Church Inquisitor

Requirements

Alignment: Lawful good or lawful neutral

Skills: Knowledge (arcana) 4 ranks , Knowledge (religion) 4 ranks , Spellcraft 4 ranks

Base Save Bonus: Will +3.

Spells: Able to cast zone of truth as a divine spell.

Special: Must be a member of a lawful good church or religious order, and must have already uncovered some corruption within that organization.

Summary

While many champions of good are dedicated to fighting forces of evil that are external to them and their church—as clerics and paladins of Heironeous are devoted to destroying followers of Hextor—the church inquisitor is at least as concerned about evil and corruption within. When greed eats away at a church hierarchy, when devils infiltrate a knightly order and seduce its leaders to evil, when high clerics succumb to evil enchantments and fall from the path of their deities, it is usually a church inquisitor who uncovers this kind of taint and cuts it away.

Church inquisitors specialize in divination (to seek out evil and corruption) and abjuration (to protect themselves and others from evil magic). They are most often drawn from the clerics or paladins of a lawful church or order. Members of other classes usually find it difficult to meet the requirements of the prestige class, and rarely have the incentive to do so.

Player characters might encounter church inquisitors if they are involved in a lawful church or order—perhaps even as subjects of the inquisitor’s investigations. Church inquisitors are particularly likely to appear after incidents involving demons or devils, since they combat the widespread corruption, these creatures tend to leave in their wake.

Role: Spell Utility

Characteristics: Uncoverers of corruption who seek to weed it out at its core.

Source: Complete Divine

Game Rule Information

The Church Inquisitor has the following game statistics.

Abilities: Charisma for auxiliary abilities, Wisdom to improve your will save, and any one of your physical stats would be good to augment

Alignment: Lawful Good or Lawful Neutral

Hit Die: d8

Starting Gold: N/A

Class Skills

The Church Inquisitor's class skills are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Spot (Wis).

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

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Church Inquisitor.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Church Inquisitor is proficient with whatever they were already proficient with prior to taking levels in this class.

Detect Evil Sp: A church inquisitor can use detect evil at will as a spell-like ability.

Inquisition Domain: Upon adopting the church inquisitor class, a character gains access to the Inquisition domain. The character gains the granted power associated with the domain (a +4 bonus on dispel checks) and can choose the spells in that domain as his daily domain spells.

Spells per Day/Spells Known: A church inquisitor continues advancing in divine spellcasting ability as well as learning the skills of inquisition. Thus, when a new church inquisitor level is gained, the character gains new divine spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if he had also gained a level in whatever divine spellcasting class he belonged to before he added the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (improved chance of controlling or rebuking undead, more frequent remove disease, and so on). This means that he adds the level of church inquisitor to the level of another divine spellcasting class the character has, then determines spells per day accordingly.

If a character had more than one divine spellcasting class before he became a church inquisitor, the player must decide which class to assign each level of church inquisitor for the purpose of determining divine spells per day and spells known.

Immune to Charms Ex: A church inquisitor of 2nd level or higher is immune to all enchantment (charm) spells and effects.

Pierce Illusion Su: At 3rd level, the church inquisitor gains the supernatural ability to penetrate illusions and disguises at will. Whenever an inquisitor sees an illusion or disguise spell of any sort, he immediately makes a Will save to see through it. The inquisitor need not interact with or touch the illusion, visual contact is enough to give the Will save.

Pierce Disguise Ex: The inquisitor has a +4 competence bonus on Spot checks against the Disguise skill.

Immune to Compulsions Ex: A church inquisitor of 5th level or higher is immune to all compulsion spells and effects.

Force Shapechange Su: A church inquisitor of 6th level or higher can force a creature into its natural form. The church inquisitor must make a successful melee touch attack against the creature. If the attack is successful, the church inquisitor makes a caster level check as if casting dispel magic against the shapechanging effect. The church inquisitor’s +4 bonus on dispel checks (the Inquisition domain granted power) applies to this check. This ability undoes the effect of alter self, polymorph, shapechange, and alternate form abilities, whether exceptional, spell-like, or supernatural in nature. The affected creature cannot change its shape again for 1d6 rounds. The church inquisitor can use this ability at will.

Immunity to Possession Ex: A church inquisitor of 8th level or higher has immunity to magic jar, soul bind, trap the soul, a ghost’s malevolence ability, and all other spells or effects that displace or replace a character’s life force. The character can still travel to the planes via astral projection, if so desired.

Discern Lies Sp: A church inquisitor of 9th level or higher can use discern lies as a spelllike ability three times per day.

Learn the Truth Su: By touching a creature that has lied to him, a church inquisitor of 10th level or higher can force the creature to tell the truth. The creature can make a Will save (DC 10 + the church inquisitor’s level + the church inquisitor’s Cha modifier) to resist this mind-affecting compulsion effect. If the saving throw fails, the creature must speak the true version of the lie it uttered. The church inquisitor can use this ability 3 times/day.

Table 1-1: Church Inquisitor Progression

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Spellcasting
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Detect evil, Inquisition domain	+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Immune to charms +2	+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
3rd	+2	+1	+1	+3	Pierce illusion	+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
4th	+3	+1	+1	+4	Pierce disguise	+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
5th	+3	+1	+1	+4	Immune to compulsions	+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
6th	+4	+2	+2	+5	Force shapechange	+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
7th	+5	+2	+2	+5	—	+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
8th	+6	+2	+2	+6	Immunity to possession	+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
9th	+6	+3	+3	+6	Discern lies	+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
10th	+7	+3	+3	+7	Learn the truth	+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class

Adapatation

As written, this prestige class isn’t specific to a deity or organization—but in your campaign it certainly could be. Perhaps a particular church has an “Order of the Watchful Eye” that functions as an internal-affairs department for the paladins and clerics in other orders. Or a theocracy might have an FBI-style organization full of church inquisitors that investigate demon-spawned crimes across the nation.