The Planewalker
Sadly, Extraplanar Week is now almost at an end. It’s been fun (for me at least; I love extraplanar settings, and, considering that we don’t really get to play with them that much, it’s been really great to set a week aside to have fun with it, even if we’ve had to studiously avoid certain proper nouns while so doing…). Today, for the end of Extraplanar Week, let me introduce you to a new prestige class specifically designed for playing around the planes: the planewalker.
You may notice that a lot of the class features that the planewalker possesses deal with portals. You may further notice that those portals are generally invisible, and require special items called “keys” in order for them to work. This isn’t going to match every extraplanar cosmology (though it may match a number of them). In fact, it was sort of designed with a specific cosmology in mind. I won’t say which one, but if the idea of a cosmology riddled with invisible portals to anywhere that you might pass through a hundred times without even knowing they’re there, but take you to the deepest depths of hell if you walk through holding a rose—if that sounds familiar, or at least fun, then this should be a good class for you.
Planewalker
Planewalkers are the swaggering experts of the outer planes. They’ve been everywhere (or, at least, as close to everywhere as any mortal can claim; the multiverse is infinite, after all, sod), and they’ve done it all. If you need a guide who can take you through a few dozen layers of the abyss, or want a Sherpa that can take you to the tops of the highest celestial mountains, you want a proper planewalker. They know the secrets of the planes, and they can take you where you need to go—and hopefully get you back out again in one piece.
Role: Planewalkers come from all walks of life, and can fill a variety of roles. Spellcasting planewalkers will fall somewhat behind their peers in magical ability, so such planewalkers typically do not focus on offensive spells, but rather on utility spells and those that improve the fighting abilities of the party. Most other planewalkers continue in the roles that they filled before they became planewalkers: some focus on stealth, others on brawn, and so on.
Alignment: The outer planes are a place of extreme alignments, and planewalkers spend their time on every corner of the outer planes. While many planewalkers find their own alignment confirmed and strengthened by what they see on the planes, most planewalkers actually gravitate towards a true neutral alignment, as they see the good and bad of every alignment extreme, whether the goodness of the upper planes, the evil of the lower planes, the rigid order of the lawful planes, or the wild anarchy of the chaotic planes.
Hit Die: d8.
Requirements
Base Attack Bonus: +3 or higher.
Skills: Knowledge (the planes) 5 ranks.
Class Skills
The planewalker’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Diplomacy (Cha), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (planes) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), and Survival (Wis).
Skill Ranks at Each Level: 4 + Int Modifier.
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the planewalker prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Planewalkers gain proficiency with light armor, and with a single martial weapon of the planewalker’s choice.
Planar Know-How (Ex): Planewalkers have a great knack for knowing what they need to know to get around and stay alive on the outer planes. A planewalker gains a bonus on all Knowledge (planes) skill checks equal to his class level. Additionally, a planewalker can now make Knowledge (planes) checks to learn more about specific portals. Some examples of the kind of information he can receive, and the DCs for doing so, are given on the table below:
Gate Sight (Su): Planewalkers quickly gain the ability to see the hazy outlines that, for those who know the trick, mark the location of a portal. These are invisible to most characters not born on an outer plane, but a planewalker can see one with a successful Perception check (DC 20). Seeing the portal in this way does not tell the planewalker what the key for the portal is, nor its destination, but it does grant a +5 bonus on Knowledge (planes) checks made to determine that information.
Spells per Day: At the indicated levels, the planewalker gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in a spellcasting class he belonged to before adding the prestige class. He does not, however, gain other benefits a character of that class would have gained, except for additional spells per day, spells known (if he is a spontaneous spellcaster), and an increased effective level of spellcasting. If a character had more than one spellcasting class before becoming a planewalker, he must decide to which class he adds the new level for the purposes of determining spells per day.
Planar Trick: At 3rd level, the planewalker gains access to a planar trick from the following list. At 6th and 9th levels he gains an additional planar trick. Unless otherwise indicated, each planar trick can be taken only once.
Aligned Strike (Su): Three times per day, a planewalker can use his own conviction of belief to deal extra damage to creatures of different alignments. As a swift action, he can choose a single alignment (chaotic, evil, good, or lawful) which matches his own alignment. The next attack that he makes this turn overcomes any damage reduction that is overcome by a weapon of that alignment. Additionally, if the target has an alignment that is opposed to the chosen alignment (chaos vs. law, evil vs. good), the attack deals an additional 1d6 points of damage per two planewalker levels the planewalker possesses (for example, a 6th-level lawful good planewalker uses this ability to make his next attack be treated as good for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. His target, a succubus, has her damage reduction ignored for that attack. Additionally, because the succubus is evil, the attack deals an additional 3d6 damage).
Detect Planar Alignment (Sp): As a standard action, a planewalker with this planar trick can identify the alignment, as well as the plane of origin, of a creature that he is observing. This requires three full rounds, during which the planewalker must have an uninterrupted view of the target creature. The target is allowed a Will save (DC 10 + the planewalker’s class level + the planewalker’s Intelligence modifier) to resist this effect. If the target succeeds, the planewalker is aware that it has resisted the ability.
Banishing (Sp): Once per week, as a standard action, a planewalker with this planar trick can temporarily send a creature back to its home plane. If the creature is already on its home plane, this ability has no effect. The creature must succeed on a Will save (DC 10 + the planewalker’s class level + the planewalker’s Charisma modifier) or be immediately returned, as the spell plane shift, to the plane it was born on. The planewalker must be within 60 feet of the target to use this ability.
Favored Plane (Ex): A planewalker with this planar trick can choose a specific outer plane on which he excels. While on that plane, he gains a +2 dodge bonus to AC, as well as a +2 competence bonus to attack rolls, ability checks, initiative checks, skill checks, and saving throws. A planewalker can take this planar trick multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time, he chooses a new outer plane on which to gain the bonus.
Planar Gear (Su): A planewalker is able to combat the draining effect that planar travel can have on magic weapons and armor. Any gear that the planewalker is wielding does not have its enhancement bonus reduced based on how far it is from the plane of its creation. (Note that not all extraplanar settings adhere to this rule; check with your GM to determine if this will be relevant in your game).
Planar Spell (Sp): Once per day, a planewalker can draw on the latent magic of the plane that he’s on to power a spell. The spell must be one that the planewalker knows, whose level is no greater than the highest-level spell he can cast, and must have an alignment descriptor (chaotic, evil, good, or lawful) or an energy descriptor (acid, cold, electricity, fire) that matches one or more of the alignments or elements of the plane he is on (for example, a character in the nine hells could choose any spell that had either the lawful or the evil descriptor, but a character in limbo could only choose a spell that had the chaotic descriptor). The spell is cast as normal, except that it need not be prepared in advance, and it does not expend a spell slot when cast.
Planar Adaption (Su): At 4th level, a planewalker gains limited immunity to the harmful effects of other planes. Once per day, he can use this ability as a standard action to grant himself immunity to the harmful environmental effects of the plane he is currently on. This applies to magical or extraordinary harmful environmental effects only: the planewalker might be protected from the fire damage of a sea of lava, but he would not be immune to a bonfire on the same plane. This protection lasts for one hour per planewalker level, and is specific to the outer plane that the planewalker is on when he activates the ability.
Escape Portal (Sp): Beginning at 5th level, a planewalker learns how to make a quick retreat by creating a temporary portal to a well-known location. In order to use this ability, the planewalker must first spend 10 minutes memorizing the area he wants the portal to lead to. Once memorized, this area remains the destination of all escape portals the planewalker creates until he spends 10 minutes memorizing a new location. Then, once per day, as a standard action, the planewalker can create an invisible portal in the air, which, when passed through by a creature who is actively trying to pass through the portal, instantly transports the creature to the portal’s destination. The portal persists for 1 round per planewalker level, though the planewalker can dismiss it as a standard action. The portal is one-way: creatures on the destination end cannot travel through the portal to its point of origin.
Keymaster (Su): At 7th level, the planewalker overcomes the need for a key in order to make portals function. The planewalker is automatically treated as possessing the key for any portal he passes through. This ability can be suppressed or resumed as a free action.
Greater Planar Adaptation (Su): At 8th level, a planewalker’s protection from the harmful effects of planes is complete. He is now always immune to the harmful environmental effects of the plane he is currently on. This ability is constant, and applies to all the inner and outer planes. It can be suppressed or resumed as a free action. It otherwise functions identically to the planar adaptation class feature.
Gatemaster (Sp): At 10th level, the planewalker is able to create short-lived, two-way portals. Three times per day, as a standard action, the planewalker can create a portal from his location to anywhere in the multiverse. This functions as the planar travel version of the spell gate, except that the gate is invisible, and the planewalker can, if he chooses, set a key that is required to activate the portal. Additionally, while deities and similar creatures can still prevent the portal from opening in their domain, they must succeed on a Will save (DC 10 + the planewalker’s planewalker level + the planewalker’s Charisma modifier) to do so. Finally, unlike the gate spell, this portal does not require concentration to maintain, and persists for up to one minute per planewalker level, though the planewalker can dismiss it as a free action.