Character Creation (CPaH)

The Complete Paladin's Handbook

Chapter 1: Character Creation
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Character Creation
Paladin Requirements Level Advancement Armor and Weapons Clerical Magic

This chapter compiles all of the statistics, adjustments, and level progressions from the PH and DMG pertaining to the paladin. Although no two paladins are exactly alike, all of them have these fundamentals in common.

Paladin Requirements

It takes an exceptional character to become a paladin, as reflected in the class qualifications listed in Table 1.

Table 1: Class Qualifications

Ability Requirements	Strength 12 Constitution 9 Wisdom 13 Charisma 17
Prime Requisites	Strength Charisma
Races Allowed	Human
Alignments Allowed	Lawful good

A player who tries to generate a paladin by using Method I, described in Chapter 1 of the PH, may be rolling dice all day. Although the odds improve slightly when using Methods II-IV, only Methods V and VI give a reasonable, albeit slim, chance of producing the necessary numbers.

Although the strict ability requirements may frustrate a player wanting to create a paladin character, they're necessary to regulate play balance. Paladins are among the game's most formidable characters. If they were as easy to roll up as, say, warriors or mages, the surplus of powerful characters would make it difficult, perhaps impossible, for the DM to come up with encounters challenging enough for all members of a party. A DM may also have other reasons for limiting the paladin population—for instance, the campaign world may discourage the development of paladins—or may restrict the number of paladins simply to enhance their mystique.

But if your DM is open to paladin player-characters, you might consider using Table 2 instead of dice rolls to generate the required ability scores. Roll 1d12 and use the indicated statistics.

Table 2: Pre-generated Ability Scores

D12	Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha
1	12	8	16	10	15	17
2	17	10	10	9	14	17
3	12	9	12	10	16	18
4	15	13	15	11	14	17
5	14	16	9	15	18	17
6	12	11	11	9	13	18
7	18*	12	12	12	14	17
8	13	11	14	10	17	18
9	16	10	11	11	16	17
10	13	14	13	9	13	17
11	15	12	17	14	15	18
12	14	15	10	13	13	17

* Roll percentile dice for exceptional Strength.

Level Advancement

Paladins advance in level and hit points at the same rate as fighters. For each level up to 9, they gain 1d10 hit points. They receive 3 extra hit points at level 10 and beyond. Table 3 summarizes the paladin's level advancements, along with the corresponding THAC0 scores.

Keep two adjustments in mind:

• Paladins whose Strength and Charisma scores equal or exceed 16 earn a 10% bonus to all earned experienced points. A paladin must have a 16 or more in both of these abilities to qualify for the bonus.
• Unusually high Constitution scores award hit point adjustments. A paladin with a Constitution of 17 receives a +3 bonus per hit die, and a score of 18 grants a +4 bonus.

Table 3: Experience Levels

Level	XP Needed	Hit Dice (d10)	THAC0
1	0	1	20
2	2,250	2	19
3	4,500	3	18
4	9,000	4	17
5	18,000	5	16
6	36,000	6	15
7	75,000	7	14
8	150,000	8	13
9	300,000	9	12
10	600,000	9+3	11
11	900,000	9+6	10
12	1,200,000	9+9	9
13	1,500,000	9+12	8
14	1,800,000	9+15	7
15	2,100,000	9+18	6
16	2,400,000	9+21	5
17	2,700,000	9+24	4
18	3,000,000	9+27	3
19	3,300,000	9+30	2
20	3,600,000	9+33	1

Advancing in level, a paladin gets new proficiency slots, as shown on Table 4. Remember that a paladin suffers a –2 penalty when using a weapon without the required proficiency.

Table 4: Total Proficiency Slots

Level	Weapon	Nonweapon
1-2	4	3
3-5	5	4
6-8	6	5
9-11	7	6
12-14	8	7
15-17	9	8
18-20	10	9

Table 5 summarizes the saving throws applicable to each level. Unlike other characters, paladins receive a +2 bonus to all saving throws. For convenience, the paladin's modified throws are given in parentheses; for example, a 1st-level paladin must roll a 12 or better to avoid the effects of paralyzation.

Table 5: Saving Throws

Level	PPDM	RSW	PP	Breath	Spell
1-2	14 (12)	16 (14)	15 (13)	17 (15)	17 (15)
3-4	13 (11)	15 (13)	14 (12)	16 (14)	16 (14)
5-6	11 (9)	13 (11)	12 (10)	13 (11)	14 (12)
7-8	10 (8)	12 (10)	11 (9)	12 (10)	13 (11)
9-10	8 (6)	10 (8)	9 (7)	9 (7)	11 (9)
11-12	7 (5)	9 (7)	8 (6)	8 (6)	10 (8)
13-14	5 (3)	7 (5)	6 (4)	5 (3)	8 (6)
15-16	4 (2)	6 (4)	5 (3)	4 (2)	7 (5)
17+	3 (1)	5 (3)	4 (2)	4 (2)	6 (4)

Abbreviations

PPDM = Paralyzation, Poison, or Death Magic

RSW = Rod, Staff, or Wand

PP = Petrification or Polymorph

Breath = Breath Weapon

Armor and Weapons

As members of the warrior group, paladins can wear any type of armor. Regardless of the armor worn, paladins suffer no penalties to any of their special abilities.

Paladins can also wield any of the weapons listed in Chapter 6 of the PH. As they increase in level, they can make more than one attack per round, as shown in Table 6.

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Table 6: Paladin Attacks Per Round

Level	Attacks/Round
1-6	1/round
7-12	3/2 rounds
13+	2/round

A paladin may fight with two weapons at the same time, holding one in each hand, providing the second weapon is smaller and lighter than the main weapon, and that he avoids using a shield. With these qualifications, the paladin may make an additional attack each round with the second weapon. However, fighting with two weapons simultaneously gives a penalty on both attack rolls. The base penalty is –2 for the main weapon and –4 for the second weapon. The paladin's Reaction Adjustment, based on Dexterity, modifies both penalties, though neither may be modified above 0. Table 7 summarizes these penalties.

Table 7: Two-Weapon Attack Roll Penalties

Dex.	Main Weapon Penalty	Second Weapon Penalty
1	–8	–10
2	–6	–8
3	–5	–7
4	–4	–6
5	–3	–5
6-15	–2	–4
16	–1	–3
17-18	0	–2

Clerical Magic

At 9th level, a paladin becomes eligible to cast clerical spells. Table 8 shows the number of spells a paladin receives at each level. The table also indicates the spell level cast. For example, if a 13th-level paladin casts the 2nd-level slow poison spell, the effects persist for 5 hours; the spell's duration is 1 hour/level and, as shown on Table 8, a 13th-level paladin casts it at 5th level. A paladin's spells never rise beyond 9th level.

Paladins only have access to spells of the Combat, Divination, Healing, and Protective spheres. For reference, Table 9 lists all spells from the PH available to paladins. The following restrictions also apply:

• Paladins don't get bonus spells for high Wisdom scores.
• Paladins can't use priestly magical items, nor can they cast spells from clerical or druidical scrolls. However, they may use any magical items intended for the warrior group, even if priests use them too.

Table 8: Paladin Spell Progression

Paladin Level	Casting Level	Priest Spell Levels
		1	2	3	4
9	1	1	—	—	—
10	2	2	—	—	—
11	3	2	1	—	—
12	4	2	2	—	—
13	5	2	2	1	—
14	6	3	2	1	—
15	7	3	2	1	1
16	8	3	3	2	1
17-18	9	3	3	3	1
19	9	3	3	3	2
20	9	3	3	3	3

Table 9: Paladin Spells

Level	Name	Sphere
1	Cure Light Wounds	Healing
1	Detect Magic	Divination
1	Detect Poison	Divination
1	Endure Cold/Endure Heat	Protection
1	Magical Stone	Combat
1	Protection from Evil	Protection
1	Sanctuary	Protection
1	Detect Snares and Pits*	Divination
1	Locate Animals and Plants	Divination
1	Shillelagh*	Combat
2	Augury	Divination
2	Chant	Combat
2	Detect Charm	Divination
2	Find Traps	Divination
2	Know Alignment	Divination
2	Resist Fire/Resist Cold	Protection
2	Slow Poison	Healing
2	Speak with Animals	Divination
2	Spiritual Hammer	Combat
2	Withdraw	Protection
2	Barkskin*	Protection
3	Dispel Magic	Protection
3	Locate Objects	Divination
3	Magical Vestment	Protection
3	Negative Plane Protection	Protection
3	Prayer	Combat
3	Remove Curse	Protection
3	Remove Paralysis	Protection
3	Speak with Dead	Divination
3	Protection from Fire*	Protection
4	Cure Serious Wounds	Healing
4	Detect Lie	Divination
4	Divination	Divination
4	Neutralize Poison	Healing
4	Protection from Evil,	Protection 10' Radius
4	Spell Immunity	Protection
4	Tongues	Divination
4	Protect. from Lightning*	Protection
4	Reflecting Pool*	Divination
4	Repel Insects	Protection

• Italicized entries were classified as druidic spells in the original AD&D® rules. Paladins using the 1st Edition may not choose any of these spells.

Optional spell restriction: At the DM's discretion, AD&D® 2nd Edition paladins may be forbidden to cast the italicized spells on Table 9.

At 3rd level, a paladin gains the ability to turn undead. The number and type of undead turned depends on the paladin's level, as per Table 10.

A paladin turns undead just like a priest of two levels lower than the paladin. The player rolls 1d20 and consults the relevant column of Table 10. A result equal to or greater than the listed number indicates success. A "T" means the attempt succeeds automatically; no roll is necessary. A "D" means the targeted undead are destroyed. Turning attempts can't be made against categories of undead indicated by a dash. A successful roll, or a "T" or "D" notation, affects 2-12 (2d6) undead. Only one die-roll is made per turning attempt, regardless of the composition of the undead group.

Use the same die result on all applicable columns of Table 61. (See Chapter 2 for more about this ability.)

Table 10: Turning Undead (Paladin)

Paladin Level	Category of Undead
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
3	10	13	16	19	20	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4	7	10	13	16	19	20	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
5	4	7	10	13	16	19	20	—	—	—	—	—	—
6	T	4	7	10	13	16	19	20	—	—	—	—	—
7	T	T	4	7	10	13	16	19	20	—	—	—	—
8	D	T	T	4	7	10	13	16	19	20	—	—	—
9	D	D	T	T	4	7	10	13	16	19	20	—	—
10	D*	D	D	T	T	4	7	10	13	16	19	20	—
11	D*	D*	D	D	T	T	4	7	10	13	16	19	20
12-13	D*	D*	D*	D	D	T	T	4	7	10	13	16	19
14-15	D*	D*	D*	D*	D	D	T	T	4	7	10	13	16
16+	D*	D*	D*	D*	D*	D	D	T	T	4	7	10	13

Key to Categories

1: Skeleton (or 1 HD undead)

2: Zombie

3: Ghoul (or 2 HD undead)

4: Shadow (or 4 HD undead)

5: Wight (or 5 HD undead)

6: Ghast

7: Wraith (or 6 HD undead)

8: Mummy (or 7 HD undead)

9: Spectre (or 8 HD undead)

10: Vampire (or 9 HD undead)

11: Ghost (or 10 HD undead)

12: Lich (or 11+ HD undead)

13: Special undead, including one-of-a-kind creatures, free-willed undead of the Negative Plane, outer planes undead, and certain greater and lesser deities.

• An additional 2d4 creatures of this type are turned.