Aegis of Life (3.5e Class)

Aegis of Life

A divine spell caster, capable of casting as often as a sorcerer, they tend to focus more on supporting allies and preventing their deaths by preventing damage in the first place.

Making a Aegis of Life

Abilities: Wisdom (Determines Spellcasting and Class Features), Constitution

Races: Any

Alignment: Any Neutral or Good

Starting Gold: 4d6×10 gp

Starting Age: As Cleric

Table: The Aegis of Life

Hit Die: d8

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Spells per Day
		Fort	Ref	Will		0	1^st	2^nd	3^rd	4^th	5^th	6^th	7^th	8^th	9^th
1st	+0	+2	+0	+2	Life Shield 1d10	5	3	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	+1	+3	+0	+3		6	4	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
3rd	+2	+3	+1	+3	Life Shield 2d10	6	5	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4th	+3	+4	+1	+4		6	6	3	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
5th	+3	+4	+1	+4	Life Shield 3d10 (Extra Targets and Bonuses)	6	6	4	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
6th	+4	+5	+2	+5		6	6	5	3	—	—	—	—	—	—
7th	+5	+5	+2	+5	Guardian's Defense, Life Shield 4d10	6	6	6	4	—	—	—	—	—	—
8th	+6/+1	+6	+2	+6		6	6	6	5	3	—	—	—	—	—
9th	+6/+1	+6	+3	+6	Shielded from Undeath, Life Shield 5d10	6	6	6	6	4	—	—	—	—	—
10th	+7/+2	+7	+3	+7	Sacred Life, Life Shield (SR and Immunities)	6	6	6	6	5	3	—	—	—	—
11th	+8/+3	+7	+3	+7	Lifesense, Life Shield 6d10	6	6	6	6	6	4	—	—	—	—
12th	+9/+4	+8	+4	+8		6	6	6	6	6	5	3	—	—	—
13th	+9/+4	+8	+4	+8	Life Shield 7d10	6	6	6	6	6	6	4	—	—	—
14th	+10/+5	+9	+4	+9	Divine Reach	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	3	—	—
15th	+11/+6/+1	+9	+5	+9	Life Shield 8d10 (Fast Healing)	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	4	—	—
16th	+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+10	Bulwark of Life	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	3	—
17th	+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+10	Life Shield 9d10	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	4	—
18th	+13/+8/+3	+11	+6	+11		6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	3
19th	+14/+9/+4	+11	+6	+11	Life Shield 10d10	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	4
20th	+15/+10/+5	+12	+6	+12	Shielded from the Afterlife, Life Shield (Damage Reduction, Immunities)	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6
Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (Arcana) (Int), Knowledge (History) (Int), Knowledge (Religion) (Int), Knowledge (The Planes) (Int), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Aegis of Life.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: An Aegis of Life are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, as well as light armor and the favored weapon of their deity. They are not proficient with shields.

Spells: An Aegis of Life casts divine spells (the same type of spells available to clerics), which are drawn from the cleric spell list. She can cast any spell she knows without preparing it ahead of time the way a cleric must.

To cast a spell, an Aegis of Life must have a Wisdom score of 10 + the spell's level (Wis 10 for 0-level spells, Wis 11 for 1st-level spells, and so forth). The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against an Aegis of Life's spell is 10 + the spell's level + the Aegis of Life's Wisdom modifier. Like other spellcasters, an Aegis of Life can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily spell allotment is given on Table: The Aegis of Life. In addition, she receives bonus spells for a high Wisdom.

Unlike a cleric, an Aegis of Life's selection of spells is limited. An Aegis of Life begins play knowing four 0-level spells and three 1st-level spells of your choice. At each new Aegis of Life level, she gains one or more new spells, as indicated on the Aegis of Life Spells Known table below. (Unlike spells per day, her Wisdom score does not affect the number of spells an Aegis of Life knows).

Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even-numbered Aegis of Life level after that (6th, 8th, and so on), an Aegis of Life can choose to learn a new spell in place of one she already knows. In effect, the Aegis of Life "loses" the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell's level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged, and it must be at least two levels lower than the highest-level Aegis of Life spell the Aegis of Life can cast. An Aegis of Life may swap only a single spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that she gains new spells known for the level.

Unlike a cleric, an Aegis of Life need not prepare her spells in advance. She can cast any spell she knows at any time, assuming she has not yet used up her spells per day for that spell level.

Table: Aegis of Life Spells Known

Level	Spells Known
	0	1^st	2^nd	3^rd	4^th	5^th	6^th	7^th	8^th	9^th
1st	4	3	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	5	3	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
3rd	5	4	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4th	6	4	3	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
5th	6	5	3	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
6th	7	5	4	3	—	—	—	—	—	—
7th	7	6	4	3	—	—	—	—	—	—
8th	8	6	5	4	3	—	—	—	—	—
9th	8	6	5	4	3	—	—	—	—	—
10th	9	6	6	5	4	3	—	—	—	—
11th	9	6	6	5	4	3	—	—	—	—
12th	9	6	6	6	5	4	3	—	—	—
13th	9	6	6	6	5	4	3	—	—	—
14th	9	6	6	6	6	5	4	3	—	—
15th	9	6	6	6	6	5	4	3	—	—
16th	9	6	6	6	6	6	5	4	3	—
17th	9	6	6	6	6	6	5	4	3	—
18th	9	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	4	3
19th	9	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	4	3
20th	9	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	4

Life Shield (Su): Wielding their inherent divine powers, the Aegis of Life can bestow upon any ally within 30 feet a shield that buffers them from harm for 1d10 points of damage for every two Aegis of Life levels beyond 1st (to a maximum of 10d10 at 19th level). Treat these points as Temporary Hit Points. This may be used a number of times per day equal to 5 + her Wisdom modifier. When you gain access to a feat from leveling up, you may choose to not take a feat to instead gain five more uses of this ability. As the Aegis of Life grows stronger, they learn to expand upon the potential of this ability with the following effects at the corresponding levels. Please note the listed effects only remain as long as they are under the effects of this ability (meaning they need the temporary hit points granted by it) unless noted otherwise.

5th: The Aegis of Life can now simultaneously cast this ability one additional target per five levels beyond 5th that they have. (to a maximum of 4 at 20th). Those under the effects of this ability gain a bonus to AC and constitution equal to 1/2 the Aegis of Life's Wisdom modifier. At 10th level you may use your full modifier.

10th: Those under the effects of Life Shield gain a bonus on all saves equal to their wisdom modifier. In addition, they also gain immunity to poisons and diseases of all kinds.

15th: Those under the effects of Life Shield gain Fast Healing equal to the Aegis of Life's Wisdom Modifier.

20th: Those under the effects of Life Shield gain damage reduction 10/- as well as immunity to death effects, negative levels, and ability score damage. Any 1's rolled when calculating the temporary hit points gained from Life Shield may be re-rolled once and the higher result taken.

Guardian's Defense (Su): At 7th level, the Aegis of Life gains the ability to enhance his armor with divine power as a swift action. This power grants the armor a +1 enhancement bonus. For every 3 levels beyond 7th, this bonus increases by 1. The Aegis of Life can use this ability a number of minutes per day equal to his Aegis of Life level. This duration must be used in 1-minute increments, but they don't need to be consecutive.

These bonuses stack with any existing bonuses the armor might have. The Aegis of Life can enhance armor with any of the following armor special abilities: energy resistance (normal, improved, and greater), fortification (heavy, light, or moderate), glamoured, and spell resistance (13, 15, 17, and 19). Adding any of these special abilities replaces an amount of bonus equal to the special ability's base cost. For this purpose, glamered counts as a +1 bonus, energy resistance counts as +2, improved energy resistance counts as +4, and greater energy resistance counts as +5. Duplicate abilities do not stack. The armor must have at least a +1 enhancement bonus before any other special abilities can be added.

The enhancement bonus and armor special abilities are determined the first time the ability is used each day and cannot be changed until the next day. These bonuses apply only while the Aegis of Life is wearing the armor, and end immediately if the armor is removed or leaves the Aegis of Life's possession. This ability can be ended as a free action at the start of the Aegis of Life's turn. This ability cannot be applied to a shield.

Shielded from Undeath (Ex): at 9th level, with their very being dedicated to divinity and protecting life, the gods grant the Aegis of Life protection from undeath, preventing them from being made into Undead creatures, as well as the effects of energy drain and blood drain attacks by undead creatures. However, this is a double edged sword. To resurrect the Aegis of Life, the caster needs to succeed at a caster level check (equal to 10 + the Aegis of Life's class levels).

Sacred Life (Su): At 10th level, healing spells with the word "Cure" in their name become more efficient at giving life. When a creature is healed to their maximum health, any extra from the spell becomes temporary hit points. These hit points may stack with those granted by Life Shield, to a maximum of your caster level plus your wisdom modifier.

Lifesense (Ex): At 11th level, you can notice and locate living creatures within 30 feet, just as if you possessed the blind-sight ability.

Divine Reach : At 14th level, an Aegis of Life may cast touch spells at a range of 20ft + 5/caster level. Spells that require a touch attack may now be used with a ranged touch attack.

Bulwark of Life (Su): at 16th level, once per target per day, when a target under the effects of Life Shield would be reduced to 0 or fewer hit points, you may as an immediate action expend two uses of Life Shield to instead negate half of all damage taken for that attack. The target will survive with 1 hp minimum at the end of the round this is used in.

Shielded from the Afterlife (Su): Once a week, by spending all of your uses of Life Shield you could have in a day (meaning if you had 24 at the start, you would need to spend 24 to use this ability), as well as the gold cost, you may duplicate the effects of True Resurrection, using your Aegis of Life class levels for your caster level.

Playing an Aegis of Life

Religion: As a cleric would, the Aegis of Life must have some form of Deity, typically it is one that matches their alignment or morals.

Combat: An Aegis of Life typically stands in the back, supporting the party as needed, but can defend themselves for a little while if required.

Aegis' of Life in the World

“	To protect all life, the sacred energy of the universe. That is my way.	”
—Serandu, Human Aegis of Life

Notables: Serandu Mortathol, the only formally recognized Aegis of Life. Considered generally to be the first as he proved his abilities to be different then that of a cleric or paladin's.

Organizations: No formal organizations, but it isn't uncommon for them to be part of holy orders.

Aegis of Life Lore

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (Religion) (Int) can research Aegis' of Life to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.

Knowledge (Religion) (Int)

DC	Result
15	They seem to be a lot like a cleric or favored soul they way they operate.
20	These healers, and on occasions battle healers, actually focus on preventing damage rather then healing it.
25	Information about Notable NPCs and above information.
30	Information available by choice.

Aegis' of Life in the Game

Adaptation: A possible variant of this class is to instead use it to harm enemies, having the Life Shield deal damage instead and reversing the effects of other class features. A "Bringer of Death" would be a class name.

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