Characters driven by revenge, greed, or other base desires may return from death as ghosts, revenants, or other undead. By contrast, a risen martyr is an exalted character who continues in his earthly existence after his martyrdom, rather than entering the ranks of the petitioners on the celestial planes, in order to finish some unfulfilled task. In general, a character who is actively involved in an adventure that involves an exalted goal, and who is martyred for the sake of that purpose, has a sufficient holy purpose to return as a risen martyr. Appropriate holy purposes for a risen martyr might include aiding in the downfall of an evil tyrant or villain, locating a relic or holy artifact in order to stave off a great evil, or defending a city from a plague of ghosts. They gain a bunch of resistances associated with undead and bonuses to fight evil.

Role: Support

Characteristics: Risen adventurers vanquishing evil and working towards ascension.

Source: Book of Exalted Deeds

Game Rule Information

The Risen Martyr has the following game statistics.

Abilities: Constitution in order to supplement your HP and new d12 hit dice, Charisma for auxiliary bonuses and abilities, the other important stat really depends on what class you were prior and your decision should be based off that.

Alignment: Any Good

Hit Die: d12

Starting Gold: N/A

Class Skills

The Risen Martyr's class skills are Concentration (Con), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), 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 Risen Martyr.

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

Code of Conduct: A risen martyr who willfully performs an evil act is immediately destroyed and goes to face his judgment on the Upper Planes.

Spiritual Body Ex: When a martyr rises as a 0-level risen martyr, he takes on a corporeal spirit form. His creature type changes to deathless, and he gains the features and traits of the deathless type. Deathless creatures have no Constitution score, and the risen martyr rerolls his points using d12s instead of his previous racial and class-based Hit Dice. A risen martyr's spiritual body is formed of solid, spiritual flesh and is neither ghostly nor incorporeal. His ability scores remain unchanged (except for his Constitution score), and his other characteristics remain the except that he is no longer a living creature.

Charisma Increase: At 1st level, a risen martyr's Charisma score increases by +2. At 5th level, it increases by an extra +2.

Deflection Bonus Su: A 1st-level risen martyr gains a deflection bonus to Armor Class equal to his Charisma bonus.

Holy Purpose Ex: A 1st-level risen martyr receives a +1 sacred bonus on all attack rolls, damage rolls, ability checks, and skill checks that are directly related to the fulfillment of his purpose. This bonus increases to +2 at 3rd level, and increases by an extra +1 every 3 levels thereafter.

Bless Sp: Three times per day, a risen martyr of at least 2nd level can use Bless, as the spell.

Magic Circle Against Evil Su: At 2nd level, a risen martyr is continually surrounded by a protective aura that functions as a Magic Circle Against Evil spell.

Daylight Su: At will as a free action, a 3rd level risen martyr can use daylight, as the spell.

Acid Immunity Ex: At 4th level, a risen martyr gains immunity to acid.

Detect Evil Sp: At will, a risen martyr of at least 4th level can Detect Evil, as the spell.

Protective Aura Su: At 5th level, the risen martyr's Magic Circle Against Evil is replaced by an effect that duplicates the Protective Aura spell.

Shield Other Sp: A 6th-level risen martyr can use Shield Other, as the spell, three times per day.

Celestial Brilliance Sp: A 7th level martyr can use Celestial Brilliance, as the spell, once per day.

Cold Immunity Ex: A 7th-level risen martyr gains immunity to cold.

Holy Aura Su: At 8th level, the risen martyr's protective aura is supplemented by an effect that duplicates the Holy Aura spell. The holy aura protects only the risen martyr, while his protective aura continues to protect allies within 10 feet as well as himself.

Electric Immunity Ex: At 9th level, a risen martyr gains immunity to electricity.

Perfection Su: A 10th-level risen martyr is as close to celestial perfection as a mortal creature can be. He is considered a celestial for the purpose of any spell or effect t has special effects on celestials. If he is lawful, he is also considered an archon. If he is chaotic, he is also considered an eladrin. If he is neutral, he is also considered a guardinal. If he is a spellcaster, he can cast spells that have the Celestial, Archon, Guardinal, or Eladrin components, as appropriate.

Final Ascension Ex: When a 10th-level risen martyr has earned enough experience points to gain his next level, his perfected, spiritual body is taken whole into the upper planes.

A risen martyr cannot advance in any class other than risen martyr in order to delay his final ascension. Once he rises and adopts this prestige class, he must continue to gain risen martyr levels and no levels in any other class.