Villains need specialized skills to fulfill their wicked plots, and so they might develop slightly atypical abilities as they grow in power. These unusual talents reflect their sinister character and their exposure to fell magic and abominable creatures. This section provides alternative class features for some of the classes in the Player’s Handbook and other sources.
Alternative class features replace class features found in the original class description. If a villain has already reached or passed the level at which he can take the feature, he can use the retraining option in Player’s Handbook II to gain an alternative class feature in place of a normal feature that was gained at that level.
Unless otherwise indicated, the alternative class features detailed below are extraordinary abilities.
Not all evil deities or fiendish powers are concerned with undead. Some grant their mortal servants the ability to channel their unholy will in the form of a blasphemous incantation.
Class: Cleric.
Level: 1st (cleric).
Special Requirement: To select this class feature, you must be evil. If your alignment changes to something other than evil, you lose access to this class feature until your alignment is restored to evil.
Replaces: If you select this alternative class feature, you lose the ability to rebuke undead.
Benefit: You can call upon your evil master to smite your enemies. All good creatures within 30 feet must succeed on Fortitude saves (DC 10 + ½ your caster level + your Cha modifier) or become sickened for a number of rounds equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1 round).
You can utter a blasphemous incantation a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Cha modifier. If you have 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (Religion), the DC of the Fortitude save increases by 2.
Blasphemous incantation is a supernatural ability.
Rangers specialize in hunting and defeating certain sorts of foes. Sometimes, a ranger’s choice of enemy — as well as his single-minded pursuit of that enemy’s destruction — draws the dread attention of evil entities from the Lower Planes. The character becomes better able to resist and combat the forces of good, at the expense of his soul.
Class: Ranger.
Level: 1st.
Special Requirement: To select this alternative class feature, you must be evil. If your alignment changes to something other than evil, you lose access to this class feature until your alignment is restored to evil.
Replaces: If you select this class feature, you do not gain wild empathy, animal companion or woodland stride.
Benefit: You gain spell resistance equal to 10 + your class level against spells and spell-like effects that have the good descriptor.
In addition, when you roll to confirm a critical hit against a creature of the good subtype, you gain a +4 competence bonus on the roll.
Cultists of archdevils and demon princes are uncommon and secretive, but they are a potent force for evil in the world. On occasion, when a servant proves his devotion to his vile masters, he undergoes a profound transformation.
Class: Favoured Soul.
Level: 3rd.
Replaces: If you select this class feature, you do not gain the Weapon Focus feat at 3rd level, nor do you gain the Weapon Specialization feat at 12th level.
Benefit: Your nails lengthen into ragged claws and your teeth extend into sharp fangs, dealing damage as indicated in the following table.
| Size | Bite Damage | Claw Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Fine | 1 | — |
| Diminutive | 1d2 | 1 |
| Tiny | 1d3 | 1d2 |
| Small | 1d4 | 1d3 |
| Medium | 1d6 | 1d4 |
| Large | 1d8 | 1d6 |
| Huge | 2d6 | 1d8 |
| Gargantuan | 3d6 | 2d6 |
| Colossal | 4d6 | 3d6 |
Your claws are your primary natural weapons. When you are not wielding a weapon, you can use your claws when making an attack action. When making a full attack, you can use both claws and your bite. When wielding a weapon, you can use the weapon as your primary attack and your bite as a natural secondary attack. In addition, if you have a free hand, you can also attack with a claw as an extra natural secondary attack.
Your natural attacks count as if they were evil-aligned for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
A clever villain has many contingencies in place, so that if a plan goes awry, he can beat a hasty retreat. In exchange for some ability to evade damage, he can enter a state that is indistinguishable from death.
Class: Monk, Ranger or Rogue.
Level: 2nd (monk or rogue) or 9th (ranger).
Replaces: If you select this class feature, you do not gain the evasion ability. If your class would grant you improved evasion at a higher level, you instead gain evasion.
Benefit: As an immediate action, you can enter a catatonic state in which you appear to be dead. While feigning death, you cannot see or feel anything, but you retain the ability to smell, hear and otherwise follow what is going on around you.
While under the effect of this ability, you are immune to all mind-affecting spells and abilities, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, disease, ability drain, negative levels and death effects. Attempts to resuscitate you, such as raise dead or reincarnate, automatically fail, though resurrection and true resurrection immediately end your feign death ability.
Spells and other effects that assess your current condition, such as status and deathwatch, indicate that you are dead. However, a character who succeeds on a Heal check (DC 15 + ½ your level + your Con modifier) can discern that you are actually alive.
You can remain in the catatonic state indefinitely, though you still require food, water and air. Emerging from feigned death is a standard action.
Motivated by a desire to spread havoc and sow discord, some villainous bards abandon the techniques that inspire heroes to greatness. Instead, they prey upon secret longings and buried frustrations to awaken the hate that resides in mortal hearts.
Class: Bard.
Level: 9th.
Special Requirement: You must have 12 ranks in a Perform skill to use this ability.
Replaces: If you select this class feature, you do not gain the bardic music ability to inspire greatness.
Benefit: You can use music, poetics or fiery oratory to evoke hatred in a single living creature within 30 feet that has an Intelligence score of 3 or higher. For every three levels you attain beyond 9th, you can target one additional creature with a single use of this ability (two creatures at 12th level, three at 15th, four at 18th and so on). To inspire hatred, you must sing, speak or perform, and the target must hear you. The target is entitled to a Will save (DC 10 + ½ your bard level + your Cha modifier) to resist this mind-affecting ability. The effect lasts for as long as the target hears you and for 5 additional rounds thereafter.
An affected creature develops an unreasoning hatred of another creature that you indicate. The affected creature attacks the object of its hate as directed, to the exclusion of other opponents. If the affected creature is attacked, it can defend itself as normal, but as soon as possible, it resumes attacking the object of its hate.
Creatures compelled to attack an ally can attempt a new Will save each round to break free from this supernatural effect.
Monks who follow the Path of the Invisible Fist learn to harness their ki to conceal themselves from detection. With further training, these monks learn to blink between the Material Plane and the Ethereal Plane. To gain this versatility, they sacrifice their ability to escape unscathed from area effects.
Class: Monk.
Level: 2nd.
Replaces: If you select this class feature, you do not gain the evasion ability, nor do you gain improved evasion at 9th level.
Benefit: As an immediate action, you can become invisible for 1 round. You must wait 3 rounds before you can use this ability again.
At 9th level, as an immediate action, you can use blink, as the spell, for a number of rounds equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1 round). You must wait 3 rounds before you can use this ability again.
Invisible fist is a supernatural ability.
Many villains specialize in avoiding detection so that they can work behind the scenes to achieve their nefarious goals. To this end, they spend a fair amount of time developing techniques to mask their appearance, at the expense of their normal training in foiling traps.
Class: Rogue.
Level: 1st, 3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th, 15th and 18th.
Special Requirement: You must have a Charisma of 12 or higher to select this alternative class feature.
Replaces: If you select this feature, you do not gain the trapfinding ability.
Benefit: Once per day, you can use disguise self as a caster whose level equals your class level. At 3rd level and every three levels thereafter, you can reduce your bonus on trap sense by 1 to gain an additional use of mimic.
At your discretion, when using disguise self, you can spend two uses of the spell-like ability to produce the effect as a swift action rather than a standard action.
Druids who give up their rapport with most wild creatures can call upon the assistance of nature’s smallest beings. Such characters punish those who would despoil the wilderness by infecting them with a mild illness.
Class: Druid.
Level: 1st.
Replaces: If you select this class feature, you do not gain the ability to spontaneously convert prepared spells into summon nature’s ally spells.
Benefit: You can transform the stored energy of a spell you have prepared and use it to weaken your enemies.
To use spontaneous affliction, you must spend a standard action and sacrifice a prepared spell. All humanoids within 30 feet of you must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 10 + ½ your class level + your Cha modifier) or become sickened for a number of rounds equal to the level of the spell sacrificed.
When a barbarian taps into his buried anger, he unleashes his wrath and turns into a brutal killing machine. Although many barbarians learn to control this violence, some exult in it, reveling in the slaughter they create.
Class: Barbarian.
Level: 1st.
Special Requirement: To select this alternative class feature, you must be chaotic evil. If your alignment changes to anything else, this ability reverts to the standard rage ability until your alignment is restored to chaotic evil.
Replaces: If you select this class feature, you do not gain the barbarian’s standard fast movement ability.
Benefit: Once during a rage, you can unleash your unholy fury to smite a non-chaotic evil creature. You add your Charisma bonus to your attack roll and deal an extra 1 point of damage per barbarian level. If you accidentally use this ability against a creature that is chaotic evil, the smite has no effect, but the ability is still used up for the duration of your rage.
Source: Exemplars of Evil (Page 20)