Finelann Korenflass of Oldred

Prestige Class
Finelann Korenflass of Oldred
Sample Ordained Champion
By Creighton Broadhurst
This column aims to provide players with tips on creating effective and interesting characters of various types.
So, whether you're a beginning player creating your very first character or an experienced gamer looking to put
some punch into an old standby, this column is for you.
Steeped in a tradition older than most relitions, ordained champions (Complete Champion pg. 90) stride through
the chaotic fog of violence and bloodshed. Driven by a zealous devotion to the Herald of Hell and to war itself,
these harbingers of death are schooled in techniques of divine magic that enhance their combat capabilities far
beyond those of mere soldiers.
The ordained champion is an ancient creation of Hextor, so old that it predates the final schism between the
Herald of Hell and his half-brother Heironeous the Invincible. Although ordained champions are known primarily
as servants of Hextor, some tiny fraction do indeed serve the Invincible One instead. Heironeous's ordained
champions are treated and act much like his paladins.
Ordained champions serve as both lone adventurers and military leaders. Finelann Korenflass need not be a foe
of the PCs. As a lawful good ordained champion, he could be encountered as an officer or mercenary on the
same side of a conflict as the characters. Because he serves Hextor, however, good-aligned PCs may be
inclined to treat him with suspicion until he proves his intentions.
Ordained Champions, Hextor, and Heironeous
Most ordained champions serve Hextor but a few devoted individuals revere his brother, Heironeous.
While the text in Complete Champion assumes that the character worships Hextor, this article deals
with ordained champions of Heironeous. Whichever power they venerate, ordained champions
worship their god and war itself in equal measures.
Heironeous ordained champions must have Weapon Focus with either the battleaxe or longsword.
Some particularly ancient orders of ordained champions insist that members use the battleaxe
exclusively as they believe that this is their patrons true favored weapon. Such groups can trace their
lineage back to a time before the great schism between Hextor and Heironeous. Whenever followers
of these two great powers meet, battle almost inevitably follows.
Both Hextor and Heironeous appear in the Players Handbook and the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer
provides more background information on these two deities. Dragon Magazine issue 356 presents a
Core Beliefs article detailing the Herald of Hell, while issue 354 presents his brother, the Archpaladin.
Assets
Finelann Korenflass of Oldred
Ordained champions have many useful abilities. Here are a few things to consider when building an ordained
champion:
G Good Fortitude Saves: Ordained champions have good Fortitude saving throws (PHB 22). Clerics and
paladins already have good Fortitude saving throws as do favored souls, making this a particular
strength of the class.


G Good Will Saves: Ordained champions also have good Will saving throws (PHB 22). Generally,
individuals that qualify for ordained champion already have a good Will saving throw because of their
high Wisdom and class mix; clerics, favored souls, and shugenjas all have good Will saving throws.
Although a paladin does not have a good Will save, his divine grace ability (gained at 2nd level) provides
a useful boost to all his saving throws.


G Good Base Attack Bonus: An ordained champions base attack bonus progresses as that of a fighter.


G Good Hit Dice: Ordained champions use 8-sided hit dice, making them tougher than many other
characters.


G Special Abilities: At each new level, an ordained champion gains one or more special abilities, flowing
from his devotion to his divine patron. These abilities augment both his spellcasting and combat abilities.
To improve his spellcasting, an ordained champion gains the following abilities (at the noted class level):
bonus domain (1st), modified spontaneous casting (1st), rapid spontaneous casting (4th), and war caster
(5th). Similarly, his combat abilities benefit from the following abilities (at the listed class level): combat
feats (1st), Diehard (2nd), smite (2nd), channel spell (3rd), divine bulwark (3rd), fist of the gods (4th), and
holy warrior (5th). His levels of ordained champion stack with other appropriate class levels for the
purposes of turning or rebuking undead. Finally, he can spend a daily use of his turn/rebuke undead
abilities to power his smite and holy warrior abilities.
Weaknesses
The ordained champions advantages come at a price. Here are a few things to consider when thinking about
such a character:
G Hard Qualification: Becoming an ordained champion is difficult; in fact, most characters will never
qualify for the prestige class. Prospective ordained champions must worship Hextor or Heironeous, have
7 ranks in Knowledge (religion), Weapon Focus with their deitys favored weapon, and be able to cast
magic weapon as a divine spell. Finally, they must be neutral good, neutral evil, lawful neutral, lawful
evil, or lawful good.


G Poor Reflex Saves: Ordained champions have poor Reflex saving throws (PHB 22). Unfortunately,
clerics, paladins and shugenjas also have poor Reflex saving throws making this a major weakness of
the class. Favored souls, however, have good Reflex saves making them slightly better at avoiding such
affects.


Finelann Korenflass of Oldred
G Spellcasting: At 2nd, 3rd and 5th level, an ordained champion gains new spells per day and an
increase in caster level as if he had gained a level in a divine spellcasting class to which he belonged
before becoming an ordained champion. Unfortunately, at 1st and 4th level he does not gain this benefit,
meaning that he lags behind pure clerics in terms of raw spellcasting power.


G Skill Points: Ordained champions only receive 2 (+ Intelligence modifier) skill points at each level,
making development of a good range of skills a tricky proposition. Arguably, many skills are useful to an
ordained champion -- Concentration, Heal, Knowledge (religion), Knowledge (the planes), Ride, and
Spellcraft chief among them -- meaning that such characters must make difficult decisions regarding
which skills to develop.
Playing an Ordained Champion
Characters that become ordained champions tend to have levels in one or more of the following classes: cleric,
paladin, favored soul, or shugenja. However, only clerics fully benefit from this classs granted abilities (because
of the granted bonus domain).
Because the ordained champion only has five levels, members should give some thought to what classes they
plan to take after exhausting the possibilities of this prestige class. From Complete Divine: church inquisitor,
shining blade of Heironeous, and war priest all complement the class well. Alternatively, for ordained servants
who focus on battle skills over spellcasting, the following prestige classes from Complete Warrior mesh well with
this prestige class (depending on the characters proclivity): cavalier, hunter of the dead, knight of the chalice,
and knight protector. Finally, Dragon Magazine issue 293 (Living Greyhawk Journal 9) details the glaives of
Azharadian, a noble knighthood dedicated to the Archpaladin.
Skills and Feats
An ordained champion does not get many skill points and beyond the 7 ranks in Knowledge (religion) to qualify
for this prestige class, he must spend them wisely. Ordained champions planning to cast many spells should
invest as many points into Concentration as possible while Heal is a useful battlefield skill, as is Ride for
campaigns mainly set above ground. Spellcraft is useful to know exact what enemy spellcasters are up to, while
knowledge (the planes) allows an ordained champion to identify enemy outsiders (particularly servants of rival
faiths).
Divine feats (many listed in Complete Warrior or Complete Divine) are particularly good choices for ordained
champions as they bring more flexibility to a characters turn undead ability. Divine vigor is perhaps the best all-
round divine feat for an ordained champion; many of the others are only effective against a specific type of
opponent. Lightning Reflexes improves the ordained champions worst saving throw, while Extra Turning allows
the ordained champion to use his divine feats and some class abilities more often.
Complete Champion also presents several useful feats for an ordained champion. Holy Warrior allows an
ordained champion to deal more damage in battle, Awesome Strike gives him a range of interesting tactical
options tied to the smite class feature, and Spiritual Counter allows him to expend a use of turn/rebuke undead
to counter another casters spell. Finally, Complete Champion presents domain feats: a new kind of feat tied to a
clerics domains; each core domain has an associated feat. An ordained champions exact choice of domain feat
depends, of course, on which domains he has access to. Of special note is the War Domain, that grants greater
defensive capabilities.
Finelann Korenflass of Oldred
In Battle
Most ordained champions have impressive spellcasting powers, but mostly they revel in melee combat (at which
they excel). Thus, they should acquire a magical weapon and the best protective armor available as soon as
possible. While they should carry a ranged weapon (probably a crossbow) for emergencies, their average to low
Dexterity scores means that they are far more effective in melee.
They should use their divine spells to augment their already impressive fighting skills, but remember to reserve
some for cure spells (because they cannot instantaneously cast such spells like normal clerics). Ordained
champions are at their best when leading from the front. Many are charismatic leaders much beloved by their
companions and followers.
Sample Ordained Champion: Finelann Korenflass of Oldred
Tall and fair of skin, this handsome human male of obvious Oeridian descent has short light brown hair and gray
eyes. He wears an immaculately clean set of full plate armor and has a battleaxe strapped to his back.
Finelann Korenflass of Oldred (CR 7)
Male human cleric 4/paladin 2/ordained champion 1
LG Medium humanoid (human)
Init -1; Senses Listen +2, Spot +2
Languages Common

AC 18, touch 9, flat-footed 18
(-1 Dex, +9 armor)
hp 51 (7 HD)
Fort +12, Ref +4, Will +10

Speed 20 ft. (6 squares), base speed 30 ft.
Melee +1 battleaxe +10/+5 (1d8+4/x3)
Ranged mwk heavy crossbow +6 (1d10/19-20)
Base Atk +6; Grp +8
Atk Options smite evil 1/day (+2 attack, +2 damage)
Special Actions lay on hands (4 hp), modified spontaneous casting
(War domain), turn undead 5/day (+6, 3d6+7, 5th) Combat Gearpearl of
power (1st level), scroll of cure serious wounds
Cleric Spells Known (CL 5th; +5 ranged touch):
3rd -- cure serious wounds, magic circle against evil (D, CL 6)
2nd -- aid (D, CL 6), bear's endurance, bull's strength, cure moderate
wounds
1st -- bless, cure light wounds, divine favor, magic weapon (D), obscuring mist
0 -- cure minor wounds, detect magic, light, resistance (2)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 7th)
At Will -- detect evil
(D) = Domain spell. Deity: Heironeous; War, Glory (CD), Good

Abilities Str 15, Dex 8, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 14
Feats Weapon Focus (battleaxe), Divine Vigor(CW), Extra Turning, Improved Toughness, Lightning Reflexes
Skills Concentration +9, Knowledge (religion) +7, Heal +3, Jump -6, Listen +2, Ride +3, Spellcraft +7, Spot +2
Finelann Korenflass of Oldred
Possessions combat gear plus +1 battleaxe, +1 full plate

Modified Spontaneous Casting (Ex) Finelann spontaneously casts spells from the War domain rather than
cure spells.
Finelann had the following ability scores before racial adjustments, Hit Die ability score increases, and stat
boosting items: Str 15, Dex 8, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 14.
Feedback
Any additional advice you would include for this prestige class? Let us know, at dndfeedback@wizards.com.
About the Author
Creighton Broadhurst is a member of Living Greyhawk's Circle of Six and a mad-keen World of Greyhawk fan.
He has two young sons (whom he nicknames "Ghengis" and "Khan"). His house is an oasis of tranquility,
tidiness, and order. In his spare time, he tries to survive the Savage Tide.

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