[PrC] Choralist

[Fax Celestis]

A Choralist uses his bardic talents in the service of a deity and gains a modicum of power from the gods as a result of this.

Abilities: As with bards, Charisma and Intelligence are important.

Alignment: Choralists can be of any alignment within one step of their patron deity's.

Hit Die: d6
Requirements
Alignment: Within one step of patron deity

Skills: Knowledge (Religion) 8 ranks, Perform (Oratory or Singing) 8 ranks, Heal 4 ranks

Special: Bardic music class ability

Class Features
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Choralists gain no proficiency with weapons or armor.

Class Skills (4 + Int): Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather Information (Cha), Heal (Wis), Jump (Str), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis), Perform (Cha), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Speak Language (None), Spellcraft (Int), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

Bardic Abilities: Levels of Choralist stack with bard levels for determining the number of uses of bardic music abilities and the bonus on bardic knowledge checks.

Bardic Spells: At every level except 5th and 11th, when a new Choralist level is gained, the character gains new spells per day and spells known as if she had also gained a level in a bardic spellcasting class she belonged to before she added the prestige class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. This essentially means that she adds the level of Choralist to the level of whatever other bardic spellcasting class the character has, then determines spells per day and caster level accordingly.

If a character had more than one bardic spellcasting class before she became a Choralist, she must decide to which class she adds each level of Choralist for the purpose of determining spells per day.

Divine Spells: A Choralist also casts divine spells, which are drawn from the cleric spell list. He can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time. Every Choralist spell has a verbal component (singing, reciting, or music), even those that don't normally have them. To learn or cast a spell, a Choralist must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a Choralist’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the bard’s Wisdom modifier.

Like other spellcasters, a Choralist can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on the table below. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Wisdom score. When the table indicates that the Choralist gets 0 spells per day of a given spell level, he gains only the bonus spells he would be entitled to based on his Charisma score for that spell level.

The Choralist’s selection of spells, while less limited than a bard's, is still limited. A Choralist begins play knowing five 0-level spells of your choice. At most new Choralist levels, he gains one or more new spells, as indicated on the table. (Unlike spells per day, the number of spells a Choralist knows is not affected by his Charisma or Wisdom scores; the numbers are fixed.)

As noted above, a bard need not prepare his spells in advance. He can cast any spell he knows at any time, assuming he has not yet used up his allotment of spells per day for the spell’s level.

Domains: A Choralist’s deity influences his alignment, what magic he can perform, his values, and how others see him. A Choralist chooses one domain from among those belonging to his deity. A Choralist can select an alignment domain (Chaos, Evil, Good, or Law) only if his alignment matches that domain. In addition, he also obtains access to the Music domain, detailed below.

Each domain gives the Choralist access to a domain spell at each spell level he can cast, from 1st on up, as well as a granted power. The Choralist gets the granted powers of both the domains selected.

Despite having access to two domain spells at a given spell level, a Choralist can only cast one or the other each day with his domain spell slot. If a domain spell is not on the cleric spell list, a Choralist can cast it only in with domain spell slot.

Choralist Progression
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Divine Spells Per Day|Bardic Spellcasting
1st|+0|+2|+0|+2|Bard abilities|3/0+1/-/-/-/-/-|+1 level of existing bardic spellcasting class
2nd|+1|+3|+0|+3|-|4/1+1/-/-/-/-/-|+1 level of existing bardic spellcasting class
3rd|+2|+3|+1|+3|-|4/1+1/0+1/-/-/-/-|+1 level of existing bardic spellcasting class
4th|+3|+4|+1|+4|-|4/2+1/1+1/-/-/-/-|+1 level of existing bardic spellcasting class
5th|+3|+4|+1|+4|-|4/2+1/1+1/-/-/-/-|-
6th|+4|+5|+2|+5|-|4/2+1/1+1/0+1/-/-/-|+1 level of existing bardic spellcasting class
7th|+5|+5|+2|+5|-|5/3+1/2+1/1+1/-/-/-|+1 level of existing bardic spellcasting class
8th|+6|+6|+2|+6|-|5/3+1/2+1/1+1/-/-/-|+1 level of existing bardic spellcasting class
9th|+6|+6|+3|+6|-|5/3+1/2+1/2+1/0+1/-/-|+1 level of existing bardic spellcasting class
10th|+7|+7|+3|+7|-|5/3+1/3+1/2+1/1+1/-/-|+1 level of existing bardic spellcasting class
11th|+8|+7|+3|+7|-|5/4+1/3+1/2+1/1+1/0+1/-|-
12th|+9|+8|+4|+8|-|6/4+1/3+1/3+1/2+1/1+1/-|+1 level of existing bardic spellcasting class
13th|+9|+8|+4|+8|-|6/4+1/3+1/3+1/2+1/1+1/0+1|+1 level of existing bardic spellcasting class
14th|+10|+9|+4|+9|-|6/4+1/3+1/3+1/2+1/2+1/1+1|+1 level of existing bardic spellcasting class
15th|+11|+9|+5|+9|-|6/5+1/4+1/4+1/3+1/2+1/1+1|+1 level of existing bardic spellcasting class[/table]
Spells Known
{table=head]Level|0th|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th
1|5|2|-|-|-|-|-
2|6|3|-|-|-|-|-
3|6|3|2|-|-|-|-
4|6|4|3|-|-|-|-
5|6|4|3|-|-|-|-
6|6|4|3|2|-|-|-
7|6|4|4|3|-|-|-
8|6|4|4|3|-|-|-
9|6|4|4|3|2|-|-
10|6|4|4|3|3|-|-
11|6|4|4|4|3|2|-
12|6|4|4|4|3|3|-
13|6|4|4|4|3|3|2
14|6|4|4|4|3|3|3
15|6|4|4|4|4|3|3[/table]
Music Domain
Granted Power: As a swift action, you can expend a prepared spell or spell slot to extend the duration of your bardic music ability after you stop performing. You extend the duration a number of rounds equal to the level of the spell used in this manner. This extension is in addition ot the normal duration of ythe effeect after you stop your performance. You can only expend one spell slot to extend the duration of your bariduc music. You can use either arcane or divine spell slots for this, but you cannot activate this ability with a domain spell slot.

1: Conviction*
2: Sound Burst
3: Mass Conviction*
4: Sound Lance*
5: Hallow/Unhallow^
6: Symphonic Nightmare*
7: Mass Eagle's Splendor
8: Synystodweomer*
9: Heavenly Host/Hellish Horde*^

*appears in the Spell Compendium
^according to alignment

[TheElfLord]

Very nice, I was thinking of adding a character like this into my next game, and this seems like just the thing,

[AKA_Bait]

One issue: Heal?

No evil choralists?

[Fax Celestis]

You know, this didn't get any attention. *pulls out defibrilator*

[Rierdrex]

If I understand correctly, this is sort of like a Mystic Theurge for bards? I like the spontaneous divine spellcasting mixed with the standard bard spellcasting. So, you don't get any of the advanced uses of bardic music, but you can use it as often as a bard of your level? The flavour is interesting, and the power level should be about right. All in all, a good PrC.

[ampcptlogic]

I like the flavor of it too.

And as for heal, even an evil Choralist might want to keep people alive or help them get over poison or disease sometime.

[Mnemosyne]

Looks good to me, though I think the word you're looking for is 'Chorister'.