Golden-Esque
2011-01-10, 07:13 PM
Hello, Playgrounders! I've begun undertaking a side project in which I adjust the Tome of Magic's Binder for Pathfinder. It's been a lot of fun so far, and although I was originally planning on saving this for one of ErrantX's Prestige Class contests, I was too excited for it to keep it contained for that long!
Author's Note: This class is intended to function for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. However, like most of Paizo's products, it should be backwards compatable with 3.5, and I'll include spoilers throughout the document for some 3.5 Conversion Tips as I can. Also, I urge you to comment with things you think are interesting and not-so-interesting; cool and not-so-cool; good mechanics and clumsy mechanics. It's always good to hear with the Playgrounders thing With that, on to the show!
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Soulshattered
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"It's always easy at first. A simple question, some arguing and debating involved, but you always get what you want in the end. So what if you have to change your favorite color, hit on a few extra girls, maybe your hair turns purple or something; lots of chicks dig purple. But no where, nothing in any of the texts I have ever encountered came close to describing this."
"It feels like they're ripping, tearing me apart. It wasn't so bad when I only let one of them into my soul, but you invite one other house guest and each of them start clambering for your undivided attention; they each want the juiciest bite of the apple, you see; even if they tear their host down to the core."
"I couldn't let anyone, ANYONE, know what I had done. To change my lifestyle would be admitting that I wasn't as I seemed, that this wasn't just magic tricks or charades. No, I couldn't go back on this lie and expect to live. But at this point, with this pain, is living even worth it?"
"That ... that last battle. I ... I think it was too much. I feel lighter inside. But in a bad way. Like someone cut something important out of my chest. I'm not all here anymore. Something's missing. Gone. Forever."
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http://fc03.deviantart.net/images2/i/2004/08/4/9/My_Horror.jpg
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For a form of magic that is supposed to grant an "easy" alternative to power, Pact Magic has many difficulties hidden within it. Not only must a new Binder learn how to hide themselves from the world's clergies and keep such a monumentous aspect of themselves hidden from everyone they know and love, but they must also dodge the Order of Seropaenes, who have long hunted the Binders to near-extinction from the shadows, while also staying out of Binder politics in the form of the Theurgian Society and the Seropaenean Avengers. However, perhaps the greatest dangers of all are the vestiges themselves, the outermost entities that Binders allow anchorage in their soul in exchange for power.
Vestiges are alien things, jealous for life in reality. While this does not occur to all Binders, many have noted that they feel weaker in mind and soul for having made pacts with a vestige, and so many of them choose to take leave of vestiges either for a short time or permanently. However, those that do not head these warnings can occasionally find that, under stress, the vestiges will literally tear the person's soul asunder in a desperate attempt to cling to reality. While this doesn't provide any long-lasting damage to the Binder, it is uncomfortable; like a missing tooth in one's mouth. However, the situation is worse for that bit of soul, so mercilessly pulled apart by the vestiges. Forced into the void, the soul fragment becomes corrupt and twisted until it too becomes a vestige. Upon learning this, many Binders attempt to rebind their soul together, only to discover that like any other vestige, the void reclaims that bit of soul again after 24 hours. Thus the Soulshattered are born; two halves forever seeking a way to become whole once more.
PREREQUISITES:
In order to become a Soulshattered, a character must meet the following prerequisites:
Skills: Knowledge (Arcana) or Knowledge (The Planes): 7 ranks
Feats: Improved Binding
Special: Soulbinding, Ability to bind 2 vestiges at once
Special: The Binder's soul must have become damaged by the presence of a vestige. This usually occurs when a Binder takes at least 1 point of Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma damage from an attack while bound to a minimum of two vestiges. In fear, the vestiges sense their host soul weakening and desperately cling to it like drowning victims to a nearby swimmer. When the pact ends, bits of the host's soul are missing and thoguh spells or rest can repair the damage, those parts of their soul are forever gone.
If you use this class in a 3.5 Campaign, the Prerequisites change to the following:
Skills: Knowledge (Arcana) or Knowledge (The Planes): 10 ranks
Feats: Improved Binding
Special: Soulbinding, Ability to bind 2 vestiges at once
Special: The Binder's soul must have become damaged by the presence of a vestige. This usually occurs when a Binder takes at least 1 point of Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma damage from an attack while bound to a minimum of two vestiges. In fear, the vestiges sense their host soul weakening and desperately cling to it like drowning victims to a nearby swimmer. When the pact ends, bits of the host's soul are missing and thoguh spells or rest can repair the damage, those parts of their soul are forever gone.
Soulshattered Class Features
{table=head] Level | Base Attack Bonus | Fortitude | Reflex | Will | Special | Vestigial Points
01 | +0 | +2 | +0 | +2 | Soul Binding, Shattered Soul, Void Mutations | 3
02 | +1 | +3 | +0 | +3 | Attachment, Personal Restraint | 4
03 | +2 | +3 | +1 | +3 | Soul Guardian (Slippery Mind) | 5
04 | +3 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Contagion of Souls (1 Point) | 6
05 | +3 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Soul Guardian (Immune to Drain and Negative Levels) | 7
06 | +4 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Contagion of Souls (3 Points) | 8
07 | +5 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Soul Guardian (Mind Blank) | 9
08 | +6 | +6 | +2 | +6 | Contagion of Souls (6 Points) | 10
09 | +6 | +6 | +3 | +6 | Soul Guardian (Rebuke) | 11
10 | +7 | +7 | +3 | +7 | Two Halves Become Whole | 12[/table]
Hit Dice: d8
Skill Points per Level: 2 + Intelligence modifier
Class Skills: Bluff, Craft, Disguise, Linguistics, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (History), Knowledge (Planes), Profession, Sense Motive
In a 3.5 campaign, make the following adjustments to the Soulshattered's list of skills:
Remove Linguistics.
Add Concentration, Decipher Script, and Forgery.
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: The Soulshattered gains no additional weapon or armor proficiencies.
Soul Binding: A Soulshattered's level stacks with their Binder level for the purpose of determining their effective Binder level. It does not stack when determining their maximum Vestige level, the number of vestiges he or she can bind to, or any other Binder class features.
Shattered Soul: Your tamperings with forces beyond your mortal understanding have lead to the shattering of your most prized possession; your soul. Although your personality remained intact, the fraction of your soul that broke off became lost to the void with which you tampered, transforming it into a vestige. Like any other vestige, you can discover your personal seal and learn to summon and bind to it. Your vestige's vital statistics are as follows:
Statistics: Your soul vestige does not have a level; you can always bind to it as long as you have at least one level in this class, regardless of your maximum vestige level. The binding check DC to bind to your soul vestige is equal to 10 + your effective Binder level; as time passes and you grow more powerful, your soul vestige’s connections to you fade and its mind grows more alien and less sympathetic towards its former ‘half.’
Seal: Your soul vestige's seal is a picture of something significant to you, with the outermost edges of the seal being your personal truename written backwards countless times until they form the seal's circle.
Special Requirements: Each soul vestige is personal, and only the Soulshattered that belongs to the given soul vestige can call for it. If the Soulshattered dies, then with time their soul vestige could go on to become a true vestige in its own right, but such events take time to occur. In such a case, a soul vestige's vestige level is usually equal to half your character level - 2.
Manifestation: The manifestation for each Soulshattered varies based on the powers the soul vestige grants, but at some point in the manifestation of the soul vestige, the Soulshattered witnesses the events that lead to their soul breaking apart. After this vision ends, the vestige appears, often a twisted version of the Binder when their soul first broke.
Sign: You display multiple signs from your soul vestige based on the granted abilities that your soul vestige bestows upon you. Unlike a regular vestige, however, your vestige is weak and all of its abilities are dependent upon its sign. You do not gain any of the abilities of your vestige while its sign is suppressed, and suppressing one of its signs suppresses all of its signs.
Influence: Your soul vestige has become jealous of its former belongs, and it requires that you covet all of your belongs avariciousness, refusing to give unto others what is yours.
Void Mutation: Normally, even a broken fraction of a creature's soul resembles them fully. However. the time your soul vestige has spent in the nothingness that all vestiges exist in as warped it nearly beyond recognition, causing it to take on an alien, sometimes grotesquely new form. This new appearance determines the vestigial abilities that you gain when binding to your soul vestige. You gain a number of Vestigial Points equal to 2 + your Soulshattered level to spend on vestigial mutations. Each time your effective Binder level improves via a new class level, you can reselect how you spend your Vestigial Points.
While you as a player determine the effects of your vestige, your character has no actual control over their vestige and is usually horrified by the mutation of their soul. The vestigial abilities that you can purchase, as well as their effects on your soul vestige's manifestation and sign are as follows:
1-Point Void Mutations
Bite: You gain a bite attack that deals 1d8 + 1-1/2 times your Strength modifier (1d6 for Small creatures).
Manifestation: When your soul vestige appears before you, its jaw appears unhinged as its bottom row of teeth jut out, revealing teeth that resemble daggers.
Sign: Your jaw thicks and enlarges, allowing your teeth to jut out from under your lower lip slightly. In addition to granting you a feral appearance, it reveals that your teeth have transformed to resemble a crocodile's teeth.
Claws: You gain two claw attacks that deal 1d6 points of damage + your Strength modifier (1d4 for Small creatures).
Manifestation: When your soul vestige appears before you, its hands and forearms are replaced with feral, bestial claws and fur based on your alignment (if good, they are lion's paws; if evil, they are a tiger's paws; if neutral, they are a dog's paws).
Sign: Your fingers and hands grow into vicious-looking claws. You cannot wear regular gloves, but magical gloves adjust themselves to fit your new appearance.
Fur: You gain a +1 natural armor bonus to Armor Class. This bonus increases by +1 for every two additional Soulshattered levels you possess, up to +5 at 9th level.
Manifestation: When your soul vestige appears before you, it strips of all of your humanoid attire and instead dons vestments of animal fur before placing a mask of an animal in front of its face. Only then does your vestige address you.
Sign: Your body becomes covered from head to toe in fur matching your natural hair or scale color. If you select this ability and the scales ability, your breasts down to your groin become coated with scales, while the rest of your body is covered by fur.
Gills: You can breathe water. You do not lose the ability to breathe air by gaining this ability.
Manifestation: When your vision ends, your soul vestige crawls out of the residual visions like water while crying immensely, displaying a set of gills to you.
Sign: You grow a set of fish-like gills at the base of your neck.
Long Digits: You gain a competence bonus on Climb checks equal to 4 + your Soulshattered level. In addition, you gain a climb speed equal to 5 feet per effective Binder level you possess.
Manifestation: After your vision ends, a gorilla charges into the seal screeching. It then removes its fur and and face, revealing your soul vestige. Regardless of whatever you say, your soul vestige will only answer you in loud, intelligible gorilla-shrieks.
Sign: Your fingers and hands grow longer and thicker, causing you to be unable to wear gloves or rings and giving you a gangling appearance. Magical items adjust themselves to your new appearance.
Magic Attacks: All attacks you make are treated as being magic attacks for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. When your Soulshattered level is 5 or higher, your attacks are also infused with your alignment. At 10th level, your attacks are treated as having all alignments for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Manifestation: Your vestige's eyes glow azure if you are male or lavender if you are female.
Sign: A sigil appears on the tops of each of your hands; azure if you are female and lavender if you are male; noticeably reversed from your soul vestige's coloration.
Resistance: You gain energy resistance 5 per two Soulshattered levels you possess. You must select which type of energy this resistance applies to (acid, cold, electric, fire, or sonic). You can select this ability multiple times, each time gaining resistance to that type of energy.
Manifestation: After your soul vestige has manifested, globes of each of the five energy types float lazily in and out of the seal, much to your vestige's annoyance.
Sign: A place on your body becomes attuned with your element, becoming sensitive (acid), chill (cold), statically charged (electric), warm (fire), or visited by a shrill breeze (sonic).
Poison: Your body becomes poisonous. Whenever your bite or claw attack hits or a creature attempts to bite you or swallow you whole, it becomes poisoned (type - injury; Fort negates; frequency 1/round for 4 rounds; effect 1d4 Str damage; cur 1 save). You are immune to the effects of your own poison, and you can deal 1 point of damage to yourself as a free action to coat your weapon in your poison, causing its next attack to have a chance to poison your target.
Manifestation: Your soul vestige appears sickly and weak, as if the slightest breeze might knock them over.
Sign: Your bodily fluids; namely your saliva and your blood, take on a greenish tint.
Scales: You gain DR 1/- per two Soulshattered levels you possess.
Manifestation: After your vision has ended, the remnants take the form of a serpent, which morphs into a hybrid between itself and your form, as if your soul vestige was afflicted with some type of reptilian lycanthrophy.
Sign: You become covered from head to toe in scales. These scales are of the same color as your hair or fur. If you select this ability and the fur ability, your breasts down to your groin become coated with scales, while the rest of your body is covered by fur.
Scent: You gain the scent special quality, allowing you to detect opponents by sense of smell. Your allies, close friends, and family are all treated as having a familiar scent to you.
Manifestation: After your soul vestige is summoned, you notice that it's nose is enlarged and disfigured compared to your true nose.
Sign: Your nose doubles in length and width. If you possess the scales ability, your nose transforms into a pair of reptilian slits. If you possess the fur ability, your nose transforms into a canine or feline nose (player's choice).
Slam: You gain one slam attack that deals 2d6 points of damage + your Strength modifier (2d4 for Small creatures).
Manifestation: After your soul vestige is summoned, half of its body begins to inflate and grows hideous, filled with puss and scabs. The half that does this is always opposite of your handedness.
Sign: Your arms become thick and large, increasing in size by two times. Regular armor, gloves, and clothing will not fit on you, but magical equipment adjusts to your new appearance.
Tail: You gain a competence bonus on Acrobatics checks equal to 4 + your Soulshattered level. In addition, you can move at half speed across narrow surfaces without losing your Dexterity bonus to Armor Class. You can also move at full speed across narrow surfaces, but you lose your Dexterity bonus to Armor Class if you chose to do so.
Manifestation: Your soul vestige is summoned with an animal's tail, based on your highest ability score when it was broken from you. If Strength, an ox's tail. If Dexterity, a cat's tail. If Constitution, a bear's tale. If Intelligence, a fox's tail. If Wisdom, a raccoon's tail. If Charisma, a dinosaur's tail.
Sign: You grow a tail. This tail appears natural and perfectly corresponds with your body; it possesses scales or fur if you do and is bare if you do not. You can wear mundane pants with your tail, but doing so is often bulky and uncomfortable. Magic items will adjust themselves to your new appearance.
Webbed Didgits: You gain a competence bonus on Swim checks equal to 4 + your Soulshattered level. In addition, you gain a swim speed equal to 5 feet per effective Binder level you possess. Nonmagical gloves and boots interfere with this ability, preventing you from gaining them.
Manifestation: After your vision ends, the wisps of magic left behind collects into a frog, which hops high into the air before transforming into the likeness of your vestige.
Sign: The spaces between your toes and your fingers becomes webbed. Nonmagical clothing becomes uncomfortable to wear and impedes your ability to swim, but magical equipment adjusts to your new appearance.
2-Point Void Mutations
Arms and Armor Training: You gain proficiency with a number of weapons, armor, and shields equal to your Charisma modifier. (As a player, you must choose which proficiencies to gain when you first buy this Void Mutation. Each time your character binds to your vestige, they gain the same proficiencies).
Manifestation: Your soul vestige is manifested holding the weapons that you become proficient with.
Sign: Gruesome battle scars appear over your body. These wounds aren't painful, nor do they cause you any damage but they can be irritating.
Constrict: Whenever you succeed on a a grapple check, you deal damage equal to your normal unarmed strike damage to the grappled creature plus your Strength modifier.
Manifestation: As you call out to your soul vestige, the edges of the seal come alive as your truename transforms into thousands of slithering snakes before your vision begins. When your soul vestige appears, they constantly kick and curse at the snakes, demanding that they be silent.
Sign: You becoming roughly six inches taller, making your body appear to look thinner. Although you look taller, this does not affect your size category.
Cunning: You gain a +2 bonus to your Intelligence.
Manifestation: As you call out to your soul vestige, a fox wanders into the seal and looks at you curiously before exploding into wisps, forming the vision of how your soul was shattered.
Sign: Your hair takes on an orange and white complexion. If you possess the fur ability, your fur takes on the coloration of a fox. If you possess the tail ability, your tail takes on the fur, coloration, and appearance of a fox's.
Endurance: You gain a +2 bonus to your Constitution.
Manifestation: As you call out to your soul vestige, a bear slowly strides into the seal. It inspects you before losing interest and laying down for a nap and beginning to dream the dream of how your soul was shattered.
Sign: Your legs shorten to the length of your arms while your torso elongates slightly, giving you a stubby look. This does not impact your movement speed, but mundane clothes will not fit you well; magical items will adjust to your new appearance. If you possess the fur ability, your fur takes on the appearance of a bear's fur.
Ferocity: You gain a +2 bonus to your Strength.
Manifestation: Before you can finish calling to your soul vestige, an angry bull charges into the seal. It stands in the middle and kicks at the ground before charging directly at you. When it collides into the edge of the seal, it explodes into wisps that show you the vision fo how your soul was shattered.
Sign: Your irises turn a deep, bloody crimson.
Grace: You gain a +2 bonus to your Dexterity.
Manifestation: As your vision of how your soul became shattered ends, your soul vestige rides into the seal upon a jaguar, stepping off of its back as it reaches the middle of the seal. The cat remains for the duration of the pact, occasionally licking its paw while staring at you in interest.
Sign: Your eyes become silted like a cat's eyes. In addition, you walk with an extra spring in your step that no amount of mental command can suppress.
Grab: Treat your hit dice as your base attack bonus for the purpose of calculating your combat maneuver bonus when you make grapple attempts. In addition, if you possess the claw, bite, or slam ability, you can make a free grapple attempt that does not provoke attacks of opportunity whenever you successfully hit a creature with that attack.
Manifestation: Your soul vestige drags into its seal what appears to be a corpse in your current likeness with it. It snaps itself with pleasure before turning back to you, eyes dead from the void.
Sign: Your palms become sticky, though no material appears to be on your hand that would cause it to become so.
Instinct: You gain a +2 bonus to your Wisdom.
Manifestation: An owl flies into the seal as you call out to your soul vestige. It lands in the center of the seal and hoots at you questioningly, cocking its head. After several seconds, it flies away and like a giant curtain, the vision of how your soul was shattered appears.
Sign: Your eyes become roughly twice as large, causing non-magical goggles and glasses to become too small to aid you. Magical items adjust to your new appearance, however.
Flight: You gain a competence bonus on Fly checks equal to 4 + your Soulshattered level. In addition, you gain a fly speed equal to 5 feet per effective Binder level you possess. You possess poor maneuverability. When your Soulshattered level reaches 5th, your maneuverability improves to average and at 10th level your maneuverability improves to good.
Manifestation: Your soul vestige possess large wings; angelic wings if you were of a good alignment when your soul was shattered, demonic wings if you were of an evil alignment, and eagle wings if you were of a neutral alignment.
Sign: You grow a functioning pair of wings on your back, based on your alignment (angelic if good, bat-like if evil, and eagle if neutral). These wings make it impossible for you to wear normal tunics and armor, though magic equipment adjusts itself to fit your new appearance.
Metal Form: Select one type of special material (adamantine, alchemical silver, cold iron, etc). All attacks you make are treated as having that material type for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. When your Soulshattered level reaches 5th, you can select a number of special materials equal to your Charisma modifier and at 10th level your attacks are treated as having all special material types for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Manifestation: Your soul vestige appears to be made of living metal, ever shimmering and scintillating in a prismatic array of color.
Sign: Your primary hand becomes living metal, taking on a metallic sheen. This does not provide you any benefits to your damage reduction or Armor Class.
Pounce: You can make a full attack at the end of a charge.
Manifestation: After the vision of how your soul shattered ends, your soul vestige hops into the seal, its lower half resembling a kangaroo or some other type of bouncy animal.
Sign: Your knee joins inverse, giving them a canine look. Regular pants become uncomfortable to wear, though magical equipment adjusts itself to your new appearance.
Rend: Whenever you successfully make two claw attacks against a creature, you deal an additional 1d4 points of damage (1d3 if Small). In order to select this ability, you must be able to make two claw attacks or your soul vestige must grant you the claw ability.
Manifestation: When your soul vestige appears, its claws and mouth are covered in blood.
Sign: Your claws gain a cruel look, barbed at the ends into hooks.
Splendor: You gain a +2 bonus to your Charisma.
Manifestation: As you call out to your soul vestige, you hear the caw of an eagle soaring overhead. A single feather slowly falls into the seal, and as it touches the ground it glows white before showing you the vision of how your soul was shattered.
Sign: The top half of your torso, from the bottom of your neck to your breasts, grows fathers. The feathers match your hair or scales in coloration.
3-Point Void Mutations
Energy Attacks: Select one type of energy (acid, cold, electricity, or fire). All natural and weapon attacks you make deal 1d6 additional points of damage of the chosen energy type. This damage increases by 1d6 points for every three additional Soulshattered levels you possess (to a maximum of 4d6 points of damage at 10th level).
Manifestation: Your vision appears to manifest in wreaths of fire, gouts of ice, sparks of electricity, blasts of sonic booms, and globes of acid.
Sign: Your skin, scales, or fur take on a tint based upon the type of energy you select; green for acid, blue for cold, yellow for electricity, red for fire, or white for sonic.
Fast Healing: You gain fast healing 1 per three effective Binder levels you possess.
Manifestation: Your soul vestige appears torn and ripped from the process of being broken from you, but slowly regenerates itself before speaking with you.
Sign: Any blood spilled on your body vanishes without a trace within a round; this includes stains on your clothing and equipment, as long it is in direct contact with your skin, fur, or scales.
Frightful Presence: After activating this ability, all creatures within 30 feet of you must make a Will save or become shakened for 3d6 rounds. If you possess at least 4 more hit dice then your opponent, they become frightened instead. A creature with more hit dice then you is immune to this effect.
Manifestation: An ominous aura that unsettles all creatures (including you) within 100 feet of your seal radiates as your soul vestige appears. Creatures do not know the source of their discomfort; only that it is there.
Sign: A birthmark shaped like a dragon’s head roughly the size of a coin appears somewhere on your body. If it is removed or cut off, it immediately regrows somewhere else on your body.
Growth: Your size category increases by one for the duration of the pact, granting you the normal benefits for your change in size, as well as a +4 bonus to Strength and Constution, a +4 natural armor bonus to Armor Class, and a -2 penalty to Dexterity. This natural armor bonus stacks with other natural armor bonuses. This benefit does not stack with other effects that increase your size, such as the Enlarge Person spell. If your size is reduced, you lose the benefits of this ability.
Manifestation When your south vestige appears in its seal, it is so large that only the top portion of its body can fit within the seal. It clearly makes an effort to keep its face in full view, but the slightest movements upset its center of balance.
Sign: None; your size increase is the only sign you show as a result of this vestige. Unlike an Enlarge Personal spell your equipment does not shrink with you, however, unless it is magical.
Improved Abilities: Increase the ability score bonus of a single void mutation from +2 to +4. This ability can be selected multiple times; each time it increases the ability bonus of a different void mutation. This ability can be applied to any of the following void mutations: Cunning, Endurance, Ferocity, Grace, Instinct, or Splendor.
Manifestation: The duration of the associated mutation’s manifestation effect lasts longer.
Sign: The signs of the associated void mutation are exaggerated; you have more feathers on more parts of your check when you use the Splendor mutation, you more closely resemble a fox when you use the Cunning mutation, etc.
Ray: You gain the ability to unleash a flurry of magical rays. Your ray is a ranged touch attack that deals 1d6 points of damage per five effective Binder levels you possess, plus your Charisma modifier. This damage is bludgeoning damage. If you possess the elemental attacks ability, it deals damage that corresponds with that element instead of bludgeoning damage. You can attack with additional rays by taking a -5 penalty to your base attack bonus, just as if you were attacking with a weapon.
Manifestation: Your soul vestige appears with the onset of eerie lights and sounds that persist for the duration of the pact making process.
Sign: A glowing rune appears on your forehead. Long hair, hats, or a hood can cover this marking.
Reduction: Your size category decreases by one for the duration of the pact, granting you the normal benefits for your change in size, as well as a +4 bonus to Dexterity and Constitution, a +4 dodge bonus to Armor Class, and a -2 penalty to Strength. This benefit does not stack with other effects that reduce your size, such as the Reduce Person spell. If your size is increased, you lose the benefits of this ability.
Manifestation: Your soul vestige appears roughly the size of a fine creature; barely several inches long in size.
Sign: None; your size reduction is the only sign you show as a result of this vestige. Unlike a Reduce Personal spell your equipment does not shrink with you, however, unless it is magical.
Spell Resistance: You gain spell resistance equal to 11 + your effective Binder level.
Manifestation: Your soul vestige appears to be able to move outside of its seal, even if it is only several inches; a fact it takes advantage of during the pact making process.
Sign: Your skin faintly glitters in all sources of light.
Tremorsense: You gain tremorsense out to 5 feet per effective Binder level you possess. This ability only allows you to pinpoint a creature's location if both you and the creature are in contact with the ground.
Manifestation After the vision of how your soul shattered ends, your soul vestige bursts forth from the ground to face you.
Sign: Your eyes always appear to be squinting or closed. This does not affect your ability to see, use low light vision or dark vision, or your susceptibility to gaze attacks.
4-Point Void Mutations
Boneblade: You can pull your bones from your body, allowing you to create potent weapons with them. As a standard action, you can create any of the following weapons from your bones: longsword, greatsword, rapier, or hook sword. You take 1 point of Constitution damage when creating the rapier or hook sword, 2 points when creating the longsword, and 3 points when creating the greatsword. This Constitution damage is automatically healed when the weapon is sheethed back into your body or when the weapon's duration ends. At 10th level or lower, the weapon has an enhancement bonus of +1; for every level gained thereafter, it's bonuses improve by +1, up to a total of a +10 weapon at 20th level. You can convert enhancement bonuses into any of the following special aiblities; using the normal rules associated with those abilities' effective bonuses: Bane, Defending, Ghost Touch, Keen, Mighty Cleaving, Vicious, Anarchic, Axiomatic, Holy, Unholy, Wounding, Speed, Dancing, or Vorpal.
You must select your weapon's abilities immediately after making your pact with your soul vestige; every weapon you summon with this ability uses your selected abilities and enhancement bonus for the duration of your pact. This weapon lasts for a number of rounds equal to 1 + your effective Binder level. Unlike normal weapons, you can repair a Boneblade with cure spells and other healing magic. If the weapon is broken, you cannot return it to your body until it has at least 1 hit point. If it is destroyed, you permanently lose all points of Constitution used to create the weapon until a Restoration or similiarly powerful effect heals the Constitution damage from you. After this ability ends, you cannot use it again for 4 rounds.
Manifestation: Your soul vestige first appears before you as a bare skeleton after your vision ends. Its organs and muscles slowly grow and fill themselves in after the skeleton appears.
Sign: Your face appears emaciated.
Breath Weapon: You gain the ability to unleash a breath weapon. Each time you use this ability, you can select if its area is a 30ft. cone or a 30ft. line. Your breath weapon deals 1d4 points of damage per effective Binder level you possess; a successful Reflex save halves this damage. If you possess the elemental attacks ability, your breath weapon's damage increases to 1d6 and it deals the type of damage that you selected with that ability. If you selected the poison ability, your breath weapon also poisons creatures in its area. After using this ability, you cannot use it again for 5 rounds.
Manifestation: Before your vision appears, a massive dragon soars into view, roaring loudly. It fires its breath weapon directly at you, and when the blast clears the vision of how your soul shattered begins.
Sign: A pink scale appears directly over your heart, meeting its every contour and perfectly designed in shape and dimensions.
Spike Barrage: You gain the ability to fire a barrage of spikes from your body. As a standard action, all creatures within 30 feet of you must make a Reflex save. On a failed save, they become struck by your spikes, taking 1d6 points of damage per three effective Binder levels you possess. If you possess the poison ability, a creature that is damaged by your spikes must make a Fortitude save or become poisoned. After using this ability, you cannot use it again for 5 rounds.
Manifestation: Before your soul vestige appears, several large, spikey stalagmites crash up through the ground. Your soul vestige’s body is littered with these spines.
Sign: Spiny growths appear on your back and on your forearms that you fire when using this ability. You become unable to wear normal clothing and armor with this ability active, but magical armor and clothes fit your new appearance, and chain mail can be worn normally (abet uncomfortably). If you possess the fur ability, you resemble a rather large hedgehog.
Stoneskin: You reduce all damage you take by 10 points. This effect ends after you have absorbed 5 points of damage per effective Binder level you possess. After this protection ends, you cannot reactivate this ability again for 5 rounds.
Manifestation: Your soul vestige appears on an alter of stone that their feet seems to meld with.
Sign: Your hands and feet turn into living stone. They take on a stone-like texture and appearance, but this does not affect your Dexterity score, your ability to wear or use equipment, or your ability to take damage.
Attachment (Su): By continuing to associate with your soul vestige, you have made it grow jealous as it waits for you to call it, and in return your broken soul becomes addicted to becoming whole; if even for a short time. Starting at 2nd level, you must always use one of your Soul Bindings to bind to your soul vestige; you can bind to any other vestiges that you chose to, as long as you meet the vestige’s Special Requirements and preferences (such as how Amon refuses to answer the call of a Binder who has made a pact with Chuploclops within the past 24 hours).
Starting at 4th level, your vestige clings to your soul, refusing to let go. If you attempt to expel your soul vestige with an ability (such as the Expel Vestige feat) or completely suppress it with any ability besides Personal Restraint (such as with a set of Chimes of Suppression), you must make a binding check. Your personal vestige is expelled or suppressed normally if you succeed on this binding check; otherwise the attempt fails and you cannot attempt to expel or suppress your soul vestige by means of that feat, ability, or item again for the duration of the pact.
Personal Restraint (Su): Although your vestige is weak, it has not been separated long enough from you to become completely alien to the ways of the world, and it allows you to suppress a measure of the influence it places upon you for a time. Starting at 2nd level, you gain the ability to suppress the sign of your soul vestige, similarly to the effects of the Chimes of Suppression magic item. As a full round action that provokes attacks of opportunities, your soul vestige can push itself into the dark corners of your mind. Using this ability instantly suppresses all signs and granted abilities of your soul vestige; however, this ability does not suppress your soul vestige’s influences.
Soul Guardian (Su): Starting at 3rd level, while you are bound to your soul vestige (and only your soul vestige) you gain the slippery mind ability. This functions exactly like the Rogue ability of the same name and the Soul Guardian (Slippery Mind) ability of a Binder. If you later gain Soul Guardian (Slippery Mind) from possessing levels in Binder, you can choose to grant a single friendly creature the slippery mind ability as an immediate action. After you use this ability to grant another creature the slippery mind ability, you cannot use it to do so again for 5 rounds; this ability is not affected by Rapid Recovery, as it is tied to you and not your soul vestige.
For every two levels beyond 3rd that you possess, your Soul Guardian ability improves, as if you were a Binder. At 5th level, you gain Soul Guardian (Immune to Ability Damage and Negative Levels) and at 7th level you gain Soul Guardian (Mind Blank). These abilities function identically to the Binder abilities of the same name. At 9th level, whenever you are targeted by an effect that your Mind Blank provides immunity to, you can make a binding check against the DC of the ability. If you succeed, you turn the ability back on its user, as if it was a spell being affected by the Spell Turning spell. This ability can be used to turn abilities that are normally not affected by Spell Turning, such as supernatural abilities. After using Soul Guardian (Rebuke), you cannot use it again for 5 rounds; this ability is not affected by Rapid Recovery, as it is tied to you and not your soul vestige.
Contagion of Souls (Su): You were always an influential soul, a trait that your soul vestige can take to the extreme by attaching itself to your allies. Starting at 4th level, you can use this ability to grant a single friendly creature within 5 feet per two effective Binder levels you possess one of your 1-point Void Mutations. Using this ability is a swift action and it does not remove the benefits you receive for possessing that Void Mutation. While your ally possesses this Void Mutation, they also show the appropriate sign exactly how it appears on you (they grow fur if they gain the fur ability, a tail if they gain the tail ability, etc.). The creature gains this benefit for 5 rounds, after which the effect ends. You can only grant a single Void Mutation at a time and after this 5 round duration ends (or when the Void Mutation is dismissed by you) you cannot use this ability again for 5 rounds. This ability is not affected by Rapid Recovery, as it is tied to you and not your soul vestige.
Starting at 6th level, you can use this ability to grant a creature up to three points of mutations, as long as your soul vestige grants you those same abilities. Doing so reduces the duration of the effect from 5 rounds to 3 rounds (though the ability still cannot be used for 5 rounds after this duration ends). At 12th level, you can grant up to 6 points of abilities, though doing so reduces the duration of the effect from 5 rounds to 1 round (though the ability still cannot be used for 5 rounds after this duration ends).
Two Halves Become Whole (Su): Knowing that its body is still alive and functioning is a horrible burden for a soul vestige, and each time you offer to make a pact with it, the vestige hungrily dreams of the day that it can permanently reunite with you. At 10th level, your skill in pact magic allows you to temporarily bind your soul together again. As a swift action, your vestige and your soul reunite, infusing you with the fully unleashed power of a vestige. You immediately heal for 1d4 points of damage plus 1 additional point per effective Binder level you possess. In addition, you can immediately select a single 4-point Void Mutation and gain its effects for free. Any 4-point Void Mutations that you possess can be used every round; you do not have to wait 5 rounds (or 4 rounds if you possess Rapid Recovery with your soul vestige) to use the ability again. You continue to heal for 1d4 points of damage plus your effective Binder level at the start of each round that this ability remains active. This empowered state lasts for 1d8 rounds if you made a good pact with your soul vestige or 1d4 rounds if you made a bad pact with your soul vestige. After this empowered state ends, you immediately lose access to your new 4-Point Void Mutation (any ongoing effects, such as the Stoneskin mutation’s defenses, immediately end) and all 4-Point Void Mutation abilities you possess are immediately exhausted for the appropriate number of rounds, as if you had used the ability during your last turn.
Playing a Soulshattered
Soulshattered are Binders with nothing to lose. Either because of the weakness of their soul or in a dry taste of irony, Binders find the truth of their soul plastered on their bodies for all to see. Each day, their soul's need to become one is a steady ache, and even if they can temporarily suppress the truth, it isn't long before their body warps and aches, taking the form of their soul vestige.
Most Soulshattered don't last particularly long in the world; other Binders will rarely commune with them due to their obsessive need to literally bind to themselves, while out in the field a Soulshattered is easy pray for the Order or Seropaenes; without the ability to hide what they are, Soulshattered are often hunted down like the animals their minds often break down into.
Occasionally a particularly powerful Binder that becomes a Soulshattered will be able to keep themselves together long enough to keep their minds while bound to their soul; sometimes these individuals manage to repair and rescue their soul from the abyss, other times they don't. Regardless of the outcome, all Soulshattered think they would rather die then live as a broken shadow of a mortal; until they either commit suicide or die and join their soul vestige in the void as a true vestige.
*** More Fluff Coming Soon ***
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The art above belongs to Bear65 (http://bear65.deviantart.com/). Hope it was sufficiently creepy enough for this Prestige Class :D.
1/10/11 - 7:17 - Fixed some minor formatting errors.
1/10/11 - 7:30 - Moar fluffz!
1/10/11 - 7:32 - Spelling error in the title! Embarrassing!
1/10/11 - 7:39 - Added a credits section and put the updates in spoilers. No one can know that I'm not perfect!
1/10/11 - 7:42 - Added the scaling portion of 'Contagion of Souls' to the Class Features table.
Author's Note: This class is intended to function for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. However, like most of Paizo's products, it should be backwards compatable with 3.5, and I'll include spoilers throughout the document for some 3.5 Conversion Tips as I can. Also, I urge you to comment with things you think are interesting and not-so-interesting; cool and not-so-cool; good mechanics and clumsy mechanics. It's always good to hear with the Playgrounders thing With that, on to the show!
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Soulshattered
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"It's always easy at first. A simple question, some arguing and debating involved, but you always get what you want in the end. So what if you have to change your favorite color, hit on a few extra girls, maybe your hair turns purple or something; lots of chicks dig purple. But no where, nothing in any of the texts I have ever encountered came close to describing this."
"It feels like they're ripping, tearing me apart. It wasn't so bad when I only let one of them into my soul, but you invite one other house guest and each of them start clambering for your undivided attention; they each want the juiciest bite of the apple, you see; even if they tear their host down to the core."
"I couldn't let anyone, ANYONE, know what I had done. To change my lifestyle would be admitting that I wasn't as I seemed, that this wasn't just magic tricks or charades. No, I couldn't go back on this lie and expect to live. But at this point, with this pain, is living even worth it?"
"That ... that last battle. I ... I think it was too much. I feel lighter inside. But in a bad way. Like someone cut something important out of my chest. I'm not all here anymore. Something's missing. Gone. Forever."
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http://fc03.deviantart.net/images2/i/2004/08/4/9/My_Horror.jpg
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For a form of magic that is supposed to grant an "easy" alternative to power, Pact Magic has many difficulties hidden within it. Not only must a new Binder learn how to hide themselves from the world's clergies and keep such a monumentous aspect of themselves hidden from everyone they know and love, but they must also dodge the Order of Seropaenes, who have long hunted the Binders to near-extinction from the shadows, while also staying out of Binder politics in the form of the Theurgian Society and the Seropaenean Avengers. However, perhaps the greatest dangers of all are the vestiges themselves, the outermost entities that Binders allow anchorage in their soul in exchange for power.
Vestiges are alien things, jealous for life in reality. While this does not occur to all Binders, many have noted that they feel weaker in mind and soul for having made pacts with a vestige, and so many of them choose to take leave of vestiges either for a short time or permanently. However, those that do not head these warnings can occasionally find that, under stress, the vestiges will literally tear the person's soul asunder in a desperate attempt to cling to reality. While this doesn't provide any long-lasting damage to the Binder, it is uncomfortable; like a missing tooth in one's mouth. However, the situation is worse for that bit of soul, so mercilessly pulled apart by the vestiges. Forced into the void, the soul fragment becomes corrupt and twisted until it too becomes a vestige. Upon learning this, many Binders attempt to rebind their soul together, only to discover that like any other vestige, the void reclaims that bit of soul again after 24 hours. Thus the Soulshattered are born; two halves forever seeking a way to become whole once more.
PREREQUISITES:
In order to become a Soulshattered, a character must meet the following prerequisites:
Skills: Knowledge (Arcana) or Knowledge (The Planes): 7 ranks
Feats: Improved Binding
Special: Soulbinding, Ability to bind 2 vestiges at once
Special: The Binder's soul must have become damaged by the presence of a vestige. This usually occurs when a Binder takes at least 1 point of Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma damage from an attack while bound to a minimum of two vestiges. In fear, the vestiges sense their host soul weakening and desperately cling to it like drowning victims to a nearby swimmer. When the pact ends, bits of the host's soul are missing and thoguh spells or rest can repair the damage, those parts of their soul are forever gone.
If you use this class in a 3.5 Campaign, the Prerequisites change to the following:
Skills: Knowledge (Arcana) or Knowledge (The Planes): 10 ranks
Feats: Improved Binding
Special: Soulbinding, Ability to bind 2 vestiges at once
Special: The Binder's soul must have become damaged by the presence of a vestige. This usually occurs when a Binder takes at least 1 point of Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma damage from an attack while bound to a minimum of two vestiges. In fear, the vestiges sense their host soul weakening and desperately cling to it like drowning victims to a nearby swimmer. When the pact ends, bits of the host's soul are missing and thoguh spells or rest can repair the damage, those parts of their soul are forever gone.
Soulshattered Class Features
{table=head] Level | Base Attack Bonus | Fortitude | Reflex | Will | Special | Vestigial Points
01 | +0 | +2 | +0 | +2 | Soul Binding, Shattered Soul, Void Mutations | 3
02 | +1 | +3 | +0 | +3 | Attachment, Personal Restraint | 4
03 | +2 | +3 | +1 | +3 | Soul Guardian (Slippery Mind) | 5
04 | +3 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Contagion of Souls (1 Point) | 6
05 | +3 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Soul Guardian (Immune to Drain and Negative Levels) | 7
06 | +4 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Contagion of Souls (3 Points) | 8
07 | +5 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Soul Guardian (Mind Blank) | 9
08 | +6 | +6 | +2 | +6 | Contagion of Souls (6 Points) | 10
09 | +6 | +6 | +3 | +6 | Soul Guardian (Rebuke) | 11
10 | +7 | +7 | +3 | +7 | Two Halves Become Whole | 12[/table]
Hit Dice: d8
Skill Points per Level: 2 + Intelligence modifier
Class Skills: Bluff, Craft, Disguise, Linguistics, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (History), Knowledge (Planes), Profession, Sense Motive
In a 3.5 campaign, make the following adjustments to the Soulshattered's list of skills:
Remove Linguistics.
Add Concentration, Decipher Script, and Forgery.
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: The Soulshattered gains no additional weapon or armor proficiencies.
Soul Binding: A Soulshattered's level stacks with their Binder level for the purpose of determining their effective Binder level. It does not stack when determining their maximum Vestige level, the number of vestiges he or she can bind to, or any other Binder class features.
Shattered Soul: Your tamperings with forces beyond your mortal understanding have lead to the shattering of your most prized possession; your soul. Although your personality remained intact, the fraction of your soul that broke off became lost to the void with which you tampered, transforming it into a vestige. Like any other vestige, you can discover your personal seal and learn to summon and bind to it. Your vestige's vital statistics are as follows:
Statistics: Your soul vestige does not have a level; you can always bind to it as long as you have at least one level in this class, regardless of your maximum vestige level. The binding check DC to bind to your soul vestige is equal to 10 + your effective Binder level; as time passes and you grow more powerful, your soul vestige’s connections to you fade and its mind grows more alien and less sympathetic towards its former ‘half.’
Seal: Your soul vestige's seal is a picture of something significant to you, with the outermost edges of the seal being your personal truename written backwards countless times until they form the seal's circle.
Special Requirements: Each soul vestige is personal, and only the Soulshattered that belongs to the given soul vestige can call for it. If the Soulshattered dies, then with time their soul vestige could go on to become a true vestige in its own right, but such events take time to occur. In such a case, a soul vestige's vestige level is usually equal to half your character level - 2.
Manifestation: The manifestation for each Soulshattered varies based on the powers the soul vestige grants, but at some point in the manifestation of the soul vestige, the Soulshattered witnesses the events that lead to their soul breaking apart. After this vision ends, the vestige appears, often a twisted version of the Binder when their soul first broke.
Sign: You display multiple signs from your soul vestige based on the granted abilities that your soul vestige bestows upon you. Unlike a regular vestige, however, your vestige is weak and all of its abilities are dependent upon its sign. You do not gain any of the abilities of your vestige while its sign is suppressed, and suppressing one of its signs suppresses all of its signs.
Influence: Your soul vestige has become jealous of its former belongs, and it requires that you covet all of your belongs avariciousness, refusing to give unto others what is yours.
Void Mutation: Normally, even a broken fraction of a creature's soul resembles them fully. However. the time your soul vestige has spent in the nothingness that all vestiges exist in as warped it nearly beyond recognition, causing it to take on an alien, sometimes grotesquely new form. This new appearance determines the vestigial abilities that you gain when binding to your soul vestige. You gain a number of Vestigial Points equal to 2 + your Soulshattered level to spend on vestigial mutations. Each time your effective Binder level improves via a new class level, you can reselect how you spend your Vestigial Points.
While you as a player determine the effects of your vestige, your character has no actual control over their vestige and is usually horrified by the mutation of their soul. The vestigial abilities that you can purchase, as well as their effects on your soul vestige's manifestation and sign are as follows:
1-Point Void Mutations
Bite: You gain a bite attack that deals 1d8 + 1-1/2 times your Strength modifier (1d6 for Small creatures).
Manifestation: When your soul vestige appears before you, its jaw appears unhinged as its bottom row of teeth jut out, revealing teeth that resemble daggers.
Sign: Your jaw thicks and enlarges, allowing your teeth to jut out from under your lower lip slightly. In addition to granting you a feral appearance, it reveals that your teeth have transformed to resemble a crocodile's teeth.
Claws: You gain two claw attacks that deal 1d6 points of damage + your Strength modifier (1d4 for Small creatures).
Manifestation: When your soul vestige appears before you, its hands and forearms are replaced with feral, bestial claws and fur based on your alignment (if good, they are lion's paws; if evil, they are a tiger's paws; if neutral, they are a dog's paws).
Sign: Your fingers and hands grow into vicious-looking claws. You cannot wear regular gloves, but magical gloves adjust themselves to fit your new appearance.
Fur: You gain a +1 natural armor bonus to Armor Class. This bonus increases by +1 for every two additional Soulshattered levels you possess, up to +5 at 9th level.
Manifestation: When your soul vestige appears before you, it strips of all of your humanoid attire and instead dons vestments of animal fur before placing a mask of an animal in front of its face. Only then does your vestige address you.
Sign: Your body becomes covered from head to toe in fur matching your natural hair or scale color. If you select this ability and the scales ability, your breasts down to your groin become coated with scales, while the rest of your body is covered by fur.
Gills: You can breathe water. You do not lose the ability to breathe air by gaining this ability.
Manifestation: When your vision ends, your soul vestige crawls out of the residual visions like water while crying immensely, displaying a set of gills to you.
Sign: You grow a set of fish-like gills at the base of your neck.
Long Digits: You gain a competence bonus on Climb checks equal to 4 + your Soulshattered level. In addition, you gain a climb speed equal to 5 feet per effective Binder level you possess.
Manifestation: After your vision ends, a gorilla charges into the seal screeching. It then removes its fur and and face, revealing your soul vestige. Regardless of whatever you say, your soul vestige will only answer you in loud, intelligible gorilla-shrieks.
Sign: Your fingers and hands grow longer and thicker, causing you to be unable to wear gloves or rings and giving you a gangling appearance. Magical items adjust themselves to your new appearance.
Magic Attacks: All attacks you make are treated as being magic attacks for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. When your Soulshattered level is 5 or higher, your attacks are also infused with your alignment. At 10th level, your attacks are treated as having all alignments for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Manifestation: Your vestige's eyes glow azure if you are male or lavender if you are female.
Sign: A sigil appears on the tops of each of your hands; azure if you are female and lavender if you are male; noticeably reversed from your soul vestige's coloration.
Resistance: You gain energy resistance 5 per two Soulshattered levels you possess. You must select which type of energy this resistance applies to (acid, cold, electric, fire, or sonic). You can select this ability multiple times, each time gaining resistance to that type of energy.
Manifestation: After your soul vestige has manifested, globes of each of the five energy types float lazily in and out of the seal, much to your vestige's annoyance.
Sign: A place on your body becomes attuned with your element, becoming sensitive (acid), chill (cold), statically charged (electric), warm (fire), or visited by a shrill breeze (sonic).
Poison: Your body becomes poisonous. Whenever your bite or claw attack hits or a creature attempts to bite you or swallow you whole, it becomes poisoned (type - injury; Fort negates; frequency 1/round for 4 rounds; effect 1d4 Str damage; cur 1 save). You are immune to the effects of your own poison, and you can deal 1 point of damage to yourself as a free action to coat your weapon in your poison, causing its next attack to have a chance to poison your target.
Manifestation: Your soul vestige appears sickly and weak, as if the slightest breeze might knock them over.
Sign: Your bodily fluids; namely your saliva and your blood, take on a greenish tint.
Scales: You gain DR 1/- per two Soulshattered levels you possess.
Manifestation: After your vision has ended, the remnants take the form of a serpent, which morphs into a hybrid between itself and your form, as if your soul vestige was afflicted with some type of reptilian lycanthrophy.
Sign: You become covered from head to toe in scales. These scales are of the same color as your hair or fur. If you select this ability and the fur ability, your breasts down to your groin become coated with scales, while the rest of your body is covered by fur.
Scent: You gain the scent special quality, allowing you to detect opponents by sense of smell. Your allies, close friends, and family are all treated as having a familiar scent to you.
Manifestation: After your soul vestige is summoned, you notice that it's nose is enlarged and disfigured compared to your true nose.
Sign: Your nose doubles in length and width. If you possess the scales ability, your nose transforms into a pair of reptilian slits. If you possess the fur ability, your nose transforms into a canine or feline nose (player's choice).
Slam: You gain one slam attack that deals 2d6 points of damage + your Strength modifier (2d4 for Small creatures).
Manifestation: After your soul vestige is summoned, half of its body begins to inflate and grows hideous, filled with puss and scabs. The half that does this is always opposite of your handedness.
Sign: Your arms become thick and large, increasing in size by two times. Regular armor, gloves, and clothing will not fit on you, but magical equipment adjusts to your new appearance.
Tail: You gain a competence bonus on Acrobatics checks equal to 4 + your Soulshattered level. In addition, you can move at half speed across narrow surfaces without losing your Dexterity bonus to Armor Class. You can also move at full speed across narrow surfaces, but you lose your Dexterity bonus to Armor Class if you chose to do so.
Manifestation: Your soul vestige is summoned with an animal's tail, based on your highest ability score when it was broken from you. If Strength, an ox's tail. If Dexterity, a cat's tail. If Constitution, a bear's tale. If Intelligence, a fox's tail. If Wisdom, a raccoon's tail. If Charisma, a dinosaur's tail.
Sign: You grow a tail. This tail appears natural and perfectly corresponds with your body; it possesses scales or fur if you do and is bare if you do not. You can wear mundane pants with your tail, but doing so is often bulky and uncomfortable. Magic items will adjust themselves to your new appearance.
Webbed Didgits: You gain a competence bonus on Swim checks equal to 4 + your Soulshattered level. In addition, you gain a swim speed equal to 5 feet per effective Binder level you possess. Nonmagical gloves and boots interfere with this ability, preventing you from gaining them.
Manifestation: After your vision ends, the wisps of magic left behind collects into a frog, which hops high into the air before transforming into the likeness of your vestige.
Sign: The spaces between your toes and your fingers becomes webbed. Nonmagical clothing becomes uncomfortable to wear and impedes your ability to swim, but magical equipment adjusts to your new appearance.
2-Point Void Mutations
Arms and Armor Training: You gain proficiency with a number of weapons, armor, and shields equal to your Charisma modifier. (As a player, you must choose which proficiencies to gain when you first buy this Void Mutation. Each time your character binds to your vestige, they gain the same proficiencies).
Manifestation: Your soul vestige is manifested holding the weapons that you become proficient with.
Sign: Gruesome battle scars appear over your body. These wounds aren't painful, nor do they cause you any damage but they can be irritating.
Constrict: Whenever you succeed on a a grapple check, you deal damage equal to your normal unarmed strike damage to the grappled creature plus your Strength modifier.
Manifestation: As you call out to your soul vestige, the edges of the seal come alive as your truename transforms into thousands of slithering snakes before your vision begins. When your soul vestige appears, they constantly kick and curse at the snakes, demanding that they be silent.
Sign: You becoming roughly six inches taller, making your body appear to look thinner. Although you look taller, this does not affect your size category.
Cunning: You gain a +2 bonus to your Intelligence.
Manifestation: As you call out to your soul vestige, a fox wanders into the seal and looks at you curiously before exploding into wisps, forming the vision of how your soul was shattered.
Sign: Your hair takes on an orange and white complexion. If you possess the fur ability, your fur takes on the coloration of a fox. If you possess the tail ability, your tail takes on the fur, coloration, and appearance of a fox's.
Endurance: You gain a +2 bonus to your Constitution.
Manifestation: As you call out to your soul vestige, a bear slowly strides into the seal. It inspects you before losing interest and laying down for a nap and beginning to dream the dream of how your soul was shattered.
Sign: Your legs shorten to the length of your arms while your torso elongates slightly, giving you a stubby look. This does not impact your movement speed, but mundane clothes will not fit you well; magical items will adjust to your new appearance. If you possess the fur ability, your fur takes on the appearance of a bear's fur.
Ferocity: You gain a +2 bonus to your Strength.
Manifestation: Before you can finish calling to your soul vestige, an angry bull charges into the seal. It stands in the middle and kicks at the ground before charging directly at you. When it collides into the edge of the seal, it explodes into wisps that show you the vision fo how your soul was shattered.
Sign: Your irises turn a deep, bloody crimson.
Grace: You gain a +2 bonus to your Dexterity.
Manifestation: As your vision of how your soul became shattered ends, your soul vestige rides into the seal upon a jaguar, stepping off of its back as it reaches the middle of the seal. The cat remains for the duration of the pact, occasionally licking its paw while staring at you in interest.
Sign: Your eyes become silted like a cat's eyes. In addition, you walk with an extra spring in your step that no amount of mental command can suppress.
Grab: Treat your hit dice as your base attack bonus for the purpose of calculating your combat maneuver bonus when you make grapple attempts. In addition, if you possess the claw, bite, or slam ability, you can make a free grapple attempt that does not provoke attacks of opportunity whenever you successfully hit a creature with that attack.
Manifestation: Your soul vestige drags into its seal what appears to be a corpse in your current likeness with it. It snaps itself with pleasure before turning back to you, eyes dead from the void.
Sign: Your palms become sticky, though no material appears to be on your hand that would cause it to become so.
Instinct: You gain a +2 bonus to your Wisdom.
Manifestation: An owl flies into the seal as you call out to your soul vestige. It lands in the center of the seal and hoots at you questioningly, cocking its head. After several seconds, it flies away and like a giant curtain, the vision of how your soul was shattered appears.
Sign: Your eyes become roughly twice as large, causing non-magical goggles and glasses to become too small to aid you. Magical items adjust to your new appearance, however.
Flight: You gain a competence bonus on Fly checks equal to 4 + your Soulshattered level. In addition, you gain a fly speed equal to 5 feet per effective Binder level you possess. You possess poor maneuverability. When your Soulshattered level reaches 5th, your maneuverability improves to average and at 10th level your maneuverability improves to good.
Manifestation: Your soul vestige possess large wings; angelic wings if you were of a good alignment when your soul was shattered, demonic wings if you were of an evil alignment, and eagle wings if you were of a neutral alignment.
Sign: You grow a functioning pair of wings on your back, based on your alignment (angelic if good, bat-like if evil, and eagle if neutral). These wings make it impossible for you to wear normal tunics and armor, though magic equipment adjusts itself to fit your new appearance.
Metal Form: Select one type of special material (adamantine, alchemical silver, cold iron, etc). All attacks you make are treated as having that material type for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. When your Soulshattered level reaches 5th, you can select a number of special materials equal to your Charisma modifier and at 10th level your attacks are treated as having all special material types for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Manifestation: Your soul vestige appears to be made of living metal, ever shimmering and scintillating in a prismatic array of color.
Sign: Your primary hand becomes living metal, taking on a metallic sheen. This does not provide you any benefits to your damage reduction or Armor Class.
Pounce: You can make a full attack at the end of a charge.
Manifestation: After the vision of how your soul shattered ends, your soul vestige hops into the seal, its lower half resembling a kangaroo or some other type of bouncy animal.
Sign: Your knee joins inverse, giving them a canine look. Regular pants become uncomfortable to wear, though magical equipment adjusts itself to your new appearance.
Rend: Whenever you successfully make two claw attacks against a creature, you deal an additional 1d4 points of damage (1d3 if Small). In order to select this ability, you must be able to make two claw attacks or your soul vestige must grant you the claw ability.
Manifestation: When your soul vestige appears, its claws and mouth are covered in blood.
Sign: Your claws gain a cruel look, barbed at the ends into hooks.
Splendor: You gain a +2 bonus to your Charisma.
Manifestation: As you call out to your soul vestige, you hear the caw of an eagle soaring overhead. A single feather slowly falls into the seal, and as it touches the ground it glows white before showing you the vision of how your soul was shattered.
Sign: The top half of your torso, from the bottom of your neck to your breasts, grows fathers. The feathers match your hair or scales in coloration.
3-Point Void Mutations
Energy Attacks: Select one type of energy (acid, cold, electricity, or fire). All natural and weapon attacks you make deal 1d6 additional points of damage of the chosen energy type. This damage increases by 1d6 points for every three additional Soulshattered levels you possess (to a maximum of 4d6 points of damage at 10th level).
Manifestation: Your vision appears to manifest in wreaths of fire, gouts of ice, sparks of electricity, blasts of sonic booms, and globes of acid.
Sign: Your skin, scales, or fur take on a tint based upon the type of energy you select; green for acid, blue for cold, yellow for electricity, red for fire, or white for sonic.
Fast Healing: You gain fast healing 1 per three effective Binder levels you possess.
Manifestation: Your soul vestige appears torn and ripped from the process of being broken from you, but slowly regenerates itself before speaking with you.
Sign: Any blood spilled on your body vanishes without a trace within a round; this includes stains on your clothing and equipment, as long it is in direct contact with your skin, fur, or scales.
Frightful Presence: After activating this ability, all creatures within 30 feet of you must make a Will save or become shakened for 3d6 rounds. If you possess at least 4 more hit dice then your opponent, they become frightened instead. A creature with more hit dice then you is immune to this effect.
Manifestation: An ominous aura that unsettles all creatures (including you) within 100 feet of your seal radiates as your soul vestige appears. Creatures do not know the source of their discomfort; only that it is there.
Sign: A birthmark shaped like a dragon’s head roughly the size of a coin appears somewhere on your body. If it is removed or cut off, it immediately regrows somewhere else on your body.
Growth: Your size category increases by one for the duration of the pact, granting you the normal benefits for your change in size, as well as a +4 bonus to Strength and Constution, a +4 natural armor bonus to Armor Class, and a -2 penalty to Dexterity. This natural armor bonus stacks with other natural armor bonuses. This benefit does not stack with other effects that increase your size, such as the Enlarge Person spell. If your size is reduced, you lose the benefits of this ability.
Manifestation When your south vestige appears in its seal, it is so large that only the top portion of its body can fit within the seal. It clearly makes an effort to keep its face in full view, but the slightest movements upset its center of balance.
Sign: None; your size increase is the only sign you show as a result of this vestige. Unlike an Enlarge Personal spell your equipment does not shrink with you, however, unless it is magical.
Improved Abilities: Increase the ability score bonus of a single void mutation from +2 to +4. This ability can be selected multiple times; each time it increases the ability bonus of a different void mutation. This ability can be applied to any of the following void mutations: Cunning, Endurance, Ferocity, Grace, Instinct, or Splendor.
Manifestation: The duration of the associated mutation’s manifestation effect lasts longer.
Sign: The signs of the associated void mutation are exaggerated; you have more feathers on more parts of your check when you use the Splendor mutation, you more closely resemble a fox when you use the Cunning mutation, etc.
Ray: You gain the ability to unleash a flurry of magical rays. Your ray is a ranged touch attack that deals 1d6 points of damage per five effective Binder levels you possess, plus your Charisma modifier. This damage is bludgeoning damage. If you possess the elemental attacks ability, it deals damage that corresponds with that element instead of bludgeoning damage. You can attack with additional rays by taking a -5 penalty to your base attack bonus, just as if you were attacking with a weapon.
Manifestation: Your soul vestige appears with the onset of eerie lights and sounds that persist for the duration of the pact making process.
Sign: A glowing rune appears on your forehead. Long hair, hats, or a hood can cover this marking.
Reduction: Your size category decreases by one for the duration of the pact, granting you the normal benefits for your change in size, as well as a +4 bonus to Dexterity and Constitution, a +4 dodge bonus to Armor Class, and a -2 penalty to Strength. This benefit does not stack with other effects that reduce your size, such as the Reduce Person spell. If your size is increased, you lose the benefits of this ability.
Manifestation: Your soul vestige appears roughly the size of a fine creature; barely several inches long in size.
Sign: None; your size reduction is the only sign you show as a result of this vestige. Unlike a Reduce Personal spell your equipment does not shrink with you, however, unless it is magical.
Spell Resistance: You gain spell resistance equal to 11 + your effective Binder level.
Manifestation: Your soul vestige appears to be able to move outside of its seal, even if it is only several inches; a fact it takes advantage of during the pact making process.
Sign: Your skin faintly glitters in all sources of light.
Tremorsense: You gain tremorsense out to 5 feet per effective Binder level you possess. This ability only allows you to pinpoint a creature's location if both you and the creature are in contact with the ground.
Manifestation After the vision of how your soul shattered ends, your soul vestige bursts forth from the ground to face you.
Sign: Your eyes always appear to be squinting or closed. This does not affect your ability to see, use low light vision or dark vision, or your susceptibility to gaze attacks.
4-Point Void Mutations
Boneblade: You can pull your bones from your body, allowing you to create potent weapons with them. As a standard action, you can create any of the following weapons from your bones: longsword, greatsword, rapier, or hook sword. You take 1 point of Constitution damage when creating the rapier or hook sword, 2 points when creating the longsword, and 3 points when creating the greatsword. This Constitution damage is automatically healed when the weapon is sheethed back into your body or when the weapon's duration ends. At 10th level or lower, the weapon has an enhancement bonus of +1; for every level gained thereafter, it's bonuses improve by +1, up to a total of a +10 weapon at 20th level. You can convert enhancement bonuses into any of the following special aiblities; using the normal rules associated with those abilities' effective bonuses: Bane, Defending, Ghost Touch, Keen, Mighty Cleaving, Vicious, Anarchic, Axiomatic, Holy, Unholy, Wounding, Speed, Dancing, or Vorpal.
You must select your weapon's abilities immediately after making your pact with your soul vestige; every weapon you summon with this ability uses your selected abilities and enhancement bonus for the duration of your pact. This weapon lasts for a number of rounds equal to 1 + your effective Binder level. Unlike normal weapons, you can repair a Boneblade with cure spells and other healing magic. If the weapon is broken, you cannot return it to your body until it has at least 1 hit point. If it is destroyed, you permanently lose all points of Constitution used to create the weapon until a Restoration or similiarly powerful effect heals the Constitution damage from you. After this ability ends, you cannot use it again for 4 rounds.
Manifestation: Your soul vestige first appears before you as a bare skeleton after your vision ends. Its organs and muscles slowly grow and fill themselves in after the skeleton appears.
Sign: Your face appears emaciated.
Breath Weapon: You gain the ability to unleash a breath weapon. Each time you use this ability, you can select if its area is a 30ft. cone or a 30ft. line. Your breath weapon deals 1d4 points of damage per effective Binder level you possess; a successful Reflex save halves this damage. If you possess the elemental attacks ability, your breath weapon's damage increases to 1d6 and it deals the type of damage that you selected with that ability. If you selected the poison ability, your breath weapon also poisons creatures in its area. After using this ability, you cannot use it again for 5 rounds.
Manifestation: Before your vision appears, a massive dragon soars into view, roaring loudly. It fires its breath weapon directly at you, and when the blast clears the vision of how your soul shattered begins.
Sign: A pink scale appears directly over your heart, meeting its every contour and perfectly designed in shape and dimensions.
Spike Barrage: You gain the ability to fire a barrage of spikes from your body. As a standard action, all creatures within 30 feet of you must make a Reflex save. On a failed save, they become struck by your spikes, taking 1d6 points of damage per three effective Binder levels you possess. If you possess the poison ability, a creature that is damaged by your spikes must make a Fortitude save or become poisoned. After using this ability, you cannot use it again for 5 rounds.
Manifestation: Before your soul vestige appears, several large, spikey stalagmites crash up through the ground. Your soul vestige’s body is littered with these spines.
Sign: Spiny growths appear on your back and on your forearms that you fire when using this ability. You become unable to wear normal clothing and armor with this ability active, but magical armor and clothes fit your new appearance, and chain mail can be worn normally (abet uncomfortably). If you possess the fur ability, you resemble a rather large hedgehog.
Stoneskin: You reduce all damage you take by 10 points. This effect ends after you have absorbed 5 points of damage per effective Binder level you possess. After this protection ends, you cannot reactivate this ability again for 5 rounds.
Manifestation: Your soul vestige appears on an alter of stone that their feet seems to meld with.
Sign: Your hands and feet turn into living stone. They take on a stone-like texture and appearance, but this does not affect your Dexterity score, your ability to wear or use equipment, or your ability to take damage.
Attachment (Su): By continuing to associate with your soul vestige, you have made it grow jealous as it waits for you to call it, and in return your broken soul becomes addicted to becoming whole; if even for a short time. Starting at 2nd level, you must always use one of your Soul Bindings to bind to your soul vestige; you can bind to any other vestiges that you chose to, as long as you meet the vestige’s Special Requirements and preferences (such as how Amon refuses to answer the call of a Binder who has made a pact with Chuploclops within the past 24 hours).
Starting at 4th level, your vestige clings to your soul, refusing to let go. If you attempt to expel your soul vestige with an ability (such as the Expel Vestige feat) or completely suppress it with any ability besides Personal Restraint (such as with a set of Chimes of Suppression), you must make a binding check. Your personal vestige is expelled or suppressed normally if you succeed on this binding check; otherwise the attempt fails and you cannot attempt to expel or suppress your soul vestige by means of that feat, ability, or item again for the duration of the pact.
Personal Restraint (Su): Although your vestige is weak, it has not been separated long enough from you to become completely alien to the ways of the world, and it allows you to suppress a measure of the influence it places upon you for a time. Starting at 2nd level, you gain the ability to suppress the sign of your soul vestige, similarly to the effects of the Chimes of Suppression magic item. As a full round action that provokes attacks of opportunities, your soul vestige can push itself into the dark corners of your mind. Using this ability instantly suppresses all signs and granted abilities of your soul vestige; however, this ability does not suppress your soul vestige’s influences.
Soul Guardian (Su): Starting at 3rd level, while you are bound to your soul vestige (and only your soul vestige) you gain the slippery mind ability. This functions exactly like the Rogue ability of the same name and the Soul Guardian (Slippery Mind) ability of a Binder. If you later gain Soul Guardian (Slippery Mind) from possessing levels in Binder, you can choose to grant a single friendly creature the slippery mind ability as an immediate action. After you use this ability to grant another creature the slippery mind ability, you cannot use it to do so again for 5 rounds; this ability is not affected by Rapid Recovery, as it is tied to you and not your soul vestige.
For every two levels beyond 3rd that you possess, your Soul Guardian ability improves, as if you were a Binder. At 5th level, you gain Soul Guardian (Immune to Ability Damage and Negative Levels) and at 7th level you gain Soul Guardian (Mind Blank). These abilities function identically to the Binder abilities of the same name. At 9th level, whenever you are targeted by an effect that your Mind Blank provides immunity to, you can make a binding check against the DC of the ability. If you succeed, you turn the ability back on its user, as if it was a spell being affected by the Spell Turning spell. This ability can be used to turn abilities that are normally not affected by Spell Turning, such as supernatural abilities. After using Soul Guardian (Rebuke), you cannot use it again for 5 rounds; this ability is not affected by Rapid Recovery, as it is tied to you and not your soul vestige.
Contagion of Souls (Su): You were always an influential soul, a trait that your soul vestige can take to the extreme by attaching itself to your allies. Starting at 4th level, you can use this ability to grant a single friendly creature within 5 feet per two effective Binder levels you possess one of your 1-point Void Mutations. Using this ability is a swift action and it does not remove the benefits you receive for possessing that Void Mutation. While your ally possesses this Void Mutation, they also show the appropriate sign exactly how it appears on you (they grow fur if they gain the fur ability, a tail if they gain the tail ability, etc.). The creature gains this benefit for 5 rounds, after which the effect ends. You can only grant a single Void Mutation at a time and after this 5 round duration ends (or when the Void Mutation is dismissed by you) you cannot use this ability again for 5 rounds. This ability is not affected by Rapid Recovery, as it is tied to you and not your soul vestige.
Starting at 6th level, you can use this ability to grant a creature up to three points of mutations, as long as your soul vestige grants you those same abilities. Doing so reduces the duration of the effect from 5 rounds to 3 rounds (though the ability still cannot be used for 5 rounds after this duration ends). At 12th level, you can grant up to 6 points of abilities, though doing so reduces the duration of the effect from 5 rounds to 1 round (though the ability still cannot be used for 5 rounds after this duration ends).
Two Halves Become Whole (Su): Knowing that its body is still alive and functioning is a horrible burden for a soul vestige, and each time you offer to make a pact with it, the vestige hungrily dreams of the day that it can permanently reunite with you. At 10th level, your skill in pact magic allows you to temporarily bind your soul together again. As a swift action, your vestige and your soul reunite, infusing you with the fully unleashed power of a vestige. You immediately heal for 1d4 points of damage plus 1 additional point per effective Binder level you possess. In addition, you can immediately select a single 4-point Void Mutation and gain its effects for free. Any 4-point Void Mutations that you possess can be used every round; you do not have to wait 5 rounds (or 4 rounds if you possess Rapid Recovery with your soul vestige) to use the ability again. You continue to heal for 1d4 points of damage plus your effective Binder level at the start of each round that this ability remains active. This empowered state lasts for 1d8 rounds if you made a good pact with your soul vestige or 1d4 rounds if you made a bad pact with your soul vestige. After this empowered state ends, you immediately lose access to your new 4-Point Void Mutation (any ongoing effects, such as the Stoneskin mutation’s defenses, immediately end) and all 4-Point Void Mutation abilities you possess are immediately exhausted for the appropriate number of rounds, as if you had used the ability during your last turn.
Playing a Soulshattered
Soulshattered are Binders with nothing to lose. Either because of the weakness of their soul or in a dry taste of irony, Binders find the truth of their soul plastered on their bodies for all to see. Each day, their soul's need to become one is a steady ache, and even if they can temporarily suppress the truth, it isn't long before their body warps and aches, taking the form of their soul vestige.
Most Soulshattered don't last particularly long in the world; other Binders will rarely commune with them due to their obsessive need to literally bind to themselves, while out in the field a Soulshattered is easy pray for the Order or Seropaenes; without the ability to hide what they are, Soulshattered are often hunted down like the animals their minds often break down into.
Occasionally a particularly powerful Binder that becomes a Soulshattered will be able to keep themselves together long enough to keep their minds while bound to their soul; sometimes these individuals manage to repair and rescue their soul from the abyss, other times they don't. Regardless of the outcome, all Soulshattered think they would rather die then live as a broken shadow of a mortal; until they either commit suicide or die and join their soul vestige in the void as a true vestige.
*** More Fluff Coming Soon ***
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The art above belongs to Bear65 (http://bear65.deviantart.com/). Hope it was sufficiently creepy enough for this Prestige Class :D.
1/10/11 - 7:17 - Fixed some minor formatting errors.
1/10/11 - 7:30 - Moar fluffz!
1/10/11 - 7:32 - Spelling error in the title! Embarrassing!
1/10/11 - 7:39 - Added a credits section and put the updates in spoilers. No one can know that I'm not perfect!
1/10/11 - 7:42 - Added the scaling portion of 'Contagion of Souls' to the Class Features table.