General Prestige Class : Dawncaller
Dawncallers are goliath bards responsible for guarding their tribe throughout the night. They patrol the darkness at the edge of a sleeping goliath camp, keeping the many monsters of the mountains away while the other goliaths rest. In the morning, they awaken the rest of the tribe with stirring songs of goliath bravery.
Because dawncallers must have great musical aptitude, nearly all have at least a few levels in bard. Many have levels in ranger, barbarian, or fighter as well, because dawncallers are often a goliath tribe's first line of defense.
Almost every tribe has at least one dawncaller, and it's nor uncommon for a tribe to have as many as a half-dozen. They are rarely found apart from their tribe, although some dawncallers leave goliath society due to injury or a falling out with other tribe members.
Adaptation: With some revision, the dawncaller prestige class works for non-goliath bards willing to trade their spellcasting and interpersonal skills for more combat ability. The structure of the class (bardic music at 1st level and new songs at intervals thereafter) is useful for other bard-friendly prestige classes you may create.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Dawncaller, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Race: Goliath
- Skills: Perform (sing) 8 ranks, Spot 4 ranks, Listen 4 ranks.
- Special: Bardic music ability.
Class Skills
The dawncaller's class skills are Balance, Climb, Craft, Hide, Jump, Listen, Move Silently, Perform, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival.
Skill Points at Each Level: 6 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the dawncaller prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Dawncallers gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.
Darkvision (Ex): Constant practice peering into the darkness unlocks a goliath's latent darkvision ability. Dawncallers can see in the dark out to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, bitt is otherwise like normal sight, and dawncallers can function just fine with no light at all.
Bardic Music: Dawncallers combine their dawncaller levels with levels of other classes that offer the bardic music class feature to determine number of bardic music uses per day (but nor any other bardic music-related effects).
As a dawncaller attains higher levels, he gains access to new bardic music abilities. These follow the normal titles for bardic music abilities.
Inspire Courage (Su): At 2nd level and above, a dawncaller with 10 or more ranks in Perform (sing) can use song to inspire courage in his allies (including himself), bolstering them against fear and improving their combat abilities. To be affected, an ally must be able to hear the dawncaller sing. The effect lasts as long as the ally hears the dawncaller sing and for 5 rounds thereafter. An affected ally receives a +1 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +1 morale bonus on attack rolls and weapon damage rolls.
If the dawncaller has this ability from another class (such as from bard levels), add together the characters levels from all classes that grant this ability and compare the total to The Bard to determine the total bonus granted. For example, a 6th-level bard/2nd-level dawncaller would grant a +2 morale bonus, while a 10th-level bard/10th-level dawncaller would grant a +4 morale bonus.
Inspire Stamina (Su): From 4th level on, a dawncaller with 12 or more ranks in Perform (sing) can use his music to refresh his tired allies. While he sings and for 1 minute per class level thereafter, the dawncaller and allies within 30 feet who can hear his song can ignore all the effects of fatigue and exhaustion.
Song of Warding (Sp): Beginning at 6th level, a dawncaller with 14 or more ranks in Perform (sing) can use song to help protect an area from incursion by unwanted creatures. Dawncallers generally use this song to protect a goliath tribe's camp at night. The dawncaller must sing the song of warding for 5 minutes; when this time has elapsed, he creates an antipathy effect that lasts for 2 hours per class level. The Will save DC for a song of warding is 10 + class level + dawncaller's Cha modifier. Song of warding is an enchantment (compulsion), mind-affecting ability.
Inspire Fury (Su): A dawncaller of 8th level or higher with at least 16 ranks in Perform (sing) can use music to turn his allies into furious berserkers. Each ally within 30 feet who can hear the dawncaller sing can choose to enter a rage on her turn. This rage functions identically to a barbarian's rage, except that it ends automatically if the dawncaller stops singing. if the ally already has the ability to rage, she can choose to apply the full effect of her own rage, but without spending one of her daily uses of the ability. A dawncaller can't inspire fury in himself. Inspire fury is a mind-affecting ability.
Song of the Mountain (Su): A 10th-level dawncaller with at least 18 ranks in Perform (sing) can imbue himself and his allies with great physical might and stability. The dawncaller and any humanoid allies within 30 feet who can hear his song gain a +4 bonus to Strength and damage reduction 5/adamantine. All creatures affected by the song of the mountain also gain a +4 bonus on checks to resist being bull rushed or tripped as long as they stand upon the ground. The effect lasts for as long as the allies hear the dawncaller sing and for up to 5 rounds thereafter.
| Dawncaller | Hit Die: d8 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special |
| 1st | +1 | +0 | +2 | +0 | Bardic music, darkvision 60 ft. |
| 2nd | +2 | +0 | +3 | +0 | Inspire courage |
| 3rd | +3 | +1 | +3 | +1 | - |
| 4th | +4 | +1 | +4 | +1 | Inspire stamina |
| 5th | +5 | +1 | +4 | +1 | - |
| 6th | +6 | +2 | +5 | +2 | Song of warding |
| 7th | +7 | +2 | +5 | +2 | - |
| 8th | +8 | +2 | +6 | +2 | Inspire fury |
| 9th | +9 | +3 | +6 | +3 | - |
| 10th | +10 | +3 | +7 | +3 | Song of the mountain |
Source: Races of Stone