General Prestige Class : Vigilante
One vigilante may have suffered personally at the hands of criminals and be bent on revenge. Another might have lost loved ones to knives in a dark alleyway. Still another could be atoning for the time he himself spent on the wrong side of the law. Whatever the cause, a vigilante has a burning desire to solve crimes and bring criminals to justice.
The vigilante combines magical and mundane investigative techniques to assess a crime scene. He's adept at finding out the "word on the street" about a crime, analyzing clues, and identifying likely suspects. Once he's on the trail, he relentlessly tails, apprehends, and interrogates a suspect until the truth comes out. One vigilante could work for the local ruler or the city guard, but another might be an independent detective-for-hire. A third might even take to the streets by night to stop crimes in progress - or keep would-be criminals from striking in the first place.
A bard or rogue can pick up the variety of skills a vigilante needs very quickly. Rangers also tend to find the class appealing, for it allows them to engage in urban hunts with criminals as their prey
An NPC vigilante might turn up just in time to save the player characters from becoming crime victims themselves. However, if they break the law on a vigilante's home turf, the heroes may find themselves under his unwelcome scrutiny
Requirements
To qualify to become a Vigilante, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Alignment: Any nonevil.
- Skills: Gather Information 8 ranks, Intimidate 8 ranks, Search 8 ranks, Sense Motive 8 ranks.
- Feats: Alertness.
- Base Attack Bonus: +4.
Class Skills
The vigilante's class skills are Balance, Bluff, Climb, Craft, Disable Device, Disguise, Escape Artist, Hide, Intimidate, Jump, Move Silently, Open Lock, Perform, Search, Sense Motive, Tumble, and Use Rope.
Skill Points at Each Level: 6 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All the following are class features of the vigilante prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Vigilantes are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, plus the net. They gain no new armor proficiencies.
Spells: Beginning at 1st level, a vigilante can cast arcane spells just as a sorcerer does. To cast a particular spell, the vigilante must have a Charisma score of at least 10 + the spell's level. The character gains bonus spells based on his Charisma score, and the DC for the saving throws against his spells is 10 + the spell's level + the vigilante's Charisma modifier. Like a sorcerer, a vigilante need nor prepare his spells ahead of time.
Detect Evil (Sp): Once per day per vigilante level, the character can detect evil just as a paladin does (see Paladin abilities).
Search for Clues: A vigilante of 2nd level or higher who merely passes within 5 feet of a clue to a crime is entitled to a Search check to notice it as if he were actively looking for it. The vigilante must be aware that a crime has occurred, but need nor know the specifics. The clue cannot be more than a week old.
Streetwise: Select one city to be the vigilante's "home turf." While in that city, he gains a circumstance bonus on Gather Information checks. This bonus is initially +2 at 2nd level, but it increases with class level as given below. If he moves to another city, he must spend a month getting acquainted with the new area before he can use this ability there.
Incredible Luck: This ability, available to vigilantes of 3rd level or higher, allows you to reroll any roll you have just made after learning the result but before it has taken effect. The rerolled result must be kept. Although this ability is usable more than once per day at higher levels, a vigilante can't use it more than once for a given check.
Shadow: At 4th level, the vigilante gains Shadow as a bonus feat.
Punish the Guilty (Su): If a vigilante of 5th level or higher personally witnesses someone committing an action that the laws of his home turf define as a crime, he can attempt to punish the miscreant. To do so, he makes one normal attack and adds his Charisma bonus (if any) to the attack roll, along with any other modifiers that would normally apply. If the attack is successful, it deals 1 extra point of damage per vigilante level. This special attack must occur within three days of the crime; otherwise the bonuses no longer apply. Punish the guilty is usable once per day at 5th level, twice per day at 7th level, and three times per day at 10th level. The vigilante can use this ability as many times as desired against the same miscreant and in response to the same incident, as long as all such uses occur within the time limit. Should the vigilante mistakenly try to punish someone who is not actually guilty of the crime witnessed, the bonuses do not apply, but the attempt still counts against the number allowed per day
Slippery Mind (Ex): At 9th level, the vigilante gains the slippery mind ability (see Rogue abilities) if he does not already have it.
| Vigilante | Hit Die: d6 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | Spells per Day | |||
| 1st | +0 | +0 | +2 | +2 | Detect evil | 0 | - | - | - |
| 2nd | +1 | +0 | +3 | +3 | Search for clues, streetwise +2 | 1 | - | - | - |
| 3rd | +2 | +1 | +3 | +3 | Incredible luck 1/day | 1 | 0 | - | - |
| 4th | +3 | +1 | +4 | +4 | Streetwise +4, Shadow | 1 | 1 | - | - |
| 5th | +3 | +1 | +4 | +4 | Punish the guilty 1/day | 1 | 1 | 0 | - |
| 6th | +4 | +2 | +5 | +5 | Streetwise +6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | - |
| 7th | +5 | +2 | +5 | +5 | Incredible luck 2/day, punish the guilty 2/day | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 8th | +6 | +2 | +6 | +6 | Streetwise +8 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 9th | +6 | +3 | +6 | +6 | Slippery mind | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 10th | +7 | +3 | +7 | +7 | Punish the guilty 3/day | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Vigilante Spells known | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th |
| 1st | 2 | - | - | - |
| 2nd | 2 | - | - | - |
| 3rd | 3 | 1 | - | - |
| 4th | 3 | 2 | - | - |
| 5th | 4 | 2 | 1 | - |
| 6th | 4 | 3 | 2 | - |
| 7th | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 8th | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| 9th | 5 | 5 | 4 | 2 |
| 10th | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
Vigilante Spell List
Vigilantes choose their spells from the following list.
- 1st Level - cause fear, change self, detect magic, detect secret doors, identify, light, obscuring mist.
- 2nd Level - darkvision, daylight, detect thoughts, locate object, scare, see invisibility, zone of truth.
- 3rd Level - clairaudience/clairvoyance, discern lies, dispel magic, emotion, magic circle against evil, speak with dead, tongues.
- 4th Level - arcane eye, detect scrying, dimensional anchor, fear, locate creature, scrying.
Source: Complete Adventurer
Sandstorm