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View Full Version : Everyone's guaranteed at least one hot date. Why turn your back on it? [PrC]



Dhavaer
2007-05-30, 07:08 PM
My lady sings with a sultry voice, of promises to be.
Of when she'll take me in her arms and set my spirit free.
My lady’s touch is ever near and yet so far away,
I've sought so long her sweet caress. It will be mine one day.
My lady’s eyes are watching me as I prepare for war.
She stands upon the battlefield, like so many times before.
The battle cries, a comrade dies, and falls to her embrace,
And in her arms she takes him now, unto his resting place.
Another time she'll come for me as I breathe my final breath,
And hold me for a little while; my mistress, Lady Death.


Stern Warrior

Hit Die: 1d12

Requirements
Alignment: Any Lawful
Base Attack Bonus: +6
Skills: Knowledge (religion) 4
Special: Must worship Wee Jas, must have either the Iron Will feat or a base Will save bonus of +5

{table]BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special
+1|+2|+0|+2|Caress of the Witch Goddess
+2|+3|+0|+3|Mettle
+3|+3|+1|+3|Blessings of the Ruby Sorceress
+4|+4|+1|+4|Stern Rebuke
+5|+4|+1|+4|Favour of Death's Guardian, Stern Lady's Embrace[/table]

Class Skills
As the Knight, plus Knowledge (religion), Knowledge (Arcana) and Spellcraft
2 + Int skill points

Class Features

Caress of the Witch Goddess: Undead do not perceive the Stern Warrior as a living creature. The Lifesense of a Dread Wraith does not detect the Warrior, and unintelligent undead might not attack, depending on their instructions.

Mettle: The Stern Warrior gains Mettle, as the Hexblade ability of the same name. If the Warrior already has this ability, they gain Great Fortitude as a bonus feat.

Blessings of the Ruby Sorceress: Once per encounter as an immediate action, the Stern Warrior may counterspell a spell as though using dispel magic. The Warrior’s effective caster level for this effect is equal to twice his class level. In addition, all ravens begin with a helpful attitude towards the Warrior, though he gains no special ability to communicate with them.

Stern Rebuke: One per encounter as a standard action, the Stern Warrior can cause one opponent to whom he has line of sight to be dazed for 1d4 rounds. Undead are not immune to this effect. The opponent can attempt a Will save (DC 10 + twice Warrior level + Cha bonus) to negate this effect, but it is not expended for the encounter if the save is successful.

Favour of Death’s Guardian: The Stern Warrior has a permanent death ward effect, as the spell.

Stern Lady’s Embrace: The Warrior may never be resurrected if killed except with a successful miracle cast by a cleric of Wee Jas. Both Wee Jas and the Stern Warrior must consent to the resurrection (although the Warrior will normally follow the dictates of his goddess). The Stern Lady is normally unwilling to part with the souls of her champions.

Raistlin1040
2007-05-30, 07:27 PM
Looks nice! Which reminds me I should work on Initiate some more. Off to work!

aaron_the_cow
2007-05-30, 07:28 PM
cool, but I probobly wouldn't use it because I don't like wee-jas.

Kyace
2007-05-30, 07:29 PM
Thats some capstone...

DracoDei
2007-05-30, 08:25 PM
Level 5 is looking noticeably dicey to take... Stern Lady’s Embrace good for RP, not so good for game-play necessarily.

jindra34
2007-05-30, 08:30 PM
Level 5 is looking noticeably dicey to take... Stern Lady’s Embrace good for RP, not so good for game-play necessarily.

Definitively agreed...

Kyace
2007-05-30, 08:55 PM
Death effects, those are save-or-die spells? Or does that include level drain and such?

Funny story, for some reason I was thinking this was based on the movie "The Crow". Right up to the point where "all deaths are final" made itself clear. I wonder if a Crow familiar/phylactery could be balanced for a player class.

Dhavaer
2007-05-30, 09:56 PM
Death effects, those are save-or-die spells? Or does that include level drain and such?

A death effect is anything with the [Death] descriptor. Finger of death (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/fingerOfDeath.htm), for instance.

ShneekeyTheLost
2007-05-30, 10:05 PM
Personally, I'd increase Favor of Death's Guardian to be a flat Death Ward effect, immunity to death or negative level stuff, to compensate for the inability to get resurected.

Other than that, I love it. Maybe have something in there which keeps you from leaving the class until you finish it?

Dhavaer
2007-05-30, 10:24 PM
Personally, I'd increase Favor of Death's Guardian to be a flat Death Ward effect, immunity to death or negative level stuff, to compensate for the inability to get resurected.

I considered this, but I thought it might have been too powerful. I guess not, though.

SurlySeraph
2007-05-30, 10:38 PM
Wow... I have a paladin/ sorcerer that this PrC is perfect for. (As well as this paladin, I've also made a few paladins of Kelemvor and one paladin of Jergal. What, is there something wrong with only making paladins who are obsessed with death?)

Miles Invictus
2007-06-01, 02:44 AM
I think if the Stern Warrior already has Great Fortitude and Mettle, they should either receive an unnamed +1 bonus to Fortitude saves, or be allowed to pick a bonus feat. But that's because I dislike the idea of class features that make feats irrelevant.

I originally thought that the Blessings ability was a bit weak -- I worked myself into quite a fit of indignation, actually -- but then I actually looked up the rules for caster-level checks. :smallannoyed: Though, if they're going to be proficient in counterspells, it wouldn't be out of place to give them Spellcraft as a class skill.

Stern Lady's Embrace is a neat, flavorful feature, but I can't see it being very much fun when you can't get Miracle for another six or seven levels. I'd say that any resurrection spell should work, as long as it was cast by a cleric of Wee Jas.

All in all, I like it.

Closet_Skeleton
2007-06-01, 03:32 AM
Wow... I have a paladin/ sorcerer that this PrC is perfect for. (As well as this paladin, I've also made a few paladins of Kelemvor and one paladin of Jergal. What, is there something wrong with only making paladins who are obsessed with death?)

Kelemvor is one of the hotter FR gods but I wouldn't date Jergal even for immunity to death effects.

Miraqariftsky
2007-06-01, 04:25 AM
cool, but I probobly wouldn't use it because I don't like wee-jas.

Yeah, who IS Wee-jas?

Dhavaer
2007-06-01, 04:52 AM
Yeah, who IS Wee-jas?

The Greyhawk goddess of magic, death and vanity. And it's Wee Jas, no hyphen and two capitals.

Shiny, Bearer of the Pokystick
2007-06-01, 08:13 AM
She's got her own ToB prestige, too; if I recall correctly, Ruby Knight Vindicators are all up ons some Wee Jas.

Interesting as usual, Dhavaer.
Not adapted for my usual character type, but interesting.

elliott20
2007-06-01, 10:25 AM
this would be a great PrC for NPC foes.

Dhavaer
2007-06-01, 09:53 PM
Added Spellcraft to class skills.

What do people think about increasing the save DC to double class level; so as to match the DC of abilities like the Assassin's Death Attack?

SurlySeraph
2007-06-01, 10:32 PM
^ That probably wouldn't be overpowered since you still can only affect one enemy per encounter, so sure.

brian c
2007-06-01, 10:54 PM
I love it, but just one problem:


Mettle: The Stern Warrior gains Mettle, as the Hexblade ability of the same name. If the Warrior already has this ability, they gain Great Fortitude as a bonus feat.

Great Fortitude is a lot weaker; could you give an "improved mettle" instead maybe? I was thinking Diehard also fits the flavor in a certain way. I mean, what that feat really does is assure that if you die it's when you're still fighting, not because you got knocked out and bled to death.

Dhavaer
2007-06-02, 12:32 AM
Great Fortitude is a lot weaker; could you give an "improved mettle" instead maybe? I was thinking Diehard also fits the flavor in a certain way. I mean, what that feat really does is assure that if you die it's when you're still fighting, not because you got knocked out and bled to death.

Improved Mettle is very powerful, and to an extent negates the Death Ward effect. Great Fortitude isn't intented to be as good as Mettle, it's just something to make sure Hexblades aren't totally boned by this PrC.

Kyace
2007-06-02, 01:14 AM
Caress of the Witch Goddess: Undead do not perceive the Stern Warrior as a living creature. The Lifesense of a Dread Wraith does not detect the Warrior, and unintelligent undead might not attack, depending on their instructions.

What would an undead player see a Stern Warrior as?

Dhavaer
2007-06-02, 01:22 AM
What would an undead player see a Stern Warrior as?

Something non-living. They might assume they were a construct or some kind of undead, but all they'd know is that the Warrior isn't alive.

Matthew
2007-06-11, 03:52 PM
Shouldn't this be BAB 5, rather than 6? With Religion Rank 4, this seems like you expect Fighters to go into the Class at Level 6. However, as written, a Fighter could only enter this at Level 7.

Dhavaer
2007-06-12, 07:05 AM
Shouldn't this be BAB 5, rather than 6? With Religion Rank 4, this seems like you expect Fighters to go into the Class at Level 6. However, as written, a Fighter could only enter this at Level 7.

No, I expect Knights (or OA Samurai) to go into it at level 7. A Fighter could do the same thing, but they'd have to take Iron Will.

Matthew
2007-06-15, 06:59 PM
Whoops, my mistake, then. So, just out of interest, why Level 7 over a 6-15 progression?

Dhavaer
2007-06-15, 07:12 PM
Qualifying at level 4 is too low, and level 5 doesn't increase a high save.

Matthew
2007-06-15, 08:12 PM
Sure, but taking just one Level in this Class brings up the relevant saves by two points, whether Knight 6/Stern Warrior 1 or Knight 5/Stern Warrior 1, Fortitude and Willpower saves are going to be equal to Base Attack Bonus (i.e. 7 and 6 respectively). Still, it's probably just my obsession with clean progressions that makes me even wonder about it.