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Archpriest of Wee Jas Prestige Class
Posted on Sat, January 07, 2006 by Dongul
Nellisir writes "Archpriests are the favored servants of Wee Jas, powerful characters that command a powerful synthesis of arcane and divine magic. It is not a path for the weak or doubtful – the Lady of Book and Bone presents hard tests to anyone seeking her favor – but the rewards are great for those strong enough to endure.

Archpriest of Wee Jas
By: Nellisir
Posted with permission. Do not repost without obtaining prior permission from the author.

Archpriests are the favored servants of Wee Jas, powerful characters that command a powerful synthesis of arcane and divine magic. It is not a path for the weak or doubtful – the Lady of Book and Bone presents hard tests to anyone seeking her favor – but the rewards are great for those strong enough to endure.

Archpriests that reach the higher ranks usually become leaders in the church of the Dark-Eyed Goddess. At lower levels, many archpriests curry their goddess’s favor by seeking out or creating powerful magic items and magical lore. Others seek out unique undead, persuading them to pledge allegiance to Wee Jas, or else destroying them.

Most archpriests are cleric/wizards or cleric/necromancers. Fewer are cleric/sorcerers, and there are no more than two currently known cleric/bards seeking the higher ranks of the archpriests. There are no druidic archpriests of Wee Jas.
Hit Die: d4.

Requirements
To qualify to become an archpriest of Wee Jas, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria.
Skills: Knowledge (arcana) 13 ranks, Knowledge (undead) 13 ranks.
Feats: Extra Turning, Improved Turning, any two Item Creation feats.
Spellcasting: Ability to cast 4th-level divine spells; Ability to cast 2nd-level arcane spells.
Special: Ability to rebuke undead; Lawful Neutral or Lawful Evil alignment; Archpriests must have Wee Jas as their patron deity.
Class Skills
The archpriest’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Knowledge (undead) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int). See Chapter 4: Skills in the Player’s Handbook for skill descriptions.
Skill Points at Each Level: 2+ Int modifier.

Table 1-1: The Archpriest of Wee Jas
Level
Base
Attack
Bonus
Fort
Ref
Will
Special
Spells per Day
1
+0

+0

+0

+2

Divine Lore

+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
2
+1

+0

+0

+3


+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class/

+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
3
+1

+1

+1

+3

Voice of the Dead

+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
4
+2

+1

+1

+4


+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class/

+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
5
+2

+1

+1

+4

Lady of the Book

+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
6
+3

+2

+2

+5


+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class/

+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
7
+3

+2

+2

+5

Lady of the Bone

+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
8
+4

+2

+2

+6


+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class/

+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
9
+4

+3

+3

+6

Arcane Versatility

+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
10
+5

+3

+3

+7

Eyes of the Taker

+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class/

+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class

Class Features
All the following are features of the archpriest prestige class.

Weapons and Armor Proficiency: Archpriests gain no proficiency with any weapon, armor, or shield.

Spells per Day: Archpriests gain new divine spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) every level, as if she had also gained a level in a spellcasting class to which she belonged before adding the prestige class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (improved chance of turning or rebuking undead, metamagic or item creation feats, or the like). If the character had more than one divine spellcasting class before becoming an archpriest, the player must decide to which class to add each archpriest level for the purpose of determining spells per day, spells known, and overall caster level.

Archpriests gain new arcane spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) at every other level, as if she had also gained a level in a spellcasting class to which she belonged before adding the prestige class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (improved chance of turning or rebuking undead, metamagic or item creation feats, or the like). If the character had more than one divine spellcasting class before becoming an archpriest, the player must decide to which class to add each archpriest level for the purpose of determining spells per day, spells known, and overall caster level.

Divine Lore: The archpriest may choose a new domain from Wee Jas’s available domains. The archpriest recieves the domain’s granted power and may choose the domain’s spells as granted spells. (The archpriest now has three choices each level for domain spells instead of two.)

Archpriests also add their archpriest levels to their cleric levels to determine the level of effect of any domain granted power.

Voice of the Dead: Archpriests can telepathically communicate with any undead within 60 feet.

Lady of the Book: At 5th level the archpriest gains a +3 bonus to her Knowledge (arcana) skill.

Lady of the Bone: At 7th level the archpriest gains a +3 bonus to her Knowledge (undead) skill.

Arcane Versatility: At 9th level the archpriest can choose to cast any arcane spell she knows using a domain spell slot of the same or higher level. The spell must be prepared ahead of time, as per a normal domain spell, regardless of how the archpriest traditionally casts arcane spells.

Eyes of the Taker: The archpriest, through long association with Wee Jas and her servants, transcends her mortal form and becomes an outsider. Her type changes to Outsider [Native], which means she acquires some immunities and vulnerabilities based on her type (see below). As a free action she can ward herself with a protection from chaos/good spell. (She chooses which form to have when she gains the transcendence power and cannot change it thereafter.)

Upon transcending, the pupils of the archpriest’s eyes become black, and her pupils change to resemble bone-white skulls. All worshippers of Wee Jas, including her outsider servants, immediately recognize her transcendent nature, and she gains a +2 bonus on all Charisma-based skill and ability checks in regard to these creatures.

As a native outsider, the archpriest is affected differently by several types of spells.

First, spells that affect only Humanoids (charm person, dominate person) have no effect on the archpriest.

Second, spells and effects that are targetted at outsiders are more likely to affect the character. A spell that drives outsiders back to their home plane does not affect an archpriest on the Prime Material Plane, but banishment -- a spell that removes outsiders from the caster’s home plane without specifying a return to outsider’s native plane – would work just fine.

Finally, archpriests can be raised or resurrected on the Prime Material Plane.
"
 
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Re: Archpriest of Wee Jas Prestige Class (Score: 1)
by rasgon (notnotallowedyet@hotmail.com) on Sat, January 07, 2006
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"Upon transcending, the pupils of the archpriest’s eyes become black, and her pupils change to resemble bone-white skulls. All worshippers of Wee Jas, including her outsider servants, immediately recognize her transcendent nature, and she gains a +2 bonus on all Charisma-based skill and ability checks in regard to these creatures."

I assume you meant her irises turn black.

There are some charisma-based skills that shouldn't get bonuses because the character was recognized as a transcendent being. Disguise seems an obvious exception, for example.



Re: Archpriest of Wee Jas Prestige Class (Score: 1)
by Nellisir (nellisir at comcast.net) on Mon, January 09, 2006
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good call on both counts.


]


Re: Archpriest of Wee Jas Prestige Class (Score: 1)
by obi_wan_shinobi on Tue, January 10, 2006
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knowledge (undead) is not a skill in 3.5. Knowledge (religion) encompasses that skill.

i would also put divine lore at a higher level. other than the transcendance (which wouldnt happen till at least 20th level) this is really the only power the class gets and right now with a 1 level dip, i get the main power.

Arcane versatility, as written, allows the Archpriest to cast 1 extra arcane spell per day, not very powerful for a 9th level class ability one wouldnt get until 19th character level.

on the tranference ability, this doesnt seem like something one would like to gain at 20th level. by that time one could have spells, feats, magic items, etc that do the same things. the ability to cast protection from goo/evil isnt very strong nor is the limited +2 bonus to Cha checks.

also the losing out of 4 levels of arcane spell casting level hurt too.

i understand the flavor of the prestige class you were going for, but mechanically, it is very weak and I would not take it, unless there were STRONG RP reasons for my charatcer to do so. and even then, one could find better ways to have the same end result.



Re: Archpriest of Wee Jas Prestige Class (Score: 1)
by Vormaerin on Tue, January 10, 2006
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Umm, how are you losing out on 4 levels of arcane casting ability?   You get more spellcasting ability with the prestige class than you could get through normal casting class development.    A lvl 20 cleric/wizard would cast at lvl 10/lvl 10 (assuming they split evenly).   A Cleric5/Wizard5/Archpriest 10 would cast at lvl 15 and lvl 10 respectively.   That is the main power of this class.

As far as the relative power of the remaining abilities, what are you comparing them to? They seem quite a bit better than anything you could get with the standard classes.  I'm sure there are plenty of ultra sick PrCs out there (power escalation seems to be their current purpose, not any sort of RP reward as originally intended), but that doesn't mean one needs to make all PrCs into such travesties.

This class compares quite favorably to other GH specific PrCs like the Silent Ones.


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Re: Archpriest of Wee Jas Prestige Class (Score: 1)
by Nellisir (nellisir at comcast.net) on Wed, January 11, 2006
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Obi - Thanks for your input!

Taking the minimum requirements, as a 20th level character you cast as a 17th level cleric/8th level wizard.  I think that compares favorably with the mystic theurge.  You're only 3 levels behind a single-class cleric in terms of spellcasting power, and you've got 8 levels of wizard to draw on.  Your hit points are weaker, but your skills are equal.

Whether or not transcendence is "worthwhile" probably depends on your playing style.  Blanket immunity to "humanoid" spells is probably achievable via spells & items, as you said -- or you can get it as a class feature and spend the gp/xp/spellslots on something fun, like a decanter of endless ale.

Arcane versatility gives you 1 extra arcane spell PER SPELL LEVEL per day.  You get a domain spell at every level.  One bonus spell might be weak, but 9 ought to be worth something.  You can replace a domain spell with an arcane spell of equal or lower power, so that's potentially 1 1st-level spell, 1 2nd-level spell, 1-3rd level spell, and 6 4th-level spells.

Book & Bone are equivalent to feats, or slightly better -- as unnamed bonuses, they stack with everything, including skill focus.

You're right, Knowledge (undead) should be Knowledge (religion).


]


Re: Archpriest of Wee Jas Prestige Class (Score: 1)
by Nellisir (nellisir at comcast.net) on Wed, January 11, 2006
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Also, I'm not sure where you're "losing out of" 4 arcane spellcasting levels.  You can qualify as a 3rd-level wizard, and you gain 5 arcane spellcasting levels as an archpriest, for a total of 8.

If you really want to make it more powerful, allow undead turning/rebuking to stack with cleric levels.  If you want to break it, allow all archpriest levels to stack with arcane caster levels for purposes of damage dice, range, etc.


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