Nazarite Judge
(See Post 2 for Design Notes!)
History: Most Judges have a secret birthright that make them unique among heroes. Born of sterile women, they are the children of the gods themselves. Mortal thought they may be, their patron has a vested interest in their survival. They are born to be leaders of men, giants both physically and politically. As the living embodiment of their god, they tend to hold the tenants of their patron close at hand. However, lured by mortal temptations they sometimes stray from the path set before them.
Though the story is unique for each Judge, the arrival of an envoy of a deity to the child’s father and/or mother is normally how the tale starts. Seeing a dry womb, the envoy asks permission to give child to the woman if they swear to an oath for the child. If they accept, in time a child will be born. Great things can be expected from the child, as the deity brought him to this world for a reason…
Religion: Judges are infused with the very spirit of their god. As such, they normally revere their patron. (Their patrons are good deities.)
Role: Judges are primarily front line fighters. Champions of their god, they strike first and ask questions later.
Game Rule Information
Abilities: Strength & dexterity make the Judge a better fighter. Charisma allows him to use his Judicial Power Rite ability longer and makes his smites more effective.
Alignment: Judges must start off as a lawful good. However, events may change their alignment with no penalty as long as it does not enter the evil spectrum. (At which point they loose all class abilities until they return to the good alignment.) Judges are always considered to be “Lawful Good” for the purposes of multi-classing due to their divine nature. (Example: A Judge may not multi-class to a Barbarian because it requires you to be of the Chaotic alignment.)
Hit Dice: d8
Skill Points at 1st level: (2+ Intelligence Modifier) x4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int Modifier
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Judge is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, light armor, medium armor, and shields.
Nazarite Oath: A Judge was born of a sterile woman. At birth the father of the Judge made an oath to a messenger of their god. This must be a strict policy and may seem arbitrary, though it should be simple and physical in its nature. (Example: The judge shall not drink and shall not have his hair cut from his scalp.) If he breaks this oath, he looses his class abilities and features for 10d10 days.
During any time that a Judge does not have the ability to use class abilities or feats from this class he would otherwise have access to, he may chose to give up EXP equal to his Judge Level x100 and have access to his class feats and abilities for 12 hours. (At such time he must chose to prepare his spells if he is able to.)
[“O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.”]
Judicial Power Rite:
The Judge has a divine rite which he may induce a certain number of times per day. During this time the Judge gains inhuman strength and durability. He temporarily gains +4 bonus to strength. He gains damage reduction 3 (vs. evil aligned enemies) during this time, as he is being protected from his patron. Your body swelled and empowered, it is slightly more unwieldy and far to proud of itself. Due to this pompous attitude, you are inclined to make mistakes. This manifests itself as a -2 to AC from moral. While in this divine state, the Judge may not use any wisdom, charisma, or intelligence based skills. (Except for balance, Escape Artist, Intimidate, and Ride) or smite. He may not cast spells during this state. This state lasts for 2 x his charisma modifier thought he may end this prematurely if he wishes. After being filled with so much divine energy, the Judge is fatigued (-2 strength, -2 dexterity, and can not run or charge.). This lasts until the end of the encounter. He many only invoke this rite once per encounter. Invoking this rite takes no time, though he may only do this during the turn he activates it. This can not be used as a reaction.
Uncanny Dodge: The Judge gains the ability to react to damage before his scenes would normally allow him to do so. He retains his dexterity bonus even if he is caught flat-footed or struck by invisible attacker. However, he still looses his dexterity bonus if attacked from an invisible attackers. If he already has this ability from another class, he may take Improved Uncanny Dodge.
Improvised Weapons: All improvised weapons are conceded to be trained weapons that deal d6 damage budging damage. (“Using the jawbone of an ass, he slays one thousand Philistines.”)
Damage Reduction vs. Evil: You gain protection from your deity who has a vested interest in your continuing existence in his service. This manifests itself in a degree of invulnerability to damage from evil sources.
Smite Evil: Once per day a Judge may attempt to smite evil with one normal melee attack. He adds his charisma bonus to his attack roll and deals one extra point of damage for every Judge level. If a Judge accidentally smites a creature that is not evil, it has no effect and the smite is still expended.
Spell List: A Judge may select spells as if he was a paladin and use the paladin spell list.
Ex-Judges: A Nazarite Judge is always a Judge. However, if they stray to far from the path their deity wants them to walk, and he will forsake them until such a time that they are fit to serve his will again. (They do not loose anything for multi-classing) If they stray from their alignment, they loose all class abilities and features. However, if they enter the evil spectrum they loose all class abilities and features. If they become neutral, they loose the Damage Reduction ability. Judges always considered to be “Lawful Good” for the purposes of multi-classing due to their divine conception. (Example: You could not take the Barbarian class because it requires you to be any Chaotic alignment.)
