Lord General of Light (Anhuil-Ehlar)

In the endless war between good and evil, the gods have placed their extraplanar armies under the command of powerful outsiders of similar disposition and philosophical outlook. As solars and planetars stand in benevolent leadership of the Hosts of Heaven, pit fiends and balors dominate and bend the vast Legions of Hell or the Abyssal Hordes to their own wills. However, on those rare occasions when the servants of righteousness are marshaled to war against the servants of evil upon the Prime Material plane, the gods of light must call upon a powerful mortal to lead the call to arms–the Lord General of Light in the common tongue (or the Anhuil-Ehlar in ancient celestial and elven, the Dur-Hakan in ancient dwarven, the Kihee Uust in ancient draconic, and even the Vyn Rah'zi in an obscure dark folk dialect).

Chosen from among the ranks of their most battle-tested and faithful followers, the Lord General of Light is given, through divine investiture, the mantle of authority and leadership over all the followers of light upon the mortal realm. The Lord General of Light is called to service only during the most dire of circumstances, when the world and its very survival hangs in the balance.

Lord Generals of Light are always of good alignment, and most commonly lawful good for obvious reasons. They are typically powerful clerics or paladins in the service of one of the greater good deities, though those who serve lesser deities of light, or who possess a pure and holy heart while claiming no direct affiliation to a particular sect have been known to wear the mantle of Lord General of Light. Regardless of the circumstances, the one chosen has a great responsibility as both leader and representative of the holy powers bestowed upon him.

Lord General of Light is an acquired template that can be added to any living, corporeal creature of good alignment with 14 HD (or class levels) or higher. A Lord General of Light retains the base creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted here.

CR: +2

Class: Cleric or paladin. Additional classes may be considered at the GM’s discretion.

HD: 14 or higher.

Alignment: Any good.

Defenses/Qualities: A Lord General of Light gains immunity to disease, immunity to being dazzled and blinded from light effects, DR 5/evil (if HD are 17 or less) or 10/evil (if HD are 18 or more), +4 on his Leadership score (if he has the Leadership feat), and a +4 sacred bonus on all Diplomacy and Sense Motive skill checks. If the lord general already has DR against evil from a class feature, it increases by 5. 

Special Abilities: A lord general gains the following special abilities:

Aura of Divine Benevolence (Su)

A Lord General of Light radiates an aura of divine benevolence in a 10-foot radius. This aura increases the variables and numeric effects of any healing spell or the channel positive energy ability used by an ally (or the lord general) by one step (d6 to d8, d8 to d10, and so on), while within the aura’s radius by half, including bonuses to those dice rolls. Saving throws and opposed rolls are not affected. A creature cannot be the recipient of a spell or ability affected by the lord general’s divine benevolence aura more than once in a 24-hour period.

Channeled Casting (Su)

The Lord General of Light is able to channel allied spells to increase the effective level of his own. For each allied spellcaster that has the same spell prepared (or known with a slot available if they are spontaneous spellcasters) that is adjacent to the lord general, the effective spell level of his spell increases by 1 (up to a maximum of 9th level) as the Heightened Spell metamagic feat. All effects dependent on spell level (such as saving throw DCs and ability to penetrate a lesser globe of invulnerability) are calculated according to the spells new effective level. Despite the effects, the channeled spell expends the same spell slot as the lord general’s original spell. The lord general can use this ability once per day.

Detect Evil (Sp)

At will, the Lord General of Light can use detect evil as a paladin of the same level as its Hit Dice. If the Lord General of Light has detect evil as a class feature, it only takes 1 round for him to determine the number of evil auras and the power and location of each aura.

Hallowed Path (Su)

As a standard action, the Lord General of Light can create the effects of the hallow spell in a 5-foot square. Each round, as a move action, he can step into an adjacent square, immediately subjecting that square to a hallow spell. The Lord General of Light can continue to move from square to square, creating this hallowed path effect for 1 round per HD (or class level). These rounds do not need to be consecutive. The hallow effect lasts for 24 hours.

In addition, any evil creature that enters or is found within the area of the hallowed path is immediately subject to a holy smite spell. This affect is repeated for each round the creature remains within the path's area, or if it chooses to leave and again re-enters the area. 

Alternatively, as a full round action, the Lord General of Light can expend the remaining rounds of this ability to create a temporary hallow effect, as the spell. This effect only lasts for 20 minutes per round expended.  

Smite Evil (Su)

Once per day, as a swift action, the Lord General of Light can smite evil as a paladin of the same level as its Hit Dice (or class levels). The smite persists until target is dead or the Lord General of Light rests. If the lord general has Smite Evil as a class feature, he gains no additional benefits.

Spell-Like Abilities: A Lord General of Light gains the following spell-like abilities: At will–light, see in darkness, tongues; 3/day–commune, daylight; 1/day–greater planar ally, holy aura. Caster level equals the Lord General of Light’s HD (or character level of the base creature, whichever is higher).

Abilities: A Lord General of Light gains a +4 bonus on one ability score of his choice and a +2 bonus on two other ability scores of his choice.