Witness

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Requirements

Spellcasting: Ability to cast arcane spells of the Divination school.

Feats: Mystic Awareness, any one of the following feats, Defensive Divination, Heightened Sight, Tremulous Touch, or Wolfen Boon

Skills: Listen 6 ranks, Spot 6 ranks, Search 6 ranks.

Statistics: Constitution 13+.

Special: May not have Transmutation as a prohibited school.

Special Progression: A character that takes a level of this prestige class may not return to it if he should later take a level of a different class

Summary

A spellcaster with supernatural senses, the witness uses divination as a means of heightening his senses and giving him an advantage in his pursuit of the truth. Some witnesses are investigators and seek justice through the discovery of the guilty. Others are hermits seeking enlightenment by becoming one with the sights, sounds and sensations of the world around them. Regardless of their calling, all witnesses are defined, and define their world, by what their divination enhanced senses reveal.

For some who follow this path, the development of a single sense leads them to explore the possibility of improving them all. Others are professionals whose senses are their means of employ. For these witnesses, progression into this class occurs ‘naturally’ as they strive to better themselves and excel at their work. Still others become witnesses when normal divination magic does not reveal what they seek. Many diviners are driven by the need to know and will not rest until they have learned all there is to learn. The abilities of this class introduces characters to a whole new world to explore – the world of awareness.

Those who take on the role of the witness soon learn it is a long and arduous path. Developing the senses is a time-consuming and physically demanding task that leaves little room for other studies. Magic becomes the focal point of their attention, as it provides the power for their growing abilities but its finer nuances are often lost in the pursuit of perfect attention. A witness must accept this; in order to excel in the empire of the senses, he must let go of everything else that was of import to him until mastery is achieved.

This is not to say that a witness is not a functional part of the world. Quite to the contrary, a witness is one with the world in a way that people without his special gifts could never understand. The witness is more alive, more awake and more attuned to his surroundings than anyone else. This incredible awareness comes at a cost but the benefits are just as great. A witness can track better than a bloodhound, see farther than an eagle and hear the footsteps of a kitten through a stone wall.

Role: Spell Utility

Characteristics: Supernatural sense toting arcane casters, this class focus on enhancing those senses.

Source: Encyclopedia Arcane: Divination

Game Rule Information

The Witness has the following game statistics.

Abilities: Intelligence for the skill points you need to master your senses, Wisdom to amplify your perceptive abilities like Spot, Listen, and Intuit Direction, if neither of those are your casting stat you should amp that up too.

Alignment: Any

Hit Die: d6

Starting Gold: N/A

Class Skills

The Witness's class skills are Craft (Int), Concentration (Con), Gather Information (Cha), Intuit Direction (Wis), Knowledge (all, taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis), Scry (Int), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis) and Wilderness Lore (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 Witness.

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

Spells per Day/Spells Known: At every witness level, the character gains new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if he had also gained a level in a spellcasting class to which he belonged before adding the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (bardic music uses, metamagic or item creation feats or the like). If the character had more than one spellcasting class before becoming a witness, the player must decide to which class to add each level for determining spells per day and spells known.

Investigation Ex: At first level, the witness gains the Track feat and a +2 competence bonus to his Wilderness Lore skill checks when using it. The witness also gains a +2 competence bonus to all Listen, Search and Spot checks.

Sense Mastery Ex: The witness has achieved mastery over one of the five basic senses. Specific abilities are largely up to the Games Master but in general the sense mastered becomes remarkably acute, at least five times better than a normal member of his race. For a human, this offers supersonic and subsonic hearing, the ability to feel differences in two grains of sand, reading-level vision out to half a mile, the power to distinguish identical twins by scent or a distinguishing enough palette to taste pollen on a breeze. Whenever such an enhanced sense could be a factor (Games Master’s discretion), the witness gains a +2 synergy bonus to applicable skill checks.

Bonus Feat: The witness has refined his ability to sense the world around him to a supernatural degree. This lets him achieve what he could not physically do before, improves his aim and reflexes and allows him to react to dangers through the warnings his heightened awareness provides. At every other level gained, he may choose one of the following bonus feats: Blind-Fight, Combat Reflexes, Defensive Divination, Dodge, Heightened Sight, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Quick Draw, Tremulous Touch or Wolfen Boon. The character must still meet all prerequisites for the feat as normal.

Skill Mastery Ex: The senses of a witness are so acute, much of what they can tell him occurs without him even needing to focus them. This casual level of awareness allows a witness to ‘take 10’ on one of the following skills; Listen, Spot or Search regardless of external considerations. Each time this ability is gained (third, fifth and seventh level), the witness chooses another of these three skills to master.

True Awareness Su: The pinnacle of sensory perfection, a witness who gains True Awareness has sharpened all five of his senses and is utterly in touch with the world around him. Combined with the power of divination magic, this mastery grants the witness the potent ability of arcane true seeing. This power can be activated or dismissed as a free action on the witness’ turn.

Table 1-1: Witness Progression
Level Base

Attack Bonus

Fort

Save

Ref

Save

Will

Save

Special Spellcasting
1st +0 +0 +2 +2 Investigation, sense mastery +1 level of existing spellcasting class
2nd +1 +0 +3 +3 Bonus feat +1 level of existing spellcasting class
3rd +1 +1 +3 +3 Sense mastery, skill mastery +1 level of existing spellcasting class
4th +2 +1 +4 +4 Bonus feat +1 level of existing spellcasting class
5th +2 +1 +4 +4 Sense mastery, skill mastery +1 level of existing spellcasting class
6th +3 +2 +5 +5 Bonus feat +1 level of existing spellcasting class
7th +3 +2 +5 +5 Sense mastery, skill mastery +1 level of existing spellcasting class
8th +4 +2 +6 +6 Bonus feat +1 level of existing spellcasting class
9th +4 +3 +6 +6 Sense mastery +1 level of existing spellcasting class
10th +5 +3 +7 +7 True awareness +1 level of existing spellcasting class