[3.5 PrC] Faerie Champion (PEACH)

[Jeff the Green]

Faerie Champion


Image by ©Stephanie Pui-Mun Law. Used with permission.

Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.
—William Butler Yeats, "The Stolen Child"

Fey are complicated creatures. They enjoy subterfuge, glamour, and plots layered on intrigue layered on schemes. It is in their nature to fulfill all contracts to the letter (if not the spirit), and can never accept gifts lest they endebt themselves. And even though some are masters of illusion, they have difficulty passing themselves off as mortal—they are always a little off.

When a fey needs a simple task performed—a lie told, a child abducted, a rival murdered—or an agent to act unnoticed in civilized society, they choose a Champion. These mortals gain power and prestige, and not infrequently a life of luxury in the fey's court between tasks. In exchange, they must follow their patron's orders—again, to the letter, but not the spirit—and make themselves vulnerable to their patron's magic. Few mortals take up this mantle, but those that do are rarely sorry they did. If only because of the glamours.

Hitdie
d10.

Requirements
To qualify to become a faerie champion, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria.

Alignment
Any Chaotic.

Race
Any humanoid or monstrous humanoid.

Base Attack Bonus
+5

Skills
Bluff 4, Intimidate 4, Knowledge (nature) 8, Perform 4, Spellcraft 4

Feats
Deceitful, Iron Will, Force of Personality (CA)

Special
Must be selected as the champion of a fey with at least 10 HD.

Table: The Faerie Champion

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Class Features
1st	+1	+2	+2	+0	Fey squire, oath of fealty	-
2nd	+2	+3	+3	+0	Fey body (senses), fey skin DR 4	+1 level of existing class features
3rd	+3	+3	+3	+1	Glamour 2/day	-
4th	+4	+4	+4	+1	Fey body (wings), reflected beauty +2	+1 level of existing class features
5th	+5	+4	+4	+1	Fey skin DR 6, retreat to Faerie	-
6th	+6	+5	+5	+2	Fey body (senses), glamour 4/day	+1 level of existing class features
7th	+7	+5	+5	+2	Improved glamour 2/day	-
8th	+8	+6	+6	+2	Fey body (wings), fey skin DR 8	+1 level of existing class features
9th	+9	+6	+6	+3	Glamour 6/day	-
10th	+10	+7	+7	+3	Fey body (marvelous grace), improved glamour 4/day, reflected beauty +4	+1 level of existing class features

Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level): Bluff, Climb, Craft, Diplomacy, Disguise, Handle Animal, Heal, Hide, Intimidate, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (nature), Knowledge (nobility and royalty), Move Silently, Perform, Profession, Ride, Spellcraft, Swim

Class Features
All of the following are Class Features of the faerie champion prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Faerie champions gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.

Class Features
At each odd level, a faerie champion gains class features and an increase in effective level as if he had also gained a level in a class to which he belonged before adding the prestige class level. The specific class features he gains include spells per day (and spells known, if applicable), improved chance of turning or destroying undead, metamagic or item creation feats, bonus feats, monk special abilities, sneak attack progressions, and so on, depending on the class. He does not, however, gain the benefit of your previous class’s Hit Dice, attack progression, skill points, or saving throws. If he had more than one class before becoming a faerie champion, he must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining class abilities.

Fey Squire (Ex)
When a fey selects a champion, she assigns a lesser fey to serve as her champion's squire. This cohort must be a fey and have an effective character level no greater than the faerie champion's class level plus half the number of levels he has in all his other classes plus his Charisma modifier, up to a maximum of his character level minus two. For example, a Fighter 8/Faerie Champion 3 with a Charisma score of 14 may have a cohort with an ECL no greater than 9. His squire serves him willingly and obediently so long as the faerie champion's orders do not conflict with the orders of the faerie champion's patron. If the squire dies the faerie champion is sent a replacement cohort in 2d4 weeks. The faerie champion may also dismiss his cohort, in which case a replacement arrives in 2d4 days.

In addition, if a faerie champion has the Leadership feat, his leadership score is increased by 2 for the purpose of attracting fey followers.

Oath of Fealty (Ex)
A faerie champion takes an oath of fealty to his patron. If at any point he disobeys his patron's orders he immediately suffers a -2 penalty to attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks, and his fey squire disobeys him in whatever way it finds most humorous. These effects last for 24 hours. If he ever attacks his patron, one of his patron's subordinates, or a creature under his patron's protection he loses all faerie champion class features and suffers a -2 penalty to attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks until he receives an atonement spell. Multiple instances of disobedience and attacking do not stack with themselves, but the penalties for disobedience and attacking do stack with each other. A faerie champion also takes a -4 penalty to saving throws versus spells or spell like abilities from the Enchantment or Illusion schools cast by his patron fey or her subordinates; this penalty stacks with any penalties he might receive for disobeying his patron or attacking his patron, his patron's subordinates, or a creature under his patron's protection.

In exchange for hewing to this oath, the faerie champion gains a +2 bonus to Charisma He loses this bonus for one week if he disobeys his patron's orders and until receiving an atonement spell if he attacks his patron, one of his patron's subordinates, or a creature under his patron's protection.

Fey Body (Ex)
As he grows in power, a faerie champion's body begins to change to more closely resemble that of the fey he serves. At 2nd level he gains a special sense, chosen from darkvision 120 ft., tremorsense 20 ft., and blindsense 10 ft. Starting at 2nd level, he also counts as having the Fey Heritage feat for purposes of meeting prerequisites. At 4th level he gains wings, chosen from butterfly (speed 20 ft., good maneuverability), starling (speed 30 ft., average maneuverability), and hawk (speed 40 ft., poor maneuverability) At 6th level he may either choose an additional special sense from darkvision 120 ft., tremorsense 20 ft., and blindsense 10 ft, or double the range of the sense he chose at 2nd level. At 8th level he may choose to replace his wings with those of a dragonfly (speed 40, perfect maneuverability), a hummingbird (speed 60 ft., good maneuverability), or a falcon (speed 80 ft., average maneuverability). At 10th level he adds his Charisma modifier to his AC and saving throws.

Fey Skin (Ex)
Starting at 2nd level, a faerie champion's skin begins to deflect attacks, but he gains the weaknesses of the fey. He gains DR 4/Cold Iron. As the faerie champion increases in level, this DR increases in effectiveness to DR 6 at 5th level and to DR 8 at 8th level. This damage reduction stacks with any similar damage reduction gained through the faerie champion's race, class, feats, or other source.

Glamour (Sp)
While faerie champions do not usually come from the ranks of spellcasters, they do learn a few minor tricks to aid them in combat. Starting at 3rd level, he can use blinding color surge (PHBII), (blur, charm person, minor image, mirror image as spell-like abilities a total of two times per day. His caster level is equal to his character level and the spell DCs are equal to 10 + his level + his Charisma. At 6th and again at 9th level he gains an additional two uses of glamour per day.

Reflected Beauty (Su)
Eventually, serving fey begins to make faerie champions more beautiful, socially adept, and manipulative. At 4th level a faerie champion gains a +2 bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy, Handle Animal, Intimidate, and Sense Motive checks. This increases to +4 at level 10.

Retreat to Faerie (Sp)
At times a faerie champion must flee quickly, so his fey patron provides him with the ability to escape to her demesne. This is equivalent to the spell rope trick, except that it always has a duration of 10 hours, the extradimensional space can comfortably hold 8 creatures (of any size) + 1 creature/level, a sumptuous feast equivalent to a heroes' feast sufficient for all the creatures that entered the desmesne is laid out on tables, creatures hostile to the faerie champion cannot enter, and it is not cast on a rope. The portal appears wherever the faerie champion desires, typically on a wall, but ceilings, floors, and in thin air are valid locations as well. A faerie champion may use this ability once per day.

Improved Glamour (Sp)
As a faerie champion's power grows, so too does his proficiency with glamours. Starting at 7th level, he can use charm monster, confusion, greater invisibility, greater mirror image (PHBII), and vertigo field (PHBII) a total of two times per day. His caster level is equal to his character level and the spell DCs are equal to 10 + his level + his Charisma. At 10th level he gains an additional two uses of glamour per day.

[Sherishade]

I like it. I like all the tie ins making the whole class seem very fey.
The only critique I have is that the glamour abilities seem a bit powerful. Is glamour and improved glamour one ability with multiple uses like a spellbook level for a sorcerer; or can i use all those ability each multiple times a day?

Other then that it would fit nicely into a fey oriented campaign.

[4th number]

I'm thinking a sorcerer gish, though you need some Int for skill points, plus Cha and either Dex or Str. And Con, to overcome some Sorc HD. Could be done, though. Would be fun.

[Tvtyrant]

This would be fun with a Factotum. Like, really fun. Extra actions plus tons of SLAs, and you get a couple nifty things like EX wings.

[Zman]

Looks pretty good. I am not a huge fan of Fey Squire at 1st level. I feel that it should be 2nd or 3rd. Also, I'd suggest making Fey skin Dr= class level. Id also consider a +2 to Cha as lvl 1 tied to their Oath of Fealty.

Looks balanced. Steep entry requirements though, make make it diffucult for any Fighters to actually qualify for the class. Consider lessening them to 4 Skill Ranks allowing someone access with cross class skills. BAB is still your main entry requirement.

[Debihuman]

A pleasure to read. I have no idea if it is balanced or not. It's "demesne" not "desmense" isn't it?

Debby

[Grelna the Blue]

3 non-melee feats for a melee class is a pretty steep feat tax. Is Iron Will really core to the concept?

[Jeff the Green]

I like it. I like all the tie ins making the whole class seem very fey.
The only critique I have is that the glamour abilities seem a bit powerful. Is glamour and improved glamour one ability with multiple uses like a spellbook level for a sorcerer; or can i use all those ability each multiple times a day?

Other then that it would fit nicely into a fey oriented campaign.

Thanks.

They're two per day total, like a sorcerer.

A pleasure to read. I have no idea if it is balanced or not. It's "demesne" not "desmense" isn't it?

Debby

Thanks! And yes it is. That's what I get for composing it in a plaintext editor without spellcheck.

3 non-melee feats for a melee class is a pretty steep feat tax. Is Iron Will really core to the concept?

Remember that it's a pretty powerful prestige class. In addition to all the stuff you get from the class proper, every other level you get the class features of whatever you entered with. Also, Iron Will can be bought for 3,000 GP.

Looks pretty good. I am not a huge fan of Fey Squire at 1st level. I feel that it should be 2nd or 3rd. Also, I'd suggest making Fey skin Dr= class level. Id also consider a +2 to Cha as lvl 1 tied to their Oath of Fealty.

I think Fey Squire at 1st is fine. It starts off at half your level + Cha + 1, rather than the level - 2 you'd likely have with leadership. And you burned three feats to get in, so I'm inclined to say it's okay as is. The other two ideas are really good and I'll incorporate them.

Looks balanced. Steep entry requirements though, make make it diffucult for any Fighters to actually qualify for the class. Consider lessening them to 4 Skill Ranks allowing someone access with cross class skills. BAB is still your main entry requirement.

You're right. I'd thought that more melee classes got Bluff as a class skill, but I can only find thug fighter variant, paladin of freedom, and swashbuckler. I'm going to leave Knowledge alone, though, since it's a lot easier to get as a class skill.

This would be fun with a Factotum. Like, really fun. Extra actions plus tons of SLAs, and you get a couple nifty things like EX wings.

I'm thinking a sorcerer gish, though you need some Int for skill points, plus Cha and either Dex or Str. And Con, to overcome some Sorc HD. Could be done, though. Would be fun.

I hadn't thought of either of those, but that would be nifty. Maybe a Sorcadin of Freedom, with Spellsword and a level of Abjurant Champion before entering, then advance Abjurant Champion's class features. If you took two more levels of Abjurant Champion, you'd have an effective class level of 8, allowing you to quicken up to 4th level abjuration spells for free. You'd cast as a 13th level sorcerer, but with a CL of 18. Very fun.

[Iamyourking]

This is a really neat idea even though I don't really like Fae. However, I think it could use some offensive abilities instead of all that defense, as the only sort of offensive ability it gets is Charm Monster at level 10, and perhaps some way of reflecting the alien mindsets of Fae at higher levels, like penalties to social skills in exchange for resistance to mind-affecting.

[Zireael]

I love the idea. The abilities seem balanced, with one exception - fey body. I think it's a little OP.