Poison Tongue (Apath)

Unofficial rules compendium

This is a work in progress.

A poison tongue is a merchant prince who advances himself through the selective use of intrigue, poison, and drugs. A poison tongue rarely uses these tools to kill, preferring to exploit, impoverish and eventually enslave his victims.

Class Information

This is a prestige class archetype.

Prestige Class: Poison tongue.

Build Classes: Rogue.

Role: A poison tongue makes an excellent ambassador or spokesman, and a clever investigator.

Alignment: Lawful evil. A poison tongue exploits society and advances himself at the expense of others.

Hit Die: d8.

Class Skills

The poison tongue's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are .

Skill Ranks at Each Level: 6 + Int modifier.

Class Features

These are all the class features of the poison tongue.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

Poison tounges are proficient with all simple weapons, plus the hand crossbow, rapier, sap, shortbow, and short sword. They are proficient with light armor, but not with shields. He can cast poison tounge spells while wearing light armor without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. Like any other arcane spellcaster, a poison tounge wearing medium armor, heavy armor, or a shield incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component. A multiclass poison tounge still incurs the normal arcane spell failure chance for arcane spells received from other classes.

Table: Poison Tongue Spells Known

Level	Spells Known
	Zero	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
1st	3	—	—	—	—
2nd	4	—	—	—	—
3rd	5	—	—	—	—
4th	5	2	—	—	—
5th	5	3	—	—	—
6th	6	4	—	—	—
7th	6	4	2	—	—
8th	6	4	3	—	—
9th	6	5	4	—	—
10th	6	5	4	2	—
11th	6	5	4	3	—
12th	6	6	5	4	—
13th	6	6	5	4	2
14th	6	6	5	4	3
15th	6	6	6	5	4
16th	6	6	6	5	4
17th	6	6	6	5	4
18th	6	6	6	6	5
19th	6	6	6	6	5
20th	6	6	6	6	5

Spells

A poison tongue casts arcane spells drawn from the sorcerer/wizard spell list, but is limited to divination and enchantment spells. He can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time. Spells of 5th level or higher are not on the poison tongue's spell list.

Add the following spells to the poison tongue's spell list at the indicated spell levels. He does not automatically learn these spells when they become available—they must be selected as part of his spells known.

1st—divine favor, floating disk, magic aura
2nd—arcane lock, augury, zone of truth
3rd—glibness, make whole, obscure object
4th—discern lies, divination

To cast a spell, a poison tongue must have a Charisma score of at least 10 + the spell's level. His bonus spells are based on Charisma, and saving throws against these spells have a DC of 10 + the spell level + the caster's Charisma modifier (if any). His selection of spells is extremely limited—at each poison tongue level, he gains one or more new spells, as indicated on Table: poison tongue Spells Known.

At 7th, 10th, 13th, 16th, and 19th level, he can choose to learn a new spell in place of one he already knows, provided the new spell is of the same level as the one he is replacing.

Hidden Weapon (Ex)

At 1st level, an poison tongue becomes a master at concealing his identity and hiding weapons on his body. He adds half his poison tongue level (minimum +1) to all Disguise checks and to Sleight of Hand skill checks made to prevent others from noticing hidden weapons or to surreptitiously use poison.

Sneak Attack

If a poison tounge can catch an opponent when he is unable to defend himself effectively from her attack, she can strike a vital spot for extra damage. The poison tounge's attack deals extra damage anytime her target would be denied a Dexterity bonus to AC (whether the target actually has a Dexterity bonus or not), or when the poison tounge flanks her target. This extra damage is 1d6 at 1st level, and increases by 1d6 every two poison tounge levels thereafter. Should the poison tounge score a critical hit with a sneak attack, this extra damage is not multiplied. Ranged attacks can count as sneak attacks only if the target is within 30 feet.

With a weapon that deals nonlethal damage (like a sap, whip, or an unarmed strike), a poison tounge can make a sneak attack that deals nonlethal damage instead of lethal damage. She cannot use a weapon that deals lethal damage to deal nonlethal damage in a sneak attack, not even with the usual –4 penalty.

The poison tounge must be able to see the target well enough to pick out a vital spot and must be able to reach such a spot. A poison tounge cannot sneak attack while striking a creature with concealment.

Poison Use

At level 2, poison tongues are trained in the use of poison and cannot accidentally poison themselves when applying poison to a blade (see Poison).

Poison Save

At 3rd level, the poison tongue gains a +1 saving throw bonus against poisons. This bonus increase by +1 every three levels after level three. He also gains this bonus on Craft (Alchemy) checks to brew poisons.

Uncanny Dodge (Ex)

Starting at 4th level, a poison tounge can react to danger before her senses would normally allow her to do so. She cannot be caught flat-footed, nor does she lose her Dex bonus to AC if the attacker is invisible. She still loses her Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized. A poison tounge with this ability can still lose her Dexterity bonus to AC if an opponent successfully uses the feint action (see Combat) against her.

Auspicious Display (Ex)

At 5th level a poison tongue projects an air of confidence and inviolability by displaying his wealth and status. So long as the prophet wears 1,000 gp worth of purely decorative jewelry, clothing, or other adornments, he gains a +1 dodge bonus to AC and a +1 morale bonus on saving throws. This bonus (and the necessary value of his accoutrements) increases as he gains levels, to +2 for 4,000 gp at 10th level, +3 for 9,000 gp at 15th level, and +4 for 16,000 gp at 20th level.

Business Acumen (Ex)

At 5th level, a poison tongue can treat settlements as one size category larger when determining their base values and purchase limits.

At 11th level, this ability improves so that the prophet can treat settlements as two size categories larger.

At 17th level, the prophet can treat settlements as three size categories larger.

Nondetection (Sp)

At 6th level, an poison tongue can use nondetection as a spell-like ability once per day as a wizard of his poison tongue level. At 12th level and 18th level, the poison tongue gain an additional daily use of the ability.

Purchase Spells (Su)

Starting at 7th level, a poison tongue can cast spells not normally available to him by expending a certain amount of gold. A poison tongue can spontaneously cast any 1st-level spell he knows—even if he has expended all of his spells for that day—by sacrificing 500 gp worth of currency (gp, sp, and so on) or gems. If the spell has a material component cost, it is added to the base cost of this ability. Currency or gems used in this way must be on the prophet's person, and goods other than standard currency or precious gems cannot be sacrificed to use this ability. Casting a spell in this way does not expend any of the prophet's uses of spells for that day, and once sacrificed, the currency spent to use this ability cannot be retrieved in any way—the money has effectively disappeared forever.

At 10th level, the poison tongue can cast a 2nd-level spell he knows by sacrificing 1,500 gp.

At 13th level, he can cast a 3rd-level spell by sacrificing 3,000 gp.

At 16th level, he can cast a 4th-level spell by sacrificing 5,000 gp.

Mystical Contacts (Ex)

At 8th level, once per week a poison tongue can call in favors from his trading partners to purchase a spellcasting service at half its normal price. The prophet must still find a spellcaster capable of casting the spell he desires (which usually means finding a large enough settlement), and must provide any expensive material components required by the spell at their full price.

Prophet's Chest (Sp)

At 11th level, a poison tongue can hide a chest on the Ethereal Plane, as per the spell secret chest, except that the prophet does not need an expensive chest or replica—any chest will do. The prophet can summon the chest back to the Material Plane as a standard action up to three times per day. So long as the prophet accesses the chest once every month, it suffers no chance of being lost on the Ethereal Plane. A poison tongue can have only one chest on the Ethereal Plane in this way.

Planar Contacts (Su)

At 13th level, a poison tongue can purchase an outsider's services for half the normal cost when he casts a planar ally spell or is within 30 feet of an ally who casts a planar ally spell. When negotiating with a creature called by a planar binding spell (either his own or an ally's), the prophet gains a +4 bonus on any opposed Charisma checks.

Hide in Plain Sight (Su)

At 14th level, an poison tongue can use the Stealth skill even while being observed. As long as he is within 10 feet of some sort of shadow, an poison tongue can hide himself from view in the open without having anything to actually hide behind. He cannot, however, hide in his own shadow.

Summary of Changed Class Abilities

These abilities of the rogue are lost or modified in this archetype:

• Rogue Talents (all)
• Trap Sense
• Advanced Rogue Talent