The Sword of Hell (3.5 Prc PEACH)

[NeoSeraphi]

The Sword of Hell



The Sword of Hell is a warrior who gains the power of the Nine Hells themselves. By completely devoting himself to his devil gods, he gains their power, and becomes the perfect tool for their actions against the earth.

Prerequisites:
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Type: Must not be Outsider
Other: BAB +4, Proficient with all simple and martial weapons
Languages: Infernal
Skills: Knowledge (The Planes) 8 ranks, Knowledge (Religion) 8 ranks
Special: Must worship one of the Lords of the Nine Hells as a patron deity

Hit Dice: d8

Class Skills: The Sword of Hell's class skills are Appraise, Bluff, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Disable Device, Escape Artist, Forgery, Gather Information, Hide, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (The Planes), Knowledge (Religion), Listen, Move Silently, Open Lock, Perform, Profession, Search, Sense Motive, Spot, Swim, Tumble, Use Magic Device, Use Psionic Device, Use Rope

Skill Points: 6+Int per level

The Sword of Hell
{table=head]Level|Base Attack<br>Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|

+1

|

+0

|

+0

|

+2

|Smite Good, See in Darkness

2nd|

+2

|

+0

|

+0

|

+3

|Hell's Whispers

3rd|

+3

|

+1

|

+1

|

+3

|Resistance of the Nine

4th|

+4

|

+1

|

+1

|

+4

|Presence of the Nine

5th|

+5

|

+1

|

+1

|

+4

|Loyalty of the Nine

6th|

+6

|

+2

|

+2

|

+5

|Glimpse of Hell

7th|

+7

|

+2

|

+2

|

+5

|Devil Tactics

8th|

+8

|

+2

|

+2

|

+6

|Hellfire Immunity

9th|

+9

|

+3

|

+3

|

+6

|Wings

10th|

+10

|

+3

|

+3

|

+7

|Drag Me to Hell, Pact Making[/table]

Class Features:

Spoiler

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Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The Sword of Hell gains no weapon or armor proficiencies.

Smite Good (Ex): The touch of the Sword of Hell's blade means a swift end for all enemies of the Nine Hells. Against any good creature, the Sword of Hell adds his Charisma modifier to his attack rolls and twice his class level to his damage rolls, automatically. The Sword of Hell may not suppress this ability.

See in Darkness (Su): The Sword of Hell's eyes are as keen as any other devil's. He gains the ability to see through any kind of darkness, even powerful magical effects such as deeper darkness. Additionally, he gains Darkvision 60' (or improves his current Darkvision by 60'). If the Sword of Hell is subjected to an anti-magic field or otherwise loses his supernatural abilities, he retains the Darkvision 60' from this ability but not the ability to see through magical darkness.

Hell's Whispers (Su): The Sword of Hell knows that to get inside a mortal's head, you actually need to be inside their head. The Sword of Hell gains telepathy out to 100 ft, and whenever he speaks into someone's mind, his voice sounds like whatever the being imagines their "conscience" would sound like.

Resistance of the Nine (Ex): The Sword of Hell has seen many things over his travels. The elements no longer hold much sway over him. He gains Resistance to Acid and Cold 10 that stacks with all other forms of resistance.

Presence of the Nine (Su): Being struck by the Sword unleashes the terror of Hell itself. All fear the Sword of Hell, as they well should. Any creature struck by the Sword of Hell's attacks must make a Will Save (DC 10+class level + Sword of Hell's Charisma modifier) or be affected as by the fear spell, caster level equal to the Sword of Hell's character level. Whether the creature succeeded or failed its saving throw, it cannot be affected by the same Sword of Hell's fear ability for another 24 hours.

Loyalty of the Nine (Sp): The Sword of Hell has minions waiting at his beck and call. They are loyal to him, because they know he serves the Lords of Hell themselves. As a full-round action once per day, the Sword of Hell may attempt to summon 2d10 lemures, bone devils, or bearded devils, or 1 erinyes, horned devil, or ice devil, with a 10% chance of success per class level. They remain for one round per class level. This is the equivalent of an 8th level spell.

Glimpse of Hell (Ex): The Sword of Hell knows what suffering is. His blade now leaves scars that will never heal. Half of all the Sword of Hell's weapon damage is treated as vile damage (Book of Vile Darkness).

Devil Tactics (Ex): The Sword of Hell has studied how his fellow devils fight, and learned from them. He gains the Improved Grab ability, which he can use whenever he hits a creature of up to his size category or smaller, and the Impale ability, which allows him to hold any piercing weapon while he is grappling (even a two-handed one) and on a successful grapple check, deal twice the piercing weapon's base damage plus twice his Strength modifier and twice the enhancement bonus from the weapon.

Hellfire Immunity (Ex): No matter how hot the volcano is, the volcanos in the Nine Hells are hotter. The Sword of Hell gains immunity to fire damage, as well as to poisons of all kinds.

Wings (Ex): The Sword of Hell's physical changes have begun to show. He sprouts a pair of bat-like wings that grant him a +10 racial bonus to Jump checks, as well as a flight speed equal to twice his land speed (if Medium or smaller) or triple his land speed (if Large or Larger) with good maneuverability.

Drag Me to Hell (Ex): The Sword of Hell has proven himself. He is now granted the privilege to walk among his comrades. The Sword of Hell's type changes to Outsider and he gains the Evil, Lawful and Extraplanar subtypes. His home plane becomes the Nine Hells, and all of Hit Dice change to d8s (he must reroll all HD he has from class levels that are not d8s.) His Base Attack Bonus is treated as his character level, and all of his saving throws become equal to his character level /2+2. His skill points per level become 8+ Int modifier and he immediately retroactively gains skill points from his class levels and hit dice until his total skill points (what he gained + what he had already spent) equal 8+his Int modifier x his total HD +3. This applies to all future HD he gains as well. From now on, his character level is also treated as his Racial Outsider HD whenever it would be beneficial to him (Such as the saving throw bonus granted by the dismissal spell). The Sword of Hell's weapons are always treated as lawful and evil for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction, and he gains DR 10/Good and Chaotic.

Pact Making (Sp): Unlike those barbaric savages from the Abyss, the servants of the Nine focus on politely recruiting souls to Nine Hells, and so the Sword of Hell gains the ability to make pacts with mortals. He may approach them and offer them power or riches in exchange for signing a blood contract that promises their souls to whichever Lord the Sword of Hell serves. The Sword of Hell gains the ability to cast the wish spell as a spell-like ability at will, granting all the benefits that a pact may grant as seen in the Book of Nine Hells, but he may only grant one wish per pact, and may not use the ability to grant his own wish or anyone who has not agreed to a pact. The Sword of Hell may not directly attack or kill anyone who has signed a pact, and doing so will bring the wrath of his Lord and end in his slow and tortured death, but he may use any means necessary to him to have the person killed or meet an accident after the pact is signed.

Ex-Swords: If a Sword of Hell stops being lawful evil or stops worshipping his God, he immediately loses all class abilities, and any attempt he makes to summon devils automatically works, but as soon as they appear they attack him instead. This continues until he properly atones, his alignment returns to lawful evil, he goes back to worshipping his God, and he receives an atonement spell.

[Cipher Stars]

do you mean you don't need to be inside someones head? for the Whisper effect. If you do need to be inside, means to do so will be nice.

I like the Pact making... brings a quite a few character ideas to mind.

[NeoSeraphi]

do you mean you don't need to be inside someones head? for the Whisper effect. If you do need to be inside, means to do so will be nice.

I like the Pact making... brings a quite a few character ideas to mind.

Er...it's Telepathy. You speak and they hear your voice in their head even though you're not actually making any sounds and there's no one near you.

[Tanuki Tales]

Out of curiosity, why not use the Pact rules from the Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells?

[NeoSeraphi]

Out of curiosity, why not use the Pact rules from the Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells?

Don't have my books on me. I'm doing this all from memory

[Betropper]

2d10 lemures, bone devils, or bearded devils

Did I read that right? Up to 20 bone devils or bearded devils halfway through the class?

[Fera Tian]

Did I read that right? Up to 20 bone devils or bearded devils halfway through the class?

that is a one in a hundred chance

[NeoSeraphi]

Did I read that right? Up to 20 bone devils or bearded devils halfway through the class?

Yes. The ability is based on the pit fiend's summoning, as I want it to remain viable even in high levels. I started it with a 50 percent chance of success, as the bearded devil ability, then it progresses slowly to 100 percent, though the pit fiend is able to do it twice per day, so even when you are level 15, you're not as good as the pit fiend (which is understandable, he's a CR 20, though it's certainly not his summoning ability that makes him CR 20)

[Betropper]

Yes. The ability is based on the pit fiend's summoning, as I want it to remain viable even in high levels. I started it with a 50 percent chance of success, as the bearded devil ability, then it progresses slowly to 100 percent, though the pit fiend is able to do it twice per day, so even when you are level 15, you're not as good as the pit fiend (which is understandable, he's a CR 20, though it's certainly not his summoning ability that makes him CR 20)

Maybe so. But still, the summoned demons don't go away according to the ability, and are also loyal to him, so with a couple lucky rolls you can easily beat any encounter your level.

[NeoSeraphi]

Maybe so. But still, the summoned demons don't go away according to the ability, and are also loyal to him, so with a couple lucky rolls you can easily beat any encounter your level.

Ah, right, the duration. Thank you. I'll fix that right now.

[super dark33]

Chaneging all hit dies to d8? thats bad if your a fighting class (hit die d10).

[NeoSeraphi]

Chaneging all hit dies to d8? thats bad if your a fighting class (hit die d10).

Yes, but it's a small price to pay for gaining immunity to dominate person, a flight speed, the ability to cause damage that can't be healed, gaining 8 skill points per level, and gaining the ability to summon your own posse of bone devils who will serve you loyally for 1 minute.

[Vulaas]

Yes, but it's a small price to pay for gaining immunity to dominate person, a flight speed, the ability to cause damage that can't be healed, gaining 8 skill points per level, and gaining the ability to summon your own posse of bone devils who will serve you loyally for 1 minute.

You actually don't have skills listed.

[Debihuman]

You would think that speaking Infernal would be a prerequisite for this class. I would put that in rather than the BAB +4 requirement.

Presence of the Nine (Su): Being struck by the Sword unleashes the terror of Hell itself. All fear the Sword of Hell, as they well should. Any creature struck by the Sword of Hell's attacks must make a Will Save (DC 10+class level + Sword of Hell's Charisma modifier) or be affected as by the fear spell, caster level equal to the Sword of Hell's character level. Whether the creature succeeded or failed its saving throw, it cannot be affected by the same Sword of Hell's fear ability for another 24 hours.

Since the DC is 10 + class level + ability modifier, this has the potential to be worse than the standard save if you had used the standard Supernatural save DC 10 + ½ the creature’s HD + the creature’s ability modifier (usually Charisma).

This is especially true if the Sword has racial hit dice or entered the class later than the minimum required, since the DC is only based on his Sword class.

Don't forget, a lowly 3rd level paladin is immune to fear (magical or otherwise) and her allies within 10 feet also gain a +4 morale bonus on their fear checks. This is not as impressive as it looks.

Hellfire Immunity (Ex): No matter how hot the volcano is, the volcanoes in the Nine Hells are hotter. The Sword of Hell gains immunity to fire damage, as well as to poisons of all kinds.

The immunity to poison feels tacked on like an afterthought rather than intrinsic to the ability. Not all of the Nine Hells is hot. For example, this isn't terribly useful for going to Cania (although that cold resistance 10 is useful).

As Prestige classes go, this is fairly generic. If I were playing a game in which going to the 9 Hells were predominant, I'd rather see a prestige class based on the individual Lords of the Nine rather than one prestige class that fits for all of them. That's not to say that there is anything wrong with this one, just that it lacks focus.

Debby

[NeoSeraphi]

You would think that speaking Infernal would be a prerequisite for this class. I would put that in rather than the BAB +4 requirement.



Since the DC is 10 + class level + ability modifier, this has the potential to be worse than the standard save if you had used the standard Supernatural save DC 10 + ½ the creature’s HD + the creature’s ability modifier (usually Charisma).

This is especially true if the Sword has racial hit dice or entered the class later than the minimum required, since the DC is only based on his Sword class.

Don't forget, a lowly 3rd level paladin is immune to fear (magical or otherwise) and her allies within 10 feet also gain a +4 morale bonus on their fear checks. This is not as impressive as it looks.



The immunity to poison feels tacked on like an afterthought rather than intrinsic to the ability. Not all of the Nine Hells is hot. For example, this isn't terribly useful for going to Cania (although that cold resistance 10 is useful).

As Prestige classes go, this is fairly generic. If I were playing a game in which going to the 9 Hells were predominant, I'd rather see a prestige class based on the individual Lords of the Nine rather than one prestige class that fits for all of them. That's not to say that there is anything wrong with this one, just that it lacks focus.

Debby

Speak Language (Infernal) is also a prerequisite. You must have missed it.

Devils are immune to fire and poison. It's not tacked on, there's just no real explanation for gaining the ability other than that the Sword of Hell is slowly becoming a devil.

The idea isn't that you're GOING to the Nine Hells, it's that you serve the Nine Hells on the Material Plane and slowly become a devil who fights and draws pacts for one of the Lords of the Nine.

I agree with your argument about the DC, but most prestige classes have this DC as the standard. The assassin's death attack, for example. Ending a DC with 20+ ability modifier has always been the standard and I won't go against it.

[NeoSeraphi]

You actually don't have skills listed.

Thank you for pointing that out. Updated, added class skills, skill points, and changed the capstone to give retroactive Outsider skill points.

[super dark33]

The Idea Debihuman suggested may be quite good.
makeing it a Chose-yoor-path PrC will make it better.
every class with a Chose-your-path is good!

[NeoSeraphi]

The Idea Debihuman suggested may be quite good.
makeing it a Chose-yoor-path PrC will make it better.
every class with a Chose-your-path is good!

You mean the nine different hells? I think it would be interesting, certainly, but it doesn't fit the flavor of THIS class specifically. I might take a look at it later, but I don't have the Book of Nine Hells so I couldn't write anything specific.

[Yitzi]

Between Pact Making, Hell's Whispers, and bluff as a class skill, I could see this being a very effective subterfuge class.
For added fun, use a bard base (with a level dip for the proficiency) to get Glibness.

[NeoSeraphi]

Between Pact Making, Hell's Whispers, and bluff as a class skill, I could see this being a very effective subterfuge class.
For added fun, use a bard base (with a level dip for the proficiency) to get Glibness.

Bards can't be lawful

[Shades of Gray]

d20 srd

A bard who becomes lawful in alignment cannot progress in levels as a bard, though he retains all his bard abilities.

Start as a Neutral bard. Become lawful. Lose nothing.

[Debihuman]

Speak Language (Infernal) is also a prerequisite. You must have missed it.

Guess I did. Sorry about that.

Devils are immune to fire and poison. It's not tacked on, there's just no real explanation for gaining the ability other than that the Sword of Hell is slowly becoming a devil.

The idea isn't that you're GOING to the Nine Hells, it's that you serve the Nine Hells on the Material Plane and slowly become a devil who fights and draws pacts for one of the Lords of the Nine.

Perhaps you should be clearer then. Hellfire should reference this.

I agree with your argument about the DC, but most prestige classes have this DC as the standard. The assassin's death attack, for example. Ending a DC with 20+ ability modifier has always been the standard and I won't go against it.

Then don't make a Supernatural ability. Assassin's death attack isn't supernatural.

Debby

[Yitzi]

Bards can't be lawful

Ex-bard then.