Vicar

Deities embody a core set of values, concepts, and ideals, and it is these principles upon which the dogmas of their individual churches are formed. For clerics, warpriests, and other worshipers of the divine, these concepts are often manifested as domains through which divine spellcasters are granted additional spells and abilities to aid them in championing the cause of their gods. While most divine spellcasters possess a good understanding of their deity’s tenets, vicars spend years of research and study in uncovering those secrets long hidden from the servants of the divine. Referred to as a divine erudite, the vicar delves deep into the doctrine of his god. In so doing, he gains a deeper understanding of the divine source, granting him access to a vast well-spring of knowledge and power while carrying out his sworn duties.

Role: Vicars are the academic custodians of divine knowledge and magic. As such, they possess a greater understanding of the divine source than others who serve the gods. It is this knowledge that grants the vicar his unbelievable powers, and opens unlimited possibilities through which to act on their deity’s behalf.

Alignment: A vicar’s alignment must be within one step of his deity's, along either the law/chaos axis or the good/evil axis.

Hit Dice: d6.

Starting Wealth: 1d6 × 10 gp (average 35 gp.) In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.

Class Skills

The vicar’s class abilities are Appraise (Int), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (planes) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).

Skill Ranks per Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Table: Vicar

Class Features

The following are the class features of the vicar.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

The vicar is proficient with all simple weapons, light armor, and with shields (except tower shields). The vicar is also proficient with the favored weapon of his deity.  

Spellcasting

A vicar casts divine spells drawn from the vicar spell list. Only spells listed in the spheres granted by his deity are considered to be part of the vicar spell list. If a spell appears on two or more sphere spell lists, the vicar uses the lower of the spell levels listed for the spell. For instance, sleet storm is a 3rd-level water sphere spell and a 4th-level weather sphere spell, making it a 3rd-level vicar spell. A vicar must prepare his spells ahead of time, but unlike a cleric, his spells are not expended when they're cast. Instead, he can cast any spell that he has prepared consuming a spell slot of the appropriate level, assuming he hasn't yet used up his spell slots per day for that level.

To learn, prepare, or cast a spell, the vicar must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell's level. The saving throw DC against a vicar's spell is 10 + the spell's level + the vicar's Wisdom modifier.

A vicar can only cast a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table: Vicar under “Spells per Day.” In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Wisdom score.

A vicar knows all the spells in his spell list, but the number he can prepare each day is limited. At 1st level, he can prepare four 0-level spells and two 1st-level spells each day. At each new vicar level, the number of spells he can prepare each day increases, adding new spell levels as indicated on Table: Vicar Spells Prepared. Unlike the number of spells he can cast per day, the number of spells a vicar can prepare each day is not affected by his Wisdom score. Feats and other effects that modify the number of spells known by a spellcaster instead affect the number of spells a vicar can prepare.

A vicar must choose and prepare his spells ahead of time by getting 8 hours of sleep and spending 1 hour in meditation and prayer. While meditating or praying, the vicar decides what spells to prepare and refreshes his available spell slots for the day.

Like an oracle, a vicar can choose to apply any metamagic feats he knows to a prepared spell as he casts it, with the same increase in casting time (see Spontaneous Casting and Metamagic Feats). However, he may also prepare a spell with any metamagic feats he knows and cast it without increasing casting time like a cleric. He cannot combine these options—a spell prepared with metamagic feats cannot be further modified with another metamagic feat at the time of casting (unless she has the metamixing vicar exploit, detailed below).

Chaotic, Evil, Good, and Lawful Spells: A vicar can't cast spells of an alignment opposed to his own or his deity's (if he has one). Spells associated with particular alignments are indicated by the chaotic, evil, good, and lawful descriptors in their spell descriptions.

Table: Vicar Spells Prepared

Aura (Ex)

A vicar of a chaotic, evil, good, or lawful deity has a particularly powerful aura corresponding to the deity's alignment (see detect evil for details).

Bonus Languages

A vicar's bonus language options include Abyssal, Celestial, and Infernal. These choices are in addition to the bonus languages available to the character because of his race.

Channel Energy (Su)

A vicar draws upon the power of his faith to heal wounds or harm foes. At 1st level, a vicar gains the supernatural ability to channel energy like a cleric, except that the amount of damage dealt or healed is equal to 1d6 points of damage plus 1d6 points of damage at for every three vicar levels he possesses beyond 1st (2d6 at 4th, 3d6 at 7th, and so on, to a maximum of 7d6 at 19th level). Using this ability expends one use of his divine reservoir. He can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + his Charisma modifier.

Divine Reservoir (Su)

A vicar has an innate pool of divine energy that he can draw upon to fuel his sphere powers and enhance his spells. This reservoir has a number of points equal to 3 + the vicar's level. The reservoir refreshes once per day when the vicar prepares his spells. Any points he had from the previous day are lost. Points from the divine reservoir are used to fuel many of the vicar's powers, including his channel energy ability. In addition, the vicar can expend 1 point from his divine reservoir as a free action whenever he casts a vicar spell. If he does, he can choose to increase the caster level by 1 or increase the spell's DC by 1. He can expend no more than 1 point from his reservoir on a given spell in this way.

Orisons

Vicars can prepare a number of orisons, or 0-level spells, each day, as noted on Table: Spell Prepared. These spells are treated like any other spell, but they are not expended when cast and may be used again.

Spheres of Influence

A vicar's deity not only influences his alignment, but also the ideals, concepts, and causes that he champions on his deity’s behalf. A vicar draws his power from the spheres of influence that his deity has power over. These spheres of influence determine what magic the vicar can perform, his values, and how others see him. Spheres of influence are similar to a deity’s granted domains, but they are much more comprehensive and profound. Not only do they determine the spells a vicar can cast or the powers he can use, they can also grant additional class skills, armor or weapon proficiencies, bonus feats, and other special abilities. For example, a deity who grants the Glory, Good, Law, Sun, and War domains grants a vicar that worships him access to the Glory, Good, Law, Sun, and War spheres. The vicar’s spell list consists of all the spells listed in each of the granted spheres, and may choose his sphere powers from among all those listed in each individual sphere. 

In addition to the deity's granted spheres, a vicar automatically gains access to the All sphere. The All sphere grants an additional Divine Eminence spell, plus a number of general use spells which are added to his spell list. However, the All sphere does not provide any granted powers or sphere powers, only the aforementioned spells.    

Each sphere grants a number of powers. These powers can drawn from related domains, blessings, inquisitions, and mystery revelations, in addition to new powers. A vicar can call upon the powers of his granted spheres of influence by spending uses of his divine reservoir. If a sphere power has a limited daily use, the restriction applies to how many times per day the power can be activated by expending uses of his divine reservoir. If a power grants a permanent benefit, the vicar gains the benefits of that power without spending a use of his divine reservoir. A vicar cannot exceed the number of daily uses of his divine reservoir when activating his sphere powers. 

At 1st level, a vicar must select one of his deity’s spheres of influence as his primary sphere. He gains the bonus feat and adds the listed skills to his list of class skills. He does not gain any other bonus feats or add additional class skills from any other spheres of influence associated with his deity.

At 3rd level and every two levels thereafter, a vicar may select one power from any of his deity’s spheres of influence. Once a power is chosen, it cannot be changed. If a selected power is normally granted at an even level, the vicar can select it on the preceding odd level (at 7th level instead of 8th level, etc.). Unless otherwise noted, the DC to save against these powers is equal to 10 + 1/2 the vicar’s level + the vicar’s Charisma modifier.

If a vicar isn't devoted to a particular deity, he selects five spheres of influence to represent his spiritual inclinations and abilities, subject to GM approval. The vicar can select an alignment sphere (Chaos, Evil, Good, or Law) only if his alignment matches that sphere. If a vicar also has levels in a class that grants cleric domains or warpriest blessings, the spheres chosen must match the domains or blessings selected by that class. Subject to GM discretion, the vicar can change his former domains or blessings to make them conform to his spheres of influence.

Divine Lore (Ex)

At 2nd level, a vicar chooses one Knowledge skill that he knows. The vicar adds half his class level to all Knowledge checks of this type (minimum 1). At 7th level and every five levels thereafter, a vicar chooses 1 additional Knowledge skill to receive this bonus.

Divine Eminence (Sp)

At 20th level, a vicar reaches the pinnacle in his search for divine knowledge and power. When a vicar prepares his spells, he can choose to sacrifice his daily allotment of 9th level spells to instead gain access to the divine eminence spells granted by his deity’s spheres of influence. A vicar can use any one of the divine eminence spells granted by his deity’s spheres of influence. Once a vicar’s divine eminence ability is expended, it cannot be used again for 1 week.

Favored Class Bonuses