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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Troll in the Playground
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    Default [3.5]The Retooled...PrCs of specific deities (for lack of a better title)

    Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages! Devotees of all faiths, outsiders that follow deities!!

    ...I am a very bored man.

    How do I quell this boredom? Sometimes, I DM. Sometimes, I play games. Sometimes, I see webcomics. And when neither of these are enough, I let inspiration flow and homebrew emerges! Hence, sometimes it is good that I'm bored.

    An example of this was looking at the various classes devoted to a specific deity. Most are on Complete Divine, although there are a few that emerge on other books (namely, the "Races of..." books), and even a few that never got away from Paizo (but appeared on Dragon, however).

    Most of these, if not all of these, tend to suck. Half-casting progression, weak class abilities, amongst others, make devoting to a deity in exclusion to all others a bad idea.

    And, since I was bored enough and figured "well, the Warlock was last month's 'brew and I'm trying to deliver something not a base class in leap months, I figured I could just drop a lot of deity-specific PrCs and update it as I'm supposed to update a lot of other stuff. And, given that big projects seem to be appreciated more than simple projects, probably this one will take flight!

    Of course, having so many deities in the game (and their equivalents on other campaign settings), it comes to mind that not ALL of the deities got their own deity-specific class. This is something that should change. Hence, at least ONE of the PrCs I'm gonna present is an entirely new, unique and never-seen-before PrC, which means this project will not only include retooled versions of some PrCs, but entirely original content.

    Thus, this first page will be a simple, unassuming front page, since the idea is to fill this thread with many PrCs, at least one for each deity (even though some deities have more than one PrC; Hextor and Heironeous, I'm looking at you two...) That means you can collaborate with ideas, as well as remind me some PrCs that need justice and that could be retooled, as well as how to make original PrCs for the remaining deities.

    Table of Contents
    1. The Shining Blade of Heironeous (original on Complete Divine)
    2. The Radiant Servant of Pelor (original on Dragon magazine, then on Complete Divine)
    3. The Fleet Runner of Ehlonna (original on Dragon magazine, reprinted in Dragon Compendium vol. 1)
    4. The Eye of Gruumsh (original on Complete Warrior, with parts from the Blessed of Gruumsh from Dragon magazine)
    5. Temple Raider of Olidammara (original on Complete Divine)
    6. The Pretender of Lolth (entirely original material)
    7. The Ravager (from Complete Warrior)


    Upcoming
    Champion of Corellon Larethian, Fist of Hextor, Platinum Knight/Vassal of Bahamut, Talon of Tiamat, revisions to Doomguide, Strifelord, Techsmith; original PrCs for Wee Jas and other deities.
    Last edited by T.G. Oskar; 2011-12-14 at 05:08 PM. Reason: Adding the Ravager to the list and expected new content

  2. - Top - End - #2
    Troll in the Playground
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    Default Re: [3.5]The Retooled Shining Blade of Heironeous

    The first one in the list is a classic PrC bomb, dedicated to...basically provide you with extremely limited boosts to your weapons, at the extent of basically nerfing you in all possible ways. Obviously this class is meant for clerics, paladins and favored souls following Heironeous, which is the god of valor, chivalry and oddly enough lightning. One out of three is a sorely bad idea, so I ramped up the valor and chivalry aspects, making them a class a Paladin wouldn't hesitate taking, and one that Clerics and Favored Souls with an inclination towards the martial wouldn't hesitate taking either.

    Of course, there's the thing about Project Heretica; the retooling I made for divine champions (of which the Paladin is part of). This retooling wasn't made with Project Heretica on mind, but there'll be a brief addendum on how to alter some of the class features to make both compatible; then again, it shouldn't be THAT hard.

    That said, without further ado, I present to you...
    THE SHINING BLADE OF HEIRONEOUS

    Champion, by JasonEngle. Original can be found here.

    "Feel the unyielding might of the Invincible's unerring strike! I shall cut a path for my soldiers to follow, as the lightning splits the mightiest wood! - Sir Rodrick, shining blade of Heironeous, boasting against an enemy officer.

    Hit Die: d10.

    Requirements
    To qualify to become a shining blade of Heironeous, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
    Alignment: Lawful good, neutral good or lawful neutral
    Base Attack Bonus: +5
    Skills: Knowledge (religion) 8 ranks
    Spells: Able to cast 1st-level divine spells.
    Special: Turn undead ability
    Special: Must have Heironeous as a patron deity.

    Spoiler
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    A paladin can fulfill the requirements as easily as reaching 5th level, while a Cleric or Favored Soul might take some more time. The alignment specifications are reasonable; a devotee of a god, whom receives powers from his or her god, shouldn't be more than one step away from their deity, and being Heironeous a Lawful Good deity, it makes sense for Lawful Neutrals and Neutral Goods to enter.

    Lawful Neutral may be the oddity amongst the alignments. The idea is that the Shining Blade follows the Code of Chivalry as placed by Heironeous and probably does good with faith, but might be the more cynical or pragmatic soldier in combat. If the action does not conflict with the Code but is the most effective method of serving the deity, he (or she) does it, even if it's not the good thing to do.

    Now, why Turn Undead, if the PrC is a bit on the martial bent? You'll see later on.


    Class Skills
    The shining blade of Heironeous’ class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (nobility and royalty) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).
    Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

    Spoiler
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    Essentially, the shining blade has the same skill list as the Paladin (the core Paladin, that is), except they get Intimidate, Knowledge (the planes) and Spellcraft. It's also quite similar to the skill list of a Cleric, so it's a bit of an in-between. The boost in skill points is because they definitely could use some more.


    {TABLE=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|
    Fort Save
    |
    Ref Save
    |
    Will Save
    |Special|Spells per Day
    1st|+1|
    +2
    |
    +0
    |
    +2
    |Blessed weapon, shocking blade|-
    2nd|+2|
    +3
    |
    +0
    |
    +3
    |Fearless|+1 of divine spellcasting ability
    3rd|+3|
    +3
    |
    +1
    |
    +3
    |Smite evil 1/encounter|+1 of divine spellcasting ability
    4th|+4|
    +4
    |
    +1
    |
    +4
    |Shocking smite|+1 of divine spellcasting ability
    5th|+5|
    +4
    |
    +1
    |
    +4
    |Holy blade|-
    6th|+6|
    +5
    |
    +2
    |
    +5
    |Aura of courage|+1 of divine spellcasting ability
    7th|+7|
    +5
    |
    +2
    |
    +5
    |Smite evil 2/encounter|+1 of divine spellcasting ability
    8th|+8|
    +6
    |
    +2
    |
    +6
    |Thundering smite|+1 of divine spellcasting ability
    9th|+9|
    +6
    |
    +3
    |
    +6
    |Aura of inspired courage|+1 of divine spellcasting ability
    10th|+10|
    +7
    |
    +3
    |
    +7
    |Blessing of the shining|-[/TABLE]

    Spoiler
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    Alright, this may seem a bit of a stretch, having a 7/10ths spellcasting class, with each of the lost spellcasting levels whenever they get their "blades". This is intentional, and while it leaves the Favored Souls out of their 9th level spells, Clerics can still reach them before 19th level, which is a bonus. There is a catch though, since they could essentially ignore the capstone for extra spells; the Paladin could easily say otherwise.


    Class Features
    All of the following are features of the shining blade of Heironeous prestige class.
    Weapon Proficiency: A shining blade of Heironeous gains proficiency with the longsword if it does not already has it.

    Spoiler
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    Big duuuuh! Heironeous' favored weapon is a longsword, so it makes sense that they get proficiency with a longsword if they don't have it. I mean, not all clerics gain the War domain; they might have gone for Courage, or Glory. You may never know. Besides, you might be a shugenja of Heironeous (odd as it may sound), or a healer of Heironeous (an oxymoron, of course), which don't get that proficiency automatically. And what if you're using a homebrewed class that...well, you get the idea.


    Spells per Day: At all levels except 1st, 5th and 10th, a shining blade of Heironeous gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in a divine spellcasting class he belonged to before adding the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If a character had more than one spellcasting class before becoming a shining blade of Heironeous, he must decide to which class he adds the new level for purposes of determining spells per day.

    If the shining blade of Heironeous has no levels in a divine spellcasting class, he gains no benefit. If the defender’s spellcaster levels are from paladin or ranger, the caster level for those spells is equal to their shining blade of Heironeous class levels plus half their paladin or ranger levels (including 1st, 5th and 10th level, unlike other divine spellcasters).

    Spoiler
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    This is typical fare; you get improved spellcasting in all senses, but no Turn Undead or uses of Remove Disease and so forth.

    One thing I have to mention, however, is that little point. As you know, the core Paladin suffers from not having full caster level for their spells, an obvious oversight that the game developers never intended to fix. Thus, when you gain spell progression, the Paladin (or the ranger, in the odd case you enter through Ranger/Cleric) gets full caster level, even if they don't get all their spells. A 5th level Paladin (or Ranger) with 10 levels in the class has a casting ability as if a 12th level member of the same class, except that their caster level is of a...well, 12th level member!

    But what about Project Heretica Paladins? While I'll make a bit of explanation on the addendum, they still get the full caster level progression. That also goes with the Retooled Ranger, even if they also get full CL while progressing on their classes.


    Blessed Weapon (Su): Whenever a shining blade of Heironeous wields a weapon, it becomes sheathed in an aura of purity, which drives away evil. All weapons wielded by the shining blade of Heironeous are treated as good-aligned weapons for purposes of bypassing damage reduction.

    If the shining blade of Heironeous wields a longsword, the weapon is treated as if having the Weapon Focus (longsword) feat and all critical threats made with it are automatically confirmed (as per the bless weapon spell). A character with the Weapon Focus (longsword) feat gains the benefit of the Weapon Specialization (longsword) feat instead.

    Finally, the shining blade of Heironeous adds the bless weapon spell to the list of spells it may cast. He may prepare and cast the spell as a paladin would. If the character already has the bless weapon spell on his class list, it may add a single 1st level spell from the cleric spell list to his own spell list, so as long as the spell does not have the chaotic, darkness, evil or fear descriptor.

    Spoiler
    Show
    This one is a nice gift for anyone who enters the class. Beginning at 6th level, you can bypass damage reduction X/good, even if you use a kick in the nads! That's value, right there!

    But, if you use the favored weapon of the deity (the longsword, of course), you get more benefits. For starters, you get a free +1 to attack rolls (or a free +2 to damage rolls, if you wasted invested on the Weapon Focus feat). Then, you get the equivalent of the Bless Weapon spell for free (well, half the benefit; the weapon is not treated as if magical, it's already treated as if good, so you only get the auto-crit confirmation). Just so you know, the Holy Avenger is a longsword, so you get the benefits with it (well, if you're a Paladin).

    You may wonder, though, why you need the clerics and the favored souls to have Bless Weapon if they're not gonna cast them on themselves. That is because Bless Weapon works on any touched weapon, so you could provide the benefit to others by spending one of your 1st level spell slots. The Paladin gets the lion's share of the benefit, because they already have Bless Weapon, so they get a free 1st level Cleric spell added to their spell list. The restrictions are there, but that means you can get, say, Shield of Faith, or perhaps Conviction and use those abandoned 1st level spells for something useful. Well, something else other than Lesser Restoration, or possibly Deafening Clang or Divine Sacrifice.


    Shock Blade (Su): The first ability acquired by the shining blade of Heironeous is to enchant his weapon with the divine power of his deity. Just as Heironeous the Invincible wields the mighty lightning bolt, so does the shining blade wields the power of righteous thunderbolts.

    By expending a daily use of turn undead as a swift action, the shining blade of Heironeous may imbue a slashing or piercing weapon with divine energy. The weapon temporarily becomes a shocking weapon, dealing an extra 1d6 points of electricity damage on a successful hit. The weapon retains the enhancement for a number of rounds equal to the shining blade’s class level plus his Charisma modifier (if any), but only so as long as the shining blade is holding the weapon. If he is disarmed, the weapon retains the charge for one round before dissipating, unless the shining blade recovers the weapon before that time (in which the duration resumes as usual). Giving the weapon to another character ends the effect.

    Spoiler
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    Remember when I mentioned about the need for Turn Undead uses? This is a good example on how to pull them off.

    One of the weirdest, and weakest, things about the original class was that they got such a limited amount of uses of their most important ability, such that they essentially got a single use of their ability at 1st level and it progressed way too slowly. Making them based off their uses of Turn Undead changes everything, if only because you get more uses of TU than most anything else, it makes a lot of sense (if divine feats come to mind), and you can complement the daily uses with magic items (*coughcoughNightstickcoughcough*) to provide even more daily uses.

    Adding shocking to a weapon may not seem like a lot, since you get only a simple 1d6 worth of damage, but you get even fewer things from most divine feats, which is what this ability compares to (the exceptions are Divine Might, for example, which can add a lot more). However, you do get to stack those things, and the ability eventually upgrades into something better, so it's not a bad start.


    Fearless (Ex): At 2nd level, a shining blade of Heironeous is blessed with divine courage from his deity. A shining blade becomes immune to fear, magical or otherwise.

    Spoiler
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    A core Paladin may not gain anything from this, but a cleric, a favored soul, a ranger, or a Project Heretica Paladin (or Justiciar) get something interesting out of this. One thing I must indicate, however, is that users of the Project Heretica Paladin may not hold this benefit, considering that they have a different way to face fear; this is dealt with in the addendum.


    Smite Evil (Su): At 3rd level, and again at 8th level, a shining blade of Heironeous gains the ability to smite evil with a normal melee attack. Treat this as the paladin smite evil ability, except you deal an amount of damage equal to your shining blade class level plus your levels in cleric or paladin, if any. You may use this ability once per encounter (twice per encounter at 8th level).

    Spoiler
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    This is your typical smite evil, except if you're going with the core Paladin, they get more uses based on how many battles they face. The fact that you can stack cleric levels on top of it makes it even more useful.

    Do note, however, that if you use the Project Heretica Paladin, some of the things there supersede those here (namely, that the smite can be activated as part of any melee action). You only gain the extra uses and the increased damage, but you don't progress the rider effects (and keep the ones you have), mostly because you gain new rider effects while in this PrC.


    Shocking Smite (Su): Whenever a shining blade of Heironeous smites an evil creature, the creature is punished with divine lightning from the deity itself. Any evil creature successfully affected by a smite attack takes an amount of electricity damage equal to the shining blade’s class level, and must make a Fortitude saving throw (DC equal to 10 + the shining blade’s class level + the shining blade’s Charisma modifier) or become dazed for one round. The electricity damage stacks with the damage from the shock blade class ability.

    Spoiler
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    Right after you get your first use of smite evil, it automatically gets better. The smite damage increases almost exponentially, and being static damage, it gets multiplied on a critical (and if the enemy is weak against electricity, it gets even more damage). The daze effect is also pretty potent.

    Something that you may notice from this benefit is that it's basically the same thing I did for the Project Heretica Paladin; add rider effects to smites to make them more interesting. This is the rough equivalent of the Stunning Smite, except that it starts far slower than usual. I've gotten a lot of flak on how Stunning Smite is far more powerful than the norm, so this may serve as a method of powering down Stunning Smite; start as a mere daze, then stun, then paralysis. There's more explanations down at the addendum, but I wanted to make this part clear here because I'm still thinking on how to deal exactly with Stunning Smite to make it useful without being overpowering.


    Holy Blade (Su): At 5th level, a shining blade of Heironeous gains the ability to enchant his weapon with the power of pure good. When using the shock blade class ability, the shining blade may instead enchant his weapon with the holy special property, dealing an extra 2d6 points of damage against evil creatures. The ability lasts for the same number of rounds and has the same restrictions as the shock blade class ability. A shining blade of Heironeous may expend two daily uses of his turn undead ability to imbue the weapon with both the shocking and the holy special properties with the same action.

    Spoiler
    Show
    Alright, so shocking may not seem that brutal, but how about Holy? Holy is universally revered as one of the best weapon special qualities you could add to any weapon, if only because of the extra damage and the sheer amount of enemies it affects (since most monsters are evil). Turning your weapon into a temporary holy weapon can be done with a divine feat, but the property lasts for one attack; this one lasts for far, far longer (5+Charisma modifier rounds, actually). And, for two daily uses of Turn Undead (you may have a higher Charisma than that, especially if you're a Favored Soul, perhaps with a dip on Cleric for the Turn Undead uses or Sacred Exorcist), you can get both shocking AND holy on the same weapon, without increasing the effect (so you can stack even more damage on it!)


    Aura of Courage (Ex): At 6th level, a shining blade of Heironeous extends his deity’s courage upon his allies, allowing them to vanquish their fears. All allies within 10 feet of the shining blade of Heironeous gain a +4 morale bonus on saving throws against fear effects.

    A paladin that reaches 6th level in the class (or a character with the aura of courage class ability) gains instead the aura of inspired courage special ability (see below).

    Spoiler
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    So, whom else has the aura of courage class ability aside from a Paladin? Well, if you consider that the Courage domain power is basically aura of Courage, and that Heironeous MAY offer that domain if the DM agrees, then the Cleric also has this ability, so both can get the Aura of Inspired Courage.

    Aside from that, the aura of courage is a minor, yet respectable, benefit closely related to the deity (whom is a deity of valor). This trait allows you to treat the domain granted power as an actual aura of courage, so you can qualify for the same feats that empower auras, as well as the spells that do so.

    Project Heretica Paladins benefit a bit different from the norm, just in case.


    Thundering Smite (Su): At 8th level, a shining blade’s smite echoes upon evildoers, much as the thunder after a lightning bolt. On a successful smite attempt, the target is stunned for 1d6 rounds instead of dazed on a failed saving throw. Any evil creature within 30 feet of the target takes an amount of sonic damage equal to the shining blade’s class level (plus levels on cleric or paladin), and must make a Fortitude saving throw (DC equal to the shocking smite daze effect) or become dazed for one round.

    Spoiler
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    This is the Shocking Smite's big brother, and even Project Heretica Paladins don't get this nifty benefit. It's comparable, so to speak, with the Fist of Raziel's smite upgrades, in that it makes the smite a dangerous attack. The smite essentially becomes an area of effect attack that damages evil creatures, aims for the least-resisted type of energy, and delivers a nasty effect to boot.

    Why go for daze (and stun) instead of, say, deafen? Being a thundering attack, it would have made more sense to go deafen instead of daze; however, daze IS weak, and then there's Sound Burst which provides a slightly stronger benefit. If you're gonna spend a few levels getting into this prestige class and you get only a slightly improved smite, you'll probably feel cheated; this is just so you know you won't get cheated. The damage is comparable to a maximized, empowered Sound Burst and then more, even though the effect is weaker, but the individual on the epicenter of the attack suffers even more.

    As usual, Project Heretica Paladins get a different benefit, mostly because it's essentially combining Stunning with Resounding, so it bears to mention that it plays differently.


    Aura of Inspired Courage (Ex): At 9th level, a shining blade becomes a beacon of courage, inspiring allies to strive forth and battle evil with renewed strength. Any ally within the range of the shining blade’s aura of courage gains a +2 morale bonus to attack rolls and weapon damage rolls as well as the morale bonus on saving throws against fear.

    A paladin that reaches 9th level in the class (or a character with the aura of courage class ability obtained outside this class) increases the morale bonus on attack rolls and weapon damage rolls to +4. A character with bard levels (or levels in an ability that grants the inspire courage class ability) use their bonus with this aura or the bonus provided by the inspire courage ability, whichever is highest.

    Spoiler
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    One thing to clear out, of course, is that the aura of inspired courage isn't the inspire courage bardic music, so most of the benefits won't stack. That said, if you consider they should stack as if they were inspire courage, be my guest. A core paladin/shining blade of Heironeous is delivering, even if within 10 feet, a morale bonus higher than what a Greater Heroism or bard's inspire courage would (the latter at least earlier), but Greater Heroism delivers even better benefits and you can stack Inspire Courage modifiers to deliver even more boons, and at a larger area. The idea, of course, was to make the Aura of Courage actually worthwhile, and thus a bit better tactically to group closer to the meatshield...erm, shining blade.

    As mentioned above, Project Heretica Paladins may not get this ability, and since they already get a slightly similar aura of courage, they get something different instead.


    Blessing of the Shining Blade (Su): At 10th level, a shining blade of Heironeous becomes a partial conduit of his deity’s power. Whenever he wields a slashing or piercing weapon, the weapon is treated as if having either the shocking or the holy special ability. The shining blade chooses which property to apply whenever he draws, grabs or otherwise first holds the weapon, and may change the property of the weapon as a standard action. A shining blade holding a shocking, shocking burst, holy or holy burst weapon automatically adds the other property (thus, a shocking weapon is treated as having the holy weapon special property).

    Furthermore, the constant conduit makes the original abilities of the shining blade to imbue a weapon with special properties become much stronger. A shining blade of Heironeous may expend a daily use of turn undead to imbue his weapon with the shocking burst, heavenly burst (see Magic Item Compendium, page 36), thundering or brilliant energy special properties. These last for the same number of rounds and have the same restrictions as the shock blade class ability. A shining blade of Heironeous may expend up to 4 daily uses of his turn undead ability with the same action to imbue his weapon with a number of the weapon special properties mentioned earlier equal to the number of daily uses of turn undead expended (thus, a shining blade that expends two daily uses may decide to imbue his weapon with the shocking burst and heavenly burst, the shocking burst and thundering, the shocking burst and brilliant energy, the heavenly burst and thundering, the heavenly burst and brilliant energy, or the thundering and brilliant energy special properties).

    Spoiler
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    This ability was the attempt to make a worthwhile capstone, considering that the original original PrC (the one on Dragon Magazine) made your character gain a free template out of the blue, and the Complete Divine version makes Heironeous cry tears of shame (brilliant energy and nothing else!? Really!? REALLY!?). The idea was that, if you were to go 10 levels getting into the prestige class AND you're losing the last spellcasting slot, it should be something worthwhile.

    That, of course, reminded me of the Fist of Raziel. It really is a great PrC, and the capstone even more so; any weapon you held in your hand gained the Holy property for free. That means you could use Doritos TM brand tortilla chips as improvised shurikens, and they would deal 1 point of non-lethal damage +2d6 points of holy damage against an evil creature. I tend to joke about it as "holy Doritos" to my pals. Since the main ability of the shining blade was to make a "shining blade", it was fitting to add this ability for free, given that you qualified for the actual weapons the earlier two abilities had as a requirement (slashing or piercing weapons; this makes the humble heavy mace a big no-no, but it DOES make the morningstar a bit more useful because it qualifies). Shocking is when you need to add damage but you don't know whether you'll be facing evil creatures or neutral obstacles, so you could safely hold a weapon that could deal damage in a wider variety of circumstances.

    However, while good, it still doesn't make the ability worthwhile. Thus, to further the benefits of this ability, you can provide the weapon with the shocking burst, heavenly burst, thundering or brilliant energy special qualities, highly increasing the potential damage of the weapon. This also plays quite well with the weapon choice, as three of the four work best with high critical threat or high critical multiplier weapons (either more damage or more chances of higher damage), while the latter works intermittently and saves you the harsh +4 cost of a brilliant energy weapon. This also makes your weapons deal damage rolling as if melee touches (in most cases, that is), so it makes you hit much better in the few cases you need them.

    Of course, requiring FOUR uses of Turn Undead to activate all abilities may sound a bit harsh, but considering you're adding 3d6 worth of damage against evil creatures not immune or resistant to electricity, plus around 3d6+1d10+1d8 on evil creatures not immune or resistant to electricity and sonic on a critical hit (with a chance for extra electricity damage on a high crit multiplier weapon) on every attack serves as an immense damage multiplier, which coupled with the chance for melee touch attacks means you suddenly contribute effectively in combat, does justify the rough expenditure (especially if you have many uses of TU to fuel it up).


    Multiclass Note: A paladin who becomes a shining blade of Heironeous may continue advancing as a paladin.

    Spoiler
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    Ignore this if you're using a Project Heretica Paladin, but if you're using the core Paladin, obviously you want to continue advancing in the earlier class once you reach 10th level, no?


    ALTERNATE DEITIES
    If a character decides to take this prestige class but does not have Heironeous as a deity, the following changes apply:

    Special (entry requirement): Replace the patron deity for a deity of law, good and courage. Characters from the FORGOTTEN REALMS ™ Campaign Setting may use either Ilmater, Torm or Tyr as a patron deity. Characters from the EBERRON ™ Campaign Setting may use either Dol Arrah or the Silver Flame as a patron deity.

    Weapon Proficiency: The character gains proficiency with the deity’s favored weapon if it does not have already.

    Blessed Weapon: If the shining blade wields his deity’s preferred weapon, it is treated as if having the Weapon Focus feat and all critical threats made with it are automatically confirmed (as per the bless weapon spell). A character with the Weapon Focus feat with the deity’s preferred weapon gains the benefit of the Weapon Specialization feat with the same weapon instead.

    The following is a list of preferred weapons of the mentioned deities.
    Dol Arrah: halberd
    Ilmater: unarmed strike. A “bloodied fist of Ilmater” gains Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat if it does not have it already.
    Silver Flame: longbow (treat composite longbow as longbow for purposes of this ability)
    Torm: greatsword
    Tyr: longsword (same as Heironeous)

    Shock Blade, Holy Blade, Blessing of the Shining Blade: The shocking weapon property is unique to Heironeous, given that it is part of his domain. Other deities grant their shining blades the following abilities:

    Dol Arrah: Replace the shocking weapon property with the sacred weapon property (see Magic Item Compendium). Replace the shocking burst and brilliant energy weapon properties with the sacred burst (see Magic Item Compendium) and disrupting weapon properties. In the case of disrupting, the benefit only applies to bludgeoning weapons and the deity’s favored weapon.

    Ilmater: Ilmater only provides his benefit with bludgeoning weapons, not piercing or slashing. Replace the shocking weapon property with the merciful weapon property. Replace the shocking burst and brilliant energy weapon properties with the defending and implacable special properties. The implacable special property only works against evil creatures.

    When using this ability to enchant unarmed strikes, a “bloodied fist” can expend one daily use of turn undead to treat the unarmed strike as a magic weapon, and grant an enhancement bonus to attack and damage rolls equal to half the character’s class level, rounded up. This ability can be used separately, or alongside any of the aforementioned abilities.

    Silver Flame: Replace the shocking weapon property with the flaming weapon property and the holy weapon property with the sacred weapon property (see Magic Item Compendium). Replace the shocking burst, holy burst, and brilliant energy weapon properties with the flaming burst, sacred burst (see Magic Item Compendium) and banishing (see Magic Item Compendium) special properties. If using a longbow or composite longbow, the weapon bestows the ability on the projectile instead.

    Torm and Tyr: Replace the shocking weapon property with the lawful weapon property. A character may imbue a weapon with the holy special property at 1st level instead of 5th level, and imbue his weapon with the lawful weapon special property at 5th level. Replace shocking burst with axiomatic burst (as axiomatic, except it deals 1d10 extra points of damage per critical multiplier against chaotic creatures on a critical hit). If the patron deity is Tyr, replace brilliant energy with blindsighted (see Magic Item Compendium; in the case of the blindsighted special ability, the effect is activated with the expenditure of the turn undead daily attempt, lasts for the same time as the other temporary properties, and has no limit on activations).

    Spoiler
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    Because Heironeous is not the only deity of valor and courage, and Heironeous won't exist on other campaigns, these are alternates you may consider to allow the PrC with pre-existing deities. Namely, these are Dol Arrah, Ilmater, the Silver Flame, Torm and Tyr (two thirds of the Triad). The replacements, of course, are meant to fit the deities' portfolios, but they still work as usual.

    If you have a deity of courage homebrewed into your campaign, you can use these guidelines to provide the changes. Most of the times, shocking will have to be gone for a suitable replacement, one that preferably suits your homebrewed deity's portfolio. Holy is usually kosher for most good-aligned deities, but deities specialized into facing other creatures may find using Sacred (great for undead and evil outsiders) or [creature] bane a fitter choice. You should play carefully with the changes, but you can plausibly ignore their effective enhancement bonuses.

    For example, how to deal with Valkar, the Chaotic Good deity of Courage from Complete Warrior? He can't be left behind, because he represents a deity in some campaigns. Thus, it is reasonable to keep the holy properties around, but replace shocking (and shocking burst) with Anarchic (and Anarchic Burst), and the class would be open to all chaotic good, chaotic neutral and neutral good characters. Altua, another honorable deity (while not one of courage) and another LG deity, may hold different traits (perhaps not an aura of courage, but an "aura of nobility" that provides bonuses to Diplomacy and probably a sanctuary effect (or a duplication and improvement of the Nobility domain granted power).


    ADDENDUM: THE SHINING BLADE OF HEIRONEOUS AND OTHER VERSIONS OF PALADINS
    The prestige class presented above was made focused on the core 3.5 paladin, which gains various benefits and enters quite easily. However, there are many homebrewed versions of paladins, as well as another "official" version with the Pathfinder Paladin. These classes provide some changes to the official Paladin, which may not be fully compatible with those of the presented PrC. The two options I'll present here will deal with the Pathfinder Paladin and the Project Heretica Paladin; afterwards, there'll be a brief explanation on how to adapt certain class features if there are things that other homebrewed Paladins lack.

    PATHFINDER
    The changes between 3.5 and Pathfinder are varied, but for the most part both classes are pretty similar. The following would be the most notable changes:
    • Being that Heironeous doesn't exist, the Shining Blade would be exclusive to Iomedae. Other deities barely fit: Apsu is the equivalent to Bahamut, and Ragathiel is the equivalent to Raziel and thus fit better with other PrCs.
    • Turn Undead would be changed for Channel Positive Energy as a class requirement.
    • When a Pathfinder Paladin gains the Smite Evil class feature, it gains the ability as the Pathfinder Paladin.
    • Shocking Smite requires two uses of Smite Evil and provides the benefit of extra shocking damage (but no daze effect, except when first activated) every attack.
    • Thundering Smite requires expending two uses of Smite Evil. The extra damage to all evil creatures and the daze effect work as usual, but otherwise it acts like the Pathfinder Paladin's Smite Evil.
    • For purposes of Shocking Blade and Holy Blade, treat Iomedae as if she were Dol Arrah for purposes of replacements. Rename accordingly.


    PROJECT HERETICA
    The classes from Project Heretica (the Paladin and the Justiciar, mostly) are built using the same chassis, but play quite differently from the core Paladin. The following are the necessary changes:
    • A Justiciar may enter by using his Censure/Rebuke Outsider ability as if it were Turn Undead.
    • The Paladin only progresses Smite Evil damage, and levels in the Shining Blade prestige class stack with levels in Paladin to detemine the DC of the smites' rider effects. The Paladin gains no improvements or new rider effects, except from those acquired by this prestige class.
    • The Justiciar gains extra uses of Verdict instead of Smite Evil, and may use his Verdict abilities in either chaotic creatures or evil creatures. Only extra damage from Verdict and save DC improve.
    • Instead of Aura of Courage and Aura of Improved Courage, the Paladin (and Justiciar) gain the Divine Aura of Courage (as the Paladin). If the Paladin already has the Divine Aura of Courage, she automatically gains a new divine aura at the same level. At 9th level, the Paladin (or Justiciar) gain the benefit of a new Divine Aura or Sanction. If the auras depend on class level, levels in the prestige class stack.
    • Shocking Smite and Thundering Smite are considered part of a single, separate smite method. Thus, a Paladin with levels in this class may use the Shocking/Thundering Smite or one of its chosen smite methods, but not combine both. The Shocking/Thundering Smite also counts as a separate form of Verdict in the case of the Justiciar.
    • A Paladin or a Justiciar gains a different benefit regarding Blessed Blade; they learn a new 1st level spell instead of adding a Cleric spell to their list. Paladins and Justiciar with the Serenity ACF may instead cast an extra 1st level spell.
    • Paladins do not gain the Fearless class feature at 2nd level. If they have the Standing upon Adversity class feature, these abilities activate whenever the Paladin is under a fear effect instead. Other Paladins without the Standing upon Adversity class feature gain a bonus feat instead.


    OTHER HOMEBREW
    Given the extensive list of changes, it is difficult to pin down potential changes. Most homebrewed paladins play quite similar, except for some changes. These few points address some of the changes:
    • Paladins without Turn Undead as a class feature cannot enter unless they have a reasonable equivalent.
    • The Smite Evil class feature is dependent on the type of smite they possess. If the Paladin has no Smite Evil, treat as the core version.
    • Paladins that have replaced their spellcasting progression with martial maneuvers, psionics or incarnum progress their abilities at the same rate as if they were spells, but progress no other features.
    • Paladins without Aura of Courage gain the ability as mentioned. Paladins whose Aura of Courage provides a bonus to attack and damage rolls increase said bonuses by 1 at 6th and 9th levels.
    • The Paladin must still comply with the alignment prerequisites, in case the alignment restriction has been waivered.
    • In the case of d20 Rebirth, they get 4 Prowess every level, they stack their levels in Shining Blade with levels in Paladin for purposes of daily uses of Resolve, gain the Aura of Courage ability at 6th level and gain an increase of 1 in their Inspire Courage ability at 6th and 9th level. They may enter by means of their Resolve ability (instead of Turn Undead), but any class ability that requires uses of Turn Undead require two Resolve instead.
    Last edited by T.G. Oskar; 2013-09-07 at 02:33 PM. Reason: Adding the required action for Shock Blade and fixing other stuff

  3. - Top - End - #3
    Troll in the Playground
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    Default Re: [3.5]The Retooled Radiant Servant of Pelor

    The second PrC in the list is not that bad of a PrC on its own, but one that fails on part of its purpose. The Radiant Servant of Pelor is a class meant to exalt the two main qualities of the clerics of Pelor; healing and vanquishing the undead. It also includes light, but that's pretty minor.

    However, when you see the results, they are sub-par. When battling undead, Radiant Servants of Pelor work fine; they get their entire uses of Turn Undead transformed into Greater Turn Undead, which means they can destroy most undead very easily. With some work, -they can destroy very powerful undead in one blow. Furthermore, the positive energy burst ability deals a weak, but sizable, amount of damage for the cost of two turning attempts. Combined with full spellcasting (which means they get access to all their spells), they can easily work with the undead. So, their main purpose works decently...if only because Turn Undead isn't exactly overpowering. But, if you can make Turn Undead work decently, you can use it to its fullest extent.

    However, let's talk about healing. If you have Pelor's healing domain, formidable; those spells get boosted with Empower, Maximize and finally both at once. However, if you don't have the Healing domain...three of the best abilities the Radiant Servant EVER could have suddenly become worthless. Luckily, you get a third domain, in case you need the Healing domain.

    Once you compare the rest of the abilities, they're sorta weak. Well, except Divine Health; that is decent. But, the ability to double the radius of light? A weak morale bonus on Will saving throws? Really? REALLY!?

    But of course, that changes now. The idea, of course, is to focus on the two main qualities of the Radiant Servant; healing, and undead-turning. However, we're gonna make the light spells work even better (I mean, the class is called RADIANT Servant for one thing, no?), and we're gonna deal with many problems with healing, one-half of the focus of the PrC itself.

    Thus, I am proud and glad to present the new, the improved, the retooled...!

    RADIANT SERVANT OF PELOR

    Jin-Xin, Radiant Servant of Losi the Pure. Artist Unknown.

    "The light of the Shining One touches all corners of the surface world. It grants life to the living, and dispels the darkness, purges the wicked. Rejoice for the light of life and the light of justice brought by Pelor!" -- rally spoken by a Radiant Servant of Pelor before facing the depths of the Necropolis.

    Hit Die: d6.

    Requirements
    To qualify to become a radiant servant of Pelor, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
    Alignment: Any good
    Feats: Extra Turning, Disciple of the Sun
    Skills: Heal 8 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 8 ranks
    Spells: Able to cast 1st-level divine spells and must have chosen the Sun domain.
    Special: Turn undead ability
    Special: Must have Pelor as a patron deity.

    Spoiler
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    As you may have noticed, the requirements are essentially the same as before, except the weak requirement of Will +5 (which is preposterous) is replaced for a more appropriate set of requirements (such as having both Heal and Knowledge [religion] require 8 ranks).

    One notable change is the requirement for Disciple of the Sun. This feat essentially allows you to duplicate the effect of the Sun domain by expending double the uses of Turn Undead. As you'll notice, the existence of the feat sorta invalidates the Greater Turning ability, more so when you already have Extra Turning AND the possibility of Nightsticks (you do remember they exist, no?). Thus, there's a need to make the Turning ability stronger than before, as you'll see.


    Class Skills
    The radiant servant of Pelor’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).

    Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

    Spoiler
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    No changes on the skill list, but the Radiant Servant gets more skill points. This is because, as you might figure, most Clerics won't place their attention on Intelligence, so it makes sense.


    {TABLE=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|
    Fort Save
    |
    Ref Save
    |
    Will Save
    |Special|Spells per Day
    1st|+0|
    +2
    |
    +0
    |
    +2
    |Positive energy burst (damage undead), radiance, turn undead|+1 of divine spellcasting ability
    2nd|+1|
    +3
    |
    +0
    |
    +3
    |Bonus domain, healing hands|+1 of divine spellcasting ability
    3rd|+2|
    +3
    |
    +1
    |
    +3
    |Blinding radiance, positive energy burst (damage evil outsiders)|+1 of divine spellcasting ability
    4th|+3|
    +4
    |
    +1
    |
    +4
    |Reach healing, divine health|+1 of divine spellcasting ability
    5th|+3|
    +4
    |
    +1
    |
    +4
    |Positive energy burst (healing), superior turning|+1 of divine spellcasting ability
    6th|+4|
    +5
    |
    +2
    |
    +5
    |Empower healing, divine body|+1 of divine spellcasting ability
    7th|+5|
    +5
    |
    +2
    |
    +5
    |Deadly radiance, positive energy aura|+1 of divine spellcasting ability
    8th|+6|
    +6
    |
    +2
    |
    +6
    |Maximize healing|+1 of divine spellcasting ability
    9th|+6|
    +6
    |
    +3
    |
    +6
    |Heighten radiance, positive energy burst (damage evil creatures)|+1 of existing spellcasting ability
    10th|+7|
    +7
    |
    +3
    |
    +7
    |Quicken healing, superior healing|+1 of divine spellcasting ability[/TABLE]

    Spoiler
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    As you can see, the PrC is chock-full of class abilities at every level, and various abilities have been exchanged. For starters, the positive energy burst ability has been expanded quite a bit, and there's a new addendum to the positive energy manipulation ability through the use of positive energy aura, taken pretty much straight from DDO.

    Which leads to a slight explanation; although not going straight into how the developers at Turbine reworked the Radiant Servant into a must-have for essentially any cleric (especially since there are no other prestige enhancements, the in-game equivalent of prestige classes), many ideas were drawn from the developers, specifically the positive energy aura ability (a very nice ability, actually, which IIRC exists as a spell in the Spell Compendium).


    Class Features
    All of the following are features of the radiant servant of Pelor prestige class.
    Weapon Familiarity: A radiant servant of Pelor is a powerful healer and warrior against evil, but sometimes the task is made harder because of obstacles on his way. Sometimes, those obstacles cannot be solved by proselytizing, needing a much stronger form of conviction. A radiant servant of Pelor that wields a mace (light or heavy) gains a +1 bonus on attack rolls and deals an extra 2 points of damage on a successful hit (as if it had the Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization feats).

    Spoiler
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    Yup, the first thing a Pelorite gets isn't necessarily better turning or healing from the get-go, but the very mundane ability to whack a bad guy on the noggin'. Sure, a +1 on attack rolls and a +2 on damage rolls isn't really important on the long run, but if the Pelorite needs to get into combat, it will be useful. Of course, this is to reinforce the idea of Pelor's favored weapon, which is the heavy mace (though he allows for light maces, because lets face it, very few weapons are ever treated as favored weapons, and those that do are pretty weak).


    Spells per Day: When a new radiant servant of Pelor is gained, the character gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in a divine spellcasting class he belonged to before adding the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If a character had more than one spellcasting class before becoming a radiant servant of Pelor, he must decide to which class he adds the new level for purposes of determining spells per day.

    Spoiler
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    Not much, except this is one of the rare occasions where you'll see a retooled PrC with full spellcasting. But, being a primarily Cleric-centric PrC, it needs full spellcasting. Or maybe it doesn't, but who am I to protest? The focus is intentionally narrow (healing and undead-vanquishing), so they need all the bonuses they can get.


    Radiance: When a radiant servant of Pelor casts any spell with the light descriptor, the radius of illumination is doubled and the spell is treated as if it were one level higher for all purposes, including determining whether it can counter or dispel a spell with the darkness descriptor. For purposes of this ability and others, the searing light spell is treated as if having the [light] descriptor.

    Spoiler
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    So yeah, they still keep their weak Radiance ability, except that light becomes harder to dispel. However, one key point is that, as you'll notice in the table, there are MORE parts to radiance, which make light a real offensive option (well, the earlier ones that is). Pelor is the god of the sun, so why wait until very late to have actual good light spells, when darkness spells kick so many fleshy behinds?

    UPDATE: Whatever were the developers thinking about not giving the Searing Light spell its proper description!?!?!? OUTRAGE!!!

    ...thus, a proper fix.


    Turn Undead: A radiant servant of Pelor adds his radiant servant levels to his class levels for all purposes related to turn undead.

    Spoiler
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    Not much to say. They ARE vanquishers of the undead, after all.


    Positive Energy Burst (Su): As a standard action, a radiant servant of Pelor can create a positive energy burst that deals 1d6 points of damage per class level to all undead creatures within 100 ft. of the character. Undead are allowed a Will save (DC equal to 10 + the class level of the radiant servant + the radiant servant’s Charisma modifier) to avoid half the damage. This supernatural ability uses up two turning attempts, and a radiant servant cannot use this ability if he has fewer than two turning attempts left for the day.

    As a radiant servant of Pelor increases in class levels, the positive energy burst gains additional qualities. At 3rd level, the damage from the positive energy burst is also damaging to evil outsiders, which take 1d6 points of damage per two class levels, and are allowed a Reflex save for half damage. Damage dealt to undead increases to 1d8 per class level.

    At 5th level, a radiant servant of Pelor grants the positive energy burst the ability to heal allies within the range of the burst an amount of damage equal to 1d8 per two class levels.

    At 9th level, the damage from the positive energy burst is damaging to any evil creature. These take 1d6 points of damage per two class levels, and are allowed a Reflex save for half damage. Damage dealt to evil outsiders increases to 1d8 per two class levels, and damage dealt to undead creatures increases to 2d6 per class level.

    Spoiler
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    As you can see, this is a clue taken from the Radiant Servant prestige enhancement from DDO; positive energy burst is a 1st level ability. However, instead of making it almighty from the get-go, it becomes progressively better as you...well, progress within the class. The first part of the ability is the classic version of PEB as presented on the Complete Divine supplement; damage undead on area with the expenditure of two uses of Turn Undead. As you progress, the radiance becomes harmful to evil outsiders (because they are the sources of all misery on the land, of course), and finally to all evil creatures (because the light of the sun punishes all evil, obviously). Some may consider this hypocritical (holler back at ya, conspiracy theorists investigators of the Burning Light!), but it makes PEB all the more powerful.

    However, one odd ability given to the DDO version was the ability to heal allies within the area of effect of the spell, and given that the Radiant Servant is not only the scourge of all undead (and eventually all darkness) but also a source of life, it makes perfect sense. Hence, it not only provides a reasonable source of damage, it also provides a source of healing, and it only takes two daily uses of Turn Undead to activate all that! I foresee tactical uses of Positive Energy Burst when the situation becomes dire, as it can turn the tide of the battle in a pinch.


    Bonus Domain: A radiant servant of Pelor who reaches 2nd level is granted another of Pelor’s domains as a bonus cleric domain, or he can choose between the Glory or Purification domains. He can use the granted power of the new domain, and he can choose from the spell lists of all his domains when selecting his domain spells for the day.

    Spoiler
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    Nothing different here, except that it seems that the Radiant Servant gets a load of stuff at 1st level, no? Still, this is pretty basic; since they're forced to take one domain which eventually turns pointless, why not prize that forced choice with the ability to choose a different domain later on? Glory works phenomenally on Turn Undead, and Purification adds a lot of zealous spells (come on, Deific Vengeance? Castigate? Righteous Wrath of The Faithful? That sounds like songs for a religious heavy metal band, right there! Well, perhaps not, but at least a Fundie one; maybe the Burning Light IS the Fundie sect of Pelor?)


    Healing Hands (Su): At 2nd level, a radiant servant of Pelor develops a greater skill with his healing abilities. Any time he casts a conjuration (healing) spell from one of his divine spellcasting slots, he adds an amount to the healing equal to his Wisdom modifier, plus 1 point per four Heal ranks above 3. This ability does not stack with similar class features, if any (but class features from this class apply)

    Spoiler
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    When it says "it doesn't stack with similar class features", look no further than the Healer. Or at least, the Retooled Healer; it also has Healing Hands as a class feature. In fact, it is strictly better than the Healing Hands class feature of the Miniatures Handbook Healer, which only adds only Charisma. Hence, even while strictly better, they don't stack. Sorry guys...

    On the other hand, this makes the Heal skill all the more important. How to justify this boon? Well, when you're healing, you're focusing the positive energy in a way it reinforces the body's natural healing processes, or something like that. You are well-versed in the healing arts (both mundane and magical), so why not power that up?

    Note that this method of increased healing works on any conjuration (healing) spell, not just the Cure Wounds line. Hence, it technically works on Lesser Restoration, and other such spells.


    Blinding Radiance (Su): At 3rd level, a radiant servant of Pelor casts spells of light with such intensity that they burst forth and blind their opponent. Whenever a radiant servant of Pelor casts a spell with the light descriptor, the target (or opponents within the range of the spell) must make a Reflex saving throw (DC equal to 10 + the level of the spell used + the radiant servant’s Wisdom modifier) or become blinded for 1 round per two class levels; a successful save merely dazzles the opponent for 1 round. Creatures with light sensitivity treat any light spell as the equivalent of a daylight spell (if the intensity is not already brighter).

    Spoiler
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    Didn't I mention that the Radiant Servant was a Radiant servant of Pelor? Then, why the light spells are so weak? Hence, any spell with the light descriptor (even the humble Light orison) becomes a potential debuffer. Because blind hurts, quite a lot; making it based on Reflex hurts casters and melees in equal regard. Clever little tactic, no? And, it's a save or suck, since a successful save makes you dazzled (hence, you can essentially use a Flare spell to effectively dazzle an enemy, save or not).

    Now, consider the spells that actually cause light damage. Using Searing Light, Sunbeam or Sunburst suddenly becomes a dangerous debuffing and damaging tactic.

    Oh, did I mention most of these spells are Evocation spells? Yay for making Evocation rock!


    Reach Healing (Su): At 4th level, a radiant servant of Pelor can cast healing spells within a small range. Any time a radiant servant of Pelor casts a conjuration (healing) spell with a range of touch, he may apply this spell to any creature within close range (25 ft. plus 5 feet per two class levels). Treat this as if applying the Reach Spell, except it is automatically applied as a free action and it does not require a higher-level spell slot.

    Spoiler
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    One of the constant protests of in-combat healing being inefficient is that you need to touch your target in order to use the spell, which makes you waste a turn. You're still wasting a turn, but at least this allows you to help an ally in a pinch without moving, which may allow you to...use your move action tactically. That helps a bit with action economy, the currency that applies in battles with higher-level creatures.

    Note that this applies to ALL conjuration (healing) spells, unlike the original Radiant Servant which, while not having this ability, limited similar abilities to spells from the Healing domain. Abilities such as Empower Healing and Maximize Healing WILL come eventually, and will work in a similar way (applying to all conjuration [healing] spells, not just those from the Healing domain spell slots). This is also a freebie, since let's face it, most games have you healing from a distance.

    Note this also applies to ALL conjuration (healing) spells, including split-second resurrection spells such as Last Breath, or the actual Resurrection spell. With latter abilities, you'll suddenly realize you can resurrect in the midst of combat. That alone makes the Radiant Servant extremely good...and we still have 6 levels to go.


    Divine Health (Su): At 4th level, a radiant servant of Pelor is immune to all diseases, including magical diseases such as mummy rot and lycanthropy.

    Spoiler
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    The original has Divine Health, so why not the retooling? Makes sense, no?


    Superior Turning (Su): At 5th level, a radiant servant of Pelor destroys any enemy that it would have otherwise turned by expending only a single turn undead attempt.

    As well, by expending two daily uses of turn undead, or expending the daily use of the Sun domain, a radiant servant of Pelor further improves his turning. He applies the benefit of the Empower Turning feat, and he deals maximum turning damage (but he still must roll to determine the added turning damage from Empower Turning).

    Spoiler
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    As you may have noticed, the Greater Turning ability is long gone. Superior Turning makes the Greater Turning ability have better sense; you're effectively having as many uses of Greater Turning as uses of Turn Undead, so why not take it one step further? That also makes Disciple of the Sun irrelevant; still, for the first four levels of the class it made quite a lot of sense.

    Thus, as a salvo, the combination of Greater Turning and Disciple of the Sun makes you turn even better! Thus, you effectively get Empower Turning and you also "maximize" your turning (but you still need to roll; using the same tactic of Empower Spell and Maximize Spell, as you may know) whenever you would have used greater turning OR the Disciple of the Sun feat. So...that's the equivalent of two feats for the price of one? More than fair trade, if I may say so myself.


    Empower Healing (Su): At 6th level, whenever a radiant servant of Pelor casts a conjuration (healing) spell, he may apply the benefit of the Empower Spell as a free action without increasing or expending a higher-level spell slot by expending a daily use of his turn undead attempt. If the radiant servant casts a spell of the Healing domain from his domain spell slot, the spell is automatically empowered without the need to expend a daily use of his turning ability.

    Spoiler
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    Basically, I added the ability to empower ALL conjuration (healing) spells by expending uses of Turn Undead, in the rare case that you don't use the ability that much. However, it works exactly as intended for spells of the Healing domain, if you were crazy enough to take it. Since you have a free domain, you might have taken Healing after all, so why not make it better? And if you don't, well...the ability still has utility after all.


    Divine Body (Su): At 6th level, a radiant servant of Pelor is immune to all poisons, both magical and mundane.

    Spoiler
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    Explain me this; a Radiant Servant of Pelor is meant to be a beacon of purity and light against the forces of darkness. So, why it can be tainted so easily with poison? That's another immunity thrown in, just in case. Though, by this level, you're pretty much immune to poisons because of the uber-high Fortitude save you're expected to have, so it's essentially a formality.


    Deadly Radiance (Su): At 7th level, a radiant servant of Pelor imbues his light spells with the power of the sun, causing great harm to evildoers and specifically against undead. Whenever a radiant servant of Pelor casts a spell with the light descriptor, the spell deals 2 points of damage per spell level (even if the spell already deals damage) to the target or targets of the spell (or any opponent within the spell’s area) at the moment of casting. This spell only affects evil creatures, evil outsiders and undead; in the case of undead, the damage is instead 4 points per spell level. The benefit of radiance applies for purposes of this ability. Treat this damage as positive energy damage for purposes of determining resistance.

    Spoiler
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    Now using Daylight becomes fully offensive! It's a shame that Aasimar can't use their Daylight spell in this way...

    Since you're applying this extra damage to offensive light spells (Searing Light, Nimbus of Light, Sunbeam, Sunburst), that means light spells suddenly become your main source of damage. The creatures that the extra damage applies to are restricted, but you'll be facing many evil creatures nonetheless, so they get harmed even more.

    Now tell me; isn't this the mark of a true Radiant Servant? So pure and bright, that it can make an orison deal 2 points of damage against evil creatures just because? On an area (yes: cast Light, it gets treated as a 1st level spell, so that means 2 points of damage while on the area of effect)? That's...badass...


    Positive Energy Aura (Su): At 7th level, a radiant servant of Pelor can distribute the power of his energy burst as a less powerful, but longer lasting, aura. Allies within 100 feet of the radiant servant gains fast healing equal to 1 per two class levels, and undead creatures take damage per round equal to 1 per two class levels. This benefit lasts for a number of rounds equal to the radiant servant’s class level plus his Charisma modifier. This supernatural ability uses up two turning attempts, and a radiant servant cannot use this ability if he has fewer than two turning attempts left for the day.

    Spoiler
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    As mentioned, this is an alternate version of the Positive Energy Aura spell, turned into a supernatural ability, taken straight from the Radiant Servant re-imagining from DDO (but treated a bit differently, because of the conceptualization). The Radiant Servant can turn two daily uses of Turn Undead into a user-friendly aura of fast healing, which just happens to harm undead within the area; by now, your allies will be buying Nightsticks by the bucketloads! This redefines out-of-combat healing, simple and easy, and might just make your DM ban either the class or the Nightsticks forever. Don't blame me if that happens; that's what happens when PrCs get into T.G. Oskar's Retools' Boot Camp. They get all mighty and stuff.


    Maximize Healing (Su): At 8th level, whenever a radiant servant of Pelor casts a conjuration (healing) spell, he may apply the benefit of the Maximize Spell as a free action without increasing or expending a higher-level spell slot by expending a daily use of his turn undead attempt. A radiant servant of Pelor may not use this ability and Empower Healing on the same spell. If the radiant servant casts a spell of the Healing domain from his domain spell slot, the spell is automatically maximized without the need to expend a daily use of his turning ability; this particular application of the ability supersedes the benefit of Empower Healing until 10th level.

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    Just when you thought Empowering healing spells wasn't enough, here comes Maximize. Now, all your spells heal for maximum damage, AND they can be done at a distance AND they get the Healing Hands bonus. Any more, and let's face it; you'll be healing more than a Mass Heal would ever heal with a lower level spell slot. Since it's switchable (you can either Maximize OR Empower), you can determine which of the two you're most willing to apply.

    As before, the trait of Maximize Healing that applies to the Healing domain has been left essentially intact. And, as before, at 10th level, healing just gets better and better.


    Heighten Radiance (Su): At 9th level, a radiant servant of Pelor may attempt to apply divine energy into his light spells to increase their overall power. By expending a daily use of turn undead as a free action when casting a spell with the light descriptor, a radiant servant may make a special turning check. Treat the result of this turning check as an effective increase in the spell’s level. For example, a radiant servant that rolls a 13 on his turning check treats his daylight spell as one level higher for all purposes, including the effects of deadly radiance (see above). A result of 9 or lower does not lower your spell level, but still expends a daily use of your turning ability. This ability stacks with the radiance ability (see above).

    Spoiler
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    Alright, so: your light spells are treated as 1 spell level higher, they blind enemies, AND they deal damage? Why, then, you're making them even MORE AWESOME!?

    The answer is: they're Radiant Servants, for Pelor's sake! Note that this requires a daily use of Turn Undead, so that makes your daily uses a veritable font of immeasurable power. This is what makes your Daylights, your...well, your Light spells extreme powerhouses. And that's without speaking of Sunburst; the LAST thing you want is to draw over 22 on the turning check with Sunburst. That makes the spell the rough equivalent of a 13th level spell, which means near-unbeatable blindness capabilities and about 26 extra points of damage, right there! Of course, lowering your spell level would be abusive, so if you roll lower than 9, you don't get penalized.

    This can be called a Radiant Servant on their own right; even light spells are pumped up. So, why this isn't the frickin' capstone!? Because...


    Quicken Healing (Su): At 10th level, whenever a radiant servant of Pelor casts a conjuration (healing) spell, he may apply the benefit of the Quicken Spell without increasing or expending a higher-level spell slot by expending a daily use of his turn undead attempt. A radiant servant of Pelor may not use this ability and either Empower Healing or Maximize Healing on the same spell (but see Superior Healing, below). If the radiant servant casts a spell of the Healing domain from his domain spell slot, the spell is automatically quickened without the need to expend a daily use of his turning ability.

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    ...this makes for a more fitting capstone, right? Kinda makes having full spellcasting a crime.

    The reward for spending 10 grueling levels in this class is that you redeem healing forever. Reach + Quicken essentially for free (so as long as you have daily uses of Turn Undead) redefines healing, as it makes it worthwhile to use in combat; given the level in which you take it, that means you can quicken Heal spells and keep your people alive while Pelor delivers the smackdown. Of course, you can't Quicken, Empower AND Maximize your healing spells...wait, what's that below?


    Superior Healing (Su): At 10th level, a radiant servant of Pelor gains the ability to permanently modify any of his healing spells, but he must choose which path to follow. A radiant servant must choose between empowering his spells or maximizing his spells, and may not change his decision once it is made. From now on, any conjuration (healing) spell cast by the radiant servant is treated as either empowered or maximized (depending on the choice). As well, a radiant servant may apply the benefit of Empower Healing, Maximize Healing or Quicken Healing as usual (although applying Empower Healing to an already empowered spell or Maximize Healing to an already maximized spell provides no results).

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    Oh, no... You JUST didn't do that, did you?

    FREE EMPOWERED, OR MAXIMIZED, HEALS!? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!?!?!

    Yes, yes I assume so.

    So you get free reach, maximized spells, and with a simple use of Turn Undead you can just quicken them. Or the same thing but empowered instead of maximized. This is so criminal, it seems just a bit unfair to have a double capstone.

    However, a brief and cursory check on these forums, Brilliant Gameologists and other 3.5-centric forums allow you to realize that nothing short of this redeems healing. This may seem overboard, but it's essentially the only way to make in-combat healing attractive. The built-in limiter of daily uses of Turn Undead (barring Nightsticks, if applicable) makes the multiple uses of Turn Undead a dangerous resource. Spend the daily use of Turn Undead on actually turning, or spend two for the Positive Energy Burst (or Aura), or for enhancing my healing? Considering that Clerics focus on Wisdom, not Charisma, that means they get very few uses of Turn Undead, and Extra Turning can only take you so far. And if you consider Divine Metamagic at all, you'll definitely lose your daily uses of Turn Undead on a single fight. But then again, that's nova-ing for you.

    ...Unless, of course, you use Nightsticks. Cheater.


    ALTERNATE DEITIES
    If a character decides to take this prestige class but does not have Pelor as a deity, the following changes apply:

    Alignment: Radiant servants of Dol Arrah or Horus-Re must be non-chaotic.
    Special (entry requirement): Replace the patron deity for a deity of the sun. Characters from the FORGOTTEN REALMS ™ Campaign Setting may use Lathander or Horus-Re (if a Mulhorandi, also known as Re-Horakhty) as a patron deity. Characters from the EBERRON ™ Campaign Setting may use Dol Arrah as a patron deity.
    Weapon Familiarity: Radiant servants of Lathander keep their familiarity with maces. Radiant servants of Horus-Re gain proficiency with the khopesh and apply their familiarity to khopesh exclusively. Radiant servants of Dol Arrah gain proficiency with halberds (if they don’t have it already) and apply their familiarity exclusively to halberds.
    Bonus Domain: Although none of the deities offer the domain, radiant servants of Dol Arrah or Horus-Re may choose the Healing domain. Lathander offers the Renewal domain, which is similar.
    Positive Energy Burst: Since neither Dol Arrah, Horus-Re or Lathander are primarily deities of healing (Lathander is a deity of births, however), the 5th level ability of the radiant servant changes. This does not affect the positive energy aura ability gained at a later level, even if the ability no longer has a link to healing.
    Dol Arrah, Horus-Re: When using a positive energy burst, 5th level radiant servants of Dol Arrah or Horus-Re deal damage to evil creatures equal to 1d6 per two class levels (as per the 9th level class ability). At 9th level, this damage increases to 1d8 per two class levels.
    Lathander: When using a positive energy burst, radiant servants of Lathander heal 1 point of ability damage per two class levels and removes 1 negative level per three class levels to all allies within 100 ft.

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    And of course, if you're not playing in Greyhawk, these are the pertinent replacements in case you want to be a Radiant Servant.

    As I mentioned on the Shining Blade above, the idea is that the Radiant Servant can exist outside of a specific deity, outside of a campaign setting. Dol Arrah, being both a deity of justice AND a deity of the sun, holds the dubious distinction of having both Shining Blade and Radiant Servant apply to her.

    In case you're trying to apply the Radiant Servant on homebrewed deities, the most important thing to consider would be to apply the PrC only to deities of sun, or at least deities of light that oppose the undead. This means that, based on Complete Divine, you can make a good point about allowing Radiant Servants to Pholtus, the LG god that hates Pelor's guts, or even more bizarre gods such as Annam, Hiatea, Iallanis (all three giant goddesses), or Skerrit for the centaurs. The Silver Flame in EBERRON could easily hold Radiant Servants as well, except that they would have to refocus their bonus with fire spells (though they have no problems with light, it would make little sense that they can't use their powers on flames, especially if they use the additive that makes a regular flame turn silver; in fact, the Radiance ability would manifest with regular flames turning into silvery flames. Of course, you have Silver Pyromancer for that (I'd recall it Silver Pyrologist, but -mancy has gained a new meaning these days, so...) Not all will be deities of healing, so you need to consider what to apply to the 5th level property of Positive Energy Burst, and if other alterations are in play. The core concept of a Radiant Servant is mostly the vanquishing of undead (and evil), the improvements in healing AND the improvements in light spells, so if it were necessary, you can shift one of the three foci and refluff the PrC into your own tastes. Consider this your "Adaptation" section.
    Last edited by T.G. Oskar; 2012-04-30 at 02:01 AM. Reason: ...So, I heard you liked Searing Light, so I added Light to your Searing Light so you can shine while you shine.

  4. - Top - End - #4
    Troll in the Playground
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: [3.5]The Retooled Fleet Runner of Ehlonna

    The third prestige class I'll present was never released for a 1st party sourcebook.

    Well, depending on your definition of "1st party".

    The Fleet Runner of Ehlonna was part of the quintufecta of prestige classes released on one of the many issues of Dragon magazine, particularly issue #283 (alongside the original versions of the Shining Blade of Heironeous and the Radiant Servant of Pelor), and made by James Wyatt (just so there's some recognition there). However, while the Shining Blade and the Radiant Servant were kinda weak, the Fleet Runner wasn't really so bad after all. It was one of the few classes that granted high mobility AND pounce eventually, albeit on a medium BAB build. It had 5/10ths spellcasting, but you wouldn't have entered it as a druid; it was obviously made for rangers, after all.

    However, considering how the game progressed, the PrC was downgraded badly by other options. First, Swift Hunter; since skirmish didn't exist by that moment, that made the PrC unable to take advantage of this tactic. Second was the realization that half spellcasting PrCs were a brutal loss of time; they wouldn't dent the power of spellcasters but they would dent what little power the half-casters had. Lion's Charge, a 2nd level Ranger spell, made one of the worthwhile abilities* of the Fleet Hunter pointless...and Swift Haste made the other one equally so. Thus, you were left with a class that had horrible requirements (three bad feats! Oh, goodness!), and only gave you...more bad feats and some minor benefits.

    *Just in case: the three worthwhile abilities of the class were the ability to be hasted for up to 10 rounds a day (essentially a free Boots of Speed as a class feature), pounce, and Dim Door 1/day.

    Thus, this had to be rectified. Most people might not have heard of this unless they got the Dragon Compendium; the revision, however, I expect people to use constantly. It plays VERY nicely with Swift Hunter builds, and even nicer with Swift Hunter Mystic Ranger builds (perhaps even with SHMWR builds!), but it's not half-bad for other casting classes that might wish some extra mobility. Druids will definitely get a solid hit if they decide to enter, though, but it's mostly to grant a different playstyle.

    Thus, without further ado, I present to you...
    THE FLEET RUNNER OF EHLONNA

    Laird Jon Hawthorne, by Michael Komarck. 2005. Commissioned for Warlord CCG. Original found here.

    "I am no prey. I am no hunter. I am both, and at the same time none. What I truly am, however, is the protector of this land. What you decide to do in this moment will decide what I am. Will you be the one that finally ends my stay in this world, or will you be but one more of my trophies?" -- Stavros the Stalker, human fleet runner of Ehlonna, threatening the leader of an orc marauder band planning to create a new camp in the Dawn Grove.

    Hit Die: d8.

    Requirements
    To qualify to become a fleet runner, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
    Alignment: Any good
    Feats: Dodge, Endurance, Mobility
    Skills: Climb 8 ranks, Jump 8 ranks, Knowledge (nature) 8 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 4 ranks
    Spells: Able to cast 1st-level divine spells.
    Special: Must have Ehlonna as a patron deity.

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    So, I was speaking about the fleet runner having three pointless feats, and what's the first thing I do?

    Put three pointless feats. Isn't it ironic?

    BUT! Before you reach 2nd level, one of the three feats will be actually useful. Endurance is really a feat tax to prevent most classes from entering unless they spend some effort, while making it easy for Rangers to qualify (after all, 1st level divine spells, the skills, and the feat requirements means that the core Ranger enters the class at 6th level while the other classes might be capable of entering at 7th, unless you're a human or dip Fighter). Likewise, Scouts who dip on Druid are also capable of entering at 5th level and get extra Skirmish to boot, so they were also thought with them in mind (a Scout 4/Druid 1 gets all three feats, the necessary skills and the spellcasting requirement to enter, as well). Rangers who wish to enter through Swift Hunter might have some trouble, since they get their 1st level spells at 4th level (Mystic Rangers fulfill that earlier, but they get Endurance for free at 4th, so it's mostly the same) but they qualify for the feat at Scout 3, but they get essentially full Skirmish and near-full Ranger spellcasting. Then there's oddities such as Cleric/Scout, which works similarly to Druid/Scout but without Knowledge (nature).

    Also, remember that you can choose the not-suck versions of Dodge, such as Midnight Dodge (if you're a user or dabbler of Incarnum), Expeditious Dodge or Desert Wind Dodge, so at least one of the feats doesn't has to be useless.


    Class Skills
    The fleet runner of Ehlonna’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Spot (Wis), and Tumble (Dex).

    Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

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    One thing you'll notice is that they have a pretty small amount of skill points, considering that their easiest entry point has 6+Int skill points. This is normal, since the fleet runner is slightly more focused at spellcasting and combat (to an extent) than on skill points, and the skill list is pretty small. You can notice that there are very few skill lists, no Search, and mostly mobility and stealth options, which fits with the theme. Thus, you won't need that many skill points.

    Though, if you feel that a skill is strictly necessary, be my guest and speak your mind out.


    {TABLE=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|
    Fort Save
    |
    Ref Save
    |
    Will Save
    |Special|Spells per Day
    1st|+0|
    +0
    |
    +2
    |
    +2
    |Bonus domain (Celerity), mobile defense|+1 of divine spellcasting ability
    2nd|+1|
    +0
    |
    +3
    |
    +3
    |Skirmish (1d6), Spring Attack|+1 of divine spellcasting ability
    3rd|+2|
    +1
    |
    +3
    |
    +3
    |Evasion, leap of the hart|+1 of divine spellcasting ability
    4th|+3|
    +1
    |
    +4
    |
    +4
    |Skirmish (1d6, +1), Shot on the Run|+1 of divine spellcasting ability
    5th|+3|
    +1
    |
    +4
    |
    +4
    |Bonus domain (Travel), greater mobility|+1 of divine spellcasting ability
    6th|+4|
    +2
    |
    +5
    |
    +5
    |Skirmish (2d6, +1), woodland stride|+1 of divine spellcasting ability
    7th|+5|
    +2
    |
    +5
    |
    +5
    |Improved evasion|+1 of divine spellcasting ability
    8th|+6|
    +2
    |
    +6
    |
    +6
    |Skirmish (2d6, +2), leopard's pounce|+1 of divine spellcasting ability
    9th|+6|
    +3
    |
    +6
    |
    +6
    |Swiftness of the huntress|+1 of existing spellcasting ability
    10th|+7|
    +3
    |
    +7
    |
    +7
    |Skirmish (3d6, +2)|+1 of divine spellcasting ability[/TABLE]

    Spoiler
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    This is quite probably the most bizarre chassis around, but here goes: medium BAB, good Reflex and Will (but no Fortitude), full spellcasting. Thus, Rangers lose something (their full BAB and their Fortitude), Druids lose something (their full Fortitude, wild shape and their animal companion progression) and scouts...well, the latter gain a lot (good Will, +10 levels of spellcasting because they need a class for it)

    You'll also notice that the class has lots of stuff, but no capstone. Why no capstone? The actual fleet runner of Ehlonna's capstone sucks as you can't imagine. How awesome you'd consider once per hour running at ten times your base speed, even if you could move 70 ft. or more per round? Certainly something along the lines of 600 ft. in a single round might seem more than enough (it basically permanently duplicates a Dimension Door spell if you have the right speed), but you still need to move, and anything that prevents you from running prevents you from using this ability.

    You'll ALSO notice that the class offers yet more useless feats. Really, Spring Attack and Shot on the Run? But, there are some treats to it, which you'll see once you reach Shot on the Run.


    Class Features
    All of the following are features of the fleet runner of Ehlonna prestige class.
    Weapon Familiarity: A fleet runner of Ehlonna gains proficiency with the longbow and the composite longbow if she does not already has it. Furthermore, when attacking with a longbow or composite longbow, she gains a +1 bonus on attack rolls and deals 2 extra points of damage (as if she had the Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization feats for the longbow and the composite longbow).

    Spoiler
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    Much as with the Shining Blade and the Radiant Servant, you become slightly better with the longbow, which as you know lacks quite a lot of damage modifiers, so this is a pretty nice boon. If you're stronger than the norm, you can add your damage to composite longbows as well.

    Also, excuses if the picture and the terminology don't mix. It's rather hard to find a really evocative picture of a huntress, so I settled for a man. Let's not dwell on the grammar or the syntax or the accuracy of the term, shall we?


    Spells per Day: When a new fleet runner of Ehlonna level is gained, the character gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in a divine spellcasting class she belonged to before adding the prestige class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If a character had more than one spellcasting class before becoming a fleet runner of Ehlonna, she must decide to which class she adds the new level for purposes of determining spells per day.

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    Self-explanatory. Not much to say here, except that they get full spellcasting, which is sort of a bash to the Shining Blade which only gets part of it. Still, the fact they get only a portion of BAB should balance that somewhat, considering the class has a definite skirmisher feel.


    Bonus Domain (Celerity): A fleet runner of Ehlonna devotes herself to traverse the woodlands in pursuit of her quarry. Her deity provides her with great celerity, enhancing her magical powers with spells of velocity and granting her the speed to catch her prey in an instant.

    A fleet runner of Ehlonna gains the Celerity domain as a bonus domain. Unlike a cleric that gains the Celerity domain, she may keep her fast movement even if she wears medium armor or holds a medium load. See the rules for extra domains in Complete Divine, page 20. If the fleet runner already has the Celerity domain, she may choose amongst any of the other domains that Ehlonna offers.

    Spoiler
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    The original class had the ability to acquire an additional domain aside from those the goddess offers, and fast movement that stacked with other bonuses to speed (as demonstrated with "your land speed is faster than the norm...". This shoots two birds with one stone, even though the choice of domain is fixed. However, you get some seriously good spells around (Expeditious Retreat for more speed, Blur as a defensive measure, Haste as a buff), so Druids and Rangers gain a massive benefit from it.

    Regarding Retooled Rangers; these guys already get three out of four of the domain spells and the benefit from the Celerity domain, so you may wish to allow Retooled Rangers to choose from another of Ehlonna's domains if you wish, so that they may add other spells to their list.


    Mobile Defense (Ex): A fleet runner of Ehlonna keeps the defensive dodging abilities she applies through her use of the Mobility feat. She may apply the benefit of her Mobility feat at any time she moves more than 10 feet in a given round, up until the start of her next turn.

    Spoiler
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    Remember I told you I'd make one of the requirement feats useful? Here it is: Mobility is now a permanent buff as long as you move. And, since you'll be using Skirmish, that's essentially always. A +4 bonus to AC is nothing to scoff off, particularly after considering it stacks with Skirmish AND the Dodge feat (and also with Expeditious Dodge, which is clearly the feat you're planning to get as Dodge sucks!), so that's essentially a +5 to AC while moving for just about anything. That really racks up the defense, and since it applies to just about anything...

    What, you thought I made Endurance useful? Ha, you surely jest!


    Skirmish (Ex): Training in the swift pursuit techniques of Ehlonna, a fleet runner is capable of better protecting herself from damage and deal precise hits after moving. Beginning at 2nd level, a fleet runner of Ehlonna deals an extra 1d6 points of damage on all attacks she makes during any round in which she moves at least 10 feet. The extra damage applies only to attacks dealt during the scout’s turn. This extra damage increases by 1d6 at 6th level and again at 10th level. The extra damage applies only against living creatures with a discernible anatomy. Undead, constructs, oozes, plants, incorporeal creatures and creatures immune to critical hits (or sneak attacks) are not vulnerable to this additional damage. The fleet runner must be able to see the target well enough to pick out a vital spot and must be able to reach such a spot (in other words, the fleet runner must have line of sight and line of effect to the enemy). A fleet runner may apply this extra damage to ranged attacks made while skirmishing, but only if the target is within 30 feet.

    At 4th level, a fleet runner gains a +1 competence bonus to AC during any round in which she moves at least 10 feet. The bonus applies as soon as she moves at least 10 feet, and lasts until the start of her next turn. This bonus increases to +2 at level 8.

    A fleet runner loses this ability when wearing heavy armor or when carrying a heavy load. If she gains the skirmish ability from another class (such as scout), the bonuses stack.

    Spoiler
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    If you entered through means of Scout, you'll get a delayed acquisition of Skirmish, but nonetheless you get up to 3d6 worth of skirmish and +2 competence bonus to AC as well, which translates to a bit of extra damage in the very end, unless you reach 7th level in which you basically get the normal amount of skirmish (as usual).

    When I thought about the fleet runner of Ehlonna and how it was a mobile combatant, skirmish immediately came to mind. It definitely made sense, since you'd be on the move more often than not, and the idea was to motivate you moving like a gazelle while shooting or striking (or charging), so what better idea than to use something that exists already to enhance your damage? Thus, they get skirmish. It's also a great way for Rangers to get skirmish and not lose that much without going Swift Hunter, if that's your thing.


    Spring Attack: At 2nd level, a fleet runner of Ehlonna gains Spring Attack as a bonus feat. If she already has the Spring Attack feat, she may choose another feat to which she meets the prerequisites.

    Spoiler
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    So yeah, you must be asking "why Spring Attack, which sucks so much?"

    Well, the answer is simple; it's a feat that motivates you to move out and use skirmish without problems, you already have the qualifying feats, so why not make good use of it?


    Evasion (Ex): At 3rd level, a fleet can avoid even magical and unusual attacks with great agility. If she makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, she instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if the fleet runner is wearing armor no heavier than medium. A helpless fleet runner does not gain the benefit of evasion.

    Spoiler
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    Unless you dipped in Rogue or Monk, scouts and rangers (the most likely ways to attempt entering this class) don't get Evasion until 5th or 9th level, so an early entry will cause them to lose on this ability. This is a way for them to recover this useful treat, and since they'll get both this version and the improved one, you can safely replace their acquired evasion for something else. Spell Reflection is pretty nice, in case you get Complete Mage...


    Leap of the Hart (Ex): At 3rd level and higher, a fleet runner makes Jump checks as if she made a running jump regardless of how far she moves (if at all) before leaping.

    Spoiler
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    You might ask "what's the use of having this ability if the fleet runner is always on the move?"

    Unless your focus is on "you spelled hart wrong!!!" (which I obviously didn't, "hart" is a paleologism for deer), the reason is that it's a legacy ability. It was one of the abilities the original fleet runner got, so it's not really something I'd remove, since it CAN be useful (essentially because you can activate skirmish on a jump).

    Which leads to Sudden Leap. Yes, the 1st level Tiger Claw boost that allows you to use Jump as a swift action. You don't need a running jump, of course, but you could easily combine Sudden Leap and a Jump check for a long jump and essentially fly in the air (like...hey, like a hart!) Well, so as long as you land on it. That, or you could basically evade the need for Tumble and bypass difficult terrain altogether. Or something. Go ahead and surprise me with creative uses of this ability.


    Shot on the Run: At 4th level, a fleet runner of Ehlonna gains Shot on the Run as a bonus feat, even if she does not meet the prerequisites. If she already has the Spring Attack feat, she may choose another feat to which she meets the prerequisites.

    As well, whenever she takes a feat that has Spring Attack as a prerequisite and that activates by means of Spring Attack, she may use these feats when using the Shot on the Run feat.

    Spoiler
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    Now here's the reason why I make you take two silly feats such as Spring Attack and Shot on the Run. Remember Bounding Assault, from the Player's Handbook II? How about Rapid Blitz, for that matter? Well, those abilities could only be used with Spring Attack, so they weren't really fit for some of the tactical uses of skirmish; with this, you can use Bounding Assault (if you can get it, since you basically have ALL the necessary requirements and you might get the right amount of BAB in the end with the right class) to activate skirmish on up to two attacks, which you could use against the same character or against different characters. While not a full attack per se, what this allows is for mobile arrow firing, which can be useful for, say, moments in which Wind Wall is a problem (with your speed, you just move behind and bypass the Wind Wall, getting a clear shot, then remaining at a particularly good distance for a second shot). There might be a problem with Rapid Blitz since not even Rangers will get the desired BAB, but at least you can make more attacks than you would have done with Shot on the Run. Do blame that on the insane requirements for Rapid Blitz, that force you to have a BAB of 18, which means Rapid Blitz is acquired hauntingly late, not me for suggesting something to do with this idea.


    Bonus Domain (Travel): A fleet runner of Ehlonna manifests a very unique aspect of her deity, that of the relentless hunter that traverses the forest without rest. Thus, albeit Ehlonna herself does not deal with extended travels, a fleet runner evokes that power. Some say it is Fharlanghn, the god of travels, whom grants his blessing towards followers of Ehlonna given their penchant for traveling and moving; others claim otherwise.

    At 5th level, a fleet runner of Ehlonna gains the Travel domain as a bonus domain. She may use her domain’s granted power, as usual, and she may choose to prepare spells from the domain on her domain spell slot. Her effective cleric level for the Travel domain’s granted power is equal to her fleet runner class level, plus levels in cleric (if any). See the rules for extra domains in Complete Divine, page 20.

    Spoiler
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    See that I think of you, guys? Ehlonna doesn't have the Travel domain, so she finds out someone that can grant it for her. Thus, because of this sacrifice, you can nicely ask your DM to use this as justification for Travel Devotion, so you can move up to your speed as a swift action for 1 minute (basically one battle, unless you have uses of Turn Undead). Not only that, Rangers and Druids get those nice spells, such as Fly, and also...Dimension Door!

    The idea of adding the Travel domain was as much of a stroke of genius as was adding Celerity; essentially, this replaced the ability to use Dimension Door once per day with the ability to use the spell as from being part of a domain and thus added to your spell list, meaning that you could use scrolls out of them (giving them greater utility). And, in the rare case you're a spontaneous spellcaster, that means you can use Dim Door more than once per day! Druids also get Teleport (which they wouldn't normally have), so that's another plus (and Mystic Rangers, as well).


    Greater Mobility (Ex): A 5th level fleet runner of Ehlonna gains a greater dodging ability while moving. Her dodge bonus to AC when using the Mobility feat increases by 4. This increase does not apply to her mobile defense class feature.

    Spoiler
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    So why I made this apply only to attacks of opportunity and not against all attacks, as I did with Mobility? The reason is because a class that gives a +8 to Armor Class is just asking for trouble. Coupled with skirmish, when you move, you gain more AC than you'd have levels on the class, and not even d20 Modern gave you that much AC based on classes. Thus, something got to give, and this was a legacy ability, so...

    On the other hand, you don't have to worry about attacks of opportunity anymore (and quite probably not worry about Tumble, for that matter). You could easily run your way out of the battle straight into the enemy lines and never get hit.


    Woodland Stride (Ex): Starting at 6th level, a fleet runner of Ehlonna may move through any sort of undergrowth (such as natural thorns, briars, overgrown areas, and similar terrain) at her normal speed and without taking damage or suffering any other impairment. However, thorns, briars, and overgrown areas that are enchanted or magically manipulated to impede motion still affect her.

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    Same rationale as Evasion; if you get to fleet runner of Ehlonna ASAP, there's a big chance you don't get to acquire this ability either as a scout or as a ranger. Thus, you get it for free. It's a shame you can't replace it, though...as far as I know, that is. Unless you're an Urban Ranger, that is, in which case you're definitely a walking oxymoron.


    Improved Evasion (Ex): At 7th level, a fleet runner’s evasion ability improves. She still takes no damage on a successful Reflex saving throw against attacks, but henceforth she takes only half damage on a failed save. A helpless fleet runner does not gain the benefit of improved evasion.

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    It's quite odd that neither Rangers nor Scouts get Improved Evasion (retooled Rangers do, but that's an exception), so why not give this for free as well?


    Leopard’s Pounce (Ex): At 8th level, a fleet runner may make a full attack at the end of a charge.

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    If you use skirmish and you're a melee combatant, you're in for a treat. This is what you were probably waiting for; the ability to make a full attack on a charge. This alone justifies why you're a medium BAB character; if you're a Ranger or a Ranger/Scout with Swift Hunter, chances are that you'll have enough BAB to make all attack on a charge (albeit late), while a Druid or a pure scout won't have that joy unless they multiclass into a full BAB class for 5 straight levels (and even then, there may not be a chance for them to achieve it). But, you nonetheless get what you always wanted; pouncing, and with rangers getting Two-Weapon Fighting for free (and a pure ranger can, by skipping the last feat, get all TWF feats for free), that means you can use Skirmish to your leisure! That, or at least qualify for Greater TWF as a Swift Hunter so that you can use Skirmish to your fullest potential.

    Of course, that only applies to melee characters. Non-melee characters don't get the same bonus, but you get Greater Manyshot and other ways to make a full attack if that's your worry.


    Swiftness of the Huntress (Ex): At 9th level, a fleet runner of Ehlonna becomes extraordinarily swift, to the point that her attacks and her movement boost to speeds no mortal may keep up with. When she reaches 9th level, a fleet runner can act as if under the effects of a haste spell for a total of 1 round per class level per day. These rounds need not be consecutive.

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    And...this is essentially the fleet runner's "capstone". You get the effect of a Boots of Speed, for free, something you could have gotten quite early ago...

    ...or you would have said that, until you noticed the little thing on the parentheses. Yes, in case you still haven't noticed, Swiftness of the Huntress is extraordinary. That's about 1 minute worth of Haste that can't be dispelled and that works in an antimagic field. And, if you go epic levels, it stacks. And, since it works as a Boots of Speed and you can activate/deactivate them pretty easily, you can stretch that for about 3 battles. So that's about 3 battles worth of hastening, which with the free Haste you get from the Celerity domain spell means you'll be hasted just about every moment. This really deserves to be at 10th level, but the original PrC had it at 9th level. Yes, I kid you not; if you enter the fleet runner class at 6th level, you get this ability at 14th level. Only a Swiftblade is better, but then again Swiftblade doesn't grant you full spellcasting, right? Plus, it doesn't work on divine classes, so that is one heck of a mighty plus.


    ALTERNATE DEITIES
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    Default Re: [3.5]The Pretender of Lolth

    (reserved for Pretender of Lolth)

    You're free to post once the first of the PrCs has been uploaded.
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    Quote Originally Posted by firebrandtoluc View Post
    My friend is currently playing a paladin. It's way outside his normal zone. I told him to try to channel Santa Claus, Mr. Rogers, and Kermit the Frog. Until someone refuses to try to get off the naughty list. Then become Optimus Prime.
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    Default Re: [3.5]The Retooled...PrCs of specific deities (for lack of a better title)

    Many of those prcs are indeed subpar. Alot come out of early 3.5 material, converted from 3.0. While it would be nice to see them redone, I've always hoped for more deity specific prcs. One way in which DoVD, BoED and Complete Champion dissapointed me, is in the way they shirked the standard D&D pantheon. Forgotten Realms does a good job of giving prcs for many of its deities, but there are few core deities I'd like prcs for. Vecna, Erythnul, St.Cuthbert, Weejas, Fharlghan to name a few.

    Look forward to seeing what you come up with here.

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    Default Re: [3.5]The Pretender of Lolth

    Quote Originally Posted by T.G. Oskar View Post
    (reserved for Pretender of Lolth)
    Ohboyohboyohboy!

    (You can tell by the ohboys that I am full of anticipation.)
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    Default Re: [3.5]The Retooled...PrCs of specific deities (for lack of a better title)

    Any chance you could add the Reaver [of Ethuryal] to the list? I've often wondered what that might look like...y'know...if it was good...

    Complete Warrior btw
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    Default Re: [3.5]The Retooled...PrCs of specific deities (for lack of a better title)

    Finished with the Shining Blade, so you may feel free to debate. I added Alternate Deities, and expanded the Addendum to cover most popular tweaks of Paladins (Pathfinder, d20 Rebirth [cursory glance only], and of course Project Heretica). If you feel there might be something worthwhile to deal with, please do so, since aside from Core, Project Heretica and Pathfinder I don't have much experience with other Paladin tweaks. I might expand a bit the addendum eventually, to address other popular yet untouched Paladin tweaks (such as, say, Knight-Paladin ;) )

    Quote Originally Posted by neilthrun View Post
    Many of those prcs are indeed subpar. Alot come out of early 3.5 material, converted from 3.0. While it would be nice to see them redone, I've always hoped for more deity specific prcs. One way in which DoVD, BoED and Complete Champion dissapointed me, is in the way they shirked the standard D&D pantheon. Forgotten Realms does a good job of giving prcs for many of its deities, but there are few core deities I'd like prcs for. Vecna, Erythnul, St.Cuthbert, Weejas, Fharlghan to name a few.

    Look forward to seeing what you come up with here.
    Well, the idea is at least to address all core deities, as well as a few popular ones. Bahamut and Tiamat already have deity-specific classes (Platinum Knight/Vassal of Bahamut and Talon of Tiamat, to be precise), and some are just waiting to be rescued from obscurity (Hextor, for example). Lolth is already addressed. Having said that, I would like to see other deities; I may be willing to address Pathfinder if a need for a deity-specific, system-specific PrC arises, but I generally don't touch Pathfinder.

    Quote Originally Posted by Morph Bark View Post
    Ohboyohboyohboy!

    (You can tell by the ohboys that I am full of anticipation.)
    I'd...not dwell on that anticipation. The "Pretender" title is very descriptive, but the meaning is quite hidden. I could tell, in case you're too desperate; a hint I can drop is...it's gender specific.

    Quote Originally Posted by Mulletmanalive View Post
    Any chance you could add the Reaver [of Ethuryal] to the list? I've often wondered what that might look like...y'know...if it was good...

    Complete Warrior btw
    You mean the Ravager (of Erythnul)? Hmm...good one. I really wasn't so sure how to deal with the Ravager, but I might work something out that combines most of the deity's traits (mutability, slaughter) and probably rescue some of the class' abilities.
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    Quote Originally Posted by firebrandtoluc View Post
    My friend is currently playing a paladin. It's way outside his normal zone. I told him to try to channel Santa Claus, Mr. Rogers, and Kermit the Frog. Until someone refuses to try to get off the naughty list. Then become Optimus Prime.
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    Default Re: [3.5]The Retooled...PrCs of specific deities (for lack of a better title)

    Nice. The Shining Blade needed some love. I especially like how its main ability doesn't completely suck now. Im thinking the number of d6s in extra damage from the shocking power could be increased by one to 2d6 at 4th and at 8th the holy power to 3d6 8th. After all, the holy power only works against evil creatures(Neutral BBEGs exist!). Beyond that, its quite nice.


    Also, some how I missed the warlock retool. I had been checking your homebrewers sig for updates. Its not there.

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    Default Re: [3.5]The Retooled...PrCs of specific deities (for lack of a better title)

    On the capstone for the shining blade, it says whenever he wields a shocking or piercing weapon... Shouldn't it be slashing or piercing?
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    Default Re: [3.5]The Retooled...PrCs of specific deities (for lack of a better title)

    Quote Originally Posted by Elfstone View Post
    Nice. The Shining Blade needed some love. I especially like how its main ability doesn't completely suck now. Im thinking the number of d6s in extra damage from the shocking power could be increased by one to 2d6 at 4th and at 8th the holy power to 3d6 8th. After all, the holy power only works against evil creatures(Neutral BBEGs exist!). Beyond that, its quite nice.
    ...Oooor I could say that the d6s stack. Thus, if you have a shocking holy longsword, you could have between 2d6-6d6 extra points of damage.

    But, I find the damage ratio is pretty nice, considering you can just do a thundering smite and deal your smite damage plus your extra shocking damage, both of which multiply on a critical hit. There is enough love in that case.

    Also, some how I missed the warlock retool. I had been checking your homebrewers sig for updates. Its not there.
    That's because I've forgotten completely about updating that one. Should do it alongside the new PrCs. I mean, I think I also need to update the alternate rules for magic, meaning I've left my extended sig un-updated.

    Quote Originally Posted by demidracolich View Post
    On the capstone for the shining blade, it says whenever he wields a shocking or piercing weapon... Shouldn't it be slashing or piercing?
    ...Yeah, it should be slashing or piercing. But then again, that's why I have you folks to check my stuff; sometimes they're pretty similar to ignore when I do copy-pasta from the original document.
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    Quote Originally Posted by firebrandtoluc View Post
    My friend is currently playing a paladin. It's way outside his normal zone. I told him to try to channel Santa Claus, Mr. Rogers, and Kermit the Frog. Until someone refuses to try to get off the naughty list. Then become Optimus Prime.
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    Default Re: [3.5]The Retooled...PrCs of specific deities (for lack of a better title)

    I noticed that you added a Pathfinder conversion section. Does this mean that from now on you will have said area for all of your homebrew? Is it possible that you could go back and add Pathfinder conversions to any of your old 'brews.

    In other news, this is, to put it simply, Totally. Explativing. Awesome!
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    Default Re: [3.5]The Retooled...PrCs of specific deities (for lack of a better title)

    Quote Originally Posted by Shadow Lord View Post
    I noticed that you added a Pathfinder conversion section. Does this mean that from now on you will have said area for all of your homebrew? Is it possible that you could go back and add Pathfinder conversions to any of your old 'brews.
    Not really; the quip about Shining Blade of Heironeous is because most people prefer the Pathfinder Paladin to the core Paladin (or homebrewed fixes, retools or revampings of Paladins), so it was more of an exception to the rule than the norm. There MAY be other chances to add a section that may make my 'brews Pathfinder-compatible, but for the most part I remain firmly in the 3.5 improvement camp.

    In other news, this is, to put it simply, Totally. Explativing. Awesome!
    Thanks a lot much!

    Having said that; I added the Radiant Servant of Pelor for your consideration. I will be frank; I don't mind how it resulted, but I have a slight impression that I jumped the gun a Fine bit. It's up to you to consider that, but I'm quite pleased with the new abilities they get (and the jokes to be had; there is a reference to a famous theory actually).

    I'll be releasing more of the PrCs during the week, but that reminds me: Nerull lacks a PrC! And the Radiant Servant makes for a nice template, so...I'll be working on that.
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    Quote Originally Posted by firebrandtoluc View Post
    My friend is currently playing a paladin. It's way outside his normal zone. I told him to try to channel Santa Claus, Mr. Rogers, and Kermit the Frog. Until someone refuses to try to get off the naughty list. Then become Optimus Prime.
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    Default Re: [3.5]The Retooled...PrCs of specific deities (for lack of a better title)

    I like it. I see potential abuse from nightsticks, so adding a clause about the same item granting bonus turn attempts not counting for that class feature(go use them on DMM persist!) might be called for.

    Other than that, I have a minor typo under the spoiler in the Divine Body ability.

    [So, why it can be tainted so easily with poison?
    Oh, and I have a round of applause for you. *clap clap*
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    Default Re: [3.5]The Retooled...PrCs of specific deities (for lack of a better title)

    Would you consider making PrCs for Kelemvor, Cyric, and Deneir or Gond (or both!)?

    In any case, bravo so far.
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    Default Re: [3.5]The Retooled...PrCs of specific deities (for lack of a better title)

    Quote Originally Posted by neilthrun View Post
    Weejas
    Isn't that the Ruby Knight Vindicator?
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    Default Re: [3.5]The Retooled...PrCs of specific deities (for lack of a better title)

    You mean the Ruby Knight Windicator?

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    Default Re: [3.5]The Retooled...PrCs of specific deities (for lack of a better title)

    Quote Originally Posted by TravelLog View Post
    Would you consider making PrCs for Kelemvor, Cyric, and Deneir or Gond (or both!)?

    In any case, bravo so far.
    I second both the praise and the suggestion. You've done an excellent job thus far, and I'd love to see more.
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    Default Re: [3.5]The Retooled...PrCs of specific deities (for lack of a better title)

    Another thing I noticed: for the spells per day on the radiant servant, you put "when a new radiant servant of pelor is gained..." I'm pretty sure it should be whenever a new radiant servant of pelor level is gained.
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    Default Re: [3.5]The Retooled...PrCs of specific deities (for lack of a better title)

    I delayed the responses until I could load the Fleet Runner, so you can check it up. The Fleet Runner is the opposite in terms of how much I retooled the class since while the Radiant Servant is a huge retool, the Fleet Runner is quite light (in fact, it retains many of the class features of the original incarnation), so I doubt there's gonna be a problem on how powerful it might be.

    Also, Mulletman: the Ravager is now done. I'm writing up the adaptations for other deities, but I'm quite pleased with the results. It's not a casting-progression class, but the abilities it gets more than make up for the lack of spells. Well, they don't fly and stuff, but they do get some abilities that make them extremely dangerous in combat. Particularly the last class abilities. One warning, though; the Ravager is rated R. For Retarded. Cookies on whomever gets the reference ;)

    Quote Originally Posted by Elfstone View Post
    I like it. I see potential abuse from nightsticks, so adding a clause about the same item granting bonus turn attempts not counting for that class feature(go use them on DMM persist!) might be called for.
    Perhaps, but since that's basically dependent on the level of cheese tolerated on the table, I leave that as a recommendation for DMs. Good DMs never give away Nightsticks, and are very careful with Reliquary Holy Symbols, which limits the abuse somewhat.

    Other than that, I have a minor typo under the spoiler in the Divine Body ability.
    Quote Originally Posted by demidracolich View Post
    Another thing I noticed: for the spells per day on the radiant servant, you put "when a new radiant servant of pelor is gained..." I'm pretty sure it should be whenever a new radiant servant of pelor level is gained.
    Thanks for pointing that out, though it's odd that someone missed a typo on a spoiler. That goes to show people actually read the spoilers (it's, quite frankly, the funniest part of the 'brews, because I like to use comedy to explain as it gets digested easier).

    As for the spells per day typo, it was something that also reflected on the Fleet Runner writeup, so I took wing of it and made the change on the FR. Will make the fix on the Radiant Servant, tho.

    Quote Originally Posted by TravelLog View Post
    Would you consider making PrCs for Kelemvor, Cyric, and Deneir or Gond (or both!)?

    In any case, bravo so far.
    I'm thus far planning to work on the core deities, and allow adaptations for deities of other places, so not working on FR thus far.

    However, there ARE already PrCs for some of them, in Faiths and Pantheons. Kelemvor has the Doomguides, Cyric has the Strifeleaders, and Gond has the Techsmiths. In time, they may be revised and updated, since Faiths and Pantheons is a transition 3.x supplement (or a 3.0 supplement, not entirely sure), so they may be outdated. The Stormlord (which is on Complete Divine) and the Dweomerkeeper (aka the Dweomercheater) had a home there. Torm, Tyr and IIRC Ilmater (or Helm) have the Knights of the Triad, as well. And there's also the bunch of PrCs on Faiths and Pantheons, all of which might have some revisions. But, I might dabble on Eberron first.

    Quote Originally Posted by Bendraesar View Post
    Isn't that the Ruby Knight Vindicator?

    Quote Originally Posted by Elfstone View Post
    You mean the Ruby Knight Windicator?
    No, it's actually the Sanctified One of Wee Jas. The Ruby Knight (V)Vindicator is only fluffed that way, but it's meant to be a martial adept/divine caster hybrid PrC. I mean, I distinctively recall Ereth Nazbek being a devotee of St. Cuthbert, much like the Storm Disciple Dante is a Chaotic Good Storm Disciple of St. Cuthbert, whom is a Lawful Neutral deity (which holds at least one clear opposition).

    And the Ruby Knight (V)Vindicator really doesn't represent her. The Ruby Sorceress isn't interested in melee combat (her focus is in death magic, particularly arcane), so it makes no sense whatsoever to claim the Knight (V)Vindicator is the Jasite faith specific PrC. The Sanctified One PrC isn't faith exclusive, either, so Wee Jas gets a PrC for her faithful that actually works with death magic, the arcane and the divine. Probably a necromancy-related PrC that allows non-evil casters to manipulate the undead, ste...erm, release undead from indentured service, enlighten the undead and then destroy them (as the Jasite faith commands), which fits like a ring.

    Quote Originally Posted by Othesemo View Post
    I second both the praise and the suggestion. You've done an excellent job thus far, and I'd love to see more.
    Thanks muchly. There will be more, for sure. Particularly some original content, since most of what I do is retools and I want to change that perspective.
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    Quote Originally Posted by firebrandtoluc View Post
    My friend is currently playing a paladin. It's way outside his normal zone. I told him to try to channel Santa Claus, Mr. Rogers, and Kermit the Frog. Until someone refuses to try to get off the naughty list. Then become Optimus Prime.
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    Default Re: [3.5]The Retooled...PrCs of specific deities (for lack of a better title)

    I love the spoilers, they are the best part. When/if I ever post homebrew on GitP I am totally and unashamedly going to steal your style of spoilers after abilities.

    I like the new and improved Fleet Runner of Ehlonna. While the changes were minor, they were very nice. Still very playable for a ranger/cleric type. Not on the same tier as the RSoP, but if it was im not sure it would be as much fun. Or as fitting.

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    Default Re: [3.5]The Retooled...PrCs of specific deities (for lack of a better title)

    A Hammer of Moradin redux would be neat. :3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mulletmanalive View Post
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    Default Re: [3.5]The Retooled...PrCs of specific deities (for lack of a better title)

    FYI: The shining blade of Heironeous picture is made by JasonEngle, original here.

    Nice work!
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    Default Re: [3.5]The Retooled...PrCs of specific deities (for lack of a better title)

    The Shining Blade's key ability of expending Turn uses for weapon specials on their weapons doesn't have an action cost. By default it's a standard, which I think is less than desirable if you want to keep up with Divine Might. Either a free or swift action would probably be best.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mulletmanalive View Post
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    Default Re: [3.5]The Retooled...PrCs of specific deities (for lack of a better title)

    Before starting: thanks for looking at my errors, I usually tend to forget about adding the intended actions for most abilities, and I noticed something else as well. Also, thanks for mentioning the artist that made the Champion pic that adorns the Shining Blade of Heironeous; I would have loved to use it for something else, but I find it pretty good. Finally: YES, I will consider the Hammer of Moradin, but it'll be in cue while the other PrCs are done; rest assured it'll be amongst the first I'll work at, probably after dealing with Corellon, Bahamut, Hextor and Tiamat. It'll certainly be before the FRCS PrCs or the Eberron PrCs.

    That said..
    --

    The fourth prestige class I'll present will deviate quite a bit from my usual norm. For starters, it is a prestige class that eschews spellcasting ability, so balancing it should be a challenge.

    The second is that it's also a race-restricted class, because the original WAS a race-restricted class. Working around that restriction would be a bit of a challenge.

    Aside from those two things, the rest will be similar to what I did with earlier classes. Orcs devoted to Gruumsh had one prestige class meant for them, which didn't advance spellcasting at all and was meant more for the physical members of the party: the Eye of Gruumsh. The fluff behind it was pretty awesome; a fanatical warrior who plucks his own eye in order to gain unspeakable power. Particularly, it was aimed at barbarians, because most orcs apparently aim to be barbarians (just as how most Japanese aim to be office workers), or so stereotype claims. However, getting into the class provided very little compared to...say, the brutal Frenzied Berserker.

    Looking for other classes I could use, I met upon the Blessed of Gruumsh, which is the fourth leg of the prestige classes presented on Dragon magazine (which is why you see them in this order...well, sort of). The Blessed PrC was even MORE of a mess than the Eye (the abilities granted were better than those of the Eye, but with far more limited uses), and mixing both classes as they were would be disrespectful for all of you guys, BUT it brought some nice ideas. Thus, I made a combination of both classes' abilities, reworked some of the traits, and reinforced a great deal of both classes abilities to work well with high-level combat. You'll still depend on magic items to cover all other spots, but you'll need less of them.

    Thus, without further ado, I introduce to you...
    THE EYE OF GRUUMSH


    "Foolish elves! I can see more in my lost eye than what a thousand of your greatest seers can! And I see...the end of your pitiful race!!" -- Thurgrom Grommish, Eye of Gruumsh, demoralizing an Elvish army with the head of a fallen Elf hero in his hands while leading his horde.

    Requirements
    To qualify to become an eye of Gruumsh, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
    Race: Orc or half-orc
    Alignment: Any evil or chaotic neutral
    Base Attack Bonus: +5
    Skills: Intimidate 8 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 4 ranks, Survival 8 ranks
    Feats: Blind-Fight, Cleave
    Special: The character must be a worshipper of Gruumsh and must gouge his own right eye as part of a ritual.

    Spoiler
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    Yet another big list of feats, but aside from the Knowledge (religion) ranks, they can be achieved by an orc barbarian or fighter at 6th level (well, mostly the barbarian, since the Fighter might need a way to get Survival as a class skill). If you multiclass as a Barbarian/Fighter, though, you may get before 6th level.

    Blind-Fight was originally granted as a bonus feat as part of the class, but I figured it would be better if you gained it as part of your progression. While you eventually gain blindsight, which makes it null, you still need to cover yourself for those specific moments where enemies are out of your range, while you still have blindsense, and so on. If you get Power Attack, you probably get Cleave as well. So it's no big deal, really.


    Hit Die: d12

    Class Skills
    The eye of Gruumsh’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Ride (Dex), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).
    Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

    {TABLE=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special
    1st|+1|
    +2
    |
    +0
    |
    +0
    |Blindsense 10 ft., rage, unholy wrath of Gruumsh (ability boost)
    2nd|+2|
    +3
    |
    +0
    |
    +0
    |Blinding spittle 1/encounter, evil eye (despair)
    3rd|+3|
    +3
    |
    +1
    |
    +1
    |Blindsense 20 ft., unholy wrath of Gruumsh (natural armor)
    4th|+4|
    +4
    |
    +1
    |
    +1
    |Blinding spittle 2/encounter, incite rage, sweeping strike
    5th|+5|
    +4
    |
    +1
    |
    +1
    |Blindsense 30 ft., blindsight 15 ft., unholy wrath of Gruumsh (ability boost, size)
    6th|+6|
    +5
    |
    +2
    |
    +2
    |Blinding spittle 3/encounter, evil eye (fear)
    7th|+7|
    +5
    |
    +2
    |
    +2
    |Blindsense 45 ft., foresight of the lost eye, unholy wrath of Gruumsh (damage reduction)
    8th|+8|
    +6
    |
    +2
    |
    +2
    |Blinding spittle 4/encounter, hand of the One-Eye
    9th|+9|
    +6
    |
    +3
    |
    +3
    |Blindsense 60 ft., unholy wrath of Gruumsh (mind-blank)
    10th|+10|
    +7
    |
    +3
    |
    +3
    |Blinding spittle 5/encounter, blindsight 30 ft., evil eye (curse), paragon of orcishness[/TABLE]

    Spoiler
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    As you can see, in lieu of spellcasting abilities I need to fill the class chock-full of class features, some which upgrade with levels and some that appear later on their own.

    As you can see, the PrC is built on the barbarian's chassis, getting pretty much all you'd get from them: mostly rage uses per day and extra DR, but you also get newer stuff that's thematically fitting (such as all the eye-related things). The plethora of class features makes it unable to add bonus feats to the class, so there will be a degree of feat starvation; this can be dealt with a small dip in Fighter (which is more than just recommended to get as early as possible), but the build should be pretty easy to work with.

    Because most of the good stuff for barbarians remains on the first few levels, you can go for some popular choices regarding ACFs. As you can see, the amount of levels and abilities make Spirit Lion Totem a definite go, and perhaps Whirling Frenzy as you recover part of your lost raging abilities. Fighters provide the feat slots the build needs for ease in combat.


    Class Features
    All of the following are features of the eye of Gruumsh prestige class. To use most of the abilities granted by the class, the eye of Gruumsh must have only one eye working.
    Weapon Proficiency: Eyes of Gruumsh gain proficiency with the spear and the orc double axe (if they don’t have this ability already). If the eye of Gruumsh has proficiency with the spear and/or the orc double axe, he gains the Weapon Focus feat for either (or both) of the weapons.

    Spoiler
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    As with Pelor and Ehlonna, wielding Gruumsh's favored weapon and the orc's racial weapon grants you benefits. The benefits are smaller (you gain Weapon Focus but not Weapon Specialization), but you get the orc double axe proficiency for free. I might work adding some other spear-based weapons, such as the longspear, in order to cover a bit more (for example lockdown builds, if you actually plan to build for it).


    Rage (Ex): At 1st level, an eye of Gruumsh can fly into a rage much like a barbarian does. He gains the ability to rage as that of a barbarian whose level is equal to his eye of Gruumsh class level, plus levels in barbarian or any other class that grants the rage class ability. He also gains the greater rage and mighty rage abilities if his level is high enough, but not any other abilities a barbarian may gain.

    Spoiler
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    This ability appeared with the Eye of Gruumsh, but I decided to polish it a bit more. The original only stacked for purposes of granting extra uses of rage, but this one also stacks for improvements to rage. While you don't get Indomitable Will or Tireless Rage, you do get mighty rage for sure at or before 10th level, depending on your levels in barbarian.

    So what happens if you eventually return to barbarian? Consider yourself as a character of a level equal to your barbarian level PLUS your eye of Gruumsh level for that purpose. Thus, a barbarian 6/eye of Gruumsh 10 that takes another level of barbarian gains all class abilities of 7th level (essentially, damage reduction); gaining another level (and thus going 8th level) doesn't grant an extra use of rage per day, since you'd be treated in that case as an 18th level barbarian. That means entering the class for more than 3 levels will make you lose Tireless Rage (as you require being an actual 17th level barbarian); you may figure that the exchange is worthy enough to lose the ability to no longer be fatigued.


    Blindsense (Su): The loss of his right eye is no true loss for the one whom has entered service towards the One-Eye. Even if he only has one eye, he has unparalleled clarity of vision. A 1st level eye of Gruumsh gains blindsense up to 10 ft.; at every even level, the range of his blindsense increases as indicated on the table above, up to 60 ft. at 9th level.

    Spoiler
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    Blindsight too early would be devastating, even at 5 ft. The Eye of Gruumsh, however, delivers Blindsight far too late. To compensate, since you already have Blind-Fight, you gain the ability to sense the general location of enemies and gain an improved chance of striking them, hence getting poor man's blindsight up to 60 ft. while you get the real deal. And of course, you WILL get the real deal eventually.


    Unholy Wrath of Gruumsh (Su): Most barbarians are capable of unstoppable rages, but orc barbarians are truly a sight to behold. An eye of Gruumsh has reached a point of understanding regarding his deity that he can manifest a tiny amount of Gruumsh’s unholy power when he abandons himself into the heat of battle, eventually becoming truly unstoppable.

    At 1st level, whenever an eye of Gruumsh rages, he gains a +2 bonus to Strength. This bonus stacks with any other type of increase to Strength, including that granted by the rage ability; thus, a 10th level barbarian/1st level eye of Gruumsh has a +8 bonus to Strength whenever he rages.

    At 3rd level, the skin of the eye of Gruumsh hardens, becoming more resilient and capable of resisting blows while flying on a rage. He gains an enhancement bonus to natural armor equal to half his class level plus 2 while raging; this allows to effectively cancel the penalty to Armor Class while raging and still gain a bonus.

    At 5th level, the eye of Gruumsh increases in size, gaining all the benefits and penalties of increased size while raging, except as follows; the size bonus to Strength he gains from raging is +4, and he also gains a +2 size bonus to Constitution.

    At 7th level, the eye of Gruumsh gains damage reduction 5 while raging, bypassed only by good-aligned weapons. If the eye of Gruumsh has the damage reduction ability gained by a barbarian, he adds twice the amount of damage reduction he gained through means of said ability to this damage reduction.

    At 9th level, the eye of Gruumsh has entered such a mental state that no attack to his mind can progress. Whenever he is raging, he is treated as if under the effect of a mind blank spell, except he may be affected by spells that grant morale bonuses and other mind-affecting effects that provide positive benefits.

    In order to retain this benefit, the eye of Gruumsh must remain only with his left eye. If he ever regains his right eye by any means (such as by means of the regeneration spell), he loses the benefits of this ability unless he removes his right eye (which causes 5 points of damage). If the eye of Gruumsh has a constant ability that allows regenerating body parts (such as the regeneration special ability or a ring of regeneration), such ability does not allow him to recover his right eye.

    Spoiler
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    This is meant to be one-half of the key ability granted to all eyes of Gruumsh; a veritable rage on steroids (as if barbarians weren't walking meatbags full of testosterone already...) The size increase, the bonuses to Strength (and Constitution) as well as the improved damage reduction AND Mind Blank that discerns between helpful morale spells and offensive mind-affecting effects all work with key aspects of raging.

    For example: the bonus to Strength and the size increase correlate directly with the increase in Strength and Constitution gained by raging, the natural armor bonus was an ability granted by BOTH the Eye of Gruumsh (as a natural armor bonus) and by the Blessed of Gruumsh (as a luck bonus, which was much better, since it eventually granted a +10 bonus to AC); the acquired effect remains right between, but you eventually "recover" that lost luck bonus if only for a while. The damage reduction correlates to the damage reduction gained by the barbarian, but improved; a 7th level barbarian/7th level eye of Gruumsh would have damage reduction 7/good and damage reduction 1/-, ending roughly at DR 9/good and growing stronger with extra barbarian levels. The Mind Blank effect correlates, of course, to the increased bonus to Will saves, covering one of your only flaws (poor Will saves, hence vulnerability to mental assault).

    Of course, this all depends on whether you're raging or not, but do consider you're not going on a frenzy, just a rage, which allows you to hold some control over your actions.


    Blinding Spittle (Ex): At 2nd level, an eye of Gruumsh fights in the dirtiest and bloodiest of ways. Although he uses intimidation and brute force, he also learns ways to hinder his enemies, both magical and supernatural. As a swift action, an eye of Gruumsh may unleash a spittle of bile and stomach acid to a single creature within 20 ft. that causes damage and potentially blinds the enemy. The eye of Gruumsh must make a successful ranged touch attack against the target (even if within 5 ft., which would normally produce attacks of opportunity but not in the case of this ability); if successful, the spittle causes 1d4 points of acid damage per two eye of Gruumsh class levels and forces the creature to make a successful Reflex save (with a DC equal to 10 + the eye of Gruumsh class level + the eye of Gruumsh’s Constitution modifier) or become blinded until the spittle can be rinsed. If the creature fails the save, it also takes 1 point of acid damage per two eye of Gruumsh class levels until the spittle can be rinsed (by emptying the contents of a water jug, for example). An eye of Gruumsh may unleash this attack while raging, in which case the range increases to 30 ft. An eye of Gruumsh may use his blinding spittle once per encounter per every two class levels. An eye of Gruumsh does not need to remain with a single eye in order to use this ability.

    Spoiler
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    Blinding Spittle probably is one of the cooler abilities granted by the original Eye of Gruumsh, but its ability as a per-day attack left it quite lacking. The damage was non-existent, the required action was a waste, and the effect was very nice but not enough to save the ability.

    Enter the new and improved Blinding Spittle. For starters, you deal extra damage, no matter what happens; 5d4 is a joke compared to what a barbarian can dish, but having a swift-action ranged touch attack dealing that damage really isn't. Then, if the enemy fails its save, it's not just blinded, but also takes damage over time (just a little, but it's just to make the enemy get really annoyed). Since removing the effect requires spending actions, it has a hidden third effect: the blindness AND the damage will make the ability annoying enough to force the enemy to lose an action, whether a move or a standard action, meaning you have a swift-action attack that deals damage, has the potential to blind, AND the potential to force the enemy to spend an action to remove the effect, thus it becomes a solid save or lose.

    Then you see it's per encounter, and that it grows real fast, and things get quite hectic. The fact that rage makes it WORSE (because you increase your Constitution via the rage effect AND the eventual size increase) means you'll be using this ability nearly every round, probably as part of a pounce attack (if you have Spirit Lion Totem).


    Evil Eye (Su): At 2nd level, the empty eye socket that an eye of Gruumsh sacrifices becomes a receptacle for Gruumsh’s divine power, effectively serving as his eyes. Aside from the spectacular abilities of vision granted by his deity, the eye of Gruumsh gains the ability to weaken or demoralize enemies by unleashing some of his deity’s power, at the expense of his visual acuity.

    As a standard action that does not produce attacks of opportunity, an eye of Gruumsh may direct a gaze attack upon a 30 ft. cone. All creatures within the range of the cone are affected as if a crushing despair spell has been cast upon them by a sorcerer of twice the eye of Gruumsh’s class level, unless they succeed on a Will saving throw (with a DC of 10 + the eye of Gruumsh’s class level + the eye of Gruumsh’s Constitution modifier; if raging, add the bonus to Will saves as a bonus to the save DC). After using this ability, the eye of Gruumsh loses his blindsense ability for a number of rounds equal to his class level and may not use this ability until he recovers this ability (or receives the benefit of a remove blindness spell), but otherwise has his normal sight.

    At 5th level, the eye of Gruumsh may unleash a cone of terror instead of a cone of despair, as if using a fear spell with a caster level equal to twice his class level. At 8th level, the eye of Gruumsh may focus all of his deity’s wrath into a single creature instead, allowing him to duplicate the effect of a bestow curse spell (his choice of curse).

    To use this ability, the eye of Gruumsh must remain only with his left eye.

    Spoiler
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    This is the second half of the eye of Gruumsh's key abiliites, taken from the blessed of Gruumsh instead. These are pretty decent abilities to have, even though they eventually become a bit pointless (the first two, in any case). A standard action means you'll be neglecting to do your best thing (attacking), but the penalties and the panic effect are nonetheless excellent. Fear, particularly, was chosen because it's a "save or not, you still suck" effect, and since it stacks with some other forms of fear (such as...say, demoralization? You do remember you have a phenomenally high Intimidate score, right...well, sorta), you can use it to lock enemies out. Eventually you'll lose the benefit of those two effects on just about every creature, but then you get Bestow Curse, and its whole effect.

    Now, if you noticed, you can use these three abilities while raging, and they actually get better with a rage. For starters, they depend on your Constitution modifier (because, let's be frank; a barbarian has use for Charisma for what!?), and then adds your modifier to Will saves on top. That means a free +2 to +4 on top of your huge save DC, meaning most enemies will be afflicted by it, even spellcasters. The fact that it can be done at a distance, at-will, makes it even more useful. The 50% chance of negating an enemy's actions or the -6 to a single ability score, permanently, definitely has its uses, allowing it to be a phenomenal starting act against a spellcaster (if they make the mistake of allowing you to go first, that is).

    Considering each of these abilities originally had a once per day limit, the improvement is vast.

    There's a catch, though: if you use this ability, you're sacrificing some of the potential of the eye. Waiting for 1 minute at 10th level hurts quite a bit, but that's what you get for having Bestow Curse at will. I might consider reducing the recharge duration to half class level to make it less painful, or start from 5 levels and ending with a 1-round recharge time, taking a cue from dragon's breath weapons and binders' vestige powers.


    Incite Rage (Ex): At 4th level, an eye of Gruumsh invites all other orcs to fly into a rage (even if not barbarians), losing themselves in the heat of battle with astonishing ease. All allied orcs (and non-orcs that worship Gruumsh) within 30 feet that see the eye of Gruumsh raging may also fly into a rage, lasting for an equal number of rounds as the eye of Gruumsh’s rage; however, at the end of the rage, they are exhausted (instead of fatigued). By spending two daily uses of his rage ability while raging, he may extend the benefits of his rage to other non-orc allied creatures within 30 feet.

    Spoiler
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    Incite Rage, of course, was an ability stolenborrowed from the PrC that's on the page next to the eye of Gruumsh; of course, I refer to the Frenzied Berserker. The FB has this nice ability called "Inspire Frenzy" which causes everyone within 10 feet of her to fly into a frenzy. Being that the fluff of the eye of Gruumsh is that he's the best warrior and the leader of a horde (most of the time, with a cleric of Gruumsh serving as counselor), this is basically a leadership ability. Granting many allies a +4 to their Strength and Constitution scores can be quite frightening, more if it's done as a free action or even as an immediate action, as it activates on the same action the eye activates its rage. This makes it a very potent buff, since you can activate it before your turn even goes, providing allies with a solid buff which essentially works as his own.

    Because...you did see that last part, right? You know, spending two daily uses of rage to allow every ally of the eye to gain the benefits of his rage. Lemme be clear on that one; you don't get unholy wrath of Gruumsh abilities (so no mass Enlarge Person, natch), but you do get greater rage AND mighty rage if you get them. Allow me to add, then, that incite rage used normally provides your rage to all orc allies, just as the two-use benefit extends it to all non-orc allies. Feats and enhancements don't count, but the raw benefit of the rage ability does.

    There's also the question with the "may". If you're a spellcaster, you don't want to fly into a rage (unless you're a...Spell Rager, which...hmm, just another project on the making! Gonna get to work on that one...), so you can choose not to fly into a rage. This is crucial, because that means only the allies that may benefit from a rage WILL get the benefit. They'll get exhausted, of course, but if the battle ends sooner, that means they won't be exhausted for very long.


    Blindsight (Su): At 5th level, the eye of Gruumsh observes in his missing eye more about the battlefield than he may see with his functioning eye. He gains the blindsight ability up to 15 ft. At 9th level, his blindsight extends to 30 ft. instead. This benefit applies as long as the eye of Gruumsh has the blindsense active (hence, he must lack his left eye, and the ability ceases functioning if the eye of Gruumsh uses his evil eye abilities).

    Spoiler
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    And yes, eventually you get Blindsight.

    Blindsight is beautiful, because it negates many of the most common forms of concealment: Blur, Displacement, Mirror Image, Darkness, the fogs, etc. Instead of a mere 5 ft., it begins at a reasonable 15 ft., and at 9th level it allows you to use that face slot for something better than a Blindfold of True Darkness. With the Blindsense ability extending beyond that range AND Blind-Fight, you have 60 ft. worth of senses, which makes you great at sensing danger and even striking from afar if necessary.


    Foresight of the Lost Eye (Su): At 7th level, the eye of Gruumsh receives a glimpse of the many ways he may die, alerting him to danger before it happens. The eye of Gruumsh gains an +2 insight bonus to AC and Reflex saves. Furthermore, once per day, if the life of the eye of Gruumsh is threatened (an attack that may reduce the eye of Gruumsh’s hit points to negative, or suffers an effect that might kill him but that allows a save), he gains the benefit of a moment of prescience spell with a caster level equal to his eye of Gruumsh class level. Once he receives this benefit, he is treated as if he had used the evil eye ability and loses his blindsense (and blindsight) abilities for the remainder of the encounter. This benefit activates automatically, but the eye of Gruumsh may decide to negate the benefit of this ability.

    Spoiler
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    The ability "Foresight of the Lost Eye" is basically taking the capstone of the original eye of Gruumsh and lowering it down a few levels. You see, gaining a +2 bonus at max level really doesn't work, and getting it WITH Diehard doesn't really work either. You need something that makes the ability worthwhile, and that's when the Moment of Prescience effect kicks in. Certainly, limiting it to once per day means you'll have to be stingy with it, but having the effect of an 8th level spell activated as an immediate action certainly warrants it. The payment is harsh (you lose the effect of your evil eyes, blindsight and blindsense), but a +8 to a single saving throw or AC can mean the difference between dead or alive, so use it well.

    Still...while a very high benefit, I might consider boosting it a bit so it works on twice the eye's class level. That's a +14 insight bonus right from the start, up to the maximum of +25, as an immediate action, to save your skin from certain death. It's definitely a "get free from jail" card which can give you one more chance to annihilate the biggest threat around, so it SHOULD count.


    Hand of the One-Eye (Ex): At 8th level, whenever an eye of Gruumsh is raging, he feels his deity guiding his hand, and granting an unusual degree of strength and balance with his weapons that he can use weapons he would require his two hands to wield. For the duration of the rage, the eye of Gruumsh may wield any one-handed weapon as if he was holding it on both hands, and he may wield any two-handed weapon on one hand. In both circumstances, the eye of Gruumsh is treated as if wielding the weapon with two hands, hence increasing the Strength bonus to his damage rolls and increasing the damage of Power Attack (if any). This allows the eye of Gruumsh to wield two-handed weapons on both hands and deal damage as if striking with each weapon held in two hands, but subject to the usual penalties for two-handed weapons (and their reductions, if he has the Two-Weapon Fighting feat and similar feats). However, at the moment his rage subsumes, he becomes exhausted instead of fatigued for the remainder of the encounter and for one minute per point of Constitution bonus thereafter.

    Spoiler
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    This ability will seem odd to many of you guys, and for many reasons. Obviously, the biggest winner will be the oddball build that somehow has Two-Weapon Fighting alongside other feats, and given the feat starvation, you really won't afford having even the first (though Gloves of the Balanced Hand work real well *hint hint*). It allows you to wield a shield on one hand and lose nothing of your attack power on the other one, which is another plus. However, the fact that you can dual-wield greataxes (or greatswords, if you want to go for crits) and deal obscene amounts of damage with a full attack coming from a pounce is just priceless. Damage, after all, IS the bread-and-butter of a barbarian, so you'll want the highest amount of damage available at all times. Since by that moment you'll be raging like nobody's business, that means every attack you'll be dishing unholy amounts of damage, from your rage AND your Power Attack AND maybe Leap Attack AND quite probably Pounce AND who knows if you add Whirling Frenzy to the mix AND the two greataxes you're wielding. By that moment, you're probably killing enemies from the first blow.

    So why this isn't a capstone? It works extremely well as a capstone, but there's little reason why not aim for a better one.

    The last question should be "where did you got this idea"? The effective capstone for Blessed of Gruumsh (which is NOT that weak True Orc ability) allowed the character to once per day double his attacks. That's basically Time Stands Still as a per-day ability, so that means it could be a 17th level ability, so waiting for level 20 to get it (or at least until 15th level once per day, if you're so desperate to get into the class) was really a bad idea. Then, considering you can do the same with a Belt of Battle, or another means to get an extra action, the capstone seemed a bit weak. Thus, I had to play with a clever way to exploit the main ability of the barbarian, and what better to address one of the many problems melee classes have; that is, to do any significant damage, you need to use all your hands? Thus, this is the result.


    Paragon of Orcishness (Ex): At 10th level, an eye of Gruumsh becomes the embodiment of his deity’s might. He is forevermore treated as an outsider with the chaotic, evil and native subtypes (even if the orc is lawful evil or neutral evil). Furthermore, he gains a permanent +2 increase in Strength and Constitution, a permanent +5 increase in Intimidate checks, and may rage two additional times per day. An eye of Gruumsh’s right eye becomes a small void, and thus any attempts to replace his right eye automatically miss, thus denying his enemies any chance of weakening his powers.

    Spoiler
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    This is yet another "you turn into something else" capstone, but the rewards are much better. A permanent +2 Str and Con works far better than any form of DR, and the extra uses of rage per day means you'll never run out of rages (since you'll basically be able to rage twice per encounter, and since you need only one, you'll have enough rages for your daily needs, even inciting rage in some of your allies once or twice). The bonus on Intimidate checks is also nice if you're making a build for it.

    The main trait, however, is that you won't be capable of losing your abilities by means of healing spells such as regenerate, so enemies can't use this offensively against you.


    --
    So, as usual: comments? Questions?

    Unlike the other classes, since the class is far too tied to a specific deity, there will be no alternate deities section for eyes of Gruumsh. Gruumsh exists in Faerun, and the focus of orcs in Eberron doesn't really meet the needs of the eye PrC. Perhaps other places may have a deity that fits well, but the fact is that the class is tied to the conception of the brutish, savage orc that gains his powers from a vengeful one-eyed racial god, so it's pointless to try anything else. You may pitch ideas in order to provide some needed replacements, but consider that there won't be an Eberron replacement as most of the orcs there might have their own perception of "Gruumsh" or are Gatekeepers.
    Retooler of D&D 3.5 (and 5e/Next) content. See here for more.
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    Default Re: [3.5]The Retooled...PrCs of specific deities (for lack of a better title)

    Specifically for THE EYE OF GRUUMSH, I'd make Blindsense & blindsight extraordinary abilities.
    A character that stands as the right hand of the One Eyed shouldn't be crippled by A-M.

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    Default Re: [3.5]The Retooled...PrCs of specific deities (for lack of a better title)

    Niiceee. I like it. I also agree with the (Ex) suggestion. A great class for an Orc Barbarian.

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    Default Re: [3.5]The Retooled...PrCs of specific deities (for lack of a better title)

    Eye of Gruumsh has an alternative path of entry via Half-Orc Paragon into Human Paragon via Divided Ancestry (cuz, face it, Orc Paragon kinda sucks). Just a thought for those prospective Orcish Fighters out there. Monstrous Mien and the Rage doesn't hurt, either.

    The size increase of Unholy Wrath's ability boost is a bit confusing. Are you saying the boost from size are as stated? It's kinda worded like Rage is supposed to have it already or something...

    Can you activate Foresight if you're on the Evil Eye cooldown timer? It seems odd to go into cooldown when you're already there... Also, I think you should have the cooldown of Evil Eye decrease with level, rather than increase. A CL increase shouldn't balance with making it harder to use and gimping yourself. Also, you specify CL for both Despair and Fear versions but not Curse.

    Hand works wonderfully for Orcish Double Axe users, which is awesome, as the D&D Mini of the Eye of Gruumsh can then be used as-is, which is a plus in my book. Plus support for combat styles other than THF is always a good thing.

    Finally, I think the Paragon of Orcishness losing the Orc subtype is just strange. Items and effects that key off of that stop working for you, which makes you not so Paragon, y'know?

    Otherwise, it looks much improved and worth more than just a dip for more Strength in Rage. Good work!
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    Default Re: [3.5]The Retooled...PrCs of specific deities (for lack of a better title)

    Quote Originally Posted by nonsi View Post
    Specifically for THE EYE OF GRUUMSH, I'd make Blindsense & blindsight extraordinary abilities.
    A character that stands as the right hand of the One Eyed shouldn't be crippled by A-M.
    Quote Originally Posted by Elfstone View Post
    Niiceee. I like it. I also agree with the (Ex) suggestion. A great class for an Orc Barbarian.
    There's a slight problem with that idea, though I can at least agree that Blindsense could easily be Extraordinary.

    As you can see, the sight abilities of the Eye of Gruumsh are all tied up. The fact that you lose both your blindsense and your blindsight when using Evil Eye or Foresight of the Lost Eye reference this link. While mostly a fluff thing, what it means is that all abilities MUST be Supernatural in origin, so as to indicate all come from the same source (divinity, if you wish to refer to it).

    Blindsense makes...well, sense as an Extraordinary ability by using the concept of "the loss, partial or otherwise, of one sense tends to improve the other senses". You can claim it's enhanced hearing, smell, or a combination of factors that makes them extraordinary. Blindsight is a different monster in that regard, because the way the Eye of Gruumsh sees within its lost eye can't be explained any other way than supernaturally.

    However, if I were to make blindsense extraordinary, I can't remove that ability if the Eye uses Evil Eye or Foresight of the Lost Eye, since you can't cancel an extraordinary ability by the use of a supernatural ability. So, either I make blindsense extraordinary and capable of existing on its own, or I have to keep it as-is. While I understand why blindsight SHOULD be Extraordinary (and the rules tend to provide Blindsight as extraordinary, to boot), the way the fluff is done precludes making Blindsight extraordinary (the Eye of Gruumsh is literally seeing the battlefield from both his functional eye and his missing eye, not "emitting high-frequency sounds" as most forms of blindsight tend to work), so I really have to decline that one.

    Quote Originally Posted by Cieyrin View Post
    The size increase of Unholy Wrath's ability boost is a bit confusing. Are you saying the boost from size are as stated? It's kinda worded like Rage is supposed to have it already or something...
    Mostly. The best way to indicate how it works would be as if you gained the benefit of Enlarge Person, except the size bonus to Strength is +4 instead of +2, you still get the penalty to Dex, but you also get a size bonus of +2 to Constitution. I don't intend to go with the size increase parameters from the Monster Manual, since that size increase is, IIRC, applicable only to HD-based size increases; plus, a +8 bonus to Strength and a +4 bonus to Constitution really screams broken.

    And the intention is that the Eye gains the ability to increase in size (with the specified boons and the increased dimensions) when it rages, not like if the orc already increased size when raging. So it's probably a semantic confusion.

    Can you activate Foresight if you're on the Evil Eye cooldown timer? It seems odd to go into cooldown when you're already there...
    Actually, yes. Yes you can. Think of it as follows: each time you use your Evil Eye, you need to have the eye recharge its Phlebotinum, but with Foresight, you use an emergency charge of Phlebotinum which shorts the eye until danger passes. In other terms; the effect of Foresight surpasses the recharge timer of the Evil Eye, but at a cost of deactivating all those abilities until battle ends.

    Also, I think you should have the cooldown of Evil Eye decrease with level, rather than increase. A CL increase shouldn't balance with making it harder to use and gimping yourself.
    I suggested the "start from 5 rounds and then reduce that to 1", which is mostly the same idea.

    Also, you specify CL for both Despair and Fear versions but not Curse.
    Didn't add it because it's only used to counter Remove Curse and Break Enchantment, but if really necessary, it'd be like Despair and Fear (CL = twice your class level).

    Finally, I think the Paragon of Orcishness losing the Orc subtype is just strange. Items and effects that key off of that stop working for you, which makes you not so Paragon, y'know?
    I seem to have forgotten that. Obviously you should have kept your old subtype of orc, though technically you'd be an Outsider (augmented humanoid, chaotic, evil, native and orc) by default. As a point to consider: aside from Bahamut, Tiamat, Vecna and other non-outsider deities, Gruumsh is the ONLY deity that has its humanoid subtype. Neither Corellon, nor Garl, nor Kurtulmak, nor Moradin nor Yondalla have their respective subtypes (elf, gnome, reptilian, dwarf, halfling). So yes, it would make the Eye less of a Paragon, but that's because Gruumsh is the only actual deity that keeps its subtype. If I were to make a Champion of Corellon or a Hammer of Moradin, I could go with the loss since they are supposed to be the embodiments of their races and they lack their subtypes.

    That's a quite odd thing to point out, no?
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