Alienist

The call of the healer is seen in every civilized race. Countless noble souls dedicate themselves each year to the cause of healing the injured, curing the sick, and calming the suffering. The vast majority of these healers devote themselves first and foremost to healing sicknesses of the body, but some choose instead to turn their attention to sicknesses of the mind. These specialized healers are known as Alienists, from an ancient word for “insane” or “estranged.” While Alienists may lack other healers’ abilities to banish diseases and fix broken bones, they work hard to gain insight into how intelligent creatures think and what processes can go awry in their brains.

Most Alienists are Experts or Aristocrats. Rogues and clerics both become Alienists to improve their understanding of the mind. A few Fighters and members of other combatant classes advance in this class for its applications in battlefield command.

Wizards rarely choose this prestige class because of its lack of spell progression.

Hit die: d6.

Requirements

To qualify to become an Alienist, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria.

Skills: Heal 6 ranks, Sense Motive 6 ranks.

Feats: Skill Focus (Heal).

Class Skills

The Alienist’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (any) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), and Stealth (Dex).

Skill Ranks Per Level: 6 + Int modifier.

The Alienist

Level	BAB	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1st	+0	+1	+0	+1	Skill Focus (Sense Motive), Remove Fear
2nd	+1	+1	+1	+1	Calm Emotions
3rd	+1	+2	+1	+2	Skill Focus (Diplomacy)
4th	+2	+2	+1	+2	Discern Lies
5th	+2	+3	+2	+3	Skill Focus (Bluff)
6th	+3	+3	+2	+3	Detect Thoughts
7th	+3	+4	+2	+4	Skill Focus (Gather Information)
8th	+4	+4	+3	+4	Inspirational Speech
9th	+4	+5	+3	+5	Skill Focus (Intimidate)
10th	+5	+5	+3	+5	Restore Sanity

Class Features

All of the following are features of the Alienist prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies

Alienists gain no weapons or armor proficiencies.

Skill Focus

At 1st level and at every other level thereafter (i.e., 3rd, 5th, etc.) an Alienist gains Skill Focus as a bonus feat.

Remove Fear (Ex)

At 1st level, the Alienist becomes adept at calming frightened creatures. The Alienist may use remove fear as a spell-like ability, with a caster level equal to his total character level, a number of times per day equal to his Alienist level.

Calm Emotions (Ex)

At 2nd level, the Alienist becomes adept at calming agitated creatures. The Alienist may use calm emotions as a spell-like ability, with a caster level equal to his total character level, a number of times per day equal to his Alienist level.

Discern Lies (Ex)

At 4th level, the Alienist becomes practiced at spotting falsehoods. The Alienist may use discern lies as a spell-like ability, with a caster level equal to his total character level, a number of times per day equal to his Alienist level.

Detect Thoughts (Ex)

At 6th level, the Alienist has become so skilled at intuiting the thoughts of others that he appears almost to read minds. The Alienist may use detect thoughts as a spell-like ability, with a caster level equal to his total character level, a number of times per day equal to his Alienist level.

Inspirational Speech (Ex)

When an Alienist reaches 8th level, his understanding of the mind allows him to affect the emotions of large groups of people. Once per day the Alienist may spend 10 minutes delivering a motivating speech. All friendly creatures who are able to hear and understand the Alienist may gain a circumstance bonus equal to his Charisma modifier, lasting eight hours, to one of the following of the alienist’s choice:

• Melee attack rolls
• Damage rolls
• Will saving throws
• Strength-based skill checks
• Charisma-based skill checks

Restore Sanity (Ex)

At 10th level, the Alienist has gained a profound understanding of mental illness and can offer relief to the sufferer. When faced with a creature suffering from mental illness or the effects of confusion, insanity, or similar spells and effects, the Alienist may spend one hour speaking with the creature, assuming they share a language and the subject is not hostile. At the end of that hour, all effects and penalties due to the creature’s mental illness are negated for a number of hours equal to the Alienist’s total character level. If the target creature is afflicted with a spell of limited duration, such as confusion, the spell ends.