(circa "The Hour of the Dragon")
Medium Male
15th Level
Asuran Priest (Illusionist) 15
Hit Dice: 15d4 (45 Hit Points)
Initiative: +1 (dex)
Speed: 20 ft
AC: 11 (+1 Dex)
Attacks: Unarmed Strike +7/+2 melee
Damage: Unarmed Strike 1d3 melee
Face/Reach: 5 ft by 5 ft/5ft
Special Attacks: Arcane Spells
Special Qualities: Summon Familiar, Scribe Scroll
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +14
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 12, Con 10, Int 23, Wis 17, Cha 16
Skills: Alchemy + 29, Concentration +27, Knowledge (Arcana) +31, Knowledge (Religion) +29, Knowledge (Planes) +29, Spell Craft +31, Scry +29, Sense Motive +11, Disguise +7
Feats: Iron Will, Combat Casting, Skill Focus (Spellcraft), Empower Spell, Leadership, Skill Focus (Knowledge [Arcana]), Maximize Spell, Spell Penetration, Enlarge Spell, Silent Spell
Climate/Terrain: Aquilonia
Challenge Rating: 18
Treasure: None
Alignment: Neutral
Advancement: by Character class
Zenobia
The Heart of Ahriman
Amalric
Valerius
Hadrathus
Zelata
Princess Akivasha
Publio
Tarascas
Thutothmes
Xaltotun
Conan grunted profanely.
"Do not fear that others discovered your identity," Hadrathus assured him. "Your disguise would have deceived any but a follower of Asura, whose cult it is to seek below the aspect of illusion."
As stated elsewhere, the gods do not generally empower people in the Hyborian Age with divine magic. Hadrathus and his followers, by occult means, cast arcane magic - usually illusion/phantasms.
Combat
Alertness: Due to their perceptive nature and the awareness of experience demanded of an an Asuran Priest in heis profession, he gains the benefits of the Alertness feat beginning at first level.
Spell Focus (Illusion): An Asuran Priest begins play with the Spell Focus feat in the school of Illusion. At 10th level, the priest gains an additional +2 bonus to the difficulty class for all saving throws against her spells from the school of illusion.
Discerning Eye: At 2nd level, the Asuran Priest gains a +2 bonus against any save involving discovering an illusory effect cast by non-illusionists. This bonus increases by +1 for every 4 levels the priest gains after second. At 18th level, an Asuran Priest can passively sense if an effect is illusory within 30’. This bonus functions against illusory attacks as well such as shadow evocation, shadow conjuration and phantasmal killer.
Maze Writing: Asuran Priests possess their own written language, unreadable by all except true Asuran priests, whose cult it is to see beyond the illusions of life. Spells written in this language cannot be read or used by wizards, even those using read magic or comprehend languages to decipher the strange text. Asuran priests, however, can use read magic to decipher wizard spells useable by them (i.e., those on the illusionist spell list) and will always translate that text into Maze Writing. An Asuran Priest's spellbooks are always penned in Maze Writing.
Spell Mastery: Beginning at 3rd level, an Asuran Priest can choose to take the feat Spell Mastery. In addition, Silent Image, Minor Image, Major Image, and Persistent Image are considered Mastered as soon as the Asuran Priest achieves the necessary level to cast them.
Spontaneous Casting: Beginning at 5th level, an Asuran Priest can channel stored spell energy into image spells that she hasn’t prepared ahead of time. The priest can "lose" a prepared spell in order to cast image spells of the same level or lower. (Image spells include Silent Image, Minor Image, Major Image, and Persistent Image). No image spell above 4th level may spontaneously cast using this ability (including Permanent Image and Programmed Image), though the priest may choose to forfeit a spell of 5th level or above in order to cast an image spell of 4th level or lower. Asuran Priests can cast image spells in this way because they are especially proficient at using magical power to create purely illusory effects.
Karl Edward Wagner called it "one of the best novels ever written in the epic fantasy genre" and I certainly agree.
