Sothoth- Aberrant Prestige

[Nanoblack]

SOTHOTH

Picture:http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/007/8/f/The_Cloaked_King_by_KhairulHisham.jpg

"We shall see that at which dogs howl in the dark, and that at which cats prick up their ears after midnight."

Monsters, shape shifters, infiltrators. A Sothoth is a being who came into mental contact with a Far Realm entity and didn't lose its sanity. Instead it follows the whispers in the back of its skull and slowly becomes more like the being that has infiltrated its existance... it becomes a monster.

When one officially enters the ranks of the Sothoth, they lose their names and are given a new one. Most of these are words of great meaning in farspeech followed by Sothoth.

Ex.: Yog Sothoth, Faugn Sothoth, Cthugha Sothoth, ect.


Requirements:
Saves: Fortitude +6
Feats: Aberration Blood
Skills: Disguise 4 Ranks
Special: Must have made mental contact with a creature from the Far Realm

{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|
+1|
+2|
+0|
+2|Alternate Form, Symbiont, Mutating Whispers

2nd|
+2|
+3|
+0|
+3|Corrosive Touch, Bonus Aberrant Feat

3rd|
+3|
+3|
+1|
+3|Alter Self

4th|
+4|
+4|
+1|
+4|Bonus Aberrant Feat, Acid Resistance 10

5th|
+5|
+4|
+1|
+4|Corrosive Spew

6th|
+6|
+5|
+2|
+5|Bonus Aberrant Feat

7th|
+7|
+5|
+2|
+5|Polymorph Self

8th|
+8|
+6|
+2|
+6|Bonus Aberrant Feat, Acid Resistance 20

9th|
+9|
+6|
+3|
+6|Mindspiders

10th|
+10|
+7|
+3|
+7|Aberrant Apotheosis, Bonus Aberrant Feat[/table]


Class Skills: Climb (Str), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (The Planes), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), and Spot (Wis)

Skill Points: 4 + Int modifier

Hit Die: D10


Based off of a character I ran a while back. Sothoth is a mashup of some interesting abilities from Alienist, Impure Prince, and Thrall of Juiblex. Also to be included are grafts.

Suggestions are more than welcome.

[Nanoblack]

Class Features:

Alternate Form (Su):
At will, a Sothoth creature can take the form of a grotesque, tentacled mass (or another appropriately gruesome form), but all its abilities remain unchanged despite the alien appearance. Changing shape is a standard action. Other creatures receive a -1 morale penalty on their attack rolls against a Sothoth in this alternate form.

Symbiont (Ex):
Upon taking your first level in this class, a Sothoth gains a symbiont sent by the entity he is serving. The symbiont is also how the Sothoth's master keeps track of him. It can be chosen from the following list: Breed Leech, Crawling Gauntlet, Stormstalk, Throwing Scarab, or Winter Cyst (As detailed in chapter 6 of Magic of Eberron). Upon reaching 5th level in this class you can instead obtain a shadow sibling, spellwurm, or tentacle whip.

Once the symbiont willingly joins with you; any other character who attempts to join with the symbiont must succeed on a personality conflict every day until the symbiont wins, at which point it detaches from the host.

If the symbiont is ever lost or killed the Sothoth loses 2 points of Constitution and cannot take another level in this class until he replaces it using a ritual that take 8 hours and requires the expenditure of resources that cost 100gp. Upon the symbionts return the Sothoth also regains the lost Con.

Corrosive Touch (Ex):
At 2nd level a Sothoth can secrete a caustic slime over all of its natural weapons as a swift action. It can then be used to make a touch attack that deals 2d6 points of acid damage or as part of an attack with a natural weapon. Because of the corrosive slime this attack is not considered unarmed and does not provoke an attack of opportunity.

Bonus Aberrant Feat:
Your master has deemed you worthy of becoming more like the monsters you serve. At 3rd level and every odd level thereafter, a Sothoth gains a bonus aberrant feat. You must still meet all prerequisites for a bonus feat.

Alter Self (Su):
At 4th level, a Sothoth's becomes even more transitory and amorphous. It can change its appearance and form at will, as the alter self spell cast by a 4th level caster.

Corrosive Spew (Ex):
At 6th level, a Sothoth can spit a gout of caustic goo in a line 5ft wide and 30ft long once every 5 rounds. The corrosive spew deals 1d8 points of acid damage per class level to anyone in its path, with a reflex saving throw (10+Sothoth Class Level+Sothoths Con Modifier) for half damage.

Polymorph Self (Su):
At 8th level a Sothoths form is more amorphous than ever. It can change its appearance and form at will, as the polymorph spell at a caster level equal to the Sothoths class level. However each use of this ability deals the Sothoth 1 point of wisdom damage due to the intense energies altering his physiology.

Aberrant Apotheosis (Su):
At 10th level you undergo a transformation into an aberration. Your type changes to aberration, you gain darkvision out to 60ft (Or your current darkvision extends 60ft), and you gain Damage Reduction 10/Magic. You also gain a +2 bonus to constitution.

Mindspiders (Su):
The entity that has invested the power required to make you what you are does not like to compete for dominance within your consciousness. While under the effect of a mind effecting ability, you have a cumulative 1% chance every round to go berserk attacking everything within sight until either the spell effect has ended or you die. If the caster is within line of sight you target that individual first, also during this time you get saving throws to resist the spell as normal.






Feats

Mutating Whispers
Requirements: Devotion toward an Elder God(Far Realm), Nongood Alignment

Choose a type of graft. At any time you may retreat to a secluded location and spend time praying to your chosen Elder God. This requires a sacrifice of valuable items worth the market price of the graft you wish to receive. This sacrifice does not have to be gold-- You can sacrifice magic items or other goods worth the required amount (rather than selling your items at half price) to pay for the sacrifice. You must spend one day per 1000 gp value you sacrifice. During this time, you must spend at least 8 hours each day in prayer or meditation, not stopping to eat or rest. At the end of this time, the goods are expended and you emerge bearing your new graft.

Special: Once chosen you cannot change the type of graft obtainable with this feat. You may take this feat multiple times, each time choosing a new type of graft.

[Nanoblack]

Current to do list for the class: To include some way to gain grafts without adding spellcasting... was thinking of an ability similar to the ancestral relic feat from BoED.

To insure no polymorphing abuse will happen while still being able to keep it as a class ability.

Requirements for the class are especially puzzling. Its definitely not for casters so, of course, casting requirements are out.

Any methods to encourage "predatory" behavior (By this I mean making the player think, act, and overall play like they're a monster).

Im also debating whether to include a 1/day summoning or not... oozes or pseudonatural creatures would both be options

An ability that is the equivalent to a golems berserk but only if the Sothoth is being mind controlled... sort of like a physical rebellion.

Last but not least I want more aberrant feats.

[Milskidasith]

It needs entry requirements. And everything else.

It's probably a good idea to finish the PrC, or at least actually have most of the abilities figured out, before you post it. I can't comment on it with no abilities listed.

[Nanoblack]

Well this is all I've got for now... still trying to figure out how to implement grafts... as I said before though: suggestions are more than welcome. If you are reading this, THAT MEANS YOU!!!

[JoshuaZ]

Minor note: Yog-Sothoth is already a deity in the Lovecraftian mythos which is commonly how the Far Realm is portrayed.

[Nanoblack]

Minor note: Yog-Sothoth is already a deity in the Lovecraftian mythos which is commonly how the Far Realm is portrayed.

Exactly! Thats why I chose it for the class name... I've always been a big fan of Lovecraft but the Elder Gods like Nug, Yeb, and Mr. Sothoth himself were always my favorite.

[Nanoblack]

Any suggestions for entry requirements or skills would be welcomed.

[DragoonWraith]

Mindspiders is ridiculous. Why not take a cue from the Binder, and have the being in your mind protect you from mind control? That's most common; several classes like this have a similar thing. As a 10th level ability, a constant Mind Blank would not be entirely inappropriate.

Corrosive Touch and Acid Spew are both too limited. Corrosive Touch is equivalent to a 3rd level Rogue's Sneak Attack, but you can only use it 1/day, and only on natural attacks. That's ridiculous. At 2d6 damage, you could add that to every attack period, and it wouldn't be too much (it'd seriously be a weak +2-equivalent bonus on your weapons). If you want it to be limited, the damage should be higher, or scale, and 1/day is still not good, no matter what. Anything that is 1/day is basically meaningless unless it's an encounter ender - you'll use it, but it won't change who your character is or how they function.

Acid Spew is roughly equivalent to a 4th level spell (8d6 damage implies Caster Level 8), but comes at, presumably, level 11 (assuming level 6 entry as is common for Prestige Classes), which is pretty weak, and then you get it 1/day, again. I'd say this should be more like a dragon's breath weapon, usable every 1d4 rounds, or like a Binder's granted abilities, usable every 5 rounds. Also, the damage should scale.

Alternate Form, Alter Self, and Polymorph are each quite powerful, so those are fine.

Oh, the Constitution loss from the death of the symbiont - is that permanent? If so, that's ridiculous. Make it either returned to you when you replace the Symbiont, or make it normal Constitution drain/damage/burn/whatever.

Other than that, it seems like 8 ranks in Knowledge (The Planes), maybe 4 ranks in Disguise, and the Aberration Blood feat seem roughly appropriate for requirements.

[Nanoblack]

Thanks a bunch for the excellent advice! A few questions though:


Mindspiders is ridiculous. Why not take a cue from the Binder, and have the being in your mind protect you from mind control? That's most common; several classes like this have a similar thing. As a 10th level ability, a constant Mind Blank would not be entirely inappropriate.

Changing it to mind blank wouldn't be a problem, but for arguments sake would there be a way to keep Mindspiders similar to what it is? I don't necessarily want the Sothoth to be immune to mind affecting abilities, but I want to give them a way to violently "buck" their new controller.


Corrosive Touch and Acid Spew are both too limited. Corrosive Touch is equivalent to a 3rd level Rogue's Sneak Attack, but you can only use it 1/day, and only on natural attacks. That's ridiculous. At 2d6 damage, you could add that to every attack period, and it wouldn't be too much (it'd seriously be a weak +2-equivalent bonus on your weapons). If you want it to be limited, the damage should be higher, or scale, and 1/day is still not good, no matter what. Anything that is 1/day is basically meaningless unless it's an encounter ender - you'll use it, but it won't change who your character is or how they function.

I didn't really want to scale up the damage too much as that would make the damage comparable to the acid spew gained at later levels. I hadn't considered a constant effect either... my main concern in giving it unlimited uses would be players using it to melt through anything that gets in their way (Locks, doors, walls, ect.)


Acid Spew is roughly equivalent to a 4th level spell (8d6 damage implies Caster Level 8), but comes at, presumably, level 11 (assuming level 6 entry as is common for Prestige Classes), which is pretty weak, and then you get it 1/day, again. I'd say this should be more like a dragon's breath weapon, usable every 1d4 rounds, or like a Binder's granted abilities, usable every 5 rounds. Also, the damage should scale.

I had seriously considered scaling the damage on this and upping the uses per day on this, but I wanted a second opinion before I did anything drastic... I'm thinking the once per five rounds should be adequate and maybe a d6/8 per class level.


Alternate Form, Alter Self, and Polymorph are each quite powerful, so those are fine.

Should I perhaps remove or change the WIS damage for the polymorph effect? I definitely don't want this to be the remorrhaz spam class.


Oh, the Constitution loss from the death of the symbiont - is that permanent? If so, that's ridiculous. Make it either returned to you when you replace the Symbiont, or make it normal Constitution drain/damage/burn/whatever.

The constitution comes back when you get your new symbiont. I'll clear that up.


Other than that, it seems like 8 ranks in Knowledge (The Planes), maybe 4 ranks in Disguise, and the Aberration Blood feat seem roughly appropriate for requirements.

Knowledge (The Planes), if I'm not mistaken, is kinda hard for fighter types to come by which is this class's target audience. I had considered Disguise so I'll definitely use that. I had already settled on Aberration Blood so we're in agreement on that :smallbiggrin:



Edit: Also what do you think of the prospect of adding acid resistance at the same rate as the bonus aberrant feats?

[Warpwolf16]

Exactly! Thats why I chose it for the class name... I've always been a big fan of Lovecraft but the Elder Gods like Nug, Yeb, and Mr. Sothoth himself were always my favorite.

This is me being a bit nit picky...though Im a long time fan of lovecraft...the Elder Gods are not Yog-Sothoth, Nug, or Yeb. Those are Outer Gods and maybe Great Old Ones. Elder Gods were Noden and Bast and the few who didnt want to utterly make mankind go insane or bring upon the end of days.

On this class, I actually like the idea's behind it. The ability to obtain a symbiot is actually something that strikes me as lovecraftian, Abberant Blood Feat is also wonderful due to the other Abberant feats.

I say looking good so far, maybe add something that causes a touch of Far-Realm on the Sothoth to sprout tentacles from their shoulder's?

[Nanoblack]

sprout tentacles from their shoulder's?

The aberrant feat Deepspawn lets you grow two tentacles. You can also obtain various far-realmy appendages via grafts.

[Nanoblack]

Any help guys? Kinda lost steam on the abilities and feats... Also if there is anything I could do to improve what I already have, it would be much appreciated.