Lawspeaker

Clad in iron masks of office and dragging massive and weighty weapons at their side, the lawspeakers are a unified front for law and justice within the Avitian Empire. As manifestations of Allafar’s law, they roam the world shoring up the rule of law. In their constant struggle against the injustice, a lawspeaker is both the subtle pressure on the psyche to confirm as well as the weighty hammer which lays low the corrupt and dishonest. 

Role: As traveling emissaries of Law, lawspeakers are respected wherever they go and their judgements accepted by most legal entities. Though their true identity must remain hidden, a Lawspeaker need not embrace isolation. As they are devoted to a well-functioning society, lawspeakers often group together with other lawspeakers, or groups of likeminded individuals who will assist them in their travels.

Alignment: Any L, though most commonly LN

Hit Die: d8 

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

Skills: Interrogate 5 ranks, Sense Motive 5 ranks

Special: To join the Order of Lawspeakers, the character must be accepted as worthy and undergo a rite lead by a lawspeaker with at least 5 levels of the class.  During the ritual, the character receives his mask and learns the order’s first secrets.

Weapon Proficiency: Must be proficient with all martial melee weapons.

Class Skills: The lawspeaker’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Craft  (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Interrogate (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Geography) (Int), Knowledge (History) (Int), Knowledge (Local), (Int) Knowledge (Nobility) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Swim (Str)

Skill Ranks at Each Level: 6 + Int modifier.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Lawspeakers are proficient in all armor and shield types as well as all melee weapons. They are only proficient with simple ranged weapons as their ethos requires that they deal with conflict face to face. Use of martial ranged weapons, even if the proficiency is granted by a different class, will cause the lawspeaker to lose all abilities gained by the class for one day.

Class Features: All of the following are features of the lawspeaker prestige class.

Enforcing Presence (Su): At 1st level, the lawspeaker becomes a beacon of a specific type of law (Modus Lex), emanating an aura that inhibits actions taken to break the law.  Anyone performing an action that will break a type of law within the aura’s Modus Lex must attempt a will save or suffer a penalty to their actions. The DC of this will save is 10 + (lawspeaker’s Cha bonus) + (lawspeaker’s Wis bonus) + (½ Lawspeakers level).

• At 4th level, the lawspeaker chooses a second Modus Lex which radiates a -1 morale penalty. She also may add a -1 morale penalty to any Modus Lex she has chosen. • At 7th level, the lawspeaker chooses a third Modus Lex which radiates a -1 morale penalty. She also may add 2 additional -1 morale penalties to any Modus Lex she has chosen.

• At 10th level, the lawspeaker chooses a fourth Modus Lex which radiates a -1 morale penalty. She also may add 2 additional -1 morale penalties to any Modus Lex she has chosen.

• Aura range is set by the penalty the aura generates.

• -1 morale penalty has a range of 25 feet + 5 feet per 2 levels of lawspeaker
• -2 morale penalty has a range of 100 feet + 10 feet per level of lawspeaker
• -3 morale penalty has a range of 400 feet + 40 feet per level of lawspeaker
• -4 morale penalty has a range of 1000 feet + 100 feet per level of lawspeaker
• -5 morale penalty has a range of 1 mile + 500 feet per level of lawspeaker

Mask of the Lawspeaker (Su): A lawspeaker wears an iron mask that marks her as a member of the Order of Lawspeakers. The mask grants her entrance to Gatherings which she can use to rest in safety while preserving her identity. When not wearing her mask, she may take 10 on attempts to disguise her identity as a member of the lawspeakers.

Weapon of Judgment (Su): At 1st level, a lawspeaker may give a +1 enhancement bonus to a specially prepared oneor two-handed weapon. The weight increases by +5 lbs. per level of lawspeaker you possess (including 1st level). It gains a +1 Enhancement bonus for every additional 15 lbs. gained by this ability. The weapon’s weight remains standard for its type to the lawspeaker it is connected to. Only an angel or you can lift the weapon from the ground—others attempting to lift the weapon find it too heavy to lift. Loss Conditions: If she ever wields the weapon against an innocent, it shatters. If she loses or stores the weapon, its effect is still active.

Mind of the Law (Su): At 2nd level, a lawspeaker automatically knows the laws of the region that they are within and the penalties for breaking these laws. This knowledge is perfect and instantaneous. This knowledge only applies to the letter of the law and not cultural norms, traditions, or etiquette nor does it impart knowledge of the history of the law. In addition to this knowledge, the lawspeaker gains a +1 to any social skill roll (Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidation or Interrogation) by navigating the laws and legal procedures of the community to increase the lawspeaker’s influence.

Become the Mask (Su): At 3rd level, the traces left by her masked and unmasked selves grow magically distinct from one another. Divinations about her masked self do not reveal information about her unmasked self, and vice versa. Though this affects every divination spell, here are a few of the most noticeable:  

• A person reading her mind cannot gain clues about her other identity.
• Attempts to scry on one of the identities fails if that identity is not currently active. 
• You can “hide” secrets in her lesser-used mentality to protect them from her enemies.

Sense Criminal (Su): At 3rd level, a lawspeaker becomes attuned to the spiritual mark which a crime leaves upon the world. The Lawspeaker gains a +2 bonus to Perception and Sense Motive rolls to notice an occurring crime. The GM may also make a roll in secret to determine if the character notices a crime while not actively searching for one.

Scale of the Law (Ex): At 5th level, a lawspeaker gains the ability to untie legal issues put before them. As such she gains a +1 bonus to any Sense Motive or Interrogate roll for every level 5th and above.

Seal Gathering (Sp): At 5th level a lawspeaker may bless a building or room of a building to serve as a special location called a Gathering. At 5th level she can create a building to serve as a Gathering from the earth itself. This duplicates the Secure Shelter spell that may be cast once per day using her levels in the lawspeaker class as her caster level. At 9th level the Lawspeaker may cast Guards and Wards once per day using her levels in lawspeaker as her caster level.

Sense Crime (Su): At 6th level, a lawspeaker can feel where a law has been broken and feels drawn to the general location of the crime. She will sense the general area where a law is being broken if the crime occurs within a range of their (Cha bonus)+(Wis bonus)+(level of severity) miles. If the lawspeaker wishes, she is able to narrow the location of the crime to an area with a diameter of 1000 feet. This ability cannot be used to further narrow down this area.

Voice of the Law (Sp): At 7th level a lawspeaker may make a pronouncement of guilt after having held a trial. This pronouncement empowers the lawspeaker with the force of an angel. She temporarily gains two levels of the fighter class (skills, hit points, feats, etc.) when performing any action that directly ties into the attempts to punish the target of the judgement. To activate, she must spend 8 hours performing a trial pronouncing a true verdict of guilt.  A lawspeaker may only have one pronouncement active at any time. Once she chooses to make a pronouncement upon another individual, the previously held pronouncement is lost and can only be regained by holding another trial.

Binding Contract (Sp): At 8th level, 3 + her Cha bonus times per day a lawspeaker can seal contracts between parties per the legal rites and rituals of that culture. Those bound by the contract are considered to be under the effect of the spell Geas.

Slippery Mind (Ex): At 9th level, a lawspeaker becomes resilient to enchantment spells. This functions as the rogue’s advanced talent of the same name.

Suspend Law (Su): At 10th level, the Lawspeaker may, once per week, suspend one law until the next new moon. This proclamation must be made publicly and with great effort to inform the populace of the law’s suspension and the reason for the suspension. The proclamation is considered as direct from the Gods and supersedes all other authority in the matter. The lawspeaker must spend funds equal to the severity of the law added to the range in which the proclamation will take effect. These funds are used to ensure, through both mundane and magical means, that all affected by the change are informed (Knowledge (Local) DC 10 to be aware of the suspension of the law).

Modus Lex

The Modus Lex is the codified virtues which lawspeakers claim are the seven virtues law must protect. Each of these seven virtues are set in contrast with specific types of crime. Once a lawspeaker chooses a Modus Lex, crimes seen as the opposite of the virtue become harder for people to commit in the lawspeaker’s presence. Many lawspeakers take on characteristics in line with their chosen Modus Lex. Those who choose the Honesty Modus Lex often do not lie, while those who choose Charity can often be seen passing out bread to the hungry or medicines to the sick.

This is not required, however. Many lawspeakers choose their Modus Lex to offset a lacking of a virtue they perceive in themselves. Others find that they abhor the crimes against a Modus Lex without being particularly drawn to act in accordance to the virtue. Some few find they are intellectually interested in a Modus Lex philosophically.

While the lawspeaker has strong motivation towards their Modus Lex, what that motivation is varies greatly. The same can be said as to how much a lawspeaker’s Modus Lex is “worn on their sleeve.”

GMs and PCs should refer to the Modus Lex Table to help decide what crimes are affected by the lawspeaker’s Enforcing Presence ability. Sometimes a crime may fit in multiple Modus Lex. Crimes that are covered by multiple Modus Lex become very hard to perform as the penalties of multiple Enforcing Presence abilities may be affecting the target. Only the highest penalty is used for each Modus Lex, though penalties gained from multiple Modus lex stack.