THE BANE OF LEGATES

[The Hive Mind]

The legates of Izrador are arguably the most powerful and influential minions of the dark god that now rules over the people of Eredane. The danger they pose to the spellcasters of the world is well known, but their other machinations and schemes are equally devastating to all who one day hope to see the fallen god overthrown. While their powers are considerable, a force has recently arisen from within the land itself that aids those who would oppose these evil clerics. Some of those who have the ability to channel magic find that they can also defeat the divine power wielded by the servants of Izrador. Such men and women often become assassins that seek out legates in an attempt to exterminate as many as possible. They lay traps for legates, allowing powerful magic items to attract the attention of a nearby astirax so that it can be slain along with its master. These heroes, known commonly as the bane of legates, are a bright spot in the meager resistance that still opposes the dark god’s rule.


Hit Die: d6

Class Level / Base Attack Bonus / Fort Save / Ref Save / Will Save /Special
1st ----------------+0 -------------+0 --------+0 --------+2 ------ Improved spellcasting, resist Izrador's will
2nd ----------------+1 -------------+0 --------+0 --------+3 ------ Bonus feat
3rd ----------------+2 -------------+1 --------+1 --------+3 ------ See astirax
4th ----------------+3 -------------+1 --------+1 --------+4 ------ Counter Izrador's will
5th ----------------+3 -------------+1 --------+1 --------+4 ------ Spellcasting
6th ----------------+4 -------------+2 --------+2 --------+5 ------ Bind astirax
7th ----------------+5 -------------+2 --------+2 --------+5------- Bonus feat
8th ----------------+6 -------------+2 --------+2 --------+6 ------ Conceal magic
9th ----------------+6 -------------+3 --------+3 --------+6 ------ Spellcasting
10th ---------------+7 -------------+3 --------+3 --------+7 ------ Sundered spirit

Requirements

Spell Energy: 10+.
Skills: Knowledge (arcana) 13 ranks, Knowledge (Shadow) 8 ranks, Spellcraft 10 ranks.
Feats: Magecraft, Iron Will.

Class Skills: Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language (n/a), Spellcraft (Int), and Survival (Wis).

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Banes of legates gain no additional proficiencies with either weapons or armor.

Improved Spellcasting: Bane of legates levels grant similar benefits as channeler levels with regards to the art of magic, bonus spells, and bonus spell energy.

This means that bane of legates levels stack with channeler levels for the purposes of determining the highest-level spells the character can cast. A character with more channeler and bane of legates levels than levels in other classes adds +1 to his character level to determine the highest-level spells he can cast.

Additionally, each time the character achieves a new bane of legates level, he gains one new spell of any level and school he can cast (according to his new level). A bane of legates can learn additional spells according to the normal rules for learning spells.

Finally, the character's maximum spell energy increases by one point for every level of bane of legates he gains.

Resist Izrador's Will (Su): The bane of legates gains spell resistance equal to 10 + his class level against the divine magic of Izrador's legates. This defense does not protect him against spell-like abilities or the magic of channelers and the like.

Bonus Feat: The bane of legates gains a bonus feat at 2nd and 7th levels. The feat chosen must be either an item creation or metamagic feat.

See Astirax (Su): Starting at 3rd level, the bane of legates gains the ability to see the shadowy form of an astirax no matter what its current form is. If the astirax is possessing an animal, the character can see a faint outline around an animal, and if the astirax is in its natural form the character can see it despite its natural invisibility.

Counter Izrador's Will (Su): The bane of legates gains the ability to counter any divine magic cast by a legate without knowing what spell the legate is casting or knowing an appropriate counterspell. He automatically learns dispel magic when he becomes able to cast 3rd-level spells and greater dispel magic when he becomes able to cast 6th-level spells. Inn order to counter a spell, he must have a readied action to cast a dispel. He spends the appropriate amount of spell energy and makes a caster level check as normal to beat the legate's caster level. However, he may channel the force of his own spell energy into the dispelling effort to increase his chances of success: He may spend up to his level in spell energy points in the attempt, adding 1 to his effective caster level for each point of spell energy he chooses to spend.

Spellcasting: The bane of legates gains the Spellcasting feat at 5th and 9th levels. A bane of legates who qualifies may choose Greater Spellcasting instead.

Bind Astirax (Su): As a full round action, the bane of legates can perform a ritual that binds one astirax within 60 feet in its current form. The astirax can resist this ritual with a successful Will save (DC 15 + spellcasting modifier). An astirax so bound cannot possess or dispossess an animal; it is trapped in its current form. Furthermore, if an astirax is bound inside an animal and that animal is killed, the astirax is also destroyed. This ability has a duration of one hour per class level of the bane of legates.

Conceal Magic (Su): The caster level of all spells the bane of legates casts are considered to be one-half their normal level for the purposes of detection by a legate's astirax, both while being cast and while existing as non-instantaneous effects.

Sundered Spirit (Ex): At 10th level, the bane of legates becomes a living damper of the flow of divine energy. This manifests itself in a divine dead magic zone around the character. The character is considered to be surrounded by an antimagic field with a radius of 5 ft. that affects only the divine magic granted by Izrador, including spells of up to 9th level. For every additonal 5 ft. outward from the character, the level of spells affected is lowered by one, to a minimum of 0-level spells at a maximum radius of 50 ft. A character with this ability will be hunted mercilessly by the legates of Izrador, as the dark god will not tolerate any interruption of his power.