Templar (3.5e Class)

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"Divine Spellcasting, Spontaneous Spellcasting, Other" is not in the list (Prepared Arcane Spellcasting, Spontaneous Arcane Spellcasting, Prepared Divine Spellcasting, Spontaneous Divine Spellcasting, Arcane Spellcasting, Divine Spellcasting, Prepared Spellcasting, Spontaneous Spellcasting, Alternate Magic, Psionics, ...) of allowed values for the "Class Ability" property.

Templar

The power of my deity flows through me, and I will strike you down with it 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 knights 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, guarding sacred places or dispatched away from the temples as agents of higher powers. 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 exemplifies a particular ideology of life, and associated nomenclature may depend on the side with which he aligns himself. A good templar, for instance, can 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.

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	Earthly Vow, Spells, Vow of Allegiance	2	—	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+3	Avenger of the Faith (Primary)	3	0	—	—	—	—	—
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+3	Earthly Vow	3	1	—	—	—	—	—
4th	+4	+4	+1	+4	Avenger of the Faith (Secondary)	3	2	0	—	—	—	—
5th	+5	+4	+1	+4	Earthly Vow	3	3	1	—	—	—	—
6th	+6/+1	+5	+2	+5	Avenger of the Faith (Primary)	3	3	2	—	—	—	—
7th	+7/+2	+5	+2	+5	Earthly Vow	3	3	2	0	—	—	—
8th	+8/+3	+6	+2	+6	Avenger of the Faith (Secondary), Inquisitor	3	3	3	1	—	—	—
9th	+9/+4	+6	+3	+6	Earthly Vow	3	3	3	2	—	—	—
10th	+10/+5	+7	+3	+7	Avenger of the Faith (Primary)	3	3	3	2	0	—	—
11th	+11/+6/+1	+7	+3	+7	Earthly Vow	3	3	3	3	1	—	—
12th	+12/+7/+2	+8	+4	+8	Avenger of the Faith (Secondary)	3	3	3	3	2	—	—
13th	+13/+8/+3	+8	+4	+8	Earthly Vow	3	3	3	3	2	0	—
14th	+14/+9/+4	+9	+4	+9	Avenger of the Faith (Primary)	4	3	3	3	3	1	—
15th	+15/+10/+5	+9	+5	+9	Earthly Vow	4	4	3	3	3	2	—
16th	+16/+11/+6/+1	+10	+5	+10	Avenger of the Faith (Secondary)	4	4	4	3	3	2	0
17th	+17/+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+10	Earthly Vow	4	4	4	4	3	3	1
18th	+18/+13/+8/+3	+11	+6	+11	Avenger of the Faith (Primary)	4	4	4	4	4	3	2
19th	+19/+14/+9/+4	+11	+6	+11	Earthly Vow	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) Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Jump (Str), Knowledge (nobility and royalty) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language (n/a), Swim (Str).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the paladin.

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

Spells: Like a cleric, a paladin casts divine spells, which are drawn from the paladin spell list (see below). He also gains bonus spells accordingly based on his Charisma score, and prepares his spells in the same manner as a cleric does. A paladin’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.

0— create water, detect magic, detect poison, guidance, light, purify food and drink, resistance, virtue

1st— bane, bless, command, comprehend languages, deathwatch, divine favor, endure elements, entropic shield, remove fear, rhino’s rush, shield of faith

2nd— aid, align weapon, augury, calm emotions, delay poison, hold person, remove paralysis, resist energy, lesser restoration, shield other, spiritual weapon, status

3rd— continual flame, dispel magic, glyph of warding, heal mount, invisibility purge, magic vestment, prayer, protection from energy, remove blindness/deafness, remove curse, remove disease, speak with dead

4th— death ward, dimensional anchor, discern lies, dismissal, divination, divine power, freedom of movement, holy sword (or unholy sword), neutralize poison, restoration, sending, spell immunity, tongues

5th— atonement, break enchantment, greater command, commune, disrupting weapon, mark of justice, raise dead, righteous might, scrying

6th— banishment, blade barrier, forbiddance, greater glyph of warding, heal, heroes’ feast

Code of Conduct: Like any other character, a paladin 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 has to lie about his identity or consort with unscrupulous characters in order to root out the evil, demonic cult. A paladin is not specifically prohibited from even acts of questionable morality such as lying, stealing, or use of poison. That said, even paladins of chaotic or evil persuasion are obsessed with battle, honor, and battling with honor. So long as he truly acts towards the fulfillment of his personal code (subject to the discretion of player and DM), he gains immunity to fear effects and cannot be forced by any effect to unwillingly commit a violent act against someone who shares his alignment.

A paladin’s code is subjective to its maker; he takes vows as a representation of his code (see the section on earthly vows below), which grant him extraordinary powers (the nature of which vary based on the vows he takes). At 1st level and every odd-numbered class level thereafter, the paladin may take a new vow or reaffirm a previous vow and gain an additional ability from that vow.

Inquisitor (Ex): A paladin continuously detects the alignments of all creatures that he can see. He does not need to expend any effort to determine any particular creature’s alignment, and instantly gains all information about their alignment as if he had spent three rounds concentrating on them. This ability may even penetrate any protection against divination that has a caster level less than the paladin‘s character level.

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

Faith Sustains Me (Su): A fourteenth 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 faith keeps them bound to this world. When a templar of this level dies, they may elect to gain the benefit of a true resurrection on the following round, though this only leaves them at half of their maximum hit points. They may benefit from this ability no more than one time 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 Through Faith (Sp): The prayers of a twentieth level templar are taken very seriously. Once per week they may cast miracle as a spell-like ability.

Avenger of the Faith Styles

Charger

1. Knight Errant (Ex): A templar charger needs to work around the limitations of the bulky armor that is so often part of his attire. He no longer suffers penalties to his base speed from wearing medium or heavy armor. The templar also gains additional benefits while charging. He may make 1 turn up to 90 degrees as part of his charge action, though he must still travel at least 10 feet in a straight line immediately before he attacks his target. Additionally, he is not required to move to the closest space to his opponent during a charge and may make his charge attack when his opponent is in any of his threatened spaces. This would allow him to take a charge attack while running past an opponent, but this movement would provoke attacks of opportunity as normal.
2. Cataphract (Ex): When charging the templar gains a +4 bonus to his attack roll instead of the normal +2 and can make a full attack on a charge. He also now may charge up to three times his normal base speed when he makes a charge as a full-round action and twice his base speed even if he can only charge as a standard action. This benefit also applies while the templar is mounted.
3. Path of Necessity (Su): A templar who cannot charge at his foes is a templar who can not do his duty. While charging or running, the templar gains the benefit or air walk for the round, and until the start of their next turn. If they do not continue running or charging at the start of the next round, they instead fall to the ground under the effect of feather fall.
4. Knight Marshal (Ex): The templar now tramples over those who fall before his charge, continuing to seek more blood. If he destroys an effect or slays an opponent with a charge attack, his charge continues in the same path (following all normal restrictions as they apply), allowing him to continue charging and attacking each target in the same manner. This benefit also applies while the templar is mounted.
5. Path of Glory (Su): When a foe is struck with a charge attack and killed, they are destroyed utterly as if they had been immolated or disintegrated. Further, while charging or running a templar may leave behind a blade barrier as he leaves each space. The wall need not be continuous, and may have as many or as few breaks in it as the templar desires. This wall dissipates at the start of the templar's next turn, deals 15d6 points of damage, and has a save DC of 16 + the templar's Charisma modifer. This benefit also applies while the templar is mounted.

Protector

1. Hardline Stance (Ex): When faced with throngs of unbelievers or the enemies of your deity, it's important to stand your ground. A templar protector may enter a hardline stance as an immediate action. They must spend a swift action to leave this stance however, though it automatically ends if they fall unconscious or become helpless. There is no limit to the number of times in a day when a templar can enter a hardline stance.
   While holding a hardline stance a templar is considered readied against any movement within the spaces they threaten, and they may make an attack against a foe for each space moved. There is no limit to the number of attacks they can make against moving opponents in this way, though this attack is made in place of an attack of opportunity. They may spend an Attack of Opportunity in place of this attack if they wish, however. They also gain the benefits of Improved Uncanny Dodge, and do not lose their dexterity bonus to AC when flatfooted or struck by an invisible target. Further, a templar is not vulnerable to sneak attack while being flanked unless targetted by someone with 4 or more rogue (or equivalent) levels than they have templar levels.
2. Armed With Faith (Su): When a disciplined templar enters a Hardline Stance it's obvious. They visibly radiate a tangible divine radiance that can be used to harm foes as well as deflect blows. This grants them reach as if they were one size larger (small and medium are considered to be the same size category for these purposes). Additionally, if a templar with this ability is carrying a shield, the ememations provide them with cover. Their threatened spaces may deflect attacks passing through them, if they wish it, granting cover to creatures targetted by any attack or spell that passes through a space they threaten.
3. Hold the Line (Su): A templar of this level has much more control over their divine emanations while in a hardline stance. They may, as a free action, break line of effect across their threatened spaces. This break must be a straight line that passes from one side of their threatened area to the opposite side and passes through the templar. This break can be maintained as long as the templar maintains his hardline stance.
   Additionally, the templar may exit a hardline stance as a free action.
4. As Long As It Takes (Su): When a powerful templar takes on a hardline stance, they might need to hold it for a while. And they might need their spells to last for a while too. Any spell with a non-instantaneous duration that they cast while in a hardline stance lasts until the end of its normal duration or when the templar leaves the stance, whichever comes later. Any spells active before the templar takes on a hardline stance are not extended in this way, even spells that were cast in an earlier hardline stance.
5. Sacred Space (Su): The very presence of a templar of this level is a hindrance to their enemies. When they take on their hardline stance, they may also choose to radiate an effect similar to forbiddance in a 60' radius. The templar may activate or deactivate this effect while holding their hardline stance as a free action during their turn. After this effect is activated or deactivated, it must remain in the new state for 1 round before the templar can change it again. This effect otherwise lasts as long as the templar maintains their stance, and it travels with them whether they move by foot or other travel ability.
   The templar's own travel powers, those granted by class feature and by spells, are not blocked by this effect. Additionally, the templar may block any attempt to teleport by a creature that the templar can see if the shortest distance between their start and end points would pass through this effect. Any creatures who enter on their own suffer the appropriate damage, but creatures within the area of effect when the effect begins, or who find themselves in it because the templar moved, do not suffer damage from the effect. Similarly, summoned creatures in the area when the effect is activated are not dispelled, nor are those who wind up in the area of effect as a result of the templar's movement.