Faerûnian Prestige Class : Talontar Blightlord
Corrupt priests who revel in decay, the blightlords of Talona are feared and reviled throughout the Unapproachable East. Their plagues have transformed the western reaches of the Rawlinswood into a foul green hell of diseased monsters and deadly poisons. Worse yet, the blightlords seek to infect the healthy forests and lands nearby with the same sickness. Under the tutelage of the horrible Rotting Man, the Talontar blightlords marshal the Rawlinswood's black horde, leading their infected minions forth to scourge the nearby lands. (For more on the Rotting Man and his minions, see Chapter 9: The Great Dale, Unapproachable East.)
Most of the blightlords are drawn from evil clerics, druids, or rangers who venerate Talona, the Mother of All Plagues. A handful of fighters, barbarians, and sorcerers have become captains of the Rotting Man's armies, but since the prospective blightlord must have access to divine spells, any such candidate must have at least some levels in a divine spellcasting class to qualify.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Talontar Blightlord, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Alignment: Any evil
- Feats: Great Fortitude,
- Spellcasting: Able to cast 4th-level divine spells.
- Patron Deity: Talona
- Proficiency: Glaive. A druid who wields a glaive is in violation of her spiritual oaths, but a character may take a Martial Weapon Proficiency feat with the weapon and simply refrain from wielding it until she qualifies for the blightlord class.
Class Skills
The Talontar blightlord's class skills are Concentration, Craft, Handle Animal, Heal, Hide, Knowledge (local), Knowledge (nature), Listen, Profession, Spellcraft, Spot, and Survival.
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All the following are class features of the Talontar blightlord prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Talontar blightlords gain no proficiency in any weapon or armor. Druids who become blightlords no longer need abide by their weapon and armor restrictions, as the blightlords turn their backs on the conventional druidic traditions.
Spells Per Day: At every Talontar blightlord level (except 6th and 10th), the character gains new divine spells per day as if she had also gained a level in a divine spellcasting class to which she belonged before adding the prestige class level. She 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). This essentially means that she adds the level of Talontar blightlord to the level of whatever spellcasting class the character has, then determines spells per day and caster level accordingly.
If the character had more than one divine spellcasting class before becoming a Talontar blightlord, the player must decide to which class to add each Talontar blightlord level for the purpose of determining spells per day.
Blightbringer Prestige Domain: At 1st level, a Talontar blightlord gains access to the Blightbringer prestige domain. The domain must be assigned to the character's spell progression in an existing divine spellcasting class.
Blightblood (Ex): A Talontar blightlord is completely immune to all disease, magical or otherwise. Blightspawned creatures do not attack her unless she attacks them, although they may attack other creatures in her company.
Illmaster: Any animal companions a blightlord possesses gain the blightspawned template. This does not affect the number of animal companions she may have at any given time.
Blight Touch (Su): Starting at 3rd level, once per day as a standard action, a Talontar blightlord may attempt a melee touch attack to infect a victim with Talona's blight.
Talona's Blight: Supernatural disease - by spell, Fortitude save (DC 10 + Talontar blightlord class level + Talontar blightlord's Wisdom modifier), incubation period 1d6 days; damage 1d4 Constitution and 1d4 Charisma. Unlike normal diseases, Talona's blight continues until the victim reaches Constitution 0 (and dies), Charisma 0 (possibly becoming a blightspawned creature, if it is a valid type), or receives a remove disease spell or similar magic. At 5th, 7th, and 9th level, the Talontar blightlord gains one more use of this power per day.
Blightmind (Su): On reaching 4th level, once per day as a standard action, a Talontar blightlord may establish a mental link with and dominate (as dominate monster) a single blightspawned creature within 60 feet. The mental link lasts for up to 1 minute per blightlord level and has a range of up to one mile. While the link is in effect, the blightlord may concentrate to receive sensory input from the linked creature or issue it instructions. (The creature obeys any orders to the best of its ability and need not be continuously directed in its assigned tasks.) The blightspawned creature receives a Will saving throw (DC 10 + Talontar blightlord's class level + Talontar blightlord's Wisdom modifier) to negate the effect.
Black Glaive (Su): Starting at 6th level, any glaive wielded by a Talontar blightlord gains the icy burst ability, dealing +1d6 points of bonus cold damage on a successful hit (or +2d10 points on a successful critical hit). In addition, the blightlord can make a normal melee attack with the glaive to deliver her blight touch attacks.
Corrupting Blows (Su): An 8th-level Talontar blightlord's black glaive gains the wounding ability. A creature struck by the black glaive loses 1 hit point per round on the blightlord's action. Multiple hits by the blightlord have no additional effect and deal no additional wounding damage - a creature is either wounded or it is not. The wounding damage continues until the victim is treated with a successful Heal check (DC 20) or receives magical healing.
Winterheart (Ex): At 10th level, a Talontar blightlord's infected blood effects a terrible change in her physiology. Her skin blackens and splits, becoming cold and slimy to the touch, although she does not bleed or suffer pain from this transformation. Her type changes to "plant", which means (among other things) that she is no longer subject to poison, sleep, mind-affecting effects, paralysis, polymorphing, critical hits, sneak attacks, or spells and effects that affect humanoids only.
| Talontar Blightlord | Hit Die: d8 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | Spells per Day |
| 1st | +0 | +2 | +0 | +2 | Blightbringer prestige domain, blightblood | +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class |
| 2nd | +1 | +3 | +0 | +3 | Illmaster | +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class |
| 3rd | +2 | +3 | +1 | +3 | Blight touch 1/day | +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class |
| 4th | +3 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Blightmind | +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class |
| 5th | +3 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Blight touch 2/day | +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class |
| 6th | +4 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Black glaive | - |
| 7th | +5 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Blight touch 3/day | +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class |
| 8th | +6 | +6 | +2 | +6 | Corrupting blows | +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class |
| 9th | +6 | +6 | +3 | +6 | Blight touch 4/day | +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class |
| 10th | +7 | +7 | +3 | +7 | Winterheart | - |
Source: Unapproachable East