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Damarkos 10-21-03, 04:43 AM

::Agent of the wheel:: Throughout Faerun, Gond is known as the Wonderbringer, the Craftmaster, and the Lord of All Smiths. Gond, and by extension his clergy, are famous for bringing to Toril knowledge of devices magical and fantastical. It is Gond who stands in command of the forces of creativity and craftsmanship. And it is by the gift of Gond that innovation comes into the world. But sometimes, there are those who steal those gifts. And it is only then that these thieves of ideas learn of the Agents of the Wheel, the Iron Fists of Gond. The Agents of the Wheel are a secret order hailing from Lantan, where the Gondite Church is the official state religion. Under the direct command of the High Artificer, the pontiff of the Gondite Church, the Agents of the Wheel hunt down, slay, and then conceal all evidence of those who would steal Church secrets, those who would experiment with concepts and technologies Gond has not yet permitted. However, despite their chain-of-command ultimately leading to the High Artificer, the Agents of the Wheel are separate from the Church hierarchy. They have to be. No-one, outside the High Artificer and certain high-ranking members of the Lantanese church, know the Agents of the Wheel even exist. And their existence is a very closely guarded secret. Merciless and without remorse, an Agent of the Wheel will hunt down and kill anyone they are commanded to by their order, without question. Their order is trained in the creation and usage of smokepowder, and they use the dangerous efficiency of these weapons to kill any who would try to steal the sacred knowledge of the Gondite Church (such as, for example, the creation of smokepowder). Nobody attempts to join the Agents of the Wheel. Obviously, such a thing would be impossible, since the Agents are a secret order. Instead, a small branch of recruiting Agents travel around Faerun, unseen and hidden by their abilities. They examine Gond’s faithful, in particular the few monk orders dedicated to the Wonderbringer. From these skilled Gondites, the Agents make an offer. If the recruit succeeds at the tests presented, they will become an Agent of the Wheel, a mechanical god amongst men. They then undergo a series of bizarre mystical rituals and scientific procedures that transform them overtime into true living machines. Armed with this mighty power, the Iron Fists of Gond set out to Faerun, to bring destruction down upon those who would defy the Lord of All Smiths. Hit Die: d8 Requirements To qualify to become an Agent of the Wheel, a character must fulfill the following criteria: Alignment: Lawful neutral or lawful evil. Base attack bonus: +7. Skills: Hide 8 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 8 ranks, Knowledge (engineering) 5 ranks, Craft (alchemy) 8 ranks, Move Silently 8 ranks. Feats: Track, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Stealthy, Improved Unarmed Strike. Patron: Gond. Special: A character must visit the High Holy Crafthouse of Inspiration in the city of Illul on the island of Lantan and have the approval of the High Artificer after succeeding at a series of tests. Also the character must slay an enemy of the Church for no other reason than to join the Agents of the Wheel. Class Skills The Agents of Wheel’s class skill (and the key ability for each skill) are: Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Disable Device (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (engineering) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Slight of hand (Dex), Spot (Wis), and Tumble (Dex). See Chapter 4: Skills in the Player’s Handbook for skill descriptions. Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier. ----------------------------- Level BAB Fort Ref Will ----------------------------- 1st +0 +2 +2 +2 2nd +1 +3 +3 +3 3rd +2 +3 +3 +3 4th +3 +4 +4 +4 5th +3 +4 +4 +4 6th +4 +5 +5 +5 7th +5 +5 +5 +5 8th +6 +6 +6 +6 9th +6 +6 +6 +6 10th +7 +7 +7 +7 Level Special ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Firearms proficiency, sneak attack +1d6, death attack 2nd Electricity resistance 5, iron body, hardness 1 3rd Sneak attack +2d6, wonder stride 4th Electricity resistance 10, iron soul, hardness 2 5th Sneak attack +3d6, sniping 6th Electricity resistance 15, one self, hardness 3 7th Sneak attack +4d6, improved sniping, merge item 8th Electricity immunity, hardness 4 9th Sneak attack +5d6, greater sniping, fast reload 10th Gondchild, ranged death attack, hardness 5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Class Features All of the following are class features of the Agent of the Wheel prestige class. Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Agents of the Wheel gain no proficient in any weapons or armor. Firearm Proficiency (Ex): Agents of the Wheel are proficient with all firearms, crossbows, and smokepowder weapons of all kinds. Additionally, they are more adept at reloading smokepowder weapons than others, and take only half as many rounds to reload. Sneak Attack (Ex): This is works exactly like the rouge ability of the same name. The extra damage dealt increases by +1d6 every other level (3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th). If an Agent of the Wheel gets sneak attack bonus from another source (such as rogue levels), the bonuses on damage stack. Death Attack (Ex): As the assassin ability except that Agents of the Wheel do not have the option of paralyzing their targets. If an Agent of the Wheel has levels in the assassin prestige class (see Chapter 2: Characters in the Dungeon Master’s Guide), they add their assassin and Agent of the Wheel levels together to calculate the save DC of their death attack. Electricity Resistance (Su): Upon reaching 2nd level, an Agent of Wheel gains Lightning Resistance 5. This resistance increases by 5 at 4th and the again at 6th level. Iron body (Su): As the Agent’s body becomes more and more mechanical; his body becomes more resistant to condition that would kill regular folk. At 2nd level, an Agent of the Wheel becomes immune to poisons of all kinds. Hardness (Su): Starting at 2nd level and every other level thereafter (4th, 6th, 8th, 10th) the Agent’s body iron body plating becomes thicker, granting him hardness rating of 1 each time this class is gained. Wonder Stride (Sp): Once per day at 3rd and above, an agent of the wheel can take a single step and pass though obstacles or distance as if using the spell dimension door. The Agent’s effective caster level for this is equal to half their character level. Iron Soul (Su): Starting at 4 level, an Agent of the Wheel gains spell resistance equal to their level the prestige class +10. If the Agent also has levels of monk, these levels stack with their levels of Agent of the Wheel for the purposes of ability. Sniping (Ex): At 5th level, an Agent of the Wheel can perform sneak attacks at up to 60 feet, instead of 30 feet per normal. One self (Su): At 6th level, the Agent’s body is so infused with magically enhanced technology that it becomes nearly impossible to change without the Agent’s consent. The Agent becomes immune to all spells and spell-effects from the Transmutation school unless they consent to it being cast upon them. Improved Sniping (Ex): At 7th level, an Agent of the Wheel can perform sneak attacks at up to 90 feet, improving their previous range of 60 feet. Merge Item (Su): Easily one of the Agent’s most powerful abilities, at 7th level the Agent of the Wheel can merge one wearable magical item within themselves as a full round action, freeing that slot. This item becomes a part of the body and cannot be removed by normal means (although it can be removed willingly by the Agent, or expelled as explained below). Additionally, any enhancement bonuses become inherent bonuses while merged, so a merged Periapt of Wisdom +2, for example, provides a +2 inherent bonus to Wisdom instead of a +2 enhancement as per normal. This would mean that the character could then gain an enhancement bonus to Wisdom from another item (or even a second Periapt of Wisdom, since their amulet slot is freed by merging the item). Merging an item with the character does not cause damage, but willingly extracting the item (to exchange it for another item, for example), causes 2d6 damage and requires a full round action that provokes an attack of opportunity. If the character enters a antimagic field, or cast dispel magic upon them, or they are otherwise the target of some kind of effect that nullifies magic (like a Beholder’s central eye ray) then an item that is merged with the agent explosively ejects from their body, dealing 4d6 damage and stunning them for 1d4 rounds. Additionally, if an item is forcibly expelled in this way, the Agent cannot merge any items with themselves for 1 week. Agents of the Wheel can merge items but cannot merge weapons or armor, or magical items which are no physically worn, such as Ioun Stones. Electricity Immunity (Su): At 8th level, the Agent’s body is so attuned to the electrical energies that empower theme that they no longer take any damage from lighting or electricity. Greater Sniping (Ex): At 9th level, and Agent of the Wheel can perform sneak attacks at up to 120 feet, improving their previous range of 90 feet. Fast Reload (Ex): At 9th level, an Agent of the Wheel can reload a smokepowder weapon as a full round action that provokes an attack of opportunity. They cannot use this ability in conjunction with other reload quickening abilities or feats (such as the Rapid Reload feat, which technically only applies to crossbows). Ranged Death Attack (Ex): At 10th level, the Agent of the Wheel can make a death attacks with ranged weapons, instead of just melee weapons, provide they can make a sneak attack per normal. It is worth noting that at 10th level, an Agent of the Wheel has a sneak attack range of 120 feet (as per Greater Sniping) and thus can make a death attack at 120 feet as well. Gondchild (Su): At 10th level, the Agent of the Wheel transcends normal biology and becomes a quasi-magical mechanical being. The Agent’s type changes to Construct, which give him the advantages and disadvantages of that type with the following exceptions: A 10th level Agent of the Wheel can heal at its precious normal rate before it was a Construct (although healing spells and potions do not function). Lightning damage, something the Agent of the Wheel was previously immune to, now heals it. Therefor, a 10d6 lightning bolt doing 52 points of damage would instead heal 52 points. Because of this, an Agent can willingly fail it’s saving throws and spell resistance against magical lightning effects if they are aware of it. Unlike a regular Construct, an Agent of the Wheel is not utterly destroyed at 0 hot points. Instead, it dies at –10 hit points like any other creature. Finally, a dead Agent of the Wheel Gondchild can be brought back to life only by wish, miracle, true resurrection, or a similar effect. Raise dead and resurrection are not powerful enough to bring a destroyed Gondchild to life.