The holy scourge is a multitalented soldier in the endless war against evil, an arcane caster who instills within his magic the power to cleanse the world of wickedness and depravity. Although he lacks actual divine spellcasting power, he makes up for this shortfall by infusing his evocations with holy power and developing abilities that help him smite evil wherever it appears.

Requirements

Class Features

Spellcasting: At each level beyond 1st, you gain new spells per day and an increase in caster level (and spells known, if applicable) as if you had also gained a level in a spellcasting class to which you belonged before adding the prestige class level. You do not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If you had more than one spellcasting class before becoming a holy scourge, you must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining spells per day, caster level, and spells known.

Code of Conduct: You must devote yourself to the destruction of evil, particularly those who use evil magic and innately evil creatures. You must not resort to evil methods to achieve these goals. You might briefly ignore a lesser evil for the sake of defeating a greater one, but otherwise you must make every reasonable effort to obliterate evil wherever you find it. Should you ever violate this code or step outside the boundaries of what is considered acceptable good-aligned behavior, you lose your holy scourge class features.

Dedicated Spellcaster (Ex): You gain a +1 bonus to your caster level when casting good spells. You may not cast evil spells.

Righteous Evocation (Su): Your evocation spells are infused with a small amount of good-aligned divine energy. Against evil creatures, your evocation spells deal an extra 1 point of damage per spell level. This extra damage applies to all creatures damaged by the spell. This extra damage consists of pure divine energy and is not subject to being reduced by resistance or immunity.

At 5th level, this extra damage increases to 2 points per spell level.

Arcane Smite (Su): At 2nd level, you can smite evil once per day. This ability functions like the paladin class feature (PH 44), except that you can apply the effect only to an arcane spell that requires a melee or ranged attack roll (such as shocking grasp or scorching ray). In addition to the bonus on the spell's attack rolls and damage rolls, this adds the good descriptor to the spell.

At 4th level, you can use this class feature twice per day.

Devoted Arcanist (Ex): Beginning at 3rd level, you can add your class level on caster level checks made to overcome the spell resistance of evil creatures with your arcane spells.

Ex-Holy Scourges

If you violate the code of conduct or step outside the bounds of the class's acceptable alignments, you lose all spells and class features. You may not progress any further in levels as a holy scourge. You retain your abilities and advancement potential if you atone for your violations (see atonement, PH 201), as appropriate.

Advancement

Level	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Special	Spellcasting
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Code of conduct, dedicated spellcaster, righteous evocation +1	—
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Arcane smite 1/day	+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
3rd	+1	+1	+1	+3	Devoted arcanist	+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
4th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Arcane smite 2/day	+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
5th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Righteous evocation +2	+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class