Antipaladin
This article covers a topic relevant to Pathfinder First Edition. For the Pathfinder Second Edition equivalent, see Champion. |
Where the fighter represents the pinnacle of martial combat, and the paladin blends martial skill with devotion to a righteous deity, cause, or organization, the antipaladin seeks to bring ruin to the holy and tyranny to the weak. They are villains who actively seek to bring death and destruction to ordered society, caring nothing for anyone or anything but themselves. They embody corruption, disease, and cruelty.13
Origins
Antipaladins are extraordinary individuals who embrace evil, hate, and corruption to a degree few mortals can match. They are either the product of a paladin who has fallen from grace, or else are trained from a young age to take up this mantle.1
Fallen paladins
All paladins follow a strict moral and behavioral code dedicated to upholding the power of just rulers, while championing good and honor, and protecting the weak. Those who willfully commit an evil act or who violate their code of conduct lose access to their divinely-granted powers, and must seek atonement, either through the appropriate spell or via another means, in order to regain them.4 Most do so, but there are a few who fully embrace the wicked path they have already begun, and turn their back on all they once held dear; only these corrupted individuals become antipaladins. They become the opposite of what they once were, consorting and drawing power from fiends, killing the innocent, and putting themselves and their desires before all else. This fall from grace is very rare, and many are lured or tricked into following it. Once the moral transformation is complete (often after a complex ritual that involves blood sacrifice), the new antipaladin finds that she has the same level of divine power she once held as a servant of good.1
Trained antipaladins
Not all antipaladins achieve their position through conversion. Some are trained in the martial skills from a very young age, and are taught to embrace hatred and cruelty, generally through mistreatment and pain. They grow to become living examples of evil, to disavow compassion and loyalty, and spread their gospel through pain and suffering.1
Code of conduct
An antipaladin is required to follow a debased moral code and risks the loss of all of his divine powers should he ever willingly commit a good act. This code requires him to consider his own needs before anyone else's, to take advantage of others when possible, to punish the right and the just, and the impose tyranny on the helpless. He is not allowed to ally with good creatures, unless it is to undermine them from within their ranks, but even that is extremely rare.1
If an antipaladin ceases to adhere to the causes of chaos and evil, commits a truly selfless act, or otherwise violates his personal code of conduct, his blasphemous gifts cease to function. He may only regain his powers by having an atonement spell cast on him, or otherwise regain the respect of his chosen cause.5 Even more rarely than paladins, antipaladins may shift entirely to the cause of good, gaining holy powers.[citation needed]
Religions
Much like the paladin, the antipaladin gains their power from their twisted and evil personal code and do not necessarily need to worship a single deity. But those who do typically choose evil gods who match their beliefs and actions, but there are antipaladins who worship a few non-evil deities, presumably because of their more destructive, vengeful and anti-authoritarian tendencies. Some antipaladins may even be recruited by demon lords.[citation needed]
Evil deities with antipaladins
Non-evil deities with antipaladins
Demon lords with antipaladins
Known antipaladins
- Azothinaktus: a vrolikai devotee of the demon lord Kabriri who lives in the Darklands city of Nemret Noktoria20
- Bugark Zomash: an orc antipaladin of Zagresh affiliated with the Defiled Corpse tribe in the Hold of Belkzen21
- Dason: the legendary first antipaladin of Urgathoa who wrote her unholy text Serving Your Hunger22
- Lord Malyas: one of the most famous antipaladins in the Inner Sea region, Lord Malyas rules Castle Kronquist in Ustalav23
- Luersa: a former paladin of Iomedae, Luersa serves the erodaemon, Anobaith, from her provisional home northeast of Cassomir in Taldor where she plots to humiliate her former church.24
- Urgraz: a hryngar who worships the demon lord Mazmezz2518
References
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- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 “Chapter 2: Classes” in Advanced Player's Guide, 118–123. Paizo Inc., 2010 .
- ↑ “Chapter 1: Classes” in Ultimate Intrigue, 64. Paizo Inc., 2016 .
- ↑ In Pathfinder First Edition, antipaladins were a standalone class. In Pathfinder Second Edition, antipaladins are a subclass of the champion class.
- ↑ “Chapter 3: Classes” in Core Rulebook, 60–61. Paizo Inc., 2009 .
- ↑ “Chapter 2: Classes” in Advanced Player's Guide, 123. Paizo Inc., 2010 .
- ↑ Inner Sea Gods, 95. Paizo Inc., 2014 .
- ↑ “Leader of the Faith” in Cohorts and Companions, 25. Paizo Inc., 2015 .
- ↑ 8.00 8.01 8.02 8.03 8.04 8.05 8.06 8.07 8.08 8.09 8.10 8.11 8.12 8.13 “Chapter 3: Fiendish Influences” in Book of the Damned, 175. Paizo Inc., 2017 .
- ↑ Inner Sea Gods, 112. Paizo Inc., 2014 .
- ↑ Inner Sea Gods, 126. Paizo Inc., 2014 .
- ↑ Inner Sea Gods, 158. Paizo Inc., 2014 .
- ↑ “Dahak” in Inner Sea Faiths, 36. Paizo Inc., 2016 .
- ↑ “Zyphus” in Inner Sea Faiths, 90. Paizo Inc., 2016 .
- ↑ Inner Sea Gods, 30. Paizo Inc., 2014 .
- ↑ “Besmara” in The Wormwood Mutiny, 70. Paizo Inc., 2012 .
- ↑ “Hanspur” in Inner Sea Faiths, 60. Paizo Inc., 2016 .
- ↑ “Hei Feng” in Faiths of Golarion, 26. Paizo Inc., 2018 .
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Owen K.C. Stephens. (April 7, 2016). Meet the Villains—Urgraz, Paizo Blog.
- ↑ Bestiary 4, 51. Paizo Inc., 2013 .
- ↑ Demons Revisited, 43. Paizo Inc., 2013 .
- ↑ “Adventuring in Belkzen” in Belkzen, Hold of the Orc Hordes, 34. Paizo Inc., 2015 .
- ↑ “Faiths of Corruption” in Faiths of Corruption, 13. Paizo Inc., 2011 .
- ↑ “Castle Kronquist” in Castles of the Inner Sea, 18. Paizo Inc., 2013 .
- ↑ “Chapter 3: The House without Hope” in Tears at Bitter Manor, 39. Paizo Inc., 2014 .
- ↑ Urgraz is illustrated in the infobox above.