Dungeonomicon (3.5e Sourcebook)/Charactonomicon

Charactonomicon

“

Honestly, I sort of expected my character to be more awesome than this.

”

Many character archetypes don't fit neatly into the pseudo-European-battlefield that D&D is often concepted as, but do fit squarely into the genre that Dungeons and Dragons has become. Most notably, the unarmored warriors, swashbucklers, and talkative heroes that are perpetuated in fantasy literature. They do have a place in the D&D setting, but they really haven't been done well in the D&D rules. This makes us very sad. What follows is a re-imagining of several classes that have been with us for over 30 years, but which don't have functional game mechanics in the modern era. Some of them (like the Jester) have never had functional game mechanics, while others (like the Monk) have been playable characters at various times but aren't now.

Our goal here is to make these archetypes playable in low-level environments and high level environments without the implementation of Easter Egg class features like DM pity. A monk is an integral portion of D&D, and there should be a way to participate in combats against monsters of your level other than the current standard:

1. Massively underperform against enemies of your level.
2. Wait for the DM to recognize this as a systemic problem and throw in campaign specific treasure that will make your character awesome.
3. Use that awesome equipment to pull your weight with the other party members.

Why no Open Lock skills? Open Lock is a legacy skill that makes no sense. In previous editions of D&D, a Thief had an "Open Locks" skill and a "Find/Remove Traps" skill. In 3rd edition. Find/Remove Traps got split into Search and Disable Device. Disable Device is actually capable of bypassing any device or spell-based impediment, not just Traps these days. Heck, it even has bypassing a Lock as an example task! There's a reason that other D20 games have dropped Open Locks altogether, and we strongly support that decision. In that spirit, we've dropped the Open Lock skill from all classes in the Dungeonomicon, and suggest that you allow players to use their Dexterity Modifier in place of their Intelligence Modifier for Disable Device if they want to.

Base Classes

Monk

“

I am a Grand Master of Flowers. You are not.

”

Fantasy literature's view of the "martial artist" has about as much to do with a real martial artist as its view of salamanders has to do with real salamanders. But let's face the facts: Monks are totally sweet. They flip out and kill people with their hands. A Monk does not practice any "real" martial art, we call those people "Fighters" – a Monk practices an entirely magical martial art that only works in areas where badgers can talk and winged horses can fly.

Author of the above has been sent to hell, by the way.

Every Monk follows a different martial path that involves jumping super high and having glowing things coming off of their hands when they perform their super moves. Some monks use weapons, but most just use their hands and feet to devastating effect. Some Monks shout the names of their techniques in battle to demoralize their opponents, others stay aloof and silent during even the toughest of challenges.

Making a Monk

Monks are a combat class. They're meant to be good in combat and have a high Base Attack Bonus.

Abilities: You have a choice to crank either Dexterity or Wisdom; they'll both do the same thing for you. Aside from that, the Monk is a normal combat class.

Races: Because the martial paths of a Monk embrace all manners of comportment, from Stoic Lawfulness to Boisterous Chaos, almost every sapient race has those who take up the monk's path. With its lack of emphasis on ranged weaponry, few of the slower races turn towards these magical combat styles, and halflings and dwarves rarely become monks. The discipline emphasizes physical strength as much as it emphasizes perceptiveness and inner strength, so orcs are as likely to become monks as kuo-toa are.

Alignment: Monks may be of any alignment. Really. If a bar brawl breaks out, some Monks will try to break it up, other Monks will join in. Whatever.

Starting Gold: 2d4×10 gp (50 gp).

Starting Age: As Monk.

Table: The Monk

Hit Die: d8

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Armor Bonus
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+1	+2	+2	+2	Armored in Life, Fatal Strike, Willow Step, Fighting Style	+4
2nd	+2	+3	+3	+3	Rain of Flowers, Abundant Leap	+5
3rd	+3	+3	+3	+3	Fighting Style	+5
4th	+4	+4	+4	+4	Diamond Soul	+6
5th	+5	+4	+4	+4	Fighting Style	+6
6th	+6/+1	+5	+5	+5	Walk of a Thousand Steps	+7
7th	+7/+2	+5	+5	+5	Fighting Style	+7
8th	+8/+3	+6	+6	+6	Immaculate Diamond Soul	+8
9th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+6	Master Fighting Style	+8
10th	+10/+5	+7	+7	+7	Leap of the Clouds	+9
11th	+11/+6/+1	+7	+7	+7	Master Fighting Style	+9
12th	+12/+7/+2	+8	+8	+8	Master of the Four Winds	+10
13th	+13/+8/+3	+8	+8	+8	Master Fighting Style	+10
14th	+14/+9/+4	+9	+9	+9	Master of the Four Seasons	+11
15th	+15/+10/+5	+9	+9	+9	Grand Master Fighting Style	+11
16th	+16/+11/+6/+1	+10	+10	+10	Master of Diamond Soul	+12
17th	+17/+12/+7/+2	+10	+10	+10	Grand Master Fighting Style	+12
18th	+18/+13/+8/+3	+11	+11	+11	Perfect Mastery	+13
19th	+19/+14/+9/+4	+11	+11	+11	Grand Master Fighting Style	+13
20th	+20/+15/+10/+5	+12	+12	+12	Grand Master of Flowers	+14
Class Skills (Skill Points::4 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis) Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Monk.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Monks are proficient with all simple weapons, as well any weapon defined as a special monk weapon, such as the sai, the nunchaku, the kama, the shuriken, and the triple staff. Monks are not proficient with any armor or shields of any kind.

Armored in Life (Su): A Monk has a special Armor bonus whenever they are not using armor or shields that he is not proficient in. This Armor Bonus applies against Touch Attacks and Incorporeal Touch Attacks, and has a value of +4. Every even numbered class level, the Armored in Life bonus increases by 1. If the Monk wears armor which he is proficient in (for example: normal clothing) that has an enhancement bonus, that enhancement bonus applies to his Armored in Life Armor Bonus.

Willow Step (Su): A true monk does not seek to outrun the fist, but to anticipate it. If a Monk would be allowed to add his Dexterity modifier to a Reflex Save or Armor Class, he may add his Wisdom bonus (if positive) instead.

Fatal Strike (Su): A Monk has a natural weapon Slam in addition to whatever else he is capable of doing. As a natural slam attack, if he uses no other natural or manufactured weapons he adds his Strength and a half to damage and may make iterative attacks if he has sufficient BAB. If the slam is used with other weaponry, it becomes a secondary natural attack, suffers a -5 penalty to-hit, and adds only half his Strength modifier to damage. A monk's slam attack does a base of 1d8 damage for a medium sized monk and does more or less damage as appropriate if the Monk is larger or smaller than medium size.

Fighting Style (Su): At levels 1, 3, 5, and 7, the Monk learns a Fighting Style. Each Fighting style requires a Swift Action to activate, lasts one round, and is usable at will. Each Fighting Style must have a name (see Naming Your Fighting Style), and provides two bonuses from the Fighting Style Abilities:

Fighting Style Abilities

• While Active, your Fighting Style provides a +4 Dodge Bonus to AC.
• While Active, your Fighting Style provides a +4 Dodge Bonus to Saving Throws.
• While Active, your Fighting Style forces any opponent struck by your slam attack to make a Fortitude Save (DC 10 + ½ your character level + your Wisdom Modifier) or become stunned for one round.
• While Active, your Fighting Style allows you to make an attack of opportunity against any opponent who attacks you. This attack of opportunity must be a trip or disarm attempt.
• While Active, your Fighting Style provides you with concealment.
• While Active, your Fighting Style provides a +30' Insight Bonus to your movement rate.
• While Active, your Fighting Style allows your slam attacks to ignore hardness and DR.
• While Active, your Fighting Style provides any bonuses it gives to your slam attack to any attack you make with any weapon.
• While Active, your Fighting Style causes your slam attack to inflict piercing damage and to inflict 2 points of Constitution damage.
• While Active, your Fighting Style causes your slam attack to inflict slashing damage and to reduce your opponent's movement rate by 10' every time they suffer damage from it. This movement rate reduction can be healed like ability damage (treating 5' of movement as 1 point of ability damage).
• While Active, your Fighting Style allows you to move through occupied spaces as if they were unoccupied and you provoke no attacks of opportunity for your movement.

Rain of Flowers (Su): Any time a 2nd level Monk inflicts lethal damage, he may elect to inflict non-lethal damage instead. Any time a Monk inflicts non-lethal damage, he may elect to inflict lethal damage instead.

Abundant Leap (Su): At 2nd level, a Monk's ability to jump is unbounded by his height. In addition, the DC for any jump check is divided by two.

Diamond Soul (Su): At 4th level, the Monk gains Spell Resistance equal to 5 + his character level. At 8th level, his soul becomes immaculate and his Spell Resistance improves to 10 + character level, and at 16th level he masters his diamond soul and his spell resistance improves to 15 + character level.

Walk of a Thousand Steps (Su): Once per day, a Monk of sixth level or higher may activate a Fighting Style and extend its duration to 1 round/level rather than 1 round. Activating this Fighting Style is still a Swift Action. Other Fighting Styles may be activated during this period, though their duration is normally going to be only 1 round.

Master Fighting Style (Su): At levels 9, 11, and 13, the Monk learns a Master Fighting Style. Each Master Fighting style requires a Swift Action to activate, lasts one round, and is usable at will. Each Master Fighting Style must have a name (see Naming Your Fighting Style), and provides two bonuses from the Master Fighting Style Abilities. When a Monk gains a new Master Fighting Style, he may replace one of his Fighting Styles with a different Fighting Style.

Master Fighting Style Abilities

• While Active, your Master Fighting Style allows you to teleport yourself and everything you are physically carrying 60 feet in any direction as a free action usable once per round.
• While Active, your Master Fighting Style provides total concealment.
• While Active, your Master Fighting Style transforms your slam attacks into Force effects that inflict Force damage.
• While Active, your Master Fighting Style affects any creature struck with your slam attack with a banishment effect that transports it back to its home plane unless it succeeds at a Will save (DC 10 + ½ character level + Wisdom Modifier). Outsiders suffer a -4 penalty to their saving throw. A creature so banished may not return to the plane from which it was banished for a year.
• While Active, your Master Fighting Style forces any creature struck by your slam attack to make a Reflex Save (DC 10 + ½ character level + Wisdom Modifier) or be helpless for one round.
• While Active, your Master Fighting Style provides you the effect of an air walk spell, and gives you a +20' competence bonus to your speed.
• While Active, your Master Fighting Style affects any opponent you successfully trip or bull rush with the violent thrust version of telekinesis, with a caster level equal to your character level. There is no saving throw against this effect.
• While Active, your Master Fighting Style allows you to shoot fire out of your hands or mouth as a standard action. The fire can be shot out to medium range, requires a ranged touch attack, and inflicts 1d6 of fire damage per character level if it hits.
• While Active, your Master Fighting Style causes your slam attack to inflict vile damage.
• While Active, your Master Fighting Style forces every creature within 10 feet of you to make a Will save (DC 10 + ½ character level + Wisdom Modifier) or become panicked for one minute.
• While Active, your Master Fighting Style affects any target you strike with your slam attack with a targeted version of greater dispelling with a caster level equal to your character level.
• While Active, your Master Fighting Style causes 5d6 of Sonic damage to everything within 30 feet of you when you inflict damage with your slam attack against any target. You are immune to Sonic damage while your Master Fighting Style is active.
• Instead of gaining a Master Fighting Style Ability, you may choose two regular Fighting Style Abilities.

Leap of the Clouds (Su): At 10th level, the DC for any jump check is divided by 5.

Master of the Four Winds (Su): The Monk's breath of life is carried on the winds of fate. At 12th level, if the monk is restored to life, he doesn't lose a level for doing so.

Master of the Four Seasons (Su): Time passes relentlessly in the world, but for a monk of 14th level, the change of seasons is as no change at all. He no longer appears to age, never accumulates any additional penalties for growing older and will never die of old age.

Grand Master Fighting Style (Su): At levels 15, 17, and 19, the Monk learns a Grand Master Fighting Style. Each Grand Master Fighting style requires a Swift Action to activate, lasts one round, and is usable at will. Each Grand Master Fighting Style must have a name (see Naming Your Fighting Style), and provides two bonuses from the Grand Master Fighting Style Abilities. When a Monk gains a new Grand Master Fighting Style, he may replace one of his Fighting Styles or Master Fighting Style with a different Style of the same type.

Grand Master Fighting Style Abilities

• While Active, your Grand Master Fighting Style makes you and everything you are carrying incorporeal, your slam attacks are incorporeal touch attacks.
• While Active, your Grand Master Fighting Style slows down time to the point where you can act twice each round. You do not gain an extra Swift Action during your extra actions.
• While Active, your Grand Master Fighting Style allows you to punch a hole through space and time, allowing you to open a travel version of gate with a slam attack.
• While Active, your Grand Master Fighting Style prevents all [Teleport] effects from entering or exiting within 1 mile of your location.
• While Active, your Grand Master Fighting Style causes your slam attacks to reduce the spell resistance of enemies by an equal amount to the damage the slam attack inflicts.
• While Active, your Grand Master Fighting Style forces every creature struck with your slam attack to make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + ½ character level + Wisdom Modifier) or die.
• While Active, your Grand Master Fighting Style affects any target you strike with your slam attack with a disintegrate effect, with a caster level equal to your character level (DC 10 + ½ character level + Wisdom Modifier).
• While Active, your Grand Master Fighting Style causes you to regenerate. You recover a number of points of nonlethal damage each round equal to your character level. Unarmed or Slam attacks inflict regular damage.
• While Active, your Grand Master Fighting Style forces any opponent you strike with your slam attack to make a Willpower save (DC 10 + ½ character level + Wisdom Modifier) or become feeble minded.
• While Active, your Grand Master Fighting Style affects every target you strike with a slam attack with the violent thrust version of telekinesis, with a caster level equal to your character level. There is no saving throw against this effect.
• Instead of gaining a Grand Master Fighting Style Ability, you may choose two Master Fighting Style Abilities.

Perfect Mastery: Once per day, a Monk of 18th level or higher may activate a Fighting Style, Master Fighting Style, or Grand Master Fighting Style and extend its duration to 1 round/level rather than 1 round. Activating this style is still a Swift Action. Other styles may be activated during this period, though their duration is normally going to be only 1 round.

Grand Master of Flowers: At 20th level, the Monk becomes an Outsider, and immortal of legend. He gains the augmented subtype of his previous type, and has Damage Reduction of 20/Epic.

Naming Your Fighting Style

Roll a d10, or choose an adjective, an animal, and a noun:

d10	Adjective	Animal	Noun
1	Running	Ox	Fist
2	Hungry	Tiger	Stance
3	Angry	Dragon	Spinning Kick
4	Naked	Crane	Attack
5	Drunken	Monkey	Technique
6	Fortunate	Turtle	Style
7	Lazy	Manticore	Dance
8	Swift	Serpent	Movement
9	Powerful	Hummingbird	Touch
10	Enlightened	Demon	Fu

Note from the authors: Feel free to add any adjectives, animals, or nouns that you want. There's no reason that your character's fighting style has to be called "Naked Tiger Stance" rather than "Astonished Centaur Defense".

Jester

“

Well no, but if I was doing it to anyone else, you'd think it was funny.

”

To be a Jester is to see the joke in every tragedy. For them, life's a party, and most poor bastards are not invited. They live hard, play hard, and laugh hard knowing that at any moment their life might be cut short by an uncaring world. Jesters may play at being buffoons, but each is a student of life and of people, and they understand not only what makes people laugh, but what makes them cry. As adventurers, they often appreciate baubles and magical trinkets as much as anyone else, but their main goal is to have fun. When fighting enemies, their sense of humor takes a macabre and dark turn, becoming cruel and vicious to better demoralize their foe. As followers of the Laughing God Who Has No Temples, they are generally disrespectful atheists who wander the world looking for excitement and amusement, righting wrongs or committing crimes as the mood takes them.

Making a Jester

Races: Jesters appear in all cultures and all races have need of buffoons.

Alignment: Any nonlawful.

Starting Gold: 6d4x10 gp (150 gold).

Starting Age: As rogue.

Table: The Jester

Hit Die: d6

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Spells per Day
		Fort	Ref	Will		0	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
1st	+0	+0	+2	+0	Harlequin's Mask, Ignore Components, Poison Use	2	—	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	+1	+0	+3	+0	Laugh It Off	3	0	—	—	—	—	—
3rd	+2	+1	+3	+1	Sneak Attack +1d6, Power Slide	3	1	—	—	—	—	—
4th	+3	+1	+4	+1	Jester’s Feint	3	2	0	—	—	—	—
5th	+3	+1	+4	+1	Cruel Comment	3	3	1	—	—	—	—
6th	+4	+2	+5	+2	Sneak Attack +2d6	3	3	2	—	—	—	—
7th	+5	+2	+5	+2	Sight Gag	3	3	2	0	—	—	—
8th	+6/+1	+2	+6	+2	Low Comedy, Slapstick	3	3	3	1	—	—	—
9th	+6/+1	+3	+6	+3	Sneak Attack +3d6	3	3	3	2	—	—	—
10th	+7/+2	+3	+7	+3	Jack-in-the-Box King	3	3	3	2	0	—	—
11th	+8/+3	+3	+7	+3	Sneak Attack +4d6	3	3	3	3	1	—	—
12th	+9/+4	+4	+8	+4	Killer Clown	3	3	3	3	2	—	—
13th	+9/+4	+4	+8	+4	Sneak Attack +5d6	3	3	3	3	2	0	—
14th	+10/+5	+4	+9	+4	Annoy the Gods	4	3	3	3	3	1	—
15th	+11/+6/+6	+5	+9	+5	Sneak Attack +6d6	4	4	3	3	3	2	—
16th	+12/+7/+7	+5	+10	+5	Prat Fall	4	4	4	3	3	2	0
17th	+12/+7/+7	+5	+10	+5	Sneak Attack +7d6	4	4	4	4	3	3	1
18th	+13/+8/+8	+6	+11	+6	Last Trick	4	4	4	4	4	3	2
19th	+14/+9/+9	+6	+11	+6	Sneak Attack +8d6	4	4	4	4	4	4	3
20th	+15/+10/+10	+6	+12	+6	Eternal Trickster	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Class Skills (Skill Points::6 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis) Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), Use Magic Device (Cha).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the jester.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Jesters are proficient with light armor but not with shields of any kind. A jester is proficient with no weapons, but suffers no attack penalty for using a weapon with which they are not proficient or which is made for a character of a different size than themselves. Even, perhaps especially, improvised weapons may be used without the usual -4 penalty.

Spells: The jester is an Arcane Spellcaster with the same spells per day progression as a bard. A jester automatically knows every spell on his spell list. He can cast any spell he knows without preparing them ahead of time, provided that spell slots of an appropriate level are still available. To cast a jester spell, he must have a Charisma at least equal to 10 + the spell level. The DC of the jester's spells is Charisma based and the bonus spells are Charisma based. Jesters choose their spells from the following list:

0—Alarm, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Grease, Unseen Servant, Ventriloquism

1st—Fire Trap, Glitterdust, Magic Mouth, Misdirection, Pyrotechnics, Reduce Person, Sleet Storm, Tasha's Uncontrollable Hideous Laughter, Teleport Trap, Touch of Idiocy

2nd—Baleful Transposition, Explosive Runes, Glyph of Warding, Rage, Rope Trick, Secret Page, Sepia Snake Sigil, Unluck

3rd—Feeblemind, Minor Globe of Invulnerability, Modify Memory, Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound, Nightmare, Servant Horde, Shrink Item

4th—Globe of Invulnerability, Greater Glyph of Warding, Insect Plague, Persistent Image, Sword of Deception, Symbol of Weakness, Tree Shape, Wood Rot

5th—Bigby's Interposing Hand, Energy Immunity, Eyebite, Repulsion, Screen, Symbol of Insanity, Telekinesis

6th—Creeping Doom, Insanity, Refuge, Symbol of Sleep, Symbol of Stunning, Temporal Stasis

Poison Use (Ex): A Jester may prepare, apply, and use poison without any chance of poisoning himself.

Ignore Components: A Jester may cast spells from the Jester list without using material components, regardless of whether they are costly or not. This has no effect on any spells that a Jester casts from any other spell-list.

Harlequin's Mask (Ex): As long as a Jester’s face is painted, masked, or adorned in the manner of a harlequin or other comedic figure, he is immune to compulsion effects.

Laugh It Off (Ex): Fate protects fools and little children, and Jesters certainly adopt the role of fools. At 2nd level, a Jester may add his Charisma modifier as a morale bonus to his saves.

Power Slide (Ex): If a 3rd level Jester takes damage from an attack, he may allow himself to be flung backwards, thereby lessening the impact. He may make a Balance check with a DC equal to the damage inflicted and, if he succeeds, he suffers only half damage. This is a skill check, not a Saving Throw, so abilities such as Evasion do not apply. He is moved away from the source of damage by 5' for every 5 points of damage (or part there of) negated in this way. If there is not enough space for him to move, he suffers a d6 of damage for each square not moved. If he passes through an occupied square, the Jester would have to make a tumble check to avoid attacks of opportunity.

If this ability is gained from another class, then the Jester may choose to increase or decrease the total distance moved by 50% (so a Power Slide that negated 12 points of damage can cause him to move 5’, 10’, or 15’ at his choice).

Sneak Attack: At 3rd level, a Jester gains the ability to make sneak attacks as a rogue would. At 3rd level, his sneak attacks inflict 1 extra d6 of damage, and this increases by 1d6 at levels 6, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, and 19.

Jester’s Feint (Ex): At 4th level, a Jester learns to shock and unnerve his enemies by throwing unexpected objects at them. As a swift action, he may toss a brightly colored object in the square of an enemy with a Sleight of Hand Check opposed by the enemy’s Spot check. If it succeeds, the enemy is denied his Dex bonus for the Jester’s next attack.

Some Jesters use objects with magical or alchemic effects that act in an enemy’s square to use with this ability, while others use colored balls, fruit, pieces of cloth or scarves, or other cast-off materials that fit the requirement of being brightly colored. Wealthy, desperate, or foolish Jesters sometime used coins or gems.

Cruel Comment (Ex): At 5th level, the Jester has learned to say extremely funny but hurtful things about others. As a swift action, the Jester can make a Bluff check opposed by the target’s level plus Charisma check. If the target fails this check, he suffers a -4 to attack rolls, saves, and all other checks. This effect lasts 3 rounds. This is a language-dependant ability.

Sight Gag: At 7th level, the Jester may apply the Silent Spell and Still Spell metamagics spontaneously to his spells, but only if he casts them as full-round actions. This ability only works with spells on the Jester list, and it does not increase the spell’s level or slot used.

Low Comedy (Ex): By using this ability, a Jester of 8th level or higher can double the armor check penalty of an opponent within 50 feet that he hits with a ranged touch attack. Using this ability is an attack action and counts as a thrown weapon. The penalty can be restored to its normal value with 10 minutes and a bar of soap.

Slapstick (Ex): At 8th level, any successful sneak attack also inflict a -2 Dex penalty to an enemy for one round.

Jack-in-the-Box King (Sp): Twice per day, a 10th level Jester may use fabricate or major creation as a spell-like ability, but only if he is constructing weapons or traps.

Killer Clown (Ex): At 12th level, so long as he meets the requirements of his Harlequin’s face ability, the Jester can make a special Intimidate check as a move action. If successful, this check causes the enemy to suffer the panicked condition for a round per Jester level. This is a mind-affecting fear effect.

Annoy the Gods (Su): As world-class pranksters, Jesters must learn to avoid the curses and transformations of enemies with a sense of humor. Any time a 14th level Jester has spent at least one round as the victim of an effect that could be removed by a break enchantment effect, the effect is removed.

Prat Fall (Ex): At 16th level, any time a Jester strikes an enemy with a sneak attack, the Jester can make a free Trip attack that does not provoke an Attack of Opportunity. This ability cannot be used on any one enemy more than once a round. The Jester may not be tripped if this fails, and it may be used with ranged sneak attacks. The Jester may substitute his Dexterity modifier for his Strength modifier for the opposed test to trip his foe.

Last Trick (Su): At 18th level, the Jester can turn even his death into a joke. Any time the Jester is killed or knocked unconscious, one of his spells known is cast as if it were spell in a contingency effect.

Eternal Trickster (Ex): At 20th level, the Jester can become a personification of the Laughing God Who Has No Temples. While meeting the requirements of his Harlequin’s Mask ability, he does not age and is under the effects of a mind blank effect.

Assassin

“

I kill people. Individually, you are a person. Collectively, I think you count as people.

”

An assassin is a master of the art of killing, a vicious weapon honed by experience and inclination to learn the myriad ways to end a life. Unlike common warriors or rogues, an Assassin does not study various fighting arts or muddle his training with martial dirty tricks, he instead studies the anatomy of the various creatures of wildly different anatomies and forms of existence, and he uses this knowledge to place his blows in areas vital for biological or mystical reasons. Stealth and sudden violence are his hallmarks, and various exotic tools and killing methods become his tools.

While most societies consider assassination to be a vile art, or at best a dishonorable or unvalorous one, the reasons that drive these killers vary. Cold-hearted mercenaries share a skill set with dedicated demon-hunters, differing only in the application of their skills. Only the most naïve student of ethics believes that all killing is evil, or that nobility cannot be found in a mercifully quick death.

Making an Assassin

The most obvious strength of the Assassin is their ability to hand out incredible amounts of damage. BUT. They may only use Death Attack, at most, every other round and their Medium BAB makes it a little uncertain about whether or not the attack will hit. Their spellcasting can be very useful and interesting--Color Spray is a good spell to have at very low levels, because it can remove an enemy from a fight in one action. The various Image illusion spells can be put to creative use, and Invisibility and Greater Invisibility can be used to let the Assassin get a Death Attack off every other round.

Your ability to choose a free exotic weapon is very handy, so you might look up a weapon such as an elven thinblade or something else finessable to allow you to get maximum use out of a high dexterity.

Abilities: Intelligence and Dexterity.

Races: Any

Alignment: Any

Starting Gold: 6d4 x 10 gp (150 gp)

Starting Age: As Rogue

Table: The Assassin

Hit Die: d6

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Spells per Day
		Fort	Ref	Will		0	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
1st	+0	+2	+2	+0	Poison Use, Death Attack +3d6, Personal Immunity, Spellcasting	2	—	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	+1	+3	+3	+0	Uncanny Dodge, Death Attack +4d6	3	0	—	—	—	—	—
3rd	+2	+3	+3	+1	Hide in Plain Sight, Death Attack +5d6	3	1	—	—	—	—	—
4th	+3	+4	+4	+1	Cloak of Discretion, Death Attack +6d6	3	2	0	—	—	—	—
5th	+3	+4	+4	+1	Trapfinding, Trapmaking, Death Attack +7d6	3	3	1	—	—	—	—
6th	+4	+5	+5	+2	Palm Weapon, Death Attack +8d6	3	3	2	—	—	—	—
7th	+5	+5	+5	+2	Full Death Attack, Death Attack +9d6	3	3	2	0	—	—	—
8th	+6/+1	+6	+6	+2	Nerve of the Killer, Death Attack +10d6	3	3	3	1	—	—	—
9th	+6/+1	+6	+6	+3	Improved Uncanny Dodge, Death Attack +11d6	3	3	3	2	—	—	—
10th	+7/+2	+7	+7	+3	Skill Mastery, Death Attack +12d6	3	3	3	2	0	—	—
11th	+8/+3	+7	+7	+3	Poisonmaster, Death Attack +13d6	3	3	3	3	1	—	—
12th	+9/+4	+8	+8	+4	Personal Immunity, Death Attack +14d6	3	3	3	3	2	—	—
13th	+9/+4	+8	+8	+4	Exotic Method, Death Attack +15d6	3	3	3	3	2	0	—
14th	+10/+5	+9	+9	+4	Personal Immunity, Death Attack +16d6	3	3	3	3	3	1	—
15th	+11/+6/+6	+9	+9	+5	Killer's Proof, Death Attack +17d6	3	3	3	3	3	2	—
16th	+12/+7/+7	+10	+10	+5	Exotic Method, Death Attack +18d6	3	3	3	3	3	2	0
17th	+12/+7/+7	+10	+10	+5	Death by a Thousand Cuts, Death Attack +19d6	3	3	3	3	3	3	1
18th	+13/+8/+8	+11	+11	+6	Mind Blank, Death Attack +20d6	3	3	3	3	3	3	2
19th	+14/+9/+9	+11	+11	+6	Exotic Method, Death Attack +21d6	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
20th	+15/+10/+10	+12	+12	+6	Killing Strike, Death Attack +22d6	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Class Skills (Skill Points::6 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis) Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), Use Magic Device (Cha).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Assassin.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Assassins are proficient with all Light Weapons, as well as simple weapons, repeating crossbows, and hand crossbows. At first level, an Assassin gains proficiency with one Exotic Weapon of her choice. Assassins are proficient with Light Armor but not with shields.

Spells:

Table: Assassin Spells Known

Level	Spells Known
	0	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
1st	4	—	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	5	2	—	—	—	—	—
3rd	6	3	—	—	—	—	—
4th	6	3	2	—	—	—	—
5th	6	4	3	—	—	—	—
6th	6	4	3	—	—	—	—
7th	6	4	4	2	—	—	—
8th	6	4	4	3	—	—	—
9th	6	4	4	3	—	—	—
10th	6	4	4	4	2	—	—
11th	6	4	4	4	3	—	—
12th	6	4	4	4	3	—	—
13th	6	4	4	4	4	2	—
14th	6	4	4	4	4	3	—
15th	6	4	4	4	4	3	—
16th	6	4	4	4	4	4	2
17th	6	4	4	4	4	4	3
18th	6	4	4	4	4	4	3
19th	6	4	4	4	4	4	4
20th	6	4	4	4	4	4	4

Spellcasting: The Assassin is an Arcane Spellcaster with the same spells per day and spells known progression as a Bard, except that he gains no more than three spell slots per level. An Assassin’s spells known may be chosen from the Sorcerer/Wizard list, and must be from the schools of Divination, Illusion, or Necromancy. To cast an Assassin spell, she must have an Intelligence at least equal to 10 + the Spell level. The DC of the Assassin's spells is Intelligence based and the bonus spells are Intelligence based.

Poison Use (Ex): An Assassin may prepare, apply, and use poison without any chance of poisoning herself.

Death Attack (Ex): An Assassin may spend a full-round action to study an opponent who would be denied their Dexterity bonus if she instead attacked that target. If she does so, her next attack is a Death Attack if she makes it within 1 round. A Death Attack inflicts a number of extra dice of damage equal to her Assassin level plus two dice, but only if the target is denied its Dexterity Bonus to AC against that attack. Special attacks such as a coup de grace may be a Death Attack. Assassins are well trained in eliminating magical or distant opponents, and do not have to meet the stringent requirements of a sneak attack, though if a character has both sneak attack and death attack, they stack if the character meets the requirements of both. As long as the victim is denied their dexterity against attacks from the assassin during the study action and the attack itself, it counts as a death attack. An Assassin may load a crossbow simultaneously with his action to study his target if he has a Base Attack Bonus of +1 or more.

Personal Immunity (Ex): Choose four poisons, an Assassin is immune to all four of those poisons, even if they are made available in a stronger strength. At levels 5, 7, and 12 the Assassin may choose one more type of poison to become immune to. At level 14, an Assassin becomes immune to all poisons.

Uncanny Dodge (Ex): Starting at 2nd level, an Assassin can react to danger before his senses would normally allow him to do so. He retains her Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if she is caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, he still loses her Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized. If an Assassin already has uncanny dodge from a different class he automatically gains improved uncanny dodge (see below) instead.

Hide in Plain Sight (Ex): A 3rd level Assassin can hide in unusual locations, and may hide in areas without cover or concealment without penalty. An Assassin may even hide while being observed. This ability does not remove the -10 penalty for moving at full speed, or the -20 penalty for running or fighting.

Cloak of Discretion (Su): At 4th level, an Assassin is protected by a constant Nondetection effect, with a caster level equal to his character level.

Trapfinding (Ex): At 5th level, Assassins can use the Search skill to locate traps when the task has a Difficulty Class higher than 20. Finding a non-magical trap has a DC of at least 20, or higher if it is well hidden. Finding a magic trap has a DC of 25 + the level of the spell used to create it. Assassins can use the Disable Device skill to disarm magic traps. A magic trap generally has a DC of 25 + the level of the spell used to create it. An Assassin who beats a trap’s DC by 10 or more with a Disable Device check can study a trap, figure out how it works, and bypass it (with her party) without disarming it.

Trapmaking (Ex): At 5th level, the Assassin learns to build simple mechanical traps in out of common materials. As long as has access to ropes, flexible material like green wood, and weapon-grade materials like sharpened wooden sticks or steel weapons, he can build an improvised trap in 10 minutes. He can build any non-magical trap on the “CR 1” trap list that doesn’t involve a pit. These traps have a Search DC equal to 20 + the Assassin’s level, have a BAB equal to his own, and are always single-use traps. He may add poison to these traps, if he has access to it, but it will dry out in an hour.

Palm Weapon (Ex): At 6th level, the Assassin learns to conceal weapons with supernatural skill. Any weapon successfully concealed with Sleight of Hand cannot be found with divination magic.

Full Death Attack (Ex): At 7th level, if the Assassin studies an opponent to perform a Death Attack, she can make a full attack during the next round where every attack inflicts Death Attack damage as long as the target was denied their Dexterity bonus to AC against the first attack in the full attack action.

Nerve of the Killer (Su): At 8th level, an Assassin gains a limited immunity to compulsion and charm effects. While studying a target for a Death Attack, and for one round afterward, he counts as if he were within a protection from evil effect. This does not confer a deflection bonus to AC.

Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex): An Assassin of 9th level or higher can no longer be flanked. This defense denies another character the ability to sneak attack the character by flanking him, unless the attacker has at least four more levels in a class that provides sneak attack than the target. If a character already has uncanny dodge (see above) from a second class, the character automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead, and the levels from the classes that grant uncanny dodge stack to determine the minimum level required to flank the character.

Skill Mastery (Ex): At 10th level, an Assassin becomes so certain in the use of certain skills that she can use them reliably even under adverse conditions. When making a skill check with Climb, Disable Device, Hide, Move Silently, Search, Spellcraft, Use Magic Device, Use Rope, or Swim, she may take 10 even if stress and distractions would normally prevent her from doing so.

Poisonmaster (Ex): At 11th level, the Assassin learns alchemic secrets for creating short-term poisons. By expending an entire healer’s kit worth of materials and an hour of time, he can synthesize one dose of any poison in the DMG. This poison degrades to uselessness in one week.

Exotic Method: At 13th, 16th, and 19th level the Assassin learns an exotic form of killing from the list below. Once chosen, this ability does not change:

• Carrier (Sp): Three times per day, the Assassin can cast contagion as a swift action spell-like ability.
• Poison of the Cockatrice (Sp): Twice per day, the Assassin can cast flesh to stone as a swift action spell-like ability.
• Killer Faerie Arts (Sp): Twice per day, the Assassin can cast polymorph other as a swift action spell-like ability.
• Proxy Assassin (Sp): Twice per day, the Assassin can cast summon monster vii as a spell-like ability. This effect lasts 10 minutes.
• Death By Plane (Sp): Once per day, the Assassin can cast plane shift as a spell-like ability.
• Dimesional Rip (Sp): Once per day, the Assassin can cast implosion as a spell-like ability. The duration of this effect is three rounds.
• New School: The Assassin may now choose spells known from a new school.

Killer’s Proof (Su): At 15th level, the Assassin learns to steal the souls of those he kills. If he is holding an onyx worth at least 100 GP when he kills an enemy, he may place their soul within the gem as if he has cast soul bind on them at the moment of their death.

Death by a Thousand Cuts (Ex): At 17th level, the assassin has learned to kill even the hardiest of foes by reducing their physical form to shambles. Every successful Death Attack inflicts a cumulative -2 Dexterity penalty to the Assassin’s victim. These penalties last one day.

Mind Blank (Su): At 18th level, the Assassin is protected by a constant mind blank effect.

Killing Strike (Su): At 20th level, the Assassin’s Death Attacks bypass his victim’s DR and hardness.

Thief-Acrobat==</noinclude>===Thief-Acrobat=

“

They put their safe on the ceiling, it's like they wanted me to take these scrolls.

”

While the common rogue is a thief, con-man, and scout extraordinaire, the thief acrobat is a highly trained specialist in the art of housebreaking and feats of dexterity and acrobatics. As an adventurer, they are masters of negotiating difficult terrain and situations with flair and panache. Masters of athletics and gymnastics, they hone their art to a level that seems to be magical to the uninitiated. Most use these skills to gain the easy score or poorly defended hoard, but some take up the life of an adventurer as a chance to test their purely mortals skills against the world full of magic and supernatural creatures.

Making a Thief-Acrobat

Races: Any.

Alignment: Any.

Starting Gold: 4d4x10 gp (100 gp).

Starting Age: As Rogue.

Table: The Thief-Acrobat

Hit Die: d6

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+0	+0	+2	+0	Acrobatic Flair, Trapfinding, Pole Jump
2nd	+1	+0	+3	+0	Evasion, Sneak Attack +1d6
3rd	+2	+1	+3	+1	Sure Climb, Kip Up
4th	+3	+1	+4	+1	Detect Magic, Grapple Line
5th	+3	+1	+4	+1	Rapid Stealth, Sneak Attack +2d6
6th	+4	+2	+5	+2	Mercurial Charge
7th	+5	+2	+5	+2	Sneak Attack +3d6, Unsettling Choreography
8th	+6/+1	+2	+6	+2	Improved Evasion
9th	+6/+1	+3	+6	+3	Athletic Cascade, Sneak Attack +4d6
10th	+7/+2	+3	+7	+3	Skill Mastery
11th	+8/+3	+3	+7	+3	Aggressive Stealth, Sneak Attack +5d6
12th	+9/+4	+4	+8	+4	Dedicated Evasion
13th	+9/+4	+4	+8	+4	Power Slide, Sneak Attack +6d6
14th	+10/+5	+4	+9	+4	Shadow Tumble
15th	+11/+6/+6	+5	+9	+5	Sneak Attack +7d6
16th	+12/+7/+7	+5	+10	+5	Death from Above
17th	+12/+7/+7	+5	+10	+5	Sneak Attack +8d6
18th	+13/+8/+8	+6	+11	+6	Supreme Skill Mastery
19th	+14/+9/+9	+6	+11	+6	Sneak Attack +9d6
20th	+15/+10/+10	+6	+12	+6	Supreme Evasion
Class Skills (Skill Points::6 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Appraise (Int), Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis) Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), Use Magic Device (Cha), Use Rope (Dex).

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Thief Acrobats are proficient with all simple weapons, as well as the sap, the shortsword, the whip, the bolas, the long staff, and the shuriken. Thief Acrobats are proficient with light armor but not with shields of any kind.

Trapfinding: At 1st level, Thief Acrobats can use the Search skill to locate traps when the task has a Difficulty Class higher than 20. Finding a nonmagical trap has a DC of at least 20, or higher if it is well hidden. Finding a magic trap has a DC of 25 + the level of the spell used to create it. Thief Acrobats can use the Disable Device skill to disarm magic traps. A magic trap generally has a DC of 25 + the level of the spell used to create it. An Thief Acrobat who beats a trap’s DC by 10 or more with a Disable Device check can study a trap, figure out how it works, and bypass it (with her party) without disarming it.

Acrobatic Flair (Ex): A Thief Acrobat may move her full movement while using the Tumble or Balance skill without suffering a penalty or increasing the DC of her check.

Pole Jump (Ex): If holding a pole, spear, staff, long staff, or other pole-like object in both hands, a Thief Acrobat can add twice her reach to her final distance moved during a Jump check, and in this instance her jump distances are not limited by her height.

Sneak Attack (Ex): At 2nd level, a Thief Acrobat gains the sneak attack ability as a Rogue. Her sneak attacks inflict an extra d6 of damage at 2nd level. This damage increases by 1d6 at levels 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, and 19.

Evasion (Ex): If a 2nd level Thief Acrobat succeeds in a Reflex Save to halve damage, she suffers no damage instead.

Sure Climb (Ex): At 3rd level, a Thief Acrobat gains a climb speed equal to half her land speed.

Kip Up (Ex): At 3rd level, a Thief Acrobat may stand up from prone as a free action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity.

Detect Magic (Sp): At 4th level, a Thief Acrobat may use detect magic at-will as a spell-like ability. A Thief Acrobat may use her Appraise Skill in place of her Spellcraft in order to glean additional information from her detect magic.

Grapple Line: At 4th level, a Thief Acrobat becomes a master of using grapples and grappling lines. By firing a missile weapon designed as a grappling weapon at an unoccupied square and doing at least 1 point of damage to an object filling that square (wall, ceiling, statue, etc) or a securely affixed object (ceiling post, small statue affixed to floor, etc), a Thief Acrobat can run a rope from his current potion to that location as a full round action. He may then use this rope to make Balance or Climb checks as normal.

Weapons designed as grappling weapons have a simple pulley and loop attached at the end and are balanced for this modification, and have at least a 50’ length of strong thread running through it and connected to a rope so that it can be pulled through swiftly. They cost an additional +1 GP each (ammunition costs as much as normal weapons), and suffer a 5 ft reduction in range increment. Many grappling weapons are made out of adamantine in order to better penetrate hard materials like stone.

Rapid Stealth (Ex): At level 5, the Thief Acrobat does not suffer the -10 penalty to Move Silently or Hide for moving at her full normal speed. She still suffers the normal -20 penalties to hide and move silently for running or fighting if she performs those actions.

Mercurial Charge (Ex): At level 6, a Thief Acrobat need not move in a straight line to charge, nor must she charge the closest available space. She still may not move back on herself during a charge, and her charge move still ends as soon as she threatens her target.

Unsettling Choreography (Ex): A Thief Acrobat of 7th level is adept at making other creatures fall down, and may use her Dexterity Modifier in place of her Strength modifier when making a trip or bull rush attempt.

Improved Evasion (Ex): When a Thief Acrobat of 8th level fails a Reflex Save to halve damage, she takes half damage anyway.

Athletic Cascade (Ex): At 9th level, if a Thief Acrobat moves before making an attack, for the purposes of flanking she may count any square she has moved through as threatening an opponent, in addition to the space she is actually attacking from. In this manner, she may even flank with herself.

Skill Mastery (Ex): At 10th level, a Thief Acrobat is able to take 10 on any Appraise, Balance, Disable Device, Jump, Hide, Move Silently, and Tumble checks even in stressful or dangerous situations.

Aggressive Stealth (Ex): A Thief Acrobat of 11th level does not suffer the -20 penalty to Hide or Move Silently checks for running or fighting.

Dedicated Evasion (Ex): At 12th level, a Thief Acrobat gains the ability to evade with almost supernatural skill. As a standard action, she can add her Thief Acrobat level as a Dodge bonus to her Reflex Saves and AC for one round.

Power Slide (Ex): If a 13th level Thief Acrobat takes damage from an attack, she may allow herself to be flung backwards, thereby lessening the impact. She may make a Balance check with a DC equal to the damage inflicted and if she succeeds, she suffers only half damage. This is a skill check, not a Saving Throw, so abilities such as Evasion do not apply. She is moved away from the source of damage by 5' for every 5 points of damage (or part there of) negated in this way. If there is not enough space for her to move, she suffers a d6 of damage for each square not moved. If she passes through an occupied square, the Thief Acrobat would have to make a tumble check to avoid attacks of opportunity.

Shadow Tumble (Su): At 14th level, a Thief Acrobat has learned to tumble through the Plane of Shadow. She may make a tumble check with a DC equal to 10 plus five for every square she wishes to pass through another plane of existence. Intervening terrain, even walls of force have no effect on movement through the plane of shadow. The Thief Acrobat's total distance moved does not increase, no matter how much of it may be taken through the plane of shadow.

Death from Above (Ex): At 16th level, the Thief Acrobat has learned to used the energy of a fall to devastating effect. If the Thief Acrobat can fall at least 30’ (by falling from a height or by using a Jump check) and end in her enemy's square, any attacks made at the end of that fall do triple damage. Sneak Attack is not multiplied in this way.

Supreme Skill Mastery: At 18th level, a Thief Acrobat is able to take 20 on any Appraise, Balance, Disable Device, Jump, Hide, Move Silently, and Tumble checks even in stressful or dangerous situations, and does not take twenty times as long as usual for taking 20.

Supreme Evasion (Ex): At 20th level, a Thief acrobat takes no damage from any effect requiring a Reflex save.

Prestige Classes

The prestige class system is as old as Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, and it has never really lived up to peoples' high expectations of it. From the original Bard on, there has always been an expectation that getting into a Prestige Class somehow should be an ordeal where you get less power now and more power later. Others think that you should get more power now and pay for it by getting less power later on. That's crap.

Gaining levels isn't like purchasing a car. You shouldn't be allowed to save up character power in interest drawing accounts. You shouldn't be allowed to borrow power from the future at heinous interest rates. The fact is that every game of D&D is a game. And that doesn't just mean that each campaign is a game, it means that each individual session of D&D is a game. And games that aren't fair aren't very fun. In the greater scheme of things it is theoretically possible to arrange a situation where one session might be unfair to one player and another session is unfair to the same player in the opposite fashion, but the fact is that in practice this is just very mean to all the players all the time. People feel it when they're being screwed far more than when the chips are stacked with them, so this sort of thing is just highly oppressive to everyone involved.

Worse, while you can create some sort of abstract proof about potential long-term balance in either the "buy now, pay later" or "save up for the awesome" models, in actual D&D games this simply does not work. It can't. While D&D is inherently open ended, each actual game has a beginning, a middle, and an end. And while it would be convenient if every game began at 1st level and ended at 20th, we know that isn't what really happens. Campaigns begin at later levels (after the pay-offs have kicked in or setups have become obsolete), and they end before Epic (before pay-offs or interest payments kick in). And this is normal. Any set up in which a character is supposed to have less power at one part of his career and more in another is unenforceable, there's no possible guarantee that both the low power and the high power period will ever actually happen in-game. In fact, in almost all cases it's a pretty good bet that they won't.

A character's level determines what they should be able to do. That's their character level, not their Class level. When a character is 7th level they should go 50/50 with a Medusa, a Hill Giant, a Spectre, and a Succubus. We know this, because that's what being a 7th level character means according to the CR system. If a character lacks the abilities or the numerics to compete evenly against those monsters, then he's underpowered. If a character has the mad skills to consistently crush that kind of opposition, then he's overpowered. And that's where Pestige Classes can come in to patch things up – because PrCs have a tendency to be available at about 7th level. So if the party Fighter isn't doing well against monsters of his level (and unless he's a pretty min/maxed build, he probably won't be), feel free to throw in PrCs for that character that are much more powerful. And if the party Druid is smacking those opponents down like a line of shots in a red light bar – then you should consider cutting him off.

What follows are some examples of prestige classes you can introduce into your game to do what Prestige Classes do well – give characters flavor abilities that they can be proud of and keep underperforming characters on track with the rest of the party.

Defiler of Temples

“

All of this stuff is sacred to Nerull, so we should desecrate it thoroughly. I'm going to need more beer.

”

The gods are jealous creatures and demand that their followers forsake the other gods. More over, they ask their most devoted followers to destroy the icons and worshipers of their peers. A Defiler of Temples is one who has taken up that cause and seeks to destroy the gods that oppose his own.

Becoming a Defiler of Temples

Entry Requirements

Skills:	9 ranks in Knowledge (Religion), 4 ranks in Knowledge (Dungeoneering)
Spellcasting:	Must be able to cast Divine Spells
Special:	Must have slain a divine caster following a god other than your own or a cleric dedicated to a philosophy you find abhorrent.

Table: The Defiler of Temples

Hit Die: d8

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Spellcasting
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+0	+2	+0	+2	Find Traps, Avoid Divine Wrath	+1 Spellcasting Level
2nd	+1	+3	+0	+3	Unreproachable Alignment, Divine Spell Resistance	+1 Spellcasting Level
3rd	+2	+3	+1	+3	Desecrate	+1 Spellcasting Level
4th	+3	+4	+1	+4	Stolen Power	+1 Spellcasting Level
5th	+3	+4	+1	+4	Mindblank	+1 Spellcasting Level

Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level)
Appraise (Int), Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Swim (Str), Use Magic Device (Cha).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Defiler of Temples.

Spellcasting: At each level, you gain new spells per day and an increase in caster level (and spells known, if applicable) as if you had also gained a level in a spellcasting class to which you belonged before adding the prestige class level. You do not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained.

Find Traps (Sp): A Defiler of Temples can cast find traps as a spell-like ability with a caster level equal to his character level. This ability is usable at will.

Avoid Divine Wrath (Ex): Magical effects created by divine magic are unable to perceive a Defiler of Temples, so a contingent effect such as a glyph of warding will not activate in the Defiler of Temples' presence. A Defiler of Temples can still be affected by a divine spell which targets him or for which he is in the area of effect. Only divine contingent effects are incapable of acting upon him.

Unreproachable Alignment (Ex): All effects that have any effect dependent upon the alignment of a character affect a 2nd level Defiler of Temples as if he had or lacked whatever alignment would cause the least possible effect. So a blasphemy would not affect him as if he was Evil, while an order's wrath would not affect him as a Chaotic individual.

Divine Spell Resistance (Ex): The powers of the gods roll off the back of a Defiler of Temples like butter off a warm sofa. At 2nd level a Defiler of Temples gains Spell Resistance of 15 + Character level. This Spell Resistance only applies against Divine spells.

Desecrate (Sp): A Defiler of Temples loves nothing more than to defile the temples of his enemies. It's what he lives for. At 3rd level, he can do it reflexively with whatever he has on hand. A Defiler of Temples is then able to cast desecrate or consecrate as a spell-like ability with a caster level equal to his character level. This ability is usable at will

Stolen Power:By 4th level, the Defiler of Temples has captured enough of the divine power from his enemies that he can use it himself. The Defiler of Temples gains one bonus domain that must be one not offered by his deity or consistent with his own philosophy. Spells can be prepared and cast from this extra domain in precisely the same manner as a normal Cleric's Domains.

Mindblank (Su): At 5th level, the Defiler of Temples benefits from the effects of the spell mind blank. Even the gods themselves cannot find him with their magic.

Ninja of Gax

“

Of course I'm not a ninja.

”

In a world of gates, planar travel, and teleportation, cultural cross-pollination is a sure result. One such product is the Ninja Of Gax, a figure of stealth and deception born of an oriental tradition adopted by outsiders in order to gain access to mystical arts of disguise and obfuscation. Unlike common rogues or assassins, these covert operatives are part of an ancient tradition of ninjas passed from wily teacher to ambitious student, steeped in secrets gained from generations of practice and discipline. Unlike the originators of this tradition, these students do not hold allegiance to lords or owe loyalty to family or dynasty, making them among the most dangerous deceivers and spies. Their skills are their own to command, and they are free to pursue adventure or wealth as they see fit, unbound by the ties that enslave common ninja clans.

Becoming a Ninja of Gax

Entry Requirements

Skills:	9 ranks in Concentration, 4 ranks in Disguise, 4 ranks in Knowledge (Dungeoneering)
Race:	Must have the Human subtype.
Feat:	Must have proficiency with at least one exotic weapon.
Spellcasting:	Must be able to cast Arcane Spells

Table: The Ninja of Gax

Hit Die: d4

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Spellcasting
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+0	+0	+2	+2	Trapfinding, Good in Black, Cover Identify	+1 Spellcasting Level
2nd	+1	+0	+3	+3	Ki Breath, Sneak Attack +1d6	+1 Spellcasting Level
3rd	+1	+1	+3	+3	Touch of the Ring	+1 Spellcasting Level
4th	+2	+1	+4	+4	Sneak Attack +2d6	+1 Spellcasting Level
5th	+2	+1	+4	+4	Ki Transport, Great in Black	+1 Spellcasting Level

Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level)
Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), Use Magic Device (Cha).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Ninja of Gax.

Spellcasting: At each level, you gain new spells per day and an increase in caster level (and spells known, if applicable) as if you had also gained a level in a spellcasting class to which you belonged before adding the prestige class level. You do not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Ninja of Gax gains proficiency with the katana, the shuriken, the sai, the long staff, and the nunchaku.

Good in Black: A Ninja looks good in black, and knows it. While he's wearing only black clothing, he gains a +2 circumstance bonus to his Charisma.

Cover Identity: A Ninja of Gax rarely admits that he is a member of an ancient Ninja Tradition. The Ninja of Gax gains a +10 bonus to his disguise checks to convince people that he is not a Ninja and is instead an ordinary arcane Spellcaster.

Ki Breath (Su): A Ninja of 2nd level gains the ability to hold his breath for an additional minute each day for each level of the Ninja of Gax class.

Sneak Attack (Ex): At 2nd and 4th level, the Ninja of Gax gains a die of Sneak Attack as a Rogue.

Touch of the Ring (Ex): A Ninja of Gax of 3rd level suffers no non-lethal damage from the Ring of Gax.

Ki Stride (Su): At 3rd level, the Ninja of Gax may walk on water for 1 round per class level per day.

Ki Transport (Su): At 5th level, a Ninja of Gax may walk through walls. By spending three rounds concentrating, the Ninja of Gax may transport himself up to 5 feet in any direction, completely bypassing any intervening obstructions. This ability may not be used if the Ninja of Gax has previously used his ability to hold his breath or walk on water that day.

Great in Black: At 5th level, the Ninja of Gax looks great in black and his self confidence is bolstered enormously when he is clothed entirely in that color. His circumstance bonus to his Charisma increases to +4.

Elothar Warrior of Bladereach

“

My name is Elothar. Your name is unimportant, for you shall soon be dead.

”

The city of Bladereach sits at the mouth of the Typhon River that flows from the Bane Mires into Ferrin's Bay. The elves of Celentian's caravan come every year to trade with the largely human inhabitants of Bladereach and sometimes they leave more than the wares of the Black Orchard Hills when they leave. The results of these dalliances find that they never fit in amongst the people of Bladereach, and are taught the hard secrets of battle that the children of Bladereach have to offer. Often, these half-elven warriors turn to adventuring.

Becoming a Elothar Warrior of Bladereach

Entry Requirements

Skills:	9 ranks in Use Rope
Race:	Half-elf
Region:	Must be from Bladereach
Special:	Name must be Elothar

Table: The Elothar Warrior of Bladereach

Hit Die: d8

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+1	+0	+0	+2	Way of Two Swords
2nd	+2	+0	+0	+3	Tommy, Legacy of the Waterstone
3rd	+3	+1	+1	+3	Magic Swords, Immunity to Petrification
4th	+4	+1	+1	+4	I've got that!
5th	+5	+1	+1	+4	Double Riposte, Fistful of Rubies
6th	+6	+2	+2	+5	Der'renya the Ruby Sorceress
7th	+7	+2	+2	+5	Ways and Paths
8th	+8	+2	+2	+6	Name of the First Eagle
9th	+9	+3	+3	+6	Blessing of the Gnome King
10th	+10	+3	+3	+7	Flying Ship, Your Money is No Good Here
11th	+11	+3	+3	+7	Demesne of Tralathon
12th	+12	+4	+4	+8	Mark of Ruin
13th	+13	+4	+4	+8	Sword of Kas, Dwarf Friend
14th	+14	+4	+4	+9	Happily Ever After, Khadrimarh

Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level)
Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (all skills taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), and Use Rope (Dex).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Elothar Warrior of Bladereach.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: An Elothar Warrior of Bladereach gains proficiency with the Nerra Shard Sword, the Kaorti Ribbon Dagger, and the Shuriken.

Way of Two Swords (Ex): With a single standard action, an Elothar Warrior of Bladreach may attack with a one-handed or light weapon in each hand at no penalties to-hit or damage for the weapon in his primary or off-hand.

Tommy: At 2nd level, an Elothar Warrior of Bladereach is joined in his adventures by Tommy, a 5th level Halfling Rogue from Figmountain. Tommy is a loyal cohort and gains levels when the Elothar Warrior of Bladereach does. Other Halflings will be impressed by Tommy's apparent loyalty and the Elothar Warrior of Bladereach gains a +3 bonus to his Diplomacy checks when dealing with Halflings if Tommy is present.

Legacy of the Water Stone (Sp): An Elothar Warrior of Bladereach of 2nd level has touched the fabled Water Stone, and gleaned a portion of its powers thereby. He may cast create water as a spell-like ability at will. The caster level for this ability is 5.

Magic Swords (Su): Any sword a 3rd level Elothar Warrior of Bladereach holds has an enhancement bonus equal to 1/3 of his character level (round down, no maximum). The enhancement bonus fades one round after the Elothar Warrior of Bladereach stops touching the weapons.

Immunity to Petrification (Ex): At 3rd level, an Elothar Warrior of Bladereach cannot be petrified.

I've Got That! (Sp): At 4th level, an Elothar Warrior of Bladereach can mimic the effects of a drawmij's instant summons at will. The Elothar Warrior of Bladereach does not need an arcane mark on the item, nor does he need a sapphire to call the item in question.

Double Riposte (Ex): If an opponent provokes an attack of opportunity from a 5th level Elothar Warrior of Bladereach, the Elothar Warrior of Bladereach may attack with a weapon in each hand at no penalty. This is considered a single attack of opportunity for purposes of how many attacks of opportunity the Elothar Warrior of Bladereach is allowed in a turn.

Fistful of Rubies: At 5th level, an Elothar Warrior of Bladereach finds 10,000 gp worth of rubies.

Der'renya the Ruby Sorceress: At 6th level, an Elothar Warrior of Bladereach is joined in his travels by Der'renya the Ruby Sorceress, a beautiful Drow magician. She is a Wizard 6/ Seeker of the Lost Wizard Traditions 4, and gains levels when he does. Other dark elves will be angered by Der'renya's betrayal, and will be if anything even less friendly with the Elothar Warrior of Bladereach if encountered with her.

Ways and Paths (Su): At 7th level, an Elothar Warrior of Bladereach can make his way back to any plane he's ever been to. By wandering around in the wilderness for three days, he can make a Survival check (DC 25) to shift himself and anyone traveling with him to another plane.

Name of the First Eagle (Sp): At 8th level, an Elothar Warrior of Bladereach can speak the name of the first eagle, which summons a powerful giant eagle that has the attributes of a Roc (though it is only large sized). The eagle appears for one hour, and may be summoned once per day.

Blessing of the Gnome King (Su): At 9th level, an Elothar Warrior of Bladereach has pleased the king of the Gnomes so thoroughly that he is granted a portion of the gnomish power. The Elothar Warrior of Bladereach can speak with burrowing animals and sees through illusions as if he had true seeing cast upon him by a 20th level Sorcerer.

Flying Ship: At 10th level, an Elothar Warrior of Bladereach finds a Flying Ship from the Eberron setting. And can pilot it around.

Your Money is no Good Here: An Elothar Warrior of Bladereach of 10th level gets free drinks and food at The Wandering Eye, a tavern in Sigil.

Demesne of Tralathon: At 11th level, an Elothar Warrior of Bladereach gains sole control of Tralathon, a small demiplane that appears to be an abandoned Githyanki outpost. Tralathon has several one-way portals that exit onto places on the Astral Plane, the Prime Material, and Limbo. The Elothar Warrior of Bladereach may planeshift to Tralathon at will as a spell-like ability.

Mark of Ruin (Su): At 12th level, an Elothar Warrior of Bladereach is permanently marked with the Mark of Ruin, which causes all of his melee attacks to ignore hardness and damage reduction.

Sword of Kas: An Elothar Warrior of Bladereach finds the Sword of Kas at level 13.

Dwarf Friend (Ex): The deeds of an Elothar Warrior of Bladereach are well remembered by Dwarves when he reaches level 13. Dwarves he encounters are treated as Friendly.

Happily Ever After: At 14th level, an Elothar Warrior of Bladereach becomes king of Bladereach with Der'renya as his queen. The castle of Halan Shador, that used to belong to the Lichking Hadrach is his to rule from.

Khadrimarh: A 14th level, an Elothar Warrior of Bladereach has a young adult white dragon named Khadrimarh as a pet.

Elothar Warriors of Bladereach in your campaign: You may want to adapt this prestige class to the specifics of your campaign. In other campaign worlds, the race, region, and name requirements of this class may need to be changed to fit with the overall narrative.

Dungeon Veteran

“

No. If the floor looks like a chessboard, don't walk on it.

”

Dungeons are dangerous places, and those who venture into them develop a certain paranoia that is readily identifiable. Who else would take a ten foot pole to the privy to prod the ceiling before entering?

Becoming a Dungeon Veteran

Explore a dungeon. Survive. Explore another. Survive that one. Do this enough, and you realize that there surviving in dungeons isn't terribly hard, you just have to get your mind right and never let your guard down. Also, your time in dungeons has likely given you some useful talents--like being able to see in the dark. There's no formal entry process, you just are one.

Entry Requirements

Skills:	9 Ranks in Climb, 4 Ranks in Knowledge (Dungeoneering).
Feats:	Power Attack, Cleave.

Table: The Dungeon Veteran

Hit Die: d8

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+1	+0	+2	+2	Dramatic Attack, Evasion
2nd	+2	+0	+3	+3	Darkvision, Trap Sense
3rd	+3	+1	+3	+3	Improved Property Damage, Loyal Steel
4th	+4	+1	+4	+4	Looking For Trouble, Exotic Weapon
5th	+5	+1	+4	+4	Antimagic Field, Treasure Sense

Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level)
The Dungeon Veteran's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Disable Device (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (geography) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), and Use Rope (Dex).

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Dungeon Veteran gains proficiency with no new weapons or armor.

Evasion (Ex): If a Dungeon Veteran succeeds in a Reflex Save to halve damage, he suffers no damage instead. If he already has the Evasion class feature, he gains Improved Evasion instead.

Dramatic Attack (Ex): Dungeon Veterans fight with flair and gusto and take full advantage of the exotic and dangerous surroundings their battles take place in. When a Dungeon Veteran strikes an opponent with a weapon for 10 or more damage, they may elect to perform a Bullrush against that opponent. This Bullrush maneuver does not provoke an attack of opportunity and is considered to automatically touch the opponent. The Dungeon Veteran does not move with this Bullrush.

Darkvision (Su): A 2nd level Dungeon Veteran gains Darkvision with a range of 120 feet.

Trap Sense (Ex): At 2nd level, a Dungeon Veteran gains a Dodge bonus to AC and saves against Traps equal to his Class Level.

Loyal Steel (Su): Every weapon the Dungeon Veteran throws or fires is treated as having the Returning quality once the Dungeon Veteran achieves 3rd level.

Improved Property Damage (Ex): Sometimes, it's safer just to go through the wall. A 3rd level Dungeon Veteran's attacks ignore the hardness of unattended objects.

Looking for Trouble (Ex): Dungeon Veterans spend their lives in a constant state of readiness and are unphased by attacks from any direction. When a Dungeon Veteran reaches 4th level he adds his class level to his Spot, Listen, Search, and Initiative checks.

Exotic Weapon (Ex): At 4th level, a Dungeon Veteran gains Exotic Weapon Proficiency in a weapon of his choice as a bonus feat.

Antimagic field (Sp): Once per day, a 5th level Dungeon Veteran can cast antimagic field as a spell-like ability. Caster Level is equal to character level.

Treasure Sense (Su): The greed of those who venture into dungeons is legendary. When a Dungeon Veteran reaches 5th level, he can detect very valuable items. The presence of an item or pile of coins can be felt by the Dungeon Veteran for 5' for every 1,000 gp in value of the item or hoard in question.

Master of Snake Mountain

“

Now, you muscle-bound boobs, prepare to meet your doom! Hahahahaha!

”

Dungeons are hot property. They are enormously expensive to build, and are by their nature defended from magical interventions that would otherwise render their occupants extremely vulnerable. Thus, when a dungeon is over run, it is generally not long before it gains a new occupant. The Master of Snake Mountain is in control of a dungeon, but there's no reason to believe he's the first occupant. He might not even be the second.

A Master of Snake Mountain is one who has taken control of a dungeon and used it as a military staging area to launch grand plans. Such men could politely be described as egomaniacs, and rarely have a kind word to say to anyone that isn't spoken in an extremely sarcastic fashion.

Becoming a Master of Snake Mountain

Entry Requirements

Skills:	9 ranks in Knowledge (Dungeoneering) and Perform (Oratory) -or- 9 ranks in Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) and Perform (Oratory)
Feat:	Leadership, Any Item Creation feat
Spellcasting:	Must have control of a dungeon, whether by having it built yourself or by taking it from someone else by force.

Table: The Master of Snake Mountain

Hit Die: d8

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Spellcasting
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+0	+0	+2	+2	Stable of Henchmen, Bardic Music, Code of Conduct	+1 Spellcasting Level
2nd	+1	+0	+3	+3	Disposable Monstrous Cohort, Speak with Monsters	+1 Spellcasting Level
3rd	+2	+1	+3	+3	Belittling Tirade	+1 Spellcasting Level
4th	+3	+1	+4	+4	Enhance Minions	+1 Spellcasting Level
5th	+3	+1	+4	+4	Eyebeams, Wondrous Architect	+1 Spellcasting Level

Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level)
Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather Information (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), and Swim (Str).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Master of Snake Mountain:

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Master of Snake Mountain gains no proficiency with any weapons or armor.

Spellcasting: Every level, the Master of Snake Mountain casts spells (including gaining any new spell slots and spell knowledge) as if he had also gained a level in a spellcasting class he had previous to gaining that level.

Stable of Henchmen: A Master of Snake Mountain is a landlord and his dungeon fills up will all manner of ne'er-do-wells and hooligans. Practically this means that a Master of Snake Mountain can swap out his cohort for another cohort of an appropriate level at the beginning of each adventure. This doesn't mean that the Master of Snake Mountain can simply loot a cohort's worth of equipment every adventure, because while the different available cohorts are interchangeable, they actually don't go anywhere special when they are traded out. A cohort that is traded out is not dismissed, he simply doesn't accompany the Master of Snake Mountain on a particular adventure. Such a cohort continues to be available in later adventures if the Master of Snake Mountain decides to swap back. All available cohorts gain levels when the Master of Snake Mountain does, whether they were accompanying his adventures or not.

Bardic Music (Su): A Master of Snake Mountain can produce Bardic Music effects with his Perform (Oratory) as if he was a Bard with a level equal to his class level. If he actually has Bard levels, the abilities and uses per day stack if he is using Perform (Oratory).

Code of Conduct: A Master of Snake Mountain must conduct his affairs with senseless, yet restrained villainy. He must abide by the following restrictions:

• A captured or surrendered foe may not be summarily executed, though they may be left in situations almost certain to kill them.
• A Master of Snake Mountain boasts constantly and gives believes himself far more accomplished and powerful than he is. He must explain his big plans to anyone who will listen.
• A Master of Snake Mountain must behave in a cowardly and villainous fashion. A Master of Snake Mountain may not accept a challenge he regards as fair or sacrifice himself for the good of others.

A Master of Snake Mountain who fails to abide by these restrictions loses his ability to use his Bardic Music abilities until he atones.

Disposable Monstrous Cohort: At the beginning of every adventure, the Master of Snake Mountain is followed by a monster for no reason once he reaches 2nd level. This monster must be at least 2 CR less than his character level, and will be a Magical Beast, an Aberration, a Plant, a Dragon, or an Ooze. It will follow his orders to the best of its ability, but whether it survives or not it will be replaced just as mysteriously by another monster at the beginning of the next adventure.

Speak with Monsters (Ex): The general gist of whatever a 2nd level Master of Snake Mountain happens to be ranting about gets across to any Magical Beasts, Plants, Aberrations, Dragons, or Oozes that can hear his tirades but do not have a language.

Belittling Tirade (Su): At 3rd level, the Master of Snake Mountain can use his Bardic Orations to make people feel bad about themselves. Such creatures receive a -2 morale penalty to attack rolls and saving throws and a -4 morale penalty to their Level Check to oppose intimidate checks. A Master of Snake Mountain can belittle any number of creatures within medium range as a standard action. The feelings of inadequacy last for 1 hour.

Enhance Minions (Su): At 4th level, the Master of Snake Mountain gains the ability to make grafts. He may supply grafts from any graft list, and may apply grafts from different lists to the same creature (though the maximum of 8 grafts still applies). The costs for applying these grafts are half normal, though he cannot implant grafts into himself.

Eyebeams (Su): A Master of Snake Mountain of 5th level has the ability to fire painful or deadly rays from his eyes. The Eyebeams are a ray effect with short range, and a creature struck with them (a ranged touch attack) is affected as per a symbol of pain. At his option, the Eyebeams may also inflict 4d6 of Force Damage. Once fired, the Eyebeams may not be used again for 1d4+1 rounds.

Wondrous Architect: At 5th level, a Master of Snake Mountain becomes a master of improving his own pad. He may make Wondrous Architecture in half the normal time at half the normal expense.

Seeker of the Lost Wizard Traditions

“

The old ways are the best ways. Magic in the past was capable of things you can't even comprehend.

”

Empires have risen and fallen many times in history, and each time new magics are discovered and old magics are lost. The Seeker of the Lost Wizard Traditions is a user of magic who is convinced that the way magic was used in the past is better in some important fashion. Whether they are correct or not is something that the Mages of the Arcane Order would probably be willing to argue for days or weeks. But it is undeniable that much of the magic used by the Seeker are beyond the comprehension of those who have not taken the time to explore its ancient ways. Previous generations have largely picked the surface clean of ancient magic power, and now those who wish to find the remnants of the ancient civilizations must journey deeper and deeper beneath the earth to find items that are protected from scrying.

Becoming a Seeker of the Lost Wizard Traditions

Entry Requirements

Skills:	9 ranks in Spellcraft, 9 ranks in Knowledge (Dungeoneering)
Race:	Human, Elf or Gnome.
Spellcasting:	Able to cast 2nd level arcane spells.
Special:	Must not be specialized in a school of magic other than Illusion.

Table: The Seeker of the Lost Wizard Traditions

Hit Die: d4

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Spellcasting
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Spell Reflection, Scroll Preparation	+1 Spellcasting Level
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Uncapped Magic	+1 Spellcasting Level
3rd	+2	+1	+1	+3	Burst Conservancy	+1 Spellcasting Level
4th	+3	+1	+1	+4	Harvest Magic	+1 Spellcasting Level
5th	+3	+1	+1	+4	Expanse of the Sky	+1 Spellcasting Level
6th	+4	+2	+2	+5	Temporary Portal	+1 Spellcasting Level
7th	+5	+2	+2	+5	Unbreachable Stone Defense	+1 Spellcasting Level

Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level)
Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather Information (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), and Swim (Str).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Seeker of the Lost Wizard Traditions:

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Seeker of the Lost Wizard Traditions gains no proficiency with any weapons or armor. However, a Seeker of the Lost Wizard Traditions is considered proficient with any magic sword he holds.

Spellcasting: Every level, the Seeker of the Lost Wizard Traditions casts spells (including gaining any new spell slots and spell knowledge) as if he had also gained a level in a spellcasting class he had previous to gaining that level.

Spell Reflection (Su): A Seeker of the Lost Wizard Traditions may reflect spells with a line area of effect off of walls. The spell may either bounce off at an appropriate angle (angle of incidence equals angle of refraction) or straight back towards the caster at his whim. Creatures whose spaces are entered twice by a bouncing spell effect are affected twice.

Scroll Preparation: A Seeker of the Lost Wizard Traditions may prepare his daily spells from any magical writing that he has deciphered without harming himself or the magical writing. Many Seekers take magical scrolls and bind them together into book form because magical scrolls take up less room in a book than do normal pages of spell formulae.

Uncapped Magic: At 2nd level, spells cast by a Seeker of the Lost Wizard Traditions do not have maximum level-dependent effects.

Burst Conservancy (Su): At 3rd level, the spells cast by a Seeker of the Lost Wizard Traditions attempt to fill all available space. Every square that a spell with a burst area of effect is prevented from occupying because of a wall or similar obstruction is added to the other side of the effect's area. For example, a fireball takes up 44 squares when used without obstructions. When used in a long, 10' wide hallway by a Seeker of the Lost Wizard Traditions, the fireball would extend to be 110' long.

Harvest Magic (Ex): A 4th level Seeker of the Lost Wizard Traditions can cut pieces out of recently killed monsters that are useful in item creation. An Aberration, Dragon, Magical Beast, Ooze, or Outsider that has been successfully identified with the appropriate knowledge skill by the Seeker of the Lost Wizard Traditions and killed within the last hour can have one of its organs harvested by the Seeker in a 10 minute procedure that preserves some of the magical power of the creature. The magical portions of such a creature are worth 50 gp and 2 XP towards item creation per CR of the monster.

Expanse of the Sky (Su): At 5th level, a Seeker of the Lost Wizard Traditions may double the ranges and areas of his spell effects when he is outdoors. As long as the Seeker of the Lost Wizard Traditions has an open sky over his head, every 10' cube in a spell description is a 20' cube, every 30' cone is a 60' cone, and so on and so on. Essentially, all of his spells benefit from Widen and Enlarge Spell

Temporary Portal (Su): When a 6th level Seeker of the Lost Wizard Traditions casts a [Teleportation] spell that would normally change his own location, he can create a portal from the target location to a location adjacent to himself instead of moving himself. This portal can be seen through and line of effect for spells can be drawn through it. The Seeker of the Lost Wizard Traditions may dismiss the portal at any time as a free action, and it otherwise lasts 1 round per caster level of the Seeker.

Unbreachable Stone Defense (Su): When a 7th level Seeker of the Lost Wizard Traditions benefits from the spell stoneskin, his damage reduction is increased to Unlimited/Adamantine. The hit point reserve of the stone skin is still only reduced by a maximum of 10 points per attack.

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