Archetype - Champion

## Burdened with Glorious Purpose

The Champion represents Characters in fiction who are defined by their pursuit of a singular goal or purpose. They may include valiant Knights fighting for their liege lord, Paladins and Templars spreading their faith, or mighty heroes who are seeking to enact great change in the world.

### Features

The Champion gains power from their force of will and their belief in their cause, enabling them to channel the Supernatural forces of the world to achieve their goals and sooth the wounds of their allies.. However, they are not solely reliant on this power, and are themselves a force to be reckoned with in battle, able to channel this supernatural power into causing devastating blows with their Smite feature.

### Recommended Ability Bonuses

* High Strength or Dexterity
* Good Endurance
* Good Charisma

### Alternate Names

* Historic and High Fantasy Settings: Paladins
* Futuristic and Modern Settings: Champions

## Level 0

In addition to the features your Character gains at Level 1, they gain the following for starting their adventure as a Champion.

### Skill

* You gain either the Athletics or Social Skill.
	+ If you already have one of these Skills, you may choose any Skill of your Choice.

### Weapon and Armor Training

* Trained in all Simple, Advanced and Complex Weapons.
* Trained in Light Armor, Medium Armor, Heavy or Difficult Armor and Shields.

### Saving Throw Skills

* Skilled in Charisma Saving Throws
* Skilled in Focus Saving Throws

## Level 1

### Increased Damage Limit

* Your Damage Limit increases by 6 for each level of this Archetype you have.

### Will

* You gain a resource called Will Points, which represent your ability to use your profound sense of Purpose to create extraordinary effects, such as your Healing Hands feature.
* When you gain this feature you have two Will Points.
* You regain all Will when you finish either a Long or Short Rest.
	+ You may only gain the benefits of a Short Rest twice, after which you must take a Long Rest to gain further benefits from a Short Rest.
* The maximum amount of Will Points you have increases whenever you gain the Additional Will feature from this Archetype, or from another Archetype, or from a Theme which also grants this feature.

### Helping Hands

* You may use your Will to change the world around you to heal your allies.
* You may as a Minor Action expend one or more Will Points to cause one of the following effects on a Character within the reach of your Unarmed Strikes (including potentially yourself):
	+ For each Will Point expended, the Character's Damage taken is reduced by an amount equal to two rolls of your Support Die.
	+ For each Will Point expended, you may end one Disease afflicting them or one of the following conditions: Blinded, Deafened, Paralyzed or Poisoned.

* When you reach higher levels, the Improved Helping Hands feature grants other ways with which you may use your Will to cause other beneficial effects.

### Support Die

* At Level 1 your Support Die is a d4. This die represents your Character's ability to provide help and guidance to those around them.
* At levels 5, 9, 13 and 17 of Champion, the Improved Support Die feature increases the size of your Support Die to a d6, a d8, d10 and a d12 respectively.
	+ If you gain the Improved Support Die feature from another source (such as the Paragon or Guardian Archetypes), increase the Support Die by one size category, up to a maximum die size of d12.

### Spellcasting: Limited Supernatural

You have learned to channel Supernatural Power through your force of will and your desire to see your Purpose fulfilled.

All Spells you learn through this Archetype, or the Themes granted by this Archetype, may be referred to as Champion Spells.

#### Cantrips

Cantrips are a subset of Spells which you may use with the Cast a Spell Action without expending Mana.

* You learn one Cantrip of your choice from the Supernatural Spell List.
* You learn additional Cantrips from this list you gain level in this Archetype, as shown in the Cantrips Known column of the Champion Archetype features Table.
* You may change any number of Cantrips gained through this Archetype for other Cantrips on the Supernatural Spell List when you Level Up.

#### Mana

* Mana is a resource which Characters may expend to Cast levelled spells of between 1st and 5th Level.
* When you gain the Spellcasting feature, you have one Mana point.
	+ When you gain the Additional Mana feature from this Archetype, another Archetype or another Feature, your Mana increases by one. You cannot have more than 10 Mana.
* When you Cast a Spell of between 1st and 5th Level, you must expend an amount of Mana equal to the Spells level. The Spell fails if you are unable to provide sufficient Mana.
* You regain all expended Mana when you complete a Long Rest, or when you use the Recharge Action.
* You are able to use the Recharge Action twice. You regain the ability to use the Recharge Action twice after you complete a Long Rest.

#### Upcasting

* Some Spells grant additional benefits when additional Mana is spent during their Casting. This is referred to as Upcasting.
* The Maximum Mana you can spend on a Spell is equal to the Highest Spell Level you may learn (see Max Spell Level in the Archetype features Table)

#### Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher

* You may know up to two Spells at a time, and you may choose these Spells from the Supernatural Spell list.
* The number of Spells you may know at any time increases as you gain levels in this Archetype.
* Whenever you gain the Additional Spell Known feature from this Archetype or another Archetype or feature, you may learn an additional Spell, and you may choose this Spell from the Supernatural Spell List.
	+ For New Players, we recommend that whenever you may learn an additional Spell, you learn a Spell of the highest Spell Level available to you (see Additional Spellcasting Rules for Champions).

#### Spellcasting Ability: Charisma

* Charisma is your Spellcasting ability for your Champion Spells. The effects of these spells are caused by your force of will being strong enough to cause magical effects to occur.
* You use your Charisma whenever a spell refers to your Spellcasting Ability.
* In addition, you use your Charisma Bonus when setting the saving throw DC for a Champion Spell you Cast and when making an Attack roll for such a Spell.
	+ Spell Save DC = 8 + Skill Bonus + Charisma Bonus
	+ Spell Attack Bonus = Skill Bonus + Charisma Bonus

#### Ritual Casting

* You can Cast any Spell you have learned as a Ritual if that Spell has the ritual tag.
* The Duration to Cast a Ritual is the Spell's usual casting time plus 10 minutes.
* When you Cast a Spell as a Ritual you do not expend Mana.
	+ Casting a Spell as a Ritual requires you maintain Concentration on the Spell throughout performing the Ritual.

#### Additional Spellcasting Rules for Champions

##### Maximum Spell Level

* The maximum level of a Supernatural Spell you may learn through this Archetype is equal to quarter of your Champion level rounded up, up to a maximum of 5th level.

##### Changing Spells Known

* Whenever you level up, you may change any number of Spells you know for other Spells you may learn from the Supernatural Spell List.
* These Supernatural Spells may be of any Spell Level available to you through this Archetype, but we recommend having a balanced number of Spells from each Level.

##### Daily Spell Preparation

* In addition to changing their learned Spells when they Level Up, when a Champion completes a Long Rest they may change one Supernatural Spell they know for another they could learn at their current Level.

##### Spellcasting Focus: Paragon Symbol

* You may use a Spellcasting Focus whenever a costless material component is required to perform a Champion Spell.
* Champions may use any object bearing their Symbol as their Spellcasting focus, which is a visual representation of their allegiances or beliefs.
* You may wear a Symbol as a necklace, or have inscribed upon your clothes or an item you hold (for example on Armor, the back of a coat, on a weapon or upon a Shield you are wearing).
	+ If ever you are deprived of an item bearing your Champion Symbol, you may spend 10 minutes to improvise a Champion's Symbol (e.g. scratching it into clothing, crafting it from scrap materials etc).
* There is no limit to how many objects bearing your Champion Symbol you may have.

##### Honest Spellcasting

* Whenever you Cast a Champion Spell, you MUST display your Champion Symbol openly.
* It is a sign of your Purpose, and only in openly representing that Purpose are you able to channel Supernatural Power.
* Efforts to hide the Symbol when performing a Champion Spell either automatically fail, or the Spell itself fails (your choice).
	+ Only when a Character cannot see you due to Obscurement (such as that caused by darkness, fog, Invisibility or a Character being Blinded) are they unable to see the Symbol. i.e. If they can see you, they can see the Symbol.
* No matter the size of the Symbol, the Symbol and what it represents is clear to all Character's who can see you, provided they are within at least 60ft of you.
	+ The Symbol does not emit light however.

## Level 2

### Minor Improvement

* You may Train one Ability or choose one Basic Feat from the Basic Feats Section.
	+ You may not increase an Ability Bonus above 3 with this feature.
	+ If choosing a Basic Feat, we recommend choosing a Basic Martial Feat such as Weapon Techniques.

### Smite

* You gain the ability to channel your Magic directly into a Melee Weapon Attack you make.
* When you gain this feature choose either the Radiant, Psychic or Necrotic Damage type.
* When you Hit a Target with a Melee Weapon Attack or Unarmed Strike, you may expend one Mana to deal additional Damage of the chosen Type to the Target equal to two rolls of your Support Die.
	+ You may increase the Damage dealt by expending additional Mana. For each additional Mana you spend you may add an additional Roll of your Support Die to the Damage caused by this feature.
		- If the chosen Damage type was Radiant and the Target was either a Fiend or Undead, roll one additional Support Die and add it to the Damage caused by this feature.
		- If the chosen Damage type was Psychic and the Target was either a Fey or Aberration, roll one additional Support Die and add it to the Damage caused by this feature.
		- If chosen Damage type was Necrotic and the Target was either a Celestial or Elemental Creature Type, roll one additional Support Die and add it to the Damage caused by this feature.
	+ If the Attack was a Critical Hit, double the total number of Support Dice rolled.

### Additional Spell Known

* The number of Spells you may know at a time increases by one.

## Level 3

### Theme

* At Level 3 you may choose a Theme compatible with this Archetype, such as the Life Theme.
* At Levels 6, 10 and 14 the Theme Improvement feature unlocks additional benefits from this Theme.

### Additional Will, Mana and Spell Known

* Your Will Point Maximum increases by one.
* Your Mana Point Maximum increases by one.
* The number of Spells you may know at a time increases by one.

## Level 4

### Major Improvement

* You may either: Increase an Ability Bonus by 1; Train Two Abilities; Train One Ability and Gain a Basic Feat; or Choose one Advanced Feat
	+ You cannot increase an Ability Bonus to higher than +5 at this level.

### Additional Spell Known

* The number of Spells you may know at a time increases by one.

## Level 5

### Improved Support Die

* Your Support Die increases from a d4 to a d6.

### Improved Attack

* When you take the Attack Action, you may make up to two separate attacks during your Turn.

### Additional Will, Mana and Spell Known

* Your Will Point Maximum increases by one.
* Your Total Mana increases by one.
* The number of Spells you may know at a time increases by one.

### Boon

* Your dedication to your Purpose has led to you gaining a Boon. Choose one of the following Boons: Loyal Steed, Blessed Weapon or Symbol of Protection.
* You may change your chosen Boon whenever you Level Up, losing the benefits of the previously chosen Boon.

#### **Loyal Steed**

* You gain the Mounted Training Feat
	+ If you already have this Feat, you instead gain the benefits of the Minor Improvement feature.
* Additionally you learn the 2nd Level Supernatural Spell Find Steed, and you may Cast it as an Action without expending Mana by expending one Will Point.
	+ Learning this Spell does not count against your total number of known Spells.
	+ Whenever you Cast the Find Steed Spell, the Steed bears a Mark representative of your Champion's Symbol.

#### **Blessed Weapon**

* You gain the Weapon Bond Feat.
	+ If you already have this Feat, you instead gain the benefits of the Minor Improvement feature.
* Your Bonded Weapon gains a Mark representative of your Champion's Symbol. This Symbol grants the Bonded Weapon a number of additional benefits:
	+ If it is a Melee Weapon, it gains the Thrown Property, with a Short Range of 20ft and a long range of 60ft.
	+ You may use the Smite Feature using Ranged Weapon Attacks made using a Bonded Weapon.
	+ You may expend Will instead of Mana when using the Smite feature with a Bonded Weapon.
		- For each Mana point you would have expended for this feature, expend a Will Point. You may not expend both Mana and Will as part of the same use of this Feature.

#### Symbol of Protection

* An item of clothing or Set of Armor of your choice gains a Mark representing your Champion's Symbol.
	+ You may change the chosen item of clothing or set of armor whenever you finish a Long Rest.

* While you are wearing this item of clothing, you gain the following benefits:
	+ When you take Damage, you may reduce the Damage taken by expending one or more Will Points (no Action Required). For each Will Point expended the Damage is reduced by two rolls of your Support Die.
	+ As an Action, you may expend one Will Point to open your senses to the presence of extraplanar forces. For the next 10 minutes, if a Character within 60ft of you which you can see is a Fiend, Celestial, Undead, Fey, Elemental or Aberration Creature Type, the Mark on your clothing glows a color representative of those Creatures (e.g. Red for Fiends, White for Celestials, Blue for Undead, Green for Fey, Orange for Elemental and Purple for Aberrations.).
		- Additionally, if an Object within this range is Consecrated, Desecrated or otherwise Blessed or Cursed, you immediately detect this.

## Level 6

### Theme Improvement

* You unlock the 6th Level Features of a Theme you gained from this Archetype.

### Additional Spell Known

* The number of Spells you may know at a time increases by one.

## Level 7

### Aura of Protection

* An Aura of Protection extends up to 10ft away from you. Whenever you or another Character you can see within the Aura fails a Saving Throw, you may use your Reaction to add a bonus to the Result of their Saving Throw equal to one roll of your Support Die, potentially turning the Failure into a Success.

### Additional Will, Mana and Spell Known

* Your Will Point Maximum increases by one.
* Your Mana Point Maximum increases by one.
* The number of Spells you may know at a time increases by one.

## Level 8

### Major Improvement

* You may either: Increase an Ability Bonus by 1; Train Two Abilities; Train One Ability and Gain a Basic Feat; or Choose one Advanced Feat
	+ You cannot increase an Ability Bonus to higher than +5 at this level.

### Additional Cantrip and Spell Known

* You learn one additional Cantrip from the Supernatural Spell List.
* The number of Spells you may know at a time increases by one.

## Level 9

### Improved Support Die

* Your Support Die increases from a d6 to a d8.

### Improved Helping Hands

* You learn the Spell Revivify.
	+ Learning this Spell does not count against your total number of known Spells.
* You may Cast this Spell without requiring material components.
* Additionally when you Cast this Spell, you may expend three Will Points to do so without expending Mana.

### Additional Will, Mana and Spell Known

* Your Will Point Maximum increases by one.
* Your Mana Point Maximum increases by one.
* The number of Spells you may know at a time increases by one.

## Level 10

### Theme Improvement

* You unlock the 10th Level Features of a Theme you gained from this Archetype.

### Additional Spell Known

* The number of Spells you may know at a time increases by one.

## Level 11

### Blessed Strikes

* Whenever you hit a Target with a Melee Weapon Attack, they take additional Radiant Damage equal to one roll of your Support Die.

### Improved Aura of Protection

* While you are not Incapacitated, yourself and Characters of your choice within your Aura of Protection are immune to the Frightened Condition.

### Additional Will, Mana and Spell Known

* Your Will Point Maximum increases by one.
* Your Mana Point Maximum increases by one.
* The number of Spells you may know at a time increases by one.

## Level 12

### Major Improvement

* You may either: Increase an Ability Bonus by 1; Train Two Abilities; Train One Ability and Gain a Basic Feat; or Choose one Advanced Feat
	+ You cannot increase an Ability Bonus to higher than +5 at this level.

### Additional Spell Known

* The number of Spells you may know at a time increases by one.

## Level 13

### Improved Support Die

* Your Support Die increases from a d8 to a d10.

### Additional Will, Mana and Spell Known

* Your Will Point Maximum increases by one.
* Your Mana Point Maximum increases by one.
* The number of Spells you may know at a time increases by one.

### Improved Helping Hands

* As an Action, you can expend one or Will Points to end Spells affecting either yourself or a willing Character within 5ft of you.
	+ For each Will Point you expend, you may end one Spell affecting the Target.
	+ If the Character Targeted by this feature is unwilling, make an Unarmed Strike against them as part of this Action. If the Attack Hits, the Spells chosen are ended. If the Attack Misses, no Spells are ended and you do not expend any Will.

### Improved Boon

* At Level 13 your Boon grants the following benefits:

#### **Loyal Steed**

* You learn the 4th Level Supernatural Spell Find Winged Steed, and you may Cast it as an Action without expending Mana by expending four Will Points.
	+ Learning this Spell does not count against your total number of known Champion Spells.
	+ Whenever you Cast the Find Winged Steed Spell, the Steed bears a Mark representative of your Champion's Symbol.

#### **Blessed Weapon**

* Your Marked Weapon may deal the additional damage granted by the Blessed Strikes Feature when it is used to make a Ranged Weapon Attack.

#### **Symbol of Protection**

* As a Minor Action, you may cause your Symbol of Protection to emit a Bright Light up to a distance of your choice with a limit of 30ft. Dim Light is also created at distance up to double that created by the Bright Light.
	+ You may end this Effect as a Minor Action on a subsequent Turn.
* The Light created by your Symbol of Protection is considered Daylight for the purposes of triggering certain effects.
* Characters and Objects within the Bright Light created by the Symbol cannot benefit from the effects of any kind of Invisibility.

### Additional Spell Known

* The number of Spells you may know at a time increases by one.

## Level 14

### Theme Improvement

* You unlock the 14th Level Features of a Theme you gained from this Archetype.

### Additional Spell Known

* The number of Spells you may know at a time increases by one.

## Level 15

### Improved Aura of Protection

* At level 15, the range of your Aura of Protection increases to 30ft.

### Additional Will, Mana and Spell Known

* Your Will Point Maximum increases by one.
* Your Mana Point Maximum increases by one.
* The number of Spells you may know at a time increases by one.

## Level 16

### Legendary Abilities

* From Level 16 onwards, Major Improvements you gain from this Archetype may increase Ability Bonuses beyond 5.

### Major Improvement

* You may either: Increase an Ability Bonus by 1; Train Two Abilities; Train One Ability and Gain a Basic Feat; or Choose one Advanced Feat

### Additional Cantrip and Spell Known

* You learn one additional Cantrip from the Supernatural Spell List.
* The number of Spells you may know at a time increases by one.

## Level 17

### Improved Support Die

* Your Support Die increases from a d10 to a d12.

#### Improved Helping Hands

* You learn the Spell Greater Restoration.
	+ Learning this Spell does not count against your total number of known Champion Spells.
* You may Cast this Spell without requiring material components.
* Additionally when you Cast this Spell, you may expend five Will Points to do so without expending Mana.

### Improved Boon

* At Level 17 your Boon grants the following benefits:

#### **Loyal Steed**

* When a Marked Steed within your Aura of Protection takes Damage, you may reduce the Damage taken by expending one or more Will Points (no Action Required). For each Will Point expended the Damage is reduced by two rolls of your Support Die.
* Additionally, while you are Mounted Upon your Steed they may benefit from the Champion's Smite and Improved Smite features, expending your Mana and using your Support Die to determine the Additional Damage they may cause using their Attacks.

#### **Blessed Weapon**

* Your Weapon Attacks with a Bonded Weapon are considered Critical Hits on a d20 Result of 19 or 20.

#### **Symbol of Protection**

* You may increase the radius of Bright Light created by your Symbol of Protection upto a distance of 60ft, and Dim Light up to a distance double that created by the Bright Light.
* Whenever a Character you can see within your Aura of Protection feature takes Damage, you may reduce the Damage taken by expending one or more Will Points (no Action Required). For each Will Point expended the Damage is reduced by two rolls of your Support Die.

### Additional Will, Mana and Spell Known

* Your Will Point Maximum increases by one.
* Your Mana Point Maximum increases by one.
* The number of Spells you may know at a time increases by one.

## Level 18

### Improved Aura of Protection

* At level 18, you no longer need to use your Reaction to grant Characters within your Aura a Bonus to their Saving Throws using the Aura of Protection feature.

### Additional Spell Known

* The number of Spells you may know at a time increases by one.

## Level 19

### Major Improvement

* You may either: Increase an Ability Bonus by 1; Train Two Abilities; Train One Ability and Gain a Basic Feat; or Choose one Advanced Feat

### Additional Will, Mana and Spell Known

* Your Will Point Maximum increases by one.
* Your Mana Point Maximum increases by one.
* The number of Spells you may know at a time increases by one.

## Level 20

### Power over Life and Death

* At 20th Level you gain the power over both Life and Death.

#### Life

* As an Action, you can expend eight Will Points to Cast the Spell Resurrection without expending a Mana or requiring a material component.

#### Death

* As an Action, you can expend eight Will Points to Cast the Spell Power Word: Kill without expending Mana.

### Additional Spell Known

* The number of Spells you may know at a time increases by one.

### Epic Improvement

* You may either: Increase an Ability Bonus by 1; Train Two Abilities; Train One Ability and Gain a Basic Feat; or Choose one Epic Feat

## **Navigation**

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## Copyright Notice

This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC and available at https://dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document. The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

## Credit this Work

To Credit material presented here which is unique from that contained in the System Reference Document 5.1 (see Copyright Notice), copy the following to your Credits Section:

This work includes material taken from "7e” by Peter Rees and materials taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC. Both "7e" and the "SRD5.1" are Licensed under the Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 International License, available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode