Black Dog

Description:

House Ghallanda is known far and wide for its spacious boarding houses, excellent food and providing the joys of home to weary travelers. They are also known for their stanch neutrality on many political matters, preferring not to get involved in situations that do not directly affect their house. Thus, on more than one occasion, warlords, crime lords and villains of the most vile sort also visit the hotels of House Ghallanda and get served just as well as more upstanding folk. For the halflings of the house, so long as the cardinal rule of 'Take It Outside' is obeyed, a patron's gold is worth more than their reputation. But, this does not sit well with every member of the house.

Officially denounced by House Ghallanda, the black dogs are a rogue part of the family line, taking their aptitude for food and drink and being unnoticed and using it to poison 'guests that have outstayed their welcome'. Using their dragonmark abilities in this manner, they are secretive and effective. Most of the time, the black dog is not even in the same hotel by the time the poison begins to set in. They try to use this method of vigilante justice to punish or cripple those that are guilty of war crimes, but occasionally, a black dog becomes obsessed with 'punishing' anyone that has slighted him or his kind.

Role: Black dogs are not combatants. They are spies and assassins, masked in the guise of servants and cooks. Alchemists and rogues fit naturally into this prestige class. Chances are very good that opponents never learn the identify of the black dog that killed them or that they were even targeted.

Source: DGM, pg. 95

Alignment: While there are no alignment restrictions, this class tends to attract those of chaotic good or lawful evil tendencies. Lawful evil black dogs tend to take positions of power and use their skills to intimidate, while chaotic good black dogs tend to hunt down legitimate criminals and crippling them so that it is easier for law enforcement to deal with them. Chaotic evil characters find this sort of 'combat' boring, while lawful good characters would not sink to such methods of deception to accomplish their goals. Oddly, neutral black dogs tend to be the most philosophical of them and thus, the longest lived.

Hit Dice: d8

Requirements:

To qualify to become a black dog, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

Race: Halfing.

Skills: Bluff 5 ranks, Craft (alchemy) 5 ranks, Sleight of Hand 5 ranks, Stealth 5 ranks.

Feats: Least True Dragonmark (Mark of Hospitality, Prestidigitaion or Purify Food and Drink option), Lesser True Dragonmark (Mark of Hospitality, Create Food and Water option).

Special: Received 1 month of training from another black dog or have the poison use class feature.

Class Skills:

The black dog's class skills (and the key abilities for each skill) are Apppraise (Int), Acrobatics (Dex), Bluff (Chr), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Chr), Disguise (Chr), Escape Artist (Dex), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (local) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Perform (Chr), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex) and Stealth (Dex).

Skill Points at Each Level: 6 + Int modifier.

Table: The Black Dog

Class Features:

All of the following are class features of the black dog prestige class.

Weapons and Armor Proficiency: Black dogs gain proficiency with the blowgun, hand crossbow and the syringe spear, all weapons designed to assist in the delivery of poison.

Improved Dragonmark (Su): At 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th levels, the caster level of your dragonmark spell-like abilities increases by +1. This stacks with other sources that increase the caster level of your dragonmark spell-like abilities.

Increased Dragonmark (Su): You can use either your Prestidigitation or Purify Food and Drink dragonmark spell-like ability (whichever you used to qualify for this prestige class) one additional time per day per class level. If you somehow have both available, you must choose which one this class feature applies to and once that choice has been made, it cannot be changed.

Poison Use (Ex): Black dogs are trained in the use of poison and cannot accidentally poison themselves when applying poison to a weapon.

Death Attack (Ex): At 2nd level, black dogs get the death attack class feature, as per the assassin prestige class. This does not give the black dog additional precision damage, like dice from a sneak attack, but the black dog can use it if he already has it.

Create Poison (Su): At 3rd level, black dogs learn how to use their Create Food and Water dragonmark spell-like ability to create poisons. To create a poison, the black dog must expend one of his uses of his Create Food and Water dragonmark spell-like ability. Casting Create Food and Water from any other source will not work for the purposes of this class feature. As part of the casting, the black dog makes a Craft (alchemy) check with a DC equal to the Fortitude save DC of the desired poison. If successful, a single use of the poison is created, otherwise the effect is wasted. This is a conjuration (creation) effect.

There are some limitations concerning the poison. First, it must be either ingested or contact-applied. Inhaled or injury poisons do not work with this class feature, even if you have a method to convert them into ingested or contact poisons later. Second, the poison always takes the form of the food or water created by a normal Create Food and Water spell. Lastly, as the food created by that spell only lasts for 24 hours before spoiling, the same applies to the poison created this way. However, poison cannot be preserved with the typical Purify Food or Drink spell.

Poisonous Gift (Su): At 4th level, the black dog learns to combine the effects of his death attack and his create poison use to the best possible advantage. If he has studied a target for the necessary amount of time to deliver a death attack and has a ingested poison on his person, he can expend a use of either his Prestidigitaiton or Purify Food and Drink dragonmark spell-like abilities to place a single application of an ingested or contact poison into the food or drink of his target without being near it. The range on this effect becomes Close (25' + 5' / 2 levels) and the black dog must target the food or drink, not the target. If the food or drink is inside a closed container that is no more than 1 inch thick (flask, barrel, bread box, serving plate, etc), the food or drink can still be targeted even if line sight is not available. Magical food, including potions, gets a Will save (DC 10 + your black dog class level + your Chr modifier) to resist.

Using your dragonmark spell-like ability in this fashion is a full-round action that provokes. However, it can be disguised as typical servant actions with a successful opposed Sleight of Hand vs. Perception check. Black dogs regularly use this ability to poison targets after they have already started eating their meal. Using Prestidigitation or Purify Food and Drink from a source other than you dragonmark spell-like ability does not qualify for the purposes of this class feature.

Bonus Feat: At 5th level and 9th level, the black dog gains a bonus feat from the following list: Combat Expertise, Fleet, Greater Feint, Improved Feint or Skill Focus (Sleight of Hand, Stealth). He must still qualify for the feat normally.

Lost in the Crowd (Ex): At 6th level, the black dog can use his Stealth skill even while being observed, so long as there are three other creatures within 10' of him and they are all at least one size category larger than the black dog. This would apply to almost every urban environment that the black dogs choose to operate.

Improved Poisonous Gift (Su): At 7th level,when using his Poisonous Gift class feature, the black dog can place multiple doses of the same ingested or contact poison into the same targeted food or drink with a single use of his Prestidigitation or Purify Food or Drink dragonmark spell-like ability. For each dose beyond the first, the appropriate Fortitude save increases by +2 DC.

Empower Poison (Su): At 8th level, any poison that a black dog creates through the use of his Create Food and Water dragonmark spell-like ability now has all numerical effects increased by 50%, round down and the number of consecutive saves needed to resist the poison increased by 1.

Poisonous Touch (Su): At 10th level, if the black dog has a contact poison on his person, he can expend a use of his Prestidigitation or Purify Food and Drink dragonmark spell-like ability to store a single use of the poison within himself. The next melee touch attack that the black dog successfully delivers applies the poison to the target, in addition to any other aspect of the melee touch attack. Only a single use of a contact poison can be stored within the black dog at a time and the storage only lasts 24 hours, at which point, it will affect the black dog if he has not used it on someone else.