Exalted Prestige Class : Fist of Raziel
The fists of Raziel represent a knightly order dedicated to the celestial patron of holy warfare against evil. Its members include large numbers of paladins, as well as lawful good clerics, fighters, rangers, and occasionally warriors. While Sealtiel champions those who defend good communities from evil assault, Raziel's crusaders lead the charge against evil wherever it is found. Smiting evil is their mission and their specialty.
To become a fist of Raziel, a character must already possess some degree of divine spellcasting ability, so members of the class generally begin as paladins or clerics, less often as fighter/clerics or ranger/clerics. Perhaps strangely, the order includes a number of ex-barbarians who first multiclassed as clerics and then adopted the fist of Raziel prestige class. These ferocious warriors seem to be drawn to Raziel's crusading creed.
The fists of Raziel are an elite, ordered, and disciplined fighting force. To make best use of their power, however, they typically serve as leaders or advisors to adventuring parties, military strike teams, or the armies of good kingdoms, working with members of other classes instead of with each other.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Fist of Raziel, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Alignment: Lawful good
- Skills: Diplomacy 5 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 5 ranks
- Feats: Power Attack, Servant of The Heavens
- Base Attack Bonus: +6
- Spells: Able to cast divine favor
Class Skills
The fist of Raziel's class skills are Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Heal, Knowledge (religion), Knowledge (the planes), Profession, and Sense Motive.
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
The fist of Raziel's class skills (and the key ability for each skill are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Sense Motive (Wis).
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the fist of Raziel prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A fist of Raziel is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, all types of armor, and shields (except tower shields).
Magic Circle (Su): A 1st-level fist of Raziel is constantly surrounded by a magic circle against evil effect, as the spell cast by a cleric of the fist's character level.
Smite Evil (Su): Once per day, a fist of Raziel may attempt to smite evil with one normal melee attack. She adds her Charisma bonus to her attack roll and deals 1 extra point of damage per class level. If she accidentally smites a creature that is non evil, the smite has no effect but it is still used up for that day. She can use this ability more times per day as she advances in level, as shown on below.
If the fist of Raziel has paladin levels as well, add the daily uses from her fist of Raziel levels to the daily uses from her paladin levels. Her damage bonus equals her fist of Raziel class level plus her paladin class level. This ability does not stack with the smite ability granted by the Destruction domain. In addition to the basic function of smiting evil, a fist of Raziel gains special abilities that operate whenever she smites.
Good-Aligned: An 1st level, whenever a fist of Raziel smites evil, her weapon is considered good-aligned for purposes of overcoming damage reduction, as if she had the Exalted Smite feat.
Confirming: An 3rd level, whenever a fist of Raziel smites evil, all critical rolls are automatically successful (so every threat is a critical hit). This works even if the weapon has a magical effect related to critical hits, unlike the similar effect of the bless weapon spell.
Holy: An 5th level, whenever a fist of Raziel smites evil, her weapon is considered holy, dealing an extra 2d6 points of damage against evil creatures. This additional damage stacks with the extra damage she deals from the smite. However, in does not stack with the benefit of the Sanctify Martial Strike feat or with the extra damage dealt by a weapon with the holy weapon property.
Fiend smite: An 7th level, whenever a fist of Raziel smites evil, her weapon deals an extra 2d8 points of damage against evil outsiders and evil undead, instead of the +2d6 normally dealt by a holy weapon. If she also has the Exalted Smite feat, this damage is still doubled.
Chain: An 9th level, whenever a fist of Raziel smites evil, bolts of holy power erupt from the target creature and strike up to 5 additional evil targets within 30 feet, chosen by the fist of Raziel. Targets take 2d6 points of damage, or 2d8 if they are evil outsiders or evil undead. A successful Reflex save (DC 15 + the fist of Raziel's Cha modifier) reduces the damage by half.
Spells per Day: Starting an 2nd level, and an each level thereafter, a fist of Raziel gains new spells per day as if she had also gained a level in a divine spellcasting class to which she belonged before adding the prestige class level. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (improved chance of turning or destroying undead, improved special mount, and so on). If the character had more than one divine spellcasting class before becoming a fist of Raziel, she must decide to which class she adds each fist of Raziel level for the purpose of determining spells per day.
Sanctify Martial Strike: At 4th level, a fist of Raziel gains the Sanctify Martial Strike feat as a bonus feat.
Sunder Evil Item (Su): An 6th level, whenever a fist of Raziel attacks an object that is evil (such as an unholy sword or a darkskull) or an evil construct (such as a retriever), she deals double damage. This does not stack with the benefits of the Great Sunder feat.
Holy Martial Strike (Su): Any weapon that a 10th-level fist of Raziel wields is treated as a holy weapon, dealing an extra 2d6 points of damage to evil creatures, even when she is not smiting evil. This additional damage does not stack with the benefit of the Sanctify Martial Strike feat or with the extra damage dealt by a weapon with the holy weapon property.
| Fist of Raziel | Hit Die: d10 | |||||
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | Spells per Day |
| 1st | +1 | +2 | +0 | +0 | Magic circle, smite evil 1/day (good-aligned) | - |
| 2nd | +2 | +3 | +0 | +0 | - | +1 level of existing class |
| 3rd | +3 | +3 | +1 | +1 | Smite evil 2/day (confirming) | +1 level of existing class |
| 4th | +4 | +4 | +1 | +1 | Sanctify Martial Strike | +1 level of existing class |
| 5th | +5 | +4 | +1 | +1 | Smite evil 3/day (holy) | +1 level of existing class |
| 6th | +6 | +5 | +2 | +2 | Sunder evil item | +1 level of existing class |
| 7th | +7 | +5 | +2 | +2 | Smite evil 4/day (fiendsmite) | +1 level of existing class |
| 8th | +8 | +6 | +2 | +2 | - | +1 level of existing class |
| 9th | +9 | +6 | +3 | +3 | Smite evil 5/day (chain) | +1 level of existing class |
| 10th | +10 | +7 | +3 | +3 | Holy martial strike | +1 level of existing class |
Source: Book of Exalted Deeds