NWN Custom Classes
Witch Hunter
The Academy of the Faithful Practitioners of the Mystical Arts trains a special breed of man. Sworn, and highly trained, these legendary figures stalk Catara in search of those who would endanger civilization itself with their dangerous and unsupervised tampering in magical forces. This is the Witch Hunter.
His mission: Seek out anything and anyone that uses weird and wild magical force without training and permission from the proper authorities. To bring them back for training if possible, and if not to destroy them utterly: Burn the Witch!
What is this?
The Witch Hunter is a Prestige Class,(PrC) made completely from scratch to uniquely fit into the world of Catara. Unlike our previously released PrCs (the Paladins of Jaletar and Rilos), which were strongly based on an existing class, this is not a pseudo core class, which you can start leveling in from level 2 and up. Where the Paladins only required a firm belief, a vocation, and some basic skill at arms, the training that an individual has to go through before mastering even the most basic of witch hunter abilities is strenuous and difficult. Many find themselves too weak of mind to persist and earn their staff.
The requirements are:
- Alignment: Any Lawful
- Weapon Focus: Quarterstaff
- Iron Will
- Spellcraft: 4 ranks
- Lore: 8 ranks
- Cannot be a spellcaster (Bard, Cleric, Druid, Psionicist, Sorcerer, Wizard)
Level Progression
The Witch Hunter’s level progression is not based on any other class directly, but to simplify matters, I will refer to other classes as well to illustrate parts of the progression:
Base Attack Progression: Medium (like bard, rogue, druid, cleric)
Save Progressions: Fortitude low, Reflex and Will high (like bard)
At level 1 the Witch Hunter gains the following class feats and abilities:
- Spell Breaking
- Detect Witch
- Oratory Inspiration
- Weapon Proficiency Simple
- Armour Proficiency Light
At every fourth level the Witch Hunter gains a bonus feat, which can be selected from the following list:
- Alertness
- Spell Resistance
- Prolonged Inspiration
- Tenacious Mob
- Fanatical Mob
- Staff Mastery 1
- Staff Mastery 2
- Staff Mastery 3
Details of the basic class abilities:
Spellbreaking
Spellbreaking is the skill for which witch hunters are most famous. This ability works like counterspelling, only the witch hunter has no magics of his own. He has only his mind and his staff.
To activate this ability, a witch hunter will need to do the following:
1. Approach the enemy spellcaster to within range (quite long)
2. Equip his special witch hunter staff. Each witch hunter has one staff, and one only.
3. Focus — this is expressed by keeping parry mode activated. Parry will automatically deactivate when moving about.
If all three steps were performed correctly, and the witch’s caster level is not more than five levels above the witch hunter level, the latter will get a chance to break the spell. For this a will save is made. The DC is not the actual spell DC, but based on that.
The DC is currently: 10 + Caster’s Ability Modifier + (Spell Level*1,5)
Spell Level * 1,5 is rounded down in this calculation.
Upon attempting to break a spell, the parry mode will be disabled and needs to be re-enabled in order to do further spell breaking. If a spell was successfully broken, the witch hunter’s staff will pick up some of the spell’s power in charges, which will improve this otherwise mundane weapon. A witch hunter’s staff can only hold a maximum number of charges, if this safety barrier is crossed, the staff is prone to mishaps, discharging its excess load over the witch hunter himself, with possibly disasterous consequences. Resting will remove all charges from a staff. The maximum number of charges a staff can hold is twice the witch hunter’s level, potentially increased by the available bonus feats (see below).
Detect Witch
Magic disrupts the world around it; it shapes things from nothingness, twists objects into new shapes which they were never meant to have, and even stretches and breaks the boundaries of reality. The aftereffects of such feats linger, not as much on the world which is highly inert, but more so on the caster. A witch hunter develops a highly specialised sixth sense for sniffing out this lingering taint of magic on those who used it recently.
This ability is accessed from the emote menu (formerly the crafting emote radial menu).
Oratory Inspiration
This ability is gained on level 1, but the witch hunter gains one extra use on each level, up to level 20.
Oratory inspiration has a dual effect. The first half works exactly like the bardic song ability, inspiring the party of the witch hunter to heroic deeds. The levels of bard and witch hunter stack for this ability, and also for the bardic song ability on Catara. For more details on what the exact bonusses are, see the NWN manual for bardic song.
The second half of this ability allows a witch hunter to not only inspire those around him to greater deeds, but his rousing speech brings in the common folks from all over the area to his aid. These people will bring their own weapons, the traditional implements of the angry mob: a torch and a pitchfork (size small NPCs will only bring a pitchfork). The mob will follow the witch hunter around, and attempt to assist him in any combats, for as long as his speech keeps their blood boiling for justice and witch-burning. In game terms this is a number of rounds equal to your perform check.
Some bonus feats can increase the effectiveness of the oratory inspiraton.
Bonus Feats Details:
Alertness
A trained hunter, the witch hunter is always on the look out for trouble.
Benefit: +2 Spot, +2 Listen
Prerequisites: None
Spell Resistance
A witch hunter’s mind is a tool for cutting spells, like a knife is used for cutting bread, and an axe for felling trees. Over time it becomes so suited to this purpose, so finely honed, that is hardly even needs to have the aid of the witch hunter staff. A witch hunter gains the ability to resist spells, even when not in spellbreaking mode, but only those spells that are aimed at himself.
Benefit: The witch hunter gains Spell Resistance 10 + witch hunter level.
Prerequisites: Lore (16 Ranks), Spellcraft (16 Ranks)
Prolonged Inspiration
The Oratory Inspiration ability is something this witch hunter is highly adept in. His speeches and inspiring words stick with his party members for much longer.
Oratory Inspiration effects lasts for 5 extra rounds.
Prerequisites: None
Tenacious Mob
This witch hunter has focussed on impressing the crowds with the urgency of capturing the witch that is being hunted. The common folks are willing to go to extreme lengths to help him with this.
Benefit: Oratory Inspiration Mob sticks around for twice as long.
Prerequisites: Perform (10 Ranks)
Fanatical Mob
A witch hunter so skilled knows exactly which words to say to a crowd to drive them to long for burning justice as much as he does himself, maybe even more. Even the most humble farmer will shout out for blood and throw himself at the witch with no thoughts for self-preservation after the rousing speeches of this master of the crowds.
Benefit: Oratory Inspiration Mob members all gain +4 Strength and +4 Constitution for as long as they are in the mob.
Prerequisites: Perform (15 Ranks)
Witch Hunter Staff Mastery
The Witch Hunter’s staff is a most important tool, and with a lot of practice some witch hunters can push it to even greater limits. A practice from which there is much to be gained, but can also bring great risks for those who would push it too far.
There are three Witch Hunter Mastery feats. Their benefits and prerequisites are as follows:
Staff Mastery I
Benefit: Safe Charge Level increase: 25%, Staff gains a +1 enchantment bonus when at max charges, and a +2 bonus when at double max charges.
Prerequisites: Wisdom 16, Lore (15 Ranks), Spellcraft (15 Ranks)
Staff Mastery II
Benefit: Safe Charge Level increase: 50%, Staff Enchantment bonus +1 at 50% of max charges, +2 at 100%, +3 at 150%.
Prerequisites: Wisdom 17, Staff Mastery I, Lore (18 Ranks), Spellcraft (18 Ranks)
Staff Mastery III
Benefit: Safe Charge Level Increase: 100%, Staff Enchantment bonus +1 at 33%, +2 at 67%, +3 at 100%, +4 at 133%
Prerequisites: Wisdom 18, Staff Mastery II, Lore (21 Ranks), Spellcraft (21 Ranks)
The safe charge level increases and enchantment bonusses from these feats are not cumulative.
Paladins
Not every god has paladins that serve him. Only Jaletar, Nuagar and Rilos actually grant their divine strength to a selected few. By now, we actually have disabled the standard D&D Paladin class as selectable class on this server.
Every of these four gods require utter devotion and a strict training from aspirants to elevate them into the status of a Paladin.
Being a Paladin invariably ties one to one’s chosen god’s church. Often young men and women are trained into this from early age, and have to pass a series of tests; both physical and spiritual. At the end of these tests, tests that go to the very limits of the young aspirant, he or she gets granted the divine blessing. It is not rare that the god himself appears during this ceremony, to welcome a new fighter into his church.
A Paladin is always part of the martial order of his church. He or she defends the church, and actively seeks out to destroy evil wherever it is found. Every god though has slightly different interpretations on what exactly is viewed as evil, and how to engage it.
When creating a Paladin, or multiclassing into one you must keep the following things in mind:
- You cannot make a Paladin that isn’t devoted to one of these four gods!
- You cannot make a Paladin that isn’t part of the church of his chosen god.
- The Paladin class will onyl be available after doing an IC quest.
- Do not multiclass into a Paladin without having roleplayed a tie to the chosen gods church.
Paladin of Jaletar
The Sun God Jaletar ordains holy warriors for his cause. These dedicated individuals are the Paladins of Jaletar. They fight evil in all its forms, but their field of specialisation is fighting fiends. Demons and devils beware, Jaletar’s Holy Light is coming for you.
What exactly is it that we’re offering?
A whole new prestige class! The Paladin of Jaletar is much like the normal paladin (see the NWN original game, or the 3.0 PHB), but there’s some subtle differences. For starters it’s a prestige class, instead of a core class. That means you’ll have to have some prior training before you can take levels in this class. The requirements are:
- Alignment: must be Lawful Good
- Heavy Armor Proficiency
- Shield Proficiency
- Weapon Focus: Longsword
- Base Attack Bonus: +1
As you can see the requirements are quite light, and can indeed be met by a level 1 character, so you can start taking levels in this class starting at level 2. There is one other requirement however, and that one is scripted: the class must be unlocked. This happens when you’ve succefully finished your initiation training, which is (or rather will be) located at a very logical place in game. Where exactly is for you to figure out in game.
What can this class do?
The Paladin of Jaletar’s progression is highly similar to the regular paladin class as well. Here’s a list of what to expect:
- Divine Grace*, Jaletar’s Guiding Light (allows the Paladin to emit light), Protection from evil (3x/day), Favored enemy: outsiders (like the ranger feat), Detect Evil (find it in the emote wand conversation, not on the radial menu)
- Aura of Courage*, Smite Evil*
- Turn Undead*, Good Domain Power (ability to turn outsiders as well)
- Jaletar’s Holy Decree I (1x/day)
- -
- Jaletar’s Holy Decree I (2x/day)
- Jaletar’s Holy Decree II (1x/day)
- -
- Jaletar’s Holy Decree I (3x/day), Jaletar’s Holy Decree II (2x/day)
- Jaletar’s Holy Decree III (1x/day)
- -
- Jaletar’s Holy Decree II (3x/day), Jaletar’s Holy Decree III (2x/day)
- Jaletar’s Holy Decree I (4x/day), Jaletar’s Holy Decree IV (1x/day)
- -
- Jaletar’s Holy Decree III (3x/day), Jaletar’s Holy Decree IV (2x/day)
- Jaletar’s Holy Decree II (4x/day)
- -
- Jaletar’s Holy Decree I (5x/day), Jaletar’s Holy Decree IV (3x/day)
- Jaletar’s Holy Decree III (4x/day)
- -
- and beyond: Epic progression like the regular paladin.
* = See regular paladin class for description
Detect Evil
Detect Evil for Paladins of Jaletars (and later as well for other Holy Warriors) reveals the amount of evil presences nearby. It is not implemented as a spell. People can not tell when you’re using it.
Jaletar’s Holy Decrees
As you perhaps know, assigning spells to prestige classes is not possible in the conventional manner. In their stead we have given the Paladin of Jaletar some Holy Decrees. These will allow the class to manifest some of the paladin spells anyway. Here’s the list of powers you can expect:
Jaletar’s Holy Decree I
— Bless
— Bless Weapon**
— Cure Light Wounds
— Divine Favor
— Endure Elements
Jaletar’s Holy Decree II
— Aid
— Aura of Glory
— Bull’s Strength
— Eagle’s Splendor
— Searing Light**
Jaletar’s Holy Decree III
— Banishment**
— Dispel Magic
— Greater Magic Weapon
— Magic Circle Against Evil
— Prayer
Jaletar’s Holy Decree IV
— Cure Serious Wounds
— Death Ward
— Freedom of Movement
— Holy Sword**
— Sunbeam**
** = Spell changed to reflect Jaletar’s background better. See below for more details.
Spell Changes
The changes to spells are not expansive. You will still recognise the spell if you knew the original, yet there will be some noticable differences. These differences stem from the fact that Jaletar’s focus is on fighting fiends, instead of the more conventional anti-undead bias found in the regular paladin spells. Note that these changes will also apply to clerics of Jaletar, as far as the listed spells appear on the cleric spell list. I won’t go into technical details here, but in a nutshell here’s what we have changed:
- Bless Weapon: 2d6 damage vs. outsiders (instead of vs. undead)
- Searing Light: Damage vs. Evil Outsiders: 1d8/level. Damage vs Undead reduced to the regular 1d8/ 2 levels
- Banishment: Banishes 3HD/level instead of 2HD/level
- Holy Sword: Does not give Holy Avenger property (hardcoded to work only for regular paladins), but instead makes your weapon +5 with 2d6 damage vs evil added in. Also grants a circle of protection vs. evil around the caster. Only works for swords.
- Sunbeam: Base damage increased to 5d6 (normally 3d6). Blindness unchanged. Does 1d8/level damage to evil outsiders (replacing the increased anti-undead damage).
Paladins of Rilos
The good fight, the call of battle for righteousness, the drive to hunt down evil in its every form. This is the song that sounds in the veins of a true Paladin of Rilos, a chosen warrior of the lord of many battles. The sacred battle rituals of Rilos bring these holy warriors into balance with nature and their surroundings as well. To symbolise this balance they ritually fight with two weapons, one of which is a battleaxe, the second usually a smaller handaxe or just another battleaxe. Their most common enemy in and near the lands of Catara are the various evil giants.
What exactly is it that we’re offering?
Shortly after the Paladin of Jaletar prestige class (although they were released at the same time) the team of Catara created another whole new prestige class. We proudly present: the Paladin of Rilos. This prestige class is also based on the paladin class (like the paladin of Jaletar), but also has some big chunks of ranger mixed in (see the NWN original game, or the 3.0 PHB for descriptions of both these core classes), As with all prestige classes, there are some prerequisites that must be met before one can level up in this class. The requirements are:
- Alignment: must be Chaotic Good
- Heavy Armor Proficiency
- Weapon Focus: Battleaxe
- Base Attack Bonus: +1
As you can see the requirements are quite light, and can indeed be met by a level 1 character, so you can start taking levels in this class starting at level 2. There is one other requirement however, and that one is scripted: the class must be unlocked. This happens when you’ve succefully finished your initiation training, which is (or rather will be) located at a very logical place in game. Where exactly is for you to figure out in game.
What can this class do?
The Paladin of Rilos‘ progression features elements that you will recognise from both ranger and paladin core classes, however there’s some new things we’ve come up with as well. Here’s a list of what to expect:
- Ambidexterity*, Two-Weapon Fighting*, Combat training vs. Giants (+4 AC vs giants, like dwarves get)*, Favored Enemy: Giants*, Detect Evil (find it in the emote wand conversation, not on the radial menu)
- Aura of Courage*
- Smite Evil *
- Rilos‘ Battle Ritual I (1x/day)
- Favored Enemy: Animals*
- Rilos‘ Battle Ritual I (2x/day)
- Rilos‘ Battle Ritual II (1x/day)
- Favored Enemy: Beasts*
- Rilos‘ Battle Ritual I (3x/day), Rilos‘ Battle Ritual II (2x/day)
- Rilos‘ Battle Ritual III (1x/day)
- Favored Enemy: Magical Beasts*
- Rilos‘ Battle Ritual II (3x/day), Rilos‘ Battle Ritual III (2x/day)
- Rilos‘ Battle Ritual I (4x/day), Rilos‘ Battle Ritual IV (1x/day)
- Favored Enemy: Monstrous Humanoids*
- Rilos‘ Battle Ritual III (3x/day), Rilos‘ Battle Ritual IV (2x/day)
- Rilos‘ Battle Ritual II (4x/day)
- Favored Enemy: Dragons*
- Rilos‘ Battle Ritual I (5x/day), Rilos‘ Battle Ritual IV (3x/day)
- Rilos‘ Battle Ritual III (4x/day)
- Bane of Enemies*
- and beyond: Epic progression, no new feats, choices as ranger.
* = See NWN manual or 3.0 Player’s Handbook for description
Detect Evil
Detect Evil for Paladins of Jaletars (and later as well for other Holy Warriors) reveals the amount of evil presences nearby. It is not implemented as a spell. People can not tell when you’re using it.
Rilos‘ Battle Rituals
As you perhaps know, assigning spells to prestige classes is not possible in the conventional manner. In their stead we have given the Paladin of Rilos Battle Rituals. These will allow the class to manifest some of the paladin spells anyway. Here’s the list of powers you can expect:
Rilos‘ Battle Ritual I
— Bless
— Divine Favor
— Cure Light Wounds
— Magic Weapon
— Protection from Evil
Rilos‘ Battle Ritual II
— Aid
— Bull’s Strength
— Cat’s Grace
— Protection from Elements
— Clairaudience/Clairvoyance
Rilos‘ Battle Ritual III
— Blade Thirst
— Prayer
— Magic Circle Against Evil
— Cure Moderate Wounds
— Keen Edge
Rilos‘ Battle Ritual IV
— Cure Serious Wounds
— Battle Tide
— Freedom of Movement
— War Cry
— Holy Axe**
** = Spell changed to reflect Rilos‘ background better. See below for more details.
Spell Changes
The changes to spells are not expansive. You will still recognise the spell if you knew the original, yet there will be some noticable differences. At this time, in fact, there is only one different spell for the Paladin of Rilos, but more changes could happen in the future, in which case they will be added to the following list:
- Holy Axe: Does not give Holy Avenger property (hardcoded to work only for regular paladins), but instead makes your weapon +5 with 2d6 damage vs evil added in. Also grants a circle of protection vs. evil around the caster. Only works for axes.