Al-Qadim Prestige Class : Holy Slayer
Holy slayers are feared throughout the lands of AL-QADIM. These fanatical assassins band together in various brotherhoods, each with its own symbols and purposes based on religious zealotry. Each cult of holy slayers professes to wage war for its own particular faith through the assassination of its enemies. Holy slayer brotherhoods cultivate a mystique of fear to ensure that the masses take no action against their members, as well as to enforce obedience in their own ranks.
These highly trained and disciplined killers are absolutely fearless, and they accept orders from superiors without hesitation. Duty to their cause and belief in their faith override all other concerns, including concern for their own lives. Each brotherhood embraces a particular one-handed weapon as its weapon of choice, which acts as a symbol for the order.
At the head of each holy slayer brotherhood is a Grandfather of Assassins, who commands his order of trained killers with ruthless efficiency. Grandfathers are accorded enormous respect, having earned their positions through the blood of both enemies and comrades.
Because of the secretive nature of their work, holy slayers become masters of disguise. Such forms of trickery allow them to come close to an assigned target without rousing suspicion, and also to meld into a crowd once they accomplish a mission.
Rogues and bards are the most common candidates for this prestige class, since the required skills come easily to them. Fighters are also common in the brotherhoods, and the occasional paladin or monk finds the prestige class to her liking, since it emphasizes unquestioning faith, discipline, and loyalty.
NPC holy slayers are most often encountered in the performance of their duties. Occasionally, a disguised holy slayer might join a group of adventurers in order to gain access to an area his target frequents. The fruit vendor who suddenly kills a beloved emir and then disappears into the city is probably a holy slayer.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Holy Slayer, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Alignment: Any lawful
- Skills: Disguise 2 ranks, Hide 2 ranks, Intimidate 8 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 2 ranks, Move Silently 2 ranks.
- Feats: Weapon Focus (weapon of choice for the slayer brotherhood, which is always a one-handed weapon).
- Base Attack Bonus: +4.
Class Skills
The holy slayer's class skills are Balance, Bluff, Climb, Craft, Disguise, Escape Artist, Gather Information, Hide, Intimidate, Jump, Listen, Move Silently, Open Lock, Search, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, Spot, Tumble, and Use Rope.
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the holy slayer prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Holy slayers are proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with light and medium armor, but not with shields.
Poison Use: A holy slayer's training includes the use of poison. She never risks accidentally poisoning herself when applying poison to a blade.
Skill Bonus: A holy slayer receives an insight bonus on all Bluff, Disguise, and Intimidate checks equal to her holy slayer level.
Weapon Specialization: At 2nd level, a holy slayer gains Weapon Specialization with the signature weapon of her order as a bonus feat, if she does not already have it. If she also has it, she may gain Weapon Specialization with another weapon for which she already has the Weapon Focus feat.
Faithful Resolve (Su): At 3rd level, a holy slayer gains a +4 bonus on all saves against fear effects.
Sneak Attack (Ex): This ability functions exactly like the rogue ability of the same name. At 4th level, the holy slayer deals +1d6 points of damage with a sneak attack. The extra damage dealt increases by an additional +1d6 every even level thereafter. If the holy slayer already has the sneak attack ability from another class, he damage bonuses stack.
Smite Infidel (Su): Beginning at 5th level, a holy slayer may make smite attacks against a person or group designated by her order's Grandfather of Assassins. In order to use this ability, the holy slayer must personally visit her Grandfather of Assassins, who then assigns her the individual or group she may smite. The holy slayer may then smite that group until her Grandfather of Assassins assigns a new group to her.
The holy slayer may smite once per day at 5th level, and at 9th level she may smite twice per day. She adds her Wisdom bonus (if any) to her attack roll and deals extra point of damage per holy slayer level. For example, a 5th level holy slayer would deal +5 points of damage with a successful smite attack. If the holy slayer accidentally smites a creature that is not of the group designated by her Grandfather of Assassins, the smite has no effect, but the ability is still used up for that day.
Note that a paladin/holy slayer can both smite evil and smite infidel in the same day, potentially against the same target. She may also perform a smite with a sneak attack, provided that the prerequisites for both types of attacks are met.
Unshakable Pillar (Su): Beginning at 7th level, a holy slayer's soul is so grounded in her faith that she becomes immune to fear effects.
Guided Doom (Ex): By 10th level, the holy slayer has learned to allow Fate to guide her hand, causing devastating blows with her sneak attacks. An opponent damaged by one of her sneak attacks also takes 2 points of Constitution damage.
| Holy Slayer | Hit Die: d8 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special |
| 1st | +0 | +0 | +0 | +2 | Poison use, skill bonus |
| 2nd | +1 | +0 | +0 | +3 | Weapon Specialization |
| 3rd | +2 | +1 | +1 | +3 | Faithful resolve |
| 4th | +3 | +1 | +1 | +4 | Sneak attack +1d6 |
| 5th | +3 | +1 | +1 | +4 | Smite infidel 1/day |
| 6th | +4 | +2 | +2 | +5 | Sneak attack +2d6 |
| 7th | +5 | +2 | +2 | +5 | Unshakable pillar |
| 8th | +6 | +2 | +2 | +6 | Sneak attack +3d6 |
| 9th | +6 | +3 | +3 | +6 | Smite infidel 2/day |
| 10th | +7 | +3 | +3 | +7 | Sneak attack +4d6, guided doom |
Source: Dragon #321