/+1	+5	+2	+5	Avenger of the Faith (Primary), Priest Craft	3	3	2	—	—	—	—
7th	+7/+2	+5	+2	+5	Divine Vow (Twice Vowed)	3	3	3	2	—	—	—
8th	+8/+3	+6	+2	+6	Avenger of the Faith (Secondary), Inquisitor	3	3	3	2	—	—	—
9th	+9/+4	+6	+3	+6	Divine Vow (Twice Vowed)	3	3	3	2	—	—	—
10th	+10/+5	+7	+3	+7	Avenger of the Faith (Primary)	3	3	3	3	2	—	—
11th	+11/+6/+1	+7	+3	+7	Divine Vow (Twice Vowed)	3	3	3	3	2	—	—
12th	+12/+7/+2	+8	+4	+8	Avenger of the Faith (Secondary), Sustained by Faith	3	3	3	3	2	—	—
13th	+13/+8/+3	+8	+4	+8	Divine Vow (Thrice Vowed)	3	3	3	3	3	2	—
14th	+14/+9/+4	+9	+4	+9	Avenger of the Faith (Primary)	4	3	3	3	3	2	—
15th	+15/+10/+5	+9	+5	+9	Divine Vow (Thrice Vowed)	4	4	3	3	3	2	—
16th	+16/+11/+6/+1	+10	+5	+10	Avenger of the Faith (Secondary)	4	4	4	3	3	3	2
17th	+17/+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+10	Divine Vow (Thrice Vowed), Undying Faith	4	4	4	4	3	3	2
18th	+18/+13/+8/+3	+11	+6	+11	Avenger of the Faith (Primary)	4	4	4	4	4	3	3
19th	+19/+14/+9/+4	+11	+6	+11	Divine Vow (Thrice Vowed)	4	4	4	4	4	4	3
20th	+20/+15/+10/+5	+12	+6	+12	Avenger of the Faith (Secondary), I Believe in Miracles	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Appraise (Int), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (nobility and royalty) (religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language (None), Spellcraft (Int), Swim (Str).
Class Skills, Tome of Prowess Variant (6 per level, ×4 at 1st level) Affability (Cha), Appraisal (Int), Athletics (Con), Cultures (Cha), Endurance (Con), Healing (Cha), Intimidation (Cha), Jump (Str), Psychology (Int), Thaumaturgy (Cha).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the templar.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A templar is automatically proficient with simple and martial weapons, all forms of armor, and all shields.

Spells: Like a priest, a templar casts divine spells, which are drawn from the templar spell list (see below). He knows all of the spells on his class list, and may cast any of them without preparation so long as he has an appropriate spell slot available. He gains bonus spells based on his Charisma score.

A templar’s spells are more for utility than combat efficacy, either allowing him to better solve problems through non-violent means or enhancing his combat abilities past even their already formidable limits.

0th— create water, cure light wounds, detect magic, guidance, light, purify food and drink, read magic, resistance

1st— aid, bless, cure moderate wounds, detect chaos/evil/good/law (opposing alignments only), deathwatch, divine favor, find temple^SpC, protection from chaos/evil/good/law (opposing alignments only), remove fear, rhino’s rush^SpC, shield of faith

2nd— align weapon, augury, brand heretic, calm emotions, cure serious wounds, delay poison, consecrate, lesser restoration, mass cure light wounds, prayer, remove blindness/deafness, shield other, status

3rd— atonement, commune, cure critical wounds, greaterdispel magic, glyph of warding, knight's move^SpC, magic circle against chaos/evil/good/law (opposing alignments only), mass cure moderate wounds, remove disease, speak with dead

4th— death ward, discern lies, dismissal, divination, freedom of movement, heal, holy sword (or unholy sword), mass cure serious wounds, mark of justice, remove curse, restoration

5th— banishment, break enchantment, contact other plane (own deity only), dispel chaos/evil/good/law (opposing allignments only), mass cure critical wounds, raise dead, righteous might

6th— binding, greater glyph of warding, heroes’ feast, mass heal, quest (willing creatures only), refuge, soul bind, word of recall

Code of Conduct (Ex): Like any other character, a templar does what he must to uphold the duties given to him by an organization of which he is a part, even if that organization is as loose as his alignment group. But let’s face it; sometimes even the good and honorable knight may want to lie about his identity or consort with unscrupulous characters in order to root out the evil, demonic cult. And evil knights can be obsessed with battle, honor, and battling with honor. A templar is not specifically prohibited from acts that lie outside of their alignment or run counter to their deity's wishes. Many aspire to these things and most follow them, but not all do so and no templar is punished for being found slightly wanting. Templars who actively displease or betray their deity may still be stripped of their powers and dismissed, however.

Divine Vow (Su): A templar’s code is somewhat variable; different deities and philosophies extol different virtues that a templar must try to uphold. But more than that, each templar is permitted to extol these virtues in slightly different ways. The vows a templar makes are a representation of his personal or religious code, and determine which aspects he attempts to uphold most strongly. These vows grant him extraordinary powers (the nature of which vary based on the vows he takes). These are detailed in the section on divine vows below.

At 1st level the templar gains the Vow of Piety and one other rank 1 vow of their choice. At every odd-numbered class level thereafter the templar may take a new vow, but he may not advance one of his existing vows beyond rank 1 at this time.

Beginning at 7th level, he may reaffirm a previous vow to gain an additional ability from that vow and take a rank 2 benefit from a vow which he already possesses. Such a reaffirmation is known as "twice vowed." Instead reaffirming a vow, he may instead select a new vow at rank 1. He may not advance a vow beyond rank 2 at this time.

Beginning at 13th level, he may reaffirm one of his twice vowed selections an additional time to gain a final ability from it, gaining a rank 3 benefit from a vow in which he already possesses the rank 2 benefit. Such a reaffirmation is known as "thrice vowed". Instead of thrice vowing an eligible vow, he may instead select two lesser vows to advance to twice vowed, or he may make a new vow and gain both the rank 1 and rank 2 abilities from it.

Avenger of the Faith: A templar trains himself in multiple forms of combat, so as to serve as both the weapon and shield of their church or ideals. Starting at second level, he chooses a primary combat form (see Avenger of the Faith Styles) for which he gains the corresponding abilities at 2nd level and every four class levels thereafter. At 4th level, he chooses his secondary style, and gains the benefits thereof at each 4 class levels.

Arms of the Faithful (Ex): At fifth level a templar gains Craft Magic Arms and Armor as a bonus feat. When crafting any magic items with this feat, they are treated as having access to the spells of the war domain in addition to those on their class list. If they already possess Craft Magic Arms and Armor, they may select another item creation feat for which they qualify.

Inquisitor (Ex): An 8th level templar can detect the alignments of any creature that he can see as a swift action. He instantly gains all information about their alignment as if he had spent three rounds concentrating on them with the appropriate spells. If the creature is warded, the templar must succeed on a caster level check against the warding spell.

In addition, all the templar’s attacks are automatically considered aligned (good or evil, lawful or chaotic, etc. based on his alignment) for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction.

Sustained by Faith (Su): An eleventh level templar gains everything they need to live from their relationship with their deity. They no longer need to eat, drink, breathe, or sleep. They can still do these things if they want to of course.

Undying Faith (Su): Seventeenth level templars are extremely difficult to kill, since their sense of purpose keeps them bound to this world. When a templar of this level dies, they may elect to gain the benefit of a true resurrection at anytime within the next minute, though this only leaves them at half of their maximum hit points. They may benefit from this ability no more than once per day. A templar who dies twice in a day will need someone else to bring them back to continue their work.

All Things Are Possible (Sp): The prayers of a twentieth level templar are taken very seriously. Once per day they may cast miracle as a spell-like ability, though they must still spend experience points if the effect would require them from a spellcaster casting it.

Ex-Templars

A templar who wishes to pursue other classes is welcome to do so. There are no multiclssing restrictions against the templar.

A templar who willingly leaves his faith or who is cast out loses all spells, spell-like, and supernatural abilities, as well as any ability stemming from one of their vows. They may return to the faith if a ranking member casts an atonement for them. They may also pursue a new faith entirely. They must still find a member of the faith to atone them, however. When joining a new faith in this way, the templar loses all of their old vows. They may swear a new one each day until they have reached the level allotted them based on their level.