General Prestige Class : Herald
by Andy Collins, Dragon Annual 5
Requirements
To qualify to become a Herald, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Alignment: Chaotic good.
- Skills: Bluff 4 ranks, Diplomacy 6 ranks, Gather Information 6 ranks, Sense Motive 4 ranks
- Base Attack: +4 or better
- Special: Must speak at least three languages.
Class Skills
The herald's class skills are Bluff, Decipher Script, Diplomacy, Disguise, Forgery, Gather Information, Hide, Intimidate, Knowledge (any), Listen, Move Silently, Open Lock, Perform, Search, Sense Motive, Speak Language, Spot, and Spot.
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Class Features
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A herald is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, and with light armor.
Spells: A herald casts arcane spells from the herald spell list. (See Herald Spell List.) She casts these spells without needing to prepare them beforehand or keep a spellbook. Heralds receive bonus spells for high Charisma. To cast a spell, a herald must have a Charisma score of 10 + the level of the spell. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a herald's spell is 10 + the spell's level + the herald's Charisma modifier. The herald's effective casting level is equal to her herald class level.
False Alignment: A herald of 1st level or higher receives a Will saving throw against any attempt to discern her alignment or aura (such as with a detect good spell or the divine version of the true seeing spell). The DC of the saving throw is 10 + the spell's level + the caster's ability modifier. If the saving throw is successful, the herald can disguise her alignment with an alignment of her choice. This is a supernatural ability.
Sneak Attack: A herald can strike a vital spot for extra damage. Any time the herald's target would be denied a Dexterity bonus to AC (whether her target actually has a Dexterity bonus or not), or when the herald flanks the target, the herald's attack deals extra damage. The extra damage is +1d6 at 2nd level and an additional 1d6 every two levels thereafter. This ability is otherwise identical to the rogue's sneak attack and is cumulative with any sneak attack capability the character has from other classes.
Uncanny Dodge: Starting at 3rd level, the herald gains the extraordinary ability to react to danger before her senses would normally allow her to do so. At 3rd level and above, she retains her Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) regardless of being caught flat-footed or being struck by an invisible attacker. She still loses her Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized. At 7th level, the herald can no longer be flanked, as she can react to opponents on opposite sides of her as easily as she can react to a single attacker. This defense denies other characters the ability to use flank attacks to sneak attack her. The exception to this defense is that a rogue at least four levels higher than the character can flank her (and thus sneak attack her).
The character's herald levels are cumulative with her levels in any other class that has the uncanny dodge ability for the purposes of determining the character's total uncanny dodge. For instance, a 6th-level rogue/5th-level herald would have uncanny dodge equal to an 11th-level herald.
Nondetection: Starting at 5th level, a herald has a permanent nondetection effect (as the spell). If a divination is attempted against the herald or anything he carries, the caster of the divination must succeed in a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) against a DC of 15 + the herald's class level. This is a spell-like ability.
Skill Mastery: At 9th level, the herald selects a number of skills equal to 3 + her Intelligence modifier. When making a skill check with one of these skills, the herald can take 10 even if stress and distractions would normally prevent her from doing so. She becomes so certain in those skills that she can use them reliably even under adverse conditions.
| Herald | Hit Dice: d6 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 1st | +0 | +0 | +2 | +2 | False alignment | 2 | 0 | - | - | - |
| 2nd | +1 | +0 | +3 | +3 | Sneak attack +1d6 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - |
| 3rd | +2 | +1 | +3 | +3 | Uncanny dodge (Dex bonus) | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - |
| 4th | +3 | +1 | +4 | +4 | Sneak attack +2d6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | - | - |
| 5th | +3 | +1 | +4 | +4 | Nondetection | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - |
| 6th | +4 | +2 | +5 | +5 | Sneak attack +3d6 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - |
| 7th | +5 | +2 | +5 | +5 | Uncanny dodge (can't be flanked) | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 8th | +6/+1 | +2 | +6 | +6 | Sneak attack +4d6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 9th | +6/+1 | +3 | +6 | +6 | Skill mastery | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 10th | +7/+2 | +3 | +7 | +7 | Sneak attack +5d6 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Herald Spells Known | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spell Level | |||||
| Level | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 0 | 3 | 1* | - | - | - |
| 2 | 4 | 2 | - | - | - |
| 3 | 4 | 2 | 1* | - | - |
| 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | - | - |
| 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1* | - |
| 6 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | - |
| 7 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1* |
| 8 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 9 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| 10 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| *Provided the herald has sufficient Charisma to have a bonus spell of this level. | |||||
Source: Dragon Annual 5