Pious Templar

Sworn to the defense of a temple site, the pious templar is a holy warrior blessed by her deity with combat prowess and great endurance.

#### Requirements

**Base Attack Bonus:** +5

**Skills:** Knowledge (religion) 1 ranks

**Feats:** True Believer , Weapon Focus (with deity's favored weapon)

#### Class Features

**Weapon and Armor Proficiency:** Pious templars gain no weapon or armor proficiencies.

**Mettle (Su):** A pious templar's special blessing allows her to shrug off magical effects that would otherwise harm her. If a pious templar makes a successful Will or Fortitude saving throw that would normally reduce the spell's effect, she suffers no effect from the spell at all. Only those spells with a Saving Throw entry of "Will partial," "Fortitude half," or similar entries can be negated through this ability.

**Spells per Day:** A pious templar has the ability to cast a small number of divine spells. To cast a spell, the pious templar must have a Wisdom score of at least 10 + the spell's level, so a pious templar with a Wisdom of 10 or lower cannot cast these spells. Pious templar bonus spells are based on Wisdom, and saving throws against these spells have a DC of 10 + spell level + the pious templar's Wisdom modifier. When the pious templar gets 0 spells of a given level, such as 0 1st-level spells at 1st level, she gets only bonus spells. (A pious templar without a bonus spell for that level cannot yet cast a spell of that level.) A pious templar has access to any spell on the list and can freely choose which to prepare, just like a cleric. A pious templar prepares and casts spells just as a cleric does (though the pious templar cannot spontaneously cast *cure* or *inflict* spells).

A good pious templar (or a neutral pious templar of a good deity) uses the paladin spell list. An evil pious templar (or a neutral pious templar of an evil deity) uses the blackguard spell list. A pious templar who is neither good nor evil and whose deity is neither good nor evil can chose to use the paladin or the blackguard spell list. Once the player makes this choice, it cannot be reversed.

**Smite (Su):** Once per day, a pious templar of 2nd level or higher may make a single melee attack with a +4 attack bonus and a damage bonus equal to her pious templar level (if she hits). The pious templar must declare the smite before making the attack. Starting at 6th level, a pious templar can smite twice per day and at 10th level, three times per day.

If a pious templar has a smite evil or smite ability (for being a paladin or a cleric with the Destruction domain) already, she can use the ability one extra time per day (two extra times at 7th level). The attack bonus does not increase, but the damage bonus is based on the character's combined level (pious templar level plus cleric or paladin level).

**Damage Reduction (Ex):** Starting at 3rd level, pious templars have the ability to shrug off some amount of injury from each blow or attack. A pious templar gains damage reduction 1/—. At 7th level, this damage reduction rises to 2/—.

**Weapon Specialization:** At 3rd level, a pious templar gains the Weapon Specialization feat with her deity's favored weapon.

**Bonus Feat:** At 4th level and again at 8th level, a pious templar gets a bonus feat. These bonus feats must be drawn from the feats noted as fighter bonus feats in the Player's Handbook and other books. If a pious templar selects a feat that requires her to apply its effects to a specific weapon (such as Improved Critical), she may only apply that feat to her deity's favored weapon.