Prestige Class - Skullclan Hunter.

[Anarcoplayba]

Just found this Prestige Class, which seems quite interesting in the Undead Hunter theme:

Skullclan Hunter

(Miniatures Handbook variant, p. 20)

The skullclan hunter is the acclaimed foe of unlife.
Requirements

Alignment: Any Good

Skills: Knowledge (religion) 8 ranks

Special: Able to turn undead, sneak attack +2d6.

Hit die

d6
Skill points

6 + Int
Class Features

All of the following are class features of the skullclan hunter prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Skullclan hunters gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.

Track Undead (Ex): A skullclan hunter gains the ability to track undead (only) as if using the Track feat. A skull clan hunter uses his Knowledge (religion) skill modifier instead of his Survival modifier for the skill checks associated with this feat.

Divine Strike (Ex): Due to his specialized skill, training, and connection with the forces of light, a skullclan hunter of 2nd level or higher can make a special attack that is infused with positive energy. Effectively, this ability allows him to deal extra damage to undead as though making a sneak attack. Divine strike damage applies to any sneak attack dice the skullclan hunter already has, as well as those gained through advancement in this class.

Immunities (Ex): As he grows in power, a skullclan hunter develops immunities to special attacks that are common among undead creatures. At 3rd level, he gains immunity to all fear-based effects and spells from undead. At 4th level, he gains immunity to disease (regardless of the source). At 7th level, he gains immunity to paralysis. At 8th level, he gains immunity to ability drain or damage. At 10th level, he gains immunity to energy drain.

Sneak Attack: At 3rd level, a skullclan hunter's sneak attack damage increases by 1d6. This extra damage stacks with the sneak attack damage he already deals. At 6th level, his sneak attack damage increases to 2d6. At 9thlevel, it increases to 3d6.

Protection from Evil (Su): Starting at 4th level, a skullclan hunter benefits from a permanent protection from evil effect upon himself.

Sword of Light (Su): Any weapon (melee or ranged, manufactured or natural) wielded by a skullclan hunter of 5th level or higher overcomes the damage reduction of any undead creature.

Sword of Darkness (Su): Any weapon (melee or ranged, manufactured or natural) wielded by a skullclan hunter of 9th level or higher counts as a ghost touch weapon, allowing it to hit incorporeal creatures without the usual 50% miss chance for such attacks.

Advancement
Level    BAB    Fort    Ref    Will    Special
1st    +0    +0    +2    +2    Track undead
2nd    +1    +0    +3    +3    Divine strike
3rd    +2    +1    +3    +3    Immunity to undead fear,sneak attack +1d6
4th    +3    +1    +4    +4    Immunity to disease, protection from evil
5th    +3    +1    +4    +4    Sword of light
6th    +4    +2    +5    +5    Sneak attack +2d6
7th    +5    +2    +5    +5    Immunity to paralysis
8th    +6    +2    +6    +6    Immunity to ability drain or damage
9th    +6    +3    +6    +6    Sneak attack +3d6, sword of darkness
10th +7    +3    +7    +7    Immunity to energy drain

[JustMonika]

Why does an undead hunter gain sneak attack damage?

[Swan]

Why does an undead hunter gain sneak attack damage?

The only explanation I can find after Googling:

The skullclan hunter is the acclaimed foe of unlife. He champions life by tracking and eradicating all creatures that mock it with evil intent. His devotion to his task is such that he spends moonless nights and weary days tracking undead to their lairs, or when possible, joining a military band that is likely to come against a legion of the dead.

A skullclan hunter is most often a rogue who has had a terrible encounter with a creature of unlife. Because of that encounter, he comes to realize that using his own skills against living creatures only serves to create more fodder for unlife to take root, so he dedicates himself to the eradication of undead. Following through on this decision, he takes up the cleric class to gain the ability to turn undead (and perhaps to acquire the needed knowledge of religion more quickly). Multiclass rogue/clerics are the characters best suited for this class.

Seems as though this PRC is flavoured/intended to be for Rogues. Still weird, but that's the explanation for the sneak dice.

[Anarcoplayba]

Why does an undead hunter gain sneak attack damage?

We could answer "magic", since this is the same response to the analogue question "why a Palemaster, who is immune to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, death effects, critical hits, ability drain, and energy drain, as well as damage to his physical ability scores, still needs to eat, breath, is not immortal and still ages?".

We could say that his attacks disrupt the very essence of the undeads.

We could say that Pathfinder and the other DnD editions accepted sneak attack against constructs and undeads.

The bottomline is: it is the whole point of the PrC, which exists and was published with other classes (like favoured soul and warmage), mixing the divine aspect of a class and the sneak attack.

[Swan]

Anyway, my actual feedback is that generally I think the PRC is cool. Being able to actually apply sneak attack to undead thanks to Divine Strike is neat. I do think Sword of Darkness is a probably too strong, though I don't know what I would do to tune it/what I would replace it with. It is a neat class though.

[ObsidianOrb]

I like the idea too, but I think permanent immunity to disease, energy drain, ability drain, paralysis, and a permanent protection from evil, are to much. The pale master has some of these, but by becoming a Palemaster he/she sacrifices ability from his/her core spellcasting class, and has to contend with social consequences for pursuing such a vile path. This as a class would be a a lot of immunity to a lot of situations, as well as getting a boost against the Enchanting School, and Necromancy spells of other players as well as NPC's.

[Anarcoplayba]

I like the idea too, but I think permanent immunity to disease, energy drain, ability drain, paralysis, and a permanent protection from evil, are to much. The pale master has some of these, but by becoming a Palemaster he/she sacrifices ability from his/her core spellcasting class, and has to contend with social consequences for pursuing such a vile path. This as a class would be a a lot of immunity to a lot of situations, as well as getting a boost against the Enchanting School, and Necromancy spells of other players as well as NPC's.

I agree. That is a little too much and probably would need to be toned down (as it was with other classes in fact). The only thing I don't think is absurd is the permanent protection from evil since it is widely available and combine fairly well with rogue's slippery mind ability.

[remnar]

I like the idea too, but I think permanent immunity to disease, energy drain, ability drain, paralysis, and a permanent protection from evil, are to much. The pale master has some of these, but by becoming a Palemaster he/she sacrifices ability from his/her core spellcasting class, and has to contend with social consequences for pursuing such a vile path. This as a class would be a a lot of immunity to a lot of situations, as well as getting a boost against the Enchanting School, and Necromancy spells of other players as well as NPC's.

This is somewhat false, pale masters are only reduced in spellcasting ability when it comes to being dispelled and do not learn spells on level up.  Otherwise it is effectively a straight upgrade to wizard, more so if you have a source of scrolls (or take wizard levels after finishing PM), that additionally allows for a cheeky 1 level rogue dip.

I do agree that a combat class acquiring all of these immunities permanently is quite OP.  Luckily, when it comes to actual mechanics often times the dev team does change up how a class functions while attempting to stick with the theme and idea of it.

[Kaninchen]

Another thing to consider is how to code the Divine Strike Sneak attack thing. I'm not a dev, or programmer, but I imagine that would not be fun, as Undead are usually immune to regular Sneak Attacks. I'm not sure if that is hard-coded, or can be tinkered with. Probably some process to create a new kind of attack that can check for if the target can be sneak attacked, if yes, is the target undead, apply divine die, if not, apply regular sneak die?

[Pav]

Another thing to consider is how to code the Divine Strike Sneak attack thing. I'm not a dev, or programmer, but I imagine that would not be fun, as Undead are usually immune to regular Sneak Attacks. I'm not sure if that is hard-coded, or can be tinkered with. Probably some process to create a new kind of attack that can check for if the target can be sneak attacked, if yes, is the target undead, apply divine die, if not, apply regular sneak die?

Other servers have gone to such lengths as to make it possible to crit Undead 50% of the time under certain conditions. I believe that the core idea of the class is tenable if it is desired, though it is very strong.

Why does an undead hunter gain sneak attack damage?

Much like Divine Agents/Seekers/etc, this class is oriented toward Roguish servants of the Gods.

I like the idea too, but I think permanent immunity to disease, energy drain, ability drain, paralysis, and a permanent protection from evil, are to much. The pale master has some of these, but by becoming a Palemaster he/she sacrifices ability from his/her core spellcasting class, and has to contend with social consequences for pursuing such a vile path. This as a class would be a a lot of immunity to a lot of situations, as well as getting a boost against the Enchanting School, and Necromancy spells of other players as well as NPC's.

I generally agree with this statement. I find the class problematic and intensely powerful and with virtually no sacrifice other than some BAB.

[Revenant]

I basically agree with the concerns brought up above in the thread.

That said, this is tangentially related to a different problem. I've seen sentiment that many don't feel there's ever a reason to go pure (or even, frankly, much more than 11) Rogue. It could be worth considering adding Sneaks vs Undead as a late, pure-restricted feat, if such a thing is tenable. Something like Darkstalker would also be an incentive to go pure, although I'm less certain how tenable that would be.

[Ken14]

I recall there being a feat called Death's Ruin, from Champions of Ruin.

This allowed you to sneak attack undead for half your sneak attack die, without the need to flank.

Perhaps only doable at rogue lvl 15 or 16?

Could just be interpreted as a plain damage bonus when attacking undead of half your sneak attack damage, kinda like how elemental essence works, only with physical damage and on a permanent basis?

[EO]

There's no efficient way to "hook" into the attack system performance-wise, so anything that replaces or modifies attacks (sneak, crit, etc.) are a no-go until a native NwN solution is added.