General Prestige Class : Shining Blade of Heironeous
by James Wyatt, Dragon #283
Heironeous's teachings focus on promoting good through the use of armed force. Those among Heironeous's servants, both clerics and paladins, who aspire to become mighty weapons in their deity's unending war against evil hope one day to enter the shining blades. The shining blades of Heironeous is an order of knights dedicated to prowess in melee combat, which is achieved through prayer, devotion, and asceticism. Members of the shining blades have an austere and simple lifestyle, forsaking all worldly wealth and many earthly pleasures in their quest to become but a blade in the hand of Heironeous.
Most shining blades of Heironeous are clerics or paladins. Some members of the order believe that a minimum of training as a cleric, combined with the intense martial discipline of the fighter, is ideal to achieve the goal the shining blades seek, while others follow a single class exclusively. Very few multiclass arcane spellcasters, rogues, or monks feel drawn to the shining blades.
NPC members of the shining blades are probably the most devout, single-minded, and driven crusaders in the world. Consumed with passion for the path they have chosen, they have little patience for those who are "blinded" by desire for material goods or personal power. All that matters, they believe and preach, is the fight against evil; as long as evil remains strong there is important work to be done.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Shining Blade of Heironeous, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Alignment: Lawful good
- Skills: Knowledge (religion) 7 ranks
- Base attack bonus: +7
Base will save: +3 - Spellcasting: ability to cast 1st-level divine spells
- Patron Deity: Heironeous
Class Skills
The shining blade's class skills are Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Heal, Knowledge (religion), Profession, and Spellcraft.
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the shining blade of Heironeous prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Shining blades are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all armor, and with shields.
Detect Evil: A shining blade of Heironeous can detect evil as a spell-like ability.
Smite Evil: Once per day, a shining blade of Heironeous can attempt to smite evil with one normal melee attack. He adds his Charisma modifier (if positive) to his attack roll and deals 1 extra point of damage per shining blade level. If the shining blade accidentally smites a creature that is not evil, the smite has no effect but it is still used up for that day.
At 4th level, the shining blade can smite evil twice per day. At 7th level, the shining blade can smite evil three times per day. At 10th level, the shining blade can smite evil four times per day. These smite evil attempts are gained in addition to any gained through other classes (such as the paladin's ability of the same name).
Spells per Day: A shining blade continues the magical training he began as a divine spellcaster. For every two shining blade levels gained (2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th), the character gains new spells per day as if he had also gained one level in a divine spellcasting class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit of the spellcasting class. This essentially means that he adds half his shining blade levels to the level of some other divine spellcasting class the character has, then determines spells per day and caster level accordingly. For example, if Jeruk, a 10th-level paladin/1st-level shining blade, gains a level in shining blade, he gains new spells as if he had risen to 11th level in paladin, but he uses the other shining blade aspects of level progression, such as base attack bonus and base saving throw bonuses. If he next gains a level of paladin, making him an 11th-level paladin/2nd-level shining blade, he gains spells as if he had risen to 12th-level paladin.
Shock Blade: Once per day, as a standard action, a shining blade of Heironeous can cause a slashing or piercing weapon he is holding to become a shock weapon, dealing +1d6 points of bonus electricity damage on a successful hit. The weapon is enhanced this way for up to a number of rounds equal to the shining blade's level plus his Charisma bonus (if any), but only so long as the shining blade is holding the weapon. If he is disarmed or gives the weapon to another character, the magical effect ends. This is a supernatural ability.
Holy Blade: At 5th level, the shining blade can bestow two magical enhancements upon his weapon. This supernatural ability replaces the shock blade ability and can be used twice per day. With each use of this ability, he can choose to make the weapon a shock weapon dealing +1d6 damage or a holy weapon dealing +2d6 points of bonus holy (good) damage against evil creatures. The weapon is enhanced this way for up to a number of rounds equal to the shining blade's level plus his Charisma bonus (if any), but only so long as the shining blade is holding the weapon. If he is disarmed or gives the weapon to another character, the magical effect ends. The two uses of this ability can overlap, so in a given combat a shining blade can spend one standard action to make his blade holy and another to make it a shock weapon. The weapon cannot be made to be doubly holy or doubly shocking.
Radiant Blade: At 9th level, a shining blade can bestow three magical enhancements upon his weapon. This supernatural ability replaces the holy blade ability and can be used three times per day. With each use of this ability, he can choose to make the weapon a shock weapon dealing +1d6 damage, a holy weapon dealing +2d6 points of bonus holy (good) damage against evil creatures, or a brilliant energy weapon, which sheds light as a torch and ignores nonliving matter (including armor, undead, constructs, and objects). The weapon is enhanced this way for up to a number of rounds equal to the shining blade's level plus his Charisma bonus (if any), but only so long as the shining blade is holding the weapon. If he is disarmed or gives the weapon to another character, the magical effect ends. The three uses of this ability can overlap, so in a given combat a shining blade can spend one standard action to make his blade holy, another to make it a shock weapon, and another to make it a brilliant energy weapon. The weapon cannot be made to be doubly holy, doubly shocking, or doubly brilliant.
Celestial Transformation: A 10th-level shining blade of Heironeous actually becomes a celestial creature, taking on a shining, metallic appearance and adopting the celestial creature template.
Multiclass Note: Paladin characters can freely multiclass with this class.
| Shining Blade of Heironeous | Hit Die: d10 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | Spells per Day |
| 1st | +0 | +2 | +0 | +2 | Detect evil, smite evil 1/day | - |
| 2nd | +1 | +3 | +0 | +3 | Shock blade 1/day | +1 level of existing class |
| 3rd | +2 | +3 | +1 | +3 | - | - |
| 4th | +3 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Smite evil 2/day | +1 level of existing class |
| 5th | +3 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Holy blade 2/day | - |
| 6th | +4 | +5 | +2 | +5 | - | +1 level of existing class |
| 7th | +5 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Smite evil 3/day | - |
| 8th | +6 | +6 | +2 | +6 | - | +1 level of existing class |
| 9th | +6 | +6 | +3 | +6 | Radiant blade 3/day | - |
| 10th | +7 | +7 | +3 | +7 | Celestial transformation, smite evil 4/day | +1 level of existing class |
Source: Complete Divine