Hexblade (3.5e Class)

Hexblade

Making a Hexblade

Hexblades start out relying solely on their blade and the innate ability to curse their foes, granting the Hexblade and his allies an edge. Though the Hexblade is strong with melee and is later granted more powerful spells, it is the early studies in their class that a Hexblade is weakest. They have the same strength as a warrior, but do not bother with encumbering themselves with larger armor, making them somewhat more fragile in combat.

Abilities: Charisma is important for many of the Hexblade's powers, including his spellcasting. Strength is important for him because of his role in combat. Dexterity and constitution benefit the Hexblade's longevity, as they do not wear heavy armor.

Races: As with sorcerers, most Hexblades are humans or half-elves. Those few gnomes who enjoy a cruel twist to their levity may take up the tradition. Elves wishing to mix magic and warfare more often become Fighter/Wizards than Hexblades. Dwarves and Halflings rarely exhibit the self-centered behavior common among Hexblades.

Among the savage humanoids, Hexblades may be found as leaders or advisers.

Alignment: Any nongood.

Starting Gold: 6d4×10 gp

Starting Age: Simple.

Table: The Hexblade

Hit Die: d10

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throw			Special	Spells per Day
		Fort	Ref	Will		0	1^st	2^nd	3^rd	4^th
1st	+1	+0	+0	+2	Hexblade's curse 1/day	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	+2	+0	+0	+3	Arcane resistance	—	—	—	—	—
3rd	+3	+1	+1	+3	Mettle	—	—	—	—	—
4th	+4	+1	+1	+4	Summon familiar	2	0	—	—	—
5th	+5	+1	+1	+4	Bonus feat, Hexblade's Curse 2/day	2	0	—	—	—
6th	+6/+1	+2	+2	+5		2	1	—	—	—
7th	+7/+2	+2	+2	+5	Greater hexblade's curse	2	1	—	—	—
8th	+8/+3	+2	+2	+6		2	1	0	—	—
9th	+9/+4	+3	+3	+6	Hexblade's curse 3/day	2	1	0	—	—
10th	+10/+5	+3	+3	+7	Bonus feat	3	1	1	—	—
11th	+11/+6/+1	+3	+3	+7		3	1	1	0	—
12th	+12/+7/+2	+4	+4	+8	Aura of unluck 1/day	3	1	1	1	—
13th	+13/+8/+3	+4	+4	+8	Hexblade's Curse 4/day	3	1	1	1	—
14th	+14/+9/+4	+4	+4	+9		3	2	1	1	0
15th	+15/+10/+5	+5	+5	+9	Bonus feat	3	2	1	1	1
16th	+16/+11/+6/+1	+5	+5	+10	Aura of unluck 2/day	4	2	2	1	1
17th	+17/+12/+7+2	+5	+5	+10	Hexblade's curse 5/day	4	2	2	2	1
18th	+18/+13/+8/+3	+6	+6	+11		4	3	2	2	1
19th	+19/+14/+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Dire hexblade's curse	4	3	3	3	2
20th	+20/+15/+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	Aura of unluck 3/day, bonus feat	4	3	3	3	3
Class Skills (2 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana)(Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Spellcraft (Int)

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Hexblade.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Hexblades are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, and with light and medium armor but not with shields. Because the somatic componants required for hexblade spells are simple, a hexblade can cast hexblade spells while wearing light and medium armor without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. However, like any other arcane spellcaster, a hexblade wearing heavy armor or using a shield incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component (and most do). A multiclass hexblade still incurs the normal arcan spell failure chance for arcane spells derived from other classes.

Hexblade's Curse (Su): Once per day, as a free action, a hexblade can unleash a curse upon a foe. The target must be visible to the hexblade and within 60 feet. The target of a hexblade's curse takes a -2 penalty on attacks, saves, ability checks, skill checks, and weapon damage rolls for 1 hour thereafter. A successful Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 hexblade's class level + Hexblade's Cha modifier) negates the effect.

At every four levels after first (5, 9, 13, and 17) a hexblade gains the ability to use his curse additional times per day. Multiple hexblade curses don't stack, and any foe that successfully resists the effect cannot be affected again by the same hexblade's curse for 24 hours.

Any effect that removes or dispels a curse eliminates the effect of a hexblade's curse.

Arcane Resistance (Su): At 2nd level, a hexblade gains a bonus equal to his Charisma bonus (minimum +1) on saving throws against spells and spell-like effects. At level 10 this bonus is multiplied by 2 ( ex; a hexblade with a Charisma of 16 gets a +6 bonus). At level 20, the hexblade's resilience against opposing spells gives him a multiplier of 4.

Mettle (Ex): At 3rd level and higher, a hexblade can resist magical and unusual attacks with great willpower or fortitude. If he makes a successful Will or Fortitude save against an attack that normally would have a lesser effect on a successful save (such as any spell with a saving throw entry of Will half or Fortitude partial), he instead completely negates the effect. An unconscious or sleeping hexblade does not gain the benefit of mettle.

Summon Familiar: Beginning at 4th level, a hexblade can obtain a familiar. Doing so takes 24 hours and uses up magical materials that cost 100 gp. A familiar is a magical beast that resembles a small animal and is unusually tough and intelligent. The creature serves as a companion and servant.

The hexblade chooses the kind of familiar he gets. As the hexblade advances in level, his familiar also increases in power. Treat the hexblade as a sorcerer of three levels lower for determining the familiar's powers and ablilities (for more on familiars, clickhere).

If the familiar dies or is dismissed by the hexblade, the latter must attempt a DC 15 Fortitude saving throw. Failure means he loses 200 experiance points per hexblade level; success reduces the loss to one-half that amount. However, a hexblade's experience point total can never go below 0 as the result of a familiar's demise or dismissal. A slain or dismissed familiar cannot be replaced for a year and a day. A slain familiar can be raised form the dead just as a character can be, but it does not lose a level or a point of Constitution when this happy even occurs.

A character with more than one class that grants a familiar may have only one familiar at a time.

Spells: Beginning at 4th level, a hexblade gains the ability to cast a small number of arcane spells, which are drawn from the hexblade spell list (see Chapter 3). He can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time, just as a sorcerer can (see page 54 of the Player’s Handbook).

To learn or cast a spell, a hexblade must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level (Cha 11 for 1st-level spells, Cha 12 for 2nd-level spells, and so forth). The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a hexblade’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the hexblade’s Cha modifier.

A hexblade begins play knowing no spells, but gains one or more new spells at certain levels. Upon reaching 12th level, and at every third hexblade level after that (15th and 18th), a hexblade can choose to learn a new spell in place of one he already knows. In effect, the hexblade “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 hexblade spell the hexblade can cast. For instance, upon reaching 12th level, a hexblade could trade in a single 1stlevel spell (two spell levels below the highest-level hexblade spell he can cast, which is 3rd) for a different 1st-level spell. At 15th level, he could trade in a single 1st-level or 2nd-level spell (since he now can cast 4th-level hexblade spells) for a different spell of the same level. A hexblade 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 he gains new spells known for the level. Through 3rd level, a hexblade has no caster level. At 4th level and higher, his caster level is one-half his hexblade level.

Alternative Spell List- Hexblades choose their spells from the hexblade spell list.

Table: Hexblade Spells Known

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

Greater Hexblade's Curse (Su): When a hexblade attains 7th level, the penalty on attacks, saves, ability checks, skill checks, and weapon damage rolls incurred by a target of the hexblade's curse becomes -4 instead of -2.

Aura of Unluck (Su): Once per dar, a hexblade of 12th level or higher can create a balefule aura of misfortune. Any melee or ranged attack made against the hexblade while this aura of unluck is active has a 20% miss chance (similar to the effect of concealment). Activatin the aura is a free action, and the aura lasts for a number of rounds equal to 3 + the hexblade's Charisma bonus (if any).

At 16th level and higher, a hexblade can use his aura twice per day. 20th level can activate this three times per day.

Dire Hexblade's Curse: When a hexblade attains 19th level, the penalty on attacks, saves, ability checks, skill checks, and weapon damage rolls incurred by a target of the hexblade's curse becomes -6 instead of -4.

Spells: Most of their class spells come from the Enchantment or Necromancy specializations.

0— Choke, Eye Bleed, Daze, Touch of Fatigue, Disrupt Undead, Mage Hand, Message, Resistance

1st— Alarm, Arcane Mark, augmant familiar, Cause Fear, Charm Person, Detect Magic, Disguise Self, Entropic Shield, Expenditious Retreat, Identify, Light, Magic Weapon, Mount, Nystul's Magic Aura, phantom threat, Prestidigitation, protection from chaos, protection from evil, protection from good,protection from law, Read Magic, Sleep, Tasha's Hideous Laughter, Undetectable Alignment, Unseen Servant

2nd— Alter Self, Blindness/Deafness, Bull's Strength, Darkness, Eagle's Splendor, Enthrall, False Life, Glitterdust, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Protection from Arrows, Pyrotechnics, Rage, See Invisibility, Spider Climb, Suggestion, Summon Swarm, Touch of Idiocy

3rd— Arcane Sight, Charm Monster, Confusion, Deep Slumber, Dispel Magic, Hound of Doom, Invisibility Sphere, Magic Weapon, Greater, Nondetection, Phantom Steed, Poison, Protection from Energy, Repel Vermin, Vampiric Touch, Wind Wall

4th— Baleful Polymorph, Break Enchantment, Contact Other Plane, Cursed Blade, Detect Scrying, Dimension Door, Dominate Person, Enervation, Fear, Invisibility, Greater, Phantasmal Killer, Polymorph, Scrying, Sending, Solid Fog

Ex-Hexblades

A hexblade who becomes good-aligned loses all hexblade spells and all supernatural class abilities. His familiar becomes a normal animal and leaves the hexblade's service as soon as possible. He may not progress any farther in levels as a hexblade. He retains all the other benefits of the class (weapon and armor proficiencies and bonus feats).

Epic Hexblade

Complete Warrior book gives no special information about Hexblades of this level.

Hexblade Starting Package

Weapons: .

Skill Selection: Pick a number of skills equal to 4 + Int modifier.

Skill	Ranks	Ability	Armor Check Penalty

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Playing a Hexblade

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Hexblades in the World

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Hexblade Lore

Characters with ranks in can research to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.

DC	Result
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Hexblades in the Game

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