Charlatan Priest (Apath)

Unofficial rules compendium

Charlatan priests have a gift for disguising their arcane magic as god-given divine magic, and in the use of divine scrolls, staves, and wands. They roam the lands as prophets of a new faith, using their power to convince the unfaithful of their misplaced loyalties in other gods and governments and to defeat those who oppose them.

Class Information

This is a prestige archetype. The charlatan priest is a wizard that fakes divine magic.

Prestige Class: Razmiran priest from Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Paths of Prestige, along with the charlatan priest sorcerer archetype and False Casting from Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Magic.

Build Classes: Arcanist, psychic, sorcerer, witch, or wizard.

Role: The charlatan priest brings a message to the masses. She can sway onlookers in her favor and discredit divine authority. Most charlatan priests ¤

Alignment: Any non-good. The charlatan priest works hard to study her faux clerical powers. The church hierarchy tries to control charlatan priests, tempting them with the riches a church career offers.

Hit Die: d6.

Class Skills

The charlatan priest's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

Skill Ranks at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Charlatan Priests of Other Build Classes

The prestige archetype is written for wizards, the most likely class. But it is open to many other classes, with slight modifications. Because the archetype has so many abilities, it replaces most of the abilities of whatever class it is taken with. What remains are the method of casting and learning spells (including cantrips or knacks), and a few additional class features specific to each build class. Arcanist The arcanist adds the spells gained from false ritual to her prepared spells each day. psychic The psychic false priest gains the psychic's psychic discipline, including discipline spells and discipline powers. Because he lacks a pherenic pool, certain discipline powers do not work, notably those of the Enlightenment discipline. sorcerer The sorcerer false priest gains Eschew materials as a bonus feat at level 1 and adds the spells gained from false ritual to her list of known spells. Many sorcerer false priests have deluded themselves into believing in their false creed, and this delusion might even be responsible for awakening their power. witch A witch charlatan priest can chose between illusory healing and normal healing when using false priest spells to restore hit point damage. She also gains Arcane Bond This is the same as the wizard's arcane bond class feature. If she selects a familiar, it works as a witch's familiar. If she selects a bonded item she uses it just like a witch uses a familiar to prepare spells and can cast any spell contained in the item once per day, like a wizard does. wizard. The wizard keeps the arcane bond class feature, as described in the main prestige archetype description.

Class Features

A charlatan priest has all the class features of the wizard, except as noted.

Domain

A charlatan priest may select one cleric domain. She may not select an alignment domain. A charlatan priest gains the granted powers of that domain, using her arcane spellcaster level as her cleric level and her Charisma modifier in place of her Wisdom modifier. She adds any domain spells to her spell list, but these spells must still be learned normally. Any spells gained through this ability that restore hit points is illusory healing, see false ritual, below.

False Casting

When a charlatan priest uses a magic item or a spell-like ability to create a magical effect, she may add additional magic-seeming words and hand gestures to trick onlookers into believing she cast the spell herself. If using an item that is recognizable as a magical implement (such as a wand or ring), she can trick viewers into thinking she is just using the item as a focus component.

Onlookers who have no ranks in Spellcraft have no knowledge of what is genuine spellcasting, and automatically believe the charlatan priest is casting a spell. If an onlooker attempts a Spellcraft check to identify the “casting,” her check is opposed by the charlatan priest's Bluff check. If she succeeds, she realizes the deception. If she fails, she believes the charlatan priest cast the spell. Regardless of the result of that opposed check, she uses the result of that Spellcraft check to identify the “spell” cast, except the DC is 20 + the spell’s level instead of 15 + the spell’s level.

When using false casting to cast a spell on the cleric spell list with a spell level no higher than half his class level, he receives a +10 circumstance bonus on the Bluff check made when casting the spell.

False Ritual (Su)

A charlatan priest adds a number of spells what are normally divine spell list top his spell list and to his spell book, familiar, or list of known spells, as appropriate. He gains each spell as soon as he can cast spells of that level. An arcanist charlatan priest always has these spells prepared, in addition to his normal selection of prepared spells. A witch arcanist can chose between illusory healing and normal healing when using these spells to restore hit point damage.

1st— bless, cure light wounds.
2nd— aid, cure moderate wounds.
3rd— cure moderate wounds, prayer.
4th— cure serious wounds, remove disease.
5th— cure critical wounds, neutralize poison.
6th— burst of glory, cure light wounds (mass).
7th— Cure moderate wounds (mass), heroe's feast.
8th— Cure serious wounds (mass), heal.
9th— Cure critical wounds (mass), miracle.

Whenever he casts a spell that heals hit point damage using this ability, that spell undergoes some changes. The spell becomes an illusion (shadow) spell with a duration of 10 minutes/level. The hit points healed are illusory healing, temporary hit points that stack with other illusory healing but cannot exceed the damage the creature has currently taken. Illusory healing do not stack with normal temporary hit points.

Whenever a charlatan priest uses False Casting to cast a spell on the cleric spell list with a spell level no higher than half his class level, he receives a +10 circumstance bonus on any opposed Bluff check made when casting the spell.

Master of Lies (Ex)

At 2nd level a charlatan priest adds half her class level to any Bluff check made as part of a lie or deception. In addition, whenever she is subject to a spell or special ability that can discern whether or not she is telling the truth, she is automatically aware of such magic. She is not immune to such spells or abilities, but she can choose to remain silent or avoid answering questions. Master of lies, false channel, first ritual, second ritual, third ritual, conversation, and true pretender replaces arcane school.

False Channel (Su)

Starting at 3rd level, a charlatan priest can channel illusory energy to heal living creatures like a cleric, healing 1d6 points of damage. The amount healed increased to 2d6 at level 7 and by another d6 for every four levels after level seven. She can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + her Charisma modifier.

False channel is an illusion (shadow) effect with a duration of 10 minutes/level. The hit points healed are illusory healing, temporary hit points that stack with other illusory healing but cannot exceed the damage the creature has currently taken. Illusory healing do not stack with normal temporary hit points. This ability does not count for the purposes of meeting any prerequisites that call for the ability to channel energy.

False Piety (Ex)

At 5th level a false priest adds half her witch level to Use Magic Device checks to activate spell trigger and spell completion items that use divine spells. She also gains False Focus as a bonus feat. This replaces the level 6 hex.

False Focus (Ex)

At 9th level, using a divine focus as part of casting, the charlatan priest can cast any spell with a material component costing the value of that divine focus (maximum 100 gp) or less without needing that component. For example, if he uses a silver holy symbol worth 25 gp, he does not have to provide material components for an arcane spell if its components are worth 25 gp or less. If the spell requires a material component that costs more than the value of the divine focus, the charlatan priest must have the material component on hand to cast the spell, as normal.

Replacement Channel (Su)

At 13th level, the charlatan priest can use her own magic to power spell completion and spell trigger items that uses divine spells. She expends a spell slot or prepared spell that is at least 1 level higher than the level of the spell she’s trying to activate, then makes a Use Magic Device check. If she succeeds, the item’s spell occurs and the item or charge is not expended. If she fails, nothing happens. Whether she succeeds or fails, her spell slot is expended.

Conversion (Su)

At 17th level, whenever a false priest heals herself using false channel, the effect heals damage instead of granting temporary hit points. That false channel has only the normal effect on others in the area of effect.

True Pretender (Su)

At 20th level, a charlatan priest attains true power. Whenever she uses false channel, she can spend two uses of that ability to heal damage to all living creatures in the area, instead of granting temporary hit points. In addition, when determining what spell trigger and spell completion magic items she can use, she acts as though all cleric spells were on her spell list. This makes it so that she does not need to make a Use Magic Device skill check when using such items, but she must still make Bluff skill checks when using False Casting with such spells.

Table: Charlatan Priest

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Spells per Day
						0	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Cantrips, domain, False Casting	3	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Master of lies	4	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
3rd	+1	+1	+1	+3	False channel 1d6	4	2	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4th	+2	+1	+1	+4	First ritual	4	3	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
5th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Bonus feat	4	3	2	1	—	—	—	—	—	—
6th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Second ritual	4	3	3	2	—	—	—	—	—	—
7th	+3	+2	+2	+5	—	4	4	3	2	1	—	—	—	—	—
8th	+4	+2	+2	+6	False channel 2d6	4	4	3	3	2	—	—	—	—	—
9th	+4	+3	+3	+6	Third ritual	4	4	4	3	2	1	—	—	—	—
10th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Bonus Feat	4	4	4	3	3	2	—	—	—	—
11th	+5	+3	+3	+7	False Domain (second)	4	4	4	4	3	2	1	—	—	—
12th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	False channel 3d6	4	4	4	4	3	3	2	—	—	—
13th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	Greater leadership (+1 level)	4	4	4	4	4	3	2	1	—	—
14th	+7/+2	+4	+4	+9	Conversion	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	2	—	—
15th	+7/+2	+5	+5	+9	Bonus feat	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	2	1	—
16th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	False channel 4d6	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	2	—
17th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	—	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	2	1
18th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	—	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	2
19th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	—	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3
20th	+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	True pretender, false channel 5d6	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4

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