Divine Commander (3.5e Class)

Divine Commander

A Divine Commander is a character who draws power from rebuking and commanding foes, and supporting her allies with the powers it may give. This class offers an alternative to the standard cleric, and attempts to boost the use of the rebuking ability. These are the mighty zealots of the gods.

Making a Divine Commander

Abilities: Charisma is the primary ability for a Divine Commander, as their main power is drawn from rebuking and commanding certain foes, while Constitution allows the Divine commander to stay alive.

Races: Any

Alignment: Within one step of patron deity's alignment

Starting Gold: 4d6 x 5

Starting Age: Complex

Table: The Divine Commander

Hit Die: d8

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+0	+2	+0	+2	Foe 1, Additional Rebuking, Bonus Feat, Divine Emulation, Domain
2nd	+1	+3	+0	+3	Domain
3rd	+2	+3	+1	+3
4th	+3	+4	+1	+4	Domain
5th	+3	+4	+1	+4	Foe 2
6th	+4	+5	+2	+5	Bonus Feat
7th	+5	+5	+2	+5	Domain, Divine Power 1/day
8th	+6/+1	+6	+2	+6
9th	+6/+1	+6	+3	+6	Bonus Feat
10th	+7/+2	+7	+3	+7	Foe 3
11th	+8/+3	+7	+3	+7	Domain
12th	+9/+4	+8	+4	+8	Bonus Feat
13th	+9/+4	+8	+4	+8	Divine Power 2/day
14th	+10/+5	+9	+4	+9	Domain
15th	+11/+6/+1	+9	+5	+9	Foe 4
16th	+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+10
17th	+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+10	Domain
18th	+13/+8/+3	+11	+6	+11	Bonus Feat
19th	+14/+9/+4	+11	+6	+11	Divine Power 3/day
20th	+15/+10/+5	+12	+6	+12	Foe 5
Class Skills (2 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (Arcana) (Int), Knowledge (Local) (Int), Knowledge (Religion) (Int), Ride (Dex), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int)

Class Features

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

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Divine Commander is proficient with all simple weapons, light, medium, and heavy armors, and with shields (except tower shields).

Turn or Rebuke Foes (Su): A Divine Commander draws her divine power from terrorizing or awing certain foes. This turning or rebuking is identical to a cleric tunring or rebuking undead. Just as an evil cleric can, a Divine Commander may bolster her commanded foes in an identical way. Like clerics, Divine Commanders need to show a holy symbol to perform this action. She must have a full night's rest, just as a normal cleric, to obtain her rebuking, and she must pray to her deity or meditate on her philosophies for 1 hour to be granted her rebuking attempts for the day.

A Divine Commander at 1st level starts with a number of Turn/Rebuke attempts equal to 3+ their Charisma modifier.

At level 1, a Divine Commander selects a foe that she may turn or rebuke from the table below.

Table: Divine Commander Foes

Type (Subtype)	Type (Subtype)
Aberration	Outsider (Evil)
Animal	Outsider (Fire)
Construct	Outsider (Good)
Elemental	Outsider (Lawful)
Magical beast	Outsider (Native)
Ooze	Outsider (Water)
Outsider (Air)	Plant
Outsider (Chaotic)	Undead
Outsider (Earth)	Vermin

At level 5, and every 5 levels after, the Divine Commander may select an extra foe to turn or rebuke. A Divine Commander can forgo one of her bonus feats (see below), to choose an extra foe to turn or rebuke. She can only do this once.

All turning attempts are drawn from the same pool of rebuke attempts gained from this class. (Example: A level 5 Divine Commander with a Charisma of 17 has a pool of 22 rebuke attempts, and has selected plants and undead as her foes that she may turn. She may turn plants and undead a collective total of 22 times per day.)

Additional Turning: At level 1, a Divine Commander gains Extra Turning as a bonus feat. In addition, she gains additional attempts equal to her Charisma modifier for every Divine Commander class level she possesses past 1st.

Bonus Feats: At level 1, a Divine Commander gains a bonus feat. This must be a Divine feat that has the prerequisite "Ability to turn or rebuke undead," or "ability to turn or rebuke creatures," as long as she meets the other prerequisites. (Example: a Divine Commander with a Charisma of 17 may select Divine Energy Focus (+2 CL when turning or rebuking, +2 to turning damage, +2 to turning checks) because her Charisma is 13 or higher and because it has the prerequisite "Ability to turn or rebuke undead.") If the feat has a specific creature other than undead to be rebuked as a prerequisite, she must have that creature as a chosen foe to rebuke. At 6th level and every six levels thereafter, she may select an additional divine feat.

Divine Emulation (Su): A Divine Commander may expend rebuking attempts to emulate cleric spells. In order to perform an emulation, a Divine Commander must have a Charisma score equal to 10 + the emulated spell's level. To emulate a spell, she must expend a number of rebuking attempts equal to the effective level of the spell. The Difficulty Class for a Divine Commander emulation is 10 + emulated spell's level + Divine Commander's Charisma modifier. Her caster level equals her Divine Commander level.

A Divine Commander only knows the spells from her selected domains. She need not prepare them. (However, when she prays or meditates for her rebuking abilities, she is granted her emulation powers for the day.) In addition, a Divine Commander may use this ability to qualify for feats and prestige classes. She counts as a spontaneous divine caster and a cleric of her Divine Commander class level.

The Divine Commander may emulate cleric spells in the following progression:

Table: Divine Commander Emulation Progression

Divine Commander Level	Spell Level
1	1
3	2
5	3
7	4
9	5
11	6
13	7
15	8
17	9

A Divine Commander still faces alignment restrictions on certain emulated spells. She also must pay any material components or focuses, as well as XP costs for certain spells. If a Divine Commander emulates a spell while in a threatened square, she must do so defensively, just as any other caster. All verbal and somatic components of the the emulated spell apply to the emulation.

Like other casters, a Divine Commander is limited on how many metamagic feats she can apply to an emulation. She may not spend more rebuking attempts than the highest level of spell she may emulate. For example, a level 9 Divine Commander may apply Maximize Spell to any emulation of 1st level or lower, because she only know up to level 5 emulations. Therefore, Maximizing a cure light wounds would cost 5 rebuking attempts: level of the spell (1) + Maximized spell (3) = 1+1+3=5.

A Divine Commander cannot take Divine Metamagic.

Domain (Su): At levels 1, 2, 5, 7, 11, 17 a Divine Commander is granted a domain by her patron deity. She gains all the powers of this domain, and may emulate the spells of the domain by expending a number of rebuking attempts equal to the the spell's level. Should the domain grant her a turning or rebuking ability, she adds the additional attempts to her turning or rebuking pool.

The war domain, Death domain, Strength domain, and healing domain is open to all Divine Commanders, regardless of deity.

Should she not worship any deity, she may choose domains that match her ideals, much like a cleric

Divine Power (Sp): A 7th level Divine Commander becomes a renown warrior of her deity. Once per day, she may use Divine Power as a spell-like ability as a swift action. Her caster level equals her Divine Commander level. As the Divine Commander grows in level, she gains additional uses of this ability.

Ex-Divine Commander

A Divine Commander who grossly violates the code of ethics and practices of her god looses all her rebuking attempts, as well as her ability to channel her faith. She retains her proficiency with simple weapons, armor, and shields. She must properly atone for her sins to regain her turning attempts.

Epic Divine Commander

Table: The Epic Divine Commander

Hit Die: d8

Level	Special
21st	Bonus Feat
22nd
23rd
24th	Bonus Feat
25th	Foe 6, Divine Power 4/day
26th
27th	Bonus Feat
28th
29th
30th	Bonus Feat, Foe 7
2 + Int modifier skill points per level.

Bonus Feat: At levels 21, 24, 27, and 30, a Divine Commander gains an epic feat that has the prerequisite "Ability to turn or rebuke undead," or "ability to turn or rebuke creatures," as long as she meets the other prerequisites. Alternatively, she may forgo these feats and take extra foes to rebuke (one foe per feat).

The epic Divine Commander bonus feat list includes all Epic Cleric Bonus Feats as well, minus Planar Turning.

Rebuke Foes: At level 25, and every 5 levels after, the Divine Commander may select an extra foe to rebuke.

Human Divine Commander Starting Package

Weapons: Heavy Mace.

Skill Selection: Pick a number of skills equal to 3 + Int modifier.

Skill	Ranks	Ability	Armor Check Penalty
Concentration	4	CON	-
Craft	4	INT	-
Diplomacy	4	CHA	-
Heal	4	WIS	-
Knowledge (Arcana)	4	INT	-
Knowledge (Local)	4	INT	-
Knowledge (Religion)	4	INT	-
Ride	4	DEX	-
Profession	4	WIS	-
Spellcraft	4	INT	-

Feat: Divine Cleansing

Bonus Feats: Divine Energy Focus (Class), Divine Resistance (Race)

Gear: Scale Mail, Heavy Shield, Holy Symbol, 1 day's trail rations

Gold: 1d4gp

Campaign Information

Playing a Divine Commander

Religion: Divine Commanders worship cleric deities of their choice, just as a cleric does.

Other Classes: Divine Commanders get along well with most Clerics, Paladins, and other religious classes, especially if they share the same deity. In fact, some Clerics may envy the Divine Commander's mastery over certain foes.

Combat: Divine Commanders control the flow of battle by bolstering their allies and commanding foes. They are more restricted in their casting, but may offer an alternative healer for a party who would prefer a charismatic healer over a wise one.

A common tactic for Divine Commander who wishes to participate in combat is to emulate divine power and attack foes on the front lines. This way, they are close to their allies, in the event they need healing.

It should be noted that a Divine Commander is not an ideal caster, and should not spend emulations on spells unless necessary.

Advancement: A Divine Commander typically devotes herself to learning and mastering the Divine Commander class. Nonetheless, A Divine Commander may pursue cleric prestige classes.

Divine Commanders in the World

"You. Are. Mine."

Daily Life: Divine Commanders make their livings as priests, healers, or scholars. In addition, they may be military tacticians in a militaristic society.

Organizations: Churches hold many Divine Commanders, as do military barracks. They are typically seen as war priests in societies.

NPC Reactions: NPCs typically treat Divine Commanders in a similar regard to clerics.

Divine Commander Lore

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

Knowledge (Religion)

DC	Result
5	Divine Commanders carry holy symbols.
10	Divine Commanders Turn or Rebuke certain chosen foes.
15	Some Divine Commanders can emulate spells cast by clerics.
20	Powerful Divine Commanders are granted a Domain by their deity.

Divine Commanders in the Game

Adaptation: Adapt this class as needed. Feel free to add and subtract in your own game, but please leave this page as is. Ask me questions on the discussion page, or my profile page: --Thayer (talk) 08:55, 19 February 2014 (MST). Thank you very much.

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