PrC: Wearers of Black (My first, please tear it apart)

[Corey]

Wearers of Black

Unimpeded by most of the moral constraints generally imposed by serving Avasara (God), the Wearers of Black live among the world’s degenerates and filth. While acting as traders in illicit goods, prostitutes, or in other unsavory roles they seek out rumor of those who have sold their souls to the Abyss (Hell). After investigating rumor and confirming it as fact, they strike- without mercy or conscience- until all that is infected by Sin (Lucifer) is eradicated. After finishing their work, members always send their investigative documentation to the local Sanctum (Church) by way of justifying any executions or other deeds they may have performed within the Diocese.

(DM’s Note: While looking this over think of the Pope’s agent in Brotherhood of the Wolf.)

Requirements

Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Base Attack Bonus: +4
Gather Information: 4 ranks
Knowledge (Religion): 4 ranks
Intimidate: 1 Rank
Special: Swear a powerful oath to protect Creation from Abyssal influence “by any means Avasara requires.”

Benefits

BAB: Starts at 0, +1 per level
Saves: Fort and Will good, Reflex bad
Hit Die: d8
Class Skills: Balance, Bluff, Climb, Decipher Script, Diplomacy, Disable Device, Disguise, Forgery, Gather Information, Hide, Innuendo, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (religion), Listen, Move Silently, Open Lock, Pick Pocket, Read Lips, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot.

Skill points at each level: 4 + Int Modifier

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Wearers of Black are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all types of armor, and with shields.

Granted Abilities by Level

1 Sin is the enemy +3, unremarkable investigator
2 Resolute aura, detect evil
3 Sin is the enemy +4
5 Sin is the enemy +6
6 Implacable hunt
7 Sin is the enemy +8
8 Discern lies, learn the truth
10 Sin is the enemy +10

Sin is the Enemy (Su): When fighting servants of Sin, Wearer’s of Black apply a bonus to melee weapon damage rolls and ranged weapon damage when the target is within 30ft. This bonus increases to +4 at 3rd level, +6 at 5th level, +8 at 7th level, and +10 at 10th level. (Modified Ranger’s favorite enemy)

Unremarkable investigator (Ex): Wearers of Black do everything possible to make themselves utterly plain and forgettable. Deceitful behavior is a daily practice. They can always elect to take 10 when opposing others sense motive checks. Long hours spent studying and interacting with Sin’s agents result in a Wearer of Black gaining a +2 bonus to Bluff, Sense Motive, Listen, Spot and Disguise checks when dealing with servants of Sin. This also means that spells that benefit from familiarity with a target who is a Wearer of Black, such as scry, must pass a Will save (DC 10 + the target character’s WOB level + the target’s Charisma modifier) to apply any modifiers that are contingent on familiarity with the spell’s target.

Resolute Aura (Ex): Whether fearful or respectful, humanoids around the Wearer of Black typically pause and obey when confronted. Wearers of Black add their number of Wearer of Black levels to all Intimidate checks. (Sword and Fist)

Detect Evil (Sp): At will, a Wearer of Black can detect evil as a spell-like ability. (Many sources)

Implacable Hunt (Su): Beginning at 7th level, if the Wearer of Black wounds a target and the target escapes, the Wearer of Black always knows the direction in which her target lies and the approximate distance between her and her target. This ability only works if the Wearer of Black and her target are on the same plane of existence. Implacable hunt can be used against different targets as long as each of those individual targets is part of a group that is, in total, the Wearer of Black’s target for her current mission. (Defenders of the Faith)

Discern lies (Sp): A Wearer of Black of 8th level or higher can use discern lies as a spell-like ability three times per day. (Defenders of the Faith)

Learn the Truth (Su): By touching a creature that has lied to her, a Wearer of Black of 8th level or higher can force the creature to tell the truth. The creature can make a Will save (DC 10 + the character’s WOB level + the Wearer of Black’s Charisma modifier) to resist this mind-affecting compulsion effect. If the saving throw fails, the creature must speak the true version of the lie it uttered. The Wearer of Black can use this ability at will, but only after using her discern lies spell-like ability on the creature in question. (Defenders of the Faith)

 

[Technik4]

I think most of it is good except Sin is the enemy. The bonuses are way too high and seem to apply to ... everyone PCs would fight? I dont know how many gods your homebrew has, but with the allusions to God and Satan, Im gonna assume 2. Therefore, you basically get your sin bonuses against anyone who is evil, which will be the majority of people you fight. Also, the ranger's favored enemy bonus applies only to damage rolls, not attack and damage rolls.

I would lump together an aspect of unremarkable investigator with sin is the enemy. Try a progression that ends up with a total of +4, which stacks with any ranger bonus (if you allow rangers to pick organizations as enemies). You could give a +1 at 1st, +2 at 3rd, +3 at 6th, and +4 at 9th. This bonus would apply to Bluff, Sense Motive, Listen, Spot and Disguise checks when dealing with servants of Sin. You could also let it apply to melee attack rolls OR melee damage rolls.

Sense Motive is opposed by bluff, so you could say that at 6th level the Wearer of Black has grown so used to the constant lies he must weave that he may take 10 on any bluff check to dissuade someone of thinking he is more than he seems (may NOT be used in combat).

I would tone down weapon and armors gained by taking this prc. Any existing weapons from previous classes should suffice.

Your skill list is wayyy too good, note the skill list I suggest at the end of this post.

I would raise the BAB prereq to +5 or +6.

Raise the intimidate rank prereq to at least 4, change the Gather Information prereq to Bluff and require 6 ranks.


My final take:

Prereqs: BAB +5, Track, Bluff 6+ ranks, Intimidate 4+ ranks, Knowledge (Religion) 4+ ranks, oath.
Alignment: Lawful Neutral

HD: d10
BAB: +1/level
Saves: Good Fort, Good Will, Bad Reflex
Skill List: Bluff, Diplomacy, Disguise, Forgery, Gather Information, Hide, Intimidate, Knowledge (Religion), Listen, Move Silently, Pick Pocket, Search, Sense Motive, Spot and Wilderness Lore.
Skills/lvl: 4+int
Weapon and Armor Prof: none gained, none restricted

Abilities:

1- Sin is the enemy +1, Urban Track
2- Resolute Aura
3- Sin is the enemy +2
4- Detect Evil
5- Indistinguishable Appearance
6- Sin is the enemy +3
7- Implacable Hunt
8- Discern Lies
9- Sin is the enemy +4
10- Learn the Truth

Sin is the enemy: This bonus applies to Bluff, Disguise, Listen, Search, Sense Motive, Spot and Wilderness Lore checks when dealing with servants of Sin. This bonus also applies to melee damage rolls and ranged damage rolls within 30 ft.

Urban Track: Using search instead of wilderness lore the Wearer of Black may track its quarry in an urban environment regardless of the DC. Tracking in this manner uses Search instead of Wilderness Lore, but is otherwise unchanged.

Resolute Aura: Wearers of Black may add their WoB level to their intimidate checks.

Indistinguishable Appearance: Wearers of Black may take 10 on Bluff or Disguise checks.

Implacable Hunt: As you wrote.

Discern Lies: As you wrote.

Know the Truth: As you wrote.


Technik

 

[SylverFlame]

Very OT

Sorry technik, but I have to do this.

You wrote:

the illusions to God and Satan

An illusion is an image that appears to be in your vision, but is in fact not.

Did you mean to write allusion (one vowel and it's another word, DANG THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE!! Even though it's my mother tongue), which is a reference to history, folklore, or literature that is not necessarily explained?

Sorry for this lecture. I'm a 3rd year english major and have all these literary techniques floating in my mashed potato brain. I couldn't help myself!

*sobs in the corner while checking the yellow pages for a good, cheap shrink*

 

[Technik4]

Chortle

Ah, yes. I had meant allusions, and I also hate it when people use words incorrectly. I usually spend an extra minute or so examining "affect" and "effect"

I'll sheepishly go edit my post now...

Technik

 

[SylverFlame]

Oh yeah, forgot to comment on the PrC.

I have to agree with technik except on two points.

Should bluff checks be allowed a take 10 in combat? It doesn't say they shouldn't, and personally, I don't think the should.

The second point is Implacable Hunt. "Current mission" should definitely be better defined. Theoretically, the Wearer of Black's constant mission is to eradicte Sin worshippers. They could then justify following ALL the Sin worshippers they have hit, never losing track of any of them. That's pretty powerful if you ask me. What if you limited it to something like one of these:

a) The Wearer of Black can hunt as many people as they WoB levels. At any time, they may remove a person from their Hunt list.

b) The WoB may hunt a particular individual only for as many weeks as they have levels in WoB. The number of people is not limited, only the duration of the ability.

c) The WoB may track track a particular person only as long as Avasara wills it. (This lets you as the DM determine the duration based on the NPC's importance to your campaign.)

 

[DM with a vengence]

This looks like a very cool and stylish PrC, which is mostly balanced except for Sin is the Enemy, which is hugely overpowered in terms of the bonus it grants. I'd go with the other poster's advice on this.

 

[Corey]

Thanks for the great comments so far. It’s obvious a lot of thought is going into these responses.

I’m trying to make the class something appropriate for characters taking their sixth or seventh level. I also want it to appeal primarily to Fighters, Clerics, and Rogues.

My hope was to use the BAB to limit Cleric and Rogue access to after about level 6 and the skill ranks to limit Fighters to after about level 5, if they really focused their skill point expenditure.

I really appreciate any suggestions that will help me achieve this and make sure the abilities are not overly powerful.

Technik4
Your comments are VERY useful. You are correct, there are only two deities. Servants of Sin, those who actually worship the devil, are not incredibly frequent. A lot of “evil” the PCs run into- greed and selfish agendas-pleases Sin, but it is different from actual exaltation and sacrifice to the Master of the Chaotic Abyss. I’ll be incorporating your Ability suggestions almost to the letter.

SylverFlame
I like the recommendation on refining current mission. I’ll use it. Before my wife started spitting out kids I made my living as Director of Communications for a political advocacy group. Read George Orwell’s Politics and the English Language, he shared your frustration. Just as a friendly tweak I would point out that I never saw “track track” (point c in your second post) on Strunk and White’s list of style recommendations.

DM with a vengeance
Cool and stylish PrC? Wow, what a really nice thing to say. Thanks.

 

[Mike Sullivan]

On a more thematic level, your abilities "Unremarkable Investigator" and "Resolute Aura" seem to me to conflict. On the one hand, the Wearers of Black are plain and unnoticeable, they fade into the crowd, etc., and yet, on the other hand, they've got such a commanding presence that people hop to obey them?

I'm sure that you could make an argument that they're unremarkable until they choose to be otherwise, but I think that you're muddying the concept of your PrC. Thinking back to your stated inspirational material, Monica Bellucci's character from Brotherhood of the Wolf, I don't think that she at any point in the movie appears unremarkable or like someone who could fade into the crowd. Pretty much from the first moment she's on-screen, she's a very commanding presence.

I would either kill the "Unremarkable Investigator" ability altogether, or change it to "Unrepentent Deceiver," or the like, which would grant a circumstance bonus to preventing others from seeing whether the Wearer of Black was telling a lie, but not to other uses of Bluff, nor to any kind of "fading into the crowd" notion.

 

[Felix]

I think the "agent of Sin" aspect of the WoB needs to be clearly defined. As the cleric of Avasara in Corey's campaign, I'd say that that Sin is subtle, and his influence very pervasive.

For those of you who have guessed at the cosmology of Aryana, it's a Big Ol Good God vs. Fallen Through Pride Bad God setup. (Forgive the oversimplification Corey )The worship of Avasara is split much like the Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox churches in RL. Very cool campaign setting.

That being said, I would think that most Evil things, undead especially, would fall under the blanket "agent of Sin" since there is no other font of Evil in the world. Each of the disagreeing denomenations of Avasara could accuse the others of being "agents of Sin". The conflict that would ensue could be seen as "influence of Sin" that the order is dedicated to wiping out entirely. Very vague term.

I'll echo DM with a vengance and say it is cool and stylish. The Wearers of Black that we've encountered so far are badasses.

 

[MarauderX]

I just had one question: do they all wear black? I just keep thinking back to the old Dragonlance mage robe colors, where a mage 'caste' system made the atire dependant upon alignment.

Also, I was thinking of it being something related to doing undercover missions, where a rogue would be most comfortable. My feeling was that this class would be ideal for getting information by any means possible, whether fooling someone with a disguise or prying it out by intimidation. For some reason, I don't see fighters as being very good at this, nor clerics; though they may have the motivation, neither would seem skilled enough to 'out-bluff' a deceitful thief.

It would be great for a rogue, especially for those very few lawful ones out there. Having the bonuses mentioned could make this one of the best urban characters, as not a lie would slip by a religious rogue.