The Witcher (3.5e Prestige Class)

(A witcher)

Witcher

Once they were many, now they are few, hunters, killers of the world's filth, witchers, the ultimate killing machine. Witchers are masters in the art of the sword and skilled at using quick simple magic spells known as signs. Witchers are most commonly known as professional monster-slayers for hire, but rarely one might retire to other professions like an terrifying assassin, killer for hire, mercenary, etc. They have undergone extensive training, ruthless mental and physical conditioning, and mysterious rituals that usually take place at "Witcher Schools".

Witchers are usually taken in as children, where they are subjected to intense alchemical processes, consumption of mutagenic compounds and relentless physical and magical training to make them dangerous and highly versatile against their vast array of opponents, many of which possess superhuman speed, strength and/or other deadly powers. These procedures ultimately mean that each fully-trained witcher is a mutant built specifically to hunt and kill inhuman prey. If a human dares to become a witcher he must be a fighter because he must of had some sort of training with a sword. Once he becomes a witcher he'll need at least 1 month at a witcher school to become a fully-trained witcher or on his travels he will become more proficient in the witcher class as he levels up until he reaches max level on his prestige class as a fully-trained witcher.

As NPCs, witchers usually travel the world taking one monster contract after another. For every contract, witchers cut off the head of the target to show proof that the contract is complete. Sometimes witchers travel because they're searching for something specific or for someone. They usually travel alone but if there are multiple witchers, then that means they are either completing a contract together or became killers for hire. Very rarely, one might be a retired witcher who has settled down with a wife and might of adopted a child or children (for witchers are infertile) looking for a normal life because it is told that "no witcher's ever died in his own bed". Witchers don't usually meddle with politics and are often caught right in the middle. Occasionally a witcher works alone, but only the most capable are willing to operate without any sort of support or backup.

Becoming a Witcher

To qualify to become a witcher, a character must fulfil all the following criteria (if the character is a male human child with a alignment of any neutral and he was to become a witcher he is not required to achieve the other requirements, instead he will have to pass all the witcher trials and as he grows up he will become a maxed level prestige character. However if a the character is a adult then he must meet all the requirements but he is not required to pass all the witcher trials, instead he is required to pass only two of them, "the Trial of the Grasses" and "the Trial of the Dreams".)

Entry Requirements

Alignment:	Any Neutral.
Base Attack Bonus:	+8.
Race:	Human.
Gender:	Male.
Class:	Fighter.
Special:	The DM has the option to choose how the character becomes a witcher. The character must have traveled to any of the witcher schools, subject to the DM's approval (the DM can create its own witcher school, ex: School of the Dragon). Or the character must have encountered a retired witcher mentor who has the materials and knows how to convert a human into a witcher, (if the character encounters a witcher who has settled down with a magic wielder, she can help with the conversion process)..

Table: The Witcher

Hit Die: d12

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1 AC. Special. Aard, Igni, Yrden, Quen, and Axii Signs.
2nd	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2 AC. Whirl. Somne Sign.
3rd	+3	+3	+3	+3	+3 AC. Rend. Energy Sweep Sign.
4th	+4	+4	+4	+4	+4 AC. Arrow Deflection. Firestream Sign.
5th	+5	+5	+5	+5	+5 AC. Anatomical Knowledge. Magic Trap Sign.
6th	+66	+6	+6	+6	+6 AC. Crippling Strikes. Active Shield Sign.
7th	+7	+7	+7	+7	+7 AC. Sunder Armor. Puppet Sign.
8th	+8	+8	+8	+8	+8 AC. Counterattack. Heliotrop Sign.
9th	+9	+9	+9	+9	+9 AC. Crippling Shot. Shock Wave, Pyromaniac, Supercharged Glyphs, Shield Discharge, and Domination Signs.
10th	+10	+10	+10	+10	+10 AC. Battle Trance. Sign Intesity.
Class Skills (8 + Int modifier per level) Appraise (INT), Balance (DEX), Bluff (CHA), Climb (STR), Concentration (CON), Craft (Alchemy) (INT), Decipher Script (INT), Diplomacy (CHA), Gather Information (CHA), Handle Animal (CHA), Hide (DEX), Intimate (CHA), Jump (STR), Knowledge (Arcana, Geography, Local, Nature, Religon, The Planes) (INT), Listen (WIS), Ride (DEX), Search (INT), Sense Motive (WIS), Speak Language (INT), Spellcraft (INT), Spot (WIS), Survival (WIS), Swim (STR), Tumble (DEX), and Use Magic Device (CHA).

Class Features

There are a total of four trials a young witcher apprentice must take in order to become a witcher (if not a child then only two trials).

"The Choice" is the first trial young witcher apprentices were subjected to that consisted mainly of a voluntary decision to follow the special witcher diet which consists of mushrooms, mosses and herbs and grueling physical training (many did not survive the trial, succumbing to liver or heart failure and sometimes madness, many with being left with excessively aggressive tendencies. A player has to role percentiles to see if the character makes the save, 51 up or 50 down).

"The Trial of the Grasses" is the second trial and the most painful one of all on becoming a witcher which required the consumption of special alchemical ingredients known as "the grasses" and affected the nervous system (those who didn't survive died in agony, but those who did gained lightning quick reflexes, their signature cat-like eyes, and other bodily enhancements in return, they gain a +2 on all ability modifiers).

The first stage is the injection process, there are three valves that need to be injected into the nervous system and each contain special alchemical ingredients, the first valve is called "Mother's Tears", the second is "Wildrye Juice", and the third is called "Speargrass Sap", it doesn't matter which order the valves are open in (for each valve, the character must make a fortitude save (dc: 20) to see how the character reacts to the alchemical ingredients, before any valves are open the character is given a herb known as "hookweed extract" to deaden the pain which temporary boost up the constitution modifier by +5, if character saves then he moves on to the next valve, if the character fails the save then he takes 20pts of damage for each save he fails, if the player roles a natural 20 on any of the valves then he doesn't have to make a save for the remaining valves, if a player roles a natural 1 then the character dies in agony).

The second stage is the reconstruction process, while the body is disintegrating from the inside the character is given mutations to reform it, if there is a magic wielder she can cast a stabilizing spell on his body so the reconstruction goes smoothly and the player won't have to make saves for this staged, (she roles a d20 to see how effective the spell is she just can't role a natural 1, any advance magic wielder can cast the spell when she says oesi caefyn which then gathers the user's magic and concentrates gently on an object, see the "recovery process" for more details on this role) if there is no magic wielder then the player has to role percentiles to see if the character survives the reconstruction, (a child's body is more resilient than a adult's so a child would have to beat 30%, if not a child then he will role 51 up or 50 down) if the character saves or gets help from a magic wielder then the player roles a d4 to see how many days the reconstruction process takes (if there's a magic wielder then she he has to role a concentration check for each day, (dc: 10) but for each day passes, the dc raises by +5, if the magic wielder fails the check then the spell will be unstable and she'll have cast the spell again (re-roll the d20 again to see how effective the spell is) but before that the player has to make a will save (dc: 10) to see if the unstable spell kills the character instantly (roles a 1) or starts to drop his health by 10 every second (failed the save) or if he makes the save or if he becomes immune to the unstable spell if happened again, (roles a 20) if the character fails the save the magic wielder will have to make a reflex save to see if she cast the spell in time (dc:15) but if she fails than the character dies in agony.

The final stage is the recovery process, once the injections finish their work and the reconstruction of the body is finished, there is a overall outcome on the body to see if the character succumbed to any fatal side-effects. The player has to role the final percentiles, a child originally has a 70% chance of death, a adult originally has a 80% chance of death, depending on how the magic wielder rolled the d20 to see how effective the stabilizing spell it will effective the percentage's outcome, if she rolled a 20 then it reduces the percentage by 50%, (child death rate 20%, adult death rate 30%) if rolled a 15-19 then it reduces by 30%, (child death rate 40%, adult death rate 50%) if rolled a 10-14 then it reducest by 20%, (child death rate 50%, adult death rate 60%) if rolled anything under a 10 then it reduces by 10% (child death rate 60%, adult death rate 70%). If the player does not make the save then the character dies in agony. If the character dies he can still be saved by a high level reviving spell but he will take a -2 to all ability modifiers because he didn't complete survive the trial of the grasses.

"The Trial of Dreams" is the third and considered to be the final trial which involved the mutation of the eyes, bone marrow and hormones, and allowed for better night vision, among other benefits, it also resulted in infertility. The soon-to-be witcher is put to sleep by a sign used by the witcher operating on him (no saves needs to be made on this trial).

"The Trial of the Mountains" was more of a witcher exam. Only boys who were unlikely to undergo total mutation were administered this test. It was primarily intended to verify whether the candidate remembered anything from the prior Trial of the Grasses. The trial is a dangerous training course for young witchers, usually set in caves, mountain paths, cliffs and peaks (a quest full of monsters, traps, and other dangerous obstacle).

Ability Points

Ability points are unique points gained by the witcher at every level including initial level. Each ability point counts as 5 skill miscellaneous points. An ability point can only be spent on one skill every level. Points can be spent on any skill the player chooses. Points can be spent on the same skill if the player chooses to.

Ex-Witchers

Playing a Witcher

Combat:

Advancement:

Resources:

Witchers in the World

“

”

NPC Reactions:

Witcher 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
11	.
16	.
21	.
26	.

Witchers in the Game

Adaptation:

Sample Encounter:

EL whatever:

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