Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

[Selinia]

Redeemer of Nine

"So what do you say? Miracles and magic! Help those you love! Put wrongdoers somewhere they'll never escape! All you need to do is sign the contract, dear, and all this and more could be yours!"
-An infernal contractor, to a prospective Redeemer of Nine

For centuries uncounted, evokers have been in a thorn in the side of the accountants of Hell. Oh, sure, every now and then they could be useful, but as a whole the wielders of light tended to be too pristine to contaminate or too willful to entrust with the delicate mechanisms of corruption. Many devils saw simple extermination as the best answer to the evoker problem, while those with more stable dispositions merely sighed and prepared to write off their losses to infuriating redemption from the pure of heart, and obstinate competition from the wicked.

But of late, clever devils have stumbled upon an alternate answer to the age-old dilemma - one that is as fiendish in its simplicity as it is in its origins. Rather than oppose magical girls in their goals, these canny counters of souls proposed that errant evokers simply be enticed into using their powers to more 'productive' ends. When they next appeared to the magical girls of the world, these fiends did so not with smoke and flame, but with a suit, a smile, and an all-too-reasonable proposal: Collect the souls of the already-damned, and be rewarded with miraculous powers with which to do good in the mortal world.

The experiment was a rousing success. Those magical girls who accepted a contract hoping to redeem the powers of Hell itself soon found themselves among its fastest-growing and most profitable industries. Capable of snatching of wicked spirits that might otherwise have scattered across the less desirable planes of the cosmos, Redeemers of Nine tap valuable new sources of soulstuff, and they do it in a way that is extremely difficult for many of Hell's chronic problem-causers to intervene with a clear conscience. After all, they're only trying to help. Usually.

While the default assumption is that a redeemer of nine works on behalf of the fiendish fellows in the nine hells, it is quite simple to modify it for any number of potential patrons. Simple decide on a prerequisite feat, an appropriate Knowledge skill to be able to seek out such a pact in the first place, an alignment axis your would-be patron has a keen interest in exterminating, and a pair of bonus feats to grant along the way. For an amusing twist with a primarily-evil party, consider inverting the class entirely - a sort of celestial faustian bargain in which a wicked evoker is granted boons by a holy force for showing mercy to those she defeats.

Requirements
To become a redeemer of nine, you must fulfill the following criteria.
Skills: Knowledge [The Planes] 8 ranks
Feats: Devil's Favor (Fiendish Codex II, p 81.)
Illuminations: Must know at least one illumination with a mote cost of at least 5m

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Entry isn't free, but it isn't exactly taxing either. Given that redeemers of nine, by definition, possess at least one pact with a devil of some description, you should definitely talk to your dungeon master about the nature of the arrangement. Remember that the Nine Hells are assumed to be actively recruiting potential redeemers, and that they tend to couch their offers in a more altruistic guise than those working to corrupt their charge directly.

While some patrons will offer Faustian Pacts (Fiendish Codex II, p 23.), most are happy to offer a prospective redeemer of nine a much simpler, more benign pact - the pact yields no real reward for the redeemer, and asks nothing of her beyond a pledge to join the ranks of the redeemers when she feels she is ready. While they are victims of infernal manipulation as much as any other to sign a pact with a devil, redeemers of nine are tools, not merchandise unto themselves. Keeping them content and productive is viewed as more important than overseeing their personal damnation - though rest assured, any infernal patron would veritably giggle with glee if a redeemer in their service were to fall into law and evil as a natural outcome of the systematic executions encouraged by the nature of their powers.

Class Skill List: Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge [History] (Int), Knowledge [Local] (Int), Knowledge [Religion] (Int), Knowledge [The Planes] (Int), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), Use Magical Device (Cha)
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

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A redeemer of nine has quite the hearty skill list - those entering from Empath obviously won't be impressed, but for Champions and Stargazers, there's a fair few skills they might otherwise lack access to.

Redeemer of Nine
Hit Dice: d8

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Illuminations
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Soul Gem, Detect Tyranny, Miracle Worker (2 Domains)	---
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3		+1 level of existing class
3rd	+2	+1	+1	+3	Brand of the Nine Hells	+1 level of existing class
4th	+3	+1	+1	+4		+1 level of existing class
5th	+3	+1	+1	+4	Miracle Worker (3 Domains), Extra Imbuement	---
6th	+4	+2	+2	+5		+1 level of existing class
7th	+5	+2	+2	+5	Mark of the Master	+1 level of existing class
8th	+6	+2	+2	+6		+1 level of existing class
9th	+6	+3	+3	+6	Miracle Worker (4 Domains)	---
10th	+7	+3	+3	+7	Agent of the Nine	+1 level of existing class

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A redeemer of nine gains no proficiency with any weapons or armor.

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Not the world's most exciting chassis. With 7/10 illumination progression, medium BAB, and only one good save, you're really here for one reason, and it isn't the numbers on that table. Stargazers might appreciate the higher BAB, but it isn't going to make them combat superstars any time soon.

Illuminations: At each indicated level, a redeener of nine gains an increase in evoker level, illuminations known, illuminations readied, innate illuminations, and personas known as if they had gained a level in an illumination-using class to which they belonged before adding the prestige class level. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If she had more than one illumination-using class before becoming a redeemer of nine, she must decide to which class to add each level for the aforementioned purposes.

Radiant Armaments: At 5th level, the redeemer of nine increases her Imbuement limit by one.

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Standard, low-end evoker feature progression. Not much to say here.

Soul Gem (Su): Upon entry into this class, the patrons of the redeemer of nine painlessly embed a small, brightly-colored gemstone into the skin somewhere on her body. Henceforth, the stone is effectively a part of her – it can only be removed with surgery, and will regenerate in 1d4 hours if it is taken from her in this manner. The soul gem of a redeemer of nine serves as a receptacle for the lives she takes in combat, compiling them neatly within its facets for later retrieval by the devils that crafted it.

Whenever a lawful or evil creature or a creature with the Law or Evil subtype dies within [10 * class level] feet of the redeemer of nine, or whenever she strikes the killing blow against such a creature regardless of distance, she may make an opposed Will save against the deceased entity (which uses its will save at the time of its death, including any modifiers it might have accrued). If the redeemer of nine loses this opposed roll, there is no further effect. If her target loses the roll, however, she draws its soul into her soul gem for later use. For every hit die of the newly reaped creature, the redeemer of nine’s soul gem gains a single soul point. The redeemer of nine’s soul gem is capable of holding up to [class level * 5] soul points at any given time – any HD over this limit are lost, and the redeemer is incapable of harvesting souls with a full soul gem. However, devils are no strangers to mutilating soulstuff, and if a soul would be too large to fit within a soul gem’s remaining storage space, it will happily vacuum up enough of a portion to top itself off. Even creatures without proper souls, such as constructs or many forms of undead, can be harvested with this ability - their animating essence is less useful to a devil than a 'real' soul, but it is useful enough to pay for nonetheless.

Due to its nature as a conduit, a soul gem has difficulty holding on to the individuals it consumes. As such, being harvested by this ability does not interfere with one’s ability to be raised from the dead – doing so simply yanks the harvested soul from wherever it has been sent. This resurrection-induced leakage is acknowledged and accounted for by the infernal clerks behind the operation, however, and mechanisms are in place to seamlessly reimburse a redeemer of nine’s soul gem of any soul points that might be filched from it without its bearer being any the wiser.

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In a nutshell, the redeemer of nine runs on murder. She is potentially quite versatile and powerful, but if she doesn't regularly kill things and package their souls off to a comfy retirement amid eternal torment and hellfire, the class does very little for her. While redeemers don't have a formal code, you can bet that 'show no mercy' comes close, out of sheer pragmatism.

Detect Tyranny (Sp): At will, a redeemer of nine can use detect evil or detect law, as the spells.

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You don't go countless centuries being bombarded by evildar without figuring out how to replicate it. Being the considerate fellows they are, a redeemer's patrons are sure to kit her out so she can ruthlessly harvest the proper kind of souls.

Miracle Worker (Sp): Even devils do not expect their minions to work for free, and the redeemer of nine is no exception to this perverse infernal ‘fairness’. In exchange for her loyal reaping of the damned, the wayward evoker is gifted with the capacity to perform miracles above and beyond the capabilities of any mere servant of the light. At 1st level, the redeemer of nine selects two clerical domains. By expending soul points equal to [spell level * 3], the she may cast any spell from the selected domain as a spell-like ability, so long as its spell level is no greater than her class level. Unlike normal spell-like abilities, the ones acquired through this ability retain any experience cost they might have. If the spell-like ability has an expensive material component, it must be supplied normally. Spell-like abilities never require a focus. Save DCs for these abilities are based on her evoker stat, and her effective caster level is equal to her evoker level, rather than her HD.

The redeemer of nine does not gain any other benefit from the domains she selects, such as their granted powers or the ability to take feats or prestige classes which have them as a prerequisites. At 5th level, and again at 9th level, the redeemer of nine may select an additional domain from which to purchase spells.

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This. This is why you're playing a redeemer of nine. Despite an extremely limited 'spell list', and uses restricted by a need to recharge via murder, the fact remains that with well-picked domains, a redeemer of nine's miracles can be extremely potent. With all nine spell levels to work with, a clever redeemer of nine can bring tremendous utility and versatility to bear, augmenting their illuminations with just the right trick for the task at hand.

Brand of the Nine Hells: At 3rd level, the redeemer of nine gains Brand of the Nine Hells (Fiendish Codex II, p 81.) as a bonus feat, even if she would not normally meet its prerequisites. The brand is considered to be associated with whichever archdevil is most closely associated with the redeemer's patron, and by extension, the redeemer herself.

Mark of the Master: At 7th level, the redeemer of nine gains the Mark of Hell (Fiendish Codex II, p 84-85.) feat appropriate to her brand's associated archdevil as a bonus feat, even if she would not normally meet its prerequisites.

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Who doesn't like bonus feats? Brand of the Nine Hells is not a stellar feat, but the Mark of Hell feats are, collectively, quite potent in their own ways. They also serve as a stark reminder of the toll of dealing with infernal powers. Like it or not, there's simply no way to channel the power of the hells in the volume that redeemers do and not be changed by it on some level. Obviously, simply having these feats isn't going to turn a good redeemer to evil, but they're certainly a nudge in that direction.

And for heaven's sake, have some pity on the poor girls who signed into a compact with Glasya or Baalzebul - their brands may be less insidious than some of their peers' but they're much grosser.

Agent of the Nine (Su): At 10th level, a redeemer of nine is no longer a mere servant of her employers – she is a valued and much-beloved tool, capable of regularly ensuring the sort of harvests which less adventurous pact-makers might require decades to cultivate. Her status as a favored disciple of whatever entity has contracted her powers is well-known in the Nine Hells, and her infernal patrons have imbued her with protections suitable for such a rare and precious investment.

Unless presented specific circumstances to the contrary, devils and other natives of the Nine Hells will generally possess an attitude of Indifferent towards the redeemer of nine and her immediate allies. While most will offer no direct aid to her, they will generally be happy to let her carry out her work in peace, and the redeemer may walk the cities of the Nine Hells as she pleases without fear of ambush around every corner.

Additionally, so long as the redeemer of nine possesses at least one soul point, her infernal patron will intercede to preserve her essence in the event of her death. Assuming she is not raised by other methods in this timeframe, her patron will restore her to life, as with the True Resurrection spell, 1d4 days after her demise. The evoker is brought to life on whichever layer of Hell her personal patron calls home, and while specifics of the arrangement vary, she will generally be offered a meal, a lecture, and a Plane Shift to a plane of her choosing. Each time this occurs, the redeemer of nine loses 30 soul points. If she does not possess that many soul points, her soul point total simply drops to a negative value – she must pay off this debt before beginning to accumulate soul points normally again.

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Professional courtesy, now in class feature form. Aside from the potentially potent diplomatic recognition, the meat of this feature lies in a sort of conditional immortality. So long as the redeemer doesn't make a habit of it, her patrons are plenty willing to fudge the numbers and slide a useful piece back onto the board for minimal cost.