Untitled

BLIGHTER
When a druid turns away from the land, the land turns
away from her. Some ex-druids make peace with this
change; others seek to restore the bond. A few, however,
actually embrace their disconnection from nature and
become forces of destruction. These few, called blighters,
leave their mark wherever they tread.
A blighter gains her spellcasting ability by stripping
the earth of life. A swath of deforested land always marks
her path through the wilderness.
The vast majority of blighters are nomadic
loners constantly in search
of green lands to destroy. Some
are grim; others laugh at the destruction
they wreak. Almost all,
however, are friendless and
mad. What puts them over the
edge is the knowledge that nature
gets the last laugh: To gain their
spells, they must seek out the
richest forests of the land, even
if it’s only to destroy them.
Thus, even though they’ve
turned away from nature, they
must constantly return to it.
Only human ex-druids
seem attracted in any number
to the blighter’s path.
Legends say that a few elven
druids have also turned to
destruction over the millennia—
a terrifying prospect
given how much land they
could destroy in their long
lifetimes.
Hit Die: d8.
Requirements
To qualify as a blighter, a
character must fulfill the
following criteria.
Alignment: Any nongood.
Special: The character must be an ex-druid previously
capable of casting 3rd-level druid spells.
Class Skills
The blighter’s class skills (and the key ability for each
skill) are Animal Empathy (Cha), Concentration (Con),
Craft (any) (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha),
Heal (Wis), Intuit Direction (Wis), Knowledge (nature)
(Int), Profession (herbalist) (Wis), Scry (Int), Spellcraft
(Int), Swim (Str), and Wilderness Lore (Wis). See Chapter
4 of the Player’s Handbook for skill descriptions.
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Class Features
The following are class features of the blighter prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Blighters gain no
weapon or armor proficiencies.
Spells per Day: At each
blighter level, the character
gains spells per day according
to Table 5–3. She does not,
however, gain any other benefit
that a druid of that level
would have gained. She must
choose her spells from the blighter
spell list, below. The blighter’s caster
level is equal to her blighter level plus
her druid level.
The blighter gains access
to her daily spells
through deforestation
(see below). If she
goes more than 24
hours without
deforesting a
wooded area,
she cannot cast
spells until she
does so.
The default divine
focus for any spell cast
by a blighter is a desiccated
sprig of holly or
CHAPTER 5: PRESTIGE CLASSES
48
Table 5–3: The Blighter
Class Base Fort Ref Will Spells per Day
Level Attack Bonus Save Save Save Special 0 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
1st +0 +2 +0 +2 Deforestation 2 1 0 – – – –
2nd +1 +3 +0 +3 Burning hands, sustenance 2 2 1 0 – – –
3rd +2 +3 +1 +3 Undead wild shape 1/day 3 2 2 0 – – –
4th +3 +4 +1 +4 Speak with dead animal, 3 3 2 1 0 – –
undead wild shape 2/day
5th +3 +4 +1 +4 Contagious touch 1/day, 4 3 3 2 0 – –
undead wild shape (Large)
6th +4 +5 +2 +5 Animate dead animal, 4 4 3 3 1 0 –
undead wild shape 3/day
7th +5 +5 +2 +5 Contagious touch 2/day, 5 4 4 3 2 0 –
undead wild shape (incorporeal)
8th +6 +6 +2 +6 Unbond, undead wild shape 4/day 5 5 4 4 2 1 0
9th +6 +6 +3 +6 Contagious touch 3/day, 6 5 5 4 3 2 1
undead wild shape (Huge)
10th +7 +7 +3 +7 Plague, undead wild shape 5/day 6 6 5 5 3 2 2
mistletoe. Any material component for a blighter’s spell
must have been dead for at least a day before use.
Deforestation (Sp): Beginning at 1st level, the blighter
can kill all nonsentient plant life within a radius of 50 feet
per blighter level as a full-round action once per day. If a
potentially affected plant is under the control of another
(such as a druid’s liveoak or a dryad’s home tree), the controller
can make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + blighter level +
blighter’s Wisdom bonus) to keep it alive. Affected plants
immediately cease photosynthesis, root tapping, and all
other methods of sustenance. Like picked flowers, they
appear vibrant for several hours, but within a day, they
turn brown and wither. Except for plants saved by a controller,
nothing can grow in a deforested area until it has
a hallow spell cast upon it and it is reseeded.
Deforestation enables the blighter to cast her daily allotment
of spells. This ability works in any terrain, but deforesting
a sandy desert, ice floe, or other environment
with only sparse vegetation does not empower the character
to cast spells.
Burning Hands (Su): This ability, gained at 2nd level,
functions like the burning hands spell, except that the
blighter can use it as often as desired, turning it on or off
as a move-equivalent action, and it does 1d4 points of fire
damage per round.
Sustenance (Ex): At 2nd level, the blighter no longer
needs food or water to survive.
Undead Wild Shape (Sp): At 3rd level, the blighter regains
a version of the wild shape ability. Undead wild shape
functions like wild shape, except that the forms available
are those of undead creatures (specifically skeletons) formerly
of the animal type. A skeletal animal has the statistics
of a skeleton of the appropriate animal’s size
category (see the skeleton entry in the Monster Manual).
The blighter gains one extra use per day of this ability
for every two additional blighter levels she acquires. In
addition, she gains the ability to take the shape of a Large
skeletal animal at 5th level, an incorporeal skeletal
animal (see Incorporeality in Chapter 3 of the DUNGEON
MASTER’s Guide) at 7th level, and a Huge skeletal animal at
9th level.
Speak with Dead Animal (Sp): At 4th level, the blighter
can converse with dead animals. This ability functions
like a speak with dead spell cast by a cleric of a level equal
to the total of the character’s druid and blighter levels,
except that it affects only corpses of animal creatures. It
is usable once per day.
Contagious Touch (Su): At 5th level, the blighter can
produce an effect like that of a contagious touch spell once
per day. She gains 1 extra use per day of this ability for
every two additional blighter levels she acquires.
Animate Dead Animal (Sp): This ability, gained at 6th
level, functions like an animate dead spell, except that it
affects only corpses of animal creatures and requires no
material component. It is usable once per day.
Unbond (Sp): At 8th level, the blighter can temporarily
separate a bonded animal or magical beast (such as an
animal companion, familiar, or mount) from its master
once per day. The target creature must be within 40 feet
of both its master and the blighter. If the master fails a
Will save (DC 10 + blighter level + blighter’s Wisdom
modifier), the bond terminates as if the servitor had died,
though this does not cause experience loss in the case of
a familiar. Normally hostile creatures attack their masters
but are otherwise unaffected. The bond returns after
5 rounds per blighter level, restoring all benefits. Alternatively,
the master can regain the servitor through the
normal methods of acquisition.
Plague (Su): At 10th level, the blighter can spread disease
over a large area. This ability functions like the contagious
touch ability, except that no attack roll is required
and it affects all targets the blighter designates within a
20-foot radius. Plague is usable once per day and costs
one daily use of the contagious touch ability.
Blighter Spell List
Blighters choose their spells from the following list.
0 level—darkseed*, detect magic, detect poison, flare, ghost
sound, inflict minor wounds, read magic.
1st level—bane, burning hands, curse water, decomposition*,
detect undead, doom, endure elements, inflict light
wounds, invisibility to animals, ray of enfeeblement.
2nd level—chill metal, chill touch, darkness, death knell,
fire trap, flaming sphere, heat metal, inflict moderate wounds,
miasma*, produce flame, resist elements, warp wood.
3rd level—contagion, deeper darkness, desecrate, diminish
plants, dispel magic, inflict serious wounds, poison, protection
from elements, stinking cloud, vampiric touch.
4th level—antiplant shell, animate dead, blight*, death
ward, flame strike, inflict critical wounds, kiss of death*, languor*,
repel vermin, rusting grasp, transmute mud to rock,
transmute rock to mud, unhallow, wall of fire.
5th level—acid fog, antilife shell, circle of death, contagious
touch*, create undead, firestorm, forbiddance, greater dispelling,
protection from all elements*, repel wood.
6th level—antipathy, control undead, earthquake, epidemic*,
finger of death, foresight, horrid wilting, invulnerability
to elements*.
*New spell described in Chapter 6 of this book.