Epic Prestige: The United Archon (now in standardized formatting!)

[Ackapus]

I've been tweaking this bugger for over a year now, but since the campaign I was going to use it in keeps getting postponed I have yet to really try it with a party. The history behind making the class is about as long as the class description itself, though, so if it seems there's a lot of "fluff", it's because this is meant to be a little more in-depth than just a tack-on.

Caveat #1- I got to play epic once, and I really liked it. This class is meant to fit an epic progression as best as it can be balanced. It may seem overpowered, but keep in mind it's meant to be unavailable until at LEAST CL 40.

Caveat #2- I like psionics in my campaigns, and see no reason to play it without using the Psionics Are Different variant rules. This class is meant to honor that variant; however, if desired, the psy-related features of the class can be thrown out. Psionic skill checks will have non-psionic substitutes.

I tried to make it resemble a like entry from the Epic Level Handbook. As per 3.5 rules, there's no BAB or Saves progression. I also apologize for the formatting; this has been cut-paste from my .doc file.

UPDATE: It seems I've tripped the character count! Anyone else know that there's a limit of 50000 characters to any one post? Anyways, given the nature of the class, I have a convenient middle point to split it. This class will have to be in two posts. Er... my apologies if this is awkward... Better get a cup of coffee or something to mull this over with.

The United Archon

IntroductionStereotypes normally have basis in fact; after all, they had to come from somewhere, no matter how far removed from the source they are. However, there are always exceptions to the norm; one of these exceptions is the United Archon. A warrior who understands their mind and soul are the metaphorical soft underbellies where a warrior’s defenses are at the lowest often takes steps to offset these weaknesses. With a both quick and inquisitive mind and a body trained for and forged in battle, the United Archon knows early on that while their physical prowess is their primary strength, they can protect their mind and soul by fusing them completely in their own material form. Once these intangible vulnerabilities are protected from tampering, the United Archon is immune to most harmful effects that mere mortals dread. The trademark of the United Archon, though, is what they do with their fused life essence- they select whichever weapon they favor above all else, and imbue it with their own mind and soul, making it an extended part of their body. The combination of being and blade that results is a terrifying conglomerate, and with their personal Metaweapon, a United Archon is a primal force of destruction on the battlefield.

Adventuring is no place for the common foot soldier; a band of questing heroes needs wits, guile, support, healing, and quite a few more things that a simple combat-oriented character cannot provide. Most fighters and barbarians are content to accept this, but a psychic warrior, ranger, or monk knows firsthand the value of having multiple capabilities for oneself. Of those who fight with more than just their wielded weapons, those who can still keep their focus in the fight itself sometimes demonstrate the cunning, tenacity, and inquisitive mind that bring about the attention of the United Archons. Whatever the particulars may in fact be, an Archon hopeful must be initiated in the art by an accomplished Archon at their hidden College. When the mood strikes one to take on a pupil (which some Archons refer to as one’s understudy), the abilities that attract an Archon’s attention are as follows: an overt fondness of a two-handed melee weapon; a sharp wit; a healthy intuition; and above all else, the ambition and initiative to rely on yourself first and foremost in a tight situation. The latter, as any Archon will tell you, is quite different from an overt fondness of violence and a sense of self-importance and superiority. It is possible to entreat an Archon into taking one on as an apprentice, but unless the Archon is approached just as the mood strikes him to do so anyway, one must often prove themselves somehow. In any event, Archons only select those who show promise.


In public society, United Archons are all but unknown; with the weight of destiny and time lifted from their shoulders, Archons are free to live life for simple pleasures and pursuits without the shadow of future or past hanging over them. (What constitutes simple pleasure and pursuits depends largely on the Archon.) As any Archon will tell you, once you free yourself, you will feel just how tethered you once where. Archons are close to their friends, and if their friends decide to go off adventuring, an Archon will back them up from the darkest dungeon to the deepest layer of the Abyss. Some Archons have an agenda, and actively work towards that end. However, since all come from the same source, Archons feel a great amount of camaraderie towards each other, and will talk their differences over in any dispute. If escalated, a duel may take place, but Archons hold the final deaths of their kind to be one of the greatest atrocities possible, and an Archon who slays another faces final death himself. Archons tend not to advertise their presence or their existence; the epic psychic warrior or ranger whom your party meets in a planar metropolis may in fact be a United Archon. Archons will sometimes hire themselves out as mercenaries, but often it isn’t until you witness the tangible raw power coiling around one as she unsheathes her Metaweapon in combat that you realize the Archon is much more than meets the eye.
Archons can be from any alignment in theory; no alignment is strictly opposing the self-sufficiency and actualization that an Archon’s mindset requires. In practice, though, it’s up to the Archons doing the teaching that decides who does the learning. As one can expect, an Archon looking for a pupil will likely take on an apprentice of similar alignment; and an individual’s alignment normally changes after the initial Metaweapon bonding process- ensconcing the fire and brimstone of one’s emotions into a physical blade makes most initiates much calmer than they used to be. In general, Archons tend towards neutrality on one axis, either morals or ethics- and even then, they are not known to be the most upstanding paragons of their alignments. Archons can recognize each other on sight due to a special ability discussed later, and all share a feeling that they and they alone truly understand both mortality and immortality in the multiverse. In the event that two parties containing Archons cross blades, the Archons tend to take their duel off to the side, refusing any help from their comrades and not helping them in turn. Such duels are most often to incapacitation, however; regardless of the victor, neither Archon will intervene in the fight between cohorts except to prevent death. Archons consider fights between two Archons to be contests of ideology and skill, quite removed from the life-and-death struggle of reality. If two parties containing Archons are determined to fight each other to the death, the Archons, most likely, will not fight at all or, if the Archons also champion the causes of their respective parties, will duel amongst themselves on the side and let the others kill each other.

Basic Traits
Hit Die: d6.
Requirements:

Base Attack Bonus: +30

Skills: Five ranks each in Knowledge: Arcana, Psionics, Religion, and The Planes;

Feats: Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, & Improved Critical all in one two-handed melee weapon.

Special: Must wield a two-handed melee weapon (can be double-sided) with above feats.

Must have been subject at least three of the following:

Silver cord attacked on Astral Plane;
Worn a Gal-Ralan bracer (however briefly) from the Shadow Plane;
Been subject of level drain, energy drain, or incorporeal touch attack;
Been target of undead/demonic possession (successful or not);
Felt the solidarity or integrity of immortal soul threatened in some other way.
Must have had some exposure to magic (arcane and divine) and psionics first-hand.
Class Skills: Autohypnosis(wis), Balance(dex), Bluff(cha), Climb(str), Craft(int), Concentration(con), Intimidate(cha), Jump(str), Knowledge(The Planes, Arcana, Religion, and Psionics)(int), Swim(str), and Tumble(dex).

Skill Points at each level: 4 + Int modifier.


Class Features
Psionics:
Even if it is not a particular Archon’s calling, the College recognizes that mastery of the mind is an integral part of the final product, and psionics is the best path to that understanding. At level 1, a United Archon gains a daily power point reserve of one point per day, and gains the “Psionic” descriptor. United Archons do not gain any further power points or psionic powers, just as they gain no spell slots or acquire additional spells, unless they take further levels in other classes.
Metaweapon:
This is the characteristic most (except the Archons themselves) would say defines a United Archon. Certainly, it is the process of making one’s Metaweapon that a prospective Archon becomes one; and it is without question that an Archon’s most outwardly impressive abilities focus around her Metaweapon. An Archon without her Metaweapon, though, is more worthless than a bard without his music- for without it the Archon loses nearly all class features, not to mention the sheer power of the weapon itself.
A Metaweapon is created over the course of a weeklong period of rest, in which the Archon-to-be spends an hour before resting in deep meditation with weapon in hand. In actuality, the Archon is pulling all vestiges of his mind, soul, and trace of existence from every corner of the multiverse and distilling it within himself. As a person’s past, present and future is more than can be contained within a material shell even when concentrated and purified, and the Metaweapon becomes the repository and permanent home to a great portion of the Archon’s total being. After this meditation ends, the Archon then enters a trance for eight hours, with his Metaweapon in hand. Removing the Metaweapon from his grasp during this trance or waking him breaks the process, as does removing it during mediation or disturbing him. If the Archon has spells or powers, he does not regenerate these abilities overnight, as this is not truly resting. However, during this time, he does not become fatigued or exhausted due to lack of sleep and any spells or power points he has in reserve do not become lost; these can be rationed over the course of the week.
An Archon who loses his Metaweapon loses all benefits of Battle Mind, Aura of Awe, and suffers a -4 circumstance penalty when using any other weapon, even if it is the same type as his Metaweapon. An Archon who suffers the misfortune of having his Metaweapon destroyed loses class abilities as above but also is wracked with unimaginable pain as half his life essence is ripped away, taking 10 points of ability damage to all attributes, losing 1000 experience points per Archon level, and suffering half his Archon levels in negative levels. His life essence slowly rebuilds itself over the course of a hundred days, during which time the ability damage heals at a rate of one point of each attribute every ten days. (If the Archon has achieved Stone Soul these benefits slowly dissipate over the course of the hundred days.) After that time, the shattered Archon can make a new Metaweapon, which in most cases are the remains of the previous one reforged. (This is out of nostalgia and a sense of obligation, and does not make things any easier or quicker.) After the new Metaweapon is imbued, the Archon regains his negative levels and all class features, though the experience loss is quite permanent.
Metaweapon abilities and features are discussed later.

Resistance (Ex):
An Archon studies magic, both divine and arcane, and psionics to better resist their effects. This pays off first as simple energy resistance, as the Archon learns to warp and bend destructive energies, and branches into spell and power resistance.
Preternatural Resistance: At level 2, the Archon becomes preternaturally resistant to energy damage and gains energy resistance 15/all.
Innate Resistance: At level 5, the Archon becomes innately resistant to magic and psionics, using his knowledge as a direct deterrent to spells and powers. The Archon gains spell and power resistance equal to 20 + half his Archon level + half his ranks in the relevant Knowledge. Note that as magic goes, divine magic and arcane magic are different animals, even if they are both channeled through the soul, and a divine spell is resisted by ranks in Knowledge (religion); ranks in Knowledge (arcana) do not help.
Supernatural Resistance: At level 8, and every five levels after (13th, 18th, 23rd, and so on), the Archon’s Preternatural resistance becomes stronger, increasing by 5/all for a total of 20/all (and 25/all at 13th level, 30/all at 18th level, and so on).
Energy resistance and spell/power resistance granted by United Archon class features do not stack with similar resistance granted by items and magic/psionic effects; however, it does stack with feats, other class features, or other permanent effects.

Damage Reduction (Ex):
An Archon’s study of the arcane and intangible may grant him special resistance to energy damage and supernatural effects, but his roots are in the cut-and-thrust of melee combat. The Archon does not forget this, nor does his body remain as frail as it once was. Reinforced by the coexistence of mind and spirit, and the ever-growing potency of being, the Archon’s physical form becomes extremely resilient. At levels 3, 6, and 9, the Archon gains Damage Reduction as the epic feat (DR 3/-, cumulative with damage reduction from this feat or class features but not nonpermanent sources such as items or spells/powers). As the Archon’s power increases, the body continues to harden itself, becoming more and more impervious to physical harm, but the change is more subtle after the metamorphosis of Stone Soul. The Archon continues to gain Damage Reduction every three levels in pace, but after level 9 every additional installment increases the amount by 1/-. (Meaning that at level 12 the Archon has DR 10/-, at level 15 it becomes DR 11/-, level 18 grants DR 12/-, and so on.)

Battle Mind (Ex):
The Archon does not fear for his own mortality, nor does he see any opponent as beyond his harm. In his mind, the Archon can defeat any foe, siege any stronghold, hunt any quarry, and shrug off any assault. While this unshakeable faith is based more on self-assurance and confidence, starting at level 4, within the Archon’s mind this belief is reinforced into sacred truth. The Archon is immune completely to any fear effect, be it magical, psionic, or mundane, to the point of being all but unaware of the effort. When in battle, with Metaweapon drawn, the Archon is also immune to any Charm effects. Any other effect with the Mind-Affecting descriptor that breaches his resistance is subject to an Autohypnosis roll to shrug it off, with a DC of the effect’s saving throw. This is considered an immediate action. If successful, the effect is totally negated, along with any partial effects; and these partial effects are all the Archon feels if unsuccessful. Regardless of the outcome, the Archon notices the effort, its relative power, and the direction from which it came. Needless to say, most wielders of powerful mind-effecting magic or psionics find dealing with Archons most vexing.

Aura of Awe (Su/Ps):
It is one thing to be an invincible juggernaut in the mind’s eye; it is quite another to seem that way on any field of battle. With Aura of Awe, the Archon does exactly that. At Archon level 7, the mere sight of an Archon wielding his Metaweapon, whether he’s actively using it or not, is as heartening to those fighting with him as it is frightening to those who oppose him. The Archon generates a spherical aura that extends ten feet per Archon level from his person. The Aura is a sight-based magic/psionic ability, and manifests itself as neither all magic nor all psionic, but is dependent on sight- that is, the Aura is blocked by total concealment, blindness, and both a Null Psionics zone and Anti Magic field, but not total cover (unless the cover also provides total concealment), Darkvision or alternate forms of sight, or merely a Null Psionics zone or Anti Magic field by itself. Turning one’s head or closing one’s eyes does not end the effect, though a panicked enemy may freeze in fear and try it; once the effects of the Aura take hold they persist until the Archon is out of sight, slain, or sheathes his Metaweapon. Should the Aura’s duration run out while in battle, any combatants affected by it stay affected until one of the above ending conditions is met or until the combatant is subjected to another moral effect, at which time the Aura’s effects are dispelled.
Allies within range enjoy a moral bonus equal to the Archon’s Charisma mod + 1/ every 4 Archon levels to Attack rolls, Damage rolls, Will saving throws, and to their Constitution score, bestowing an indirect bonus to Fortitude saves and temporary hit points. This moral bonus does not stack with any other moral bonuses. Against any effect that Battle Mind protects the Archon from, the bonus to Will saves is doubled in his allies.
Enemies within range are affected according to their Hit Die. Those with more than twice as many HD as the Archon need no save; they simply see him as more of a threat than they otherwise would- which may not always be a good thing. Targets with more Hit Die than the Archon, but less than twice his number, must make a Will save (as discussed below); failure means they take a morale penalty to Attack Rolls, Damage Rolls, and all saving throws against the Archon equal to the corresponding moral bonus his allies enjoy (Charisma mod plus one for every four Archon levels), and the target sees the Archon’s allies as more threatening than they otherwise would. Targets with less Hit Die than the Archon must make the same save, but in this case a failure renders the target panicked with regards to the Archon and suffers the moral penalty as above to all of the Archon’s allies. Success on any save simply means the target is affected as per the next highest gradient of HD.


Target HD >= 2x Archon’s HD: No save required, Archon is just viewed as larger threat.

2x Archon’s HD > Target HD >= Archon’s HD: Success: Affected as above.
Failure: Morale penalty vs Archon, allies are seen as greater threat (as above).

Target HD < Archon’s HD: Success: Morale penalty vs Archon, allies are seen as greater threat (as above).
Failure: Target panicked with regards to Archon. Suffers morale penalty against Archon’s allies.

The Will save against an Archon’s Aura of Awe is 10 + Archon levels + one-half total tanks in Intimidate + Archon’s Charisma modifier (if any). Aura of Awe may be considered a fear effect, but it is not mind-affecting; any intelligent creature with a fear of death is a potential target. For instance, a paladin does not fear death after level 3, so she is immune to its negative effects, but an outsider on its native plane (where it can be slain permanently) is subject. A creature that successfully saves against a particular Archon’s Aura of Awe is, for the next 24 hours, considered to have the next highest gradient of HD if the creature is subject to the Aura again within that period. In this way, a weak foe can progressively stave off the Aura’s effects by saving successfully multiple times. A creature that fails its save is denied another save for 24 hours if subject to the Aura again, but any unnatural ending of the Aura (such as a moral-boosting spell, a superior’s rally cry, or simply being slapped out of hysterics by a comrade) allows the creature to make another saving throw. No bonus or penalty is applied.
Bystanders and combatants neutral with regards to the Archon (if any) are not subject to any effects of Aura of Awe, but are duly impressed. Archons relish using this ability to bolster their comrades, normally using spells or powers such as enlarge to ensure their visibility in the field of battle. Archons are immune to the Aura of Awe of other Archons.
The Archon can activate his Aura for one minute per Archon level, as many times per day as his Archon level + Cha modifier. The Aura can be dismissed at any time, though the Archon must be actively wielding his Metaweapon to call it forth. Thus, a 7th level Archon can activate Aura seven times for one minute or less each time, once in the day for 7 minutes straight, twice in the day for three and a half minutes each, and so on. Any combination is allowed, as long as neither limit is reached.

Stone Soul(Ex):
An Archon who achieves level 10 has finally completed the process he started when entering the class- the Archon is now a being wholly unto himself. All traces of his essence are recalled totally from Time and Fate, and his unified form is a permanent fixture. From this point in, the Archon is no longer considered humanoid (or native outsider, or monstrous humanoid, etc) or mortal- the Archon’s type changes to Aberration and he ceases to age from that point on. His newly fused composite form is nigh-impossible to alter except by his own powers and abilities; he is immune to petrification, polymorphing, insanity, energy drain, negative levels, charms, mental control, possession, poison, disease, death effects, most positive or negative energy channeling, and almost anything else that would affect his mind or soul. The Archon cannot even lower his immunity voluntarily for such things, even the healing spells and buffs of allies. Cure and Inflict spells cannot affect him, nor can he partake of simple buffs like Bull’s Strength, unless he casts them on himself. More powerful spells like Heal still work, as they target the mind and soul as well as the body. An Archon can still drink the simplest of potions, as their power is ingested into the body. A cursed potion will likewise take its toll. In the same note, alcohol will still inebriate. The Archon’s own spell or powers also retain their full effects. Epic magic and psionics are extremely powerful forces; there is no guarantee against such things. However, against any such thing that an Archon is normally immune to, the Archon always gets a saving throw, and also gets a +20 racial bonus to the roll.
Aside from combat, Stone Soul has a number of lesser, yet at times significant, side-effects. Not all Archons are prepared for the complete transition, although none lament their path. The soul now unable to leave the body, an Archon can no longer perform an astral projection: travel to the Astral Plane must be done bodily. An Archon’s coalesced soul is superimposed on the Ethereal Plane; an ethereal creature or traveler can see him clearly, but his form is soft and almost gelatinous. An Archon finds anything passing through his ethereal presence to be slightly unnerving or worse, depending on the exact nature of the passing. Attacking his ethereal presence does not damage him, though it may make him angry. Other than that, the Ethereal Plane is as invisible as ever to the Archon. An Archon’s form is now much harder to permanently alter; even by himself. Any spell or power he intends to make permanent on himself has an experience cost five times higher than normal; he must also make a Will save (DC total character level/2 + unaltered Con mod) to which he gets no bonus from any items, buffs, or feats to see that he can “reform” himself with this new permanent ability. The XP cost is paid before the Will save; win or lose, it’s spent. Wish spells and Reality Revision powers increasing ability scores are subject to this side effect as well, but ability Tomes & Manuals require only the Will save. The Archon can no longer take part in Metaconcert, either- the power does not manifest for him, no matter how hard he tries.
After reaching level 10, the Archon will never die naturally. The aging process only stops because the body is rendered static; Monks, for example, attain this same feat in Perfect Body. However, unlike Monks, the Archons are no longer a part of Time or Fate. Some Archons attempt to stay on with family or friends after a while, but once the gulf between mortal and immortal is realized most leave the Material Plane behind them and seek out either adventure or relaxation elsewhere on the Great Wheel. When life and whatever pleasures it brought become jaded, a Stone Soul Archon has one last reprieve- to bodily enter a shared dreamworld of the Archons’ invention. Ostensibly, it is similar to the Norse legends of Valhalla, except that an Archon can return to the world of the living whenever he wants. Not much is known of this dreamworld (the Archons themselves don’t even have a name for it!), and no specific memories carry back with an “awakened” Archon except for a generic pleasant buzz, but one constant seems to be that time flows much slower than in the Great Wheel. When an Archon decides to go to “sleep”, the body disintegrates, the Metaweapon disenchants and falls to the floor, and thereafter no divination in the multiverse will register the Archon’s existence anywhere. The Metaweapon loses all enhancements, powers, and auras, though it retains its increased hardness and HP. The Metaweapon’s physical form becomes a portal, of sorts- on “waking”, an Archon will reconstitute next to his Metaweapon while his life force pours in. If there is insufficient space for the Archon to reconstitute next to the Metaweapon he is shunted aside to the nearest accommodating space, taking 1 point of subdual damage for every 5 feet traveled. Reconstitution takes 1 round for every thousand years the Archon has been “dreaming”. Disturbing the Metaweapon has a 1% chance of waking the Archon in the next 20 rounds; if successful, roll a D20 to determine when the Archon returns. Another Archon can pull a sleeper back with him, but requires a trance-like commune with the sleeping Metaweapon for 4 rounds. Striking a sleeping Metaweapon will always call an Archon back, although the fog of the dreaming will lay like a blanket over the Archon’s mind for at least 10 rounds- allowing him a Will save DC= 1/10 number of years spent in slumber to shake it off; every failure cuts the DC in half to be attempted again next round. Until the Archon clears his head, as it where, he will attack anyone nearby. Destroying a sleeping Metaweapon before the Archon reconstitutes effectively traps the Archon in the Dreaming, though it does not kill him- pray he never finds another way out.

The United Archon by level:
{table]Level|Ability
1|Metaweapon
2|Preternatural Resistance
3|Damage Reduction
4|Battle Mind
5|Innate Resistance
6|Damage Reduction
7|Aura of Awe
8|Supernatural Resistance
9|Damage Reduction
10|Stone Soul
11
12|Damage Reduction
13|-
14|–
15|Damage Reduction, Bonus Feat
16|-
17|–
18|Damage Reduction
19|-
20| Bonus Feat[/table]

[Ackapus]

The Metaweapon:

Intro:
The Archon’s Metaweapon is a weapon unique amongst the cosmos; some warrior types imbue their weapons with part of their souls or form their weapons wholly from their souls, but only the Archons take an existing physical body and share with it fully half of their entire metaphysical being. Because of this bond, the Metaweapon has certain advantages and disadvantages in regards to similar weapons; a Metaweapon can’t be dismissed and called as a weapon formed of soulstuff, and a Metaweapon’s destruction is much more devastating then the loss of a blade imbued with only a small portion of one’s spirit.

On the other hand, the solidity and presence of the Metaweapon is unquestionably greater than one of soulstuff and the power tangibly more potent than one imbued with spirit. Central to the Archon training is the precise nature of the Metaweapon: the strengths, the weaknesses, and how to let it guide your hands in combat. The Metaweapon gains hefty abilities as the Archon advances in level, and an Archon takes advantage of the full strength he can bring to bear on any opponent.
Basic Traits
For purposes of damage reduction and regeneration, the Metaweapon gains the Epic trait if the donor weapon did not already possess it; if the donor weapon was either “Magic” or “Psionic” it gains the other trait, and if neither gains both. The Metaweapon retains any other traits the donor weapon had before the Archon’s initiation.

Upon creation, an Archon's Metaweapon loses its old enchancement bonus and gains an enhancement bonus of +10 which is neither fully magical nor fully psionic. If the weapon used was sentient in its own right and had a higher enhancement bonus than +10, it loses half the difference. (Meaning a weapon that starts as +16 becomes +13, as 16 – [(16 – 10)/2] = 13.) After the Archon’s initiation, the Metaweapon cannot be further enchanted or enhanced, except by the Archon himself. Archons will not, almost by rule, meld themselves with intelligent weapons- an apprentice will not be initiated until they have a suitable candidate, either. A sentient weapon must be fully wanting to meld with an Archon's apprentice for the elder Archons to allow the meld, in which two truly become one.

The Metaweapon grows with the Archon, gaining an additional +1 to enhancement level for every 4 Archon levels. The Metaweapon’s hit points increase as the Archon rises in level, adding 1 HP to the Metaweapon for every Archon level and adding the enhancement bonus piecemeal. Thus, a level 9 Archon with a +12 Metaweapon has 21 additional HP in his Metaweapon.

The Metaweapon also regenerates itself; whenever the Archon rests, the Metaweapon gains the Archon’s Con + Wis mods in HP. If the Archon is healed by supernatural means, the Metaweapon gains HP from the effect as well, but any dice in the effect, regardless of size, are treated as coming up 1.

Example: the same level 9 Archon from above has a twin-bladed sword as his +12 Metaweapon, and it’s HP are, at max, 37. The Archon has Con 24 (+7) and Wis 20 (+5), and his Metaweapon has suffered a couple sunder attempts in a battle with an epic Blackguard. It has a critical 5 HP left after the battle, when the party’s epic cleric doles out healing. The Archon receives one Cure Critical Wounds, which heals 4D8 + 20 to the Archon but only 24 (each die counted as 1, and +20 from caster level) to the Metaweapon. (Note that were the Archon one level higher, he would not receive a benefit from Cure Critical.) The Metaweapon is now up to 29 HP, and the cleric turns his attention elsewhere. Still down on HP, the Archon manifests Body Equilibrium on himself, augmenting it five levels to heal 6d12 HP on himself. His Metaweapon gains 6 HP and is up to 35. The Archon is content with this and the party continues on; they battle again where the Metaweapon suffers another sunder attempt for 15 damage. However, the party’s consumables are critically low, and no healing is given to the Archon before the party rests. That night, the Metaweapon regenerates 12 HP (7 from Con mod, 5 from Wis) and the Archon awakens next day with 32 HP in his Metaweapon.

Extension of Self(Ex): The Metaweapon is, by all means, an extension of the Archon himself, and so the Archon enjoys certain benefits from wielding it by default. From the start of his career, the Archon gets a +4 circumstance bonus to any attack and damage rolls while wielding his Metaweapon, which stacks with proficiency bonuses from feats and class features. The Metaweapon can be considered a part of the Archon’s body; the Archon feels the pain of damage to the weapon’s structure and can “see” through the senses of his blade instead of his own at will. The Archons call this “weaponsense”- it is the twilight dreamworld of manufactured tools of combat. Looking through “weaponsense”, an Archon can visually see any weapon with 60’ as if there were no barriers and bright lighting. Force effects, physical impediments, living matter, walls of ectoplasm or prismatic colors- nothing blocks weaponsense, for nothing exists in its world except for those things made or carried with the explicit purpose to cause destruction or harm. Nothing can conceal a weapon from an Archon; even ghost touch weapons concealed on the Ethereal plane appear bright and solid. Field of vision does not apply, either: an Archon can peer in any direction. (Note, however, that for the first level the Archon cannot be distracted or is limited to normal range and field of sight.)

For the first level of Archon, however, a Spot check must be made to notice any weapons when the Archon may be otherwise distracted. The Spot DC to notice any weapons the Archon can see only with weaponsense is merely the number of weapons the Archon can clearly see without weaponsense, and the Archon may never take 10 on the check. In such a way, it is easy spot a hidden stalker tailing your party while you’re alone but difficult to spot an interloping assassin amidst a large brawl.

The weapons themselves are the key to this ability. Anything forged with the intent of war carries that mark- a sword wants to be swung, a bow wants to be flexed. Simple weapons are little more than smudges of faint emotion; masterwork weapons also carry a bright streak of pride. Magic weapons carry stronger emotion still, and sometimes purpose, but remaining with them always is a ghostly after-image of the one who forged them, or the one who imbued them with magic if they were separate events; the purpose for which the magic was conjured is normally a half-spoken suggestion surrounding the weapon. Sentient items are a treasure; Archons can converse freely with any sentient item regardless of language barriers, although based on alignment the conversation may or may not go very well. Archons may engage in lengthy meditations with troublesome sentient items, trying to bring them around to a more agreeable way of thinking, or at least try to convince the item to find a new purpose, but an Archon will never order the destruction of a sentient item. These meditations normally do not result in the change of a sentient item, but if an Archon is determined, a Diplomacy check of DC 20 + item’s Ego score may be assigned to the task, made for an hour’s worth commune, and deducting one point of Ego from the item after every successful check. Ideally, then, an item with Ego 18 would have an initial DC of 38 and require 18 hours of meditation to convert, provided the Archon succeeds on the check every hour. Epic magic items are not exception to this process, though the scales are that much greater. Artifacts cannot be converted in such a manner, although Archons typically revel in the opportunity to converse with such an ancient relic any chance they get. Items too troublesome to convert (such as epic demonic blades or a slaad’s staff of utter chaos) are contained, controlled, and ultimately imprisoned for eternity in the College of the United Archons in a magically or psionically sealed cell, with a potential method of destruction in the room. Archons will not destroy an intelligent item, but respect the wishes of an item to destroy itself. A few good-aligned weapons are as well imprisoned, either too intent on smiting neutral or chaotic Archons or harboring a strong desire to wipe out mildly evil-aligned towns or cities that some Archons may enjoy hanging around in, but it is mostly evil-aligned weapons that inhabit the College prisons. Archons generally do not bother to imprison strongly lawful or chaotic weapons, which may be due to the fact that such weapons are rare, do not bother the Archons or their favorite hang-outs much, or simply because questing to Mechanus or Limbo to acquire the means of destruction for such things is a real pain in the neck.

Also owing to the dual nature of the Archon and Metaweapon, the weapon itself is now no longer subject to spells or powers that target items. Heat Metal, Warp Wood, these and similar effects have no power over the Metaweapon. Scrye and Remote View attempts to watch the Metaweapon are resolved as if the original target was the Archon. If stolen, the Metaweapon has an effective Ego score equal to the Archon’s character level + Archon’s Int, Wis, and Cha modifiers. If it wins in a personality conflict (which it normally initiates as soon as someone takes it away from the Archon, although it can be treated as another PC under the Archon’s Player’s control) it normally commands the thief to return it. (Note to DMs who allow stolen Metaweapons to be controlled by their Player: a Metaweapon is the force of emotion and desire behind an Archon’s might; while the person is the more rational and simple aspect of the Archon, the Metaweapon is all drama, passion, flare, and fire, and should be played as such.) Foolhardy thieves stealing them are not beyond being attacked all-out by a vengeful Metaweapon, which sometimes does not think far enough past its anger to wonder who will carry it back to its owner.

The Archon as a whole always know where his two halves are in relation to each other; the Metaweapon knows where the body is and the body knows where the Metaweapon is. No force or concealment can hide one from the other, not even transit to other planes or epic anti-divination magic. For the Archon, it is merely as simple a matter as knowing where one’s hand is in relation to one’s elbow in a darkened room. The Archon may not be able to articulate where the Metaweapon is, and may be unsettled by illusionary walls or planar boundaries, but can still point and say “It’s that way.” The two halves are still whole; however, the body can only describe the Metaweapon’s surroundings in weaponsense, and isn’t all that helpful in directing companions to a particular room or land. If tracking his own Metaweapon, the body has, at all times, a sort of Intuit Direction effect that guides him unerringly to his Metaweapon, though it always points in the most direct way and may attempt to traverse bottomless chasms, colossal mountains, mighty keeps and even the sky or earth itself. Planar boundaries are a bit different- if removed by plane, the Archon knows the direction on the Great Wheel he must go to reunite himself. This can be confusing to describe; if, for instance, the Metaweapon is being held on the Elemental Plane of Fire, the body will describe the direction as being “hot”. If on the Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus, the body will describe the direction as being “lawful”. If in a demiplane, the Archon will be led to the plane coterminus with the demiplane and then to the portal or junction point; sealing off the demiplane will lead the Archon to the nearest possible point. The Metaweapon also has the capability to seek out the body, but must do so by means of a host. The host will be subject to this Intuit Direction effect whether they want to or not, and a personality conflict that doesn’t end in the host’s slaughter will result in the host traipsing off towards the Archon’s body.

Second Sight(Ex): The Archon, after spending enough time with her Metaweapon and “weaponsense”, begins to learn to utilize these new powers in and out of combat as a second nature. At Archon level 2, she can use weaponsense to keep an eye on any weapon within 60’ without forgoing her normal senses to do so. Manufactured weapons are easily spotted, no longer requiring a Spot check to do so; the Archon is simply aware of the exact position and velocity of any made weapon within 60’ of her person. In this respect, she can no longer be flanked, surprised, or somehow caught off guard from an attack with a manufactured (IE, not natural) weapon. Aside from attacks, she is likewise aware of weapons held or wielded by creatures that have total concealment, and can attack the creature as if it only had partial concealment (20% miss chance).

Sentience Bonus(Ex): The Metaweapon’s abilities increase with the Archon’s level. Initially, the body and blade of the Archon are polarized between rationale and emotion, self-control and impulsiveness. As the Archon becomes more experienced, she tweaks the balance, fine-tuning her metaphysical being to better take advantage of her dual nature. The Sentience Bonuses represent the Archon’s slight shift of skill and control into the Metaweapon, in exchange for some of the emotion and warmth it has in abundance. The Archon actually performs this shift subtly every level, but at level 3, 6, and 9, new vistas of ability come into view as the Metaweapon’s faculty rises. By level 10, the Archon has greatly improved her metaphysical admixture, and further Sentience Bonuses trickle in much slower in small gradients. Sentience bonuses do not increase the enhancement level of the weapon, but require no extra action on the Archon’s part. Once achieved, the Metaweapon gains the bonuses, whether or not the wielder knows they’re there; these are abilities of the Metaweapon itself and not lost if separated from its Archon.

At Archon level 3, the Metaweapon’s battle rage can focus itself on a target, coalescing from a red fog into a white-hot edge. By its own sheer force of savage fury, it seeks out the Archon’s target and strikes with a will of its own. The Metaweapon receives a bonus of +3 to all attack and damage rolls.

At Archon level 6, after the Metaweapon has learned Control of Motion, described below, it begins to learn the dynamics of its own swing. At this point, the Metaweapon begins to force itself through the air ever harder, adding its effort and ability to the wielder. This gives the Metaweapon an additional bonus of +6 to attack and damage rolls, cumulative with the previous bonus for a total of +9 to attack and damage.

At Archon level 9, the Metaweapon has mastered moving itself through the air and through the transitive planes. With frightening ingenuity, the Metaweapon continues evermore to combine these talents for truly frightening potential. From here out, the Metaweapon picks and prods the flow of the immediate planes, perfecting the form of cut and thrust through space, stone and steel, forcing extraplanar cracks in even the most impenetrable armor and fortification. Armed with this devastating tactic, the Metaweapon gains a further bonus of +9 to attack and damage at, again cumulative with previous bonuses.

As the Metaweapon continues to grow in potency this art is not forgotten, although it does become much more refined and exacting after Archon level 9. The Metaweapon never ceases in its efforts, no matter how small a change it brings about. At Archon level 12 and every third level afterwards (Archon level 15, level 18, and so on) the Sentience Bonus increases by a cumulative +1 to attack and damage rolls. The exact manner in which a Metaweapon increases its bonus varies as widely as Archons do, but the effect is the same. Example: A level 53 Archon has a Sentience Bonus of +32 (Archon levels 1-9= +18, Archon levels 10-53= +14). A greathammer Metaweapon may perturb the fabric of the plain when it’s swung, hitting with an impact bolstered by fractal shock waves that fracture the target regardless of composition. A dwarven urgosh Metaweapon may use those same shock waves, but build them up during the swing only to release them on impact in a small series of extremely rapid percussive blasts, cracking armor and cutting deep. Higher-level Archons just love watching other Archons demonstrate their Metaweapon’s Sentience Bonus ability, almost as much as they lovec showing off their own.

Control of Motion(Ex): The Metaweapon is not forgotten in the Archon’s path of self-determination. Upon reaching Archon level 4, the Metaweapon can negate simple impediments with nary a word or thought from the Archon, as if it was the subject of a permanent Freedom of Movement spell or power. Being underwater, entangled, even grappled has no effect on the Archon when attacking with the Metaweapon- it supplies the extra force and speed needed to strike as normal.

This is a supplemental ability; it is a direct affect of the single mind and spirit that is embodied in both Archon and Metaweapon, and thus cannot be passed on to another wielder. The Metaweapon retains this ability to move under its own power, though, even if separated from its Archon. A Metaweapon cannot move very fast like this, but it can attack and parry with one standard attack action (any combat involving a disembodied Metaweapon is resolved using the Archon’s Base Attack and applicable feats, excluding ability scores and substituting the Metaweapon’s AC for the Archon’s). A Metaweapon can “float” only 20’ per round, and cannot be Hasted or execute a full attack action. A lost Metaweapon of at least this level will tend to seek out an unsuspecting humanoid or group of such and demand to be returned to its Archon. Those who heed it do not go unrewarded; those who rebuff or scoff are threatened and then hurt or slaughtered, depending on the Metaweapon’s mood. A Metaweapon can be persuaded or bargained with, if the DM allows it to be roleplayed, and may exchange favors with a willing host, but normally only if the host could not return the weapon first.

An Archon can also use this ability to wield their Metaweapon one-handed if the situation demands. This only occurs if the Archon absolutely MUST do so; such as holding up the last failing beam of the ceiling while holding off pursuers so cohorts can escape, or holding fast the drawbridge lock while ladder-climbing attackers attempt to drop the bridge and the Archon. Doing so bestows no penalties on the Archon; he applies his full Str bonus instead of an extra half, just as with normal one-handed weapons, but does not suffer any other ill effects. In no way does this ability allow an Archon to carry a shield and fight or wield two weapons at once; in fact, when driven to do so, most Archons do not even remember taking the second hand off their Metaweapon. Under the circumstances, the Archon may lose his Dex mod to defense, when performing a crucial action requires him to stay put. The Archons tend not to mind; as long as they’re not being pummeled from afar by ranged attackers most Archons enjoy being the crux of their side and the focus of the enemies’ attacks.

On the Archon’s person, the Metaweapon can float or move itself at will. More of a performance or show ability than a combat skill, the Archon can direct his Metaweapon in any maneuver within 5’ of himself- making large swirls in the air, circling the Archon’s body, extending itself to point at others, and so on. Archons mostly use this ability to snap a sheathed Metaweapon instantly into their hands, giving them the equivalent of the Quick Draw feat, but also derive a +2 bonus to most Cha-based skill checks where the ability to command a floating weapon would be impressive (such as Intimidate, Perform, Bluff if worded right, etc).

Selective Solidity(Su):An understanding of the transitive planes is an integral part of the process by which an Archon reforms herself, and it is this understanding, coupled with their dual physical nature, which gives the Metaweapon a startling new ability. At Archon level 5, the Metaweapon has sufficient control to utilize the fleeting nature of the heart and spirit it houses, and can actively choose to manifest itself on any co-existent transitive plane instead of, or in conjunction with, its current plane. However, the Metaweapon must remain anchored, and the other half of the Archon performs that task; hence, only the Archon can use this ability. Hereafter, the Metaweapon is considered to be a Ghost Touch weapon- it can strike any ethereal foe, with no miss chance due to being corporeal. However, the Archon can also strike at foes hiding on the Shadow Plane or Astral plane, provided he is aware of their presence. The Metaweapon can also manifest both on its current plane and a transitive, to negate the protection some creatures gain by existing partially in a transitive plane. This ability can be used with a full attack action, as requires only the Archon's effort of will to slide between the planes, but the Metaweapon can only do so on the attack. The Archon is, after all, not using any magic or psionics to do so, but is pulling the proverbial wool over the eyes of reality. As it does take some measure of will and forethought, the Archon can briefly flash the Metaweapon outside of his current plane for an instant without an attack, but must take a standard action to do so. The Metaweapon itself only flickers briefly, but the Archon must take the standard action to focus this power outside of an attack action. Because of this attack-oriented nature, the Metaweapon cannot be blinked off the current plane to avoid a Sunder attempt, unless the Archon has a full turn to prepare the standard action to do so, and the Archon can see not only where the attack is coming from, but also the foe delivering it.

The more insidious implication of this is that the Archon can now threaten squares on those planes. In the event that the Archon can clearly see into any transitive plane by any means, he can make attacks of opportunity against any creature in them. Note that creatures unable to see the Archon or unaware of his ability to threaten them will be flat-footed for at least the first attack; those who do not realize where the attacks come from will be flat-footed longer. An Archon can also threaten a solid plane from a transitive plane, but again must be able to see any plane they wish to threaten. Finally, an Archon may also take attacks of opportunity against anything using transitive planar travel in their threatened area- such as dimension door, dimension step, dimension jump, or any spell, power, or supernatural ability that mimics or duplicates these effects. The Archon can make use of any feats associated with attacks of opportunity such as Stand Still with this ability; in the case of transitive planar travel a successful attack of opportunity so disrupts the transit that a second jump is not possible that round. The creature may try again next round, but doing so will provoke another attack of opportunity. This ability does not grant extra attacks of opportunity; the Archon is still limited to their normal max. Extra attacks of opportunity granted by feats or class features can be used in any of these methods.

Implacable Strike(Su): The Archons are masters of their own destiny by virtue of a mastery of their total being. Through momentous self-determination may an Archon briefly trick Fate itself into perceiving them as different from their true selves. It is an arduous task to change one’s nature, but with practice an Archon can manifest a feat of self-control that is the envy of any monk: the Archon can emulate particular damage conditions through her Metaweapon when striking a creature with regeneration or reduction, dealing the appropriate type of damage to prevent or bypass it. For instance, a Metaweapon that’s only Adamantine, Epic and Good will deal regenerable damage to a creature with regeneration 50/cold forged iron. With this ability, the Archon can attempt to “add” Cold Forged Iron to her Metaweapon’s list of attributes for one round. If fighting a creature with DR 20/silver and magic, the Archon can use this ability to add Silver to her Metaweapon, as “magic” is overcome by the “epic” trait. Only the Archon can attempt this check, and the Metaweapon can only be altered if being wielded by the Archon’s body. Use of this ability counts as an immediate action, counts towards the normal limit of one quickened action per turn, and the check can only be performed once per round before the Archon attacks. The results apply until the Archon’s next turn. The Archon must have a particular trait in mind to emulate; they cannot simply state “whatever will hurt the monster”. As the Archon must change themselves to perform this task, the check DC is based on their own HD, and is not dependent upon any foe. The roll is an Autohypnosis check, with a DC set as follows:

Autohypnosis DC = ½ Archon’s char lvl + Cha mod (+10 for each opposing subtype)(+20 for each additional attribute)

While the Archon’s intuition will serve him well, his force of personality works against this brief change of self. Opposing subtypes are also trickier to fake than base consistencies; and note that an Archon’s personal alignment counts as subtype for this check. The Archon can attempt multiple emulations, but each one carries a heavy penalty. Thus, a level 65 Archon with Cha 22 emulating an elven weapon would have to make an Autohypnosis check of DC 39 [33(65 divided by half, rounded up) + 6(for Cha)]. If the same Archon were also Lawful Good and instead emulating Evil, Silver, and Underdark-forged, he would be faced with a DC of 89 [33 + 6 + 10 (opposing alignment counts as subtype) + 40(two additional traits)]. A level 70 Archon with the Fire subtype and Cha 28 emulating mythril and cold would have a DC of 74 [35 + 9 +10(opposing subtype) + 20].

The Archon is perfectly free to guess at an unknown creature’s reduction/regeneration vulnerabilities; adopting a trial-and-error approach requires only a move-equivalent action after a hit to study the wound. This does not draw attacks of opportunity and can be done next round before making the check for that round.

Flash of the Blade (ex): The Metaweapon at this point has developed enough that the Archon need not exert so obtuse a control over it. In fact, the Archon now gains direct benefit from his dual nature- and terrible efficiency in battle. During the fight, the Metaweapon will fly from blow to blow, mostly of the Archon’s will but partially of the Archon’s instinct made manifest. It whirs through the air with cunning and ease, almost seeming in two places (or more!) at once. Thereafter, the Archon can employ one of two abilities on any given turn in battle- either the Metaweapon can grant a +5 shield bonus to AC, or it can grant an extra attack at the Archon’s full attack bonus. The Archon can fight defensively but not fight one-handed (if forced to, as under Sentience of Motion) while using this ability.

Every ten Archon levels beyond this (level 18, 28, 38, etc), the number of additional attacks increases by one, and the shield bonus increases by five. At Archon level 18 the he can now employ either two additional attacks at full bonus or strike with his normal attack allotment and stand behind a shield bonus of +10. As always, the Archon must always use a full attack action to enjoy either benefit.

If wielded by another, the Metaweapon can employ this hypercognizant feat, but incurs a penalty of -4 to all attacks.

Artifact Apotheosis: At Archon level 10, the Metaweapon is fully developed, and no further balancing needs be made. The Archon’s Metaweapon transforms from a conglomeration of metal, stone, wood and spirit and becomes a major artifact. The Metaweapon is still a living extension of the Archon, but now radiates power as never before. Unlike most other artifacts, Mordenkainen’s Disjunction has no chance to dispel it- mortal magic, however potent, cannot dispel the Archon’s life essence. In a similar sense, divine spells to the same effect and psionic powers of nullification cannot disenchant the Metaweapon; and even spells and powers devised from the Epic Dispel seed do nothing to snuff its potence. Nor can fire melt or char it nor a lesser weapon sunder it; the Metaweapon is timeless as a demigod’s lair. The Metaweapon can still be sundered by another artifact or weapon with the “Epic” trait, but its base hardness doubles. The Metaweapon behaves as an artifact otherwise: it exudes an overwhelming aura of the Archon’s alignment and is extremely difficult to destroy or control. It is intelligent, and retains the Archon’s personality for the most part, but is much more emotional and prone to outburst.

While most Archons are not champions of divine powers or friends with cabals of powerful outsiders, there is a particular brand of otherworldly retribution attributed to the destruction of an artifact Metaweapon. Archons acknowledge that they are free to adventure across the planes and engage foes of any nature, but they do not abide misery or torment for its own sake. An Archon whose Metaweapon is destroyed in combat is regarded as a casualty, even if the body survives to forge one anew. If a Metaweapon is destroyed, however, and the Archon taken advantage of, the afflicted Archon’s fellow Archon friends will most likely be the ones to come calling for those responsible- which, if met with violence, will bring down the unrestrained fury of even more Archons. While an angry deity can certainly reign down brimstone and fiery destruction, the wrath of the entire College of the Archons is, according to the few survivors left, not that far removed from divine retribution.

The Metaweapon slowly changes overnight, at the first rest after the Archon attains 10th level. If the Metaweapon is ever destroyed, the Apotheosis occurs naturally when the Archon next initiates a Metaweapon.


The Metaweapon by level:
{table]Level|Ability
1 | Extension of Self, Weaponsense*
2 | Second Sight*
3 | Sentience Bonus +3
4 | Control of Motion^^
5 | Selective Solidity*
6 | Sentience Bonus +6
7 | Implacable Strike*
8 | Flash of the Blade^^
9 | Sentience Bonus +9
10 | Artifact Apotheosis
11 | ---
12 | Sentience Bonus ++ (+10)
13 | ---
14 | ---
15 | Sentience Bonus ++ (+11)
16 | ---
17 | ---
18 | Sentience Bonus ++ (+12), Flash of the Blade 2^^
19 | ---
20 | ---[/table]
* Items marked with * are usable only by the Archon.
^^ Items marked with ^^ can be used by another wielder, but with diminished or partial effect.

United Archon Characteristics:
New Archons are selected purely on the whims of the alumni; those showing promise are brought forth to the College, and any Archons who happen to be sparring, meditating, or simply relaxing amidst like company can appraise the potentate at will. An Archon can very well lose face with his colleagues if his chosen recruit is not up to snuff; for this reason, most Archons will privately tutor a candidate for at least a week, sometimes as much as a month. Archons value the freedom of choice and free will above all else, and will not impress upon someone the proper mindset; however, an Archon will try to teach a potentate about the nature of the Archon’s path, that their decision and behavior be made honestly and independently. Against the watching eyes and ears of the epic Archons, even the most skilled charlatan cannot parade false intentions for long.

United Archons derive their name not from a strict bond or oath, or even an active allegiance or campaign, but from their unique personal development- while the Archons’ most well-known trademark are their incomparable Metaweapons, their most amazing trait is their “united” state of being. At the start of his path, an Archon learns to control his mind and soul as well as his body, taking little by little the hold that Fate, the gods, and eventually even Time itself has over him and bringing that power under his direct control. Archons become masters of their own fate, age, and destiny in a sense truer than most beings can even comprehend- their paths are their own to take, regardless of what god preordained their future or what whims Fate had in mind, and after shaking off the shackles of time and age, not even Death is guaranteed to claim them. This self-determinism is certainly not a popular subject in the conferences of the deities, although Death is patient enough to be content with the knowledge that eventually even the multiverse dies. Despite the infinitesimal divine spark all Archons possess, they do not elevate themselves; an Archon will neither seek godly ascension nor accept godly worship from others- it is just not in their nature. Perhaps for this reason do the gods tolerate the existence of a group that would decide their own fate. An Archon may find friends anywhere, but often form their deepest relationships with each other. (Which is probably the reason Archons aren’t harassed by disgruntled agents of divinity- an angry group of United Archons are more than a match for even an angry group of celestial ones.)

The College of the Archons in located in a hidden demiplane, whose entrance in turn is hidden on the Astral plane. It is a resting ground, of sorts, and any Archon may return at will, to enjoy the comfort of a free room. Accommodations aren’t exactly Spartan, but they’re not kingly, either. It is here that Archons are trained, where they come to their final rest, and where they spend their time amongst one another. There is no real organization in the College; those Archons who feel they can teach others something interesting can attempt it, and those who feel they have something to learn can ask it. Aside from that, the demiplane was imbued with a wide array of magic and psionics that were made permanent in its early years, all designed to perform the maintenance of the living quarters. Since then, as the demiplane has grown and the original founding Archon(s) have faded into forgotten past, senior Archons have contributed new magic and new psionics to perpetuate the upkeep of the place. It is tradition that an Archon who passes into their Final Rest first make a permanent contribution to the College in this fashion. As such, banquet meals appear on cleaned tables in vast swept and warmed dining halls, fires burn without logs in every bedroom’s fireplace, water bubbles from endless springs through boilers and pipes to myriad spigots pumped by invisible hands, and dust is wiped by unseen rags. On top of that, the Timeless trait of the plane prevents the wood from rotting or the stone from wearing, so the end result is that the plane runs and maintains itself, without any need of custodial staff. Non-Archons are welcomed into the College, though if not escorted by an Archon they are questioned at extreme length. Any Archon may bring their friends for a short stay, though guests may soon wear out their welcome if they do not show the Archons due respect. Spare rooms in the College are in no short supply, and the perpetual upkeep of the place can always accommodate an extra plate, but at the end of the day there is still a difference between a guest and a freeloader.

The innermost sanctum of the College is the Hall of Sleeping Blades, where Archons who tire of the physical form abandon their humanoid bodies and rest for decades as a dreaming Metaweapon. It is here that Archons who feel their time is truly and rightly over come to rest. This is the Archon's Final Rest, and extremely old warriors slumber in its deepest chambers. More recently, younger Archons have taken to resting here for shorter periods, re-manifesting their bodies when the communal dream of ancient heroes leaves them feeling out of their depth. The Archons simply refer to this act as "napping", as they will sometimes freely "nap" off and on for centuries until something interests them enough to stay "awake" longer. The few non-Archons who’ve stayed at the College rarely find out about the Hall, and it’s presence isn’t advertised, but the thought that many hundreds of ancient and unspeakably powerful Archons lay here, merely asleep, is an ominous notion. Some say they await a dire planar catastrophe to rise from eons of rest, some say that Fate is holding out some purpose for the Archons as a collective just to have the last laugh. However, by all accounts, whatever event would warrant awakening throngs of demigod-like warriors is not something most would wish to see.

Archons require air to breathe and food to eat, but do not suffocate or starve to death; when deprived of outside sustenance their body looks within. An Archon on the brink of death from either affliction is reduced to extreme fatigue as the powers of the mind and soul are used to fuel the body- the Archon is considered fatigued except that they cannot improve their condition with only rest, they must consume sustenance and/or inhale breathable air to allow the mind and spirit to recover. Until then, the Archon cannot utilize any spells, powers, or active supernatural class features, and will be in quite the most foul mood.

That's it!

[Haruspex]

I'll need some time to read through this. It looks cool so far, but a bit more spacing, bolding, underlining, anything to ease the eyes would help.

[Ackapus]

Yeah, sorry about that. I was trying to post it before I work, and forgot one section I was tweaking. While AT work I realized there's something else I needed to change to try to prevent potential abuse.

Originally I was gonna do the whole thing in Spoiler blocks by section, allowing you to open only what you wanted to read.
.... in fact, I think I'll go through and put those in now.

...All done! Hope the new formatting is (much) easier on the eyes. Now I think I'd better go pay some attention to my girlfiend...

[Haruspex]

Huh. I'm still trying to digest the sheer volume of material, but from what I can understand so far it looks awesome. The metaweapon concept is very cool. I have no experience in Epic, so unfortunately I don't know how this compares in that arena.

More comments when I'm done reading.

EDIT: Wait. At Archon level 9 does the metaweapon get a total of +18 to attack and damage from the Sentience Bonus?

[Ackapus]

Yes. The Sentience Bonus stacks with itself, as it's my primary method of keeping the Archon's damage balanced with other epic characters and creatures.

Meaning, level 3 = gain SB 3, total SB 3. Minimun CL here is 40 + Archon levels, so level 3 would be CL 43. At least.
Level 6 = gain SB 6, total SB 9.
Level 9 = gain SB 9, total SB 18.
Level 12 = gain SB 1, total SB 19.
Level 15 = gain SB 1, total SB 20.
And so on. (I'll make sure that's reflected properly in the example text, just to be sure.)

I made the Sentience bonus because I wanted a different tool for making the Metaweapon deadlier without merely upping the enhancement bonus. The problem with Epic play is that if you've got an epic fighter, you've basically got just a human with HP and feats out the wazoo. Without epic equipment, he's in for some rough times. It's the equipment that really flavors how a campaign will handle at epic levels, and the Archon is modeled to really only need the Metaweapon.

EDIT: Yeah, my example was wrong, sorry. It's fixed now.

[UglyPanda]

The knowledge ranks are about 40 cross-class skill ranks, which is sorta painful for a 2+int class. Stone soul hurts way way more than it helps. High level fighters benefit a lot from having a bunch of dinky items that give a bunch of different combat buff effects.
The metaweapon is kind of confusing. I couldn't read through most of it, but I would much rather have special abilities (keen, vorpal, speed) than a massive to-hit.
I can't read through most of it, because your description is too long and too complicated. Look at the way the WotC guys do things.

[Eldritch_Ent]

*Whistles* Very nice stuff here, I've actually had a somewhat similiar idea running around in my head a long time, albeit for a single character (Immortal, Epic Artifact Sword holds a collection of all his experiences, his existance is a minor yet permanent fixture in the universe, yadda yadda) but haven't really done anything with it yet. Either way, this has my full thumbs up because of it.

Might I ask where you got the inspiration for the idea?

[Arbitrarity]

Very, very nice. Just finished reading it, will edit in comments.

Stone soul needs some specifics about just what buffs will and won't affect the archon. As it is, it's a bit vague.

The metaweapon loss is a good idea, good plot hook, interesting balancing. However, a few things. Stone soul is lost over the 100 days? It's then regained after the weapon is remade? When you have the time, maybe a table for what exactly happens :D. Some of us are lazy.

Selective solidity does NOT allow you to avoid sunders by being incoporeal, right?

Hmm, when the metaweapon becomes an artifact, that covers a pretty big weakness. On the other hand, 100 days is just too much to be off adventuring. Let's see hardness:
level 12 archon, adamantine (duh, who wouldn't) Greatsword, hardness: 66. HP? 155. Niice...

Remember, +1 enhancement adds 10 hp, 2 hardness.

I like this class, in that you can't get into it before at least 40'th level, and it's abilities, at that level, are really good, but not as good as an abusive wizard likely.

Ooo, 4 levels of fighter, 28 levels psywar, 15 levels legendary dreadnought, can enter this. Not deadly, but not too bad, either. Anything above weapon specialization required needs too many fighter levels :/.

[Ackapus]

Thanks for the feedback!

Panda: There is nothing to prevent the future Metaweapon from having a pre-existing array of abilities before the Archon takes their first level. A weapon will only lose its enhancement bonus- as the fluff goes, the inherent strength of the power in the weapon is replaced by the Archon's soul and personna. Special abilities (being adamantine, Vorpal, Mindfeeder, Disrupting, whatever) are not replaced with anything, and as such are not lost. The Archons respect magic/psionic weapons, and an initiation with such a weapon is a melding with, not an eviction of, the weapon's abilities. I was going to make up a mechanic by which an Archon with the Craft feats appropriate to forge an item with a specific ability could add it to the Metaweapon, but after looking over everything else I wrote up for the class even a wordy windbag like me had to say "enough's enough."

Also, the inability to take simple buffs (from attaining Stone Soul) is supposed to offset the immunity from ability drain. Take a level 50 fighter, throw him against an Atropal, he's gonna have his ability-enhancing gear practically negated by ability drain. The Archon, on the other hand, will laugh at it, possibly buff himself if he's got the right multiclass build for it, and swing away.

Mojotech: The first epic campaign I played was also the first for the rest of the players. The DM wanted us to flavor the campaign, if we wanted, by making our characters relatively unique and allowing us to make our own epic prestige classes to fit them. One of them became the first of the United Archons in his world's canon. It was the second remaking of a universe that was shattered when a paladin led an plane-spanning crusade and eliminated all evil from the Great Wheel. Amongst the relics that survived was an intelligent weapon, which one of my characters found and put to great effect. (You guessed it- a greatsword.) The PCs eventually got some goofy portent that Fate had decided they would spearhead the counter-attack to keep the same paladin from destroying this universe as well. (Mr. Overzealous, after eradicating all evil, escaped the collapse of the universe only to find himself trapped in the Far Realms outside reality, and apparantly became an alienist demigod.) This Greatsword had, in its heyday, been charged with protecting some-or-other crucial to the continued well-being of the universe, and together they hatched the idea of melding their essense into one.

As it goes, in the class's original canon relevant to that world, the United Archons have one common hatred for anything relating to the Far Realms, and the planar calamity to draw the slumbering ancients from their dreamworld is an all-out invasion of the Aliens.

Amusing side note: that character survived the climactic battle against the Alienist paladin, only to be sucked into the Far Realms himself after dealing, personally, the final blow. There was a sequel campaign in that world after it went through a brief rebirth as the damage was repaired, but it was centuries later that he re-appeared as an NPC. He wasn't twisted into an Alien himself, and had spent the entire time fighting whatever he could in there, but MAN was he glad to be out. That relief to be back in the world was the source of the Archon's relatively laid-back nature.

Arbiter:
Arbitrary:
Aurbitorium:
Aurora Borealis:
Other Dude: Stone Soul mainly blocks buffs from outside sources. The Archon can still buff himself, but there's nothing inherent in the class to prevent them from being dispelled. But yeah, the basic idea is that the Archon is static to the outside world. I actually haven't had a Book of Vile Deeds or Exalted Darkness... or some such things... in a VERY long time, so I'm actually not sure what vile damage (is there a holy equivalent to vile damage?) actually does anymore. I'll find out.

The 100 days thing represented the healing time for the soul, and my line of thinking was that if the soul's healed after that interval, an Archon need only go through the initiation rite (as in a week of meditation and such, mentioned under Class Features/Metaweapon) to become complete again. Simply reforging a sundered Metaweapon gets you a weapon of that particular construction; no enhancements or abilities get carried over unless they were present in the weapon before the melding. The mechanic I had in mind about Stone Soul slowly dissapating was nothing special... let's just say it's a blanket D% for anything Stone Soul would protect against to get through, and the DC counts down every day. First day- 100 to affect the Archon, fiftieth day- 50 or better, that sort of thing.

That's actually a good question about Selective Solidity, I never thought of that. Hmm... You know, in creating this class I never really thought "Well, I want it to do this so I'll make it do this"; it was more like "Given the character concept I created, I've got a particular fluff going here and I think it would translate like this". I tweaked the numbers and abilities to match the level at which one could get it, but mostly it's been "think first, kick butt later". To think about it, if an Archon knew a Sunder attempt was coming (and they always would unless it was with a natural weapon) what would prevent them from shunting it into the Shadow plane? Even a ghost touch sunder attempt couldn't touch that... But that kinda makes the Metaweapon sorta invulnerable, and it's supposed to be a paradox between the Archon's greatest offensive strength and biggest strategic weakness.

No question about it, Selective Solidity can't prevent sunder attempts, I just have to figure out why. And yes, I know I'm saying "I want it to do this so I'll make it do this." If I wanted the class to be invincible I wouldn't have given it D6 for Hit Die.

Making it an Artifact stemmed from the gulf between epic and non-epic, and giving the Metaweapon that status was the simplest way to establish that the Metaweapon becomes something similar, amongst other weapons, to what the Archon is amongst other adventurers (with the benefits of Stone Soul).

I really didn't have a concrete benchmark to go on for the HP and hardness gain on the Metaweapon, either. It just seems that once you get to Epic play, a sunder attempt is going to miss or pulverize your finely crafted longsword with the gold filigree and the elven runes on the blade and the little nothces in the handle for every great wyrm you've slain. I honestly did not know that enhancement bonuses increase hardness and HP, but it works in nicely with the mechanics I had in. I was really worried they were too weak, given the nature of what's at stake. I envisioned the Metaweapon able to withstand several sunder attempts by foes of comparable power, though if you have any additional pointers on that, I'm all ears.

I did my best to prevent abuse but keep the balance, thanks!

I was just playing earlier, I actually like the name. The English language lends itself to so many fun little abuses, doesn't it?

[Ackapus]

OK, Arbitrarity, I added a bit to Selective Solidity to arbitrate sunder attempts with that power. I didn't completely rule them out, since I could imagine an Archon pulling it off, but I did nerf it to hell and back. It cannot be used with very much practicality in combat, and I don't really see an Archon forgoing a turn to actually let someone get a sunder attempt in. I am thinking of just saying hang it all and changing the power to say that any transitive plane it manifests on is in ADDITION to the current plane of the Archon, and therefore the Metaweapon cannot dodge sunder attempts. Originally, I had pictured Archons being able to use this ability to swipe at incorporeal foes and the like hiding in solid Material objects or occupying an ally's space, so the Metaweapon could completely leave the current plane to strike solid and true against such trickery.

I dunno. Still open to ideas on how to explain it.