Faerûnian Prestige Class : Durthan
Durthans are an order of evil spellcasters who tap into the darker spirits of Rashemen. They use their powers to punish their enemies and those who have offended the spirits. The durthans seek to wrest control of their homeland from the Witches of Rashemen and rule it with an iron hand, torturing secrets out of their enemies and using that knowledge to expand Rashemen's power. Like those of the hathrans, durthans' abilities are greater than other spellcasters of their level while they are within the borders of Rashemen.
All durthans are skilled in some form of arcane magic. Some come from the ranks of the hathrans, but most have always worked against the Witches. Durthans are covetous of power, even among other durthans, and share spells with others only if the recipient is useful to the greater cause. Like hathrans, durthans usually wear masks, if only to fool others into thinking they are Witches in good standing.
Durthans work together, although they protect their identities behind masks. Outside their homes, the durthans assassinate or spy upon enemies, follow Rashemi women who might be turned to their cause, and work to recover Rashemi spells and magic items. Within Rashemen, they do all the former but also plot against the hathran hierarchy, send angry spirits to punish the careless, and manipulate the secular rulers. Individual durthans work on elements of these plans or pursue their own, agendas, usually with the help of trusted minions and whatever spirits they have bound to their will.
Just as fallen paladins may "trade in" paladin levels for blackguard levels, hathrans who adopt the philosophy of the durthans may trade in hathran levels for durthan levels. Because most of these former hathrans no longer meet the requirements of the hathran prestige class (usually because of alignment reasons), this change allows the new durthan to regain most of the abilities she would otherwise lose. Clever durthans use the possibility of this conversion to help sway potential hathran recruits to their cause.
Requirements
To qualify to become a durthan, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
To qualify to become a Durthan, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Gender: Female
- Alignment: Any non-good
- Feats: Improved Counterspell, Iron Will, any metamagic feat,
- Spellcasting: Able to cast 2nd-level arcane spells and 2nd-level divine spells.
- Special: The character must qualify to select regional feats from Rashemen (Rashemen is her home region, or she has 2 ranks in Knowledge [local - Rashemen]).
Class Skills
The durthan's class skills are Concentration, Craft, Disguise, Intimidate, Knowledge (all skills taken individually), Profession, Spellcraft, Survival, and Swim.
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All the following are class features of the durthan prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Durthans gain no proficiency in any weapon or armor.
Spells per Day/Spells Known: At each durthan level, the character gains new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if she had also gained a level in a 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 durthan 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 spellcasting class before becoming a durthan, the player must decide to which class to add each durthan level for the purpose of determining spells per day. A character who has converted hathran - levels to durthan levels retains the same allocations of caster level increase among her various arcane and divine spellcaster levels (in other words, she does not reassign these level increases when converting levels in this manner). The durthans also have a short custom spell list. These spells are arcane spells and must be acquired as any other arcane spell. They use spell slots of the appropriate level in the durthan's arcane spellcasting class.
Place Magic: Durthans possess a special bond to the land of Rashemen that lets them draw upon the power of the spirits to cast spells without preparing them. When a hathran or durthan uses place magic, she can cast any arcane or divine spell known to her. (Spells on her hathran or durthan spell list can be cast as either arcane or divine spells, as she desires.) A place magic spell uses an unassigned spell slot of the appropriate type (arcane or divine) and level. If the caster does not have an open spell slot, she may spontaneously lose a prepared spell of the appropriate type and level to cast her place magic spell. Using place magic takes longer than casting a spell normally; any spell that takes 1 standard action to cast requires 1 full round to cast with place magic. Spells with casting times longer than 1 standard action simply add 1 round to the casting time. For more information, see Place Magic in Chapter 4: Magic and Spells.
Telthor Companion: Beginning at 3rd level, a durthan acquires a telthor (see the Telthor template) as a companion creature. The telthor must be an animal with the telthor template. This spirit creature is loyal to the durthan in the manner of a familiar or special mount. It has a supernatural bond to her rather than to a specific location, and it remains healthy as long as it stays within one mile of the durthan. The telthor has a number of Hit Dice up to the durthan's class level (not her total character level); as the durthan gains levels, the telthor advances in Hit Dice as the base creature. The durthan may dismiss her telthor at any time (normally in an area suitable for the telthor to live, for even the cruelest durthans respect the spirits of the land). If her telthor is dismissed or slain, the durthan may acquire another telthor after one month.
At 7th level, the durthan gains a second telthor companion. Each telthor may have a number of Hit Dice equal to the durthan's class level (or fewer) and advances in Hit Dice as she gains levels.
Cold Resistance (Ex): At 4th and 6th levels, a durthan becomes increasingly resistant to cold, gaining cold resistance in the amount listed on the table.
Cold Immunity (Ex): At 9th level, a durthan becomes completely immune to cold damage.
Utter Cold (Su): At 10th level, a durthan may call upon the primal cold of winter that annually blankets Rashemen to make her spells more difficult to resist. The save DC for any spell she casts with the cold energy descriptor increases by +2. This increase is cumulative with those granted by the Spell Focus or Greater Spell Focus feats.
| Durthan | Hit Die: d4 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | Spells per Day |
| 1st | +0 | +0 | +0 | +2 | Place magic | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
| 2nd | +1 | +0 | +0 | +3 | - | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
| 3rd | +1 | +1 | +1 | +3 | Telthor companion | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
| 4th | +2 | +1 | +1 | +4 | Cold resistance 5. | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
| 5th | +2 | +1 | +1 | +4 | - | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
| 6th | +3 | +2 | +2 | +5 | Cold resistance 10 | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
| 7th | +3 | +2 | +2 | +5. | Telthor companion | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
| 8th | +4 | +2 | +2 | +6 | - | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
| 9th | +4 | +3 | +3 | +6 | Cold immunity | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
| 10th | +5 | +3 | +3 | +7 | Utter cold | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
Durthan Spell List
- 3rd level - call lightning.
- 4th level - control winds.
- 5th level - commune with nature.
- 6th level - repel wood.
- 7th level - waterspout.
- 8th level - whirlwind.
- 9th level - elemental swarm.
Source: Unapproachable East