Bishop (3.5e Class)/Class Features
Class Features[edit]
All of the following are class features of the bishop.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Bishops are proficient with the club, dagger, heavy crossbow, light crossbow, and quarterstaff, but not with any type of armor or shield.
Aura (Ex): A bishop of a chaotic, evil, good, or lawful deity has a particularly powerful aura corresponding to the deity’s alignment (see the detect good spell for details). Bishops who don’t worship a specific deity but choose the Chaotic, Evil, Good, or Lawful domain have a similarly powerful aura of the corresponding alignment.
Spells: A bishop casts divine spells, which are drawn from the cleric spell list.
At first level, a bishop selects one of his mental ability scores (Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma), in order for him to cast prepare or cast a spell, a bishop must have a score in the selected ability score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a bishop’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the bishop’s selected ability modifier.
Like other spellcasters, a bishop can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table: The Bishop. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high score in his selected ability score. A bishop also gets one domain spell of each spell level he can cast, starting at 1st level. When a bishop prepares a spell in a domain spell slot, it must come from his domains (see Deity, Domains, and Domain Spells, below).
Bishops keep track of their spells in a Prayerbook that was granted to them when they first began to follow the path of the bishop. Each bishop must choose a time at which he must spend 1 hour each day in quiet contemplation while meditating over this Prayerbook to regain his daily allotment of spells. Time spent resting has no effect on whether a bishop can prepare spells. While meditating, the bishop decides which spells to prepare.
Deity, Domains, and Domain Spells: A bishop’s deity influences what magic he can perform and how others see him. A bishop chooses one domain from among those belonging to his deity. A bishop can select an alignment domain (Chaos, Evil, Good, or Law) only if his alignment matches that domain.
If a bishop is not devoted to a particular deity, he still selects one domain to represent his spiritual inclinations and abilities. The restriction on alignment domains still applies.
Each domain gives the bishop access to a domain spell at each spell level he can cast, from 1st on up, as well as a granted power. The bishop gets the granted powers of the domain selected.
With access to one domain spell at a given spell level, a bishop prepares one spell from each level that he can cast from that domain each day in his domain spell slot. If a domain spell is not on the cleric spell list, a bishop can prepare it only in his domain spell slot.
Prayerbooks: A bishop must meditate over his prayerbook each day to prepare his spells. He cannot prepare any spell not recorded in his prayerbook, except for spells granted to him from his domain, which he can prepare from memory.
A bishop begins play with a prayerbook containing all 0-level cleric spells plus four 1st-level spells of your choice. For each point of the bishops selected ability score bonus the bishop has, the prayerbook holds one additional 1st-level spell of your choice. At each new bishop level, he gains two new spells of any spell level or levels that he can cast (based on his new wizard level) for his prayerbook. At any time, a bishop can also add spells found in other bishops’ spellbooks or written on religious text to his own.
Grace of God (Ex): Bishops are servants of the divine entities known as gods, and this makes them feared foes upon the battlefield. At first level, a bishop gains the ability to add the ability score that they selected for their spellcasting ability to all of their saves (If a bishop selected Wisdom for their spellcasting ability, then this allows them to add their Wisdom to their Will save twice).
Bonus feat: At 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th level, a bishop gains a bonus feat. At each such opportunity, he can choose a metamagic feat or an item creation feat. The bishop must still meet all prerequisites for a bonus feat, including caster level minimums.
These bonus feats are in addition to the feat that a character of any class gets from advancing levels. The bishop is not limited to the categories of item creation feats or metamagic feats when choosing these feats.
Divine Fate (Ex): Bishops are nearly impossible to stop in any battle they take part in. At seventh level, a bishop gains the ability to add the ability bonus that they selected for their spellcasting ability to their AC.
God's Power (Su): Bishops eventually gain the ability to focus themselves, and channel the force of their god's power with such conviction, that it seems nothing can bar their ability. At thirteenth level, a bishop gains the ability to, a number of times a day equal to ⅛ the bishop's levels in bishop, sacrifice a single spell that they have prepared (of 6th level or lower) in order to, immediately afterwards, cast the sacrificed spell as a supernatural ability. For this supernatural casting of the spell, the save DC changes from (10 + the spell level + the bishop’s selected ability modifier) to (DC 10 + half the bishop's Hit Die + the bishop’s selected ability modifier).
Sacred Aura (Su): A bishop eventually becomes a force to channel the divine energies of the universe, and this can be plainly seen in the way they affect the world around them. At nineteenth level, whenever the bishop prepares his daily spells in his Prayerbook, he may select a single spell of 6th level or lower that has a range of ‘personal’, and prepare it in a special way. As long as a particular spell is prepared with this class feature, then the bishop is under its effects. If the bishop is struck with a dispel or enters an antimagic field, then the spell temporarily ends, and reactivates again either three rounds after the dispelling occurred, or three rounds after the bishop leaves the antimagic field. Additionally, the bishop can sacrifice the spell slot that the spell that has been prepared in, thereby ending the effects of this class feature, and have the spell be transferred to anyone within (100 feet + 10 feet/caster level) of the bishop, who he is aware of. The spell is treated as it normally would be if it is transferred this way.
