Judicator (D&D class)

A mortal imbued with fiendish cruelty, the drow judicator is a dark knight and Champion of Lolth. Consort of demons and demonic arachnids, the drow judicator is hated and feared by all. The meaning of "judicator" is "someone who acts as a judge". The Judicator is judge, jury and executioner, but such terms hold little meaning for the drow. All they know is that the judicator is the vengeance of the Goddess.

Juicators are usually assigned to a temple. A strong judicator can be a power in her own right, and the presence of a high level judicator is enough to make even a high priestess wary. The judicator is one of the few ways a male can be granted divine power by Lolth.

This class is a version of the blackguard character class adapted to fit drow society. It will only work in a drow campaign! See design note below for details.

Class skills

The drow judicator’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (any) (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Survival (Wis). See Chapter 4: Skills in the Player’s Handbook for skill descriptions.

Skill Points at each level: 2 + Int modifier.

The Judicator

Lvl	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Special	1	2	3	4
1	+1	+2	+0	+0	Smite 1/day, aura of evil, spider empathy	-	-	-	-
2	+2	+3	+0	+0	Dark blessing, spider step, spider bite	-	-	-	-
3	+3	+3	+1	+1	Aura of despair, spider's grace	-	-	-	-
4	+4	+4	+1	+1	Turn or rebuke undead	0	-	-	-
5	+5	+4	+1	+1	Smite 2/day, spider servant	0	-	-	-
6	+6	+5	+2	+2	War strike 1/day	1	-	-	-
7	+7	+5	+2	+2		1	-	-	-
8	+8	+6	+2	+2	Spider's grace 1/day	1	0	-	-
9	+9	+6	+3	+3	War strike 2/day	1	0	-	-
10	+10	+7	+3	+3	Smite 3/day	1	1	-	-
11	+11	+7	+3	+3	Poison immunity	1	1	0	-
12	+12	+8	+4	+4	War strike 3/day	1	1	1	-
13	+13	+8	+4	+4		1	1	1	-
14	+14	+9	+4	+4		2	1	1	0
15	+15	+9	+5	+5	Smite 4/day, War strike 4/day	2	1	1	1
16	+16	+10	+5	+5		2	2	1	1
17	+17	+10	+5	+5	Judgement 1/day	2	2	2	1
18	+18	+11	+6	+6	War strike 5/day	3	2	2	1
19	+19	+11	+6	+6		3	3	3	2
20	+20	+12	+6	+6	Smite 5/day	3	3	3	3

Class information

Alignment: Any evil.

Hit Die: d10

Class features

All of the following are class features of the judicator class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Drow judicators are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all types of armor, and with all types of shields including tower shields.

Aura of Evil (Ex): The power of a judicator’s aura of evil (see the detect evil spell) is equal to her class level plus her cleric level, if any.

Dark Blessing (Su): A judicator applies her Charisma modifier (if positive) as a bonus on all saving throws.

Aura of Despair (Su): The judicator radiates a malign aura that causes enemies within 10 feet of her to take a -2 penalty on all saving throws.

Smite (Su): Once per day, a judicator may attempt to smite an enemy with one normal melee attack. She adds her Charisma bonus (if any) to her attack roll and deals 1 extra point of damage per judicator level. At 5th level, and at every five levels thereafter, the judicator may use smite enemy one additional time per day, to a maximum of five times per day at 20th level.

This ability works against any target. If the target (in the opinion of the DM) is a true servant of the Goddess, the ability fails but is still used. This ability channels negative energy and is equivalent to smite good for rule purposes and feat acquisition.

Spider Empathy (Ex): The judicator is a servant of Lolth, and is able to befriend spiders. This ability is similar to the ranger ability Wild Empathy but only works on spiders.

A judicator can improve the attitude of a spider. This ability functions just like a Diplomacy check to improve the attitude of a person. The judicator rolls 1d20 and adds her judicator level and her Charisma modifier to determine the spider empathy check result. The typical domestic spider has a starting attitude of indifferent, while wild spiders are usually unfriendly.

To use spider empathy, the judicator and the spider must be able to study each other, which means that they must be within 30 feet of one another under normal visibility conditions. Generally, influencing an animal in this way takes 1 minute, but, as with influencing people, it might take more or less time.

The judicator can also use this ability to influence a magical or fiendish spiders with an Intelligence score of 1 or 2, but she takes a -4 penalty on the check.

Spider Step: The Spider Champion takes on the wall-walking ability of a spider and gains a climbing movement rate of 20 ft. A creature with a climb speed has a +8 racial bonus on all Climb checks. The creature must make a Climb check to climb any wall or slope with a DC of more than 0, but it always can choose to take 10 even if rushed or threatened while climbing. The creature climbs at the given speed while climbing. If it chooses an accelerated climb it moves at double the given climb speed (or its base land speed, whichever is lower) and makes a single Climb check at a -5 penalty. Creatures cannot run while climbing. A creature retains its Dexterity bonus to Armor Class (if any) while climbing, and opponents get no special bonus on their attacks against a climbing creature.

Spider bite

The spider champion gains a bite attack that deals 1d4 points of damage and is poisonous. The bite is a secondary natural weapon that can be used once per round at the spider champion’s highest base attack bonus, with the standard –5 penalty for a secondary attack. The Fortitude save DC for the poison is 18 + the spider champion’s Con modifier, and it deals 1d6 points of Strength damage for both its initial and its secondary damage.

Spider’s grace (Sp)

The Spider Champion takes on the elusive attributes of a spider. The character receives a +4 insight bonus on Hide and Move Silently checks.

War Strike (Su)

War is the ulimate expression of the champion's power. The champion can attempt a crippling strike with a normal melee attack. This must be stated before the attack is made. If he hits and inflicts any damage, he deals 1d6 points of Constitution damage in addition to his regular damage. The target may attempt a Fortitude save (DC 10 + ½ champion level + champion’s Cha modifier) to halve the Constitution damage. War Strike can be used once per day, plus once per day per three class levels after level 6 (twice at level 9, thrice at 12, four times at 15, five times at 18).

Judgment (Su)

At 18th level, a drow judicator gains the ability to judge all creatures within 100 feet of her that she can see. Those she finds wanting are immediately targeted with a horrid wilting effect (at hiscaster level; save DC 18 + drow judicator’s Wis modifier). The drow judicator can base his decision on any parameters he chooses. This ability is usable once per day as a standard action.

Spider Servant: At 5th level, a drow judicator can call for a spider servant. See the Spider Servant section for details.

Posion Immunity (Su): The judicator gains immunity to poisons of all kinds.

Spell list

Judicators choose their spells from the following list:

1st Level: cause fear, cloak of dark power (u), corrupt weapon (*), cure light wounds, curse water, detect poison, divine favor, doom, endure elements, inflict light wounds, magic weapon, misdirection, read magic, speak with animals*, summon monster I (*)

2nd Level: bull's strength, cure moderate wounds, darkness, death knell, eagle's splendor, hold person, inflict moderate wounds, resist energy, shatter, owl's wisdom, shatter, summon monster II (*), summon swarm, undetectable alignment

3rd level: bestow curse, contagion, cure serious wounds, deeper darkness, dispel magic, inflict serious wounds, magic weapon (greater), prayer, protection from elements, summon monster III (*)

4th level: break enchantment, cure critical wounds, discern lies, dispel good, freedom of movement, giant vermin, inflict critical wounds, mark of justice, poison, restoration, spiderform (u), summon monster IV (*), unholy sword (*)

See notes below for spells marked (*). Spells marked (u) can be found in the Underdark sourcebook.

Speak with animals

The judicator speak with spiders but not with animals. Technichally, this would be speak with vermin. Actually, I'm not sure any spell will let you speak with non-intelligent vermin. Still, it fits the concept.

Summon monster

The judicator can only summon spiders. There are no suitable spiders for summon monster III, but 1d4+1 spiders from summon monster II can be summoned.

Corrupt Weapon

Judicators and blackguards have access to a special spell, corrupt weapon, which is the opposing counterpart of the paladin spell bless weapon. Instead of improving a weapon’s effectiveness against evil foes corrupt weapon makes a weapon more effective against good foes.

Unholy weapon

This is the evil equivalent of holy sword.

Spider servant

This should be changed to use the default rules for companion critters.

At 5th level or above, a drow judicator can call a spiderlike monster to serve him. He may choose to call an 8 HD Large fiendish monstrous spider, a fiendish sword spider, a myrlochar, or a phase spider. (See the Monster Manual or Monsters of Faerûn for these creatures’ statistics.) He can use this spider servant as a guardian or a mount, at his discretion. The spider servant gains HD and special abilities based on the drow judicator’s class level, as given on the Spider Servant table.

Spider Servant

Lvl	HD	Armor	Str	Int	Special
5	+2	+2	+2	-	Improved evasion, share spells, share saving throws, share spells
8	+4	+4	+4	+2	Speak with judicator
11	+6	+6	+6	+4	Blood bond
15	+8	+8	+8	+6	Spell resistance

The drow judicator may have only one spider servant at a time. Should his servant die, he may call for another after 24 hours. The new spider servant has all the accumulated abilities due a servant of the character’s current drow judicator level.

Level: The character’s level in the drow judicator prestige class.

Bonus HD: These are extra Hit Dice appropriate to the creature’s type (vermin for a Large monstrous spider or sword spider, outsider for a myrlochar, or magical beast for a phase spider). Each bonus Hit Die gains a Constitution modifier and improves the creature’s base attack and base save bonuses, as normal.

Natural Armor: The number noted here is an improvement to the servant’s existing natural armor bonus. It represents the preternatural toughness of a drow judicator’s servant.

Str: Add this figure to the servant’s Strength score.

Int: Add this figure to the servant’s Intelligence score.

Improved Evasion (Ex): When subjected to an attack that normally allows a Reflex saving throw for half damage, a servant takes no damage if it makes a successful saving throw and half damage even if the saving throw fails.

Share Saving Throws: For each of its saving throws, the servant uses its own base save bonus or the drow judicator’s, whichever is higher. The servant applies its own ability modifiers to saves, and it doesn’t share any other bonuses on saves that the drow judicator might have (such as from magic items or feats).

Share Spells: At the drow judicator’s option, he may have any spell (but not any spell-like ability) he casts upon himself also affect his spider servant. The servant must be within 5 feet of him at the time of casting to receive the benefit. If the spell or effect has a duration other than instantaneous, it stops affecting the spider servant if the latter moves farther than 5 feet away and will not affect the creature again even if it returns to the drow judicator before the duration expires. Additionally, the drow judicator may cast a spell with a target of “You” on his spider servant (as a touch range spell) instead of on himself. The drow judicator and his servant can share spells even if the spells normally do not affect creatures of the servant’s type.

Speak with Drow Judicator: The drow judicator and his servant can communicate verbally as if they were using a common language. Other creatures do not understand the communication without magical help.

Blood Bond: The spider servant gains a +2 bonus on all attack rolls, checks, and saves if it witnesses the drow judicator threatened or harmed. This bonus lasts as long as the threat is immediate and apparent.

Spell Resistance: The spider servant’s spell resistance equals the drow judicator’s class level + 15. To affect the servant with a spell, a spellcaster must get a result on a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) that equals or exceeds the servant’s spell resistance.

Design notes

The judicator has been changed from a power hungry scheme to a true servant of a divine power (in this case Lolth). Much like a paladin or blackguard can be chosen before birth to serve a higher purpose, so can the judicator.

The class is based on the blackguard (and the paladin to a lesser extent), but several special abilities have been replaced. This sort of tweaked character class is not suitable for all campaigns. For one thing, this character class is only available to certain races (drow and possibly driders). While this is a valid point, one can just as easily imagine a class like the samurai being limited to a certain race or culture.

The character class version of the Judicator works better than the prestige class version (typically a cleric/judicator or wizard/judicator). Rather than standing in the shadow of a higher level cleric, the judicator can be a power in her own right. This lets the judicator focus on martial skills and divine vengeance aided by a small spell selection.

Spells: Some added from Drow and Spider domains. Note that spiderform has changed to 4th level for this class. Some alignment-specific spells (such as protection from good) have been removed. The champion cares not for good or evil, only the will of the Goddess. If if he did, his opponents would probably be evil.

Aura of despair: This is a standard blackguard ability. It works well with the image of the champion as a grim avenger of the Goddess. All drow know the champion is willing to sacrifice them for the Goddess given the slightest reason.

Spider Servant: The one thing missing is the ability to summon a swarm of smaller spiders (perhaps a fiendish spider hivemind?) instead of a single spider servant. These would make great spies. Sigh...

External links

• Blackguard character class