[3.5 PrC] Judge of Chronepsis

[- Eon -]

This Prestige class is greatly inspired by a previous Prestige class I submitted two years ago. It has been improved by two years of actually playing the class in a campaign!
The keywords for this class are:

KNOWLEDGE
JUDGEMENT
TIME


Not much of a surprise, as they are the essence of Chronepsis.



JUDGE OF CHRONEPSIS

http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y454/Anaarmakil/femaleguardianoftheninefold_zps747beb7b.png

"The sand in this hourglass is what you still have to live. You decide if you want to waste it fighting the inevitable, or if you are wise enough to enjoy it."


-Eon, judge of Chronepsis


The Judge of Chronepsis is an extension of her god in the realm of mortals. She is calm and dispassionate, and her task is to accompany the dragons in their last moments and to guide their souls to the realm of Chronepsis. When a dragon sees a Judge of Chronepsis appear it usually knows that its time is near. The judge symbolizes death. Yet her role does not consist only of bringing death to dragons : Judges of Chronepsis are always linked in some way to Time Dragons. This means that they also inherit their legacy and are in charge of protecting the timeline. It is therefore not uncommon to see a Judge of Chronepsis protecting a dragon when its time has not come.

BECOMING A JUDGE OF CHRONEPSIS
Judges of Chronepsis all have a part of Time Dragon blood in their veins, meaning that not anyone can become a judge. But even if the Time Dragons are the protectors of the timeline, it does not make them judges of Chronepsis. To be a Judge one must go further than this and be dedicated to the cause of Chronepsis. Chronepsis will then choose those he considers the most apt to objectively judge things as they are as his judges.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Class: Sorcerer
Skills: Knowledge (arcana) 8 ranks, Spellcraft 8 ranks
Feats: Draconic heritage (time dragon)
Languages: Draconic
Alignment: True neutral


Class Skills
The judge of Chronepsis's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Str), Knowledge (all) (Int), Profession (Wis), Sense motive (Wis), Speak language (Int), Spellcraft (Int) and Spot (Wis)
Skills Points at Each Level 2 + int

Hit Dice: d4


Level

Base
Attack
Bonus

Fort
Save

Ref
Save

Will
Save

Special

Spellcasting


1
+0
+0
+0
+2
Container(0), familiar abilities, infinite knowledge
+1 sorcerer level


2
+1
+0
+0
+3
Container (1), travel, hourglass perception
+1 sorcerer level


3
+1
+1
+1
+3
Container (2), Serenity
+1 sorcerer level


4
+2
+1
+1
+4
Container (3), prescience (1/day)
+1 sorcerer level


5
+2
+1
+1
+4
Container (4), anticipation
+1 sorcerer level


6
+3
+2
+2
+5
Container (5), discern lies
+1 sorcerer level


7
+3
+2
+2
+5
Container (6), travel (improved), soul extraction, eye of the judge
+1 sorcerer level


8
+4
+2
+2
+6
Container (7), soul materialization
+1 sorcerer level


9
+4
+3
+3
+6
Container (8), touch of the ages, hourglass perception (improved)
+1 sorcerer level


10
+5
+3
+3
+7
Container (9), time mastery, memory of the hourglass
+1 sorcerer level



Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Judges of Chronepsis gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.

Spells per Day/Spells Known: When a new judge of Chronepsis level is gained, the character gains new spells per day and spells known as if she had also gained a sorcerer level

Container: The power bestowed by Chronepsis is a heavy burden for a mortal soul, and a judge of Chronepsis has to sacrifice a parcel of her power to be able to benefit from Chronepsis'.
The consequence is that any time the judge of Chronepsis gains a new level in her class, she needs to permanently sacrifice a sorcerer spell slot from her spells cast per day allotment. The level of the sacrificed spell slot is equal to the number specified in parenthesis.
The sacrificed spell slot is permanent, there is absolutely no way to gain it back. This means that upon reaching level 10, a sorcerer has sacrificed one spell slot of every level.
In order to gain a judge of Chronepsis level, a character must actually have a sorcerer spell slot of the appropriate level to give up (it can be given up after including the slots gained from levelling up - a Sorcerer (6) / Judge of Chronepsis (7) can progress to Judge of Chronepsis for instance, as that level allows her to cast 7th level spells).

Infinite knowledge (Ext): At 1st level, a judge of Chronepsis is bestowed a small part of the knowledge of her god, and this part grows with time. She considers every Knowledge skill as a class skill and adds her class level as an insight bonus to them.

Travel (Su): At 2nd level, a judge of Chronepsis can concentrate for a full minute to be able to disappear from reality and reappear in the Mausoleum of Chronepsis. She can use that ability again to go back to her original spot.
At 7th level, the powers of the judge have grown and her Travel spell now allows her to go wherever she wishes in the plane she currently is. She can also bring one other living creature by class level with her. That creature must remain in contact during the whole incantation time.
This ability does not allow the judge to change plane, except for the plane of the Concordant Opposition to join back the Mausoleum. In that plane, there is only one place she can go to: the Mausoleum of Chronepsis. She can then go back wherever she wants on her original plane.

Hourglass perception (Su): At 2nd level, a judge of Chronepsis can touch one of the Hourglass of the dragons in the Mausoleum of Chronepsis to briefly visualize the dragon it belongs to and the place in which it is.
At 9th level, the judge of Chronepsis has enough experience to be able to locate any dragon. When she touches an hourglass in the Mausoleum of Chronepsis, she can locate any dragon as with the Discern location spell. She can also materialize next to that dragon using her Travel ability.

Serenity (Su): As her god, a judge of Chronepsis is a watcher and an objective and dispassionate judge before anything. She irradiates an aura of neutrality that soothes creatures around her.
At 3rd level, a judge of Chronepsis adds her class level as a competence bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy and Intimidate skill checks. Any creature attempting to attack her while she does not display any sign of hostility should also pass a Will check (DC 10 + class level + Cha-risma modifier). If the creature fails the save, she loses any hostile intention towards the judge.
The judge can also use that ability to calm any creature with an unprovoked aggressive attitude, or a creature under stress or any kind of non-magical agitation.
Creatures with more HD than the judge are immune to that effect.

Prescience (Su): At 4th level, a judge of Chronepsis gains the ability to know how the near future will unfold. She gains a limited ability to discern a successful path for her actions as well as the consequences her actions may have. Once per day, for a number of rounds equal to her judge level, any time she rolls a dice, she may roll twice and select which die roll to use. Activating this ability is a free action.

Anticipation (Ex): At 5th level, a judge of Chronepsis can anticipate the near future. She cannot be caught flat-footed anymore, and adds half her class level as an insight bonus to Armor Class, Initiative and Reflex saves. She loses that bonus anytime she would lose her Dexterity bonus.

Discern lies (Ex): At 6th level, a judge of Chronepsis knows when anyone (other than a deity) is deliberately lying. This ability is like the discern lies spell, except that it works continuously and applies to any creature the judge can perceive (no saving throw is allowed).

Soul extraction (Su): At 7th level, a judge of Chronepsis can directly act on the souls of dragons. She can extract the souls of dragons that have been dead for less than 2 hours by class level. The soul then comes out of the dragons body in the shape of smoke and materializes as an orb of force in the palm of the judge. Once the ritual is complete, the orb floats around her until she decides to release it. Her mission is to guide that soul to the realm of Chronepsis.
The ritual to extract the soul of a dragon's body takes 10 minutes of incantations and requires a 10 minutes hourglass to be used to perform it.

Eye of the judge (Su): At 7th level, a judge of Chronepsis can see illusions, transmuted creatures and objects, and disguised creatures and objects for what they really are, provided they are within 30 feet of the judge. This ability is similar to the true seeing spell.

Soul materialization (Su): At 8th level, the judge of Chronepsis can temporarily give its shape back to a soul that accompanies her. The orb then takes the form of a force creature with the shape and all of the abilities it previously had when it was alive. It can stay so for as long as the judge stays focused. Focusing on this ability requires a full-round action and to pass a Concentration check (DC 10 + 1/2 the creature's HD). Only willing creatures and those with less HD than the judges' can be materialized in this manner.

Touch of the ages (Su): At 9th level, a judge of Chronepsis can spend a standard action to call on the powers granted by Chronepsis. With a touch attack, she can age a creature or object she touches by 2d6 years (no touch attack is required if no effort is required to touch the target). She can use this ability at will.
This ability can also be used to rejuvenate objects. Touched objects are rejuvenated by 2d6 years every round the judge touches them. They cannot be rejuvenated to before they were manufactured.
Objects and creatures can be aged beyond their death or destruction though.
The judge cannot age herself.

Time mastery (Ex): At 10th level, a judge of Chronepsis has complete mastery over the powers that were granted to her. She no longer ages and no longer gains any penalty due to aging. She cannot be magically aged and no longer dies of age. She also becomes immune to any harmful effect linked to time (she can act freely when an opponent casts time stop, she is immune to slow, attacks that provoke aging, Temporal stasis, and any other spell or effect that the GM judges consistent).
She can also stop time as with the spell Time stop except that the time remains stopped for as long as the judge passes a Concentration check (DC 20 + number of rounds the time has been stopped). She cannot interact with other creatures or object worn by other creatures while the time is stopped, or the effect stops immediately.

Memory of the hourglass (Su): At 10th level, a judge of Chronepsis can memorize engrave the image of a soul in her hourglass, whether the creature is willing or not. She can then use Soul materialization on her hourglass, manifesting a copy of the creature her hourglass memorized as if the soul was accompanying her and willing.
She can only store one soul memory in her hour-glass. Should she choose to add another one, the previ-ous one is lost.

PLAYING A JUDGE OF CHRONEPSIS
As a judge of Chronepsis, you are dedicated to guiding the souls of dragons and protecting the timeline of the multiverse. While this may seem like a huge task, and it is, remember that you are not alone, and creatures a lot more powerful than you are here to do the same things (Time dragons and Chronepsis himself).
Keep in mind that, despite how most dragons see you, you are not only the bringer of death. You also act in matters that are not going according to the timeline, and as such, you are often a tool for Chronepsis, a mean to set things right when others try to disrupt the flow of events.
Judges of Chronepsis are sorcerers, and they should be played as such (whatever the role you want to fill in the party). Their extra abilities will grant them a bit more versatility, and they are meant to step in when it comes to dragons and time matters. They are meant to use these abilities to support the group, both out and in combat, and some of their abilities are entirely story-based.
Combat: Judges of Chronepsis are sorcerers, and as such they can cover various roles in combat, buffing the party, debuffing the enemies, and dealing damage. The judge's specific abilities will kick in in specific cases, mostly out of combat. The soul materialization will come as an impressive way to fight your enemies though, if you manage to find and control one that fits.
Advancement: Judges of Chronepsis are dedicated spellcasters and will always try to improve their arcane spellcasting abilities and have an affinity with dragons. They usually take draconic or metamagic feats.
Resources: Judges of Chronepsis usually don't get more resources than they had at their disposal previous to becoming a guardian. Some dragons or NPCs might recognize the judge for what he is and may be willing to offer more services than they would usually do as they have heard of legends about judges or because they want to gain the favors or the dragon of Fate.

JUDGES OF CHRONEPSIS IN THE WORLD
"Call me mad if you will but... It was not natural... Not natural, trust me... It was like... Like he knew what was going to happen! He was calm as still water and turned around exactly when Brumford jumped on him... He... He... He touched Brumford and then... Then Brumford turned older and older, until he died! As with the rest of the gang. Dry like piles of wood they were. Then he turned to where I was hiding... He knew I was there, I tell you... He knew... Don't send me back to him, please. Don't..."

-Larnar, thief

Only a few judges of Chronepsis have ever existed. Chronepsis usually pays no attention to the world of mortals, and he therefore tries to keep his influence to a minimum. as for the time dragons, most people don't know they exist, but they remain the guardians of the timeline.
Dragons know who they are. They usually respect them, and often also fear them. Not because of their powers, as dragons know that there is no match for them in the mortal world. But because of the meaning of their visit. When a dragon sees a judge of Chronepsis, he knows what it usually means.

[- Eon -]

Changelog
I will list the changes here

[Draconium]

A few things come to mind as I read this class.

First, the entry requirements seem... rather more strict to me than usual. Limiting it to a single class that you have to have to take this PrC means that it's a lot less likely to see use unless you specifically plan to build around this class, and I can't think of any official PrCs that actually have a specific class as a requirement - usually, it's just class features. Also, Time Dragons are Dragon Magazine material, IIRC, which means there are DMs that may not know what it is.

The container feature seems oddly structured. As a pure Sorcerer 5 going into this, you'd be able to level up normally through level 7, then you'd have to take a level of normal sorcerer (or another class that advances the spellcasting) prior to taking each of the last three levels. Otherwise, you won't have access to high-enough level spell slots.

A lot of the features are extremely dependant on how common dragons are in your campaign. Which makes sense, but that means in a campaign where dragons are rare is going to make most of the abilities underwhelming. A dragon-heavy campaign, on the other hand, could have you blasting these abilities off left and right. Either way, the fact you eventually get the ability to teleport right next to any dragon in existence is... a bit much. It takes you a while to get it, but that allows you to effectively chase down any number of creatures to grind for XP.

Since you stop aging, you no longer take penalties from aging... but apparently, you still gain the bonuses. I feel like that was unintentional.

The at will touch attack seems powerful, if situational. You could easily age certain beings you encounter to death with that, while others would be unaffected (or even made more powerful, like dragons) by it.

The ability to use Time Stop, except it lasts for as long as you can concentrate (and Concentration can easily be boosted to insane amounts), and you haven't defines how many times the Judge can do it (it's easy to read as "at will" right now)? That's extremely powerful - you can easily prepare plenty of traps/defenses while that goes on. And rather than being unable to interact with others at all, the Time Stop simply ceases if you do. Yeah, as a DM, I would instantly ban this.

Overall impressions: I do like the fluff of the class. I really want to like the class itself, too. I would recommend loosening the entry requirements to allow any Dragonblooded spontaneous casters, nerf the Time Stop and dragon-soul companion a bit, possibly nerf the know-location-and-teleport-to-any-dragon ability, change the way the Container ability works to be more forgiving, and do something about the Travel ability - I'm not 100% sure how the original ability is supposed to work.

It's a cool concept, and one I'd love to use one day, but it needs a bit of refining.

[- Eon -]

First of all, thanks for the feedbacks :) I love feedback!

Then yes, the class is really fluff intensive. It is intended to, and as such, it does depend a lot on your campaign settings.


Limiting it to a single class that you have to have to take this PrC means that it's a lot less likely to see use unless you specifically plan to build around this class, and I can't think of any official PrCs that actually have a specific class as a requirement - usually, it's just class features.
Hmm true. Limiting to spontaneous arcane spellcasting could do.


Also, Time Dragons are Dragon Magazine material, IIRC, which means there are DMs that may not know what it is.
Yes, that part depends on the settings. Truth is that the time dragons we use are not exactly the ones from dragon magazine. We use something close to red and gold dragons.


The container feature seems oddly structured. As a pure Sorcerer 5 going into this, you'd be able to level up normally through level 7, then you'd have to take a level of normal sorcerer (or another class that advances the spellcasting) prior to taking each of the last three levels. Otherwise, you won't have access to high-enough level spell slots.
Yeap, that is how it is intended :p container is supposed to be a pain. It is here to avoid having to lose a spellcasting level, because sorcerers are already one level behind on this aspect. In the end, the spellcaster effectively loses 17% of her spell slots. It is also intended that the last levels are only accessible to high level characters.
What would your suggestion be on this ?


Either way, the fact you eventually get the ability to teleport right next to any dragon in existence is... a bit much. It takes you a while to get it, but that allows you to effectively chase down any number of creatures to grind for XP.
Yes but the class is RP heavy. If you start teleporting to dragons to grind XP, my guess is that Chronepsis is going to be mad, and you might regret it :p As a judge, you are not supposed to do that.


Since you stop aging, you no longer take penalties from aging... but apparently, you still gain the bonuses. I feel like that was unintentional.
This was intentional :p


The at will touch attack seems powerful, if situational. You could easily age certain beings you encounter to death with that, while others would be unaffected (or even made more powerful, like dragons) by it.
Yes but it takes a while to do so, and you need to touch the creature. Creatures aren't supposed to let you do that, unless they are helpless, and if they are helpless, you could also do a lot of other things that would kill them.


The ability to use Time Stop, except it lasts for as long as you can concentrate (and Concentration can easily be boosted to insane amounts), and you haven't defines how many times the Judge can do it (it's easy to read as "at will" right now)? That's extremely powerful - you can easily prepare plenty of traps/defenses while that goes on. And rather than being unable to interact with others at all, the Time Stop simply ceases if you do. Yeah, as a DM, I would instantly ban this.
Hmm yes. I also got the feeling this should be brought down a bit. Have to think about it, but a simple once a day time stop seems too weak. The character has to sacrifice a 9th level slot for that level.
I'll see if I can think of anything. If you have any suggestion for that... :p


do something about the Travel ability - I'm not 100% sure how the original ability is supposed to work.
The idea behind it is that the Judge should appear wherever needed, close to a dragon about to die, or to a place to protect the timeline. It should also allow her to go to the mausoleum of Chronepsis, which is a bit of her home too.

And thanks again!

[noob]

(she can act freely when an opponent casts time stop, she is immune to slow, attacks that provoke aging, Temporal stasis, and any other spell or effect that the GM judges consistent).
You do not know how time stop works: it does not stops time at all it instead make the caster quicker(you should read the text) so it does not change to be not affected by time stop: it is the caster making itself faster not you becoming slower.

[- Eon -]

Oh no I know how the time stop spell works. It hurts me a little that you would think I did not read the text of the most powerful time based spell when designing a time based class and when I include the spell in the class description :p
But in that case, time is actually stopped. The Judge is not moving faster.

[noob]

No I was not speaking of the time-stop ability of this class but instead of the ability to act freely when an opponent is casting time stop(you should read quotes because I was speaking of the quoted part)

she can act freely when an opponent casts time stop
Which change nothing since the opponent is not restraining you at all: he is accelerating itself.
and you can not say"it is for protecting the judge from other judges using the capstone" since using the timestop capstone is not casting time stop:


She can also stop time (not cast) as with the SPELL TIME STOP except that the time remains stopped for as long as the judge passes a Concentration check (DC 20 + number of rounds the time has been stopped). She cannot interact with other creatures or object worn by other creatures while the time is stopped, or the effect stops immediately.
Also since the spell time stop does not stops time this means that when the judge is using his capstone it does not change the flow of time(exactly like the spell time stop) and the judge is not even accelerated since he gets only the power to "stop time as with the spell Time stop"(which means that she does not have the other effects) which does nothing since the spell time stop does not have any effect on time.
so basically when the judge use the capstone it have no effect at all.
Well everyone knows what you want to mean but it is written in a dysfunctional way(which you can correct in a few seconds)

else the other problem is also that if it worked as intended(instead of doing nothing like it does now) is that you can use that power at will since there is no restriction on how many times you can use it and the Concentration check (DC 20 + number of rounds the time has been stopped) does not says which rounds it counts: it could be either the total number of rounds where time have been stopped in the universe or be the number of round you have stopped time in this particular time stop(but both are broken).

[nonsi]

It is unclear what Hourglass perception grants at 2nd level.
Soul extraction is unclear as well.
Touch of the ages needs some sort of limiting factor.

[- Eon -]

@noob
well, you are partly right.

Yes I'm sorry, I was in a hurry when I read your post and I missed the quote you quoted. Your point is valid, and I'll have to think about a fix, or just remove those few words from the description. Nonetheless, the "You do not know how time stop works (...) you should read the text" part still hurt a little... :p
You seem to have a fix in mind, and I would gladly hear it.

For the whole part where you speak about the Time Stop capstone, you probably saw that I already said that it needed some rewriting. But still, your comment seems a bit farfetched. Maybe I missed something (entirely possible), but how does the fact that the judge becomes immune to harmful effects prevent her from benefiting from the Time Stop capstone? As I see it, time is frozen, and she can act freely, and I think that everyone reads it the same way. I would gladly be directed to the part where I made a mistake that led you to think otherwise.

Anyhow, I would gladly hear any suggestion you have to offer, in particular considering the fact that the Time Stop capstone needs some rewriting. Don't take this the wrong way, but I must admit that the blunt comments of the second posts are not the most constructive I've read :p

[- Eon -]

Thanks nonsi.
I'll try to clear things up.


It is unclear what Hourglass perception grants at 2nd level.
This is pretty much a fluff ability. You get a mental image of the dragon and its surroundings. You do not know where it is, but you see it. If you know the place, you might recongnize it, but it really is just as seeing a picture.


Soul extraction is unclear as well.
This one alone is pretty much only fluff too. It is then used by the Materialize soul and Memory of the hourglass abilities though. In a word, the judge serves as a guide, from the dragon's body to the Mausoleum of Chronepsis, for the dragons' soul. In a sense, the judge takes the spirit of the dragon out of its body, in order to bring it to the Mausoleum. To do so, she extracts the soul, and the soul then floats next to her
I hope this made it a bit clearer :) If it did not, don't hesitate to say, maybe I need to find some other way to explain it, maybe by comparing it to other spells (although I don't see much spells doing that kind of things).
I also see this as an open door to campaign events. Imagine what would happen if the judges is in charge of bringing a soul to the mausoleum, and someone or something manages to steal that soul on the way... Or the judge befriended a dragon, and is unfortunately in charge of bringing its soul to the Mausoleum... Can she resist the temptation of keeping her friend with her? Would Chronepsis assign that soul the task to assist the judge?
These are just things that come on the top of my head, but I'm sure we can find many more plots & twists with this kind of abilities.


Touch of the ages needs some sort of limiting factor.
Hmmm you are not the first one to think so. And I did think so too at first. The reason is that, at first, it does seem incredibly unbalanced. But you have to look atall the factors, the main one being that you need to touch the creature, and you are a mage. I really don't think that the forst idea that will come to your mind is to go melee and put your hand on the big bad ugly's belly to age it. This means that the main use for this is fluff-wise again. You can indeed age to death creatures, but you have to do this for a while before enough time passes. And this means that the creature is helpless. I don't think that being able to kill a helpless creature is so unbalanced. You might as well just grab a dagger and do it faster if you like.
Is there any abuse of this ability possible that you think I missed?

[nonsi]

Hmmm you are not the first one to think so. And I did think so too at first. The reason is that, at first, it does seem incredibly unbalanced. But you have to look atall the factors, the main one being that you need to touch the creature, and you are a mage. I really don't think that the forst idea that will come to your mind is to go melee and put your hand on the big bad ugly's belly to age it. This means that the main use for this is fluff-wise again. You can indeed age to death creatures, but you have to do this for a while before enough time passes. And this means that the creature is helpless. I don't think that being able to kill a helpless creature is so unbalanced. You might as well just grab a dagger and do it faster if you like.
Is there any abuse of this ability possible that you think I missed?


Actually, the problem is a lot worse with items than with opponents.

Imagine aging wood or metal while pouring water over it - it's like the item is literally being corroded by water for a decade.
Same goes with stone while someone else is hammering it down.
You can easily remove anything that blocks your way. In the end it'll ruin the fun for both DM and players.

[- Eon -]

Oh I see your point. This is not at all what I intended.
Well the easiest solution would be to completely remove the objects part.
Another I can think of is to limit it at one use a day on objects, or limit the size of the objects that can be affected.

The original idea behind it was to be able to fix something that was just broken, remove a non-magical obstacle such as a lock, or rust a sword. The obstacles removed that way already have spells that remove them.

Thanks nonsi, I'll include a fix in my next update.