Night Hunter (3.5e Alternate Class Feature)
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This archetype is inspired by the nightguard by Dreamscarred Press, mixed with the faithful wanderer and the slayer.
Night Hunter
While not the knight in shining armor, the night hunter is a skilled destroyer of evil. Typically hailing from countries in the borderland, plagued by evil at night, the night hunter seeks out monsters who prey on humanoids and destroy them. Many of them have developed techniques that aid them in stalking evil in rural or wild areas. Rather than fighting in a blaze of glory, the night hunter is trained in studying their foes and dealing devastating damage to them. These techniques are especially potent against their nemesis, an ever-growing list of monsters they are trained to destroy.
As a result of their lifestyles, the night hunters tend to be more cynical than most paladins. They lack many of the paladin’s more powerful divine powers, but have a looser code of conduct and restriction on their beliefs. They do not rely on heavy armor, preferring to say light armored, and make good uses of their spells.
Class: Paladin
Level: 1st-20th
Replaces: Code of Conduct (altered), Aura of Good, Detect Evil, Smite Evil, Aura of Courage, Divine Health, Mercy, Channel Energy, Spellcasting (altered), Divine Bond, Aura of Resolve, Aura of Justice, Aura of Faith, Aura of Righteousness, Holy Champion
Benefit: A night hunter gain the following class abilities:
Alignment Restriction and Code of Conduct: A night hunter only needs to remain lawful or good aligned, instead of lawful good and has a different code of conduct (see below).
Hunter's Lore: A night hunter quickly learns the skills she needs to survive. She gains Acrobatics, Climb, Knowledge (local), Knowledge (nature), Knowledge (planes), Perception, Survival and Swim as class skills but doesn’t gain Handle Animal or Ride as class skills. A night hunter gains a number of skill ranks equal to 4 + her Intelligence modifier at each level (instead of gaining a number of skill ranks equal to 2 + her Intelligence modifier).
This alters the paladin’s class skills and replaces detect evil.
Armor and Weapon Proficiency: A night hunter is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, plus the hand crossbow, repeating crossbow (light and heavy) and the whip. Night hunters are also proficient with light armor, medium armor, and shields (except tower shields).
Hunter's Tradition (Ex): At 1st level a night hunter gain Vampire Hunter Tradition and one technique feat she meet the prerequisites of. She may uses her Charisma bonus instead of her Wisdom bonus for technique feats. Additionally she gain the track ability of a ranger of her class level, but only for outsiders with the [evil] subtype and undead, as well as any foe she select as expanded nemesis (see below).
This ability replaces aura of good.
Studied Nemesis (Ex): This ability function as the slayer's studied target of a slayer of her paladin level, except that it does not apply to her DCs. This includes the bonus granted by studied nemesis, the number of creatures studied and the action needed to activate the ability. Additionally when a night hunter use studied target against an outsider with the [evil subtype] or an undead, the bonus to damage is doubled.
This ability replaces smite evil.
Fearless Hunter (Ex): At 2nd level night hunter become immune to fear-effects.
This ability replaces aura of courage.
Night Stalker (Ex): A 3rd level night hunter's sense acclimated to their need to fight evil after sundown, she gains low-light vision and darkvision out of 30 ft. If the night hunter already had darkvision, its range increases by 30 ft.
This ability replaces divine health.
Nimble (Ex): At 3rd level, a night hunter gains a +1 dodge bonus to AC and a +1 bonus to initiative while wearing light armor or no armor. This bonus increases by 1 for every 4 paladin levels beyond 3rd (to a maximum of +5 at 19th level).
This ability replaces mercy.
Expanded Nemesis Repertoire (Ex): As a night hunter's combat experience grows, so does the number of foes she is trained to face. A 4th level night hunter chooses a single entry on this list. She adds the listed creatures to the list of creatures she deals additional damage against with her studied nemesis class ability and gains a bonus combat feat she meets the prerequisites for.
At 7th level and each 3 levels thereafter, the night hunter chooses another type from the list and gains an additional combat feat. The list of expanded nemesis is as follow:
- Beast Killer: Lycanthropes and evil magical beasts.
- Cultist Pursuer: Aberration and evil divine spellcasters.
- Dragonslayer: Evil dragons.
- Hunchback Smasher: Evil monstrous humanoid.
- Witchbane: Evil arcane spellcasters and evil fey.
- Zealous Hunter: Choose one previously chosen nemesis entry with the canvas of ‘evil’, your studied nemesis extra bonus and damage affect all non-good creatures of the chosen
This ability replaces aura of resolve, aura of justice, aura of faith, and aura of righteousness.
Inherited Power: A night hunter is a more skilled spellcaster than a typical paladin. She gains an additional spell per day for each spell level she can cast and her caster level is equal to her class level. Additionally, at the night hunter’s option when she gains spellcasting she may choose be a spontaneous spellcaster. If she does, she gains spells per day and spell known as a bloodrager. Whenever a spontaneous caster night hunter regains her spell, she may exchange a spell known for another paladin spell of the same level.
A night hunter may select an oath available to the oathbound paladin. She adds the oath spells to her spell list (and spells known if applicable) at the listed level, and she adds the oath’s code of conduct to her own.
This ability alters spellcasting and replaces channel energy.
Divine Bond (Su): At 5th level, a night hunter must select a weapon for her divine bond. If she is out of daily uses, she can expend a use of lay on hands to activate this ability.
Champion of the Night (Ex): A 20th level night hunter is a vanquisher of the night, an unstoppable punisher of evil. Whenever she would be subject to paralysis, petrification or negative level, she automatically remove these effect at the start of her next turn even if they would have killed her. Additionally any weapon she wields is automatically granted the holy special weapon quality, which stacks with the holy currently on the weapon. She does not take any negative level or other penalties for wielding a holy weapon while being non-good.
This ability replaces holy champion.
Code of Conduct
A night hunter makes an oath to seek and destroy the creatures of the night, which is based on her alignment. If a night hunter ceases to be lawful or good-aligned, or if she violates her code of conduct, she loses access to all spells and supernatural abilities granted by her paladin levels. A simple violation of the code of conduct forces the night hunter to spend 24 hours in repentance to regain her abilities. A gross violation of the code of conduct, or alignment change, forces the use of the atonement spell as normal.
A violation of the night hunter's code of conduct is typically allowing innocent to be harmed by creatures of the night, by one's own blatant inaction or cowardice. Allowing such a creature to flee while they could have stopped them without due causes, such as protecting the innocents or saving an ally. A gross violation would be conspiring with such a creature to harm innocents, especially for personal gains. Accepting a payment to allow such a creature to live or to hurt innocents. A lawful evil night hunter may violate her code if she allows any monster to live, no matter how harmless. A good night hunter may also protect the innocents from all dangers, not just monsters.
Corrupted Night Hunter
Some night hunters become corrupted by the dark powers of the night, fall and become antipaladins. An antipaladin night hunter may be of any evil or chaotic alignment instead of chaotic evil.
A corrupted night hunter's code is typically allegiance to her new master, but may be different based on the circumstances of her corruption.
Back to Main Page → 3.5e Homebrew → Character Options → Alternate Class Features
| Leziadv |
|---|
| Author | Leziad + |
| Class | Paladin + |
| Identifier | 3.5e Alternate Class Feature + |
| Rating | Undiscussed + |
| Summary | While not the knight in shining armor, the … While not the knight in shining armor, the night hunter is a skilled destroyer of evil. Typically hailing from countries in the borderland, plagued by evil at night, the night hunter seeks out monsters who prey on humanoids and destroy them. Many of them have developed techniques that aid them in stalking evil in rural or wild areas. Rather than fighting in a blaze of glory, the night hunter is trained in studying their foes and dealing devastating damage to them. These techniques are especially potent against their nemesis, an ever-growing list of monsters they are trained to destroy.
As a result of their lifestyles, the night hunters tend to be more cynical than most paladins. They lack many of the paladin’s more powerful divine powers, but have a looser code of conduct and restriction on their beliefs. They do not rely on heavy armor, preferring to say light armored, and make good uses of their spells. mored, and make good uses of their spells. + |
| Title | Night Hunter + |
