Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Xavorin 06-09-07, 05:54 PM	Hello! I wanted to make a new PrC for my paladin, and I thought Knight of the Emerald Guard sounded cool. Fluff would be something like: "These champions of good are determined to snuff out evil where it rears its ugly head. They serve Halmus, god of 'goodness', and wield massive swords (basically large bastard swords) into battle, channeling holy energy into them to smite their evil foes into oblivion." Something like that, but longer. Halmus is a god I made up, but I think the name is used in CW. Anyway, his portfolio is basically courage, good, and battle. Domains are like courage, good, and war. His favored weapon is--you guessed it--a large bastard sword. Halmus' symbol is either a golden sword on a green background, or a green sword on a gold background. I think the latter. Basically he's Heironeous' brother, but with less of a tilt towards happy-happy chivalry, and with more of a tilt towards destroying evil. I was wondering if there was a PrC like this already, or if there was one I could use to base KotEG off of. Maybe something that gives lots of more smite evils per encounter (I'm using the Rebalanced Paladin by OneWinged4ngel). All help is really, really appreciated! I do need help quickly, though. I'm remaking my Paladin 7, so I'll need it done by next weekend. Thanks! Edit: forgot to mention that I was originally going to use Grey Guard as the base PrC, but I dislike the Grey Guard's stealth-tilt.
Khatoblepas 06-10-07, 03:08 AM	Fist of Raziel has a lot of smitey smitey abilities. Take a look at that.
Xavorin 06-10-07, 09:26 AM	I guess I should have clarified: The books I have available to me (currently) are: PH, PH2, DMG, CW, CS, CD, CA, MH. At least, off the top of my head. But which book is Fist of Raziel in?
Khatoblepas 06-10-07, 02:39 PM	Book of Exalted Deeds. They're basically a Paladin's smiting in overdrive, getting to chain smite (evil targets within 30ft get blasted with holy energy), overcome /good damage reduction, deal extra dice, and eventually have any weapon he wields gain the holy property. That chair leg? It's holy. The dead imp next to the Balor? Holy. It's pretty wild in it's abilities, but I can't tell you anymore, as it's Closed Content. You can use these abilities in your class, though. :) How about a Smiting Cleave attack, too? If you fell an evil creature with a Smite Evil, you can immediately attack another creature with automatic free Smite Evil? Go wild. You don't really need a base, just remember to add a capstone ability to give people a draw to finish the class, not just dip. ----------- What exactly do you want to do with this prestige class? Is it fiendslaying? Or just generic bad guy slaying? Knight of the Chalice (CW.. I think..) deals with a very narrow enemy band, whilst Fist of Raziel is generic bad guy, but more powerful against evil outsiders. I'd probably give them smiting abilities that can be used in a variety of situations (For example, smiting a line, as lightning bolt) and inflict other kinds of damage upon their enemies (lowering spell resistance, negating damage reduction etc), so they can be a little more versatile.
Xavorin 06-10-07, 07:52 PM	Actually, I don't think the FoR info is Closed Content. My evidence? This link: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20031012a has pretty much all the FoR info on it, and it's easily accesible from the WotC D&D site. Anyway, I used the info on that site, and I think I made a pretty good Knight of the Emerald Guard: Knight of the Emerald Guard The Knight of the Emerald Guard represents a knightly order dedicated to the celestial patron of holy warfare against evil. Its members worship the deity of courage and good, Halmus, and include large numbers of paladins, as well as lawful good clerics, fighters, rangers, and occasionally warriors. While Sealtiel champions(who/whatever they are) are those who defend good communities from evil assault, Knights of the Emerald Guard wield massive swords into battle, and lead the charge against evil wherever it is found. Smiting evil is their mission and their specialty. To become a Knight of the Emerald Guard, a character must already possess some degree of divine spellcasting ability, so members of the class generally begin as paladins or clerics, less often as fighter/clerics or ranger/clerics. Perhaps strangely, the order includes a number of ex-barbarians who first multiclassed as clerics and then adopted the Knight of the Emerald Guard prestige class. These ferocious warriors seem to be drawn to Halmus’ crusading creed. The Knights of the Emerald Guard are an elite, ordered, and disciplined fighting force. To make best use of their power, however, they typically serve as leaders or advisors to adventuring parties, military strike teams, or the armies of good kingdoms, working with members of other classes instead of with each other. Hit Die: d10. BAB: Full. Fort save: Good. Reflex save: Bad Will save: Good. Requirements To qualify to become a Knight of the Emerald Guard, a character must fulfill all the following criteria. Alignment: Lawful good. Base Attack Bonus: +5. Spellcasting: Ability to cast divine favor. Skills: Diplomacy 5 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 5 ranks. Feats: Power Attack, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Bastard sword), Monkey Grip Class Skills The Knight of the Emerald Guard’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Sense Motive (Wis). See Chapter 4: Skills in the Player's Handbook for skill descriptions. Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier. Class Features The following are class features of the Knight of the Emerald Guard prestige class. Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Knights of the Emerald Guard are proficient with simple and martial weapons, all armor, and light and heavy shields. Magic Circle (Su): A 1st-level Knight of the Emerald Guard is constantly surrounded by a magic circle against evil effect, as the spell cast by a cleric of the fist's total character level. Smite Evil (Su): Once per day, a Knight of the Emerald Guard may attempt to smite evil with one normal melee attack. She adds her Charisma bonus (if any) to her attack roll and deals 1 extra point of damage per class level. If she accidentally smites a creature that is not evil, the smite has no effect but it is still used up for that day. At 5th level, a Knight of the Emerald Guard can smite evil twice per day, and at 10th level three times per day. If the Knight of the Emerald Guard has paladin levels as well, add the daily uses from her Knight of the Emerald Guard levels to the daily uses from her paladin levels. Her damage bonus equals her Knight of the Emerald Guard class level plus her paladin class level. This ability does not stack with the smite ability granted by the Destruction domain. In addition to the basic function of smiting evil, a Knight of the Emerald Guard gains special abilities that operate whenever she smites: Good aligned: At 1st level, whenever a Knight of the Emerald Guard smites evil, her weapon is considered good-aligned for purposes of bypassing the damage reduction of some evil outsiders, as if she had the Exalted Smite feat. Confirming: At 3rd level, whenever a Knight of the Emerald Guard smites evil, all critical rolls are automatically successful (so every threat is a critical hit). This works even if the weapon has a magical effect related to critical hits, unlike the similar effect of the bless weapon spell. Holy: At 5th level, whenever a Knight of the Emerald Guard smites evil, her weapon is considered holy, dealing an extra 2d4 points of damage against evil creatures. This additional damage stacks with the additional damage she deals from the smite. However, it does stack with the benefit of the Sanctify Martial Strike feat or with the extra damage dealt by a weapon with the holy weapon property. Fiendsmite: At 7th level, whenever a Knight of the Emerald Guard smites evil, her weapon deals an extra 2d8 points of damage against evil outsiders and evil undead, instead of the +2d6 normally dealt by a holy weapon. If she also has the Exalted Smite feat, this damage is still doubled. Chain: At 9th level, whenever a Knight of the Emerald Guard smites evil, bolts of holy power erupt from the target creature and strike up to 5 additional evil targets within 30 feet, chosen by the Knight of the Emerald Guard. Targets take 2d6 points of damage, or 2d8 if they are evil outsiders or evil undead. A successful Reflex save (DC 15 + the Knight of the Emerald Guard's Charisma modifier) reduces the damage by half. Spellcasting: Starting at 2nd level, and at each level thereafter, a Knight of the Emerald Guard gains new spells per day as if she had also gained a level in a divine spellcasting class to which she belonged before adding the prestige class level. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (improved chance of turning or destroying undead, improved special mount, and so on). If the character had more than one divine spellcasting class before becoming a Knight of the Emerald Guard, the player must decide to which class to add each Knight of the Emerald Guard level for the purpose of determining spells per day. Weapon Specialization: At 4th level, a Knight of the Emerald Guard gains the Weapon Specialization (Bastard Sword) feat as a bonus feat, even if he/she does not meet the requirements. Halmus' grip -1: At 5th level, the penalties for wielding an innapropriately sized bastard sword are reduced by 1. Sunder Evil Item (Su): At 6th level, whenever a Knight of the Emerald Guard attacks an object that is evil (such as an unholy sword or a darkskull) or an evil construct (such as a retriever), she deals double damage. This does not stack with the benefits of the Great Sunder feat. Emerald Smite (Su): 2/day a 9th level or higher Knight of the Emerald Guard may make an Emerald Smite. This is a single attack empowered by Halmus himself, and is a smite evil attempt, only you automatically hit and your smite damage is equal to twice your Paladin+Knight of the Emerald Guard level in damage. If you have a feat such as charging smite, which allows you to deal an extra three times your paladin level in damage when smiting evil on a charge, the bonuses to not stack. (So you don't do x5 your paladin level in bonus damage if doing an Emerald Smite on a Blessing of Halmus. (Su): A Knight of the Emerald Guard receives a blessing from Halmus himself upon attaining 10th level. This blessing has the effect: any weapon that a 10th-level Knight of the Emerald Guard wields is treated as a holy weapon, dealing an extra 2d4 points of damage to evil creatures, even when she is not smiting evil. This additional damage does stack with the benefit of the Sanctify Martial Strike feat or with the extra damage dealt by a weapon with the holy weapon property. Halmus' grip -2: At 10th level, a Knight of the Emerald Guard enjoys a -2 reduction on the penalties for wielding an innapropriately sized bastard sword. So what do you guys think? Is it balanced? I changed a bunch of stuff, but I'm thinking that Emerald Strike is probably a little too good. Also, I changed the abilities with making weapons holy, so that they do less damage than the original, but they do stack with other holy abilities. (I figured, why have the ability at all if it doesn't stack, since a 5th or 10th level Knight of the Emerald Guard is going to have a weapon with the holy ability on their weapon anyway.) By the way: The "massive swords" mentioned in the fluff are Large Bastard Swords, hence the MG requirement and lessened penalties for wielding an innapropriately sized bastard sword. Edit: Removed Craft and Concentration from their class skills at the request of my DM. I also renamed Emerald strike, making it Emerald Smite and changed what it does. I also renamed Holy Martial Strike, Blessing of Halmus. Edit: What's a Kaorti weapon?
Endless_Helix 06-11-07, 01:40 PM	I like the flavor, it really suits a battle leader, almost a general-esque character. Emerald strike is a bit overpowered. If you mix that with Charging Smite, Power Attack (pre-req, no less) , and Leap Attack, you can deal a ton of auto-hitting damage, and if you include a Kaorti (sp?) weapon, it gets even worse. In all honesty, I'd tone that down a bit to dealing double your class level in smiting damage. Specify that the doubling only occurs with the smiting damage and it will be a fairly brutal ability, but not on the scale you previously had it... Which was frankly in the intsta-kill range. Personally, I'd simply rename to Wield Huge Swords ability "Giant's Grip" or "Oversized Wepon Fighting". "Wield Huge Swords sounds really kind of spur-of-the-moment.
Xavorin 06-11-07, 06:12 PM	I'm glad you like it! I made a few changes: At the behest of my DM I removed Craft and Concentration from their class skills. Also, I changed a few names, and I modified Emerald Strike. (It's now called Emerald Smite, btw.) But what's a "Kaorti" weapon?
Khatoblepas 06-11-07, 06:31 PM	Kaorti weapons have a x4 multiplier. But it's just the same as a scythe, though. Unfortunately, Kaorti weapons degrade if they're away from the Far Realms. :P And as this is a class that uses a bastard sword, I wouldn't say it's too unbalancing to say it automatically hits and threatens a critical (doesn't function as confirming smite, cannot be used in conjuction) so long as you're wielding a bastard sword.
Xavorin 06-11-07, 07:34 PM	Kaorti weapons have a x4 multiplier. But it's just the same as a scythe, though. Unfortunately, Kaorti weapons degrade if they're away from the Far Realms. :P And as this is a class that uses a bastard sword, I wouldn't say it's too unbalancing to say it automatically hits and threatens a critical (doesn't function as confirming smite, cannot be used in conjuction) so long as you're wielding a bastard sword. Hey, I forgot about confirming smites! But I had intended from the beginning for it to be a critical, not just a threat.
Xavorin 06-13-07, 12:58 PM	No more comments?
Xavorin 06-13-07, 04:25 PM	I'll post this in a new thread, with a PEACH and all, I guess.