Other Exclusive Prestige Class : Ordinator

Morrowind Exclusive

by Clifford Horowitz, Dragon #308

Ordinators are holy soldiers, servants to a god that lives among them. Grueling training regimens forge muscles as hard as iron and grind fighting skills to near-mythical sharpness. Long days of exhausting runs followed by punishing weapon drills push would-be ordinators to the edge of breaking, and for those who make it past this weeding-out period, a long series of brutal quests follow. Destroy a nest of dragons threatening an area, pacify land for colonization, raze the support of a rival god - the tasks are difficult, dangerous, and endless, and through it all, the ordinators are granted respite only in prayer. In their patron deity they find deliverance, for during prayer their worn bodies can rest and their burning lungs drink a full measure of air. This quickly builds the association between salvation and worship, adding the last component to an ordinator's deadly arsenal. Physical conditioning and martial training are smelted in a crucible of devotion that allows him to exceed his already impressive physical capabilities. By appealing to something greater than themselves, ordinators transcend mortal limits.

Were this all the ordinator had at his disposal, he would be a feared opponent indeed. But a god who did not recognize such devoted service would be foolish. Their patron deity lifts ordinators ever higher above the mortal coil, gifting them with supernatural abilities that continue to mount as the holy warriors' loyalty grows.

Ordinators believe strongly that no one need remain mortal, but such ascendancy is for the divine to grant, not for mortals to claim: The only true path to ascendance comes from above. As a whole they are highly respectful of religious authority, especially clergy, while holding a healthy disdain for those who shirk deities and serve only mortal concerns. They are often the police force in religious capitals, but they are perfectly at home as chaplains and champions in holy armies, and more than a few have served their gods through questing.

Requirements

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

• Skills: Concentration 15 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 15 ranks
• Feats: Weapon Focus (deity's favored weapon), any three divine feats or feats that improve divine abilities (such as metamagic feats applied to divine spells, or the Extra Smiting and Empower Turning feats),
• Base Attack Bonus: +15; Epic Attack Bonus: +2
• Special: Ability to smite. The candidate must be chosen by an ordinator to take the trials and then succeed in a series of quests. The DM determines when these trials are complete.

Class Skills

The ordinator's class skills are Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Heal, Intimidate, Knowledge (religion), Listen, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot.

Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Ordinator Class Features:

All the following are class features of the ordinator prestige class.

Spells per Day/Spells Known: At each ordinator level, the character gains new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if he had also gained a level in a spellcasting class to which he belonged before adding the prestige class level. If already an epic spellcaster, the character gains only the benefits noted under the Spells entry for that epic class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (improved chance of turning or destroying undead, metamagic or item creation feats, and so on). If the character had more than one spell-casting class before becoming an ordinator, the player must decide which class to add the new level for the purpose of determining spells per day.

Smiting: Ordinator class levels stack with any other applicable class levels for purposes of determining bonuses to attack, damage, and frequency, if applicable, of the ordinator's smite ability.

Full Smite (Su): Such is the holy power of the ordinator that his divinely charged blow falls, not like a star shot from the heavens, but like a meteor storm, a rain of holy strikes. Once per day, when making a full attack, an ordinator may apply his smite ability to every attack made in the round, not including attacks of opportunity.

This means every strike, including bonus strikes from haste spells and off-hand attacks, receives the smite bonus to hit and to damage. Using this ability counts as a single smite attempt, no matter how many blows are struck in a round. The ordinator may use this ability one additional time per day for every five additional levels gained.

Blessed Vestments (Su): Ordinators receive the highest quality armor their church can afford. These suits are distinctive, not only for their superb craftsmanship and heavy enhancements, but also in style, to set them apart aesthetically from those of common guards. The few times someone has successfully stolen such armor, it has proven less effective in others' hands. These blessed suits of armor are only part of the protection that ordinators gain in return for their faith and service; their patron deity protects them as well. Starting at 2nd level, the ordinator gains a +1 divine bonus to Armor Class, provided he is wearing some kind of armor. Bracers of armor and rings of protection are fine defensive tools, but they are not sufficient for this ability to function. The ordinator must be dressed in some form of physical armor to receive this bonus. Every three levels, the ordinator's divine AC bonus increases by 1.

Divine Mark (Su): As the ordinator rises through the ranks of his order, he also grows closer to his god. After a time, such prominence gains him special favor, a gift from his god that he carries always. Ordinators serving gods whose clerics spontaneously cast cure spells gain the fast healing special ability at 3rd level, beginning at 1 point per round, and increasing by 1 point every four levels thereafter.

Ordinators serving gods whose clerics spontaneously cast inflict wounds spells gain bloody attacks. All successful strikes, regardless of the weapon used, are treated as having the wounding ability, dealing point of additional damage every round. Multiple attacks result in cumulative damage. Certain evil ordinators (at the DM's discretion) might instead gain the power to deal vile wounding damage, which cannot be healed through magical or mundane means unless the subject is on hallowed ground (or unhallowed for evil beings). The ordinator cannot deal more wounding damage with an attack than normal damage. The amount of wounding damage increases by 1 point every four levels.

Clerics of neutral deities gain one of these two abilities depending on whether or not they chose to spontaneously cast cure or inflict spells.

Bonus Divine Feat: As a result of his continuing service and unwavering loyalty to church and god, the ordinator continually gains blessings and insights on how to better use the power he is granted. Beginning at 4th level, and every four levels thereafter, the ordinator may choose any feat with the divine descriptor, or a feat that enhances one of his divine abilities (such as metamagic feats applied to divine spells, or the Extra Smiting and Empower Turning feats from Defenders of the Faith).

Warding Hand (Su): The ordinator's body pulses with divine energy, and his growth toward his patron deity comes to mean more than a close relationship. By 5th level, the ordinator has taken a distinct step away from mortality, developing supernatural resilience. He gains damage reduction of 1/- . Every five levels, the amount of damage reduction increases but it can never exceed the ordinator's current Wisdom modifier.

Bane of Infidels (Su): By 6th level, divine power is so thoroughly ingrained in the holy soldier that he can channel it as easily as he does his own inborn abilities. Once per day, should an ordinator's smite attack score a critical hit, the bonus damage from smiting is added one additional time to the damage total. Figure the damage from the critical hit normally, and then simply add the bonus damage from the smite ability (in most cases, equal to paladin level plus ordinator level). The ordinator gains an additional use of this power once every three levels.

Ordinator		Hit Dice: d10
CL	Special	Spells Per Day/Spells Known
1st	Full smite 1/day, smiting	+1 level of existing spellcasting class
2nd	Blessed vestments +1	+1 level of existing spellcasting class
3rd	Divine mark 1	+1 level of existing spellcasting class
4th	Bonus divine feat	+1 level of existing spellcasting class
5th	Blessed vestments +2, warding hand	+1 level of existing spellcasting class
6th	Full smite 2/day, bane of infidels 1/day	+1 level of existing spellcasting class
7th	Divine mark 2	+1 level of existing spellcasting class
8th	Blessed vestments +3, bonus divine feat	+1 level of existing spellcasting class
9th	Bane of infidels 2/day	+1 level of existing spellcasting class
10th	Warding hand	+1 level of existing spellcasting class

Source: Dragon #308

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