Risen Martyr - Exalted Prestige Class
This Prestige class uses elements that may not be applicable to the Forgotten Realms Campaign
Characters driven by revenge, greed, or other base desires may return from death as ghosts, revenants, or other undead. By contrast, a risen martyr is an exalted character who continues in his earthly existence after his martyrdom, rather than entering the ranks of the petitioners on the celestial planes, in order to finish some unfulfilled task. Within a short time of his martyrdom (usually 1d4+1 days), a risen martyr returns in a spiritual body to complete the holy task that led to his martyrdom. (See Heroic Sacrifice in Chapter 2 of Book of Exalted Deeds for more about martyrdom.)
In general, a character who is actively involved in an adventure that involves an exalted goal, and who is martyred for the sake of that purpose, has a sufficient holy purpose to return as a risen martyr. Appropriate holy purposes for a risen martyr might include aiding in the downfall of an evil tyrant or villain, locating a relic or holy artifact in order to stave off a great evil, or defending a city from a plague of ghosts.
The goal need not be extremely short-term, and might even be the focus of a whole campaign. However, a risen martyr's time on the Material Plane is limited.
Risen martyrs are very rare, and they actually appear as player characters more often than as NPCs, simply because player characters are generally the ones who pursue the most important and holy quests that can lead to a risen martyr's existence.
Hit Die: d12
To qualify to become a Risen Martyr, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Alignment: Any good
- Skills: Any one skill 9 ranks, Speak Language
- Feats: Nimbus of Light (Celestial), any one other exalted feat,
- Base Save Bonuses: Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +2.
- Special: The character must have suffered martyrdom (see Chapter 2 Book of Exalted Deeds) and must not have been returned to life. As a special feature of this prestige class, the character rises with the abilities of a 0-level risen martyr added to the character's previous abilities. When the character earns enough experience points to advance another level, he must become a 1st-level risen martyr.
From:
Book of Exalted Deeds
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