The Pious Knights (LL)

__TOC__
A special order of clerics known as "The Pious Knights" wanders through Arthur's realm. These clerics are warrior-priests who have dedicated their lives to reverence and the righteous use of force. Though their deity remains mysterious and distant, they are unswerving in their devotion. The Pious Knights will undertake any mission that contributes to the greater glory of their deity or order, no matter how dangerous or life-threatening.
Though they are an organized order, the Pious Knights have no central seat of control or power. Instead, they gather at a secret circle of standing stones once per year to introduce new initiates and discuss the order's business. The Pious Knight with the most experience points is treated as the group's spiritual leader and advisor.
During the rest of the year, they wander through the land seeking out poor and oppressed people to help. They differ from the Knights of the Round Table in that they usually direct their attention to peasants in distress rather than nobles. Despite this difference in emphasis, the Knights of the Round Table respect the Pious Knights very highly. The leader of the Pious Knights is always granted a seat at the Round Table, and, at various times, several other members of the order have also sat at the table.
To become a member of the Pious Knights, an initiate must become the squire of a Pious Knight of 10th level or more. Such initiates must meet the following requirements: Strength 13, Constitution 9, and Wisdom 15. Their prime requisites are Strength and Wisdom, and a Pious Knight who has scores of 16 or more in each receives a bonus of 10 percent to the experience points he earns. Only humans may become Pious Knights. Pious Knights must always be lawful good in alignment, and automatically lose the benefits of their character class if their alignment changes. In this case, they revert to being simple warriors until they have performed a suitable act of contrition. Characters whose alignments are changed to evil, however, can never again be a Pious Knight.
In combat, Pious Knights may use non-cutting weapons, such as maces, flails, or slings. For tournament purposes, they may use lances and swords, providing the cutting edges and points have been dulled. They may never use weapons of backstabbing or deception, such as daggers, poison, or garrottes.
Intentionally causing the death of a human or demi-human, even in the heat of combat, results in an immediate and irreversible loss of powers for a Pious Knight. Such characters immediately become simple warriors of a level appropriate to their experience points. Note that this may result in a loss of levels.
Pious Knights inadvertently causing the death of a human or demi-human lose a 3d10 x 100 experience points and must undertake an act of penance before they may begin advancing again.
Pious Knights are a cross between cleric and warrior. They use the THAC0, Hit Dice, and Saving Throw tables of warriors, but use the Experience Level, Spell Progression, and Turn Undead tables of clerics. They may employ the standard powers of clerics, save that they have major access only to the all, creation, healing, and protection spheres and have no access at all to other spheres. They receive no granted powers from their deity.
At the first level of experience, Pious Knights are allowed to adventure on their own or with a group of their choosing (as long as this group does not contain any characters of evil alignment that the knight knows about). At the tenth level of experience, they may accept up to six initiates of levels 0-5 as squires and companions. It is the responsibility of the Pious Knight to ensure that these initiates are lawful good. The shield symbol of the Order of-Pious Knights is a representation of the Holy Grail.
Special Note: There is no evidence, in literature or history, that suggests an order resembling the Pious Knights really existed in Britain during this time. The Pious Knights are offered as a new character class for gaming purposes only, and the use of this order in your campaign is strictly optional.