Soul Collector 3.5 prc PEACH

[Erevar]

I would like to thank M-Bark for giving my some ideas by making his prestige class the tomebinder librarian which can be found here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=9541380&postcount=21) and partly to the character Noah from the Soul Eater manga and now without further delay i present to you the Soul Collector. Moved this here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=177485)

Soul Collector
http://i.annihil.us/u/prod/marvel//universe3zx/images/3/3e/Eternals442.jpg
I can wait to put you into my collection.

Some people after a close brush with death develop the ability to see the souls of the recently deceased. However some of them develop a hole in their soul after nearly dying it is as if a part of their has in fact left them to go to the great beyond. This hole creates a hunger inside a yearning to be filled to be hole again. This drives most people mad and desperate to reunite with their missing part and eventually to suicide. But some may find a mentor who teaches them how to use the souls of the recently dead to fill the void and fill whole again. However the filling of emptiness does not go away it grows and more souls are needed to fill the void. And as the soul collector acquires more souls the more powerful he becomes by channeling the power of the souls he has collected.


ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

Alignment: Any Evil
Skills:Knowledge (religion) and (the planes) 8
Feat: Spirit Sense p.124 Heroes of Horror
Special: Must meet and receive training from another soul collector

Class Skills
Bluff, Gather Information, Knowledge(all),Hide,Move Silently, Listen, Spot, Sense motive, Spellcraft, Use Magic Device
Skills Points at Each Level: 4 + int

Hit Dice: d6
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|
+0|
+2|
+0|
+2|Soul receptacle,Soul Puppeteer

2nd|
+1|
+3|
+0|
+3|Rebuke undead

3rd|
+2|
+3|
+1|
+3|Soul Puppeteer

4th|
+3|
+4|
+1|
+4|Knowledge of the Legion

5th|
+3|
+4|
+1|
+4|Soul Puppeteer

6th|
+4|
+5|
+2|
+5|Impure Soul Resurrection

7th|
+5|
+5|
+2|
+5|Soul Puppeteer

8th|
+6|
+6|
+2|
+6|Legion Warrior

9th|
+6|
+6|
+3|
+6|Soul Puppeteer

10th|
+7|
+7|
+3|
+7|Eternal Soul,Soul Release[/table]

Weapon Proficiencies: A Soul Collector gains no new weapon or armor proficiencies.

Soul receptacle: One of the first things soul collectors learns is how to combine other souls with their own and imprison them inside the void. When a creature dies near the soul collector he may attempt to absorb their soul into his own. When a creature dies in the vicinity of the soul collector he makes a will save roll which is opposed by the creature's will saving throw . If the creature has more HD than the soul collector, it receives +1 to its roll for each HD above the soul collector's. If the creature succeeds then it is free to pass on to whatever fate awaits it, otherwise it is trapped within the soul collector. A soul collector may absorb 10 HD of creatures per Soul collector level which represent his continuing desire to fill the gap growing . He may voluntarily release souls, which are then allowed to pass on.

Creatures which do not have souls or whose souls are not in their corporeal body when they die cannot be targets for the soul collector's soul receptacle ability otherwise it is up to the DM to determine which creatures are eligible targets for this ability. I would suggest animals, magical beast , vermin, humanoids, monstrous humanoids, dragons, fey and outsiders.

Soul Puppeteer: Once a creature is trapped inside the soul collector it is at his mercy . The Collector may then use this connection in order to draw power from the creatures trapped within. Each soul collector usually manifests different abilities and as they progress they gain even more abilities from the souls they have trapped within themselves. The Soul Collector can change souls using a standard action. Each time he can only use one of the souls, and the soul can make a will save opposed by the soul collector's will save. If the soul inside succeeds, it prevents the soul collector from using its powers for a week. The soul collector may only establish a soul link to one soul at a time and that soul must have the same HD or less than the Soul Collector's. Each time the soul collector establishes a soul link to one of the souls he can then apply any or all his abilities to that soul. If the Soul Collector attempts to use the soul of a creature which has more HD than him and it succeeds on its will save, then instead the soul is set free and passes on out of the reach of the Soul Collector. You gain one ability at level 1 and one more at levels 3,5,7,9. The usual abilities which most soul collectors usually manifest are:

Convertible: The Soul Collector takes on aspects of the souls he has bound in his physical stature. He gains the Outsider type while connecting to an evil outsider and gains any subtypes of the soul he connects to. If the soul he is connected to is larger than him, he gains Powerful Build. For every two size categories the soul is larger than him, the Soul Collector grows one size category and gains a +2 size bonus to Strength for each increase in size. If the soul is smaller than him, he gains Sleight Build. For every two size categories the soul is smaller than him, the Soul Collector shrinks one size category and gains a +2 size bonus to Dexterity for each decrease in size. The Soul Collector can choose not to be affected by this ability.

Defences: The Soul Collector gains any immunities the soul has, as well as its energy resistances, spell or power resistance, damage reduction, natural armour and save bonuses.

Dual-wielding souls: The Soul Collector gains the ability to connect to two souls he has imprisoned within his soul . Both souls may not have more HD than the Soul Collectors character level - 2. If the Souls’ abilities overlap, the Soul Collector gains the better one. If these abilities have a use limit (like a certain spell-like ability x/day), add the two values together.

Empower self (Sp): The Soul Collector can empower himself physically and mentally using the strength of the imprisoned soul. He gains the soul’s ability modifiers as an enhancement bonus to his own respective score. (E.g. he gets the soul’s Strength bonus as an enhancement bonus to his Strength score and the soul’s Wisdom bonus as an enhancement bonus to his Wisdom score.)

Extraordinary abilities (Ex): The Soul Collector gains the ability to use all the Soul’s extraordinary abilities.

Natural abilities: The Soul Collector gains the creature’s natural skill bonuses, natural weapons, weapon and armour proficiencies and bonus feats. Skill bonuses from multiple souls (as per dual-wielding souls) stack. If the weapon proficiencies overlap, you gain a +2 bonus on attack rolls with that weapon. If the armour proficiencies overlap, you gain a +2 bonus to armour class while wearing that armour.

Psi-/Spell-Like abilities (Ps/Sp):The Soul Collector gains the ability to use all the trapped soul’s psi-like and spell-like abilities.

Soul casting: The Soul collector channels a souls magical ability. In order to do so the soul collector must have at least as many HD as the caster level of the spell caster. Furthermore because the soul collector is only tapping at the souls ability to cast spells he may only cast one spell from each spell level in addition to any slots the soul collector gets because of a high modifier to his casting stat. The soul collectors spell casting ability is based on his charisma score and he learns spells exactly like the spell caster whose soul he is using. In order to regain his spells the soul collector must rest as normal and succeed at a will save roll of a DC 10+ the spell casting level of the soul he wants to use. His caster level is equal to the souls caster level.

Supernatural abilities (Su): The Soul Collector gains the ability to use all the trapped creature’s supernatural abilities.


However this ability also has certain drawbacks: The first being that each time the mind of the soul collector is vulnerable while channeling a soul that soul has the chance to escape. So every time the soul collector is sleeping or in a trance or unconscious then the soul he is channeling gets a will save to escape. Furthermore while channeling a soul his alignment changes one step towards the souls own on any axis which the soul is strongly aligned. Also each time he changes souls this puts a strain on his mind as he has to come into to contact with the souls of probably many beings. This results on a cumulative -1 penalty to his will save for every time he changes one of the souls he is channeling soul after the first time he does so.


Knowledge of the Legion: The Soul Collector may tap into the combined knowledge of the souls he has gathered and seek answers to his questions. This ability function like the bardic knowledge ability of the bard.

Rebuke undead: The Soul Collector's close connection to souls gives him a measure of power over the souls of the undead. He gains the Rebuke Undead class feature as a cleric of his Soul Collector's class level. The number of undead he may have under his control is equal to 4x his level in this prestige class.

Impure Soul Resurrection(Sp): The Soul Collector may temporary bring a creature whose soul he has under his control back to life. Once per encounter for a number of rounds equal to his 3+ Charisma modifier he can bring the soul back to life under his command. A creature has the same stats as it had before it died and it is fully healed, once the soul is out of the Soul Collector, the soul collector cannot use his soul puppeteer ability to that soul. However once the duration expires, he must force the soul back into his own soul from which it came using again a Will save check opposed by the captured soul’s will save. If the soul makes this will save, then not only is it free but it can turn against the soul collector with its new body.

Legion Warrior: The souls now gathered inside the soul collector afford him some insight into the souls of his opponents, which he can use to channel to either his defence or his attack or to damage vital areas of his opponents body. He may add his charisma modifier as an insight bonus to his AC or to his Attack or Damage rolls. He may change where he has placed the bonus as a swift action.

Eternal Soul: The soul collector's soul has become so strong that it simply refuses to die, every time he dies he loses one of the souls inside him as it forms a cell from which he is reborn at a place where there is a large gathering of souls, like a cemetery. Each time the soul collector dies his body reforms after 1d10 days at the closest gathering of souls and one of the souls inside him is destroyed as it serves as the substance for his new body. The soul or souls must have a total HD equal to his own, if the soul collector taps into a soul that has more HD than he has, that soul is destroyed. The Soul Collector also ceases to age.

Soul Release: The Soul Collector has reached the pinnacle of his power. He can for a short period of time channel all the souls he has inside him and pick any abilities he wants to channel from all of them, furthermore he can bring all or as many of them as he wants back using his impure soul resurrection ability. This ability last for a number of rounds equal to 3+his charisma modifier and can only be used once per week. Furthermore after using this ability the soul collector must make a will save equal to 10+ the number of souls he has in his soul or lose all of them. Any souls that came back using his impure soul resurrection ability,and remain after he fails his will saving throw, are free to act as they please.

[Erevar]

Bump :smallfrown:

[Mangles]

I would like to start of with saying I really really like the fluff, but I have a few problems with the classes crunch. Before I get onto the rant of why I don't think this class should be allowed into a game. Your description of Soul Puppeteer is a bit vague. Do you gain 1 Soul Puppeteer ability every time it appears on the table. It never says so in the description. Onto the rant.

A lot of this classes abilities are dependent on what enemies the DM sends at you. This could mean really good things for you as you fill up your 100 HD worth of space, or just terrible. He could meet up with only crappy monsters with null abilities and fall behind, or find a ridiculously good ability and just manifest that soul all day long. At lower levels he is only going to have one soul or maybe two anyway until he can start having a lot of HP worth to throw around. This is where the problem really starts.

He could have for instance a few sorcerers and some cleric or druid and just cast any 9th level spell he wanted. Up to 5 (+ bonus for high wis/char) level 9 spells from any list chosen at the start of the a day. But that's only if you want to be a pure caster. Why not become a Giant creature with power full build as well and steal a monks flurry of blows or a Barbarian or any melee class that you can get a person of your level -2 soul and as large a creature as you can find (Dual progression with convertible and Ex abilities) or become a tiny creature with massive sneak attack damage, or both sneak attack and skirmish. The problem with this class is it is more versatile than even the druid. He can even get the Druids wild shape ability and have sorcerer casting. This guy is a monster of possibilities and thus abuse.

The DM's only option to make this guy less abusable is to not throw monsters with interesting abilities or PC characters at this guy. Which is really boring.

[Raging Gene Ray]

I see the logic behind the alignment restriction, but I think it could be removed or Alternate Class Features given for Good aligned Soul Collectors. The logic is that they may see themselves of shepherds or keepers of the dead. They may want to keep souls from passing into oblivion before their time or to save souls that have been unfairly claimed by Baator, kind of like the Soulguard from one of the Fiendish Codices.

[Magicyop]

I would like to start of with saying I really really like the fluff, but I have a few problems with the classes crunch. Before I get onto the rant of why I don't think this class should be allowed into a game. Your description of Soul Puppeteer is a bit vague. Do you gain 1 Soul Puppeteer ability every time it appears on the table. It never says so in the description. Onto the rant.

A lot of this classes abilities are dependent on what enemies the DM sends at you. This could mean really good things for you as you fill up your 100 HD worth of space, or just terrible. He could meet up with only crappy monsters with null abilities and fall behind, or find a ridiculously good ability and just manifest that soul all day long. At lower levels he is only going to have one soul or maybe two anyway until he can start having a lot of HP worth to throw around. This is where the problem really starts.

He could have for instance a few sorcerers and some cleric or druid and just cast any 9th level spell he wanted. Up to 5 (+ bonus for high wis/char) level 9 spells from any list chosen at the start of the a day. But that's only if you want to be a pure caster. Why not become a Giant creature with power full build as well and steal a monks flurry of blows or a Barbarian or any melee class that you can get a person of your level -2 soul and as large a creature as you can find (Dual progression with convertible and Ex abilities) or become a tiny creature with massive sneak attack damage, or both sneak attack and skirmish. The problem with this class is it is more versatile than even the druid. He can even get the Druids wild shape ability and have sorcerer casting. This guy is a monster of possibilities and thus abuse.

The DM's only option to make this guy less abusable is to not throw monsters with interesting abilities or PC characters at this guy. Which is really boring.

Agree! This is a cool and fun class, but it needs some work. Explain more clearly how Soul Puppeteer abilities work-- do you get one of them for each soul inside you? Do you select one at multiple levels, and when selected, it effects all souls inside you?

Secondly, you know what would be fun? Having all those souls screaming in your head has got to be dangerous. Add something where the souls can impose negative effects on you in some ways. Example: If the target has a negative ability modifier, this is always imposed upon your ability score, even if you don't have the ability to let you do that.

Or maybe an insanity chart-- based on how many souls of differing alignment you have inside you, you could start to go insane or change alignment.

Fun stuff-- make it so you can get a couple powerful features by absorbing your foes, but there are consequences as well.

Finally, I would like to see a feat tie-in which just adds 10 HD to your soul limit, or something of that nature. Looking forward to seeing where you go with this.

[Erevar]

Mangles: I would like to emphasize the point that in order for the soul collector to actually gain strong souls it would first mean that he would have to kill them. Furthermore each time he actually uses one of the souls there is a chance that he will not be able to use the abilities of that specific soul for a week or if it is more powerful than he is he could lose it permanently. Also i suppose that in order for him to gain specific souls he would have to actually hunt them i personally as a DM would allow him certain lean way for that. Furthermore if he decided to hunt high level casters i am pretty sure that they would probably have been prepared for that and would not give their soul so easily. Lastly, the guy can channel just one or maybe two souls at a time give that a resourceful DM probably has a variety of challenges he wont be able to defend against all of them.

Raging Gene R: I am not really sure how good it is to keep trapped inside you the souls of the dead but i guess later on if i have the time i might adapt the prestige class for good characters.

Magicyop: Indeed i should have made that point clearer probably by saying that all the abilities you select are used to the soul you are channeling.I will clarify that point. Furthermore an insanity effect sounds nice but i would like to first study the official insanity rules and go from there but in the mean time if you have some mechanic in mind i would be more than happy to discuss it. And as for the feats tie in i was actually thinking of doing something like that and perhaps creating a line of feats which would reduce the limit you have but actually give you something cool in return but i wanted to finish the prestige before i actually got around to doing that. Actually i had an idea how about a drawback in which every time he is mentally vulnerable one of the souls he has imprisoned attempts to take control of his body or attempts to escape how does that sound?

ALSO THANK YOU ALL FOR THE FEEDBACK. :smallsmile:

[Erevar]

Implemented several changes some changes in fluff and added certain drawbacks which occur as he channels souls. As always if anyone has any ideas or opinions for something that ought to change or a different mechanic i would be more than happy to hear it.