Faerûnian Prestige Class : Moonsea Skysentinel
"Nothing makes me feel better than soaring over the landscape, keeping an eye out for Zhent dangers. Except maybe for knocking a Zhentarim skymage out of his saddle, of course." - Joatra Stelmar, Moonsea skysentinel
Moonsea skysentinels are the eyes in the sky for the Knights of the North, scouting the landscape, looking for evidence of Zhentarim activity. They employ trained dire hawks as swift aerial mounts and a variety of combat tactics that allow them to swoop in, strike enemies quickly, and race away again before reinforcements can arrive. Whether spying on a caravan flying the banner of the Black Network, delivering battle orders to a Knight raiding party, or hunting and dueling one of the hated Zhentarim skymages, a Moonsea skysentinel is the light cavalry of the Knights' forces.
Characters who want to become Moonsea skysentinels most often follow the path of the martial classes or druid because of the combination of skills and feats necessary to gain admittance. Occasionally a rogue or cleric can become a Moonsea skysentinel, though such characters need additional levels to gain the necessary ranks in the required skills.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Moonsea Skysentinel, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Skills: Handle Animal 8 ranks, Ride 8 ranks
- Feats: Mounted Combat,
- Base Attack Bonus: +5.
- Special: Membership in the Knights of the North.
Class Skills
The Moonsea skysentinel's class skills are Climb, Craft, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (geography), Ride, and Spot.
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
The Moonsea skysentinel's class features make you particularly adept at aerial combat and scouting, while at the same time resistant to magical attacks from your hated foes, the Zhentarim skymages. The combination of offensive specialties and defensive protections make you particularly handy at quick strikes against ground-based foes with little risk to yourself.
Dire Hawk Steed: As a Moonsea skysentinel, you gain a trained dire hawk of Large size as your personal mount. The dire hawk serves you loyally, carrying you into combat or fighting at your side. The dire hawk has maximum hit points but is otherwise a normal specimen of its size. See Dire Hawk for this creature's statistics block.
Your dire hawk steed gains 1 HD for every three class levels you gain beyond 1st (increasing to 10 HD at 4th, to 11 HD at 7th, and to 12 HD at 10th). Each tine it gains a Hit Die, its natural armor bonus and Strength score each improve by 2 (in addition to the normal improvements gained with added Hit Dice, such as skill points, feats; and ability score improvements).
A dire hawk steed cannot be used as an animal companion.
Magical Defense (Ex): Your training in resisting the deadly spells cast by Zhentarim skymages manifests as a bonus on saving throws against spells and spell-like abilities for both you and your mount: This bonus is +1 starting at 1st level, and it increases to +2 at 4th level, +3 at 7th level, and +4 at 10th level. The ability only functions while you are mounted on your dire hawk steed.
Shield (Sp): Upon reaching 2nd level, you gain an innate ability to withstand incoming attacks from your enemies. Once per day you can use a shield effect. Your caster level is equal to your class level. If you are mounted on your dire hawk, the spell affects both you and your mount, but if you dismount your dire hawk loses the benefit.
You can use this ability one additional time per day for every three levels gained above 2nd.
Spell Turning (Sp): Starting at 3rd level, you can use a spell turning effect as an immediate action; the duration is 1 round or until expended. If you are mounted on your dire hawk, the spell affects both you and your mount (and you share a common pool of spell levels affected), but if you dismount your dire hawk loses the benefit.
You can use this ability once per day at 3rd level, and one additional time per day for every three levels gained above 3rd.
| Moonsea Skysentinel | Hit Die: d8 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special |
| 1st | +1 | +2 | +0 | +0 | Dire hawk steed, magical defense +1 |
| 2nd | +2 | +3 | +0 | +0 | Shield 1/day |
| 3rd | +3 | +3 | +1 | +3 | Spell turning 1/day |
| 4th | +4 | +4 | +1 | +1 | Magical defense +2 |
| 5th | +4 | +4 | +2 | +1 | Shield 2/day |
| 6th | +6 | +5 | +2 | +2 | Spell turning 2/day |
| 7th | +7 | +4 | +2 | +2 | Magical defense +3 |
| 8th | +8 | +6 | +2 | +2 | Shield 3/day |
| 9th | +9 | +6 | +3 | +3 | Spell turning 3/day |
| 10th | +10 | +7 | +3 | +3 | Magical defense +4 |
Moonsea Skysentinels Lore
Characters can use Knowledge (local Moonsea) or Gather Information to learn more about the Moonsea skysentinels or a specific member. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including the information from lower DCs.
- DC 10: The Moonsea skysentinels are terrors from the sky, wreaking havoc on all trade in the Moonsea region.
- DC 15: The Moonsea skysentinels work with the Knights of the North to combat the machinations of the Zhentarim, riding huge birds into battle.
- DC 20: The Moonsea skysentinels are an elite corps of scouts, flying on dire hawks and dueling with Zhentarim skymages. They hide out in secret aeries in the mountains and are hard to track down. The Knights of the North secretly recruit members who show promise and teach them to become skysentinels.
- DC 30: A successful check reveals specific places in the various cities of the Moonsea area, as well as Sembia, Cormyr, and the Dalelands, where someone can make it known that he or she would like to be contacted by Knight recruiters. This information could include the name of someone to ask for, though there will always be twists and turns and false dead-ends to the information trail. The Knights are very cautious, wary individuals who don't want to be exposed.
Source: Champions of Valor