Undead Hunter

UNDEAD HUNTER

Simply stated, undead hunters are devoted to tracking down and destroying the undead. All honor Gargul, the God of Death, who considers the undead an affront to his own sphere of power. Some seek revenge against undead creatures, or seek to protect living folks from a clear and ongoing menace. Some simply view the undead -- corporeal and incorporeal, spawned and created -- as an abomination that must be stamped out.

Those who would be undead hunters must first have some power over them. Thus, clerics and paladins who can turn undead make good hunters. Rangers whose favored enemy is the undead also are good hunter candidates.

As NPCs, inexperienced undead hunters serve as trackers and scouts, leading vengeful gangs, bands of adventurers, or troops to undead. Experienced undead hunters are renowned in legend and song, although they are often grim and scarred in soul and body as a result of their labors. Some are famous, other feared, but all are respected. In some places, undead hunters band together in fellowships or militant religious orders. Some hunters, though, are lone wolves, obsessed with their purpose and doubting the purity and dedication of others.

Hit Die: d8

Requirements

To qualify to become an undead hunter, a character must fulfill the following criteria.

• Base Attack Bonus: +3

• Feats: Track

• Skills: Survival 3 ranks, Knowledge (Religion) 3 ranks

• Special: Turn Undead OR Favored Enemy [Undead]; The candidate must have been affected by a Supernatural or Extraordinary ability of a creature with the Undead type.

Class Skills

The undead hunter's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are: Concentration (Con); Gather Information (Cha); Hide (Dex); Knowledge [Religion] (Int); Knowledge [The Planes] (Int); Listen (Wis); Move Silent (Dex); Spellcraft (Int); Spot (Wis); Survival (Wis)

Skill Points per level: 2+ Int modifier

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Undead hunters are proficient in all light armor and shields (except Tower Shields), and simple and martial weapons.

Spells Per Day: When a new undead hunter level is gained, the character gains new spells per day as if she had also gained a level in a spellcasting class she belonged to before she added the prestige class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (better wildshape, metamagic or item creation feats, and so on). This essentially means that she adds the level of undead hunter to the level of some other spellcasting class the character has, then determines spells per day, spells known, and caster level accordingly. If a character had more than one spellcasting class before she became a undead hunter, she must decide to which class she adds each level of undead hunter for purposes of determining spells per day when she adds the new level.

The following spells are exclusive to the Undead Hunter prestige class:

• Greater Disrupt Undead
• Ghost Weapon

Sect: Undead Hunters gather at regular intervals to share news, offer tactics and training, and join in a spirit of comraderie. Their organization is formal and military in structure. The sect asks little of members, but when armies of undead rise, then squads, companies, and militias of undead hunters organize under the auspices of the sect to oppose the enemy.

Turn Undead: This ability is just as a cleric of the same level. If the hunter already has Turn Undead ability from another class, hunter levels stack with these for Turning Undead (just as cleric levels stack with paladin levels).

Favored Enemy This ability is just as a ranger of the same level, giving a bonus to weapon damage, Bluff, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival checks against undead. If the hunter already has a favored enemy bonus vs undead from ranger levels, hunter bonuses stack with these for determining the size of the favored enemy bonus. Note that favored enemy bonuses apply to ranged and melee touch attacks (like rays).

Life Shield: The hunter gains a sacred bonus to saves and armor class against all attacks by undead. This sacred bonus is not good-aligned, if the hunter honors Gargul as patron. This saving throw bonus also applies to other attacks that depend on negative energy, such as spells with the Negative Energy descriptor, or attacks from non-undead creatures that inflict negative levels.

Disrupt Undead (Sp): The hunter can cast the zero-level cantrip, Disrupt Undead, at will as a standard action.

Possession Shield: The hunter gains a +4 resistance bonus against fear, charm, compulsion, domination, and possession attacks launched by undead. This ability stacks with the Life Shield save bonus.

Quick Disrupt Undead (Sp): The hunter can cast the zero-level cantrip, Disrupt Undead, as a free action once per round, but it only affects corporeal undead.

Darktrack (Sp): The Undead Hunter can cast Detect Undead at will as a spell-like ability. If the Undead Hunter can sense a lingering aura, then he gains a +10 on Track checks and can even follow an undead creature into the Realm of Shadow and the Lands of Rest where the dead dwell. No other magic is needed for the hunter to enter these places, but he must use spells like Plane Shift to bring others with him on the hunt. This is a supernatural ability.

Spirit Ban: Once per week, the hunter may attempt to force nearby incorporeal spirits off the Material Plane, in a manner similar to turning undead. The hunter rolls a Concentration check vs. a Concentration check by each incorporeal being in medium range (100 ft. + 10 ft./level) -- those spirits that fail are exorcised and cannot appear or manifest for a year and a day. This power will also counter possessions by ghostly Malevolence, Magic Jar, Dominate, and Compulsion effects that are initiated by undead, corporeal or otherwise, although when initiated by corporeal undead, the possession simply ends and no one is banished. This is a supernatural ability.