Prestige Paladin

After training in the arts of combat and the mysteries of the divine, the prestige paladin is anointed as a holy warrior dedicated to the protection of law and goodness.

Most prestige paladins are clerics or fighter/clerics, though rare cleric/monks might pursue this path as well.

NPC prestige paladins usually belong to a holy order dedicated to a lawful good deity such as Heironeous. Some are lone wanderers, dealing out justice while walking the earth.

Compared to the standard paladin, the prestige paladin gives up a small amount of combat prowess in exchange for a larger spell list and a higher top end of his spellcasting powers. Also, his class features aren't quite as powerful as the standard paladin's as a result of his reduced paladin class level.

Hit Die: d10.

Requirements

To qualify to become a prestige paladin, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

Alignment: Lawful good.
Base Attack Bonus: +4.
Skills: Knowledge (religion) 2 ranks, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) 2 ranks, Ride 4 ranks.
Feats: Mounted Combat.
Spellcasting: Ability to cast protection from evil as a divine spell.
Special: Ability to turn undead.

Class Skills

The prestige paladin's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (nobility and royalty) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), and Sense Motive (Wis).

Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Class Features

All the following are class features of the prestige paladin class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: As the standard paladin in the Player's Handbook.

Spells per Day: A prestige paladin's training focuses on divine spellcasting. At every odd-numbered level reached, the prestige paladin gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in whatever divine spellcasting class he belonged to before he added the prestige class.

Detect Evil (Sp): As the standard paladin ability of the same name.

Smite Evil (Su): As the standard paladin ability of the same name.

Turn Undead (Su): For the purpose of determining his ability to turn undead, a prestige paladin's class levels stack with his levels from all his other classes from which he has gained the ability to turn undead. For instance, a 4th-level fighter/1st-level cleric/2nd-level prestige paladin would turn undead as a 3rd-level cleric.

Divine Grace (Su): As the standard paladin ability of the same name.

Lay on Hands (Su): As the standard paladin ability of the same name, except that the total number of hit points of damage that a prestige paladin can heal per day is equal to his Charisma modifier x (his paladin level + 3). For example, a 3rd-level prestige paladin with a Charisma of 16 (+3 modifier) can heal 18 points of damage per day.

Special Mount (Sp): As the standard paladin ability of the same name, except treat the prestige paladin's effective level as three higher when calculating the mount's bonus Hit Dice, powers, and so forth (see the sidebar The Paladin's Mount on page 45 of the Player's Handbook).

Aura of Courage (Su): As the standard paladin ability of the same name.

Divine Health (Ex): As the standard paladin ability of the same name.

Remove Disease (Sp): As the standard paladin ability of the same name, except that a prestige paladin gains the ability at 4th level and can use this ability one additional time per week for every four levels gained thereafter (twice at 8th and three times at 12th).

Code of Conduct and Associates: These restrictions are the same as those described in the Player's Handbook.

Ex-Paladins

Same as for the standard paladin, but with no restrictions on multiclassing.