Outlands Blackguard (Dragonstar)

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Spells Per Day
1	2	3	4
1	+1	+2	+0	+0	Detect good, dark blessing, poison use	-	-	-	-
2	+2	+3	+0	+0	Aura of despair, smite good	-	-	-	-
3	+3	+3	+1	+1	Command undead	-	-	-	-
4	+4	+4	+1	+1	Sneak attack +1d6		-	-	-
5	+5	+4	+1	+1	Smite Good 2/day, fiendish servant		-	-	-
6	+6/+1	+5	+2	+2		1	-	-	-
7	+7/+2	+5	+2	+2	Sneak attack +2d6	1	-	-	-
8	+8/+3	+6	+2	+2		1		-	-
9	+9/+4	+6	+3	+3		1		-	-
10	+10/+5	+7	+3	+3	Sneak attack +3d6, smite good 3/day	1	1	-	-
11	+11/+6/+1	+7	+3	+3		1	1		-
12	+12/+7/+2	+8	+4	+4		1	1	1	-
13	+13/+8/+3	+8	+4	+4	Sneak attack +4d6	1	1	1	-
14	+14/+9/+4	+9	+4	+4		2	1	1
15	+15/+10/+5	+9	+5	+5	Smite good 4/day	2	1	1	1
16	+16/+11/+6/+1	+10	+5	+5	Sneak attack +5d6	2	2	1	1
17	+17/+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+5		2	2	2	1
18	+18/+13/+8/+3	+11	+6	+6		3	2	2	1
19	+19/+14/+9/+4	+11	+6	+6	Sneak attack +6d6	3	3	3	2
20	+20/+15/+10/+5	+12	+6	+6	Smite good 5/day	3	3	3	3

This is a version of the blackguard (blagg'rd) as core class on par with the paladin. Paladins and blackguards both have abilities that stack up heavily over levels, and having the paladin as a core class but not the blackguard is fundamentally unfair.

Hit Die: d10.

Alignment: Any evil.

Class Skills: The blackguard's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Ride (Dex).

Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) x4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Blackguards are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all types of armor, and with shields.

Detect Good: At will, the blackguard can detect good as a spell-like ability. This ability duplicates the effects of the spell detect good.

Poison Use: Blackguards are skilled in the use of poison and never risk accidentally poisoning themselves when applying poison to a blade.

Dark Blessing: A blackguard applies his Charisma modifier (if positive) as a bonus to all saving throws.

Spells: Beginning at 1st level, a blackguard gains the ability to cast a small number of divine spells. To cast a spell, the blackguard must have a Wisdom score of at least 10 + the spell's level, so a blackguard with a Wisdom of 10 or lower cannot cast these spells. Blackguard bonus spells are based on Wisdom, and saving throws against these spells have a DC of 10 + spell level + the blackguard's Wisdom modifier. When the blackguard gets 0 spells of a given level, such as 0 1st-level spells at 1st level, he gets only bonus spells. (A blackguard without a bonus spell for that level cannot yet cast a spell of that level.) The blackguard's spell list appears below. A blackguard has access to any spell on the list and can freely choose which to prepare, just like a cleric. A blackguard prepares and casts spells just as a cleric does (though the blackguard cannot spontaneously cast cure or inflict spells).

Blackguards choose their spells from the following list:

1st level - cause fear, corrupt weapon*, cure light wounds, curse water, detect poison, detect undead. divine favor, doom, endure elements, inflict light wounds, magic weapon, misdirection, protection from good, read magic, summon monster I*.

2nd level - bull's strength, darkness, death knell, eagle's splendor, hold person, resist energy, shatter, owl's wisdom, summon monster II*, undetectable alignment.

3rd level - bestow curse, contagion, cure moderate wounds, deeper darkness, dispel magic, inflict moderate wounds, magic circle against good, magic weapon, greater, prayer, protection from elements, summon monster III*.

4th level - break enchantment, cure serious wounds, dispel good, freedom of movement, inflict serious wounds, mark of justice, poison, summon monster IV*, unholy sword*.

• Asterixed spells are all evil. Summon monster spells summon only evil creatures. Corrupt weapon and unholy sword are similar to bless weapon and holy sword respectively, but offer benefits against good creatures instead of evil ones.

Smite Good: Once a day, a blackguard of 2nd level or higher may attempt to smite good with one normal melee attack. He adds his Charisma modifier (if positive) to his attack roll and deals 1 extra point of damage per class level. For example, a 9th-level blackguard armed with a longsword would deal 1d8+9 points of damage, plus any additional bonuses from high Strength or magical effects that normally apply. If the blackguard accidentally smites a creature that is not good, the smite has no effect but it is still used up for that day. Smite good is a supernatural ability.

At 5th level, and at every five levels thereafter, the blackguard may smite evil one additional time per day, as indicated on Table: The Blackguard, to a maximum of five times per day at 20th level.

Aura of Despair: Beginning at 3rd level, the blackguard radiates a malign aura that causes enemies within 10 feet per level to suffer a -2 morale penalty on all saving throws. Aura of despair is a supernatural ability.

Command Undead: When a blackguard reaches 3rd level, he gains the supernatural ability to command and rebuke undead. He commands undead as would a cleric of two levels lower. This stacks with any other undead-rebuking abilities the blackguard may have, for example from previous experience as an evil cleric.

Sneak Attack: If a blackguard can catch an opponent when she is unable to defend herself effectively from his attack, he can strike a vital spot for extra damage. Basically, any time the blackguard's target would be denied her Dexterity bonus to AC (whether she actually has a Dexterity bonus or not) or when the blackguard flanks the target, the blackguard's attack deals +1d6 points of damage at 4th level and an additional +1d6 points for every three levels thereafter (+2d6 at 7th level, +3d6 at 10th level, and so on). Should the blackguard score a critical hit with a sneak attack, this extra damage is not multiplied.

Ranged attacks only count as sneak attacks if the target is 30 feet away or less. A blackguard cannot make a sneak attack to deal subdual damage. The blackguard must be able to see the target well enough to pick out a vital spot and must be able to reach a vital spot. He cannot sneak attack while striking at a creature with concealment or by striking the limbs of a creature whose vitals are beyond reach.

A blackguard can only sneak attack living creatures with discernible anatomies. Undead, constructs, oozes, plants, and incorporeal creatures lack vital areas to attack. Additionally, any creature immune to critical hits is not subject to sneak attacks.

If a blackguard gets a sneak attack bonus from another source (such as rogue levels), the bonuses to damage stack.

The Blackguard’s Fiendish Servant

Upon or after reaching 5th level, a blackguard can call a fiendish bat, cat, dire rat, horse, pony, raven, or toad to serve him. The blackguard’s servant further gains HD and special abilities based on the blackguard’s character level (see the table below).

A blackguard may have only one fiendish servant at a time.

Should the blackguard’s servant die, he may call for another one after a year and a day. The new fiendish servant has all the accumulated abilities due a servant of the blackguard’s current level.

Blackguard Level	Bonus HD	Natural Armor Adj.	Str Adj.	Int	Special
5th–7th	+2	+1	+1	6	Empathic link, improved evasion, share saving throws, share spells
8th–10th	+4	+3	+2	7	Speak with blackguard
11th–14th	+6	+5	+3	8	Blood bond
15th–20th	+8	+7	+4	9	Spell resistance

Bonus HD: Extra eight-sided (d8) Hit Dice, each of which gains a Constitution modifier, as normal. Extra Hit Dice improve the servant’s base attack and base save bonuses, as normal.

Natural Armor Adj.: This is an improvement to the servant’s existing natural armor bonus.

Str Adj.: Add this figure to the servant’s Strength score.

Int: The servant’s Intelligence score. (A fiendish servant is smarter than normal animals of its kind.)

The abilities mentioned in the “Special” column of the accompanying table are described below.

Empathic Link (Su): The blackguard has an empathic link with his servant out to a distance of up to 1 mile. The blackguard cannot see through the servant’s eyes, but they can communicate empathically. Because of the limited nature of the link, only general emotional content can be communicated.

Because of the empathic link between the servant and the blackguard, the blackguard has the same connection to a place or an item that the servant does.

Improved Evasion (Ex): If the servant is subjected to an attack that normally allows a Reflex saving throw for half damage, it takes no damage on a successful saving throw and only half damage on a failed saving throw. Improved evasion is an extraordinary ability.

Share Saving Throws: For each of its saving throws, the servant uses either its own base save bonus or the blackguard’s, whichever is higher. The servant applies its own ability modifiers to saves, and it doesn’t share any other bonuses on saves that the blackguard might have.

Share Spells: At the blackguard’s option, he may have any spell (but not any spell-like ability) he casts on himself also affect his servant. The servant must be within 5 feet at the time of casting to receive the benefit. If the spell has a duration other than instantaneous, it stops affecting the servant if it moves farther than 5 feet away and will not affect the servant again even if the servant returns to the blackguard before the duration expires. Additionally, the blackguard may cast a spell with a target of “You” on his servant (as a touch range spell) instead of on himself. A blackguard and his servant can share spells even if the spells normally do not affect creatures of the servant’s type (magical beast).

Speak with Blackguard (Ex): If the blackguard’s character level is 13th or higher, the blackguard and servant can communicate verbally as if they were using a common language. Other creatures do not understand the communication without magical help.

Blood Bond (Ex): If the blackguard’s character level is 16th or higher, the servant gains a +2 bonus on all attack rolls, checks, and saves if it witnesses the blackguard being threatened or harmed.

This bonus lasts as long as the threat is immediate and apparent.

Spell Resistance (Ex): If the blackguard’s character level is 19th or higher, the servant gains spell resistance equal to the blackguard’s level + 5. To affect the servant with a spell, another spellcaster must get a result on a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) that equals or exceeds the servant’s spell resistance.

Code of Villainy

A blackguard must serve his evil patrons with the same zeal that a paladin serves good. The blackguard's masters will not accept excuses, but demand a constant stream of evil from their servant. The blackguard can work undercover for limited periods of time, pretending to be good, but if more than a week elapses without some heinous crime, the blackguard is lapsing and should reform.

Ex-Blackguards

A blackguard that willingly performs a noble act without ulterior motives or who abstains from doing evil for more than a month loses all class abilities and must atone to regain them. Failing to atone also prevents advancement in the class. At the dm'S OPTION, Chaotic evil blackguards may be allowed to keep their abilities even if they stray, their patrons instead taking a personal interest in corrupting the blackguard again.

Redeemed Blackguards

It is possible for blackguards to be redeemed and become paladins under truly exceptional circumstances. Such a character functions in every way as a paladin of her blackguard level. But at the end of any adventure in which such redemption is granted, the blackguard irrevocably dies. Her soul is purged of all evil and accepted into a higher plane, and refuses to be resurrected by any means.

Fallen Paladins

Blackguards who possess levels of paladin (that is to say, are now ex-paladins) gain extra abilities the more levels of paladin they possess. Those who have tasted the light of goodness and justice and turned away make the foulest villains. All blackguard and fallen paladin abilities are used at the character's total levels in these classes.

Table: Fallen Paladin Blackguard Abilities

Paladin Levels	Extra Ability
1-2	Smite good once per day. (This is in addition to the ability granted to all blackguards at 2nd level, so that a fallen paladin blackguard can smite good a total of twice per day.)
3-4	Lay on hands. Once per day, the blackguard can cure himself of damage equal to his Charisma bonus times his level. The blackguard can only cure himself with this spell-like ability.
5+	Favored of the dark deities. Evil deities like nothing more than to see a pure heart corrupted, and thus a fallen paladin of this stature immediately gains a blackguard level for each level of paladin he trades in. For example, a character who has twelve levels of paladin can immediately become a 10th-level blackguard with all abilities if he chooses to lose ten levels of paladin. The character level of the character does not change. This, of course, is in every way a profitable trade for the evil character, since he has already lost most of the benefits he gained from having those paladin levels. However, with the loss of paladin levels, the character no longer gains extra abilities found on this table. Thus, a fallen paladin of 15th level could become a 12th-level blackguard/3rd-level paladin with the first two extra abilities on this chart because of those three levels of paladin.

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Class Guide -- Imperial Blackguard

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