It's all a matter of class
Broadly speaking, blackguards can be divided into three class groups, which I've chosen to call 'rowdy blackguards', 'heathen blackguards' and 'sneaky blackguards'.
Rowdy Blackguards
This class group consists of the classes whose advantages consist mainly of combat abilities. Fighting blackguards are the most common group to take the prestige class, since they are most likely to achieve the prerequisite feats at a relatively early level, while possessing the Strength necessary to take the Cleave, Improved Sunder and Power Attack feats. The only difficulty is the 5 ranks of Hide; most fighting blackguards apart from rangers and monks have to be level 7 before they can gain the ranks needed.
Out of all the fighting blackguards, those who are most likely to take the class are fighters. Monks also do well as blackguards since all the requisite skills are class skills, and the feats are easily picked up. The +6 base attack bonus required to qualify for the class is a bit of an obstacle, however; monks must be level 8 before they can become blackguards.
Barbarians, with their reliance on Strength and Strength-based feats are a close third, followed by rangers, although qualifying for the class means diverting skill points that would otherwise be wisely spent on wilderness and survival skills on Knowledge (religion). The ex-paladin should be the least common fighting blackguard for reasons I shall describe later, although I have a sneaking suspicion every GM without exception, myself included, has generated at least three ex-paladin blackguards. Feels a trifle odd to come out of the closet like that, but I feel like I've got something off my chest.
Sneaky Blackguards
Sneaky blackguards are rogues and bards who have decided to become slaves to darkness. Each of them can assume the class easily and derive a separate benefit from it; rogues gain venom handling abilities and an improved sneak attack, while bards find more outlets for their high Charisma scores, extending their influence over the undead and using their force of personality and identity to augment the damage they deal in combat.
Of the two, it is difficult to determine which is most likely to be tempted; bards qualify more readily since all the required skills come from their class skill list, but the rogue's high amount of skill points means that it can easily qualify without sacrificing too much of its roguish ability.
Heathen Blackguards
Heathen blackguards, or diabolists, are among the rarer classes devoted to this particular brand of evil. Of the four classes in this group -- clerics, druids, wizards and sorcerers -- it is the cleric who is most likely to take the prestige class, since they have more opportunities to contact evil outsiders (being the servants of an evil deity) and on average have higher Strength scores than the other three classes, thus allowing them to take the prerequisite feats.
Wizards qualify for the prestige class with greater ease since all Knowledge skills are on their class list, although ultimately it makes no difference to the level at which they qualify; both they and sorcerers must be level 12 before they can become blackguards. Although sorcerers may find their high Charisma useful when smiting and rebuking undead, most tend not to become blackguards because they have to devote a great deal of effort to learning feats that are of little help to them at early levels. Wizards and sorcerers are best kept out of the front line, meaning that feats such as Cleave and Power Attack do them little good.
Druidic blackguards make for bizarre NPCs. They represent the dark side of nature; the corruption of life and the twisting of plants and animals to dark purposes. Few have the stomach to follow this path, and even those druids that are evil tend to stop short of contacting evil outsiders and taking the plunge. Those that do are truly terrifying individuals with unexpected powers and a single-minded devotion to evil.
The table below lists the minimum levels in the basic classes that a character would need before becoming a blackguard. As in Nil Mortifi Sine Lucre, the table assumes that the NPC is single-classed before assuming the assassin prestige class, and possesses the Strength needed to qualify for the prerequisite feats. The minimum levels are calculated from the base attack bonus (+6) and the bare minimum number of skill points that must be spent in the prerequisite skills.
| Class | Level | Alignment |
|---|---|---|
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