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Venger
2013-03-04, 01:02 PM
Soulguard:
What is it today, sir? Pick another pocket? I'm sure I'll get over it.
--- Abel Sangre, a soulguard.

(FLUFF STUFF)

Becoming a soulguard

(WHO DOES THIS. WHAT CLASSES. HOW TO ENTER. FLUFF STUFF)

Hit Die
d8

Entry Requirements:
To qualify to become a soulguard a character must fulfill all the following criteria:

Alignment
Any non-neutral. Soulguards are drawn, for good or ill, to extreme alignments due to the weight of the deeds they bear on their souls on the behalf of others.

Skills:
Knowledge (religion) 5 ranks, Sense Motive 4 ranks, Spellcraft 8 ranks

Spells
Must be able to cast protection from evil, good, chaos, or law

Special: The character must be successful in passing their time of study at Triadic University.
Special: The character must have lost one level due to negative levels or had an ability score point drained. (Restoration of this damage is permitted)
Special: Must be living

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

1st|
+0|
+2|
+0|
+2| Sin eater, Determined soul| ---------

2nd|
+1|
+3|
+0|
+3|Turn/Rebuke Undead| +1 level of existing spellcasting class

3rd|
+2|
+3|
+1|
+3|Spontaneous casting, Soul Vessel (1 Soul)| +1 level of existing spellcasting class

4th|
+3|
+4|
+1|
+4|Locate Possession, Expel Intruder| +1 level of existing spellcasting class

5th|
+3|
+4|
+1|
+4|Soul Infusion, Determined Soul| +1 level of existing spellcasting class

6th|
+4|
+5|
+2|
+5|Soul Vessel (2 souls)| +1 level of existing spellcasting class

7th|
+5|
+5|
+2|
+5|Body and Soul| +1 level of existing spellcasting class

8th|
+6|
+6|
+2|
+6|Implacable Soul| +1 level of existing spellcasting class

9th|
+6|
+6|
+3|
+6|Soul Vessel (3 souls), Immortal Soul| +1 level of existing spellcasting class[/table]

Class Skills
The soulguard's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (nobility and royalty) (Int), Knowledge (planes) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int)
Skill Points at Each Level 4+Int modifier

Class Features:

Sin Eater: (Ex) The first and foremost of a soulguard's duties is to keep the heir to the throne's soul clean of all impurities. A soulguard can take on the karmic burden of any deed that a willing target wishes to bequeath.

For example, if a cleric has committed an act that causes her to go against the wishes of her god, she could seek out a soulguard and pass responsibility of the task onto him. If the god were to seek out recompense for this slight, then the soulguard in question would be the one sought out.

For this reason, soulguards do not use this ability lightly. Its primary use is to shoulder the burden for any misdeeds perpetrated by the heir under his guard, but can be used to shoulder blame for anyone whom the soulguard trusts will not abuse this ability.

Use of this ability takes at least one minute of uninterrupted contact with the target, during which they will often talk out the details of their misdeeds in order to make it clear what the soulguard is agreeing to accept responsibility for. Many insist on this before alleviating the burden from their targets (other than the heir they are sworn to protect, in which case details are welcomed, but not necessary).

Due to the variety of characters in the world who adhere to a code of conduct (including blackguards, for example) there is often occasion to shoulder the responsibility for a deed that would invite unwelcome attention from evil deities, in which cases, soulguards are usually happy to intervene.

Use of this ability may also be sought out if the task was not something shameful or illegal, but when one wants to avoid unwanted attention for something. For example, if a knight felled a dragon, but wanted the locals to leave him alone, he might bestow responsibility for the deed on a soulguard, making dealing with fans his problem.

If gods do not exist in your setting, or if their nature is ambiguous, like in Eberron, then this ability still works, but the explanation is that the guilt or pride shouldered by the soulguard is purely mental as is the relief experienced by the subject.

Determined Soul (Ex): Due to years of training to toughen your soul, attacks on it don't hurt you as much as a lesser being. You gain Enduring Life as a bonus feat.

Turn/rebuke undead (Su):You gain power from the great good or evil you bear in your soul. Soulguards can turn or rebuke undead as clerics do. If a soulguard has this ability from another class, his class levels stack to determine her effective turning level.

However, unlike other characters who turn or rebuke undead, this choice is not made once and then inviolable. Since, due to their Sin Eater ability, soulguards' alignment is highly fluid, so too is their control over positive and negative energy.

When you have a good alignment, you turn undead. When you have an evil alignment, you rebuke undead. When you are neither good nor evil, you default back to the most recent alignment you had that was either good or evil.

Spontaneous casting Your ability to channel positive and negative energy ebbs and flows with the weight of the good and evil you bear on your shoulders. You can lose any prepared spell in order to cast any cure spell of the same level or lower when in possession of a good alignment, and do the same with inflict spells when in possession of an evil alignment. When you are neither good nor evil, use the most recent alignment you had to determine whether you channel positive or negative energy.

Locate Possession (Su): You are aware of the unbreakable bond forged between one's body and one's soul, and can tell when they are mismatched. By concentrating for a full round, you can determine the presence or absence of any possessing forces in creatures or objects in a 60 foot cone. By concentrating for a second full round, you can determine the location of the possessed creature or object. A possessing creature whose HD are higher than your character level gets a will save (DC 10 + soulguard level + primary ability modifier) to avoid detection. If successful, they are immune to this ability for 24 hours.

This save only applies if the possessing entity is in something that normally has a soul. If they are in a normally inanimate object or the like, detection is automatic, since your extensive training teaches you that tables and chairs do not have souls.)

Expel Intruder (Su): Once you have found an entity that is not in its natural vessel (such as a possessing demon, or a vestige squatting in a binder), you may make an attempt to force it out. You may make a modified turn undead attempt. This uses up one of your turn or rebuke attempts (it doesn't matter which one you have at the moment) Roll attack normally and compare it to the possessing force's HD. If it is not powerful enough to affect it, this attempt simply fails and your turn attempt is gone. If it is high enough to affect it, roll damage to ensure you can affect the creature. If this is successful, the creature is forced out of the body or object it is inhabiting and put in a legal adjacent square.

You can use this ability on multiple possessing forces if you roll enough turning damage to affect more than one, and they are all within range to be turned.

Soul Infusion (Su): You can share the benefit of your hardy soul with those you wish to protect. If a character you can draw line of sight to receives a negative level or negative energy effect from any source (enervation, energy drain from an undead, an inflict spell, etc.) you may, as an immediate action, open a conduit to them and infuse them with your own soul energy to revitalize them, taking on the negative effects.

For example: if you see your heir get slammed by a vampire, you can immediately open the channel to him and take those two negative levels yourself (delaying the effects normally with your Determined Soul ability and expunging them with Implacable Soul if you have actions to spare in the coming minutes) There is no limit to the amount of negative energy damage you may take on on the behalf of others (other than your hit points, of course) but you may not take on more negative levels than your soulguard level.

You may also use this ability on an unwilling target, though they are entitled to a save. For example, if an undead spellcaster is trying to cast inflict critical wounds on himself in order to heal from damage, you may elect to redirect this effect to yourself. In this instance, the target is entitled to a will save at (DC 10 + soulguard level + primary ability modifier) If the save is made, then the effect goes to the target as normal. If it is failed, treat yourself as the new target, even if you would not normally have been a legal one due to range or similar variables (ex: an inflict spell will affect you even if you were not touched.)

Soul Vessel (Su): By now, your training has made you into a well of souls. When a character you have line of sight to is killed, you have the option of, as an immediate action, absorbing its soul to carry alongside your own. If the character is willing, you simply do it and hold it alongside you as long as you like. This can be used to prevent an outside force from resurrecting an ally under false pretenses, or having their soul stolen or trapped.

If using it on an unwilling target, they are entitled to a will save (DC 10 + soulguard level + primary ability modifier) that, if successful, allows their soul to move on as normal. If unsuccessful, their soul is held by you and is yours to do with what you wish. Magic that requires the creature's soul to be free to return does not work for as long as it is being carried by you.

You can hold onto souls indefinitely and can use this ability as often as you wish. However, you may only have one soul per three class levels held at a time. If you try to take on more than this, you must let one of your earlier ones go. You can thus hold 2 souls at level 6 and 3 souls at level 9

Body and Soul (Ex): Your understanding and control of your own soul means that it is now impossible for others to remove control of it from you. You are now immune to magic jar, soul bind, trap the soul, a ghost’s malevolence ability, a fiend of possession's possess creature ability, and all other spells or, effects that displace or replace a character’s life force.

Implacable Soul (Ex) Your soul grows ever haler and hardier. You gain the Lasting Life feat even if you do not meet the prerequisites

Immortal Soul (Ex): Your soul's energy infuses your body in a way unlike that of normal people. Upon attaining 9th level, a soulguard no longer takes ability score penalties for aging and cannot be magically aged. Any penalties he may have already incurred, however, remain in place.

Bonuses still accrue, and the soulguard still dies of old age when his time is up.

Upon death, if the soulguard had any souls carried in his soul vessel, they too depart to whatever afterlife awaits them.

Playing a soulguard

(HOW TO PLAY FLUFFWISE)

Combat

(FIGHTAN. TACTICS AND STUFF)

Advancement

(WHAT DO AFTERS)

Resources

(WHAT SWAG YOU GET)

Soulguards in the world
A QUOTE FROM SOMEBODY

(HOW PEOPLE REACT TO THEM)

Organization

(HOW YOU FIND THESE GUYS)

NPC Reactions

(WHAT DO PEOPLE THINK OF THEM)

Soulguard lore
Characters can make Gather Information, Knowledge (nobility and royalty), or bardic knowledge checks to learn the following facts about soulguards.

DC 10: (BASIC STUFF)
DC 15: (MEDIUM STUFF)
DC 20: (DEEP STUFF)

Soulguards in the Game
(THEIR ROLE IN THE WORLD, SCENARIOS YOU MAY FIND THEM IN)

Adaptation

(WHAT TO DO IF THINGS ARE DIFFERENT IN SOME WAYS)

Encounters

(HOW TO DESCRIBE THEM TO PLAYERS)