 Death Slayer
Source Adventurer's Guide pg. 152
Since their establishment, the Red Mantis have abided by the divine laws established by Achaekek and the holy rituals of murder, including the law of reality that all things must die, in their time—or when a contract seals their fate. Even the gods themselves must face death, as evidenced by the death of the god Aroden a century ago. Creatures that attempt to avoid death through any means mock the order all living things must submit to, and as such mock the sacred act of assassination. Undead are particularly upsetting to some members of the Red Mantis, and death slayers are trained as specialized agents for missions where the target of an assassination is undead, or when an assassinated target returns from death as one of the undead.
Just as Red Mantis assassins do not wantonly slaughter the living, death slayers don’t indiscriminately seek out undead to destroy. They focus instead on eliminating specific targets they’ve been hired to destroy, and they take special satisfaction in destroying those who were assassinated in life by one of their colleagues. A death slayer may even take a contract from one undead client to destroy another, such as two vampires squabbling over territory that holds increasingly sparse human chattel. Death slayers also have a situational exception regarding the prohibition on targeting monarchs. Should a rightful monarch become an undead creature of any sort— whether intentionally (to extend his reign), via a curse, or by other means—this negates the monarch’s previous divine mandate, and the death slayer is not restrained by the Red Mantis’s taboo against killing rightful monarchs for this particular target. Of course, a monarch who becomes undead does not earn the enmity of the Red Mantis simply through the act of becoming undead: an outside agent must still hire the Red Mantis to take out the monarch.
While the majority of death slayers worship Achaekek, worshipers of any deity can follow the teachings of the death slayer, provided those who take levels in the prestige class are themselves at least affiliated with the Red Mantis. Good or chaotic death slayers, while incredibly rare, are not impossibilities. Likewise, while most death slayers were once clerics, any divine spellcaster could, in theory, study to become a death slayer.RequirementsTo qualify to become a death slayer, a character must fulfill the following criteria.
Feats: Exotic Weapon Proficiency (sawtooth sabre), Great Fortitude, Weapon Focus (sawtooth sabre).
Skills: Knowledge (religion) 5 ranks, Perception 5 ranks, Stealth 5 ranks.
Spells: Ability to cast 3rd-level divine spells.Class SkillsThe Death Slayer's class skills are Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (nobility) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Perception (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Stealth (Dex), and Use Magic Device (Cha).
Skill Points at each Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Hit Die: d8.Class Features| Level | Base Attack Bonus | Fort Save | Ref Save | Will Save | Special | Spells Per Day | | 1st | +0 | +1 | +0 | +1 | Channel energy 1d6, channel smite, gravegaze | — | | 2nd | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | Bonus feat, favored enemy +2 | +1 level of existing class | | 3rd | +2 | +2 | +1 | +2 | Channel energy 2d6, swift smite | +1 level of existing class | | 4th | +3 | +2 | +1 | +2 | Infuse sabre 1/day | +1 level of existing class | | 5th | +3 | +3 | +2 | +3 | Bonus feat, channel energy 3d6 | +1 level of existing class | | 6th | +4 | +3 | +2 | +3 | Deadly conviction, favored enemy +4 | — | | 7th | +5 | +4 | +2 | +4 | Channel energy 4d6, infuse sabre 2/day | +1 level of existing class | | 8th | +6 | +4 | +3 | +4 | Bonus feat, undead bane | +1 level of existing class | | 9th | +6 | +5 | +3 | +5 | Channel energy 5d6 | +1 level of existing class | | 10th | +7 | +5 | +3 | +5 | Aura of life, infuse sabre 3/day | +1 level of existing class |
The following are class features of the death slayer prestige class.
Channel Energy (Su): At 1st level, a death slayer gains the power to harm undead with positive energy. This ability functions as a cleric’s ability to channel positive energy to deal damage to undead (but not to heal living creatures), and it counts as channel energy for the purposes of qualifying for feats or determining effects that rely on channel energy. A death slayer uses her class level as her effective cleric level when channeling energy. She can channel energy a number of times per day equal to 3 + her Charisma modifier. She deals 1d6 points of damage at 1st level and an additional 1d6 points of damage every 2 levels thereafter. Death slayer levels stack with levels in any class that grants channel energy (if any) for the purpose of determining the number of damage dice her channel energy ability deals to undead, but this channel energy can never do anything other than harm undead. An undead creature that takes damage from this channeled energy can attempt a Will save to halve the damage; the DC of this save is equal to 10 + the death slayer’s class level + her Charisma modifier. The death slayer must be able to present either her holy symbol or a sawtooth sabre to use this ability.
Channel Smite: A death slayer gains Channel Smite as a bonus feat. If she already has this feat, she instead gains a different feat selected from those bonus feats normally available to her at 2nd level (see below).
Gravegaze (Su): A death slayer gains the benefits of deathwatch at all times.
Bonus Feats: At 2nd level and every 3 levels thereafter, a death slayer gains a bonus feat in addition to those gained from normal advancement. These bonus feats must be selected from the following: Extra Channel, Greater Channel SmiteUC, Guided HandUC, Improved Channel, Life LureUM, Quick ChannelUM, Shatter ControlHA, Thanatopic SpellUM, Threnodic SpellUM, or Turn Undead. The death slayer must meet the prerequisites of the selected bonus feat.
Favored Enemy (Ex:) At 2nd level, a death slayer gains undead as a favored enemy. This ability functions as the ranger class feature of the same name and stacks with similar bonuses from other classes. (This doesn’t increase existing favored enemy bonuses against any other creature types.) At 6th level, the death slayer’s favored enemy bonus against undead increases to +4.
Swift Smite (Su): At 3rd level, a death slayer can use her Channel Smite feat an additional number of times per day equal to her death slayer level without expending a use of her total channel energy uses per day. She cannot use these additional uses of Channel Smite to use channel energy in the regular way. Whenever she uses Channel Smite, she can activate the ability as an immediate action after she rolls for a melee attack but before the result is revealed.
Infuse Sabre (Su): Once per day at 4th level, a death slayer can infuse a wielded sawtooth sabre with positive energy as a swift action. This infusion of energy lasts for 3 rounds. When brandishing an infused sabre, a death slayer’s channeled energy damage increases by half (+50%), and undead take a –2 penalty on all saving throws against her channeled energy and against any spell she casts. At 7th level, she can infuse a sabre twice per day, and at 10th level she can do so three times a day, but she can have only one infused sabre at a time.
Deadly Conviction (Su): At 6th level, a death slayer gains a +4 morale bonus on saving throws against spells and effects created by undead creatures. Once per day, she can ignore 1 negative level that would otherwise affect her.
Undead Bane: At 8th level, one sawtooth sabre a death slayer wields functions as a bane weapon against undead creatures as long as the death slayer wields the weapon.
Aura of Life (Su): At 10th level, a death slayer can emit a 10-foot aura of positive energy that weakens undead creatures as a swift action. This creates a dim crimson glow around the death slayer. Each undead creature within the aura at the start of its turn takes 4d6 points of positive energy damage. While this aura is active, the death slayer has fast healing 10. A death slayer can activate this aura for up to 10 rounds per day. The duration need not be consecutive, and she can deactivate the aura as a free action.
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