Diabolist (Apath)

Unofficial rules compendium

Some face damnation willingly, selling their souls to gain arcane power. Born without natural affinity for magic, they gain this affinity by literally dealing with the devil. Seeking to control the awesome might of the infernal legions and twist the very powers of Hell to their whims, these blasphemous spellcasters jeopardize their immortal souls for mastery over devilkind.

Class Information

This is a prestige archetype. The diabolist is a sorcerer with hellish power. Regardless of whatever grim path leads spellcasters to seek power over the diabolical, their destination is nearly always the same—an eternity of damnation in the depths of Hell.

Prestige Class: Diabolist from Pathfinder Chronicles: Princes of Darkness, Book of the Damned Vol. I.

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

Role: A diabolist draws directly upon the powers of hell to aid her cause.

Alignment: Lawful evil, neutral, lawful neutral, or neutral evil only. Though some tread the path of the diabolist to enslave the forces of Hell and turn them towards goals other than corruption, only the most stalwart of diabolists can resist the temptations of the Pit. A diabolist that changes to a good or chaotic alignment immediately loses that alignment if she uses the channel hellfire, infernal charisma, or master conjurer class features.

Hit Die: d6.

Class Skills

The diabolist's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Fly (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (planes) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).

Skill Ranks at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Class Features

These are all the class features of the diabolist. The prestige archetype is open to many classes, with slight modifications. It replaces all of the class features of whatever class it is taken with, except as noted below under weapon and armor proficiency, spells, and build class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

A diabolist gains the armor and weapon proficiencies of her build class.

Spells

The diabolist learns and casts spells exactly like the build class, including the effect of ability scores on spellcasting and cantrips or knacks. Since the number of spells per day, spell slots, and known spells depend on the build class, these numbers are not given in Table: Diabolist.

Aura

The diabolist has an alignment aura as if she was a cleric of a lawful evil deity. See detect evil for details.

Build Class

The diabolist inherits a few class features from the build class, as follows.

Arcanist The arcanist diabolist learns the flame arc arcane exploit at level 1 and can use this exploit a number of times per delay equal to 3 + her Charisma modifier (instead of using points from the arcane reservoir, which the diabolist arcanist lacks).

Psychic The psychic diabolist gains the psychic's phrenic pool class feature with a number of points equal to 1/4 his level + his Charisma score (minimum +1). She also gains a phrenic amplification at level 1, 6, and every 6 levels thereafter. The psychic diabolist cannot select major phrenic amplifications.

Sacerdote The sacerdote riftwarden keeps the advanced spellcasting, bonus languages, calculated targeting, chaotic evil good and lawful spells, divine focus, divine wrath, and manifestation class features. This class is from Legendary Classes: Sacerdote.

Sorcerer None. Diabolist sorcerers gain their power from a deal with a devil and lack a bloodline.

Witch A witch diabolist uses the infernal companion to store spells. The witch diabolist gains one hex at level 1, 6, and every six levels thereafter. The witch diabolist cannot select major or grand hexes. She has a devil as her patron, and do not gain any patron spells.

Wizard None.

Damned

When a diabolist is killed, her soul is instantly sent to Hell. Any character attempting to resurrect her must succeed at a caster level check equal to 10 + ½ the diabolist's level or her spell fails. That character cannot attempt to resurrect the diabolist again until the following day, though other characters can attempt as they please.

Infernal Familiar

The diabolist gains a familiar identical to that of a wizard's arcane bond feature. A diabolist may not bond with an object, and the familiar is always lawful evil in alignment and black and/or crimson in color.

Bonus Spells

A diabolist gains bonus spells as she advances in level. At 3rd level, and every two levels thereafter, a diabolist learns an additional spell from the list below. These spells are added to the diabolists spell list and to his familiar, known spells, or spellbook, as appropriate to the build class. These spells cannot be exchanged for different spells at higher levels.

Burning hands (3rd), scorching ray (5th), suggestion (7th), charm monster (9th), dominate person (11th), planar binding (13th), limited wish (15th), power word stun (17th), meteor swarm (19th).

Channel Hellfire

At 2nd level, the diabolist can alter spells that deal fire damage to instead deal hellfire damage. She can do this as a free action a number of times per day equal to her Intelligence or Charisma modifier (whichever is higher, minimum 1). Spells altered to use hellfire gain the lawful and evil descriptors. Using this ability is a lawful and evil act.

Hellfire deals half fire damage and half damage from unholy energy. Damage dealt by hellfire is known as hellfire damage. Evil-aligned creatures and creatures with the evil subtype take no damage from the unholy energy, but good-aligned beings and those with the good subtype take double the normal damage from it. Creatures under the effects of spells like protection from evil or protection from law are unaffected by this unholy energy, though they still take fire damage.

Infernal Charisma

At 4th level a diabolist gains a +2 bonus on all Charisma skills and checks made when interacting with devils and creatures with the half-fiend and fiendish templates and on checks made to research specific devils' true names or sigils. This bonus increases to +4 at 10th level and to +6 at 18th level. Using this ability is a lawful and evil act.

Imp Companion

At 6th level, the diabolist gains the Improved Familiar feat but must choose an imp. At will this imp can assume the shape of the animal familiar the diabolist had before gaining this ability, as beast shape II but with no change in ability scores.

Infernal Transport (Sp)

At 8th level, a diabolist can transport herself through Hell in a burst of brimstone. She may use this ability once per day as dimension door (sp) or plane shift (sp) (only to hell or to her native plane). She cannot use this ability to enter or leave areas warded against teleportation or evil creatures. Using this ability is a lawful and evil act. She gains an additional use of this ability at level 12 and every four levels thereafter, and can expend two uses to teleport (sp). At level 16 she can expend three uses as greater teleport (sp) and at 20th level four uses as gate (sp). Using this ability is a lawful and evil act.

Hellish Soul

At 10th level, a diabolist has been deemed useful enough to the cause of Hell to be allowed a brief respite from damnation. If killed by any means outside of the will of the archdevils or another influential force in Hell, the diabolist can be resurrected as normal.

Master Hellfire (Su)

At 14th level, when a diabolist may use channel hellfire with any spell that deals energy damage. Spells altered to use hellfire lose any energy type descriptors and gain the fire, lawful, and evil descriptors.

Master Conjurer

At 20th level, the diabolist may use her Bluff, Diplomacy, or Intimidate modifier rather than a raw Charisma check when bargaining for services using planar binding spells. When she calls a devil whose name she knows, she may cast the calling spell as a standard action and bargain with it as a move action. Using this ability is a lawful and evil act.

Table: Diabolist

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Aura, build class, damned, infernal familiar
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Channel hellfire
3rd	+1	+1	+1	+3	Bonus spell
4th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Infernal charisma +2
5th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Bonus spell
6th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Imp companion
7th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Bonus spell
8th	+4	+2	+2	+6	Infernal transport
9th	+4	+3	+3	+6	Bonus spell
10th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Hellish soul, infernal charisma +4
11th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Bonus spell
12th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	infernal transport (2/day, teleport)
13th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	Bonus spell
14th	+7/+2	+4	+4	+9	Master hellfire
15th	+7/+2	+5	+5	+9	Bonus spell
16th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	Infernal transport (3/day, greater teleport)
17th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	Bonus spell
18th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Infernal charisma +6
19th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Bonus spell
20th	+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	Master conjurer, infernal transport (4/day, gate)

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Section 15 Addendum

Pathfinder Chronicles: Princes of Darkness, Book of the Damned, Vol. I. Copyright 2009, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Author: F. Wesley Schneider.