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email: Aelor |
The Holy Warrior
From The Book of the Righteous by Green Ronin Publishing:
In the Player's Handbook, it is suggested that every church in a religion has holy warriors. While paladins are spiritual warriors unfettered by any single god or ideology, other than goodness, the churches have crusaders in their own right, championing the causes near and dear to their god. It is further suggested that each of these types of holy warrior be playable as a prestige class. We suggest here an alternative: The holy warrior of each church is an available starting class that can be extended out to 20th level. Based on the paladin and the cleric, the holy warrior is essentially a paladin who can choose special abilities from domains, just as the cleric can choose spells from domains.
In fact, the holy warrior class can create an exact duplicate of the paladin if the Champion and Guardian domains are chosen and Remove Disease is granted as the Gift of God. Different combinations of domains will produce very different characters, but all of them should be about as powerful as a paladin - which is to say, quite.
Example: Pavel wants to play a holy warrior of Vesta called a herald. A starting herald may choose two domains from the available list of Compassion, Death, and Life to determine what abilities he will have as he advances in levels. Pavel chooses Compassion and Life and looks up the special abilities on the domain chart. Like the paladin, he begins at first level with four special abilities.
In Their God’s Service
In great cities they can be seen walking in pairs, discussing the politics of their order or weightier matters. They stand guard
at temple doors. They relentlessly pursue the enemies of their church and blasphemers against their gods. They are the warriors
of the gods, the orders dedicated to the protection and advancement of the faith through strength of arms. While clerics speak
to the gods and channel their will through spells, the holy warrior honors her god through deeds and strength. Her connection to
her god is far more private than the cleric's - she does not perform religious ceremonies, she rarely leads churches, and she
seldom advises the faithful on matters of sin and redemption. But beware her wrath, for when she and her order face the enemies
of the faith, she is indeed terrible to behold.
Adventures
The specific philosophy of each holy warrior order toward adventure is defined in the individual church sections of Chapter III,
under the Conduct description of the holy warrior class in question. However, all holy warriors serve their god first and
foremost - it is their defining characteristic. It is therefore not possible to find a holy warrior out on air adventure for
petty personal gain. Everything a holy warrior does is in service to her god. Service takes many forms and can even include
treasure hunts; however, if an adventure is directly counter to the will of her god or church, she will not go.
Characteristics
The holy warrior is defined by her radiance of authority and holiness. She is, for whatever reason, one of her god's chosen
people. She is made strong by the power of her god, and is able to channel that power to achieve ends both great and small.
Holy warriors of the various churches have quire different abilities, granted to them by their patron deity based on their
faith's ethos. However, all holy warriors are able to turn undead, and eventually all holy warriors receive an animal companion
from their god to aid them in their quests. Most often this companion is a mighty steed.
Alignment
To receive such great blessings from a god, a holy warrior's outlook must be in tune with the divine - more so even than a
cleric's. Holy warriors are always of the same law or chaos tendency as their god. However, the purpose of a holy warrior is
to do good in the name of her god, and therefore all holy warriors are good, even if their god is neutral in the good/evil
spectrum. Therefore, holy warriors may only be lawful good, neutral good, or chaotic good. Should they deviate from
this path and change alignment, they lose all of their powers.
Religion
Holy warriors are singularly devoted. People who don't care much about religion and assume an "I don't bother the gods and
they don't bother me" attitude find holy warriors annoying at best, dangerous at worst. They are wholly dedicated to the
teachings and service of one god - and often gods want things that don't make sense to mortals. The exception to this singular
devotion is the paladin; as the holy warrior of the pantheon, she is dedicated to goodness in general, and need not follow the
strictures of a single deity.
Background
Holy warriors are born, not made. Whether a paladin or an ascetic of Shalimyr, there is no way to "decide" to become
a holy warrior. In all cases, one feels a compelling call to dedicate oneself wholly to the life of devotion and holiness
necessary. The actual training involved in each church's order of holy warriors is explained in each church section.
Races
All races feel religious devotion, but some are less likely to feel the call to the path of the holy warrior - particularly
those of less warlike nature. Halflings and gnomes are rarely holy warriors; elves, more attuned to magic than melee, are also
less likely to take up the sword in the name of religion. The broadest spectrum of holy warriors is made up of humans and
half-elves. In some orders, however, there are a large number of dwarves and even a few half-orcs.
Other Classes
Holy warriors' companions vary as widely as holy warriors themselves. It is certainly a common sense rule, though, that a holy
warrior is unlikely to choose companions that scoff at the gods, commit acts directly opposed to the holy warrior's faith, or
consort with enemies of the gods such as devils and demons.
Associates
This varies enormously based on the holy warrior's order. In general, holy warriors associate most closely with people who are
the chosen of their god. Certainly holy warriors will adventure most readily with clerics from their church or allied churches.
It is hard to find a holy warrior who gladly associates with evil folk, or those who are openly blasphemous or scornful of the gods. While some do not mind such companions when they're useful for achieving the holy warrior's lofty goals, holy warriors are, by definition, very religious, good-hearted people. They are defenders of the faith and do not like to associate with those who believe that faith foolish.
However, most holy warriors will travel with folk who are not terribly devout. Whether they will seek to convert their companions - or help them to see that the gods are active in the world and worth worshipping - depends very much on their holy order and individual temperament.
Multi-Class Holy Warriors
Being a holy warrior is a life's calling. It is not possible to intersperse one's training and work as a holy warrior
with other pursuits. Therefore, one may not gain levels in any other class or prestige class while gaining levels as
a holy warrior. If one does gain a non-holy warrior level, one may never gain additional holy warrior levels and is considered
to have put aside her absolute devotion to life as a holy warrior. While she maintains those abilities she already has (as long
as she maintains her code of conduct), she will never grow more powerful in the eyes of her order or her god.
There are rare exceptions to this rule - prestige classes meant specifically for holy warriors (or paladins). Any prestige class in other sources that says paladins who take the class may continue to take paladin levels is available to holy warriors as well, as long as the holy warrior meets the requirements and the GM agrees. There are also prestige classes in this book in which holy warriors from a specific church may multi-class without penalty. We advise your GM exercise caution in this matter, though - many sources we've seen are fast and loose with the "paladins may take this prestige class without penalty" clause; the paladin, and by extension the new holy warrior, is a very powerful class. Its inability to multi-class is one of its best checks and balances.
Ex-Holy Warriors
Any holy warrior who actively violates her order's code of conduct or commits herself to blasphemy against the gods
loses her spells, her domain-based special abilities, her gifts of god, and even her special mount or animal companion. These
abilities will only return if she properly atones - and the difficulty of that atonement should be commensurate to the severity
of the transgression. It should never be as simple as going to church and having a cleric cast a spell.
Holy warriors, under some circumstances, may change their allegiance from one god to another. This is almost unheard of, and it usually involves the gods themselves. For example, Egrynne serves Mormekar, but has become obsessed with stopping an evil empire ruled by necromancer kings. Egrynne is driven not only by her loathing for their violation of the dead's sanctity, but also by her desire to mete out justice on behalf of the thousands of innocent people the necromancer kings have wronged. Mormekar may send an angel to Egrynne to tell her that the time has come for her to serve his son, Maal, for she has become too attached to life and justice. There is little response to such a decree but to accept it, and Egrynne becomes an officer of the court of Maal. Egrynne has not violated Mormekar's law and is not being punished. However, she is no longer serving him in her heart, and he passes over the bonds of her service to his son, knowing that she will serve him well.
It is even more rare for a holy warrior to go from serving one god to another on an opposite end of the ideological spectrum. For instance, for a holy warrior of Morwyn to start serving Zheenkeef would require truly remarkable circumstances, and would almost certainly result in Morwyn and her followers looking negatively on the change.
When a holy warrior changes gods, she is able to pick two new domains based on that church, receive new gifts and gods, and either call back her steed/animal companion or gets a new one, depending on the circumstances of the first one's departure. She retains nothing of her previous order - no holy symbols or items given her by her church. Everything must be returned to her old order. To do otherwise risks the enmity of her former order and perhaps even the wrath of her former god. It's best to be polite about such departures.
