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Hooded Healer

robjh

First Post
This is another prestige class from a custom pantheon, and I'd like to find out whether you think this class is balanced and playable. The class is combat-weak, but has good skills and spell advancement. Thanks! :)

Hooded Healer

These itinerant priests of La'ahl are blessed with supernatural abilities that allows them to magiacally manipulate the toxins produced by snakes, changing what would otherwise be a poison into a mixture with beneficial qualities. They emply this power of the serpent for healing the injured and sick, travelling from village to village and cure what lies beyond the abilities of the local cleric. They stay only long enough to heal the most seriously ill or injured, before moving to the next settlement. While many have some fear of the supernatural serpent powers of hooded healers, they are widely respected and welcomed where they journey.

Hooded healers are noted for their heavy, hooded green robes, in which they can carry their serpent pets and healing supplies. They are mediocre combatants at best, and favor the use of diplomacy or subdual techniques to resolve conflict. Many are skilled at the stealthy arts of staying concealed in order to avoid the ignorant few who fear them enough to lay an ambush or seek to hunt them down as witches.

Hit Die: d4

Requirements

To qualify to become a hooded healer, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

Alignment: Any Good.
Heal: 9 ranks.
Spells: Ability to cast delay poison as a divine spell.
Feats: Great Fortitude.
Patron: La'ahl.
Special: Must have survived the bite of a poisonous snake without the aid of magical healing.

Class Skills

The hooded healer's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).

Skill Points at Each Level: 6 + Int modifier.

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the hooded healers.

Weapons and Armor Proficiency: Hooded healers do not gain any additional proficiency with weapons, armor, or shields.

Spells per Day: When a new hooded healer level is gained, the character gains new spells per day as if she has also gained a level in a divine spellcasting class she belonged to before adding the prestige class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained, except for an increased effective level of spellcasting. This essentially means that she adds the level of hooded healer to the level of whatever other divine spellcasting class the character has, then determines spells per day and caster level accordingly. If a character has more than one divine spellcasting class before becoming a hooded healer, she must decide to which class she adds the new level for purposes of determining spells per day.

Subdual (Ex): A hooded healer is instructed in special techniques to quell a conflict without killing her opponent. When employing a melee weapon that normally deals lethal damage to instead deal nonlethal damage, she only suffers a M-^V1 penalty on her attack rolls. She also gains Exotic Weapon Proficiency with the net as a bonus feat.

Treat Snake Wounds (Ex): A hooded healer gains a +2 competence bonus to her Heal skill when treating the wounds and poisonous effects dealt by a snake. If she has ranks in Craft (alchemy), she also gains a +2 competence bonus to her Craft (alchemy) skill when creating antitoxins.

Serpent Empathy (Ex): At 2nd level, a hooded healer gains the wild empathy ability of Druids when dealing with snakes. She can use the same ability when interacting with other reptiles, but has a -4 adjustment to the wild empathy check. If the hooded healer has class levels as a druid or ranger, she can combine her class levels when making the wild empathy check against snakes or other reptiles.

Sleep Healing (Su): Upon reaching 2nd level, a hooded healer begins to recover from wounds at a supernaturally accelerated rate. So long as she has at least 1 hit point remaining, she heals 1 point of damage every hour she is asleep. This is in addition to normal healing gained while resting, and due to the use of the Heal skill.

At 5th level, the rate of sleep healing increases to 2 points of damage healed each full hour while asleep.

Poison Resistance (Su): Starting at 3rd level, hooded healers become especially resistant to the toxin in a snake bite. They gain a +4 bonus when making saving throws against snake toxin, and a +2 bonus on saving throws against poison from other types of reptiles. The +2 bonus also applies to the poison of a medusa, naga, and other creatures possessing distinctly snake-like features.

Minor Toxic Transform (Su): At 4th level a hooded healer can convert snake toxins into a beneficial potion. Once a day, the venom coaxed from a single Medium or larger viper snake, when mixed with a flask of holy water, can be transformed into a potion of cure moderate wounds cast at the hooded healer class level. There is no XP cost for creating this potion. However the potion is much less resilient than a normal magic potion and must be consumed within a three day period to be effective.

Poison Immunity (Su): At 5th level a hooded healer becomes immune to the venom of all snakes. She gains a +4 bonus to saving throws against poison from reptiles, as well as medusa, naga, and other creatures possessing distinctly snake-like traits.

Major Toxic Transform (Su): At 6th level a hooded healer can produce a more potent healing potion. The toxic transform now produces a potion of cure critical wounds cast at the hooded healer class level. There is no XP cost for creating this potion. However the potion is much less resilient than a normal magic potion and must be consumed within a three day period to be effective.

Table: Hooded Healer
Base
Class Attack Fort Ref Will
Level Bonus Save Save Save Special
1st +0 +2 +0 +2 Treat snake wounds, subdual
2nd +1 +3 +0 +3 Serpent empathy, sleep healing 1
3rd +1 +3 +1 +3 Poison resistance
4th +2 +4 +1 +4 Minor toxic transform
5th +2 +4 +1 +4 Poison immunity, sleep healing 2
6th +3 +5 +2 +5 Major toxic transform

At each level the hooded healer also gains spells per day as +1 level of existing class. (Not shown above.)
 

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jaker2003

Explorer
I like the idea. Prestige classes ussually have 3,5,7, or ten levels. Maybe you could throw in an ability of relevence that warrants another level?

Also, the toxic transform: does this take a day to brew like other portions or is mixing the potion one of those 'full round actions that provoke an attack of oppurtunity' things?

How long does it take to milk snake venom and how much venom is produced by snakes by size category?
 

robjh

First Post
jaker2003 said:
I like the idea. Prestige classes ussually have 3,5,7, or ten levels. Maybe you could throw in an ability of relevence that warrants another level?

Also, the toxic transform: does this take a day to brew like other portions or is mixing the potion one of those 'full round actions that provoke an attack of oppurtunity' things?

How long does it take to milk snake venom and how much venom is produced by snakes by size category?

I remember a note from the WotC folks concerning the number of levels in Prestige class. Apparently they were concerned about everybody adopting 10 levels as a standard number for a prestige class. They pointed out that the number of levels were not set in stone. In this case I just let the levels meet the number of special abilities I thought up. I didn't want to just set the levels and cram a bunch of extra special abilities as needed. :)

Good feedback. I'll have to work out some numbers for your other issues. Thanks.
 

Ferret

Explorer
Hurrah, a non-conformist!

Lovely strong flavour text, even in the abilities. This is a non-combatant? I wouldn't mind some kind of combat ability, and I don't think it would ruin the concept, but its up to you. Maybe a way to put oponents to sleep/other incompacitations (paralys etc)

Also: When you say,
Subdual (Ex): A hooded healer is instructed in special techniques to quell a conflict without killing her opponent. When employing a melee weapon that normally deals lethal damage to instead deal nonlethal damage, she only suffers a M-^V1 penalty on her attack rolls. She also gains Exotic Weapon Proficiency with the net as a bonus feat.

What does "M-^V1" mean?
 

Kisanji Arael

First Post
Wow, this is... a very good prestige class. You might try refining subdual a bit.For the most part, I tend to agree with jaker in that I usually prefer ten level PrCs. But I'll let it slide.
However, one idea that I had the entire time reading this...
Give them one snake that functions like a familiar, which can bite and inject venom a certain number of times/day. They can commmand it to bite, and know whenever it does so on its own. Whenever it does so on its own, let the HH immediately know the situation and get to decide whether to make the bite healing, paralytic, or normal.

And if you really wanted to be crazy....

Snake Fighter (Note: not to be copied verbatim)
At any time that the HH is with his snake, he may make a touch attack on an opponent, guiding the snake along his hand. If the snakebite succeeds, his victim must succeed at a (DC 15+levels of HH) check or be paralyzed.


My 2 CP,
KA
 

robjh

First Post
What does "M-^V1" mean?

It's probably a (keyboard) character conversion issue. It was supposed to just be -1.

Give them one snake that functions like a familiar, which can bite and inject venom a certain number of times/day.

That's an interesting idea. I'll give it some thought.

This class is generally non-combat oriented, and most likely more useful as an NPC concept. I could probably keep improving the subdual combat abilities though.
 


Cheiromancer

Adventurer
I think it was this thread that brought the idea for "Painful Healing" spells to the surface. Characters using snake bites to heal people seems to lead naturally to a cure spell that does initial damage, but ends up curing a lot more than a cure wounds spell of the same level.

The mechanic for one line of the "painful healing" family of spells is that the spell does 1d8 damage/spell level initially, then acts like an extended vigor spell. Painful healing could be a source of custom spells for the hooded healer, and may require a snake as a focus; the snake has to bite the person who is being healed. The initial effect of the venom is to hurt the recipient, but it ends up having a beneficial effect. (20 rounds + 2 rounds/level of fast healing 1 for a first level spell; well worth the 1d8 initial damage... unless you are in combat, or at -9 hp, that is.)
 

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