Aura of Resolve

[Minosis]

The Paladin's Aura of Resolve makes the paladin immune to charm spells and spell-like abilities. The are exactly 5 of these. Charm person, Charm monster, mass charm person, mass charm monster and symbol of persuation. Is this really all an 8th level power does? Is there some errata on this? if so where, if not Lame , Lame, Lame, Lame(Syndrome)

Thanks

 

[Jubilee]

Being charmed can be pretty game-breaking, and can also cause a paladin to lose his or her powers.. so I think this is actually a pretty important ability.. probably comes in handy when fighting succubi and other evil critters that use charm to wreak havok on a party.

 

[jasin]

I disagree that outright immunity to an attack that targets what is likely your weakest save and results in a fate worse than death is lame, lame, lame, lame.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

I disagree that outright immunity to an attack that targets what is likely your weakest save and results in a fate worse than death is lame, lame, lame, lame.

1. Reflex is almost certainly a Paladin's weakest save, not Will, which in PF gets the good save progression.

2. Charm is not the same as compulsion/dominate, it's more like "Diplomacy platinum edition," so calling it a fate worse than death is just hyperbole.

 

[pawsplay]

It is useful in that there are a number of monsters that spam charm effects. Also, it's one of the paladin's few true strengths outside of combat.

 

[James Jacobs]

The Paladin's Aura of Resolve makes the paladin immune to charm spells and spell-like abilities. The are exactly 5 of these. Charm person, Charm monster, mass charm person, mass charm monster and symbol of persuation. Is this really all an 8th level power does? Is there some errata on this? if so where, if not Lame , Lame, Lame, Lame(Syndrome)

Thanks

To echo some earlier sentiments... there's not a lot of charm effects in the game, but they happen to be spells that show up a LOT. Not only as prepared spells, but as monster spell-like abilities. Hardly lame at all, in my opinion, since the chances of encountering a charm effect in an adventure are pretty high, even though there are only a few spells.

And furthermore, the paladin's Aura of Resolve also works against any charm spells that have yet to be written. Every time a new book comes out that includes a spell of the charm subschool... pow! There's another spell that the paladin is immune to.

 

[Scott DeWar]

Succubi can charm, yes. But so do vampires and harpies, both of which can lead to death, or them fighting the rest of the party (which I would rather not fight a paladin, thank you).

Also in the case of a vampire, it could drain you of con until death and then you spawn as a vampire. Just great. Even worse then fighting a charmed paly.

 

[Minosis]

Actually Vampires are dominate so that is a compulsion not a charm and I have been playing this paladin since 1st level and have encountered exactly zero charm spells and plenty of compulsions. Thanks Stream for clarifying

 

[ruemere]

Heheh. Last session there was this nasty piece of somewhat female persuasion (think customized version of tempter creature with native outsider type). Since it (as I said, it was only feminine to certain degree), most characters were quickly overwhelmed by its charm - paladin's remarks were very handy in resolving otherwise volatile situation.

Aura of Resolve is valuable, indeed.

Regards,
Ruemere

 

[Ilja]

1. Reflex is almost certainly a Paladin's weakest save, not Will, which in PF gets the good save progression.

Not necessarily, though it may be. I think they are close calls. While Will is the good save, Wisdom is now a dump stat of the paladin, being charisma-based casters. On the other hand, both dual-wield and even more archer paladins has gotten a real boost with the improved smite and so may very well have a dexterity 8 or more points above their wisdom at level 8.
At 8th level, an archer might very well have -1 Wis and +5 or +6 Dex based on stat buy. A TWF might have -1 Wis and +3 Dex (15 for TWF and one extra for the even number).

So I'd say for many builds it might be a close tie or reflex might come out the stronger, especially at 8th level.

2. Charm is not the same as compulsion/dominate, it's more like "Diplomacy platinum edition," so calling it a fate worse than death is just hyperbole.

If you're alone, it might very well be a fate worse than death. As long as you keep to the party though it's only a debuff amongst others.

Personally, I don't think it's a very useful ability, but it's quite nice anyway. I think it's comparable the +2 against fear that fighters have at this level.

EDIT: Generally, I don't like immunities though. If any of my players wanted to play a paladin, I would swap the ability for "roll twice take the highest" against all charm and compulsion effects.