Crusaders
Crusaders are priests of deities of war, combat, or conflict who stand at the
forefront of the fight for their faiths. Crusaders must be either lawful or
chaotic in alignment. In other words, crusaders may be of any alignment
except neutral evil, neutral good, or true neutral. Since they are often
called upon to lead the forces of their faith into battle, crusaders require
high Strength and Charisma scores in addition to a minimum Wisdom of 9.
High Constitution or Dexterity scores are also very useful for a crusader.
Crusaders with Wisdom and Strength scores of 16 or better gain a 10%
bonus to the experience points they earn. Crusaders progress in experience
levels as clerics.
While crusaders are often associated with war gods
they may also represent powers of leadership or strong
alignment that are in conflict with opposing forces.
Crusaders often organize themselves into a military hierarchy and view their temples as fortifications as well as places of worship. In some cases,
the power of the crusader orders can rival the
strength of the kingdom that hosts them, a situation that sometimes provokes popular resentment or suspicion. However, no one questions
their ability and resolve in time of war.
In the adventuring party, crusaders are natural leaders whose place is in the front lines of
any battle. When possible, crusaders should
take steps to prepare their comrades for battle
through the use of bless, prayer, aid, and similar spells. They also can make use of healing
spells to assist those who fall in valiant battle.
Crusaders excel in personal combat, and
are nearly as skilled as a warrior of the same
level. They may employ any kind of armor or
shield and learn the use of any weapon, although particular orders of crusaders may prefer
weapons of a certain type — for example, knightly
weapons, bows (perhaps for elf crusaders), or battle
axes (for dwarf crusaders), and so on. To represent their
skill at arms, THAC0s of crusader characters improve at the
warrior's rate of 1 per level. A 2nd-level crusader has a THAC0
of 19 instead of 20, a 3rd-level crusader has a THAC0 of 18, and so on.
Crusaders are considered to have a non-weapon proficiency crossover
with the warrior group and may learn warrior proficiencies at no extra cost.
They may use any magical item normally usable by priests or by fighters. In
addition, if the DM allows, lawful good crusaders may gain the same benefits as paladins do when wielding a holy avenger sword.
While crusaders are formidable soldiers, they also retain a good selection
of spells that are particularly useful on the battlefield. Crusaders have major
access to the spheres of all, combat, guardian, healing, war, and wards. They
have minor access to the protection and necromantic spheres. In addition,
lawful crusaders have major access to the sphere of law, and chaotic crusaders have major access to the sphere of chaos. Bear in mind, however, that a deity of peave and love would never allow crusaders among their faithful. Crusaders are more likely serve a more violent deity.
Crusaders cannot turn undead, but at 3rd level they gain the granted
power to cast Lighten Load once per day. This spell
effectively halves the weight of equipment and gear for a day, reducing a
party's encumbrance. At 7th level, the crusader may cast Easy March once per week which basically allows a small party to force march without
accumulating fatigue penalties.
Crusaders gain followers much as clerics do. When a crusader reaches
8th level, she or he automatically attracts 20 to 200 fanatical followers.
These followers are normal 0-level soldiers armed and equipped with weapons appropriate for typical soldiers in the campaign. Unlike clerics, crusaders do not need to establish a permanent place of worship to attract
these followers. Since they are great battle leaders, the soldiers will serve
them as free-roving companies if no strongholds are available. At 9th level,
a crusader may receive official sanction to establish a religious stronghold
or fortified temple.
Prime Requisite: Strength, Wisdom
Races Allowed: Human, dwarf, elf, half-elf
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