Truename Prestige Class : Fiendbinder

"Forgive the foul language, but my babau demon prefers eviscerations to diplomacy" - Nivir the fiendbinder

The fiendbinder seeks to unlock the truenames of demons, devils, and other vile fiends, and use that knowledge to bind them to service. The actual binding rituals can be quite complex, so a fiendbinder must also be a practiced student of the summoning arts. However, even the most gifted fiendbinder plays a dangerous game, for although she can enslave the wicked and compel fiends to act in accordance with her wishes, fiends are notoriously willful, disagreeable, and at times outright disobedient. A fiendbinder relies on her truespeaking ability to control her fiendish thrall, all the while knowing that it craves only its freedom and the fiendbinder's blood

Most fiendbinders are arcane spellcasters. However, a few unscrupulous clerics dedicate themselves to learning the complex rituals and truenames are needed to bind terrible fiends to service. Even though binding a fiend might be viewed as punishment or torment (certainly that's what the fiend thinks), good-aligned characters can't bring themselves to become fiendbinders and endorse what amounts to slavery.

Requirements

To qualify to become a Fiendbinder, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:

Class Skills

The fiendbinder's class skills are Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Heal, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (history), Knowledge (religion), Knowledge (the planes), Profession, Spellcraft, and Truespeak.

Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Class Features

You can research and learn the truenames of fiends, as well as complex rituals needed to foist your will upon them. As you gain more power and confidence as a fiendbinder, you learn to call forth fiends that are more inclined to heed your commands and, eventually, you will earn their respect.

Spellcasting: At each level except 1st, 5th, and 9th, you gain new spells per day and an increase in caster level (and spells known, if applicable) as if you had also gained a level in a spellcasting class to which you belonged before adding the prestige class level. You do not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If you had more than one spellcasting class before becoming a fiendbinder, you must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining spells per day, caster level, and spells known.

Bind Fiend (Su): You master the complex rituals needed to bind a fiend whose truename you know. You must pay an amount in gold to cover the cost of the ritual (see below), and the ritual takes 8 uninterrupted hours to perform. At the conclusion of the ritual, the fiend appears. The fiend is bound against its will and isn't happy about the service. However, it cannot attack you, even if you attack it. Giving it a command is a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity, for doing so requires that you correctly utter the fiend's truename. You must make a Truespeak check with a specified DC. If the check succeeds, the fiend is compelled to do as you command; if the check fails, the fiend gleefully resists (and might even mock you). A bound fiend performs only one of the commands outlined in the table below at one time. Issuing a new command (including ordering a bound fiend to attack a different foe) requires another standard action and another Truespeak check. You can give a bound fiend commands other than those found on the table below, but these sample commands will cover most circumstances (and the DM always has the power to veto a potential command).

Unless it is commanded to do otherwise, a bound fiend must remain within 10 feet of you at all times. If a bound fiend moves more than 1 mile from you, it gets an immediate Will save (DC 10 + your fiendbinder level + your Cha modifier) to break the bond. A bound fiend can usually only attain this distance from its master due to a careless command. If it is freed in this manner, it is immediately sent back to the place whence it came. You can free a bound fiend yourself as a free action. Although a newly freed fiend might cry vengeance for the "punishment" you may have inflicted upon it, few fiends act on their threats for fear of being bound again. Only by repeatedly binding the same fiend do you run the risk of incurring its wrath once free (DM's discretion).

You can bind multiple fiends if you have the gold and time to do so. However, you cannot issue the same command to multiple bound fiends. For example, if you bind two vrock demons and want them to attack the same foe, commanding them to attack requires two standard actions (one per vrock).

A bound fiend cannot use its summoning ability. Unlike summoned creatures, bound fiends are truly dead when slain.

If you are killed, any fiend that was bound to you prior to your death stays with your remains for 24 hours. It does not guard whatever is left of your body; it merely remains nearby, tracking the passing time intently to determine if it will be set free. If you are returned to life during that period through a raise dead spell or similar effect, the fiend remains bound to your service with no additional cost to you, provided you are still of a sufficient level to retain the fiend's service. If you lose a level as a result of a return to life, and your new level is too low for you to have summoned your servant (see Table 3-9 to determine what level you need to be to bind a particular fiend servant), your servant is immediately freed from service. Otherwise, if 24 hours pass and you remain dead, the fiend is released from service and sent back to the place whence it came - with your soul in tow - cackling maniacally. At that point, only a true resurrection spell can return you to life, but if you are brought back, your fiend comes back with you, still bound to your service and with no additional cost to you.

Bound Fiends
FiendAt CLBinding CostTruespeak DC
Babau demon1st2,200 gp27
Succubus Demon2nd3,600 gp29
Hellcat demon3rd4,900 gp29
Vrock demon4th6,600 gp33
Cauchemar nightmare5th8,800 gp37
Retriever demon6th11,00 gp37
Hezrou demon7th15,000 gp37
Barbed devil8th20,00037
Ice devil9th26,000 gp41
Marilith demon10th34,000 gp49
Truename Commands
Attack a specific foe
Defend me (the fiend attacks the first creature to attack you)
Deliver a message or package and return
Scout and report back
Serve as a steed for 1 hour (cauchemar nightmare only)
Stand watch for 8 hours and raise alarm if needed
Undertake repetitive labor for 1 hour
Use a skill on your behalf
Use a spell-like ability on your behalf

Call Forth Fiend (Sp): Upon reaching 3rd level, you gain the service of a particularly loyal fiend. By uttering its truename, you can call it forth and command it to serve you. Regardless of its alignment, the fiend respects your power and regards you as a powerful ally.

Once per day, as a standard action, you can magically call forth this fiend from the hateful realm where it resides. The fiend can be any of the ones mentioned on Table 3-9 (above). Calling forth the fiend requires a successful Truespeak check (DC 15 + [2 x fiend's CR)), and you must choose the type of fiend you intend to call before you make the check. If the check succeeds, the fiend immediately appears adjacent to you and remains for 1 round per fiendbinder level; it can be dismissed at any time with a free action. The fiend is the same creature each time it is called, though you can release a particular fiend from service. Each time the fiend is called, it appears in full health, regardless of any damage it might have taken previously. Any equipment the fiend acquires gets left behind when it returns to its realm. Calling a fiend is a conjuration (calling) effect.

If the fiend dies, it immediately disappears, leaving behind any equipment it did not bring with it from its native realm. You cannot call forth another fiend using this ability for thirty days or until you gain another fiendbinder level, whichever comes first, even if the fiend is somehow returned from the dead. During this thirty-day period, you take a -2 penalty on Truespeak checks.

Bind Tormented Soul (Su): The Lower Planes houses countless tormented souls, for they are the primordial soup from which myriad fiends are born. At 5th level, once per day you can utter the truename of a tormented soul and bind its essence within yourself. Your eyes turn dead black, your complexion pales, and black veins form just under your skin until the tormented soul is released or destroyed. The tormented soul has no alignment or awareness, per se, and cannot be held at bay using magic circle spells and similar effects.

Binding a tormented soul is a swift action that provokes attacks of opportunity and requires a DC 30 Truespeak check. If the check succeeds, you harness its suffering and become inured to pain. You can continue to act normally even when disabled (reduced to 0 hit points) or dying (reduced to -1 to -9 hit points). Furthermore, you do not die if you are reduced to -10 hit points or lower. Instead, while you are in this condition, you can take a single move action or standard action each turn (but not both, nor can you take full-round actions); although you can take a move action without further injuring yourself, performing any standard action (or any other action the DM deems as strenuous, including some free actions) deals 1 point of damage to you after the act is completed.

The tormented soul is unstable and destroyed in short order. You can bind it for only 3 rounds. Once the tormented soul is gone, you immediately incur the normal effects for being at 0 hit points or negative hit points (if your hit point total when the soul departs is at 0 or below). In addition, assuming you survive the ordeal, you are fatigued for 1 hour (if you are already fatigued, you are exhausted instead). You can voluntarily release a bound tormented soul as a free action but still endure the effects noted above.

Gift of the Archfiend (Su): Beginning at 9th level, once per day you can demand the attention of a powerful demon prince of the Abyss or infernal archduke of the Nine Hells and, by uttering its truename, convince the archfiend to invest you with a fragment of its might. The archfiend does not appear before you, but you become suffused with a gift of Abyssal or infernal power. Such a gift is usually an archfiend's way of attempting to win your fealty or obedience and should never be misconstrued as a sign of trust or obligation. You must have spent at least one week researching the personal truename of a potential demon prince or archduke of hell, and 1,000 gp (for each name learned). Each use of this ability lasts for 1 minute per class level. Provided you have learned a truename for at least one archduke and one demon prince, you can gain either benefit of this ability - you choose whenever you activate it.

Securing the archfiend's gift is a standard action and requires a DC 35 Truespeak check. If the check succeeds, you gain one of the following benefits from your fiendish benefactor:

Baatezu Traits: If your gift comes from an infernal archduke of the Nine Hells, you gain damage reduction 5/good and silver, darkvision out to 60 feet, immunity to fire and poison, and resistance to acid 10 and cold 10. In addition, you can see perfectly in darkness of any kind (even that created by the deeper darkness spell).

Tanar'ri Traits: If your gift comes from a demon prince of the Abyss, you gain damage reduction 5/cold iron and good, darkvision out to 60 feet, immunity to electricity and poison, and resistance to acid 10, cold 10, and fire 10.

Double Command (Ex): At 9th level, you have become more adept at commanding the fiend in your service. You can attempt to give it two commands to be performed in sequence with a single Truespeak check, but doing so increases the Truespeak check DC by 5.

If you have bound multiple fiends, you can now also give up to two fiends a single command (each fiend can be given the same or a different command) as a single standard action.

Archfiend's Favor (Su): At 10th level, you have attained a tremendous amount of knowledge regarding how to deal with fiends. You gain a bonus on Charisma-based skill checks dealing with demons and devils equal to 1/2 your class level (or +5 at 10th level).

Summon Fiends (Sp): Once per day, at 10th level, you can summon either a baatezu legion (1d6 bone devils or 1d4 barbed devils) or tanar'ri horde (1d6 vrocks or 1d4 hezrous) as a full-round action. The fiendish legion or horde appears at the beginning of your next turn. This ability is the equivalent of a 9th-level spell (caster level equals your character level).

FiendbinderHit Die: d6
CLBABFortRefWillSpecialSpellcasting
1st+0+0+0+0Bind fiend-
2nd+1+0+0+3-+1 level of existing spellcasting class
3rd+1+1+1+3Call forth demon+1 level of existing spellcasting class
4th+2+1+1+4-+1 level of existing spellcasting class
5th+2+1+1+4 Bind tormented soul-
6th+3+2+2+5-+1 level of existing spellcasting class
7th+3+2+2+5-+1 level of existing spellcasting class
8th+4+2+2+6-+1 level of existing spellcasting class
9th+4+3+3+6Gift of the archfiend, double command-
10th+5+3+3+7Archfiend's favor, summon fiends+1 level of existing spellcasting class

Fiendbinder Lore

Characters with ranks Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (local), or Knowledge (the planes), or who have the bardic knowledge ability, can research fiendbinders to learn more about them. When a character makes a check, read or paraphrase the following, including the information from lower DCs.

Locating a fiendbinder cabal requires a DC 40 Gather Information check. Success leads to a known member of the cabal or the cabal's secret gathering place (DM's discretion).

Source: Tome of Magic

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