PRESTIGE CLASSES
CHAPTER 6
courageous band of freedom fighters whose members use stealth and steely resolve to evade the agents of a tyrannical overlord. You could also create a large, powerful, and wealthy sept at the heart of an army of evil martial artists and rogues. This option works especially well if one or more of the players at your table is running a good-aligned monk to oppose such an organization. The army’s warriors would be low-level monks or fighters in such an arrangement, and the umbral disciples would be the elite commanders. An umbral disciple sept would also work well as a monastic order affiliated with an evil temple, such as the church of Shar in the FORGOTTEN R EALMS campaign setting.
Encounters If you want to challenge your players, let an umbral disciple sneak up on the characters. A member of this prestige class always uses his Hide skill to best effect, and he rarely sticks around for a stand-up fight once he has sprung his best ambush. EL 8: The heroes claimed a particular item from a defeated foe in some previous adventure, and now an associate or foe of that enemy wants it back. Javarral Lysselvedar of the Shadow Lions has been ordered to steal it from the party. By following rumors and stories of the heroes’ exploits, he discovers their present whereabouts and looks for a chance to overcome the hero carrying the item. He tries to choose a place and time when the hero in question is alone and help is not readily available.
Javarral Lysselvedar
CR 8
Male duskling monk 5/umbral disciple 3 LE Medium fey (extraplanar, incarnum) Init +4; Senses low-light vision, Listen +10, Spot +2 Languages Common, Sylvan AC 19, touch 17, flat-footed 15; Dodge; 20% concealment hp 52 (8 HD) Immune normal disease Resist evasion Fort +7, Ref +11, Will +9 (+11 against enchantments) Speed 50 ft. (10 squares) Melee unarmed strike +9 (1d8+2) or Melee unarmed strike +8/+8 (1d8+2) with flurry of blows or Ranged mwk light crossbow with +1 bolt +11 (1d8+1/19–20) Base Atk +5; Grp +7 Atk Options ki strike (magic), sneak attack +1d6, stunning attack 5/day (1d8+4, DC 18) Special Actions hide in plain sight Combat Gear elixir of hiding, potion of cure moderate wounds, potion of bull’s strength Essentia Pool 4; Capacity 2; Chakra Binds 0; Soulmelds 0 Essentia Investment Sapphire Fist 2 (+2 to damage and save DC for Stunning Fist) Embrace of shadow 2 (attacks have 20% miss chance)
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Abilities Str 14, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 8 SQ fast movement, slow fall 20 ft., step of the bodiless Feats Combat ReflexesB, Dodge, Improved Unarmed StrikeB, Sapphire Fist, Stunning FistB, Weapon Finesse Skills Balance +9, Climb +5, Concentration +6, Hide +12, Jump +15, Knowledge (arcana) +3, Listen +10, Tumble +10 Possessions combat gear plus gloves of Dexterity +2, bracers of armor +2, masterwork light crossbow with 10 silvered bolts and 10 +1 bolts Hook “Are you afraid of the dark?”
WITCHBORN BINDER
“Sorcery is deceitful and duplicitous. I serve truth. Which do you think will prove the stronger?” —Arienne Thorngage, Witchborn Binder of the Vigilant Servants
Few creatures pose as much threat to human society as arcane spellcasters do. A single wizard can easily destroy an entire town, subvert a kingdom, or twist the very laws of nature with a few well-placed spells. Against this obvious threat stands a fellowship of royal agents known as the Vigilant Servants, whose members make it their business to frustrate the plans of the witchborn—namely sorcerers, wizards, and other users of arcane magic. The orga ni zation’s elite agents are the witchborn binders— incarnum-wielding mage-hunters who can use the power of soul energy to create shields, traps, and shackles that can smother the magical powers of the witchborn and render them helpless. In most lands, witchborn binders are stern agents of good charged with hunting down those who employ arcane magic for evil purposes. Though they are often grim and determined, these witchborn binders do not go out of their way to persecute arcane spellcasters who use their magic for the benefit of others. In other nations, however, witchborn binders are solitary bounty hunters who hunt spellcasters for money with little thought as to whether their quarry might serve good or evil. A rare few witchborn binders act as agents of oppressive regimes whose leaders wish to prevent any use of magic outside the purview of the land’s tyrannical overlords.
BECOMING A WITCHBORN BINDER The most direct path into the witchborn binder prestige class is to take six levels in incarnate or totemist and buy the appropriate feats and skills. However, a character who does not have a good Intelligence score might have trouble purchasing enough skill ranks to qualify. A low-level ranger with levels in incarnate, however, can meet the prerequisites much more easily. Constitution is a key ability for shaping soulmelds, and it also provides extra resistance to many deadly spells. Similarly, good Dexterity and Wisdom scores help the witchborn binder withstand magical attacks and get close to her quarry. Because of the high meldshaping level required
