General Prestige Class : Church Inquisitor
While many champions of good are dedicated to fighting forces of evil that are external to them and their church - as clerics and paladins of Heironeous are devoted to destroying followers of Hextor - the church inquisitor is at least as concerned about evil and corruption within. When greed eats away at a church hierarchy, when devils infiltrate a knightly order and seduce its leaders to evil, when high clerics succumb to evil enchantments and fall from the path of their deities, it is usually a church inquisitor who uncovers the evil and cuts it away.
Church inquisitors specialize in divination, to detect evil and corruption, and abjuration, to protect themselves and others from evil magic. They are most often drawn from the clerics or paladins of a lawful church or order. Members of other classes usually find it difficult to meet the requirements of the prestige class, and rarely have the incentive to do so.
Player characters might encounter NPC church inquisitors if they are involved in a lawful church or order - perhaps even as subjects of the inquisitor's investigations. Church inquisitors are particularly likely to appear after incidents involving demons or devils, since they combat the widespread corruption these creatures tend to leave in their wake.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Church Inquisitor, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Alignment: Lawful good or lawful neutral.
- Skills: Knowledge (arcana) 4 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 4 ranks, Spellcraft 4 ranks.
- Base Will Save: +3.
- Spells: Ability to cast zone of truth as a divine spell.
- Special: Must be a member of a lawful good church or religious order, and must have already uncovered some corruption within that organization.
Class Skills
The church inquisitor's class skills are Concentration, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Intimidate, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (religion), Knowledge (the planes), Search, Sense Motive, and Spellcraft.
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the church inquisitor prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Church inquisitors are proficient with all simple weapons, with all types of armor, and with shields.
Detect Evil (Sp): A church inquisitor can detect evil at will as a spell-like ability. This ability duplicates the effect of the spell detect evil.
Prestige Domain: Upon adopting the church inquisitor class, a character gains access to the Inquisition domain. The character gains the granted power associated with the domain (a +4 bonus on dispel checks) and can choose the spells in that domain as his daily domain spells.
Spells per Day: A church inquisitor continues advancing in divine spellcasting ability as well as learning the skills of inquisition. Thus, when a new church inquisitor level is gained, the character gains new divine spells per day as if he had also gained a level in whatever divine spellcasting class he belonged to before he added the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (improved chance of controlling or rebuking undead, more frequent remove disease, and so on). This means that he adds the level of church inquisitor to the level of another divine spellcasting class the character has, then determines spells per day accordingly.
For example, if Garjin, an 8th-level cleric, gains a level as a church inquisitor, he gains new divine spells as if he had risen to 9th level as a cleric, but uses the other church inquisitor aspects of level progression such as base attack bonus and save bonuses. if he next gains a level as a cleric, making him a 9th-level cleric/1st-level church inquisitor, he gains divine spells as if he had risen to 10th level as a cleric.
If a character had more than one divine spellcasting class before he became a church inquisitor, the player must decide which class to assign each level of church inquisitor for the purpose of determining divine spells per day.
Immune to Charms (Ex): A church inquisitor of 2nd level or higher is immune to all charm spells and effects.
Pierce Illusion (Su): At 3rd level, the church inquisitor gains the supernatural ability to penetrate illusions and disguises at will. The inquisitor must touch an illusion or a creature shrouded in illusion (such as a change self spell). The inquisitor then makes a caster level check as if casting dispel magic against the illusion effect. If he succeeds at this check, the illusion is immediately dispelled. The church inquisitor's +4 bonus on dispel checks (the Inquisition domain granted power) applies to this check as well. In addition, the inquisitor has a +4 competence bonus on Spot checks against the Disguise skill.
Immune to Compulsions (Ex): A church inquisitor of 5th level or higher is immune to all compulsion spells and effects.
Force Shapechange (Su): A church inquisitor of 6th level or higher can force a creature into its natural form. The church inquisitor must make a successful melee touch attack against the creature. If the attack is successful, the church inquisitor makes a caster level check as if casting dispel magic against the shapechanging effect. The church inquisitor's +4 bonus on dispel checks (the Inquisition domain granted power) applies to this check. This ability undoes the effect of alter self, polymorph self, shapechange, and alternate form abilities, whether exceptional, spell-like, or supernatural in nature. The affected creature cannot change its shape again for 1d6 rounds. The church inquisitor can use this ability at will.
Immune to Possession (Ex): A church inquisitor of 8th level or higher is immune to magic jar, soul bind, trap the soul, a ghost's Malevolence ability, and all other spells or effects that displace or replace a characters life force. The character can still travel to the planes via astral projection, if so desired.
Discern Lies (Sp): A church inquisitor of 9th level or higher can use discern lies as a spell-like ability three times per day.
Learn the Truth (Su): By touching a creature that has lied to him, a church inquisitor of 9th level or higher can force the creature to tell the truth. The creature can make a Will save (DC 10 + the church inquisitor's level + the church inquisitor's Charisma modifier) to resist this mind-affecting compulsion effect. If the saving throw fails, the creature must speak the true version of the lie it uttered. The church inquisitor can use this ability at will, but only immediately after using his discern lies spell-like ability on the creature in question.
| Church Inquisitor | Hit Die: d8 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | Spells per Day |
| 1st | +0 | +2 | 0 | +2 | Detect evil, prestige domain: Inquisition | +1 level of existing class |
| 2nd | +1 | +3 | 0 | +3 | Immune to charms | +1 level of existing class |
| 3rd | +2 | +3 | +1 | +3 | Pierce illusion | +1 level of existing class |
| 4th | +3 | +4 | +1 | +4 | - | +1 level of existing class |
| 5th | +3 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Immune to compulsions | +1 level of existing class |
| 6th | +4 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Force shapechange | +1 level of existing class |
| 7th | +5 | +5 | +2 | +5 | - | +1 level of existing class |
| 8th | +6 | +6 | +2 | +6 | Immune to possession | +1 level of existing class |
| 9th | +6 | +6 | +3 | +6 | Discern lies, learn the truth | +1 level of existing class |
| 10th | +7 | +7 | +3 | +7 | - | +1 level of existing class |
Source: Complete Divine
Defenders of the Faith