Death is Not the End [3.5 Prestige Class]

[Temotei]

Ferryman

Look behind you! Remember that you are but a man! Remember that you'll die!
-- A general's servant, reminding him of his mortality after a victory.

Death is not the end
But you shall bend, and
Your wounds you shall not mend
For this, this is the end.

Hit Die: d10.

Requirements
To qualify to become a ferryman, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria.
Skills: Diplomacy 5 ranks, Intimidate 5 ranks, Knowledge (the planes) 5 ranks.
Special: The character must have died or have had an ally die in his presence.

Class Skills: The ferryman's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Spot (Wis), and Swim (Str).

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier

FERRYMAN

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1st	+1	+2	+0	+2	Death mark, ferryman's oar
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+3	Binding of Styx
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+3	Styx's blessing 1/day
4th	+4	+4	+1	+4	Know death, lifted coils
5th	+5	+4	+1	+4	Death is not the end, Styx's blessing 2/day

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the ferryman.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Ferrymen gain no additional weapon or armor proficiencies.

Death Mark (Su): As a swift action, the ferryman can mark a creature. The mark lasts for 3 rounds or until the creature dies. If the creature dies while marked, its spirit is transferred to the ferryman's oar. In addition, marked creatures take a -1 morale penalty to AC and saving throws for the duration as they sense death approaching.

Ferryman's Oar: The ferryman's trademark weapon allows him to store spirits inside it. The ferryman can store a number of spirits equal to five times the number of ferryman levels he possesses. He can release a number of stored spirits up to his level to gain a bonus equal to the number of spirits released on a single attack roll or a single damage roll made with the oar. This is a supernatural ability.

Stored spirits remain in the oar for 1 week before dissipating and going to whatever afterlife awaits them. While stored, a spirit grants the ferryman benefits based on its type. Having more than one spirit of a single type does not improve the benefits.

Spirit's Type	Benefit
Aberration	+2 bonus on saves against fear effects
Animal	Wild empathy
Construct	Damage reduction 5/- against nonlethal damage
Dragon	+2 bonus on saves against magical sleep effects
Elemental	+1 bonus on saves against energy type matching elemental
Fey	Woodland stride
Giant	+1 bonus on Strength checks
Humanoid	Know spirit's native language (if multiple, choose one)
Magical Beast	Low-light vision
Monstrous Humanoid	Darkvision out to 60 feet
Ooze	Critical hits must confirm twice to actually confirm
Outsider	Detect evil/good/law/chaos opposing outsider's alignment at will
Plant	+2 bonus on saves against poisons
Undead	+1 bonus on saves against death effects
Vermin	+1 bonus on saves against mind-affecting effects

A ferryman's oar can be any weapon the ferryman chooses. If the ferryman wishes, this can be a literal oar, which is no longer considered an improvised weapon (the ferryman is considered proficient with the oar automatically in this case). The ferryman can have only one oar at a time. Designating a new oar as a free action forces the old one to lose all of its connections to the ferryman, thereby releasing all of the spirits stored inside it and the ability to store spirits. The same happens in the case of an oar being broken or destroyed.

Binding of Styx (Su): At 2nd level, a spirit stored in a ferryman's oar can be released violently as a standard action. This allows the spirit to reform as a pathetic representation of its former self. A spirit can attack and move as it did in life, but loses all special attacks, spell-like abilities, spells, and special qualities. The spirit is otherwise the same as the creature was in life (or death, in the case of undead). The spirit remains until the beginning of the ferryman's next turn and acts immediately after being released.

Styx's Blessing (Su): At 3rd level, by releasing a spirit as an immediate action from his oar, a ferryman can make himself nearly invulnerable for 1 round once per day. This confers total invulnerability except for a single weakness to a certain type of damage, as determined by a roll of 1d6, shown on the table below. This damage is the only thing that may harm the ferryman for the duration of the invulnerability. All other negative effects are unable to affect the ferryman.

1d6	Weakness
1	Weapon damage
2	Fire damage
3	Cold damage
4	Electricity damage
5	Acid damage
6	Sonic damage

At 5th level, the ferryman can apply this blessing to an ally within 30 feet. In addition, the ferryman can apply Styx's blessing once more per day.

Know Death (Su): At 4th level, a ferryman can know the exact moment and circumstances of any creature's death by studying the dead creature as a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. Undead can be studied in this way even if they are still active. The ferryman merely needs to be able to see a creature to study it.

Lifted Coils (Ex): A ferryman is not an ordinary mortal, if he is mortal at all. Certain limitations of life are removed for the ferryman. First, he need not breathe, eat, or sleep, though he still may, if he wishes. Second, he becomes immune to fatigue and exhaustion. Third, the ferryman is at no risk of death from massive damage, though he still dies when he is reduced to -10 hit points. Fourth, he becomes immune to nonmagical diseases.

Finally, once per day, the ferryman can transport himself and up to five allies within 30 feet to a plane of death, hell, or abyss for up to five rounds by releasing a number of spirits equal to the number of beings transported. The ferryman may choose what plane to go to (and a specific location on said plane, if he knows of any) and may decide when to leave at any time while on that plane. At this time, the ferryman and his allies are returned to the plane they were previously on and are invigorated with the force of the transition between life and death, gaining a morale bonus to attack rolls, damage rolls, AC, and saving throws equal to the number of rounds spent in the other plane for the same number of rounds.

Death Is Not The End (Su): Death is a transition--a new beginning. The ferryman can continue fighting normally while at 0 or less hit points until he hits -10 hit points. At this point, he can transfer his own spirit to his oar. After 1 week, he is resurrected at the location of his oar (which remains intact) with one negative level, an amount of ability damage that results in 1 point in every ability score, no skill ranks (which restore at a rate of 1 rank per skill per 8 hours of rest), and exhausted. After resurrection, he has 1 hit point. He is purged of any nonmagical poisons, but not magical diseases or poisons. If, for some reason, the ferryman has not designated an oar, he dies normally and is not raised in this manner.

The ferryman can only be raised in this manner once. It cannot bring him back from death if he dies of old age. Even after being raised in this manner, however, the ferryman can still fight normally while at 0 hit points or less until dead.