Xefas
2013-12-15, 12:36 PM
Related Threads
This is intended to be used as a substitute for the "Human Paragon" class presented in Unearthed Arcana, functioning with the Mythos subsystem used in these classes:
The Olethrofex (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16517470)
The Teramach (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=286983)
The Kathodos (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=15947087)
http://i.imgur.com/GwUyCOU.png
"There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect."
The Mythic Human
Few, save the Gods, know the true story of how the Human race came to be. Even fewer know that Humans, as they are today, are a second iteration on what was to be their final design.
Elves were made in the image of Corellon Larethian - quick, agile, keen-eyed, and keen-witted. Dwarves were patroned by Moradin - strong, disciplined, and durable, with a natural talent for craftsmanship. And so it was with Halflings, Orcs, Goblins, Kobolds, and so on. But Mankind was an experiment. They were created with no God as their mold, no template to draw inspiration from. Slow, weak, foolish, and dull, each design failed as miserably as the last. They were nearly scrapped altogether, but one powerful angelic servant of the Gods of Law spoke up on their behalf, and offered a suggestion.
The Elves seemed content to dwell in their forests, passing centuries in revelry or study. The Dwarves exulted in peaceful routine, settling comfortably in their stone fortresses beneath the mountains. A Halfling's greatest ambition was a steady job, warm home, plenty of food, and a happy family. The Gods sat at the top of their hierarchy, unchallenged, happy to live an idyllic eternity, creating, ruling, being worshiped. Their creations mimicked this. But the angel who spoke was different. While the Gods languished on their golden thrones, he and his brothers fought and killed and died in the cosmic trenches surrounding The Infinite Abyss. He had seen atrocities without number committed to those he loved, and had committed a few of his own on those responsible. He had a task that none should have to bear, but bore it proudly so his masters could play with their trinkets unmolested.
"Give them ambition." he said. The Gods shrugged; they had done so already. The humans wanted to live. They wanted to gather food, and make shelter, and protect what they cared about. They wanted to form a society where they could all live happily together. "No." said the angel. "Give them my ambition."
The next batch of Humans was intended as the final design; one more chance, before the idea was forsaken altogether. They took that chance, eagerly, and the Gods looked on in wonder. These Humans combined compassion, empathy, and integrity, with ruthlessness, obsession, and a hypocritical moral dexterity that allowed them to form, break, and recreate social groups that they felt utter loyalty for, bordering on suicidal zeal, while committing the most heinous of acts on enemies and former friends alike. Human soldiers could crucify flayed-but-living elves on the borders of their territory as a warning to trespassers, but enter their homes and be sincerely loving and peaceful with their families and friends, unmarred by the horrors they'd seen and done. They could conquer and oppress and brutalize while believing in their hearts that they were doing the right thing. Their sense of self-preservation was so great that they could hack their own limbs off with a rusty blade in order to keep living, but they could override that same basic instinct to kill themselves over perceived dishonor. They were insane, territorial, expansionist, patriot-zealots, whose love was as dangerous as their hate, with boundless hubris, and no God to steer them.
Their reign was short, by the timelines of the other races, before the Gods convened to annihilate them. But Mankind did not fade as quietly into the night as they'd hoped. They saw the signs of apocalypse, and rather than hide themselves away, beg for forgiveness, or bargain for their lives, the Humans banded together, every tribe and nation, and swarmed over every deity as they arrived, dragging the Gods down like wolves, and pouring into their eyes and mouths with cursed blades to make every life lost another pain to be remembered.
In the end, every artifact of Human civilization was purged from the world, scoured into nothing, and forgotten. Almost (but that is another tale altogether). It took a long time, but a handful of the Gods, whose fascination with Mankind outweighed their fear, iterated on the design, and created the Humans that we know today, by instilling within them an innate fear of the divine, a love of theism, and an instinct to betray and dull their personal feelings in accordance with social mores (which are often determined by the dominant religion(s) in a particular culture, giving the Gods yet more control over them).
The old Humans were renamed the 'Vashar', an archaic Celestial-Infernal word for regret, to keep them distinct from the newer, house-broken model.
And yet, every once in a long while, a man or woman still feels a spark of the true Human spirit. They touch upon the madness of their ancient kin, and are reborn as a citizen of that savage age. They are the Human Paragons, the Godless Inheritors, the Mythic Humans.
New Feat: The Vasharan Legacy
Prerequisite: Human, One Mythos
Benefit: Choose one Mythos-granting class that you have levels in. You may treat the following Mythos as if they belonged to that class. You ignore alignment requirements for gaining [Vile] feats. Your maximum hit points increase by 1 for every [Vile] feat you possess.
If you somehow lose this feat, or no longer qualify for it, you cease to gain the benefits of the granted Mythos until you regain this feat or qualify for it once more.
Exceptional Mythos
Heart-Freezing Atrocity Void
Prerequisite: -
There are pleasant Humans and unpleasant Humans. There were pleasant Vashar and unpleasant Vashar. But today's Humans have been deprived of the fluidity their ancestors had in such regards.
As a free action, you may switch off your ability to feel empathy for other living things as well as guilt, fear, disgust, or sadness. In this state, you ignore morale penalties to your statistics and any effects that alter you in some way based on your ability to feel the aforementioned emotions (such as a Crushing Despair spell), are Immune to Fear, reroll any 1s you roll on an attack, damage, skill check, or ability check roll, and can justify any course of action to yourself as if it were a morally reasonable thing to do. Ignored effects are not removed; if the state ends while an ignored effect's duration is still active, you are subject to it as normal.
This state automatically ends after you have spent 5 minutes without being in danger.
Characters with a Good or Neutral moral alignment that possess this Mythos may ignore prerequisites (including those for classes, feats, alternate class features, and so on) that require them to be of an Evil alignment. However, they do not gain the effects of things that require them to be Evil unless they have Heart-Freezing Atrocity Void active (for classes, they still benefit from any Base Attack Bonus or Base Saving Throw increases, as well as weapon and armor proficiencies, but none of the class features). Note that many abilities are gated behind an Evil alignment for a reason, and their use may likely corrupt the wielder's alignment over time anyway, but not always.
Genetic Progenitor Prerogative
Prerequisite: -
By the bonds of blood, all derivatives of mankind are subordinate to the purity of the Vashar. All that they are capable of is within the Vasharan potential and, diminished as those bastard children are, a true paragon of humanity has no difficulty emulating their imperfect attributes.
A character can only learn the basic manifestations of this Mythos if they have encountered the race to which the manifestation corresponds, are aware that the race is a derivative of humanity, and are not a member of that race.
Basic
Human Sublimation: You gain Open-Minded (CA) as a bonus feat, and one other bonus feat of your choice. You must meet all the prerequisites for this free bonus feat.
Illumian Sublimation: You gain the Luminous Sigils, Power Sigils, Illumian Words, and Final Utterance traits of the Illumian race, and you learn the Illumian language.
Mongrelfolk Sublimation: You gain the Low-Light Vision, Emulate Race, and Sound Imitation traits of the Mongrelfolk race, and Toughness as a bonus feat.
Sea Kin Sublimation: You gain the Low-Light Vision and Hold Breath traits of the Sea Kin race, Open-Minded as a bonus feat, and a +8 racial bonus on Swim checks.
Sharakim Sublimation: You gain the Darkvision and Shadow Affinity traits of the Sharakim race, a +1 natural armor bonus, and a +1 racial bonus on Strength checks.
Skulk Sublimation: You gain the Innate Nondetection, Peerless Camouflage, and Trackless Path traits of the Skulk race.
Underfolk Sublimation: You gain the Darkvision and Camouflage traits of the Underfolk race, and Open-Minded as a bonus feat.
Advanced
Blood-Thickening Genealogy: You gain one basic manifestation of this Mythos that you do not already have, even if you have not met the race or do not recognize them as a descendant of mankind.
Over-Specializing Obsession
Prerequisite: -
You gain Able Learner (RoD) and Open Minded (CA) as bonus feats.
When you gain a level of experience, you may spend a skill point to apply a permanent +1 insight bonus to a skill of your choice. You may only spend one skill point per skill at each level, but multiple points spent over multiple levels stack the granted insight bonus.
With An Apostate Yell
Prerequisite: -
You gain Apostate and Insane Defiance as bonus feats (EE). The saving throw bonus granted by your Apostate feat also applies to the spell-like abilities of Outsiders.
When you succeed on a saving throw to resist a divine spell or the spell-like ability of an Outsider, you heal a number of hit points of damage from yourself equal to your character level, or one point of ability damage or drain.
Fantastic Mythos
Uncanny Extemporization Mastery
Prerequisite: One Other Mythos granted by 'The Vasharan Legacy' feat.
You gain Jack of All Trades and Open Minded as bonus feats (CA).
You gain a special Skill Trick and Feat slot, which begin empty. By spending an hour in practice, you may "charge" both slots. As a free or immediate action, you may expend the charge on either your Skill Trick or Feat slot to fill it with a corresponding Skill Trick or Feat that you meet the prerequisites for. Expending the charge on one slot does not remove the charge on the other.
By spending an hour of practice, you may empty and charge both slots once more.
United We Hate
Prerequisite: One Other Mythos granted by 'The Vasharan Legacy' feat.
You gain the Favored Enemy class feature, which functions much like the Ranger class feature of the same name, granting a +2 bonus on Bluff, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, Survival, and Damage rolls against a chosen creature type. However, you do not choose a creature type for this ability; you automatically gain Favored Enemy (Non-Humans), applying to all creatures without the [Human] subtype.
In addition, you ignore Damage Reduction and Regeneration possessed by Outsiders that can be bypassed by attacks of a given alignment or by Epic weapons.
Legendary Mythos
Omnicapable Human Spirit Ignition
Prerequisite: Two Other Mythos granted by "The Vasharan Legacy" feat.
Choose one base character class that you have no levels in.
Your maximum hit points increase by the number of sides on their hit dice. You gain a +1 bonus to all skills that are considered class skills for that class. If that class gains +1 base attack bonus for its first level, you gain a +1 bonus on all attack rolls. If that class gains a +2 base bonus for its Fortitude, Reflex, or Will saving throws for its first level, you gain a +2 bonus on your saving throws of the same kind. You gain all the class features that a first level character of that class would have, choosing spells, maneuvers, and so on as normal.
By spending one hour practicing, you may change your chosen class to another class that you have no levels in, losing all benefits of the previous class. You may not "change" to the same class that you currently have chosen. If you gain a level in the class that you currently have chosen for this Mythos, you lose the benefits of this Mythos until you spend an hour practicing to change your choice of class.
This is intended to be used as a substitute for the "Human Paragon" class presented in Unearthed Arcana, functioning with the Mythos subsystem used in these classes:
The Olethrofex (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16517470)
The Teramach (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=286983)
The Kathodos (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=15947087)
http://i.imgur.com/GwUyCOU.png
"There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect."
The Mythic Human
Few, save the Gods, know the true story of how the Human race came to be. Even fewer know that Humans, as they are today, are a second iteration on what was to be their final design.
Elves were made in the image of Corellon Larethian - quick, agile, keen-eyed, and keen-witted. Dwarves were patroned by Moradin - strong, disciplined, and durable, with a natural talent for craftsmanship. And so it was with Halflings, Orcs, Goblins, Kobolds, and so on. But Mankind was an experiment. They were created with no God as their mold, no template to draw inspiration from. Slow, weak, foolish, and dull, each design failed as miserably as the last. They were nearly scrapped altogether, but one powerful angelic servant of the Gods of Law spoke up on their behalf, and offered a suggestion.
The Elves seemed content to dwell in their forests, passing centuries in revelry or study. The Dwarves exulted in peaceful routine, settling comfortably in their stone fortresses beneath the mountains. A Halfling's greatest ambition was a steady job, warm home, plenty of food, and a happy family. The Gods sat at the top of their hierarchy, unchallenged, happy to live an idyllic eternity, creating, ruling, being worshiped. Their creations mimicked this. But the angel who spoke was different. While the Gods languished on their golden thrones, he and his brothers fought and killed and died in the cosmic trenches surrounding The Infinite Abyss. He had seen atrocities without number committed to those he loved, and had committed a few of his own on those responsible. He had a task that none should have to bear, but bore it proudly so his masters could play with their trinkets unmolested.
"Give them ambition." he said. The Gods shrugged; they had done so already. The humans wanted to live. They wanted to gather food, and make shelter, and protect what they cared about. They wanted to form a society where they could all live happily together. "No." said the angel. "Give them my ambition."
The next batch of Humans was intended as the final design; one more chance, before the idea was forsaken altogether. They took that chance, eagerly, and the Gods looked on in wonder. These Humans combined compassion, empathy, and integrity, with ruthlessness, obsession, and a hypocritical moral dexterity that allowed them to form, break, and recreate social groups that they felt utter loyalty for, bordering on suicidal zeal, while committing the most heinous of acts on enemies and former friends alike. Human soldiers could crucify flayed-but-living elves on the borders of their territory as a warning to trespassers, but enter their homes and be sincerely loving and peaceful with their families and friends, unmarred by the horrors they'd seen and done. They could conquer and oppress and brutalize while believing in their hearts that they were doing the right thing. Their sense of self-preservation was so great that they could hack their own limbs off with a rusty blade in order to keep living, but they could override that same basic instinct to kill themselves over perceived dishonor. They were insane, territorial, expansionist, patriot-zealots, whose love was as dangerous as their hate, with boundless hubris, and no God to steer them.
Their reign was short, by the timelines of the other races, before the Gods convened to annihilate them. But Mankind did not fade as quietly into the night as they'd hoped. They saw the signs of apocalypse, and rather than hide themselves away, beg for forgiveness, or bargain for their lives, the Humans banded together, every tribe and nation, and swarmed over every deity as they arrived, dragging the Gods down like wolves, and pouring into their eyes and mouths with cursed blades to make every life lost another pain to be remembered.
In the end, every artifact of Human civilization was purged from the world, scoured into nothing, and forgotten. Almost (but that is another tale altogether). It took a long time, but a handful of the Gods, whose fascination with Mankind outweighed their fear, iterated on the design, and created the Humans that we know today, by instilling within them an innate fear of the divine, a love of theism, and an instinct to betray and dull their personal feelings in accordance with social mores (which are often determined by the dominant religion(s) in a particular culture, giving the Gods yet more control over them).
The old Humans were renamed the 'Vashar', an archaic Celestial-Infernal word for regret, to keep them distinct from the newer, house-broken model.
And yet, every once in a long while, a man or woman still feels a spark of the true Human spirit. They touch upon the madness of their ancient kin, and are reborn as a citizen of that savage age. They are the Human Paragons, the Godless Inheritors, the Mythic Humans.
New Feat: The Vasharan Legacy
Prerequisite: Human, One Mythos
Benefit: Choose one Mythos-granting class that you have levels in. You may treat the following Mythos as if they belonged to that class. You ignore alignment requirements for gaining [Vile] feats. Your maximum hit points increase by 1 for every [Vile] feat you possess.
If you somehow lose this feat, or no longer qualify for it, you cease to gain the benefits of the granted Mythos until you regain this feat or qualify for it once more.
Exceptional Mythos
Heart-Freezing Atrocity Void
Prerequisite: -
There are pleasant Humans and unpleasant Humans. There were pleasant Vashar and unpleasant Vashar. But today's Humans have been deprived of the fluidity their ancestors had in such regards.
As a free action, you may switch off your ability to feel empathy for other living things as well as guilt, fear, disgust, or sadness. In this state, you ignore morale penalties to your statistics and any effects that alter you in some way based on your ability to feel the aforementioned emotions (such as a Crushing Despair spell), are Immune to Fear, reroll any 1s you roll on an attack, damage, skill check, or ability check roll, and can justify any course of action to yourself as if it were a morally reasonable thing to do. Ignored effects are not removed; if the state ends while an ignored effect's duration is still active, you are subject to it as normal.
This state automatically ends after you have spent 5 minutes without being in danger.
Characters with a Good or Neutral moral alignment that possess this Mythos may ignore prerequisites (including those for classes, feats, alternate class features, and so on) that require them to be of an Evil alignment. However, they do not gain the effects of things that require them to be Evil unless they have Heart-Freezing Atrocity Void active (for classes, they still benefit from any Base Attack Bonus or Base Saving Throw increases, as well as weapon and armor proficiencies, but none of the class features). Note that many abilities are gated behind an Evil alignment for a reason, and their use may likely corrupt the wielder's alignment over time anyway, but not always.
Genetic Progenitor Prerogative
Prerequisite: -
By the bonds of blood, all derivatives of mankind are subordinate to the purity of the Vashar. All that they are capable of is within the Vasharan potential and, diminished as those bastard children are, a true paragon of humanity has no difficulty emulating their imperfect attributes.
A character can only learn the basic manifestations of this Mythos if they have encountered the race to which the manifestation corresponds, are aware that the race is a derivative of humanity, and are not a member of that race.
Basic
Human Sublimation: You gain Open-Minded (CA) as a bonus feat, and one other bonus feat of your choice. You must meet all the prerequisites for this free bonus feat.
Illumian Sublimation: You gain the Luminous Sigils, Power Sigils, Illumian Words, and Final Utterance traits of the Illumian race, and you learn the Illumian language.
Mongrelfolk Sublimation: You gain the Low-Light Vision, Emulate Race, and Sound Imitation traits of the Mongrelfolk race, and Toughness as a bonus feat.
Sea Kin Sublimation: You gain the Low-Light Vision and Hold Breath traits of the Sea Kin race, Open-Minded as a bonus feat, and a +8 racial bonus on Swim checks.
Sharakim Sublimation: You gain the Darkvision and Shadow Affinity traits of the Sharakim race, a +1 natural armor bonus, and a +1 racial bonus on Strength checks.
Skulk Sublimation: You gain the Innate Nondetection, Peerless Camouflage, and Trackless Path traits of the Skulk race.
Underfolk Sublimation: You gain the Darkvision and Camouflage traits of the Underfolk race, and Open-Minded as a bonus feat.
Advanced
Blood-Thickening Genealogy: You gain one basic manifestation of this Mythos that you do not already have, even if you have not met the race or do not recognize them as a descendant of mankind.
Over-Specializing Obsession
Prerequisite: -
You gain Able Learner (RoD) and Open Minded (CA) as bonus feats.
When you gain a level of experience, you may spend a skill point to apply a permanent +1 insight bonus to a skill of your choice. You may only spend one skill point per skill at each level, but multiple points spent over multiple levels stack the granted insight bonus.
With An Apostate Yell
Prerequisite: -
You gain Apostate and Insane Defiance as bonus feats (EE). The saving throw bonus granted by your Apostate feat also applies to the spell-like abilities of Outsiders.
When you succeed on a saving throw to resist a divine spell or the spell-like ability of an Outsider, you heal a number of hit points of damage from yourself equal to your character level, or one point of ability damage or drain.
Fantastic Mythos
Uncanny Extemporization Mastery
Prerequisite: One Other Mythos granted by 'The Vasharan Legacy' feat.
You gain Jack of All Trades and Open Minded as bonus feats (CA).
You gain a special Skill Trick and Feat slot, which begin empty. By spending an hour in practice, you may "charge" both slots. As a free or immediate action, you may expend the charge on either your Skill Trick or Feat slot to fill it with a corresponding Skill Trick or Feat that you meet the prerequisites for. Expending the charge on one slot does not remove the charge on the other.
By spending an hour of practice, you may empty and charge both slots once more.
United We Hate
Prerequisite: One Other Mythos granted by 'The Vasharan Legacy' feat.
You gain the Favored Enemy class feature, which functions much like the Ranger class feature of the same name, granting a +2 bonus on Bluff, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, Survival, and Damage rolls against a chosen creature type. However, you do not choose a creature type for this ability; you automatically gain Favored Enemy (Non-Humans), applying to all creatures without the [Human] subtype.
In addition, you ignore Damage Reduction and Regeneration possessed by Outsiders that can be bypassed by attacks of a given alignment or by Epic weapons.
Legendary Mythos
Omnicapable Human Spirit Ignition
Prerequisite: Two Other Mythos granted by "The Vasharan Legacy" feat.
Choose one base character class that you have no levels in.
Your maximum hit points increase by the number of sides on their hit dice. You gain a +1 bonus to all skills that are considered class skills for that class. If that class gains +1 base attack bonus for its first level, you gain a +1 bonus on all attack rolls. If that class gains a +2 base bonus for its Fortitude, Reflex, or Will saving throws for its first level, you gain a +2 bonus on your saving throws of the same kind. You gain all the class features that a first level character of that class would have, choosing spells, maneuvers, and so on as normal.
By spending one hour practicing, you may change your chosen class to another class that you have no levels in, losing all benefits of the previous class. You may not "change" to the same class that you currently have chosen. If you gain a level in the class that you currently have chosen for this Mythos, you lose the benefits of this Mythos until you spend an hour practicing to change your choice of class.