Sing a hymn for the greatest god! [PrC, PEACH]

[insecure]

Blessed Beseecher

http://fc68.deviantart.com/fs17/f/2007/173/b/7/Kings_pray_by_LordHannu.jpg


Find valor in the sovereign's embrace! Submit yourselves to the sake of goodness and get power in return! The ability to crush your twisted enemies and exterminate the wicked evil from this world! Let your strength be guided by only one, and make that one the mightiest!
-Argen Kerros, while preaching about his god's might



You are the messenger of your faith, granted powers by your god as you travel the land and pray to his unending glory. Honoring his might with grand words, he in return offers you a power not surpassed by mere mortals. Your glorious quest - to gather people for your great religion and to worship your almighty deity - is never-ending, always needing more people to help and always having more enemies that are needed to be eliminated. Fighting with the strength and courage of many men at once, you are ready for this task, and will do whatever is needed of you.

Requirements
BaB: +5
Feats: Iron will
Skills: Knowledge (Religion) +8
Deity: Any

Class skills (2 + int modifier): Climb, Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Heal, Jump, Knowledge (Religion), Listen, Profession, Ride, Sense Motive, Spot

Hit Dice: d10

The Blessed Beseecher
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Spells

1st|
+1|
+2|
+0|
+2|Divine prayer +1d6 (AC)|-

2nd|
+2|
+3|
+0|
+3|Favor of the weapon|+1 level of divine class

3rd|
+3|
+3|
+1|
+3|Divine prayer +2d6 (Attack)|-

4th|
+4|
+4|
+1|
+4|Enlightened boons|+1 level of divine class

5th|
+5|
+4|
+1|
+4|Divine prayer +3d6 (Damage)|-

6th|
+6|
+5|
+2|
+5|Deity's tongue|+1 level of divine class

7th|
+7|
+5|
+2|
+5|Divine prayer +4d6 (Save)|-

8th|
+8|
+6|
+2|
+6|Brief praise|+1 level of divine class

9th|
+9|
+6|
+3|
+6|Divine prayer +5d6 (HP)|-

10th|
+10|
+7|
+3|
+7|True blessings|+1 level of divine class[/table]

Class features:

Weapon Proficiencies: You gain no proficiencies with any weapons or armor.

Divine prayer (Su): Praising your god, the almighty being in which your faith lies, you are in return granted powers beyond the scope of mortal abilities.
As a standard action once per encounter, you may pray to your god, receiving a bonus to your AC equal to 1d6/2 levels + cha modifier for the next round. At the round after that, the bonus is halved, and the next round again, it's halved once more, becoming a quarter of the original bonus. After that, it disappears. The bonus is always rounded down. The bonus type is sacred if you are of good alignment, insight if you are neutral, or profane if your alignment is evil.

At third level you may assign this bonus to attack rolls instead, at fifth level damage rolls, at seventh level saves, and at ninth as temporary HP.

Favor of the weapon (Su): When you attain second level, you are granted a favor by your god. You gain the weapon focus feat in the deity's favored weapon.

If you already posses this feat, you may chose another that you qualify for instead.

Enlightened boons (Su): At the time you reach fourth level, you discover a great truth behind how to hail your deity. You may now add your wis modifier to your prayers from the Divine prayers feature.

Deity's tongue (Su):You are the mouth of your god, spreading his message from city to city, trying to gather more people to your faith. But you aren't without help in this task, as soon as you reach sixth level. You may now add your class level to your diplomacy, gather information, bluff, and sense motive checks.

Brief praise (Su): At eigth level, you unravel the secret behind how to honor your god in as few words as possible. You may now pray as a swift action.

True blessings (Su): At tenth level, you reach the true potential of your powers - both those you acquired yourself and those granted by the deity. You may now add your bonus from prayers to two things at a time.


Multiclassing note: A paladin and a Blessed Beseecher may multiclass freely between the two classes.

[Xefas]

I like it a lot.

However, I, personally, would change two things.

First, "Deity's Tongue". Diplomacy and Bluff are the two skills that (in my experience) get out of hand in their use the most, and are the two easiest skills to gain bonuses to. I would alter the ability to instead grant a permanent Tongues effect, as the spell, for Good Beseechers, and Telepathy out to 100ft for Evil Beseechers. Neutral ones get to choose (or the DM chooses based on the deity). This mimics the social abilities of Celestials and Fiends, respectively.

Second, I think the class needs to advance...something. I would suggest something like:

---------

Spellcasting: Every even-numbered level, a Blessed Beseecher gains new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if he had also advanced a level in a divine spellcasting class that he belonged to before becoming a Blessed Beseecher. He does not, however, gain any other benefits that class would gain from advancing a level. If he belonged to more than one divine spellcasting prior to becoming a Blessed Beseecher, he must choose which one to advance.

At every odd-numbered level, a Blessed Beseecher gains new spells per day as if he had also advanced a level in Paladin, if he was a Paladin prior to becoming a Blessed Beseecher. He does not, however, gain any other benefits that class would gain from advancing a level.

---------

This way, Clerics, Favored Souls, and Archivists don't get a free ride like they would with a full-casting prestige class, but Paladins, who have much weaker casting, still maintain their spellcasting utility (what little they have to begin with).

[insecure]

-snip-

On the Deity's Tongue ability: Yes, Tongues might seem obvious, and I considered it while making the class. However, as you state, there are many ways to boost bluff, diplomacy, and sense motive, but I hadn't seen any divine-based PrCs doing that, so I went with that solution.

On the spellcasting: How balanced would that be? I know, half spellcasting is almost worse than none, but still. Should I just incorporate it right into the class, or should I remove something at the same time?

[Xefas]

Incorporating the spellcasting directly into the class with no trade off would be the route I would take. I don't think it would be overpowered in the slightest.

As for the Diplomacy, it matters a lot about how a specific group plays, but I really think something other than just a generic skill boost would be more interesting for the class, regardless of how screwy the Diplomacy and Bluff mechanics are.

How about, once per week, they can have an inspiring revelation. This would work similarly to the Commune spell, where the Beseecher would have the opportunity to ask his Deity questions directly, and then, for the rest of the day, he gains a Tongues effect and a bonus on Diplomacy checks when talking to people about a subject matter pertaining to one of the questions the Beseecher asked as part of the Commune.

It would have that sort of Biblical "I just came down from the mountain, and you guys seriously need to hear what the hell Pelor just told me." feel.

[insecure]

Incorporating the spellcasting directly into the class with no trade off would be the route I would take. I don't think it would be overpowered in the slightest.

As for the Diplomacy, it matters a lot about how a specific group plays, but I really think something other than just a generic skill boost would be more interesting for the class, regardless of how screwy the Diplomacy and Bluff mechanics are.

How about, once per week, they can have an inspiring revelation. This would work similarly to the Commune spell, where the Beseecher would have the opportunity to ask his Deity questions directly, and then, for the rest of the day, he gains a Tongues effect and a bonus on Diplomacy checks when talking to people about a subject matter pertaining to one of the questions the Beseecher asked as part of the Commune.

It would have that sort of Biblical "I just came down from the mountain, and you guys seriously need to hear what the hell Pelor just told me." feel.

I'll add spellcasting, then.

Also, I love your idea. Thinking about renaming Deity's tongue to Deity's mouth and make you able to cast commune once a week. As a sort of a drawback, you'll lose your class abilities for a month if you don't tell people what you've heard within a set number of days. While telling people this, you gain a bonus on Diplomacy checks.

How does that sound?

[Mando Knight]

Full previous-class casting progression might not be too bad, either. Paladins (for whom you seem to have written this PrC) already have gimped casting... though Clerics might also be attracted to a full-cast, full-BAB class since the only thing they would lose would be Turn Undead progression... though near-full casting progression (like the Eldritch Knight) may or may not be overpowered...

[Xefas]

How does that sound?

That sounds like it would work, sure.


Full previous-class casting progression might not be too bad, either. Paladins (for whom you seem to have written this PrC) already have gimped casting... though Clerics might also be attracted to a full-cast, full-BAB class since the only thing they would lose would be Turn Undead progression...


That's why I suggested full casting to Paladins and half-casting to everyone else. This wouldn't be such a bad policy for all divine prestige classes to use, really.