Bishop (3.5e Class)

Summary::Bishops are the powerful holy servants of deities. Whether they be cool and calculating, lucid and wise, or feverent and passionate, is entirely dependant on the bishop in question. Length::20 Minimum Level::1 Base Attack Bonus Progression::Poor Fortitude Save Progression::Good Reflex Save Progression::Poor Will Save Progression::Good Class Ability::Prepared Divine Spellcasting Class Ability Progression::Full

Allowed Alignments::Lawful Good Allowed Alignments::Lawful Neutral Allowed Alignments::Lawful Evil Allowed Alignments::Neutral Good Allowed Alignments::Neutral Allowed Alignments::Neutral Evil Allowed Alignments::Chaotic Good Allowed Alignments::Chaotic Neutral Allowed Alignments::Chaotic Evil

Bishop
Bishops are the divine agents of the almighty entities known as 'gods', and stand tall, amongst the other divine emissaries of the world, such as the cleric or the paladin. When a bishop learns to be a bishop, he is presented with three paths to choose from. He may choose to be the cold, intelligent, and calculating priest, the lucid, insightful, and wise prelate, or the feverent, confident, and passionate missionary. No matter the path that is chosen, a bishop is a force to be reckoned with, whether they bear the words of salvation or damnation upon their lips.

Making a Bishop
Bishops can be paticularly powerful forces upon a battlefield, who can overwhelm foes with unerring power, and who can seemingly avoid every danger that befalls them, no matter how undodgable it may be. Bishops usually choose to stay in the background of a battle, choosing to decimate their foes and the rest of the world from afar, to avoid harm falling upon themselves. A bishop is truly a potent enemy to fight against, one who can surprise even the most veteran warriors.

Abilities: Bishops are an unusual class for one reason and one reason alone: they must decide which ability score is most important to them. At first level, a bishop must decide whether to base their spellcasting ability off of Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma. Whichever of these ability scores the bishop selects, that one will inexplicably become the most important to a bishop. The second and third most important ability scores to a bishop will always be Constitution and Dexterity, so that the bishop can have some extra hit points to compensate for their low HD, and to adjust for their low AC that sprouts from their lack of proficiency in armor. Dexterity also helps to raise the saving throw bonus of the class' lowest save. Next in importance come the two mental ability scores that the bishop did not select as the ability score that their spellcasting would be based on. Strength is not recommended for a bishop.

Races: Any.

Alignment: Unlike a cleric, a bishop does not need to stay within one step of their gods alignment to keep their powers. In fact, a lawful evil bishop could very easily worship a chaotic good deity.

Starting Gold: 6d6&times;10 gp (210 gp).

Starting Age: Complex, As wizard.

Epic Bishop
 (Ex): At 30th level a bishop's mind truly begins to channel the infinite energies that are the divine forces of existance, becoming a new force upon the face of reality. At this point the bishop gains a +4 inherent bonus to whichever ability score he chose at first level to be his main spellcasting ability. Additionally, the bishop gains the ability to cast 3 spells of 5th level or lower that he knows as spell-like abilities. Also, the bishops type changes to outsider, and he gains the augmented subtype, with his origninal type next to it. The bishop can still be raised normally. Additionally, the bishop never has to pay an XP cost less than 5,000 XP again, and any XP cost that he has to pay, is lowered by 5,000 points.



Epic Bishop Bonus Feat List: Augmented Alchemy, Automatic Quicken Spell, Automatic Silent Spell, Automatic Still Spell, Combat Casting, Craft Epic Magic Arms and Armor, Craft Epic Rod, Craft Epic Staff, Craft Epic Wondrous Item, Efficient Item Creation, Enhance Spell, Epic Spell Focus, Epic Spell Penetration, Epic Spellcasting, Forge Epic Ring, Ignore Material Components, Improved Combat Casting, Improved Heighten Spell, Improved Metamagic, Improved Spell Capacity, Intensify Spell, Multispell, Permanent Emanation, Scribe Epic Scroll, Spell Focus, Spell Knowledge, Spell Penetration, Spell Stowaway, Spell Opportunity, Spontaneous Spell, Tenacious Magic. In addition to the feats on this list, a bishop may select any item creation feat or metamagic feat not listed here.

Gray Elf Bishop Starting Package
Weapons: Light Crossbow

Skill Selection: Pick a number of skills equal to 6 + Int modifier.

Feat: Heighten Spell.

Gear: Bedroll, 12 Candles, Ink (10 oz.), Inkpen, Bullseye Lantern, Oil (6 pint flask), Paper (20 sheets), Belt Pouch, Sealing Wax, Signet Ring, Waterskin, Winter Blanket.

Gold: 100 gp.

Playing a Bishop
Religion: Bishops of every faith can be found in the world, from the pious, passionate clergyman of a church of a god who reigns over glory and justice, to the cold, calculating zealot of a cult of a pantheon of abominations. Though, no matter their paticular faiths, bishops are terrible forces to behold, who can turn away even the most resolute forces that oppose them. Of course, some bishops could not even follow a religion at all, and instead devote themselves to a paticular philosophy or manner of living. While these bishops aren't usually as organized as others of their kind, they are with no doubt, just as strong.

Other Classes: Bishops tend to vary in who they get along with depending on their faith. For example, a bishop who worships a dark, evil god could very quickly befriend a blackgaurd or a cleric of an evil diety. Controversely, a bishop who worships a good, kind god could find a connection with a paladin or a cleric of a good diety. Though, regardless, they tend to always have some find og connection with other spellcasters, be they wizards or sorcerers.

Combat: Bishops can usually fit into the role of the group buffer with extreme ease, what with their personal survivability allowing them to enter into the thick of battle and heal or strengthen their allies with as little harm coming to them as possible. At the same time, of course, they are capable of decimating the field of battle with but a thought, acting in as intense and aggresive ways as they can. At later levels, a bishop gains unnatural power, being able to overwhelm barriers that would overwise stop magic in it's tracks, and crush their foes with a power that is rarely ever seen.

Advancement: Bishops always have many paths of advancement open to them, from the most subtle of routes, to the grandest, most destructive avenues imaginable. For example, a paticular bishop may look to the hierophant class, to provide themselves with more diverse ways of channeling thier divine power. On another hand, they may find the loremaster class to be enticing, for it's archaic mannerisms, and interesting symmetries. A paticular bishop may seek to take levels in thaumaturgist even, to allow themselves to bring their gods minions to the world with greater speed. Lastly, for those bishops who do not follow a set religion, they may be tempted by the fruits of arcane magic, and seek to take levels in sorcerer or wizard and then mystic theurge.

Bishops in the World
"The words I bear cannot be ignored, nor can they be endured."

Bishops can find themselves in any role, from the chilly dispositioned priest who guides young ones to be pious and good, according to the commandments of their religion, to the passionate and strong willed prelate who seeks to spread the word of their god, and strike down the enemies of their faith. Other bishops can find themselves coming into power that few others find themselves offered with, such as being the individual who an emporer seeks out for advice, or the ancient philosopher who men come to from around the world, just to meet.

Daily Life: The life of a bishop depends entirely on how they seek to live out their lives. For example, the day to day life of a bishop who chooses to follow a calm life as a priest may consist mostly of prayer and preaching. Or, on the other hand, a bishop who has sought to travel, and spread the words of their faith to the far reaches of the world may find that they are travelling every day, and meeting new people with each stop. Though, regardless, they will always have a connection to the divine that they can feel in their their daily lives.

Notables: Charles Ovoru, Male Human Bishop: the last true high priest of an ancient religion.

Kita Slate, Female Gnome Bishop: partook in a battle held between two deities, and survived.

Sean Petice, Male Wood Elf Bishop: was the right hand man of a long dead god for many years.

Organizations: Bishops who are part of an organization are usually priests or cultists, considering that their divine ability virtually anchors them into such positions. Though, it isn't uncommon for there to be wandering bishops who seek to spread the word of their faith alone. These bishops tend to shun organizations and rarely ever stay in the same place for long, instead always moving through the world, seeking out new people to spread the word to. Although, there are bishops who follow neither extreme, and merely serve as a preacher on a philosopher without actually being part of something larger.

NPC Reactions: An NPC's reaction to a bishop depends entirely on the NPC in question. For example, a paticular NPC could have a strong aversion to religion, and behave outrightly rude to a bishop. On another hand, an NPC could share a religion with the bishop, and recognize them for being a priest of their faith, and act very friendly to the bishop. Though, individuals who do not fall into these two groups tend to be indifferent, friendly, or aprehensive of the bishop, depending on the NPC.

Bishop Lore
Characters with ranks in knowledge (religion) can research bishops to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.

Bishops in the Game
Bishops can be seen anywhere in this world, from the dark pits of an ancient dungeon that a local cult has claimed for themselves, to the pristine, white marble halls of a religious king, to the dusty, untrodden paths in the underside of civilization. Though, there is one thing about bishops that is set in stone, wherever they may be found, there is an almost palpable sense of divine energies in the air. Bishops are truly very powerful beings in this world, who can be found anywhere, and in any situation.

Adaptation: Bishops can fit into any campaign imaginable. For example, bishops could be the dark cultists who lead their followers to raise an ancient god from the depths of history, so that he may once again wreak havoc upon the wolrd. Or, bishops could be the individual followers of gods, and there may only be one for any paticular god. It is even possible for bishops to only be able to be found in a monestary floating in the astral plane.

Sample NPC: Aaron Tagge grew up in a distant world, one that had no emotion, one that blended all together into a seamless stretch of grey. During the first half of his life he saw judges pass sentences without so much as batting an eye and men kill without a second thought. It seemed, from Aarons point of veiw, that the world was a bleak place, where hope was almost non-existant. Aaron was a cold man because of this, and he was dreaded by those who knew of him as the man he was. Though, he was not happy, and he knew this, and this knowledge slowly ate away at him, until, one day, he attempted to take his life. Though, he did not die, not then, for there was someone there, a travelling bishop who had entered the room Aaron had rented in the local tavern by mistake. This man cut Aaron down, healed him as fast as he could, and brought him to. During that night, the man chose to stay with Aaron, and speak to him, talk to him about why he tried to kill himself. That night lasted longer than most nights, it seemed, and the two men talked about many things, from the dim prospect that was Aarons life, to the exotic corners of the map that the bishop had travelled to. Eventually, the talk came back to why the man was here, and he told Aaron of his faith, and the joy and color it brought to his life. Then, in the morning, the bishop left again, heading back out to the road, waving goodbye to Aaron with a smile, but, before he had even gotten a mile down the road, Aaron had made a descision, bought a backpack, some clothes, a few weeks worth of trail rations, and caught back up with him. To date, Aaron is still travelling with the man who saved his life, and they are still spreading the word of their faith, and the life that Aaron abandonned rested, quite and still.

EL 17: