[HR] Variant Paladin

I’m a big fan of spell casting paladins. I’m also a big fan of trade offs for custom abilities.

So I’m working on a variant paladin that has spell casting. Instead of half level, I’m using the Level-5 (meaning they don’t get spells till 7th, which feels about right). However, they end up casting like a 9th level Cleric which…is intense. They have up to 5th level spells o_0. Now, granted, each of their spell levels is only 5 spells to pick from but still!

And I’m surprised at how cheap their leveling gets. They basically only cost a tiny bit more than Fighters do, while seeming to get a whole lot more out of it (yes, they use Broad weapons, and lose the damage bonus to Missile fire, and only have d6hd…but they get casting and undead turning).

Anyway, just wanted to check that I understood the ‘delayed’ level casting rules correctly. It does seem a much more powerful option in the long run (though of course you have to survive a few levels without any goodies to get to it).

I’ll post them up soon.

Your variant Paladin sounds very fun. I wrestled with whether to make the Paladin a spellcaster and ultimately decided there were already a lot of clerical casters in the Player’s Companion, but I’m glad that someone else is developing the concept further.

You definitely have understood the delayed level casting rules correctly. It is a more powerful option in the long run but a weaker option in the short run. Until level 7 (half-way) the variant paladin is paying for spellcasting he’s not even getting to use.

Unlike D&D 3.5/4e, ACKS hews to the Gygaxian notion of balance where a class can be balanced if it’s weaker earlier on and more powerful later, as compared to every class being balanced at each level.

Good to know I was doing it right! I’ll post it up later.

Here he is, the spell casting Paladin!

http://micahblackburn.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/house-rules-classes-paladin/

He looks great, and tons of fun.

We can host your alternate class on the Community downloads section of the site if you'd like. I think many players would enjoy a spellcasting paladin.