Forever Curious
2010-05-27, 10:53 AM
So, I was recently reading this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=122103&highlight=Xeno) by RealmsOfChaos and have fallen in love with the concept of the Far Realms for use in standard D&D. Thus, I bring you...
The Otherworldly Harmonic
"I sing a song of madness." -Marvex, an otherworldly harmonic
Othworldly harmonics are bards who have been corrupted (or empowered) by the power of the Far Realms.
Game Rule Information
Requirements
-Skills Perform (any) 10 ranks
-Feats Force of Personality
-Special Must have witnessed some phenomena from the Far Realms (fought a Pseudonatural creature, etc.)
-Special Bardic Music class feature
Skills
The otherworldly harmonic’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge
(the planes) (Int), Listen (Wis), Perform (Cha), Sense Motive (Wis), and Speak Language (n/a).
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Otherworldly Harmonic
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Spells
1st|
+0|
+0|
+0|
+2|Far-song, Eerie chant, Music from madness|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
2nd|
+1|
+0|
+0|
+3|Aura of Dissonance (30 feet) |+1 level of existing spellcasting class
3rd|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+3|Destructive Cacophony, One With the Outside|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
4th|
+3|
+1|
+1|
+4|Greater Aura of Dissonance (60 ft)|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
5th|
+3|
+1|
+1|
+4|Music of the Shattered Spheres|[/table]
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Otherworldly harmonics gain no proficiency with any armor, weapons, or shields.
Far-song (Su): By tapping into the Far Realms, an otherworldly harmonic can produce horrifically beautiful songs and performances. Far-song follows the same rules for bardic music (see the players Handbook, pg. 29). Otherworldly harmonic class features stack with bard levels to determine how often he can use bardic music or far-song. They do not stack for determining bardic music effects. Each use of far-song counts as a use of bardic music.
Eerie Chant (Su): An otherworldly harmonic can emit a strange chant to confound those not tied to the Far Realms. To be affected, a creature must be able to hear the otherworldly harmonic perform. The effect lasts for as long as the enemy hears the otherworldly harmonic perform and for 5 rounds thereafter. An effected creature sickened unless it succeeds on a Will save (DC = 10 + otherworldly harmonic’s ranks in Perform). Success renders the creature immune to this ability for 24 hours. Creatures native to the Far Realms are immune to this ability.
Destructive Cacophony (Sp): An otherworldly harmonic’s music can warp and break items of this world. The effect lasts for as long as the otherworldly harmonic performs and for 5 rounds thereafter. All objects that can “hear” the otherworldly harmonic perform must make a Fortitude save (DC = 10 + otherworldly harmonic’s ranks in Perform) or lose the benefit of its hardness. Further, every round the otherworldly harmonic can target an object in the area of this ability with a shatter spell (treat the otherworldly harmonic’s HD as its caster level).
Music of the Shattered Spheres (Su): An otherworldly harmonic can become a direct link to the Far Realms temporarily, channeling it’s pure madness into music. To be affected, a creature must be able to hear the otherworldly harmonic perform. The effect lasts for as long as the enemy hears the otherworldly harmonic perform. An effected creature must make a Will save (DC = 10 + otherworldly harmonic’s ranks in Perform) or fall to the ground gibbering (similar to Tasha’s Hideous Laughter). Success renders the creature immune to this ability for 24 hours. When the performance ends, all effected creatures must make another save (same DC) or be rendered insane as the spell. In addition, during the performance, all creatures lose any immunity to mind-effecting abilities they may have. Creatures native to the Far Realms are immune to this ability.
Music from Madness (Su): By sacrificing his own sanity, an otherworldly harmonic can fuel his musical abilities. By suffering two points of Wisdom damage, an otherworldly harmonic gains an additional daily use of bardic music. This damage cannot be prevented in any way.
Aura of Dissonance (Su): A strange garbled murmur radiates from the otherworldly harmonic, altering the sound around them. Spells cast using verbal components, bardic music, and other sound-dependent abilities (such as a cloaker’s moan) suffer a 25% failure chance. An otherworldly harmonic is immune to his aura and can suppress it as a free action which does not provoke an attack of opportunity. In addition, an otherworldly harmonic can designate any number of creatures to be immune to this ability.
Greater Aura of Dissonance (Su): The aura of madness spewed from the otherworldly harmonic becomes more intense. The range of the aura increases to 30 feet. In addition, the failure chance increasses to 50%.
One With the Outside (Ex): An otherworldly harmonic can consort with creatures of madness. All aberrations and creatures from the Far Realms regard the otherworldly harmonic with a “Friendly” attitude automatically. Actions from the otherworldly harmonic or allies affect their attitudes as normal. However, all other creatures regard the otherworldly harmonic with an “Unfriendly” attitude automatically, and will never increase their attitude above “Indifferent” when dealing with him regardless of any action.
---
An easy adaptation is to have otherworldly harmonics draw their power from another source (such as the plane of Limbo) or a specific evil entity (see the book Elder Evils for fun examples of mind-numbing horror)
The Otherworldly Harmonic
"I sing a song of madness." -Marvex, an otherworldly harmonic
Othworldly harmonics are bards who have been corrupted (or empowered) by the power of the Far Realms.
Game Rule Information
Requirements
-Skills Perform (any) 10 ranks
-Feats Force of Personality
-Special Must have witnessed some phenomena from the Far Realms (fought a Pseudonatural creature, etc.)
-Special Bardic Music class feature
Skills
The otherworldly harmonic’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge
(the planes) (Int), Listen (Wis), Perform (Cha), Sense Motive (Wis), and Speak Language (n/a).
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Otherworldly Harmonic
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Spells
1st|
+0|
+0|
+0|
+2|Far-song, Eerie chant, Music from madness|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
2nd|
+1|
+0|
+0|
+3|Aura of Dissonance (30 feet) |+1 level of existing spellcasting class
3rd|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+3|Destructive Cacophony, One With the Outside|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
4th|
+3|
+1|
+1|
+4|Greater Aura of Dissonance (60 ft)|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
5th|
+3|
+1|
+1|
+4|Music of the Shattered Spheres|[/table]
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Otherworldly harmonics gain no proficiency with any armor, weapons, or shields.
Far-song (Su): By tapping into the Far Realms, an otherworldly harmonic can produce horrifically beautiful songs and performances. Far-song follows the same rules for bardic music (see the players Handbook, pg. 29). Otherworldly harmonic class features stack with bard levels to determine how often he can use bardic music or far-song. They do not stack for determining bardic music effects. Each use of far-song counts as a use of bardic music.
Eerie Chant (Su): An otherworldly harmonic can emit a strange chant to confound those not tied to the Far Realms. To be affected, a creature must be able to hear the otherworldly harmonic perform. The effect lasts for as long as the enemy hears the otherworldly harmonic perform and for 5 rounds thereafter. An effected creature sickened unless it succeeds on a Will save (DC = 10 + otherworldly harmonic’s ranks in Perform). Success renders the creature immune to this ability for 24 hours. Creatures native to the Far Realms are immune to this ability.
Destructive Cacophony (Sp): An otherworldly harmonic’s music can warp and break items of this world. The effect lasts for as long as the otherworldly harmonic performs and for 5 rounds thereafter. All objects that can “hear” the otherworldly harmonic perform must make a Fortitude save (DC = 10 + otherworldly harmonic’s ranks in Perform) or lose the benefit of its hardness. Further, every round the otherworldly harmonic can target an object in the area of this ability with a shatter spell (treat the otherworldly harmonic’s HD as its caster level).
Music of the Shattered Spheres (Su): An otherworldly harmonic can become a direct link to the Far Realms temporarily, channeling it’s pure madness into music. To be affected, a creature must be able to hear the otherworldly harmonic perform. The effect lasts for as long as the enemy hears the otherworldly harmonic perform. An effected creature must make a Will save (DC = 10 + otherworldly harmonic’s ranks in Perform) or fall to the ground gibbering (similar to Tasha’s Hideous Laughter). Success renders the creature immune to this ability for 24 hours. When the performance ends, all effected creatures must make another save (same DC) or be rendered insane as the spell. In addition, during the performance, all creatures lose any immunity to mind-effecting abilities they may have. Creatures native to the Far Realms are immune to this ability.
Music from Madness (Su): By sacrificing his own sanity, an otherworldly harmonic can fuel his musical abilities. By suffering two points of Wisdom damage, an otherworldly harmonic gains an additional daily use of bardic music. This damage cannot be prevented in any way.
Aura of Dissonance (Su): A strange garbled murmur radiates from the otherworldly harmonic, altering the sound around them. Spells cast using verbal components, bardic music, and other sound-dependent abilities (such as a cloaker’s moan) suffer a 25% failure chance. An otherworldly harmonic is immune to his aura and can suppress it as a free action which does not provoke an attack of opportunity. In addition, an otherworldly harmonic can designate any number of creatures to be immune to this ability.
Greater Aura of Dissonance (Su): The aura of madness spewed from the otherworldly harmonic becomes more intense. The range of the aura increases to 30 feet. In addition, the failure chance increasses to 50%.
One With the Outside (Ex): An otherworldly harmonic can consort with creatures of madness. All aberrations and creatures from the Far Realms regard the otherworldly harmonic with a “Friendly” attitude automatically. Actions from the otherworldly harmonic or allies affect their attitudes as normal. However, all other creatures regard the otherworldly harmonic with an “Unfriendly” attitude automatically, and will never increase their attitude above “Indifferent” when dealing with him regardless of any action.
---
An easy adaptation is to have otherworldly harmonics draw their power from another source (such as the plane of Limbo) or a specific evil entity (see the book Elder Evils for fun examples of mind-numbing horror)