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View Full Version : The Maelstrom Mind prestige class. PEACH.



Angry Bob
2010-04-03, 02:16 PM
Maelstrom minds are psions and wilders akin to Anarchic Initiates. Maelstrom minds differ in that instead of tapping the power of limbo and raw chaos, they instead cultivate a growing madness in their own minds. Maelstrom minds are unstable and capricious, causing mass havoc one minute, and rambling about anything and everything the next. Even their allies give them a wide berth.

tHerE are tiny gorilLas Planting their eggs under My skin. plEase FORgeT i said anytHing evEr. Little peOple are Villainous quitE OFten. also GelatinOus wasps hurt baDly. - Xid, a Maelstrom Mind

Prerequisites:
Skills: Autohypnosis 4, Concentration 8
Feats: Combat Manifestation
Alignment: Any Chaotic

Skills: Autohypnosis, Concentration, Intimidate, Knowledge(all), Psicraft, Sense Motive, Use Psionic Device
Skill points per level: 2 + Int

HD: d4

{table]Level | BaB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | Manifesting
1st | +0 | +0 | +0 | +2 | Chaotic Insight (Level 1) | +1 to Existing Manifesting Class
2nd | +1 | +0 | +0 | +3 | Insane Focus, Downward Spiral | +1 to Existing Manifesting Class
3rd | +1 | +1 | +1 | +3 | Chaotic Insight (Level 2) | +1 to Existing Manifesting Class
4th | +2 | +1 | +1 | +4 | Sensitive Mind | +1 to Existing Manifesting Class
5th | +2 | +1 | +1 | +4 | Chaotic Insight (Level 3) | +1 to Existing Manifesting Class
6th | +3 | +2 | +2 | +5 | Insane Focus (Swift action), Downward Spiral | +1 to Existing Manifesting Class
7th | +3 | +2 | +2 | +5 | Chaotic Insight (Level 4) | +1 to Existing Manifesting Class
8th | +4 | +2 | +2 | +6 | Unstable Thoughts | +1 to Existing Manifesting Class
9th | +4 | +3 | +3 | +6 | Chaotic Insight (Level 5) | +1 to Existing Manifesting Class
10th | +5 | +3 | +3 | +7 | Downward Spiral, Sanity Siphon | +1 to Existing Manifesting Class[/table]

Class Features:

Manifesting: Whenever a Maelstrom Mind gains a level, they also gain power points, powers know, and manifester level as though they had also gained a level of their existing manifesting class. They choose which to add to if they had more than one already.

Downward Spiral: At 2nd, 6th, and 10th levels, a Maelstrom Mind permanently loses 2 points of wisdom.

Chaotic Insight: At 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th levels, a Maelstrom mind permanently loses knowledge of one power they know. Every day, for each power they've lost this way, they may choose a power from any class list of up to a power level indicated on the class table. For that day, they may manifest that power as though they knew that power.

Insane Focus: At 2nd Level, a Maelstrom Mind may take 1d6 wisdom damage as a move action to automatically become psionically focused. At 6th level, this becomes a swift action.

Sensitive Mind: A Maelstrom Mind's cognitive processes are a strange place, and any intrusion of normalcy is instantly noticed. At l4th level, Whenever someone attempts to magically or psionically discern a Maelstrom Mind's thoughts, the Maelstrom Mind is immediately aware of it and knows who is attempting it unless the character attempting to do so succeeds on a DC(15 + Maelstrom Mind's Int modifier) caster or manifester level check.

Unstable Thoughts: A Maelstrom Mind's thoughts are a dangerous place, and are made even more so by attempts to alter them. At 8th level, whenever a Maelstrom Mind succeeds on a will save against a mind-affecting effect, the character whose effect it was, if any, must succeed on a will save(DC 17 + Maelstrom Mind's Int modifier), or their head explodes, killing them instantly, if the loss of a head would kill that character. Even if they make their save, they still take 1d6 points of wisdom damage. This ability has no effect on other Maelstrom Minds.

Sanity Siphon: At 10th level, as long as the Maelstrom Mind is psionically focused, whenever a character fails their save against a mind-affecting power of a Maelstrom Mind, that character takes 1d6 wisdom damage, and the Maelstrom mind gains a number of power points equal to the level of that power plus the amount of wisdom damage dealt, but can't gain more points this way per power than were spent to manifest that power in the first place.

TabletopNuke
2010-04-03, 06:10 PM
Ooh, I too had plans to make a class like this using my madness feat (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=129960) system, but it looks like you beat me to the punch.

Downward Spiral is way too big a penalty, though. That's gonna be a -6 to Wisdom by the time they max out the class. The Alienist class from CA only has a -2 penalty (and might be a good source of inspiration). Insane Focus doesn't look to helpful, either. It puts the character in danger of incapacitating themselves via 0 Wis.

Weakness aside, this class has great fluff and good potential. I'd like to see where this goes.