Prestige Classes

THRALL OF DAGON

Thralls of Dagon are secretive and sinister. They often serve as intermediaries between the surface world and the aquatic depths, acting as the voice of Dagon's true followers under the sea or orchestrating the corruption and transformation of coastal villages or trade routes. Many live lives as pirates or merchants, using magic or skill to disguise their growing deformities so they can continue to pass unchallenged in the societies they seek to subvert from within. While it's not uncommon for aquatic cultists of Dagon to become his thralls, the most dangerous of his thralls are those who were born on land yet look to the sea and Dagon's wet embrace for power. All of Dagon's thralls are spellcasters, and Dagon accepts divine and arcane spellcasters alike as his thralls. Bards find it easiest to qualify for the prestige class, as their mix of sonic magic and wide ranging skills allows them to master the traits demanded with ease. Sorcerers and clerics are also common thralls, although these thralls often find it necessary to multiclass for one or two levels (usually rogue) to pick up the required skills. Clerics who become thralls of Dagon must select Dagon as their patron deity if he wasn't already. Wizard thralls are not unheard of, although they must generally spend even more cross-class skill ranks to qualify. Ex-druids are perhaps the most unusual of Dagon's thralls. A druid who becomes chaotic evil loses all of her druid spells and abilities, but upon reaching 2nd level as a thrall of Dagon, she regains her spellcasting abilities. She also regains her animal companion, but only if her companion is aquatic. She does not regain any of her other druidic abilities, such as wild shape or trackless step. Note that druids who wish to become thralls of Dagon often multiclass as bards, or are forced to research unique druidic sonic spells in order to qualify for this prestige class as well.

Hit Die: d6.

Requirements

To qualify to become a thrall of Dagon, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria.

Alignment: Chaotic evil.

Skills: Bluff 9 ranks, Perform (sing) 5 ranks, Swim 5 ranks.

Feats: Persuasive, Thrall to Demon (Dagon).

Spellcasting: Ability to cast at least three spells with the Sonic descriptor.

Special: Must successfully contact an evil aquatic creature and sacrifice a living, intelligent, non-aquatic humanoid to the contacted evil aquatic creature.

Class Skills

The thrall of Dagon's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Disguise (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Table: The Thrall of Dagon

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the thrall of Dagon prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Thralls of Dagon gain no additional proficiency with weapons or armor.

Spellcasting: At every level save for 1st and 6th, a thrall of Dagon gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in a spellcasting class he belonged to before adding the prestige class. He does not gain any other benefits a character of that class would have gained, except for an increased effective level of spellcasting. If he had more than one spellcasting class before becoming a thrall of Dagon, he must decide to which class he adds the new level for purposes of determining spells per day.

Sea Longing (Ex): Upon becoming a thrall of Dagon, a character gains an overwhelming obsession with the sea. If the character spends more than a day out of sight of the ocean, he grows irritable, distracted, and disoriented, suffering a -2 penalty on all Wisdom-based skill checks and on all Will saving throws. While on the sea or under its waves, however, the thrall of Dagon becomes invigorated and gains a +2 morale bonus on initiative checks and Reflex saves.

Song of Dagon (Su): Once per day, a thrall of Dagon can invest any spell with the Sonic descriptor he casts with Dagon's song. Using this ability is a free action. This manifests as a low, bass rumbling sound that seems to resonate deep within the bodies of all those affected by the spell. Any creature that fails its saving throw against a sonic spell enhanced by the song of Dagon immediately takes Wisdom damage equal to the level of the spell. At 3rd level, and then again every two levels thereafter, the thrall of Dagon may use this ability an additional time each day.

First Invocation (Su): When a thrall of Dagon reaches 2nd level, he may perform a two-hour ritual at any ocean shoreline. This ritual involves chanting and self-mutilation with sharpened sea shells. At the end of the ritual, the thrall's body shifts and transforms. His skin grows pallid, his hair grows thin and stringy, and thick webbing grows between his fingers and toes. The thrall gains a swim speed of 30 feet (or his existing swim speed increases by 30 feet). If the thrall gains a swim speed, he also gains a +8 racial bonus on Swim checks and may take 10 on Swim checks even when threatened or distracted. If the thrall wishes to hide his deformity with a Disguise check, he suffers a -2 penalty on the check.

Voice of Rapture (Su): At 4th level, the thrall's voice takes on a strangely calming deep basso quality that seems much deeper and commanding than it should. He gains a +2 circumstance bonus on Intimidate and Perform (sing) checks, and any spells with the Language-Dependent descriptor he casts have their save DCs increased by 1.

Second Invocation (Su): When a thrall of Dagon becomes 6th level, he may perform a 4-hour ritual on any reef or atoll at sea. The location must be at least 1 mile from the next closest stretch of land. This ritual involves lengthy chants invoking Dagon's name, self-mutilation with shark's teeth and sea urchin spines, and the sacrifice of one living, intelligent creature. At the end of this invocation, the thrall's body deforms further. His eyes grow bulbous and watery, gills form along his neck, and patches of scales grow from spots along his flesh. He gains darkvision to a range of 60 feet (any darkvision already possessed instead increases by 60 feet) and the ability to breathe water as well as air. His natural armor bonus also increases by 2 points.

Contact Dagon (Sp): At 8th level, a thrall of Dagon gains the ability to cast a variation of contact other plane to contact Dagon. This spell-like ability may be used once per day, and when cast, the thrall's mind is placed in contact with the demon prince, allowing Dagon to use his revelation supernatural ability on the thrall to reveal information he seeks via a vision spell. Unlike most victims of Dagon's revelations, a thrall of Dagon who uses this ability does not run the risk of Wisdom damage due to the momentary contact. In fact, for 1 hour after this ability is used, the thrall gains a +2 morale bonus on Will saving throws as his mind is bolstered by the contact with his alien lord.

Third Invocation (Su): When a thrall of Dagon reaches 10th level, he may perform the final invocation to the Prince of the Darkened Depths. This ritual takes 8 hours and must be performed on the open sea out of sight of any land. The ritual involves non-stop chants invoking Dagon's name, self-mutilation by allowing sharks and other aquatic predators to chew and gnaw at the thrall's body, and the sacrifice of at least seven intelligent good-aligned creatures to these aquatic monsters. At the end of this invocation, the thrall's body deforms fully into a horrific amalgamation of fish, mollusk, and whatever shape the thrall once called his own. The final form achieved differs for each thrall, but all are equally monstrous. The thrall gains a +2 bonus to his Strength and Constitution, the aquatic template, and the amphibious extraordinary quality, and a tentacle attack as a natural weapon. This tentacle attack does not replace any of the thrall's existing limbs or natural attacks; typically the tentacle grows from the thrall's chest but sometimes it grows from the mouth, the back, or other unfortunate locations. Damage dealt by this tentacle depends on the thrall's size (see the table). If the thrall hits with its tentacle, it may immediately attempt to grapple the target without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple, it establishes a hold and may immediately constrict the foe for damage equal to its base tentacle attack.