Shield Maiden (Apath)

Unofficial rules compendium

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 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)

Shield maidens can project a powerful protective aura and are experts at using bracers of armor. The armor created by shield maidens is clearly visible as a nimbus of light. It does not stack with regular armor. Aura of faith can be activated at will as a swift action, and the protection stays up until deactivated or as long as the shield maiden is conscious. It provides an armor bonus of +6 per level. At class level 4, this armor be used alongside bracers of armor, with stacking benefits. It does not otherwise stack with armor, either normal or force. This ability counts as heavy armor to abilities that require you to wear armor.

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.

Weapon Cache (Su)

At 3rd level, the shield maiden gains access to a personal extra-dimensional space. This space can hold weapons and personal gear with a total weight of 10 lbs. per level of the shield maiden. and weight carried in the weapon cache does not count against the shield maiden's encumbrance. Drawing an item from the weapon cache is a free action, and it can be done outside the shield maiden's turn as an immediate action. It is possible for others to reach into this extra-dimensional space to steal what is in there, this is about as hard as stealing something out of a backpack.

This ability replaces the aura of courage ability normally gained at level 3.

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. 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.

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.
• Antipaladins give up their detect good, aura of cowardice, aura of despair, aura of vengeance, and aura of depravity abilities. Fiendish boon is modified as per divine bond, and the antipaladin can share her winged protector ability with a fiendish servant she is riding.

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
• Aura of Courage
• Sacred Bond
• Aura of Resolve
• Aura of Justice
• Aura of Righteousness