Hell Knight Notary (Apath)

Unofficial rules compendium

Studies of the rules of rituals of hell and earth in all its infinite but ordered variations gives a great insight into the working of the universe. A hell knight notary studies these rules, thereby gaining an understanding of the universe itself. Hell knight notaries hold an advisory position in their orders, but they can turn this to great advantage both for themselves, the order, and ultimately the world. By interpreting infernal law, they can sway both folk and forces of nature and set the agenda for the future of their order.

Class Information

This is a prestige archetype, a wizard focusing on infernal justice.

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

Build Classes: Wizard.

Role: Hell knight notaries in the field support whatever group they have been attached to as diviners and by invoking infernal law to control or defeat unsavoury elements.

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: d6.

Class Features

The hell knight notary has all the wizard's class features, except as follows.

Class Skills

The hell knight notary's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (all) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int)

Skill Ranks at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

A hell knight notary is proficient with the club, dagger, heavy crossbow, light crossbow, and quarterstaff, but not with any type of armor or shield. Armor interferes with a hell knight notary's movements, which can cause his spells with somatic components to fail.

Aura of Law (Ex)

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

Bonded Mask (Su)

Upon initiation, a hell knight notary 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 is a modification of arcane bond.

A hell knight notary's mask is a bonded item, per the wizard's arcane bond class feature. It takes up the head slot.

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

The hell knight notary gains proficiency with one of the favored weapons of his order. This replaces Scribe Scroll.

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.

Bonus Feats

The hell knight notary receives the following bonus feats at the indicated levels.

2: Light Armor Proficiency
3: Medium Armor Proficiency
4: Arcane Armor Training
5: Heavy Armor Proficiency

This replaces arcane school.

Arcane Armor Expertise

At 6th level, if a hell knight notary gains Arcane Armor Mastery as a bonus feat. At 11th level, the action required to use this feat changes from a swift action to a free action. This replaces the bonus feat gained at level 5.

Notary Armor Training

At 8th level, while a hell knight notary wears armor, he reduces the armor check penalty by 1 (to a minimum of 0), and reduces the arcane spell failure chance by 5%.

At 14th level, he reduces his armor check penalty by an additional 1, and reduces his arcane spell failure by an additional 5%.

Assiduous Gaze

At 10 level and again at 16th level, a hell knight notary gains an assiduous gaze ability chosen from the list below. A hell knight notary can use each assiduous gaze ability he possesses for a number of rounds per day equal to 1/4 his class level. These rounds need not be consecutive. A hell knight notary 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 notary must be wearing his enforcer mask to use these abilities, and his caster level while using them is equal to his character level. This replaces the bonus feat gained at level 10 and 15.

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 notary 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 notary can use discern lies as a spell-like ability a number of times per day equal to 3 plus his Intelligence modifier. These rounds need not be consecutive. His caster level is equal to his total character level and the save DC is 10 + 1/2 his hell knight notary level + Intelligence modifier.

Infernal Resilience (Ex)

At 19th level, a hell knight notary gains DR 5/chaotic and becomes immune to poison.

Diabolic Harbinger (Su)

At 20th level, as long as the hell knight notary 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. This replaces the bonus feat gained at level 20.

Table: Hell Knight Notary

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Spells per Day
						0+1	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Aura of law, bonded mask, cantrips, enforcer mask, order	3	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Light armor proficiency	4	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
3rd	+1	+1	+1	+3	Medium armor proficiency	4	2	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Arcane armor training	4	3	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
5th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Heavy armor proficiency	4	3	2	1	—	—	—	—	—	—
6th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Arcane Armor Expertise	4	3	3	2	—	—	—	—	—	—
7th	+3	+2	+2	+5		4	4	3	2	1	—	—	—	—	—
8th	+4	+2	+2	+6	Notary armor training 1	4	4	3	3	2	—	—	—	—	—
9th	+4	+3	+3	+6		4	4	4	3	2	1	—	—	—	—
10th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Assiduous gaze	4	4	4	3	3	2	—	—	—	—
11th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Arcane armor expertise (free action)	4	4	4	4	3	2	1	—	—	—
12th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	Discern lies	4	4	4	4	3	3	2	—	—	—
13th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8		4	4	4	4	4	3	2	1	—	—
14th	+7/+2	+4	+4	+9	Notary armor training 2	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	2	—	—
15th	+7/+2	+5	+5	+9		4	4	4	4	4	4	3	2	1	—
16th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	Assiduous gaze	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	2	—
17th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10		4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	2	1
18th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Infernal resilience	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	2
19th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11		4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3
20th	+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	Diabolic harbinger	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4

Summary of Changed Class Abilities

• Class Skills
• Arcane Bond
• Arcane School
• Scribe Scroll
• Bonus Feats