Honor Guard

This prestige class fills a niche role in my campaign setting. They pretty much function as the secret service, running about keeping VIPs safe. The idea is that regardless of the situation, the honor guard needs to be in control. I argued with myself about whether to give them rage or the defensive stance, but decided to go with the stance because they're protecting someone (who's presumably behind them).

Questions? Comments? Doubts about my sanity?

To clarify: You can only enter this PrC if you've gain the approval of the prince and undergone the special training? And if you prove disloyal to the Crown?

I'd add lawful alignment and Improved Unarmed Strike to the prerequistes.

Replacing the Intimidate skill with Disguise or Hide would mimic Secret Service types better in my mind; discrete protection rather than disruptive. I'd also give the Spot skill instead one of the Str based skills; being able to see the enemy is better than being able to Jump or Climb.

The Turning feats don't make much sense, unless Shral has a problem with undead assassins. Same with the Turn Undead prereq.

Canny Defense, the Wisdom bonus and Defensive Stance seem too much, and too soon if you get all of them at first level. Maybe drop Canny Defense?

It seems interesting and a good start for a monk/divine champion combo.

I like the idea. Here are my thoughts as I'm reading it. They're supposed to protect other people right? Like bodyguards? What is the reason behind them having flurry of blows? If you do decide for them to have it I'd recommend sticking in Improved Unarmed Strike or Weapon Finesse as a required feat, maybe replacing Power Attack.

I'd like to see an ability that allows them to attune to a particular noble/dignitary -- someone they've made a bond of trust with who receives extra protection; perhaps an improved aid person option?

As already said, drop Canny Defense - it's too much. As for the class skills, I think Intimidate is actually OK for these holy guys; after all, they get fearful presence at 10th level.

Of course, you'll need to explain the whole religious and anti-undead aspect of the class in its description so we're not left wondering. Overall nice class, cheers!

Reworked the class according to some suggestions.

There is an undead problem in Shral. Also, there are many players who use feats to cash it turn attempts for different abilities.

Honor Guard

The prince of the city-state of Shral created a special group among his soldiers to guard the lives of the nobility, himself, and visiting dignitaries. This special group is called the Honor Guard of Shral. Special trainers and martial experts were hired to train and maintain this elite fighting group. As the prince often says, “My soldiers need to be ready for anything.” The ranks of the honor guards come from the city guard (consisting mostly of paladins) and local clerics.

Hit Die: d10


Requirements

To qualify to become an honor guard, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

Alignment: Any lawful.

Base Attack Bonus: +5.

Skills: Diplomacy 5 ranks, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) 5 ranks, and Knowledge (religion) 5 ranks.

Feats: Power Attack.

Special: Ability to Turn Undead. Must be sponsored by a current honor guard.



Class Skills

The honor guard’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (nobility and royalty)(Int), Knowledge (religion)(Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis). See Chapter 4 of the Player’s Handbook for skill descriptions.

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.



Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Honor guards are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, and with light armor.

Aura of Good (Ex): The power of an honor guard’s aura of good (see the detect good spell) is equal to half the honor guard’s level plus any levels of cleric or paladin that the honor guard may have, just like the aura of a cleric of a good deity.

AC Bonus (Ex): An honor guard is trained at dodging blows, and he has a sixth sense that lets her avoid anticipated attacks. When wearing light or no armor, the honor guard adds his Wisdom bonus (if any) to her AC. This bonus to AC applies even against touch attacks, but not when the honor guard if flat-footed. He loses this benefit when he is immobilized or helpless, when he wears armor heavier than light, when he carries a shield, or when he carries a medium or heavy load.

Defensive Stance (Ex): When he needs to, an honor guard can become a stalwart bastion of defense. In this defensive stance, an honor guard gains phenomenal strength and durability, but he cannot move from the spot he is defending. He gains +2 to Strength, +4 to Constitution, a +2 resistance bonus on all saves, and a +4 dodge bonus to AC.

The increase in Constitution increases the honor guard’s hit points by 2 points per HD, but these hit points go away at the end of the defensive stance when the Constitution score drops back 4 points. These extra hit points are not lost first the way temporary hit points are. While in a defensive stance, an honor guard cannot use skills or abilities that would require him to shift his position, such as Move Silently or Jump. A defensive stance lasts a number of rounds equal to 3 + the character’s (newly improved) Constitution modifier. An honor guard may end his defensive stance voluntarily prior to this limit. At the end of the defensive stance, the honor guard is winded and takes a –2 penalty to Strength for the duration of that encounter. An honor guard may only use his defensive stance a certain number of times per day as determined by his level (see the included table). Using the defensive stance takes no time itself, but an honor guard may only do so on his action. (An honor guard can’t, for example, use the stance when struck down by an arrow in order to get the extra hit points from the increased Constitution.)

Flurry of Blows (Ex): When wearing light or no armor, an honor guard may strike with a flurry of blows at the expense of accuracy. When doing so, he may take an extra attack in one round at his highest base attack bonus, but all these attacks suffer a –2 penalty. The resulting base attack bonuses are listed in the table below.

When using flurry of blows, an honor guard my only use unarmed strikes or with a light melee weapon, and may use these attacks interchangeably. This otherwise functions as the monk’s flurry of blows. Monks who multiclass as honor guards add their honor guard levels to their monk levels to determine their flurry of blows as the monk class feature.

Lay on Hands (Su): An honor guard with a Charisma score of 12 or higher can heal wounds (his own or others) by touch. Each day he can heal a total number of hit points of damage equal to his honor guard level X his Charisma bonus. An honor guard may choose to divide his healing among multiple recipients, and he doesn’t have to do it all at once. Using lay on hands is a standard action.

Alternatively, an honor guard can use any or all of this healing power to deal damage to undead creatures. Using lay on hands in this way requires a successful melee touch attack and doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity. The honor guard decides how many of her daily allotment of points to use as damage after successfully touching an undead creature.

Mobile Defense (Ex): At 2nd level, an honor guard can adjust his position while maintaining a defensive stance. While in a defensive stance, he can take one 5-foot step each round without losing the benefit of the stance.

Spells and Caster Level: At 4th level and again at 8th level, the character gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in whatever divine spellcasting class he belonged to before he added this prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (bonus metamagic or item creation feats, bard, or assassin abilities, and so on). If a character had more than one divine spellcasting class before he became an honor guard, he must decide to which class he adds each level bonus. The honor guard’s divine caster level increases by one for every other level he has in this prestige class.



Special

+1/+1

-1/-1/-1

Defensive stance 1/day

+2/+2

+0/+0/+0

Mobile Defense, Extra Turning

+3/+3

+1/+1/+1

Defensive stance 2/day

+4/+4

+2/+2/+2

+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class

+5/+5

+3/+3/+3

Defensive stance 3/day

+6/+6/+1

+4/+4/+4/-1

Extra Turning, Improved Turning

+7/+7/+2

+5/+5/+5/+0

Defensive stance 4/day

+8/+8/+3

+6/+6/+6/+1

+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class

+9/+9/+4

+7/+7/+7/+2

Defensive stance 5/day

+10/+10/+5

+8/+8/+8/+3

Extra Turning, Fearful Presence