Black Templar

Black templars are blights upon the living. Training in dark techniques that allow them to steal the life-force of others and transform it into akashic energy, they can turn to their own purposes, black templars are reviled as vampires and necromancers by the unenlightened. The fear they inspire in those who know of their true nature is even more terrible, as those who practice the akashic arts are particularly vulnerable to a templar’s powers; when a black templar’s wrath is turned against such a target, he can deplete not only their life, but their essence, draining them until nothing is left but an unliving husk under the templar’s control.

Black templars can come from any origin, but usually their ranks are filled with veilweavers and others whose knowledge of akashic energy leads them down a darkened path.

**Role:** Black templars must touch their victims in order to exercise their powers, and as a result are often found at the forefront of battle, relying on their akashic abilities to protect them while they decimate the opposition.

**Alignment:** Black templars are never of good alignment, as the first act in awakening their powers is to drain a sentient being to death, using that dark act to create a hungering hollowness in their own being that acts as a source of power.

**Hit Die:** d8.

**Requirements:** To qualify to become a black templar, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

* **Skills:** Knowledge (Arcana) 5 ranks
* **Veilweaving:** Must have an Essence Pool of at least 3 and the ability to have at least 2 veils shaped.
* **Special:** The character must participate in the ritual sacrifice of a sentient creature, using the harvested energy and damage to their soul as a gateway to their abilities.

**Class Skills:** The black templar’s class skills are Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), and Spellcraft (Int).

**Skill Ranks Per Level:** 2 + Int modifier.

### **Class Features**

**Table: Black Templar**

The following are the class features of the black templar.

### **Proficiencies**

Black templars gain proficiency with medium armor and bucklers.

### **Veilweaving**

Starting at 1st level, the black templar gains new veils shaped and binds as though he had gained a level in any one veilweaving class he belonged to before he added the prestige class. He does not, however, gain other benefits a character of that class would have gained. If a character had more than one veilweaving class before he became a black templar, he must decide to which class he adds each level of black templar for the purpose of determining his veils shaped and binds known.

### **Drain Essence (Su)**

The black templar learns how to drain the life and essence out of his opponents, empowering himself with this stolen energy. As a melee touch attack that can be taken in place of any attack, the templar may inflict an amount of damage equal to 1d8 per class level plus his Constitution modifier to an opponent, gaining an equivalent number of temporary hit points and adding 1 point of temporary essence to his essence pool. The temporary essence gained increases by 1 for each class level the black templar gains after the first. If the targeted opponent is a veilweaver or other character with an essence pool of at least 1, the black templar doubles the temporary essence gained and this ability also inflicts 1 point of essence burn per class level. With this ability, the black templar cannot have more temporary essence in his essence pool at any given time from this ability than twice his class level. The temporary hit points and temporary essence last for a number of minutes equal to the templar’s class level plus his Constitution modifier.

### **Black Defilement (Su)**

Starting at 2nd level, if the black templar has a temporary pool of hit points from his drain essence ability, he can expend those temporary hit points as a swift action to create a zone of defilement centered around himself; all living creatures other than the templar within this zone take a penalty to attack rolls and saving throws equal to the templar’s class level. The zone extends in a radius around the templar whose distance is a number of feet equal to the temporary hit points expended to activate this ability. These temporary hit points must be expended in units of 5; if the black templar does not have at least 5 temporary hit points available from his drain essence ability, he cannot activate black defilement. The zone moves with the templar and lasts for a number of rounds equal to his Constitution modifier.

### **Create Husk (Su)**

Starting at 3rd level, the black templar can transform his victims into shambling husks under his control. Whenever a black templar reduces an opponent to 0 or fewer hit points with his drain essence ability, he can take 1 point of essence burn to transform the defeated opponent into a zombie under his control. The zombie has a number of hit die equal to the base creature. The zombie may act immediately on the templar’s turn and moves and attacks as the templar directs. The darkened energy empowering the zombie fades quickly however, and after a number of hours equal to the templar’s class level plus his Constitution modifier the zombie becomes an inanimate corpse.

### **Poison Essence (Su)**

Starting at 4th level, whenever the black templar reduces an opponent’s essence pool to 0 with his drain essence ability, he may take 5 points of essence burn as an immediate action to poison the target’s essence. The target regains an amount of essence equal to the black templar’s class level, but this essence has been twisted and corrupted by the templar’s influence.

The target takes a number of points of damage each round equal to twice the poisoned essence, an amount of Strength damage equal to the poisoned essence, and a penalty to their natural armor equal to the poisoned essence (this cannot lower their natural armor below 0). These penalties last for a number of rounds equal to the black templar’s Constitution modifier, after which the target’s body is able to reassimilate the poisoned essence and purify it of the templar’s influence.

### **Blackened Soul (Su)**

At 5th level, the black templar’s corrupting influence reaches new levels of depravity. Once a day when he would activate his create husk ability, he can instead create a more powerful and permanent undead; instead of the normal effects of create husk, the templar may instead treat the target as though they were a corpse targeted by a create undead spell with a caster level equal to his character level +1. This undead follows the black templar’s instructions to the best of its ability, but the templar can only maintain one such undead at a time; unless it’s destroyed the undead remains active and under the templar’s control until he uses blackened soul to create a new undead, at which point any undead previously animated by this ability immediately reverts to an inanimate corpse.

## **Sidebar: Black Templar Alternate Class Feature (Source: Akashic Horrors)**

In a game utilizing corrupted essence, a Black Templar may take the following ability in place of the poison essence class feature:

### **Corrupt Essence (Su)**

At 4th level, whenever a creature would suffer essence burn from the black templar’s drain essence ability and have no essence left to burn, any additional essence burn inflicted by this veil instead corrupts that many points of the branded creature’s essence (see corrupted essence). If all of the branded creature’s essence is corrupted, they instead gain points of temporary corrupted essence for each point of essence that would be corrupted. This temporary corrupted essence persists for 1 minute per class level, and is ignored when the target suffers essence burn from the black templar’s drain essence ability (or abilities that function similarly).

This replaces the black templar’s poison essence class feature.