The Dark Marshal of Bael

[Selah]

Note that class abilities have not been described. You'll have to wait for the release of The Gates of Hell, this summer at Dicefreaks.

Dark Marshal of Bael (preview)

Many of the great captains are lauded for their eloquence, and their ability to stir the men that follow them to fight in the name of some ideal. Such captains manage to take the iron of discipline and the soft gold of malleability and creativity to forge an amalgam always one step ahead of the enemy. Battles are won and lost over a single man’s ability to rally the troops, for the field is rarely won by means of attrition.

The greatest of captains, then, are those who are willing to pay whatever price is necessary to win the day, twisting honor and the rules of warfare to meet their needs. Such a leader is the Dark Marshal of Bael, accounted by all as a foe to fear. A Dark Marshal will commit all sorts of despicable acts to humiliate his enemies and to inspire his allies, though he does not do so out of any love of such acts. To the Dark Marshal of Bael, it is merely a part of his duty and responsibility to drive his troops to fight at their best. Victory on the field of battle vindicates the means of achieving the victory, according to the code that the Dark Marshal follows. It is of no surprise to note that individual dark marshals are among the most brilliant and effective battle leaders to be found.

Dark Marshals tend to come from the ranks of fighters more often than not, with others having first trod the path of ranger, monk, or fallen paladin and blackguard. Rogues and clerics can make effective Dark Marshals, but bards and barbarians lack the necessary discipline. Wizards and sorcerers only rarely give up their study and development of The Word to follow this path.

It is rare to find more than one Dark Marshal working directly with another, for they tend to seek their own commands. Dark Marshals can be found most frequently involved in the Blood War, where they actively seek to bring greater power to their master, Bael, Lord of the First, as well as to themselves. NPC Dark Marshals are almost always found leading a military unit, whether that be their own army, a mercenary company, or a band of likeminded NPCs.


Hit Die: d10

Requirements:
To become a Dark Marshal of Bael, a character must fulfill the following criteria:
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Base Attack Bonus: +9
Skills: Intimidate 9 ranks, Knowledge (history) 3 ranks, Knowledge (the Planes) 6 ranks
Feats: Vile Martial Strike, Devotee of Darkness (Bael)
Special: Dark Marshals of Bael must have made peaceful contact with a greater Devil (at least CR 15). The Devil then instructs the would-be Dark Marshal on the process to submit to the will of Bael, the Lord of the First.

Class Skills:
The Dark Marshal of Bael's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (architecture and engineering) (Int), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (nobility and royalty) (Int), Profession (military tactician) (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis). See Chapter 4: Skills in the Player’s Handbook for skill descriptions.

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special Abilities         
-------------------------------------------------
  1   +1  +2   +0   +0    Dark Smite 1/day
  2   +2  +3   +0   +0    Infernal Rally
  3   +3  +3   +1   +1   Warcry 1/day
  4   +4  +4   +1   +1   Blood Oath
  5   +5  +4   +1   +1  Dark Smite 2/day
  6   +6  +5   +2   +2  Warcry 2/day
  7   +7  +5   +2   +2   Improved Blood Oath
  8   +8  +6   +2   +2  Greater Warcry
  9   +9  +6   +3   +3  Warcry 3/day; Dark Smite 3/day 
  10  +10  +7   +3   +3  Greater Blood Oath

 

[CRGreathouse]

Selah? You're posting at EN World? I didn't know you ever left Dicefreaks, even for a moment.

I like the class, though I might question your choice of Vile Martial Strike -- it seems they'd leave direct physical combat to their underlings. Other than that, I like the prerequisites; for me, that's the best part of writing prestige classes. If I can't come up with requirements I like, I don't write a class at all.

Without the class ability descriptions, you might not get too much feedback. There are many people here (self included) who comment on classes primarily to suggest possible changes to the mechanics for better game balance.

I posted an epic prestige class here (since I'm here much more often than at DF, and since I haven't seen many prestige classes on the epic forums there) suitable to take a character to level ~40. If you're interested, here it is:
Transcendant Epic Prestige Class

 

[Turanil]

Maybe they could get Bluff (ability to lie and feint) as a class skill.

The greatest of captains, then, are those who are willing to pay whatever price is necessary to win the day, twisting honor and the rules of warfare to meet their needs. Such a leader is the Dark Marshal of Bael, accounted by all as a foe to fear. A Dark Marshal will commit all sorts of despicable acts to humiliate his enemies and to inspire his allies, though he does not do so out of any love of such acts. To the Dark Marshal of Bael, it is merely a part of his duty and responsibility to drive his troops to fight at their best.

Ahem! I think that in the modern world, armies/governments engaged at war will do whatever they deem necessary to win the day. War is never fought "fairly". Or maybe you speak of non-respect of "Geneva Convention" (or whatever is its real name in English)? On the other hand it's true that medieval knights and armies would try to fight honorably (at least sometimes) so this Dark Marshal of Bael would make sense in such a context, but this should be explained in the description (i.e.: that in an age of medieval chivalry armies are supposed to fight fairly and honorably).

 

[Wolffenjugend]

This is D&D we're talking about, right? Of course it has a medieval context...

 

[Selah]

Selah? You're posting at EN World? I didn't know you ever left Dicefreaks, even for a moment.

I think I've posted 3 or 4 times at the Wiz boards...and this is now my 2nd post here.... Yeah, its kind of an event for me to be posting away from DF, huh?!

I like the class, though I might question your choice of Vile Martial Strike -- it seems they'd leave direct physical combat to their underlings. Other than that, I like the prerequisites; for me, that's the best part of writing prestige classes. If I can't come up with requirements I like, I don't write a class at all.

Actually, there are some reasons for leaving Vile Martial Strike in...and that has a lot to do with tying the Prestige Class in with its master. As far as prereqs, I forgot to include Leadership - there have been some minor changes since I first posted this as a teaser at DF several weeks back, and I only copied and pasted more or less to here.

Without the class ability descriptions, you might not get too much feedback. There are many people here (self included) who comment on classes primarily to suggest possible changes to the mechanics for better game balance.

Actually, not looking so much for feedback as much as letting some more people know about the Gates of Hell project. Even though it will be free, we want to see people taking an interest from the outset.

I posted an epic prestige class here (since I'm here much more often than at DF, and since I haven't seen many prestige classes on the epic forums there) suitable to take a character to level ~40. If you're interested, here it is:
Transcendant Epic Prestige Class

Actually, I went and looked at this the other day, except that looked = skimmed over. I remember that I liked the prereqs...but I'll have to look over it in some more detail, I think.