Crusader

Ability Requirements: Wisdom 9

Strength 12

Charisma 12

Prime Requisites: Wisdom, Strength

Races Allowed: Human, Dwarf, Elf

The crusader is a priest of a deity of war, combat, or conflict who stands at the forefront of the fight for his faith. 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. A crusader with Wisdom and Strength scores of 16 or better gains a 10% bonus to the experience points he earns. In matters of advancement, crusaders use the same column as clerics do on Table 23 : Priest Experience Levels in the PHB.

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. This is a situation that sometimes provokes popular resentment or suspicion. However, no one questions their ability and resolve in times of war.

In the adventuring party, the crusader is a natural leader whose place is in the front lines of any battle. When possible, the crusader should take steps to prepare his comrades for battle through the use of bless, prayer, aid, and similar spells. He can also 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 or battle axes (for elven or dwarven crusaders), and so on. To represent their skill at arms, the THAC0 of a crusader character improves 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 nonweapon 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, a lawful good crusader may gain the same benefits as a paladin 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 necromantic and protection spheres. In addition, lawful crusaders have major access to the sphere of law, and chaotic crusaders have major access to the sphere of chaos.

Crusaders cannot turn undead, but at 3rd level they gain the granted power to cast lighten load (from the Tome of Magic ) 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 (from Tome of Magic ) once per week, which basically allows a small party to force march without accumulating fatigue penalties.

Crusaders gain followers much as clerics do. When the crusader reaches 8th level, 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 the cleric, the crusader does not need to establish a permanent place of worship to attract these followers. Since he is a great battle leader, the soldiers will serve him as a free-roving company if no stronghold is available. At 9th level, a crusader may receive official sanction to establish a religious stronghold or fortified temple.

Crusaders and Player’s Option: Skills & Powers

It is assumed that selecting this class for your Player’s Option character expends all class-derived character points a character may have available. In other words, a crusader cannot be customized from the model presented here. However, if you’re interested in building a specialty priest that resembles the crusader with slightly different powers, you can use the Customized Priest Characters information later in this chapter to do so—it’s generally more complete and allows more options than the material in Skills & Powers does.

In the Skills & Powers character point system, crusaders may learn a weapon of their choice, some fighting styles, or expertise in a weapon as if they were multi-classed warriors. A crusader may specialize in a weapon if the DM allows that option from Skills & Powers , but it’s expensive; he must pay the character point costs as a priest, not a fighter.

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