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The hippogriff-mounted skyguards of the Great Rift patrol the skies, ever watchful for the enemies of the gold dwarves.

Requirements

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Great Rift Skyguard.

Weapon and armor proficiency: The Great Rift Skyguard is proficient with martial weapons, medium and light armor and shields.

Axes from the sky: The Great Rift Skyguard is particularly adept at using a drogue wing (see the Equipment section of the appendix) to attack his foes from above. As a standard action, the skyguard can leap from his saddle, fall straight downward, and deploy his drogue wing just before attacking. This counts as a charge attack that deals double damage and grants an additional +1 bonus on the attack roll because the skyguard is attacking from higher ground. The skyguard takes no damage from the fall, and after the attack is scattered randomly into a square adjacent to the creature he attacked.

Hippogriff Steed I (Su): At 2nd level, the bond between the Great Rift Skyguard and his mount improves. The hippogriff now has 5 Hit Dice, its natural armor bonus improves to +6, its Strength score improves to 19 and its intelligence score improves to 6. The skyguard also develops a telepathic link with the hippogriff out to a distance of one mile. The skyguard cannot see through the mount's eyes, but they can communicate telepathically. Because of the telepathic link, the skyguard has the same connection to an item or place that the hippogriff does, just as a master and familiar. The skyguard can only have one hippogriff steed at a time. If the hippogriff dies, the skyguard must train a new hippogriff for a month before he can confer the bonuses to it.

Skyhook: At 2nd level, the Great Rift Skyguard and his steed have mastered a resaddling maneuver. If the skyguard is on the ground, he can raise his shield above his head as a free action. The hippogriff then swoops down and grabs the shield (and consequently the skyguard) in the middle of its move, as if he had the Flyby Attack feat. Then it corkscrews as it climbs, so the skyguard winds up back in the saddle. The skyguard doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity for this maneuver, but the hippogriff might.

Bonus Mounted Combat Feat: At 3rd and 7th level, the Great Rift Skyguard gains a feat of his choice with the Mounted Combat feat as a prerequisite.

Fly-By Attack: At 4th level or higher, a Great Rift Skyguard who swoops down on his foes with a drogue wing can leap from the saddle, make a single attack, then fly up to 50 feet away (at an altitude of 5 feet above the ground) before landing. This does not provoke and attack of opportunity from the skyguard's target.

Hippogriff Steed II: At 5th level, the Great Rift Skyguard's hippogriff now has 7 Hit Dice, its natural armor bonus improves to +8, its Strength score improves to 20, and its Intelligence improves to 7. It is considered a magical beast, and remains Large despite its 7 HD. Its fly speed improves to 110 feet (good).

Drogue Charge: At 6th level and higher a Great Rift skyguard on the ground with an undeployed drogue wing can run at his foes, then deploy the wing to send him into the air briefly, up and over his target. This functions as a normal charge attack except that the skyguard gains +1 attack bonus for the higher ground, and he lands on the far side of his foe. The drogue charge doesn't provoke and attack of opportunity from the target, even if the creature has reach.

Hippogriff Steed III (Su): At 8th level, the Great Rift Skyguard's hippogriff now has 9 Hit Dice, its natural armor bonus improves to +10, its Strength score improves to 21, and its Intelligence improves to 8. It is still a Large magical beast, and it gains spell resistance 20 and damage reduction 5/+2.

Glide for Distance: At 9th level, the Great Rift Skyguard is attuned to even the slightest breeze, and he knows how to get maximum performance from his drogue wing. Once he has deployed the drogue wing, a Great Rift Skyguard can travel up to 15 feet horizontally for every 5 feet he falls. He is considered to have good maneuverability while flying, although he can't climb. He can dive as steeply as he wishes however.

Skyguard Catapult: A dangerous stunt attempted only by the best skyguards (10th level), the skyguard catapult turns the Great Rift Skyguard into a living catapult stone. As a full round action, the hippogriff and skyguard swoop towards their target. At the end of the hippogriff's movement, the skyguard leaps from the saddle, falling vertically and traveling up to 50 feet in a straight line horizontally. Unlike axes from the sky, a drogue wing is not deployed. Instead, the skyguard deals damage to the target as if he were a falling object (see Table 3-18: Damage From Falling Objects in the Dungeon Master's Guide) and takes half-damage from the fall himself. The skyguard must succeed on a melee touch attack to strike his target; if he misses, he inflicts no damage on the target and falls prone in an adjacent square.

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