Prestige Class Spotlight 15: Divine Scion
(art by luffie on DeviantArt)
The divine grant their power to mortals in various ways. Some are blessed as a reward for dutiful worship and upholding of ideals. Some are blessed from birth by multiple gods to serve as oracles, and so on.
Some, however, are specifically chosen by a god to fulfill a specific divine mission, either because they saw the strands of the thread of fate and determined that they were the best person for the job, or because the mortal in question has some greater connection to divinity, such as being the child or grandchild of the deity in question due to some mortal dalliance.
I don’t personally like that explanation for today’s subject (more on that later), but the result in any case are the divine scion, beings blessed by a god to do their will and uphold their goals and values.
Unlike oracles who might carry a god’s blessing whether they like it or not, the fact that these inheritors must worship the god in question does mean they are most likely willing participants in the exchange, and they gain several benefits from it in their endeavors, so let’s take a look!
In order to get into this prestige class, the individual must have an iron will, mastery of their deity’s favored weapon, the ability to cast divine magic, and the same moral compass as the deity. With the skill requirements, it’s possible for any such divine caster to get in as soon as sixth level.
As one might expect, their spellcasting training continues, with no losses, so that’s nice.
As part of their divine mandate, these scions must choose a single alignment component not matching their patron deity, which they oppose vehemently, their spells becoming more potent against foes sharing that philosophy.
They also gain a single domain from their deity, which represents the special way they act at the deity’s champion. They gain a minor amount of healing when casting spells from that domain. Additionally, each domain grants a bonus on a particular area, as well as a spell-like ability. I’m not going to list them all, but you can expect to see things like flight from the air domain, speaking to plants with the plant domain, summoning reptilian allies with scalykind, and so on.
In time, their spell potency increase to not just more easily break through resistances, but also deal more harm to foes of their opposing alignment as well.
They also gain a constant defensive ward that only attacks charged with their antithetical philosophy can pierce.
In turn, however, they can leave said opposing foes reeling from their spells, hindering them greatly.
Finally, the most potent scions improve most of their other abilities overall and even bolster their wisdom or charisma to better enact their deity’s will.
No matter what deity your character worships, this prestige class is very useful for a spellcasting-heavy build, be it a powerful back line cleric or oracle, or a paladin or warpriest that does just as much magic as fighting. I do wish there was a bit more clarification with the specialized domain though. Does it grant domain powers? Can those without bonus domain slots prepare or cast domain spells from the domain? Either way, a fun prestige class and thematic if the campaign leads towards your divine caster becoming a direct beneficiary of their deity.
Which brings me to the issue I mentioned earlier. The divine scion is a fine prestige class by all accounts, but I dislike the idea of it being tied to mortals with godly parentage, not because such demigods can’t manifest such a heritage with divine powers, but because we ended up with a much better way to reflect such an origin in the form of the Mythic rules. Sure, not every mythic character is a godchild, but the variety of different mythic paths means that you can get a lot more different concepts of demigod inheritors than “cleric but even better at casting”.
That being said, no matter the origin of their divine power, it’s very clear that these scions have a much more personal relationship with their deity than most on average, so roleplaying how that looks and feels can be interesting.
Though some call him mad regardless, Tobik of Underhollow has begun hearing a very real voice, and with it, strange divine powers. The voice calls for a grand destiny which Tobik will be a part of, but he must devote himself and become a mighty divine warrior, and become a savior of svirfneblin-kind.
Golbross Trueson is a divine scion of the patriarch of his pantheon, and claims to act with his will. His most recent command to his followers it to join him on an expedition to slay a mighty ice linnorm that haunts the region. While this is a noble task due to the dragon’s viciousness and tendency to target merchants, it’s chances of success leave something to be desired. Even if Golbross does succeed, it will be at the cost of many lives.
From the deepest icy pit, the Old One only know as the Frozen Heart reaches out, touching the hearts and minds of the receptive, granting power in exchange for awakening them. Of course, nearly all lore of the Frozen Heart is lost, so it is uncertain if they are a danger to mortal life, or even what they were imprisoned for to begin with.
