PRIEST-CLERIC KIT

Witch Hunter

Description:  In any world where magic is used, there are those who mistrust it 
and all who wield it or attempt to harness it.  They view magic as a secret not 
meant to be tampered with by mere mortals, and they seek to stop others from 
interfering in matters beyond their ken.  Beyond these frightened, superstitious 
masses, there are those who lead this crusade to abolish the use of wizardry and 
who rally all who can hear to their cause.  These Witch Hunters (also known as 
'spellslayers' or 'chasseurs') view themselves as a 'check and balance' system 
to prevent random wizards from promiscuously meddling in the affairs of the 
infinite, which if they are to be touched at all should be handled by the duly 
ordained representatives of deities, not by mere humans (and similar races).  
They seek out and persecute wizards of all types, often working as bounty 
hunters, hunting down workers of magic and bringing them in for trial and 
execution (or performing that role summarily on their own).  Some Witch Hunters 
do their job as much for the money as for religious reasons, while others do it 
out of an obsessive hatred of wizards and their ways, believing that their taint 
on the world must be purged and eradicated.  At the core of all Witch Hunters, 
however, is the deep-seated and unshakable conviction that what wizards do is 
wrong and that they must be punished; their actions, their profession, and even 
their very existence itself merit the swift and certain divine retribution that 
Witch Hunters embody.

Witch Hunters can be aasimar, human, dwarven, or half-elven.  They can be of any 
alignment other than true neutral and must have scores of at least 12 in 
Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.

Weapons & Armor:  As per the deity in question, though Witch Hunters tend to 
favor weapons with a fast speed factor.

Special Benefits:  Witch Hunters receive the same spellcasting abilities as do 
other Clerics of their faith, and in return they possess an array of special 
abilities that assist them in their chosen task of hunting, exposing, capturing, 
or eliminating wizards:

Harangue:  Witch Hunters are masters of inflammatory rhetoric and 'crying 
witch.'  They are very skilled at stirring up anger and resentment in people and 
directing toward a single chosen focus (usually a wizard).  A Witch Hunter must 
choose a single subject as the target of his or her tirade, describing the 
abhorrent spirits that the subject has been consorting with and the diabolical 
and malefic pacts struck with the powers of darkness (or perhaps the reverse, if 
in an area that is predominantly evil).  After 1d10 rounds of such rhetoric and 
demagoguery, all who are listening and who can understand the Witch Hunter's 
speech must save vs. paralyzation, with a penalty of -1 per three levels of the 
Witch Hunter (rounding to the nearest multiple of three).  Failure indicates 
that their reactions toward the subject of his or her diatribe are automatically 
lowered by one and can never be better than Cautious in any event.  If a Crowd 
Working proficiency check is successful, the reaction level will be lowered by 
two levels.  If the subject of the Harangue is visibly using magic of any kind 
(other than the most obvious forms of priest magic), saving throws vs. the 
Harangue are made with a -2 penalty (-4 if obvious spellcasting with somatic 
components is performed by the subject in view of the mob listening to the 
Harangue).

A creature who successfully saves is unmoved by the speech, while a creature 
saving with a natural 20 vehemently disagrees with the Witch Hunter and has his 
or her reaction toward him or her penalized by one level (never better than 
Cautious), and his or her reaction toward the subject of the speech will be 
adjusted by one level in the direction opposite that intended by the Witch 
Hunter.  The effects of a Witch Hunter's Harangue last for one day per level of 
the Witch Hunter, though they may be renewed by continued speeches.  

Magic Sense:  Witch Hunters are trained to sense spellcasting ability in others 
and gain an enhanced version of the Magical Awareness proficiency with a +1 
bonus for every three levels of experience (rounding down).  If their 
proficiency check succeeds by 10 or more, the Witch Hunter is able to determine 
precisely which creatures within range possess magical capabilities and whether 
those abilities are priestly or wizardly in nature.  This extra benefit applies 
only if the Witch Hunter can actually see the spellcasting creature in question.

In addition to sensing magical ability, a Witch Hunter gains a number of other 
specialized detections as he or she advances in level.  Each can be used only 
once per day, requiring a successful Wisdom check (failure indicates that 
ability is wasted for the day):

Level	Detection Ability
1st	detect magic
3rd	detect invisibility
5th	detect scrying
7th	wizard sight
9th	true seeing

Resist Magic:  As a necessity of their profession, Witch Hunters are very 
skilled at defending themselves against magical attacks of all sorts.  A Witch 
Hunter gains a +1 bonus to saving throws and Armor Class for every three levels 
of experience (rounding down) whenever targeted with any wizardly magical spell, 
magical item discharge (if the item is usable by a wizard), or magical innate 
powers that duplicate wizard spells (though not simple enchanted weapons).  
Further, attacks by creatures conjured or summoned through the use of wizardly 
magic or who are under the influence or effect of any wizard spell (e.g., 
strength, haste, charm person) also allow a Witch Hunter to use this protection.  
It is important to note that these benefits do not apply to characters using 
magical items (save for wizard-specific magical items) or priestly magic.

Spellslaying:  The most dreaded power of a Witch Hunter is his or her ability to 
sever the connection between a wizard and the sources of magic from which he or 
she draws power.  This action, known as Spellslaying, requires the Witch Hunter 
to touch his or her intended victim (attack roll required, at +4 if attacking 
from surprise), who must then make a save vs. death magic, modified positively 
or negatively by the difference in levels between the Witch Hunter and the 
target.  If the save is successful, the target is unaffected, but if the roll is 
failed he or she will lose the ability to cast spells for one hour per level of 
the Witch Hunter.  If the saving throw roll is missed by 10 or more, the target 
loses the ability to cast spells for a full day per level of the Witch Hunter, 
and if a natural 1 is rolled the target loses the ability to cast spells for a 
full week per level of the Witch Hunter (note that for this special save a 
natural 1 does not automatically fail).  If a given wizard saves against a 
spellslaying attempt, he or she is immune to further spellslaying from that 
Witch Hunter until the Witch Hunter advances in level.  Note that Spellslaying 
only affects actual cast wizard spells (including spells cast by force of will 
alone, such as those cast by dragons), not innate powers, magical items, 
psionics, priest spells, or any other abilities.

In some situations, it is preferable for a Witch Hunter to kill a wizard 
outright rather than merely neutralizing or incapacitating him or her.  Because 
of this, a Witch Hunter who is attacking from surprise may elect to use his or 
her skills to Backstab as a thief of equal level.  A successful attack roll must 
of course be made (at +4 for the backstab), and the target must save vs. death 
magic as described above for spellslaying if the attack strikes home.  If the 
save is successful, the target suffers no extra damage, but if it is failed the 
target suffers damage as if backstabbed by a thief of the Witch Hunter's level.  
If the save is failed by 10 or more, an additional multiplier is added to the 
backstab damage.  If the save is failed with a natural 1, the target is 
instantly slain if less than or equal to the Witch Hunter's level; if of higher 
level, the normal backstab multiplier is doubled instead.

Special Hindrances:  Witch Hunters are mavericks and firebrands who have chosen 
to focus on one particular bit of church dogma to the exclusion of all else.  
Thus, they do not gain the normal granted powers allowed for Clerics of their 
faith, including the ability to turn or command undead.  Also, their lack of 
well-rounded church training results in them not being well-trained in Ceremony, 
and they are rather distant from official church orthodoxy, resulting in the 
loss of substantial Church Affiliation.  They have also warped the normal Cleric 
ability to inspire into their ability to Harangue.  A Witch Hunter's driven 
personality and single-mindedness also prevents him or her from acquiring 
henchmen or followers, and their training does not lend itself to much concern 
with material things, and the character will gain only half the normal amount of 
starting money.

Witch Hunters tend to avoid the use of magical items, retaining no more than one 
such item for every three levels of experience points.  In addition, a Witch 
Hunter will not use any magical item known to be crafted by a wizard.  Generally 
speaking, Witch Hunters may most magical weapons and armor (only those items 
specifically known to be made by wizardly hands will be shunned, and intelligent 
weapons are always carefully checked to verify whether they were crafted by 
priestly means).  Witch Hunters can also make use of healing potions, poison 
potions (evil Witch Hunters only), protection scrolls, and priestly spell 
scrolls.  Other magical items (rings, rods, staves, wands, and miscellaneous 
magic) will only be used if they are items whose use is restricted to priests 
(including items reserved for priests and one or more other classes; e.g., wand 
of fear, staff of command, book of exalted deeds, candle of invocation, 
phylactery of faithfulness, robe of scintillating colors).  Any other magical 
items will be shunned, and a Witch Hunter will seek to destroy such items when 
circumstances allow (e.g., pouring out other potions, burning wizard scrolls, 
breaking wands), gaining an experience point bonus equal to the x.p. value of 
creating the item in the first place (though if a Witch Hunter destroys a 
priestly item by mistake, he or she loses this many experience points).

Over and above this distaste for magical items, Witch Hunters will never consent 
to have any wizard spell cast upon them, and they will only travel or adventure 
with wizards under very unusual circumstances or for special missions or quests.  
If they are seen in public in the company of any known wizard (other than with 
that wizard bound and gagged), anyone seeing them together becomes immune to a 
Witch Hunter's Harangue for 1d6 months.

Finally, while Witch Hunters tend to be popular with the lower classes, 
particularly in rural areas where superstitions run high, more urbane characters 
tend to view them as dangerous troublemakers.  Hence, they suffer a -1 reaction 
penalty with creatures of middle class and -2 with the upper class, with an 
additional -1 bonus with any NPC from an urban background.  Wizards, of course, 
are deeply distrustful of Witch Hunters, and Witch Hunters suffer a -5 reaction 
penalty with wizards of all types, in addition to the penalties noted above, 
with no reaction better than Cautious possible.

Bonus Proficiencies:  Chanting, Magical Awareness
Required Proficiencies:  Crowd Working, Spellcraft, Tracking
Preferred Proficiencies:  Alertness, Ancient History, Arcanology, Awareness, 
Blind-fighting, Debate, Disguise, Display Weapon Prowess, Information Gathering, 
Intimidation, Investigation, Language (Ancient), Language (Modern), Law, 
Linguistics, Local History, Magecraft, Mental Resistance, Observation, 
Persuasion, Reading/Writing, Rune Lore, Seduction, Sixth Sense, Torture, 
Trailing, Venom Handling