Low Templar

“I do so swear under the Light, by the Sword and Scales of Truth and all the fires of heaven, to undertake this holy Crusade. I pledge to guard heart, spirit, body, and mind from the corruption of this Wound upon the World. I furthermore promise and declare that I shall wage relentless war against the Spawn of the Pit and their manifold legions, as directed by those with charge of this Crusade and whenever opportunity presents, to extirpate and annihilate their execrable race and any who serve them.”

So says the Crusader’s Oath—the sacred vow all new recruits to the fight to oppose the powers of the Worldwound must take and repeat every year on the 6th of Arodus. Yet in too many cases, these words are hollow falsehoods, for many of those who take up the sword to crusade in Iomedae’s name do so for their own glory.

After a time serving the crusades, some of these men and women attain such skill at serving the letter of the law while keeping to their own private agendas that they become low templars. Under a sanctified veneer, they walk a wavering line between heroism and thuggery. The church of Iomedae constantly struggles to maintain the morals of the crusaders, but when faced with the raw destruction of a demon host, sometimes the decision to support the lesser of two evils is the only real choice that can be made.

Whatever his faults, a low templar is a skilled warrior against the demon hordes of the Worldwound. At 1st level, a low templar gains a +1 bonus on all weapon attack rolls and weapon damage rolls against chaotic evil outsiders. He also gains an equal bonus on all Will saving throws against the abilities of chaotic evil outsiders. At 4th level, these bonuses increase to +2. The bonus increases to +3 at 7th level, and finally to +4 at 10th level.

Alow templar is adept at aligning himself with the winning side and has mastered the art of shifting or switching allegiance when convenient. He can disappear in one place and appear in another with new affiliations and associations, yet without besmirching his reputation. Even when caught in illicit acts, he easily evades blame. The low templar gains a +2 bonus on all Bluff and Disguise checks, and on Linguistics checks made to create forgeries. A low templar never suffers a penalty to his Leadership score for moving around frequently, aloofness, cruelty, or the loss of prior cohorts or followers, and can replace lost followers in half the normal amount of time.

Alow templar melds the stately forms of jousting and chivalric standards with the down-and-dirty style of a barroom brawler. No trick is beneath him. A low templar never takes a non-proficiency penalty on attack rolls with improvised weapons and gains a +2 bonus on all combat maneuver checks. In addition, whenever he lands a critical hit, the low templar may opt to deal normal damage and roll on the following table rather than dealing extra damage.

If the critical multiplier is X3, the duration of the effect doubles. If the critical multiplier is X4, the duration triples.

This ability is exactly like the rogue ability of the same name. The extra damage dealt increases by +1d6 at 8th level. If a low templar gets a sneak attack bonus from another source, the bonuses on damage stack.

At 6th level, a low templar can use the withdraw action as a standard action, although if he does so, he can only move at his speed (not double his speed).

As a low templar advances, he must eventually decide how closely he wishes to hew to his oaths to Iomedae and her ethos of law and goodness. If he chooses the path of light, he may choose to ignore the lawful or good aspect of his alignment (choose one) for determining alignment-based magical effects (e.g., reducing damage from unholy blight or an unholy weapon, Adventuring Adventuring masking his alignment from detect good, or ignoring some effects of a magic circle against good). He also gains a +2 circumstance bonus on Diplomacy checks with creatures with the lawful or good subtypes. If he chooses the path of darkness, he instead disregards either chaos or evil from his alignment and gains a Diplomacy bonus with creatures of the chaotic or evil subtypes.

Whenever a low templar kills a foe or reduces it to a dying state with a melee attack, he can immediately make another attack with the same weapon at the same attack bonus as a swift action. This additional attack can be made on any legal target. The low templar gains a bonus on damage rolls with this swift action attack equal to his character level.

At 9th level, a low templar can use the withdraw action as a move action, although if he does so, he can only move at his speed (not double his speed).

Alow templar is proficient with all simple weapons and all martial weapons. He is proficient with all forms of armor and shields.