General Prestige Class : Moon Guardian
When a werewolf or other evil lycanthrope passes on the curse of lycanthropy, the victim must either find a cure quickly or succumb slowly to the ravening evil of a bestial nature. But good or neutral divine spellcasters who have strong connections to their deities or to the divine powers they choose to represent can sometimes use their divine connections to stave off the slide into evil. Those who succeed are known as moon guardians. The requirements to become a moon guardian are straightforward, but they're more difficult to meet than they first appear. The afflicted lycanthrope must pray for succor when he feels the temptation to give in to his newfound bestial urges, but in time, a character who has done so faithfully gains release from the risk of alignment change. (In game terms, the afflicted lycanthrope PC must stave off an alignment change until he earns enough experience to take a level in moon guardian.)
As NPCs, moon guardians often perform quests on behalf of their deities or infiltrate cults of evil lycanthropes in order to destroy them from within. The occasional evil moon guardian NPC often takes advantage of PCs' assumptions about his alignment, pretending to be good at first, then revealing his true nature at a crucial moment.
Adaptation: This prestige class fills a specific niche by enabling a PC who has become a lycanthrope to continue adventuring. For your specific campaign, you may want to adjust the entry requirements upward or downward to make it accessible for the relevant PC while still balancing it with the rest of the campaign world.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Moon Guardian, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Alignment: Any good
- Spells: Ability to cast 3rd-level divine spells
- Other: The candidate must be an afflicted lycanthrope aware of his condition.
Class Skills
The moon guardian's class skills are Concentration, Control Shape, Craft, Knowledge (religion), and Spellcraft.
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
The moon guardian also gains as class skills any skills given in the description of the base animal corresponding to the character's lycanthrope type.
Class Features
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Moon guardians gain no proficiency with any weapon, armor, or shield.
Natural Spell: At 1st level, the moon guardian gains Natural Spell as a bonus feat if he did not already have it.
Spells per Day/Spells Known: When an even-numbered level of moon guardian is gained, the character gains new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if he had also gained a level in whatever divine spellcasting class granted him access to 3rd-level spells before he added 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, and so on). The level of moon guardian is added to the level of whatever other divine spellcasting class granted the character access to 3rd-level spells, then spells per day, spells known, and caster level are determined accordingly.
If a character had more than one divine spellcasting class that granted access to 3rd-level spells before he became a moon guardian, the player must decide to which class to add each level of moon guardian for the purpose of determining spells per day and spells known.
Voluntary Change (Ex): At 1st level, the moon guardian receives the blessing of a deity of the moon. Unlike other afflicted lycanthropes, he can voluntarily change into animal or hybrid form without immediately and permanently changing alignment to that of his lycanthrope kind. The moon guardian is still subject to involuntary transformation under the full moon and whenever he takes damage in combat, but a failed Control Shape check under those circumstances doesn't change the character's alignment. Furthermore, a moon guardian who fails a Control Shape check to resume humanoid form can make another attempt each subsequent round, rather than waiting until dawn.
Rapid Change (Ex): At 3rd level, the moon guardian can make a Control Shape check as a move action rather than a standard action, though he can still change form only once per round.
Instantaneous Change (Ex): At 5th level, the moon guardian can make a Control Shape check as a free action. Furthermore, he can do so in response to another's action, even if it isn't his turn yet. He can still change form only once per round.
| Moon Guardian | Hit Die: d8 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | Spells per Day/Spells Known |
| 1st | +1 | +2 | +2 | +0 | Natural spell, voluntary change | - |
| 2nd | +2 | +3 | +3 | +0 | +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class | |
| 3rd | +3 | +3 | +3 | +1 | Rapid change | - |
| 4th | +4 | +4 | +4 | +1 | +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class | |
| 5th | +5 | +4 | +4 | +1 | Instantaneous change | - |
Source: Web