[PrC] The Shadow of Justice

[Bobbis]

Shadow of Justice

It was the third house that Kirat had robbed this week, and once again he had been forced to kill the inhabitants; but it was worth it. He cast expeditious retreat on himself and began to run down the dark alleys until he got the strange feeling he was being followed; he spun around, and no one was there. Chalking it up to paranoia, Kirat continued to run. Suddenly he heard a voice speak Halfling in a strange accent, “You will pay for your transgressions.” Kirat spun around and out of the corner of his eye saw a flash of a lightly glowing blade; then the world went black.
The woman cleaned her shortsword on the blood of the criminal Halfling on the corpse’s vest, then grabbed his lifeless palm and began to drag him to the guard’s barracks.

The Shadow of Justice is a master of dealing lethal blows from the shadows. They are aware that justice must be dealt, and sometimes honor must be sacrificed for the greater order. They do not kill for themselves, but for the purpose of keeping order. Lawfully inclined rogues and rangers find this class helps to hone their own abilities; monks may find this class already falls in line with their beliefs; paladins do not find this class quite as attractive, as sacrificing honor for justice is not to be done.

Hit Die
d6.

Requirements
To qualify to become a Shadow of Justice, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
-Alignment
Any Lawful
-Skills
Sense Motive 8 ranks, Spot 8 ranks, and Gather Information 4 ranks
-Feats
Alertness


Class Skills
The Shadow of Justice's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (local) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Open Lock (Dex), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language, Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), Use Magic Device (Cha), and Use Rope (Dex).

Skill Points at Each Level
8 + Int modifier.

Table: The Shadow of Justice
{table=head]Level|Base Attack[br]Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|

+0

|

+0

|

+2

|

+0

| Death Attack
2nd|

+1

|

+0

|

+3

|

+0

| Sneak Attack +1d6, Uncanny Dodge, Swift Justice +10 ft
3rd|

+2

|

+1

|

+3

|

+1

| Blades of Law
4th|

+3

|

+1

|

+4

|

+1

| Sneak Attack +2d6,Evasion, Knowledge of the Foe
5th|

+3

|

+1

|

+4

|

+1

| Swift Justice +20 ft
6th|

+4

|

+2

|

+5

|

+2

| Sneak Attack +3d6
7th|

+5

|

+2

|

+5

|

+2

| Improved Uncanny Dodge
8th|

+6

|

+2

|

+6

|

+2

| Sneak Attack +4d6, Hide in Plain Sight
9th|

+6

|

+3

|

+6

|

+3

| Swift Justice +30 ft, Improved Evasion
10th|

+7

|

+3

|

+7

|

+3

| Sneak Attack +5d6, Vow of Justice [/table]

Class Features
All of the following are Class Features of the Shadow of Justice prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
The Shadow of Justice gains no additional armor or weapon proficiencies

Sneak Attack
This is exactly like the Rogue ability of the same name. The extra damage dealt increases by +1d6 every even level (2st, 4rd, 6th, 8th, and 10th). If a Shadow of Justice gets a sneak attack bonus from another source the bonuses on damage stack.

Death Attack
If a Shadow of Justice studies her victim for 3 rounds and then makes a sneak attack with a melee weapon that successfully deals damage, the sneak attack has the additional effect of possibly either paralyzing or killing the target (Shadow of Justice’s choice). While studying the victim, the Shadow of Justice can undertake other actions so long as her attention stays focused on the target and the target does not detect the Shadow of Justice or recognize the Shadow of Justice as an enemy. If the victim of such an attack fails Fortitude save (DC 10 + the Shadow of Justice’s class level + the Shadow of Justice’s Int modifier) against the kill effect, it dies. If the saving throw fails against the paralysis effect, the victim is rendered helpless and unable to act for 1d6 rounds plus 1 round per level in Shadow of Justice. If the victim’s saving throw succeeds, the attack is just a normal sneak attack. Once the Shadow of Justice has completed the 3 rounds of study, she must make the death attack within the next 3 rounds.
If a death attack is attempted and fails (the victim makes it's save) or if the Shadow of Justice does not launch the attack within 3 rounds of completing the study, 3 new rounds of study are required before she can attempt another death attack.

Swift Justice (Ex)
Justice must be able to catch up with those that try to evade it, and that needs fuels the Shadow of Justice. At second level the Shadow of Justice’s base land speed increases by 10 feet, and increases by 10 feet at 5th and 9th level. This bonus only applies when unarmored or wearing light armor.

Uncanny Dodge (Ex)
Starting at 2nd level, a Shadow of Justice retains her Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) regardless of being caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. (She still loses any Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized.)
If a character gains uncanny dodge from a second class the character automatically gains improved uncanny dodge (see below).

Blades of Law (Su)
At third level any weapon a Shadow of Justice carries is considered law aligned for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction.

Evasion (Ex)
At 4th level and higher, a Shadow of Justice can avoid even magical and unusual attacks with great agility. If she makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, she instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if the Shadow of Justice is wearing light armor or no armor. A helpless Shadow of Justice does not gain the benefit of evasion.

Knowledge of the Foe (Ex)
At 4th level the Shadow of Justice gains a +2 modifier on all Knowledge (Local) and Gather Information rolls that relate to a suspect.

Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex)
At 7th level, a Shadow of Justice can no longer be flanked, since she can react to opponents on opposite sides of her as easily as she can react to a single attacker. This defense denies Rogues the ability to use flank attacks to sneak attack the Shadow of Justice. The exception to this defense is that a Rogue at least four levels higher than the Shadow of Justice can flank her (and thus sneak attack her).
If a character gains uncanny dodge (see above) from a second class the character automatically gains improved uncanny dodge, and the levels from those classes stack to determine the minimum Rogue level required to flank the character.

Hide in Plain Sight (Su)
At 8th level, a Shadow of Justice can use the Hide skill even while being observed. As long as she is within 10 feet of some sort of shadow, a Shadow of Justice can hide himself from view in the open without having anything to actually hide behind. She cannot, however, hide in his own shadow.

Improved Evasion (Ex)
This ability works like evasion, except that while the Shadow of Justice still takes no damage on a successful Reflex saving throw against attacks henceforth she henceforth takes only half damage on a failed save. A helpless Shadow of Justice does not gain the benefit of improved evasion.

Vow of Justice (Sp)
Once per week a Shadow of Justice can vow to kill an enemy for a wrongdoing; this vow must be made so the enemy can hear it and the enemy automatically understands the sentence spoken. Against the target of the vow the Shadow of Justice gains a +1 morale bonus on attack and damage rolls, her weapons are treated as having the fiercebane special ability, and she functions as if she has true seeing against the target only. If the target is in any way in the material plane the target functions as being completely in the material plane for the Shadow of Justice (for example Ethereal, Blinking, etc). The vow lasts until the creature is dead or for one day. If the Shadow of Justice fails to kill the target within a day she takes a -1 penalty on attack and damage rolls for the next day. The weekly counter starts when the vow is made.

If the enemy is killed by the Shadow of Justice while the vow is in effect, the creature can not be brought back to life by any means short of a wish or miracle.

(Fiercebane is from the DMGII, it functions as the bane ability but also confers extra damage on a critical hit (1d10 for a x2, 2d10 for a x3, 3d10 for a x4) and glows faintly within 100 feet of the target.)


Comments?

[Bobbis]

Hate to self-bump, but if someone could look over this; one of my players wants to use this; and they should be hitting the enterable level in 1-2 sessions.

[thehothead]

I like it. I wouldn't use it myself, but I think it is a good idea

[jlousivy]

this seems a little overpowered honestly, a death attack, 8+ skill points, full sneak attack progression, increased move speed +30, etc

This just seems to be a little too good. I'd suggest removing a few special abilities, namely improved evasion and swift justice(or reduce it to +10 like the barbarian) I do like the flavor though

[MandibleBones]

Not to completely abuse semantics, but this seems more like a "Shadow of Vengeance" than Justice.

Not that it's a bad plan; it seems very Boondock Saints. Just being nitpicky, I suppose.

I do like the class, though.

[Fizban]

As it's baisically a non-evil assassin, I will judge it as such:
In exchange for poison use, bonus saves vs. poison, and assassin spells, it gets +30 movement speed, lawfully aligned weapons, and evasion+improved evasion. The assassin spells are nothing to sneer at, especially if you're using the spell compendium, but I'm still gonna suggest dropping the skill points down to 6+int as the assassin.

[Proven_Paradox]

Yeah, this is overpowered in my opinion. I think either dropping the skill points per level or reducing that MASSIVE bonus to movement speed would balance things out a little more.

I would totally use this given the opportunity, though.

[Timberwolf]

Me too, I likes it and would use it as well.

[Jarl]

I like it. Lamont Cranston?

-As yeh can see from my sig, I walk that path too.

[The Great Skenardo]

I was reading over the death attack: is it normal for the paralysis effect to last as long as that? 1d6 rounds seems reasonable, but 1d6 + class level? that seems excessive.

[Bobbis]

That is normal for death attack, I believe; would reducing the speed bonus to +5 per bonus be more reasonable so it maxes out at +15?

[Proven_Paradox]

I think that would suffice. And like I said, I would definately try using this if I were playing under a DM that allowed it.

[Zion_of_the_Flame]

Seems balanced, although th assassin spellcasting was really good

[Leather_Book_Wizard]

This reminds me of the Punisher. Has a good flavor overall,needs some work.

[Machete]

Take away improved evasion and improved uncanny dodge. +20 speed is a big boost. Tp balance it out make the +2 modifier on all Knowledge (Local) and Gather Information check available for any information they want. Smoother feel to it.

I like it in general.