Drow Magic. Sorcery Of Endless Night.pdf - RoseRed

Prestige
Classes
Drow magic is ancient and highly advanced.
Down through the millennia, it has branched
off along many specialised paths and evolved
many times, leading to endless specialisations and
focused schools of study. The dark weavers, especially,
are known for their desire and ability to evolve and adapt
their magic, to better serve their people and the will of
the Dark Mother. This ability to adapt and evolve has
served them well, allowing them to compensate for their
somewhat reduced spell versatility while improving
their value in the community; and improving one’s
value to the drow community is the best way to ensure
your continued survival.
The following new prestige classes are designed with
the abilities and talents of the dark weaver in mind,
each represents an iconic role that serves to highlight
a different facet of the weaver. By combining these
prestige classes with the base dark weaver class, you
will be able to come up with a near endless variety of
unique characters.
The Drow Ceremony
Master
The black ceremonies are one of the most important
aspects of drow culture, empowering and guiding the
fortunes of all drow, from the lowliest child to the
greatest of the drow matrons. While any drow with
a natural aptitude for spellcasting can preside over a
black ceremony, it is the dark weavers who do so with
the most authority and skill.
Among the dark weavers, however, there are those
who know how to guide a black ceremony with a
precision and grace unmatched by their peers. These
dark weavers are known as the ceremony masters and
they are blessed by the Dark Mother of Spiders with an
understanding of how to best direct drow worship so
that the ceremonies they command reach the greatest
heights of passionate fervour.
Dark Weavers tend to remain within the boundaries of
the largest drow cities, where they are frequently taken
under the direct patronage of those drow families who
can afford to keep them sated and happily immersed
in luxurious decadence. Dark weavers who are
encountered outside the great cities will almost certainly
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PRESTIGE CLASSES
be either gathering materials for their next great work or
in transit from one metropolis to another. In either case,
even the most powerful of ceremony masters will be
accompanied by an honour guard of drow warriors and
warrior priests, as their skills are simply too valuable
to risk their falling into the wrong hands.
As with all other members of the upper echelon of
drow society, ceremony masters do not have many allies
among their peers. Instead, they separate those around
them into two categories, useful tools and obstacles,
with the former used whenever it is convenient and the
latter destroyed at the earliest opportunity. There is,
of course, no thought given to the notion of friend or
enemy; all drow are potential enemies.
The clear majority of ceremony masters are focussed
dark weavers, as they have the greatest natural facility
with black ceremonies. The requirements of the
ceremony master prestige class mandate at least limited
familiarity and skill with dark weaver spellcasting, but
there is no reason that a more multi-facetted characters
cannot become ceremony masters and many dark
weaver wizards and dark weaver clerics do indeed
take up this path.
Hit Die: d4.
Requirements
In order to become a drow ceremony master, the
character must meet all the following requirements.
Race: Drow only.
Alignment: Any Neutral.
Skills: Knowledge (arcana) 13 ranks, Perform (any) 4
ranks and Spellcraft 13 ranks.
Feats: Skill Focus (spellcraft).
Spells: Must have knowledge of, and be able to cast
spells from, at least two dark weaver favoured paths.
Special: Must have successfully presided over at least
two successful black ceremonies, each of which must
be done while in the presence of a high ranking drow
cleric of the Dark Mother of Spiders.
Class Skills
The ceremony master’s class skills (and the key
ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha),
Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha),
Gather Information (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate
(Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge
(dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (nobility and
royalty) (Int), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Knowledge
(religion) (Int), Perform (Cha), Sense Motive (Wis),