Canonfire! - Blackskulls of Iuz

Of all the servants of Iuz the Old, few are more feared than the Blackskulls: an order of elite priests and priestesses. Chosen through a terrifying ordeal of torture, fasting and spellcasting displays, the Blackskulls are among the most sadistic, cruel, and powerful members of Iuz’s army.

Author: Epoch

Blackskulls of Iuz

by Epoch
Used with Permission. Do not repost without obtaining prior permission from the author.

Of all the servants of Iuz the Old, few are more feared than the Blackskulls: an order of elite priests and priestesses. Chosen through a terrifying ordeal of torture, fasting and spellcasting displays, the Blackskulls are among the most sadistic, cruel, and powerful members of Iuz’s army. Not all of the members of the Boneheart and Boneshadow (Iuz’s top servants and henchmen) are Blackskulls, but many of them are, and the painted black skull that serves as their symbol marks them as men and women to be feared and obeyed at all times.

Blackskulls are most frequently clerics and blackguards of Iuz. Evil rangers sometimes serve the Old One and can qualify for this class. Druids of Iuz, however, are very rare, as Iuz’s disrepect and exploitations of nature are legendary. Iuz also favors wizard/clerics and sorcerer/clerics for their spellcasting powers. It’s nearly impossible for classes who don’t have divine spells to become Blackskulls.

Hit dice: d8

Requirements: to become a Blackskull, a character must meet all of the following requirements.
Alignment: any evil
Spellcasting: ability to cast 3rd level divine spells
Knowledge (religion): 8 ranks
Spellcraft: 8 ranks
Feats: any metamagic feat
Special: must worship and be chosen by Iuz in a special initiation ceremony.

Class skills: alchemy, concentration, craft, diplomacy, heal, intimidate, knowledge (religion), profession, scry, spellcraft

Skills points at each level: 2 + int modifier

Class features: all of the following are class features of the Blackskull prestige class

Weapon and armor proficiency: The Blackskull is proficient with all types of armor and shields, and all simple weapons. The Blackskull also receives proficiency with the greatsword (Iuz's favored weapon) if he doesn't have it already.

Spells: a Blackskull’s training focuses on divine magic. Every time a new level in Blackskull is gained, the character’s level in his existing divine spellcasting class also increases (for purposes of determining caster level and spells per day, other class abilities such as rebuking undead are not affected). For example: Halga, a 5th level cleric of Iuz, picks up a level of blackskull. For the purposes of caster level and spells per day, she would be treated as a 6th level cleric, but her ability to rebuke undead would only be at 5th level.

The Old One’s mark: At first level, the Blackskull receives a special tattoo and a new holy symbol (a human skull painted black) to indicate her new position. Any who worship Iuz as their patron recognize these marks, giving the Blackskull a +2 bonus to charisma-based skill checks when dealing with a follower of Iuz.

Spell power: When your patron deity is on the same plane as you, it has its advantages. At 2nd level, the Blackskull can draw on a little extra power when casting spells, adding +1 to save DCs and caster level checks to overcome spell resistance for all spells. This ability improves (but doesn’t stack) at every even level: +2 at 4th, +3 at 6, +4 at 8th, and +5 at 10th.

Spell augmentation: at 3rd level, the Blackskull can enhance her spells, using any metamagic feat she knows, on the fly. Casting a spell with this ability does not use up a higher level spell slot, but it does require a full round action to cast (or an extra full round, if the casting time is 1 round or more). This ability can be used once plus the Blackskull’s charisma modifier per day, and is considered an extraordinary ability.

Metamagic feat: at 5th and 10th levels, the Blackskull may learn a metamagic feat for free.

Dark magic focus: At 7th level, the Blackskull’s ability to cast dark magic is greatly increased. “Dark magic” includes necromancy spells and spells with the darkness descriptor. Such spells are cast as if the Blackskull were two levels higher.

Black skull ray: Once per day at 9th level, the Blackskull can use a rebuke undead attempt to deliver a beam of destructive black energy from the negative energy plane through her holy symbol. The beam automatically strikes one target within long range (400 ft + 40 feet per Blackskull level), inflicting 1d8 points of damage per character level of the Blackskull if the target is nonevil. If the target is evil, the beam only deals 1d6 points of damage per character level. If the target is undead, it is raised to maximum hit points, and receices 40 bonus “phantom” hit points which are drained before regular hit points. Additionally, the undead receives a +2 turn resistance and is hastened (as the spell) for one round per Blackskull level. Black Skull ray is a supernatural ability.

Blackskull class table

Class Level	BAB	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Spells Per Day
1	+0	+2	+0	+2	The Old One's mark	+1 level of existing class
2	+1	+3	+0	+3	spell power +1	+1 level of existing class
3	+2	+3	+1	+3	spell augmentation	+1 level of existing class
4	+3	+4	+1	+4	spell power +2	+1 level of existing class
5	+3	+4	+1	+4	metamagic feat	+1 level of existing class
6	+4	+5	+2	+5	spell power +3	+1 level of existing class
7	+5	+5	+2	+5	dark magic focus	+1 level of existing class
8	+6	+6	+2	+6	spell power +4	+1 level of existing class
9	+6	+6	+3	+6	Black skull ray	+1 level of existing class
10	+7	+7	+3	+7	spell power +5	+1 level of existing class

Prestige Class