This product line went out of print a while ago, but the fine folks at Alea Publishing Group have been kind enough to reintroduce them. (Thanks for that, by the way!)

Anyway, the character theme (formerly subclass) is a fascinating extra piece of character development based off of multiclassing XP penalties. In this case, it gives some paladin-like abilities to a faithful character to use to represent their religion in battle. It's a neat idea, and it's executed well. In fact, as Alea finished re-releasing the line, I'm planning to base a PC group around the use of subclasses.

Character options come in many different forms. There are the traditional skills, feat, prestige classes, and core classes that are seen in many different products. There are the lesser known and more controversial forms like the prestige race options from Oathbound and the guild options presented in Guildcraft and the Path of series of books. These options have a cost of pure experience do not involve spending of resources that the class system grants characters. Crusader shows another option that they call a subclass.

Crusader is a new PDF by Alea Publishing Group. They are one of the few companies that really has well defined niche and for them that is medieval like crusades. They have different books as well as paper figures all built around knight orders and chivalry. The PDF is six pages long so is small even for PDF standards. Despite the small size, the book has book marks. It has eighteen things book marked; I never see a ration of book marks to pages that is like three to one. That?s impressive and shows a well book marked item.

Crusader presents a sub class. A Sub class is something that is added onto an existing class. So, the class gets a little more powerful but does get a minus twenty percent experience penalty. If one happens to take a favored sub class the penalty is only minus 10 percent. The crusader which is the only subclass presented here is a favored subclass of the humans. In exchange the class gets a few bonuses over many levels. By twentieth level one with this subclass gets plus one base attack bonus, plus to the saves, some hit points extra skill points and class skills, as well as a few abilities. Despite getting all of that it does seem like it might not be enough for lagging a level or two or even more behind the other characters.

I like the idea of the subclass. It is a nice option that can be combined with ease to any regular class. Some classes line up better with the Crusader since it is a more melee and fighting oriented class. It is also religious in nature gaining some abilities that only work on creatures that are not of their religion. It is nice way to make a character a little more focused and defined as the idea of a crusader, someone who basically kills the enemies of his own religion. It defiantly has the potential of really having a campaign or at the least a series of adventures built around the idea.

I will be interested in seeing other subclasses. If I were to use it I would prefer to have similar options that can be offered to all characters instead of just this one that would only appeal to a limited number of player characters. As a DM though, it would make a great addition to use on many NPCs of the same religion or even fighting against each other. It is a nicely written and well organized PDF that I do recommend for anyone that has use of religious zealots in their game.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

RPGNow.com Crusader Subclass APG0014

This 4 (6) page PDF details the Crusader Subclass. The subclass is, as its name implies, a character class that doesn?t provide the abilities of a full class. Rather, they provide a specific set of abilities that in themselves don?t qualify as a full class, and aren?t specific enough to count as a Prestige Class. Think of them as specific character shticks a character can develop.

You obtain a Subclass by leveling; however, those levels don?t add to the character?s level or add a Hit Die. Instead, they are paid for via an experience penalty similar to Multi-classing. Subclass levels appear to be counted as 1/4th of a normal character class level. A character?s Subclass level can never exceed his normal class levels. Because the experience point penalties for sub-classing and Multi-Classing stack, for a whopping 40%, it is not recommended a character both take on a sub-class and multi-class. Additionally, a character can only choose one sub-class; there is no ?multi sub-classing?.

The Crusader subclass is defined by his focus on fighting against infidels in foreign lands, the main advantage of the sub-class is the Religious Fury feat, first gained at 4th level. This provides the character with a bonus equal to his charisma modifier to attack and damage rolls against enemies who do not follow his religion or deity. It also allows him to make a full move and still attack; he is considered flat-footed while he does so however. He gains an additional use of this ability at the 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th levels of the subclass. He also gains the Weapon Focus feat with his deities preferred weapon as part of his Servant of War feat, gained at first level. At 2nd level he gains the Divine Grace feat, providing him a bonus to all of his saving throws equal to his charisma modifier. Additionally, he gains a +1 to his BAB at level 4, as well as moderate bonuses to his Saving Throws starting at level 6.

The PDF also includes two new spells. First is ?Healing the Faithful? which heals 10 points of damage to characters of the same faith as the Crusader. Second is Crusader?s Feast, which works like Heroes Feast for 1 humanoid of the same faith/level as the Crusader. A new type of magic weapon special ability, called Crusader, is included. A weapon with the Crusader special ability automatically does critical hits against opponents not of the wielder?s faith. Keen Weapons and Vorpal weapons can not have this ability as well however. Finally, there is a text-box with a brief description of Crusaders and the Crusades in history, and a brief description of Crusaders in the Hill Lands setting.

The PDF is nicely laid out in a two-column format with an ornate decorative border and a wax-seal like decoration for the page number. There is one piece of artwork, a picture of a Crusader character in the rain, it looks pretty good.

Overall the Crusader sub-class is solid and distinctive sub-class option, and also serves as a good campaign focus for character?s who take that route, or an interesting back-story for a character that went on a Crusade. The abilities provided are not unbalancing, and are thematically charged. Thus I recommend this class to player?s wanting to add some religious conflict themes to their campaign, and character?s who gain abilities from their militant religious fervor. <br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Religious Fury feat<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Not appropriate to all campaigns due to issues involved in character type.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Not what I wanted. I deleted it. I was not an idea that I was cuold see useing. I liked there product on knights though.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Disappointed<br>