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Knight9910
2011-12-25, 08:15 AM
This is a rough first draft of an idea I had. I know it's not very pretty looking, but I'll add a table and nicer formatting as I work more on it. For now, I'd like some feedback, advice, suggestions, revisions, and if necessary a slap in the face

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Vessel of Hate

What is a barbarian's rage? Where does it come from? There are almost as many answers to that question as there are barbarians. For some it's an animal frenzy driven by primal instinct, for others it's merely a lust for battle and destruction. For an unfortunate select few it is pure negative emotion: hatred, sadness, and fear.

These few have witnessed absolute loss; their only friends murdered, their entire clan destroyed, everything they ever loved gone. They felt pure rage at those responsible, at the world which refused to hold such villains accountable, and at themselves for being so helpless. Taking all of this into themselves they become the vessels of hatred, carrying revenge to a sinful world from everyone who has ever been slighted.

The Vessel of Hate is one of the most rightly feared beings in existence. His hatred knows no bounds, in his eyes all are equally wicked and require the same punishment. His lust for death does not preclude him from working with others, though his comrades must be wary lest they become targets of his revenge as well. At the same time, he is not necesarilly evil, even if the energy he utilizes is. The Vessel is not a maniac, or a tyrant, or a fiend, but an executioner. He is the ultimate hand of justice.

Prerequisites:

Base Attack Bonus: +5
Skills: Intimidate 5 ranks
Class Features: Must have the Rage class feature.
Special: The character must have felt firsthand the loss of everything they had, which they were helpless to prevent.

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BAB: Full (or possibly 3/4?)
Saves: Good Will and Fort saves

1- Rage
2- Aura of Evil, Death's Hand
3- Fearless, Scream of Hatred (Shaken)
4- Inflict Light Wounds (1/day)
5- Dead Soul
6- Inflict Light Wounds (2/day)
7- Scream of Hatred (Frightened)
8- Inflict Light Wounds (3/day)
9- Inflict Moderate Wounds (1/day)
10- Angel In Black

Rage - The Vessel continues to gain uses of his rage ability at the same rate of 2 additional rounds per level, but some of the specifics change. While raging the Vessel gains a +4 morale bonus to Str and Con, and a +2 morale bonus to Will saves. He takes no penalty to AC. While raging a vessel can not deal non-lethal damage. Additionally, if the Vessel has the scream of hatred ability he can use it while raging, despite the usual prohibition on Cha-based abilities.

Aura of Evil - Thanks to his use of negative energy, the Vessel gives off an aura which can be seen with Detect Evil, even if he is not evil himself. The level of this aura is equal to the Vessel's HD.

Death's Hand - The Vessel channels pure hatred into his attacks. While raging all of his attacks with natural weapons or with melee weapons deal +1d4 negative energy damage.

Scream of Hatred - At level 3, the Vessel learns to use the scream of hatred. He pours all of his anger and fear into a single blood-curdling scream. All enemies within a 30' radius must pass a will save or be shaken for 1d4 rounds. The save DC is equal to 1/2 the Vessel's HD + the Vessel's charisma modifier. At level 7, the scream will leave a character frightened on a failved save instead of shaken. Enemies who can not hear the scream are immune to its effects, and if a creature passes their save they are immune to the same Vessel's scream for 24 hours. This is a mind-affecting fear effect.

Fearless - The Vessel of Hate is a being of fear. By level 3 he has witnessed every horror both imaginable and unimaginable merely by plumbing the depths of his own mind, and nothing can ever shake him. He becomes immune to all forms of fear, magical or otherwise.

Dead Soul - At level 5, the Vessel's soul becomes completely deformed by the negative emotion they wield. He is healed by negative energy and damaged by positive energy as if he was undead, though he does not gain the undead type.

Angel In Black - At level 10, the Vessel ceases to be what he was before and becomes an undying vessel of hatred and revenge. He becomes an undead, gaining the Undead type. Additionally, his body changes to reflect this: his skin becomes ashen white, his eyes become empty black spheres.

As a being of revenge, the Vessel does not age, nor can he be killed permanently. If the Vessel is destroyed he will rise again in 6 days unless steps are taken to prevent it. However, the Vessel's new form must be sustained by killing. At least once a month he must take a life in the name of hatred or his broken spirit will pass on into the plane of negative energy.

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Some considerations:

Possibly, instead of resurrection on the capstone ability, say "while raging, the Vessel of Hate only takes non-lethal damage from all sources." Of course, it would actually need to be some sort of variant, since undead can't take non-lethal damage. This is something to look into.

Needs more abilities. I do like giving him the Inflict spell-likes, but he had to have more than just that or those levels feel empty.

I've been considering giving him Dimension Door. After a while I felt the class had a distinct movie monster vibe to it, and the ability to move via jump cuts would be a neat addition, I think.

eftexar
2011-12-25, 05:13 PM
I would keep the resurrection would go with the 3/4 bab progression.
I would also worry about the save for Scream of Hatred. The usual save also adds 10 to it. Without out that plus the save will be laughably easy to make, unless his charisma is through the roof.
I really like this class, but I would rather it be a base class.