Immortal Athkan, take 2

I've already written about Immortal Athkan here. But for a quick refresher: Ancient warrior turned god, giant gold-covered skeleton sleeping deep inside a massive tomb. This here is my attempt to make that a self-contained class that works better with how I've been running my games these days.

I bring you...

THE ATHKANITE

This is the only permitted representation of Immortal Athkan. All others are sacrilege.

Prime Requisite Charisma
HD d6
Saves As Cleric
Attacks as Cleric
Weapons and Armour Athkanites may way wear Light or Medium armour, shields, and swords. Any other weapon is considered profane to Immortal Athkan, and any character wielding such a weapon should be treated as if they were not carrying a Holy Symbol (see below). Ranged weapons are the tools of cowards, sneaks, and foot-soldiers, and have no place in the hands of an Athkanite.
Special Conditions An Athkanite must carry a Holy Symbol to Immortal Athkan – a skull encrusted in gold – at all times, or lose the use of all special abilities granted by this class until such a time as they retrieve the Symbol or acquire a new one.
The use of poisons is a coward’s gambit, and any Athkanite doing so is immediately excommunicated.



Features

Level 1: Detect Lies – When someone is speaking to you, you may press your gold-encrusted skull against your ears. It will whisper to you whether the person speaking is a liar. The DM rolls a Wisdom Save (or whatever save you'd use against illusions) for you in secret. If you pass, the DM will tell you whether the target is a liar. If you fail, you are certain they are.

Level 1: Warrior’s Blessing – During combat, you may raise your holy symbol to bless the faithful to Athkan. Any ally who glorifies the name of Athkan (as a free action) during that round gains +1 to Attack Rolls and AC for a number of rounds equal to your level. Clerics of other faiths fall from grace if they accept this blessing. Once used, this feature may not be used again until you spend 1 hour giving funeral rites to a fallen soldier, dethroned a false king, or bathed your holy symbol in blood from liar’s severed head (takes 1 Turn. The liar must have died from decapitation).

Level 2: Whispers of Battle – By spending 1 hour meditating and performing a rite to Athkan in a place where a great battle has occurred, you will hear the echoes of the dead, and learn of violence that happened there.

Level 3: Immortal Athkan’s Liturgies – A number of times per day equal to your level, you may cast one of the following spells:

• Animate Dead (affects a number of corpses equal to your level, for a number of hours equal to your level, always produces skeletons)
• Cure Moderate Wounds (may only be cast one someone who has received a Warrior’s Blessing from you since the last sunrise)
• Enlarge Person (lasts a number of Turns equal to your level. Can also be used on skeletons.)
• Mending (only works on weapons and armour or gear damaged in battle)
• Remove Poison
• Speak With Dead

Level 4: Immortal Athkan’s Favour – Whenever you would regain the use of your Warrior’s Blessing, you may also regain the use of a spell under Immortal Athkan’s Liturgies.

Level 5: Immortal Athkan’s Faithful – When a soldier dies in battle while receiving the benefit of your Warrior’s Blessing, their skeleton bursts from their body and joins you in combat. The skeleton remains animated for a number of Turns equal to your level.

Level 5: Supplication - In a time of need, you may prostrate yourself before your Holy Symbol and beg for the aid of Immortal Athkan. Immortal Athkan will send what help He can (generally in the form of skeletons, giants, or giant skeletons - but can also perform miracles like reviving the dead and removing curses, although anyone so blessed will receive His mark). He will never help a liar, a false king, or a coward, and asking Him to do so will have you punished. Unless the supplication is impossible or offensive to Immortal Athkan, it will be fulfilled. Once a supplication has been made, no more will be fulfilled until you prove your devotion by slaying a false king.

Level 9 [if DM uses domain rules]: Establish Stronghold – If you have funds, you may rally an army of Immortal Athkan’s faithful to build a religious stronghold / fortified cathedral in His honour. A massive, empty throne adorns its center, and the soldiers who helped build the structure are faithful to you.

Level 9: Athkan’s Revelation – All kings are false who are not Immortal Athkan.

Level 13: The Lord’s Awakening – Perform a mass sacrifice of 100 liars to awaken the sleeping bones of Immortal Athkan.




Notes

Decapitations - a party travelling with an Athkanite spends a lot of time trying to decapitate liars. To pull off a decapitation in combat, the attacker must be using a slashing weapon. and declare before rolling that they are swinging for the neck. An attack that reduces the target to 0 HP and beats its AC by a margin of 4 or more (or a margin of 2 if using a two-handed weapon) successfully cuts of the head. Otherwise, the target is simply killed and its head may not be used in Athkanite rites.

False Kings - A false king is any sovereign (male or female, despite the terminology) who: Came to power through usurping or false succession (an inheritor of either is also false), rules with cowardice, lies to their subjects, or infringes on the legitimate sovereignty of other kings.

Before receiving Athkan's Revelation (Athkanites below level 9 do not know it's coming), it is important to establish the falsehood of a king before punishing them. Until such time they will not be false in the eyes of Immortal Athkan.

Liars - Anyone who lies in the presence of your Holy Symbol.

False Kings & Liars - These terms have little to do with objectivity and much more to do with your own knowledge. The exception being a failed Saving Throw to Detect Lies, in which case the DM may decide whether the subject is actually a liar or not.