Anointed of Styx

“Unveiling the Anointed of Styx: Masters of the River’s Dark Secrets!”

Those who swear by the Styx, even the gods, must uphold their oaths.

Relics & Rituals: Olympus

© 2004 White Wolf Publishing, Inc. Distributed for Sword and Sorcery Studios by White Wolf Publishing, Inc.

By W. Jason Peck, Aaron Rosenberg, Christina Stiles and Relics & Rituals: Olympus team

The Underworld is separated from the mortal world by five rivers, each of them perilous in their own right. Acheron is the river of woe, and Cocytus is the river of lamentation. Phlegethon is the river of fire, and Lethe the river of forgetfulness. But the most famous of all is the river Styx, the river of hate.

The waters of the Styx even have the power to grant near-immortality, if properly applied. The hero Achilles was one beneficiary of this power, being dipped into the river by his nymph mother when a babe. Although the precise details of the process she used to acquire his invulnerability are not known, some rare mortals know the secret of acquiring a share of the river’s blessing even as adults. Those who learn the secret of this dark baptism and are powerful enough to endure the touch of the Styx’s waters become known as the anointed of Styx, warriors who have little fear of sword or spear.

Fighters, barbarians, rangers and paladins are most likely to become anointed of Styx, as they possess the hardiness to endure the anointing ritual and have the most to gain from added resistance to weapons. Clerics, druids and monks can match the similar requirement of fortitude, but the loss of their special abilities makes it a less obvious choice. Rogues, bards, wizards and sorcerers are unlikely to undergo the ritual, as they have less by way of innate hardiness and a penchant for surviving melee by avoiding it.

NPC anointed of Styx are sometimes found as the champions of whatever army, city or clan they favor; their ability to resist punishment often gives them an edge in champion-to-champion combat. Most are reluctant to share the secret of the ritual that imbued them with power, doing so only if very impressed by those who seek them out. Anointed of Styx who survive to old age (for although they are hard to kill, they still can be killed) are often afflicted with melancholy, withdrawing to seclusion to meditate on their separation from the mortal members of their race.

Hit Die: d12.

Requirements

To qualify to become an anointed of Styx, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

Skills: Craft (alchemy) 5 ranks, Knowledge (mythology) 5 ranks
Language: Stygian
Base Fortitude Save: +5
Special: The character must journey to the Underworld and undergo a rite of baptism in the waters of the Styx. As the character gains levels in this prestige class, he is able to further draw on the power of the Styx that has saturated his body.

The Anointed of Styx
Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1st	+1	+2	+0	+0	Oathsworn, battered but not broken, +1 natural armor
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+0	Disease immunity, Diehard
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+1	Massive damage threshold 60, +2 natural armor
4th	+4	+4	+1	+1	Damage reduction 1/-, oath of hate 1/day
5th	+5	+4	+1	+1	Enhanced healing 150%, +3 natural armor
6th	+6	+5	+2	+2	Damage reduction 2/-
7th	+7	+5	+2	+2	Massive damage threshold 70, +4 natural armor, oath of hate 2/day
8th	+8	+6	+2	+2	Enhanced healing 200%, damage reduction 3/-
9th	+9	+6	+3	+3	+5 natural armor
10th	+10	+7	+3	+3	Timeless body, damage reduction 4/-, massive damage threshold 80, oath of hate 3/day

CLASS SKILLS

The anointed of Styx class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Strength), Craft (Intelligence), Handle Animal (Charisma), Intimidate (Charisma), Jump (Strength), Knowledge (mythology) (Intelligence), Profession (Wisdom), Ride (Dexterity) and Swim (Strength).

Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Intelligence modifier.

CLASS FEATURES

All of the following are features of the anointed of Styx prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The anointed of Styx gains no additional proficiencies with weapons or armor.

Oathsworn: The river Styx is charged with the power to render oaths inviolable, even to the gods. Oaths sworn by the Styx cannot be broken, and the Styx’s power cannot remain with an oathbreaker. If an anointed of Styx breaks an oath for any reason whatsoever, he loses all special class abilities from this prestige class.

Battered but Not Broken (Ex): The anointed of Styx heals nonlethal damage at a greatly accelerated pace, healing his character level in hit points every ten minutes.

Natural Armor (Su): At 1st level, the anointed of Styx receives a +1 natural armor bonus to AC. This bonus increases by 1 at every other level thereafter, to a maximum natural armor bonus of +5 at 10th level.

Disease Immunity (Ex): At 2nd level, the anointed of Styx becomes immune to all diseases, including supernatural diseases (but not those visited by a curse from the gods).

Diehard: At 2nd level, the anointed of Styx gains Diehard as a bonus feat, even if he does not meet the prerequisites.

Massive Damage Threshold: At 3rd level, the anointed of Styx must only make a saving throw to avoid death from massive damage if he takes 60 points of damage or from a single attack, rather than the usual 50. This threshold rises to 70 hit points at 7th level, and to 80 at 10th level.

Oath of Hate (Su): At 4th level, the anointed of Styx may draw on the supernatural power of the river of hate to aid him in combat. As a move action, the character may call on the power of the Styx to witness his oath to slay a particular foe. For the rest of the encounter, the anointed of Styx gains a +2 morale bonus to attack and damage rolls whenever attacking the foe he has sworn to kill. The character may use this power once per day at 4th level, twice per day at 7th level, and three times per day at 10th level.

Enhanced Healing (Ex): At 5th level, the anointed of Styx naturally heals hit point damage more rapidly, healing 3 hit points per 2 character levels per full night’s rest. If he
gets full bed rest, he heals 3 hit points per character level per 24 hours of bed rest. At 8th level, he heals at twice the speed of an ordinary character – 2 hit points per character level for a full night’s rest, or 4 hit points per character level for a full day’s bed rest.

Timeless Body (Ex): At 10th level, the anointed of Styx no longer takes ability score penalties for ageing and cannot be artificially aged. Any ability score penalties he may already have incurred from old age remain in place; bonuses still accrue, and the anointed of Styx will still die when his time is up.