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TheVileVillain
2010-01-27, 12:12 PM
Dread Disciple of the Dark Tongue
A Vile Alternative to the Archmage Prestige Class

Description: You have dedicated your life to the mastery of the Dread Speech and have learned dark secrets that few other mortals have access to.
Prerequisites:
Alignment: Any Evil.
Abilities: Wisdom 13+, Cha 10+
Spellcasting: Able to cast two or more corrupt spells of 7th level or above.
Skills: Kn (Arcana) 15 Ranks, Spellcraft 15 Ranks, Speak Language: 6 magical or inherently evil languages.
Feats: Spell Focus: Corrupt Spells (as per the Book of Vile Darkness), Greater Spell Focus: Corrupt Spells, Dark Speech (BoVD p.48, specific uses described on p.32-33)
Special: Archmage and Dread Disciple of the Dark Tongue are Mutually Exclusive.

Dread Disciple of the Dark Tongue
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Spells

1st|
+0|
+2|
+0|
+2|Dark Resilience, Dread Arcana|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

2nd|
+1|
+3|
+0|
+3|Dread Arcana|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

3rd|
+1|
+3|
+1|
+3|Dread Arcana|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

4th|
+2|
+4|
+1|
+4|Dread Arcana|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

5th|
+2|
+4|
+1|
+4|Dread Arcana|+1 level of existing spellcasting class[/table]
Class Skills: Add the following to your class skills – Bluff, Intimidate, Speak Language, All Knowledge Skills, Concentration, Alchemy, Profession, Scry, and Search.
Skills/Level: 2 + Int modifier
HD: d4

Dark Resilience: Upon Gaining the class feature, permanently lose 1 point of Wisdom which can never be regained, not even with a Wish or Miracle Spell. You may use the Dark Speech a number of times per day equal to your level in this prestige class plus your charisma modifier without taking ability drain. Each use of this ability counts as a "charge" of Dark Resilience. Neither the Corruption ability nor the Dread Word spell use up this ability, because they do not do ability damage.
Note: If your Dark Resilience goes below zero because of charisma drain, make a DC 25 Will Save or die in such a fashion as to immediately require a Resurrection (or higher level equivalent) spell. Otherwise lose Dread Arcana abilities and Dark Speech until your effective Dark Resilience charges exceed 0.

Dread Arcana: Choose from the following list of abilities.
Dread Component: You draw the secrets out of ancient magic with your foul mutterings. Ignore one major material component (where a major material component is defined as any single material component that exceeds 1GP in value, although cheaper components can be avoided as well; material components listed as "focus" components cannot be avoided with this ability). This requires two charges of Dark Resilience to use without penalty, or take 1d4 temporary ability drain to your casting stat.
Vile Energy Blast: This functions as Arcane Fire, but half the damage is unholy fire and the other half is vile damage. If it is an uneven amount of damage round the unholy fire damage up and the vile damage down. Requires 3 charges of Dread Resilience or take 2d4 temporary Con damage.
Vile Retaliation: Gain an intelligence check (DC 10 + Spell Level) to sense any and all divination spells cast on you. If a corrupt spell of a level equal to or higher than the level of the divination spell being cast on you is prepared, take a counter-spell action to deal a Vile Energy Blast equivalent to the spell slot used (Thus you can choose to go higher than necessary) to whomever is casting the spell on you, regardless of the distance. Gaining This ability permanently takes up a charge of Dark Resilience and also deals 1d4 temporary Con damage* whenever this counter-spell action is attempted. Prerequisite: Vile Blast
Profane Mastery: Permanently lose one charge of Dark Resilience. Gain ability to use specific Dread Speech ability from the list in the Book of Vile Darkness twice per day without ability drain. In addition, you can substitute any prepared fifth level corrupt spells to use this specific form of Dark Speech additional times without penalty. Can be taken multiple times, each time applies to a different Dark Speech ability. These do not count as spell-like abilities.
Vecna’s/Shar’s Soul-Splitting Intonation: Costs 3 charges to resist ability Drain, or take 2d4 temporary damage to casting stat. By speaking the true name of an opponent in the Dark Speech you rack their soul with agony that has a chance to obliterate or kill them. They must make a Will save of the highest available DC from the class to which you are increasing your effective spellcasting through this prestige class (meaning that if you are utilizing the effective spellcasting bonus under "Spells" column to boost your spell casting as a Cleric and the highest level Cleric spell you know is 7th level, then the save DC for this ability is equal to your 7th level Cleric spell save DC). If the subject fails this save and has 10 or less total HD they are obliterated with no chance of resurrection, even with a miracle or wish spell. If they fail this save and they have between 11 and 20 HD their body explodes as if exposed to extreme sonic vibrations and they die, requiring a True Resurrection (or higher level equivalent) spell to resurrect them. If they fail the save and have more than 20 HD they die but are still eligible to be resurrected as per the Raise Dead spell within the normal time limits. Characters who make this save take no effect and cannot be affected by this ability for another 24 hours. Additionally, for each time the creature has successfully saved against this ability they gain a +4 Circumstance bonus on all future against it.
*Ability damage cannot be avoided, even with a charge of the Dark Resilience ability.

This Prestige Class requires you to have access to the Book of Vile Darkness supplement. Please let me know if you have any ideas for more Dread Arcana options, or if you think any adjustments should be made. Thanks.

TheVileVillain
2010-01-27, 12:13 PM
Blargh! How do I do tables?

DracoDei
2010-01-27, 12:52 PM
Click the sticky post at the top of the homebrewing section, then click the "guide to homebrewing" selection.

TheVileVillain
2010-01-27, 01:54 PM
Click the sticky post at the top of the homebrewing section, then click the "guide to homebrewing" selection.
Thanks for the help:smallsmile:

DracoDei
2010-01-27, 02:14 PM
I don't really understand this class (I suspect the fact I have never read The BoVD is probably key to that), so what I can say will be limited.

On "Vile Retaliation" you have an * that doesn't point to anything.

"Permanently lose on charge of Dark Resilience" <- should be "one" not "on".

"Meaning if you are adding you are increasing your effective spellcasting for Cleric" <- Grammatically garbled.

TheVileVillain
2010-01-27, 05:32 PM
I don't really understand this class (I suspect the fact I have never read The BoVD is probably key to that), so what I can say will be limited.

On "Vile Retaliation" you have an * that doesn't point to anything.

"Permanently lose on charge of Dark Resilience" <- should be "one" not "on".

"Meaning if you are adding you are increasing your effective spellcasting for Cleric" <- Grammatically garbled.

I fixed it, thanks.

Zeru the Dark
2010-01-29, 04:17 AM
I've got a couple questions, actually; first, what constitutes a "major material component" for Dread Component? Second, for the soul-splitting intonation, would it be possible to bring back a 10 HD or less character by using a Miracle or Wish spell?

As a suggestion, you may want to come up with one or two other uses for the Dread Speech; it is a little limited as-is. The Words of Dread aren't terribly useful to a caster in combat as-is(at least not without being fairly clever), and while the other uses are nice, there are only four of them.

alternaloser
2010-01-29, 11:42 AM
I love the flavor on this. I am not sure on the Prestige Class name, but I like the idea. I think for balance purposes you should consider burning spell slots similarly to the Archmage Prestige Class, as a lot of the Vile abilities in the Book of Vile Darkness are quite strong.

jiriku
2010-01-29, 02:04 PM
Dread Component: As written, you can add a verbal component to remove a required verbal component. Add a restriction stating that the verbal component cannot be removed, since you must utter the dark speech to activate the ability.

Vile Energy Blast: Arcane Fireis a trap in the archmage class - don't fall into it! Triple the damage to 3d6 per level, or characters are better off just preparing a damaging spell.

TheVileVillain
2010-02-02, 07:31 PM
I've got a couple questions, actually; first, what constitutes a "major material component" for Dread Component? Second, for the soul-splitting intonation, would it be possible to bring back a 10 HD or less character by using a Miracle or Wish spell?

As a suggestion, you may want to come up with one or two other uses for the Dread Speech; it is a little limited as-is. The Words of Dread aren't terribly useful to a caster in combat as-is(at least not without being fairly clever), and while the other uses are nice, there are only four of them.

A Major material component is anything that could not be ignored with the "Eschew Materials" feat, meaning anything with a value exceeding 1GP, not that it limits you from avoiding minor components if you really want to. I should probably put a limit on that.

@Jiriku: Vile damage cannot be healed except under a consecrate or hallow effect. That makes Vile Blast useful if you want to permanently cripple some one (or at least do some long term crippling). If it was just like Arcane Fire I probably would increase the damage.

Sir_Chivalry
2010-07-25, 10:02 PM
Dread Disciple of the Dark Tongue
A Vile Alternative to the Archmage Prestige Class

Description: You have dedicated your life to the mastery of the Dread Speech and have learned dark secrets that few other mortals have access to.
Prerequisites:
Alignment: Any Evil.
Abilities: Wisdom 13+, Cha 10+
Spellcasting: Able to cast two or more corrupt spells of 7th level or above.
Skills: Kn (Arcana) 15 Ranks, Spellcraft 15 Ranks, Speak Language: 6 magical or inherently evil languages.
Feats: Spell Focus: Corrupt Spells (as per the Book of Vile Darkness), Greater Spell Focus: Corrupt Spells, Dark Speech (BoVD p.48, specific uses described on p.32-33)
Special: Archmage and Dread Disciple of the Dark Tongue are Mutually Exclusive.

It is a very bad idea to require minimum ability scores to qualify for a PrC. If you want to stress Wisdom and Charisma, make some parts of the class dependent on them. Dark Speech already requires Int 15 & Cha 15, so make some parts of the class dependent on Wisdom (though this causes moderate MAD) and you're golden.

Spell Focus (Corrupt Spell) & Greater Spell Focus (Corrupt Spells) should have parentheses, not colons to denote the focus.

What counts as an evil or magical language, besides Abyssal and Infernal? Is Dark Speech a language? Is Goblin appropriate, even though there are good races of goblinoid? Is Sylvan inherently magical? Does Dwarven count, since most of its speakers are evil, hill dwarves being in the minority? If by some weird fashion you have it, are the Words of Creation a language?

Roland St. Jude
2010-07-26, 02:41 PM
Sheriff of Moddingham: Thread Necromancy. Please don't.