General Prestige Class : Blighter
When a druid turns away from the land, the land turns away from her. Some ex-druids make peace with this change; others seek to restore the bond. A few, however, actually embrace their disconnection from nature and become forces of destruction. These few, called blighters, leave their mark wherever they tread.
A blighter gains her spellcasting ability by stripping the earth of life. A swath of deforested land always marks her path through the wilderness.
The vast majority of blighters are nomadic loners constantly in search of green lands to destroy. Some are grim; others laugh at the destruction they wreak. Almost all, however, are friendless and mad. What puts them over the edge is the knowledge that nature gets the last laugh: To gain their spells, they must seek out the richest forests of the land, even if it's only to destroy them. Thus, even though they've turned away from nature, they must constantly return to it.
Only human ex-druids seem attracted in any number to the blighter's path. Legends say that a few elven druids have also turned to destruction over the millennia - a terrifying prospect given how much land they could destroy in their long lifetimes.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Blighter, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Alignment: Any non-good.
- Base Attack Bonus: +4
- Special: The character must be an ex-druid previously capable of casting 3rd-level druid spells.
Class Skills
The blighter's class skills are Concentration, Craft (any), Diplomacy, Handle Animal, Heal, Knowledge (nature), Profession (herbalist), SpellCraft, Survival, and Swim.
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Class Features
The following are class features of the blighter prestige class:
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Blighters gain no weapon or armor proficiencies.
Spells per Day: At each blighter level, the character gains spells per day according the table below. She does not however, gain any other benefit that a druid of that level would have gained. She must choose her spells from the blighter spell list below. The blighter's caster level is equal to her blighter level plus her druid level.
The blighter gains access to her daily spells through deforestation (see below). If she goes more than 24 hours without deforesting a wooded area she cannot cast spells until she does so.
The default divine focus for any spell cast by a blighter is a desiccated sprig of holly or mistletoe. Any material component for a blighter's spell must have been dead for at least a day before use.
Deforestation (Sp): Beginning at 1st level, the blighter can kill all nonsentient plant life within a radius of 50 feet per blighter level as a full-round action once per day. If a potentially affected plant is under the control of another (such as a druid's liveoak or a dryad's home tree), the controller can make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + blighter level + blighter's Wisdom bonus) to keep it alive. Affected plants immediately cease photosynthesis, root tapping, and all other methods of sustenance. Like picked flowers, they appear vibrant for several hours, but within a day, they turn brown and wither. Except for plants saved by a controller, nothing can grow in a deforested area until it has a hallow spell cast upon it and it is reseeded.
Deforestation enables the blighter to cast her daily allotment of spells. This ability works in any terrain, but deforesting a sandy desert, ice floe, or other environment with only sparse vegetation does not empower the character to cast spells.
Burning Hands (Su): This ability, gained at 2nd level, functions like the burning hands spell, except that the blighter can use it as often as desired, turning it on or off as a move-equivalent action, and it does 1d4 points office damage per round.
Sustenance (Ex): At 2nd level, the blighter no longer needs food or water to survive.
Undead Wild Shape (Sp): At 3rd level, the blighter regains a version of the wild shape ability. Undead wild shape functions like wild shape, except that the forms available are those of undead creatures (specifically skeletons) formerly of the animal type. A skeletal animal has the statistics of a skeleton of the appropriate animal's size category.
The blighter gains one extra use per day of this ability for every two additional blighter levels she acquires. In addition, she gains the ability to take the shape of a Large skeletal animal at 5th level, an incorporeal skeletal animal at 7th level, and a Huge skeletal animal at 9th level.
Speak with Dead Animal (Sp): At 4th level, the blighter can converse with dead animals. This ability functions like a speak with dead spell cast by a cleric of a level equal to the total of the character's druid and blighter levels, except that it affects only corpses of animal creatures. It is usable once per day.
Contagious Touch (Su): At 5th level, the blighter can produce an effect like that of a contagious touch spell once per day. She gains 1 extra use per day of this ability for every two additional blighter levels she acquires.
Animate Dead Animal (Sp): This ability, gained at 6th level, functions like an animate dead spell, except that it affects only corpses of animal creatures and requires no material component. It is usable once per day.
Unbond (Sp): At 8th level, the blighter can temporarily separate a bonded animal or magical beast (such as an animal companion, familiar, or mount) from its master once per day. The target creature must be within 40 feet of both its master and the blighter. If the master fails a Will save (DC 10 + blighter level + blighter's Wisdom modifier), the bond terminates as if the servitor had died though this does not cause experience loss in the case of a familiar. Normally hostile creatures attack their masters but are otherwise unaffected. The bond returns after 5 rounds per blighter level, restoring all benefits. Alternatively, the master can regain the servitor through the normal methods of acquisition.
Plague (Su): At 10th level, the blighter can spread disease over a large area. This ability functions like the contagious touch ability, except that no attack roll is required and it affects all targets the blighter designates within a 20-foot radius. Plague is usable once per day and costs one daily use of the contagious touch ability.
| Blighter | Hit Die: d8 | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | Spells per day | ||||||
| 1st | +0 | +2 | +0 | +2 | Deforestation | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - |
| 2nd | +1 | +3 | +0 | +3 | Burning hands, sustenance | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - |
| 3rd | +2 | +3 | +1 | +3 | Undead wild shape 1/day | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - |
| 4th | +3 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Speak with dead animal, undead wild shape 2/day | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - |
| 5th | +3 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Contagious touch 1/day, undead wild shape (Large) | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | - | - |
| 6th | +4 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Animate dead animal, undead wild shape 3/day | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - |
| 7th | +5 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Contagious touch 2/day, undead wild shape (incorporeal) | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | - |
| 8th | +6 | +6 | +2 | +6 | Unbond, undead wild shape 4/day | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 9th | +6 | +6 | +3 | +6 | Contagious touch 3/day, undead wild shape (Huge) | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 10th | +7 | +7 | +3 | +7 | Plague, undead wild shape 5/day | 6 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
Blighter Spell List
Blighters choose their spells from the following list.
- 0 level - darkseed, detect magic, detect poison, flare, ghost sound, inflict minor wounds, read magic.
- 1st level - bane, burning hands, curse water, decomposition, detect undead, doom, endure elements, inflict light wounds, invisibility to animals, ray of enfeeblement.
- 2nd level - chill metal, chill touch, darkness, death knell, fire trap, flaming sphere, heat metal, inflict moderate wounds, miasma, produce flame, resist elements, warp wood.
- 3rd level - contagion, deeper darkness, desecrate, diminish plants, dispel magic, inflict serious wounds, poison, protection from elements, stinking cloud, vampiric touch.
- 4th level - antiplant shell, animate dead, blight, death ward, flame strike, inflict critical wounds, kiss of death, languor, repel vermin, rusting grasp, transmute mud to rock, transmute tock to mud, unhallow, wall of fire.
- 5th level - acid fog, antilife shell, circle of death, contagious touch, create undead, firestorm, forbiddance, greater dispelling, protection from all elements, repel wood.
- 6th level - antipathy control undead, earthquake, epidemic, finger of death, foresight, horrid wilting, invulnerability to elements.
Source: Complete Divine
Masters of the Wild