Protector (3.5e Class)

Protector

Every cause needs a champion, a hero to protect otherwise common people to a righteous cause and lead them to victory. The protector is that champion. With divine weapon in hand, they smite the enemys and makes them back, his defensive swordsmanship allows him to block enemy attacks with intelligence. Their armor affords them great protection, allowing them to stand in the frontlines to take the blows that their weaker comrades cannot. No matter the pressures they face, they will remain strong, finding strength within themself to keep fighting on while inspiring others to do the same. Even in the midst of battle, they can galvanize their allies, conjuring powerful divine spells bestowed on him by his deity giving them the strength to fight off madness for a little longer . When the Protector is leading the charge, all his enemies they will know how to fear him.

Adventure: Charging through the battle, the protector shoves her companion to the side, narrowly avoiding the arrow herself as she pushes deeper into the fray, shrugging off blows from every direction as she charges left and right to protect the unguarded flanks of her fellow soldiers. Staring down the dragon fearlessly, a half-orc bellows a defiant cry as the dragon mercilessly rends into his flesh, ignoring the pain as his comrades surround the distracted creature, knowing the blood he spills now can end this foul creature's rein of terror. Furiously attacking left and right, a muscled goliath bulldozes through the swarm of goblins, the few escaping his wide hammer swipes instead getting lacerated by the spiked rivets on his leather armor as he laughs mercilessly before smashing the terrified goblin sorcerer, its spells having no effect on him.

Characteristics: A protector's strength comes from their ability and devotion to never giving up, even when everything seems lost. Even when their bodies are battered and broken, their spirit will still be strong, urging them to either fight on or to escape so as to continue the fight another day. Through sheer will they will stop at nothing at nothing to defend those in need, and even magic doesn't seem to effect them. Like your typical fighter, a protector is well trained in most any form of combat, but unlike fighters they are most at home with melee weapons, and their training is mostly around the use of armor to protect themselves rather than ways to more quickly or efficiently attack their enemies.

Alignment: Most protector's are of legal alignment, cooperating with kindly ancestor spirits and opposing evil spirits and undead. A few protector's, however, side with the evil spirits, using the power the spirits bestow to increase their own power in the world.

Religion: One does not become a Protector by simply stealing the mantle or with a half-hearted mind. They are brazen and bold individuals who give their body and soul to a higher power. Unlike a simple paladin, their faith alone cannot sustain all their power, unfortunately. The Protector cause is typically deific. While they have the faith to fight in battle, they require the aid of their god sometimes, whom they call on for aid. However, they are not clerics either. Their brazen willpower is not reliant solely on a god. Rather, they are halfway between cleric and paladin, relying both on their inner faith and also their god in their must difficult hour. Their zeal can be described almost like that of a knight, and their faith being their armor tends to corroborate this.

Background: Protectors are the most formidable of all warriors, able to shrug off all forms of offense even as they make their own attacks. Masters of defense, they specialize in the protection of themselves and others, either by directly intervening to protect their allies or by simply being a very dangerous foe to contend with and therefore taking the attention away from their friends.

Creating a Protector: As you create your protector character, think about some of the things that make you unique. What made you decide to specialize in the use of weapons and shield defensively? Where did you get your training? Were you part of some large army, or did you train yourself for several years before finally setting out on adventure? Not all protectors are valiant protectors of the weak. The thing they might be protecting is their own life, or the life of a specific person. Or it could be a ancient secret guarded by your family for generations.

Game Rule Information

Protectors have the following game statistics:

Abilities: Intelligence determines how powerful a spell a protector can cast, how many spells the protector can cast per day, and how hard those spells are to resist. To cast a spell, a protector must have a Intelligence score of 10 + the spell’s level. A protector gets bonus spells based on Intelligence. The Difficulty Class of a saving throw against a protector’s spell is 10 + the spell’s level + the protector’s Intelligence modifier. A high Constitution improves a protector’s hit points, and a high Strength improves the protector’s fighting force.

Alignment: Legal

Starting Age: Complex

Starting Gold: 2d4 gp

Table: Protector

Hit Die: d10

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Spells per Day
						0	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
1st	+1	+0	+0	+2	Parry	1	1	—	—	—
2nd	+2	+0	+0	+3	Cunning Defense	2	2	—	—	—
3rd	+3	+1	+1	+3	Special Mount	3	2	1	—	—
4th	+4	+1	+1	+4	Bonus feat	3	3	2	—	—
5th	+5	+1	+1	+4	Improved Parry	4	3	2	1	—
6th	+6/+1	+2	+2	+5	Ride-By Attack	4	3	3	2	—
7th	+7/+2	+2	+2	+5	Parry Strike	5	4	3	2	1
8th	+8/+3	+2	+2	+6	Bonus feat	5	4	3	3	2
9th	+9/+4	+3	+3	+6	Deadly Charge	6	4	4	3	2
10th	+10/+5	+3	+3	+7	Ranged Parry	6	5	4	3	3
11th	+11/+6/+1	+3	+3	+7	Resilient Body	6	5	4	4	3
12th	+12/+7/+2	+4	+4	+8	Bonus feat	6	5	5	4	3
13th	+13/+8/+3	+4	+4	+8	Charge Mastery	6	6	5	4	4
14th	+14/+9/+4	+4	+4	+9	Defensive Disarm	6	6	5	5	4
15th	+15/+10/+5	+5	+5	+9	Charging Overrun	6	6	6	5	4
16th	+16/+11/+6/+1	+5	+5	+10	Bonus feat	6	6	6	5	5
17th	+17/+12/+7/+2	+5	+5	+10	Accurate Power Attack	6	6	6	6	5
18th	+18/+13/+8/+3	+6	+6	+11	Crazed Bull	6	6	6	6	5
19th	+19/+14/+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Powerfull Parry	6	6	6	6	6
20th	+20/+15/+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	Bonus feat	6	6	6	6	6
Class Skills (2 + Int modifier per level; ×4 at 1st level) Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int)

Class Features

The following are class features of the protector:

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

Spells: A protector casts divine spells hich are drawn from the paladin spell list (PHB page 191). To prepare or cast a spell, a protector must have a Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell level (Int 11 for 1st-level spells, Int 12 for 2nd-level spells, and so forth). The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a protector’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the protector’s Intelligence modifier. Like other spellcasters, a protector can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily spell allotment is given on Table : The Protector. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Intelligence score (see Table 1–1: Ability Modifiers and Bonus Spells, PHB page 8) A protector prepares and casts spells the way a cleric does, though she cannot lose a prepared spell to spontaneously cast a cure spell in its place. A protector may prepare and cast any spell on the paladin spell list (page 191 PHB), provided that she can cast spells of that level, but she must choose which spells to prepare during her daily meditation.

Parry: Beginning at 1st level, a protector may use a parry in lieu of first attack to block an incoming strike from an enemy. Treat the parry as an opposed attack roll. Roll a attack roll with all bonuses, but with a -4 penalty if using a light weapon or any other finesse weapon, and compare the result with your opponent’s attack roll. If the parry is equal to or higher than the opponent's attack roll, the parry successfully blocks the attack. If the attack roll is higher than the parry roll, the attack functions normally, hitting or missing depending upon armor class, your opponent must still overcome your armor class to be successful in his attack. Also you take a -4 penalty for each size category your foe is larger or smaller than you, and foes more than two size categories of you either strike with too much force (if larger) or speed (if smaller) for you to effectively parry their attacks. The size of the opponent's weapon also matters; The opponent with the larger weapon gets a +2 bonus per each category his weapon is larger than his opponent's; For example, if a fighter wielding a dagger tries to parry an attack made against him by a greataxe-swinging barbarian, he's going to take a -4 penalty on his Parry roll.

Cunning Defense: Intent on the protection of others, you quickly discern the tactics your enemies use to combat. Starting at 2nd level, your Intelligence empowers your defensive ability to stay in the the thick of combat. You can add your Intelligence modifier as a bonus to Armor Class. This bonus to AC applies even against touch attacks or when you are fl at-footed. However, you lose this bonus when you are immobilized or helpless.

Special Mount: Upon reaching 3rd level, a protector gains the service of an unusually intelligent, strong, and loyal steed to serve her in her crusade. This mount is usually a heavy warhorse (for a Medium protector) or a dog-riding (for a Small protector). Once per day, as a full-round action, a protector may magically call her mount from the celestial or infernal realms, as appropriate, in which it resides. The mount immediately appears adjacent to the protector and remains for 2 hours per protector level; it may be dismissed at any time as a free action. The mount is the same creature each time it is summoned, though the paladin may release a particular mount from service (if it has grown too old to join her crusade, for instance). Each time the mount is called, it appears in full health, regardless of any damage it may have taken previously. The mount also appears wearing or carrying any gear it had when it was last dismissed )including barding, saddle, saddlebags, and the like). Calling a mount is a conjuration (calling) effect. Should the protector's mount die, it immediately disappears, leaving behind any equipment it was carrying. The protector may not summon another mount for thirty days or until she gains a protector level, whichever comes first, even if the mount is somehow returned from the dead. During this thirty-day period, the paladin takes a –1 penalty on attack and weapon damage rolls.

Protector’s Mount Basics: Use the base statistics for a creature of the mount’s kind, as given in the Monster Manual, but make changes to take into account the attributes and characteristics summarized on the table and described below.

Table: Protector Special Mount

Class Level	Bonus HD	Natural Armor Adj.	Str Adj.	Int	Special
5th-7th	+2	+4	+1	6	Empathic link, improved evasion, share spells, share saving throws
8th-10th	+4	+6	+2	7	Improved speed
11th-14th	+6	+8	+3	8	Command creatures of its kind
15th-20th	+8	+10	+4	9	Spell resistance

Bonus HD: Extra eight-sided (d8) Hit Dice, each of which gains a Constitution modifier, as normal. Extra Hit Dice improve the mount’s base attack and base save bonuses. A special mount’s base attack bonus is equal to that of a cleric of a level equal to the mount’s HD. A mount has good Fortitude and Reflex saves (treat it as a character whose level equals the animal’s HD). The mount gains additional skill points or feats for bonus HD as normal for advancing a monster’s Hit Dice (see the Monster Manual).

Natural Armor Adj.: The number on the table is an improvement to the mount’s existing natural armor bonus. It represents the preternatural toughness of a protector’s mount.

Str Adj.: Add this figure to the mount’s Strength score.

Int Adj.: The mount’s Intelligence score.

Empathic Link (Su): The protector has an empathic link with her mount out to a distance of up to 1 mile. The protector cannot see through the mount’s eyes, but they can communicate empathically. Note that even intelligent mounts see the world differently from humans, so misunderstandings are always possible. Because of this empathic link, the protector has the same connection to an item or place that her mount does, just as with a master and his familiar (see Familiars, page 52 PHB).

Improved Evasion (Ex): When subjected to an attack that normally allows a Reflex saving throw for half damage, an animal companion takes no damage if it makes a successful saving throw and only half damage if the saving throw fails.

Share Spells (Ex): At the pprotector’s option, she may have any spell (but not any spell-like ability) she casts on herself also affect her mount. The mount must be within 5 feet at the time of casting to receive the benefit. If the spell or effect has a duration other than instantaneous, it stops affecting the mount if it moves farther than 5 feet away and will not affect the mount again even if it returns to the protector before the duration expires. Additionally, the protector may cast a spell with a target of “You” on her mount (as a touch range spell) instead of on herself. A protector and her mount can share spells even if the spells normally do not affect creatures of the mount’s type (magical beast).

Share Saving Throws (Ex): For each of its saving throws, the mount uses its own base save bonus or the protector’s, whichever is higher. The mount applies its own ability modifiers to saves, and it doesn’t share any other bonuses on saves that the master might have (such as from magic items or feats).

Improved Speed (Ex):The mount’s speed increases by 10 feet.

Command (Sp): Once per day per two protector levels of its master, a mount can use this ability to command other any normal animal of approximately the same kind as itself (for warhorses and warponies, this category includes donkeys, mules, and ponies), as long as the target creature has fewer Hit Dice than the mount. This ability functions like the command spell, but the mount must make a DC 21 Concentration check to succeed if it’s being ridden at the time (in combat, for instance). If the check fails, the ability does not work that time, but it still counts against the mount’s daily uses. Each target may attempt a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 protector’s level + protector’s Cha modifier) to negate the effect.

Spell Resistance (Ex): A mount’s spell resistance equals its master’s protector level + 5. To affect the mount with a spell, a spellcaster must get a result on a caster level check (1d20 + caster level; see Spell Resistance, page 177) that equals or exceeds the mount’s spell resistance.

Improved Parry: Upon reaching 5th level, for each attack attempt on you, you can attempt to parry an enemys melee attack that targets you. Make a melee attack roll. If your result is greater than your foes attack roll, you block this attack. You still cannot exceed your normal maximum number of attacks in a round. If the character has multiple attacks, the player may choose which attack bonus to use for the parry or may even choose to make multiple parries with multiple attack bonuses (If you have extra attacks for any reason, such as due to haste, a weapon of speed, or various other magics, feats or tactics, those can now be used for parry). You must incur all penalties associated with the multiple attacks you are using, such as those outlined under Two-Weapon Fighting or Flurry of Blows.

Ride-By Attack: At 6th level and higher, when you are mounted and use the charge action, you may move and attack as if with a standard charge and then move again (continuing the straight line of the charge). Your total movement for the round can't exceed double your mounted speed. You and your mount do not provoke an attack of opportunity from the opponent that you attack.

Parry Strike: At 7th level and higher, when you parry, you may choose to take a –4 penalty to your base attack in exchange for the option of taking an Attack of Opportunity to counter attack on any creatures that makes a melee or touch attack on you. You can choose not to suffer the penalty on attack and you can attemp to disarm instead of taking the attack of opportunity. You do not provoke an attack of opportunity when you attempt to disarm an opponent, nor does the opponent have a chance to disarm you. You must use use the same opposed attack roll to parry in the attempt to disarm. You dont need a new attack roll you make to disarm your opponent.

Deadly Charge: When using the charge action, a protector of 9st level or higher may declare a "deadly charge" before making his attack roll (thus, a failed attack ruins the attempt). If he hits, he deals triple damage with a melee weapon (or quadruple damage with a lance). This ability can be stack with the benefit of the Spirited Charge feat.

Ranged Parry: Starting at 10th level, a protector can attempt to parry enemy ranged attack that targets you or objects that entering your reach, following the same rules of parry. As long as you have line of sight to that direction and you are not Flat-Footed, make a opposed melee attack roll. If your result is greater than your foe, you parry this succesfull.

Resilient Body: You become sturdier than the average person, sturdy enough to protect those around you and absorb the damage you take. At 11st level, as a reaction to taking damage that would reduce you to half your maximum hit points or less, you gain temporary hit points equal to half your maximum hit points. The damage is dealt to the temporary hit points first, and they are lost at the end of your next turn. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier, regaining all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Charge Mastery: At their 13th level, protector´s do not provoke attacks of opportunity from any enemies while performing a Charge, Bull Rush, or Overrun. Also, now he needs to move at least 5' for the charge to work, instead of 10'.

Defensive Disarm: If an enemy misses an attack against a level 14th protector that has a shield, then an attack of opportunity can be made against the weapon used with a +4 to this disarm attempt. You can attemp to disarm and do not provoke an attack of opportunity when you attempt to disarm an opponent, nor does the opponent have a chance to disarm you.

Charging Overrun: At 15th level, protector gains the ability to perform Overrun on a target at then end of a Charge. You can only overrun an opponent who is the same size category than you, or smaller. Make a Strength check opposed by the defender’s Dexterity or Strength check (whichever ability score has the higher modifier). A combatant gets a +4 bonus on the check for every size category he is larger than Medium or a –4 penalty for every size category he is smaller than Medium. The defender gets a +4 bonus on his check if he has more than two legs or is otherwise more stable than a normal humanoid. If you win, you knock the defender prone. If you lose, the defender may immediately react and make a Strength check opposed by your Dexterity or Strength check (including the size modifiers noted above, but no other modifiers) to try to knock you prone. In a charge overrun attacks can no longer be avoided.

Improved Parry: Upon reaching 17th level, the protector can try to parry attacks from enemies that have a size category larger than his without any penalty.

Accurate Power Attack: At 18th level and higher, protector a choice between greater defense or greater accuracy in combat. Power Attack can now subtract some number (that cannot exceed the Destructive Charger's base attack bonus) from AC instead of attack rolls and adds it to damage rolls. Greater Power still applies.

Crazed Bull: A protector need not Charge, Bull Rush, or Overrun in a straight line once he reaches level 19. A Charge can now move around difficult terrain and obstacles, a Bull Rush can now move an opponent to the left or right one square for each square he is moved back, and an Overrun can now run through whichever squares the Destructive Charger chooses.

Class Features

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