#Prestige Class

[dailycharacteroption]

Prestige Class Spotlight 14: Chevalier

(art by Lord-of-the-slugs on DeviantArt)

Sometimes when you look through the early days of a gaming system, you see ideas that clearly formed the bones of ideas that would come later, but it makes you wonder why they themselves were left behind? Well, today’s subject is like that.

Today’s subject is a prestige class from the early 3.5 days of the Pathfinder setting, from the back matter of one of the Second Darkness AP books. Essentially, it served as a way to inject a little bit of paladin into characters that don’t fulfill the alignment requirement to actually BE paladins, even if they are otherwise good.

Indeed, this archetype is most commonly associated with the adventuring god Cayden Cailean, and like him they firmly believe in protecting all that is good in this world, but aren’t too hung up on rules and restrictions. While many have the trappings of knights, theirs is an informal order that accepts anyone with desire to do good and the courage to stand up towards the most fearsome of threats without backing down. Beyond that, anything goes, from backstabbing the bad guy to breaking the law to simply just enjoying life with no moral restrictions beyond what they view as right.

Now, you can see why this would have been a big thing back in those days because, outside of homebrews and obscure Dragon and Dungeon magazine articles, the notion of folks getting paladin (or blackguard)-like powers outside of two classes was practically unheard of. Aura of Courage and Smite Evil were a paladin thing.

It only made sense that eventually, with Pathfinder Second Edition fully divesting itself of many old assumptions, that we would see the Paladin transform into the Champion class, with much more flexible sets of morals and whatnot.

But what bugs me is that Chevalier never came back as a name for either of the non-paladin goodly variants of the class. Which sucks because Chevalier is a much more fun than Liberator, even if it isn’t as descriptive. It would have been such a good callback though.

Eh, but I digress. In any case, this prestige class is definitely a contender for prestige class with the fewest actual levels, only having 3. This makes sense though, as it really does just exist to do one thing and one thing only, so let’s talk about what that is.

The requirements for this prestige class include being of goodly nature, having decent social skills and fighting skill, as well as having faced a very strong threat, making the minimum possible level to start taking it be 6th. However, the low number of levels in the prestige class means it could reasonably be taken by any class, even at later levels.

These warriors exude fearlessness, warding them against fear as well as doing the same to nearby allies to a lesser extent.

They also, however, exude recklessness, and whenever they join combat their hastiness lends them a measure of deadly sureness to their attacks during those first few critical moments.

They learn to offset some of this, however, keeping their guard up when charging at foes.

A headstrong nature also helps them when it comes to fighting off hostile enchantments, sometimes allowing them to shake them off moments later if they initially succumb.

Perhaps as a reflection of the Drunken God’s own alcohol tolerance, or merely because the divine forces find the idea of such daring heroes falling to something as base as poison abhorrent, but these warriors are blessed with total immunity to toxins as a result.

Finally, They also are blessed with enough divine power to smite the wicked as if they were a true paladin.

This prestige class of course needs a slight bit of conversion work because it’s technically a 3.5 creation, but it overall represents a fun little idea and a minor dip that may be worth it to some characters. One level is enough to make even casters happy what with fear immunity and a buff to attack rolls and damage that includes spells, while more martial characters will enjoy the better charges, protection for one of their weaker saves, and their own special way to smite… and many of these abilities scale to your total character level, not just levels in this prestige class!

I can imagine that many of these characters are somewhat lackadaisical when it comes to their daily lives unlike some paladins, causing them to sometimes come into contention with others that have certain expectations for what a paladin or other holy warrior has to be. Even still, when the chips are down, these warriors are fully capable of getting serious, though they likely still have plenty of quips for their foes.

A terrible rash of murders have been occurring in the farmlands of the Eastern Province, and a band of adventurers led by a brave chevalier arrive to investigate. In doing so, the party discovers that the murders are the work of the largest infestation of monstrous Jack-o’-Lanterns ever seen, leading to the question of what could have given rise to such an army of autumnal adversaries.

They say that the only true law of the sea are the oceans whim, and yet there are still those that seek to bring joy and peace, such as the wandering Depthwards, a group of aquatic beings, mostly cecaelians, that travel between oceanic communities writing wrongs and living free.

Cast out from the order for failing to live up to their standards, Vilga was delighted to see that she still retained enough of her god’s favor to receive a trace of divine power. Now she fights for justice on her own terms, though some hardliners in the order brand her a heretic.

[aeris-blue]

Camillo! He is horrible and I love him!

[thedesignair]

Korean Air continues to evolve its brand with new 787 interiors

Korean Air is a fairly iconic brand. Its timeless baby blue and white liveries are instantly recognisable. There are very few airlines that can boast such an identifiable ‘blue’ livery. And while the logo itself is somewhat reminiscent of the Pepsi logo, this Taegeuk has a much deeper cultural meaning within Korea stemming back hundreds of years, and as such, is truly iconic. The airlines’…

[krumpkin]

Bentley Continental GT 😊

[raurquiz]

#Happybirthday @RealHughJackman #HughJackman #actor #Wolverine #Xmen #X2 #thelaststand #thewolverine #firstclass #daysofthefuturepast #apocalypse #logan #deadpoolandwolverine #vanhelsing #realsteel #chappìe #pan #thegreatestshowman #lesmiserables #Swordfish #TheFountain #ThePrestige

[raointean]

Headcanon about Bail's accent

I noticed there is a rather sharp shift between Revenge of the Sith and Tales of the Jedi/The Bad Batch. (It's even thicker in those two than it was in Clone Wars, where he's portrayed by the same voice actor!)

The Republic, for all its flaws and corruption, is all about bringing different types of people together in pursuit of a common goal. In contrast, the Empire is all about being homogeneous. Everything must be The Same.

Now, they don't have time to worry about standardizing an Imperial dialect- they have much more important things to worry about, like non-humans in power *horrified gasp*. HOWEVER, someone suggests to Bail, who is from a lower prestige region of Alderaan (although he'd still have to come from an elite family to have gotten close enough to Breha to marry her, unless it's some kind of Jasmine and Aladdin situation), that he should consider changing his accent to be more like the "normal" (read: prestigious) Alderaanian accent.

Bail promptly dials his native accent up to eleven as a subtle "fuck you" to the Empire and everything it stands for.

[dykedvonte]

A crazy thing about Mouthwashing is that Pony Express lost communication with one of its freighters for months and didn’t send anyone to check.

A genuinely reputable company, or at the very least a decent one, would have sent someone, something out to check after about two weeks of silence. Two months is when the crew start questioning if they are even being looked for which implies they were already expecting it to take a while cause P.E just doesn’t care.

They don’t care about who they hire. They don’t care about the conditions they place their crew in or how safe the safety measures actually are. They just don’t care, made rules and regulations so they can care less and succeed in getting away with it with how little those ideas are discussed.

[brown-little-robin]

my dreams have grown smaller and kinder and far more difficult

[childotkw]

I am completely waiting for Riddle to become a sugar daddy to Hadrian.

I mean, he's definitely going to try.

[danielnelsen]

ok the answer to ‘does bhaal care about the dark urge?’ is absolutely not a straightforward ‘yes,’ but the stupidest argument i’ve seen to the contrary is definitely, ‘the slayer transformation is painful, so he clearly doesn’t care about durge’

like sure, ok, if we’re using reasonable standards of parenting then of course he sucks lmao. but it’s not fun to talk about if we’re gonna assume anyone here is reasonable

[dailycharacteroption]

Prestige Class Spotlight 14: Daggermark Poisoner

(art by Photomaster70 on DeviantArt)

In the city of Daggermark, the criminal underworld has cornered the local market on poisons, with the Poisoner’s Guild working to perfect new and greater toxins to weaken and make suffer.

Some join in hopes of making use of the guild’s resources for their own goals, while others may view it as a way to gain fame or infamy for their alchemical skill or skill as an assassin.

No matter what the reason is, however, those who prove their prowess may indeed gain the attention of the guild, and access to their secrets.

Naturally, such a skill is not exactly smiled upon in polite society, but those who have need of their skills know that they are among the best due to their association with the guild.

If you’re interested in a poison-based character, this may certainly be for you, so let’s take a look at what’s inside!

This prestige class requires mastery of alchemy, medicine, and deft hands. In addition, it requires training in how to use poisons carefully without poisoning oneself, meaning this prestige class is available to alchemists and ninjas, as well as rogues and vigilantes via talents they can take, and possibly the investigator if you decide to count poison lore as poison use. Additionally, certain archetypes may get the poison use ability and therefore be viable options.

These apothecaries are especially skilled at brewing potions, and can even treat a poison to change it’s nature so that it can be applied in different ways, such as turning one normally applied to a weapon into an inhalable gas, for example.

Additionally, their constant exposure to poisons gives them a measure of resistance until they become totally immune.

They are also very efficient, crafting poisons and applying them with grace and speed.

Despite their profession being the creation of poisons, they are also able to apply their skills at fighting back against them, giving them basic magic for sensing poison and improving their ability to treat patients afflicted by such toxins.

These poisoners also get their own array of tricks and talents to choose from, ranging from smoke bombs that can be further altered with poisons, combining and altering poisons, creating and launching poisoned traps, brewing poisoned tailored to be especially virulent to certain species, and even learning various minor poison magics for altering, enhancing, or generating poison.

Given how they work for a guild that brews poisons to sale, they learn several efficiency techniques to increase the yield and speed at which they can brew.

They also are very familiar with the mechanisms of traps, especially those that use poison, allowing them to disable or even craft them with great skill.

They also learn the basics of attacking a foe’s weak points, ensuring that foes are heavily injured in addition to poisoned.

However, they can also choose to instead target key blood vessels, reducing the initial damage to instead better accelerate the rate at which their poison affects vital organs.

Near their zenith they are especially swift at applying poison.

Furthermore, they can quickly brew the right poison for the job within minutes or even seconds in an emergency, though such hastily made toxins are chemically unstable and break down quickly as a result.

If you’re interested in specializing in poisons and traps, as well as even making a living selling poisons, this prestige class could certainly be for you. Your exact build will vary based on what class you use for the base, but generally you’ll want to be able to strike from the shadows with your poisoned weapons so you can forgo sneak attack to boost the DC. After all, poison DCs do tend to fall off at later levels.

With their focus on substances that weaken and kill, it’s safe to say that there is a certain level of moral ambiguity or outright evil. One has to wonder how this came about. Were they once doctors of medicine, turning their understanding of toxins to darker works? Or maybe they were simply talented with an alchemy lab and carved out a niche for themselves in an amoral place.

Tarn linnorm venom is one part poison, one part potent acid, so poison brewers will pay out the nose to get ahold of fresh venom glands from one. Apparently, this is exactly what has happened, as a recent string of killings revolve around victims rapidly dissolving from the inside out from minor cuts. However, when the remains begin reanimated as undigested undead, it’s clear that the provider has been doing some experimentation as well.

Having come to utterly despise the primitive organics they find themselves thrust among, Elegy-19 has put their medical skills to work in devising increasingly lethal and painful poisons, the android hoping to one day poison entire cities.

The Black Apothecary is as elusive as it’s products are lethal, the owner moving the shop around regularly in the underground with only bare hints at it’s location. Still, the party must track it down if they want to convince the owner to tell them who they sold the poison that nearly killed the king to.

[teh-nos]

on one hand i feel strongly that we need to steal shakespeare back from posh people who have ruined it with their received pronunciation abominations, on the other hand they have ruined it so utterly that i don't want to.

[krumpkin]

A. LANGE & SOHNE Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon 😊

[archersgoon]

the other thing about the river-flatland divide of course is that they have the least-defined boundaries both with each other & just sort of in general. like ced of the flatlands was from tressor & tascan is lord of a river village. the divide here is very much invented & maintained for like. political reasons (flatlanders have the most social capital derived from their identity argue with the wall)

[saveadancejustforyou]

I feel like this is a safe space. I don’t want the girls to get mad at me but outside of like PR I actually think Aaron and Tiana may be a decent couple like he’s laid-back and chill as she’s more extroverted. Sometimes those couples actually work really well together.

Like he may actually like how open and expressive she is .

This is a safe space and yeah I really don't understand why people think they're so unmade for one another, don't get me wrong I don't know if this is suitable for a long term relationship (could be) but people have been saying she's too brash and extroverted and he's too shy and introverted for that to work but in my mind.....do opposites not attract....have yous never heard that?

[touchlikethesun]

sociolinguistics secret: it is impossible to learn how to "talk proper." the prestige speakers are constantly innovating new ways to differentiate themselves from non-prestige speakers, because the reason they discriminate on a linguistic basis has nothing to do with some notion of correctness and everything to do with social hierarchy.