Hell Knight Chaplain (Apath)

Unofficial rules compendium

Hell knight orders have their own clerics, called chaplains, that administer to the spiritual needs of the order from behind a cruelly armored mask.

Class Information

This is a prestige class archetype, a cleric heavily armed and indoctrinated.

Prestige Class: Hellknight signifer from Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Paths of Prestige.

Build Classes: Cleric.

Role: Hell knight chaplains support hell knights and hold authority on matters spiritual and mystical.

Alignment: Lawful neutral or lawful evil only. Hell knights are not all evil, in fact these orders strive very hard to protect society and be of service to all who obey its rules. But their inspiration comes from the rigid hierarchies of hell, and many find evil methods most effective.

Hit Die: d8.

Class Features

A hell knight chaplain has all features of the cleric, except as noted.

Class Skills

The hell knight chaplain's class skills are Craft (Int), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (all) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Profession (Wis), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).

Skill Ranks Per Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Aura of Law (Ex)

The power of a hell knight chaplain's aura of law (see detect law) is equal to his total character level. This replaces aura.

Order

A hell knight chaplain chooses a hell knight order to join. The most common hell knight orders (and their favored weapon or weapons) are:

• The Order of the Chain - flail
• The Order of the Gate - dagger
• The Order of the GodClaw - morningstar
• The Order of the Nail - lance or halberd
• The Order of the Pyre - glaive
• The Order of the Rack - longsword or whip
• The Order of the Scourge - heavy mace or whip

A hell knight chaplain receives proficiency in one of one of his order's favored weapons.

The hell knight serves the order, must follow order policy, and must obey orders from superiors within the order. Player character hell knights often serve semi-independently, acting as agents of the order in the world or on some special task or quest, but must still follow the rules. Failure to do so results in becoming wanted by the order and put on trial. If found wanting, the hell knight notary is on probation, and put under the direct supervision of other hell knights, which usually spells the end for a hell knight's adventuring career or makes him a fugitive, hunted by all hell knights worldwide.

This replaces domains.

Chaos Channel

A hell knight chaplain receives Alignment Channel (chaos) as a bonus feat at level 3 and can use this feat only to damage chaotic outsiders. Once the hell knight chaplain gains this ability, all energy channeled against living creatures or undead inflict or heal only half as many hit points; only chaotic outsiders take full damage from the hell knight chaplain's channel energy ability.

Hell Mask (Su)

At 4th level, a hell knight chaplain receives a mask, often devoid of eyeholes or other personal features. This mask doesn't obscure the enforcer'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. This mask also functions as a divine focus.

Heavy Armor

A hell knight chaplain receives Heavy Armor Proficiency as a bonus feat at level 6.

Chaplain Armor Training

At 8th level, while a hell knight chaplain wears armor, he reduces the armor check penalty by 1 (to a minimum of 0). At 16th level, he reduces his armor check penalty by an additional 1. Additionally, at 16th level, when a hell knight chaplain's speed is reduced by wearing medium or heavy armor, his unique training offsets the speed reduction by 5 feet.

Assiduous Gaze

At 10th level and again at 14th level, a hell knight chaplain gains an assiduous gaze ability chosen from the list below. A hell knight chaplain can use each assiduous gaze ability he possesses for a number of rounds per day equal to 1/2 his class level. These rounds need not be consecutive. A hell knight chaplain can activate an assiduous gaze ability as a swift action to examine a single creature, object, or 5-foot square within 30 feet. A hell knight chaplain must be wearing his enforcer mask to use these abilities, and his caster level while using them is equal to his character level.

Elucidation (Su): Discern each active spell on the target, including the spell's effect and caster level.

Morality (Sp): Determine whether the target is chaotic, evil, good, or lawful, as well as the strength of its aura as if having studied it for 3 rounds using detect chaos, detect evil, detect good, and detect law.

Scrutiny (Su): Discern whether the target has spell-like abilities and spellcasting abilities, whether the spellcasting ability is arcane or divine, and the strength (see detect magic) of the most powerful spell or spell-like ability the target currently has available.

Veracity (Sp): Observe the target as if using true seeing. A hell knight chaplain must be 14th level to select this ability.

Vigilance (Su): 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.

Discern Lies (Sp)

At 12th level, a hell knight chaplain can use discern lies as a spell-like ability a number of times per day equal to 3 plus his Charisma modifier. These rounds need not be consecutive. His caster level is equal to his total character level.

Infernal Resilience (Ex)

At 18th level, a hell knight chaplain gains DR 5/chaotic and becomes immune to poison.

Diabolic Harbinger (Su)

At 20th level, as long as the hell knight chaplain wears his mask, he gains telepathy with a range of 100 feet, and can see perfectly in both magical and mundane darkness. While wearing his enforcer mask, he is immune to blindness and dazzling effects and gains a +2 bonus on all Charisma-based checks when interacting with lawful creatures. This bonus increases to +4 if the creature is also an outsider.

Table: Hell Knight Chaplain

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	Channel energy 1d6, orisons, spontaneous casting, order	3	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	+1	+3	+0	+3		4	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
3rd	+2	+3	+1	+3	Channel energy 2d6, chaos Channel	4	2	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4th	+3	+4	+1	+4	Enforcer mask	4	3	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
5th	+3	+4	+1	+4	Channel energy 3d6	4	3	2	1	—	—	—	—	—	—
6th	+4	+5	+2	+5	Heavy armor	4	3	3	2	—	—	—	—	—	—
7th	+5	+5	+2	+5	Channel energy 4d6	4	4	3	2	1	—	—	—	—	—
8th	+6/+1	+6	+2	+6	Chaplain armor training 1	4	4	3	3	2	—	—	—	—	—
9th	+6/+1	+6	+3	+6	Channel energy 5d6	4	4	4	3	2	1	—	—	—	—
10th	+7/+2	+7	+3	+7	Assiduous gaze	4	4	4	3	3	2	—	—	—	—
11th	+8/+3	+7	+3	+7	Channel energy 6d6	4	4	4	4	3	2	1	—	—	—
12th	+9/+4	+8	+4	+8	Discern lies	4	4	4	4	3	3	2	—	—	—
13th	+9/+4	+8	+4	+8	Channel energy 7d6	4	4	4	4	4	3	2	1	—	—
14th	+10/+5	+9	+4	+9	Assiduous gaze	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	2	—	—
15th	+11/+6/+1	+9	+5	+9	Channel energy 8d6	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	2	1	—
16th	+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+10	Chaplain armor training 2	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	2	—
17th	+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+10	Channel energy 9d6	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	2	1
18th	+13/+8/+3	+11	+6	+11	Infernal resilience	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	2
19th	+14/+9/+4	+11	+6	+11	Channel energy 10d6	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3
20th	+15/+10/+5	+12	+6	+12	Diabolic harbinger	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4

Summary of Changed Class Abilities

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

• Class Skills
• Domains