Lord_Gareth
2007-09-12, 08:17 PM
Accursed One
“Power isn’t the burden. It’s how you use it.”
Requirements
Base Will save: +5
Alignment: Any nonevil
Special: Must suffer from an Ancient Curse (see Ravenloft boxed set) of at least Dangerous strength. This curse need not apply to their own vices or virtues; it was bestowed upon their ancestor for their crimes. These curses should not involve the victim becoming lycanthropic or undead, but such curses do not hinder their qualifying in this class. If the curse is ever lifted, they immediately lose all abilities of this class, and the ability to level up in it. For information on curse strengths, see below.
-OR-
Instead of meeting the above requirements, a person with ten levels in Hexblade may become an Accursed One. Such characters do not gain Unwitting Protection or Pricy Favor, and their Ancestral Blessing is replaced by another Bad Mojo use per month.
Class Features
Weapon and armor proficiencies: The Accursed One gains no new weapon or armor proficiencies.
Class Skills: The Accursed One’s class skills are the same as the class she had previously. If she had more than one class before obtaining levels in this one, she must choose one of them for this purpose. Once made, the choice cannot be changed. Skill points per level: 2 + intelligence modifier.
Class abilities
Share the Love (sp):Starting at level one, the Accursed One may Bestow Curse, as the spell, as many times per day as she has levels in this class. She may target any intelligent (3 or more intelligence points) being that she can see, which makes a Will save to avoid the effect (DC = 10 + 1/2 Accursed One's level in this class + Accursed One’s base Will save). Any curse bestowed by this ability lasts as many days as the Accursed One’s levels in this class, times two.
Unwitting Protection (su): Starting at level one, the Accursed One’s experiments with the energies of her curse cause it to shield her from all other curses. She may not be affected by any spell with Curse in the name, along with Quest, Geas, Limited Wish, or Wish, and any other negative spell that does not deal ability or hit point damage (this does not protect her from being killed by wishes, only from being cursed by them, and she is still vulnerable to death effects, such as that of the Phantasmal Killer spell). This immunity does not apply to gods. Unfortunately, this ability also applies to any positive spell. The only positive spells that may be cast upon the Accursed One are those with the cure descriptor (I.E. any spell with cure in the name). A negative, nondamaging spell is any spell that imposes a penalty without giving a bonus (such as slow), but does not do hit point damage, ability score damage, level drain, or death. A positive spell is any spell that gives a bonus without a penalty, such as haste. Spells that are in-between (like Ghostform) are unaffected by this ability.
Daemon Vexare (su): Starting at level three, the Accursed One may summon and bind an imp to someone. This process takes about ten minutes, and cannot be stopped once started. It also takes materials worth 1,000 gold pieces. Once bound, the imp will guard the person it is bound to with its life. Unfortunately for them, it also acts as a Frustrating strength curse. No matter what, this imp is always invisible to the person it is bound to. It is invisible as if it had Greater Invisibility cast upon it to anyone else, except that there is no maximum duration as to how long it is invisible. An Accursed One can always see any imp she has bound. The Accursed One may not bind an imp to herself.
Ironic Aid (su): Starting at fourth level, the Accursed One may twist the energies of her curse to Bless someone once a week. This blessing is equal in strength to a Frustrating curse. The wording of the Accursed One decides the nature of the blessing, but, unlike wishes, the blessing is never twisted to a negative result. An Accursed One cannot Bless herself. The blessing lasts as long as her Share the Love ability does.
Wild Hexing (su): At level six, the Accursed One’s long association with her curse, coupled with her attempts to control the excess energy it generates, alters her magical structure to allow her to generate the energy that fuels it. This allows her to hurl more potent curses with her Share the Love ability. If she chooses, she may speak one sentence while using that ability, activating this one. If she does, the DM makes a secret percentile roll, and the victim is affected by a curse of varying strength (depending on the roll, the curse can be as mild as the normal Bestow Curse, all the way to a curse of Dangerous strength). The curse should always affect the victim following the intent of the curser, guided by the sentence.
Pricy Favor (su): At seventh level, the Accursed One gains control over her Unwitting Protection ability, allowing nonevil priests of good or neutral deities to cast positive spells on her. In order to do so, however, they must willingly accept a curse of at least Frustrating strength from the Accursed One. They need only take one such curse, but it is permanent, and they must take one for each Accursed One to be so affected. The Accursed One may choose not to give them a curse, if desired, but if she does, she cannot benefit from the positive spells of that priest. A priest that is the victim of a Daemon Vexare is treated as having a curse from the Accursed One who placed it on him. If either the priest (druids and favored souls count as priests, by the way) or the Accursed One chooses, they may end the curse and resume the Accursed One's immunity to positive spells of that priest at any time. Under no circumstance can anything less than a greater deity remove the curse; at this point, it and the Accursed One are bound in essence (as in, the stuff that composes them on the most basic level of magic and science). An Accursed One who is also a priest cannot use positive spells on herself, as she cannot get another curse.
Subconscious Hexing (su): At level eight, the Accursed One’s long association with her curse begins to manifest itself subconsciously. The Accursed One’s player chooses one of the following abilities:
1. Whenever they damage an opponent in melee, that opponent takes a –2 curse penalty on all rolls for 1 minute per Accursed One level. A Will save (DC = to her Share the Love ability) can negate this effect. This effect counts as a curse.
2. Whenever they make a successful sneak attack, sudden strike, or damage an opponent using the skirmish ability, that opponent takes 1d6 + 1 points of temporary ability damage to one stat, randomly chosen. A Will save (DC = to her Share the Love ability) can negate this damage. This effect counts as a curse.
3. Whenever an opponent fails a saving throw vs. one of her spells, that opponent is affected as though by Bestow Curse (Save DC is the same as for the Share the Love ability).
4. Her curses inflicted by the Share the Love ability last an additional 2d6 weeks. Roll once for the number of weeks; that is how many additional weeks every curse lasts.
Bad Mojo (sp): Once per month, starting at level nine, the Accursed One may inflict a Divine Curse (as the spell, see the Ravenloft boxed set) on any being she can clearly picture in her mind, and it must be something she knows personally (at least by name). This being must have personally wronged her somehow (and yes, attacking the Accursed One or her companions is personally wronging her), and must be living when it is cursed. The Accursed one speaks the curse, which is limited to a sentence or two, and then tells the DM what potency they have decided to make it (anything up to and including a Lethal curse will do). The target gets a saving throw, the DC of which is equal to 20 +Accursed One’s character level +Accursed One’s base Will sav. If they succeed, they may never again be cursed by the same Accursed One. Using this ability drains all of the Accursed One’s uses of the Share the Love ability for seven days after it is used, starting with the day this ability is used. This ability cannot be used if the Accursed One has less than her full uses of Share the Love for that day.
Forgiveness (su): Starting at level nine, the Accursed One may lift any curse she has bestowed. She need not see the victim, only be able to imagine what they look like. This ability only works if the Accursed One truly wishes to forgive the victim (Intimidate and magical compulsions cannot force her to lift the curse). A person who wishes to keep their curse may make a Will save vs. the same DC as the Accursed One’s Share the Love ability.
Ancestral Blessing (su): At level ten, the Accursed One gains the ultimate control over the energies of her curse. Once every three months, she may place an Ancestral Blessing on an intelligent being that has just done a great, good deed (she may not place it on celestials; they do that as part of their existence). This functions exactly like an Ancient Curse, except that it is a blessing. The Accursed One speaks a sentence or two, such as “May your keen wits and insightful mind never fail you or your descendants,” and then says how potent they wish the blessing to be (in relation to curse strengths, it would be Embarrassing, Frustrating, Troublesome, Dangerous, and Lethal). The DM determines the nature of the blessing based on what is said, and the DM also serves as the judge of what is a great, good deed. An Accursed One cannot place such a blessing on herself, nor can she place it on someone who is evil, regardless of the deeds they have done.
Curse Strengths
For those of you who lack the Ravenloft boxed set, here are some relative curse strengths.
Embarrassing: An embarrassing curse is the most minor curse a person could get. It never affects combat and doesn’t require much in the way of avoidance. An example of an embarrassing curse is the inability to speak with more than 6 people present.
Frustrating: One step up from embarrassing, Frustrating curses require minor changes in everyday life to accommodate them. They rarely affect combat. An example of a Frustrating curse would be a small raincloud always hovering over the person’s head, drizzling on him.
Troublesome: Troublesome curses are your ‘average’ curses. They may or may not affect combat, but often require total life restructuring to deal with them. An example of a troublesome curse would be the inability to stay conscious at the sight of money.
Dangerous: Dangerous curses are the second-most powerful curse one can suffer. They often usurp a character’s self control and affect both combat and everyday life. An example of a Dangerous curse would be having to turn into a panther (or any lycantherope) and take a life if you do not accept a reward for a task. DM’s are encouraged to keep players away from this kind of curse unless the player would like to be cursed for story reasons, or if they REALLY deserve it. Remember, it doesn’t matter if the deed was good or evil, only that the curser believes that the victim wronged him/her.
Lethal: Don’t be confused by the name! Lethal curses don’t straight-up kill someone. Rather, they are made so that even if the curse were lifted, the victim of the curse would die. Strahd von Zarovich, a Darklord of Ravenloft, made a pact with dark powers for eternal youth. They turned him into a vampire. Even if the curse was lifted, the weight of the years would slay him (for the whole story on Strahd, read I, Strahd: Memoirs of a Vampire). Lethal curses should not be taken lightly, nor should they be used lightly. DM’s are encouraged to keep players well away from suffering this kind of curse.
“Power isn’t the burden. It’s how you use it.”
Requirements
Base Will save: +5
Alignment: Any nonevil
Special: Must suffer from an Ancient Curse (see Ravenloft boxed set) of at least Dangerous strength. This curse need not apply to their own vices or virtues; it was bestowed upon their ancestor for their crimes. These curses should not involve the victim becoming lycanthropic or undead, but such curses do not hinder their qualifying in this class. If the curse is ever lifted, they immediately lose all abilities of this class, and the ability to level up in it. For information on curse strengths, see below.
-OR-
Instead of meeting the above requirements, a person with ten levels in Hexblade may become an Accursed One. Such characters do not gain Unwitting Protection or Pricy Favor, and their Ancestral Blessing is replaced by another Bad Mojo use per month.
Class Features
Weapon and armor proficiencies: The Accursed One gains no new weapon or armor proficiencies.
Class Skills: The Accursed One’s class skills are the same as the class she had previously. If she had more than one class before obtaining levels in this one, she must choose one of them for this purpose. Once made, the choice cannot be changed. Skill points per level: 2 + intelligence modifier.
Class abilities
Share the Love (sp):Starting at level one, the Accursed One may Bestow Curse, as the spell, as many times per day as she has levels in this class. She may target any intelligent (3 or more intelligence points) being that she can see, which makes a Will save to avoid the effect (DC = 10 + 1/2 Accursed One's level in this class + Accursed One’s base Will save). Any curse bestowed by this ability lasts as many days as the Accursed One’s levels in this class, times two.
Unwitting Protection (su): Starting at level one, the Accursed One’s experiments with the energies of her curse cause it to shield her from all other curses. She may not be affected by any spell with Curse in the name, along with Quest, Geas, Limited Wish, or Wish, and any other negative spell that does not deal ability or hit point damage (this does not protect her from being killed by wishes, only from being cursed by them, and she is still vulnerable to death effects, such as that of the Phantasmal Killer spell). This immunity does not apply to gods. Unfortunately, this ability also applies to any positive spell. The only positive spells that may be cast upon the Accursed One are those with the cure descriptor (I.E. any spell with cure in the name). A negative, nondamaging spell is any spell that imposes a penalty without giving a bonus (such as slow), but does not do hit point damage, ability score damage, level drain, or death. A positive spell is any spell that gives a bonus without a penalty, such as haste. Spells that are in-between (like Ghostform) are unaffected by this ability.
Daemon Vexare (su): Starting at level three, the Accursed One may summon and bind an imp to someone. This process takes about ten minutes, and cannot be stopped once started. It also takes materials worth 1,000 gold pieces. Once bound, the imp will guard the person it is bound to with its life. Unfortunately for them, it also acts as a Frustrating strength curse. No matter what, this imp is always invisible to the person it is bound to. It is invisible as if it had Greater Invisibility cast upon it to anyone else, except that there is no maximum duration as to how long it is invisible. An Accursed One can always see any imp she has bound. The Accursed One may not bind an imp to herself.
Ironic Aid (su): Starting at fourth level, the Accursed One may twist the energies of her curse to Bless someone once a week. This blessing is equal in strength to a Frustrating curse. The wording of the Accursed One decides the nature of the blessing, but, unlike wishes, the blessing is never twisted to a negative result. An Accursed One cannot Bless herself. The blessing lasts as long as her Share the Love ability does.
Wild Hexing (su): At level six, the Accursed One’s long association with her curse, coupled with her attempts to control the excess energy it generates, alters her magical structure to allow her to generate the energy that fuels it. This allows her to hurl more potent curses with her Share the Love ability. If she chooses, she may speak one sentence while using that ability, activating this one. If she does, the DM makes a secret percentile roll, and the victim is affected by a curse of varying strength (depending on the roll, the curse can be as mild as the normal Bestow Curse, all the way to a curse of Dangerous strength). The curse should always affect the victim following the intent of the curser, guided by the sentence.
Pricy Favor (su): At seventh level, the Accursed One gains control over her Unwitting Protection ability, allowing nonevil priests of good or neutral deities to cast positive spells on her. In order to do so, however, they must willingly accept a curse of at least Frustrating strength from the Accursed One. They need only take one such curse, but it is permanent, and they must take one for each Accursed One to be so affected. The Accursed One may choose not to give them a curse, if desired, but if she does, she cannot benefit from the positive spells of that priest. A priest that is the victim of a Daemon Vexare is treated as having a curse from the Accursed One who placed it on him. If either the priest (druids and favored souls count as priests, by the way) or the Accursed One chooses, they may end the curse and resume the Accursed One's immunity to positive spells of that priest at any time. Under no circumstance can anything less than a greater deity remove the curse; at this point, it and the Accursed One are bound in essence (as in, the stuff that composes them on the most basic level of magic and science). An Accursed One who is also a priest cannot use positive spells on herself, as she cannot get another curse.
Subconscious Hexing (su): At level eight, the Accursed One’s long association with her curse begins to manifest itself subconsciously. The Accursed One’s player chooses one of the following abilities:
1. Whenever they damage an opponent in melee, that opponent takes a –2 curse penalty on all rolls for 1 minute per Accursed One level. A Will save (DC = to her Share the Love ability) can negate this effect. This effect counts as a curse.
2. Whenever they make a successful sneak attack, sudden strike, or damage an opponent using the skirmish ability, that opponent takes 1d6 + 1 points of temporary ability damage to one stat, randomly chosen. A Will save (DC = to her Share the Love ability) can negate this damage. This effect counts as a curse.
3. Whenever an opponent fails a saving throw vs. one of her spells, that opponent is affected as though by Bestow Curse (Save DC is the same as for the Share the Love ability).
4. Her curses inflicted by the Share the Love ability last an additional 2d6 weeks. Roll once for the number of weeks; that is how many additional weeks every curse lasts.
Bad Mojo (sp): Once per month, starting at level nine, the Accursed One may inflict a Divine Curse (as the spell, see the Ravenloft boxed set) on any being she can clearly picture in her mind, and it must be something she knows personally (at least by name). This being must have personally wronged her somehow (and yes, attacking the Accursed One or her companions is personally wronging her), and must be living when it is cursed. The Accursed one speaks the curse, which is limited to a sentence or two, and then tells the DM what potency they have decided to make it (anything up to and including a Lethal curse will do). The target gets a saving throw, the DC of which is equal to 20 +Accursed One’s character level +Accursed One’s base Will sav. If they succeed, they may never again be cursed by the same Accursed One. Using this ability drains all of the Accursed One’s uses of the Share the Love ability for seven days after it is used, starting with the day this ability is used. This ability cannot be used if the Accursed One has less than her full uses of Share the Love for that day.
Forgiveness (su): Starting at level nine, the Accursed One may lift any curse she has bestowed. She need not see the victim, only be able to imagine what they look like. This ability only works if the Accursed One truly wishes to forgive the victim (Intimidate and magical compulsions cannot force her to lift the curse). A person who wishes to keep their curse may make a Will save vs. the same DC as the Accursed One’s Share the Love ability.
Ancestral Blessing (su): At level ten, the Accursed One gains the ultimate control over the energies of her curse. Once every three months, she may place an Ancestral Blessing on an intelligent being that has just done a great, good deed (she may not place it on celestials; they do that as part of their existence). This functions exactly like an Ancient Curse, except that it is a blessing. The Accursed One speaks a sentence or two, such as “May your keen wits and insightful mind never fail you or your descendants,” and then says how potent they wish the blessing to be (in relation to curse strengths, it would be Embarrassing, Frustrating, Troublesome, Dangerous, and Lethal). The DM determines the nature of the blessing based on what is said, and the DM also serves as the judge of what is a great, good deed. An Accursed One cannot place such a blessing on herself, nor can she place it on someone who is evil, regardless of the deeds they have done.
Curse Strengths
For those of you who lack the Ravenloft boxed set, here are some relative curse strengths.
Embarrassing: An embarrassing curse is the most minor curse a person could get. It never affects combat and doesn’t require much in the way of avoidance. An example of an embarrassing curse is the inability to speak with more than 6 people present.
Frustrating: One step up from embarrassing, Frustrating curses require minor changes in everyday life to accommodate them. They rarely affect combat. An example of a Frustrating curse would be a small raincloud always hovering over the person’s head, drizzling on him.
Troublesome: Troublesome curses are your ‘average’ curses. They may or may not affect combat, but often require total life restructuring to deal with them. An example of a troublesome curse would be the inability to stay conscious at the sight of money.
Dangerous: Dangerous curses are the second-most powerful curse one can suffer. They often usurp a character’s self control and affect both combat and everyday life. An example of a Dangerous curse would be having to turn into a panther (or any lycantherope) and take a life if you do not accept a reward for a task. DM’s are encouraged to keep players away from this kind of curse unless the player would like to be cursed for story reasons, or if they REALLY deserve it. Remember, it doesn’t matter if the deed was good or evil, only that the curser believes that the victim wronged him/her.
Lethal: Don’t be confused by the name! Lethal curses don’t straight-up kill someone. Rather, they are made so that even if the curse were lifted, the victim of the curse would die. Strahd von Zarovich, a Darklord of Ravenloft, made a pact with dark powers for eternal youth. They turned him into a vampire. Even if the curse was lifted, the weight of the years would slay him (for the whole story on Strahd, read I, Strahd: Memoirs of a Vampire). Lethal curses should not be taken lightly, nor should they be used lightly. DM’s are encouraged to keep players well away from suffering this kind of curse.