Divine Assassin (3.5e Prestige Class)

Divine Assassin

“	Deities are a waste of life.	”
—Juan Riverwind, Rougue/Assassin

To kill gods, one must harness a power equal to or greater than that of the gods themselves. The Divine Assassin takes this to the next level, often achieving godhood themselves in their quest to slay the beings that rule their reality. In their studies, they learn to harm gods in ways no other being can, and learn to become deadlier to mortals as a benefit to this training.

Becoming a Divine Assassin

A Divine Assassin must aim to destroy gods, become a god, or serve a god; typically a role filled by rogues/assassins.

Entry Requirements

Alignment:	Any
Base Attack Bonus:	None.
Race:	Any non orc or dwarf.
Skills:	Move silently 20 ranks hide 20 ranks.
Feats:	None.
Patron:	Have a deity.
Domains:	None.
Special:	Has to be Infamous. Must have a death attack, and a sneak attack of at least 15d6.

Table: The Divine Assassin

Hit Die: d8

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Spells per Day
		Fort	Ref	Will		0	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
1st	+1	+1	+2	+2	Bonus Feat, Divination, Rogue-Like	3	1	1	—	—	—	—
2nd	+2	+2	+3	+3	Divine Death Attack	4	2	2	—	—	—	—
3rd	+3	+2	+4	+4	Divine Sneak Attack, +5d6 to existing sneak attack	5	3	3	1	—	—	—
4th	+4	+3	+5	+5	Bonus Feat, Damage Reduction 5/ Divine Assassin's alignment	5	4	4	2	—	—	—
5th	+5	+3	+6	+6	Pain Resistance, +5d6 more to existing sneak attack	5	5	5	3	1	—	—
6th	+6/+1	+4	+7	+7	Divine Resistances	5	5	5	4	2	—	—
7th	+7/+2	+4	+8	+8	Bonus Feat, +5d6 more to existing sneak attack	5	5	5	5	3	1	—
8th	+8/+3	+5	+9	+9	Damage Reduction 10/ Divine Assassin's alignment	5	5	5	5	4	2	—
9th	+9/+4	+5	+10	+10	Improved Pain Resistance, +5d6 more to existing sneak attack	5	5	5	5	5	3	1
10th	+10/+5	+6	+11	+11	Bonus Feat, Weapons of Divine Darkness	5	5	5	5	5	4	2
Class Skills (8 + Int modifier per level) Class Skills: The Divine Assassin’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Hide (Dex), Knowledge (religion) (Int), and Move Silently (Dex).

Class Features

The Divine Assassin is a deadly fighter that specializes in landing sneak attacks on her targets.

All of the following are class features of the Divine Assassin.

Spellcasting: At 1st level, the Divine Assassin gains access to divine spell casting. Each level thereafter increases her caster level and grants her new spells known and spells per day. If she had any levels in Cleric, these increases to spell progression instead act as increases to her pre-existing spell casting class.

She casts divine spells, which are drawn from from the cleric spell list. She must prepare her spells in advance (See below).

Spells: To cast a particular spell, the Divine Assassin must have a Charisma score of at least 10 + the spell's level. Saves to avoid the effects of her spells have a DC of 10 + the spell's level + her Charisma bonus (if any).

Like other spellcasters, a Divine Assassin can only cast a certain number of spells per day. Her base daily spell allotment is given on Table: The Divine Assassin. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Charisma score.

Divine Assassins meditate or pray for their spells. Each Divine Assassin must choose a time at which she must spend 1 hour each day in quiet contemplation or supplication to regain her daily allotment of spells. Time spent resting has no effect on whether a Divine Assassin can prepare spells. A Divine Assassin may prepare and cast any spell on the Cleric spell list, provided that she can cast spells of that level, but she must choose which spells to prepare during her daily meditation.

Bonus Feats (Ex): At 1st level, and every 3 levels thereafter (4th, 7th, 10th), a Divine Assassin gains a bonus feat, which can be any feat, as long as she meets the prerequisites.

These bonus feats are in addition to the feats that a character of any class gets from advancing levels.

Divination (Su): The Divine Assassin can use her connection to the divine to see beyond what can normally be seen. Once per day, the Divine Assassin can see beyond what can be seen with the naked eye. She can choose to gain the effects of True Seeing, as per the spell, using her effective Rogue level as her caster level, or the effects of Divination, using her effective Rogue level as her caster level. The Divine Assassin must take a full rest between uses of this ability.

Rogue-Like: Any levels taken in Divine Assassin are also considered Rogue levels for the purpose of determining the effective Rogue level of the character.

Divine Death Attack (Su): As long as the health of the target of a Divine Assassin's death attack is less than twice the Divine Assassin's effective Rogue level, that target is instantly killed. This effect cannot be resisted or prevented, even by creatures normally resistant to or immune to death effects.

As long as a god's divine rank is less than the effective Rogue level of the Divine Assassin, this effect applies to them the same as any other creature.

Divine Sneak Attack (Su): The sneak attack of the Divine Assassin is meant to pierce the gods themselves. Through intense training and research, she has become the perfect instrument of death. No creature is immune to the critical hits or sneak attacks of a Divine Assassin.

As long as the god's divine rank is less than the effective Rogue level of the Divine Assassin, they can be damaged normally by the Divine Assassin. All damage dealt by the Divine Assassin is considered epic damage for the purpose of bypassing a god's damage reductions, and they will be damaged by any critical hits or sneak attacks from the Divine Assassin, regardless of immunities.

Her mastery over sneak attacks only increases as she levels up. At 3rd level, and every two levels thereafter (5th, 7th, 9th), the Divine Assassin adds 5d6 to her pre-existing sneak attack dice.

Damage Reduction (Ex): The blessing of her divine magic has granted the Divine Assassin's body a natural resistance to damage, resulting in a damage reduction of 5, which is only bypassed by damage of the same alignment as the Divine Assassin. At level 8, this damage reduction increases to 10.

Pain Resistance (Su): As the Divine Assassin trains, her body builds up a natural tolerance to pain and shock. When the Divine Assassin reaches 0 hit points, she can choose to stay conscious. If she chooses not to do so, she will fall unconscious regularly at 0 health. Once she reaches negative half of her constitution score, she falls unconscious. She gets two opportunities per round to stabilize once she is bleeding out.

Divine Resistances (Su): The blessing of her divine patronage grants the Divine Assassin a hardy body, resistant to many things. She gains her Charisma modifier to her saving throws, and adds her Charisma modifier to her armor class (to a maximum of 10).

Improved Pain Resistance (Su): The Divine Assassin's training has rewarded her with a near immunity to pain. She can now stay alive until her health reaches negative 2 times her Constitution, and can choose to stay awake until her full Constitution score before falling unconscious. She immediately stabilizes upon starting to bleed out.

Weapons of Divine Darkness (Su): Once the Divine Assassin has reached the pinnacle of her training, she can use her connection to the divine energy of her patron to manifest weapons out of divine light, with darkness at their core. These weapons are considered aligned against either good or evil, chosen at the time of manifesting the weapon. The Divine Assassin must have Weapon Focus with any weapon that they attempt to manifest in this way. Manifesting a weapon is an instant action, and any number of weapons can be summoned at the same time.

The weapon can, at will, shed light in a 30 ft. radius, and shed dim light for an additional 30 ft. This is considered to be an effect similar to the Daylight spell, and can weaken enemies with light sensitivity. The wielder is immune to this effect, even if they are sensitive to light themselves. It is a free action to activate this ability.

The weapons are considered to be magical, and have an enchantment bonus of +6. The weapon does untyped damage, but is considered both radiant damage and alignment damage (the same alignment as the Divine Assassin) for the purpose of bypassing damage reductions and for exploiting weaknesses. The weapons are made of pure divine energy, and are therefore immune to anti-magic, sunder attacks, and dispel effects.

These weapons can be manifested a number of minutes per day equal to the Divine Assassin's effective Rogue level times their Charisma modifier. These minutes do not have to be used consecutively, but banishing a weapon early does not stop the rest of the minute from being used. Multiple weapons can be summoned at the same time, but if more than one weapon is summoned at the same time, the cost in minutes is doubled while they are in use. Any weapons beyond the second do not increase this cost further. Three throwing knives, for example, would still only double the time cost of this ability.

Campaign Information

Playing a Divine Assassin

Combat: A Divine Assassin will look for the perfect position to flank her opponents so she can deal her sneak attack damage. All the while, she will be sizing up her opponents to figure out if any are worth assassinating outright.

Advancement: A Divine Assassin will typically look for classes that compliment either her divine spell casting, her rogue-like abilities, or both. Good pairings include, but are not limited to, Shadowdancer, Armored Cleric, and Master Assassin.

Resources: Many organizations seek to have Divine Assassins in their ranks. They are infamous, deadly, and ruthlessly efficient. A Divine Assassin can depend on a solid stream of work no matter what city or backwater town she travels through.

Divine Assassins in the World

Divine Assassins are a rare breed, and are not found often in the world. Where they are found, death is sure to follow.

“	"You are a target. King, Emperor, God, they are all the same to me. They all bleed, they all die. You will be no different.	”
—Malacor, Drow, Divine Assassin

NPC Reactions: Due to their infamous reputations, many knowledgeable NPC's know who a Divine Assassin is just by their appearance. Their presence often evokes fear and respect from those who recognize them.

Divine Assassin Lore

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (religion) can research Divine Assassins to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.

DC	Result
11	Divine Assassins are far more deadly than their arcane or normal counterparts.
16	It is said that a Divine Assassin can pierce the flesh of even the gods themselves.
21	Very few Divine Assassins exist, so seeing one often means that you are too close to their target, and should run.
26	Some Divine Assassins have achieved godhood in their quest to become deadly enough to kill gods.

Divine Assassins in the Game

PC: Whether they aim to use their skills to serve a god, seek vengeance against the gods, or seek to become a god themselves, Divine Assassins use the powers of gods to train to become powerful enough to kill them.

NPC: Often edgy and mysterious, these powerful assassins keep to the shadows. If a party meets one of these, it is often by sheer luck or misfortune. Depending on the goals of the Divine Assassin, an encounter with one of these potent combatants can go very well, or very, very poorly.

Adaptation: In campaigns where interactions with gods are plentiful, the party may run into a Divine Assassin, whether they are serving a god, hunting a god, or hunting the party.

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