General Prestige Class : Reaper's Child

by Bruce Cordell, Dragon #299

The reaper's child is usually a monk who takes up worship of Nerull, the Reaper of Flesh, either voluntarily or through the forceful application of dark rituals. Hater of Life, King of All Gloom, and Bringer of Darkness - these are the names the reaper's child learns to revere on her road to martial enlightenment. Nerull's symbol is the scythe, and the reaper's child learns to use her naked hand as if it were a curving blade of steel.

The reaper's child craves unlimited power. She is ruthless, cold, domineering, and merciless to any who might get in her way. She uses her power and influence to secretly infiltrate orders of monks. Once accepted by an order, she seeks to pervert them from within by forcibly converting the instructors to the worship of Nerull by means of a grisly ceremony known only as the "Oath." Reaper's children form a secret organization that underlies parts of civilized society. Their hierarchy is rigid, with power-hungry members continually moving up and down in the ranks.

Monks make the best reaper's children, though most must be forcibly brought into the fold. Characters of other classes may join in the worship of Nerull, but without meeting the Requirements of the prestige class, they cannot gain its powers

A reaper's child might be encountered by PCs without their knowledge, as reaper's children delight in appearing in their old roles to continue their dastardly machinations behind a civil facade. PC monks who wish to join Nerull in his death cult had best keep their aspiration secret from society - few places openly allow the worship of the Reaper of Flesh.

Requirements

To qualify to become a Reaper's Child, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:

• Alignment: Lawful evil
• Skills: Knowledge (religion) 4 ranks
• Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike, Deflect Arrows, Dodge,
• Unarmed Base Attack Bonus: +4/+1.
• Patron Deity: Nerull
• Special: Must undergo a grisly secret initiation known as the "Oath," administered by other reaper's children. The Oath is a day-long process wherein the applicant is slowly wound in funerary wrappings, layered with spells of binding, repeatedly tortured until the applicant hangs onto life only by a shred (-9 hit points), then finally "returned to life" in service of Nerull (the ceremony is usually accompanied by ranks of chanting believers).

Class Skills

The reaper's child class skills are Balance, Bluff, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Escape Artist, Hide, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (religion), Listen, Move Silently, Perform, Profession, and Tumble.

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the reaper's child prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Reaper's children are proficient with club, crossbow (light or heavy), dagger, handaxe, javelin, kama, nunchaku, quarterstaff, scythe, shuriken, siangham, and sling. The reaper's child gains the same advantages for using a kama, nunchaku, or siangham as a monk. Furthermore, a reaper's child can use a scythe just as she can use a kama, nunchaku, or siangham.

Monk Abilities (Ex): Reaper's children continue much of their monk training (although they achieve physical enlightenment in service of a god of death). As such, a reaper's child gains the unarmed attack bonus, unarmed damage, AC bonus, and unarmored speed as if she were a monk whose level equaled her monk level + her reaper's child level. For instance, a 6th-level monk/1st-level reaper's child has an unarmed attack bonus of +5/+2 (as if she were a 7th-level monk). Those who manage to meet the Requirements for this class who are not monks gain these abilities as if they were monks equal to only their reaper's child level.

Whisper of Nerull (Su): Nerull watches over his new-found converts and whispers warnings into their ears. These secret promptings provide a reaper's child with a +1 insight bonus to Armor Class.

Reaper's Reinforcement (Su): Once Nerull takes a new convert, he is jealous of his new property. Nerull's will grants protection to his children, rendering them immune to all mind-affecting spells, spell-like abilities, and other mind-affecting effects.

Scythe Strike (Su): A reaper's child has the ability to emulate the devastating slashes of a scythe blade with her unarmed attacks. The character can use this ability once per round, but no more than once per reaper's child level per day. The character must declare she is using a scythe strike attack before making the attack roll (thus, a missed attack roll ruins the attempt). A foe struck by the character is forced to make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 15 + the reaper's child level + Wisdom modifier), in addition to receiving normal damage. If the saving throw fails, the attack is treated as if the reaper s child had automatically confirmed a X4 critical (as a scythe blade). Constructs, oozes, plants, undead, incorporeal creatures, and creatures immune to critical hits cannot be affected by the scythe strike.

Oathgiver (Sp): Once per week, a reaper s child can attempt to forcibly take control of the mind of another. This ability functions like the spell dominate person as if cast by a 10th-level sorcerer (Save DC 15 + Charisma modifier). To use the power, the monk must spend 8 hours chanting over a subject who is securely bound (often, bound in funerary wrappings).

Reaper of Flesh (Su): Starting at 5th level, a reaper's child can make a reaper of flesh attack. This supernatural ability allows the character to make a mighty spinning kick, whirling the reaper's child around so quickly that she resembles a mini-tornado, her feet spinning scythes.

The character can use the reaper of flesh attack once per week, and she must announce her intent before making her attack roll. Constructs, oozes, plants, undead, incorporeal creatures, and creatures immune to critical hits cannot be affected. The reaper's child must be of higher level than the target (or have more levels than the target's number of Hit Dice). If the character strikes successfully and the target takes damage from the blow the target dies unless it makes a Fortitude saving throw (DC 15 + the reaper's child level + Wisdom modifier). Even if the saving throw is successful, the target is knocked prone by the furious kick.

Reaper's Child					Hit Die: d8
CL	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Special
1	0	+2	+2	+2	Monk abilities, whisper of Nerull
2	+1	+3	+3	+3	Reaper's reinforcement
3	+2	+3	+3	+3	Oathgiver
4	+3	+4	+4	+4	Scythe strike
5	+3	+4	+4	+4	Reaper of flesh

Source: Dragon #299

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