Temple Merchant (Apath)

Unofficial rules compendium

Temple merchants fulfill a specialized role. In addition to utilizing church power over markets, they seek out lost, unclaimed, or wrongly seized wealth among tombs and ruins. Temple merchants develop unique powers that afford them the ability to enter dangerous areas where lost treasure can be restored to the light or hidden goods can be returned to their rightful owners. A temple merchant finds the most satisfaction in discovering long-lost treasures hidden in unmarked strongholds, owned by now nameless individuals of the past. A temple merchant can claim such wealth for her own and use it to further the strength of her church.

Class Information

This is a prestige archetype, a cleric concerned with wealth and goods.

Prestige Class: Balanced scale from Pathfinder Chronicles: Dark Markets, A Guide to Katapesh.

Build Classes: Cleric.

Role: A temple merchant can provide anything from the market, just when it is needed most.

Alignment: Any. A temple merchant must have a patron associated with crafts, wealth, trade, or civilization, and must obey the same alignment restrictions as clerics with respect to their patron.

Hit Die: d8.

Class Skills

The temple merchant's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Dex), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (nobility) (Int), Knowledge (planes) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).

Skill Ranks at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Class Features

The temple merchant has all cleric class features, except as noted.

Appraising Eye (Ex)

A temple merchant must estimate value quickly and accurately, particularly when in a dangerous environment such as an underground tomb. She gains a +2 sacred bonus to all Appraise checks, and can appraise an item with 1 full-round action, instead of 1 minute.

No Channeling

The temple merchant cannot channel energy and cannot use spontaneous casting to cast cure/inflict spells.

Eloquent Bargainer (Ex)

At 3rd level a temple merchant has sufficient confidence and experience to know that to get what she wants sometimes requires talking to the right people and handing around a few coins for bribes, “finder’s fees,” and so on. At 3rd level, a temple merchant learns which palms to grease and what promises to make, which allows a reroll on a Diplomacy check with a +2 bonus when she offers an appropriate bribe (generally 10 gp × the level of the recipient) during the interaction.

In addition, she pays only half the indicated price for services from creatures called by planar ally type spells.

Bottomless Bag (Su)

At level 5, the temple merchant gains the bottomless bag ability. Sometimes a temple merchant finds an unexpected treasure too large to transport. Once per day she can turn any ordinary sack, backpack, or other container into a bag of holding type II. The container remains a bag of holding for 1 hour per class level; after the duration expires, the container resumes its normal properties, and any items too large to fit within its true dimensions immediately and harmlessly fall out of the opening. Unlike a permanent bag of holding, the bag created by this ability cannot be overloaded or ruptured, nor does it have any special interaction with other kinds of extra-dimensional spaces.

At 11th level, the temple merchant’s bottomless bag increases to the size of a bag of holding type III. Alternately, she can create two bags of holding type II in a day, though their extradimensional spaces are not linked in any way.

At 17th level, the temple merchant’s bottomless bag increases to the size of a bag of holding type IV. Alternately, she can create three unconnected bags of holding type II.

Access the Vault (Su)

At 7th level, a temple merchant gains the power to access a divine planar repository holding perfect versions of every item ever made. Each week a temple merchant can summon any non-magical items (normal or masterwork) as long as the total market price of all items summoned is equal to or less than 500 gp per divine caster level. No single object can be larger than 1 cubic foot per caster level. The item remains with the temple merchant for 1 minute per class level, after which it returns automatically to the vault. Consumable items vanish once used but function for their normal duration or 1 minute per class level, whichever is less. Even if an item is destroyed while in the temple merchant’s possession, a new copy appears in the vault.

At 13th level, a temple merchant can use this ability to summon a magic item from the vault. Items with charges always arrive fully charged, and the price limit applies to this fully charged version (for example, a fully charged wand of cure serious wounds costs 11,250 gp, putting it out of reach of any caster level 22 or lower).

Items taken from the vault are obviously of exceptional quality and radiate magic (even if not normally a magic item, such as a chair or table), and their unearthly perfection is enough to make any intelligent potential buyer suspicious. The faith frowns on selling items from the vault, as it is essentially stealing from the buyer (as the items vanish shortly thereafter), which disrupts faith in fair trade; temple merchants who abuse this ability lose access to the vault until they have atoned for their transgression.

Some religious scholars theorize that this power does not actually draw items from the vault, the items are actually copies of the perfect items, perhaps placed in another divine vault created for this purpose or as a backup.

Vault Jump (Sp)

At level 9, the temple merchant learns the vault jump ability. Those who drive hard bargains and search for lost treasures sometimes bite off more than they can chew, and a quick exit is often the only way to escape a bad situation alive. Once per day, a temple merchant can create a one-way portal through the vault, which has one of two effects. First, she may use the portal as if it were a dimension door, but can only travel to areas within range and to which she has been (for example, she cannot use it to get past a sealed door into the unknown room beyond). Second, she may use the portal as if she were casting word of recall, but instead of returning to her sanctuary she always returns to the closest active temple with an altar to his patron. The temple merchant’s caster level for this ability is equal to her divine caster level, and she can bring others with her as defined in the spell descriptions.

Travel through the vault is uncomfortable and disorienting, possibly because the Vault rejects imperfect mortal flesh in an attempt to protect itself, or because the aura of so much perfection is overwhelming to mortal senses. Regardless of the distance traveled, the temple merchant (and anyone traveling with her) arrives 1d4+1 rounds later and is nauseated for 1d4+1 rounds after arriving (Fortitude DC 15 negates).

At level 15, the temple merchant can vault jump twice per day.

As with the temple merchant’s ability to access the vault, some scholars believe this ability transports the user through a space other than the vault. Their reasoning is that, if a temple merchant were mind-controlled or otherwise compromised, this ability might allow thieves to access the vault and steal the priceless, perfect items stored there.

Table: Temple Merchant

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

+2

+0

+2

Appraising eye, aura, domains, orisons

3

1+1

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

2nd

+1

+3

+0

+3

4

2+1

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

3rd

+2

+3

+1

+3

Eloquent bargainer

4

2+1

1+1

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

4th

+3

+4

+1

+4

4

3+1

2+1

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

5th

+3

+4

+1

+4

Bottomless bag (type II)

4

3+1

2+1

1+1

—

—

—

—

—

—

6th

+4

+5

+2

+5

4

3+1

3+1

2+1

—

—

—

—

—

—

7th

+5

+5

+2

+5

Access the vault (non-magical items)

4

4+1

3+1

2+1

1+1

—

—

—

—

—

8th

+6/+1

+6

+2

+6

4

4+1

3+1

3+1

2+1

—

—

—

—

—

9th

+6/+1

+6

+3

+6

Vault jump

4

4+1

4+1

3+1

2+1

1+1

—

—

—

—

10th

+7/+2

+7

+3

+7

4

4+1

4+1

3+1

3+1

2+1

—

—

—

—

11th

+8/+3

+7

+3

+7

Revelation, bottomless bag (type III)

4

4+1

4+1

4+1

3+1

2+1

1+1

—

—

—

12th

+9/+4

+8

+4

+8

4

4+1

4+1

4+1

3+1

3+1

2+1

—

—

—

13th

+9/+4

+8

+4

+8

Access the vault (magic items)

4

4+1

4+1

4+1

4+1

3+1

2+1

1+1

—

—

14th

+10/+5

+9

+4

+9

4

4+1

4+1

4+1

4+1

3+1

3+1

2+1

—

—

15th

+11/+6/+1

+9

+5

+9

Vault jump 2/day

4

4+1

4+1

4+1

4+1

4+1

3+1

2+1

1+1

—

16th

+12/+7/+2

+10

+5

+10

4

4+1

4+1

4+1

4+1

4+1

3+1

3+1

2+1

—

17th

+12/+7/+2

+10

+5

+10

Bottomless bag (type IV)

4

4+1

4+1

4+1

4+1

4+1

4+1

3+1

2+1

1+1

18th

+13/+8/+3

+11

+6

+11

4

4+1

4+1

4+1

4+1

4+1

4+1

3+1

3+1

2+1

19th

+14/+9/+4

+11

+6

+11

4

4+1

4+1

4+1

4+1

4+1

4+1

4+1

3+1

3+1

20th

+15/+10/+5

+12

+6

+12

4

4+1

4+1

4+1

4+1

4+1

4+1

4+1

4+1

4+1

Ex-Temple Merchant

A temple merchant who grossly violates the code of conduct required by her god loses all spells and class features, except for armor and shield proficiencies and proficiency with simple weapons. She cannot thereafter gain levels as a temple merchant until she atones for her deeds (see the atonement spell description).

Summary of Lost Class Abilities

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

• Class Skills
• Channel energy
• Spontaneous casting

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