General Prestige Class : Death Delver
"Many have gazed into the abyss, but how many have the strength to meet its stare when it gazes back at them?" - Fortenus, Death Delver
The mystery of death and dying is one that occupies the attention of almost every race, regardless of that race's behaviors or beliefs. The death delver is that rare individual who, rather than fearing and avoiding death, delves as deeply into its mysteries as he can, to better understand and eventually gain some small power over it. Unlike necromancers and other classes associated with death magic, the focus of a death delver's studies - or, more accurately, his journey - is much more deeply personal. Rather than concentrating on using death and death magic to affect the outside world, a death delver seeks to attune himself to the ebb and flow of death itself, and thereby draw strength from his understanding and indomitable courage in the face of it.
Unlike many prestige classes, the death delver is open and appealing to characters of any prior class; the only common thread is that the individual possess a reflective disposition and a keen interest in death. The death delver's meditative nature perhaps makes it most appealing to priests, monks, and other philosophically minded individuals, but any character with a genuine passion for the exploration of death and dying is a good candidate for the class. Wisdom (for spells), Constitution (for facing death without fear), and Charisma (for several class features) are key abilities for death delvers.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Death Delver, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Skills: Concentration 8 ranks, Heal 2 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 4 ranks
- Base Will Save: +2
- Special: Must have had at least one near-death experience (fallen below 0 hit points and lived)
Class Skills
The death delver's class skills are Concentration, Craft, Gather Information, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (religion), Listen, Profession, Search, Spellcraft, and Spot.
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
As they advance in level, death delvers gain abilities that aid in understanding or mastering fear and death. They also gain a limited spellcasting ability, which focuses on similar themes.
Spellcasting: As a death delver, you have the ability to cast a small number of divine spells. To cast a spell, you must have a Wisdom score of at least 10 + the spell's level. Death delver bonus spells are based on Wisdom, and saving throws against your spells have a DC of 10 + spell's level + your Wisdom modifier. When you get 0 spells per day of a given level, you gain only the bonus spells you would be entitled to based upon your Wisdom score. The death delver spell list appears below. You have access to any spell on the list and can freely choose which to prepare. You prepare and cast spells just like a cleric does.
Death delvers must spend 1 hour each night in the contemplation of death to regain their daily allotments of spells. Time spent resting has no impact on whether death delvers can prepare spells.
Deathsense (Ex): You have the infallible ability to detect the presence and condition of nearby life. This ability functions as the spell deathwatch but can be invoked at will, with no cost, as a swift action.
Rebuke Undead: like an evil cleric, you can rebuke undead. Use your death delver level as the cleric level for determining success and damage. You can do this a number of times per day equal to 3+ your Charisma modifier and can take the Extra Turning feat to gain additional turn attempts. If you already have the ability to rebuke undead from a previous class, death delver levels stack with those class levels for the purposes of rebuking undead.
Deadened Soul (Ex): Upon reaching 2nd level, your understanding of death has progressed to the point where you no longer fear it, nor anything else. You are immune to fear effects of any kind.
Spontaneous Casting: By 2nd level, your familiarity with the ebb and flow of death has blossomed to the point that, like a cleric, you can lose any prepared spell in order to cast any cure spell of the same level or lower. An evil death delver can only spontaneously convert prepared spells into inflict spells of equal level or lower. Neutral death delvers must choose whether they will cast spontaneous cure or inflict spells and can never change their selection once the choice has been made.
Death Ward (Su): At 3rd level, you gain the ability to mystically protect yourself or another from the depredations of death magic and life-draining attacks. This supernatural ability functions exactly like the spell death ward, save that the duration is 1 hour per death delver level. Using this ability is a standard action.
You gain an additional use of this ability per day upon reaching 6th level, and again at 9th level.
Diehard: Death delvers of at least 4th level gain the benefit of the Diehard feat, even if they do not meet the prerequisites.
Fear Aura (Su): Starting at 5th level, once per day you can emanate a nearly palpable aura of fear in a 30-foot radius. The effect lasts for a number of rounds equal to your class level. Enemies (not allies) within the area must make a Will save (DC 10 + class level + your Cha modifier) or be affected as if by a fear spell.
Cheat Death (Ex): Upon reaching 7th level, your mastery over death and dying has progressed to the point where you can deny a foe the ability to send you into death's embrace in a single, cowardly blow. Whenever anyone attempts a coup de grace on you, you automatically make the subsequent Fortitude save. The attacker still deals just as much damage as she normally would, and you could still die from that damage. Similarly, when you take massive damage (Soot more points of damage from a single attack), you automatically succeed on the Fortitude save to survive the associated trauma, although you can be killed by sheer damage dealt.
Mantle of Life (Su): Beginning at 8th level, you gain the ability to project your own wisdom and confidence into your allies. As a full-round action, you can send a surge of vitality through all companions within 60 feet. This surge grants every ally in the area (including yourself) a +4 bonus on Will saves for 1 minute per class level.
Nine Lives (Ex): The pinnacle of achievement for a death delver is the remarkable ability to step back through death's door when forcibly pushed through it. Upon reaching 10th level, you gain the ability to cheat death nine times - in effect, gaining nine bonus lives. Every time a single attack, spell, or effect would drop you below -10 hit points or otherwise kill you, you lose one of your nine lives in lieu of taking the effects of whatever would have killed you; instead you drop to -9 hit points but are stable. Continuing sources of damage, such as being dropped into lava or held under water, will of course burn through a character's nine lives in no time. Keep track of how many lives you've used, because once they're gone, they're gone.
For example, consider a death delver with seven lives and 11 hit points remaining who is struck by a critical hit that deals 32 points of damage. Since dropping to -21 hit points would kill him, he automatically loses one of his remaining bonus lives instead and stabilizes at -9 hit points, leaving him with six lives remaining. Later in the adventure, after he has been fully healed, a dread witch hits him with a disintegrate spell, which would normally reduce him to a pile of dust. He is once again reduced to -9 hit points and marks off another life (leaving five bonus lives remaining). He's not having a very good week, but at least he's still around to complain about it.
Death Delver Spell List
Death delvers choose their spells from the following list.
- 1st Level: bless, cause fear, detect poison, detect undead, hide from undead, lesser restoration, remove fear
- 2nd Level: bear's endurance, bull's strength, command undead, delay poison, remove paralysis, resist energy, rigor mortis
- 3rd Level: animate dead, deep slumber, halt undead, protection from energy, remove blindness/deafness, remove disease, speak with dead
- 4th Level: break enchantment, death ward, enervation, fear, freedom of movement, neutralize poison, restoration
| Death Delver | Hit Die: d8 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | Spells | |||
| 1st | +0 | +2 | +0 | +2 | Deathsense, rebuke undead | 0 | - | - | - |
| 2nd | +1 | +3 | +0 | +3 | Deadened soul, spontaneous casting | 1 | - | - | - |
| 3rd | +2 | +3 | +1 | +3 | Death ward 1/day | 1 | 0 | - | - |
| 4th | +3 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Diehard | 1 | 1 | - | - |
| 5th | +3 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Fear aura | 1 | 1 | 0 | - |
| 6th | +4 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Death ward 2/day | 1 | 1 | 1 | - |
| 7th | +5 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Cheat death | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 8th | +6 | +6 | +2 | +6 | Mantle of life | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 9th | +6 | +6 | +3 | +6 | Death ward 3/day | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 10th | +7 | +7 | +3 | +7 | Nine lives | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
Death Delver Lore
Characters with Knowledge (religion) or bardic knowledge can research the death delvers to learn more about them. When a character makes a successful skill check, read or paraphrase the following information.
- DC 10: Rumor tells of a secret society devoted to exploring the mysteries of death.
- DC 15: Some death-obsessed truth-seekers, called death delvers, have powers that rival those of necromancers.
- DC 20: Death delvers gather in a society called the Sacred Shroud, which has members scattered all over creation.
- DC 30: According to legend, one of the founders of the Sacred Shroud - a man named Volculos - was a former priest who renounced his god in favor of the death delver way. One night, he vanished without trace.
Any spellcaster who witnesses a death delver casting a spell can make a DC 20 Spellcraft check to notice that, even though the source of the magic seems to be divine, it lacks the stamp of any particular deity. Likewise, those with Knowledge (religion) can make a DC 25 skill check to notice that a death delver's magical trappings do not correspond to that of any known deity. (Even clerical death delvers reveal the nature of their magic when casting death delver spells.)
Source: Heroes of Horror