Lox's very own homebrew stuff!

[Loxagn]

Well, our campaign uses a lot of homebrew content, because we think it adds to the fun.
A lot of the home-brewed stuff is something I've helped out with, so I've put a thread here to put up some of my own content for critique.

[Loxagn]

First off, a bit of Divine Power, dealing with a new Deity and a new Covenant for Invokers, all inspired by Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw's Chzo Mythos.

NEW DEITY

Chzo
Alignment: Unaligned
Domains: Torment, Madness, Undeath

Chzo is a deity devoted completely to the existence of pain. It is pain that he controls, pain that grants him strength, and it is pain that all of his followers aspire to.
Chzo differs from other deities in several ways; Chzo does not reside in the Astral Sea, but rather in the Plane of Agony. Additionally, Chzo was not born a deity; rather, he is simply a Pain Elemental, a lesser being of magic that feeds off of the lesser agonies of physical beings. However, many eons ago, before even the dawn of humanity or perhaps the elves, the race of Pain Elementals was nearly completely wiped from existence. This cataclysm spared only Chzo, and the sudden imbalance caused a startling effect. Where before Pain Elementals would have fed off of the agonies of other beings equally, now all pain in existence was being funneled into a single being. This massive upsurge in power had a tremendous effect on Chzo. He mutated, transforming from a small wisp of magic into a near-infinite mountain of bleeding flesh and gristle, with near-absolute power over his domains.
Despite his decidedly evil-seeming domains, Chzo is wholly indifferent to the rest of existence, unless something concerns him directly. He has shown the power to grant life to the unliving in the past; most of his exarches and avatars have been created in this manner.

Symbol: A square inside a four-pointed star, inside a circle. These three elements represent the three Blessed Agonies.

Organization:
The Order of Blessed Agonies
The Order is essentially the church of Chzo, a small sect that, while certainly much larger than most cults, is nowhere near as influential as the churches of the main pantheon. Order members refer to Chzo as 'The King'.
Order members are most often seen wearing red robes, though higher-ups may chose for black robes and concealing their face behind a featureless white mask, symbolic of The Arrogant Man (see below).

Prophet: Jack Frehorn, founder of the Order and the first to make real contact with Chzo and spread his message.

Holidays: One. July 28th is Chzo's sacred day, celebrated as the day that he is able to peer across the dimensional rift into the mortal plane. Members of the Order create elaborate shrines and sacrifices, some of the more outspoken may preach Chzo's scripture publicly.

Beliefs:
The Order's belief is centered around the idea that true enlightenment is achieved by physical, spiritual, and mental sacrifice. These are performed through the Blessed Agonies, a series of ritualistic breaking-down of the body, mind, and soul. Divine classes who worship Chzo have almost always subjected themselves to all three.
In the eyes of the Order, the Soul must be purified first, through the 'greatest loss', the willing sacrifice of the person or thing that a person cares for the most to Chzo, followed by careful meditation on the sorrow and pain the loss has caused.
Second to be purified is the Body. This is ongoing, and the process is believed to never be truly complete, as the Body takes in impurities constantly. This involves willing physical torture to oneself, sacrifices of the flesh. Order members will often carry a ritual dagger enchanted to deal nonlethal damage. It is not uncommon for high-ranking Order members to be horrifically scarred all over due to their rituals.
The final aspect to be purified is the Mind, something that occurs in three parts. The Mind must experience the agonies of tedium, fear, and madness. This process is typically extremely long, taking months or even years of constantly subjecting oneself to powerful mental torment, conditioning oneself to completely break their mind and remake it in Chzo's image. Many do not choose to take this path knowing what it entails, but the strong of mind will find that Chzo rewards followers who are so willing to devote themselves to him.
As any member of the Order will tell you, there is a difference between Blessed Agonies and simply enjoying pain. Masochists are frequently turned away from the order, because deriving enjoyment from the Agonies defeats their purpose. Pain is not the destination, it is merely the path which one must follow to achieve true purity.

Avatars of Chzo:
As a deity in his own right, Chzo has his fair share of avatars and demigods in his service.
The Prince: a.k.a. The Arrogant Man, Cabadath.
Seen as the messiah of the cult, a powerful undead that has on occasion in the past been sent to bring down Chzo's wrath on those that spite him personally.

Player Characters:
As a worshipper of the King, you seek to spread his message of purification through sacrifice of the self. You have most likely already suffered the three Blessed Agonies, wielding aspects of chzo's divine power through you if you are of a divine class, while channeling the power of pain through you even if you are not. Take powers that allow you to inflict pain or fear upon others, as well as sowing chaos within the enemies' ranks. You may choose training in Endurance, Intimidate, or arcana.
Worshippers of Chzo have access to a feat that they may sacrifice certain class feats for, such as Ritual Casting.

The King's Glory
When bloodied, you gain half of your level as a bonus to attack and damage rolls. All powers with the 'Radiant' keyword instead use 'Necrotic'.

Avenger: There are those who work to supplant the Order and, by extension, your King, in this world and in others. These are your greatest enemies, along with those who preach against the practices you hold dear.
Cleric: You are an unholy terror on the field of battle, a person wholly unafraid of the pain that others can inflict upon you, channeling your King's power to strike down foes, your fearlessness inspiring others around you to greatness.
Invoker: You are a more direct focusing of Chzo's will, a beacon of divinity to others of the Order, and an avatar of pure terror to your foes. You suffer greatly for your god, and you are more than happy to share this suffering with your enemies.
Paladin: You are perhaps not the knight in shining armor that the class lends itself to, but more than any other divine class you are a deadly soldier. Necrotic energy surges in your blade, and you cleave through hordes of enemies in combat, allowing no wound to slow you.


Weapon:

Weapon of Blessed Agonies
Level 4+
A blessing from the King himself, this weapon surges with divine power.
Level 4: +1, 1,000 GP
Level 9: +2, 5,000 GP
Level 14: +3, 23,000 GP
Level 19: +4, 120,000 GP
Level 24: +5, 550,000 GP
Level 29: +6, 3,000,000 GP
Level 30: +6, 4,000,000 GP

Weapon: Any melee
Enhancement: Attack rolls and damage rolls
Critical: +1d8 Necrotic per plus
Property: This weapon can be used by Clerics, Avengers, or Paladins of Chzo as a Holy symbol, and Invokers of Chzo can use this weapon as an Implement. Prayer attacks made with this weapon as an implement gain the weapon's enhancement bonus.

Power: (At-will - Nonlethal) Free action. All damage dealt with this weapon is nonlethal. Another free action returns damage to normal.
Power: (Daily - Divine) Minor Action. Regain one expended Divine encounter power or Channel Divinity.

Level 14 or 19:
Property: This weapon gains reach 1. If the weapon already had this property, increase its damage die by one size category.

Level 24 or 29:
Power (Encounter - Teleport): Minor action. Teleport a number of squares equal to your Wis modifier.

Level 30:
Effect: When you score a critical hit with this weapon, you may shift 1 and make a basic melee attack as a free action.



More to come. Will explore other Divine classes.