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ErrantX
2008-12-31, 10:45 PM
Kazarzeth

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/dx0808cwc_PsychicWarrior.jpg
Rinoa, bearer of the Kazarzeth blade Crucius

A kazarzeth is the fortunate soul who has turned the misfortune of bonding his essence to the demonic essence of a lesser Kazar demon housed within a crystal vessel, almost always a bladed weapon, into a symbiosis instead of a parasitic relationship. Most who walk the path of the vampiric crystal blades become nearly mindless reavers who seek blood and souls to feed their eternally hungry blade until they put down violently. Kazarzeth are warriors who have managed to conquer their blade's will and have begun the arduous task of learning how to draw forth more power from their mighty crystal blade.

The Kazar demon that they play host to is of the lesser variety, only able to take on a crystalline object as a vessel and requiring of a mortal to wield it as a weapon. When bonded to a mortal, they are called 'kazarzeth' which means 'warrior' or 'knight'. Their greater cousins, the kazarak, are demons that are capable of possessing a humanoid directly. While less potent in their ability to choose a host, the kazarzeth demon is still a powerful spirit and with its endless hunger, a potential ravager of all that lives. The stronger the will of the humanoid host, however, the less control the demon has to achieve its goals. Unlike the kazarak, whose host cannot act of their own accord, a kazarzeth may have a strong enough will to overcome their crystal blade and walk whichever path they chose.

Most Kazarzeth begin their careers as adventurers seeking fortune and glory, usually of the warblade or fighter classes, and stumble upon one these cursed blades. Humans are also more likely to be kazarzeth due to the race's natural curiosity and greed for material wealth. These grim warriors come from all walks of life and philosophical backgrounds, as any with a strong enough will may overcome their bonded weapon's ego and walk the dark road to power that their weapon represents. Many kazarzeth lead lonely lives with few friends, and fall to evil ways without thinking due to their only contact being the vampiric crystal blade at their side.
Hit Die: d8

Requirements:
BAB: +3
Skills: Concentration 8 ranks, Intimidate 4 ranks, Tumble 4 ranks.
Feats: Iron Will, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (any bladed)
Maneuvers: Ability to use 3rd level maneuvers.
Special: The character must possess a successful bond with a Kazarzeth blade in which he possesses Weapon Focus in, and cannot possess the Inner Demon feat nor be possessed or bonded to any other outside intelligence.

Kazarzeth
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|
+1|
+0|
+0|
+2|Crystal blade, weapon bond

2nd|
+2|
+0|
+0|
+3|Kazarzeth understanding, balanced spirit

3rd|
+3|
+1|
+1|
+3|Skin of Marble (+1), dark grace

4th|
+4|
+1|
+1|
+4|Kazarzeth prowess

5th|
+5|
+1|
+1|
+4|Kazarzeth insight

6th|
+6|
+2|
+2|
+5|Skin of Marble (+2)

7th|
+7|
+2|
+2|
+5|Eyes of the Kazar, Mettle

8th|
+8|
+2|
+2|
+6|Kazarzeth Mastery

9th|
+9|
+3|
+3|
+6|Skin of Marble (+3)

10th|
+10|
+3|
+3|
+7|Kazarzeth apotheosis[/table]

Maneuvers
{table=head]Level|Known|Readied|Stances

1st|
1|
0|
0

2nd|
0|
0|
0

3rd|
1|
1|
0

4th|
0|
0|
0

5th|
1|
0|
1

6th|
0|
1|
0

7th|
1|
0|
0

8th|
0|
0|
0

9th|
1|
1|
0

10th|
0|
0|
1[/table]

Class Skills: (4 + Int modifier per level) Balance (Dex), Concentration (Con), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Martial Lore (Int), Move Silently (Dex), Sense Motive (Int), and Tumble (Dex).

Class Features:

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The kazarzeth gains proficiency with all simple and martial weapons, as well as light and medium armor.

Maneuvers: At each odd level, the Kazarzeth gains new maneuvers known from the Black Heron (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=100874), Diamond Mind, Iron Heart, and Shadow Hand disciplines. You must meet a maneuver's prerequisite to learn it. You add your Kazarzeth levels to your initiator level to determine your total initiator level and your highest-level maneuvers known.
At 3rd, 6th, and 9th level you gain an additional maneuver readied per day.

Stances Known: At 5th and 10th level you learn a new martial stance from the Black Heron (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=100874), Diamond Mind, Iron Heart, and Shadow Hand disciplines. You must meet the stances prerequisites to learn it.

Weapon Bond (Su): The demon's senses within the weapon meld partially with your own, and you gain a bonus to your initiative equal to the weapon's enhancement bonus. Your deepened connection with your crystal blade also removes the possibility of its ego overcoming your own and forcing a temporary alignment change to feed the weapon in a rampage. Your closeness with the weapon also keeps you vitally aware of it. If you ever lose your weapon you will always know which direction the weapon is (as a straight line), though you would never willingly part with it (DC 25 + the crystal blade's enhancement bonus Will save to willingly relinquish the weapon). This ability functions only the plane you currently reside on; should the weapon leave the plane without you, you will have no special knowledge of where it is. Also, if you do happen to lose your crystal weapon, you lose access to your class features (physical changes fade away over the course of a few weeks while the loss of benefits is immediate after 24 hours or if the weapon leaves the plane) from this class until you retrieve your weapon or bond a new kazarzeth weapon, and you may not continue to advance this class until you've reclaimed your weapon or bonded a new one. The loss of this bond is often traumatic, resulting in a deep depression (treat the character as fatigued) that lasts for one week per class level. This closeness with your weapon keeps it always ready at hand, you may draw your bonded weapon as a free action.

Crystal Blade: When a warrior undergoes the bonding ritual between himself and the lesser Kazar demon housed within his crystal blade, he forms an inescapable pact with himself this spirit. The terms of this pact are simple: the kazarzeth pledges to feed the weapon the life essence it endlessly thirsts for, and in return, it grants its host techniques and powers which aid the Kazar demon in its desires. The more life energy fed into the crystal blade, the more powerful it gets (reflected in level advancement, see below). The sword, however, has a will of its own and preferences in the life force that it devours. This is unique from blade to blade, but there are always one type that the weapon will not draw sustenance from and one type which the blade prefers.

{table=head]Level|Crystal Blade's Enhancement Bonus|Magic Property Bonus*|Special

1-2|
+2|
+1|The weapon gains a +3 resistance bonus to saving throws.

3-4|
+3|
+1|The weapon's hardness improves by +5

5-6|
+4|
+2|When drawn, the weapon emanates an aura of despair (see blackguard class)

7-8|
+4|
+3|The weapon's hardness improves by +10

9-10|
+5|
+4|When the weapon is drawn, the wielder becomes immune to fear and compulsion effects[/table]
(* When the Kazarzeth's crystal blade increases in power, he can often select a magical property (such as keen or throwing) to add or change on his blade as well. He may change this property any time the blade's magical enhancement bonus increases. For example: Rinoa is a 4th level Kazarzeth and she has a +3 shocking longsword. When she advances to 5th level, she may add the keen property or she could exchange her shocking property for flaming burst. Regardless of level, the crystal weapon always retains its 'of blood' property.)


Kazarzeth Understanding (Ex): The Kazar demon's will is subverted so that the kazarzeth may utilize any of its lesser abilities without provoking an ego check, even if the action would be contrary to the weapon's alignment.

Balanced Spirit (Su): The evil of the spirit within your weapon need not reflect the evil within your own. So long as the spirit in the blade walks the dark path, you are capable of walking any path you wish. Because of this, you may initiate maneuvers with the [Evil] descriptor regardless of alignment.

Skin of Marble (Su): The strengthening bond of the Kazar demon within the weapon causes unique physical changes to occur within its wielder. His skin becomes smooth and hard like fine white marble and his features take on a sharper aspect, becoming almost fey and otherworldly. Finally, his hair bleaches to a silvery white color. At 3rd level, the kazarzeth gains a +1 natural armor bonus to his AC. This improves to +2 and 6th level, and improves further to +3 at 9th level.

Dark Grace (Su): The connection to the fiend within the crystal blade that always lay within easy reach causes a small spark of blasphemous grace within the wielder to ignite and burn brightly. The kazarzeth may add his crystal blade's magical enhancement bonus to his saving throws as a profane bonus.

Kazarzeth Prowess (Ex): Due to the strengthening of the bond between blade and the kazarzeth, the weapon becomes almost an extension of the host's arm. He gains the effects of having the Weapon Specialization feat for his crystal weapon when he is wielding it.

Kazarzeth Insight (Ex): The character's mastery over the will of the Kazar demon is growing and the demon releases more of its secrets to the wielder. The kazarzeth may use the weapon's greater abilities without an ego check, even if the action would be contrary to the weapon's alignment.If the weapon did not possess one, it gains one (see Intelligent Weapons for details).

Eyes of the Kazar (Su): The kazarzeth furthers the bond to his blade, drawing forth more of the demon's essence and merging it with his own body through the conduit of his weapon. The kazarzeth's irises turn golden yellow and his sclera turn inky black. With this he gains darkvision of 60ft. If the character possessed this previously, its range increases by an additional 30ft.

Mettle (Ex): At 7th level, the kazarzeth gains resistance to magical effects increases. If he succeeds a Fortitude or Will save against an effect with a partial effect on a successful save, he instead suffers no effects from the attack.

Kazarzeth Mastery: The kazarzeth master's knowledge of his blade is complete, having successfully subverted the demonic weapon's dedicated power away from it. If the weapon did not possess one, it gains one (see Intelligent Weapons for details). The kazarzeth may now ready the weapon's dedicated power as if it were a 7th level maneuver. Save DCs are calculated by using the wielder's Charisma modifier.

Kazarzeth Apotheosis (Ex): The bond between blade and wielder has become perfected, as the kazarzeth's essence fully merges with the essence in his vampiric sword. His type changes to outsider (native) and he gains DR 10/magic. Also, should the physical crystal weapon ever be lost or destroyed, the kazarzeth may restore his bonded weapon with either the shards or ten thousand gold pieces worth of rare crystal and diamond dust. The restoration process takes one hour and requires utter concentration (meaning the character may not be disturbed in anyway). Should he be disturbed, he must start his meditation over again but does not lose any material components.

---

Kazarzeth crystal weapon
A fine crystalline weapon, its surface covered in crawling runes that hypnotic runes that draw a being into it. Its handle is always made of a silvery mithral and handles are wrapped in black leather. These weapons may be any type of melee weapon that deals slashing or piercing damage (no weapon that inflicts bludgeoning damage may be a Kazarzeth weapon). They are always consider to be +1 crystal (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/items/specialMaterials.htm#crystalMundane)weapons of blood (weapon must be coated in blood every day, or its bonus fades away until it is coated again). The character using this weapon must make a DC 13 + the weapon's enhancement bonus Will save every day it is within his possession or become chaotic evil for 24 hours. During this 24 hour period, the wielder is under a strong compulsion to wreak havoc and death and attack any living humanoid it encounters to feed their weapon's hunger.

To initiate a bond with a Kazarzeth weapon, the wielder simply draws his own blood using the blade (generally by running his hand along the blade) and paints it over the runes on the weapon. This causes the weapon's spirit to stir and strike out at the will of the potential wielder. This causes an ego check (see Intelligent weapon egos (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/intelligentItems.htm#itemEgo) for details on ego battles and how to determine the weapon's ego score). If the wielder is successful, he has bonded the weapon and may now attempt to use its abilities for himself. If it fails, he acts as if he had also failed the Will save to resist becoming a rampaging Chaotic Evil character bent on feeding the weapon. After this 24 hour period, he may attempt to bond the weapon again.

Kazarzeth weapons are known for their peculiar appetites. The hungry intelligence with the weapon hungers for a particular kind of blood, and refuses one other type. Roll two times on the Bane weapon (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicWeapons.htm#bane)chart (ignoring results of creatures that do not have blood or life force and rerolling, such as constructs and undead). The first result is the type of blood the blade craves, granting a +2 morale bonus to attack and damage against that type. The weapon also rewards the wielder by restoring 1 hit point per successful attack (determined by if the attack deals damage) against its favored type. The second one is the type the weapon will not consume under any circumstance, causing the wielder to suffer 1d6 points of damage per successful strike against that creature type and a -2 morale penalty to attack and damage rolls against this type.

Finally, each and every kazarzeth blade possesses some intelligence. Roll on the Intelligent Weapon (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/intelligentItems.htm) chart to determine this.

Moderate abjuration; CL 12th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, vampiric touch, a shard of crystal from a Kazarin pillar, creator must be at least 15th level; Price 26,000 gp plus variable due to Intelligent Weapon characteristics.

---

Please PEACH at your leisure, thank you.

-X

P.S. Work inspired by Lost Souls (http://lostsouls.org).

Limos
2008-12-31, 11:21 PM
What happens if you lose your special vampire sword? I would assume that you would lose all your class features until you get it back, but with all the soul merging going on I would think it would kill you or something.

ErrantX
2008-12-31, 11:51 PM
Consider those addressed. Reread Weapon Bond and Kazarzeth Apotheosis.

Thanks!
-X

Pramxnim
2009-01-02, 06:52 AM
Great class, overall, from what I've seen. Nice way to use the Black Heron discipline too :D
A few nitpicks:

First sentence in the description of the Kazarzeth's Crystal weapon needs rewording due to some grammar issues.

You might want to provide a reference to where the Intelligent Weapon chart is located. A lot of people are lazy and don't wanna search around. I'd say bully for them, but for those who truly do not know, it'll help greatly. Also, it makes you look more professional :P

Is the Kazarzeth immune to the weapon's compulsion to turn CE for 24 hours? I'd assume he is, seeing as he's subverted the ego within the sword. If so, you should make it clear in the class description. Otherwise, playing this class would be quite a hassle indeed.

The weapon's handle is made of Mithral but the blade is Crystal right? I'm... uh... not familiar with how to handle the hardness and hp of Crystal (so sorry, I'm being lazy here!) so it would help to include it and any other special properties the material might have. I know Sunder is not used a lot, but since you bothered to make a table about the weapon's improvement in terms of hardness, I'd say go the extra mile and do it for the original material too.

Is there a way to randomly determine the type of creatures the weapon has preference over and those it avoids? I'm assuming we're talking in terms of Aberrations, Humanoid (Goblins) and the like, here. Making a table for rolling randomly would be most most helpful for DMs. Giving the weapon benefits when fighting the type of creature it prefers (let's say the weapon's enthusiasm creates a surge of power) and penalties when fighting those it wouldn't consume (lack of interest/those creatures are the weapon's weakness, some reason like that) would give your idea more crunch than just a flavourful thing. I'm thinking something like the Ranger's favoured enemy bonus when fighting/interacting with those creatures the weapon hungers for (let's take the whole Favoured Enemy bonus word for word for now, and then add anything you like to it), and a -2 to hit when fighting those the weapon would not consume. This represents the weapon's desire to not interact with said creatures at all.

Since you've given the weapon the Blood special ability which seems to me to be based upon Vampiric Touch, it would make sense to give it a slight lifestealing ability as well (Make it a lesser version of the Vampiric weapon special ability [Magic Item Compendium, p45] or something similar. Be sure to make it appropriate for a +1 enhancement bonus). After all, what's a Vampire Sword that does not heal its user?

That's all for now. Cheers

thevorpalbunny
2009-01-02, 09:27 AM
The random table and intelligent items are here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/intelligentItems.htm) and here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicWeapons.htm#bane).

Also, I don't see it specified: Is the kazareth immune to the save-or-realign effect? I would think ey would be.

ErrantX
2009-01-02, 10:03 PM
Several major edits have been made to the suggestions and critiques of the above responses. Please reread the class features of both Weapon Bond and Crystal Blade. Also, significant workings have been done on the actual Magic Item pieces of the OP, so please reread that as well.

@Pramxnim: I have the weapon restoring a single hit point on successful attacks against its favored type as a reward, but the idea is that by using the weapon to kill, it eats the lifeforce and gives you nothing in return. You are a bonded servant to it, but with the prestige class the weapon grows in strength and gains more magical potency with said lifeforce. Black Heron, as a discipline, gives several vampiric abilities that could be influenced by the weapon as well.

Let me know what you think!

I will be working on the Kazarak class that was mentioned in the flavor-text as well, so keep an eye out for it, as well as the monster write up for the lesser and greater Kazar demons and their source, the Kazarin pillars.

-X