The Right Hand of Heaven and Left Hand of Hell [PrC]

[Kellus]

The Right Hand of Heaven and Left Hand of Hell

In eons past, both the the angelic forces of Celestia and the fiendish legions of Baator realized the need for some common ground between them. After all, the universe is split not only into those pure of heart and those vile of deed, but also between those true to the law and those who refuse authority. In an agreement made between the lawful paragons of both good and evil, power was set aside for champions of both realms. Destined to fight on behalf of both the archons and the devils against their common enemies, this ancient pact allowed those pure of soul and steadfast in heart to tap into the supernatural power of both Celestia and Baator and wage war for both realms.

Thus was created an order of monks who delve into planar lore. The right hand of heaven and left hand of hell fights chaos with the power of both good and evil, for both the archons and the baatezu.

Prerequisites

To become a right hand of heaven and left hand of hell, a character must fulfill the following requirements.

Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Base Attack Bonus: +7
Class Feature: Ki Strike (lawful)
Skills: Knowledge (religion) 8 ranks, Knowledge (the Planes) 6 ranks
Special: Must have visited both the Seven Mounting Heavens of Celestia and the Nine Hells of Baator.
Special: Must have slain both a demon and an eladrin in unarmed combat.

Hit Die: d8
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier

Table: The Right Hand of Heaven and Left Hand of Hell
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|
+1|
+2|
+2|
+2|Monk abilities, moral dichotomy

2nd|
+2|
+3|
+3|
+3|Fists of heaven and hell

3rd|
+3|
+3|
+3|
+3|Tongue of the archon

4th|
+4|
+4|
+4|
+4|Eyes of the devil

5th|
+5|
+4|
+4|
+4|Body of the archon

6th|
+6|
+5|
+5|
+5|Call of the devil

7th|
+7|
+5|
+5|
+5|Aura of the archon

8th|
+8|
+6|
+6|
+6|Skin of the devil

9th|
+9|
+6|
+6|
+6|Unearthly step

10th|
+10|
+7|
+7|
+7|Planar apotheosis

[/table]

Class Skills: The right hand of heaven and left hand of hell’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Hide (Dex), Knowledge (religion/the Planes) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Sense Motive (Cha), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).

All of the following are class features of the right hand of heaven and left hand of hell.

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: The right hand of heaven and left hand of hell gains no additional weapon or armor proficiencies.

Monk Abilities: Levels in the right hand of heaven and left hand of hell prestige class stack with monk levels for determining flurry of blows progression, unarmed damage, unarmored AC bonus, and unarmored speed bonuses.

Moral Dichotomy (Ex): The right hand of heaven and left hand of hell loses one aspect of his alignment, that of the good and evil axis. From this point on, he is defined solely by law. As such, he is immune to any ability which would target a being based on good and evil. He may use magic items for both good and evil with impunity, and is essentially treated as either lawful good or lawful evil depending on which would be most advantageous to him at the time.

Fists of Heaven and Hell (Su): At 2nd level, the right hand of heaven and left hand of hell overcomes damage reduction as if his fists were lawfully-aligned, good-aligned, and evil-aligned. In addition, once per day per two class levels, the right hand of heaven and left hand of hell may smite a chaotic creature, gaining a bonus on his attack roll equal to his Wisdom modifier and dealing extra damage equal to twice his class level.

Tongue of the Archon (Sp): Beginning at 3rd level, the right hand of heaven and left hand of hell is continually under a tongues effect, with caster level of 14.

Eyes of the Devil (Su): Beginning at 4th level, the right hand of heaven and left hand of hell can see perfectly in darkness of any kind, even that created by a deeper darkness spell.

Body of the Archon (Su): Beginning at 5th level, the right hand of heaven and left hand of hell gains immunity to electricity and petrification.

Call of the Devil (Sp): Beginning at 6th level, the right hand of heaven and left hand of hell can summon the forces of Baator and Celestia to help him fight, similar to the summon monster line of spells. This ability has a cumulative 10% chance to succeed per point of his Wisdom modifier. He may attempt this ability once per day per three class levels.

This ability summons 1d3 ice devils and 1 trumpet archon. This ability works exactly like a summon monster spell, with a caster level equal to the right hand of heaven and left hand of hell’s Hit Dice.

Aura of the Archon (Su): Beginning at 7th level, the right hand of heaven and left hand of hell gains an aura of menace. Any hostile creature within a 20ft. radius of the right hand of heaven and left hand of hell must succeed on a Will saving throw (DC 10 + class level + Wisdom modifier) or take a -2 penalty on attacks, AC, and saves for 24 hours or until they successfully hit the right hand of heaven and left hand of hell. A creature that has resisted or broken the effect cannot be affected again by the aura for twenty-four hours.

Skin of the Devil (Su): Beginning at 8th level, the right hand of heaven and left hand of hell gains immunity to fire and poison, as well as resistance to acid 10 and cold 10.

Unearthly Step (Sp): Beginning at 9th level, the right hand of heaven and left hand of hell can use greater teleport at will, but only on himself and up to 50lb of objects.

Twice per day, the right hand of heaven and left hand of hell may use plane shift, as the spell, but only to access the Seven Mounting Heavens of Celestia or the Nine Hells of Baator.

Both of these abilities have a caster level equal to his Hit Dice.

Planar Apotheosis: At 10th level, the right hand of heaven and left hand of hell becomes an Outsider (Archon, Baatezu, Good, Evil, Lawful, Native). He gains damage reduction 10/chaos. Unlike most outsiders, he may be brought back to life as if he were still a creature of his previous type. In addition, he is always under the effects of a magic circle and chaos effect (caster level 20th).

[TheLogman]

It seems like killing a Diva and a Demon (Chaotic sides of the spectrum) would make more sense than killing an archon and a devil, the things you are supposed to be supporting in the wars and such. Nice fluff, but it seems like he gets some fun alignment abilities and some immunities, but doesn't fix the Monk problem (Weak damage output, and a bunch of fun defensive abilities, but not really anything powerful. Ah well, amazing fluff again, and would be great for a bunch of NPC's. The PC's wanna kill some Devils, but then, a swat team of Monks Plant Shift in, and beat the crud out of the Players.

[Xefas]

Well, the first, and most glaring problem, is that this class requires you to take 10 levels of monk to enter into.

Not only is that cruel and despicable, but also bad design unless you have a person already in mind to play it. During the low levels of the game, someone wishing to play this class will have to be a monk, which is in and of itself, a bad thing. Then, in the mid levels, after they've picked up a few levels of this class, they still don't have much to do in battle. Most of the bonuses are flat bonuses that you don't actually need to do anything in battle to get. The monk is still probably saying "move, roll attack, roll damage; move, roll attack, roll damage; move...etc" the majority of the time. And...at the higher levels, he isn't a spellcaster, so he's lost D&D.

Second, I don't think the Damage Reduction 10/Good and Evil makes much sense. I think 10/Chaotic would be more in line with the concept.

[Kellus]

Thanks for the comments. Changed prerequisites as per TheLogman's suggestion-- it does make more sense. In a similar vein, he now gets DR/chaos and a magic circle against chaos.

I realise that making someone play a monk is cruel and unusual punishment, and is actually illegal in some countries, but whatcha gonna do? I can't change that class, so I'm at least providing a cool alternative for them than the last 10 levels of monk. While this prestige class doesn't fix the problems of the monk itself, it does provide a much nicer suite of abilities than the standard last 10 levels of monk. Also, remember that there are some people who do like playing monks. :smalleek:

However, in the spirit of giving him at least a fighting chance, and fitting with the idea of a monk-turned-planar warrior, I upped the BAB to 1/1. Also remember that at least he'll be able to smite chaos a few times a day, making him marginally more effective in battle.

[TheLogman]

Very very fun class. A high level Class, but some of these abilities, especially moral dichotomy and Fists of Heaven and Hell are so unique and cool that it makes the class easily worth taking, if only to run around smashing Chaos.

[EvilElitest]

Dude, love the fluff, i am making a character NPC with this who wears a black glove on his left, a white on his right
from,
EE

[puppyavenger]

It seems like killing a Diva and a Demon (Chaotic sides of the spectrum) would make more sense than killing an archon and a devil, the things you are supposed to be supporting in the wars and such. Nice fluff, but it seems like he gets some fun alignment abilities and some immunities, but doesn't fix the Monk problem (Weak damage output, and a bunch of fun defensive abilities, but not really anything powerful. Ah well, amazing fluff again, and would be great for a bunch of NPC's. The PC's wanna kill some Devils, but then, a swat team of Monks Plant Shift in, and beat the crud out of the Players.

umm aren't choatic good outsiders called Elderin?

[Kellus]

You're right, except it's spelled 'eladrin'. I must have been tired last night. I'll change that now. Thanks!

[Total_Viking_Power]

Hi, and may I say sorry for nitpicking in advance, but I think this is a cool alternative on Lawfulness, so I'd like to see it perfect :smallbiggrin:

I'd lose the "Slay an Eladrin"-prereq, as the fluff is that Heaven and Hell has united against their common enemies. Well, the Blood Wars make Demons the enemies of Devils, and ofcause they are opposed to Archons. But Eladrins are great allies of Celestia, often fighting alongside Archons and the like. I simply don't see Heavenly forces condoning this aspect of the PrC.
To see my point, think of languages; Celestial is the common tounge of the Celestial realms, while the evil guys are bickering at each other in either Infernal or Abyssal.

[Skelengar]

It would work well in certain campaigns, such as mine, which has all four extremes out for themselves, but some individual groups will make fragile alliances with another that doesn't completely oppose them. So one group Archons would be allied with devils, an another would be allied with eladrin, but both groups would be primarily out for their own ideals, that of Lawful Good.