Drow Weapon Master (D&D class)

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Unofficial rules compendium

This is an early version of what later became the Drow Warrior Lord prestige class. This version of the class works for a less developed drow society, where the chaotic nature of the race hasn't come into full loom yet.

Drow House Weapon Masters are the elite warriors of dark elf society, chosen by the matron mothers to train the houses warriors and lead them in combat. Weapon Masters are quick and deadly, being the personification of every thing that drow fighters desire to be. Many drow warriors aspire to the position of House Weapon Master because it offers a chance for a male drow that lacks magical talent to earn some measure of respect in dark elf society. Most minor houses have only a single weapon master, but major houses often have a small cadre; only the first of them bear the title of House Weapon Master, the rest are simply known as weapon masters, but all get access to this prestige class.

House Weapon Masters are usually fighters or rangers before taking this prestige class, although multi-classed fighter/rangers or fighter/rogues are also common.

Requirements

To qualify to become a Drow House Weapon Master a character must fulfill the following criteria.

Race: Drow (most often male)
Base Attack Bonus: +5
Skills: Balance 5 ranks, Intimidate 5 ranks, and Spot 5 ranks
Special: Must be named Weapon Master by the Matron Mother of a Drow noble house. This means that you are either the house weapon master, a close ally to the house weapon master, or the worst rival of the house weapon master.

Level	BAB	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1	+1	+2	+2	+0	Greater Station
2	+2	+3	+3	+0	Bonus Feat
3	+3	+3	+3	+1	Perfect Balance
4	+4	+4	+4	+1	Bonus Feat
5	+5	+4	+4	+1	Two Hands

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Drow house Weapon Master prestige class.

Hit Die: d8

Class Skills: The Drow House Weapon Master class skills (And the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex) Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Ride (Dex), Tumble (Dex).

Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

Drow House Weapon Masters are proficient in all simple and martial weapons, and with light armor.

Greater Station

When a matron mother promotes a Drow warrior to Weapon Master, he joins her household and is considered a noble from that point on, even if he was not of noble birth. In addition to the more obvious benefits of becoming a noble the new weapon master undergoes training to unlock more of the hidden magical potential inside of him him to use detect good, detect magic, and levitate each once per day as spell-like abilities with a caster level equal to his character level.

If using the Highborn Drow feat from Forgotten Realms Underdark, this grants that feat. If you already have the feat, you get to choose another feat that you qualify for as a bonus feat instead.

Bonus Feat

At 2nd and 4th level a Drow House Weapon Master gains a bonus feat, which must be selected from the fighter class’s list of bonus feats.

Perfect Balance

Starting at 3rd level when wearing light or no armor the Drow House Weapon Master is always in total control of his form and motion. He gains a +4 bonus to avoid bull rush, trip, and overrun attempts, and can take 10 on any Balance or Tumble check, even under adverse or distracting conditions.

Two Hands

At 5th level the Drow House Weapon Master masters the art of using both hands independently. This reduces the penalties for fighting with two weapons by 2 for each hand. Thus a 5th level Drow House Weapon Master fighting with a light weapon in his off hand would suffer no penalties on attack rolls for fighting with two weapons. A weapon master also masters the use of the buckler. He now gains the shield bonus and ignores the penalties for wearing a buckler when fighting with a two-handed weapon (but not two weapons), and gets the shield bonus of the buckler when using a bow or crossbow.

Ex Drow Weapon Masters

A drow weapon master that loses his position keeps all the benefits of the class and can even continue to progress in it. Drow society being what it is, he can usually find a position with another house or mercenary band, and even if he loses some status he is forever considered a drow noble. Of course, most people who leave the position of weapon master do so by dying.