|
I was a bit disappointed to see there was not a blackguard prestige class in the PfRPG Core book. So I needed a Pf friendly BBEG for a game I am running so I made the Dread Guard prestige class. Any comments or suggestions are welcome and appreciated.
So here ya go
The Order of Ash
Once a cabal of paladins dedicated to assisting in Arodens return, the Order of Ash has fallen far from its founding principles. Originally the Knights of Ash would traverse the nations of escorting priests and friars to and from towns assisting with the disposition of the dead of Arodens flock. This close association with death led these knights to change their mission when Aroden fell. Instead they traveled far and wide collecting relics and bits of his power, wrongly believing that this was as Aroden would want. Soon they turned from grace and were little better than well trained thugs thieving from fallen temples of Aroden. Iomedae was tolerant of their misguided ways. When Aroden failed to rise, Iomedae decided to stamp out this small evil and the order’s headquarters a remote mountain stronghold named Rising Fall was sacked and the Order of Ash was thought destroyed.
A far more insidious thing happened, these fallen knights, their home destroyed came under the notice of Zon-Kuthon and he turned to Norgorber, who saw turning these pillars of virtue in hounds of Zon-Kuthon a worthy challenge. It was far easier than he thought and soon the first Dread Knight was prowling the land in search of religious relics to help him ascend into oblivion as a hound of Zon-Kuthon’s, not to raise the dead god Aroden as many of the order fervently believe. The Order of Ash has a hard time finding recruits and as such their numbers have dwindled as many Dread Knights travel to Zon-Kuthons palace soon after they are turned and the truth of their actions becomes known to them. Some of the Dread Knights know why they do what they do and forsake their old life and whole heartedly embrace their new position. Some believe they are true redeemers and their actions will allow Aroden to rise yet again and their actions while despicable are a true sacrifice to bring about a miracle. They firmly believe any evil they commit is for the greater good and their transgressions will be atoned for when Aroden returns. They fully expect to be forgiven and will stop at nothing to gain control of artifacts they deem necessary to their cause.
The Dread Guard
Requirements: To qualify to become a dread guard, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Alignment: any evil
Base Attack Bonus: +5
Skills: Knowledge (religion) 5 ranks, Intimidate 5 ranks
Special: Must willingly be an ex-paladin and have used an Artifact
Hit Die: D10
Class Skills: The dread guard’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Stealth (Dex) and Spellcraft (Int).
Skill Ranks per level: 3 + Int modifier
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the paladin.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Dread guards gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.
Spells: A dread guard has the ability to cast a small number of divine spells which are drawn from the paladin spell list. A dread guard must choose and prepare her spells in advance.
To prepare or cast a spell, a dread guard must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a paladin's spell is 10 + the spell level + the dread guard's Charisma modifier.
Like other spellcasters, a dread guard can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Charisma. When the table indicates that the dread guard gets 0 spells per day of a given spell level, she gains only the bonus spells she would be entitled to based on her Charisma score for that spell level.
A dread guard must spend 1 hour each day in quiet prayer and meditation to regain her daily allotment of spells. A dread guard may prepare and cast any spell on the paladin spell list, provided that she can cast spells of that level, but she must choose which spells to prepare during her daily meditation.
Level 1st 2nd 3rd 4th
1st 0 — — —
2nd 1 — — —
3rd 1 0 — —
4th 1 1 — —
5th 1 1 0 —
6th 1 1 1 —
7th 2 1 1 0
8th 2 1 1 1
9th 2 2 1 1
10th 2 2 2 1
Blackfingers Blessing (Ex): Due to Norgorbers involvement in creating the dread guard they gain several key abilities at 1st level and every other level after(3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th). An ex-paladin may exchange up to 9 levels of paladin for an equal amount of dread guard levels immediately gaining those class abilities.
Blackfingers Blessing I: The dread guard gains Aura of Non-Detection and is difficult to detect by divination spells such as clairaudience/clairvoyance, locate object, and detect spells. Non-detection also prevents location by such magic items as crystal balls. If a divination is attempted against the warded creature or item, the caster of the divination must succeed on a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) against a DC 15 + your dread guard level.
Blackfingers Blessing II: The dread guard gains the Divine Bond class feature as follows; The bond allows the dread guard to enhance her weapon as a standard action by calling upon the aid of a demonic spirit for 1 minute per dread guard level. When called, the spirit causes the weapon to shed Darkness as the spell, caster level equal to her dread guard level. At 3rd level, this spirit grants the weapon a +1 enhancement bonus. For every two levels beyond 3rd, the weapon gains another +1 enhancement bonus, to a maximum of +4 at 9th level. These bonuses can be added to the weapon, stacking with existing weapon bonuses to a maximum of +5, or they can be used to add any of the following weapon properties: axiomatic, defending, disruption, flaming, flaming burst, frost, frost burst, keen and speed or may be used to gain the unholy property. Adding these properties consumes an amount of bonus equal to the property's cost (see Table: Melee Weapon Special Abilities). These bonuses are added to any properties the weapon already has, but duplicate abilities do not stack. If the weapon is not magical, at least a +1 enhancement bonus must be added before any other properties can be added. The bonus and properties granted by the spirit are determined when the spirit is called and cannot be changed until the spirit is called again. The demonic spirit imparts no bonuses if the weapon is held by anyone other than the dread guard but resumes giving bonuses if returned to the her. The bonuses apply to only one end of a double weapon. A dread guard can use this ability once per day at 3rd level, and one additional time per day for every three levels beyond 3rd, to a total of three times per day at 9th level.
If a weapon bonded with a demonic spirit is destroyed, the dread guard loses the use of this ability until she sacrifices a sentient humanoid creature with hit dice equal to her dread guard level. She takes a –1 penalty on attack and weapon damage rolls until she does this 1 hour ceremony.
Blackfingers Blessing III: The dread guard gains a bonus equal to her Charisma bonus (if any) on all Saving Throws.
Blackfingers Blessing IV: The dread guard gains immunity to all charm spells and spell-like abilities. Each enemy within 10 feet of her gains a -4 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects. This ability functions only while the dread guard is conscious, not if she is unconscious or dead.
Blackfingers Blessing V: The dread guard gains the ability to debilitate with her smite good ability. She can blind, deafen, paralyze or deal 4 points of ability damage. She can only use this ability once per smite and these debilitations last until the smite good ends and cannot be dispelled or ended.
Detect Good (Sp) At will, a dread guard can use detect good, as the spell. A dread guard can, as a move action, concentrate on a single item or individual within 60 feet and determine if it is good, learning the strength of its aura as if having studied it for 3 rounds. While focusing on one individual or object, the dread guard does not detect good in any other object or individual within range.
Dark Blessing (Ex): The dread guard gains Darkvision 60ft and can see in any type of natural or magical darkness.
Smite Good (Su): Once per day, a dread guard can call out to the powers of evil to aid her in her struggles. As a swift action, the dread guard chooses one target within sight to smite. If this target is good, the dread guard adds her Cha bonus (if any) to her attack rolls and adds her dread guard level to all damage rolls made against the target of her smite. If the target of smite good is an outsider with the evil subtype, an good-aligned dragon, or an cleric of a good god, the bonus to damage increases to 2 points of damage per level the dread guard possesses. Regardless of the target, smite good attacks automatically bypass any DR the creature might possess.
In addition, while smite good is in effect, the dread guard gains a deflection bonus equal to her Cha modifier (if any) to her AC against attacks made by the target of the smite. If the dread guard targets a creature that is not good, the smite is wasted with no effect.
The smite good effect remains until the target of the smite is dead or the next time the dread guard rests and regains her uses of this ability. At 5th level, and at every three levels thereafter, the dread guard may smite good one additional time per day to a maximum of three times per day at 8th level.
Channel Energy (Su): When a dread guard reaches 3rd level, she gains the supernatural ability to channel negative energy like a cleric of equal level. At 5th level she can use this ability to channel ‘stolen’ positive energy. This consumes two uses of her channel energy ability. This is a Charisma-based ability.
Sneak Attack (Ex): If a dread guard can catch an opponent when he is unable to defend himself effectively from her attack, she can strike a vital spot for extra damage. The dread guard's attack deals extra damage anytime her target would be denied a Dex bonus to AC (whether the target actually has a Dex bonus or not), or when the dread guard flanks her target. This extra damage is 1d6 at 4th level, and increases to 2d6 at 7th level. Should the dread guard score a critical hit with a sneak attack, this extra damage is not multiplied. Ranged attacks can count as sneak attacks only if the target is within 30 feet.
With a weapon that deals nonlethal damage, a dread guard can make a sneak attack that deals nonlethal damage instead of lethal damage. She cannot use a weapon that deals lethal damage to deal nonlethal damage in a sneak attack, not even with the usual –4 penalty.
The dread guard must be able to see the target well enough to pick out a vital spot and must be able to reach such a spot. She cannot sneak attack while striking a creature with concealment or creatures that are incorporeal, oozes, swarms or elementals.
This ability stacks with other classes that grant sneak attack damage.
Dark Gods Grace (Su): At 10th level the dread guard is fused with the dark soul that is Zon-Kuthon. He must destroy 1 artifact dedicated to any other god to be eligible for this class feature. He must also sacrifice 10HD of sentient humanoid creature or creatures each year for this class feature function. He is able to call forth, for 8 hours per day, the services of a Nightmare that obeys him without question. She also gains 1 more use of smite good. Any damage done by an attack that deals sneak attack damage requires a DC 15 caster level check to heal magically. Her divine bond automatically gains the wounding property; this does not allow it to exceed the maximum bonuses it can have. She also treats any non-lethal damage done to her as doing 0 points of damage.