Palanan
2013-10-08, 11:33 PM
.
"Just look at those silky tentacles, those glistening membranes, the lovely sheen of that exudate. Isn't she beautiful?"
The Madcaller
Far beyond the frigid heavens, past the rising curls of smoke from the dim candle of reality, unfold realms past all comprehension of mortal minds, sustained and permeated by entities already old when bone-dead worlds were new. Bizarre beyond understanding, implacably indifferent to the fragile motes of the human sphere, these ur-beings drift among the caliginous shoals of otherwhere, lost in primordial contemplation.
And always there are mortals--those vain, driven, half-mad few--who, once having learned that such far-realms exist, long to reach out and partake of their essence, craving profound secrets and, most foolishly, contact with their bearers, conduits to their power, ascension to their state.
These fools almost always perish, minds flayed wide by a flicker of attention from powers they thought to contain. But rarely, ever so rarely, one slightly less foolish, more circumspect in his aims and more diligent in his researches, makes a careful contact with some bit of aberrant froth flung up from the foaming shores of pseudoreality--and discovers the merest sliver of a pathway leading forward. What would turn a strong man's stomach only piques the madcaller's curiosity; and once having tasted the tang of an alien mind--if only for an instant--he is drawn ever, inexorably on.
Hit Die: d4.
Requirements
Before taking the first steps through the diaphanous veils of reality, a character must fulfill the following:
Alignment: any nonlawful.
Skills: Knowledge (arcana) 8 ranks, Knowledge (the planes) 8 ranks.
Feats: Spell Focus (Conjuration)
Spells: Able to cast at least one summoning spell of third level or higher.
Special: Must have made peaceful contact with an aberration or another madcaller.
Class Skills
The madcaller's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually), and Spellcraft (Int).
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Table 1.1: The Madcaller
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Spells
1st|
+0|
+0|
+0|
+2|Aberration summoning, aberration empathy|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
2nd|
+1|
+0|
+0|
+3|Mad whispers, chthonic taint|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
3rd|
+1|
+1|
+1|
+3|Aberrant familiar, aberrant tongues|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
4th|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+4|Wild rift 60', madlore|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
5th|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+4|Madness worm, unimpressed|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
6th|
+3|
+2|
+2|
+5|Deeper chthonic taint, wild rift 80', aberrant tongue|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
7th|
+3|
+2|
+2|
+5|Insidious whispers, othermind|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
8th|
+4|
+2|
+2|
+6|The Madness Place, wild rift 100'|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
9th|
+4|
+3|
+3|
+6|Insane clarity, aberrant tongue|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
10th|
+5|
+3|
+3|
+7|Pseudomortality, spontaneous summoning, wild rift 120'|+1 level of existing spellcasting class [/table]
Class Features
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Madcallers gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.
Spells per Day/Spells Known: The madcaller follows the spell progression rules for a typical full-casting prestige class.
Aberration Summoning: As an obsessive specialist in far-contact, the madcaller disdains ordinary summoning, instead learning to call a variety of aberrations for study, admiration, and occasionally more pragmatic uses. When casting any Summon Monster spell, the madcaller draws on the alternate list of summoned aberrations presented in Table 1.2. (For convenience this is referred to as Summon Aberration, but the mechanics of the spell remain the same.) A madcaller forsakes the ability to summon conventional monsters from the standard list.
Table 1.2: Aberration Summoning Options
Summon Aberration I
{table=head] Creature | Source
beholder eyeball | MoF p. 23
mindshredder larva | MM3 p. 102
tsochar strand | LoM p. 125
[/table]
Summon Aberration II
{table=head] Creature | Source
choker | MM1 p. 34
lurking strangler | MM3 p. 100
saltor | LoM p. 155
[/table]
Summon Aberration III
{table=head] Creature | Source
fihyr | MM2 p. 100
grell | LoM p. 107
grick | MM1 p. 139
runehound | MM3 p. 145
[/table]
Summon Aberration IV
{table=head] Creature | Source
carrion crawler | MM1 p. 30
mindshredder warrior | MM3 p. 103
otyugh | MM1 p. 204
tsochar | LoM p. 121
[/table]
Summon Aberration V
{table=head] Creature | Source
gibbering mouther | LoM p. 149
kigrid | LoM p. 154
nyth | MoF p. 68
wyste | MM2 p. 200
[/table]
Summon Aberration VI
{table=head] Creature | Source
chuul | MM1 p. 35
darktentacles | MM2 p. 54
hook horror | MM2 p. 126
[/table]
Summon Aberration VII
{table=head] Creature | Source
cildabrin | LoM p. 141
destrachan | MM1 p. 49
embrac | LoM p. 153
stonesinger | MM3 p. 168
[/table]
Summon Aberration VIII
{table=head] Creature | Source
hound o' gloom | LoM p. 152
[/table]
Summon Aberration IX
{table=head] Creature | Source
avolakia | MM2 p. 28
mooncalf | MM2 p. 150
[/table]
Key to Sources:
LoM Lords of Madness
MoF Magic of Faerūn
MM1-5 Monster Manual 1-5
Aberration Empathy (Ex): With hissing gurgles, spastic gestures and a weirdly distorted posture, a madcaller can improve the attitude of an aberration as if making a Diplomacy check. The madcaller rolls 1d20 and adds both his arcane character level (madcaller levels plus levels in any other arcane classes) and his Intelligence modifier to determine his aberration empathy check result.
To use this ability, the madcaller and the aberration must be within 30 feet of each other under normal conditions--although given the subjects involved, "normal" is open to interpretation. Aberrations typically have a starting attitude of unfriendly.
In addition, the madcaller gains a +4 bonus on the save DC whenever he casts Charm Monster on an aberration.
Regrettably, the madcaller's intuitive bond with aberrations comes at a cost to his interactions with mortals of his own kind. At first level, the madcaller takes a -2 penalty on all Charisma-based skill checks. This penalty increases by -2 with each new level of madcaller, with a cumulative penalty of -20 by tenth level.
Mad Whispers (Su): At second level, the madcaller's increasingly bold inquiries into the nature of otherthought begin to open tiny fissures in his psyche, through which the faintest echoes of inhuman minds begin to coldly percolate. This provides certain insights, but at an insidious cost. A madcaller gains +1 caster level to all divination spells, but also incurs a -4 penalty to all Wisdom-based skill checks.
Chthonic Taint (Su): The madcaller's near-constant exposure to otherworldly energies has begun to affect his mortal form. He gains a +5 circumstance bonus to Fortitude saves vs. sleep and paralysis effects, but any healing spell or potion heals 2 points less per die than it otherwise would. (As an example, a third-level cleric casting Cure Moderate Wounds might ordinarily heal 12 points of damage, but for the madcaller only 8 points of healing would be applied.)
Aberrant Familiar: By third level, the madcaller has allowed his mind to drift long enough in the great seas of far-reality (if only on their merest surface layers) that his brain has become permeated by the alien tendrils of otherthought. This in turn permits him to achieve deep bonds of what, with other creatures, might be called empathy, but which in the madcaller's case involve the beginnings of mutual comprehension with a compatible aberration.
As a result, if he so chooses, the madcaller may dismiss his current familiar (if any) without any negative consequences, and instead summon any of the aberrations available to him through Summon Aberration I. During a 24-hour ritual, the details of which are both incomprehensible and best left undescribed, the madcaller bonds the aberration to him as if it were one of the additional familiar options granted by the Improve Familiar feat. (Note it is not necessary for the madcaller to take the Improve Familiar feat; this class feature serves the same purpose.)
For the ritual to be successful, the madcaller must spend twelve hours in secluded meditation, during which he must not eat, sleep, cast spells, move from his location, speak with other humanoids or be disturbed in any other fashion, apart from the increasing mental disturbance of his chosen career path. At the end of this twelve-hour period, the madcaller must cast Summon Aberration I to call his familiar, and spend the next twelve hours in equally rigorous seclusion to complete the bonding process.
Aberrant Tongues (Ex): At third level, and every three levels thereafter, the madcaller learns one bonus language by dint of increasing exposure to the thought patterns of utterly alien minds. The madcaller may choose from the following inhuman tongues: Aboleth, Avolakia, Beholder, Grell, Runehound, Stonesinger, and Tsochar. A madcaller who speaks the native language of an aberration gains a +2 circumstance bonus on Aberrant Empathy checks when dealing with that aberration.
Although it is by no means their native tongue, many aberrations also understand or even speak Undercommon, and the madcaller may select this as a bonus language as well. The madcaller gains no bonus to Aberrant Empathy from using this language.
Wild Rift (Su): By fourth level, the uncanny distortions of the madcaller's trade affect not only himself, but a fluctuating zone of reality around him. Whenever a summoning spell is cast by another individual within a radius of 60 feet of the madcaller, there is a 40% chance that the intended creature is replaced by an aberration of equal strength from the madcaller's summoning list. This uninvited guest, however, is not under the control of either the madcaller or the unsuspecting caster, although the madcaller may attempt to use any of his usual methods to improve the aberration's attitude.
A spellcaster who is aware of this effect--either from past experience or, far less likely, an explanation from the madcaller--may make a Spellcraft check (as a free action while casting) to ensure the intended creature is actually summoned. The DC of this check is 10 plus the madcaller's arcane character level.
At fifth level the chance of an unexpected aberration increases to 50%, and this continues to rise by 10% for each additional madcaller level. At sixth level the wild zone extends to an 80-foot radius around the madcaller; it further widens to 100 feet at eighth level and reaches a 120-ft. radius at tenth level.
Madlore (Ex): At fourth level, the madcaller gains some degree of control over the sporadic flashes of insight which so often stab through his mind. Once per day per madcaller level, he may make a madlore check (with a bonus equal to his character level plus his Intelligence modifier) to see whether he gleans some crucial tidbit of vanished knowledge from sources best not pondered. This ability otherwise functions as bardic knowledge.
Madness Worm (Su): At fifth level, the madcaller may make an unarmed touch attack to infect his target with a fragment of hungry, writhing otherthought. The target must make a Will save (DC 20 + the madcaller's arcane character level) or suffer a progressive Wisdom penalty, dealing 1 point of Wisdom damage per minute for a total Wisdom damage equal to the madcaller levels the attacker possesses. The madcaller gains a number of daily uses equal to his Intelligence modifier.
The same target cannot be affected more than once by this attack in a single 24-hour period. The madness worm has no effect on constructs, elementals, incorporeal creatures, outsiders or undead of any kind, but a successful touch attack against such a target still expends one daily use of this ability.
A character attempting to cast a restoration spell on a creature afflicted with a madness worm must succeed on a DC 20 caster level check, or the spell has no effect on the afflicted creature.
Unimpressed (Ex): By fifth level, the madcaller has seen far too much of distant alien horrors to take much notice of the cheap theatrics of lesser forms. The madcaller gains a +10 circumstance bonus on Will saves against fear effects.
Deeper Chthonic Taint (Su): At sixth level, the madcaller gains an immunity to sleep and paralysis effects, and a +5 circumstance bonus to Fortitude saves vs. poison, but healing magic and potions cure 4 points less per die than they otherwise would.
Insidious Whispers (Su): By seventh level, the madcaller has learned to focus his otherwise random insights into the fragile veils of reality rippling all around him. Once per day per madcaller level, he may spend one minute in quiet contemplation (some muttering and gibbering is allowed) to gain a +5 insight bonus to the next skill check he makes.
Regrettably, the madcaller's keen attention to these distant whisperings leaves him rather absent to more immediate concerns. Whenever the madcaller rolls for Initiative, he must roll a second time and take the lesser of the two results.
Othermind (Ex): At this advanced stage of his far-delvings, the workings of the madcaller's mind are so bizarre that other mortals recoil at the first taste of contact. Any attempt to penetrate the madcaller's thoughts, whether through magical or telepathic means, automatically fails for any creature without the aberration type.
The Madness Place (Ex): At eighth level, through a combination of determined effort and a decidedly unhinged mind, the madcaller may spend a full-round action to increase his Intelligence score by a number equal to 3 + his Constitution modifier. This increase may last for a number of minutes equal to his madcaller level, but he also takes one point of Wisdom damage for each minute he remains in this heightened state. As a free action, the madcaller may leave the Madness Place at any time during this duration, after which he becomes exhausted. The madcaller may use this ability only once in any 24-hour period.
Insane Clarity (Ex): By ninth level, the long descent into far-reality has left the madcaller's mind savagely distorted, but these very distortions sometimes provide fleeting instants of profound comprehension. Once per day, the madcaller may add a +20 insight bonus to any single attack roll, skill check or saving throw; this use must be declared before the roll is made.
This ability does not stack with the Mad Whispers, Insidious Whispers or Madlore class features. It will, however, stack with an Aberration Empathy check. (When you absolutely, positively have to charm every aberration in the room....)
Pseudomortality (Su): At tenth level, a madcaller's tortured mental journey culminates in a profound transformation to his body as well. His type changes to aberration, and he gains immunity to poison, disease, and all fear effects, as well as damage reduction 5/magic. Owing to these changes, the madcaller gains a +4 circumstance bonus on all Aberration Empathy checks.
However, the harmonic fabric of his body has become so fundamentally warped that it no longer responds normally to conventional healing. Healing magic now has no effect on the madcaller's pseudomortal form.
Spontaneous Summoning (Sp): By tenth level, the madcaller learns to manipulate the zone of wild-summoning which now extends far around him. Each day, the madcaller may convert a number of arcane spell slots equal to his Intelligence modifier into summoning spells of equal level. These spell slots may only be used to summon aberrations, and the number of spell slots per day cannot be altered by entering the Madness Place.
Notes:
Some months ago, I was working up several twelfth-level characters to serve as regional rulers in my last campaign. I wanted one of them to be an alienist--the most disturbing and unpredictable of the lot--but, small picky detail, I wanted him to be summoning actual aberrations. My original plan was just to work up a list of aberrations at his beck and call, and then build him as a standard alienist.
Along the way, however, I made a point-by-point comparison of the 3.0 and 3.5 versions, and in the process realized that neither of them really has much to do with aberrations at all--which to me is the core of the whole concept. There was no real thematic connection between their rather piddly class features, no sense of a slow, inexorable progression towards a state of disturbing otherness.
The campaign ended before I could introduce the alienist and his fellow rulers, so the idea slipped to one side; but one night a couple of weeks ago, walking beneath the chill distant stars, my mind lit up and the ideas started pouring out in a mad, fervent rush. It's taken a while to make it presentable, and I expect there are a great many details that still need to be worked out, but I'm at the point where I'm ready for some peaching.
Speaking of which, my main concerns are 1) that I've packed in too many class features, and 2) I might not have allocated the summoned aberrations to the appropriate spell levels. I was using the options for Summon Nature's Ally as my guide, since I'm more familiar with that list. I expect the aberrations might be a little more powerful than a conventional summoned monster of the same level, but up to a certain point I'm okay with that.
Appreciation:
Many thanks to Cipherthe3vil for her outstandingly helpful tutorial on table-making (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=205677), including blank tables for nearly every combination of BAB and save progressions. What could have been a chthonic nightmare of table-formatting became an easy breeze instead.
Also, thanks to Novawurmson for generously sharing a huge list of aberrations and other creatures that he compiled. And thanks to Glyphstone, for encouraging me (a while ago) to post whatever I came up with in Homebrew.
:smalltongue:
.
"Just look at those silky tentacles, those glistening membranes, the lovely sheen of that exudate. Isn't she beautiful?"
The Madcaller
Far beyond the frigid heavens, past the rising curls of smoke from the dim candle of reality, unfold realms past all comprehension of mortal minds, sustained and permeated by entities already old when bone-dead worlds were new. Bizarre beyond understanding, implacably indifferent to the fragile motes of the human sphere, these ur-beings drift among the caliginous shoals of otherwhere, lost in primordial contemplation.
And always there are mortals--those vain, driven, half-mad few--who, once having learned that such far-realms exist, long to reach out and partake of their essence, craving profound secrets and, most foolishly, contact with their bearers, conduits to their power, ascension to their state.
These fools almost always perish, minds flayed wide by a flicker of attention from powers they thought to contain. But rarely, ever so rarely, one slightly less foolish, more circumspect in his aims and more diligent in his researches, makes a careful contact with some bit of aberrant froth flung up from the foaming shores of pseudoreality--and discovers the merest sliver of a pathway leading forward. What would turn a strong man's stomach only piques the madcaller's curiosity; and once having tasted the tang of an alien mind--if only for an instant--he is drawn ever, inexorably on.
Hit Die: d4.
Requirements
Before taking the first steps through the diaphanous veils of reality, a character must fulfill the following:
Alignment: any nonlawful.
Skills: Knowledge (arcana) 8 ranks, Knowledge (the planes) 8 ranks.
Feats: Spell Focus (Conjuration)
Spells: Able to cast at least one summoning spell of third level or higher.
Special: Must have made peaceful contact with an aberration or another madcaller.
Class Skills
The madcaller's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually), and Spellcraft (Int).
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Table 1.1: The Madcaller
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Spells
1st|
+0|
+0|
+0|
+2|Aberration summoning, aberration empathy|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
2nd|
+1|
+0|
+0|
+3|Mad whispers, chthonic taint|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
3rd|
+1|
+1|
+1|
+3|Aberrant familiar, aberrant tongues|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
4th|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+4|Wild rift 60', madlore|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
5th|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+4|Madness worm, unimpressed|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
6th|
+3|
+2|
+2|
+5|Deeper chthonic taint, wild rift 80', aberrant tongue|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
7th|
+3|
+2|
+2|
+5|Insidious whispers, othermind|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
8th|
+4|
+2|
+2|
+6|The Madness Place, wild rift 100'|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
9th|
+4|
+3|
+3|
+6|Insane clarity, aberrant tongue|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
10th|
+5|
+3|
+3|
+7|Pseudomortality, spontaneous summoning, wild rift 120'|+1 level of existing spellcasting class [/table]
Class Features
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Madcallers gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.
Spells per Day/Spells Known: The madcaller follows the spell progression rules for a typical full-casting prestige class.
Aberration Summoning: As an obsessive specialist in far-contact, the madcaller disdains ordinary summoning, instead learning to call a variety of aberrations for study, admiration, and occasionally more pragmatic uses. When casting any Summon Monster spell, the madcaller draws on the alternate list of summoned aberrations presented in Table 1.2. (For convenience this is referred to as Summon Aberration, but the mechanics of the spell remain the same.) A madcaller forsakes the ability to summon conventional monsters from the standard list.
Table 1.2: Aberration Summoning Options
Summon Aberration I
{table=head] Creature | Source
beholder eyeball | MoF p. 23
mindshredder larva | MM3 p. 102
tsochar strand | LoM p. 125
[/table]
Summon Aberration II
{table=head] Creature | Source
choker | MM1 p. 34
lurking strangler | MM3 p. 100
saltor | LoM p. 155
[/table]
Summon Aberration III
{table=head] Creature | Source
fihyr | MM2 p. 100
grell | LoM p. 107
grick | MM1 p. 139
runehound | MM3 p. 145
[/table]
Summon Aberration IV
{table=head] Creature | Source
carrion crawler | MM1 p. 30
mindshredder warrior | MM3 p. 103
otyugh | MM1 p. 204
tsochar | LoM p. 121
[/table]
Summon Aberration V
{table=head] Creature | Source
gibbering mouther | LoM p. 149
kigrid | LoM p. 154
nyth | MoF p. 68
wyste | MM2 p. 200
[/table]
Summon Aberration VI
{table=head] Creature | Source
chuul | MM1 p. 35
darktentacles | MM2 p. 54
hook horror | MM2 p. 126
[/table]
Summon Aberration VII
{table=head] Creature | Source
cildabrin | LoM p. 141
destrachan | MM1 p. 49
embrac | LoM p. 153
stonesinger | MM3 p. 168
[/table]
Summon Aberration VIII
{table=head] Creature | Source
hound o' gloom | LoM p. 152
[/table]
Summon Aberration IX
{table=head] Creature | Source
avolakia | MM2 p. 28
mooncalf | MM2 p. 150
[/table]
Key to Sources:
LoM Lords of Madness
MoF Magic of Faerūn
MM1-5 Monster Manual 1-5
Aberration Empathy (Ex): With hissing gurgles, spastic gestures and a weirdly distorted posture, a madcaller can improve the attitude of an aberration as if making a Diplomacy check. The madcaller rolls 1d20 and adds both his arcane character level (madcaller levels plus levels in any other arcane classes) and his Intelligence modifier to determine his aberration empathy check result.
To use this ability, the madcaller and the aberration must be within 30 feet of each other under normal conditions--although given the subjects involved, "normal" is open to interpretation. Aberrations typically have a starting attitude of unfriendly.
In addition, the madcaller gains a +4 bonus on the save DC whenever he casts Charm Monster on an aberration.
Regrettably, the madcaller's intuitive bond with aberrations comes at a cost to his interactions with mortals of his own kind. At first level, the madcaller takes a -2 penalty on all Charisma-based skill checks. This penalty increases by -2 with each new level of madcaller, with a cumulative penalty of -20 by tenth level.
Mad Whispers (Su): At second level, the madcaller's increasingly bold inquiries into the nature of otherthought begin to open tiny fissures in his psyche, through which the faintest echoes of inhuman minds begin to coldly percolate. This provides certain insights, but at an insidious cost. A madcaller gains +1 caster level to all divination spells, but also incurs a -4 penalty to all Wisdom-based skill checks.
Chthonic Taint (Su): The madcaller's near-constant exposure to otherworldly energies has begun to affect his mortal form. He gains a +5 circumstance bonus to Fortitude saves vs. sleep and paralysis effects, but any healing spell or potion heals 2 points less per die than it otherwise would. (As an example, a third-level cleric casting Cure Moderate Wounds might ordinarily heal 12 points of damage, but for the madcaller only 8 points of healing would be applied.)
Aberrant Familiar: By third level, the madcaller has allowed his mind to drift long enough in the great seas of far-reality (if only on their merest surface layers) that his brain has become permeated by the alien tendrils of otherthought. This in turn permits him to achieve deep bonds of what, with other creatures, might be called empathy, but which in the madcaller's case involve the beginnings of mutual comprehension with a compatible aberration.
As a result, if he so chooses, the madcaller may dismiss his current familiar (if any) without any negative consequences, and instead summon any of the aberrations available to him through Summon Aberration I. During a 24-hour ritual, the details of which are both incomprehensible and best left undescribed, the madcaller bonds the aberration to him as if it were one of the additional familiar options granted by the Improve Familiar feat. (Note it is not necessary for the madcaller to take the Improve Familiar feat; this class feature serves the same purpose.)
For the ritual to be successful, the madcaller must spend twelve hours in secluded meditation, during which he must not eat, sleep, cast spells, move from his location, speak with other humanoids or be disturbed in any other fashion, apart from the increasing mental disturbance of his chosen career path. At the end of this twelve-hour period, the madcaller must cast Summon Aberration I to call his familiar, and spend the next twelve hours in equally rigorous seclusion to complete the bonding process.
Aberrant Tongues (Ex): At third level, and every three levels thereafter, the madcaller learns one bonus language by dint of increasing exposure to the thought patterns of utterly alien minds. The madcaller may choose from the following inhuman tongues: Aboleth, Avolakia, Beholder, Grell, Runehound, Stonesinger, and Tsochar. A madcaller who speaks the native language of an aberration gains a +2 circumstance bonus on Aberrant Empathy checks when dealing with that aberration.
Although it is by no means their native tongue, many aberrations also understand or even speak Undercommon, and the madcaller may select this as a bonus language as well. The madcaller gains no bonus to Aberrant Empathy from using this language.
Wild Rift (Su): By fourth level, the uncanny distortions of the madcaller's trade affect not only himself, but a fluctuating zone of reality around him. Whenever a summoning spell is cast by another individual within a radius of 60 feet of the madcaller, there is a 40% chance that the intended creature is replaced by an aberration of equal strength from the madcaller's summoning list. This uninvited guest, however, is not under the control of either the madcaller or the unsuspecting caster, although the madcaller may attempt to use any of his usual methods to improve the aberration's attitude.
A spellcaster who is aware of this effect--either from past experience or, far less likely, an explanation from the madcaller--may make a Spellcraft check (as a free action while casting) to ensure the intended creature is actually summoned. The DC of this check is 10 plus the madcaller's arcane character level.
At fifth level the chance of an unexpected aberration increases to 50%, and this continues to rise by 10% for each additional madcaller level. At sixth level the wild zone extends to an 80-foot radius around the madcaller; it further widens to 100 feet at eighth level and reaches a 120-ft. radius at tenth level.
Madlore (Ex): At fourth level, the madcaller gains some degree of control over the sporadic flashes of insight which so often stab through his mind. Once per day per madcaller level, he may make a madlore check (with a bonus equal to his character level plus his Intelligence modifier) to see whether he gleans some crucial tidbit of vanished knowledge from sources best not pondered. This ability otherwise functions as bardic knowledge.
Madness Worm (Su): At fifth level, the madcaller may make an unarmed touch attack to infect his target with a fragment of hungry, writhing otherthought. The target must make a Will save (DC 20 + the madcaller's arcane character level) or suffer a progressive Wisdom penalty, dealing 1 point of Wisdom damage per minute for a total Wisdom damage equal to the madcaller levels the attacker possesses. The madcaller gains a number of daily uses equal to his Intelligence modifier.
The same target cannot be affected more than once by this attack in a single 24-hour period. The madness worm has no effect on constructs, elementals, incorporeal creatures, outsiders or undead of any kind, but a successful touch attack against such a target still expends one daily use of this ability.
A character attempting to cast a restoration spell on a creature afflicted with a madness worm must succeed on a DC 20 caster level check, or the spell has no effect on the afflicted creature.
Unimpressed (Ex): By fifth level, the madcaller has seen far too much of distant alien horrors to take much notice of the cheap theatrics of lesser forms. The madcaller gains a +10 circumstance bonus on Will saves against fear effects.
Deeper Chthonic Taint (Su): At sixth level, the madcaller gains an immunity to sleep and paralysis effects, and a +5 circumstance bonus to Fortitude saves vs. poison, but healing magic and potions cure 4 points less per die than they otherwise would.
Insidious Whispers (Su): By seventh level, the madcaller has learned to focus his otherwise random insights into the fragile veils of reality rippling all around him. Once per day per madcaller level, he may spend one minute in quiet contemplation (some muttering and gibbering is allowed) to gain a +5 insight bonus to the next skill check he makes.
Regrettably, the madcaller's keen attention to these distant whisperings leaves him rather absent to more immediate concerns. Whenever the madcaller rolls for Initiative, he must roll a second time and take the lesser of the two results.
Othermind (Ex): At this advanced stage of his far-delvings, the workings of the madcaller's mind are so bizarre that other mortals recoil at the first taste of contact. Any attempt to penetrate the madcaller's thoughts, whether through magical or telepathic means, automatically fails for any creature without the aberration type.
The Madness Place (Ex): At eighth level, through a combination of determined effort and a decidedly unhinged mind, the madcaller may spend a full-round action to increase his Intelligence score by a number equal to 3 + his Constitution modifier. This increase may last for a number of minutes equal to his madcaller level, but he also takes one point of Wisdom damage for each minute he remains in this heightened state. As a free action, the madcaller may leave the Madness Place at any time during this duration, after which he becomes exhausted. The madcaller may use this ability only once in any 24-hour period.
Insane Clarity (Ex): By ninth level, the long descent into far-reality has left the madcaller's mind savagely distorted, but these very distortions sometimes provide fleeting instants of profound comprehension. Once per day, the madcaller may add a +20 insight bonus to any single attack roll, skill check or saving throw; this use must be declared before the roll is made.
This ability does not stack with the Mad Whispers, Insidious Whispers or Madlore class features. It will, however, stack with an Aberration Empathy check. (When you absolutely, positively have to charm every aberration in the room....)
Pseudomortality (Su): At tenth level, a madcaller's tortured mental journey culminates in a profound transformation to his body as well. His type changes to aberration, and he gains immunity to poison, disease, and all fear effects, as well as damage reduction 5/magic. Owing to these changes, the madcaller gains a +4 circumstance bonus on all Aberration Empathy checks.
However, the harmonic fabric of his body has become so fundamentally warped that it no longer responds normally to conventional healing. Healing magic now has no effect on the madcaller's pseudomortal form.
Spontaneous Summoning (Sp): By tenth level, the madcaller learns to manipulate the zone of wild-summoning which now extends far around him. Each day, the madcaller may convert a number of arcane spell slots equal to his Intelligence modifier into summoning spells of equal level. These spell slots may only be used to summon aberrations, and the number of spell slots per day cannot be altered by entering the Madness Place.
Notes:
Some months ago, I was working up several twelfth-level characters to serve as regional rulers in my last campaign. I wanted one of them to be an alienist--the most disturbing and unpredictable of the lot--but, small picky detail, I wanted him to be summoning actual aberrations. My original plan was just to work up a list of aberrations at his beck and call, and then build him as a standard alienist.
Along the way, however, I made a point-by-point comparison of the 3.0 and 3.5 versions, and in the process realized that neither of them really has much to do with aberrations at all--which to me is the core of the whole concept. There was no real thematic connection between their rather piddly class features, no sense of a slow, inexorable progression towards a state of disturbing otherness.
The campaign ended before I could introduce the alienist and his fellow rulers, so the idea slipped to one side; but one night a couple of weeks ago, walking beneath the chill distant stars, my mind lit up and the ideas started pouring out in a mad, fervent rush. It's taken a while to make it presentable, and I expect there are a great many details that still need to be worked out, but I'm at the point where I'm ready for some peaching.
Speaking of which, my main concerns are 1) that I've packed in too many class features, and 2) I might not have allocated the summoned aberrations to the appropriate spell levels. I was using the options for Summon Nature's Ally as my guide, since I'm more familiar with that list. I expect the aberrations might be a little more powerful than a conventional summoned monster of the same level, but up to a certain point I'm okay with that.
Appreciation:
Many thanks to Cipherthe3vil for her outstandingly helpful tutorial on table-making (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=205677), including blank tables for nearly every combination of BAB and save progressions. What could have been a chthonic nightmare of table-formatting became an easy breeze instead.
Also, thanks to Novawurmson for generously sharing a huge list of aberrations and other creatures that he compiled. And thanks to Glyphstone, for encouraging me (a while ago) to post whatever I came up with in Homebrew.
:smalltongue:
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