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Serpents and Sewers: Battle Priest
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Back to [[Serpents and Sewers: Character Classes|Character Classes]] Back to the [[Serpents and Sewers|Main page]] =Role and Description= Battle priests are the more militant variety of the normal cleric. They are better fighters, but their martial training replaces the rhetorical superiority and vast knowledge of the ordinary clerics and their focus on the direct combat also makes slows down the speed with which they learn to control their spellcasting abilities. Archetypical Battle priests are historically much rarer than in fiction and not a very common appearance. The battle priest stands between the Paladin on the one, more martial, and the full cleric on the other, more mystical side. Which makes him more similar to the original cleric than the cleric - he is the guy in the full plate armor who is not going to convince the people through sermons and prayers, but through the application of good old violence in the name of his god. The battle priest is a great character for the "party healer/divine spellcaster" slot of the party. For a more militant group, he is certainly better suited, while in group less prone to violence, he can also fill in the role of the big, bad frontline fighter. Personally I think the Battle Priest is not nearly as interesting as the full-blown cleric, as he has neither the apparent weaknesses nor strengths of the latter one and is more of a brute among the clergymen in comparison to the more intellectual cleric. But sometimes it is just great to kick ass in the name of the god of your affiliation. '''Hit Points at 1st level:''' 12 + Con modifier '''Hit points at each additional level:''' 3 + Con modifier '''Class Skills''' The battle priest’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con+Wis), Craft (Int+?), Intrigue (2xCha), Heal (Wis+Con), Knowledge (history) (2xInt),Knowledge (Religion) (2xInt), Knowledge (War and tactics) (2xInt), Profession (Wis+?) and Spellcraft (Int+Wis). '''Skill Points at 1st Level''': (2 + Int modifier) x 4. '''Skill Points at Each Additional Level''': 2 + Int modifier. '''Spell Points at 1st level''': 10 + Wis modifier '''Spell points at each additional level''': 4 + Wis modifier '''Spell point regeneration (per hour of meditation)''': 1d10 +Wis modifier =Table: The Battle Priest= {| border="1" !Level !BAB !BDB !Fortitude !Reflex !Will !Special |- |1st | +0 | +0 | +1 | +0 | +2 | Turn Undead, basic energy control |- |2nd | +1 | +1 | +1 | +0 | +3 | Armored Caster +1 |- |3rd | +2 | +2 | +2 | +1 | +3 | |- |4th | +3 | +3 | +2 | +1 | +4 | Bonus feat |- |5th | +3 | +3 | +3 | +1 | +4 | simple Art of War |- |6th | +4 | +4 | +3 | +2 | +5 | Armored Caster +2 |- |7th | +5/+0 | +5 | +3 | +2 | +5 | advanced energy control |- |8th | +6/+1 | +6 | +4 | +2 | +6 | Bonus Feat |- |9th | +6/+1 | +6 | +4 | +3 | +6 | |- |10th | +7/+2 | +7 | +5 | +3 | +7 | Armored Caster +3, simple Art of War |- |11th | +8/+3 | +8 | +5 | +3 | +7 | |- |12th | +9/+4 | +9 | +6 | +4 | +8 | Bonus Feat |- |13th | +9/+4 | +9 | +6 | +4 | +8 | complex Energy control |- |14th | +10/+5/+0 | +10 | +6 | +4 | +9 | Armored Caster +4 |- |15th | +11/+6/+1 | +11 | +7 | +5 | +9 | advanced Art of War |- |16th | +12/+7/+2 | +12 | +7 | +5 | +10 | Bonus Feat |- |17th | +12/+7/+2 | +12 | +8 | +5 | +10 | |- |18th | +13/+8/+3 | +13 | +8 | +6 | +11 | Armored Caster +5 |- |19th | +14/+9/+4 | +14 | +9 | +6 | +11 | perfect energy control |- |20th | +15/+10/+5/+0 | +15 | +9 | +6 | +12 | adcanced Art of War |- |} =Battle Priest Class Features= * ''Weapon and Armor Proficiency'': Battle priests are proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with light and medium armor and with shields (except tower shields). A battle priest who chooses the War domain receives the Weapon Focus feat related to his deity’s weapon as a bonus feat. He also receives the appropriate Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat as a bonus feat, if the weapon falls into that category. * ''Servant of the Gods'': At character creation, the battle priest chooses a god he follows. He is a servant of this god’s religion and has the mission to further, strengthen and spread his faith and fight its enemies. A battle priest who grossly violates the code of conduct required by his god loses all spells and class fea-tures, except for armor and shield and weapon proficiencies. He cannot thereafter gain levels as a battle priest of that god until he atones (see the atonement spell description). * ''Spells'': A battle priest casts divine spells, which are drawn from the cleric spell list. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a battle priest’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the battle priest’s Wisdom modifier. Like other spellcasters, a battle priest can cast only a certain number of spells per day limited on their number of spell points. At first level, a battle priest gains 8 + Wisdom Modifier spellpoints, and 3 + Wisdom Modifier on each additional level. Battle priests meditate or pray for their spells. Each battle priest must choose a time at which he must spend 1 hour each day in quiet contemplation or supplication to regain his spell points. Time spent rest-ing has no effect on whether a battle priest can prepare spells. A battle priest may prepare and cast any spell on the cleric spell list, provided that he can cast spells of that level and has said spell noted in his holy book, but he must choose which spells to prepare during his daily meditation. A battle priest may know any number of spells and can learn additional spells from holy texts and scripts. * ''Domain Spells'': Each domain gives the cleric access to a domain spell at each spell level he can cast, from 1st on up, as well as a granted power. The battle priest gets the granted powers of both the domains selected. The battle priest can cast the domain spells granted by the chosen domains as if they were one level lower – they cost less spellpoints, can be channeled faster and the DC of the casting check is lower. A battle priest must choose at least one of his domains from this list: Destruction, Protection, Strength or War. Gods without these domains do not support battle priests. Spontaneous Casting: A battle priest can channel stored spell energy into domain spells that the cleric did not prepare ahead of time. The battle priest can "lose" any prepared spell that is not a domain spell in order to cast any domain spell of the same spell level or lower. * ''Known Spells'': A battle priest begins play with a holy book containing all 0-level cleric spells plus three 1st-level spells of your choice and all domain spells he is able to cast. For each point of Wisdom bonus the battle priest has, the holy book holds one additional 1st-level spell of your choice. At each new level, a Battle Priest gains a pool of 2 + Wisdom modifier acquisition points for gaining new spells, whereby the cost of every spell is equal to its spell level. (Example: A battle priest with Wisdom 16 reaching 7th level would gain 5 points to gather new spells – he could learn 1 level 3 sand one level 2 spell or one fifth level spell or five level 1 spells). Apart from this basic stock of spells and the domain spells, the battle priest has to learn all further spells from other spellcasters who are willing to train them or learn the spell from one of the holy texts of their faith. Learning a new spell requires that the source is available and takes a number of days equal to the spell’s level. The Battle priest automatically learns all domain spells when he becomes able to cast them. * ''Basic energy control'': At 1st level, a battle priest can channel one spell energy point per turn. The total sum of Energy points the battle priest can keep under control is equal to his Wisdom modifier or three, whichever is lower. * ''Turn Undead'': A Battle Priest can channel his life magic into a power that can halt, hinder and hurt undead creatures. Turning Undead is a standard action that cost a certain amount spell energy, which can be channeled into the turn attempt. Spells that have been prepared beforehand can be given up to make spell energy for turning attempts available. Since turning is no form of spellcasting, the normal limits of channeling spell energy given by the character’s energy control trait are neglected – he can invest as much spell energy as he wants into the attempt to turn undead. The costs of the check depend on the battle priest, granting a bonus on the turning check equal to the invested spell points. Every turning attempt costs at least one spell point. A battle priest can attempt to turn as many times as he has spell points left. The effect of the turning attempt is not determined with a d20, but with 2d6 (+ the battle priest’s charisma modifier and the invested spell points). The result of this roll also determines how many hit dice of undeads are turned or destroyed. * ''Armored Caster (ex)'': A Battle Priest is used to cast spells while wearing armor. At 2nd level, he reduce the armor penalty for spellcasting by one point. The more experienced the Battle Priest gets, the more comfortable he can cast spells while wearing armor. Every 4 levels, the armor penalty for spellcasting is reduced by one. This bonus is only applied if the battle priest wears an armor he is proficient with. * ''Bonus Feat'': At 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th and 20th level, a battle priest gets a Divine or Fighter Feat as a Bonus Feat. The turn or rebuke undead requirement of these feats can be ignored. * ''Art of War'': at level 5, and every 5 level after that, the battle priest gains a special ability from the ap-propriate list of Arts of War. No ability may be taken more than once. If an Art of War ability has other such abilities as prerequisites, a Battle Priest must possess the prerequisite abilities to take the ability in question. * ''Advanced Energy Control'': At 7th level, a battle priest has learned to control the flow of magic energies more efficiently. From now on, he can channel two spell energy points per turn and the maximum of energy he can keep under his control increases to Wisdom modifier +1 up to a maximum of five points. * ''Complex Energy Control'': At 13th level, the battle priest gains a new level of control over his inner flame of magic. Now, he can channel up to three spellpoints per turn, and control a maximum of spell energy up to Wisdom modifier +2 or 7 points, which ever is lower. * ''Perfect energy control'': At 19th level, a battle priest has become a master of magic. He can control the inner flame of magic so effectively that he can channel up to 4 spellpoints per turn. His maximum of spell energy that he can control increases to Wisdom mod +3 or 10 points, which ever is lower.
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