General Prestige Class : Battlesmith
A battlesmith is a skilled dwarf armorer and weaponsmith who uses her experience in battle, as well as her masterful weaponsmithing and armorsmithing abilities, to create deadly items for her kinsmen to wield in defense of their homes. While typically only spellcasters can craft magic items, dwarven ingenuity has found a number of ways to make skill serve where non-dwarves must rely on magic.
Aside from her incredible skill crafting items of war, a battlesmith is equally capable of raining down death and destruction in combat. After all, no one knows her creations - or how to most effectively use them - better than the battlesmith herself, and she did not live to retire from the front lines by being any thing less than the best.
Fighters and paladins are well served by becoming battlesmiths. Spellcasters are less likely to find benefit in the profession, since they typically find little time to continue their more traditional mystical studies while working in the heat of the forge. That said, a number of clerics of Moradin take up the mantle of the battlesmith.
NPC battlesmiths are often veterans attached to dwarf military units. They repair damaged weapons and armor, inspire the younger dwarves in the unit, and take the fight to the enemy as well as any dwarf warrior.
Adaptation: While this prestige class obviously plays off the dwarfs love of weapon- and armor-smithing, it's suitable for non-dwarves with a similar cultural connection to the smithy and the forge. In such cases, you can replace the racial entry requirement with a similar cultural requirement. This isn't a prestige class intended to represent a master weaponsmith. Its intended to showcase a smith who has a mystical union with the tools of war she creates.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Battlesmith, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Race: Dwarf
- Skills: Craft (armorsmithing) or Craft (weaponsmithing) 10 ranks
- Feats: Armor Proficiency (heavy), Endurance, Weapon Focus (warhammer),
- Base Attack Bonus: +5.
- Special: The character must have created a dwarvencraft weapon and used it in battle.
Class Skills
The battlesmith's class skills are Appraise, Concentration, Craft, Intimidate, and Knowledge (religion).
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the battlesmith prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Battlesmiths gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.
One with the Hammer (Ex): A battlesmith's long hours at the forge grant her a special bond with a hammer. When wielding a warhammer that she has crafted herself, a battlesmith adds her Wisdom bonus as a bonus to the damage dealt by the weapon.
Secrets of the Forge (Ex): A battlesmith learns some of the great dwarven secrets of forging weapons and armor. A battlesmith receives Craft Magic Arms and Armor as a bonus feat, regardless of her caster level. Multiply the battlesmith's class level by 3 to determine her effective caster level for the purpose of creating magic arms and armor (this benefit stacks with any other caster levels the battlesmith might have).
For example, a 7th-level fighter/1st-level battlesmith would be treated as a 3rd-level caster for the purpose of creating magic arms and armor. A 7th-level cleric/1st-level battlesmith would be treated as a 10th-level caster for that purpose.
The battlesmith must still meet any other prerequisites for the item's creation. This stipulation might mean that she needs the assistance of other characters to complete the creation of an item.
Flesh of My Flesh (Ex): No armor fits so well as that created by a battlesmith for her own use. When wearing heavy armor that she has crafted herself, a battlesmith of 2nd level or higher gains a +1 sacred bonus to Armor Class. This bonus increases to +2 at 4th level.
Forged in Fire (Ex): At 3rd level, a battlesmith becomes inured to the effects of fatigue and exhaustion, and can ignore their effects for a number of hours equal to her class level. At the end of this time, if the condition remains, the battlesmith succumbs to the effects.
Tempered in Blood (Ex): Once per day, a 5th-level battlesmith can attempt to resist the damage from a single blow. The battlesmith can attempt a Fortitude save (DC 10 + damage dealt) when struck and damaged by a melee attack with a weapon or natural attack (but not by a spell or other effect). If the save succeeds, the battlesmith takes only half damage from the blow; if it fails, she takes normal damage. The battlesmith must be aware of the attack and able to react to it to use this ability. If she is denied her Dexterity bonus to AC, she can't use this ability.
| Battlesmith | Hit Die: d10 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special |
| 1st | +1 | +2 | +0 | +0 | One with the hammer, secrets of the forge |
| 2nd | +2 | +3 | +0 | +0 | Flesh of my flesh +1 |
| 3rd | +3 | +3 | +1 | +1 | Forged in fire |
| 4th | +4 | +4 | +1 | +1 | Flesh of my flesh +2 |
| 5th | +5 | +4 | +1 | +1 | Tempered in blood |
Source: Races of Stone