The Mage Slayer
Hello everyone and welcome to another exciting edition of Best in Class, where we bring you new class features and archetypes for your favorite Pathfinder classes each and every week. That is, of course, unless your favorite class is the inquisitor, in which case we’ve been leaving you in the dust. Well, that’s all about to change today, as we’ll be looking at a new way to take a spin on the inquisitor.
New Inquisitor Archetype
Mage Slayer
While many inquisitors face down witches and other practitioners of arcane magic, the mage slayer views magic of all kinds as an abomination, and seeks to destroy it wherever possible. As many deities grant spells to their servants, mage slayers are most often members of small obscure faiths that preach magic as anathema, or else are servants of humanist philosophies and non-ecclesiastical pseudo-religious orders and fraternal societies. Because they strive to put an end to the casting of spells, mage slayers focus their skills on both combating enemy magic-users and on freeing themselves from magic’s wicked influence.
Spelless: Because mage slayers are radically opposed to the use of magic of all kinds, they cannot cast spells themselves. As such, a mage slayer loses the spellcasting, domain, and orison class features.
Antimagic Philosophy: Mage slayers abhor the use of magic of any kind, and thus spurn the use of magic items except in extreme circumstances. If at any time a mage slayer uses an item with spell completion, a spell trigger, or a command word trigger, he loses the benefits of all his class features until he undergoes a personal ritual of atonement, which requires he go 1 week without using magic and that he either slay a spellcaster or destroy a magic item. Additionally, if he ever wields a magic weapon or wears any magic item, he cannot use his judgment class feature until he removes the item from his possession.
Destroy Item Judgment (Ex): The mage slayer gains access to the following judgment.
Demolishing: The inquisitor is bathed in pulsing red light. The next magic item he touches must make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + ½ the mage slayer’s inquisitor level + the mage slayer’s Wisdom modifier) or suffer 1d10 points of sacred damage, which bypasses all hardness the item might possess. This damage increases by 1d10 for every three levels he possesses.
This replaces the piercing judgment
Spell Resistance (Su): A mage slayer’s devotion to fighting off magic has given him a strong resistance to enemy magic, granting him spell resistance equal to 11 + his class level.
Specialist Training (Ex): At 1st level and every 3 levels thereafter (4th, 7th, 10th, and so on), the mage slayer may select one of the following special abilities. Each ability may be gained multiple times, and each ability is cumulative with itself.
Combat Skill: The mage slayer gains a +2 bonus on CMB checks and to his CMD.
Improved Resistance: The mage slayer gains a +2 bonus on all saving throws.
Spell Defense: The mage slayer gains an additional +2 spell resistance.
Defensive Training: The mage slayer gains a +2 dodge bonus to AC.
Offensive Training: The mage slayer gains a +2 bonus to damage rolls.
Detect Magic (Ex): At 2nd level, the mage slayer gains the ability to perceive the influence of magic in the world around him. This ability functions as the spell detect magic, except that the duration is constant, the effect cannot be dispelled, and the effect functions even in an antimagic field. This ability replaces detect alignment.
Lone Wolf (Ex): Mage slayers are often forced to work alone, and must develop a diverse set of skills. Whenever the mage slayer would gain a bonus combat feat, he may choose instead to gain another feat for which he qualifies as a bonus feat.
Master of Interrogation (Ex): At 5th level, the mage slayer gains a bonus on all Sense Motive skill checks equal to ½ his inquisitor level. This ability replaces discern lies.
Great Fighter (Ex): The mage slayer’s focus on non-magical combat makes him an exceptional force on the battlefield. Beginning at 8th level, whenever the mage slayer makes a full attack action, he gains a +2 bonus on all attack rolls he makes after than the first. For example, a mage slayer with a base attack bonus of +6/+1 and a Strength of 14 would attack with a non-magical longsword at +8/+5.
Antimagic Judgment (Ex): Beginning at 11th level, the mage slayer gains access to the following judgment.
Antimagic: The inquisitor begins radiating an antimagic aura in a 5-foot-radius emanation centered on himself. Any creature caught within this aura is treated as though it were affected by the spell antimagic field. At 20th level, this aura expands to be a 20-foot-radius.
This ability replaces stalwart and true judgment.