Ghost-Faced Killer - General Prestige Class
This is a general Prestige class that may be applicable to the Forgotten Realms Campaign
From out of nothing the specter of death appears, an armored shadow with a brilliant blade held high. In a flash the katana falls, severing life from limb in a bloody arc. All around, screams of terror and shouts of fear erupt, as quaking hands draw blades to fight the masked murderer. His target dead, the ghost-faced killer walks calmly away as swords and fists pass harmlessly through his nearly transparent body.
Long ago, when the persecution of the twelve rebellious clans began, one clan sought a way to take revenge. Through dark sorcery, the shugenja of the clan contacted spirits of the Underworld to beseech a way that their clan might survive the coming strife and take revenge on the emperor who sought to crush them. The shugenja struck a dark bargain, and the demon-spirits they had contacted provided the clan with a means to the bloody ends they desired. Donning terrifying masks to hide their identities, warriors of the clan crept into the imperial palace, and through the evil power of the pact they had made, passed invisibly and intangibly into the imperial household and murdered the entire imperial family, plunging the country into bloody civil war once again. No one ever discovered the clan's honorless actions, and to this day, no one knows what clan the ghost-faced killers came from.
Today ghost-faced killers act as assassins and spies for hire, a mercenary clan that hides behind a guise of open and honorable conduct. When on a mission, they wear ghostly white, porcelain demon masks to hide their identities and as a symbol of the pact their clan made with the demon-spirits. Through training and discipline, ghost-faced killers learn the deadliest and most terrifying ways to attack foes, and through their mystic connection with the Underworld, ghost-faced killers learn to turn invisible, walk through walls, and even to see with the eyes of the spirits themselves.
While some ghost-faced killers come from the samurai or sohei character classes, most begin their careers as rangers or rogues. Fighters are only slightly less common. Few monks, barbarians, or members of spellcasting classes choose to become ghost-faced killers, but they aren't unknown.
NPC ghost-faced killers are members of the Ghost-Faced Killer clan of ninjas. This clan disguises itself as a normal samurai clan, loyal to the empire but unworthy of notice. Most of the time a ghost-faced killer simply pursues his responsibilities to the clan and the emperor, but when called by money or the clan daimyo, the ghost-faced killer dons the mask that means death for his enemies.
Hit Die: d8
To qualify to become a Ghost-Faced Killer, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Alignment: Any evil
- Skills: Hide 6 ranks, Concentration 4 ranks, Intimidate 8 ranks, Move Silently 6 ranks.
- Feats: Improved Initiative, Power Attack.
- Base Attack Bonus: +5.
From:
Complete Adventurer
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