Ancestral Speaker
Many cultures, both primitive and surprisingly advanced, give their religious devotion not to deities (at least not solely to deities), but to their departed ancestors. An ancestral speaker calls upon his forbearers, and the deceased patriarchs and matriarchs of his clan, family, or nation, for spells and guidance. Unlike standard clerics, whose first devotion is often to their priesthood, an ancestral speaker serves and protects the honor of his ancestors and the well-being of his people with equal fervor. They are, after all essentially the same thing; his people today are the family of those who have gone, and they themselves will one day be the ancestor spirits to following generations.Hit Die: d8.
Class Skills
The ancestral speaker’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis) Spellcraft (Int). Further the ancestral speaker may chose any two cross-class skills to become class skills; these were taught to him by his ancestors during communion over the course of his training to become an ancestral speaker.
Skill Points at 1st Level: .? (4 + Int modifier) x 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier.
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Table: The Ancestral Speaker |
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———————— Spells per Day1 ——–————— |
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|
Level |
Base Attack Bonus |
Fort Save |
Ref Save |
Will Save |
Special |
0 |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
5th |
6th |
7th |
8th |
9th |
|
|
1st |
+0 |
+2 |
+2 |
+2 |
Ancestral Communion (skills) 1/day, holy presence |
3 |
1 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
|
|
2nd |
+1 |
+3 |
+3 |
+3 |
4 |
2 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
||
|
3rd |
+2 |
+3 |
+3 |
+3 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
||
|
4th |
+3 |
+4 |
+4 |
+4 |
Death Talker +2 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
|
|
5th |
+3 |
+4 |
+4 |
+4 |
Ancestral Communion 2/day |
5 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
|
|
6th |
+4 |
+5 |
+5 |
+5 |
5 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
||
|
7th |
+5 |
+5 |
+5 |
+5 |
6 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
||
|
8th |
+6/+1 |
+6 |
+6 |
+6 |
Death Talker +4 |
6 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
|
|
9th |
+6/+1 |
+6 |
+6 |
+6 |
Ancestral Communion (questions), improved resurrection |
6 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
|
|
10th |
+7/+2 |
+7 |
+7 |
+7 |
Ancestral Communion 3/day |
6 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
|
|
11th |
+8/+3 |
+7 |
+7 |
+7 |
6 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
— |
— |
— |
||
|
12th |
+9/+4 |
+8 |
+8 |
+8 |
Death Talker +6 |
6 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
— |
— |
— |
|
|
13th |
+9/+4 |
+8 |
+8 |
+8 |
6 |
5 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
— |
— |
||
|
14th |
+10/+5 |
+9 |
+9 |
+9 |
6 |
5 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
— |
— |
||
|
15th |
+11/+6/+1 |
+9 |
+9 |
+9 |
Ancestral Communion 4/day |
6 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
— |
|
|
16th |
+12/+7/+2 |
+10 |
+10 |
+10 |
Death Talker +8 |
6 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
— |
|
|
17th |
+12/+7/+2 |
+10 |
+10 |
+10 |
6 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
||
|
18th |
+13/+8/+3 |
+11 |
+11 |
+11 |
6 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
||
|
19th |
+14/+9/+4 |
+11 |
+11 |
+11 |
6 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
||
|
20th |
+15/+10/+5 |
+12 |
+12 |
+12 |
Ancestral Communion 5/day, death talker +10 |
6 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
|
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Ancestral Speaker.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The ancestral speaker is proficient with all simple weapons, with light wounds and medium armor, and with shields (except tower shields).
Ancestral Communion (Ex): In addition to spells, the ancestral speaker may pray to his ancestors for advice or knowledge. At 1st level, the ancestral speaker may request a bonus on any one specific skill, once per day. The ancestors grant him temporary knowledge of that skill, bestowing a competence bonus equal to the ancestral speaker’s Charisma modifier plus his class level. It does not matter if the speaker already possesses any ranks in this skill or not; the ancestral speaker can use this skill even if he is untrained in it’s use or cannot normally use it. The bonus lasts a number of rounds equal to 1 + the ancestral speaker’s Charisma bonus. At 5th level and every 5 levels thereafter, the ancestral speaker may use this power an additional time per day.
At 9th level, the ancestral speaker may choose to ask the ancestors’ advice, rather than seeking their aide with skills. Instead of a skill bonus, he may choose to ask them questions, as per the commune spell cast by a cleric of his level. He may do this only once per day; any other uses of ancestral communion during that day must be request for help with a skill.
Death Talker (Ex): Due to his long association with the spirits of the departed, the 4th level ancestral speaker gains a +2 bonus to all Diplomacy, Bluff, Intimidate, and Sense Motive checks against undead. At 8th level and every 4 level’s thereafter, this bonus increases by +2.
Holy Presence (Ex): The ancestral speaker is considered to be his own holy symbol, as he is descended from the beings on whom he calls. Thus, he need not carry any such symbol, and can cast spells with the Divine Focus component without one.
Improved Resurrection (Ex): The ancestors on whom the speaker calls well know the pathways between life and death, and they can smooth over the transition for anyone making the crossing at their speaker’s behest. Anyone raised or resurrected by an ancestral speaker still looses a level, but only a portion of the normal XP. Under most conditions level loss drops the victim to the halfway point of the old level; someone raised by an ancestral speaker drops to three quarter mark.
Variant Cleric Rules
Unless otherwise noted a variant cleric advances just as a standard cleric and shares the following traits.