Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Tuhljin 12-11-07, 11:39 PM	Here's the first draft of my Bladeraver prestige class. If you have access to Fiendish Codex II and Frostburn, you may recognize some inspiration was drawn from the aspect of Levistus and the weapon/armor special material Stygian ice. The name of the class comes from FC2 and other source books: bladeravers are indeed the swashbuckler-priests of Levistus. I'm hoping the good-attack-bonus isn't too much, as skill with the rapier is something that seemed to be emphasized more than spellcasting, but I don't want to take too much of that away, either - these are, after all, that archdevil's elite priests. BLADERAVER Swashbuckler-priests, known as bladeravers, wander the world, seeking to further their patron's dark agenda by carrying out various tasks asked of them, by gathering intelligence and sometimes followers, or by simply honing their own skills so as to be of greater use in the future. These priests are minions of Prince Levistus (as he calls himself), Archduke of Stygia (Fifth Layer of the Nine Hells). They take great pride in their ability with the rapier, the weapon favored by Levistus. The vast majority of bladeravers are clerics but on the surface they do not appear to be priests at all. They typically wear flamboyant silky garb and, of course, carry a well-cared-for rapier. Bladeravers often work alone, traveling with others as they sail the seas but rarely forming lasting relationships except when doing so fits into Levistus's schemes. Not all bladeravers have levels in this prestige class - any swashbuckler-priest of Levistus holds that title - but those that do are considered to be among the elite of the clergy. This class offers an opportunity to better emulate their patron in ways that might not otherwise be available. Requirements Alignment: Lawful evil. Base Attack Bonus: +5. Feats: Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (rapier). Patron: Levistus. Skills: Knowledge (religion) 8 Ranks, Knowledge (the planes) 5 Ranks, Tumble 5 Ranks. Spells: Able to cast 2nd-level divine spells. Special: Must undergo an initiation ritual overseen by a higher-ranking member of the cult of Levistus or another authorized minion (usually a devil hailing from Stygia). A typical ritual includes subjecting the candidate to extreme cold without protection, often by submersion in arctic waters. Class Skills The Bladeraver's class skills are: Balance, Bluff, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Escape Artist, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (geography), Knowledge (religion), Knowledge (the planes), Profession, Sense Motive, Spellcraft, Swim, Tumble, and Use Rope. Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier. Bladeraver Hit Die: d8 Lvl BaB Fort Refl Will Special Spellcasting 1st +1 +0 +2 +2 Canny defense, cold resistance 5 - 2nd +2 +0 +3 +3 Acrobatic charge +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class 3rd +3 +1 +3 +3 Surefooted +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class 4th +4 +1 +4 +4 - +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class 5th +5 +1 +4 +4 Cold resistance 10, Stygian strike - 6th +6 +2 +5 +5 - +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class 7th +7 +2 +5 +5 Elaborate parry +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class 8th +8 +2 +6 +6 - +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class 9th +9 +3 +6 +6 Cold resistance 20 - 10th +10 +3 +7 +7 Spell parry +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class Class Features The following are class features of the Bladeraver prestige class. Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Bladeravers gain no additional proficiencies in weapons or armor. Spellcasting: When a new bladeraver level other than 1st, 5th, or 9th is gained, you gain new spells per day and spells known as if you had also gained a level in a divine 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. If you had more than one such class before becoming a bladeraver, you must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining spells per day, caster level, and spells known. Canny Defense (Ex): When wielding a rapier in one hand and no weapon or shield in the other, you add may add 1 point of Intelligence bonus (if any) per bladeraver class level to your Dexterity bonus to modify Armor Class. You lose this bonus when wearing medium or heavy armor. If you are caught flat-footed or otherwise denied your Dexterity bonus, you also lose this bonus. Cold Resistance (Su): You are resistant to damage from the cold. At first level, you have resistance to cold 5. At 5th level, this improves to resistance to cold 10. At 9th level, this improves to resistance to cold 20. Acrobatic Charge (Ex): Starting at 2nd level, you can charge over difficult terrain that normally slows movement or through allies blocking your path. This allows you to run down steep stairs, leap down from a balcony, or to tumble over tables to get to your target. Depending on the circumstance, you may still need to make appropriate checks (Jump or Tumble checks, in particular) to successfully move over the terrain. Surefooted (Ex): At 3rd level, you have become accustomed to the water-soaked decks of ships and the icy terrain of places like Stygia. You never need to make Balance checks when on slippery or severely slippery surfaces, and you can move at full speed over any terrain that would ordinarily require a Balance check. Stygian Strike (Su): Beginning at 5th level, you can spend one of your uncast divine spells or divine spell slots of 1st level or higher as a move action to cause a single rapier that you are wielding to undergo a temporary but potent transformation. Its blade turns into Stygian ice - a frozen sliver of the River Styx, black in color and constantly crawling with a thin layer of pale blue mist. This ice is colder than normal ice and can freeze the mind faster than flesh. While in this form, the rapier deals 1d6 points of additional cold damage per hit; if the creature hit takes any of this cold damage, it must make a DC 12 Will saving throw or take 2 points of Wisdom damage. If a creature's Wisdom has already been reduced to 0, it instead takes 2 Constitution damage. At 10th level, the DC increases to 15. An affected rapier retains its normal hardness and hit points. If the rapier leaves your hand, it immediately reverts to its normal form. Only one rapier can be affected by your Stygian Strike ability at a time; a second use causes the first to end. If a creature successfully removes the rapier from your hand by disarming you with a natural attack (such as with an unarmed strike or a claw), the creature is subject to the cold damage and any additional effects that might bring as described previously (possible Wisdom or Constitution damage) as if it were hit by the rapier. Likewise, if a creature deals damage to the rapier (e.g. as part of an attempt to sunder it) using a natural attack, it is subject to the cold damage and possible ability damage. The duration of this effect depends on the level of the spell or spell slot sacrificed. A sacrificed 1st spell or spell slot causes the effect to last until the end of your turn. A higher level sacrifice causes the effect to last for a number of rounds equal to the spell's level. (While the Stygian ice described here behaves similarly to that detailed in the supplement Frostburn, this ability operates as outlined here, not as might be indicated by text there. Levistus grants the bladeraver and her rapier the strength needed to prevent the drawbacks of Stygian ice described in Frostburn, such as damage to the wielder or to the weapon itself.) Elaborate Parry (Ex): When you attain 7th level, you gain an extra +4 dodge bonus to Armor Class when you choose to fight defensively or use all-out defense in melee combat if you are wielding a rapier in one hand and no weapon or shield in the other. Spell Parry (Su): At 10th level, you gain the ability to "parry" incoming spells that target you and reflect them back on their casters. Once per day as a standard action you may gain an effect that functions as a spell turning spell (caster level equal to that of the divine spellcasting class which gained a caster level at 10th level of this class) except as follows. This effect is only capable of turning a spell back on the caster if you successfully identify the spell being cast (such as through a Spellcraft check). You also must be wielding a rapier at the time that the spell targets you and you must not be flat-footed, stunned, or helpless for any reason (e.g. paralyzed). The effect does not end if you fail to meet all of these conditions; it merely does not provide any benefit unless you do. You may choose not to "parry" a spell that is cast at you, but you must make this choice before you make any saving throws against it and before the results of the spell are known. Any spell that you do not parry, whether due to choice or because you cannot do so, affects you as normal (all normal saving throws apply) and does not consume any levels of spell turning that you have left.
Tuhljin 12-14-07, 06:34 PM	Fixed some typos. And :bump: for comments!
Kelmourne 12-15-07, 05:44 PM	Good job. Always wanted to see a Bladeraver prestige class ever since I read about them in Frostburn. Only suggestions are maybe lower the required casting level to 2nd level spells, and raise ranks in Knowledge (The Planes) to 5 ranks instead of just 1.
Tuhljin 12-17-07, 04:41 PM	Lowering the requirements to 2nd level spells could be doable. It lets you take more levels in, say, swashbuckler or fighter, instead of cleric... and 5 ranks Knowledge (the planes) isn't a bad idea either if we go that way. Anyone else have any comments on this (or anything else :) )?
Kelmourne 12-17-07, 05:53 PM	Maybe as a Special Requirement they could have to undergo some sort of ritual?
Tuhljin 01-17-08, 03:15 AM	Somehow I missed your reply, Kelmourne, despite being subscribed to the thread. Hmm. What sort of ritual would you suggest? (I could think of a few... perhaps a "polar bear" challenge could be part of it, being submerged in frigid ocean or river water... but input is nice.)
Maat_Mons 01-21-08, 04:09 PM	I think the class ought to be more powerful. Three caster levels is a steep price and the special abilities combined with three extra points of attack bonus don’t seem to be enough of a payout. Canny Defense: Your int will never be high enough to justify wearing anything less than a mithral shirt. That gives you a maximum dexterity bonus of 6. If you actually use dex to hit, your dex bonus will be too high for the contribution from your int bonus to AC to have much effect. At later levels, when your dex has rached 22, it will have no effect. This is a flavorful class feature, but has little effect on the player’s effectiveness. Acrobatic Charge: This is useful in some situations and also flavorful, but contributes little to power. Surefooted: Ditto. Cold Resistance: This is flavorful, but if you hadn’t given up two caster levels, you would have had a 6th level spell slot that could have been used to cast energy immunity, which lasts 24 hours. (You’d have also had another 6th level slot left over.) Stygian Strike: This is good. Elaborate Parry: This is three more than you would have gotten from combat expertise. That is a good ratio, but hampering your offense to improve your defense is tactically questionable. Spell Parry: I’m not sure I understand the thematic tie-in. The earliest you could attain this ability is level 17. At this juncture, you have lost 1 5th level, 1 6th level, 1 7th level, 2 8th level, and 1 9th level spells compared to a straight cleric. This ability is slightly worse than a 7th level spell. In my estimation, you are essentially trading most of three caster levels for stygian strike and three points of attack bonus. I would say it needs a little more to make that an even trade. I would consider trading canny defense and elaborate parry for a smother and more powerful AC bonus. Half your class level as a bonus to AC when fighting in the appropriate style would be one option. Stygian strike could be granted incrementally. You could begin with a version that only does cold damage. You could also have a higher-level version that does more cold damage or penetrates cold resistance. A two-weapon fighting character could have two wounding weapons by the time you get stygian strike. Such a character would deal exactly as much con damage as you deal wis damage, barring a successful save. Wis scores are typically lower than con scores for monsters, yet con damage compounds hit point damage. It is difficult to compare the two directly, but I think you would be safe giving the ability a higher save, since it is a class ability. A DC of 10 + level + wis modifier may be acceptable. The spell reflection variant class feature from complete arcane seems more fitting than spell parry. Spell reflection is weaker, however, so you would also need to devise a new capstone.
The_Shaman 01-21-08, 04:50 PM	I'm surprised that LNs and NEs can qualify, actually. Sure, that's how it works for a LE church, but the elite guard of an archfiend cult is not likely to be so inclusive... and besides, I can't imagine a non-evil character worshipping an archfiend.
Tuhljin 01-21-08, 05:11 PM	Maat: Thanks for the comments! I'll have to think those things over. A lot of those things were borrowed from other PrCs that had the same sort of swashbuckler flavor, but those other PrCs weren't especially powerful. A fast way to up the power level, of course, is to just give the character more caster levels, but I'd like to do something more interesting as well (or instead). Any suggestions from anyone? As far as how Spell Parry ties in, the aspect of Levistus has this ability, except that it's much more simple (just acts as spell turning). I thought it'd be more interesting if it actually involved "parrying" the spell in some manner, but doing that made it a bit weaker in some ways so I made it a supernatural ability (which means it can't be dispelled). Also note that this implementation is sometimes better than spell turning because you can decide to allow certain spells you aren't worried about through your defenses without "wasting" any spell levels of turning. I'm surprised that LNs and NEs can qualify, actually. Sure, that's how it works for a LE church, but the elite guard of an archfiend cult is not likely to be so inclusive... and besides, I can't imagine a non-evil character worshipping an archfiend. Yes, that's definitely something I'd change in the next revision. Edit: Maybe we could add Uncanny Dodge to this class..
Tuhljin 01-30-08, 06:18 PM	The class's requirements have been changed. Also improved the cold resistance given by the class. Still considering other changes.