Races with Class: The Hound Archon
Implacable and unwavering foes of evil, these dog- and wolf-headed beings travel the planes on various holy quests. Often they serve as protectors and guardian angels for unwitting mortals, or as guardians of holy places and shrines, but just as often they are knights-errant, storming the lower planes on holy quests to rescue captured souls or to thwart the black and twisted schemes of lower-planar denizens.
Role: First and foremost, a hound archon is a warrior. They have a vicious bite and a powerful punch, but generally prefer to use a greatsword or similar weapon, allowing them to do the most damage to their foes. They rely on a number of supernatural and spell-like abilities to help them find their foes, and have developed a number of powerful defenses, but once battle begins a hound archon is almost always on the front lines, his sword nothing more than a whirl of destruction.
Hit Die: d10
Starting Gold: 3d6 x 10 gp
Class Skills:
The hound archon’s class skills are Acrobatics (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Religion) (Int), Knowledge (the Planes) (Int), Perception (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Stealth (Dex), and Survival (Wis).
Skill Ranks Per Level: 6 + Int Modifier.
Class Features:
The following are class features of the hound archon.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Hound archons are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, but not armor or shields of any kind.
Bite (Ex): Hound archons have a natural bite attack, which deals 1d8 damage. If the hound archon is fighting with a weapon, this is a secondary attack.
Detect Evil (Sp): Hound archons are constantly affected as though by the spell detect evil. They do not need to concentrate to benefit from its effects, but still gain the information on the round indicated in the spell description (for example, a creature with an evil aura must be in the hound archon’s sight for three rounds before the hound archon can determine with certainty that that creature is the source of the aura). Hound archons can suppress or resume this ability as a move action.
Extraplanar Origin: Hound archons are not native to the material plane, hailing from a celestial heaven of pure law and good. As such, hound archons have the outsider type, and all the traits that type grants. Additionally, except on their home plane, hound archons possess the extraplanar subtype, and all traits that type grants.
Fleet of Foot: A hound archon’s base movement speed is 40 ft.
Thick Skin: A hound archon gains natural armor which improves as it increases in level. The total bonus to natural armor is indicated on Table: the Hound Archon.
Poison Resistance: Beginning at 2nd level, a hound archon gains an innate resistance to poisons of all kinds. He gains a +4 bonus to all saving throws versus poisons. At 12th level, this protection increases, rendering the hound archon immune to all poison effects.
Petrification Resistance: Beginning at 2nd level, a hound archon gains an innate resistance to petrification effects, such as the gaze of a basilisk or medusa. He gains a +4 bonus to all saving throws versus petrification effects. At 8th level, this protection increases, rendering the hound archon immune to all petrification effects.
Scent (Ex): Beginning at 2nd level, a hound archon gains the scent special quality.
Slam: Hound archons of 2nd level or higher gain a slam attack. This attack deals 1d4 damage, and is typically a secondary attack.
Paragon of Virtue: At 3rd level, a hound archon’s lawful and good natures come fully into effect. He gains the good and lawful subtypes, and all traits granted by those subtypes.
Protection from Evil (Sp): Beginning at 3rd level, a hound archon is constantly affected as the spell protection from evil. Hound archons can suppress or resume this effect as a move action, but rarely choose to do so. At 9th level, this ability is replaced by Magic Circle Against Evil.
Truespeech (Su): Hound archons can speak with any creature that has a language, as though using a tongues spell (caster level 14th). This ability is always active.
Ability Score Increases: Hound archons gain a number of bonuses to their ability scores, as indicated on Table: the Hound Archon. By 20th level, a hound archon will have the following bonuses: +2 Strength, +2 Constitution, +2 Wisdom, +2 Charisma.
Damage Reduction (Ex): Beginning at 4th level, a hound archon gains damage reduction 5/evil. At 8th level, this damage reduction increases to 10/evil.
Energy Resistance (Ex): At 4th level, a hound archon gains electricity resistance 5. At 8th level, this protection increases to complete electricity immunity. At 12th level, a hound archon also gains acid resistance 5, and at 17th level he becomes completely immune to acid.
Change Shape (Su): Beginning at 5th level, hound archons can change their form to that of any canine creature (any dog-like or wolf-like creature of the animal type) from Small to Large size, at will. This ability functions as beast shape II.
Hunter of Evil: Beginning at 5th level, a hound archon gains a +4 racial bonus to all Stealth and Survival checks.
Spell-like Abilities (Sp): At 5th level, hound archons unlock a wellspring of magical abilities which can aid them in their ongoing struggles against evil. Hound archons of 5th level and higher can cast aid, continual flame, and message as spell-like abilities at will.
Spell Resistance (Su): Beginning at 6th level, hound archons gain spell resistance equal to 6 + their class level.
Teleportation (Sp): At 7th level, hound archons gain the ability to cast greater teleport as a spell-like ability, at will, except that he can teleport only himself and up to 50 lbs of gear.
Aura of Menace (Su): A righteous aura surrounds hound archons that fight or get angry. Any hostile creature within a 20-foot radius of the hound archon must succeed on a Will save (DC 12 + ½ the hound archon’s class level + the hound archon’s Charisma bonus) to resist its effects. Those who fail take a -2 penalty on attacks, AC, and saves for 24 hours or until they successfully hit the hound archon. A creature that has resisted or broken the effect cannot be affected again by the same hound archon’s aura for 24 hours.
Hound Archon Ascension: Once a hound archon reaches 9th level, he has unlocked enough of his inner potential to be able to pursue other interests, if he so chooses. A 9th level hound archon may freely multi-class into other classes, and can return to the hound archon class later without penalty. Characters with more than 9 levels in hound archon represent paragons of the hound archon race, who, whether through hard work or an accident of birth, possess abilities in excess of most of their kind.
Smite Evil (Su): Beginning at 10th level, a hound archon gains the ability to smite evil. This ability functions identically to the paladin ability of the same name, except that the number of smites that the hound archon can use each day is as indicated on Table: the Hound Archon, and the hound archon uses his hound archon class level rather than his paladin class level. If the hound archon has levels in paladin, his paladin levels stack with his hound archon levels for the purpose of the damage bonus the smite provides, but not for the purposes of smites per day. (For example, a hound archon 10/paladin 7 would possess four smite evil attempts each day—one from his hound archon levels and three from his paladin levels—and would deal an extra 17 damage while smiting—the combined total of his hound archon and paladin class levels).
Discern Lies (Sp): Beginning at 11th level, a hound archon is constantly affected as though by the spell discern lies. The hound archon can suppress or resume this ability as a move action.
Mark the Wicked (Su): Beginning at 13th level, a hound archon can mark evildoers, giving them a chance to repent, and aiding him in tracking them down should they continue in their wicked ways. Once per day, by expending one of his daily smite evil uses, a hound archon can imbue his weapon with holy energies, magically branding any creature he strikes. The use of this ability is declared as part of an attack, before making the attack roll. If the attack hits, the creature is branded with a special mark similar to that created by the mark of justice spell. If the attack misses, the attempt is wasted.
Creatures hit with this ability are affected as though by the spell mark of justice, with a few notable exceptions. First, the trigger condition is always the same: the mark is triggered any time the creature performs an evil act. Note that violence and hostility are not always evil acts, nor necessarily are stealing or lying. Final say on what constitutes an evil act lies with the DM. Additionally, use discretion when determining how often to trigger the curse, especially with unrepentant targets: a marked creature might trigger the curse by raiding a caravan, but would do so only once, not with each attack roll, each member of the caravan slain, or each gold piece looted, etc.
Further, each time the curse is triggered, the hound archon immediately becomes aware of it. He knows which marked creature triggered the curse and what action they performed to set it off. He is also apprised of their location, as the spell discern location. This secondary effect is not voluntary, and occurs only when the marked creature triggers the curse; the hound archon cannot simply “keep tabs” on all of the creatures he’s marked.
A hound archon can maintain a number of marks equal to twice his class level. If he would mark targets in excess of this number, he can choose to “release” previously marked creatures in favor of new targets.
Planeshift (Sp): Beginning at 14th level, hound archons can use planeshift as a spell-like ability once per day, except that they can transport only themselves and up to 50 lbs of gear.
Devoted Crusader (Ex): Beginning at 15th level, hound archons gain immunity to all charm, compulsion, and fear effects.
Cast out the Wicked (Su): Beginning at 16th level, hound archons can channel their ability to punish evil in more direct ways. By expending one of his daily smite evil uses, a hound archon can imbue himself with the ability to cast out evil spirits and enchantments. This functions identically to the spell dispel evil.
Death Ward (Sp): Beginning at 18th level, a hound archon is constantly affected as though by the spell death ward. Hound archons can suppress or resume this effect as a move action, but few find any reason to do so.
Judge the Wicked (Su): Beginning at 19th level, hound archons can use their smite evil ability to unleash a torrent of truly righteous wrath. Once per day, by expending one of his daily smite eviluses, a hound archon can duplicate the effects of the spell holy word.
Holy Warrior (Su): 20th level hound archons are crusaders of the highest order, bastions of goodness and law in an often chaotic and evil world. Hound archons of such caliber consider themselves weapons in a holy arsenal against the forces of darkness and corruption, and it is little surprise that they pass this property on to any weapon they wield. Beginning at 20th level, any weapon a hound archon wields is affected as though by the holy sword spell. The hound archon can suppress or resume this effect as a swift action once per round.