Dragonkind Prestige Class : Disciple of the Eye
"Leaving an opponent stunned or unconscious only creates a pest that may rise to challenge you again. However, killing your foe is secondary to planting the fear of the dragon within him - the longer he lives, the more he will tell others of your dreadful, terrifying gaze." - Molik, kobold disciple of the eye
The way a disciple of the eye fixes her gaze on someone can be remarkably unsettling. A leashed draconic fury is smoldering inside her - the promise of a retribution so great that its mere intimation is enough to make observers fear for their lives.
As a disciple of the eye, you know the messages that the eyes alone can impart. Indeed, eyes can both send and receive information. You are able to collect heightened knowledge about your environment. More important, your merest glance guarantees your foes that by the time you move to become a blur of dragon-inspired bloodshed, it is already too late for them.
Monks are natural candidates for disciples of the eye, since the prerequisite skills are class skills for them and they have the prerequisite feat automatically - not to mention the fact that, once they enter the class, disciple levels improve their fast movement and flurry of blows abilities.
Sorcerers could also take up the class; they have high Dexterity and Charisma scores, both of which are integral to disciple of the eye class abilities, even though they lack Spot as a class skill. Rogues with high Charisma scores also make good candidates, but lack Concentration as a class skill. A rogue/sorcerer multiclass character could certainly work, keeping in mind that you also want a good Strength score for melee combat.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Disciple of the Eye, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Race: any; dragonblood subtype
- Alignment: Any lawful
- Skills: Concentration 8 ranks, Spot 8 ranks
- Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike
Class Skills
The disciple of the eyes' class skills are Climb, Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Hide, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (geography), Listen, Move Silently, Profession, Sense Motive, Spot, Survival, Swim, and Tumble.
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Class Features
As they advance in level, disciples of the eye gain increased unarmed abilities. They learn how to increase their perception of the world as well as strike fear into their opponents.
Fast Movement (Ex): Your disciple of the eye levels stack with your monk levels (if any) for the purpose of determining your unarmored speed bonus. (See the monk class feature.) If you don't have any monk levels, you are treated as a monk of the same class level as your disciple class level for determining your unarmored speed bonus.
Flurry of Blows (Ex): Your disciple of the eye levels stack with your monk levels (if any) for the purpose of determining the attack bonuses you use when making a flurry of blows. (See the monk class feature.) If you don't have any monk levels, you are treated as a monk of the same class level as your disciple class level for determining your flurry of blows attack bonuses.
Wandering Eyes (Sp): As a disciple of the eye, you gain the ability to remotely perceive your surroundings. As a standard action, you can create a magical sensor that provides visual information as the arcane eye spell, for up to 1 minute per day per disciple level (which can be expended gradually, minimum 1 round). The effect of this ability is identical to that of the arcane eye spell, except that the magical sensor is shaped like a dragon of Fine size. The moment you stop concentrating on the invisible sensor, it winks out of existence and must be created again.
Natural Armor Bonus (Ex): By the time you reach 2nd level, your martial training has begun to harden you against physical attacks, providing you with a +1 bonus to your natural armor. This bonus increases to +2 at 4th level.
Frightful Attack (Ex): At 2nd level, you can unsettle your foes by evoking the presence of the dragon within you. This ability takes effect automatically whenever you make an attack roll against an opponent that has fewer Hit Dice than your character level. The target of your attack must succeed on a Will saving throw (DC 10 +1/2 your character level + your Cha modifier) or be shaken for 1d4 rounds.
Dragons and creatures with the dragonblood subtype are immune to this effect. Creatures that succeed on this save can't be affected again by your frightful attack for 24 hours.
Keen Senses (Ex): When you attain 3rd level, your senses dramatically improve. You can see four times as well as a human can in shadowy illumination, and twice as well as a human can see in normal light. If you can already see farther than a human but not as well as indicated above, your vision extends to this improved distance. If you already have improved vision that matches or exceeds this distance, your vision does not improve.
You also gain darkvision out to 120 feet. If you already have darkvision but not out to 120 feet, your current dark-vision extends to that distance. If your current darkvision already extends to 120 feet or more, your darkvision does not improve.
Glare of the Enraged Dragon (Su): At 4th level, you can use a swift action (see page 122) and focus your dragon heritage into an enraged glare that you direct against any creature within 30 feet. The target of your glare must succeed on a Will saving throw (DC 10 + 1/2 your character level + your Cha modifier) or be shaken for 1d4 rounds. This ability can be used a number of times per day equal to your disciple level. Affected foes that are already shaken become frightened instead.
Blindsense (Ex): At 5th level, your senses dramatically expand. You gain blindsense out to 30 feet. If you already have blindsense out to 30 feet or more, the range of the ability does not improve.
| Disciple of the Eye | Hit Die: d8 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | Natural Armor Bonus |
| 1st | +0 | +2 | +2 | +2 | Fast movement, flurry of blows, wandering eyes | +0 |
| 2nd | +1 | +3 | +3 | +3 | Frightful attack | +1 |
| 3rd | +2 | +3 | +3 | +3 | Keen senses | +1 |
| 4th | +3 | +4 | +4 | +4 | Glare of the enraged dragon | +2 |
| 5th | +3 | +4 | +4 | +4 | Blindsense | +2 |
Disciple of the Eye Lore
Characters with ranks in Knowledge (local) or Knowledge (history) can research disciples of the eye to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including the information from lower DCs.
- DC 10: Disciples of the eye are skilled martial artists who seek to emulate dragons.
- DC 15: Disciples of the eye can send little invisible dragonlike creatures wandering to scout distant locations.
- DC 20: Disciples of the eye demonstrate a fury during their initial attack that is reminiscent of a dragon's aspect, frightening the weak-willed.
- DC 30: Characters who achieve this level of success can learn important details about specific disciples of the eye, including notable accomplishments and geographical origins.
Player characters trying to locate a disciple of the eye should make a DC 20 Gather Information check to discover the necessary intermediaries and protocols for contacting one. If the player characters are talking to a Singer of Concordance and request a mediator, give them a +2 circumstance bonus on the check.