Paladin Archetype: Elemental Knight (Revised)

 I created this archetype a while ago, but re-reading it, I felt it lacked something. So I fleshed it out and here it is.

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Elemental Knight (Paladin Archetype)

Servants of deities of the elements or, more often, of the elemental planes and spirits themselves, elemental knights pledge their fealty to the purity and goodness of creation, swearing to eradicate those who use their chosen element for evil purposes.

Elemental Diplomat (Ex): An elemental knight must select air, earth, fire, or water at 1st level (with the GM’s permission, she can select less orthodox elements, like metal or wood). She gains the language related to creatures of that element (Aquan, Auran, Ignan, or Terran) as a bonus known language.

Smite Evil Elementals (Su): An elemental knight deals double damage with her smite evil abilities to evil creatures with a subtype corresponding to her chosen element. She does not inflict double damage to evil dragons. This alters smite evil.

Elemental Resistance (Ex): At 3rd level, an elemental knight begins to attune her vital essence with her chosen element. She gains energy resistance 10 against the energy type corresponding to her element. At 9th level, this resistance increases to 20, and at 15th level, to 30. This ability replaces divine health and the mercies gained at 3rd, 9th, and 15th level.

Elemental Channel (Su): At 4th level, an elemental knight gains Elemental Channel as a bonus feat, which she may activate by spending two uses of her lay on hands ability, using her paladin level as her effective cleric level. This ability replaces channel positive energy.

Elemental Bond (Su): At 5th level, an elemental knight bonds with the spirits of her chosen element. This bond can take one of four forms. Once the form is chosen, it cannot be changed. This ability alters divine bond.

• Elemental Ally: The elemental knight may call a Small elemental of her chosen type to her side, as a paladin calls her mount. This earth elemental is lawful good in alignment and possesses the celestial template, and it increases in size as the paladin gains levels, becoming Medium at 8th level, Large at 11th level, Huge at 14th level, Greater at 17th level, and Elder at 20th level.
• Elemental Essence: The elemental knight gains the wild shape ability as a druid of her same level, except she can only transform into a Small Elemental of her chosen type, as elemental body I. At 8th level, she can assume the shape of a Medium elemental, as elemental body II; at 10th level, she can assume the shape of a Large elemental, as elemental body III; and at 12th level, she can assume the shape of a Huge elemental, as elemental body IV.
• Elemental Weapon: This works as a normal paladin’s bond with her weapon, except that an elemental knight of air, earth or water replaces the flaming and flaming burst weapon abilities with the following: shock, shocking burst, and grounding (Air), catalytic, corrosive, corrosive burst, and quaking (Earth), frost, icy burst, quenching, and seaborne (Water). An elemental knight of fire adds thawing and igniting to the abilities she can add to her weapon. In addition, an elemental knight cannot add the disrupting and keen abilities to her weapon.
• Primal Mount: The elemental knight gains a mount as per the standard paladin ability, except the mount must have the elemental companion archetype.

Primal Magic (Su): At 5th level, an elemental knight selects a domain tied to her chosen element. The paladin adds the 1st-4th level spells from that domain to her spell list. The elemental knight can select the Air, Fire, Earth, Water, or Weather cleric domain (subdomains included), or any one suitable terrain domain from the druid’s list. The paladin does not gain domain powers from her chosen domain. This alters spells.

Elemental Aura (Su): At 11th level, the paladin can expend two uses of her smite evil elementals ability to surround herself with an aura of her chosen element for 1 minute. This functions as the elemental aura spell, except that it has a range of 10 feet and only damages evil creatures in its area of effect. Each ally within 10 feet of the paladin gains energy resistance 5 against her chosen element. This replaces aura of justice.

Elemental Champion (Su): At 20th level, a paladin becomes immune to the energy type corresponding to her chosen element. Whenever she uses smite evil and successfully strikes an evil outsider, the outsider is also subject to a banishment, using her paladin level as the caster level (her weapon and holy symbol automatically count as objects that the subject hates). After the banishment effect and the damage from the attack is resolved, the smite immediately ends. In addition, whenever she channels positive energy or uses lay on hands to heal a creature, she heals the maximum possible amount. This alters holy champion.