The Ascendant Guide

Emperor Xan's picture

"Someone has to hold the hands of deities as they come into their own."

Within the ranks of the harbingers is a group dedicated to the protection and rescue of deities. The ascendant guides are the most prepared of the harbingers to deal with all of the complications associated with burgeoning divinity. From finding the ascending being to surviving their unchecked powers, the ascendant guides are the most able and ready.

Ascendant guides develop a number of resistances to energies and magic that many beings on the cusp of ascendancy have a tendency to radiate uncontrollably. In addition, they have a keener eye on spotting the divine spark than any of their rivals, such as the Athar. Few emerging deities escape their notice.

Hit Dice: d6
Requirements: Faction: The character must be a member of the believers of the Source.Base Attack Bonus: +6Skills: Sense Motive: 4 ranks, Innuendo: 4 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 4 ranksSpecial: Must serve in one of the harbinger’s safe houses attending the deity-to-be, that the character helped track for at least one monthSpells: Must be able to cast divine spells.
Skill List: The ascendant guide’s class skills (and the key ability for each) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Diplo-macy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Innuendo (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Listen, (Wis), Scry (Int), Spellcraft (Int), and Spot (Wis).
Skill points per level: 4 + Int
Armor and Weapon Profieciencies: The ascendant guide gains no proficiency with any weapon or armor.
Level BaB Fort Refl Will Special Abilities
1 0 1 1 1 1st energy resistance, Sense divinity 20 feet, +1 level of existing class
2 1 2 2 2 SR 1, +1 level of existing class
3 1 2 2 2 Divine Tutelage, Sense divinity 30 feet, +1 level of existing class
4 2 2 2 2 SR 2, +1 level of existing class
5 2 3 3 3 2nd energy resistance, Sense divinity 40 feet, +1 level of existing class
6 3 3 3 3 SR 3, +1 level of existing class
7 3 4 4 4 Improved Tutelage, Sense divinity 50 feet, +1 level of existing class
8 4 4 4 4 SR 4, +1 level of existing class
9 4 4 4 4 Ascension, Sense divinity 60 feet, +1 level of existing class
10 5 5 5 5 3rd energy resistance, SR 5, +1 level of existing class
Class Features:

Spells: The ascendant guide continues to gain spells at the rate of his old class. If more than one spellcasting class is possessed you must choose which class is advanced.

Energy Resistance: At 1st level, the ascendant guide gains resistance to one type of energy (fire, cold, etc.). The character receives a +1 to saves and reduces damage from that type of attack by the same bonus. Damage cannot be reduced below zero. At 5th and 10th levels, the ascendant guide gains another resistance. The previously selected energy types gain a +1 increase.

Sense Divinity (Ex): As a standard action, the ascendant guide can sense divine energies in a 20 ft. radius at 1st level. The radius increases by 10 feet every odd level.

Spell Resistance: Prolonged exposure to the ascending beings gives the ascendant guide a stronger resistance to magical energies. At 2nd level, the ascendant guide gains a +1 Spell Resistance. This resistance increases by 1 every even level.

Divine Tutelage (Ex): At 3rd level, the ascendant guide gains the ability to influence and ascending being’s control over his growing powers. The affected charge gains a +2 to checks to control divine manifestations while in the ascendant guide’s presence.

Improved Tutelage (Su): At 7th level, the ascendant guide’s tutelage improves to +5.

Ascension (Su): Ascendant guides of at least 9th level are privy to the secrets of the harbingers that allow them to help beings transcend the divine barrier. The ascendant guide gains a +4 to Knowledge (religion) checks when helping ascending beings determine which unique rituals or quests they need to complete for their ascension to occur.

Emperor Xan's picture
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factotums
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The Ascendant Guide

I don't see how they don't mesh with WotC's materials since I created them using other WotC PrCs as a base.

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The Ascendant Guide

'Emperor Xan' wrote:
I don't see how they don't mesh with WotC's materials since I created them using other WotC PrCs as a base.

Really, now.

Show me the WotC PrC that has energy resistance as a +1 to saves and a 1-point damage reduction, rather than 5 or 10 or 15 points of reduction straight. Please, I'm interested, I really am.

Also, show me the WotC PrC that has single-digit spell resistance - you know, the kind of spell resistance that a 1st-level, Wisdom 10 goblin adept would have difficulty in failing to overcome. I really want to see which published PrC has that, and why the WotC boards haven't collapsed into a black hole under the weight of scoffing from the character optimizers.

I don't suppose you ever thought of actually *paying attention* to the constructive criticism you get, instead of just blowing it off with a fatuous and patently false assertation that your mistakes were actually canonized somewhere else before? Twit.

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factotums
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The Ascendant Guide

What's with the personal attacks?

As for a single-digit DR: Templar. You can find it in Defenders of the Faith and in Complete Divine under the name Pious Templar. You can also find one in Oriental Adventures: the Hida Defender. There's another in Unapporachable East: Runescarred Berserker.

The Energy Resistende was based on the Planar Champion's Favored Plane ability found on p. 28 of MotP.

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Reply to a master

Oh master my master, eldersphinx! How impressive is your name, how grand will be -I wonder- your game.
Forgive us all, the clueless, for we have sinned. Forgive us master, for we have failed to follow your errorless thought, your flawless course of creating PrCs. Forgive us and we promise we won't repeat it again.
Please master, post a PrC of your own to show us the way. Enlighten us, the poor sods, and we shall praise you for ever.
With all due respect, 3DiO

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The Ascendant Guide

Please note the date of the original thread.
(Maybe I should add a 'Warning: you are committing thread-mancy note to the post form...)

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The Ascendant Guide

Not that we see Xan around here anymore, but...

'Emperor Xan' wrote:
As for a single-digit DR: Templar. You can find it in Defenders of the Faith and in Complete Divine under the name Pious Templar. You can also find one in Oriental Adventures: the Hida Defender. There's another in Unapporachable East: Runescarred Berserker.

The Energy Resistende was based on the Planar Champion's Favored Plane ability found on p. 28 of MotP.

The templar has single-digit DR. So does the barbarian. What you're introducing is energy resistance, which has no precedence in the manner it's been introduced. Furthermore, while the Favored Plane ability you cite does offer bonuses that scale with level, they are not in the form of, say, gaining Fire Resistance 1.

And I see you had no defence for offering SR 1. Because even you realised that was the most useless ability ever granted to any character in the history of roleplaying.

'3DiO' wrote:
Oh master my master, eldersphinx! How impressive is your name, how grand will be -I wonder- your game. Forgive us all, the clueless, for we have sinned. Forgive us master, for we have failed to follow your errorless thought, your flawless course of creating PrCs. Forgive us and we promise we won't repeat it again. Please master, post a PrC of your own to show us the way. Enlighten us, the poor sods, and we shall praise you for ever. With all due respect, 3DiO

You are a useless toady and you have no place among us.

__________________

Pants of the North!

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The Ascendant Guide

Be nice. Or thead lock will occur....

eldersphinx's picture
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The Ascendant Guide

Aaack. These class powers do NOT mesh well with the WotC standard - making determination of overall balance difficult if not impossible. Notes and recommended changes:

- Energy Resistance: Overall damage reduction should be in multiples of 5. Recommend stating that the character gets +1 to saves and 5 points of resistance at 1st level, increase saves by +1 and resistance by 5 points at 5th and 10th levels.
- Spell Resistance: Ooooh, single-digit SR. We're talking something that is absolutely useless. Recommend changing this to a flat SR of (15+class level) to be at all worthwhile.
- Divine Tutelage: A book and page reference to just what's involved in "controlling divine manifestations" would be nice. Without some context, this ability listing is about as meaningful as saying the character has a +4 circumstance bonus when flibbermajibbing.
- Ascension: +4 skill check bonus. Very nice. I think. Umm, what's the DC for determining an ascending being's unique rituals and quests, again?

Also, I'm very very surprised to discover that the class doesn't give the character access to a domain or two that the ascending being might someday be able to grant to normal clerics. This is one of the iconic abilities to divine PrCs, and this guy would seem to be a natural for it.

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Re: The Ascendant Guide

The point of this class has always been one of an increasing immunity to the powers manifested by the inhabitants of places like Harbinger House. The Ascendant Guide was something I've always envisioned as an NPC class option to flesh out the Godsmen and their devotion to the elevation of the multiverse to divinity, even if it is one being at a time. Furthermore, the original write-up of this PrC was based on 3.0 mechanics.

I deliberately left the context of Divine Tutelage vague as no firm guidance is given in Deities and Demigods on the subject of how a character should cross the threshold from mortal existence to godhood. Given that the book urged players to devise the means of transition on a case-by-case basis, laying down any concrete rules struck me as violating the fundamental principle behind ascension: it is unique to the individual in question.

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