Difference between revisions of "Spirit Emissary (Apath)"

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{{Apath}}
 
{{Apath}}
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The signifiers of infernal order are an order of mercenaries seeking to emulate the law and discipline of Hell.
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Spirit emissaries take it upon themselves to bring the wisdom of the spirits into an unruly world.
  
 
== Background ==
 
== Background ==
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spirit emissarys of infernal order form the spellcasting arm of the infernal orders. They serve as faceless enforcers of order and use their magical powers to relentlessly root out and punish criminals to the letter of the law. They wear masks— often featureless—to mark themselves as impersonal agents of order, unswayed by empathy, detached from emotion, and dedicated to passing impartial judgment upon all lawbreakers. A signifier’s distinctive mask is a symbol of his devotion to the precepts of law and exacting justice, and it serves as the focus for several of his signifier powers.  
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Spirit emissaries cultivate strength and unity with the spirit world through knowledge, self-control, and willpower. At the culmination of their abilities lies the ability to invest pain and discord into a spirit companion, and to take in a portion of that spirit’s burden in exchange. This process creates a powerful bond to the spirit realms, allowing the spirit emissary to sense and pacify otherworldly creatures, and to channel powerful outsiders into the physical form of her spirit animal, creating a powerful hybrid called an animus to guide, protect, and advise her.  
  
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Traditionally, spirit emissarys are divine spellcasters. Despite trends toward diabolism, overall a spirit emissary’s views of good and evil are defined by his infernal order first and everything else second. Arcane and psychic signifiers are more rare, but possible. These are often converts to the infernal orders and even more zealous than the divine casters.
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=== Spirit Emissaries of Porphyra ===
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The world of spirits touch upon both the elemental realms, the material plane, and the higher worlds of the gods. Spirits claim an understanding an unity with all three worlds, something that  leave them open to accusations of elementalism by adherents of the divine and of being deists by elementalists.  
  
 
== Class Information ==
 
== Class Information ==
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This is a [[Prestige Archetypes (Apath)|prestige archetype]] built on the hellknight signifier prestige class from Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Adventurer’s Guide.   
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This is a [[Prestige Archetypes (Apath)|prestige archetype]] built on the Rivethun emissary  prestige class from Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Adventurer’s Guide.  Spirit emissaries develop much like shamans, but their powerful bond with a singular spirit guide stunts their ability to bond with any wayward spirits they encounter.
  
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'''Role:''' Signifiers of infernal order are powerful spellcasters and agents of law.
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'''Role:''' Spirit emissaries invoke the animus of their spirit animal and use their spells to support both the animus and other allies.
  
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'''Alignment''': Any lawful.  A spirit emissary that changes to a non-lawful alignment cannot progress  in the class, but keeps all abilities granted by the class. She is likely to fall back into an allowed alignment by following orders or be executed as a traitor.  
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'''Alignment''': Any.  Spirits can have any imaginable goal and ethos (and some that are hard to even imagine), this means even the most quirky spirit emissary can find a spirit ally to give them power.  
  
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'''Hit Die:''' d10.
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'''Hit Die:  
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d8.
  
 
=== Class Skills ===
 
=== Class Skills ===
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The spirit emissary’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are  
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The spirit emissary’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (planes) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Survival (Wis).
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Bluff (Cha),  
 
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Climb (Str),
 
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Craft (Int),
 
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Diplomacy (Cha),  
 
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Handle Animal (Cha),  
 
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Intimidate (Cha),  
 
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Knowledge (all) (Int),  
 
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Linguistics (Int),  
 
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Profession (Wis),
 
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Ride (Dex),  
 
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Sense Motive (Wis), and
 
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Swim (Str).
 
  
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'''Skill Ranks at Each Level:''' 4 + Int modifier.
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Skill Ranks per Level: 4 + Int modifier.  
  
 
== Class Features ==
 
== Class Features ==
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These are all the class features of the spirit emissary.
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The following are class features of the spirit emissary prestige class.
  
 
=== Weapon and Armor Proficiency ===
 
=== Weapon and Armor Proficiency ===
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Signifiers of infernal order are proficient with all simple weapons, with the favored weapon of his order (see below), with all types of armor (heavy, medium, and light), and with shields (not including tower shields). A signifier that casts arcane spells suffers arcane spell failure when wearing armor.
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A spirit emissary is proficient with all simple weapons, and with light and medium armor.
  
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=== Aura of Law (Ex) ===
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=== Spell Casting ===
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A spirit emissary’s lawful aura (see the ''detect law'' spell) functions as that of a cleric whose level is equal to the spirit emissary’s character level.
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A spirit emissary casts divine spells drawn from the shaman spell list. A spirit emissary must choose and prepare her spells in advance.
  
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=== Magic Tradition ===
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To prepare or cast a spell, a spirit emissary must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell’s level. The saving throw DC against a spirit emissary’s spell is 10 + the spell’s level + the spirit emissary’s Wisdom modifier.
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A signifier or infernal order must select one of the following as a magic tradition at level 1. This choice can never be changed. She learns and casts spells exactly like the chosen class, including type of magic (arcane, divine, or psychic), the effect of ability scores on spellcasting, spellbook or known spells, and cantrips, knacks, or orisons. He only suffers arcane spell failure in armor if he casts arcane spells.
 
  
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If a signifier has levels in the same spellcasting class as his magic tradition, the spellcasting abilities and any abilities described for the tradition stacks.
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Like other spellcasters, a spirit emissary can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily spell allotment is given on Table: Spirit Emissary. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Wisdom score.
  
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In addition, certain magic traditions give the signifier additional abilities or has special rules, listed under each class.
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Spirit emissaries commune with their spirit animals to prepare their spells. Each spirit emissary must choose a time when she must spend 1 hour each day in quiet contemplation with her spirit animal to regain her daily allotment of spells. A spirit emissary can prepare and cast any spell on the spirit emissary spell list, provided that she can cast spells of that level, but she must choose which spells to prepare during her daily communion.
  
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:''[http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/arcanist Arcanist]:'' As an arcane caster, the arcanist signifier suffers from arcane spell failure and does not gain the order domain ability.
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=== Orisons ===
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spirit emissaries can prepare a number of orisons, or 0-level spells, each day as noted on Table: spirit emissary. These spells are cast like any other spell, but they are not expended when cast and may be used again.
  
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:''[http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/cleric Cleric]:'' No special rules.
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=== Animus (Sp) ===
 +
At 1st level, a spirit emissary learns to call down very diverse spiritual servants, using her spirit animal as the focus and conduit to create a hybrid creature called an animus. This ability functions as ''summon monster I'', except the spirit emissary can summon only a single creature at a time (though she can select a different creature each time and can always decide to summon a single creature from a lower-level list). This summoned creature appears in the spirit animal’s location, replaces the spirit animal for the spell’s duration, gains the familiar’s spirit animal ability, and obeys the spirit emissary as if it were her spirit animal. An animus typically retains some superficial traits of the spirit animal used as a conduit in its summoning, but gains no other abilities normally associated with a familiar (such as share spells or evolution points). The spirit emissary must be within 30 feet of her spirit animal to use this ability.
  
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:''[http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/oracle Oracle]:'' The oracle signifier gains [http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/eschew-materials---final Eschew Materials] as a bonus feat at level 1.
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The animus remains for 1 round per caster level; it vanishes once this duration expires or it is reduced to 0 or fewer hit points. The spirit animal reappears in the animus’s last location and suffers none of the damage, status effects, or spells affecting the animus when it vanished.
  
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:''[http://www.d20pfsrd.com/occult-adventures/occult-classes/psychic Psychic]:'' As a psychic caster, the psychic signifier does not gain the order domain ability.
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As the spirit emissary grows in power and prestige, the effective ''summon monster'' spell she can use to conjure an animus improves, as indicated on the table.
 +
At 19th level this ability can be used as gate, but the spirit emissary must pay any required material components.
  
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:''[[Sacerdote_(Apath) | Sacerdote]]:'' The sacerdote signifier gains the advanced spellcasting, bonus languages, chaotic evil good and lawful spells, divine focus, divine wrath, and manifestation class features of the sacerdote. Sacerdote signifiers suffer from arcane spell failure and do not gain the order domain ability, just as if they were arcane casters. ''This class is from Legendary Classes: Sacerdote, also by Purple Duck Games.''
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The animus ability is affected by any feat or effect that affects ''summon monster'' and the monsters summoned by such a spell.
  
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:''[http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/sorcerer Sorcerer]:'' The sorcerer signifier gains [http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/eschew-materials---final Eschew Materials] as a bonus feat at level 1. As an arcane caster, the sorcerer signifier suffers from arcane spell failure and does not gain the order domain ability. Many sorcerer signifiers have bloodlines related to lawful outsiders.
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The spirit emissary can use this ability number of times per day equal to 3 + her Wisdom modifier .
  
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:''[http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/wizard Wizard]:'' As an arcane caster, the wizard signifier suffers from arcane spell failure and does not gain the order domain ability.
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=== Spirit (Su) ===
 +
A spirit emissary forms a mystical bond with the spirits of the world. She forms a lasting bond with a single spirit, which grants a number of abilities and defines many of her other class features.
  
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=== Order Domain ===
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At 1st level, a spirit emissary gains the spirit ability granted by her chosen spirit. She adds the spells granted by that spirit to the list of spells that she can cast using spirit magic.  
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A  spirit emissary that casts divine spells selects one cleric domain among those offered by her patron. She gains the domain abilities of this domain as a cleric of her signifier level. She does not have domain spell slots. Instead she adds the domain spells to her spell list (and to her list of known spells if she is of the oracle magic tradition). Signifiers of infernal order that do not cast divine spells do not gain the order domain ability. If the signifier gains a domain from another class, lile cleric or inquisitor, she must select the same domain, and her levels in such classes stack when using this domain.
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The spirit emissary has no spirit spell slots. Instead she adds the spirit magic spells offered by her spirit directly to her spell list. She prepares and casts these spells like any other spell on her spell list.
 +
A spirit emissary cannot use hexes and does not add the hexes possessed by that spirit to the list of hexes that she can use.
  
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=== Signifier Order ===
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At 8th level, the spirit emissary gains the abilities listed in the greater version of her selected spirit. At 16th level, the spirit emissary gains the abilities listed for the true version of her selected spirit. At 20th level, a spirit emissary undergoes a transformation as she manifests as a pinnacle of her main spirit. The nature of this manifestation depends on the spirit emissary’s spirit, and is described in its entry.
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A  spirit emissary chooses an infernal order to join at 1st level. The most common infernal orders (and their favored weapon or weapons) are: Chain (flail), Gate (dagger), Godclaw (morningstar), Nail (halberd and lance), Pyre (glaive), Rack (longsword and whip), and Scourge (heavy mace and whip). The order selected also gives access to that order's special discipline. See infernal orders in the appendix.
 
  
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=== Spells of Law (Ex) ===
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If the spirit emissary takes levels in another class that grants a mystery (such as the oracle), the spirit and mystery must match, even if that means one of them must change. Subject to GM discretion, the spirit emissary can change her former mystery or spirit to make them conform.
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A spirit emissary cannot learn or cast spells with the chaotic descriptor.  
 
  
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=== spirit emissary Mask (Su) ===
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=== Spirit Animal (Ex) ===
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At level 2, the spirit emissary receives the mask of her order. This is a severe iron mask, often devoid of eyeholes and identifying features. This mask doesn’t obscure the spirit emissary’s vision, and while wearing it he gains a +2 competence bonus on Sense Motive checks and on saving throws against spells and abilities that rely on visual effects. It also works as a divine focus.
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By communing with the incredible powers of her spirit, the spirit emissary forges a cherished bond with one specific servant of that spirit—known as a spirit animal. A spirit animal is a creature chosen by a spirit emissary to serve as a conduit, allowing her to access the magic of her spirit on a daily basis. While the spirit animal does not store the spells like a witch’s familiar does, the spirit animal serves as her conduit to divine power. A spirit emissary must commune with her spirit animal each day to prepare her spells. If a spirit emissary’s spirit animal is slain, she cannot prepare new spells until the spirit animal is replaced. The spirit emissary’s spirit animal also grants her special powers. This ability uses the same rules as the wizard’s arcane bond class feature and is treated as a familiar, except as noted below.
  
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The spirit emissary’s mask is a bonded object and takes up the head slot.
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A spirit emissary uses her class level as her effective wizard level when determining the abilities of her spirit animal. A spirit emissary can select any familiar available to wizards to serve as her spirit animal, although her spirit animal is augmented by the power of her chosen spirit. Once selected, the spirit animal cannot be changed. Although a spirit emissary’s spirit animal uses the statistics of a specific animal, it is treated as an outsider with the native subtype for the purposes of spells and abilities that affect it.
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spirit emissary levels stack with levels from other classes that grants a bonded object, such as the bonded object version of the wizard's arcane bond class feature. The signifier cannot have multiple bonded objects from different classes. If a signifier attempts to cast a spell without his bonded object worn or in hand, he must make a concentration check or lose the spell. The DC for this check is equal to 20 + the spell’s level.
 
  
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A bonded object can be used once per day to cast any one spell on the signifier's spell list she is capable of casting, even if the spell is not known or prepared. This spell is treated like any other spell cast by the signifier, including casting time, duration, and other effects dependent on the signifier’s level. This spell cannot be modified by metamagic feats or other abilities.
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Levels of different classes that are entitled to familiars stack with spirit emissary levels for the purpose of determining any spirit animal abilities that depend on the spirit emissary’s level. If a spirit emissary possesses such levels in other classes, her spirit animal always uses the spirit emissary rules for spirit animals, not those used by familiars of other classes (such as witches, wizards, or sorcerers with the arcane bloodline). If the spirit emissary has witch levels, her spirit animal also serves as the conduit to her patron and stores her witch spells. The spirit emissary’s spirit animal is treated as a familiar for the purposes of all spells, effects, and abilities that affect familiars.
  
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A signifier can add additional magic abilities to his bonded object as if he has the Craft Wondours Items. The magic properties of a bonded object, including any magic abilities added to the object, only function for the signifier who owns it. If a bonded object’s owner dies, or the item is replaced, the object reverts to being an ordinary masterwork item of the appropriate type.
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If a spirit animal is lost or dies, it can be replaced after 24 hours through a special ritual that consumes material components worth 500 gp per spirit emissary level. The ritual takes 8 hours to complete. The new spirit animal must be of the same sort of creature as the previous one.
  
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If a bonded object is damaged, it is restored to full hit points the next time the signifier prepares his spells. If the bonded object is lost or destroyed, it can be replaced after 1 week in a special ritual that costs 200 gp per signifier level. This ritual takes 8 hours to complete. Items replaced in this way do not possess any of the additional enchantments of the previous bonded item. A signifier can designate an existing magic item as his bonded item. This functions in the same way as replacing a lost or destroyed item except that the new magic item retains its abilities while gaining the benefits and drawbacks of becoming a bonded item.
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=== Spirit Strength (Ex) ===
 +
A spirit emissary strengthens her bond to the spirit world by channeling additional divine power through her spirit animal. The spirit animal gains 2 evolution points as if it were an eidolon (as the summoner class feature) and can use them to purchase eidolon evolutions from the following list: burrow, climb, flight, gills, improved natural armor, magic attacks, skilled, swim, tail, and unnatural aura. At 5th level, the spirit emissary’s spirit animal gains 2 additional evolution points. It can freely reassign all of its points to purchase different evolutions each time the spirit emissary advances in level.  
  
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=== spirit emissary Armor Training (Ex) ===
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=== Sixth Sense (Sp) ===
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At 4th level, while a spirit emissary wears the armor of his order, he reduces the armor check penalty by 1 (to a minimum of 0), and reduces the arcane spell failure chance by 5%. For every 6 levels after level 4, reduce the armor check penalty by 1 and the arcane spell failure chance by 5%.
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At 2nd level a spirit emissary gains ''detect undead'' as a spell-like ability, usable a number of times per day equal to her spirit emissary level. At 4th level, this spell-like ability also detects creatures of the fey type.  
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If the spirit emissary has the Arcane Armor Training or Arcane Armor Mastery feat, the action required to use this feat changes from a swift action to a free action.  
 
  
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At 8th level, when a spirit emissary’s speed is not reduced by wearing medium or heavy armor.
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The spirit emissary must continue concentrating to discern which auras are undead and which are fey, gaining this knowledge as she learns the strength and location of each aura on her third round of concentration.
  
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=== Assiduous Gaze ===
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At 6th level, this spell-like ability also detects creatures of the outsider type, also requiring concentration to distinguish between aura types.
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At 6th level and every 6 levels thereafter, an spirit emissary gains an assiduous gaze ability chosen from the list below.
 
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Activating an assiduous gaze is a swift action that expends a point from the signifier's discipline pool and has an immediate effect to examine a single creature, object, or 5-foot square within 30 feet. A spirit emissary must be wearing his spirit emissary mask to use these abilities, and his caster level while using the ability is equal to his character level.  
 
  
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:''Elucidation (Su):'' The spirit emissary can discern each active spell on the target, including the spell’s effect and caster level.  
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=== Manifest Will (Su) ===
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At 6th level, spiritual energy flows both into and out of the spirit emissary, allowing her to overcome the limitations of her physical body by sheer force of will. The spirit emissary selects either Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution. As an immediate action, she can substitute her Wisdom modifier for her selected ability’s modifier on a single ability check, attack roll, saving throw, or skill check. She can use this ability a number of times per day equal to her Charisma modifier + half her spirit emissary level.
  
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:''Morality (Sp):'' The spirit emissary can determine whether the target is chaotic, evil, good, or lawful, as well as the strength of its aura as if he had studied it for 3 rounds using ''detect chaos, detect evil, detect good'', and ''detect law''.  
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At 12th level and again at 18th level, she can select one more physical ability score she can affect with this ability.
  
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:''Scrutiny (Su):'' The spirit emissary can discern whether the target has spell-like abilities or spellcasting abilities; whether any spellcasting abilities are arcane, divine, or psychic; and the strength (see ''detect magic'') of the most powerful spell or spell-like ability the target currently has available.  
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=== Parley (Sp) ===
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At 8th level, a spirit emissary gains the ability to cast ''calm spirit'' three times per day as a spell-like ability (her caster level equals her character level). At 12th level, she can also use this spell-like ability to calm corporeal undead and creatures of the outsider type. At 16th level, she can use this spell-like ability to calm creatures of the fey type as well.
  
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:''Veracity (Sp):'' The spirit emissary can observe the target as if using ''true seeing''. A spirit emissary must be 14th level to select this ability.  
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=== Spirit Conduit (Su) ===
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At 10th level, a spirit emissary’s bond to an animus strengthens considerably. Any animus she summons is treated as if the spirit emissary had the Augment Summoning feat, gaining a +4 enhancement bonus to its Strength and Constitution.
  
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:''Vigilance (Su):'' The spirit emissary can see through up to 5 feet of stone, wood, or similar barriers as if they didn’t exist. This effect cannot penetrate metal of any kind.
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At 14th level, when the animus vanishes, the spirit emissary can have her spirit animal appear in an empty square adjacent to herself instead of in the animus’s location. At 19th level, the bond allows the animus to leave parting insight when it vanishes, answering a single yes-or-no question for the spirit emissary as per ''commune''.
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=== Discipline ===
 
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At 8th level a spirit emissary draws upon her training and devotion to develop a discipline pool and potent disciplines.
 
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The spirit emissary gains a discipline pool that reflects her devotion and zeal. This pool has a number of points equal to the spirit emissary's class level.
 
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When the signifier casts a spell, she can expend one point from her discipline pool to give the spell the lawful descriptor. This also increases the caster level of the spell by one.
 
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The discipline pool is also used to power many disciplines.
 
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In addition, a spirit emissary selects a discipline at 8th level and every 6 levels thereafter.
 
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When applicable, the save DC to resist a discipline’s effect is equal to 10 + the spirit emissary’s level + her Charisma modifier.
 
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There are special infernal order disciplines that are specific to each order, see the appendix. These disciplines are learned like other disciplines but are only available to members of each order.
 
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:''Discern Lies (Sp):''  The spirit emissary can expend a point from her discipline pool to use ''discern lies'' as a spell-like ability, with a caster level equal to his character level. The spirit emissary must be level 8 to select this discipline.
 
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:''Fearsomeness (Ex):'' The spirit emissary can expend a point from her discipline pool to activate fearsomeness until the end of her turn. When she uses the Intimidate skill to cause a creature within 10 feet to become shaken can instead cause that creature to become frightened.
 
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:''Infernal Identity (Ex):'' As long as he wears the signifier mask, the spirit emissary gains a +2 bonus on all Charisma checks and Charisma-related skill checks made while interacting with creatures of lawful alignment.
 
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:''Infernal Resilience (Ex):'' The spirit emissary gains DR 5/chaotic and becomes immune to poison. He must be 16th level to select this discipline.
 
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:''Studious (Ex):'' The spirit emissary gains a number of skill ranks in the Knowledge skill favored by her order equal to her Hit Dice. Any skill ranks she previously had in this skill are moved to other Knowledge skills of the signifier's choice.
 
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:''Tactician (Ex):'' The spirit emissary  receives a teamwork feat as a bonus feat. She must meet the prerequisites for this feat. As a standard action that costs one point from her discipline pool, the spirit emissary can grant this feat to all allies within 30 feet who can see and hear her. Allies retain the use of this bonus feat for 3 rounds plus 1 round for every two levels the spirit emissary  possesses. Allies do not need to meet the prerequisites of these bonus feats. At level 10, she can use this ability as a swift action. She can select this benefit again at level 6 and every 6 levels thereafter, each time after the first gives an additional tactical feat as a bonus feat (as above).
 
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:''Tracker (Sp):''  The spirit emissary can expend one point from her discipline pool to summon a creature to aid him, either in battle or to track an enemy, as if using a ''summon monster'' spell, save that the summoned creature lingers for 1 hour before vanishing. All animals summoned this way have the fiendish template. The spirit emissary can summon either a dire rat,  a dog, an eagle, or a pony (horse). This is the equivalent of a 3rd level spell. The  spirit emissary must be 6th level to select this discipline.  An 8th-level spirit emissary can summon either an a horse, a riding dog, a wolf, or a leopard. This is the equivalent of a 4th level spell.An 11th-level spirit emissary can summon either a dire wolf or a hell hound.  This is the equivalent of a 5th level spell. A 14th-level spirit emissary can instead opt to summon a pack of 1d4+1 riding dogs or wolves or a single cerberus or dire bat.  This is the equivalent of a 6th level spell. A 17th-level spirit emissary can summon either a pack of 1d4+1  dire wolves or hell hounds, or a single dire lion or shadow mastif. This is the equivalent of a 7th level spell. A 20th-level spirit emissary can instead opt to summon a pack of 1d4+1 cerberi or dire bats, or a single dire tiger or invisible stalker.  This is the equivalent of a 8th level spell.
 
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:''Wrack (Su):'' When the spirit emissary damages a foe, she can expend one point of discipline to cause the target to suffer incredible pain. The target must make a Will save to avoid being staggered for 1d4 rounds.
 
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=== Diabolic Harbinger (Su) ===
 
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At 20th level, as long as a spirit emissary wears his spirit emissary mask, he gains telepathy with a range of 100 feet and can see perfectly in both magical and mundane darkness. While wearing his spirit emissary mask, he is immune to blindness and dazzling effects.  
 
 
{{OGL}}
 
{{OGL}}

Revision as of 15:34, 16 July 2017

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Unofficial rules compendium

Spirit emissaries take it upon themselves to bring the wisdom of the spirits into an unruly world.

Background

Spirit emissaries cultivate strength and unity with the spirit world through knowledge, self-control, and willpower. At the culmination of their abilities lies the ability to invest pain and discord into a spirit companion, and to take in a portion of that spirit’s burden in exchange. This process creates a powerful bond to the spirit realms, allowing the spirit emissary to sense and pacify otherworldly creatures, and to channel powerful outsiders into the physical form of her spirit animal, creating a powerful hybrid called an animus to guide, protect, and advise her.

Spirit Emissaries of Porphyra

The world of spirits touch upon both the elemental realms, the material plane, and the higher worlds of the gods. Spirits claim an understanding an unity with all three worlds, something that leave them open to accusations of elementalism by adherents of the divine and of being deists by elementalists.

Class Information

This is a prestige archetype built on the Rivethun emissary prestige class from Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Adventurer’s Guide. Spirit emissaries develop much like shamans, but their powerful bond with a singular spirit guide stunts their ability to bond with any wayward spirits they encounter.

Role: Spirit emissaries invoke the animus of their spirit animal and use their spells to support both the animus and other allies.

Alignment: Any. Spirits can have any imaginable goal and ethos (and some that are hard to even imagine), this means even the most quirky spirit emissary can find a spirit ally to give them power.

Hit Die: d8.

Class Skills

The spirit emissary’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (planes) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Survival (Wis).

Skill Ranks per Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Class Features

The following are class features of the spirit emissary prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

A spirit emissary is proficient with all simple weapons, and with light and medium armor.

Spell Casting

A spirit emissary casts divine spells drawn from the shaman spell list. A spirit emissary must choose and prepare her spells in advance.

To prepare or cast a spell, a spirit emissary must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell’s level. The saving throw DC against a spirit emissary’s spell is 10 + the spell’s level + the spirit emissary’s Wisdom modifier.

Like other spellcasters, a spirit emissary can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily spell allotment is given on Table: Spirit Emissary. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Wisdom score.

Spirit emissaries commune with their spirit animals to prepare their spells. Each spirit emissary must choose a time when she must spend 1 hour each day in quiet contemplation with her spirit animal to regain her daily allotment of spells. A spirit emissary can prepare and cast any spell on the spirit emissary spell list, provided that she can cast spells of that level, but she must choose which spells to prepare during her daily communion.

Orisons

spirit emissaries can prepare a number of orisons, or 0-level spells, each day as noted on Table: spirit emissary. These spells are cast like any other spell, but they are not expended when cast and may be used again.

Animus (Sp)

At 1st level, a spirit emissary learns to call down very diverse spiritual servants, using her spirit animal as the focus and conduit to create a hybrid creature called an animus. This ability functions as summon monster I, except the spirit emissary can summon only a single creature at a time (though she can select a different creature each time and can always decide to summon a single creature from a lower-level list). This summoned creature appears in the spirit animal’s location, replaces the spirit animal for the spell’s duration, gains the familiar’s spirit animal ability, and obeys the spirit emissary as if it were her spirit animal. An animus typically retains some superficial traits of the spirit animal used as a conduit in its summoning, but gains no other abilities normally associated with a familiar (such as share spells or evolution points). The spirit emissary must be within 30 feet of her spirit animal to use this ability.

The animus remains for 1 round per caster level; it vanishes once this duration expires or it is reduced to 0 or fewer hit points. The spirit animal reappears in the animus’s last location and suffers none of the damage, status effects, or spells affecting the animus when it vanished.

As the spirit emissary grows in power and prestige, the effective summon monster spell she can use to conjure an animus improves, as indicated on the table. At 19th level this ability can be used as gate, but the spirit emissary must pay any required material components.

The animus ability is affected by any feat or effect that affects summon monster and the monsters summoned by such a spell.

The spirit emissary can use this ability number of times per day equal to 3 + her Wisdom modifier .

Spirit (Su)

A spirit emissary forms a mystical bond with the spirits of the world. She forms a lasting bond with a single spirit, which grants a number of abilities and defines many of her other class features.

At 1st level, a spirit emissary gains the spirit ability granted by her chosen spirit. She adds the spells granted by that spirit to the list of spells that she can cast using spirit magic. The spirit emissary has no spirit spell slots. Instead she adds the spirit magic spells offered by her spirit directly to her spell list. She prepares and casts these spells like any other spell on her spell list. A spirit emissary cannot use hexes and does not add the hexes possessed by that spirit to the list of hexes that she can use.

At 8th level, the spirit emissary gains the abilities listed in the greater version of her selected spirit. At 16th level, the spirit emissary gains the abilities listed for the true version of her selected spirit. At 20th level, a spirit emissary undergoes a transformation as she manifests as a pinnacle of her main spirit. The nature of this manifestation depends on the spirit emissary’s spirit, and is described in its entry.

If the spirit emissary takes levels in another class that grants a mystery (such as the oracle), the spirit and mystery must match, even if that means one of them must change. Subject to GM discretion, the spirit emissary can change her former mystery or spirit to make them conform.

Spirit Animal (Ex)

By communing with the incredible powers of her spirit, the spirit emissary forges a cherished bond with one specific servant of that spirit—known as a spirit animal. A spirit animal is a creature chosen by a spirit emissary to serve as a conduit, allowing her to access the magic of her spirit on a daily basis. While the spirit animal does not store the spells like a witch’s familiar does, the spirit animal serves as her conduit to divine power. A spirit emissary must commune with her spirit animal each day to prepare her spells. If a spirit emissary’s spirit animal is slain, she cannot prepare new spells until the spirit animal is replaced. The spirit emissary’s spirit animal also grants her special powers. This ability uses the same rules as the wizard’s arcane bond class feature and is treated as a familiar, except as noted below.

A spirit emissary uses her class level as her effective wizard level when determining the abilities of her spirit animal. A spirit emissary can select any familiar available to wizards to serve as her spirit animal, although her spirit animal is augmented by the power of her chosen spirit. Once selected, the spirit animal cannot be changed. Although a spirit emissary’s spirit animal uses the statistics of a specific animal, it is treated as an outsider with the native subtype for the purposes of spells and abilities that affect it.

Levels of different classes that are entitled to familiars stack with spirit emissary levels for the purpose of determining any spirit animal abilities that depend on the spirit emissary’s level. If a spirit emissary possesses such levels in other classes, her spirit animal always uses the spirit emissary rules for spirit animals, not those used by familiars of other classes (such as witches, wizards, or sorcerers with the arcane bloodline). If the spirit emissary has witch levels, her spirit animal also serves as the conduit to her patron and stores her witch spells. The spirit emissary’s spirit animal is treated as a familiar for the purposes of all spells, effects, and abilities that affect familiars.

If a spirit animal is lost or dies, it can be replaced after 24 hours through a special ritual that consumes material components worth 500 gp per spirit emissary level. The ritual takes 8 hours to complete. The new spirit animal must be of the same sort of creature as the previous one.

Spirit Strength (Ex)

A spirit emissary strengthens her bond to the spirit world by channeling additional divine power through her spirit animal. The spirit animal gains 2 evolution points as if it were an eidolon (as the summoner class feature) and can use them to purchase eidolon evolutions from the following list: burrow, climb, flight, gills, improved natural armor, magic attacks, skilled, swim, tail, and unnatural aura. At 5th level, the spirit emissary’s spirit animal gains 2 additional evolution points. It can freely reassign all of its points to purchase different evolutions each time the spirit emissary advances in level.

Sixth Sense (Sp)

At 2nd level a spirit emissary gains detect undead as a spell-like ability, usable a number of times per day equal to her spirit emissary level. At 4th level, this spell-like ability also detects creatures of the fey type.

The spirit emissary must continue concentrating to discern which auras are undead and which are fey, gaining this knowledge as she learns the strength and location of each aura on her third round of concentration.

At 6th level, this spell-like ability also detects creatures of the outsider type, also requiring concentration to distinguish between aura types.

Manifest Will (Su)

At 6th level, spiritual energy flows both into and out of the spirit emissary, allowing her to overcome the limitations of her physical body by sheer force of will. The spirit emissary selects either Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution. As an immediate action, she can substitute her Wisdom modifier for her selected ability’s modifier on a single ability check, attack roll, saving throw, or skill check. She can use this ability a number of times per day equal to her Charisma modifier + half her spirit emissary level.

At 12th level and again at 18th level, she can select one more physical ability score she can affect with this ability.

Parley (Sp)

At 8th level, a spirit emissary gains the ability to cast calm spirit three times per day as a spell-like ability (her caster level equals her character level). At 12th level, she can also use this spell-like ability to calm corporeal undead and creatures of the outsider type. At 16th level, she can use this spell-like ability to calm creatures of the fey type as well.

Spirit Conduit (Su)

At 10th level, a spirit emissary’s bond to an animus strengthens considerably. Any animus she summons is treated as if the spirit emissary had the Augment Summoning feat, gaining a +4 enhancement bonus to its Strength and Constitution.

At 14th level, when the animus vanishes, the spirit emissary can have her spirit animal appear in an empty square adjacent to herself instead of in the animus’s location. At 19th level, the bond allows the animus to leave parting insight when it vanishes, answering a single yes-or-no question for the spirit emissary as per commune.

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