Prestige Classes

YATHCHOL WEBRIDER

Chitines know that webs, once woven, belong to a greater complex that they reverently call the Overweb. With their intimate understanding of webspinning and their familiarity with the Overweb, Yathchol webriders can move about the Underdark as they choose, riding the hidden lines of the Overweb and calling on its servants to protect them and deal with their enemies. Chitine rogues, bards, and monks are the most likely candidates for the Yathchol webrider prestige class, although spellcasters and psionic characters occasionally find this route attractive as well. Becoming a webrider without sharing in the chitine culture is difficult, but possible. Yathchol webriders usually move about in small, closely-knit groups, in which each member refers to the others as ?egg companions.? Some such groups move about the Underdark righting wrongs and meting out justice, while others use their abilities to infiltrate defenses, dupe others, and help themselves to treasure wherever they find it.

Hit Die: d8.

Requirements

To qualify to become a Yathchol webrider, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria.

Race: Chitine, or any race that can spin webs from its body. Characters who know or can prepare web as either a spell or a spell-like ability also qualify.

Skills: Hide 8 ranks, Move Silently 4 ranks.

Feats: Dodge, Mobility, Skill Focus (Craft [trapmaking]).

Class Skills

The Yathchol webrider's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Craft (trapmaking) (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Search (Int), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Tumble (Dex), and Use Rope (Dex).

Skill Points at Each Level: 6 + Int modifier.

Table: The Yathchol Webrider

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Yathchol webrider prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Yathchol webriders are proficient with the club, crossbow (hand, light, or heavy), dagger (any type), dart, mace, morningstar, quarterstaff, rapier, sap, shortbow (normal and composite), and short sword. They are proficient with light armor but gain no proficiency with any shield.

Web Hide (Su): Beginning at 1st level, a Yachthol webrider can hide herself from view in the open without anything to actually hide behind, so long as she is within 5 feet of natural or magical webs that cover an area measuring at least 5 feet on each side.

Web Ride (Sp): A Yathchol webrider can travel instantaneously between separate sections of webbing. This magical transport must begin and end in an area adjacent to or within webbing that covers at least a 5-foot-square. At 1st level, the webrider can move up to a total of 20 feet per day in this way. This distance may be covered in a single ride of 20 feet, or two rides of 10 feet each. Moves shorter than 10 feet are possible, but the distance covered in each move is rounded up to the next 10-foot increment for the purpose of determining how much movement potential has been used. The total distance that a Yachthol webrider can move per day with the web ride ability increases with her level, to 160 feet at 4th level, 320 feet at 6th level, 640 feet at 8th level, and 1,280 feet at 10th level. These extended distances can likewise be split among many web rides, though the actual distance moved with each ride is rounded up to the next 10-foot increment, as above.

Spider Climbing (Ex): Beginning at 2nd level, a Yachthol webrider can climb and travel on vertical surfaces and even traverse ceilings as well as a spider does if she has her bare hands and feet free for climbing. She has a climb speed of 20 feet and need not make Climb checks to scale a surface.

Summon Spider (Sp): When she reaches 2nd level, a Yathchol webrider can summon a Large monstrous spider or spider swarm once per day. This ability is the equivalent of a summon monster III spell (caster level 5 + Yachthol webrider level). At 5th level, the webrider can summon a Huge monstrous spider as the equivalent of a summon monster V spell, and at 9th level, she can summon a Gargantuan monstrous spider as the equivalent of a summon monster VII spell. See the Monster Manual for each spider?s statistics.

Web Blast (Su): At 3rd level, a Yathchol webrider can produce a blast of hardened webbing (range 60 feet) as a standard action twice per day. The webbing springs from the webrider?s hand (or spinnerets, if any) and speeds toward its target. If the webrider succeeds at a ranged touch attack, the web blast deals 4d6 points of bludgeoning damage and forces the target to succeed on a Reflex save (DC 10 + webrider level + webrider?s Con modifier) or be stuck in place. A stuck creature can attempt to break loose as a full- round action by making either a DC 20 Strength check or a DC 25 Escape Artist check, or it can take purely mental actions. No other actions are possible while the creature is stuck. This ability is usable four times per day at 7th level and six times per day at 10th level.