Those who have been victims of a great injustice and those who perceive an evil beyond the reach of the law sometimes seek to bring justice by their own hands. Those who desire vengeance more than justice often become the hand of vengeance. They neither forgive nor forget until the blood of those who wronged them runs cold on ground before them.
Entry Requirements
Feat: Iron Will, either Improved Unarmed Strike or Brawl.
Skills: Insight 5 ranks, Intimidate 4 ranks, Streetwise 2 ranks.
| Base Attack Bonus | Fort Save | Ref Save | Will Save | Special | Ki Cultivation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | +1 | +1 | +0 | +1 | Hated foe +2, unarmed strike | — |
| 2nd | +2 | +1 | +0 | +1 | Cultivation, foebane strike | +1 level of existing class |
| 3rd | +3 | +2 | +1 | +2 | Foebane stance, vengeful stalker +4 | +1 level of existing class |
| 4th | +4 | +2 | +1 | +2 | Adept foebane | — |
| 5th | +5 | +3 | +1 | +3 | Hated foe +4 | +1 level of existing class |
| 6th | +6 | +3 | +2 | +3 | Vengeful stalker +6 | +1 level of existing class |
| 7th | +7 | +4 | +2 | +4 | Master foebane | — |
| 8th | +8 | +4 | +2 | +4 | — | +1 level of existing class |
| 9th | +9 | +5 | +3 | +5 | Vengeful stalker +8 | +1 level of existing class |
| 10th | +10 | +5 | +3 | +5 | Grandmaster foebane, hated foe +6 | +1 level of existing class |
Class Skills (2 + Int modifier per level): Deception, Insight, Intimidate, Persuasion, Profession, Stealth, and Streetwise.
Class Features
Weapon and Armor Proficiency
A Hand of Vengeance gains no proficiency with any type of weapon, armor, or shield.
Hated Foe
At 1st level, you choose a race, organization, family, or individual as your hated foe, the target of your vengeance. Your obsessive focus on your foe grants you special insight and advantages against them. You gain a +2 bonus on Deception, Insight, Natural Lore, and Perception checks as well as any skill check to Recall Knowledge (regardless of the skill) when using these skills against your hated foe. Likewise, you get a +2 bonus on weapon damage rolls against them.
At 5th level, this bonus against your hated foe increases to +4, and at 10th level, it increases to +6
Should you managed to hunt down and slay your hated foe, shatter the organization that wronged you, or drive your foes to extinction, your hatred drives you to select a new target for your vengeance. After one week of study, you may select a new hated for which completely replaces your original target. All abilities which target your hated foe now function against this enemy.
This ability counts as the ranger’s Favored Enemy ability for the purposes of meeting prerequisites; however you cannot use hated foe to gain additional favored enemies. If a specific creature is subject to both hated foe and favored enemy, the bonuses do not stack; you simply use whichever bonus is higher.
Unarmed Strike
If you possess the Improved Unarmed Strike feat, your unarmed strike deals damage as a monk of your hand of vengeance class level. If you possess levels of monk, your class level stacks with your monk level for determining your unarmed strike damage.
If you possess the Brawl feat, you instead gain a bonus feat from the following list below at 1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th level: Driving Punch, Greater Brawl, Improved Brawl, Improved Knockout Punch, Improved Street Fighter, Knockout Punch, Street Fighter. You must meet the prerequisites of the chosen feat.
You only gain one of these two benefits and must choose which at 1st level.
Ki Cultivation
Beginning at 2nd level, you use the flames of your hatred as fuel to strengthen you against your enemies. At each level indicated on the table above, you progress a ki cultivation class you already possess. If you possess more than one cultivator class, you must decide to which class you add each new level of progression.
If you do not possess a ki pool, you instead gain Ki Cultivation as a bonus feat, even if you don’t meet the prerequisites. Your cultivator level, key ability score, and other cultivation abilities are determined as described in the feat. In this case, ignore the Ki Cultivation column on the table above.
In addition to progressing your cultivation ability, your desire for vengeance gives you preternatural focus when facing your hated foe. You are always considered centered when fighting against your hated foe. For example, you normally cannot be centered while wearing armor. However, when attacking your hated foe, you can expend ki points on ki strikes and (if you have monk levels) gain ki from striking your hated foe, even if you are wearing heavy armor. You may also use ki talents that bring you closer to a hated foe you are aware of. This does not apply against any other target, even if your hated foe is in the battle. Your obsession is the target of your vengeance, and all others are unworthy of your focus.
Foebane Strike
You learn to force your vengeful ki into your unarmed strikes, dealing great harm to your hated foe. You gain Foebane Strike as a ki strike. This strike has no elemental affinity.
At 4th level, you improve your foebane strike to adept tier. Your further improve it to master tier at 7th level and to grandmaster tier at 10th level. This improvement applies only to your foebane strike and has no effect on any other ki strikes you may possess, nor does it meet any prerequisites for having advanced ki strikes tiers. Your obsessive focus allows you to rapidly advance your strikes against your hated foes, but it does not extend to combat against other enemies. However, if you advance the tier of all your ki strikes, your foebane strike advances as well.
Foebane Strike
By spending 1 ki, your attack gains the Bane weapon property against your hated foe. This increases the enhancement bonus of the attack by +2 and deals 2d6 additional damage but only against your hated foe.
Adept Foebane Strike
By spending 2 ki, this attack gains the Bane weapon property and deals an additional 1d6 damage, for a total of 3d6 additional damage.
Master Foebane Strike
By spending 3 ki, this attack gains the Bane weapon property and deals an additional 2d6 damage, for a total of 4d6 additional damage.
Grandmaster Foebane Strike
By spending 4 ki, this attack gains the Bane weapon property and deals an additional 3d6 damage, for a total of 5d6 additional damage.
Foeblock Stance
When you reach 3rd level, you learn a ki stance which grants you extreme resistance to attacks made by your hated foe. This stance has no elemental affinity.
This stance advances tiers at 4th, 7th, and 10th level in the same way as your foebane strike and with the same limitations.
Foebane Stance
While in this stance, you gain Damage Reduction 10/non-hated foe (this is a bonus from esoterica). This DR cannot be overcome by any attack made by your hated foe (unless that attack ignores damage reduction); however, it is not effective against any attack made by creatures who are not your hated foe.
In addition, each time you are struck by your hated foe with a melee or ranged attack, you gain 1 ki point.
Adept Foebane Stance
At adept tier, this damage reduction increases to DR 15/non-hated foe. In addition, you gain energy resistance 10 against all energy types, but only for effects from your hated foe.
Master Foebane Stance
At master tier, this damage reduction increases to DR 20/non-hated foe, and the energy resistance against your hated foe’s attacks increases to 15.
Grandmaster Foebane Stance
At master tier, the energy resistance against your hated foe’s attacks increases to 20, and if your hated foe uses any ability against you which allows a save, you may roll twice and take the better result.
Vengeful Stalker
At 3rd level, you gain a +4 insight bonus to any Natural Lore or Perception checks made to detect or track your hated foe or to notice any trace of their passing. This bonus also applies to any Stealth checks made to avoid the notice of your hated foe. This stacks with any bonus from your hated foe ability.
This bonus increases to +6 at 6th level and to +8 at 9th level.