Campaign Design - Spells: Hand of Justice

Hand of Justice (from Relics & Rituals)
Transmutation

Level: Paladin 4
Components: V, S, DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal

Target, Effect, or Area: You

Duration: 1 round per caster level

Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

The hand of justice is Tiwas' divine gift to paladins, and paladins devoted to him invoke its powers quite often. When you invoke the hand of justice, you must choose which of two powers you will use, and you cannot use both.

• The first power, the left hand of justice, provides you with an immediate counterattack against any opponent who strikes you in melee. While the left hand of justice is invoked, you essentially get a single extra attack of opportunity against any foe who damages you with a melee attack, so long as you are still capable of attacking after suffering the opponent's blow or blows.


• The second power, the right hand of justice, allows you to simply refuse to attack during any round of combat and only defend against an opponent's blows. For every round you forego the opportunity to attack, beginning with the round you cast right hand of justice, you increase your threat range to deliver a critical hit by a cumulative bonus of +4 for when you eventually choose to attack. This bonus only increases during the round the spell is cast and thereafter, during rounds in which you are within an opponent's melee threat range.
  
  
  
  The maximum bonus that can be "stored up" is equal to your paladin caster level and the bonus only applies to your next attack roll. You may, of course, begin storing up retributive energy again as long as the right hand of justice lasts. When the spell expires, any stored bonus dissipates.
  
  
  
  The extra threat range afforded by the right hand of justice does not count toward the special critical hit effects of vorpal weapons - such powers will only be invoked if you roll within the normal critical threat range.

Armor of Light

When you cast all four of the spells of the divine brother paladins and invoke the divine power of the Holy Mother Eiur, you create magical armor for yourself called the armor of light. The five required spells are gaze of truth, hand of justice, heart of valor, limbs of endurance, and soul of mercy. In order to achieve this armor, you must cast all five spells in succession upon your person, taking no more than one round in between spells. Once invoked, the armor of light lasts as long as the heart of valor spell cast to create the armor remains in effect. When you finish casting all five spells, other creatures seeing you will see divine mists begin to swirl around your body, which then seem to meld into your body in the form of mystical, slightly luminescent armor.

Once you have "put on" the armor of light, you gain many powers in addition to the benefits provided by the individual component spells. First, the armor magnifies the five virtues within you, and this, in turn increases several of your abilities by two points: Mercy increases Wisdom, Endurance increases Constitution, Valor increases Strength, Truth enhances Intelligence, and Justice enhances Dexterity. Second, you gain a sacred bonus of +3 to Armor Class. Third, the armor of light gives you a sacred bonus to saving throws against spells cast by creatures that are either evil or chaotic. Finally, the armor of light casts light in a 60 foot radius around you. This light will supersede any magical darkness or shadow-creating spells of 3^rd level or lower whose area of effect overlaps the light effect of the armor.

The armor of light is an abjuration effect, and may be dispelled as if it were a separate 4^th-level spell you had cast upon yourself.

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