WARRIOR OF DARK BLOOD

[The Hive Mind]

Even if I die in the hunt against evil, I will have succeeded at my quest; for there will be one less living tribute to the Shadow in the world. —Gyre, warrior of dark blood

Of all the stories of tragedy and pain to come from Izrador’s presence on Eredane, that of the dworgs is among the saddest. Even though they may have good intentions, their offers of aid are often turned away even by the embattled dwarves from whom they are descended. Some dworgs turn their rage to thoughts of revenge against those who share their blood, hoping to exorcise the orc within by slaughtering the orcs without. Others, however, see deeper into the Shadow. They realize that, as ferocious and overwhelming as the tide of orcs may seem, it is the legates and their astirax companions who are the true representation of Izrador’s evil. Without them to guide and support the orcish hordes, the dwarves would overrun the less organized orcs. Without them to track down rebels and hunt down magic, the resistance would grow and erupt from within Izrador’s conquered lands. Without them to preach the name of the dark god and spread his teachings, Izrador would have no voice. The warriors of dark blood have vowed, therefore, to do no less than cut out the tongue of the dark god that birthed them.


Warriors of Dark Blood as Characters

Those who devote themselves to hunting the Shadow’s lieutenants know they are dooming them- selves to death, but the thought hardly causes them to break stride. They become relentless hunters, often not stopping to eat or sleep for days on end as they track a hated legate. The warriors of dark blood consider the destruction of an astirax to be a worthy goal as well, because the way these insidious parasites possess ani- mals is a hated symbol of Izrador’s infestation of the entire continent and his leaching off of its people. A warrior of dark blood leaves all ties behind him when he embarks on his journey. He might still travel with others, and even consider them worthy allies and good people, but nothing may come before hunting legates and their pets.

Hit Dice: D10

Requirements

Race: Dworg.
Skills: Survival 8 ranks.
Feats: Magic-Hardened, Track.
Special: The character must have 0 spell energy and no ability to cast spells or spell-like abilities, whether through the Magecraft feat, a class feature, or a heroic path. If he ever gains such an ability, he immediately loses all special abilities of this class.

Class Level / Base Attack Bonus / Fort Save / Ref Save / Will Save / Special
1st -----------------+0 ------------+2 --------+0 -------+2 ------Hunter of dark magic +2
2nd -----------------+1 ------------+3 --------+0 -------+3 ------Detect astirax, sense dark magic
3rd -----------------+2 ------------+3 ---------+1 ------+3 ------Resist Izrador's will
4th -----------------+3 ------------+4 ---------+1 ------+4 ------Hunter of dark magic +4
5th -----------------+3 ------------+4 ---------+1 ------+4 ------Faithless stare 1/day
6th -----------------+4 -------------+5 --------+2 ------+5 ------Spirit hunter
7th -----------------+5 -------------+5 --------+2 ------+5 ------Hunter of dark magic +6
8th -----------------+6 -------------+6 --------+2 ------+6 ------Locate dark servant
9th -----------------+6 -------------+6 --------+3 ------+6 -------Cleave spells
10th ----------------+7 -------------+7 --------+3 -------+7 ------Faithless stare 2/day, hunter of dark magic +8

Class Skills: Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Speak Language (n/a), Spellcraft (Int), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).

Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Warriors of dark blood gain no additional proficiencies with either weapons or armor.

Hunter of Dark Magic (Ex): The warrior of the dark blood gains a +2 bonus on Bluff, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival checks when using them against astiraxes or legates. Likewise, he gets a +2 bonus on weapon damage rolls against such creatures.

These bonuses increase by +2 at every other level to a maximum of +8 at 10th level.

Detect Astirax (Su): At will, a warrior of dark blood of 2nd level or higher can detect dark magic. This ability functions just like the detect magic spell, except that it only reveals the presence of the divine magic of Izrador. In other words, the ability will detect the magic aura of a spell cast by a legate, but not one cast by an orc channeler.

Resist Izrador's Will (Ex): Starting at 3rd level, the warrior of dark blood gains spell resistance equal to 10 + his class level against the divine magic of Izrador's legates.

Faithless Stare (Su): Once per day starting at 5th level, a warrior of dark blood can stare down a legate and make him question his faith. The legate must succeed on a Will save (10 + warrior of dark blood's class level + Wisdom modifier) or lose a number of prepared spells equal to the warrior of dark blood's Wisdom modifier, starting with the highest-level spells.

The warrior of dark blood may use this ability an additional time at 10th level.

This ability angers and confuses Izrador, and he is on verge of ordering a pogrom against the dworgs in order to root out and destroy the warriors of dark blood.

Spirit Hunter (Su): Beginning at 6th level, the warrior of dark blood gains the ability to see the shadowy form of an astirax no matter what its current form is. If the astirax is possesing an animal, the character can see a faint outline around the animal, and if the astirax is in its natural form, the character can see it despite its natural invisibility. Additionally, all melee attacks the warrior of dark blood makes against an astirax, whether with weapons or unarmed, are considered to have the ghost touch special ability.

Locate Dark Servant (Su): Starting at 8th level, the warrior of dark blood can detect dark servants at will. This ability functions like the locate creature spell, except that it only reveals the presence of astiraxes and legates. The ability allows the warrior of dark blood to know which creatures it is detecting are astiraxes and which are legates, but he cannot locate specific indivuals.

Cleave Spells (Su): Starting at 9th level, whenever a warrior of dark blood makes a successful melee attack against a creature under the effect of a legate's spell (whether negative or beneficial), he may make a dispel check (1d20 + your class level) against the highest level spell to end the effect. Each melee attack may only dispel a single spell effect, and no such spell effect may be dispelled if a higher-level legate spell is still in place.