Godslayer (3.5e Prestige Class)

Summary::Godslayers are fighters specialized in the art of killing Gods. Using a dreadful draining strike and a great array of powerful spells, they can challenge the divine and actually win. Minimum Level::20 Class Ability:: Spontaneous Arcane Spellcasting Class Ability Progression::Partial

This article uses rules from Complete Epic.

Godslayer
"Never again shall I bow before the Gods. Now even Moradin shall feel my blade."

Godslayers are warriors who have dedicated their lives to the destruction of the Gods. In general, anyway. Godslayers must perform the task of rebellion, a ritual that forever denies them Godhood but also gives them substantial magical powers. The rituals can only be performed by near-epic or epic characters, when their own personal divine spark is ripe for consumption.

Becoming a Godslayer
Individuals who seek to undo the rules of the Gods often turn to the path of Godslayer, killing the problem at it source. The class itself offers them skills and spells that are useful to track, find, and destroy the Gods themselves. There are many flavor of Godslayers; some may pursue the class so they can keep order among the Gods while not wanting to destroy them all. A few Godslayers are even sponsored by specific pantheons, using them as assassins to get rid of other deities or their greatest moral champions.

Class Features
''The DC of all godslayer abilities is equal to 10 + 1/2 Hit Dice + the godslayer's wisdom bonus. For the purpose of ranges, spell-like abilities, and duration of her abilities, the godslayer counts as having a caster level equal to her character level.''

All of the following are class features of the godslayer.

Your bonus spells are based on your wisdom. Saves to avoid the effects of your spells have a DC of 10 + the spell's level + your wisdom bonus (if any). You cast spells spontaneously from the spell list below; your spells are considered arcane spells.

5th&mdash;aetherion blast, black blood chains, break enchantment, dismissal, dominate person, false vision, flame Strike, greater command, nightmare, magic jar, mark of justice, plane shift, true seeing

6th&mdash;avasculate, banishment, blade barrier, find the path, globe of invulnerability, legend lore, geas/quest, veil

7th&mdash;blasphemy, dictum, degenerate, ethereal jaunt, finger of death, greater scrying, greater vampiric touch, maddening scream, word of chaos.

8th&mdash;binding, cloak of chaos, dimensional lock, mind blank, shield of law, symbol of death, temporal stasis, trap the soul, unholy aura

9th&mdash;aethernova, greater avasculate, dark reckoning, dominate monster, energy drain, etherealness, foresight, gate, imprisonment, phenomenon rejection, soul bind, time stop, wail of the banshee, weird

If you use mana-based spellcasting, use the table below to determine strain cost.

Alternatively the Godlsayer may forgo to gain spellcasting, instead gaining one bonus feat or epic feat she qualify for at each odd level.

 : All Godslayers possess the terrible ability to drain divinity itself. The godslayer can designate one attack every round (of your choice, chosen after the hit is confirmed but before damage is rolled) to inflict a divine drain. A creature affected by divine drain with divine ranks will temporarily lose a single divine rank, along with all benefits associated with the drained divine rank. 24 hours after the the rank was inflicted, the creature must make a fort save or permanently lose the divine rank. Creatures without divine ranks take twice the amount of divine drain in negative levels.

The strength of the drain increases at each odd level (1d4 at 3rd level, 2d4 at 5th, 3d4 at 7th, and so on). Divine drain stacks with itself.

 : The Godslayer receives spell resistance equal to her HD + 20 against all divine spells. Additionally, the bonus to saves granted by the apostate feat now applies against divine salient abilities.

 : Godslayers have powerful tools against the Gods themselves; they know their weakness and how to best exploit them. A godslayer can research the anathema of a particular deity by studying it for 24 hours, she must have access to religious texts, myths and other source of information involving the deity in question. If she does so she gain all knowledge of the deity's anathemas. Additionally, the Godslayer herself counts as a divine anathema, much to the dismay of any deity she faces. Finally, thanks to their nature, a godslayer using a divine anathema weakens the Gods even more, lowering the God's effective divine rank by 3 and completely negating his divine armor miss chance.



 : You gain +1d6 sneak attack (or equivalent in sudden strike and death attack) at each odd Godslayer level (for a total of +5d6 at 9th level). This ability scale retroactively.

 : All allied creatures within close range of the godslayer gain half her character levels as a vile bonus to all saving throws against divine spells and divine salient abilities. All enemy divine spellcasters within close range to you take half your character levels as a penalty to their caster levels (only when casting divine spells).

 : The godslayer can deliver faith crushing with any attacks granted by base attack bonus. All her attacks granted by base attack bonus force any struck enemy to make a will save or be affected by the effect of crushing despair.

 : The godslayer is a harbinger of curses and bad luck. You gain the ability to cast unluck as an immediate action. You can also target any creature within close range with greater bestow curse. Both abilities are supernatural abilities usable at will.

 : The godslayer is capable of ending divine effects with great haste; as a free action once per round, replicating the effect of greater dispel magic. The Godslayer gains a +10 bonus on her dispel check when dispelling divine spells and abilities.

 : The godslayer may now deliver her divine drain with ranged attacks.

 : Once per encounter, a a godslayer may attempt to smite divine as part of a normal melee attack. She adds her Charisma modifier (if positive) to her attack roll and deals 1 extra point of damage per class level to creatures with divine ranks or with divine spellcasting she hits. If a godslayer accidentally smites a creature that is not divine or cannot cast divine spells, the smite has no effect but it is still used up for that encounter. She gains an additional use of smite divine every odd level. This ability scale retroactively.

 : Whenever you drain a divine rank with divine drain, you gain 25 temporary hit points per rank drained. These temporary hit points does not stack, but overlap, and last for 1 hour per ranks drained.

 : A 2nd level Godslayer is always under the effect of an effect similar to protection from evil, except instead its effects apply against creatures with divine ranks, no matter the alignment.

Additionally, as a full-round action, they may replicate the effect of magic circle against evil, except instead its effects apply against creatures with divine ranks, no matter the alignment.

 : At 4th level any weapons, natural weapons, or unarmed attack the Godslayer muse is considered anathemic.

 : A 7th level Godslayer using phenomenon rejection has a 100% chance of reversing effects of deities' divine salient abilities. Additionally, if she uses it for that purpose, she does no pay any XP cost associated with the spell.

If the Godslayer do not have spellcasting ability she also gain the ability to use phenomenon rejection once per day as a supernatural ability cost, she must still pay any XP components if necessary.

 : A 10th level Godlsayer may, as a full-round action, extinguish the spark of a helpless (or willing) deity. The deity permanently becomes an ex-god, losing all his ranks permanently. The deity may regain his spark by redoing the task of ascension, but starts at divine rank 0 once again. Whenever the Godslayer extinguishes a spark this way, she may channel it, replicating the effect of a single miracle per divine rank of the deity, the miracle granted by this ability must be used within a minute or be wasted.

Task of Rebellion
A ritual necessary to become a Godslayer. It involves oil and rare plants worth 15,000 gp, a friendly Godslayer who will assist the trainee in her ritual, and finally a prized divine minor artifact (or major artifact). As a part of the ritual, the item must be destroyed, then the trainee will forever forsake her personal divine spark, consuming it for powers. The main effects of the ritual allow the Godslayers to use her abilities, by consuming her own spark she gain limited (but powerful spellcasting) and create a void within herself. This void is then channeled to drain the lifeforce and divinity, basically allowing the new Godslayer to use divine drain.

A side effect of the ritual make it impossible for the Godslayer to ever achieve deitydom.

Playing a Godslayer
Combat: Godslayers have powerful spellcasting and plenty of pre-epic skills, they have excellent combat prowess with high points and high attack bonus. They particularly shine in combat with deities and their servants, where their unique Godslayer ability can easily decimate opposition.

Advancement: Most divine slayers come from fighters and other mundane warriors; however a few come from other classes such as fallen paladins or rogues. A rare few wizards and clerics join the ranks of Godslayers; however, since the class does not advance other spellcasting, the class is typically shunned by pure casters.

Resources: Godslayers find rare fellowship, even from fellow Godslayers. Since most of the world population follow the Gods, a Godslayer may find herself shunned from civilization. Only few organizations cater to them, such as iconoclast thieves guilds or ur-priest circles.