General Prestige Class : Mighty Contender of Kord
by James Wyatt, Dragon #283
The church of Kord insists that the liberation of the spirit comes through the perfection of the body - in fact, clerics of the Brawler insist that the distinction between body and spirit is a false one, as each is totally dependent on the other. Some devotees of Kord practice breaking chains (a DC 26 Strength check), demonstrating their bodily perfection while symbolizing their spiritual freedom. Those that seek the highest perfection of body and spirit become mighty contenders of Kord.
Most mighty contenders of Kord start as clerics, but fighters and barbarians can enter the class easily by multiclassing as clerics, and many do. Arcane spellcasters are unlikely to find the church of Kord's emphasis on physical strength appealing, but there are exceptions - particularly among the rare half-orc sorcerers.
NPC mighty contenders are an unusual mixture of athletic mysticism. They are very worldly, as a rule, frequenting public baths, gymnasiums, or taverns while expounding their philosophy of spiritual and physical liberation, and demonstrating their feats of incredible strength.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Mighty Contender of Kord, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Alignment: Chaotic good
- Skills: Knowledge (religion) 9 ranks
- Feats: Endurance, Power Attack,
- Base fortitude save: +6
- Spellcasting: ability to cast divine spells
- Kord
Class Skills
The mighty contender's class skills are Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Heal, Intimidate, Knowledge (religion), Profession, Spellcraft, and Survival.
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the mighty contender of Kord prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Mighty contenders are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all armor, and with shields.
Mighty Endurance: A mighty contender has a special form of damage reduction that allows him to ignore 5 points of subdual damage every time he is dealt subdual damage. This extraordinary ability applies to all effects that deal subdual damage.
Feat of Strength: When a mighty contender performs a feat of strength (the granted power of the Strength domain), he adds his mighty contender level to his cleric levels to determine his Strength enhancement for 1 round. He can now perform a feat of strength a number of times per day equal to his unmodified Strength modifier, but always at least once.
Spells per Day: A mighty contender continues the divine spellcasting training he began, but more slowly. For every two contender levels gained, the character gains new spells per day as if he had gained one level of the spellcasting class he belonged to before he added the prestige class. He does not gain any other benefit of the level (such as turning undead) that the character would have gained. This essentially means that he adds half his mighty contender level to the level of some other spellcasting class he has, then determines spells per day and caster level accordingly. For example, if Gilgas, an 8th-level cleric/1st-level mighty contender, gains another level in mighty contender, he gains new spells as if he had risen to 9th level in cleric, but uses the other contender aspects of level progression such as base attack and saving throw bonus. If he next gains a level of cleric, making him a 10th-level cleric/2nd-level mighty contender, he gains spells as an 11th-level cleric.
Surge of Strength: When a mighty contender of at least 3rd level performs a feat of strength, the enhancement bonus lasts for 1d4+1 rounds.
Strength Increase: When a mighty contender reaches 5th level, and again at 9th level, his Strength score increases by 1. This is not an enhancement bonus; it is an ability score increase like any character normally gains every four levels.
Feat of Power: Once per day, as a supernatural ability, when performing a surge of strength, a mighty contender of 7th level or higher can add one and a half times his combined cleric and mighty contender levels to his Strength score for the first round of the surge. For the remaining 1d4 rounds, he adds only his level to his Strength score.
Surge of Power (Su): Once per day, as a supernatural ability, when performing a surge of strength, a 10th-level mighty contender can add one and a half times his level to his Strength score for the duration of the surge (1d4+1 rounds).
| Mighty Contender of Kord | Hit Die: d10 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | Spells |
| 1st | +0 | +2 | +0 | +2 | Mighty endurance, feat of strength | - |
| 2nd | +1 | +3 | +0 | +3 | - | +1 level of existing class |
| 3rd | +2 | +3 | +1 | +3 | Surge of strength | - |
| 4th | +3 | +4 | +1 | +4 | - | +1 level of existing class |
| 5th | +3 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Strength increase | - |
| 6th | +4 | +5 | +2 | +5 | - | +1 level of existing class |
| 7th | +5 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Feat of power | - |
| 8th | +6 | +6 | +2 | +6 | - | +1 level of existing class |
| 9th | +8 | +6 | +3 | +6 | Strength increase | - |
| 10th | +7 | +7 | +3 | +7 | Surge of power | +1 level of existing class |
Source: Dragon #283