TooManySecrets
2009-06-21, 05:31 PM
STILL IN PROGRESS!!
The original Egorarch was made by Mark Koh for his Netbook of Uneternity. Said Netbook was never completed and the site hosting it has gone kaplooie (it can still be found on the Wayback Machine (http://web.archive.org/web/20041222211042/http://www.rebellyon.250x.com/uneternity/). You have to highlight the text since the background image wasn't saved. The Egorarch is in chapter 3.)
I always liked the class and always wanted to play it. Given that Mr. Koh isn't around anymore, I'd thought that I'd give it a shot and update it. My interpretation is a bit different then his. Feedback is welcome!
THE EGORARCH
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/900/egorarchemulationmod.jpg
“I have seen beyond the world of skin, the architecture of blood and bone marrow...”
NEED A DESCRIPTION HERE![/scout]
BECOMING AN EGORARCH
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Manifesting: Ability to manifest at least 5 powers from the Psychometabolism discipline, one of which must be Metamorphosis
Skills: Knowledge (Psionics) 9 ranks, Psicraft 9 ranks
Feats: Autonomous, Psicrystal Affinity, Psionic Body
Special: Must know of the psionic attunement ritual which lets her graft her psicrystal. A potential egorarch can find this information through research, discovering it on her own, or by being taught by another egorarch (though this is very rare)
Class Skills
The egorarch's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Autohypnosis (Wis), Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Heal (Wis), Jump (Str), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Psicraft (Int).
Skills Points at Each Level: 2 + Int Modifier
Hit Dice: d8
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Powers Known
1st|
+0|
+2|
+0|
+2|Graft Psicrystal, Dysplasia|-
2nd|
+1|
+3|
+0|
+2|Aggravated Evolution, Weapon Emulation|+1 level of existing manifesting class
3rd|
+2|
+3|
+1|
+3|Aggravated Evolution, No Turning Back, Hypertrophy|+1 level of existing manifesting class
4th|
+3|
+4|
+1|
+4|Aggravated Evolution, Extra Limbs|+1 level of existing manifesting class
5th|
+3|
+4|
+1|
+4|Aggravated Evolution, Body Manipulation(+10)|-
6th|
+4|
+5|
+2|
+5|Aggravated Evolution, Hypertrophy|+1 level of existing manifesting class
7th|
+5|
+5|
+2|
+5|Aggravated Evolution, Body Manipulation(+15)|+1 level of existing manifesting class
8th|
+6|
+6|
+2|
+6|Aggravated Evolution|+1 level of existing manifesting class
9th|
+6|
+6|
+3|
+6|Aggravated Evolution, Hypertrophy|-
10th|
+7|
+7|
+3|
+7|Aggravated Evolution, Fleshworker|+1 level of existing manifesting class
11th|
+8|
+7|
+3|
+7|Aggravated Evolution|+1 level of existing manifesting class
12th|
+9|
+8|
+4|
+8|Aggravated Evolution, Hypertrophy|+1 level of existing manifesting class
13th|
+9|
+8|
+4|
+8|Aggravated Evolution|-[/table]
Class Features
All of the following are features of the egorarch prestige class.
Weapon Proficiencies: An egorarch does not gain any new weapon or armor proficiencies.
Powers Known: At each level indicated on the table, an egorarch gains additional power points per day and access to new powers as if she had also gained a level in whatever manifesting class she belonged to before she added the prestige class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (bonus feats, metapsionic or item creation feats, psicrystal special abilities, and so on). This essentially means that she adds the level of egorarch to the level of whatever manifesting class the character has, then determines power points per day, powers known, and manifester level accordingly.
If a character had more than one manifesting class before she became a slayer, she must decide to which class she adds the new level of egorarch for the purpose of determining power points per day, powers known, and manifester level.
If the character did not belong to a manifesting class before taking this prestige class, she does not gain manifesting levels.
An egorarch may not learn the following powers: Astral Seed, Astral Construct, Call Weaponry, Emphatic Transfer (both normal and hostile versions), Ectoplasmic Shamber, Fission, Graft Weapon and Mind Seed. If any of these powers are already learnt prior to the character taking one level of egorarch, she automatically removes them from her knowledge.
Graft Psicrystal (Ex): At 1st level, the egorarch learns how to utilize her psicrytal in a way that no other psionic being imagined possible. By incorporating the psicrystal into her body and performing a psionic attunement ritual that takes 12 hours, the egorarch shifts her very consciousness into the psicrystal, making it the core of her being. Once grafted in this way, the psicrystal may longer be separated from the egorarch's body.
The egorarch loses all bonuses from having a psicrystal (Altertness, sharing powers, personality bonus, etc) and the psicrystal loses it's sentience. The egorarch can no longer truly die unless her psicrystal is destroyed. From this point on, the egorarch may regrow lost portions of her body (even her head) through natural healing as the psicrystal contains all the information necessary to "reset" her physical. Even when killed due to reaching -10 hit points, the egorarch can regrow as miniscule protoplasmic tendrils emerge from the crystal forming sinew and knitting into bone (this process is similar to Astral Seed, though it happens at the rate of natural healing).
Destroying an egorarch's psicrystal would inevitably kill her, so most egorarch's graft the psicrystal deep within their chest. Death magic, disintegration, and reduction of constitution points to zero would kill an egorarch outright without the need for destroying her psicrystal. A failure to save against massive damage brings the egorarch to -10 hit points, but she is still able to regrow. Likewise, failure to save against a coup de grace would also bring the egorarch to -10 hit points, unless the attacker knows how to permanently destroy her (i.e. smashing her psicrystal) in which case her psicrystal is destroyed.
Raise dead is not able to restore life to a deceased egorarch. Resurrection or psionic revivify in conjunction with bend reality or limited wish can bring an egorarch back to life, though she must reperform the psionic attunement ritual again (until which, she loses all class features besides powers known and manifester level). True resurrection, wish, miracle, or reality revision can all bring the egorarch back to life and without the need to reperform the psionic attunement ritual.
Finally, an egorarch is effectively immortal once she grafts her psicrystal, ignoring all effects of aging.
Dysplasia (Ex): From 1st level onward, the Egorarch's familiarity with her own bodily processes becomes increasingly intimate. Her awareness gradually extends down to a cellular level, granting her a degree of self-mastery unmatched. An egorarch can displace her vital organs during a critical hit or sneak attack, potentially reducing it to a normal attack (From 10th level onward, she is immune to critical hits and sneak attacks). She may also stimulate her cells to work harder, accelerating her rate of healing despite any physical exertion: she is always considered to be taking a complete rest and she is able to perform heal checks on herself. Eventually, the egorarch is able to gain fast healing (which regrows her limbs as stated above). Additionally, at 2nd level she gains the ability to reattach lost limbs by holding them to their appropriate stump as a standard action that provokes an attack of opportunity. Finally, the egorarch may regulate her blood flow, stemming it, re-routing it, and even reversing it if necessary. This, combined with her newfound ability to stop pain by selectively deadening cells or even just stopping the pain signal, grants her damage reduction as shown on the table below and immunity to the effects of pain (similar to the ease pain, BoED 97). This damage reduction stacks and overlaps with the damage reduction from biofeedback (for example, a 1st level egorarch who manifests an unaugmented biofeedback would have DR 3/magic and DR 2/-, while a 6th level egorarch would have DR 5/magic, DR 2/-, and a 13th level egorarch would have DR 7/-)
{table=head]Class Level|Damage Reduction|Fast Healing|Ignore Critical Hit
1|1/magic|--|10%
2|1/magic|--|20%
3|1/magic|--|30%
4|2/magic|--|40%
5|2/magic|--|50%
6|3/magic|1|60%
7|3/magic|1|70%
8|3/-|1|80%
9|4/-|1|90%
10|4/-|2|100%
11|4/-|2|100%
12|5/-|2|100%
13|5/-|2|100%
[/table]
Weapon Emulation (Ex): This is the signature ability of the Egorarch. At 3rd level, the Egorarch may convert one or more of her limbs into any mundane one-handed or light melee weapon (Simple, Martial, or Exotic) as a standard action without drawing an attack of opportunity. For instance, she may choose 'Mace' and fuse the fingers on one hand into a hardened ball of bone or flatten her entire forearm into a jagged blade if she decides to emulate a longsword. The emulation of weapons is a sickening sight to behold as muscles and skin warp and peel back, revealing dense, razor-sharp bone. The emulated weapon counts as part of the egorarch's body and is thus considered a natural weapon for purposes of powers, spells, and effects that enhance or improve natural weapons.
Attacks made with emulated weapons do not draw attacks of opportunity. An egorarch may decide whether the weapon deals lethal or nonlethal damage when first emulating it and may change it as a standard action. For purposes of bypassing damage reduction, the Egorarch's emulated weapon counts as a magic weapon. Emulated weapons may benefit from feats that augment unarmed attacks such as Psionic Fist or Unavoidable Strike. Changes in the egorarch's overall size affect the damage and reach of emulated weapons, as normal. Additionally, an egorarch gains a +1 competence bonus on attack and damage rolls with emulated weapons, as the weapon and her are one.
The Egorarch may use this ability so long as she has at least 3 or more power points.
Aggravated Evolution (Ex): From 2nd level onward, the egorarch may choose one of the abilities listed in the tables below (Path of Form, Path of Adaptation, Path of Powers). In addition, she can (though is not required to) choose one of the abilities listed in the table Path of Madness, though she can have no more abilities than 1/2 her class level from this Path.
No Turning Back: The egorarch's self-modification and experimentation has altered her in a fundamental way. From 3rd level onward, she can no longer advance in any other class besides the egorarch class. In addition, intelligent creatures notice her strange manner and recognize the fact that she does not think in the same way as other sentients. Against all non-aberrations (and similar creatures, at the GM's discretion), the egorarch receives a -2 penalty to all Charisma-related skills, except for Intimidation which receives a +2 bonus.
Hypertrophy (Ex): Beginning at 3rd level, and at every 3 class levels, the egorarch can augmentment her body by supercharging cellular growth. The egorarch chooses Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution and increases that score by 1, just as if it had been increased by level gain. The egorarch can choose a different stat each time. Every 3 times the egorarch hypertrophies, she gains a size category. The most powerful egorachi are enormous creatures who can barely interact with normal society. Some egorarchs view this as an unfortunate price they must pay, while others revel in it.
Extra Limbs (Ex): At 4th level, the egorarch may sprout as many additional limbs from her body as she desires up to a number equal to her class level minus 2, paying a power point for each one. It takes a standard action to grow a limb which provokes an attack of opportunity. The egorarch can force this growth, however, causing them to rupture violently out of her skin (a grisly sight) as a free action that will not draw an attack of opportunity, but paying 2 power points and causing 1d4 points of damage to herself per extra limb. Once per combat, if the egorarch can grow extra limbs and attack within the same round, enemies within her threatened area are caught flatfooted. The growth could be hid by growing it under a table or behind her back, which requires a hide check with a circumstantial modifier at the GM's discretion. Created limbs can be already emulating weapons as per the weapon emulation ability or as copies of the egorarch's natural anatomy.
The egorarch must provide an amount of supporting limbs equal to the number of extra limbs that are not supporting limbs themselves. If the egorarch does not have to balance herself (such as while flying or in an environment without gravity), then this requirement is waived. An egorarch that is unbalanced by an unsupported amount of limbs is treated as if she is carrying a medium load. An egorarch that has an excess of 3 unsupported limbs is treated as if shi is carrying a heavy load. An egorarch cannot have 5 or more unsupported limbs.
The egorarch requires 12 or more remaining power points to use this ability and this increases by 2 for each additional limb created beyond the first. If the egorarch's power points drop below the level necessary for the maintenance of all her extra limbs, then a number of limbs chosen by the Egorarch wither and drop off, dealing one point of Constitution damage each (the number of limbs left must be within the level of maintenance). Limbs can be reabsorbed as a free action while the appropriate level of powers points is maintained. All of the egorarch's limbs that are not used for support can be brought to bear in combat. She gains multiattack and multiweapon fighting as bonus feats.
Body Manipulation (Ex): At 5th, the egorarch learns how to rearrange her body with such precision that she can attempt limited shapeshifting. The egorarch can effect alterations in her body, such as elongating her fingers to pick pockets better, growing an eye at the end of a finger to peek under a table, turning her head all the way around to see who is behind her or other such feats (exact effects and modifiers are determined by the GM).
She can even impersonating any corporeal creature or her sizeshe has seen before as a full round action. The egorarch must use the Extra Limbs ability should the new form have more appendages than she has. An egorarch may not imitate a creature with functionally specialised limbs (such as fins, wings and tails) or specialised organs (such as a fish’s gills) unless she has the Improved Extra Limbs ability. Imitating a creature does not confer special abilities, attack forms, defences, ability scores or mannerisms of the chosen form. Disguise checks made using this ability receive a +10 bonus at 5th level and a +15 bonus at 7th level.
Changes made with this ability cannot be seen through with spells such as True Seeing because the Egorarch has in fact modified her own body. Changes made are permanent until the Egorarch decides to change into another form. An Egorarch can use this ability as long as she has at 6 or more power points.
Fleshworker (Ex): At 10th level, the egorarch gains fundamental understanding of how the living form works. Her internal organs become highly decentralized - she is no longer subject to flanking. She gains immunity to poison, disease, sleep, paralysis, nausea, sickening, and stunning. Her senses are highly tuned, granting her blindsight out to 10ft (this is negated by silence or similar effects). She cannot be effected by transmutation spells or psychometabolism powers unless she allows it. Finally, she gains the shapechanger subtype.
(Just short descriptions right now)
Path of Form
{table=head]Name|Requirements|Description
Improved Extra Limbs|Extra Limbs, Body Manipulation| See below (does anyone know of a way to use the table and have multiple paragraphs?)
Body Feed|Self-Reliance, 5th class level or higher|The egorarch learns how to apply her in-depth knowledge of her own anatomy to other creatures, gaining the ability to siphon living matter from an unwilling target. She shoots forth hundreds of filaments that burrow into flesh upon contact, draining blood and tissue. With any successful melee attack upon a living, corporeal creature, an egorarch may give up all her remaining actions and pay 2 power points to deal an additional 1d6 damage and gain an equal amount of hit points. For each additional 2 power points spent, this attack does 1d6 more damage and heals a likewise amount. The total amount of power points spent cannot be more than the character's class level. More damage and hit points can be gained if a victim were to be exposed to more filaments from the Egorarch's body. A grappled victim would suffer a base amount of 3d6 points of damage and a constricted or pinned victim would suffer a base amount of 5d6 points of damage. If an egorarch uses body feed and gains hit points past her total, excess hit points can be traded for not requiring eating for an hour on a one-to-one basis. Otherwise, excess hit points are treated as temporary and dissipate harmlessly after 10 minutes.
Natural Armor|3rd class level or higherer|The egorarch instinctively hardens her body in combat, gaining a natural armor bonus of +2. This ability can be gained multiple times and its effects stack, though the level requirement increases by 3 each time. The armor class bonus increases by 1 each time the ability is chosen. For example, gaining natural armor 3 times results in a +9 AC bonus (2 + 3 + 4)
Projectile|Natural Armor|An egorarch learns how to "fire" fragments of carapace or bone as a ranged weapon. Carapace fragments deal 1d6 points of damage, plus the egorarch's strength modifier, and have a range increment of 30ft. To do so, the egorarch must convert one of her limbs into a "bone cannon" using the emulate weapon ability, following all rules therein.
Army of One|Self-Reliance, <>|Create clones
Improved Metamorphosis|Fear of Identity|Can use egorarch abilities when in a different form (via metamorphosis or greater). After manifested, metamorphosis (or the greater version) is treated as an extraordinary effect and true seeing does not see through it since the egorarch has actually changed her body. May make use of the extra limbs of any form she changes into.
Corporeal Instability|Body Feed, Sadist|The same as the ability of the same name from the Chaos Beast, except the DC is (10+1/2 class level+Con mod).
[/table]
Path of Adaptation
{table=head]Name|Requirements|Description
Energy Resistance|--|Gain 10 energy resistance against a single energy type. This can be chosen more than once and the effects stack.
Energy Immunity|Self-Reliance, Energy Resistance x3|Gain immunity to an energy type you have at least 30 energy resistance against. This can be chosen more than once.
Adaptive Energy Resistance|Energy Resistance|After hit by an energy type you aren't immune to, gain 20 energy resistance to it. If you get hit by a different energy type you aren't immune to, then you switch to that one. This last for 1 minute or until switched
Spell Resistance|Self-Reliance|Gain 12 Spell Resistance. This can be chosen more than once, increasing Spell Resistance by 3 each time.
Adaptive Damage Bypass|DR 3/magic (or greater) or DR 3/- (or greater)|After one round of attacking a creature, overcome their DR. Lose it if you attack another creature
Combat Adaptation|Self-Reliance|Similar to mantle of pure spite, but weaker
Improved Combat Adapation|Combat Adaptation, Supreme Arrogance|Like Combat Adaptation, but stronger (on par with mantle of pure spite or a bit stronger)
[/table]
Path of Powers
{table=head]Name|Requirements|Description
Attuned Body|--|Any spell or power cast or manifested on the egorarch has double the normal duration (instantaneous spells or powers are not effected). If the spell or power is also extended, then the duration is triple instead.
Living Conduit|Attuned Body, Self-Reliance, Body Manipulation| The egorach no longer needs to sleep, eat, or drink, being able to completely power her body though psychic energy. Due to this, she is no longer able to regain power points through rest. Instead, she recovers up to her class level + 2 in power points each hour. [This may sound powerful, but at 12th level (5th class level), the earliest this ability can be gained, the egorarch has base power points of 88. Since she recovers 5pp per hour, that means that it will take 12 hours to fully recover her power points. Basically, the egorarch is giving up the ability to recover all her power points in 8 hours, for the ability to be at maximum power points for the majority of the time]
Mind Feed|Body Feed, Attuned Body| Similar to body feed, but gain power points instead. If the target does not have power points (or never did), then you gain half the amount of power points. Body feed and mind feed can be used together, but the damage does not stack. The egorarch merely gets to distribute between how many points of damage dealt results in hitpoint gain and how many result in power point acquisition.
Soul Feed|Mind Feed, Supreme Arrogance|Deals negative levels, at a cost of 10pp
Assimilate|Soul Feed, Sadist|At-will melee touch attack assimilate at 10d6 instead of 20d6 and a DC of (10+1/2 class level+cha mod)
Implantation|Army of One, Narcissist x2| Spend XP to make Army of One clones permanent or spend XP to permanently control an unwilling host
Aggravated Divinity|Assimilate|
[/table]
Path of Madness
Note: none of these require a specific alignment. However, a character who enjoys inflicting pain and thinks only of themselves is definitely a character well on their way to being evil, if they aren't already.
{table=head]Name|Requirements|Description
Self-Reliance|--|The egorarch has such faith in their abilities that they refuse to use any magic or psionic items. Truly speaking, such egorarchi would rather starve than use a ring of sustenance. If an egorarch does so anyways, they suffer a 30% experience penalty until gaining another level. A good egorarch sees magic and psionic items as a self-handicap that they have to overcome while an evil egorarch sees them as toys for those too weak to grasp power by their own hands. [It is suggested that Vow of Poverty does not work in conjuction with this ability. However, for high-powered games, the suggestion is that Vow of Poverty progression is reduced (such as character level - 3) or halved, at the discretion of the GM]
Narcissist|--|The egorarch starts to see themselves as a superior being, perhaps even a species apart. Each time this ability is chosen, the egorarch receives a cumulative -2 penalty on all Charisma-related checks versus creatures with an intelligence 3 or greater and who can understand the egorarch. Other creatures can still sense that the egorarch is only interested in itself and the egorarch still has half the penalty. This ability can be chosen up to 3 times
Supreme Arrogance|Narcissist x3, Self-Reliance|The egorarch views itself as a perfected being. The penalty for Narcissist is increased by 3. The egorarch also refuses to have any spells or powers cast on it by allies (if it still has any). If this happens against it's will, then it receives a 30% experience penalty until it re-asserts itself (usually by "punishing" it's former allies). The egorarch will not willingly obey any authority, though it takes great pleasure in lording over lesser beings. Unless it succeeds on a DC (10+Class Level) Will save, then it must spend at least 1 round gloating over a creature it has at it's mercy (which includes an unconscious foe, one it has captured, etc). If the egorarch is brought to less than half of it's hit points, it suffers a -2 penalty to all attack rolls, skill checks, and saves as it's confidence in being unbeatable wavers.
Sadist|Narcissist|The egorarch enjoys causing pain, especially on the unwilling. Whenever presented with an opportunity to cause pain, the egorarch must succeed on a DC (10+Class Level) Will save to stop itself from doing so. The egorarch is still intelligent and wholly interested in self-survival, so they won't do anything that is obviously suicidal such as attacking someone in broad daylight (unless of course, the egorarch thinks they are powerful enough to take out an entire town of people), but being alone with someone would require a Will save.
Fear of Identity|Body Manipulation|After years of modifying their form, some egorarchi find themselves unable to keep to one form. Such egorarchi often emulate weapons or grow limbs almost like a nervous twitch. In addition to disturbing most people not used to such a spectacle (penalties as determined by GM), the egorachi must change their forms significantly at least once each hour. Significant changes include using Metamorphosis to become a different creature, changing the number of their limbs by at least 2, or changing gender. An egorachi should not return to the form they changed from for a good amount of time, unless their is a pressing and immediate reason to do so (such as meeting with someone who only knows them by a specific form), though this still requires a DC 18 Will save.
[/table]
Improved Extra Limbs
The egorarch now has the option of creating smaller or larger appendages when using her extra limbs ability. She may grow two smaller limbs instead of one regular one, dealing damage as if it were one size smaller than the egorach. Likewise, the egorach can create a larger limb instead of two regular ones that can deal damage as if it were one size larger than the the egorach. The egorach can splice existing limbs into smaller ones or fuse them into a larger limb, or even grow a new limb that fuses immediately with an existing one to generate a larger limb. This can be done as a standard action at the cost of 1 power point and this does not draw an attack of opportunity (this is in addition to the action and power point cost of growing a limb). Supporting limbs that increase in size are able to support 2 "standard" limbs instead of 1.
As with Extra Limbs (See above), the egorarch must still pay and have an appropriate amount of reserve power points in order to create and maintain these limbs. Treat all smaller and larger limbs as multiples of "standard" limbs to determine power point cost and maximum number (class level – 2). For example, a larger limb counts as 2 limbs for purposes of support, power point cost, and number.
The egorach can change her size, up to one larger or smaller. Her weight and Strength score do not change, but the size change is otherwise identical to normal. This stacks with compression or expansion. Egorachi who have increased in size due to hypertrophy often use this to appear normal, though they are far heavier than a normal creature of their size.
An egorarch can also create specialized appendages. For example, she may sprout a pair of wings. This is the equivalent of 4 standard limbs and provides flight at 30ft speed + 10ft for each additional limb. An egorarch has good maneuverability if carrying a light load or less, has average if carrying a medium load, and poor if carrying a heavy load.
She may also create a tail/tentacle that can constrict opponents, the equivalent of 2 standard limbs. It must first hit a creature one size catergory or smaller with a touch attack and initiate a grapple check. If successful, an egorarch may constrict (see Constrict, below). The size of the tail/tentacle can be increased by one category for the additional cost of 2 more standard limbs. Normal size tentacles have a base 10ft reach, while larger tentacles have a base 15ft reach (smaller tentacles have normal reach). Tentacles can be used to hit adjacent targets. Tails (but not tentacles) additionally provide for excellent balance and are treated as being 3 supporting limbs +2 if larger.
Constrict (Ex): After a successful touch attack and grapple check with a specialised tail or tentacle limb, which cannot already be emulating a weapon (it deals regular unarmed attack damage for the egorarch’s size catergory), an egorarch constricts and deals damage equal to 2d6 plus her Strength modifier against creatures one size catergory or smaller than the tail or tentacle. The constricted creature makes a grapple check each round to escape and must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 10 + egorarch’s Strength modifier) or lose consciousness for at long as it remains in the coils and for 2d4 rounds thereafter. Larger tails or tentacles increase constricting damage by 1d6 and increase the DC by 2.
An egorachi with more than one tentacle or tail can grapple more than one creature with each extra appendage, but all grapple checks suffer a -5 penalty for each additional grappled creature. As long as she is not using all of her tails and/or tentacles, she is not considered grappled (though she cannot move further away than her reach from the creature she is grappling). An egorachi can also use more than one tentacle or tail on a single creature. If the creature is two or more size categories smaller, it can be constricted with 2 appendages, if it is three or more size categories smaller, it can be constricted with 4 appendages, etc.
The original Egorarch was made by Mark Koh for his Netbook of Uneternity. Said Netbook was never completed and the site hosting it has gone kaplooie (it can still be found on the Wayback Machine (http://web.archive.org/web/20041222211042/http://www.rebellyon.250x.com/uneternity/). You have to highlight the text since the background image wasn't saved. The Egorarch is in chapter 3.)
I always liked the class and always wanted to play it. Given that Mr. Koh isn't around anymore, I'd thought that I'd give it a shot and update it. My interpretation is a bit different then his. Feedback is welcome!
THE EGORARCH
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/900/egorarchemulationmod.jpg
“I have seen beyond the world of skin, the architecture of blood and bone marrow...”
NEED A DESCRIPTION HERE![/scout]
BECOMING AN EGORARCH
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Manifesting: Ability to manifest at least 5 powers from the Psychometabolism discipline, one of which must be Metamorphosis
Skills: Knowledge (Psionics) 9 ranks, Psicraft 9 ranks
Feats: Autonomous, Psicrystal Affinity, Psionic Body
Special: Must know of the psionic attunement ritual which lets her graft her psicrystal. A potential egorarch can find this information through research, discovering it on her own, or by being taught by another egorarch (though this is very rare)
Class Skills
The egorarch's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Autohypnosis (Wis), Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Heal (Wis), Jump (Str), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Psicraft (Int).
Skills Points at Each Level: 2 + Int Modifier
Hit Dice: d8
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Powers Known
1st|
+0|
+2|
+0|
+2|Graft Psicrystal, Dysplasia|-
2nd|
+1|
+3|
+0|
+2|Aggravated Evolution, Weapon Emulation|+1 level of existing manifesting class
3rd|
+2|
+3|
+1|
+3|Aggravated Evolution, No Turning Back, Hypertrophy|+1 level of existing manifesting class
4th|
+3|
+4|
+1|
+4|Aggravated Evolution, Extra Limbs|+1 level of existing manifesting class
5th|
+3|
+4|
+1|
+4|Aggravated Evolution, Body Manipulation(+10)|-
6th|
+4|
+5|
+2|
+5|Aggravated Evolution, Hypertrophy|+1 level of existing manifesting class
7th|
+5|
+5|
+2|
+5|Aggravated Evolution, Body Manipulation(+15)|+1 level of existing manifesting class
8th|
+6|
+6|
+2|
+6|Aggravated Evolution|+1 level of existing manifesting class
9th|
+6|
+6|
+3|
+6|Aggravated Evolution, Hypertrophy|-
10th|
+7|
+7|
+3|
+7|Aggravated Evolution, Fleshworker|+1 level of existing manifesting class
11th|
+8|
+7|
+3|
+7|Aggravated Evolution|+1 level of existing manifesting class
12th|
+9|
+8|
+4|
+8|Aggravated Evolution, Hypertrophy|+1 level of existing manifesting class
13th|
+9|
+8|
+4|
+8|Aggravated Evolution|-[/table]
Class Features
All of the following are features of the egorarch prestige class.
Weapon Proficiencies: An egorarch does not gain any new weapon or armor proficiencies.
Powers Known: At each level indicated on the table, an egorarch gains additional power points per day and access to new powers as if she had also gained a level in whatever manifesting class she belonged to before she added the prestige class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (bonus feats, metapsionic or item creation feats, psicrystal special abilities, and so on). This essentially means that she adds the level of egorarch to the level of whatever manifesting class the character has, then determines power points per day, powers known, and manifester level accordingly.
If a character had more than one manifesting class before she became a slayer, she must decide to which class she adds the new level of egorarch for the purpose of determining power points per day, powers known, and manifester level.
If the character did not belong to a manifesting class before taking this prestige class, she does not gain manifesting levels.
An egorarch may not learn the following powers: Astral Seed, Astral Construct, Call Weaponry, Emphatic Transfer (both normal and hostile versions), Ectoplasmic Shamber, Fission, Graft Weapon and Mind Seed. If any of these powers are already learnt prior to the character taking one level of egorarch, she automatically removes them from her knowledge.
Graft Psicrystal (Ex): At 1st level, the egorarch learns how to utilize her psicrytal in a way that no other psionic being imagined possible. By incorporating the psicrystal into her body and performing a psionic attunement ritual that takes 12 hours, the egorarch shifts her very consciousness into the psicrystal, making it the core of her being. Once grafted in this way, the psicrystal may longer be separated from the egorarch's body.
The egorarch loses all bonuses from having a psicrystal (Altertness, sharing powers, personality bonus, etc) and the psicrystal loses it's sentience. The egorarch can no longer truly die unless her psicrystal is destroyed. From this point on, the egorarch may regrow lost portions of her body (even her head) through natural healing as the psicrystal contains all the information necessary to "reset" her physical. Even when killed due to reaching -10 hit points, the egorarch can regrow as miniscule protoplasmic tendrils emerge from the crystal forming sinew and knitting into bone (this process is similar to Astral Seed, though it happens at the rate of natural healing).
Destroying an egorarch's psicrystal would inevitably kill her, so most egorarch's graft the psicrystal deep within their chest. Death magic, disintegration, and reduction of constitution points to zero would kill an egorarch outright without the need for destroying her psicrystal. A failure to save against massive damage brings the egorarch to -10 hit points, but she is still able to regrow. Likewise, failure to save against a coup de grace would also bring the egorarch to -10 hit points, unless the attacker knows how to permanently destroy her (i.e. smashing her psicrystal) in which case her psicrystal is destroyed.
Raise dead is not able to restore life to a deceased egorarch. Resurrection or psionic revivify in conjunction with bend reality or limited wish can bring an egorarch back to life, though she must reperform the psionic attunement ritual again (until which, she loses all class features besides powers known and manifester level). True resurrection, wish, miracle, or reality revision can all bring the egorarch back to life and without the need to reperform the psionic attunement ritual.
Finally, an egorarch is effectively immortal once she grafts her psicrystal, ignoring all effects of aging.
Dysplasia (Ex): From 1st level onward, the Egorarch's familiarity with her own bodily processes becomes increasingly intimate. Her awareness gradually extends down to a cellular level, granting her a degree of self-mastery unmatched. An egorarch can displace her vital organs during a critical hit or sneak attack, potentially reducing it to a normal attack (From 10th level onward, she is immune to critical hits and sneak attacks). She may also stimulate her cells to work harder, accelerating her rate of healing despite any physical exertion: she is always considered to be taking a complete rest and she is able to perform heal checks on herself. Eventually, the egorarch is able to gain fast healing (which regrows her limbs as stated above). Additionally, at 2nd level she gains the ability to reattach lost limbs by holding them to their appropriate stump as a standard action that provokes an attack of opportunity. Finally, the egorarch may regulate her blood flow, stemming it, re-routing it, and even reversing it if necessary. This, combined with her newfound ability to stop pain by selectively deadening cells or even just stopping the pain signal, grants her damage reduction as shown on the table below and immunity to the effects of pain (similar to the ease pain, BoED 97). This damage reduction stacks and overlaps with the damage reduction from biofeedback (for example, a 1st level egorarch who manifests an unaugmented biofeedback would have DR 3/magic and DR 2/-, while a 6th level egorarch would have DR 5/magic, DR 2/-, and a 13th level egorarch would have DR 7/-)
{table=head]Class Level|Damage Reduction|Fast Healing|Ignore Critical Hit
1|1/magic|--|10%
2|1/magic|--|20%
3|1/magic|--|30%
4|2/magic|--|40%
5|2/magic|--|50%
6|3/magic|1|60%
7|3/magic|1|70%
8|3/-|1|80%
9|4/-|1|90%
10|4/-|2|100%
11|4/-|2|100%
12|5/-|2|100%
13|5/-|2|100%
[/table]
Weapon Emulation (Ex): This is the signature ability of the Egorarch. At 3rd level, the Egorarch may convert one or more of her limbs into any mundane one-handed or light melee weapon (Simple, Martial, or Exotic) as a standard action without drawing an attack of opportunity. For instance, she may choose 'Mace' and fuse the fingers on one hand into a hardened ball of bone or flatten her entire forearm into a jagged blade if she decides to emulate a longsword. The emulation of weapons is a sickening sight to behold as muscles and skin warp and peel back, revealing dense, razor-sharp bone. The emulated weapon counts as part of the egorarch's body and is thus considered a natural weapon for purposes of powers, spells, and effects that enhance or improve natural weapons.
Attacks made with emulated weapons do not draw attacks of opportunity. An egorarch may decide whether the weapon deals lethal or nonlethal damage when first emulating it and may change it as a standard action. For purposes of bypassing damage reduction, the Egorarch's emulated weapon counts as a magic weapon. Emulated weapons may benefit from feats that augment unarmed attacks such as Psionic Fist or Unavoidable Strike. Changes in the egorarch's overall size affect the damage and reach of emulated weapons, as normal. Additionally, an egorarch gains a +1 competence bonus on attack and damage rolls with emulated weapons, as the weapon and her are one.
The Egorarch may use this ability so long as she has at least 3 or more power points.
Aggravated Evolution (Ex): From 2nd level onward, the egorarch may choose one of the abilities listed in the tables below (Path of Form, Path of Adaptation, Path of Powers). In addition, she can (though is not required to) choose one of the abilities listed in the table Path of Madness, though she can have no more abilities than 1/2 her class level from this Path.
No Turning Back: The egorarch's self-modification and experimentation has altered her in a fundamental way. From 3rd level onward, she can no longer advance in any other class besides the egorarch class. In addition, intelligent creatures notice her strange manner and recognize the fact that she does not think in the same way as other sentients. Against all non-aberrations (and similar creatures, at the GM's discretion), the egorarch receives a -2 penalty to all Charisma-related skills, except for Intimidation which receives a +2 bonus.
Hypertrophy (Ex): Beginning at 3rd level, and at every 3 class levels, the egorarch can augmentment her body by supercharging cellular growth. The egorarch chooses Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution and increases that score by 1, just as if it had been increased by level gain. The egorarch can choose a different stat each time. Every 3 times the egorarch hypertrophies, she gains a size category. The most powerful egorachi are enormous creatures who can barely interact with normal society. Some egorarchs view this as an unfortunate price they must pay, while others revel in it.
Extra Limbs (Ex): At 4th level, the egorarch may sprout as many additional limbs from her body as she desires up to a number equal to her class level minus 2, paying a power point for each one. It takes a standard action to grow a limb which provokes an attack of opportunity. The egorarch can force this growth, however, causing them to rupture violently out of her skin (a grisly sight) as a free action that will not draw an attack of opportunity, but paying 2 power points and causing 1d4 points of damage to herself per extra limb. Once per combat, if the egorarch can grow extra limbs and attack within the same round, enemies within her threatened area are caught flatfooted. The growth could be hid by growing it under a table or behind her back, which requires a hide check with a circumstantial modifier at the GM's discretion. Created limbs can be already emulating weapons as per the weapon emulation ability or as copies of the egorarch's natural anatomy.
The egorarch must provide an amount of supporting limbs equal to the number of extra limbs that are not supporting limbs themselves. If the egorarch does not have to balance herself (such as while flying or in an environment without gravity), then this requirement is waived. An egorarch that is unbalanced by an unsupported amount of limbs is treated as if she is carrying a medium load. An egorarch that has an excess of 3 unsupported limbs is treated as if shi is carrying a heavy load. An egorarch cannot have 5 or more unsupported limbs.
The egorarch requires 12 or more remaining power points to use this ability and this increases by 2 for each additional limb created beyond the first. If the egorarch's power points drop below the level necessary for the maintenance of all her extra limbs, then a number of limbs chosen by the Egorarch wither and drop off, dealing one point of Constitution damage each (the number of limbs left must be within the level of maintenance). Limbs can be reabsorbed as a free action while the appropriate level of powers points is maintained. All of the egorarch's limbs that are not used for support can be brought to bear in combat. She gains multiattack and multiweapon fighting as bonus feats.
Body Manipulation (Ex): At 5th, the egorarch learns how to rearrange her body with such precision that she can attempt limited shapeshifting. The egorarch can effect alterations in her body, such as elongating her fingers to pick pockets better, growing an eye at the end of a finger to peek under a table, turning her head all the way around to see who is behind her or other such feats (exact effects and modifiers are determined by the GM).
She can even impersonating any corporeal creature or her sizeshe has seen before as a full round action. The egorarch must use the Extra Limbs ability should the new form have more appendages than she has. An egorarch may not imitate a creature with functionally specialised limbs (such as fins, wings and tails) or specialised organs (such as a fish’s gills) unless she has the Improved Extra Limbs ability. Imitating a creature does not confer special abilities, attack forms, defences, ability scores or mannerisms of the chosen form. Disguise checks made using this ability receive a +10 bonus at 5th level and a +15 bonus at 7th level.
Changes made with this ability cannot be seen through with spells such as True Seeing because the Egorarch has in fact modified her own body. Changes made are permanent until the Egorarch decides to change into another form. An Egorarch can use this ability as long as she has at 6 or more power points.
Fleshworker (Ex): At 10th level, the egorarch gains fundamental understanding of how the living form works. Her internal organs become highly decentralized - she is no longer subject to flanking. She gains immunity to poison, disease, sleep, paralysis, nausea, sickening, and stunning. Her senses are highly tuned, granting her blindsight out to 10ft (this is negated by silence or similar effects). She cannot be effected by transmutation spells or psychometabolism powers unless she allows it. Finally, she gains the shapechanger subtype.
(Just short descriptions right now)
Path of Form
{table=head]Name|Requirements|Description
Improved Extra Limbs|Extra Limbs, Body Manipulation| See below (does anyone know of a way to use the table and have multiple paragraphs?)
Body Feed|Self-Reliance, 5th class level or higher|The egorarch learns how to apply her in-depth knowledge of her own anatomy to other creatures, gaining the ability to siphon living matter from an unwilling target. She shoots forth hundreds of filaments that burrow into flesh upon contact, draining blood and tissue. With any successful melee attack upon a living, corporeal creature, an egorarch may give up all her remaining actions and pay 2 power points to deal an additional 1d6 damage and gain an equal amount of hit points. For each additional 2 power points spent, this attack does 1d6 more damage and heals a likewise amount. The total amount of power points spent cannot be more than the character's class level. More damage and hit points can be gained if a victim were to be exposed to more filaments from the Egorarch's body. A grappled victim would suffer a base amount of 3d6 points of damage and a constricted or pinned victim would suffer a base amount of 5d6 points of damage. If an egorarch uses body feed and gains hit points past her total, excess hit points can be traded for not requiring eating for an hour on a one-to-one basis. Otherwise, excess hit points are treated as temporary and dissipate harmlessly after 10 minutes.
Natural Armor|3rd class level or higherer|The egorarch instinctively hardens her body in combat, gaining a natural armor bonus of +2. This ability can be gained multiple times and its effects stack, though the level requirement increases by 3 each time. The armor class bonus increases by 1 each time the ability is chosen. For example, gaining natural armor 3 times results in a +9 AC bonus (2 + 3 + 4)
Projectile|Natural Armor|An egorarch learns how to "fire" fragments of carapace or bone as a ranged weapon. Carapace fragments deal 1d6 points of damage, plus the egorarch's strength modifier, and have a range increment of 30ft. To do so, the egorarch must convert one of her limbs into a "bone cannon" using the emulate weapon ability, following all rules therein.
Army of One|Self-Reliance, <>|Create clones
Improved Metamorphosis|Fear of Identity|Can use egorarch abilities when in a different form (via metamorphosis or greater). After manifested, metamorphosis (or the greater version) is treated as an extraordinary effect and true seeing does not see through it since the egorarch has actually changed her body. May make use of the extra limbs of any form she changes into.
Corporeal Instability|Body Feed, Sadist|The same as the ability of the same name from the Chaos Beast, except the DC is (10+1/2 class level+Con mod).
[/table]
Path of Adaptation
{table=head]Name|Requirements|Description
Energy Resistance|--|Gain 10 energy resistance against a single energy type. This can be chosen more than once and the effects stack.
Energy Immunity|Self-Reliance, Energy Resistance x3|Gain immunity to an energy type you have at least 30 energy resistance against. This can be chosen more than once.
Adaptive Energy Resistance|Energy Resistance|After hit by an energy type you aren't immune to, gain 20 energy resistance to it. If you get hit by a different energy type you aren't immune to, then you switch to that one. This last for 1 minute or until switched
Spell Resistance|Self-Reliance|Gain 12 Spell Resistance. This can be chosen more than once, increasing Spell Resistance by 3 each time.
Adaptive Damage Bypass|DR 3/magic (or greater) or DR 3/- (or greater)|After one round of attacking a creature, overcome their DR. Lose it if you attack another creature
Combat Adaptation|Self-Reliance|Similar to mantle of pure spite, but weaker
Improved Combat Adapation|Combat Adaptation, Supreme Arrogance|Like Combat Adaptation, but stronger (on par with mantle of pure spite or a bit stronger)
[/table]
Path of Powers
{table=head]Name|Requirements|Description
Attuned Body|--|Any spell or power cast or manifested on the egorarch has double the normal duration (instantaneous spells or powers are not effected). If the spell or power is also extended, then the duration is triple instead.
Living Conduit|Attuned Body, Self-Reliance, Body Manipulation| The egorach no longer needs to sleep, eat, or drink, being able to completely power her body though psychic energy. Due to this, she is no longer able to regain power points through rest. Instead, she recovers up to her class level + 2 in power points each hour. [This may sound powerful, but at 12th level (5th class level), the earliest this ability can be gained, the egorarch has base power points of 88. Since she recovers 5pp per hour, that means that it will take 12 hours to fully recover her power points. Basically, the egorarch is giving up the ability to recover all her power points in 8 hours, for the ability to be at maximum power points for the majority of the time]
Mind Feed|Body Feed, Attuned Body| Similar to body feed, but gain power points instead. If the target does not have power points (or never did), then you gain half the amount of power points. Body feed and mind feed can be used together, but the damage does not stack. The egorarch merely gets to distribute between how many points of damage dealt results in hitpoint gain and how many result in power point acquisition.
Soul Feed|Mind Feed, Supreme Arrogance|Deals negative levels, at a cost of 10pp
Assimilate|Soul Feed, Sadist|At-will melee touch attack assimilate at 10d6 instead of 20d6 and a DC of (10+1/2 class level+cha mod)
Implantation|Army of One, Narcissist x2| Spend XP to make Army of One clones permanent or spend XP to permanently control an unwilling host
Aggravated Divinity|Assimilate|
[/table]
Path of Madness
Note: none of these require a specific alignment. However, a character who enjoys inflicting pain and thinks only of themselves is definitely a character well on their way to being evil, if they aren't already.
{table=head]Name|Requirements|Description
Self-Reliance|--|The egorarch has such faith in their abilities that they refuse to use any magic or psionic items. Truly speaking, such egorarchi would rather starve than use a ring of sustenance. If an egorarch does so anyways, they suffer a 30% experience penalty until gaining another level. A good egorarch sees magic and psionic items as a self-handicap that they have to overcome while an evil egorarch sees them as toys for those too weak to grasp power by their own hands. [It is suggested that Vow of Poverty does not work in conjuction with this ability. However, for high-powered games, the suggestion is that Vow of Poverty progression is reduced (such as character level - 3) or halved, at the discretion of the GM]
Narcissist|--|The egorarch starts to see themselves as a superior being, perhaps even a species apart. Each time this ability is chosen, the egorarch receives a cumulative -2 penalty on all Charisma-related checks versus creatures with an intelligence 3 or greater and who can understand the egorarch. Other creatures can still sense that the egorarch is only interested in itself and the egorarch still has half the penalty. This ability can be chosen up to 3 times
Supreme Arrogance|Narcissist x3, Self-Reliance|The egorarch views itself as a perfected being. The penalty for Narcissist is increased by 3. The egorarch also refuses to have any spells or powers cast on it by allies (if it still has any). If this happens against it's will, then it receives a 30% experience penalty until it re-asserts itself (usually by "punishing" it's former allies). The egorarch will not willingly obey any authority, though it takes great pleasure in lording over lesser beings. Unless it succeeds on a DC (10+Class Level) Will save, then it must spend at least 1 round gloating over a creature it has at it's mercy (which includes an unconscious foe, one it has captured, etc). If the egorarch is brought to less than half of it's hit points, it suffers a -2 penalty to all attack rolls, skill checks, and saves as it's confidence in being unbeatable wavers.
Sadist|Narcissist|The egorarch enjoys causing pain, especially on the unwilling. Whenever presented with an opportunity to cause pain, the egorarch must succeed on a DC (10+Class Level) Will save to stop itself from doing so. The egorarch is still intelligent and wholly interested in self-survival, so they won't do anything that is obviously suicidal such as attacking someone in broad daylight (unless of course, the egorarch thinks they are powerful enough to take out an entire town of people), but being alone with someone would require a Will save.
Fear of Identity|Body Manipulation|After years of modifying their form, some egorarchi find themselves unable to keep to one form. Such egorarchi often emulate weapons or grow limbs almost like a nervous twitch. In addition to disturbing most people not used to such a spectacle (penalties as determined by GM), the egorachi must change their forms significantly at least once each hour. Significant changes include using Metamorphosis to become a different creature, changing the number of their limbs by at least 2, or changing gender. An egorachi should not return to the form they changed from for a good amount of time, unless their is a pressing and immediate reason to do so (such as meeting with someone who only knows them by a specific form), though this still requires a DC 18 Will save.
[/table]
Improved Extra Limbs
The egorarch now has the option of creating smaller or larger appendages when using her extra limbs ability. She may grow two smaller limbs instead of one regular one, dealing damage as if it were one size smaller than the egorach. Likewise, the egorach can create a larger limb instead of two regular ones that can deal damage as if it were one size larger than the the egorach. The egorach can splice existing limbs into smaller ones or fuse them into a larger limb, or even grow a new limb that fuses immediately with an existing one to generate a larger limb. This can be done as a standard action at the cost of 1 power point and this does not draw an attack of opportunity (this is in addition to the action and power point cost of growing a limb). Supporting limbs that increase in size are able to support 2 "standard" limbs instead of 1.
As with Extra Limbs (See above), the egorarch must still pay and have an appropriate amount of reserve power points in order to create and maintain these limbs. Treat all smaller and larger limbs as multiples of "standard" limbs to determine power point cost and maximum number (class level – 2). For example, a larger limb counts as 2 limbs for purposes of support, power point cost, and number.
The egorach can change her size, up to one larger or smaller. Her weight and Strength score do not change, but the size change is otherwise identical to normal. This stacks with compression or expansion. Egorachi who have increased in size due to hypertrophy often use this to appear normal, though they are far heavier than a normal creature of their size.
An egorarch can also create specialized appendages. For example, she may sprout a pair of wings. This is the equivalent of 4 standard limbs and provides flight at 30ft speed + 10ft for each additional limb. An egorarch has good maneuverability if carrying a light load or less, has average if carrying a medium load, and poor if carrying a heavy load.
She may also create a tail/tentacle that can constrict opponents, the equivalent of 2 standard limbs. It must first hit a creature one size catergory or smaller with a touch attack and initiate a grapple check. If successful, an egorarch may constrict (see Constrict, below). The size of the tail/tentacle can be increased by one category for the additional cost of 2 more standard limbs. Normal size tentacles have a base 10ft reach, while larger tentacles have a base 15ft reach (smaller tentacles have normal reach). Tentacles can be used to hit adjacent targets. Tails (but not tentacles) additionally provide for excellent balance and are treated as being 3 supporting limbs +2 if larger.
Constrict (Ex): After a successful touch attack and grapple check with a specialised tail or tentacle limb, which cannot already be emulating a weapon (it deals regular unarmed attack damage for the egorarch’s size catergory), an egorarch constricts and deals damage equal to 2d6 plus her Strength modifier against creatures one size catergory or smaller than the tail or tentacle. The constricted creature makes a grapple check each round to escape and must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 10 + egorarch’s Strength modifier) or lose consciousness for at long as it remains in the coils and for 2d4 rounds thereafter. Larger tails or tentacles increase constricting damage by 1d6 and increase the DC by 2.
An egorachi with more than one tentacle or tail can grapple more than one creature with each extra appendage, but all grapple checks suffer a -5 penalty for each additional grappled creature. As long as she is not using all of her tails and/or tentacles, she is not considered grappled (though she cannot move further away than her reach from the creature she is grappling). An egorachi can also use more than one tentacle or tail on a single creature. If the creature is two or more size categories smaller, it can be constricted with 2 appendages, if it is three or more size categories smaller, it can be constricted with 4 appendages, etc.