I'm not sure that an anti-paladin would have a spell like "aura of pain", as you are describing it, but I do see where you're coming from with the problems associated with the sleep spell. A lot of an anti-paladins power is derived from it, and the fact that it is a second-rate version of what the necromancers have sort of looks like an issue to me. The new skills have not changed this, IMHO, but they do present a good precedent for a better way to handle sleep.

How about a skill such as, say, "skullsmash" that knocks foes out?
I don't see this as being a major problem since warriors, thieves, *and* assassins all have a method, and anti-paladins are more oriented towards pure aggression than any of them. Since sleep currently lasts about, say, 6-8 hours (below hero at least) I think it wouldn't be unreasonable to have a skill that is comparable to blackjack, although perhaps slightly less successful than this. You could make the success rate dependent on dex, and the duration affected by strength, in a nod to both the "quick" apals and the "strong" apals.

I don't feel it's terribly imbalanced given that most people who are trying can see an anti-paladin incoming, unlike a thief, and cranial does the same thing as well as having benefits in actual combat. On the other hand, it's also true that if an anti-paladin could more reliably sleep a foe, they'd be able to do the multiple-plague thing without much fear. On the other other hand, though, as I've heard puts so simply before, when lag isn't involved it's a matter of the enemy flees and quaffs teleport... so maybe I just have no idea

We can make the skill unique though by having it work only on people not in combat, and having it do some damage even when successful.


SKULLSMASH SKULL SMASH

syntax "skullsmash"

Masters of brutality and cruel strikes, an anti-paladin wielding a mace can attempt to smash an opponent's skull in with a powerful blow. If successful, it renders them unconscious for a period of time as well as doing some damage. It can only be done to initiate combat, and a victim so injured will be too wary to be struck again by it for a while afterwards.

What do you think?