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Xefas
2015-08-11, 12:52 PM
Related Threads

This is intended as supplementary material for "Mythos" classes, three of which are listed below.

The Teramach (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=286983)
The Kathodos (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=15947087)
The Bellator (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?336731-quot-Today-is-victory-over-yourself-Tomorrow-is-your-victory-over-lesser-men-quot&)

You can find a more central thread right here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?364949-Mythos-Homebrew-Discussion-II-Where-Simplicity-Goes-to-Die).

New Legendary Kathodos Mythos
Planetary Lifestream Manipulation
Prerequisite: The 'Ley-Channeling Shamanism Practices' and 'Geomantic Worldbender Assumption' Mythos

Your mastery of controlling the elements has brought you to an understanding of how to connect with, and subsequently encourage or discourage, the flow of particular elemental ley-lines within the structure of the Prime Material Plane.

First, you must choose a spot to meditate on; a solid surface contiguous with a planetary body on the Prime (the same requirements as for Anchoring one of your Ley Totems). While meditating for an entire uninterrupted day, you unleash your will into the planet, subtly moving and combining minor ley-lines, and forcifully breaking apart and redirecting larger ones, until you manage to forge a single Intensity 1 Leyspring of an Element of your choosing, which appears in an adjacent space.

You may also meditate within a pre-existing Leyspring (creating by you or someone else) to increase or decrease its Intensity. Increasing a Leyspring from Intensity 1 to Intensity 2 requires a week of meditation (and usually some sort of ability that removes your need to sleep). Increasing from Intensity 2 to Intensity 3 requires a month of meditation. Intensity 3 to Intensity 4 requires three months. Intensity 4 to Intensity 5 requires nine months. Creating Leysprings greater than Intensity 5 requires Sempiternal Mythos.

Decreasing an Intensity 5 Leyspring to Intensity 4 requires three months of meditation. Intensity 4 to Intensity 3 requires a month. Intensity 3 to Intensity 2 requires a week, Intensity 2 to Intensity 1 requires a day, and Intensity 1 to non-existence requires an hour.

When you increase the Intensity of a Leyspring, you may add either add an additional Element to it, or you may increase the size of its Geomantic Aura. An Intensity 1 Leyspring has a Geomantic Aura with a radius of 100ft. If its Aura size is upgraded once, this increases to 1,000ft. A second upgrade increases this to a mile, a third upgrade to ten miles, and a fourth upgrade to one-hundred miles.

A Leyspring also has a number of Totemic Structure Slots equal to its Intensity, upon which Totemic Structures may be constructed by a Kathodos with the Ley-Channeling Shamanism Practices and Geomantic Worldbender Assumption Mythos (although, without this Mythos as well, there's no reason they'll automatically know that it can be done, or what can be done, but perhaps with some research or trial and error they can make something of it). A Totemic Structure interfaces with, and draws power from, the energy that a Leyspring pulls from the world, and puts that energy towards a particular use. Because the structure becomes saturated with the planet's power to the point of partially fusing with it in a spiritual sense, removing a Totemic Structure from its slot destroys it. Destroying a Totemic Structure does, however, free the slot for other uses.

Multiple of the same Totemic Structure can be built, taking up additional slots. Each Totemic Structure requires a week of total work (potentially spread out over many sessions at the Leyspring) for the Kathodos to properly construct and attune it. By default, the structure is made primarily of wood and costs 200 gold.

The Totemic Structures listed below are examples, and are not necessarily an exhaustive list. Creative Kathodos players might have more ideas, subject to their group's approval.

Leysprings cannot be brought into existence within the Geomantic Aura of another Leyspring. If the Geomantic Aura of a Leyspring expands over a pre-existing Leyspring of a lower Intensity, the lower Intensity Leyspring slowly decreases in Intensity as if a Kathodos were meditating on the Leyspring towards that purpose, as the higher Intensity Leyspring smooths out the weaker ley-line fluctuations.

Elements

Air

An Intensity 1 Airspring appears as an invisible 5ft-diameter, 10ft-tall roughly cylindrical cyclone of perpetually self-sustaining Moderate Wind (strong enough to blow paper around and snuff candles). Within its Geomantic Aura, the temperature drops by a few degrees and refreshing breezes become more common.

An Intensity 2 Airspring doubles in size and becomes the equivalent of Strong Wind. Within its Geomantic Aura, climates begin to noticeably change. Deserts are merely warm during the day, and relentlessly cold at night. Tropical regions cool and gain more evident seasonal changes in temperature. Temperate areas have unusually short summers and longer winters. Colder climates are not appreciably altered.

An Intensity 3 Airspring increases its dimensions to 40ft wide and 80ft high, reaching Severe Wind status. Within its Geomantic Aura, tropical areas become temperate, inflicting far-reaching ecological change to its flora and fauna that must now contend with cold autumns and winters with snowfall. Temperate areas become boreal, with snow common throughout most of the year. Boreal regions lose their warm season nearly altogether.

An Intensity 4 Airspring becomes a Windstorm, 60ft wide and 120ft tall. Within its Geomantic Aura, any region quickly becomes harsh and cold with a near-permanent winter. Boreal regions grow colder and colder until they become tundras incapable of supporting all but the most rugged lifeforms.

An Intensity 5 Airspring becomes a miniature Hurricane, 100ft wide and 200ft tall. Its Geomantic Aura rapidly transforms the area into inhospitable tundra.

Air Combinations

A Leyspring of Air and Fire becomes a fearsome, burning twister. It stabilizes the temperature in its Geomantic Aura, bringing it closer to a mild, temperate climate. An Intensity 5 Air/Fire Leyspring removes seasonal weather altogether, creating an area that perpetually hovers within a few points of 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

A Leyspring of Air and Earth adds rocks and boulders of varying sizes that whip around within the cyclone, but never leave its confine without outside interference. Combined with the area-raising power of Earth-aspected ley energy, an Air/Earth Leyspring at Intensity 4 or 5 easily leads to majestic, snow-capped hills or mountains.

A Leyspring of Air and Water become a self-sustaining waterspout with no visible source. Its Geomantic Aura makes things cold and wet, which means a lot of snow, turning even deserts into snowy tundras at higher Intensities.

A Leyspring of Air and Positive Energy becomes a visible wind of many colors that cast beautiful auroras at night. Its Geomantic Aura promotes hardy, savage life. At higher Intensities, fields of lichen thrive beneath the permafrost and highly specialized herds of blubbery herbivores give rise to lean superpredators, like arctic dire wolves and bears.

A Leyspring of Air and Negative Energy becomes a cylconic field of mysterious airlessness, suffocating those within. Its Geomantic Aura creates dreary, cold regions which bite down to the bone and to the soul. At Intensity 5, even the most scandinavian of frost giants and glacier-dwarves must choose to move on or face the freezing of their very spirit.

Fire

An Intensity 1 Firespring appears as a roaring bonfire 10ft in diameter with smokeless flames that reach 5ft high. It deals 1d6 fire damage to those that touch it. Within its Geomantic Aura, the temperature increases by a few degrees.
An Intensity 2 Firespring becomes a small lake of eternal flame, increasing to 50ft in diameter. Its flames burn hotter, dealing 2d6 fire damage. Within its Geomantic Aura, boreal regions gain more distinct seasons, with warmer summers and longer periods of snowlessness. Temperate areas have milder winters, with little if any snow, and mercilessly hot summer months. Warmer regions are not noticeably affected.

An Intensity 3 Firespring widens further, to a diameter of 80ft. Its fire deals 3d6 damage now. In its Geomantic Aura, a tundra's permafrost begins to give way and new life may take root within it, slowly transforming it into something habitable. Boreal regions become temperate, potentially causing ecological problems to plants and animals specialized to live in such an environment. Temperate areas cease to see snowfall, experiencing only varying degrees of hot and hotter.

An Intensity 4 Firespring begins to climb into the air, filling out to a 100ft diameter, but growing to a height of 40ft. Its flames cause 4d6 points of fire damage. Within its Geomantic Aura, all regions become life-threateningly hot, killing off anything that cannot adapt to survive. Places that were already hot, such as many tropical and savannah environments grow to such persistently brutal temperatures that little, if any, vegetation can survive. Once the vegetation withers, natural erosion willl set in, slowly transforming the area into a cracked wasteland or a desert over the course of many years.

An Intensity 5 Firespring reaches far into the sky as a burning monolith, rising to 200ft. The heat within its Geomantic Aura becomes so insufferable that even areas that were once lush and humid are sapped of their moisture and burnt down to a barren waste.

Fire Combinations

A Leyspring of Fire and Earth gains dancing ribbons of glowing magma throughout its body. Raising the land does not effect the Leyspring's heat directly, other than perhaps to make traveling through the area all the more unpleasant.

A Leyspring of Fire and Water creates a region that is both hot and wet, leading to wetlands and tropical rainforests rather than wastes and deserts. Its form is a towering pillar of steam.

A Leyspring of Fire and Positive Energy is a sourceless column of warm, intensely blinding light. At higher intensities, the increased Positive Energy insures that even the most brutal climates will manage to spawn a host of unpleasant ecosystems, such as forests of cacti in the desert, inhabited by swarms of flesh-eating scorpions and giant snakes.

A Leyspring of Fire and Negative Energy is a gently wafting, inky black pillar of smoke. Its Geomantic Aura seeks to destroy life even more aggressively, sparking forest and brush fires much more easily than would be natural, and promoting the spread of disease in wetter climes. At its highest intensities, even those few monsters who could survive such a terrible, flesh-searing waste will not likely have a robust enough ecosystem to suppport them, and must move on.

Earth

An Intensity 1 Earthspring is a large stone obelisk 5ft by 5ft at its base and 10ft high. It has Hardness 8. Its Geomantic Aura accumulates, over the course of days, a small hill for the obelisk to sit upon.

An Intensity 2 Earthspring increases in size to 10ft by 10ft and 20ft high. Its Geomantic Aura creates rolling hills throughout the region, with the hill that hosts the Earthspring itself always rising the highest.

An Intensity 3 Earthspring increases in size and density, gaining a metallic durability that imparts Hardness 10, and becoming 40ft by 40ft and 80ft high. Its Geomantic Aura raises the land around the Earthspring into a massive hill, just shy of a proper mountain, if the size of its aura permits. A Leyspring with several elements and a smaller aura generates as much height as it can while still remaining within the aura's boundaries. The area beyond this remains hilly.

An Intensity 4 Earthspring increases to a 60ft by 60ft, 120ft high obelisk. Its Geomantic Aura creates a proper mountain around the Earthspring if possible, and more exaggerated hills of varying sizes beyond this. Within the Earthspring's mountain, it begins to naturally produce metal ore, the exact nature of which is largely random, from iron to copper to bauxite to gold or even something like mithral. This process is slow, likely taking years before a large enough deposit to merit a proper mining operation accrues.

An Intensity 5 Earthspring increases to a 100ft by 100ft, 200ft high monumental obelisk. Its Geomantic Aura creates a small mountain range if able that cuts across its length, with hills on either side. This can cause drastic changes in precipitation for the surrounding region. The metals produced by the Earthspring become slightly more rapid - each mountain could perhaps sustain a mining crew of a few dozen indefinitely, so long as they fill in their shafts and allow the ore to regenerate itself. If left untouched for decades or centuries, the Earthspring will eventually create a motherload of precious metals.

Earth Combinations

A Leyspring of Earth and Water becomes a series of interconnected springs on carefully aportioned plateaus with little streams or watefalls between each (add Fire to make them hotsprings). Its Geomantic Aura functions like two largely independent effects - the land is both raised and moistened.

A Leyspring of Earth and Positive Energy becomes a pillar of glimmering crystal. Its Geomantic Aura has a higher propensity to generate diamonds in the Earthspring's central mountain at higher Intensities.

A Leyspring of Earth and Negative Energy becomes a pillar of black glass. Its Geomantic Aura has a higher propensity to generate onyx in the Earthspring's central mountain at higher Intensities.

Water

An Intensity 1 Waterspring is a crystal clear pond 10ft in diameter and 5ft deep. Despite being stagnant, it remains pure and potable unless intentionally despoiled, and even filters filth within itself over time. Its Geomantic Aura raises the amount of rainfall (or snowfall) the area receives by a small amount, easily overlooked.

An Intensity 2 Waterspring increases to a 20ft diameter. Its Geomantic Aura produces noticeably increased humidity and precipitation. True deserts will likely be unable to retain any such moisture enough to alter it, but barren lands with more dense earth may be able to support more complex life and eventually become habitable scrubland.

An Intensity 3 Waterspring increases to a 40ft diameter and 10ft deep. Its Geomantic Aura produces so much additional water in the environment that while previous badlands and scrublands may flourish into life, temperate forests and grasslands will tend to shift towards marshes and wetlands. Streams may form in grooved areas that could not have previously supported them.

An Intensity 4 Waterspring increases to a 60ft diameter and 15ft deep. Its Geomantic Aura creates near constant rainfall, merely fluctuating in its intensity. Deserts become deathtraps of shifting quicksand over hidden subterranean rivers. Anything temperate or warmer becomes pitted with swamps and bogs, other than those heavily forests regions that could support a vast rainforest.

An Intensity 5 Waterspring increases to a 100ft diameter and 20ft deep. Its Geomantic Aura produces a ceaseless downpour in the surrounding region. Without a moment's peace from the rain, most vegetation rots or is washed away, crumbling the food chain built around it.

Water Combinations

A Leyspring of Water and Positive Energy is so brilliantly clear that it is indistinguishable from vacant space unless disturbed from without. It generates its own small self-contained ecosystem with small patches of colorful algae, vibrant fish, and tiny, gaudy frogs and insects. Its Geomantic Aura spreads life amidst the increased moisture. Even at higher Intensities that normally threaten life rather than support it, new forms will emerge - colonies of plants that collect one another and float down torrential rivers as floating gardens, flying fish that can breathe the supremely water-saturated air, and so on.

A Leyspring of Water and Negative Energy is a putrescent lake of filth, fetid with exotic and potentially deadly diseases. Its Geomantic Aura is similarly unpleasant, spreading plagues of insects and disease along with the water.

Positive Energy

An Intensity 1 Lifespring is an insubstantial fluctuation in space as a roughly 10ft diameter sphere. When looked through, the area on the other side appears more brilliant and beautiful. Its presence imparts vigor and excitement. Its Geomantic Aura makes the area subtly more attractive and inviting.

An Intensity 2 Lifespring doubles in diameter. Its Geomantic Aura imparts a +1 resistance bonus on saving throws against Disease and Energy Drain effects to the inhabitants of the nearby region, and stabilization rolls in the area are +5% more likely to succeed. This seemingly minor bonus to shirking off disease nonetheless makes life noticeably less brutal in highly populated areas. Fewer children die of influenza every year, dysentery claims fewer wounded soldiers, the elderly survive more winters, and so on.

An Intensity 3 Lifespring increases to a diameter of 30ft. Its Geomantic Aura imparts a +2 resistance bonus on saving throws against Disease and Energy Drain effects now. Life sprouts from even seemingly inhospitable environments, finding ways to adapt, even in shocking and unbelievable ways.

An Intensity 4 Lifespring increases to a diameter of 40ft. Its Geomantic Aura imparts a +3 resistance bonus on saving throws against Disease and Energy Drain effects, and a +10% bonus on stabilization checks. All environments gain new life - perhaps the reptiles of the surrounding rainforest develop miraculous metabolisms that allow them to grow in size every generation until the region sees the rise of dinosaurs, or a species of desert spider develops longer gestation periods and increased brain size until they become capable of a primitive tribal society.

An Intensity 5 Lifespring increases to a diameter of 50ft. Its Geomantic Aura imparts a +4 resistance bonus on saving throws against Disease and Energy Drain effects, even more drastically effecting the average life expectancy of humanoid societies. Tundras and wastelands now have myriads of bizarre lifeforms, while more temperate regions have random encounter tables veritably busting at the seams.

Positive Energy Combinations

A Leyspring of Positive and Negative Energy has no form. Its energies cancel one another out, producing no effect in its Geomantic Aura.

Negative Energy

An Intensity 1 Deathspring is an insubstantial fluctuation in space as a roughly 10ft diameter sphere. When looked through, the area on the other side appears more drab and hollow. Its presence imparts peace and ennui. Its Geomantic Aura makes the area subtly more grim and ominous.

An Intensity 2 Deathspring doubles in diameter. It inflicts a -1 penalty on saving throws against Disease. Population growth in the area is noticeably lowered as birth defects, infections, and otherwise simple viruses gain a small but pervasive edge against their prey.

An Intensity 3 Deathspring increases to a diameter of 30ft. It inflicts a -2 penalty on saving throws against Disease. Fragile balances in the surrounding ecosystems begin to fall apart, leading to less varied ecologies, as well as favoring those that reproduce en masse, such as insects.

An Intensity 4 Deathspring increases to a diameter of 40ft. It inflicts a -3 penalty on saving throws against Disease. At this point, life becomes fragile and the population of advanced lifeforms will likely begin to decrease steadily (or not so steadily, in the face of a very likely epidemic of one kind or another) until none remain.

An Intensity 5 Deathspring increases to a diameter of 50ft. It inflicts a -4 penalty on saving throws against Disease. No mundane ecosystem can sustain itself in such conditions, with even viruses, parasites, and insects finding themselves without food and eventually guttering away. Such regions inevitable are reduced to barren wastes.

Balance

A Leyspring that is infused with Air, Fire, Earth, and Water, as well as both Positive and Negative Energy is called a Gaeaspring, usually created from the Elemental Proliferation Pump Totemic Structure (see below) or Sempiternal Mythos. It takes the form of a pool, similar in size to a Waterspring, full of shimmering, blueish energy. Massive bands of this energy swirl into the air around it, shifting between properties of solid, liquid, or gaseous mass, as well as different forms of energy, from intense heat and chromatic flame, to brilliant light, to eerie music.

Creatures with a mortal soul that immerse themselves in the pool are slowly absorbed by it, dying (or being destroyed) after an hour of exposure. Their soul then joins with the mechanisms of the Omphalos, rather than continuing onto an afterlife, which might be preferrable to some (such as those destined for the Wall of the Faithless). The Omphalos may keep this soul for its inscrutible purposes, or reincarnate it into a newborn life just as a new soul born from the Positive Energy Plane might. In the latter case, as the soul has become a new creature, it is beyond any power to return it to its old state, while in the former case, the creature may still be returned to life by appropriate spells or other effects. In some rare cases, the Omphalos might implant a message into a collected soul, then return the soul to its former body and expel it from the Gaeaspring. But the needs of the Omphalos for impromptu mortal servants are few and far between indeed.

In the Geomantic Aura of a Gaeaspring, conditions are perfect for mortal life to thrive. Crops grow to abundancy with little effort, food chains remain perfectly stable without outside interference, providing abundant hunting opportunities, wild berries and mushrooms are never poisonous to full grown mortals, natural disasters never occur, seasons are largely visual experiences, rather than bringing deathly heat or cold, aquifers abound, providing for more wells than any community could need, and so on. Without outside interference, the region becomes a natural utopia.


Totemic Structures

Ambient Incarnum Funnel

This small chamber collects ambient Incarnum from the veins of the planet itself. It requires one week to fill. A meldshaper may spend a full-round action within the chamber to consume the collected Incarnum and super-charge their soul. For the next week, the meldshaper adds an additional 2 Essentia to their supply. A single meldshaper can only be super-charged by a single Ambient Incarnum Funnel at a time (even those from a different Leyspring).

Central Cooling Node

This large totem must be affixed to a Leyspring infused with the element of Air to function. By itself, it does nothing but supply the foundation for potential, future, geomantic links.

At the cost of 100 gold pieces in wooden materials and a day of time spent at an Airspring, a Kathodos may construct a Central Cooling Totem, a 5ft (usually cubical) block. When placed on the ground within the Geomantic Aura of an Airspring with a Central Cooling Node, it may be activated by anyone that has been taught the sutras of its functioning, latching onto the earth and becoming immobile. Afterward, removal from its spot destroys it. While rooted, an adjacent character may speak short strings of command-prayers designed by the Kathodos that constructed the totem, causing the totem to project a field of cooling energy from the planet's ley-lines, cooling an area for about 20ft in all directions, blocked by walls of any solid substance. It has settings for cooling the area by 10, 20, and 30 degrees Fahrenheit.

A Central Cooling Totem ceases to function if the Geomantic Aura on which it feeds recedes away from it, its Leyspring loses its elemental affinity to Air, or the Central Cooling Node it was designed for is destroyed.

Central Heating Node

This large totem must be affixed to a Leyspring infused with the element of Fire to function. By itself, it does nothing but supply the foundation for potential, future, geomantic links.

At the cost of 100 gold pieces in wooden materials and a day of time spent at a Firespring, a Kathodos may construct a Central Heating Totem, a 5ft (usually cubical) block. When placed on the ground within the Geomantic Aura of a Firespring with a Central Heating Node, it may be activated by anyone that has been taught the sutras of its functioning, latching onto the earth and becoming immobile. Afterward, removal from its spot destroys it. While rooted, an adjacent character may speak short strings of command-prayers designed by the Kathodos that constructed the totem, causing the totem to project a field of warming energy from the planet's ley-lines, cooling an area for about 20ft in all directions, blocked by walls of any solid substance. It has settings for heating the area by 10, 20, and 30 degrees Fahrenheit.

A Central Heating Totem ceases to function if the Geomantic Aura on which it feeds recedes away from it, its Leyspring loses its elemental affinity to Fire, or the Central Heating Node it was designed for is destroyed.

Elemental Custodian Fetter

This totem of binding must be affixed to a Leyspring infused with the element of Air, Fire, Earth, or Water. It collects energy from the planet and spawns a wholly new elemental bound as the Leyspring's eternal warden. An Intensity 1 Leyspring can support a Small Elemental, an Intensity 2 supports a Medium Elemental, Intensity 3 a Large Elemental, Intensity 4 a Huge Elemental, and Intensity 5 a Greater Elemental. The custodian can wander within its Leyspring, plus 100ft beyond it, but cannot be moved any further away.

An Elemental Custodian Fetter is usually hidden or otherwise protected, for its bound guardian cannot survive long without it, lasting only 5 minutes after the totem's destruction. However, so long as the Fetter remains, if the custodian is destroyed, it is merely reconsituted back into existence at the Leyspring 24 hours later. If an ability permanently annihilates the custodian beyond reconsitution, the totem creates a new guardian to replace the old after 24 hours.

A custodian is not automatically loyal to the Kathodos that created it. Rather, its sole purpose for existing is to safeguard its Leyspring and the Totemic Structures built around it, as well as facilitate the usage of those structures. For example, an elemental custodian would not necessarily attack a wounded farm-boy that wanders near the Leyspring, who obviously poses no threat to its integrity, and might even instruct him in how to use the attached Health-Promotion Ward, as the custodian's secondary purpose is to facilitate the usage of the Leyspring's totemic structures. Similarly, a custodian will dutifilly operate a Gaea-Infusion Chamber of its own accord once a creature is placed inside, releasing the subject upon completion of their transformation.

Elemental-Proliferation Pump

This array of spiritually sensitive totems is calibrated in such a way as to draw forth an additional element into the Leyspring, adding it to whatever mixture already exists there. (For example, an Intensity 1 Airspring could have a Pump that adds Fire to it, making it an Air/Fire Leyspring without requiring the Intensity to be increased.)

Entropy-Promotion Ward

This chamber must be constructed on a Negative Energy infused Leyspring. It has enough room for a single creature to lay within. Dead and inanimate things within decompose at twice the normal rate. Undead gain Fast Healing 1, as well as a +4 circumstance bonus on saving throws against Ravages and Afflictions, as well as +4 Turn Resistance, and they may heal other damages naturally, as if they were alive.

Gaea-Infusion Chamber

This complicated construction must be built directly on the edge of a Gaeaspring, partly within and partly without. A series of pulleys and restraints within can hold a single medium sized creature. If multiple Totemic Structure slots are used on Gaea-Infusion Chambers, each additional chamber adds space for one more creature than the last, due to more efficient spacing (two chambers have room for three creatures total, three chambers for six, four chambers for ten, etc).

Through repeated exposure to the Gaea, stopping just short of death each time, a creature set into the restraints can be infused with power, potentially creating a Gaean Child. The timing of each session differs and their handling must be delicate, and so at least one person must monitor the Gaea-Infusion Chamber at all times for a successful transformation to take place. It takes a full month to properly saturate a creature in Gaea, during which time they must remain confined to the chamber's restraints. At the end of the procedure, the creature makes a DC 10 Fortitude save.

On a failed save, the creature is broken by the energy it has been exposed to. Its Intelligence and Charisma are reduced to 1, its Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution scores are increased by 4, its outward appearance is mutated into something hideous, and it becomes a bloodthirsty monster, seeking only to murder and destroy. These effects last until its death.

On a successful save, if the creature had the Standard or Non-Elite array for ability scores, it gains the Elite Array. Its first hit die provides its maximum amount of hit points if it did not already, and any subsequent hit dice are considered to provide one-half their maximum possible value. Finally, it gains the Gaean Child template (see below).

Health-Promotion Ward

This chamber must be constructed on a Positive Energy infused Leyspring. It has enough room for a single creature to lay within, and grants that creature Fast Healing 1, as well as a +4 circumstance bonus on saving throws against Poison, Disease, Energy Drain, and other ongoing Negative Energy based effects. The creature inside heals naturally at twice the normal rate.

Material Element Crystallization Nursery

This large totem-ornamented basin very slowly fills with ephemeral ley-energy that, just as slowly, crystallizes and grows upward into an elegant formation. Every ten years, the nursery produces a crop of 1d4+1 Element Crystals, golf-ball sized perfect spheres seemingly made of colored glass with a smokey interior. They come in yellow (Air), red (Fire), green (Earth), blue (Water), white (Positive Energy), and black (Negative Energy) - Leysprings of a particular element produce the corresponding color of crystal. Leysprings of multiple elements produce crops with a random mixture of each possible element.

Some individuals can quicken the process. By laying a hand on the nursery basin and spending 1,000 Mythos Points, a character may cause a new Element Crystal to be born over the course of 24 hours. Only one expedited crystal can be born in this way at a time.

A newborn Element Crystal has the following effects. Element Crystals also grow over time - when a character possessing the crystal overcomes an encounter that grants them experience points, the crystal gains 5 Growth Points, or 10 if the character somehow used the crystal in the encounter. At 100 Growth Points, the Element Crystal evolves into a Greater Element Crystal, and at 200 Growth Points, it becomes a Perfected Element Crystal.

Yellow
As a standard action, a creature holding the crystal can let loose a short blast of air at a creature within 30ft. The target must make a Fortitude save or be knocked backward 5ft. This movement provokes Attacks of Opportunity due to the air knocking the opponent off balance entirely. At the Greater level, the crystal also deals 1d6 damage on a failed save, raised to 3d6 at the Perfected level.

If placed in the mouth of a creature, the crystal cannot be used for its other effects, but provides fresh air directly into the creature's body, allowing them to breathe underwater or in a vacuum. At the Perfected level, the crystal also regulates the pressure inside of the creature, allowing them to, for example, survive the crushing depths of the ocean.

If socketed into a weapon's Augment Crystal slot, the weapon deals an additional 1 slashing damage on a successful hit (1d6 at the Greater level, and 2d6 at Perfected). The wielder of the weapon can use the crystal's standard action ability as if they were holding it, but cannot also use the weapon for other functions in the same round (such as, for example, an Attack of Opportunity, though they could make it with a different weapon).

Red
As a standard action, a creature holding the crystal can let loose a short blast of flame at a creature within 30ft, dealing 1d6 fire damage with a successful ranged touch attack. This increases to 2d6 at the Greater level, and 4d6 at the Perfected level.

By squeezing the crystal as a swift action, its wielder may cause the crystal to produce light as a torch, or extinguish its light once activated. At the Perfected level, the crystal shines twice as brightly as a torch.

If socketed into a weapon's Augment Crystal slot, the weapon deals an additional 1 fire damage on a successful hit (1d6 at the Greater level, and 2d6 at Perfected). The wielder of the weapon can use the crystal's standard action ability as if they were holding it, but cannot also use the weapon for other functions in the same round (such as, for example, an Attack of Opportunity, though they could make it with a different weapon).

Green
As a standard action, a creature holding the crystal can cause the ground beneath a target within 30ft to tremble, forcing them to make a Reflex save or be knocked prone. At the Greater level, this also deals 1d6 bludgeoning damage on a failed save. At the Perfected level, all creatures adjacent to the original target must also save.

By giving the crystal a good spin on a solid surface, one round later it will stop and glow briefly on one side, showing magnetic north. At the Perfected level, the crystal always points truly north, even in areas with wonky magnetic fields.

If socketed into a weapon's Augment Crystal slot, the weapon's Hardness increases by 2 and attempts to disarm the weapon from its wielder suffer a -2 penalty. At the Greater level, these bonuses increase to 4 and -4 respectively, and at the Perfected level, they become 6 and -6. The wielder of the weapon can use the crystal's standard action ability as if they were holding it, but cannot also use the weapon for other functions in the same round (such as, for example, an Attack of Opportunity, though they could make it with a different weapon).

Blue
As a standard action, a creature holding the crystal can disrupt the body of a creature with a water-based anatomy within 30ft. The target must make a Fortitude saving throw or take 1d6 damage. At the Greater level, the target is also Sickened for 1 round on a failed save. At the Perfected level, the target is Sickened for 1 minute instead.

By rubbing the crystal as a standard action, its wielder may cause it to gently emit water from its surface, producing a gallon over the course of a minute. It may only produce a single gallon in this way per 24 hours. At the Greater level, it can produce up to 2 gallons in a 24 hour period, and at the Perfected level, it can produce 4.

If socketed into a weapon's Augment Crystal slot, the weapon deals an additional 1 bludgeoning damage on a successful hit (1d6 at the Greater level, and 2d6 at Perfected). The wielder of the weapon can use the crystal's standard action ability as if they were holding it, but cannot also use the weapon for other functions in the same round (such as, for example, an Attack of Opportunity, though they could make it with a different weapon).

White
As a standard action, a creature holding the crystal can bolster the vitality of a living creature within 30ft. That creature receives a +1 bonus on the next saving throw they make within 1 minute. Multiple applications on the same creature do not stack, but refresh the duration. At the Greater level, this ability also stabilizes dying creatures that it is used on. At the Perfected level, the bonus increases to +2.

If held by a resting character, they naturally heal with 8 hours of rest as if they had spent a full day in complete bed rest. At the Perfected level, if the crystal is held by a corpse, that corpse will not continue to decompose until the crystal is removed.

If socketed into a weapon's Augment Crystal slot, the weapon deals an additional 1 damage to undead targets on a successful hit (1d6 at the Greater level, and 2d6 at Perfected). The wielder of the weapon can use the crystal's standard action ability as if they were holding it, but cannot also use the weapon for other functions in the same round (such as, for example, an Attack of Opportunity, though they could make it with a different weapon).

Black
As a standard action, a creature holding the crystal can bolster the corpus of an undead creature within 30ft. The creature gains +1 Turn Resistance for 1 minute. Multiple applications on the same creature do not stack, but refresh the duration. At the Greater Level, this increases to +2 Turn Resistance. At the Greater Level, this ability also grants the target Positive Energy Resistance 5 for the same duration.

If shoved into head or chest of a corpse still meaty enough to rise as a zombie (as opposed to a skeleton), but weak enough to only produce a 2HD zombie, the crystal animates the corpse over the course of 1 minute as a 2HD zombie. The zombie is under no one's control and attacks any living creature it sees. Removing the crystal destroys the zombie. At the Greater level, the crystal can animate things powerful enough to produce a 4HD zombie. At the Perfected level, the crystal can animate things powerful enough to produce a 6HD zombie.

If socketed into a weapon's Augment Crystal slot, the weapon deals an additional 1 damage to living targets on a successful hit (1d6 at the Greater level, and 2d6 at Perfected). The wielder of the weapon can use the crystal's standard action ability as if they were holding it, but cannot also use the weapon for other functions in the same round (such as, for example, an Attack of Opportunity, though they could make it with a different weapon).


Terrestrial Energy Projector

This set of mostly-subterranean totems are arrayed around the perimeter of a Leyspring's core, artificially projecting its influence further than it could do so otherwise. The Leyspring's Geomantic Aura increases its size as if the Leyspring were one Intensity higher than normal. This cannot cause a Geomantic Aura to project farther than one-hundred miles (the equivalent of an Intensity 5 Leyspring).

Water Tap Node

This large totem must be affixed to a Leyspring infused with the element of Water to function. By itself, it does nothing but supply the foundation for potential, future, geomantic links.

At the cost of 100 gold pieces in wooden materials and a day of time spent at a Waterspring, a Kathodos may construct a Water Tap Totem, a 5ft (usually cubical) block with a faucet on one side. When placed on the ground within the Geomantic Aura of a Waterspring with a Water Tap Node, it may be activated by anyone that has been taught the sutras of its functioning, latching onto the earth and becoming immobile. Afterward, removal from its spot destroys it. While rooted, an adjacent character may speak short strings of command-prayers designed by the Kathodos that constructed the totem, causing the totem to slowly produce a stream of pure, clean water (about a gallon every minute) from its faucet from seemingly nothing, condensed directly from the planet's energy.

A single Water Tap Totem can produce about 50 gallons of water in a 24 hour period before the minor ley-line it feeds from cuts itself off. Water Tap Totems must be placed at least 40ft away from one another to function properly; two or more Water Tap Totems placed closer together will share the same reservoir of 50 gallons a day, and having multiple steams on will divide the water pressure accordingly.

A Water Tap Totem ceases to function if the Geomantic Aura on which it feeds recedes away from it, its Leyspring loses its elemental affinity to Water, or the Water Tap Node it was designed for is destroyed.

Xefas
2015-08-11, 12:54 PM
New Template: Gaean Child

Created from repeated, purposeful, and prolonged exposure to Gaea, an energy produced by very careful manipulations of the ley-lines on a Prime World, a Gaean Child is invested with the raw mythic power of the Omphalos, a machine as old as the Great Wheel itself.

A Gaean Child is a more perfect specimen of their race, stronger, faster, smarter, more elegant and beautiful, but with a single telltale sign that all Gaean Children possess - the iris and pupil of each of their eyes are fused into a single pool of brilliant bluish-white through which all the colors of the visible spectrum ripple slowly like shafts of light refracted off gentle, crystal clear ocean waves.

"Gaean Child" is an acquired template that can be added to any living corporeal Aberration, Fey, Giant, Humanoid, Magical Beast, or Monstrous Humanoid with a soul, an Intelligence of 3 or higher, and that is native to the Prime Material Plane.

Special Qualities
A Gaean Child has all the special qualities of the base creature and gains the following special qualities.

Gaea Poisoning: A Gaean Child's body has been poisoned by a raw expression of the Omphalos' nature. They gain a single Exceptional Mythos from those available to a Mythic Gaean Child (see below), even if they are in no other way an inheritor of mythic power. The saving throw DC for that Mythos is calculated as (10 + 1/2 your character level + your highest ability score modifier), and your class level for that Mythos is equal to your character level.

Low-Light Vision: A Gaean Child can see twice as far as a human in poor lighting conditions. They retain the ability to distinguish color and detail under such conditions.

Metabolic Efficiency: A sip of water and a single bite of food allows a Gaean Child to operate at peak physical condition for a week, provided they do not engage in dangerous combat or similarly strenuous activities. After such activity, they return to their race's normal food and water requirements for a day, and provided they meet those needs, their metabolism returns to its hyperefficiency afterward.

Abilities
Increase from the base creature as follows: Str +2, Dex +2, Con +2, Int +2, Wis +2, Cha +2

Level Adjustment
+1



New Feat: Gaean Soldier Achievement
Prerequisite: Gaean Child, One Mythos
Benefit: Catalyzed by your own legendary nature, you elevate the scraps of Omphalic energy within you into something greater, and incorporate them more properly into yourself.

Choose one Mythos-granting class that you have levels in. You may treat the following Mythos as if they belonged to that class.

Your base land speed increases by 5ft.

Exceptional Mythos

Advanced Gaea Permeation
Prerequisite: -

Your flesh and blood have replaced more of their normal biology with Gaea energy than the standard levels for a Gaean Child, making you even more superhuman.

Your Strength and Dexterity both permanently increase by 2. Your base land speed increases by 5ft.

You gain Endurance as a bonus feat, and may hold your breath twice as long as a normal member of your race.

You gain the Martial Study feat (ToB). If you choose a 1st level Strike with that feat, you may use the Strike at will, rather than once per encounter.

At Home In This World
Prerequisite: -
[Any]

This world was made for you to move through it.

As an internal [Air] effect, the air of your body propels itself through the air of the world with ease; you gain Leap of the Heavens (PHBII) as a bonus feat. As an internal [Water] effect, the water of your body propels itself through the water of the world with ease; you gain a Swim speed equal to your land speed. As an internal [Earth] effect, the earth of your body propels itself over the earth of the world with ease; you gain a Climb speed equal to your land speed. As an internal [Fire] effect, the blood and heat of your body work more efficienctly, transmitting the oxygen and fluid and nutrients your body needs for exertion with superhuman proficiency; you add your Dexterity modifier as a bonus to all Balance, Climb, Jump, Swim, and Tumble checks.

Lifestream Fragment Internalization
Prerequisite: -

Your body is infused with pure elemental ley-energy, to which its impure lessers are subordinate. It only takes a little practice to find practical applications for this truth.

As a full-round action, you may absorb a touched Element Crystal (see above) into your body. You may only have one crystal of each color absorbed into your body at a time. While absorbed, you may activate their standard action ability as if you were holding them.

The range of the standard action abilities of each of your absorbed Element Crystals is doubled to 60ft.

When you activate an absorbed Yellow Element Crystal's standard action ability, the target can be knocked backward up to (your highest mental ability score modifier x 5)ft on a failed save.

When you activate an absorbed Red Element Crystal's standard action ability, it deals additional fire damage equal to your level.

When you activate an absorbed Green Element Crystal's standard action ability, you may target a flying creature instead of a creature on the ground. On a failed save, their Fly speed is reduced to 0 for 1 round and they begin crashing towards the earth below.

When you activate an absorbed Blue Element Crystal's standard action ability, it deals additional damage equal to your level.

When you activate an absorbed White Element Crystal's standard action ability, the saving throw bonus applies to all saving throws for the duration, rather than just the first one.

When you activate an absorbed Black Element Crystal's standard action ability, the undead also gains Fast Healing 1 for the duration.

Finally, at 6th level, when making a full attack, you may replace up to two attacks with the standard action abilities of Element Crystals you have absorbed. At 11th level, you may replace up to three, and at 16th level, you may replace up to four.

Sword of the Planet
Prerequisite: -

You recall thoughts and visions from your immersion in the Gaea. They were not your own, but seemed to be echoes of past deeds, records of great warriors and their triumphs from long ago.

You become proficient in all simple and martial weapons, as well as light, medium, and heavy armor, and all shields, including tower shields.

You also gain two feats that you meet the prerequisites for, that are also considered Fighter Bonus Feats.

Advanced
[i]Memories of Strength: You gain Monkey Grip (CW) as a bonus feat. You do not suffer the -2 penalty on attack rolls normally inflicted by that feat.

Memories of Finesse: You may substitute your Dexterity modifier in place of your Strength modifier for the purposes of attack and damage rolls made with melee weapons.

Memories of Cleverness: You become proficient in one Exotic Weapon of your choice, one Exotic Armor (RoS) of your choice, and Heavy Weapons (Magic of Faerun).


Fantastic Mythos

Breaking Mortal Limits
Prerequisite: The 'Advanced Gaea Permeation' Mythos

If you chose a 1st level Strike for the Martial Study granted by Advanced Gaea Permeation, as a standard action, you may activate that strike twice, choosing the same or different targets. If your Limit (see below) is at 6 or higher, you may activate it three times instead.

You gain a Limit Die, a d6 that begins set at 1. Each time you take damage equal to 10% of your maximum hit points or greater from an enemy that poses a danger to your life, the Gaea energy within you becomes more unstable, raising your Limit Die by 1.

While your Limit Die is at 6 or higher, you may activate a manever of 5th level or lower from the same discipline that you chose for Martial Study for the Advanced Gaea Permeation Mythos. Your eyes shine bright in this moment, and elemental power swirls around you. Your Limit Die is then reduced by 5. At 9th level, you may activate a maneuver of 6th level or lower instead. At 11th level, you may activate a maneuver of 7th level or lower.

Limit naturally degrades over time as your Gaea restabilizes itself. Your Limit Die decreases by 1 for every 10 minutes that pass.

Internal Elemental Reunion
Prerequisite: The 'Lifestream Fragment Internalization' Mythos

Your body now more fully synchronizes with the crystallized essence of the planet.

While you have a Yellow Element Crystal absorbed, your respiratory system generates its own air, allowing you to breathe in any environment. Furthermore, you gain a +10 bonus on Jump checks.

While you have a Red Element Crystal absorbed, you gain Fire Resistance equal to your class level, and Darkvision out to 60ft.

While you have a Green Element Crystal absorbed, you gain Damage Reduction X/Adamantine, where X is equal to your class level, and you always know the direction of true north.

While you have a Blue Element Crystal absorbed, you are immune to Dessication damage, Fatigue, and Exhaustion.

While you have a White Element Crystal absorbed, you gain Fast Healing 1 if you are healed by positive energy.

While you have a Black Element Crystal absorbed, you gain Fast Healing 1 if you are healed by negative energy.


Legendary Mythos

Ultimate World-Weapon Expression
Prerequisite: The 'Breaking Mortal Limits' and 'Lifestream Fragment Internalization' Mythos

While you have two Element Crystals absorbed, your Limit Die becomes a d8. While you have four absorbed, it becomes a d10, and while you have six absorbed, you have a d12.

While your Limit Die is at 10 or higher, you may activate your ultimate ability, targeting a single creature within your Reach as a standard action.

The ground shrinks away from you both and a buffer of air raises the two of you several feet off the ground. Pure Gaea unfurls from your body in a spiraling nimbus of light and sound and for a moment you do not appear as a man so much as an otherworldly executioner of some greater power, an earthly angel beyond mortal flesh.

The discipline you chose for Advanced Gaea Permeation: first, you activate a 1st level maneuver from that discipline. Next, you activate a 2nd level maneuver. Then you activate a 3rd, then a 4th, then a 5th, then a 6th, then a 7th, and then an 8th. Finally, if you are on the Prime Material Plane, and your chosen foe is not a Native of the plane, or if your foe is anyone that has committed some grave sin against the integrity of a Prime world or the Inner Planes, a final surge of power allows you to activate a 9th level maneuver from that discipline.

Each maneuver used in this way that targets a single enemy must target your chosen foe. If the maneuver targets multiple enemies or effects an area, your chosen foe must be one of the targets or within the area. No maneuver can be chosen that has an activation time other than one Swift, Move, or Standard action.

After using this ability, your Limit Die is removed from you for 24 hours, or until you spend at least 30 minutes directly immersed in a Gaeaspring, at which point it returns set at 1.

Qoios
2015-08-11, 06:43 PM
Really liking that new Kathodos Mythos, and the Mythic SOLDIER (that is more or less what this is, right?).

I do have one question on practicality: How would a Gaean Child go about acquiring Element Crystals without the "Planetary Lifestream Manipulation" Mythos? Is it just one of those things you have to ask your GM for? Otherwise, the Element Crystal-related Mythos seem...ill-advised to take before one can actually acquire PLM, unless one knows that the setting contains pre-existing Leysprings (of the appropriate elements) with the Material Element Crystallization Nursery structure.

I truly do like this content, but I can't see the practicality of taking those Element Crystal-related Mythos unless one is a 13th-Level-or-higher Kathodos, or a 13th-Level-or-higher Anthol with both Broken Omphalos Amalgam and Omphalos Anthology Conflux. Is this an intentional conceit, or was that just not a consideration?

Xefas
2015-08-11, 08:26 PM
Really liking that new Kathodos Mythos, and the Mythic SOLDIER (that is more or less what this is, right?).

Indeed.


I do have one question on practicality: How would a Gaean Child go about acquiring Element Crystals without the "Planetary Lifestream Manipulation" Mythos? Is it just one of those things you have to ask your GM for? Otherwise, the Element Crystal-related Mythos seem...ill-advised to take before one can actually acquire PLM, unless one knows that the setting contains pre-existing Leysprings (of the appropriate elements) with the Material Element Crystallization Nursery structure.

I truly do like this content, but I can't see the practicality of taking those Element Crystal-related Mythos unless one is a 13th-Level-or-higher Kathodos, or a 13th-Level-or-higher Anthol with both Broken Omphalos Amalgam and Omphalos Anthology Conflux. Is this an intentional conceit, or was that just not a consideration?

Well, Gaean Children don't exist naturally. The existence of a player character with the Gaean Child template necessitates that there is at least one fully developed Gaeaspring with functioning equipment somewhere in the world.

This already requires that the player and GM discuss at some depth the circumstances around the character's creation. They have to decide where this Gaeaspring is, if its creator is still around, if not, who performed the Gaea-saturation ritual on the character, and so on. It's not a stretch, in my opinion, for the player to throw in "Hey, I'm also interested in taking the mythic racial feat for this template, can the spring I was reborn in also have a Material Element Crystallization Nursery in it?"

At which point, the character can grow their own crystals as they acquire Mythos Points, or take some crystals as starting wealth (if they're high enough level), or perhaps the Nursery is coming close to the point of birthing its own crystals naturally, and at some point in the campaign, the character will return to the Gaeaspring and acquire them as a kind of side-quest.

The group is already taking a leap of faith letting you use weird homebrew. It would be strange indeed for them to shaft you over this minor detail.

Qoios
2015-08-11, 09:42 PM
Well, Gaean Children don't exist naturally. The existence of a player character with the Gaean Child template necessitates that there is at least one fully developed Gaeaspring with functioning equipment somewhere in the world.
Ah, I did not realize that was the case. I suppose it makes sense, now that I think about it, but it didn't feel so apparent on a first read-through.


This already requires that the player and GM discuss at some depth the circumstances around the character's creation. They have to decide where this Gaeaspring is, if its creator is still around, if not, who performed the Gaea-saturation ritual on the character, and so on. It's not a stretch, in my opinion, for the player to throw in "Hey, I'm also interested in taking the mythic racial feat for this template, can the spring I was reborn in also have a Material Element Crystallization Nursery in it?"

At which point, the character can grow their own crystals as they acquire Mythos Points, or take some crystals as starting wealth (if they're high enough level), or perhaps the Nursery is coming close to the point of birthing its own crystals naturally, and at some point in the campaign, the character will return to the Gaeaspring and acquire them as a kind of side-quest.
Given the origins of Gaean Children, this all seems more intuitive.


The group is already taking a leap of faith letting you use weird homebrew. It would be strange indeed for them to shaft you over this minor detail.
I kinda figured you'd say something to this effect. I never figured it'd be any kind of problem in practice, even without the added knowledge; I just like self-sufficiency in design, as a general policy.

commander panda
2015-08-14, 07:45 AM
xefas is this mythos going to be added to the kathados' main class list?

EDIT: also, the size code for Material Element Crystallization Nursery didn't work

Xefas
2015-08-14, 08:19 AM
xefas is this mythos going to be added to the kathados' main class list?

Yes, once I'm sure I'm happy with it.


EDIT: also, the size code for Material Element Crystallization Nursery didn't work

Thank you! It's fixed now.

khadgar567
2015-08-14, 10:24 AM
xefas you gonna hate me but what happens if katados's Syntrofos buddy decides to lay in the Gaea-Infusion Chamber to gain the gaean child template is he/she gains a omphalion mythos or what happens to Syntrofos

Xefas
2015-08-14, 11:08 AM
xefas you gonna hate me but what happens if katados's Syntrofos buddy decides to lay in the Gaea-Infusion Chamber to gain the gaean child template is he/she gains a omphalion mythos or what happens to Syntrofos

Well, technically, nothing happens.


"Gaean Child" is an acquired template that can be added to any living corporeal Aberration, Fey, Giant, Humanoid, Magical Beast, or Monstrous Humanoid with a soul, an Intelligence of 3 or higher, and that is native to the Prime Material Plane.

Syntrofos' are Constructs.

However, I'm working on some more Mythos that work with Leysprings, one of which is something for the Syntrofos. So, eventually, it will do something.

spwack
2015-08-16, 05:32 AM
As expected Xefas, this looks awesome. One thing that does worry me though, is that it could be kind of daunting for a DM to allow both Mythos classes AND Gaeasprings in the same game. Do you reckon you could add just a short blurb at some point on how a DM's could incorporate this into their own world in a way that makes sense?

Xefas
2015-08-16, 05:37 PM
In the interest of enabling more plot hooks, I've made a slight tweak, allowing Fantastic-tier Kathodos to build totemic structures on preexisting Leysprings.


As expected Xefas, this looks awesome. One thing that does worry me though, is that it could be kind of daunting for a DM to allow both Mythos classes AND Gaeasprings in the same game. Do you reckon you could add just a short blurb at some point on how a DM's could incorporate this into their own world in a way that makes sense?

Tell me if this was what you had in mind.

Leysprings And You

So, as a DM, you've let your non-spellcasters have nice things and are now almost assuredly regretting it by this point. That's normal.

If you're reading this, one of your players most likely wants to play a high-level Kathodos or a low-level Gaean Child. This will involve the Plantary Lifestream Manipulation Mythos and the Leysprings that it creates. I'm going to assume that you've read that Mythos (or at least skimmed it, I know it's long), and just aren't quite sure what your player actually wants in terms of how your campaign setting might incorporate this admittedly powerful and far-reaching ability.

Here are some ideas that might work as shorthand for discussing it.

(If you haven't read Planetary Lifestream Manipulation, here's the TLDR: The player can create a focal point in the world that alters the surrounding climate, called a Leyspring, varying in degree depending on how long they work on it, up to a year+ to make something really big. Buildings can be built on the focal point that offer buffs and utility to those that use them, culminating in the greatest ones granting a permanent template (with appropriate level adjustment) and allowing the creation of some very minor magic items.)


(1) No Leysprings exist at all prior to the beginning of the game. They are not a naturally occurring phenomenon, and no one has bothered to artificially create one. This level of incorporation does not allow a player to use the Gaean Child template at character creation, so skip this if that's what they're after. This also means that whatever campaign setting you've had in mind doesn't need any adjustment really, and sets up Planetary Lifestream Manipulation as a rad superpower for a high level Kathodos player, allowing them to do something that no one else really has the capability to do. Just between you and me, they're going to use it to set up a stationary base of operations filled with vat-grown super-soldiers, and probably attempt to take over the world, and if your campaign setting is largely filled with level 1 Commoners, they have a good shot at doing so. As a plus, this gives you a nice central location to threaten, and things to threaten typically aren't in great supply for high level PCs. So there's that. Throw the necromancer and his army at the PC's little kingdom! It'll be cooler that way.
(2) One Gaeaspring exists and no one knows why. This is a potentially very low-impact-to-the-setting way to have a player use the Gaean Child template. Maybe its a relic of some precursor civilization, maybe some Kathodos a long time ago built the thing, went adventuring, and got eaten, thus leaving it to sit, unused until now, maybe the planet or some proxie thereof created it for some purpose that a PC might herein fulfill, or maybe you don't need an explanation set in stone at all. It simply is. Without the proper structures attached, the Gaeaspring doesn't terraform a large area, and so you can put it somewhere underground and its existence has virtually no impact on the surrounding world. The potential-Gaean-Child-PC happens upon it, fools with the machinery (which might be built of something more enduring than plain wood, or is in disrepair and requires some fixing-up) and accidentally gets superpowers. A tale as old as comic books. Then, the PC leaves to go adventuring and you probably never need to mention it again.
(3) One Gaeaspring exists and somebody knows why. This is if you want to incorporate something that one of the player characters clearly finds interesting into your campaign in a meaningful way, but don't want to muck up the entire setting with it. This is similar to (2), except that the Kathodos that built the Gaeaspring, or his elemental custodian, is still walking around the place, doing stuff. This can make the Gaeaspring a kind of quest-hub, where a powerful Mythic character offers to take a short break from his research/meditation to pimp the PC's meat-shell with shiny super powers in exchange for going out into the outside world and doing stuff for him. And then, eventually, offers Element Crystals for sale or trade, and any other sundry uses you might have for a mysterious mentor figure. The custodial elemental can be used similarly, but with the added benefit of not being able to leave and impact the world in the way a 13th+ level Kathodos could.
(4) Leysprings are a Thing. They occur naturally, though rarely, as fluctuations in the planet's geography, with small, minor ones going largely unnoticed, and big ones creating strange, fantastic geography, like zones of torrential death-rain in the middle of a desert. This is a setting-defining decision, though less so if Mythos classes are extremely rare or singularly unique occurrences in your game. Without 7th+ level Kathodos' running around, no one can really do anything with the Leysprings, they're just neat fixtures for a potential adventure or set-piece (a castle built on a rare Gaeaspring that brings perfect weather to its grounds all-year-round, a town that lives off the rainfall from a Waterspring but the geostrata of the planet is shifting, and the Waterspring is slowly fading away, etc), and you need to add in (2) or (3) to allow a PC to play as a Gaean Child. This gives a lot of entertaining options for a mid-level Kathodos PC who might want to, for example, help out a small town in the desert built around a natural Airspring (because it's slightly cooler, but still hot as balls) by giving everyone totemic air-conditioners, or promise a band of mercenaries that if they burn a monastery full of warrior-monks to the ground, the PC will build a Gaea-Infusion Chamber on the sacred Gaeaspring the monastery was built on, and give them the Gaean Child template, and so on.
(5) Leysprings are everywhere. This is certainly a potential idea to consider for a setting where Mythos classes are not astonishingly rare, and therefore the setting is built from the ground up on that assumption. A few Kathodos in the past reached high level and threw Leysprings around everywhere for some reason or another, or no reason other than that they could, and over time they've just become commonplace. Big cities are built on top of Intensity 5 Gaeasprings with 3x Terrestrial Energy Projectors and a Water Tap Node as a matter of course, granting perfect year-round climate conditions and clean running water in every household, as a matter of course. On the edge of the Gaeaspring's Geomantic Aura, a ring of Intensity 5 Lifesprings spread health and wellness to those within, while also providing Health-Promotion Wards to those few who still manage to get sick. Secreted away from the eyes of the public, on remote mountaintops and in deep cave networks, farms of low level Gaeasprings churn out mass-produced Gaean Children and Element Crystals for the ruling government, turning easily-indoctrinated everymen into heroic soldiers, and dumping the failures out of sight.

spwack
2015-08-16, 07:40 PM
Yay! Plot hooks and DM hints and world building, oh my. Xefas strikes again.

Xefas
2015-08-16, 08:18 PM
Yay! Plot hooks and DM hints and world building, oh my. Xefas strikes again.

In (5), I imagine that we find out that, despite many SOLDIERs being used to maintain a fascist police state, once the PCs somehow destabilize the network of Gaean-Children-farms in the name of freedom, that outside the light of civilization is just a bunch of Teramachs with hordes of Reavers being desperately held off by the remainder of the kingdom's Gaea-enhanced fighting force, and that now without reinforcements, everyone is screwed.

Anyway, once I can manage to drag myself out of my Katawa Shoujo slump, I've got a Gaea-related Mythos concept for the Syntrofos (Become The Prime Blade), Jagannatha (PLANETARY REACTOR MELTDOWN), Olethrofex (Denying The Right Of Heaven), and Teramach (Wrath of the Planet), each of which should lead to some good plot hooks in and of themselves. The Teramach's would need to come after a revamp of Humanity-Reaving Psychosis Echo. Instead of granting Teramach levels, I've decided it should apply a Reaver template, like Gaean Child, with special enhanced access to a 'Mythic Reaver' Mythos tree/feat.

Primal Fury
2015-08-16, 09:18 PM
Question about Ultimate World-Weapon Expression: If one of the maneuvers has an area of effect, does it effect multiple opponents or only the target?

Xefas
2015-08-16, 09:24 PM
Question about Ultimate World-Weapon Expression: If one of the maneuvers has an area of effect, does it effect multiple opponents or only the target?

It functions normally, and may effect multiple opponents, but one of those affected must be the target of Ultimate World-Weapon Expression.

So, if you use one of Desert Wind's cone-of-fire maneuvers, it still creates a cone and still effects everything in the cone that it normally would, but you must aim the cone so that the target of Ultimate World-Weapon Expression is within the cone.

Primal Fury
2015-08-16, 09:32 PM
Interesting... I am eager to incorporate this into the Demagogue.

spwack
2015-08-17, 01:54 AM
In (5), I imagine that we find out that, despite many SOLDIERs being used to maintain a fascist police state, once the PCs somehow destabilize the network of Gaean-Children-farms in the name of freedom, that outside the light of civilization is just a bunch of Teramachs with hordes of Reavers being desperately held off by the remainder of the kingdom's Gaea-enhanced fighting force, and that now without reinforcements, everyone is screwed.

Anyway, once I can manage to drag myself out of my Katawa Shoujo slump, I've got a Gaea-related Mythos concept for the Syntrofos (Become The Prime Blade), Jagannatha (PLANETARY REACTOR MELTDOWN), Olethrofex (Denying The Right Of Heaven), and Teramach (Wrath of the Planet), each of which should lead to some good plot hooks in and of themselves. The Teramach's would need to come after a revamp of Humanity-Reaving Psychosis Echo. Instead of granting Teramach levels, I've decided it should apply a Reaver template, like Gaean Child, with special enhanced access to a 'Mythic Reaver' Mythos tree/feat.

I'm assuming that the Mythic Reaver will have access to at least a few Teramach Mythos. My one request is that they have access to Humanity-Reaving Psychosis Echo, or something similar. Because zombies hordes are scarier when they are angry. Unless, of course, that isn't you plan at all, and killing the brood-nightmare is the only way to stop the flood, rather than being completely screwed once the spread starts. As an aside, can we have a Jagannatha thing that allows them to add more lava, rather than lasers? Because lava. Thanks.

Primal Fury
2015-08-20, 08:02 PM
Hold on. How is this an acquired template? The way you've described it, it sounds inherited.

Xefas
2015-08-20, 08:17 PM
Hold on. How is this an acquired template? The way you've described it, it sounds inherited.

Inherited templates are templates that a character is born with. Gaean Child is a template acquired by a character, at some point after having been born, being strapped to a table and waterboarded in the incarnate lifestream of the planet continuously for a month (see the Gaea-Infusion Chamber totemic structure for more details).