Flexible melee attack
Special: You can use this maneuver only once per battle.
Triggering Roll: Natural 16+
Effect: Increase the escalation die by 1.
Epic Feat: Combat mastery now also triggers on any natural even hit.
Set ’em Up
Flexible melee attack
Triggering Roll: Any hit with a natural 16+
Effect: The crit range of your attacks against the target expands by 3 (generally 17+) until the end of the battle (cumulative).
Epic Feat: The crit range bonus from set ’em up now also applies to any ally who attacks the target while you are engaged with it.
PALADIN
In every age, extraordinary men and women have stepped forward to carry the battle flag of justice. By the will of the gods, paladins are both protectors and avengers whose campaigns of awesome justice serve as warnings to any who threaten those under their protection. The people depend on them, lords celebrate them, and monsters hate them. People have never needed paladins more than they do in the 13th Age.
Overview
Play Style: The paladin is a heavily armored and fanatically devoted warrior of the gods—or of causes so pure they don’t require gods to make them holy.
Like the barbarian, the paladin is simple to play. Your choices during combat come from your talents since you don’t choose new attacks or spells as you rise in level. Most every attack you make uses your basic melee attack, but you can augment it by using Smite Evil or one of the other abilities from your talents.
Paladins who want a bit more complexity can choose talents that let them cast a cleric spell or use a cleric domain.
Ability Scores: Strength is your attack ability. Depending on your talents and feats, you might want to have a high Charisma. If you avoid the talents that depend on your magical impact, you’ll probably opt for a high Constitution for the hit points.
Paladins gain a +2 class bonus to Strength or Charisma, as long as it isn’t the same ability you increase with your +2 racial bonus.
Races: Humans and half-elves gravitate to the zeal required of paladins. Although more rare, some of the most fearsome paladins are dwarves, proving that stature is overrated, and half-orcs, proving that they despise evil.
Backgrounds: Paladins are usually highly disciplined warriors rather than untrained neophytes. They often
have skills related to their previous assignments or duties.
From the somewhat standard to the quixotic, here’s a short list of possible paladin backgrounds to get you started: city guardsman, combat medic, bodyguard, outlaw hunter, Sea Wall captain, Golden Citadel archeologist, Elf Queen’s courtier, First Triumph Inquisitor, veteran of the orc wars, hellhole commando, ex-priest of the Diabolist.
Icons: Like most d20 games, we assume that most paladins are good, even lawful good. The Great Gold Wyrm is the patron of such paladins while the Priestess attracts paladins who value the good over the law. Paladins supremely devoted to virtue and the cause of good frequently take the Path of Universal Righteous Endeavor talent.
But paladins don’t have to be good. The Crusader inspires many evil paladins—they share hatred of demons with the paladins of the Great Gold Wyrm without any of the compassion for the demons’ victims. Even worse, from the Wyrm’s perspective, the Blue’s hold on Drakkenhall has given it a stable base to inspire and train paladins devoted to the Three. Paladins inordinately devoted to evil should
consider the Way of Evil Bastards talent.
Gear
At 1st level, paladins start with a melee weapon or perhaps two, a ranged weapon if they want it, armor, a shield, and standard nonmagical gear that is suggested by the specific character’s backgrounds.
Paladins who budget carefully for themselves and their temple start with 25 gp to use as they wish. Paladins who live mission-to-mission start with 1d6 x 10 gp.
Armor
Paladins usually wear heavy armor, at least chainmail or scale armor, and most often plate. For our purposes, it all provides about the same protection. If you’re in an odd situation where your paladin isn’t wearing much armor, your AC will drop.
Paladin Armor and AC
Weapons
By tradition and inclination, paladins fight with one-handed melee weapons in order to carry shields. A heavy, shining sword is the traditional weapon of great heroes, but some paladins wield unorthodox weapons that speak to their heart.
While a fighter may have a number of weapons, each with different mechanical features or storytelling schticks, a paladin usually has a single, beloved melee weapon, treated as a trusty companion.
Although they relish face-to-face combat with their enemies, prudent paladins carry utilitarian ranged weapons. They are trained with all the best ones.
Paladin Melee Weapons
G A M E M A ST E R
You’re under no obligation to allow truly evil player characters. Many tables can’t handle the dysfunction.
But some players can handle subtle or situational evil that allows them to function as a non-destructive part of a campaign.
Type Base AC
None 10
Light 12
Heavy 16
Shield +1
One-Handed Two-Handed
Small
1d4 dagger 1d6 club
Light or Simple
1d6 scimitar, shortsword 1d8 spear Heavy or Martial
1d8 longsword, battleaxe 1d10 greatsword, halberd
Thrown Crossbow Bow
Small
1d4 dagger 1d4 hand crossbow — Light or Simple
1d6 javelin, axe 1d6 light crossbow 1d6 shortbow Heavy or Martial
— 1d8 heavy crossbow 1d8 longbow
Paladin Ranged Weapons
Basic Attacks
Melee attack
At-Will
Target: One enemy
Attack: Strength + Level vs. AC Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage Miss: Damage equal to your level
Ranged attack
At-Will
Target: One enemy
Attack: Dexterity + Level vs. AC Hit: WEAPON + Dexterity damage Miss: —