Shield Maiden (Apath)
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Not every shield maiden uses a shield, rather they are the shield of the faithful. A shield maiden operates independently of regular church authorities and sometimes disguises herself as a potential victim in order to lure out evil forces. She reveals herself to protect the faithful from danger, or if this fails, to avenge them. The shield maiden is a martial artist of the Way of Force.
Class Abilities
This archetype has all normal class abilities, except as noted.
Class Skills
Add Disguise (Cha) and Intimidate (Cha). Remove Knowledge (nobility).
Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Shield maidens are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, and with shields (except tower shields). They are not proficient in any armor.
Aura of Faith (Su)
A character with this ability can project a powerful protective aura that functions as armor and becomes an expert at using bracers of armor. This aura is force armor, and protects against incorporeal touch attacks. It can be activated at will as a swift action, and the protection stays up until deactivated or as long as the user is conscious. At class level 4, this armor can be used alongside bracers of armor, with stacking benefits. It does not otherwise stack with armor, either normal or force. It can be affected by armor-enhancing effects like magic vestment, but such enhancements do not stack with braces or armor. This counts as heavy armor to abilities that require or work with armor and suffers a 25% chance of arcane spell failure.It provides an armor bonus of +7. The armor created by shield maidens is clearly visible as a nimbus of light. You can choose for this aura to hide your appearance, granting you a +10 bonus on Disguise checks to conceal your identity.
Shield Aura (Su)
Any shield the shield maiden uses gains the ghost touch property. This replaces the detect evil ability normally gained at level 1.
Sacred Bond (Sp)
At 5th level, if the shield maiden chooses to bond with her weapon using the divine bond ability, she can also use this ability to bond with a shield she wears. This works in the same way as a bond with a weapon except that it is based of the shield's defensive enchantment, and when the shield maiden gains multiple uses of divine bond, she can improve both her weapon and shield simultaneously by using the ability twice. She can give her shield the champion, fortification (light, medium, or heavy), invulnerability, or spell resistance (any type) properties. This is in addition to the ghost touch property conferred by the shield aura class ability, above.
Winged Protector (Sp)
At 8th level, you can use fly as a spell-like ability with a caster level equal to your shield maiden level. The target of this ability gains majestic wings.
Normally, you can only affect yourself with this ability, but if you have a mount from your divine bond ability, you can use its share spells ability to give this ability to your mount instead of yourself. Two uses can give the ability to both you and your mount.
You can use this once per day at level 8, and gain an additional daily use of this ability every 2 levels after level 8. This replaces the aura of resolve ability normally gained at level 8.
At 11th level, you can use overland flight instead of fly if desired. This replaces the aura of justice ability normally gained at level 11.
At 17th level, you can use winged protector at will. This replaces the aura of righteousness ability normally gained at level 17.
Table: Shield Maiden
| Class Level |
Base Attack Bonus |
Fort Save |
Ref Save |
Will Save |
Special | Spells per Day | |||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||||||
| 2nd | +2 | +3 | +0 | +3 | Divine grace, lay on hands | — | — | — | — |
| 3rd | +3 | +3 | +1 | +3 | Aura of courage, divine health, mercy | — | — | — | — |
| 4th | +4 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Channel positive energy, smite evil 2/day | 0 | — | — | — |
| 5th | +5 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Sacred bond | 1 | — | — | — |
| 6th | +6/+1 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Mercy | 1 | — | — | — |
| 7th | +7/+2 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Smite evil 3/day | 1 | 0 | — | — |
| 8th | +8/+3 | +6 | +2 | +6 | Winged protector (fly) | 1 | 1 | — | — |
| 9th | +9/+4 | +6 | +3 | +6 | Mercy | 2 | 1 | — | — |
| 10th | +10/+5 | +7 | +3 | +7 | Smite evil 4/day | 2 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 11th | +11/+6/+1 | +7 | +3 | +7 | Winged protector (overland flight) | 2 | 1 | 1 | — |
| 12th | +12/+7/+2 | +8 | +4 | +8 | Mercy | 2 | 2 | 1 | — |
| 13th | +13/+8/+3 | +8 | +4 | +8 | Smite evil 5/day | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 14th | +14/+9/+4 | +9 | +4 | +9 | Aura of faith | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 15th | +15/+10/+5 | +9 | +5 | +9 | Mercy | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 16th | +16/+11/+6/+1 | +10 | +5 | +10 | Smite evil 6/day | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 17th | +17/+12/+7/+2 | +10 | +5 | +10 | Winged protector (at will) | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 18th | +18/+13/+8/+3 | +11 | +6 | +11 | Mercy | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| 19th | +19/+14/+9/+4 | +11 | +6 | +11 | Smite evil 7/day | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 20th | +20/+15/+10/+5 | +12 | +6 | +12 | Holy champion | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
Alternate Shield Maidens
Divine liberators, tyrants, and antipaladins can also be shield maidens. Abilities should be renamed as appropriately, but continue to function normally. Their aura of faith and winged protector powers manifest in a way suited to their alignment, the wings of the winged protector ability appearing as bat wings for tyrants and reptile wings for antipaladins. All variants change class skills and armor proficiencies.
- Divine liberators give up their aura of freedom ability.
- Tyrants give up their aura of tyranny and unholy champion abilties.
- Antipaladins give up their detect good, aura of cowardice, aura of despair, aura of vengeance, aura of depravity, and unholy champion abilities. Fiendish boon is modified as per divine bond, and the antipaladin can share her winged protector ability with a fiendish servant.
Summary of Changed Class Abilities
These abilities of the original class are lost or modified in this archetype:
- Class Skills
- Weapon and Armor Proficiency
- Detect Evil
- Sacred Bond
- Aura of Resolve
- Aura of Justice
- Aura of Righteousness