Speaker of the Divine

Requirements

Skills: Concentration 13 ranks, Knowledge (Arcana) 6 ranks, Knowledge (Religion) 6 ranks, Listen 5 ranks, Perform (Oratory) 6 ranks

Feats: Iron Will, Persuasive

Special: You need to train at the Priory of the Divine Voice, a process that usually takes at least a year, not including the arduous journey to find and reach it.

Summary

The speaker of the divine can use her voice to command the earth to speak, the dead to rise, or the skies to open up and rain fire. Nothing can resist the power of the divine voice, for it is this voice that set the world in motion and gave life to all creatures mighty and miniscule. Those trained in the use of the divine voice tap into the very power that gods use.

Learning to use one’s voice not like a mortal, but like a god, is an arduous undertaking. It is impossible to do alone. Only an inspired master can teach others to command this awesome power. It requires vast concentration and an ability to look inward until the initiate can hear the divine voice that created her still resonating within. This can take a long time— and many never succeed. Once she has achieved this success, the speaker of the divine begins treading a powerful path, one that requires supreme dedication and mastery or the power is lost. The character must cast aside all aspects of her former life and abandon past goals. Only the divine voice matters.

Use of the divine voice is a dramatic spectacle. It causes the ground to quake, it turns ogres into toads, and it makes boulders float. It is never subtle—it does not control minds, create illusions, or deftly modify an object. Its effects are always visual and awe inspiring. Generally speaking, they are usually evocations, but occasionally conjurations or transmutations.

A speaker of the divine is usually a cleric of Kulaj, but not always. Sometimes a bard, wizard, or sorcerer hears of the secrets of the divine voice, seeks them out, and somehow survives the trip and the training. Rarer still are the nonspellcasters who become speakers of the divine. Theirs is an even more difficult road and, truth be told—with the exception of monks—they never master the power to the degree of those well versed in spells and magic.

Once trained, a speaker of the divine that is not in an adventuring party is normally a wanderer—sometimes a holy figure about whom legends grow—and a loner. Outside the Priory of the Divine Voice, they almost never work in groups or gather together. While all speakers of the divine are mystic devotees of the discipline, they do not share similar philosophies or beliefs, and thus they use their powers in different ways. Although Kulaj brought the divine voice to the world, and her clerics teach its mastery, the power does not come from her the way clerics channel spells from their gods. A speaker of the divine could even reject Kulaj and her teachings and still retain the divine voice. Such rogue speakers are rare, however.

The speaker of the divine is a powerful prestige class reached only when a character gains at least 10th level. The abilities it grants are impressive, but those who take the class are usually spellcasters. Because they give up their spell progressions to take levels in this prestige class, its abilities must be powerful to compensate.

Role: Spell Utility

Characteristics: Petitioners of the Divine that can beseech their aid for answers and powerful spells.

Source: Book of Hallowed Might 2

Game Rule Information

The Speaker of the Divine has the following game statistics.

Abilities: Charisma to improve your abilities of divine speech, and Constitution to improve your Fortitude save to stop any speech removing effects

Alignment: Any

Hit Die: d8

Starting Gold: N/A

Class Skills

The Speaker of the Divine's class skills are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (any) (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (any one skill) (Int), Listen (Wis), Perform (Cha), Profession (Int), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Spot (Wis)

Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) × 4

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Speaker of the Divine.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Speaker of the Divine is proficient with whatever they were already proficient with prior to taking levels in this class.

Divine Voice Syllables Sp: The speaker of the divine can use the divine voice to speak short syllables that produce magical, spell-like effects. Each time speakers gain this ability (at 1st and 3rd levels), they can choose three spells from the following list to cast as special spell-like abilities (with no material or somatic components, although there is a verbal component—and the casting time is always a standard action): Burning Rain, Daylight, Dispel Magic, Fly, Geyser, Giant Vermin, Ice Storm, Invisibility Purge, Minor Creation, Searing Light, Shout, Wall of Fire,and Wall of Ice.

A speaker can use each ability once per day, but choosing one spell twice allows one to use it three times per day. Choosing a spell three times (counting as all three picks) allows a speaker to use it five times each day. The speaker uses her speaker of the divine class level plus any levels in a spellcasting class to determine caster level for each ability. Since the divine voice is so potent, saving throw DCs are equal to 13 + the speaker’s Charisma bonus + spell level.

Protective Voice Su: Using the divine voice, the 2nd-level and higher speaker can command the very air around her to protect her from harm. As long as she is not prohibited from speaking (within a silence spell, gagged, etc.) she can grant herself, as a free action each round, a deflection bonus to Armor Class equal to her speaker of the divine class level divided by two. Likewise, her protective voice grants her a resistance bonus of the same amount to all her saving throws.

Divine Voice Words Sp: The speaker of the divine can use the divine voice to speak words of power that produce magical, spell-like effects. Each time speakers gain this ability (at 5th and 7th levels), they can choose three spells from the following list to cast as special spell-like abilities (with no material or somatic components, although there is a verbal component—and the casting time is always a standard action): Acid Fog, Animal Growth, Animate Objects, Baleful Polymorph, Cloudkill, Control Water, Flame Strike, Flesh to Stone, Greater Dispel Magic, Major Creation, Move Earth, Telekinesis, Undeath to Death, Wall of Force, Wall of Iron, Wall of Stone, and Word of Recall.

A speaker can use each ability once per day, but choosing one spell twice allows one to use it three times per day. Choosing a spell three times (counting as all three picks) allows a speaker to use it five times each day. The speaker uses her speaker of the divine class level plus any levels in a spellcasting class to determine caster level for each ability. Since the divine voice is so potent, saving throw DCs are equal to 13 + the speaker’s Charisma bonus + spell level.

Knowledge Voice Sp: With a command, the 6th-level and higher speaker of the voice can compel an inanimate, mindless object or location to answer a single question about itself. The answer can be no longer than one word per class level of the speaker. For example, a 7th-level speaker could ask a newfound staff, “What spells do you contain?” The staff will answer, but if it takes more than seven words to complete, the speaker gets only a partial answer. The limit of an object’s or place’s knowledge is up to the DM, but it always knows the answer to a question directly related to itself, such as “Who made you?” “What is your function?” “How many charges do you have?” or “What did the last person to pass through here look like?” Assume, for purposes of the answer, that the object has an Intelligence score of 10 and all the sensory abilities of a human. The object or place is not omniscient, however, so it may not know answers to questions like “Where is they key to this door?” or “What is the name of the last person who used you?” The answer is always a verbal one for all around to hear, spoken in the language of the question. The speaker can use this ability a number of times per day equal to her Charisma bonus (if she has no Charisma bonus, she can use the ability once per week).

Divine Voice Phrases Sp: The speaker of the divine can use the divine voice to speak phrases of power that produce magical, spell-like effects. Speakers can choose three spells from the following list to cast as special spell-like abilities (with no material or somatic components, although there is a verbal component—and the casting time is always a standard action): Banishment, Control Weather, Destruction, Dictum OR Holy Word OR Blasphemy OR Word of Chaos, Earthquake, Fire Storm, Polymorph Any Object, Power Word Blind, Power Word Stun, Prismatic Spray, Prismatic Wall, Repulsion, and Sunburst.

A speaker can use each ability once per day, but choosing one spell twice allows one to use it three times per day. Choosing a spell three times (counting as all three picks) allows a speaker to use it five times each day. The speaker uses her speaker of the divine class level plus any levels in a spellcasting class to determine caster level for each ability. Since the divine voice is so potent, saving throw DCs are equal to 13 + the speaker’s Charisma bonus + spell level.

Transport Voice Sp: With a single word, the 8th-level and higher speaker of the divine can move anywhere in creation as if she had cast Greater Teleport. The speaker can use this ability a number of times per day equal to her Charisma bonus (if she has no Charisma bonus, she can use the ability once per week).

Divine Speech Sp: The speaker of the divine can use the ultimate expression of the divine voice to command the universe to do her bidding. Once per day, the speaker can utter a wish. There is no experience-point loss for using the ability. The speaker uses a base of 10 + any spellcasting class levels to determine caster level (DC 23 + her Charisma bonus). Using this power, normally wielded only by gods, is draining to a mortal, however. After each use, the speaker suffers 2d6 points of temporary Constitution damage. She is stunned for 1d6+2 rounds and cannot use any divine voice abilities or cast any spells for 2d6 hours

Table 1-1: Speaker of the Divine Progression

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Divine voice syllables
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Protective voice
3rd	+2	+1	+1	+3	Divine voice syllables
4th	+3	+1	+1	+4	Destructive voice
5th	+3	+1	+1	+4	Divine voice words
6th	+4	+2	+2	+5	Knowledge voice
7th	+5	+2	+2	+5	Divine voice words
8th	+6/+1	+2	+2	+6	Transport voice
9th	+6/+1	+3	+3	+6	Divine voice phrases
10th	+7/+2	+3	+3	+7	Divine voice speech