Death Slayer (Apath)

Unofficial rules compendium

Death slayers are assassins focused on destroying undead.

Background

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 the Pale 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 pale 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 that have been marked for death, and they take special satisfaction in destroying those who were assassinated in life by one of their colleagues. A death slayer can take a contract from one undead client to destroy another. Death slayers also have exception regarding the laws of death. A creature that becomes undead— whether intentionally, via a curse, or by other means—the death slayer is not restrained by the laws of death for this particular target.

Pale Mantis Assassins on Porphyra

The god Shankhil is venerated across Porphyra as the god of gates and passage. As the master of the porphyry passages that is the final hedge between elemental savagery and deist perfection she is responsible for the continuation of history on Porphyra, a god of discreet but strict law. She is also the main psychopomp diety, and has an uniqely neutral position; everybody and everything dies in time. Deist or elementalist, living or undead, intelligent, animal, or mindless matters not. This neutrality allows the cult to keep a guarded presence even in elementalist lands.

One sect of the church that is unknown even to most of the faith are the pale mantis assassins, who worship Shankhil as the master of necessity. Just as some births are to the order of the world, some lives must be ended at specific times for the system of the world to continue smoothly. The task of the pale mantis assassins is to find and execute these key persons while disturbing the world as little as possible.

The master of the pale mantis assassins reside in a bone temple in the city of Da'mulus, in New Watis. From there she sens her agents all over the world according to a pattern Shankhil alone knows and understands.

Shankhil is a mysterious god, and never gives clear signs to her worshippers, including the pale assassins, who are supposed to find the ones they are to slay through subtle clues. Over times, the sect has come to rely on one of Shankhil's symbols, the coin, to find their victims. Provide the assassins with enough coin, and they will take it as a divine sign.

Class Information

This is a prestige archetype built on the death slayer prestige class from Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Adventurer’s Guide with elements of the inquisitor.

Alignment: A death slayer’s alignment must be within one step of her deity’s, along either the law/chaos axis or the good/evil axis. Deaths slayers generally serve a lawful neutral or lawful evil god of necessity and death. Few death slayers are of good alignment, but it is not unthinkable.

Hit Die: d8.

Starting Wealth: 4d6 × 10 gp (average 140gp.) In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.

Class Skills

A death slayer’s class skills are Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (nobility) (Int), Knowledge (planes) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Stealth (Dex), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

Skill Ranks at Each Level: 6 + Int modifier.

Class Features

The following are all the class features of the death slayer prestige archetype.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

A death slayer is proficient with all simple weapons, plus the hand crossbow, longbow, repeating crossbow, sawtooth sable, and shortbow. She is also proficient with light armor, medium armor, and shields (except tower shields).

Spells

Table: Table: Death Slayer
Spells Known

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

A death slayer casts divine spells drawn from the inquisitor spell list. She can cast any spell she knows at any time without preparing it ahead of time, assuming she has not yet used up her allotment of spells per day for the spell’s level.

To learn or cast a spell, a death slayer must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a death slayer’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the death slayer’s Wisdom modifier.

A death slayer can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level each day. Her base daily spell allotment is given on Table: Death Slayer. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Wisdom score (see Table: Ability Modifiers and Bonus Spells). A death slayer’s selection of spells is extremely limited. A death slayer begins play knowing four 0-level spells and two 1st-level spells of the death slayer’s choice. At each new death slayer level, she gains one or more new spells as indicated on Table: Death Slayer Spells Known. (Unlike spells per day, the number of spells a death slayer knows is not affected by her Wisdom score. The numbers on Table: Death Slayer Spells Known are fixed.) Upon reaching 5th level, and at every third death slayer level thereafter (8th, 11th, and so on), a death slayer can choose to learn a new spell in place of one she already knows. In effect, the death slayer “loses” the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell’s level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged, and it must be at least one level lower than the highest-level death slayer spell she can cast. The death slayer may swap out only a single spell at any given level and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that she gains new spells known for the level.

Channel Harm (Su)

Regardless of alignment, any death slayer can release a wave of harmful energy by channeling the power of her faith through any holy (or unholy) symbol. This is a mix of positive and negative energy that harms both undead and living creatures. Objects and creatures which are neither living or undead, such as constructs, are not affected by this ability.

Channel harm causes a burst that affects all creatures in a 30-foot radius centered on the death slayer. The amount of damage dealt is equal to 1d6 points of damage plus 1d6 points of damage for every two death slayer levels beyond 1st (2d6 at 3rd, 3d6 at 5th, and so on). Creatures that take damage from channeled energy receive a Will save to halve the damage. The DC of this save is equal to 10 + 1/2 the death slayer's level + the death slayer's Wisdom modifier. A death slayer may channel energy a number of times per day equal to 3 + her Wisdom modifier. This is a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. A death slayer can choose whether or not to include herself in this effect.

This is a variant of channel energy and works with channeling feats, but never to heal.

Channel Smite

A death slayer gains Channel Smite as a bonus feat at 1st level.

Sneak Channel

When a death slayer hits an opponent whom she flanks or who is denied it's Dexterity bonus to armor class against her, she can channel harm into the attack as a free action. Sneak channel works with ranged attacks, but only to a range of 30 ft. If this hits a living or undead creature, that creature takes an amount of additional damage equal to the damage dealt by the channel harm ability. The target can make a Will save to halve this additional damage. If the attack misses, there is no effect.

This has no effect against creatures that are neither living or dead, such as constructs. The additional damage is not multiplied on a critical hit. Using sneak channel is a free action that can be done with each attack and does not count against the daily uses of channel harm. Against improved uncanny dodge, this ability works the same way as sneak attack does. Sneak channel replaces one skill point/level.

Bonus Feats

At 2nd level and every 4 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, Great Fortitude, Greater Channel Smite, Guided Hand, Improved Channel, Life Lure, Quick Channel, Shatter Control, Thanatopic Spell, Threnodic Spell, Turn Undead, Two-Weapon Fighting, or Weapon Focus (sawtooth sabre), The death slayer must meet the prerequisites of the selected bonus feat.

Cunning Initiative (Ex)

At 2nd level, a death slayer adds her Wisdom modifier on initiative checks, in addition to her Dexterity modifier.

Mantis' Prayer (Ex)

At second and higher level, the saint of sinner's spellcasting does not break Stealth. She can use material components, foci, gestures, and speech quietly and discreetly to cast spells while in Stealth. All other restrictions on using components still apply. The effect of a spell still attracts attention as normal, and casting a spell on an unwilling target means the death slayer is automatically spotted.

Dead Aura (Su)

At 3rd level, a death slayer can control her aura, to appear either as a living or undead creature to spells and abilities like deathwatch that discern between the living and dead or determine a creature's health.

Gravegaze (Su)

A 3rd level death slayer gains the benefits of deathwatch at all times.

Deadly Conviction (Su)

At 5th level, a death slayer adds her favored enemy bonus on saving throws against spells and effects created by undead creatures. When she gains a temporary negative level, she can make an immediate saving throw to remove that negative level, as if a day had passed.

Favored Enemy (Ex)

At 5th level, a death slayer gains undead as a favored enemy. She gains a +2 bonus on Bluff, Knowledge, Perception, Sense Motive, and Survival checks against creatures of her selected type. Likewise, she gets a +2 bonus on weapon attack and damage rolls against them. A death slayer may make Knowledge skill checks untrained when attempting to identify these creatures. This ability stacks with similar bonuses from other classes. (This doesn’t increase existing favored enemy bonuses against any other creature types.) At 15th level, the death slayer’s favored enemy bonus against undead increases to +4.

Undead Bane (Su)

At 8th level, any sawtooth sabre a death slayer wields functions as a bane weapon against undead creatures. At 16th level amount of bonus damage dealt by the weapon against undead increases to 4d6

Infuse Sabre (Su)

At 12th level, a death slayer can infuse one or more wielded sawtooth sabres with positive energy as a swift action. This infusion of energy lasts for 3 rounds. When brandishing an infused sabre, a death slayer’s channel harm damage increases by half (+50%), and undead take a –2 penalty on all saving throws against her channeled harm and against any spell she casts. Each weapon infused using this ability costs one use of channel harm.

Stalwart (Ex)

At 12th level, a death slayer can use mental and physical resiliency to avoid certain attacks. If she makes a Fortitude or Will saving throw against an attack that has a reduced effect on a successful save, she instead avoids the effect entirely. This ability can only be used if the inquisitor is wearing light armor, medium armor, or no armor. A helpless inquisitor does not gain the benefit of the stalwart ability.

Aura of Life (Su)

At 20th level, a death slayer can emit a 10-foot aura of positive energy that weakens undead creatures. This is a free action that must be done at the beginning of the death slayer's turn. Aura of life creates a pale glow around the death slayer. Each undead creature within the aura at the start of the death slayer's turn takes the death slayer's channel harm damage. While this aura is active, the death slayer gains fast healing 20. Each round of use consumes one use of channel harm.

Table: Death Slayer

Class Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Spells per Day
						1	2	3	4	5	6
1st	+0	+2	+0	+2	Channel harm, channel smite, orisons, sneak channel, sneak channel	1	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	+1	+3	+0	+3	Bonus feat, cunning initiative, mantis' prayer	2	—	—	—	—	—
3rd	+2	+3	+1	+3	Dead aura, gravegaze	3	—	—	—	—	—
4th	+3	+4	+1	+4	Sneak channel,	3	1	—	—	—	—
5th	+3	+4	+1	+4	Deadly conviction, favored enemy (undead) +2	4	2	—	—	—	—
6th	+4	+5	+2	+5	Bonus feat	4	3	—	—	—	—
7th	+5	+5	+2	+5	Sneak channel	4	3	1	—	—	—
8th	+6/+1	+6	+2	+6	Undead bane	4	4	2	—	—	—
9th	+6/+1	+6	+3	+6	Sneak channel	5	4	3	—	—	—
10th	+7/+2	+7	+3	+7	Bonus feat	5	4	3	1	—	—
11th	+8/+3	+7	+3	+7	Sneak channel	5	4	4	2	—	—
12th	+9/+4	+8	+4	+8	Infuse sabre, stalwart	5	5	4	3	—	—
13th	+9/+4	+8	+4	+8	Sneak channel	5	5	4	3	1	—
14th	+10/+5	+9	+4	+9	Bonus feat	5	5	4	4	2	—
15th	+11/+6/+1	+9	+5	+9	Favored enemy (undead) +4, sneak channel	5	5	5	4	3	—
16th	+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+10	Undead bane (4d6),,	5	5	5	4	3	1
17th	+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+10	Sneak channel	5	5	5	4	4	2
18th	+13/+8/+3	+11	+6	+11	Bonus feat	5	5	5	5	4	3
19th	+14/+9/+4	+11	+6	+11	Sneak channel	5	5	5	5	5	4
20th	+15/+10/+5	+12	+6	+12	Aura of life	5	5	5	5	5	5