General Prestige Class : Daggerspell Shaper

In a reclusive monastery in the heart of an ancient forest, a varied group of druids and arcane spellcasters train together. The adherents of this monastery work to perfect a unique fighting and spellcasting style that relies on wielding a pair of daggers at all times. Some of these students-known as daggerspell shapers-blend the fighting style with druid magic, spinning a deadly web of steel in front of them as they perform powerful feats of natural magic, or blending their daggers into the claws and talons of their wild-shaped forms.

Daggerspell shapers see the precise martial powers of their twin-dagger style and their magic as an extension of one powerful philosophy. The shapers seek truth in all things, believing that you can separate right from wrong and nature from corruption with the clean slice of a blade. Although never numerous, shapers are respected as judges, warriors, and defenders of the weak.

Daggerspell shapers are closely related to the other half of their guild, the daggerspell mages. Both preserve the work of good folk and balance the concerns of civilized communities against the sanctity of nature, but where a daggerspell mage is wild and impulsive, a shaper is quiet and calculating. The two halves of the Daggerspell Guardians organization work together amicably, hut they have decidedly different approaches to most problems.

Almost every daggerspell shaper begins her career as a druid, taking a level or two of rogue or scout after a few successful adventures. These individuals are drawn to the exotic fighting style and balanced ideals of the guild. Although most daggerspell shapers are primarily spellcasters, some have more complicated multiclass pathways that include ranger or barbarian levels. These shapers follow all the precepts of the guild, but they are more likely to defend nature with the steel of their daggers than with their spells.

Adaptation: The daggerspell shapers and their colleagues, the daggerspell mages, form the two halves of the organization known as the Daggerspell Guardians. Although normally bound together through the guild, these groups need not be used together in every campaign. The shapers, well suited for druid/rogues of any alignment, can become a drastically different group with just a few changes. Adding neutral evil as an alignment requirement might change the shapers into a group of dagger-wielding fanatics dedicated to preserving the sanctity of nature by assassinating those who intrude into the wild.

Requirements

To qualify to become a Daggerspell Shaper, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:

Class Skills

The daggerspell shaper's class skills are Balance, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Handle Animal, Heal, Hide, Jump, Knowledge (nature), Listen, Move Silently, Profession, Ride, Spellcraft, Spot, Survival, and Swim.

Skill Points at Each Level: 6 + Int modifier.

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Daggerspell shapers gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.

Daggercast (Ex): Daggerspell shapers seamlessly blend the use of their twin daggers with powerful spellcasting abilities. A daggerspell shaper can cast a spell with somatic and material components even when holding a dagger in each hand. If a daggerspell shaper holds anything other than a dagger, she must have at least one hand free to cast a spell with somatic or material components. Casting a spell in this way still provokes attacks of opportunity normally.

In addition, a daggerspell shaper can deliver a touch spell with a dagger attack (either a melee touch attack or a normal melee attack, but not with a thrown dagger).

Wild Shape (Su): A daggerspell shaper can change into a Small or Medium animal and back again, and can do so more often than most other characters with the wild shape ability. See the druid class feature, page 37 of the Handbook. This ability lasts for 1 hour per class level or until she changes back. Levels of the daggerspell shaper prestige class stack with druid levels for the purpose of determining the maximum duration of the wild shape ability: they do not stack for any other purpose (such as the size and type of creature that a shaper can become).

A daggerspell shaper gains one additional daily use of her wild shape ability at 1st level, 5th level, and 10th level.

At 2nd level, a daggerspell shaper becomes able to use her wild shape ability to take the form of a Tiny animal. At 4th level, she can use wild shape to take the form of a Large animal.

Dagger Claws (Su): When a daggerspell shaper of 2nd level or higher uses wild shape, she adds any magical properties of daggers that she is holding in each hand into the natural attacks other new form. The magic of a single dagger affects only the natural attacks made with the corresponding limb in the shaper's animal form, not all her attacks, for example, a 2nd-level daggerspell shaper holding a +1 flaming dagger in one hand and a +2 keen dagger in the other hand transforms into a leopard. The daggers affect the claw attacks of her new form as follows: One gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls and also gains the flaming special ability, and the other gains a +2 bonus on attack and damage rolls and also gains the keen special ability. If the assumed form does not have a claw or slam attack with a limb that corresponds to the druid's natural limbs, this ability has no effect. The bonuses from this ability last for the duration of the wild shape effect. When a shaper uses this ability, her natural weapons in animal form overcome damage reduction exactly as do the daggers that she was holding when she transformed. In the example above, the shaper would be able to overcome a foe's damage reduction as if both of her natural weapons were magic.

Spells per Day/Spells Known: Running at 2nd level, a daggerspell shaper gains new spells per day at each level (and spells known, if applicable) 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. If she had more than one divine spellcasting class before becoming a daggerspell shaper, she must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining spells per day and spells known.

Sneak Attack (Ex): Beginning at 3rd level, a daggerspell shaper deals an extra 1d6 points of damage when flanking an opponent or at any rime when the target would be denied its Dexterity bonus. This extra damage applies to ranged attacks only if the target is within 30 feet. It increases to 2d6 points at 6th level and 3d6 points at 9th level. See the rogue class feature, page 50 of the Player's Handbook. If a daggerspell shaper gets a sneak attack bonus from another source (such as levels of rogue), the bonuses on damage stack.

Fast Wild Shape (Ex): Starting at 7th level, a daggerspell shaper can use her wild shape ability as a move action rather than as a standard action.

Enhanced Wild Shape (Su): Starting at 8th level, a daggerspell shaper can preserve the physical enhancements granted by her equipment even when in wild shape. Whenever the shaper uses wild shape, she retains any enhancement bonuses to Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution granted by any equipment she wears, even if the equipment can't be worn normally by her new form.

Daggerspell Flurry (Ex): A 10th-level daggerspell shaper can blend spellcasting with a flurry of dagger attacks. When using this ability, the shaper can quicken one spell as pan of a full attack with her daggers. Doing this has no effect on the spell's effective level. A daggerspell shaper must make at least one melee attack in any round in which she uses this ability, and she cannot make an attack with anything other than a dagger (although if a spell cast in conjunction with this ability requires an attack roll, she can still make the spell's attack).

Daggerspell ShaperHit Die: d6
CLBABFortRefWillSpecialSpells
1+0+0+2+2Daggercast, wild shape (+1/day)-
2+1+0+3+3Dagger claws, wild shape (Tiny)+1 level of existing divine spell casting class
3+2+3+3+3Sneak attack +1d6+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
4+3+1+4+4Wild shape (Large)+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
5+3+1+4+4Wild shape (+2/day)+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
6+4+2+5+5Sneak attack +2d6+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
7+5+2+5+5Fast wild shape+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
8+6+2+6+6Enhanced wild shape+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
9+6+3+6+6Sneak attack +3d6+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
10+7+3+7+7Daggerspell flurry, wild shape (+3/day)+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class

Source: Complete Adventurer

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General Prestige Classes