Crusader (3.5e Class)

Crusader

A Crusader is a knight of the church that hunts those that defy their deity's will. She uses arcane energy granted from his deity.

Making a Crusader

Alignment: Any good or any evil.

• Chaotic Evil Crusaders get abilities that are detecting good and smite good etc.

Starting Age: Moderate.

Table: The Crusader

Hit Die: d10

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Spells per Day
		Fort	Ref	Will		1^st	2^nd	3^rd	4^th	5^th
1st	+1	+2	+0	+0	Aura of Good, Detect Evil, Smite Evil 1/day	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+0	Aura of Courage, Arcane Hands	—	—	—	—	—
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+1	Debilitating Aura, Divine Health	—	—	—	—	—
4th	+4	+4	+1	+1	Bonus Feat, Divine Intellect	0	—	—	—	—
5th	+5	+4	+1	+1	Smite Evil 2/day	1	—	—	—	—
6th	+6/+1	+5	+2	+2	Bonus Feat	1	0	—	—	—
7th	+7/+2	+5	+2	+2	Holy Symbols	2	0	—	—	—
8th	+8/+3	+6	+2	+2	Divine Strike	2	1	—	—	—
9th	+9/+4	+6	+3	+3	Bonus Feat	2	1	0	—	—
10th	+10/+5	+7	+3	+3	Smite Evil 3/day, Crusader's Legacy	3	1	0	—	—
11th	+11/+6/+1	+7	+3	+3		3	2	1	—	—
12th	+12/+7/+2	+8	+4	+4	Bonus Feat	3	2	1	0	—
13th	+13/+8/+3	+8	+4	+4		4	3	2	1	—
14th	+14/+9/+4	+9	+4	+4		5	3	2	1	—
15th	+15/+10/+5	+9	+5	+5	Bonus Feat, Smite Evil 4/day	5	4	2	1	0
16th	+16/+11/+6/+1	+10	+5	+5	Holy Inferno	5	4	3	2	1
17th	+17/+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+5		5	4	3	2	1
18th	+18/+13/+8/+3	+11	+6	+6	Bonus Feat	6	5	3	2	1
19th	+19/+14/+9/+4	+11	+6	+6	Divine Intervention	6	5	4	3	2
20th	+20/+15/+10/+5	+12	+6	+6	Smite Evil 5/day	6	6	5	4	3
Class Skills (2 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (nobility and royalty) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the crusader.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Crusaders are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all types of armor (heavy, medium, and light), and with shields (except tower shields).

Aura of Good or Evil (Ex): The power of a crusader’s aura of good (see the detect good spell) is equal to her crusader level.

Detect Evil or Good (Sp): At will, a crusader can use detect evil, as the spell.

Smite Evil or Good (Su): Once per day, a crusader may attempt to smite evil with one normal melee attack. He adds his Intelligence bonus (if any) to his attack roll and deals 1 extra point of damage per crusader level. If the crusader accidentally smites a creature that is not evil, the smite has no effect, but the ability is still used up for that day.

At 5th level, and at every five levels thereafter, the crusader may smite evil one additional time per day, as indicated on Table: The Crusader, to a maximum of five times per day at 20th level.

Aura of Courage (Su): Beginning at 2nd level, a crusader is immune to fear (magical or otherwise). Each ally within 10 feet of her gains a +4 morale bonus on saving throws against fear effects.

This ability functions while the crusader is conscious, but not if she is unconscious or dead.

Arcane Hands (Su): Beginning at 2nd level, a crusader with a Intelligence score of 12 or higher can deal arcane damage by touch. Each day she can deal a total amount of damage equal to 4 + her crusader level × her Intelligence bonus . A crusader may choose to divide her damage among multiple targets, and she doesn’t have to use it all at once. The damage may also be applied to her weapon as a free action. Using arcane hands is a standard action. She must make a melee touch attack to hit the target.

Debilitating Aura (Su): Beginning at 3rd level, a crusader radiates a malign aura that causes enemies within 10 feet of her to take a –1 penalty to Armor Class. This ability otherwise functions identically to the paladin’s aura of courage class feature.

This ability functions while the crusader is conscious, but not if she is unconscious or dead.

Divine Health (Ex): At 3rd level, a crusader gains immunity to all diseases, including supernatural and magical diseases. She also gets a +2 to Constitution.

Divine Intellect (Ex): At 4th level, a crusader gains a bonus of +2 to her Intelligence score. Skill points are now given at 6 + Int modifier per level. A Crusader gains a bonus equal to her Intelligence bonus (if any) on all saving throws.

Spells: Beginning at 4th level, a crusader gains the ability to cast a small number of arcane spells, which are drawn from the wizard spell list. A crusader must choose and prepare her spells in advance.

To prepare or cast a spell, a crusader must have a Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a crusader’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the crusader’s Intelligence modifier.

Like other spellcasters, a crusader can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily spell allotment is given on Table: The Crusader. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Intelligence score. When Table: The Crusader indicates that the crusader gets 0 spells per day of a given spell level, she gains only the bonus spells she would be entitled to based on her Intelligence score for that spell level.

A crusader prepares and casts spells the way a cleric does. A crusader may prepare and cast any spell on the wizard spell list, provided that she can cast spells of that level, but she must choose which spells to prepare during her daily meditation.

Through 3rd level, a crusader has no caster level. At 4th level and higher, her caster level is one-half her crusader level.

A Crusader casts arcane spells but they are granted by his god and classed as divine spells for all perposes, they therefore have no chance to fail due to armor.

Holy Symbols (Su): Beginning at 7th level, a crusader may carry with her holy symbols related to her religion. For each symbol she gains 1 point of DR. Each symbol must be imbued with the power of the crusaders deity in order to work. The DM decides on how these symbols shall be found/made/bought.

Divine Strike (Ex): At 8th level, any weapon wielded by a crusader counts as a holy weapon and gains +4 to attack and to damage against evil enemies.

Crusader's Legacy (Ex): At 10th level, whenever a crusader declares her title to a NPC of good or neutral alignment, she gains a +5 to all diplomacy checks.

Holy Inferno (Su): At 16th level, a crusader inflicts 5d6 of fire damage on an evil enemy after successfully smiting them. She may also choose to sacrifice one of her smites to inflict 3d6 of fire damage on a non-evil enemy.

Divine Intervention (Su): At 19th level, the crusader may call upon her god to sacrifice one of her smites in order to make a guaranteed hit on an enemy, regardless of their armor class. She can also sacrifice 2 of her smites in order to get a +20 on any skill check.

Bonus Feats: At 6th level, a crusader gets a bonus feat. She gets another every three levels after 6th.

Code of Conduct: A crusader must be of their starting alignment and loses all class abilities if she ever changes.

A crusader doesn't have to follow the rules of authority, they will do anything to complete their mission.

Ex-Crusaders

A crusader who changes alignment loses all crusader spells and abilities. She may not progress any farther in levels as a crusader. She regains her abilities and advancement potential if she atones for her violations (see the atonement spell description), as appropriate.

Like a member of any other class, a crusader may be a multiclass character, but multiclass crusaders face a special restriction. A crusader who gains a level in any class other than crusader may never again raise her crusader level, though she retains all her crusader abilities.

Epic Crusader

Table: The Epic Crusader

Hit Die: d10

Level	Special
21st	Bonus Feat
22nd
23rd	Bonus Feat
24th	Bonus Feat
25th	Smite Evil 6/day
26th	Bonus Feat
27th	Bonus Feat
28th
29th	Bonus Feat
30th	Remove Disease 9/week
2 + Int modifier skill points per level.

Lay on Hands (Su): Each day a Crusader can cure a total number of hit points equal to his or her Intelligence bonus (if any) times his or her class level, as normal.

Smite Evil (Su): The epic Crusader adds his or her class level to damage with any smite evil attack, as normal. He or she can smite one additional time per day for every five levels higher than 20^th.

Turn Undead: The Crusader turns undead as a cleric of three levels lower, as normal.

Spells: The Crusader’s caster level is equal to one-half his or her class level, as normal. The Crusader’s number of spells per day does not increase after 20th level.

Bonus Feat: The epic Crusader continues to gain bonus feats in addition to those below.

Epic Bonus Feats: The epic Crusader gains a bonus feat (selected from the list of epic Crusader feats) every three levels higher than 20th.

Epic Crusader Bonus Feat List: Armor Skin, Devastating Critical, Epic Leadership, Epic Prowess, Epic Reputation, Epic Toughness, Epic Weapon Focus, Great Smiting, Holy Strike, Improved Aura of Courage, Improved Combat Casting, Improved Spell Capacity, Legendary Commander, Legendary Rider, Overwhelming Critical, Perfect Health, Permanent Emanation, Planar Turning, Positive Energy Aura, Spectral Strike, Spontaneous Spell, Widen Aura of Courage.

Human Crusader Starting Package

Weapons: <-Weapon selection for starting at 1st level with this class.->.

Skill Selection: Pick a number of skills equal to 4 + Int modifier.

Skill	Ranks	Ability	Armor Check Penalty
<-Skill name->	<-4 for class skills and 2 for cross-class skills->	<-Abbrieviated key ability->	<-armor check penalty based on starting armor. If innapplicable put "—"->
<-Skill name->	<-4 for class skills and 2 for cross-class skills->	<-Abbrieviated key ability->	<-armor check penalty based on starting armor. If innapplicable put "—"-> <-copy and paste the rows as necessary.->

Feat: Combat Reflexes

Bonus Feats: Weapon Focus Longsword

Gear: Breast plate, Large Steel Shield, Longsword, Shortbow, Quiver w/ 20 arrows and pack.

Gold: same as Fighter

Playing a Crusader

Religion: <-description of how this class typically (but no exclusively) approaches religion including likely portfolios it would worship->.

Other Classes: <-How this class typically interacts with other classes and how characters of this class interact with characters of other classes->.

Combat: <-Frontline warrior much like a suped up paladin.->.

Advancement: <-Typical advancement options for characters with this class. Include desirable multiclass options->.

Crusaders in the World

“	Light, grant me the strength to overcome whatever appears on our path.	”
—Galien the Zealous, Human Crusader

Every cause needs a champion, a hero to rally otherwise common men to a righteous cause and lead them to victory. The Crusader is that champion. With holy blade in hand and conviction in heart he smites the wicked and the unholy and sends them back to the darkness from whence they crept. While his armor restricts his movement it affords him great protection, allowing him to stand in the midst of battle to take the blows that his weaker comrades cannot.

Daily Life: A Crusader is typically seen on roads, travelling in search of evil to cleanse and darkness to shine divine light upon. While not travelling or adventuring, the Crusader may be found in places of worship of their chosen deity, praying for strength to fight the evil that lurks or repenting for any perceived misdoings.

Notables: <-notable NPCs of this class->.

Organizations: <-info on what, where, when, and how characters of this class congregate and assemble->.

NPC Reactions: Most lawful or good classes, particularly those that share religion or hatred of evil, will typically praise the Crusader for the work they do banishing darkness from the world. However, while a Crusader may perceive themselves as utterly just in their actions, others may find them to be extreme or otherwise unnecessary and may dislike and distrust a Crusader for their violent "crusading" in the name of a patron deity. A class such as a Paladin, however, will almost always greet the Crusader in a friendly manner given their similarities and convictions against evil, and will often applaud the bravery for seeking out sinister abominations at risk of limb and life.

<-class name-> Lore

Characters with ranks in <-the appropriate skills-> can research <-pluralized class name-> to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.

<-the appropriate skills->

DC	Result
5	<-common knowledge->.
10	<-not so common knowledge->.
15	<-rare information->.
20	<-very rare information->.

<-pluralized class name-> in the Game

<-How characters of this class fit in the game (PC and NPC) and what roles they play.->

Adaptation: <-Possible variant conceptions of this class.->.

Sample Encounter: <-DM placement for NPCs of this class.->.

EL whatever: <-Encounter scenario and character info on sample NPC including stat block. The CR of the NPC is typically the same as the EL for the encounter.->.

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