Upon or after reaching 5th level, a blackguard can call a fiendish bat, cat, dire rat, horse, pony, raven, or toad to serve him. The blackguard’s servant further gains HD and special abilities based on the blackguard’s character level (see the table below).
A blackguard may have only one fiendish servant at a time.
Should the blackguard’s servant die, he may call for another one after a year and a day. The new fiendish servant has all the accumulated abilities due a servant of the blackguard’s current level.
Character Level: The character level of the blackguard (his blackguard level plus his original class level).
Bonus HD: Extra eight-sided (d8) Hit Dice, each of which gains a Constitution modifier, as normal. Extra Hit Dice improve the servant’s base attack and base save bonuses, as normal).
Natural Armor Adj.: This is an improvement to the servant’s existing natural armor bonus.
STR Adj.: Add this figure to the servant’s Strength score.
INT: The servant’s Intelligence score. (A fiendish servant is smarter than normal animals of its kind.)
The abilities mentioned in the Special column of the previous table are described below.
Blood Bond (Ex): If the blackguard’s character level is 16th or higher, the servant gains a +2 bonus on all attack rolls, checks, and saves if it witnesses the blackguard being threatened or harmed.
This bonus lasts as long as the threat is immediate and apparent.
Empathic Link (Su): The blackguard has an empathic link with his servant out to a distance of up to 1 mile. The blackguard cannot see through the servant’s eyes, but they can communicate empathically.
Because of the limited nature of the link, only general emotional content can be communicated.
Because of the empathic link between the servant and the blackguard, the blackguard has the same connection to a place or an item that the servant does.
Improved Evasion (Ex): If the servant is subjected to an attack that normally allows a Reflex saving throw for half damage, it takes no damage on a successful saving throw and only half damage on a failed saving throw. Improved evasion is an extraordinary ability.
Share Saving Throws: For each of its saving throws, the servant uses either its own base save bonus or the blackguard’s, whichever is higher. The servant applies its own ability modifiers to saves, and it doesn’t share any other bonuses on saves that the blackguard might have.
Share Spells: At the blackguard’s option, he may have any spell (but not any spell-like ability) he casts on himself also affect his servant. The servant must be within 5 feet at the time of casting to receive the benefit.
If the spell has a duration other than instantaneous, it stops affecting the servant if it moves farther than 5 feet away and will not affect the servant again even if the servant returns to the blackguard before the duration expires. Additionally, the blackguard may cast a spell with a target of You on his servant (as a touch range spell) instead of on himself.
A blackguard and his servant can share spells even if the spells normally do not affect creatures of the servant’s type (magical beast).
Speak with Blackguard (Ex): If the blackguard’s character level is 13th or higher, the blackguard and servant can communicate verbally as if they were using a common language. Other creatures do not understand the communication without magical help.
Spell Resistance (Ex): If the blackguard’s character level is 19th or higher, the servant gains spell resistance equal to the blackguard’s level + 5. To affect the servant with a spell, another spellcaster must get a result on a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) that equals or exceeds the servant’s spell resistance.
