Vigilante

Requirements

Base Attack Bonus: +4

Alignment: Any nonevil

Skills: Gather Information 8 ranks, Intimidate 4 ranks, Knowledge (local) 8 ranks, Search 4 ranks, Sense Motive 8 ranks

Feats: Alertness

Summary

Some vigilantes have suffered personally at the hands of criminals and are bent on revenge. Others have lost loved ones to knives in the alleyway. Still others are atoning for the time they spent on the wrong side of the law. But they all have one thing in common: a burning desire to solve crimes and bring criminals to justice.

The vigilante combines magical and mundane investigative techniques to assess a crime scene. He is adept at learning “the word on the street” about a crime, analyzing clues, and identifying likely suspects. Once on the trail, he relentlessly tails, apprehends, and interrogates a suspect until the truth comes out. Many vigilantes work for the local ruler or the city guard; others are independent detectives-for-hire. Some even take to the streets by night to stop crimes in progress—or to keep would-be criminals from striking in the first place.

A bard or rogue can quickly pick up the variety of skills a vigilante needs. Rangers find the class appealing because it allows them to engage in urban hunts with criminals as their prey, but they must typically multiclass as bards or rogues to qualify. Some would-be vigilantes add one or more levels of fighter or paladin to aid their combat prowess.

An NPC vigilante might turn up just in time to save the player characters from becoming crime victims themselves. However, if they break the law on a vigilante’s home turf, they may find themselves under his unwelcome scrutiny.

Role: DPS

Characteristics: Limited Casting. Those obsessed with stopping and fighting the guilty

Source: Complete Adventurer

Game Rule Information

The Vigilante has the following game statistics.

Abilities: Charisma for casting, Wisdom and Constitution to bolster your saves

Alignment: Any Nonevil

Hit Die: d8

Starting Gold: N/A

Class Skills

The Vigilante's class skills are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (local) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Open Lock (Dex), Perform (Cha), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Tumble (Dex), and Use Rope (Dex).

Skill Points at 1st Level: (6 + Int modifier) × 4

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Vigilante.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Vigilante is proficient with simple and martial weapons and the net.

Detect Evil Sp: A vigilante can use detect evil at will.

Spells per Day: A vigilante has the ability to cast a small number of arcane spells. To cast a vigilante spell, a vigilante must have a Charisma score of at least 10 + the spell's level, so if he has a Charisma of 10 or lower, he cannot cast these spells. Bonus spells are based on Charisma, and saving throws against these spells have a DC of 10 + spell level + the vigilante's Cha modifier. When a vigilante gets 0 spells per day of a given level (for instance, 1st-level spells at 1st level), he gains only the bonus spells he would be entitled to based on his Charisma score for that spell level. A vigilante casts spells just as a bard does.

A vigilante's selection of spells is extremely limited. A vigilante begins play knowing two 1st-level spells of his choice. At most new vigilante levels, he gains one or more new spells known as indicated on the table below. (Unlike spells per day, the number of spells a vigilante knows is not affected by his Charisma score.) Upon reaching 6th level, and at every even-numbered level after that, a vigilante can choose to learn a new spell in place of one he already knows. This works identically to the bard's ability to learn new spells in the place of old ones.

A vigilante's spell list includes all spells from the bard spell list that belong to the following schools: abjuration, divination, illusion, necromancy, and transmutation. (Treat 0-level bard spells as 1st-level vigilante spells.)

Streetwise Ex: A vigilante knows how to survive in dangerous urban areas. He gains a +2 competence bonus on Gather Information and Knowledge (local) checks.

At 7th level, this bonus improves to +4.

Smite the Guilty Su: Starting at 2nd level, a vigilante can attempt to smite someone whom he has personally witnessed committing a crime in his home city. He can use this ability once per day. He adds his Charisma bonus (if any) to his melee attack roll and deals an extra 1 point of damage per vigilante level.

The smite attack must occur within three days of the crime; otherwise, the benefits of this ability no longer apply. A vigilante can use this ability multiple times against the same miscreant and in response to the same incident, so long as all such uses occur within the time limit. Should a vigilante mistakenly try to punish someone who is not guilty of the crime witnessed, the benefits do not apply, but the attempt still counts against the number allowed per day.

A vigilante can use this ability twice per day at 6th level and three times per day at 10th level.

Quick Search Ex: Starting at 3rd level, a vigilante can search a 5-foot-by-5-foot area or a volume of goods 5 feet on a side as a move action, rather than as a full-round action.

Speak with Dead Sp: Starting at 4th level, a vigilante can use Speak With Dead once per day. His caster level equals his class level.

Quick Hide Ex: At 5th level and higher, a vigilante can use Bluff to create a diversion to hide as a move action, rather than as a standard action. He gains a +4 bonus on Bluff checks made for this purpose.

Dimensional Anchor Sp: Starting at 8th level, a vigilante can use Dimensional Anchor once per day. His caster level equals his class level.

Mettle Ex: Starting at 9th level, a vigilante's grim determination allows him to shrug off magical effects that would otherwise harm him. If a vigilante makes a successful Will or Fortitude saving throw that would normally reduce the spell's effect (such as any spell with a saving throw entry of Will partial or Fortitude half), he instead negates the effect. An unconscious or sleeping vigilante does not gain the benefit of mettle.

Table 1-1: Vigilante Progression

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Spells per Day
						1st	2nd	3rd	4th
1st	+0	+0	+2	+2	Detect evil, streetwise +2	0	—	—	—
2nd	+1	+0	+3	+3	Smite the guilty 1/day	1	—	—	—
3rd	+2	+1	+3	+3	Quick search	2	0	—	—
4th	+3	+1	+4	+4	Speak with dead	3	1	—	—
5th	+3	+1	+4	+4	Quick hide	3	2	0	—
6th	+4	+2	+5	+5	Smite the guilty 2/day	3	3	1	—
7th	+5	+2	+5	+5	Streetwise +4	4	4	2	0
8th	+6	+2	+6	+6	Dimensional anchor	4	4	3	1
9th	+6	+3	+6	+6	Mettle	4	4	3	2
10th	+7	+3	+7	+7	Smite the guilty 3/day	4	4	3	3

Table 1-2: Vigilante Spells Known

Level	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
1st	2 1	—	—	—
2nd	3	—	—	—
3rd	3	2 1	—	—
4th	4	3	—	—
5th	4	3	2 1	—
6th	4	4	3	—
7th	4	4	3	2 1
8th	4	4	4	3
9th	4	4	4	3
10th	4	4	4	4
1 Provided the vigilante has a high enough Charisma to have a bonus spell of this level

Adaptation

Although members of this class usually work alone, that need not be the case in every campaign. Any highly trained group of professional adventurers, bounty hunters, or even assassins could include members of the vigilante class, especially if you remove the alignment restriction.

Bonus Spells

In 3.6e, spellcasters who have a limited number of spells per day are granted additional spell slots based on their casting stat modifier according to the table below. In order to receive the bonus spell slots, they must already be able to cast spells of that level.

Table 1-3: Bonus Spells

Skill Bonus	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4
1	1	1	0	0
2	2	1	1	1
3	3	2	2	1
4	4	2	2	1
5	5	3	2	1
6	6	3	2	2
7	7	4	2	2
8	8	4	3	2
9	9	5	3	2
10	10	5	3	3
11	11	6	4	3