Deneith Warden

Description:

There are city guards. There are bounty hunters. And then there are the wardens of House Deneith. As the elite of the House of the Sentinel, Deneith wardens travel extensively in pursuit of criminals far and wide. It is important to understand their role in the pursuit and enforcement of justice. Theirs is not a role of prevention. That is for city guards and paladins and the moral fiber of the common folk. But when the law is broken, it is the role of the Deneith wardens to capture the criminal and bring him back alive for trial. The role of the warden can be hard and unfeeling, as the definition of the law is just as strict.

Role: Deneith wardens are elite of the policing force of House Deneith. For this reason, they tend to attract fighters, rangers and other martial characters. Paladins and inquisitors often find this prestige class appealing, but the very real complication of obeying the orders of House Deneith and obeying the orders of their faith can cause irreconcilable differences, particularly over the definition of evil vs. criminal.

Source: DGM, pg. 105

Alignment: All Deneith wardens are lawful of some fashion. Most are lawful neutral or lawful good, there are the occasional lawful evil Deneith wardens that prefer to entrap their suspects.

Hit Dice: d10

Requirements:

To qualify to become a Deneith warden, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

Alignment: Any lawful.

Race: Human.

Base Attack Bonus: +5.

Skills: Diplomacy 5 ranks, Knowledge (nobility) 5 ranks.

Feats: Least True Dragonmark (Mark of the Sentinel) and either Bludgeoner, Improved Grapple or Stage Combatant.

Special: Training with a Deneith warden for 1 month or 20 CPA in House Deneith.

Class Skills:

The Deneith warden's class skills (and the key abilities for each skill) are Bluff (Chr), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Chr), Disable Device (Dex), Escape Artist (Dex), Intimidate (Chr), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (nobility) (Int), Perception (Wis), Ride (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Survival (Wis) and Swim (Str).

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Table: The Deneith Warden

Class Features:

All of the following are class features of the Deneith warden prestige class.

Weapons and Armor Proficiency: Deneith wardens gain proficiency with all simple weapons. They do not gain any armor proficiencies.

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.

Lawkeeper Code (Ex): At 1st level, the Deneith warden gains the authority to uphold the laws of any region in which House Deneith operates. In most campaigns, this includes all of Khorvaire and a few outpost settlements in Xen'Drik, but when you gain this class ability, you automatically know (i.e. informed by the GM) in which regions House Deneith operates. This gives you the right to pursue criminals, even across national boundaries. This right, however, carries with it a strict code of conduct, similar to a paladin's code of condunct. If a Deneith warden ever willingly and knowingly violates one of the four tenants of the code, he looses access to his dragonmark spell-like abilities and all class features of this prestige class until he receives an Atonement from a member of House Deneith that is in good standing.

This code of conduct makes often mention of criminals. For the purposes of this code, a criminal is someone that knowingly and willingly violated a law of the region where the crime occurred. While most crimes are universal (deception, theft, rape, murder, etc), more unusual crimes are region specific. For example, it is against the law to reanimate the dead in Thrane, but this is allowed for officially sanctioned necromancers in Karrnath. Likewise, in Darguun, owning slaves is allowed, where it is not in most of the rest of Khorvaire. The Deneith warden does not need to know the true identity of the criminal, only be able to clearly state the nature of the crime committed. This requires for either the Deneith warden to investigate the crime first hand, be issued a warrant of arrest by the ruling authority of that region or be informed of the details of the crime by a member of House Deneith. Once a criminal has been properly sentenced and punished, he is no longer a criminal for the purposes of this code of conduct unless he commits another crime. Rebellion against a ruling authority is not a crime for the purposes of this code, but any related criminal acts (theft, assault, etc) still are.

The first, and most important aspect, of this code of conduct is that a Deneith warden must take every opportunity to pursue, capture and return the criminal alive (or otherwise conscious) with the intent of being prosecuted in a court of law. Deneith wardens are not executioners. Once a Deneith warden has subdued a criminal, he is required to make sure the prisoner is alive, stable, free of disease, poison or other effects that would kill him outside of combat and return him in that condition to the region where the crime was committed to be prosecuted and sentenced. A Deneith warden is forbidden from killing a criminal, as well as failing to attempt to protect a criminal from being killed outside of due process.

Second, a Deneith warden cannot knowingly commit a crime while in pursuit of a criminal. In essence, he cannot be defined as a criminal himself, otherwise he looses access to his dragonmark spell-like abilities and all class features of this prestige class until an Atonement is cast. The only exception to this rule is the Deneith warden can appear and act like a criminal, provided that his actions have been sanctioned by his House beforehand as a form of trap for the real criminals.

Third, once a Deneith warden has been made aware of a crime, he cannot knowingly ignore or dismiss it. He may reassign to another Deneith warden, but only he is currently in pursuit of another criminal. Should the second criminal still be at large when he has successfully caught the first criminal he was pursuing, he must check in with the House to see if assistance is needed and, if so, provide it.

Lastly, if the criminal flees the region where the crime has been committed to another region where the act is not a crime, the Deneith warden must announce his presence to the ruling authority of this new region and present a warrant of arrest before pursuing the criminal. In ares that have no ruling authority, such as jungles of Xen'Drik, he is still able to act normally in pursuit of the criminal. However, if the local ruling authority gives provides protection for the criminal, or otherwise prevents the Deneith warden from pursuing him, he must notify the House and await instructions on an extradition. This is the one circumstance that can release a Deneith warden from pursuing a criminal.

Urban Tracking: At 1st level, the Deneith Warden gains the Urban Tracking feat as a bonus feat, even if he does not qualify for it.

Warden's Authority (Ex): Starting at 1st level, the Deneith warden gains a circumstance bonus to Diplomacy and Intimidate checks equal to one half his class level, to a minimum of one.

Clap Them In Irons (Ex): At 2nd level, the Deneith warden learns how to use manacles and other restraints in combat more efficiently. If the Deneith warden has an opponent grappled and has a pair of manacles, rope or other restraints that could be retrieved with a free, swift or immediate action, he can use them with another grapple check to impose one of the following penalties for as long as the restraints hold: restrict movement to sqaures adjacent to the Warden, restrict movement to a fixed square if there is something in that square to attach the restraint to, limit movement to 5' steps only or prevent the use of up to two arms (preventing most kinds of combat actions, 75% failure of spellcasting with somatic components, prevent use of any Strength based skills and impose a -10 to any Dexterity based skill except Disable Device and Escape Artist).

Lawkeeper (Su): Starting at 2nd level, Deneith wardens gain the ability to focus their dragonmark spell-like abilities to better assist in the capture of criminals. So long as he is actively in pursuit of a criminal (as defined by the Lawkeeper Code), a Deneith warden can use his dragonmark spell-like abilities in the following ways. Many of these abilities refer to criminals as defined by the Lawkeeper Code class feature (see above).

At 2nd level, the Deneith warden can spend one use of any of his Least True dragonmark spell-like abilities to cast Status as a spell-like ability at the same caster level.

At 4th level, The Deneith warden can spend one use of any of his Least True dragonmark spell-like abilities, as a swift action, to declare smite against a criminal. This works just like the smite evil class feature for paladins, except that the criminal does not need to be evil. However, the target must be correctly identified as the criminal for a specific, known crime. If it turns out that the target was not, in fact, involved with that specific crime, the smite does not work, the use is expended and the Deneith warden is prevented from using this smite class ability until he rests for 8 hours.

At 6th level, if the Deneith warden has access to Lesser True dragonmark spell-like abilities, he can spend one use of any of his Lesser True dragonmark spell-like abilities to cast Discern Lies as a spell-like ability at the same caster level, so long as the conversation covered by the Discern Lies effect is in relation to a specific, known crime. Regardless of whether or not the Deneith warden has access to Lesser True dragonmark spell-like abilities, he gets one additional use of his Least True dragonmark spell-like ability per day. If the Deneith warden has more than one Least True dragonmark spell-like ability, he must choose which one to apply this to and once this decision has been made it cannot be changed.

At 8th level, if the Deneith warden has access to Lesser True dragonmark spell-like abilities, he can spend one use of any of his Lesser True dragonmark spell-like abilities to cast Dimensional Anchor as a spell-like ability at the same caster level. Regardless of whether or not the Deneith warden has access to Lesser True dragonmark spell-like abilities, he gets one additional use of his Least True dragonmark spell-like ability per day. If the Deneith warden has more than one Least True dragonmark spell-like ability, he must choose which one to apply this to and once this decision has been made it cannot be changed.

At 10th level, if the Deneith warden has access to Greater True dragonmark spell-like abilities, he can spend one use of any of his Greater True dragonmark spell-like abilities to cast Mark of Justice as a spell-like ability at the same caster level, so long as the target of the Mark of Justice effect is the criminal of a specific, known crime. If it turns out that the target was not, in fact, involved with that specific crime, the Mark of Justice does not work, the use is expended and the Deneith warden is prevented from using this application of his Greater True dragonmark spell-like abilities until he rests for 8 hours.

Regardless of whether or not the Deneith warden has access to Greater True dragonmark spell-like abilities, he gets one additional use of his Least True dragonmark spell-like ability per day. If the Deneith warden has more than one Least True dragonmark spell-like ability, he must choose which one to apply this to and once this decision has been made it cannot be changed. If the Deneith warden also has access to Lesser True dragonmark spell-like abilities, he gets one additional use of his Lesser True dragonmark spell-like ability per day. If the Deneith warden has more than one Lesser True dragonmark spell-like ability, he must choose which one to apply this to and once this decision has been made it cannot be changed.

Bonus Feats: At 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th level, the Deneith Warden gains another bonus feat from the following list: Enforcer, Fleet Greater True Dragonmark (Mark of the Sentinel), Investigate, Lesser True Dragonmark (Mark of the Sentinel), Recognize Impostor or Skill Focus (Diplomacy, Intimidate, Knowledge (local), Perception or Sense Motive). The Deneith warden must qualify for these bonus feats normally.

Uncanny Dodge (Ex): At 4th level, the Deneith warden gains the Uncanny Dodge class feature (as per the barbarian class feature).

Stalwart (Ex): At 6th level, the Deneith warden suffers no effect if a successful Fort or Will save would otherwise reduce or lessen an effect. This acts as the stalwart class feature from the inquisitor class, except that the Deneith warden can use it in any kind of armor. He still gains no benefit from this class feature is he is helpless.

Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex): At 8th level, the Deneith warden gains the Improved Uncanny Dodge class feature (as per the barbarian class feature). For determining the number of rogue levels needed to flank the Deneith warden, use the Deneith warden entire character level, not just his Deneith warden class levels.