The Holy

You rule over a human nation which has dedicated itself to service of goodness and light, likely a deity who personifies such things. Among your followers you count fearless paladins who can smite the forces of evil along with powerful healers who can cure diseases or bring someone back from the brink of death.

Among the most powerful warriors in your nation are paladins. These are brave knights who have sworn fealty not only to their earthly leader but also to their god. They have peak human strength, dexterity, toughness, and combat ability - they are also completely fearless and immune to all forms of mind control or mental influence. They also have the ability to resist magical effects and spells - each one directed at a paladin has a 75% chance of failing. Paladin's weapons are blessed, allowing them to terribly injure any creature of evil struck - including instantly destroying any demon and bypassing the natural defenses and armor of magical creatures, including penetrating magical force fields and armor. A paladin's armor is also blessed, causing magical weapons to affect the armor as if they were not magical. Paladins also ride into battle upon warhorses of exceptional quality, these warhorses have peak (for a warhorse) physical prowess and are immune to fear and highly resistant to pain and injury. When a paladin rides into battle, he inspires courage and bravery for all allied forces who can see him - improving bravery by 25% of those allies. Paladins wear high quality full plate armor and their horses have similarly high quality barding.

Another important aspect of your forces are healers. Healers are exceptional people who have been given the gift of healing others with their touch. With a single touch and 10 minutes of concentration, a healer can heal a single living creature of any disease, injury, or infirmity - including inborn condition or deformities. A healer touch will also exercise a demon or transform a beastman back into his human form, it will also break enchantments upon people such as curses or magical mind control. Healers can also restore the dead back to life, but doing so forfeits their own life. Healers have a 50% chance of resisting magical attacks directed against them. Healers can also bless the land - each day a healer can bless a single acre of land, causing that land to become fertile and productive - reversing droughts, purifying poisoned water, or restoring over-worked fields.

Another major element of a holy nation's army are flagellants. People driven by fanatical zeal and devotion to purge themselves of sin through inflicting pain upon themselves. Flagellants are fearless in battle, showing no signs of pain and fighting until the death. They have twice the strength and toughness of the peak human, and because they are so resistant to pain and injury they can take three times the amount of damage as a normal person can before dying. They are also completely immune to mind control. As a sign of their contempt for death, they do not wear armor into battle, though they do use large heavy weapons which let them inflict terrible wounds upon the enemy. Flagellants will never surrender or even flee from the enemy, they will fight to the last man without turning from the enemy - because of their devotion they are blessed by their god - 75% of any attacks or effects that would normally kill or injure them are ignored: bullets fly past their heads, sword blows strangely miss, even area of effect attacks seem to kill others but leave the flagellants unscathed.

Holy armies also have priests among their ranks. Priests keep morale high among the people, preaching to them of the righteousness of their cause of of the holiness of their god. Any member of the faithful who is blessed by a priest has a 25% chance to resist any negative supernatural effect which targets them - generally every soldier in a holy army will be so blessed. If a priests gives a sermon or homily before battle, it increases the combat prowess of all who hear by 10%. Priests can bless weapons, including arrows and other missile weapons, allowing those weapons to inflict injuries on evil supernatural creatures which are otherwise resistant. Any missile weapon blessed by a priest will be exceptionally accurate as well, hitting chinks in armor or vital areas more frequently as well as find its target almost every time. Any supernatural creature of evil within 10 feet of a priest finds its strength and dexterity reduced by 25%. If priest prays intensely, taking no other action, then it can prevent supernatural evil creatures from coming within 100 feet of him and he also becomes immune to magic during this time. If a priest touches a creature of evil with his holy symbol, it will cause a terrible burn upon that creature.

The leader of a holy nation will either be a holy champion or a saint.

A holy champion is like the combination of a priest and paladin, the earthly leader of the faith and beacon for believers. He has all of the abilities of a priest and a paladin with some additions. The holy champion's blessing makes someone 50% likely to resist magical effects, not just 25% likely. When the holy champion performs a ritual of blessing before the battle, the combat prowess and bravery of all combatants is improved by 25%. Any weapon blessed by a holy champion not only becomes holy, but inflicts twice as much damage to all supernatural creatures. The weapons and armor of holy champion as particularly holy, the armor is 50% stronger than even the highest quality steel and makes the champion take only 10% damage from negative magical effects, high weapons can cleave through any substance, magical or otherwise and will instantly slay evil magical creatures.

A saint has access to all of the powers of a healer with some exceptions. The saint can heal just a healer can, but it only requires a 5 second touch and not 10 minutes. Saints can bring the dead back to life with a touch and an hour of concentration, though may only do this once per day and not on someone who has been dead longer than a month. The touch of a saint will instantly destroy any demon or undead creature. Saints are completely immune to all negative magical effects. Any living creature will feel the aura of goodness radiating from a saint, as a result only 50% of living beings can bring themselves to attack a saint or to act against the saint. Any evil magical spell or effect attempted within 100 feet of the saint has a 50% chance of failing.

A holy nation has 50,000 human citizens. There will also be 1000 paladins, 1000 priests, 1000 healers, and 1000 flagellants. There are also 1000 other such special people in your nation. The total number of those special types combined cannot be greater than 10% of the number of normal citizens within your nation. Your technological level is roughly equal to 1400 europe and you can raise other troops to supplement your paladins and flagellants (like longbowmen, crossbowmen, men at arms, peasants with spears, etc.)