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Maerok
2007-06-02, 01:07 PM
Dishonor Guard of the Nine Hells

http://www.jaestudio.com/AbyssalEmperor.jpg

"I have received the blessings of Baator's finest. How could you hope to defeat me?"

In the service of devils, blackguards will often acquire diabolical power from their overseers. A Dishonor Guard is the elite guard of devilish blackguards who patrol Baator and carry out the whims of archdevils.

HD: d10

Prerequisites:
Race: Any non-Outsider
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Class Abilities: Fiendish Servant, Smite Good 2/day
BAB: +11
Languages: Infernal
Special: Must serve and continue to serve a devil located in Baator; it is not necessary to have actually visited Baator yet. Distinct favor from the devil is required to begin this prestige class (as an officer among its ranks or a highly privileged attendant, for instance).

{table=head]Level|Base Attack<br>Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|
+1|
+2|
+0|
+0|Devil Tongue; Mettle of Avernus

2nd|
+2|
+3|
+0|
+0|Flames of Dis

3rd|
+3|
+3|
+1|
+1|Scourge of Minauros; Smite Good +1/day

4th|
+4|
+4|
+1|
+1|Phlegethos's Wrath

5th|
+5|
+4|
+1|
+1|Stygia's Cold Heart

6th|
+6|
+5|
+2|
+2|Malbolge's Rampart; Smite Good +1/day

7th|
+7|
+5|
+2|
+2|Maladominian Abandon

8th|
+8|
+6|
+2|
+2|Canian Winter

9th|
+9|
+6|
+3|
+3|Nessian Void; Smite Good +1/day

10th|
+10|
+7|
+3|
+3Devil's Own[/table]
(no Epic progression)

Class Features:
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: The Dishonor Guard does not gain any new proficiencies.

Passage into the Hells: Before acquiring the class ability for each level, the Dishonor Guard must make a trip to a place with sight of the capital of that layer and slay a creature with the Good subtype.

Blackguard Continuation: Class levels stack with Blackguard levels for determining Aura of Evil, and Fiendish Servant.

Devil Tongue (Ex): The Dishonor Guard adds his class level to any Charisma-based skill checks with lawful evil creatures. Devils he meets for the first time will treat him with one attitude level higher (see Diplomacy skill) and respect him as if he were a devil; however, they will handle his interactions with them as they normally would, should he begin to attack them or get on their bad side.

Mettle of Avernus (Ex): The Dishonor Guard gains DR 3/good or silver, plus an additional DR 1/good or silver per three class levels after the first (to a maximum of DR 6/good and silver at 10th level). He is also immune to fear effects and poison.

Flames of Dis (Su): The Dishonor Guard gains fire resistance 5. Creatures attacking or grappling the Dishonor Guard from an adjacent location must make a DC 10+Cha modifier Reflex save or catch on fire; the burning lasts 1d4 rounds, dealing 1d6 fire damage each time. Attacking again adds to the duration.

Scourge of Minauros (Ex): The Dishonor Guard gains acid resistance 5. When sundering, the Guard treats the target as having half its hardness.

Phlegethos's Wrath (Su): The Dishonor Guard gains fire resistance 10. For up to 10 spaces per day per class level, the Dishonor Guard may choose to leave a trail of fire as he moves. As he moves, he may pick and choose which spaces he leaves a 5 foot fire wall effect (CL equal to class level). This works while walking on the ground or burrowing. The wall deals double damage against good or chaotic creatures, instead of undead creatures.

Stygia's Cold Heart (Su): The Dishonor Guard gains cold resistance 5. By making a melee touch attack as a standard action, the Guard may paralyze a creature for 1d3 rounds if it fails a DC 10+Cha modifier Fortitude save. He may use this ability three times per day.

Malbolge's Rampart (Ex): The Dishonor Guard gains a +4 bonus to Balance checks as well as checks against being tripped, bullrushed, overrun, or disarmed.

Maladominian Abandon (Ex): The Dishonor Guard gains acid resistance 10, and tremorsense out to 30 feet. When knocked prone, he may burrow down five feet as an immediate action but may only make a move action on the next round.

Canian Winter (Su): The Dishonor Guard gains cold resistance 10. Any weapon he wields gains the icy burst property; upon a critical hit, the creature is paralyzed for one round. His Phlegethos's Wrath ability may deal cold damage instead of fire damage, but only one type of damage may be chosen for each move action (every wall he sets down in a single move must be the same type; he can't mix it up between fire and cold within a single move action). Cold damage will break down the modified wall, instead of fire damage.

Nessian Void (Su): The Guard gains immunity to divination effects, and is under a continuous non-detection effect (CL equal to HD). He also gains spell resistance 25. He no longer ages, and may live forever as he has effectively lost his mortality in the service of archdevils.

Devil's Own (Su): At tenth level, the Dishonor Guard becomes what he has served for so long. He becomes an Outsider (native) and gains Baatezu traits. Wings sprout from his back offering a flight speed of 60 feet at average maneuverability. His Aura of Despair expands to 20 feet.

Seraph
2007-06-02, 01:18 PM
needs a capstone. maybe shift the class abilities back a bit, get just Devil Tongue first level?

Poppatomus
2007-06-02, 01:22 PM
cool class. maybe the ability to summon other devils as the capstone?

Tallis
2007-06-02, 01:30 PM
Hmmm, multiple special abilities at every level and continues blackguard advancement? Granted none of the abilities seem overpowering by themselves, but they add up fast. I'm not the best judge of balance, but that seems a bit much.
Just for flavor I'd probably make visiting each of the Nine Hells part of the training to advance to the appropriate levels, rather than having to do it all ahead of time. That's just me though.

Gavin Sage
2007-06-02, 04:56 PM
Umm a couple of points looking this over:

1. Honor is more Lawful vs Chaotic then Good vs Evil. The PHB I believe mention LE as having a certain twisted honor and code that they veil their evil in such thinking it elevates them above the mere scum. So the name is odd.

2. Does feel overpowered, especially if its not cutting into Blackguard much. I'm no balance expert but I feel like cutting continous down a usage. Something like "Power of the Nine Hells" which can be activated once per day per level and has the abilities stack up. Or have survived some type of testing in the Nine Hells to qualify

3. Nitpicking the quote.... Mephistopheles and Asmodeus are about the least likely to work together. In general folks in the Nine Hells serve one master, up to the archdukes who are only nominally subserviant to Asmodeus.

4. I somehow feel like the Malbolgian power is not quite apropriate given how the layer has been restructured as of the Fiendish Codex II.

SurlySeraph
2007-06-02, 06:43 PM
Flames of Dis and Stygia's Cold Heart seem overpowered to me. I suggest you reduce the DC to 10 + charisma modifier; otherwise Flames of Dis is really overwhelming against melee Fighters because of their low Will save. Stygia's Cold Heart is not asoverpowered, but having what basically amounts to Paralyzing Touch as many times per day as you want is very strong. As for the name "Dishonor Guard," Gavin's right that Lawful Evil people technically are honorable, but I can't think of a more accurate name that sounds as good. This class is very powerful, but the difficulty of entering mostly balances it out and the flavor justifies it pretty well.

Maerok
2007-06-02, 10:44 PM
Oops. It's supposed to be 9 levels long. On the PSP so I'll fix later.

Name was supposed to be a little weird.

I'll nerf the DCs and smites, and remove casting. Then tweak prereqs, etc.

Maerok
2007-06-03, 04:07 PM
4. I somehow feel like the Malbolgian power is not quite apropriate given how the layer has been restructured as of the Fiendish Codex II.

And what is it like now? Just as a general impression/theme.

Smiley_
2007-06-03, 04:58 PM
The idea seems sound enough, and as for it being overpowered, Yes, very much so. This is probably not going to be a PC class option due to the 10 year service to a devil bit. Most campaigns rarely last that long.

It seems to be a nice class for an evil villain, but the resistances and special abilities tell me that this guy is becoming more and more like a devil as he gains levels. Change his type to outsider(native) at level 10. The immunity to mind affects should be removed, as that is not a devil trait. Undead, yes, but not devils. They can go crazy, get Hold Monstered, or become afraid. The divinations are OK.

The damage reduction should be reduced to 3/good or silver for that ability with 1 added for every 3 levels thereafter.

Remove the attack of opportunity from the fortress ability. The +4 bonus against such attacks are OK, but he shouldn't be able to attack someone with improved bullrush, disarm, or trip.

Tremmorsense is a powerful ability alone. It can detect invisible creatures as long as they are in contact with the ground. He should not be able to burrow unless the ability makes him a Half-Mole or something.

Paralyzing touches should be reduced to 3/day.

Halving the hardness of a weapon while sundering is OK, but allowing two rolls and taking the better one is a bit much.

The fire wall should hurt everyone. Fire is fire.

The flames of dis need to have the burning damage knocked down a notch.

And that's about all I can thin of for now...

Draken
2007-06-03, 06:21 PM
An idea, place the 10° level back and set it up to give the Dishonor Guard the Outsider[Native] tipe, along with Baatezu caracteristics, it is going to be on the 21 level after all. Also disable an Epic progression (place an entry "Doesn't have Epic progression").

I don't think a class with such pré-requisites (11° level at least) would be seen in a normal, non-epic adventure.

Gavin Sage
2007-06-03, 07:20 PM
And what is it like now? Just as a general impression/theme.

The whole layer has become the Hag Countesses's rotting corpse basically. One day she swelled up to enourmous proportions while the whole layer quivered about as she swelled and died. Everything recalls some twisted cancerous part of the night hag's body, a change carried out by Asmodeus' daughter Glasya who is now Hell's second Archduchess. More specific details I don't care to describe at length. Malbolge is now basically flat, organic, and diseased.

Maerok
2007-06-03, 08:10 PM
The whole layer has become the Hag Countesses's rotting corpse basically. One day she swelled up to enourmous proportions while the whole layer quivered about as she swelled and died. Everything recalls some twisted cancerous part of the night hag's body, a change carried out by Asmodeus' daughter Glasya who is now Hell's second Archduchess.

X_X I think I threw up.