Word of Undeath (3.5e Prestige Class)

The Word of Undeath

“	What purpose is having tremendous amounts of power over the world if one does not use it to make the world into a tyrannical dictatorship controlled only by you?	”
—Tabiris, Awakened Ooze Mystic Theurge

The Word of Undeath specializes in the art of using word magic to slaughter and immediately reanimate her enemies.

Becoming a Word of Undeath

Words of Undeath are people who have acquired a great deal of word magic and wish to animate an army of undead with it.

Entry Requirements

Alignment:	Any nongood.
Skills:	Craft (Eulogy) 8 ranks.
Feats:	Skill Focus (Craft (Eulogy)).
Spellcasting:	Know the Death spell word. Have a caster level of at least 5.
Special:	Must have won a bloody battle with no survivors on either side other than herself.

Table: The Word of Undeath

Hit Die: d6

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Words per Day/Words Known
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Death to All	+1 level of existing class
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Death is Cheap
3rd	+2	+1	+1	+3	Necromantic Death, Unliving Words	+1 level of existing class
Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Concentration (Con), Craft (Any word-related) (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Listen (Wis), Speak Language (None), Spellcraft (Int).

Class Features

Spellcasting: At every level except 2nd, you gain new words per day, words known, and an increase in caster level as if you had also gained a level in a wordcasting class to which you belonged before adding the prestige class level. You do not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If you had more than one wordcasting class before becoming a Word of Undeath, you must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining words per day, caster level, and words known.

Death to All (Su): At level 1, the Word of Undeath gains the ability to spend three words as a standard action to deal 1 damage to every creature with 0 or less health within 500 feet. All stabilized creatures damaged in this way become dying.

Death is Cheap (Su): At level 2, spells with Death in them cost the Word of Undeath one fewer word for every three instances of Death in them.

Necromantic Death (Su): At level 3, if the Word of Undeath deals an amount of negative energy damage to a corpse that is equal to or greater than the number of hit points it would have as a Skeleton, it is immediately animated as though by the Animate Dead spell.

Unliving Words (Su): At level 3, the Word of Undeath may choose to reduce the DC of any spell she casts by the number of instances of Death in it. If she does so, the spell cannot reduce the hit points of any target.

Ex-Words of Undeath

Characters may not continue leveling up in Word of Undeath if they are good. Also, animating the dead is generally considered to be an evil act.

Campaign Information

Playing a Word of Undeath

Combat: The Word of Undeath is a powerful necromancer.

Advancement: Words of Undeath may consider gaining levels in Wordsman.

Resources: Necromancers are appreciated by almost nobody. However, any corpse is a resource.

Words of Undeath in the World

“

So many dead. It is truly fortunate that I managed to distract Iridibast with a skeletal owlbear.

”

Words of Undeath gain the ability to continuously animate the dead by their 3rd level, and often find occupations satisfying that ability.

NPC Reactions: Most NPCs are afraid to not be cordial with people who can turn other people into skeletons in a matter of seconds.

Word of Undeath Lore

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

Knowledge (Arcana)

DC	Result
11	Words of Undeath can make dying people die faster.
16	Words of Undeath specialize at throwing the Death spell word about.
21	Words of Undeath are only somewhat better against living targets than ordinary Wordmasters and Word Wizards.

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