Base Class Contest XXXXIV: Power Word: Homebrew

[sengmeng]

Speaker For the Dead



"Even the most evil of men and women, if you understand their hearts, had some generous act that redeems them, at least a little, from their sins." --Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, Speaker For the Dead

A Speaker For the Dead is a deadly warrior with a broad toolset for carnage, but their purpose is to spread a message against hate, specifically by promoting a doctrine of compassion and attempting to understand one's enemies.

Adventures: Speakers For the Dead travel to tell the tales of heroic and tragic death that they have learned, in an attempt to bring peace through understanding even the most irredeemable of foes.

Characteristics: The Speaker For the Dead has abilities called "truths" that emulate spells and martial maneuvers, with a focus on buffing and leadership over raw damage output or utility, though he can do those as well. The Speaker also has some social interaction skills.

Alignment: No Speaker For the Dead is evil, and most are good with a leaning toward law over chaos. Their message of peace and understanding cannot be reconciled with greed, selfishness, or needless destruction.

Religion: Speakers For the Dead may or may not be devout, depending on setting. They seem to speak out against the consequences of needless violence in the afterlife, but it is actually the physical world and the loss within it that they care about. Spiritual matters may be irrelevant to them. Speakers always have a great respect for the truth, however.

Background: The Speaker For the Dead is traditionally a figure of great sorrow, having their own burden of sin and violence to atone for, however they can begin the journey to truth and peace without this. They are typically directly trained or at least inspired by other Speakers.

Races: Shorter-lived races, especially humans, are most likely to take the looming threat of death seriously and have the necessary blood on their hands, but any race could produce a Speaker For the Dead.

Other Classes: Speakers For the Dead are often the face and leader of their parties; they excel at these roles as well as enhancing their comrades, but their goals are often vastly different from typical adventurers and they tend to not do well in a party if they aren't the leader.

Role: Speakers have maneuvers and spells, giving them versatility and power both in and out of combat, as well as leadership qualities. They are strikers, buffers, and faces, with a secondary focus on utility.

Adaptation: Speakers For the Dead are based on viewing death as final and inevitable, giving their message of peace before it's too late a measure of gravity that may be lost in a setting where death is easily reversed. Their message may have to be adjusted in such a case, but the mechanics of the class should still function correctly.

GAME RULE INFORMATION
SPEAKERS FOR THE DEAD have the following game statistics.
Abilities: A Speaker For the Dead should have decent physical abilities, but their main power comes from their truths, which can key off of any one mental stat depending on class choices.
Alignment: Non-evil
Hit Die: d6
Starting Age: As cleric
Starting Gold: As cleric
Class Skills
The SPEAKER FOR THE DEAD's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language (none), and Spellcraft (Int).

Skill Points at First Level: (2 + Int modifier) x 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier

CLASS NAME

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Maneuvers	Truths	Spells	0	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
1st	+x	+x	+x	+x	Eulogize	1	1	1	3	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2nd	+x	+x	+x	+x	Mercy	2	1	2	4	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3rd	+x	+x	+x	+x	Universal Truth	2	2	2	4	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4th	+x	+x	+x	+x	Class Ability	3	2	3	4	3	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5th	+x	+x	+x	+x	Class Ability	3	3	3	4	3	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
6th	+x	+x	+x	+x	Class Ability	4	3	4	4	3	3	2	-	-	-	-	-	-
7th	+x	+x	+x	+x	Class Ability	4	4	4	4	4	3	2	1	-	-	-	-	-
8th	+x	+x	+x	+x	Class Ability	5	4	5	4	4	3	3	2	-	-	-	-	-
9th	+x	+x	+x	+x	Class Ability	5	5	5	4	4	4	3	2	1	-	-	-	-
10th	+x	+x	+x	+x	Class Ability	6	5	6	4	4	4	3	3	2	-	-	-	-
11th	+x	+x	+x	+x	Class Ability	6	6	6	4	4	4	4	3	2	1	-	-	-
12th	+x	+x	+x	+x	Class Ability	7	6	7	4	4	4	4	3	3	2	-	-	-
13th	+x	+x	+x	+x	Class Ability	7-	7	7	4	4	4	4	4	3	2	1	-	-
14th	+x	+x	+x	+x	Class Ability	8	7	8	4	4	4	4	4	3	2	1	-	-
15th	+x	+x	+x	+x	Class Ability	8	8	8	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	2	1	-
16th	+x	+x	+x	+x	Class Ability	9	8	9	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	2	-
17th	+x	+x	+x	+x	Class Ability	9	9	9	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	2	1
18th	+x	+x	+x	+x	Class Ability	10	9	10	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	2
19th	+x	+x	+x	+x	Class Ability	10	10	10	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3
20th	+x	+x	+x	+x	Class Ability	11	10	11	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the SPEAKER FOR THE DEAD.

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Speakers For the Dead are proficient in light armor and shields other than tower shields, and simple and martial weapons. Note that armor does not interfere with any of their class features.

Truths: The slots on the class chart represent truths. A truth is like a secret that the Speaker For the Dead knows about the workings of the universe, except the Speaker will willingly tell these truths to any who will listen; very few understand what the Speaker says. A truth is prepared with 8 hours of rest and has slots and levels like a spell, but the truth slots can also be used to perform maneuvers. The class table shows how many maneuvers and spells the Speaker For the Dead learns as truths with the columns labeled as "Maneuvers" and "Spells," and the the column labeled "Truths" denotes truths that can be either maneuvers or spells. Maneuvers must be chosen from the White Raven, Devoted Spirit, or Diamond Mind Disciplines, unless acquired through the Universal Truth ability. The Speaker For the Dead also has a fixed spell list to choose from [WIP], but the Universal Truth ability can also allow them to learn spells outside of this list. When using truth slots to emulate spells, the Speaker's charisma is used as their casting stat for all purposes, including bonus slots. Bonus slots may be used to initiate maneuvers just like any other truth slot. The Speaker must be able to speak to use a truth slot, even when using it to initiate a maneuver, and suffers the same chance of failure if deafened as a spellcaster would when casting a spell with a verbal component when using a truth to initiate a maneuver. The Speaker For the Dead casts and initiates spontaneously; they may use any maneuver or spell they know as a truth as long as they have a slot remaining yo do so with. When qualifying for prestige classes or feats, the Speaker For the Dead's initiator and caster levels are equal to his class level, and he is treated as being able to cast or initiate any maneuver or spell he knows as a truth. Effects or prestige classes which boost caster or initiator level boost do not boost both, but ones that advance either initiater or caster level will advance his truths known and truth slots per day. Truths do not suffer an arcane spell failure chance from wearing armor, but arcane spells gained by a Speaker by multiclassing still do.

Eulogize: The core ability of the Speaker For the Dead, Eulogize represents the Speaker telling the epic or tragic tale of the death of some great hero or villain, or perhaps even someone who wasn't at all famous with hidden depths. This telling is imbued with the power of truth for a number of rounds equal to the Speaker's class level, even if the actual tale takes longer. The rounds do not have to be consecutive. While using Eulogize, the Speaker may use a truth slot to emulate a spell as a swift action, and that spell is treated as having only a verbal component plus any xp or costly material components, and gold costs can be paid by spending an equal amount of xp instead. The Speaker cannot use a truth slot to emulate another spell that round, but they may use a truth slot to emulate a martial maneuver. Starting to Eulogize is a free action.

Mercy: At second level, the Speaker For the Dead learns the secret to practicing the respect for life that they hold so dear. When using a truth to emulate a spell or maneuver that deals damage, the Speaker may cause that truth to deal non-lethal damage.

Universal Truth: The Speaker For the Dead finds some truths come to him easily, but it is against their tenets to only take the easiest route. Through study, the Speaker For the Dead can learn maneuvers or spells to add to their list of truths known outside of their class list, but only by adding them as a spell or maneuver one level higher than normal. They also bypass prerequisites for learning maneuvers when they learn them this way.