Monster Class - Hound Archon

This canine-headed humanoid’s well-groomed appearance and polished greatsword show it to be much more than a common beast.

Hound archons are disciplined soldiers and sentinels in Heaven’s armies, incursions against fiendish holdings. They look like well-muscled humans, with canine heads typically resembling those of noble-looking wolves or dogs. A hound archon is a well-trained combatant, fighting masterfully with swords and their bodies alike. They loathe killing mortals and prefer to disarm or incapacitate even evil individuals when they can. Against fiends and the irredeemably corrupt, though, they show no mercy.

Hound archons are typically well muscled humanoids that stand 6 feet tall and weigh 200 pounds.

Alignment: Hound archons tend towards lawful good and typically act as good is expected or required to act. They combines a commitment to oppose evil with the discipline to fight relentlessly. Typically they tell the truth, keep their word, helps those in need, and speak out against injustice.

#### HOUND ARCHON RACIAL TRAITS

• +2 Strength, +2 Charisma: Hound archons are strong in both body and spirit.

* Medium: Hound archons are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
* Outsider (Good): Hound archons are outsiders with the good subtype. On planes other than their home plane, hound archons also have the extraplanar subtype.
* Normal Speed: Hound archons have a base speed of 30 feet.
* Darkvision (Ex): Hound archons can see perfectly in the dark up to 60 feet.
* Low-Light Vision (Ex): Hound archons can see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light.
* Predator Skill (Ex): Hound archons gain a +2 racial bonus on Stealth checks.
* Survivalist (Ex): Hound archons gain a +2 racial bonus on Survival checks.
* Tough Skin (Ex): A hound archon’s body is more durable than a mortal’s, granting it a +1 natural armor bonus to its AC.
* Languages: Hound archons begin play speaking Celestial and Common. Hound archons with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Abyssal, Draconic, Elven, Gnoll, Infernal, and Sylvan.

Hit Die: d10.

Starting Wealth: 5d6 × 10 gp (average 175 gp.) In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.

#### CLASS SKILLS

The hound archon’s class skills are Acrobatics (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Fly (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (planes) (Int), Perception (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Stealth (Dex), and Survival (Wis).

Skill Ranks per Level: 6 + Int modifier.

#### CLASS FEATURES

All the following are class features of the hound archon monster class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A hound archon is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, but not with any type of armor or shield.

Ability Score Increases: As a hound archon gains levels, his ability scores increase as noted on Table 1-1: Hound Archon. These increases stack and are gained as if through level advancement.

Bite (Ex): At 1st level, a hound archon gains a bite attack. This is a primary attack that deals 1d6 points of damage plus the hound archon’s Strength modifier. At 4th level, the damage die of this bite increases to 1d8.

Change Shape (Su): At 1st level, a hound archon gains the ability to assume a more animalistic form. This ability functions as an beast shape II spell, except the hound archon can only take canine forms of Small size. At 3rd level, the hound archon can take the form of Medium-sized canine animals as well, and at 5th level, it can take the form of Large-sized canines. It can remain in an alternate form indefinitely. For the purposes of this ability, canines include any dog-like or wolf-like creature of the animal type.

Spell Resistance (Ex): At 1st level, a hound archon becomes resistant to magic, gaining spell resistance equal to 9 + its Hit Dice.

Spell-Like Abilities (Sp): Starting at 1st level, a hound archon gains limited spell-like abilities. The exact abilities gained depend on the hound archon’s class level, according to the following table. In each case, the caster level equals the hound archon’s class level. The DC for a saving throw against a hound archon’s spell-like ability is 10 + the spell level + the hound archon’s Charisma modifier.

When the same spell appears multiple times on the table, the hound archon gains the higher-level ability. Otherwise, these spell-like abilities are cumulative.

Agile Runner (Ex): At 2nd level, a hound archon’s base land speed increases by +10 feet. Apply this bonus before modifying the hound archon’s speed because of any load carried or armor worn. This bonus stacks with any other bonuses to the hound archon’s land speed.

Natural Armor (Ex): At 1st level and again at 2nd level, 4th level, and 6th level level a hound archon’s natural armor bonus to its AC increases by +2.

Immunities (Ex): At 3rd level, a hound archon becomes immune to petrification. At 6th level, it becomes immune to electricity.

Scent (Ex): At 3rd level, a hound archon gains the scent special quality, allowing it to detect creatures within 30 feet by sense of smell. If the creature is upwind, the range increases to 60 feet; if downwind, it drops to 15 feet. Strong scents, such as smoke or rotting garbage, can be detected at twice these ranges. Overpowering scents, such as skunk musk or troglodyte stench, can be detected at triple normal range. When the hound archon detects a scent, the exact location of the source is not revealed—only its presence somewhere within range. The hound archon can take a move action to note the direction of the scent. When the creature is within 5 feet of the source, it pinpoints the source’s location. In addition, the hound archon can track by sense of smell, making a Wisdom (or Survival) check to find or follow a track. The typical DC for a fresh trail is 10 (no matter what kind of surface holds the scent). This DC increases or decreases depending on how strong the quarry’s odor is, the number of creatures, and the age of the trail. For each hour that the trail is cold, the DC increases by 2. The ability otherwise follows the rules for the Survival skill. While tracking in this manner, the hound archon ignores the effects of surface conditions and poor visibility.

Slam (Ex): At 3rd level, a hound archon gains a slam attack. This is a secondary attack that deals 1d4 points of damage plus 1/2 the hound archon’s Strength modifier.

Damage Reduction (Ex): At 4th level, a hound archon’s body toughens, allowing it to ignore mortal blows. It gains damage reduction 5/evil. At 6th level, this damage reduction increases to 10/evil.

Truespeech (Su): Starting at 4th level, a hound archon can speak with any creature that has a language, as though using a tongues spell with a caster level equal to hound archon’s Hit Dice. This ability is always active.

Aura of Menace (Su): At 6th level, a hound archon gains a righteous aura that surrounds its form when it fights or gets angry. Any hostile creature within a 20foot radius of an archon must succeed at a Will save (DC 12 + 1/2 the hound archon’s Hit Dice + the hound archon’s Charisma modifier) to resist its effects. Affected creatures take a –2 penalty on attacks, AC, and saves for 24 hours or until they successfully hit the hound archon with an attack. A creature that has resisted or broken the effect cannot be affected again by the same hound archon’s aura for 24 hours.

Hound archons have a +2 racial bonus on their aura of menace’s save DC (already included above).

#### Racial Feats

##### DIVINE JUDGEMENT (HERITAGE)

You are a holy arbiter, delivering justice against those who transgress Heaven’s laws. Prerequisites: Good subtype, lawful alignment, character level 11th.

Benefit: You gain the ability to sense lawbreakers. Whenever a creature within 60 feet of you breaks a law (either a local law or a law of your own society), you automatically know the name of the criminal and the exact location that the law was broken. This ability does not give you knowledge of which law was broken, merely that one was. This is a supernatural ability.

In addition, you can use mark of justice as a spell-like ability once per week, with a caster level equal to your character level.

##### SNIFF OUT INJUSTICE (HERITAGE)

You can detect the presence of evil creatures with your sense of smell.

Prerequisites: Good subtype, scent ability.

Benefit: You can immediately tell by scent that a creature with a moderate or stronger evil aura (see the detect evil spell) is evil, and treat them as if they had a strong scent, allowing you to detect them at twice the normal range of your scent ability. Creatures with a strong or overpowering evil aura are treated as overpowering scents, allowing you to detect them at triple the normal range of your scent ability. In addition, you can track creatures by the scent of their evil aura, even across water or through thin air. When tracking an overpowering evil aura, you gain a +5 circumstance bonus on the Wisdom or Survival check.

#### Spellcasting Hound Archons

Alternatively, with the GM’s permission, a hound archon can learn to cast spells. If he does so, he loses its Spell-Like Abilities class feature and gains the following ability. The decision to exchange racial spell-like abilities for spells is made at 1st level, and cannot be changed thereafter.

Spells: A hound archon casts divine spells drawn from the cleric spell list. He can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time. To learn or cast a spell, a hound archon must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class (DC) for a saving throw against a hound archon’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the hound archon’s Charisma modifier.

A hound archon’s spells per day and spells known are identical to a bard’s (see the Core Rulebook), and it receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Charisma score as normal. It casts orisons instead of cantrips.

A hound archon need not prepare its spells in advance. He can cast any spell he knows at any time, assuming he has not yet used up its allotment of spells per day for the spell’s level.

In addition, the hound archon gains Eschew Materials as a bonus feat at 1st level, and adds the following spells to its spell list at the given spell levels:

0th—message

6th—greater teleport

##### WRATH OF HEAVEN (HERITAGE)

You are imbued with goodness such that your very

touch causes evil creatures pain. Prerequisites: Good subtype, nonevil alignment. Benefits: Your damaging attacks and abilities

(including spells) deal an additional 1d6 points of damage for every 5 character levels you possess (minimum 1d6) to creatures of evil alignment. This damage (but not the rest of the attack or ability) automatically overcomes damage reduction, energy resistance, and energy immunity.