Divine Champion -- A Shadowdark Supplement
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The Divine Champion Class is a new class designed for use with the Shadowdark RPG.
The divine champion class has an 8-sided hit die and includes the following abilities:
Cosmic Alignment: A divine champion is tied¸ body and soul¸ to Law¸ Chaos¸ or Balance.
Divine Grace: The divine champion is granted strong defenses against the powers of their enemy alignment.
Divine Health: The divine champion is immune to diseases¸ mundane and magical.
Divine Might: The divine champion has a pool of divine power¸ earned through pious acts¸ that is used to empower their divine powers.
Lay on Hands: The divine champion can heal allies and innocents alike.
Divine Powers: Each divine champion chooses a selection of divine powers as they advance in service to their cosmic cause¸ making each champion unique by definitely tied to their cosmic alignment.
Designer's Notes
I designed the divine champion to more closely emulate the classic paladins and anti-paladins of old school games. The priests of Shadowdark contain elements of the classic clerics and paladins¸ but are really more on the clerical side of development and utility.
The divine champion more closely fits the classic paladin at its core¸ and takes advantage of system elements from Shadowdark to create a full spectrum of champions of Law¸ Chaos¸ and Balance.
The divine champion is first and foremost a warrior - even able to choose some fighter abilities at times - and dedicated to the war for their god(s) and/or demons(s) and their Cosmic Alignment. Service in other ways is vastly secondary.
The magical powers of the divine champion are more limited than those of the cleric¸ save for their three core abilities¸ which are martially oriented. Their divine powers are also more strongly themed by their alignment¸ ensuring that classic flavor of the paladin and anti-paladin.
The champion of Balance is not some sort of nature-oriented defender; they use the very essence of magic to seek to maintain the balance between Law and Chaos¸ lest one or the other gain enough of an advantage and bring about an apocalypse while seeking to conquer the mortal plane...