Preview the New Remastered Champion Class From ‘Pathfinder Player Core 2’
Champions are Pathfinder 2E’s answer to Paladins, and these divine warriors get a fairly significant overhaul in the upcoming Player Core 2.
There is just something cool about being a divine warrior of some kind. Whether it’s Paladins in D&D, who frequently tops the list of most frequently chosen classes, both in tabletop and Baldur’s Gate 3, or Pathfinder 2E’s version, the Champion, a much more divinely-focused warrior, maybe it’s the built-in code of honor (or evil honor). Maybe it’s the magical powers that make you feel like your deity’s most special princess. Either way, they get a lot of love in the tabletop sphere.
Today we’re taking a look at some of the major changes to Champions in the upcoming Pathfinder Player Core 2. The new splatbook will round out the Pathfinder Remaster Project. Which mostly means moving away from the OGL content. And that means big changes for these once alignment-focused Champions
Pathfinder Player Core 2 Preview – Champions
With Pathfinder 2E’s move away from alignment, Champions get refocused. Rather than taking up a Cause based on alignments, Champions under the remastered rules have new sets of Causes which they can take up, both good and evil in flavor, if not in the name: Justice, Liberation, Obedience, Desecration, Iniquity, Redemption, and Grandeur. Alongside these, they have more of an emphasis on the deity that they champion.
A Champion can now choose a Sanctification, holy or unholy, which grants you access to different powers and adds a trait to your strikes. But, beyond that, Champions have more going for them.
Here are some of the highlights, courtesy of Paizo:
- You now have a defined champion’s aura for your reactions, aura feats, and other abilities, which lets other rules alter and refer to the range of your divine abilities more easily.
- The divine ally ability has been changed to blessing of the devoted, and the mount has moved to a 1st-level feat. You can instead choose the blessed swiftness option to move faster—whether you’re mounted or not.
- Feats saw a ton of change, like the new Defensive Advance feat and updated structure for Mercy. We focused on broadly useful feats plus maintaining some backward compatibility, but we did run out of room. You’ll see oath feats moved to Lost Omens Divine Mysteries. We’re hoping to find a book in which it would make sense to remaster litanies at some point, but we don’t have one that can hold them yet.
- You choose a focus spell based on your deity’s divine font options. As before the rem/saster, you can choose lay on hands if your deity allows the heal divine font or touch of the void (formerly touch of corruption) if they allow the harm divine font. However, there’s also a new option for a deity with any font, specially made for defense-minded characters. Introducing shields of the spirit!
Be sure to stay tuned for more from the Player Core 2, due out in August 2024!
