General Prestige Class : Justice Hammer of Moradin
by Anna Serfass, Dragon #329
These elite clerics of Moradin bring their god's justice wherever they go. They actively work to order the world in which dwarves must walk by seeking out and stopping injustice and inequity. They are fair-minded but implacable when meting out punishment. Often marked for service at an early age, most justice hammers spend their young lives studying dwarven law along with the rigid rules of the forge. In an oath-swearing ceremony, newly deputized justice hammers are require to recite all the laws of their kindred, at which time they are given the great book of Moradin's law as a badge of office.
Justice hammers of Moradin most often start as clerics, paladins, or multiclass cleric/fighters. Rangers sometimes become justice hammers as well. Members of other classes are very rarely attracted to this class.
NPC justice hammers are defenders of dwarven kingdoms who act as counselors and judges. They rarely travel outside of dwarven lands other than to hunt down fugitives from their laws. Judging flight to be an admission of guilt, justice hammers punish offenders immediately once caught.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Justice Hammer of Moradin, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Race: Dwarf
- Skills: Concentration 5 ranks, Knowledge (local) 3 ranks
- Feats: Iron Will, Power Attack,
- Base Attack Bonus: +5
- Spells: Able to cast divine spells.
- Patron Deity: Moradin.
Class Skills
The justice hammer of Moradin's class skills are Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Heal, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (religion), Profession, and Spellcraft.
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All the following are class features of the justice hammer of Moradin prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Justice hammers gain no new proficiency with any weapon or armor.
Spells per Day: At 2nd level, and every even level thereafter, a justice hammer gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in a divine spellcasting class he belonged to before adding the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (improved chance of turning or rebuking undead, improved animal companions, and so on). This essentially means that he adds half the level of justice hammer to the level of whatever divine spellcasting class the character has, then determines spells per day and caster level accordingly.
If the character had more than one divine spellcasting class before he became a justice hammer, he must decide to which class he adds each even-numbered level of justice hammer for the purpose of determining spells per day.
Mark of War (Ex): A justice hammer gains access to the War domain. He gains the granted power associated with the domain and can choose the listed spells as domain spells.
Runic Hammer (Su): Whenever a justice hammer wields a warhammer, it becomes charged with divine power. The weapon glows with a holy rune of fire whenever he strikes with it, causing the weapon to deal an extra 1d4 points of fire damage in addition to any other magic bonuses the weapon might have. At 5th level, this bonus damage increases to 1d6 points, and at 8th level it increases to 1d8 points. This ability functions only while the justice hammer is wielding a warhammer and does not function on a warhammer with the flaming or flaming burst abilities.
Disdain Magic (Ex): Beginning at 3rd level, a justice hammer may reroll one saving throw that he just made against a spell or spell-like effect, before the DM declares whether the roll results in success or failure. This ability can be used once per day at 3rd level and twice per day at 7th level and beyond. The justice hammer must take the result of the second roll, even if it is worse than the original.
Metal Fatigue (Su): At 5th level, a justice hammer gains the ability to detect weaknesses in stone and metal objects. Whenever the justice hammer attacks a metal or stone object or makes a sunder attempt against a metal or stone weapon, he treats the hardness of the object or weapon he is attempting to break as one-half normal. Only the justice hammer gains the benefit of this ability. Other creatures that attempt to break or sunder the same object in the same round treat the object as having normal hardness. This ability works against both magic and non-magic items. Against magic items, apply any enhancement bonus to the item's hardness after halving its base hardness.
Discern Lies (Sp): Beginning at 7th level, a justice hammer can sense lies at will as the discern lies spell cast by a spellcaster of the justice hammer's class level. Targets of this ability receive a Will save (DC 10 + the justice hammer's class level + the justice hammer's Charisma modifier).
Matter of Justice (Su): At 9th level, a justice hammer can, as a standard action, project an aura of implacable justice that unsettles his enemies. All opponents within 20 feet of the justice hammer must make a Will save (DC 10 + the justice hammer's class level + the justice hammer's Charisma modifier) or be shaken for 2d4 rounds. Those who succeed are immune to the justice hammer's matter of justice effect for 1 day. Matter of justice is a mind-affecting fear effect and is usable twice per day.
Soul Rune (Sp): At 10th level, a justice hammer can inscribe a rune of justice in the air once per day as a standard action. The rune appears as a tracery of fire in front of the justice hammer, which flies with great accuracy toward its target. The justice hammer must succeed at a ranged touch attack to hit his target. This attack ignores cover. If the touch attack is successful, the soul rune deals 10d6 points of damage and paralyzes the opponent for 1d4 rounds (no saving throw). Creatures immune to paralysis still take the damage. The soul rune has a range of 100 feet + 10 feet per character level.
| Justice Hammer | Hit Die: d10 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | Spells |
| 1st | +0 | +2 | +0 | +2 | Mark of war, runic hammer +1d4 | - |
| 2nd | +1 | +3 | +0 | +3 | - | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
| 3rd | +2 | +3 | +1 | +3 | Disdane magic | - |
| 4th | +3 | +4 | +1 | +4 | - | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
| 5th | +3 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Metal fatigue, runic hammer +1d6 | - |
| 6th | +4 | +5 | +2 | +5 | - | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
| 7th | +5 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Discern lies | - |
| 8th | +6 | +6 | +2 | +6 | Runic hammer +1d8 | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
| 9th | +6 | +6 | +3 | +6 | Matter of justice | - |
| 10th | +7 | +7 | +3 | +7 | Soul Rune | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
Source: Dragon #328