Xefas
2012-03-25, 10:58 PM
Relevant Disciplines:
Malfeasant Heart (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=189444)
Desolate Arbitrator (www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=12689742)
Infernal Monster (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=176059)
http://i.imgur.com/DnE35.jpg
Primordialist
Before the birth of the infantile gods, before the petty and flawed gems of the planes began their wretched clockwork orbit upon the Great Wheel, before time and thought and matter, there were beings that existed as concept and story. They lived under the dreaded shadow of the Far Realm until their king wove a legend of such power and authority that he banished all darkness from their land, which they called Zen-Mu. There, they existed for eons impossible to number, peacefully and productively, spinning worlds and peoples and stories, until the Gods of Law came to be, in their hubris, to balance the scales of chaos.
The Gods of Law inflicted linear time and rigid causality on all things, slashing through the wondrous tales of their ancient predecessors and, in an act of true villainy, named these creatures; designating them 'Baernoloths'. Enraged at the rampant destruction of their works, the Baernoloths unleashed war upon the multitude of godly beings. Violence consumed every world-story of the Baernoloth's being, and for every wound the Lawgivers dealt, they used the severed threads to weave tools for themselves. From the slain, the gods created laws and barriers and possibilities, as well as magic to control them, and the corpses from both sides were stacked high and sown together to forge a magnificent Wheel, upon which those defeated titans would be hung and mutilated to form the Outer Planes.
There are few, if any, left that remember this time. Even those few deities that survive to this day feel their memories fade with each millennia, precipitated by the sheer impossible chaos of the time, that any mind would have difficulty containing. Still, the whispers of the dead and forgotten are not as silent as the gods would have hoped. A grain of silver sand or a beam of green sunlight may fall on a shopkeeper in Waterdeep, a beggar in Khorvaire, or a slave in Urik, and fill them with a madness to change their lives forever.
From these scions, who shall be known collectively as Primordialists, perhaps the Baernoloths will spread their banished enlightenment, and secure a foothold into the world, whether to reclaim it or to seek vengeance on the heavens that scorned their people.
Abilities
Given the varied patrons of a Primordialist, and the commensurate variance of their powers, there is no particular ability score that will benefit all members of this class. As a general guideline, those that are blessed by the Infernal Monster, Malfeasant Heart, or Aphonic Wind disciplines would do well to focus on the physical abilities scores, whereas practitioners of the Desolate Arbitrator, Essential Principle, and Ebon All-Shadow disciplines will be better benefited by higher mental ability scores.
Races
Those empowered by the Baernoloths are chosen more or less at random, or perhaps by some alien machination with a reasoning too foreign to be fully understood. A member of any race is just as likely as any other to become a Primordialist.
Alignment
Primordialists tend towards the chaotic alignments, their power being forged in the great chaos before law's existence. That said, a lawful individual chosen by the Baernoloths may very well choose to wield their granted powers to a lawful end, and there is nothing stopping them from doing so.
Hit Die d10
Skill Points: 4 + intelligence modifier
Class Skills: Intimidate, Knowledge (The Planes), [eight other skills - selected at 1st level]
Proficiencies: Primordialists are proficient with all simple weapons, and with all shields (except tower shields), but not with any form of armor.
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special|Maneuvers Readied
1st|+0|+0|+0|+2|Primordial Champion, Fighting Style|4
2nd|+1|+0|+0|+3|Anima of Power|4
3rd|+2|+1|+1|+3||4
4th|+3|+1|+1|+4|Seeking the Scattered Glories|5
5th|+3|+1|+1|+4||5
6th|+4|+2|+2|+5||5
7th|+5|+2|+2|+5||6
8th|+6/+1|+2|+2|+6|Primordial Mythos Exultant|6
9th|+6/+1|+3|+3|+6||6
10th|+7/+2|+3|+3|+7||7
11th|+8/+3|+3|+3|+7||7
12th|+9/+4|+4|+4|+8|Primordial Spirit-Body Unity|7
13th|+9/+4|+4|+4|+8||8
14th|+10/+5|+4|+4|+9||8
15th|+11/+6/+1|+5|+5|+9||8
16th|+12/+7/+2|+5|+5|+10|Primordial Conceptual Harmony|9
17th|+12/+7/+2|+5|+5|+10||9
18th|+13/+8/+3|+6|+6|+11||9
19th|+14/+9/+4|+6|+6|+11||10
20th|+15/+10/+5|+6|+6|+12|Primordial Cosmic Principle|10
[/table]
Primordial Champion: Each Primordialist is a champion of one particular Baernoloth, referred to as their Patron (or Matron, but for simplicity, this class will use the word 'Patron' for either gender). In addition, their madness is capable of drawing upon a second legend, to a slightly lesser degree. This second Baernoloth is their 'Favored'. At 1st level, a Primordialist chooses one Patron and one Favored from the below list, gaining the listed benefits. This choice cannot be changed.
Malfeas
Patron: Your Base Attack Bonus and Base Fortitude Saving Throw Bonus are calculated as Good, instead of the default Medium and Poor progressions, respectively, for the Primordialist class. You gain access to the Malfeasant Heart discipline (as if you had spent a feat to attain it) and become proficient with all of that discipline's associated weapons.
Favored: You gain access to the Malfeasant Heart discipline (as if you had spent a feat to attain it) and become proficient with all of that discipline's associated weapons.
Cecelyne
Patron: Your Base Fortitude and Base Reflex Saving Throw Bonuses are calculated as Good instead of the default Poor progressions for the Primordialist class. You gain access to the Desolate Arbitrator discipline (as if you had spent a feat to attain it) and become proficient with all of that discipline's associated weapons.
Favored: You gain access to the Desolate Arbitrator discipline (as if you had spent a feat to attain it) and become proficient with all of that discipline's associated weapons.
She Who Lives In Her Name
Patron: Your Base Fortitude Saving Throw Bonus is calculated as Good instead of the default Poor progression for the Primordialist class. In addition, you gain 2 additional skill points per level (8 at first level) of the Primordialist class you take. You gain access to the Essential Principle discipline (as if you had spent a feat to attain it) and become proficient with all of that discipline's associated weapons.
Favored: You gain access to the Essential Principle discipline (as if you had spent a feat to attain it) and become proficient with all of that discipline's associated weapons.
Adorjan
Patron: Your Base Attack Bonus and Base Reflex Saving Throw Bonus are calculated as Good, instead of the default Medium and Poor progressions, respectively, for the Primordialist class. You gain access to the Aphonic Wind discipline (as if you had spent a feat to attain it) and become proficient with all of that discipline's associated weapons.
Favored: You gain access to the Aphonic Wind discipline (as if you had spent a feat to attain it) and become proficient with all of that discipline's associated weapons.
The Ebon Dragon
Patron: Your Base Reflex Saving Throw Bonus is calculated as Good instead of the default Poor progression for the Primordialist class. In addition, you gain 2 additional skill points per level (8 at first level) of the Primordialist class you take. You gain access to the Ebon All-Shadow discipline (as if you had spent a feat to attain it) and become proficient with all of that discipline's associated weapons.
Favored: You gain access to the Ebon All-Shadow discipline (as if you had spent a feat to attain it) and become proficient with all of that discipline's associated weapons.
The Infernal Monster
Patron: Your Base Attack Bonus is calculated as Good instead of the default Medium progression for the Primordial class. In addition, you may use your Strength modifier in place of your Constitution modifier for the purposes of calculating your Fortitude saving throw bonus if it would be more beneficial for you to do so at any given time. You gain access to the Infernal Monster discipline (as if you had spent a feat to attain it) and become proficient with all of that discipline's associated weapons. You also receive Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat if you did not already have it.
Favored: You gain access to the Infernal Monster discipline (as if you had spent a feat to attain it) and become proficient with all of that discipline's associated weapons. You also receive Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat if you did not already have it.
Fighting Style: Due to the diversity of the backgrounds a Primordialist may come from, and how they may interpret the teachings spawned from the otherworldly whispers in their mind, there is no unified set of armor they all have an affinity for. At 1st level, they choose one style from the below list, which may not be changed later.
No Armor: While you wear no armor at all, you add a bonus to your armor class equal to (highest physical ability modifier) + (highest mental ability modifier). This bonus is not an Armor bonus, but it does not stack with other Armor bonuses to armor class (such as from Bracers of Armor).
Light Armor: You gain Armor Proficiency (Light) as a bonus feat if you did not have it already. While you are wearing light armor, you add a bonus to your armor class equal to your highest mental ability modifier.
Medium Armor: You gain Armor Proficiency (Light) and Armor Proficiency (Medium) as bonus feats if you did not already have them. While you are wearing medium armor, and are benefiting from a stance from the discipline granted by your Patron or Favored, you gain a +2 Perfection bonus to your armor class.
Heavy Armor: You gain Armor Proficiency (Light), Armor Proficiency (Medium), and Armor Proficiency (Heavy) as bonus feats if you did not already have them.
Primordial Maneuvers: Primordialists call upon power that existed long before what mortals refer to as 'magic'. Each Baernoloth's mythos is translated into the closest analogue this diminished world can contain a tale of conflict known as a 'discipline', similar to the martial arts practiced by more conventional warriors across the prime material plane.
Each Primordialist begins play with access to the disciplines granted by their Patron and Favored. Furthermore, while they have only a limited breadth of disciplines, a Primordialist utterly embodies these two styles in an intimate way that few other martial adepts may claim. Instead of having a number of "maneuvers known", a Primordialist automatically knows all maneuvers belonging to their Patron and Favored disciplines, so long as they meet the level requirement.
Once you know a maneuver, you must ready it before you can use it. Maneuvers used by Primordialists are considered extraordinary abilities, despite their often grandiose manifestations. They are not affected by spell resistance, and do not provoke attacks of opportunity with their initiation.
Unlike other martial adepts, Primordialists cannot exchange old maneuvers for new ones at even-numbered levels. The sanity-unraveling scriptures that each maneuver represents in the story of a forgotten primordial being do not suddenly un-sear themselves from one's mind. Instead Primordialists have other ways of broadening their reach in the later levels of this class.
You can ready the appropriate number of your known maneuvers by communing with the deicidal cysts of blasphemy that have inexorably rooted themselves in your mind and soul for 5 minutes. The maneuvers you choose remain readied until your decide to meditate again and change them.
You begin an encounter with all of your readied maneuvers unexpended, regardless of how many times you might have already used them since you chose them. When you initiate a maneuver, you expend it for the current encounter.
You can recover an expended maneuver by killing a creature that has either an intelligence score of 3 or higher, or that has a challenge rating of at least (your character level 1). You may only recover a maximum of 1 maneuver per round in this way. While the titans of old were glorious and magnanimous many-faceted beings, the gods have left them with only violence to covet. By taking their essence into your self, you are so too bound as an engine of destruction.
Anima of Power (Ex): The energies that a Primordialist meddles with are things that Should Not Be. Their maneuvers are blights upon the grand design of the gods, and so strong is this dissonance that it appears visibly as a nimbus of light around the Primordialist. The exact manifestation depends on the Primordialist's Patron, but all of them are grand and terrible to behold, making stealth impossible while active (except in the case of The Ebon Dragon's; see below).
A Primordialist may voluntarily call upon their Anima as a full-round action. Alternatively, the first time they use a maneuver that is of the highest level they currently know, or the third time they use a maneuver in an encounter, their Anima activates automatically. An Anima lingers for 1 minute, or until a condition would reactive it, which resets the duration.
Malfeas: Your anima is a hateful green hue, drawn from the nuclear sunfire of Malfeas' burning heart. A stylized green sun symbol appears on your brow. Such is the authority of the Demon Emperor that you become capable of Intimidating even nonintelligent creatures, or creatures that are immune to fear, although such things receive a +4 bonus on their roll to resist.
Cecelyne: Your anima is a regal silver; pleasant, inviting, and nourishing as a desert mirage. A stylized silver hourglass symbol appears on your brow. You ignore all penalties and debilitations to your charisma score (including things like charisma damage, drain, or burn), or to your charisma-based skills. This extends to situational penalties, such as a penalty to a diplomacy check for showing up to a fancy dress party completely naked and covered in sewage, as adventurers often find themselves.
She Who Lives In Her Name: Your anima is a perfectly pristine white, as crisp and bright as the spheres of the Whispering Flame. A stylized symbol of an eye with a flame for a pupil appears on your brow. It is unbefitting She Who Lives In Her Name to speak and not be understood, or to hear and not to understand. You may speak and understand any language spoken to you.
Adorjan: Your anima is an unsettlingly accurate blood-red, mimicking the crimson wind of Adorjan. A circular symbol appears upon your brow, red and barbed, eternally spinning. When the Silent Wind chooses to become a hurricane and toss cities into the sky like ragdolls, she does not slow. No vessel can contain her, and no obstacle may thwart her advance. You ignore direct reductions to your movement speed, such as from armor, encumbrance, or a Slow spell.
The Ebon Dragon Your anima is as dark as the emptiness between the stars, and the emptiness between all people. A black disk appears on your brow. Much can be said of the Ebon Dragon, but none can gainsay that he is a coward and a liar without peer. Walking his path, you may always take 10 on Bluff and Hide checks, even if some condition would otherwise prevent you from doing so. If you are within an area of less than perfect lighting, this anima does not obviate your ability to use stealth.
The Infernal Monster: Your anima is a field of disruptive fraying in the threads of the planes, as its godly construction wails in horror at your existence. Those that have never seen it, and cannot grasp its true horror, might compare its likeness to that of heat shimmering off stone on a hot day. Rather than a symbol, your brow physically opens into a gruesome wound, perpetually drenching you in a sheet of blood. This inflicts no damage to you, and closes into a scar when the anima fades. You no longer take a penalty when Intimidating creatures larger than yourself, other creatures do not gain a bonus to intimidate you from being larger than you, and you may always take 10 on an Intimidate check, even if some condition would otherwise prevent you from doing so.
Seeking the Scattered Glories: It is true that other martial adepts may learn and use the disciplines known as Malfeasant Heart, Desolate Arbitrator, Essential Principle, Aphonic Wind, Ebon All-Shadow, and Infernal Monster. But what the average Swordsage may comprehend of them is only the most obvious aspects, narratives, and techniques of the forgotten titans. Primordialists may grasp further, plunging headlong into the myths of their unknowable benefactors, and bringing forth deeper enlightenment.
First, the Primordialist requires a lair some place that will be relatively undisturbed. The occasional minor annoyance or conversation will not disrupt the process, but the entire ordeal requires 24 hours of more-or-less unbroken concentration. Next, the Primordialist needs either a living, restrained, Divine Being (see the Malfeasant Heart discipline), or a piece of one that they personally killed in the past 5 days. A live Divine Being will be sacrificed as part of the process. Next, the Primordialist requires an array of thematically appropriate objects related to the Baernoloth in question, which will be broken or consumed (objects of brass, radioactive ores, or magic items of fire for Malfeas; objects of glass, symbols of law or punishment, or magic items of endurance for Cecelyne, and so on).
Once all is in place, the Primordialist meditates on the secrets of their Patron or Favored and, upon completion, innovates a new maneuver of the associated discipline, which becomes Known to them (although not necessarily to other Primordialists). As a general rule, the Divine Being sacrificed needs to be of a challenge rating at least equal to (new maneuver level x 2), and the sacrificial objects need to be valued at around (new maneuver level x 100) gold pieces. New maneuvers must be thematically appropriate to the Baernoloth to which they belong, and should be balanced against existing maneuvers of the same level.
A Primordialist may not innovate a new maneuver of a level they cannot yet use. And to innovate a new maneuver of a particular level, they must have already innovated an equal (or greater) number of maneuvers of the next lowest level. (For example, to innovate a 3rd level maneuver, you must have already innovated one or more 2nd level maneuvers. To innovate a second 3rd level maneuver, you must have already innovated two or more 2nd level maneuvers.)
Lastly, a Primordialist may learn new maneuvers from other Primordialists that have innovated their own techniques. While such charity is exceedingly rare (partially because of the rarity of members of this class in the first place), it costs nothing and requires only a single hour of training for a Primordialist to pass on one of their secret maneuvers to another that is of high enough level (and possesses an appropriate Patron or Favored) to use it.
Primordial Mythos Exultant (Ex): Once you attain 8th level, your Anima of Power ability begins to exude the legend of the titans into the material world. Lesser creatures will merely feel an inexplicable sensation of awe, or terror, or confusion at your presence. But Divine Beings (see the Malfeasant Heart discipline) are far less fortunate. Their spiritual self is prone to being disrupted and devoured into the tale of hatred your represent.
At the beginning of any encounter in which you face a Divine Being (whether your character is aware of it or not), roll a Knowledge (The Planes) check. Depending on the roll, you receive a bonus on all rolls made in opposition to Divine Beings while your Anima is active during that encounter. On a check of 15, you receive a +1 bonus. For every 10 points above 15, increase this bonus by 1.
This power may only manifest if you truly represent the legend that it draws upon. Based on your Patron, certain actions will disrupt its use.
Malfeas: If you have admitted than you were wrong about something, have backed down from a fight, or been knocked unconscious by an opponent in the last 24 hours, this ability will not function for you.
Cecelyne: If you have broken your own word, allowed an underling to disobey you without punishment, or willingly not collected a payment or reward that you rightfully earned in the last 24 hours, this ability will not function for you.
She Who Lives In Her Name: If you have disobeyed a direct superior, put the needs of the few before the needs of the many, or allowed personal emotions to impede your duty or obligations in the last 24 hours, this ability will not function for you.
Adorjan: If you have willingly restrained or removed another's free will by mundane or magical means (wounding them in some way or killing them does not count), sat completely idle for more than a few seconds, or allowed your duty or obligations to take precedent over your personal emotions in the last 24 hours, this ability will not function for you.
The Ebon Dragon: If you have helped someone without expecting a benefit in return, respected another's dignity or authority to the point where it impeded your own desires, or sought out direct confrontation before attempting more subtle means in the last 24 hours, this ability will not function for you.
The Infernal Monster: If you have shown mercy, kindness, empathy, or compassion for another living thing, or chosen to deal with a problem in a manner that is less than the most absolutely brutal and violent method available in the last 24 hours, this ability will not function for you.
Primordial Spirit-Body Unity (Ex): Once you have attained 12th level, your physical appearance begins to change to more resemble your Patron. After a period of minutes, or days, or even weeks, depending on the Primordialist, they will have taken on a wholly alien visage. A Malfean Primordialist might have brass skin and hair of green fire. A Primordialist of the Whispering Flame might be composed entirely of crystal.
Regardless, at the completion of their transformation, their Anima of Power becomes fully fused with their physical flesh. It is permanently active at all times, both with its mechanical benefits and its visual display. This display may not be deactivated, but the cost of transcendence is that the Primordialist has begun to become less 'creature' and more 'legend', much as their Patron is. If they ever perform an action that would deactivate their Primordial Mythos Exultant, then they lose the mechanical benefit of their Anima for 24 hours.
Primordial Conceptual Harmony (Ex): At 16th level, the Primordialist has moved further still on their path to inhumanity. They no longer require food, water, or sleep. They do not breathe, and they do not age. Furthermore, they add a bonus to their armor class and saving throws against maneuvers belonging to the disciplines associated with their Patron and Favored, equal to their highest ability modifier. Much like Primordial Spirit-Body Unity, these bonuses only apply so long as they do not defy their legend. For 24 hours after losing Primordial Mythos Exultant, the Primordialist loses these benefits, and ages, hungers, thirsts, breathes, and becomes weary as any mortal does.
Primordial Cosmic Principle: At 20th level, the Primordialist is faced with a choice.
Such is their world-defining power that they may choose to embody their Patron's legend to an extent that they become a pure extension of that Patron's will into the material world. For now they would be an Aspect; although, into the Epic Levels, it could indeed be possible to become even more than that. This is the Path of the Greater Shintai.
Alternatively, they may forestall apotheosis in favor of a more unique path. By tearing apart and reweaving the passages of their two supporting legends, they may form a third, new mythos all their own refusing to be defined by another, and instead defining themselves to the universe for all time. This is the Path of the Supernal Titan.
The Path of the Greater Shintai
You take on a new form. This will be your new natural state of being, and your old self is lost forever. So perfectly defined do you become in mind and body, that you are immune to polymorph and mind-affecting effects (you may not lower this immunity, even if you wish it). Your type changes to Outsider, but this specifically does not qualify you as a 'Divine Being'. Furthermore, defying your Primordial Mythos Exultant no longer removes its benefits, or the benefits of Primordial Spirit-Body Unity, or Primordial Conceptual Harmony. Instead, each time you act in defiance of your legend, you gain penalties as if you received a Negative Level (this is not a Negative Level, and thus can never become permanent, nor does anything grant immunity to its effects). Multiple infractions stack, and each instance dissipates after 24 hours.
Finally, you may define your Panoply upon gaining this ability. This dissolves up to 760,000gp worth of items that you own (standard wealth-by-level for a 20th level character). Using the dissolved wealth, you may "purchase" items of likewise cost. Everything "purchased" in this way is not an item its effects and abilities become a permanent part of you. It is an inherent bonus that is a part of your existence forevermore. If you purchase a magic item that normally takes up a slot on your person, that slot becomes magically inactive; wearing an actual magic item in that slot will not benefit you further. If you absorb a weapon, its stats take the place of your unarmed strike or, if you wish it, you may substitute its stats in place of the stats of any weapon you wield in your new form. Items that utilize limited charges cannot be absorbed in this way. If you would require a Use Magic Devices check to activate an absorbed item, you may instead substitute a character level check.
(For example, a Primordialist that spends 54,000gp of their dissolved wealth on "Wings of Flying" gains a permanent fly speed of 60ft. They may not benefit from wearing an additional magic robe. But, as a part of them, this benefit cannot be stolen like a robe could be, they need not worry about a robe fitting on their new, possibly highly inhuman form, magical detection would not pick up the presence of the robe, and they look somewhat less like a walking magic shop; unlike the other adventurers).
Malfeas Greater Shintai of the Demon Emperor: You lose access to the stances "Viridian Legend Exoskeleton" and "Demon Emperor Shintai", and may never learn them again. Instead, you permanently benefit from the effects of Demon Emperor Shintai as if they were an intrinsic part of who you are. Additionally, your natural size category increases by two steps, with all associated ability increases and similar modifiers. If your Panoply includes armor, then the benefits of Demon Emperor Shintai treat you as wearing armor. The radiance emanated by Demon Emperor Shintai that typically does 4d6 damage (6d6 to Divine Beings), instead deals (1/4 of your character level)d6 damage and (1/2 your character level)d6 damage to Divine Beings, respectively.
Cecelyne Greater Shintai of the Endless Desert: You lose access to the maneuver "World-Grinding Sandstorm Devastation", and may never learn it again. Instead, your body becomes a living sandstorm. Your base movement speed becomes 250ft, and you may never benefit from a fly or swim speed. Your interior conditions and the effects of your body are identical to that of the sandstorm outlined in World-Grinding Sandstorm Devastation. You are still a creature, and may still attack and be attacked. You may not wield weapons in this form, but attacks made with weapons incorporated into your Panoply can be represented with waves of scouring sand or similar visual effects you may attack and extend your senses into any part of your mile-radius body, although you are not fully omniscient within the confines. As far as being attacked is concerned, you are fully immune to weapon damage, and spells and abilities that target a specific number of creatures (similar to a Swarm). You are effected normally by area-effect and similar spells and abilities.
She Who Lives In Her Name: WIP
Adorjan: WIP
The Ebon Dragon: WIP
The Infernal Monster Greater Shintai of the Multiversal Calamity-Beast: You lose access to the stances "Infernal Monster Form" and "Untamed Apocalypse Shintai", and may never learn them again. Instead, you permanently benefit from the effects of Untamed Apocalypse Shintai, as if it were an intrinsic part of who you are, with the exception that there are no means by which you may be taken out of your rampage, even by a Wish or Miracle. In addition, you make all iterative attacks at your full base attack bonus, and the number of maneuvers you may recover as per the recovery method of the Primordialist is no longer capped at 1 per round.
//Surprise Errata//
So, it turns out that Untamed Apocalypse Shintai is a little unintentionally too good for Primordialists, who have a lot of Infernal Monster maneuvers known. Replace the last line of that stance with "Finally, Infernal Monster maneuvers you initiate are not expended, and you may Ready two more maneuvers than you usually could, as long as at least half of your maneuvers Readied are Infernal Monster maneuvers." when using that discipline as a Primordialist. I think the default is still okay for a non-Primordialist, though.
The Path of the Supernal Titan
The only immediate benefit of this path is an expanded capability for your "Seeking the Scattered Glories" ability. In addition to using it to innovate hidden maneuvers from your Patron and Favored, you may now use it to innovate wholly new maneuvers that resonate with You.
Upon innovating your first maneuver, you must name Your Discipline, and work out its associated weapons and skill, as well as what Your Themes are (Begin to think of your character in allegorical terms, as if they were a world/legend/concept being, like a Baernoloth if your character was a geographical feature/natural disaster/legendary monster, what would they be?). You treat Yourself as a second Favored, for now, granting yourself access to your own discipline.
Once you have innovated a third level maneuver for Your Discipline, you must alter your Primordial Mythos Exultant. Firstly, your Patron no longer governs what behaviors you must avoid to prevent a loss of power. Instead, come up with your own set of personal standards to uphold that represent You. Secondly, you are not a broken proto-god-monster, and may not actually have anything against divinities. If you so choose, you may alter the bonus applied against Divine Beings into a bonus against some other group of beings with similar scope that is more thematic to You, although it is not strictly necessary. If you do alter this, then the kind of sacrifice required to create new You maneuvers from Seeking the Scattered Glories changes as well.
After you have innovated a sixth level maneuver for Your Discipline, you must alter your Anima of Power. Choose a new color for the associated nimbus, and a new symbol to appear on your brow that is more indicative of You. Then, choose a new effect of similar potency to the pre-existing anima powers to replace the one granted by your Patron.
After you have innovated a ninth level maneuver for Your Discipline, you undergo a visual change similar to that of Primordial Spirit-Body Unity, except that your new physical appearance resonates with an otherworldly and allegorical representation of your personality instead of with your Patron. And, lastly, you may change your Primordial Champion ability into something more representative of You. At this point, you become your own Patron, and your previous Patron is now your second Favored.
Finally, when you have enough maneuvers together, you may finalize Your Discipline into a finished product. The basic discipline should have three first level maneuvers, two maneuvers for each level of second through eighth, and one ninth level maneuver, including four stances. This finished discipline is cosmically seared into the substrata of the multiverse for eternity. You may teach it to other martial adepts (using whatever mechanics you usually use for martial adepts obtaining non-standard disciplines), some random nobodies may end up hearing the whispers of your discipline from beyond the material world even after you are long dead, and new Primordialists may take You as a Patron or Favored, learning your maneuver, taking your Anima, Mythos Exultant, and so on. They can even use Seeking the Scattered Glories to make new charms for Your Discipline.
It is possible, one day, that they could take the Path of the Greater Shintai for You, and become the incarnate legend-creature of your ultimate existence. Unfortunately, outside of Epic Levels, this is a place you will not be able to venture; having traded that power for the opportunity to live on as your own universal legend instead of depending on others'.
Malfeasant Heart (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=189444)
Desolate Arbitrator (www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=12689742)
Infernal Monster (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=176059)
http://i.imgur.com/DnE35.jpg
Primordialist
Before the birth of the infantile gods, before the petty and flawed gems of the planes began their wretched clockwork orbit upon the Great Wheel, before time and thought and matter, there were beings that existed as concept and story. They lived under the dreaded shadow of the Far Realm until their king wove a legend of such power and authority that he banished all darkness from their land, which they called Zen-Mu. There, they existed for eons impossible to number, peacefully and productively, spinning worlds and peoples and stories, until the Gods of Law came to be, in their hubris, to balance the scales of chaos.
The Gods of Law inflicted linear time and rigid causality on all things, slashing through the wondrous tales of their ancient predecessors and, in an act of true villainy, named these creatures; designating them 'Baernoloths'. Enraged at the rampant destruction of their works, the Baernoloths unleashed war upon the multitude of godly beings. Violence consumed every world-story of the Baernoloth's being, and for every wound the Lawgivers dealt, they used the severed threads to weave tools for themselves. From the slain, the gods created laws and barriers and possibilities, as well as magic to control them, and the corpses from both sides were stacked high and sown together to forge a magnificent Wheel, upon which those defeated titans would be hung and mutilated to form the Outer Planes.
There are few, if any, left that remember this time. Even those few deities that survive to this day feel their memories fade with each millennia, precipitated by the sheer impossible chaos of the time, that any mind would have difficulty containing. Still, the whispers of the dead and forgotten are not as silent as the gods would have hoped. A grain of silver sand or a beam of green sunlight may fall on a shopkeeper in Waterdeep, a beggar in Khorvaire, or a slave in Urik, and fill them with a madness to change their lives forever.
From these scions, who shall be known collectively as Primordialists, perhaps the Baernoloths will spread their banished enlightenment, and secure a foothold into the world, whether to reclaim it or to seek vengeance on the heavens that scorned their people.
Abilities
Given the varied patrons of a Primordialist, and the commensurate variance of their powers, there is no particular ability score that will benefit all members of this class. As a general guideline, those that are blessed by the Infernal Monster, Malfeasant Heart, or Aphonic Wind disciplines would do well to focus on the physical abilities scores, whereas practitioners of the Desolate Arbitrator, Essential Principle, and Ebon All-Shadow disciplines will be better benefited by higher mental ability scores.
Races
Those empowered by the Baernoloths are chosen more or less at random, or perhaps by some alien machination with a reasoning too foreign to be fully understood. A member of any race is just as likely as any other to become a Primordialist.
Alignment
Primordialists tend towards the chaotic alignments, their power being forged in the great chaos before law's existence. That said, a lawful individual chosen by the Baernoloths may very well choose to wield their granted powers to a lawful end, and there is nothing stopping them from doing so.
Hit Die d10
Skill Points: 4 + intelligence modifier
Class Skills: Intimidate, Knowledge (The Planes), [eight other skills - selected at 1st level]
Proficiencies: Primordialists are proficient with all simple weapons, and with all shields (except tower shields), but not with any form of armor.
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special|Maneuvers Readied
1st|+0|+0|+0|+2|Primordial Champion, Fighting Style|4
2nd|+1|+0|+0|+3|Anima of Power|4
3rd|+2|+1|+1|+3||4
4th|+3|+1|+1|+4|Seeking the Scattered Glories|5
5th|+3|+1|+1|+4||5
6th|+4|+2|+2|+5||5
7th|+5|+2|+2|+5||6
8th|+6/+1|+2|+2|+6|Primordial Mythos Exultant|6
9th|+6/+1|+3|+3|+6||6
10th|+7/+2|+3|+3|+7||7
11th|+8/+3|+3|+3|+7||7
12th|+9/+4|+4|+4|+8|Primordial Spirit-Body Unity|7
13th|+9/+4|+4|+4|+8||8
14th|+10/+5|+4|+4|+9||8
15th|+11/+6/+1|+5|+5|+9||8
16th|+12/+7/+2|+5|+5|+10|Primordial Conceptual Harmony|9
17th|+12/+7/+2|+5|+5|+10||9
18th|+13/+8/+3|+6|+6|+11||9
19th|+14/+9/+4|+6|+6|+11||10
20th|+15/+10/+5|+6|+6|+12|Primordial Cosmic Principle|10
[/table]
Primordial Champion: Each Primordialist is a champion of one particular Baernoloth, referred to as their Patron (or Matron, but for simplicity, this class will use the word 'Patron' for either gender). In addition, their madness is capable of drawing upon a second legend, to a slightly lesser degree. This second Baernoloth is their 'Favored'. At 1st level, a Primordialist chooses one Patron and one Favored from the below list, gaining the listed benefits. This choice cannot be changed.
Malfeas
Patron: Your Base Attack Bonus and Base Fortitude Saving Throw Bonus are calculated as Good, instead of the default Medium and Poor progressions, respectively, for the Primordialist class. You gain access to the Malfeasant Heart discipline (as if you had spent a feat to attain it) and become proficient with all of that discipline's associated weapons.
Favored: You gain access to the Malfeasant Heart discipline (as if you had spent a feat to attain it) and become proficient with all of that discipline's associated weapons.
Cecelyne
Patron: Your Base Fortitude and Base Reflex Saving Throw Bonuses are calculated as Good instead of the default Poor progressions for the Primordialist class. You gain access to the Desolate Arbitrator discipline (as if you had spent a feat to attain it) and become proficient with all of that discipline's associated weapons.
Favored: You gain access to the Desolate Arbitrator discipline (as if you had spent a feat to attain it) and become proficient with all of that discipline's associated weapons.
She Who Lives In Her Name
Patron: Your Base Fortitude Saving Throw Bonus is calculated as Good instead of the default Poor progression for the Primordialist class. In addition, you gain 2 additional skill points per level (8 at first level) of the Primordialist class you take. You gain access to the Essential Principle discipline (as if you had spent a feat to attain it) and become proficient with all of that discipline's associated weapons.
Favored: You gain access to the Essential Principle discipline (as if you had spent a feat to attain it) and become proficient with all of that discipline's associated weapons.
Adorjan
Patron: Your Base Attack Bonus and Base Reflex Saving Throw Bonus are calculated as Good, instead of the default Medium and Poor progressions, respectively, for the Primordialist class. You gain access to the Aphonic Wind discipline (as if you had spent a feat to attain it) and become proficient with all of that discipline's associated weapons.
Favored: You gain access to the Aphonic Wind discipline (as if you had spent a feat to attain it) and become proficient with all of that discipline's associated weapons.
The Ebon Dragon
Patron: Your Base Reflex Saving Throw Bonus is calculated as Good instead of the default Poor progression for the Primordialist class. In addition, you gain 2 additional skill points per level (8 at first level) of the Primordialist class you take. You gain access to the Ebon All-Shadow discipline (as if you had spent a feat to attain it) and become proficient with all of that discipline's associated weapons.
Favored: You gain access to the Ebon All-Shadow discipline (as if you had spent a feat to attain it) and become proficient with all of that discipline's associated weapons.
The Infernal Monster
Patron: Your Base Attack Bonus is calculated as Good instead of the default Medium progression for the Primordial class. In addition, you may use your Strength modifier in place of your Constitution modifier for the purposes of calculating your Fortitude saving throw bonus if it would be more beneficial for you to do so at any given time. You gain access to the Infernal Monster discipline (as if you had spent a feat to attain it) and become proficient with all of that discipline's associated weapons. You also receive Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat if you did not already have it.
Favored: You gain access to the Infernal Monster discipline (as if you had spent a feat to attain it) and become proficient with all of that discipline's associated weapons. You also receive Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat if you did not already have it.
Fighting Style: Due to the diversity of the backgrounds a Primordialist may come from, and how they may interpret the teachings spawned from the otherworldly whispers in their mind, there is no unified set of armor they all have an affinity for. At 1st level, they choose one style from the below list, which may not be changed later.
No Armor: While you wear no armor at all, you add a bonus to your armor class equal to (highest physical ability modifier) + (highest mental ability modifier). This bonus is not an Armor bonus, but it does not stack with other Armor bonuses to armor class (such as from Bracers of Armor).
Light Armor: You gain Armor Proficiency (Light) as a bonus feat if you did not have it already. While you are wearing light armor, you add a bonus to your armor class equal to your highest mental ability modifier.
Medium Armor: You gain Armor Proficiency (Light) and Armor Proficiency (Medium) as bonus feats if you did not already have them. While you are wearing medium armor, and are benefiting from a stance from the discipline granted by your Patron or Favored, you gain a +2 Perfection bonus to your armor class.
Heavy Armor: You gain Armor Proficiency (Light), Armor Proficiency (Medium), and Armor Proficiency (Heavy) as bonus feats if you did not already have them.
Primordial Maneuvers: Primordialists call upon power that existed long before what mortals refer to as 'magic'. Each Baernoloth's mythos is translated into the closest analogue this diminished world can contain a tale of conflict known as a 'discipline', similar to the martial arts practiced by more conventional warriors across the prime material plane.
Each Primordialist begins play with access to the disciplines granted by their Patron and Favored. Furthermore, while they have only a limited breadth of disciplines, a Primordialist utterly embodies these two styles in an intimate way that few other martial adepts may claim. Instead of having a number of "maneuvers known", a Primordialist automatically knows all maneuvers belonging to their Patron and Favored disciplines, so long as they meet the level requirement.
Once you know a maneuver, you must ready it before you can use it. Maneuvers used by Primordialists are considered extraordinary abilities, despite their often grandiose manifestations. They are not affected by spell resistance, and do not provoke attacks of opportunity with their initiation.
Unlike other martial adepts, Primordialists cannot exchange old maneuvers for new ones at even-numbered levels. The sanity-unraveling scriptures that each maneuver represents in the story of a forgotten primordial being do not suddenly un-sear themselves from one's mind. Instead Primordialists have other ways of broadening their reach in the later levels of this class.
You can ready the appropriate number of your known maneuvers by communing with the deicidal cysts of blasphemy that have inexorably rooted themselves in your mind and soul for 5 minutes. The maneuvers you choose remain readied until your decide to meditate again and change them.
You begin an encounter with all of your readied maneuvers unexpended, regardless of how many times you might have already used them since you chose them. When you initiate a maneuver, you expend it for the current encounter.
You can recover an expended maneuver by killing a creature that has either an intelligence score of 3 or higher, or that has a challenge rating of at least (your character level 1). You may only recover a maximum of 1 maneuver per round in this way. While the titans of old were glorious and magnanimous many-faceted beings, the gods have left them with only violence to covet. By taking their essence into your self, you are so too bound as an engine of destruction.
Anima of Power (Ex): The energies that a Primordialist meddles with are things that Should Not Be. Their maneuvers are blights upon the grand design of the gods, and so strong is this dissonance that it appears visibly as a nimbus of light around the Primordialist. The exact manifestation depends on the Primordialist's Patron, but all of them are grand and terrible to behold, making stealth impossible while active (except in the case of The Ebon Dragon's; see below).
A Primordialist may voluntarily call upon their Anima as a full-round action. Alternatively, the first time they use a maneuver that is of the highest level they currently know, or the third time they use a maneuver in an encounter, their Anima activates automatically. An Anima lingers for 1 minute, or until a condition would reactive it, which resets the duration.
Malfeas: Your anima is a hateful green hue, drawn from the nuclear sunfire of Malfeas' burning heart. A stylized green sun symbol appears on your brow. Such is the authority of the Demon Emperor that you become capable of Intimidating even nonintelligent creatures, or creatures that are immune to fear, although such things receive a +4 bonus on their roll to resist.
Cecelyne: Your anima is a regal silver; pleasant, inviting, and nourishing as a desert mirage. A stylized silver hourglass symbol appears on your brow. You ignore all penalties and debilitations to your charisma score (including things like charisma damage, drain, or burn), or to your charisma-based skills. This extends to situational penalties, such as a penalty to a diplomacy check for showing up to a fancy dress party completely naked and covered in sewage, as adventurers often find themselves.
She Who Lives In Her Name: Your anima is a perfectly pristine white, as crisp and bright as the spheres of the Whispering Flame. A stylized symbol of an eye with a flame for a pupil appears on your brow. It is unbefitting She Who Lives In Her Name to speak and not be understood, or to hear and not to understand. You may speak and understand any language spoken to you.
Adorjan: Your anima is an unsettlingly accurate blood-red, mimicking the crimson wind of Adorjan. A circular symbol appears upon your brow, red and barbed, eternally spinning. When the Silent Wind chooses to become a hurricane and toss cities into the sky like ragdolls, she does not slow. No vessel can contain her, and no obstacle may thwart her advance. You ignore direct reductions to your movement speed, such as from armor, encumbrance, or a Slow spell.
The Ebon Dragon Your anima is as dark as the emptiness between the stars, and the emptiness between all people. A black disk appears on your brow. Much can be said of the Ebon Dragon, but none can gainsay that he is a coward and a liar without peer. Walking his path, you may always take 10 on Bluff and Hide checks, even if some condition would otherwise prevent you from doing so. If you are within an area of less than perfect lighting, this anima does not obviate your ability to use stealth.
The Infernal Monster: Your anima is a field of disruptive fraying in the threads of the planes, as its godly construction wails in horror at your existence. Those that have never seen it, and cannot grasp its true horror, might compare its likeness to that of heat shimmering off stone on a hot day. Rather than a symbol, your brow physically opens into a gruesome wound, perpetually drenching you in a sheet of blood. This inflicts no damage to you, and closes into a scar when the anima fades. You no longer take a penalty when Intimidating creatures larger than yourself, other creatures do not gain a bonus to intimidate you from being larger than you, and you may always take 10 on an Intimidate check, even if some condition would otherwise prevent you from doing so.
Seeking the Scattered Glories: It is true that other martial adepts may learn and use the disciplines known as Malfeasant Heart, Desolate Arbitrator, Essential Principle, Aphonic Wind, Ebon All-Shadow, and Infernal Monster. But what the average Swordsage may comprehend of them is only the most obvious aspects, narratives, and techniques of the forgotten titans. Primordialists may grasp further, plunging headlong into the myths of their unknowable benefactors, and bringing forth deeper enlightenment.
First, the Primordialist requires a lair some place that will be relatively undisturbed. The occasional minor annoyance or conversation will not disrupt the process, but the entire ordeal requires 24 hours of more-or-less unbroken concentration. Next, the Primordialist needs either a living, restrained, Divine Being (see the Malfeasant Heart discipline), or a piece of one that they personally killed in the past 5 days. A live Divine Being will be sacrificed as part of the process. Next, the Primordialist requires an array of thematically appropriate objects related to the Baernoloth in question, which will be broken or consumed (objects of brass, radioactive ores, or magic items of fire for Malfeas; objects of glass, symbols of law or punishment, or magic items of endurance for Cecelyne, and so on).
Once all is in place, the Primordialist meditates on the secrets of their Patron or Favored and, upon completion, innovates a new maneuver of the associated discipline, which becomes Known to them (although not necessarily to other Primordialists). As a general rule, the Divine Being sacrificed needs to be of a challenge rating at least equal to (new maneuver level x 2), and the sacrificial objects need to be valued at around (new maneuver level x 100) gold pieces. New maneuvers must be thematically appropriate to the Baernoloth to which they belong, and should be balanced against existing maneuvers of the same level.
A Primordialist may not innovate a new maneuver of a level they cannot yet use. And to innovate a new maneuver of a particular level, they must have already innovated an equal (or greater) number of maneuvers of the next lowest level. (For example, to innovate a 3rd level maneuver, you must have already innovated one or more 2nd level maneuvers. To innovate a second 3rd level maneuver, you must have already innovated two or more 2nd level maneuvers.)
Lastly, a Primordialist may learn new maneuvers from other Primordialists that have innovated their own techniques. While such charity is exceedingly rare (partially because of the rarity of members of this class in the first place), it costs nothing and requires only a single hour of training for a Primordialist to pass on one of their secret maneuvers to another that is of high enough level (and possesses an appropriate Patron or Favored) to use it.
Primordial Mythos Exultant (Ex): Once you attain 8th level, your Anima of Power ability begins to exude the legend of the titans into the material world. Lesser creatures will merely feel an inexplicable sensation of awe, or terror, or confusion at your presence. But Divine Beings (see the Malfeasant Heart discipline) are far less fortunate. Their spiritual self is prone to being disrupted and devoured into the tale of hatred your represent.
At the beginning of any encounter in which you face a Divine Being (whether your character is aware of it or not), roll a Knowledge (The Planes) check. Depending on the roll, you receive a bonus on all rolls made in opposition to Divine Beings while your Anima is active during that encounter. On a check of 15, you receive a +1 bonus. For every 10 points above 15, increase this bonus by 1.
This power may only manifest if you truly represent the legend that it draws upon. Based on your Patron, certain actions will disrupt its use.
Malfeas: If you have admitted than you were wrong about something, have backed down from a fight, or been knocked unconscious by an opponent in the last 24 hours, this ability will not function for you.
Cecelyne: If you have broken your own word, allowed an underling to disobey you without punishment, or willingly not collected a payment or reward that you rightfully earned in the last 24 hours, this ability will not function for you.
She Who Lives In Her Name: If you have disobeyed a direct superior, put the needs of the few before the needs of the many, or allowed personal emotions to impede your duty or obligations in the last 24 hours, this ability will not function for you.
Adorjan: If you have willingly restrained or removed another's free will by mundane or magical means (wounding them in some way or killing them does not count), sat completely idle for more than a few seconds, or allowed your duty or obligations to take precedent over your personal emotions in the last 24 hours, this ability will not function for you.
The Ebon Dragon: If you have helped someone without expecting a benefit in return, respected another's dignity or authority to the point where it impeded your own desires, or sought out direct confrontation before attempting more subtle means in the last 24 hours, this ability will not function for you.
The Infernal Monster: If you have shown mercy, kindness, empathy, or compassion for another living thing, or chosen to deal with a problem in a manner that is less than the most absolutely brutal and violent method available in the last 24 hours, this ability will not function for you.
Primordial Spirit-Body Unity (Ex): Once you have attained 12th level, your physical appearance begins to change to more resemble your Patron. After a period of minutes, or days, or even weeks, depending on the Primordialist, they will have taken on a wholly alien visage. A Malfean Primordialist might have brass skin and hair of green fire. A Primordialist of the Whispering Flame might be composed entirely of crystal.
Regardless, at the completion of their transformation, their Anima of Power becomes fully fused with their physical flesh. It is permanently active at all times, both with its mechanical benefits and its visual display. This display may not be deactivated, but the cost of transcendence is that the Primordialist has begun to become less 'creature' and more 'legend', much as their Patron is. If they ever perform an action that would deactivate their Primordial Mythos Exultant, then they lose the mechanical benefit of their Anima for 24 hours.
Primordial Conceptual Harmony (Ex): At 16th level, the Primordialist has moved further still on their path to inhumanity. They no longer require food, water, or sleep. They do not breathe, and they do not age. Furthermore, they add a bonus to their armor class and saving throws against maneuvers belonging to the disciplines associated with their Patron and Favored, equal to their highest ability modifier. Much like Primordial Spirit-Body Unity, these bonuses only apply so long as they do not defy their legend. For 24 hours after losing Primordial Mythos Exultant, the Primordialist loses these benefits, and ages, hungers, thirsts, breathes, and becomes weary as any mortal does.
Primordial Cosmic Principle: At 20th level, the Primordialist is faced with a choice.
Such is their world-defining power that they may choose to embody their Patron's legend to an extent that they become a pure extension of that Patron's will into the material world. For now they would be an Aspect; although, into the Epic Levels, it could indeed be possible to become even more than that. This is the Path of the Greater Shintai.
Alternatively, they may forestall apotheosis in favor of a more unique path. By tearing apart and reweaving the passages of their two supporting legends, they may form a third, new mythos all their own refusing to be defined by another, and instead defining themselves to the universe for all time. This is the Path of the Supernal Titan.
The Path of the Greater Shintai
You take on a new form. This will be your new natural state of being, and your old self is lost forever. So perfectly defined do you become in mind and body, that you are immune to polymorph and mind-affecting effects (you may not lower this immunity, even if you wish it). Your type changes to Outsider, but this specifically does not qualify you as a 'Divine Being'. Furthermore, defying your Primordial Mythos Exultant no longer removes its benefits, or the benefits of Primordial Spirit-Body Unity, or Primordial Conceptual Harmony. Instead, each time you act in defiance of your legend, you gain penalties as if you received a Negative Level (this is not a Negative Level, and thus can never become permanent, nor does anything grant immunity to its effects). Multiple infractions stack, and each instance dissipates after 24 hours.
Finally, you may define your Panoply upon gaining this ability. This dissolves up to 760,000gp worth of items that you own (standard wealth-by-level for a 20th level character). Using the dissolved wealth, you may "purchase" items of likewise cost. Everything "purchased" in this way is not an item its effects and abilities become a permanent part of you. It is an inherent bonus that is a part of your existence forevermore. If you purchase a magic item that normally takes up a slot on your person, that slot becomes magically inactive; wearing an actual magic item in that slot will not benefit you further. If you absorb a weapon, its stats take the place of your unarmed strike or, if you wish it, you may substitute its stats in place of the stats of any weapon you wield in your new form. Items that utilize limited charges cannot be absorbed in this way. If you would require a Use Magic Devices check to activate an absorbed item, you may instead substitute a character level check.
(For example, a Primordialist that spends 54,000gp of their dissolved wealth on "Wings of Flying" gains a permanent fly speed of 60ft. They may not benefit from wearing an additional magic robe. But, as a part of them, this benefit cannot be stolen like a robe could be, they need not worry about a robe fitting on their new, possibly highly inhuman form, magical detection would not pick up the presence of the robe, and they look somewhat less like a walking magic shop; unlike the other adventurers).
Malfeas Greater Shintai of the Demon Emperor: You lose access to the stances "Viridian Legend Exoskeleton" and "Demon Emperor Shintai", and may never learn them again. Instead, you permanently benefit from the effects of Demon Emperor Shintai as if they were an intrinsic part of who you are. Additionally, your natural size category increases by two steps, with all associated ability increases and similar modifiers. If your Panoply includes armor, then the benefits of Demon Emperor Shintai treat you as wearing armor. The radiance emanated by Demon Emperor Shintai that typically does 4d6 damage (6d6 to Divine Beings), instead deals (1/4 of your character level)d6 damage and (1/2 your character level)d6 damage to Divine Beings, respectively.
Cecelyne Greater Shintai of the Endless Desert: You lose access to the maneuver "World-Grinding Sandstorm Devastation", and may never learn it again. Instead, your body becomes a living sandstorm. Your base movement speed becomes 250ft, and you may never benefit from a fly or swim speed. Your interior conditions and the effects of your body are identical to that of the sandstorm outlined in World-Grinding Sandstorm Devastation. You are still a creature, and may still attack and be attacked. You may not wield weapons in this form, but attacks made with weapons incorporated into your Panoply can be represented with waves of scouring sand or similar visual effects you may attack and extend your senses into any part of your mile-radius body, although you are not fully omniscient within the confines. As far as being attacked is concerned, you are fully immune to weapon damage, and spells and abilities that target a specific number of creatures (similar to a Swarm). You are effected normally by area-effect and similar spells and abilities.
She Who Lives In Her Name: WIP
Adorjan: WIP
The Ebon Dragon: WIP
The Infernal Monster Greater Shintai of the Multiversal Calamity-Beast: You lose access to the stances "Infernal Monster Form" and "Untamed Apocalypse Shintai", and may never learn them again. Instead, you permanently benefit from the effects of Untamed Apocalypse Shintai, as if it were an intrinsic part of who you are, with the exception that there are no means by which you may be taken out of your rampage, even by a Wish or Miracle. In addition, you make all iterative attacks at your full base attack bonus, and the number of maneuvers you may recover as per the recovery method of the Primordialist is no longer capped at 1 per round.
//Surprise Errata//
So, it turns out that Untamed Apocalypse Shintai is a little unintentionally too good for Primordialists, who have a lot of Infernal Monster maneuvers known. Replace the last line of that stance with "Finally, Infernal Monster maneuvers you initiate are not expended, and you may Ready two more maneuvers than you usually could, as long as at least half of your maneuvers Readied are Infernal Monster maneuvers." when using that discipline as a Primordialist. I think the default is still okay for a non-Primordialist, though.
The Path of the Supernal Titan
The only immediate benefit of this path is an expanded capability for your "Seeking the Scattered Glories" ability. In addition to using it to innovate hidden maneuvers from your Patron and Favored, you may now use it to innovate wholly new maneuvers that resonate with You.
Upon innovating your first maneuver, you must name Your Discipline, and work out its associated weapons and skill, as well as what Your Themes are (Begin to think of your character in allegorical terms, as if they were a world/legend/concept being, like a Baernoloth if your character was a geographical feature/natural disaster/legendary monster, what would they be?). You treat Yourself as a second Favored, for now, granting yourself access to your own discipline.
Once you have innovated a third level maneuver for Your Discipline, you must alter your Primordial Mythos Exultant. Firstly, your Patron no longer governs what behaviors you must avoid to prevent a loss of power. Instead, come up with your own set of personal standards to uphold that represent You. Secondly, you are not a broken proto-god-monster, and may not actually have anything against divinities. If you so choose, you may alter the bonus applied against Divine Beings into a bonus against some other group of beings with similar scope that is more thematic to You, although it is not strictly necessary. If you do alter this, then the kind of sacrifice required to create new You maneuvers from Seeking the Scattered Glories changes as well.
After you have innovated a sixth level maneuver for Your Discipline, you must alter your Anima of Power. Choose a new color for the associated nimbus, and a new symbol to appear on your brow that is more indicative of You. Then, choose a new effect of similar potency to the pre-existing anima powers to replace the one granted by your Patron.
After you have innovated a ninth level maneuver for Your Discipline, you undergo a visual change similar to that of Primordial Spirit-Body Unity, except that your new physical appearance resonates with an otherworldly and allegorical representation of your personality instead of with your Patron. And, lastly, you may change your Primordial Champion ability into something more representative of You. At this point, you become your own Patron, and your previous Patron is now your second Favored.
Finally, when you have enough maneuvers together, you may finalize Your Discipline into a finished product. The basic discipline should have three first level maneuvers, two maneuvers for each level of second through eighth, and one ninth level maneuver, including four stances. This finished discipline is cosmically seared into the substrata of the multiverse for eternity. You may teach it to other martial adepts (using whatever mechanics you usually use for martial adepts obtaining non-standard disciplines), some random nobodies may end up hearing the whispers of your discipline from beyond the material world even after you are long dead, and new Primordialists may take You as a Patron or Favored, learning your maneuver, taking your Anima, Mythos Exultant, and so on. They can even use Seeking the Scattered Glories to make new charms for Your Discipline.
It is possible, one day, that they could take the Path of the Greater Shintai for You, and become the incarnate legend-creature of your ultimate existence. Unfortunately, outside of Epic Levels, this is a place you will not be able to venture; having traded that power for the opportunity to live on as your own universal legend instead of depending on others'.