The Blackguard prestige class, updated from 3.5 to Pathfinder with a host of new abilities.

Hit Die: d10

Requirements

• Base Attack Bonus:  +6
• Alignment: Any Evil
• Skills: Knowledge (Religion) 2 ranks,  Stealth 4 ranks
• Feats: Cleave, Power Attack, Improved Sunder
• Special: The character must have made peaceful contact with an evil outsider who  was summoned by him or someone else.

Class Skills

Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (religion) (int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Disguise (Cha)

Skill Ranks Per Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Level	Base Attack	Fort	Ref	Will	Special Abilities
1st	+1	+1	+0	+0	Aura of Evil, Detect Good, Smite Good 1/day, Spells
2nd	+2	+1	+1	+1	Dark Blessing, Poison Use
3rd	+3	+2	+1	+1	Aura of Despair, Corrupted Blood, Wrath
4th	+4	+2	+1	+1	Channel Negative Energy, Smite Good 2/day
5th	+5	+3	+2	+2	Sneak Attack +1d6
6th	+6	+3	+2	+2	Wrath
7th	+7	+4	+2	+2	Sneak Attack +2d6, Smite Good 3/day
8th	+8	+4	+3	+3	Aura of Despair
9th	+9	+5	+3	+3	Sneak Attack +3d6, Wrath
10th	+10	+5	+3	+3	Smite Good 4/day, Black Knight

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Blackguards are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all types of armor (heavy, medium, and light), and with shields (except tower shields).

Aura of Evil (Ex): The power of a blackguard's aura of evil (see detect evil spell) is equal to his blackguard level.

Detect Good (Sp): At will, a blackguard can use detect good, as the spell. A blackguard can, as a move action, concentrate on a single item or individual within 60 feet and determine if it is good, learning the strength of its aura as if having studied it for 3 rounds. While focusing on one individual or object, the blackguard does not detect good in any other object or individual within range.

Poison Use (Ex): Blackguards are trained in the use of poison and cannot accidentally poison themselves when applying poison to a weapon.

Dark Blessing (Su): A blackguard gains a bonus equal to his Charisma bonus (if any) on all saving throws.

Smite Good (Su): Once per day, a blackguard can call out to the powers of his evil god to aid him in his destruction of good. As a swift action, the blackguard chooses one target within sight to smite. If this target is good, the blackguard adds his Charisma bonus (if any) to his attack rolls and adds his blackguard level to all damage rolls made against the target of his smite. If the target of smite good is an outsider with the good subtype, or a good-aligned dragon, the bonus to damage increases to 2 points of damage per level the blackguard possesses. Regardless of the target, smite good attacks automatically bypass any DR the creature might possess. In addition, while smite good is in effect, the blackguard gains a deflection bonus equal to his Charisma modifier (if any) to his AC against attacks made by the target of the smite. If the blackguard targets a creature that is not good, the smite is wasted with no effect. The smite good effect remains until the target of the smite is dead or the next time the blackguard rests and regains his uses of this ability.

Wrath (Su): At 3rd level, and every three levels thereafter, a blackguard can select one mercy. Each mercy adds an effect to the blackguard’s smite good ability. Whenever the blackguard uses smite good to deal damage to one target, the target also receives the additional effects from one of the Wraths possessed by the blackguard. The fortitude save to negate a Wrath is 10 plus the blackguard's charisma modifier plus his number of blackguard levels. A Wrath can impart a condition that is only temporary, rather than the full duration that a real effect would impart. Such conditions vanish after a number of rounds equal to the blackguard's Charisma modifier.

At 3rd level, the blackguard can select from the following Wraths:

• Fatigued: The target is fatigued.
• Shaken: The target is shaken.
• Sickened: The target is sickened.

At 6th level, a blackguard adds the following mercies to the list of those that can be selected.

• Dazed: The target is dazed.
• Staggered: The target is staggered.

At 9th level, a blackguard adds the following mercies to the list of those that can be selected.

• Exhausted: The target is exhausted. The blackguard must have the fatigue wrath before selecting this wrath.
• Frightened: The target is frightened. The blackguard must have the shaken wrath before selecting this wrath.
• Nauseated: The target is nauseated. The blackguard must have the sickened wrath before selecting this wrath.

Aura of Despair (Su): Beginning at 3^rd Level, the blackguard radiates a malign aura that causes enemies within 10 feet of him to take a -2 penalty on all saving throws. At 8^th level this penalty increases to -4. This ability functions only while the blackguard is conscious, not if he is unconscious or dead.

Corrupted Blood (Su): At 3rd level, you gain the ability to resist fire (5) and a +2 bonus on saving throws made against poison.

Channel Negative Energy (Su): When a blackguard reaches 4th level, he gains the supernatural ability to channel positive energy like a cleric. A blackguard can use this a number of times equal to 1/2 his blackguard level plus her Charisma modifier. A blackguard uses his level as his effective cleric level when channeling negative energy. These level stack with cleric levels (if as a cleric they chose to channel negative energy). This is a Charisma-based ability.

Black Knight (Su): At 10th level, a blackguard becomes a conduit for the power of their unholy god. He gains DR 5/good and immunity to compulsion spells and spell-like abilities. This ability functions only while the blackguard is conscious, not if he is unconscious or dead.

Fallen Paladins

Blackguards who have levels in the paladin class (that is to say, are now ex-paladins) gain extra abilities the more levels of paladin they have. A fallen paladin who becomes a blackguard gains all of the following abilities that apply, according to the number of paladin levels the character has.

1-2 Smite good 1/day. (This is in addition to the ability granted to all blackguards at 2nd level.)
3-4 A blackguard may add his levels in paladin for the purposes of channeling negative energy.
5-6 Sneak attack damage increased by +1d6. Smite good 2/day.
7-8 This character gains the “Command Undead” feat as described in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook (pg 120).
9-10 Tainted Aura of Resolve - The blackguard is immune to charm spells and spell-like abilities.
11 or more Favored of the Dark Deities Evil deities like nothing more than to see a pure heart corrupted and thus fallen paladins of this stature immediately gain blackguard levels for each level of paladin he trades in. For example, a character who has twelve levels of paladin can immediately becomes a 10^th-level blackguard with all abilities if he chose to loose ten levels of paladin. The character level of the character does not change. This, of course, is in every way a profitable trade for the evil character since he has already lost most of the benefits he gained from having those paladin levels. However, with the loss of paladin levels, the character no longer gains as many extra abilities for being a fallen paladin. Thus, a fallen 15^th-level paladin could become a 10^th-level blackguard/5^th-level paladin and gain the first three extra abilities on this chart because of the character's remaining five levels of paladin.

Spells: A blackguard gains the ability to cast a small number of divine spells which are drawn from the blackguard spell list at the end of this entry. A blackguard must choose and prepare his spells in advance. To prepare or cast a spell, a blackguard must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a blackguard’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the blackguard’s Charisma modifier. Like other spellcasters, a blackguard can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day.

His base daily spell allotment is given on page 17 of the Pathfinder Core Rulebook (same as the Paladin). In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Charisma score. When the table indicates that the blackguard gets 0 spells per day of a given spell level, he gains only the bonus spells he would be entitled to based on his Charisma score for that spell level. A blackguard must spend 1 hour each day in prayer and meditation to regain his daily allotment of spells. A blackguard may prepare and cast any spell on the blackguard spell list, provided that he can cast spells of that level, but he must choose which spells to prepare during his daily meditation.

Blackguard Spell List

1^st Level: Cause Fear, Corrupt Weapon, Cure Light Wounds, Doom, Inflict Light Wounds, Magic Weapon, Summon Monster I*.
2^nd Level: Bull's Strength, Cure Moderate Wounds, Darkness, Death Knell, Eagle's Splendor, Inflict Moderate Wounds, shatter, Summon Monster II*.
3^rd Level: Contagion, Cure Serious Wounds, Deeper Darkness, Inflict Serious Wounds, Protection from Elements, Summon Monster III*.
4^th Level: Cure Critical Wounds, Freedom of Movement, Inflict Critical Wounds, Poison, Summon Monster IV*. *Evil creatures only.

Corrupt Weapon Blackguards have access to a special spell, corrupt weapon, which is the opposing counterpart of the paladin spell bless weapon. Instead of improving a weapon’s effectiveness against evil foes corrupt weapon makes a weapon more effective against good foes.

Author's Note: Original content found here: http://g-a-w.blogspot.com/2010/05/pathfinder-conversion-blackguard.html Questions and comments welcome.

Additional Ratings
Balance:	1 2 3 4 5 ( 7 Votes )
Utility:	1 2 3 4 5 ( 7 Votes )
Clarity:	1 2 3 4 5 ( 7 Votes )