PDA

View Full Version : Pathfinder Veteran of the Psychic Wars (PrC, Grab bag XXIII contestant)



Zaydos
2015-11-06, 02:06 AM
Just realized I never gave this class its own thread, so here it is copy-pasta from the contest.


Veteran of the Psychic Wars

You see me now a veteran of a thousand psychic wars

A tired and wearied warrior who has fought in too many battles, and seen too many horrors, their mind shattering from the strain. This shattering of madness leaves them not incapable of function, but like a once broken bone their spirit grows back harder; they are never fully whole but they are also hard to break deeply once more.

Inspired by Blue Oyster Cult's Veteran of the Psychic Wars (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIE0wTFg364); lyrics here (http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/blueoystercult/veteranofthepsychicwars.html).

Role: A Veteran of the Psychic Wars serves as a front-line psionic combatant. Their abilities grant them various combat bonuses when low on power points encouraging either a long duration buff heavy strategy or a quick burn strategy while simultaneously giving them additional endurance when low on these resources.

Alignment: Warriors come in all alignments, so too do those who survive the horrors of war and are changed permanently by them.

Hit Die: d8

Requirements
To qualify to become a Veteran of the Psychic Wars, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria.
Manifesting: Ability to manifest 1st level psychic powers.
Feats: Iron Will
Base Attack Bonus: +3
Skills: Autohypnosis 5 ranks.
Special: Must be proficient in at least 5 martial weapons and light armor.
Special: Must have been reduced to the dying condition at least once.

Class Skills
The Veteran of the Psychic Wars’ class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Autohypnosis (Wis), Knowledge (Psionics) (Int), Perception (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), and Survival (Wis).

Skill Ranks per Level: (4 + Int modifier)


VETERAN OF THE PSYCHIC WARS
LevelBase Attack BonusFort SaveRef SaveWill SaveSpecialPsionics
1st
+1
+1
+1
+1I Have Used up All My Weapons-
2nd
+2
+1
+1
+1 Living in the Flames, My Armor is Destroyed+1 level existing manifesting class
3rd
+3
+2
+2
+2 Tides of Madness Swell+1 level existing manifesting class
4th
+4
+2
+2
+2The Scars are on the Inside-
5th
+5
+3
+3
+3The Winds of Limbo Blow+1 level existing manifesting class
6th
+6
+3
+3
+3 Far too Old to See-
7th
+7
+4
+4
+4 Time we had a break from it+1 level existing manifesting class
8th
+8
+4
+4
+4 These Shakes Go On+1 level existing manifesting class
9th
+9
+5
+5
+5 Living on the Edge-
[tr]10th
+10
+5
+5
+5This is Victory?[td]+1 level existing manifesting class

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Veteran of the Psychic Wars

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: A Veteran of the Psychic Wars gains no new weapon or armor proficiencies.

Powers Known At every level indicated on the table, the character gains additional power points per day and access to new powers as if they had also gained a level in whatever manifesting class they belonged to before they added the prestige class. They do not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (bonus feats, metapsionic or item creation feats, and so on). This essentially means that they adds the level of Veteran of the Psychic Wars to the level of whatever manifesting class the character has, then determines power points per day, powers known, and manifester level accordingly. If a character had more than one manifesting class before they became a Veteran of the Psychic Wars, they must decide to which class they add the new level of Veteran of the Psychic Wars for the purpose of determining power points per day, powers known, and manifester level.

I Have Used up All My Weapons (Su): A Veteran of the Psychic Wars is a warrior whose long experience has left their psychic reserves tattered, but instead of being weakened by this the madness behind their psychic powers guides their bodies making them deadlier in other ways. When a Veteran of the Psychic Wars has 1/3rd their maximum power points (rounded down) or less remaining they gain a +2 moral bonus to attack rolls and weapon and psionic power damage rolls; this bonus only applies to psionic powers which deal hit point damage. At 4th level this bonus increases to +3, at 7th this bonus increases to +4, and at 10th level this bonus becomes +5.

Living in the Flames (Su): A Veteran of the Psychic Wars finds that their madness shields their mind and flare as their body grows weaker and beaten. Beginning at 2nd level you gain a +4 bonus to saves against mind-affecting effects and fear effects, and whenever you are reduced to 1/3rd (rounded down) your maximum hp or less you gain resistance to all energy types equal to twice your class level.

My Armor is Destroyed (Su): Just as a Veteran of the Psychic Wars becomes a deadlier warrior when their psychic powers are low they also become more capable of defending themselves from hostile attacks. Beginning at 2nd level the bonus from I Have Used up All My Weapons applies to your AC as well and half the bonus (rounded down) is applied to your saving throws.

The Tides of Madness Swell (Su): A Veteran of the Psychic Wars long battles have worn away at their mind, leaving madness within, but it is their madness, it is controlled, it is a sleeping dog, and it is safe as long as it is not provoked. Beginning at 3rd level whenever you would be affected by a mind-affecting effect (whether you succeed or fail your saving throw against it) the source of the effect must make a Will save (DC 10 + your class level + your Wisdom or Charisma modifier) or be confused for 1d4 rounds.

The Scars are on the Inside (Su): One survives the psychic wars by forcing wounds inside themselves, turning pain, and injury into a growing madness and mental strain. Beginning at 4th level whenever you would take hit point damage you may instead lose 1 power point per 3 points of damage you would receive (rounded up). You may suffer part of the damage as power points and part as actual damage.

The Winds of Limbo Blow (Su): A Veteran of the Psychic Wars’ madness is hardly contained by their minds, and when they feel the need they can let it leak out from them. Beginning at 5th level whenever you manifest a psionic power you may expend your psionic focus to allow your madness to leak from you. If you do so all creatures (other than yourself or any familiar or psicrystal you possess) within 5-ft of you must make a Will save (DC 10 + class level + Wis or Cha modifier) or be shaken for 1d4 rounds. You may choose to spend power points to augment this effect, but any you spend in this way count are added to those spent on the power manifested for the purpose of the maximum amount of power points you can spend on a single power. For every power point you spend you can increase the range of this effect by 5-ft or the duration by 1 round, if you spend at least 5 power points creatures which fail their saves are frightened instead, if you spend at least 9 power points they are panicked. This is a mind-affecting, fear effect.

Far Too Old to See (Su): In the weary eyes of madness and war you can see deeper than the surface. Beginning at 6th level as long as you are psionically focused you gain a +4 insight bonus to Perception checks, in addition by spending 9 power points you can gain the benefits of a True Seeing spell as a psi-like ability (Manifester Level = twice your class level).

Time We Had a Break from It (Su): When released a Veteran of the Psychic Wars’ madness warps time itself. Beginning at 7th level you may expend your psionic focus to accelerate all effects within 100-ft reducing their remaining durations by 10 rounds. In the case of abilities that are activated on a round by round basis (for example rage or bardic music) and are active when you activate this ability only 2 rounds of use are lost (instead of 0 or 10).

These Shakes Go On (Su): After countless battles, your body recovers from wounds that others would find nearly mortal with an astounding speed. Beginning at 8th level whenever you have 1/3rd or less (rounded down) of your maximum hp you gain Fast Healing 5.

Living on the Edge (Su): Madness leaks defensively from you especially as the battle turns against you. Beginning at 9th level whenever you have 1/3rd or less (rounded down) of your maximum hp and 1/3rd or less (rounded down) of your maximum power points you gain a destructive aura. Any enemy beginning their turn within 10-ft of you takes 4d6 damage; this is a mind-affecting effect. In addition your madness becomes physically manifest forming semi-solid constructs of pure psychic force granting you DR 5/-.

This is Victory? (Su): It is only their conscious mind which keeps a veteran of the psychic wars’ madness in-check, when they are unconscious or worse still dying this madness leaks out warping the world around them. Once you've reached 10th level whenever you are unconscious creatures within 10-ft of you suffer a -2 penalty to all saves. If you have negative hit points, whether stable or dying, this applies to all creatures within 20-ft and any ability which can be suppressed by an anti-magic field has a 40% chance of failing within this area. If you die this madness escapes rending reality nearby; this functions as a targeted greater dispel magic spell with a CL equal to twice your class level against every magical effect within 20-ft, and deals 2d6 damage per class level to all creatures within the area (this is a mind-affecting effect), finally it warps the world in the area making all squares within this range difficult terrain as the earth is rent and torn.

Amechra
2015-11-06, 02:25 AM
Those prereqs are wonky. They make it look like you can get in a couple levels before you actually can.

Also, 1/3 of your HP or PP is a... weird choice. Why not half?

I believe you mean a morale bonus when you talk about moral bonuses.