Class: Priest

The Priest
						---------------------------------- Prayers ----------------------------------
Level	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Special	Max Prayer Level	Base Absolute Limit	Utterances	Incantations	Recitations
1	+0	+0	+0	+2	Domain, Truespeech, Know Thyself, Channel Divine	1st	5	4	2	0
2	+1	+0	+0	+3		1st	8	6	3	0
3	+1	+1	+1	+3		1st	11	7	3	1
4	+2	+1	+1	+4		2nd	14	8	4	1
5	+2	+1	+1	+4		2nd	18	9	4	1
6	+3	+2	+2	+5		2nd	22	10	5	2
7	+3	+2	+2	+5		3rd	26	11	5	2
8	+4	+2	+2	+6		3rd	31	12	6	2
9	+4	+3	+3	+6		3rd	36	13	6	3
10	+5	+3	+3	+7	Priest Talent	4th	41	14	7	3
11	+5	+3	+3	+7		4th	47	15	7	3
12	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	Priest Talent	4th	53	16	8	4
13	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8		5th	59	17	8	4
14	+7/+2	+4	+4	+9	Priest Talent	5th	66	18	9	4
15	+7/+2	+5	+5	+9		5th	73	19	9	5
16	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	Priest Talent	6th	80	20	10	5
17	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10		6th	88	21	10	5
18	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Priest Talent	6th	96	22	11	6
19	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11		6th	104	23	11	6
20	+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	Priest Talent	6th	113	24	12	6

 

Priest

Matthias, iconic priest (Ajoran)

"Through faith, all things are possible."

The divine is not a Force to be trifled with. While Magic may claim to rewrite the laws of the world, and Psionics may claim to find loopholes in the rules, the Divine does not meddle with such pedestrian affairs - no, he merely commands the world, and it bends to his will. There is no modification, no manipulation: the priest speaks, and the world obeys.

The priest taps into the Divine itself for the inspiration and power to bend the world to his will. However, such power is not readily attained by mortals - only beings that are actively worshipped may grant this power to their followers, and so the priest is greatly tied to his patron Saint or Lucavi, for to fall out of favor means to lose the power to alter reality at will.

Game Rule Information

Priests have the following game statistics.

Force Alignment: Divine.

Force Resistances: NI 5 + level, VI 5 + level.

Abilities: Wisdom, above all, is paramount to the priest. Without personal insight and understanding, he cannot begin to fathom how his words can alter reality.

Special: If using the Faith ability score, the priest's prayers are based off of Faith, rather than Wisdom (in essence, whenever you see "Wisdom," replace it with "Faith").

Hit Die: d6.

Class Skills: The priest's class skills (and the key ability for each) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (Religion) (Int), Knowledge (The Forces) (Int), Search (Per), Speak Language, and Prayercraft (Wis).

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int.

Alignment: As a priest, you must maintain an alignment appropriate to your patron Saint or Lucavi. While this generally means you must remain within one step of your patron's alignment, some patrons have stronger or weaker restrictions on their priests' alignments (Crusader, for instance, requires that you be lawful neutral). Read your patron's individual description for more information.

Ethos: As a priest, you must maintain an ethos acceptable to your patron. Read your patron's individual description for more information; you must meet all the requirements listed.

Starting Age: Moderate.

Starting Gold: 5d4 x 10gp.

Favored By: None.

Class Features

Additional Prayers Known
Wisdom Score	Utterances						Incantations						Recitations
	1	2	3	4	5	6	1	2	3	4	5	6	1	2	3	4	5	6
9	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
10	0	-	-	-	-	-	0	-	-	-	-	-	0	-	-	-	-	-
11	0	-	-	-	-	-	0	-	-	-	-	-	0	-	-	-	-	-
12	0	0	-	-	-	-	0	0	-	-	-	-	0	0	-	-	-	-
13	1	0	-	-	-	-	0	0	-	-	-	-	0	0	-	-	-	-
14	1	0	0	-	-	-	1	0	0	-	-	-	0	0	0	-	-	-
15	1	0	0	-	-	-	1	0	0	-	-	-	1	0	0	-	-	-
16	1	1	0	0	-	-	1	0	0	0	-	-	1	0	0	0	-	-
17	1	1	0	0	-	-	1	0	0	0	-	-	1	0	0	0	-	-
18	1	1	0	0	0	-	1	1	0	0	0	-	1	0	0	0	0	-
19	1	1	1	0	0	-	1	1	0	0	0	-	1	0	0	0	0	-
20	1	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0
21	1	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0
22	2	1	1	1	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0
23	2	1	1	1	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0
24	2	2	1	1	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0
25	2	2	1	1	1	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	0
26	2	2	1	1	1	0	2	1	1	1	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	0
27	2	2	1	1	1	0	2	1	1	1	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	0
28	2	2	2	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	0
29	2	2	2	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	0
30	2	2	2	1	1	1	2	2	1	1	1	0	2	1	1	1	0	0
...and so on...

All of the following are class features of the priest core class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The priest is proficient with simple weapons and light armor, but not shields. The priest will also gain an additional weapon or armor proficiency, based upon his patron Saint or Lucavi.

Prayers (Di): The priest uses the power of words, the manifestation of the Divine. When he speaks words in the tongue of creation, he may reshape the world to his liking. There are three types of such manifestations - utterances, incantations, and recitations - which are collectively referred to simply as prayers. All prayers share the following qualities.

• You may vocalize a prayer as a move action. You are not limited to vocalizing one prayer each round.
• Vocalizing a prayer provokes attacks of opportunity.
• Prayers are subject to Divine Inhibition (DI).
• Prayers do not allow saving throws.
• Prayers can be prevented by namelessness, a condition that some Forces can cause.
• Prayers are prevented by innocence, a condition that causes a creature's effective hit points to always be treated as higher than a priest's absolute limit.
• A creature affected by faith can always be affected by a priest's prayers, even if their current hit points are above their absolute limit.
• Utterances and incantations can be reversed, producing a thematically opposite effect.
• You must make a Truespeak check to vocalize a prayer; you can intensify a prayer by voluntarily increasing the Truespeak DC.
• You must be able to speak to use prayers, but silence and other similar effects do not stop prayers.
• With any prayer, you can target a creature within line of sight, regardless of distance.
• Prayers do not stack with themselves or other prayers.

Prayers also interact with the Faith ability score, as follows.

• Creatures with a negative Faith modifier are harder to affect with prayers, treating their effective hit points as higher for purposes of the absolute limit (see below).
• Creatures with a positive Faith modifier are easier to affect with prayers, treating their effective hit points as lower for purposes of the absolute limit (see below).
• A creature with a 0 Faith is immune to utterances.

If you choose to improve a prayer's Truespeak DC by intensifying it, you may only increase the DC by a maximum of your petitioner level.

To use a prayer, you must have a Wisdom score of 9 + [(prayer's level) x 2].

You gain additional prayers known, if your Wisdom score is sufficiently high. Consult the table on the right to determine additional prayers known (Note: Unlike other priest abilities based on Faith, if the Faith score is used, you still use Wisdom to determine bonus prayers known).

At 4th level, and every four levels after, you may choose to swap out prayers you know for new ones. For each type of prayer - utterance, incantation, and recitation - you may swap out a prayer you know for one you do not, of the appropriate type. You cannot swap out bonus prayers from a high Wisdom in this fashion.

Truespeech (Di): As a petitioner, priests are trained in the language of the Divine itself, which it used to give names to everything that existed, exists, and will exist. Though mortal tongues are not made to form such speech, the divine languages - Saigue and Lucavic - are similar enough facsimiles that priests can use them to alter reality.

Using these languages in this manner is difficult, however: in order to successfully use prayers, a priest must make a Truespeak check. A priest's bonus on a truespeak check is 3 + his petitioner level + his Wisdom modifier. You can never take 20 on a Truespeak check, and can only take 10 if you expend a channel divine use (see below). Truespeak checks are further modified by how you refer to a creature; if you know a creature's truename - that is, the name the Divine itself gave to it - you gain a +4 bonus to your truename check. If you must refer to a creature by a nickname (such as referring to a monster by a physical description, rather than the name of it), you suffer a -2 penalty to your truename check.

Truespeech DCs
1st Level		4th Level
Type	DC	Type	DC
Utterance	17	Utterance	32
Incantation	15	Incantation	30
Recitation	13	Recitation	28
2nd Level		5th Level
Type	DC	Type	DC
Utterance	22	Utterance	37
Incantation	20	Incantation	35
Recitation	18	Recitation	33
3rd Level		6th Level
Type	DC	Type	DC
Utterance	27	Utterance	42
Incantation	25	Incantation	40
Recitation	23	Recitation	38

Learning Truenames: Learning a truename of a creature requires meditation, study, and research. A priest must make a Knowledge check relevant to the creature's creature type with a DC of at least 25, and spend at least one week in research with access to a library or similar institution. You must have a creature's given name in order to find its truename. The base DC of this check is 25, further modified by the creature's notoriety, age, and measures taken to prevent its truename from being learned.

Utterances (Pr): Utterances are the most powerful form of prayer a priest can vocalize. These are words and phrases that cause some kind of hindering or harmful effect to foes, or a helpful effect to allies. All utterances are subject to a priest's absolute limit: an utterance vocalized by a priest cannot affect an unwilling creature whose current hit points is greater than the priest's absolute limit. A willing creature can be affected by an utterance regardless of its current hit points.

At each priest level, your base absolute limit is as shown on the table above. You gain a bonus to your absolute limit equal to your petitioner level x your Wisdom modifier. Improving your petitioner level (through feats such as Versed in the Force) improves your absolute limit as though they were priest levels.

Example: A 9th-level priest has a Wisdom of 17 (so a +3 modifier). At 9th level, a priest has a base absolute limit of 36. The priest adds 27 to this (9 x 3), for a total of 63. The priest's absolute limit is 63 hit points.

If the Faith ability score is being used, creatures with a Faith modifier - either positive or negative - modify their effective hit points for purposes of the absolute limit.

A creature with a positive Faith modifier subtracts their Faith modifier × their Hit Die from their current hit points to determine their effective hit points for purposes of the absolute limit.

A creature with a negative Faith modifier adds their Faith modifier × their Hit Die to their current hit points to determine their effective hit points for purposes of the absolute limit.

A creature with a Faith score of 0 is immune to utterances; in effect, their effective hit points are considered above the priest's absolute limit, regardless of how many hit points the creature actually has.

Incantations (Pr): Incantations are a weaker form of prayer that priests can use. Unlike utterances, incantations have no limit on the sort of creature they can affect.

Recitations (Pr): Recitations are prayers a priest can use to modify his own existence, by reciting his own truename continually with slight variations. A recitation can be maintained on your turn by expending a swift action. While using a recitation, you cannot use other prayers. Maintaining a recitation does not require a Truespeech check - once you have made the initial check, you can continue maintaining the recitation indefinitely.

Domain (Di): When you take your first level in priest, you must select a Saint or Lucavi as your patron. You gain access to your patron's domain, which grants you an additional priest class skill, an additional weapon or armor proficiency, and a number of additional powers (dependent upon the domain). In addition, your patron's domain automatically adds new prayers to your prayers known upon gaining access to the appropriate prayer level.

Know Thyself: Upon taking your first level in priest, you gain knowledge of your own truename.

Channel Divine (Di): As a priest, you are able to tap into the power of the Divine, though diluted by the separation between the Divine itself and the world. You gain a number of channel divine uses per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier.

For purposes of Divine feats from other sources, channel divine uses count as turn undead attempts (and so you can use them to fuel Divine feats that require their expenditure).

Most patron's domains grant a power that allows you to expend a channel divine use for a purpose relevant to the patron.

In addition, all priests can use channel divine uses to focus their prayers, imbuing their words with just a touch of Divine power that enables their will to be understood, even if their words are not. When you use a prayer, you may expend a channel divine use to take 10 on the Truespeak check to use the prayer.

Ex-Priests

A priest who grossly violates his patron's code of conduct, fails to maintain and observe his patron's dogma, or fails to keep his alignment/ethos within acceptable bounds loses access to his domain and all powers associated with it. He can still attempt to use prayers, but suffers a -10 penalty to all Truespeech checks, his effective petitioner level for all prayers is halved, and his absolute limit is quartered.

A priest ignores these penalties if he has innate Divine alignment (indicated by innate Nature and Void Inhibitions), but still loses access to his patron's domain and associated powers.

Patron Saint: If you have a Saint as your patron, you may either attempt to atone for your transgressions and regain your good standing as a petitioner (moderate difficulty), attempt to acquire patronage from a different Saint (hard difficulty), or attempt to acquire patronage from a Lucavi (easy difficulty).

Patron Lucavi: If you have a Lucavi as your patron, you may either attempt to atone for your transgressions and regain your good standing as a petitioner (hard difficulty), attempt to acquire patronage from a different Lucavi (easy difficulty), or attempt to acquire patronage from a Saint (medium difficulty).

Prayers

The following prayers are available to all priests. Note that your domain will give you access to other prayers, dependent on the domain.

1st-level Prayers

Utterances
Phrase of Speed: Improve a creature's movement speed by 10 ft. / Reduce a creature's movement speed by 10 ft, to a minimum of 5 ft.
Phrase of Libra: Learn information about the target. / Target's vital information becomes inscrutable.
Phrase of Regeneration: Target gains fast healing. / Target gains decay.
Phrase of Vigor: The target automatically succeeds on stabilization checks, and does not take damage from bleeding or wounds. / Effects that make the target bleed deal an additional 1 point each round for their duration.
Syllable of Astra: Target gains bonus to resisting next status ailment. / Target suffers penalty to resisting next status ailment.
Syllable of Entropy: The target takes 1d4 points of negative energy damage. / The target gains 1d4 temporary hit points.
Syllable of Hope: Affect a creature as per bless. / Affect a creature as per bane.
Word of Battle: The target gains a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls with melee weapons. / The target suffers a -1 penalty to attack and damage rolls with melee weapons.
Word of Defense: The target receives a +1 bonus to AC. / The target suffers a -1 penalty to AC.
Word of Hoarfrost: Target takes cold damage and all movement speeds are halved. / Target gains cold resistance and a +5 ft. bonus to land speed.

 

Incantations
Block the Evil: Creature gains protection from evil. / Creature gains protection from good.
Breach the Metaphysic: Summon a divinomental. / Gain protection from divine creatures.
Harden the Metal: Improve the hardness of an item by 5. / Decrease the hardness of an item by 5.
Ignore the Law: Creature gains protection from law. / Creature gains protection from chaos.
Move the Arrow: You may use an immediate action to add a +2 bonus to a ranged or firearm attack roll. / You gain a +2 deflection bonus to AC against ranged and firearm weapons.
Purify the Food: Remove poison from food, also making it tasteless. / Enhance food's flavor, which can hide poison.
Slick the Surface: Make a 10 ft. square area exceptionally slick. / Make a 10 ft. square area exceptionally sticky.

 

Recitations
Recitation of the Careful Drop: You always fall slowly and gain a bonus on Balance checks.
Recitation of the Cunning Step: You can search for traps and gain trap sense as though you were a rogue.
Recitation of the Harried Step: You gain a +10 bonus to land movement and a +1 deflection bonus to AC.
Recitation of the Unclouded Eye: You can determine if creatures within your sight are below your absolute limit.
Recitation of the Wise Man: You gain a bonus to unarmed attack rolls equal to your Int modifier, and deal unarmed damage as a karateka of your priest level.

 

2nd-level Prayers

Utterances
Phrase of Balance: Target receives a +4 bonus to checks relying on stability. / The target suffers a -4 penalty on checks relying on stability.
Phrase of Fear: Target's fear increases by one step. / Target's fear decreases by one step.
Syllable of Affliction: Inflict a status ailment. / Heal a status ailment.
Syllable of Lightning: Target takes electricity damage and loses immunity to electricity. / Target gains electricity resistance.
Syllable of Shouting: Target takes sonic damage and is deafened. / Target becomes especially susceptible to sound.
Word of Causticity: Target takes acid damage and their AC is reduced. / Target gains acid resistance and DR.
Word of Combustion: Target takes fire damage and is on fire. / Extinguish a target on fire and grant it fire resistance.
Word of Drowning: Target loses the ability to breathe water and any racial swim speed. / Target gains a swim speed and the ability to breathe water.
Word of Silence: Target affected by mute status ailment. / Target can ignore silence effects.

 

Incantations
Heat the Metal: Affect an item as per heat metal. / Affect an item as per chill metal.
Know the Heart: Sense when you are being lied to. / Charm a creature.
Sharpen the Blade: Improve the crit range of a slashing weapon. / Decrease the crit range of a slashing weapon.
Sully the Unseen: Outline nearby invisible creatures in dirt. / Clean a creature.
Swallow the Light: Create darkness around you. / Cancel darkness effects.

 

Recitations
Recitation of the Sanguine State: You gain immunity to poison.
Recitation of the Puma's Grace: Gain a bonus on Reflex saves, and possibly Evasion.
Recitation of the Unheard Voice: You are silenced.
Recitation of the Unimpeachable Soul: Gain a bonus on Fortitude saves, and possibly Mettle (Fortitude).

 

3rd-level Prayers

Utterances
Phrase of Perfection: Target gains a +2 bonus to an ability score of your choice. / Subject suffers a -2 penalty to one ability score.
Phrase of Wrestling: Target gains a +2 bonus to grapple checks and Improved Grapple. / Target suffers a -2 penalty to grapple checks and cannot initiate grapples.
Syllable of Aero: Target takes wind damage and pushed away. / Target gains wind resistance and becomes more stable.
Syllable of Confusion: Target becomes confused. / Remove confusion, frenzy, or rage from target.
Syllable of Swiftness: Target makes an attack now. / Target cannot make attacks of opportunity.
Word of Dragons: Target gains a fly speed and a breath weapon. / Target loses fly speed and breath weapon, if any.
Word of Forbid Divine: Target's ability to access the Divine is inhibited. / Target's ability to access the Divine is improved.
Word of Quake: Target takes earth damage and is pinned. / Target gains earth resistance and a burrow speed.
Word of Stone: Target is petrified. / Target is unpetrified.
Word of Tongues: Target can speak any language. / Target affected by babel status ailment.

 

Incantations
Arise, the Phoenix: Raise a creature dead for less than one round. / Slay a dying creature.
Break the Sword: Sunder a weapon. / Repair a weapon.
Open the Way: Create a passage through material. / Destroy a passageway.
Question the Keeper: Request guidance from a divine entity. / Gain resistance to mental control.
Shroud the Earth: Cause snow to fall near you. / Melt snow near you.
View the Secret: View a location you have previously seen. / Prevent yourself from being scryed upon.

 

Recitations
Recitation of the Barricaded Mind: Gain a bonus on Will saves, and possibly Mettle (Will).
Recitation of the Fortified Body: Gain an armor bonus and DR.
Recitation of the Imposed Pull: You treat the world as having subjective gravity.
Recitation of the True Sight: See things as they really are.
Recitation of the Vital Heart: You gain immunity to disease.

 

4th-level Prayers

Utterances
Phrase of Flight: Target gains a fly speed. / Target loses all fly speeds.
Phrase of Teleportation: Target may dimension door as a swift action. / Target cannot teleport.
Syllable of Cleansing: Target gets additional saves against poison and disease. / Target suffers a -10 penalty on their next save against poison or disease.
Syllable of the Minotaur: Target is trapped in a mental maze. / Target gains the natural cunning ability.
Word of Forbid Philosophy: Target's ability to use Natural or Void abilities inhibited. / Target's ability to use Natural or Void abilities improved.
Word of Precision: Target becomes vulnerable to sneak attacks and critical hits. / Target becomes immune to sneak attacks and critical hits.
Word of Temporal Acuity: Target gains a +15 bonus to initiative. / Target takes a -15 penalty to initiative.

 

Incantations
Dissolve the Bonds: Target gains freedom of movement. / Root the target.
Move the Token: Teleport an item. / Prevent teleportation near you.
Name the Nameless: Grant a name to a creature. / Grant a creature the namelessness quality.
Seize the Item: Cause an item to fly to your hand. / Attempt to disarm a target.
Transmute the Iron: Alter composition of an iron item to another material. / Convert an item of a material to an iron item.

 

Recitations
Recitation of the Shooting Star: Gain a bonus to ranged attack and damage rolls, and can make ranged attacks without provoking attacks of opportunity.
Recitation of the Untouched Snow: You become invisible.
Recitation of the Warrior's Arm: Gain a bonus to melee attack and damage rolls, and can flurry.

 

5th-level Prayers

Utterances
Phrase of Bombardment: The target takes random energy damage for 5 rounds. / The target gains energy resistance.
Phrase of Spirits: The target becomes incorporeal and gains a fly speed. / An incorporeal target becomes substantial.
Phrase of Trinity Contraction: Target gains force resistance of your choice. / Empower the next force effect target uses.
Syllable of Temporal Displacement: Target travels 1d6 rounds into the future. / All effects on target have their durations extended.
Syllable of Tesseract: Teleport to a location you can see. / Balefully teleport a creature.
Word of Forbid Force: Target's ability to use Force effects inhibited. / Target's ability to use Force effects improved.

 

Incantations
Empower the Item: Empower a Force item. / Deplete a Force item.
Flip the Ground: Cause gravity to reverse. / Strengthen gravity.
Foil the Senses: Make the world seem blurry. / Make the world seem to stand out.
Open the Gate: Summon a divine creature to do your bidding. / Banish a divine creature.
Renew the Trinity: Restore a dismissed or dispelled Force effect. / Effect is subject to dispel force.
Share the Faith: Grant a creature the faith status. / Grant a creature the innocent status.
Stiffen the Air: Make solid platforms out of air. / Cancel effects that modify the air.

 

Recitations
Recitation of the Broken Force: Gain force resistance to a force of your choice.
Recitation of the Hydra's Bane: Your melee attacks deal entirely acid or fire damage, and you gain a bonus to sunder checks.
Recitation of the Unscribed Name: You gain the namelessness quality.

 

6th-level Prayers

Utterances
Phrase of Domination: Control the target's actions. / Target is freed from any kind of mental control.
Phrase of Temporal Acceleration: Target gains a partial action each round. / Target loses a partial action each round.
Syllable of Death: Target dies. / Revive the target.
Syllable of Soul Entrapment: Trap the soul of a recently-deceased creature. / Retrieve a stored soul.
Word of Conjunctive Action: Target may take two separate courses of action, and determine which was real. / Target can take no actions next round.
Word of Two Fates: Target rolls two dice for every roll and chooses which to use. / Target rolls two dice for every roll, and you choose which is used.

 

Incantations
Call the Wind: Summon a gust of wind. / Calm local wind.
Invoke the Holy: Deal holy damage to a creature. / Deal shadow damage to a creature.
Rebuild the Dweomer: Restore a Force item to a previous state. / Deplete a Force item.
Rewrite the World: Change the world. / Undo a change to the world.
Unhinge the Earth: Make area around you difficult terrain, knock creatures over. / Make area around you a featureless plain.

 

Recitations
Recitation of the Ethical Bent: Gain an alignment subtype.
Recitation of the Reaper's Foil: You become immune to sneak attacks, critical hits, and massive damage. If you would die, you instead gain hit points.
Recitation of the Rejuvenated Self: You gain fast healing.

 

Design Notes

When in doubt, refer to The Way Words Work, an overhaul of the Truename system found in WotC's Tome of Magic.