Veritus Champion

 

Dread, fear, and respect. A veritus champion commands all of these. With the sustaining power of blood at his beck and call, the champion sweeps an area for signs of life to crush or control.

Seeing a veritus champion in action may lead to the conclusion that these blood knights are inherently evil, but many draw their power from within, relying only on their own constitution to get them through the rigors of battle. There is no shortage of evil champions, certainly, but those who avoid the stigma often seek any who give in to–or sometimes even relish—their abilities, attempting to stop them. Failing that, they are never afraid to do what must be done.

Role: Veritus champions flow between up front damage and group defender, deciding with each new day how much of themself, or others, they’ll give toward their blood debt.

Alignment: Any.

Hit Die: d12.

Starting Wealth: 3d6 × 10 gp (average 105 gp.) In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.

Class Skills

The champion’s class skills are Craft (Int), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), and Sense Motive (Wis).

Skill Ranks per Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Table: Veritus Champion

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Enhancement
						AC	Saves	Weapon
1st	+1	+0	+0	+2	Blood debt, detect blood, sheathed in blood	+1	+1	+1
2nd	+2	+0	+0	+3	Endurance, spark of life +1	+1	+1	+1
3rd	+3	+1	+1	+3	Blood doll, status	+2	+2	+1
4th	+4	+1	+1	+4	Blood magic	+2	+2	+2
5th	+5	+1	+1	+4	Blood biography	+2	+2	+2
6th	+6/+1	+2	+2	+5	Spark of life +2, waves of blood	+3	+3	+2
7th	+7/+2	+2	+2	+5	Diehard, greater status	+3	+3	+2
8th	+8/+3	+2	+2	+6	Sanguine step	+3	+3	+3
9th	+9/+4	+3	+3	+6	Blood burst (1 doll)	+4	+4	+3
10th	+10/+5	+3	+3	+7	Spark of life +3	+4	+4	+3
11th	+11/+6/+1	+3	+3	+7	Survivor	+4	+4	+3
12th	+12/+7/+2	+4	+4	+8		+5	+5	+4
13th	+13/+8/+3	+4	+4	+8	Blood burst (2 dolls)	+5	+5	+4
14th	+14/+9/+4	+4	+4	+9	Spark of life +4	+5	+5	+4
15th	+15/+10/+5	+5	+5	+9	Blood possession 1/day	+6	+5	+4
16th	+16/+11/+6/+1	+5	+5	+10	Sanguine jump (teleport)	+6	+5	+5
17th	+17/+12/+7/+2	+5	+5	+10	Blood burst (3 dolls)	+6	+5	+5
18th	+18/+13/+8/+3	+6	+6	+11	Blood possession 2/day, spark of life +5	+7	+5	+5
19th	+19/+14/+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Death’s reprieve	+7	+5	+5
20th	+20/+15/+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	Blood possession 3/day, sanguine jump (greater teleport)	+8	+5	+6

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the veritus champion.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

Veritus champions are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, light and medium armor, and shields (except tower shields).

Blood Debt (Ex)

At the beginning of each day, a veritus champion must pay a blood debt to gain access to some of his abilities. This can be done by dealing hit point damage to himself or another creature as part of a one-hour ritual. For every 3 hit points of damage dealt during this ritual, the champion rolls 1d12 + his Constitution modifier and dedicates that many points toward his blood debt, to a maximum of 12 points per veritus champion level. Hit point damage dealt in this way cannot be healed with magic, but is restored in full with 8 hours of rest if the creature is still alive.

The saving throw DC of any abilities created by converting points of blood debt is 10 + half the veritus champion’s level + his Constitution modifier.

Detect Blood (Su)

Every veritus champion can detect living creatures and the flow of their blood as they grow weary from extended combat or near brushes with death. This functions as detect magic, except as follows:

1st Round: The champion detects the presence or absence of living creatures.

2nd Round: Number of different living creatures, and how many hit points the creature with the most hit points has remaining.

3rd Round: The current hit points and location of each living creature.

Sheathed in Blood (Ex)

As a standard action, a veritus champion can convert 3 points of his blood debt into a +1 enhancement bonus applied to his armor, saving throws (as a resistance bonus), or one or more weapons he wields. He can gain up to three of these benefits as a full-round action. These bonuses last for up to 1 hour per veritus champion level, but do not stack with similar bonuses already applied to the champion’s armor, saves, or weapons.

As a veritus champion gains levels, he can convert more of his blood debt into further enhancements, as indicated on Table: Veritus Champion under the “Enhancement” section.

In addition, these bonuses can be used to add any of the following properties:

Armor: balanced, bitter, cocooning, deathless, fortification (light, medium, or heavy), ghost touch, invulnerability, or stanching.

Weapon: bane, called, corrosive, corrosive burst, cruel, dancing, ghost touch, keen, speed, or vorpal.

Adding these properties consumes an amount of bonus equal to the property’s base price modifier. These properties can be added to any the armor or weapon already has, but duplicates do not stack. If the armor or weapon is not magical, at least a +1 enhancement bonus must be added before any other properties can be added. These bonuses and properties are decided when the blood debt is converted and cannot be changed until the next time the champion uses this ability. These bonuses do not function if the weapon is wielded by anyone other than the champion.

Endurance

At 2nd level, a veritus champion gains Endurance as a bonus feat.

Spark of Life (Ex)

At 2nd level, a veritus champion gains a +1 bonus on saving throws made against energy drain and death effects. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels beyond 2nd.

Blood Doll (Su)

At 3rd level, a veritus champion learns how to use the small amounts of blood from creatures he strikes with his weapon. When the champion scores a critical hit against a creature, or reduces that creature to 0 or fewer hit points, he can spend an immediate action to create a blood doll with hit points equal to half the damage dealt or its total remaining hit points, whichever is fewer.

A blood doll is a diminutive undead with an AC of 14 and no natural attacks. It is blind, but can follow and interact with the veritus champion that created it as if it could see. The doll can be sacrificed as part of the champion’s morning ritual. If not sacrificed, it bursts after 24 hours.

A veritus champion can tell his blood dolls apart and knows from what creatures they were created. A creature can willingly allow a veritus champion to create a blood doll from it by taking a minimum of 4 hit points of damage as a standard action. This damage cannot be healed, naturally or with magic, until the blood doll is sacrificed or bursts.

Status (Sp)

At 3rd level, as long as a veritus champion has at least 3 points dedicated to his blood debt for the day, he can cast status at will as a spell-like ability. At 7th level, he can cast greater status instead.

Blood Magic

At 4th level, a veritus champion can create a blood doll from the corpse of a spellcaster that has died within 1 minute. This blood doll has hit points equal to the creature’s total hit dice. When the champion sacrifices any blood doll created from a spellcaster during his morning ritual, the doll grants him the ability to cast a number of spells available to the dead spellcaster equal to the champion’s Constitution modifier for 24 hours. The champion can choose which spells he gains, up to 4th level spells, and uses Constitution as his spellcasting modifier when determining DCs and other aspects of the spells he casts in this way.

To cast a spell, a veritus champion converts 12 points of his blood debt per spell level at the beginning of the casting (these are lost if the spell is interrupted or otherwise dispelled).

Blood Biography (Sp)

At 5th level, as long as a veritus champion has at least 6 points dedicated to his blood debt for the day, he can cast blood biography at will as a spell-like ability.

Waves of Blood (Sp)

At 6th level, a veritus champion can convert 12 points of his blood debt as a standard action to cast waves of blood as a spell-like ability.

Diehard

At 7th level, a veritus champion gains Diehard as a bonus feat.

Sanguine Step (Su)

At 8th level, a veritus champion can convert 24 points of his blood debt to transport himself great distances via the blood of living creatures. As a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity, he can seamlessly enter any living creature (except for constructs, elementals, oozes, plants, undead, or other creatures without blood or a similar fluid) whose size equals or exceeds his own and pass to another living creature within long range (400 ft. + 40 ft. per level). This otherwise functions as dimension door.

The entry and destination creatures need not be familiar to the champion. A veritus champion cannot use himself as an entry creature. If an intended entry creature is unwilling, the champion must make a successful melee touch attack to enter (a missed touch attack wastes the action, but not the points spent).

When exiting a creature, a veritus champion chooses an adjacent square in which to appear. Entering and exiting a creature is painless unless the champion wishes otherwise (see below). In most cases, though, the destination creature finds being the endpoint of a magical portal surprising and quite unsettling.

If he desires, a veritus champion can attempt to make a bloody exit from the destination creature. He bursts forth explosively from the creature’s body, dealing 1d6 points of damage per 2 veritus champion levels. A successful Fortitude save halves the damage. When he makes a bloody exit, a veritus champion must succeed on a DC 15 Fortitude save or be stunned for 1 round from the shock of his expulsion.

At 16th level, a veritus champion counts his sanguine jump as teleport instead, either designating a creature he has at least studied carefully as his exit point, or picking a general direction and distance, appearing out of a random, living creature instead. At 20th level, he counts it as greater teleport.

Blood Burst (Su)

At 9th level, a veritus champion can burst one of his blood dolls as an attack action. The champion chooses a doll he can see, which bursts, raining gore on creatures in a 10-ft. radius, centered on it. Each creature in the area takes damage equal to the blood doll’s current hit points and is sickened for 1d6 rounds. A successful Reflex save  (DC 10 + 1/2 the champion’s level + his Constitution modifier) deals half damage and negates being sickened. A natural 1 on the save creates a new blood doll with hit points equal to half the damage dealt.

At 13th level, a veritus champion can burst up to 2 blood dolls as part of a full-attack action, giving up an attack for each. At 17th level, he can burst up to 3 blood dolls.

Survivor

At 11th level, a veritus champion gains Survivor as a bonus feat.

Blood Possession (Su)

At 15th level as a full-round action, as long as a veritus champion has at least 60 points dedicated to his blood debt for the day, a blood doll he created can enter and control the body of any corporeal creature that has blood.

This ability functions as marionette possession, except that the blood doll’s body also enters the target and the target can be unwilling. A successful Will save negates this effect. This ability can be used once per day at 15th level, twice per day at 18th level, and three times per day at 20th level. The champion can end this possession at any time as a standard action. If the host body is slain while the blood doll is possessing it, the doll is immediately ejected, takes 4d6 points of damage, and is stunned for 1 round.

Death’s Reprieve (Su)

Once per day at 19th level, a veritus champion can bring herself back from death’s door.

When the champion dies, all of her blood dolls burst at once, dealing their damage to every creature in their surrounding area (as blood burst). The veritus champion then returns to life at the start of her next turn with no blood debt remaining and hit points equal to the amount of blood debt she lost.

Favored Class Bonuses

Instead of receiving an additional skill rank or hit point whenever they gain a level in a favored class, some races have the option of choosing from a number of other bonuses, depending upon their favored classes. The following options are available to the listed race who have fighters as their favored class, and unless otherwise stated, the bonus applies each time you select the listed favored class reward.

Table: Alternate Favored Class Bonuses

Race	Bonus	Source
Catfolk	Add +10 minutes to the duration of sheathed in blood.	BoMT v3
Centaur	Add +1 to the champion’s maximum blood debt.	BoMT v3
Dwarf	Add +1 to the champion’s maximum blood debt.	BoMT v3
Elf	Add +1/4 to the champion’s spark of life bonus.	BoMT v3
Gnome	Add +1/2 hp to the champion’s blood dolls when they are created.	BoMT v3
Goblin	The champion’s blood dolls deal +1/3 fire damage to each creature within 5 feet when they burst for any reason (Reflex DC 10 +1/2 the champion’s level + his Constitution modifier, half).	BoMT v3
Human	Add +1/6 to the spell level the champion can cast on a creature under the effects of greater status (when he gains that ability, he can cast 3rd-level or lower harmless touch spells, and so on).	BoMT v3
Minotaur	Gain a +1/2 bonus on Perception checks and Survival checks made to locate an injured creature.	BoMT v3
Ogre	The champion can cast +1/4 of a 1st-level spell after sacrificing a blood doll to blood magic. At each +1, the champion can gain +1/4 of the next highest spell-level, to a maximum of 4th-level spells.	BoMT v3
Orc	Gain a +1/2 bonus to confirm critical hits against creatures at or below 1/2 of their total hit points (maximum +5). This bonus does not stack with effects such as Critical Focus.	BoMT v3
Skinwalker	Gain a +1/2 bonus on Perception checks and Survival checks made to locate an injured creature.	BoMT v3
Trollkin	The champion regains 1/3 hit points every hour from those spent on blood debt.	BoMT v3
Tiefling	Add +1/2 on Escape Artist checks and on Acrobatics checks to cross narrow surfaces.	BoMT v3
Ursaren	Add +1 to the roll when accumulating blood debt. This does not change the champion’s maximum blood debt.	BoMT v3
Vanara	Add +1/4 to the champion’s spark of life bonus.	BoMT v3