Runeward Vigilant

**Runeward Vigilant**

Prime Requisite: STR, WIS

Requirements: STR 9, DEX 9, WIS 9

Hit Die: d6

Maximum Level: 14

Runeward Vigilants are members of a secretive Yuessa warrior lodge that transforms its initiates with rituals of protection against the supernatural, and trains them to be peerless bodyguards.

The Vigilants are the most numerous lodge whose members are transformed with ritual runic ceremonies, becoming beings known as runewards. The Vigilant Lodge gives their members only a basic transformation, keeping as much of their humanity intact as possible while giving them an edge against threats.

Vigilants are prized as bodyguards and right-hand men for their unmatched loyalty and steadfastness against supernatural threats, though they lack the robustness of more common fighting men in straight man-on-man combat. They can be found among many lords' personal retinues in Yuessa, and in the courts and homes of the rich and powerful outside it. The Vigilant lodge attempts to ensure employers understand that the contractual bonds of loyalty go both ways; gross breach of contract by their employer is justified cause for the immediate departure of any vigilant in their employ.

**Racial Features**

* **Warding** -Runewards undergo a series of secret rituals with their lodge that transform their bodies, making them more resistant to supernatural harm. Runewards gain a +2 bonus to all saving throws. (This adjustment is is already factored into the saving throws on the Runeward Saving Throws table below.) Additionally, a runeward adds 3 to his current level when determining his effective hit die for the purposes of spells whose effects are based on hit die (*Command Person*, *Confusion*, *Death Spell, Sleep*, etc.).
* **Ward Crafting** - The secrets of transforming normal men into runewards are carefully guarded by the lodge masters, a tradition passed down from times forgotten. Upon reaching 11th level, runewards can create eldritch ritual spells of great power (7th, 8th, and 9th level) in the runic tradition, as though a runemaker (*Heroic Fantasy Handbook*, p.54) of their level. A runeward's ritual creation is limited to spells of protection or beneficial transmogrification (Judge's discretion).

**Class Features**

* **Weapons and Armor:** Vigilants may wear any type of armor and use any type of weapon
* **Fighting Styles:** Vigilants may use the weapon and shield and two-handed weapons styles
* **1st Level: Cleave** - 1 per level, per round.

* **1st level: Unwavering Fealty** - Vigilants are trained to form an ironclad mental fortress of loyalty toward their employers, charges, and allies, rendering them immune to all *charm* spells and supernatural effects. Any attempt to persuade a vigilant to betray an employer or charge receives a -4 penalty to the reaction roll.
* **1st level: Unflinching Resolve** - Vigilants are conditioned to never abandon their charges even in the face of horrors that terrify normal men. They are immune to all normal and magical *fear* effects.
* **2nd level: Eternal Vigilance** - Vigilants have a heightened readiness for threats to themselves and their charges that makes them difficult to ambush or sneak up on. They gain a +1 bonus to avoid surprise. In a situation where a character would be automatically surprised (such as from a thief who is moving silently), a vigilant instead rolls for surprise at a -2 penalty.
* **4th level: Perceive Intentions** - Assassins may approach openly with a smile, but vigilants are able to identify themby detecting tiny variations in body language, vocal inflection, and nervous response. A vigilant always knows the exact reaction result (Hostile, Unfriendly, etc.) of creatures he interacts with, even if the creatures attempt to lie or conceal their reactions. Creatures with a CHA greater than the vigilant’s WIS are immune to this power (and the vigilant will know they are immune).
* **5th Level:** **Steadfast Courage** - Any henchmen and mercenaries hired by the vigilant gain a +1 bonus to their morale score whenever he personally leads them. This bonus stacks with any modifiers from the vigilant’s Charisma or proficiencies.
* **9th level: Unrelenting Mind** - The mind of a seasoned vigilant is hardened against anything that would subvert him from his mission. When rolling a saving throw against any mind-effecting condition (e.g. confuse, sleep, hold, enrage, mesmerize, feeblemind, command, enslave), the vigilant rolls twice and takes the better result.

* **9th Level:** **Runelord's Lodgehouse** (stronghold) - A vigilant can build or claim a runelord’s lodgehouse. When the vigilant establishes his lodgehouse, 1d4+1x10 0th level mercenaries and 1d6 vigilants of 1st-3rd level seeking to be initiated into the lodge will join his service. If hired, they must be paid standard rates for mercenaries. Runelord lodges are otherwise identical to fighters’ castles, as detailed in the Campaign chapter of the ACKS Rulebook.

**Runeward Vigilant Level Progression**

 1930
 3860
 7720
 15440
 30880
 60000
 120000
 240000
 360000
 480000
 600000
 720000

**Runeward Vigilant Attack and Saving Throws**

Paralysis
Death
Breath
Wands
 2-3
 4
 5-6
 7
 8-9
 10
 11-12
 13

**Class Proficiency List** (select one at 1st, 3rd, 6th, 9th, and 12th Levels)

Alertness, Ambushing, Berserkergang, Blind Fighting, Climbing, Combat Reflexes, Combat Trickery (Force Back, Knock Down, Overrun, Wrestling), Command, Divine Health, Elven Bloodline, Endurance, Fighting Style (Pole weapon, Missile Weapon, Single Weapon, Two Weapons, Weapon and Shield), Kin-Slaying, Laying on Hands, Leadership, Martial Training, Precise Shooting, Riding, Running, Second Sight, Sensing Power, Skirmishing, Swashbuckling, Wakefulness, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus

**Runeward Vigilant Templates**

(*Equipment as matching 3d6 roll on Fighter Templates table, ACKS Player's Companion, p. 67, along with a silver dagger given by the lodge to all vigilant initiates)*