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Rainspattered
2006-11-27, 11:10 PM
Emaciated Avenger

Indigo is the blurred line between the colours of Blue and Violet on the rainbow; the colour that falls in the crevace between Intellect and Madness, Tears and Royalty. In this void, there is mystery and darkness. A colour without the brightness of blue or vibrancy of purple. A small section of the visual spectrum, ignored in the minds of all but those who have truly gazed into its depths. Those who have fallen into that mysterious void and know its mysteries.
They return with eyes affixed to that small slice of the spectrum, gazing into it with so singular a fixation as to be deemed madness. They have gazed into the mysteries of the universe, verily fallen through them, and now they want to understand. All else is immaterial to them, unimportant. They disdain the material world, for only in a select few patterns of light and the souls of a few individuals can they find the answers they seek; food, water, physical concerns do not trouble them. It is what one cannot feel that they seek, knowledge beyond the ken of all other mortal beings; the answers to the one gap in the understanding of the smartest wizard or the wisest priest.
Their obsession has left them physically and mentally twisted. Their desire is so all-encompassing some would call it madness, their care for the physical requirements of the world have been gone for so long their bodies more closely remember long-dead corpses preserved from rotting and living members of their species. Their skin has lost most colour, turning an ironic indigo-white from the pallor and malnourished blood that rests, almost stationary, in their veins. Any non-essential organs have vanished from their bodies, any essential organs shrinking to their minimum size to keep the horrific being they inhabit alive. Muscle and fat are non-existant on Emaciated Avengers, their skin is so frail and vacant as to be nearly translucent. Their very bones slowly thin, withering away within the uncaring body of the Emaciated Avenger.
In personality, Emaciated Avengers strongly give off their aura of madness; cold and unfeeling in their devotion to solving the Indigo Mysteries, yet still full of the fury and quick anger that allowed them to see into the Indigo Void in the first place. The only way one may find out the existance of the Indigo Void is to be forced, through some terrible, unimaginable emotional trauma, to see into that hopeless void between any colour that offers a shred of hope or knowledge to cling to in a pit of mystery that exemplifies the essential unknown that forms the strongest fear of all sentient beings. They touch the very face of primal fear to find the understanding that every civilization has missed on its path to greatness, the one secret left in all of the cosmos.
Love, duty, honour, good, and many other such noble causes are the hallmarks of beings before they become Emaciated Avengers. Some catastrophe occurs of such great emotional trauma as to desroy the very fabric of their reality, taking away everything they knew in one crushing blow. This utter lack of knowledge and understanding is hopeless, terrifying, depressing, and painful, until one goal reaches out to the fragmented recessed of their minds; get out. Beat it. Understand. Know again. The Emaciated Avenger is often in a coma or catatonic until his trance ends with this goal to defeat the mystery, surmount the challenge arrives in their minds, though they sometimes fall into in states of deep depression or psychosis and hallucination instead of catatonia.
The rationale behind an Emaciated Avenger's goal varries, but his dedication is absolute; one may begin as any alignment, but one will gladly break the boundaries of one's alignment if doing so would further the quest. A few of the more functional Emaciated Avengers have become clerics dedicated to Gods of Knowledge or Secrets in the hope that this path will give them faster answers. Others have been known to become monks, seeking enlightenment. Many follow their former class, or one close to it, believing they stand the best chance of reaching their goal if they use the skills they already possess.
Wise and Intelligent beyond most mortal beings, Emaciated Avengers' bodies are horribly dessicated and are able to move only through sheer force of willpower. Due to their unnatural, insurmountable devotion to this secret, they are able to resist death that should come to them more certainly than most others, and their mental fury is equally terrifying and deadly as the musclebound rage of a barbarian.

Rainspattered
2006-11-28, 04:15 PM
Creating an Emaciated Avenger
Emaciated Avenger is an acquired template that may be applied to any creature (henceforth known as the "Base Creature") with an Intelligence score of 3 or higher.

Special Requirements: The base creature must have undergone some form of extreme emotional trauma.

Size and Type: A creature retains its base size and type.

Hit Dice: Increase all current and future hit dice to d12.

Armor Class: An emaciated avenger gains a bonus to its armour class equal to its Wisdom bonus, as in the Monk class.

Attack and Full Attack: As base creature.

Special Attacks:
An Emaciated Anger retains all the special attacks of the base creature, and gains those lised below:
Fear Aura (Ex): An Emaciated avenger can, at will, emanate the terror it once experienced in a sixty-foot radius around it, requiring any creature of less than 10 HD to make a will save or be affected as though by a fear spell from a sorceror with a caster level equal to the Emaciated Avenger's HD.

Mental Rage: The reason for the Emaciated Avenger's name becomes apparent when it flies into a rage. Because of the trauma that caused it to fall into the Indigo Void, Emaciated Avengers still possess great fury, held in check normally only by their discipline to their quest for knowledge. When something gets in the way of this check or their discipline wanes for even a second, the Emaciated Avenger goes into a Rage. It's DR is increased by 5 points, its Strength score is replaced by its Intelligence, its Constituion score is replaced by its Wisdom score, and its AC is decreased by 2. This rage lasts 1d4+X rounds, where X represents the Emaciated Avenger's charisma bonus. It retains its wisdom bonus to AC in this rage, but loses the ability to cast any spells or use any skill tied to its mental stats. The Emaciated Avenger deals 1d8 unarmed damage, and those struck by its attacks must make a will save with a DC of 10 plus the Emaciated Avenger's intelligence bonus or be affected as by a Fear spell cast by a sorcer with a caster level equal to the Emaciated Avenger's HD.

Special Qualities:
Damage Reduction: Due to an Emaciated Avenger's force of will to not be harmed, they gain a damage reduction of 15/Magic.

Immunities (Ex): Emaciated Angers have immunity to cold, electricity, polymorph (though they can use polymorph effects on themselves), critical hits, death by massive damage, and mind-affecting attacks.

Abilities:Modify from the base creature: -4 Str, -2 Dex, -4 Con, +6 Int, +6 Wis.

Skills:An Emaciated Avenger receives a racial bonus of +6 to all knowledge skills, and a +8 racial bonus to Sense Motice checks, due to all the knowledge they have accrued in their search for answers.

Feats: An Emaciated Avenger receives the Diehard feat, regardless of whether or not it meats the prerequisites.

Special Rules
Devotion: An Emaciated Avenger singularly, fanatically, unyielding devoted to its quest. Any action taken that does not specifically bring it closer to its goal is undertaken under a -5 penalty, and it is considered to be under the influence of the Geas/Quest spell at all times. This is a mental condition that cannot be healed, and is nonmagical, and thus cannot be dispelled.

Challenge Rating: Same as the Base Creature +3

Level Adjustment: Same as Base Creature +6

Rainspattered
2006-11-28, 08:22 PM
Judging Catergories Qualified For:

Best Overall Template
Best Articulation of the Theme
Best Beneficial Template
Best Detrimental Template
Rookie Award
Roland's Choice (Staff) Award

HealytheHealslime
2006-11-28, 09:36 PM
Nice first entry, although the first post would read much better if you put spacing between the lines. Also, the requirements for this template are a bit unclear. Exactly how traumatic would an event have for it to qualify someone for the template?

Also, you should link this in the Entry thread, and not the general Contest thread.