Not logged in • Login • Register

The Paladins of the North

The Paladin is a holy knight, crusading in the name of good and Life/Order. The Paladin must protect the weak from the strong and follow various other restrictions depending on their calling.

Guildmaster

Kingdom: Knight High Paladin Avalon
Barony Van Heusen: Paladin Tristram

Joining

A starting character can join the guild immediately.

A non-starting character must prove they can adhere to the guild requirements; this will take a minimum of 5 ranks where they must have no guild affiliation. The Character Ref will decide if/when they are ready.

Requirements

A member of the Paladins of the North must

  • be a follower of the Path of Order/Justice/Life/Freedom.
  • never learn any subterfuge skills
  • follow their Vows at all times
Tax

10%

Advanced Training

A member of the Paladins of the North has access to

  • Melee Weapon skills to Legendary Mastery.
  • Melee Weapon Adepts.
  • Shield skills to Legendary Mastery.
  • Armour skills to Legendary Mastery.
  • Miracles, Religious Ceremony and Consecrate Item in the Path of Order/Justice/Life/Freedom above level 4.
  • Miracle Adepts in the Path of Order/Justice/Life/Freedom
Bonuses

A member of the Paladins of the North gains the following bonuses.

  • [LOSE] He may use the title Paladin.
  • [LOSE] He is immune to all fear inducing spells, miracles and effects.
  • [LOSE] He can “Lay on Hands”. This cures a number of Life Points and Body Points equal to his Guild Rank on each location by touching the person to be cured, which can include himself. This curing can be spread over a number of uses. Thus a 10th Guild Rank Paladin can heal a total of 10 Life Points and 10 Body Points on all locations. This power is recovered after the Paladin has slept for at least 2 hours.
  • [LOSE] Cure Disease. At Guild Rank 5, the Paladin gains the ability to use the Cure Disease miracle. A Paladin can cast Cure Disease 0, which increases by 1 for every 5 Guild Ranks, up to a maximum of Cure Disease 9 at Rank 55, by spending Lay on Hands in place of Standing. This ability causes no casting damage, is not miraculous, but otherwise works in the same way as the Cure Disease miracle (and so can be cast down as Disease Resistance, if doing this any Lay on Hands active cannot be recovered).

Example: Vertonius, a Rank 90 Paladin, casts Cure Disease 9 as Disease Resistance 4 for 48 Hours at the beginning of a long adventure, costing 11 Lay on Hands to do so. On the following two days, his maxmimum Lay on Hands are 79.

  • [LOSE] At Guild Rank 15, the Paladin gains an Aura of Courage. All friendly characters within 10’ gain the effects of a Courage miracle of a level equal to the Paladin’s natural Willpower (i.e. the Paladin’s willpower is effectively added to theirs when resisting Fear inducing attacks).

Example: Lucius is a fairly easily swayed Paladin who has no Willpower. As a result, he has no Aura of Courage.

Example: Darius, a Rank 15 Paladin, has 1 point of Willpower. He has an Aura of Courage 1. After going on several missions fighting vampires, he buys a second point of Willpower. He now has an Aura of Courage 2

The Aura of Courage:

  • Does not stack with the Courage miracle.
  • Does not affect the Paladin themselves.
  • Does not dispel Demoralise effects like the Courage miracle (effects are reduced only whilst inside the Aura)
  • Does not stack with Willpower increasing spells/miracles (e.g. Enhance Will).
  • Cannot be dispelled.
  • Is considered miraculous, though not necessarily a miracle. So it is up to Gladiator’s individual beliefs as to whether they accept it or reject it. It’s sort of in the same category as healing.
  • [LOSE] At Guild Rank 20, the Paladin gains the ability to boost the bravery of his companions once per day. To use this ability the Paladin must make a speech and if sufficiently rousing (decided by the GM and general consensus) for 15 minutes all friendly characters who heard the speech can automatically resist the next Fear inducing attack. This ability resolves after Spell Immunity but before other Resistances.

Example: Lexi, a Humact, is immune to Death and Necromantic Fear. During a mission to fight some Drow Necromancers, she recieves a rousing speech from Glamoria, giving her Fear Resistance 1. The undead cast a Death Fear 4 at her. This has no effect and her Fear Resistance 1 is not used up. Then, the Drow Necromancer casts Dark Fear 4 at her. This is resisted by her Fear Resistance, which is then used up.

Example: Trevelyan, a Healer, is given a Fear Resistance 1 by Remora. He also has Death Resistance 1 active. He is targeted by Death Fear 2. The Fear Resistance 1 resists the fear, and the Death Resistance is not used up.

Extra uses of this ability are gained every 10 Guild Ranks.

  • [KEEP RESTRICTED] For every 10 Guild Ranks the Paladin’s Power and Normal armour increase by 1. This is armour (See Avoiding Damage). Spells, Miracles or physical armour which provide armour DO NOT have their effects added to this value. This does not impose a Dexterity penalty
    Follow the relevant Vow.
  • [LOSE] At Guild Rank 10, the Paladin gains his dedicated weapon, then every 5 Guild Ranks thereafter his dedicated weapon increases by 1 level. Spells and Miracles DO NOT have their effects added to this value.

Dedicated Weapon

The Paladin’s main weapon is dedicated by his Path. The weapon chosen for this dedication will be normal (and can never be enchanted/consecrated to hold a spell/miracle) and will become a Superior Weapon, if it is not already Superior (i.e. +1 base damage) and gain a permanent miraculous effect based on the Paladin’s Path.

The level of the dedication starts at level 0 (Strengthen 0 or Bless 1) and increases by 1 every 5 Guild ranks to a maximum of level 10 (Strengthen 10 or Bless 11). In addition when the weapon reaches level 5 it is improved to a Master Weapon and when the weapon reaches level 10 it is further improved to a Legendary Weapon.

In an exception to the normal rule, additional miracles can still be cast on the weapon. For example, a Sword blessed with a Bless 1 can still have a Strengthen 2 cast on it. However, it can never have an enhancing miracle of the opposite Principle cast on it. For example, the Sword above can never have an Unholy Blade miracle cast on it.

The dedicated weapon can be used by anybody and confers the same bonus. However a Paladin who gives/lends his weapon to another would be looked upon very unfavourably by the Paladins. Note that the Paladin will only receive the dedication once. If he proves himself unworthy by losing his dedicated weapon, he will not gain another without performing some extremely difficult task as atonement. When a Paladin dies his weapon should be returned to the Paladins.
There are rumours that the Paladins can perform rituals to destroy a dedicated weapon that has fallen into enemy hands or even harm the wielder.

The Paladin’s dedicated weapon follows the same rules as for normal permanent items with regard to Dispel i.e. if the dedication is dispelled, it is suppressed for 15 minutes then returns.

A Paladin’s dedicated weapon bonus CANNOT be applied to fists/claws.
A Paladin’s dedicated weapon bonus can be applied to missile weapons, in which case each arrow/quarrel fired from the bow/crossbow has the appropriate dedication (Bless or Strengthen). Note that as soon as the arrow/quarrel has been fired and hit a target the dedication disappears so your dedicated arrows/quarrels cannot be used by other people! Note though that a Paladin using a missile weapon is not particularly honourable, so you may incur negative points if you are not seen to be acting chivalrously and defending the weak from the strong.

Paladinic Vows

Some Paladinic Bonuses are a function of the various Vows that a Paladin swears as part of their service. Each vow forms a restriction which the Paladin must follow in order to use that ability. Breaking the vow will immediately cause the Paladin to lose access to the ability. If a Paladin breaks one of their restrictions, they will lose the special ability until they atone or can justify their actions to their Path, usually by performing a difficult and dangerous quest. Some vows are common to all Paladins, some are chosen by the Paladin themselves.

The interpretation of the Vows based on protecting “allies” and the “weak” is deliberately left to the Paladin. For example, defending weaker characters who are opposed to their Path is a grey area. However, the Paladin may be called upon to justify their actions to their peers and, in exceptional circumstances, to their Path.

The Paladinic Vows are taken at the Guild Rank at which the ability is granted, and once taken cannot be changed. A character who takes their sworn oath lightly has no place within the Paladins. The initial two Vows are common to all Paladins but the additional two are specific to each Paladin. A Paladin can either choose one of the existing examples listed below or make their own choice. A Vow should be:

The Character Ref should be consulted to confirm the choice in all cases.

Example Vows