The Order of the Dark Warriors.

[alhoon]

Order of the Dark Warriors

The mysterious and evil Dark Warriors are an order dedicated in taking veteran warriors with some spellcasting ability and hone them to merciless, deadly efficient and emotionless killers that use stealth, magic and their special curved swords, the tulwars, to kill whoever their Masters or Grand Masters tell them too.
Opperating from fortified hideouts they call “Castles” they train to improve their abilities and strive to embrace an inner power that grows more powerful by certain acts that others consider evil. The Grand Master calls this power “blight” and although it is considered a blessing some Masters consider it dangerous as it is whispered that it has led more than one Grand Master to sudden disappearance or doom. So the Dark Warriors embrace their inner darkness cautiously and only before difficult challenges lest they fell victims to what some call they “curse”.
Champions of good easily discern that this “curse” the Dark warriors speak of, is the price they have to pay for evil acts like assault, torture and murder for pride or for money.
Candidates for the Order are considered men and women skilled in battle with spellcasting abilities, that are trained extensively while brainwashing techniques build in them almost religious fanaticism towards the Order before they join and sparkles in them the Blight. To improve in the Order, one usually has to kill a superior in duel before the unemotional eyes of the Master or the Grand master.

There are rumors of Castles of the Dark Warriors in the wilderness of Richemulot, Invidia, Borca, Dementlieu, Darkon and even in the clusters and Isles of terror around the demiplane.
Operatives of the Order of the Dark Warriors can be found anywhere someone has the money and the inclination to hire these ruthless killers to hunt down dangerous foes.
Curiously enough, the magic of the Dark Warriors cannot control or protect themselves against the element of fire. Some theorize that this is because the Blight is what gives the Dark Warriors their magic abilities and fire is a purifying force. Further proof is that fire magic that is learned before one steps in that path works normally even after the candidate learns to hone the Blight.

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Prerequisites:
base attack bonus: +3. Alignment: Nongood
Feats: exotic weapon proficiency (Talwar), armored mage(light)
Should be able to cast 1st level arcane spells spontaneously, and to be proficient with scimitar, falchion and longsword).
Special: Must be trained by a Dark warrior Master.

HD: d8. Skill points: 4+int modifier.
Attack bonus: Like cleric. Good saves: Fortitude.
Skills: Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Ride (Dex), Swim (Str), spellcraft (Int), concentration (con), Knowledge:Arcane, Knowledge:war, move silently (dex), hide (dex).

lvl abilities& traits // spell level (1/2/3/4)
1. obedience, tainted soul (+1), Soldier // 1
2. feat, sneak +1d6 // 2
3. Death knell (1/day) // 3/1
4. expanded knowledge, demand obedience, Lieutenant // 3/2
5. armored mage (med), sneak +2d6 // 4/3
6. feat, tainted soul (+2), low-light vision // 4/3/1
7. demand obedience (+2), Master // 4/3/2
8. expanded knowledge // 5/3/2/1
9. death knell (2/day), sneak +3d6, Darkvision 60’ // 5/4/3/1
10. demand obedience (+4), feat, Grant Master, tainted soul (+3) // 5/5/3/2

Obedience: Before an aspiring Dark Warrior is accepted in the order, he gets through mental conditioning using various magical and alchemical means to brainwash him in completely loyalty to the order and instill to him Obedience towards his superiors. It is very difficult to a Dark Warrior to resist a command from his superiors except if it is clearly suicidical.
As a result, a Dark Warrior gets a +2 bonus to saves or skill checks against coercion (magical or not) meant to manipulate him betray secrets of his order (like where his Castle is) or a +4 against coercion to work directly against his order (like leaving a door open in the Castle for enemies to sneak in).

Tainted Soul: When the Dark warrior commits an act that calls for a Powers Check roll, whether he fails it or succeeds, he gets back a spent 1st level slot. If he commits an act of Ultimate Darkness then he gets back a spent slot and gets a +1 to the DCs of his spells for an hour as darkness hardens his convictions and his soul.
A Dark warrior doesn’t get the benefit of this ability for casting spells with the evil or necromantic descriptor, only for acts he commits. This ability proves that the magic the Dark warriors use is corrupted as it strengthens by evil acts and probably tied to their very souls. Also this ability is the reason that even if they are difficult to kill, Masters and Grand Masters of the Order disappear mysteriously.
At 6th level the Dark warrior gets two spell level worth of slots (he gets back either 2 1st or 1 2nd slot) and at 10th level three spell level worth of slots.

Sneak Attack: As they progress in their learning, Dark warriors develop the ability to deal sneak attack damage like rogues. They do +1d6 damage at 2nd level, +2d6 at 5th level, and +3d6 at 9th level.

Death Knell: When a Dark warrior reaches 3rd level, he masters the ability to cast this evil spell 1/day at a caster level equal to his Dark Warrior class level. For Dark Warriors, this “enlightment” means they can now feed upon the strength of fallen foes as they become the ultimate weapons. At 9th level he gets to cast this spell 2/day.

Soldier: The first rank of the Dark Warrior system. The soldier is to perform his duties without asking while he strives to improve in magical and martial prowess. Mind washing techniques are used on the soldier to instill to him a sense of utter obedience to his superiors.
The Soldier gets a masterwork Tulwar, a masterwork dark chain shirt, a black cloak (+2 equipment bonus to hide checks, non magical) and a set of dark boots with soft soles (+2 equipment bonus to move silently checks, non magical)

lieutenant: After some time and services to the Masters a soldier is promoted to lieutenant. There can only be up to six lieutenants under the same master. If a 3rd level Dark Warrior advances a level and there is no spot left, he can either advance as another class, ask to be assigned to a different master or challenge another lieutenant before going up a level.
The fight is concluded when either the soldier yields or the lieutenant is killed. If the soldier yields, he loses enough XP to get midway to his previous level (so a 1st level sorcerer/3rd lvl fighter/3rd level Dark warrior ends up with 24500 XP). There are many Dark warrior soldiers that are killed in these duels instead of yielding. The Lieutenant Dark warrior has to fight to the death.
The rules of the duel are up to the Master. If the soldier succeeds traditionaly he gets the cloak of his victim (a magic cloak +1 resistance bonus to saves, +2 to hide checks) and whatever equipment the Master allows his new lieutenant to get from the corpse.

Master: A master has considerable magical power and is allowed to start a base of operations of his own (usually called Castle even if it is a cave hideout). He can command any Dark warrior soldier or lieutenant even if he is not in his command.
There can only be 6 Masters under each Grand Master. If a 6th lvl lieutenant advances to 7th level and there is no position free, he has to challenge his Master under the surveillance of the Grand Master under the same rules as with the previous rank, except that the winner traditionally takes the fallen Master’s blade (a +1, shocking Tulwar) and command over his Castle.
Many Lieutenants prefer to bide their time a bit before challenging their Master, increasing their other classes as they see fit.

Grand Master: The pinnacle of power of the Dark warrior’s career is to become a Grand Master of this dark order. This man or woman is considered to be the ultimate weapon; a killing machine powerful in magic and sword without emotions or remorse.
Traditionally there can only be two Grand Masters but the current Grand Master Elriz (human, NE, fig2/sorc4/Dark Warrior 10) doesn’t allow any Master to advance in the rank without challenging him to a duel to the death as had declared the previous Grand Master. So far none has challenged him successfully.

Expanded knowledge: At 4th and at 8th level, a Dark warrior may add to his known spells a single spell of a spell level he can cast from the wizard’s spell list. This spell cannot have the fire descriptor or deal with fire at all.
For example a 4th level lieutenant could choose web as a new known spell, while another may choose glitterdust.

low-light vision: At 7th level, a Master’s Blight has strengthen enough for him to see in low light conditions perfectly. At 9th level the Master gets darkvision out to 60’. This ability proves the Blight actually thrives in darkness.

Demand Obedience: A dark warrior of 3rd level or higher can demand obedience from other dark warriors of a rank below him. This is a mind affecting extraordinary ability that works like the suggestion spell but cannot be dispelled, since it is based on the Dark warrior’s mind washing techniques. The DC to resist this
power is 10 + Dark warrior class level + cha modifier and the duration is one hour per Dark Warrior class level of the officer. A Master’s orders have a +2 DC to resist and the Grand Master’s a +4 DC.
A Dark warrior gets a bonus to his save equal to ½ his level as a Dark Warrior. If the target succeeds on this save, he is immune to further uses of this power for the same command and gets a +5 bonus to will saves on any commands given to him by the same officer for 24 hours.
Curiously Dark Warriors don’t consider this act a treason, although they are certainly annoyed by it. If a Dark warrior resists their command, then they are certain that the darkness taking root in his heart prevailed.

Armored Mage (medium): The Dark warrior gains this feat at 5th level. With this feat, a character can ignore spell failure from any medium armor he is proficient with. For example a 5th level Dark Warrior can cast arcane spells in medium armor without a chance to famble the spell.

Bonus Feats: The Dark warrior can choose from one of those bonus feats at the levels 2,6 and 10.
Weapon focus (any sword), power attack (+all subfeats), combat expertise(+all subfeats), dodge(+all subfeats), iron will, combat casting, stealth, alertness, improved initiative, eschew materials, silent spell, still spell, heighten spell, spell focus, spell penetration (greater spell penetration), scribe scroll, craft wondrous item, craft magic weapons & armor, forge ring.

Spells:
The Dark Warrior has access to the following spells when he is able to cast them. All of them are considered known spells for the Dark Warrior and he can cast them spontaneously like a sorcerer. The DC of his spells and bonus slots per day are charisma based.
There are 16 spells in each spell level. The DM could alter or expand the list as he sees fit, using the spells presented here as a guide, without adding any spell that has the fire descriptor or deals with fire.

1st: Protection from good, chill touch, shield, mage armor, unseen servant, true strike, shocking grasp, disguise self, cause fear, ray of enfeeblement, expeditious retreat, magic weapon, bane, doom, divine favor, inflict light wounds.

2nd: Protection from arrows, resist energy*, acid arrow, fog cloud, see invisibility, darkness, blur, invisibility, false life, ghoul touch, bull’s strength, bear’s endurance, darkvision, cure light wounds, inflict moderate wounds, silence.

3rd: Dispel magic, magic circle against good, nondetection, protection from energy*, stinking cloud, heroism, displacement, command undead, vampiric touch, gaseous form, haste, keen edge, greater magic weapon, slow, inflict serious wounds, cure moderate wounds.

4th: Stoneskin, black tentacles, dimension door, icestorm, lighting bolt, greater invisibility, animate dead, bestow curse, enervation, fear, contagion, inflict critical wounds, cure serious wounds, lesser restoration, poison, divine power.

*only acid, cold, electricity and sonic. No fire protection.

Ex-Dark Warriors: Dark Warriors that become good aligned or that they deliberately break a vow they have given to their Master or Grand master lose immediately their demand obedience, death knell and tainted soul class abilities. On the good side, they immediately throw off their Obedience quality.
If they are found they are marked for extermination by this powerful Order and lose their rank. They cannot progress any further in this prestige class.

Talwar: This exotic weapon is a curved sword the Dark warriors use. It is longer than a scimitar and smaller than a falchion. When used with both hands it is considered a martial weapon. It deals 1d8 damage (medium sized) and threats a critical on 18-20.

[alhoon]

No comments at all?

[Gwenfloor]

An interesting class, but where can I find stats for the Tulwar?
Oh, it is basically an Indian Scimitar. Does this mean that their leader could have visited Sri Raji?

[Spiteful Crow]

Reminds me of the Hexblade base class from Complete Warrior.

[alhoon]

Tulwar? An exotic weapon like a scimitar but bigger. Dealing 1d8 damage and threats a critical at 18-20.

PS. The first Grand Master is actually a darklord and an outlander. He hasn't visited any place except Barovia, Invidia and his self-induced hell; his domain.

Reminds me of the Hexblade base class from Complete Warrior.

Really? I didn't think that the Hexblade was so spell-dependant although I have looked the class once or twice. I wanted to make a spellcasting/fighter class that is different from the Eldrich knight and far more focused on killing/murder.

[Spiteful Crow]

Tulwar? An exotic weapon like a scimitar but bigger. Dealing 1d8 damage and threats a critical at 18-20.

PS. The first Grand Master is actually a darklord and an outlander. He hasn't visited any place except Barovia, Invidia and his self-induced hell; his domain.

Reminds me of the Hexblade base class from Complete Warrior.

Really? I didn't think that the Hexblade was so spell-dependant although I have looked the class once or twice. I wanted to make a spellcasting/fighter class that is different from the Eldrich knight and far more focused on killing/murder.

Well, Hexblade is more of a flyweight fighter than a spellcaster. Mainly, the flavor reminded me of the Hexblade, with the whole "inner darkness" and stuff.