Temple Assassin

“Death to the heretics.”

The temple assassin is a fervently religious priest or clergyman secretly trained in the art of stealth, spying, and assassination. Often acting as a solo vigilante, he targets the enemies of his religion. Rarely, he is secretly sanctioned by the high priests of his temple, and sent on missions at their request. Non-evil temple assassins tend to rationalize their profession as a necessary means to a righteous end, or as a necessary evil that serves the overall common good. They view themselves as divinely appointed and often above the law (or even as a personal embodiment of the law), a perspective that is typically not shared by the local authorities, and as such they lead shadowy, double lives. Such assassins walk a fine line between good and evil, and must be certain they are following their god’s wishes, lest they lose their divine powers. Evil temple assassins who worship evil gods typically do not restrict themselves with moral implications, and are far more likely to be sanctioned by their sinister temples.

Hit Die: d8

Requirements

To qualify to become a temple assassin, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria:

• Level: Cleric 3, rogue 3
• Alignment: any but lawful good
• Ability Scores: Dex 16, Wis 14
• Skills: Bluff 3 ranks, Disable Device 3 ranks, Disguise 3 ranks, Knowledge (Religion) 3 ranks, Stealth 3 ranks
• Feats: Skill Focus (Knowledge: Religion)
• Special: Must be an active member of his god’s temple.

Class Skills

The class skills for this class (and the key ability for each skill) are Acrobatics (Dex), Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Dex), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcane, dungeoneering, local, history, nobility, planes, religion) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Stealth (Dex), Swim (Str), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

Skill Ranks at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier

Table: The Temple Assassin

Class Level	BAB	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Spells per Day
1st	+1	+0	+2	+1	Poison Use	+1 level of existing class
2nd	+2	+0	+3	+1	Sneak Attack +1d4, Uncanny Dodge	–
3rd	+3	+1	+3	+1	Mana of the Deity	+1 level of existing class
4th	+3	+1	+4	+2	Sneak Attack +2d4, Improved Uncanny Dodge	–
5th	+4	+1	+4	+2	Power of the Deity 1/week	+1 level of existing class
6th	+5	+2	+5	+2	Sneak Attack +3d4	–
7th	+6	+2	+5	+3	Power of the Deity 2/week	+1 level of existing class
8th	+6	+3	+6	+3	Sneak Attack +4d4	–
9th	+7	+3	+6	+3	Mana of the Deity (improved)	+1 level of existing class
10th	+8	+3	+7	+4	Sneak Attack +5d4, Wrath of the Deity	–

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the temple assassin prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

A temple assassin gains no new weapon or armor proficiencies.

Poison Use

Temple assassins are trained in the use of poison and never risk accidentally poisoning themselves when applying poison to a blade. Good-aligned temple assassins must frequently vow never to use poison except in the most extreme or dire circumstances, or at least never to use it except against the most evil of opponents. Sneak Attack: This ability is identical to a rogue’s, except the additional damage is based on d4’s rather than d6’s. If a temple assassin gets a sneak attack bonus from another source (such as rogue levels), the bonuses to damage stack. For example, a cleric 3/rogue 3/temple assassin 2 inflicts +2d6+1d4 sneak attack damage.

Uncanny Dodge (Ex)

Starting at 2nd level, the temple assassin gains the rogue’s uncanny dodge ability. If he already has uncanny dodge, he gains Improved Uncanny Dodge, instead.

Mana of the Deity (Ex)

Starting at 3rd level, the temple assassin gains his gods favor and may occasionally prepare and cast his daily cleric spells as if he were two levels higher. This means he may prepare more spells and higher level spells than he normally 86 would. For example, a cleric 3/rogue 3/temple assassin 3 character would normally count as a 5th level cleric for purposes of spells. Using Mana of the Deity would allow him to prepare his cleric spells as if he were a 7th level cleric. The ability is usable once per week, lasts for only one day, and requires 20 uninterrupted minutes of ritualized prayer beforehand.

At 9th level, this power improves and the temple assassin may use the ability twice per week.

Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex)

At 4th level, the temple assassin gains the rogue’s Improved Uncanny Dodge ability. If the temple assassin has another class that grants the uncanny dodge ability, add together all the class levels of the classes that grant the ability and determine the character’s uncanny dodge ability on that basis.

Power of the Deity (Ex)

At 5th level, the temple assassin’s god grants him the ability to use one of the following rogue special abilities for a duration of one round per temple assassin level: crippling strike, defensive roll, improved evasion, opportunist, or slippery mind. Power of the Deity requires an immediate action to activate, and may be used once per week. For example, if a 5th level temple assassin activates the crippling strike ability, then for the next five rounds, all his or her sneak attacks also deal Strength damage. He must then wait another week to use Power of the Deity again.

At 7th level, this ability improves and can now be used twice per week.

Wrath of the Deity (Sp)

At 10th level, a temple assassin gains one of the following spell-like abilities (dependent on his alignment), usable once per day as a standard action as if cast by a cleric equal to his total character level: blasphemy, harm, dictum, holy word, or word of chaos. Once an ability is chosen, it cannot be changed.

Spellcasting

At every other temple assassin level, the character gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in his cleric class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (channeling, hit points beyond those he receives from the prestige class, and so on), except for an increased effective level of spellcasting.