Silva Stormrage
2020-02-26, 04:29 AM
The Dirgesinger
http://i.imgur.com/EuxAETC.jpg
Dirgesingers voice melodies not of celebration and joy, but of sorrow and grief. They seek to spread this melancholy outlook far and wide, believing that only those who give in to their sadness can truly understand the world. Dirgesingers hold high positions in death-obsessed cultures. Serving as members of a secret guild or as part of a hierarchy of death priests, they are entrusted with the serious responsibility of composing suitable laments for the dead. The more important the deceased, the more sorrowful and moving her lament is expected to be. No one will remember the dead queen in a few short generations, but a great lament might be sung a thousand years hence.
However, most dirgesingers do not belong to any special hierarchy or guild. Instead, they are rootless wanderers who travel from place to place, wrapped in inconsolable grief from some personal tragedy. These sad wanderers seek to express their grief through songs that teach the hearts of their listeners the meaning of true sorrow. Some offer their services for funeral rites or to give sympathy to those experiencing great tragedy. However, some of these fallen bards want nothing more than for others to understand the depths of their loss. A few are sinister creatures who believe that, since joy has been extinguished for them, they must in turn extinguish the joy of others by using their powers to teach folk the folly of love, the futility of hope, and the finality of the grave. Dirgesingers of this last sort often associate themselves with powerful undead, serving in the courts of vampire lords or lich-kings. Almost all dirgesingers must have at least some expertise as a bard. Some are also trained as rogues or swordsages before entering the class.
Creator's Notes: The Dirgesinger was initially a PRC for bards created in Libris Mortis. Despite its frankly stellar fluff and interesting character archetype the class was... bad, to say the least. It had really one notable song (It's capstone Song of Awakening), it didn't progress spellcasting and it was just overall a pretty bad class. I have used it for a few minor villains in my campaigns before and it always was pretty lacking. Hence the redesign, reworking a lot of the songs to be actually worth using and giving them a wider variety of abilities to choose from was one design goal but I also wanted the class to be less pigeonholed into an "Evil Bard" archetype. The class was about funeral rites and sorrow and while those things are depressing and tied with necromancy they aren't inherently evil. Hence me throwing in a lot more grey necromantic abilities. I decided to keep the lack of spellcasting progression to a degree, two spellcasting levels hurts pretty bad for a bard but they get some pretty potent debuff based songs to make up for it. Finally I simply enjoy the bardblade style of character so I threw in some maneuver and melee synergy if the bard wishes to go in that direction.
Becoming a Dirgesinger
Entry Requirements
Skills: Knowledge (Religion) 4 Ranks, Perform (Any) 8 Ranks
Feats: Requiem, Song of the Dead
Special: Bardic Music Ability, Ability to cast 1st level spells or ability to use 1st level maneuvers.
GAME RULE INFORMATION
Hit Die: d6
Class Skills
The Dirgesinger’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Hide (Dex) Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (History) (Int), Knowledge (Religion) (Int), Knowledge (Nobility) (Int), Knowledge (Local) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Perform (Cha), Sense Motive (Wis), Use Magic Device (Cha)
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier
LevelBase Attack BonusFort SaveRef SaveWill SaveSpecialSpellcasting/Initiation
1st
+0
+0
+0
+2Dirgesong, Song of Sorrow, Lament-
2nd
+1
+0
+0
+3Aura of Lingering Regret, Lament +1 Level of Existing Spellcasting or Initiating Class
3rd
+1
+1
+1
+3Song of Lesser Awakening, Lament +1 Level of Existing Spellcasting or Initiating Class
4th
+2
+1
+1
+4Song of Horror, Lament +1 Level of Existing Spellcasting or Initiating Class
5th
+2
+1
+1
+4Orphic Performance, Lament-
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Dirgesinger.
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Dirgesingers gain no proficiency with any weapons, armor, or shields.
Personal Journey: At every level of Dirgesinger except first the character selects either spells or martial maneuvers. At each applicable level they either gain new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in a previous spellcasting class he belonged to before he entered the prestige class or he progresses his martial maneuvers known, readied and stances known from a previous martial class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained.
If a character had more than one spellcasting or martial class before she became a Dirgesinger, he must decide to which class he adds each level of Dirgesinger for the purpose of determining their progression.
Dirgesong: (Su) A dirgesinger gains the dirgesong ability, the ability to sing grief, sadness and other emotions directly into other creatures. Dirgesong follows the same rules as bardic music (see Bardic Music, page 29 of the Player’s Handbook). Dirgesinger levels stack with bard levels for the purpose of determining how often a character can use dirgesong or bardic music. Dirgesinger levels do not stack with bard levels for determining which bardic music effects and spells a bard has access to.They gain a variety of songs as noted below. Each of these songs counts as a use of bardic music. The DC for each song if applicable is 10 + the skill ranks of the Dirgesinger's perform skill with the highest skill ranks. Dirgesongs are necromantic mind affecting abilities unless otherwise noted.
Despite the name of this ability it can be used with Perform (Dance) or similar Perform skills, in which case it applies to creatures who can see the Dirgesinger's performance rather than hear them.
Song of Sorrow: The first song all Dirgesingers learn, a tearful performance causing those listening to it to fall to despair allowing tragedy to befall them more easily. When they play this song enemies within 60ft of the dirgesinger must make a will save or suffer a -4 penalty on saving throws and armor class. This penalty lasts for as long as the dirgesinger keeps this dirgesong active and for 5 rounds after.
Song of Lesser Awakening: By singing and stirring the buried regrets within a recently slain corpse a dirgesinger can animate the corpse of a creature within 30 feet. This requires the dirgesinger to make a Perform check (DC 10 + target creature’s HD). The slain creature can have no more Hit Dice than the dirgesinger’s character level. If the attempt fails, the dirgesinger can try again in a later round. The corpse to be awakened must have been dead for no more than 1 hour. The awakened gains either the zombie or skeleton template (It is up to the Dirgesinger, if they select Skeleton than the corpse's flesh simply falls off the corpse). The creature remains animate as long as the dirgesinger continues to perform and for 5 rounds after. The newly created creature obeys the Dirgesinger completely and the Dirgesinger can control it telepathically. Even if the undead is destroyed the Dirgesinger can simply use this song again on the creature as long as an hour has not passed since it's initial passing and it is still a mostly complete corpse.
This dirgesong is treated as a necromancy spell effect for the purpose of spells, abilities, feats and items that boost such effects.
Song of Horror: A dreadful performance which strikes terror into foes. All enemies within 60ft of the Dirgesinger are shaken as long as they can hear or see the Dirgesinger performing this song. In addition, each round they are maintaining this song they may select one enemy within range being affected by this song. If they fail a will save they become unable to act due to being paralyzed by fear and cower for one round. Any given creature suffers a -2 penalty to this saving throw for each time they have failed this save against this specific iteration of the dirgesong. This Dirgesong is a fear effect.
Lament: Dirgesingers gain a variety of personal songs, relating to their own personal losses or tradeties. At each level they select one ability from the following list. Abilities can't be selected multiple times unless otherwise stated. An ability marked with the (Dirgesong) tag is dirgesong and function as above. An ability marked with the (Musical) tag requires the Dirgesinger to expend one use of their Bardic Music ability to activate that ability. Activated abilities require a standard action to use unless otherwise stated.
Bolstering Requirem: Whenever an undead creature is affected by any of your bardic music or dirgesongs they gain a bonus to their turn resistance equal to your charisma modifier (Minimum +1 Turn Resistance).
Last Rites (Musical): This lament has two uses. First by performing a eulogy all corpses within a mile of the Dirgesinger are laid to rest and become warded against undeath. These corpses become exceptionally difficult to raise into undeath and any such caster needs to beat a CL check against 15+ The Dirgesinger's ranks in perform in order to raise them. If the effect doesn't have a CL (Such as an undead creature's create spawn ability) then use the animating creature's HD in place of CL. This effect does not prevent raise dead or similar resurrection magics.
Secondly, they can target a single corpse of a living creature slain within the last hour and sing a terrible song instilling utter grief and despair into the fallen soul of the creature. This causes the dead soul to become depressed and apathetic and to not respond to resurrection magic that requires a willing soul to function. A caster attempting to resurrect a creature under the effect of this ability must make a CL check vs 15+ the Dirge Singer's ranks in perform in order for their resurrection magic to overcome the soul's despair.
Blades of Death: Any creature hit by a Dirgesinger's melee attack suffers a -2 penalty on their saving throws against any of their dirgesongs for one minute. In addition, whenever the Dirgesinger is using bardic music or one of their dirgesongs and they kill a creature with a melee attack they may as a free action activate either their Song of Lesser Awakening or Song of Awakening if the creature is a valid target for those abilities, spending a use of bardic music as normal. If they kill such a creature via a coup de grace attempt they don't need to spend a use of bardic music to activate either dirgesong.
Doomspeak: The Dirgesinger gains the feat Doomspeak (Champions of Ruin) as a bonus feat without having to meet the prerequisites. Using this feat is treated as a Dirgesong.
Sword of Despair: You now gain full base attack bonus and a good fort save progression for levels taken in Dirgesinger (This is changed retroactively for previous levels taken in Dirgesinger). In addition, adjacent enemies take a -1 penalty on attack rolls, armor class, skill checks and saving throws due to the aura of despair radiating from you, this is a fear effect. Finally, if you personally slay a sentient living creature (Int 3+) creature with a melee weapon you regain one use of bardic music for that day that must be spent on a dirgesong. However, you can’t ever have more uses of bardic music than your normal daily cap at any one time, regardless of how many creatures you slay.
Song of Closure (Dirgesong): By singing a song bemoaning the tragic loss of life you may call back the spirit of a creature slain within the past day. This spirit does not retain any of its abilities and is not even really a creature (It is treated as if being an incorporeal undead with a single hit point and HD and saving throws equal to what it had in life). However, it does retain all of its knowledge and can speak freely with the Dirgesinger and others nearby. The Dirgesinger does not control the spirit and the spirit must want to willingly share knowledge with the dirgesinger. This spirit lasts for one hour before returning to its proper afterlife.
Song of Grieving Comrades (Dirgesong): The Dirgesinger sings a song detailing the grief of a creature’s friends if they should die. When using this dirgesong the Dirgesinger targets one allied creature within 60ft. If that creature’s HP is dropped to 0 or below within the next 1d4 rounds + 1 round per class level the creature instantly heals 1d6 per character level hopefully preventing their death. If the character doesn’t die with the given timeframe they instead heal one hit point per character level.
Song of Death's Inevitability (Dirgesong): A performance embodying the fragility of life causes a target to suffer greatly the closer he is to death. When using this dirgesong the Dirgesinger targets one creature within 60ft. That creature suffers a -4 penalty against death effects and if they are below 50% of their maximum hit points than they take 50% more damage from all sources. If the target is below 0 hit points or knocked unconscious due to non lethal damage then they suffer two more effects. First all damage dealt to the target is lethal damage, bypassing any regeneration the creature may have. Secondly, if they are dealt enough lethal damage to normally kill them they die, despite any effects such as the spell Delay Death which may prevent that. The effects of this dirgesong last for as long as the Dirgesinger keeps performing and for one minute after.
Song of the Banshee's Cry (Dirgesong): This dirgesong takes three rounds to take effect. After three rounds of performing the Dirgesinger selects one creature who has heard the entire continuous performance. That creature must make a fort save or die, if they succeed they take 1d6 negative energy damage per character level of the Dirgesinger. This is a death effect.
Extra Dirgesongs: Every day the Dirgesinger gains a number of bonus uses of their bardic music ability equal to their class level. These bonus uses must be used on dirgesongs rather than bardic music or other uses.
Quicken Dirgesong (Musical): By spending 4 uses of bardic music the Dirgesinger can use any of his dirgesongs as a swift action and can maintain them with a swift or standard action.
Companion of the Fallen (Musical): By spending a use of bardic music the dirgesinger can command an undead creature within 100ft if it fails a will save (As Rebuke Undead). The undead creature must have a number of HD equal to or less than one half of the Dirgesinger's character level. If the undead is mindless the Dirgesingers HD is considered doubled for the purposes of this ability. Items that boost ones level for rebuking also boost the Dirgesingers character level for the purpose of this ability. If the Dirgesinger commands an undead creature they have animated with Song of Awakening Lesser or a similar dirgesong than that undead creature becomes animated as long as it remains commanded by this ability, the dirgesinger does need to spend one use of bardic music each day to maintain the animated undead however. The dirgesinger can only command one undead at a time, if they command another than the previous one is released immediately.
Eroding Defenses: If the Dirgesinger uses any dirgesong or bardic music effect such as doom speak that penalizes a creatures will saving throw than the affected creature also gains a penalty to their spell resistance and any damage reduction they may have equal to the penalty of will save they currently have.
Tragic Performance: When the Dirgesinger is maintaining any Dirgesong effect they are also under the effects of a sanctuary spell with the DC to attack them equal to 10 + their ranks in perform. If they perform any attack that is not from a Dirgesong than the sanctuary effect is broken and can’t be regained for one minute.
Song of Broken Blades (Dirgesong): Items decay and rust as even inanimate things are brought to ruin by this song. While the Dirgesing sing this song all items within 100ft have their hardness and constructs have their damage reduction reduced by the Dirgesinger’s charisma modifier (Minimum 0 hardness/damage reduction). In addition, manufactured weapons deal 5 less damage per attack and manufactured armor has its armor class bonus halved for the duration of this song. Finally, every round at the start of their turn the Dirgesinger can as a free action deal 1d6 damage per two character levels to any item within 100ft. This damage ignores hardness under 20.
Dance of Incoming Death: If the Dirgesinger hits with a melee attack on a creature who is currently under the effects of one of their dirgesongs they deal an additional point of damage per class level of the Dirgesinger and can treat the target’s damage as if was lowered by an equal amount (Minimum 0 Damage Reduction) .
Haunting Melody (Musical): By spending an additional use of bardic music a Dirgesinger can increase the DC of any of their dirgesongs by 2. This lament can only be used once per dirgesong.
Fleeting Glimpse of Success (Dirgesong): With a quick haunting cry or similar tone the Dirgesinger shatters a momentary success of an enemy. If an enemy within 30ft succeeds on an attack roll, skill check or saving throw you may use this Dirgesong as an immediate action and force them to reroll that roll and then take the worse of those two rolls. Using this dirgesong takes 3 uses of bardic music to activate.
Requiem of the Dead: When using their Song of the Dead metamagic feat it no longer increases the spell level of the spell it modifies, nor does it increase the casting time of the spell. Finally, it also affects both living and undead creatures instead of just undead creatures.
Song of Tragic Wounds: (Dirgesong): A tragic song of unexpected loss causes swords and arrows to find their mark much easier. While performing this dirgesong if any enemy within 100ft is hit by a melee or ranged attack that attack deals extra damage based on how much the attack exceeded the enemy's ac. If the attack roll was greater by 5 the damage is increased by 3. If the attack roll was greater by 10 then the attack deals an extra 10 points of damage. Finally if the attack roll was greater than the enemy's ac by 20 than the attack is an automatic critical hit. These effects are not cumulative, only the greatest of the effects applies. Thus an attack that beats their target's AC by 20 only is a confirmed critical hit, it doesn't also add +3 or +10 to its damage roll.
Aura of Lingering Regret: (Su) The Dirgesinger can produce an aura around them which lets them feel and call out to the sorrow of those around them. This aura functions automatically whenever the Dirgesinger is making a perform check and for one minute after (Regardless if it is a regular check or for bardic music or a dirgesong.). This aura radiates out from them at a radius of 60ft.
At level 2 this aura lets the Dirgesinger have a general sense of all creatures' grief and sorrow within this range giving him a +5 bonus on sense motive and diplomacy checks against those affected.
At 3rd level this aura improves, letting the Dirgesinger get a sense of the laments of those fallen. He can tell approximately how long ago a corpse was slain (Within an hour, Within a Day, Within a week or within a year) and the HD of the corpse when it was alive. In addition, by spending a use of his bardic music ability he can stir a corpse slain within a day and ask it questions as the spell Speak with Dead cast at a caster level equal to his character level. A specific dirgesinger can only question a corpse once.
At 5th level this aura improves again. For every round an enemy remains within this aura they suffer a stacking -1 penalty to their saving throws against the Dirgesinger's dirgesongs. This penalty stacks up to the Dirgesinger's charisma modifier and lasts until the enemy remains outside the Dirgesinger's aura for one continuous minute.
Orphic Performance: (Su) At the peak of their abilities a Dirgesinger develops a performance that embodies their own sorrows and regrets and puts it into a dirgesong of potent effect. They may select from any one of the following Dirgesongs.
Song of Awakening, A Deferment of Rest: By singing of lost opportunities and failed goals the Dirgesinger brings back a creature from death for a short time. This song functions as Song of Lesser Awakening except as follows. Instead of gaining the skeleton or zombie template the creature retains all of its previous abilities and only gains the undead type (Do not recalculate HP despite the target losing their constitution score). Any abilities that the target had whose DC or similar mechanics were based on constitution score are now based on the target's charisma score. The newly created undead is also fully intelligent and completely loyal to the Dirgesinger while animated.
Song of Restored Life, A Rekindling of Passion Lost: To grieve is to be alive and to remember tragedy is also to recall overcoming such loss. This dirgesong is a rather optimistic song for a Dirgesinger and grants all living allied creatures a +6 bonus to will saves and immunity to fear effects while this song is in effect and for 5 rounds after. Undead creatures are reminded of their living selves and despite their undead type are treated as living for the purposes of spells and effects for the duration of this song and for 5 rounds after. However, they still retain their undead traits. Thus they become immune to Turn/Rebuke Undead (Though undead commanded via rebuke remain commanded) and are immune to spells such as Undeath to Death but are still healed by negative energy and immune to death effects due to their racial Undead Traits.
Song of Torment, A Sorrow to Never Be Overcome: By composing a brief performance the Dirgesinger can instil utter despair into a single target within 100ft. Upon the first round of using this ability the target simply suffers a -2 penalty to saves, attack rolls and skill checks. On the second round the target must make a will save or simply fall prone to their knees and weep for 1d4 rounds as the music causes a surge of grief within them. On the third round the penalties the target has increases to -6 and they must make another will save or fall unconscious for an hour. After the third round this song ends. Regardless of their success or failure, the penalties from this song become permanent as they enter a near constant state of depression from the effects of this song. Once a creature enters this state of depression they have a 50% chance each night of suffering the effects of the spell Nightmare (DC equal to this song's DC) and waking up fatigued the next day. A break enchantment spell cast by a caster level higher than the Dirgesinger's character level or a wish or miracle spell is required to break this effect.
A creature needs not stay within 100ft for the full three rounds but they must be able to either see or hear the Dirgesinger's performance in order to suffer the effects of this dirgesong.
Song of The Horde, The Despair of the Masses By singing of the horrors of life and the suffering one undergoes through life they bring back many undead. This song functions as Song of Lesser Awakening except as follows. Instead of animating a single creature they animate one creature per character level within range. In addition, these creatures remain animated for one minute per character level after the Dirgesinger has stopped singing.
http://i.imgur.com/EuxAETC.jpg
Dirgesingers voice melodies not of celebration and joy, but of sorrow and grief. They seek to spread this melancholy outlook far and wide, believing that only those who give in to their sadness can truly understand the world. Dirgesingers hold high positions in death-obsessed cultures. Serving as members of a secret guild or as part of a hierarchy of death priests, they are entrusted with the serious responsibility of composing suitable laments for the dead. The more important the deceased, the more sorrowful and moving her lament is expected to be. No one will remember the dead queen in a few short generations, but a great lament might be sung a thousand years hence.
However, most dirgesingers do not belong to any special hierarchy or guild. Instead, they are rootless wanderers who travel from place to place, wrapped in inconsolable grief from some personal tragedy. These sad wanderers seek to express their grief through songs that teach the hearts of their listeners the meaning of true sorrow. Some offer their services for funeral rites or to give sympathy to those experiencing great tragedy. However, some of these fallen bards want nothing more than for others to understand the depths of their loss. A few are sinister creatures who believe that, since joy has been extinguished for them, they must in turn extinguish the joy of others by using their powers to teach folk the folly of love, the futility of hope, and the finality of the grave. Dirgesingers of this last sort often associate themselves with powerful undead, serving in the courts of vampire lords or lich-kings. Almost all dirgesingers must have at least some expertise as a bard. Some are also trained as rogues or swordsages before entering the class.
Creator's Notes: The Dirgesinger was initially a PRC for bards created in Libris Mortis. Despite its frankly stellar fluff and interesting character archetype the class was... bad, to say the least. It had really one notable song (It's capstone Song of Awakening), it didn't progress spellcasting and it was just overall a pretty bad class. I have used it for a few minor villains in my campaigns before and it always was pretty lacking. Hence the redesign, reworking a lot of the songs to be actually worth using and giving them a wider variety of abilities to choose from was one design goal but I also wanted the class to be less pigeonholed into an "Evil Bard" archetype. The class was about funeral rites and sorrow and while those things are depressing and tied with necromancy they aren't inherently evil. Hence me throwing in a lot more grey necromantic abilities. I decided to keep the lack of spellcasting progression to a degree, two spellcasting levels hurts pretty bad for a bard but they get some pretty potent debuff based songs to make up for it. Finally I simply enjoy the bardblade style of character so I threw in some maneuver and melee synergy if the bard wishes to go in that direction.
Becoming a Dirgesinger
Entry Requirements
Skills: Knowledge (Religion) 4 Ranks, Perform (Any) 8 Ranks
Feats: Requiem, Song of the Dead
Special: Bardic Music Ability, Ability to cast 1st level spells or ability to use 1st level maneuvers.
GAME RULE INFORMATION
Hit Die: d6
Class Skills
The Dirgesinger’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Hide (Dex) Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (History) (Int), Knowledge (Religion) (Int), Knowledge (Nobility) (Int), Knowledge (Local) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Perform (Cha), Sense Motive (Wis), Use Magic Device (Cha)
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier
LevelBase Attack BonusFort SaveRef SaveWill SaveSpecialSpellcasting/Initiation
1st
+0
+0
+0
+2Dirgesong, Song of Sorrow, Lament-
2nd
+1
+0
+0
+3Aura of Lingering Regret, Lament +1 Level of Existing Spellcasting or Initiating Class
3rd
+1
+1
+1
+3Song of Lesser Awakening, Lament +1 Level of Existing Spellcasting or Initiating Class
4th
+2
+1
+1
+4Song of Horror, Lament +1 Level of Existing Spellcasting or Initiating Class
5th
+2
+1
+1
+4Orphic Performance, Lament-
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Dirgesinger.
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Dirgesingers gain no proficiency with any weapons, armor, or shields.
Personal Journey: At every level of Dirgesinger except first the character selects either spells or martial maneuvers. At each applicable level they either gain new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in a previous spellcasting class he belonged to before he entered the prestige class or he progresses his martial maneuvers known, readied and stances known from a previous martial class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained.
If a character had more than one spellcasting or martial class before she became a Dirgesinger, he must decide to which class he adds each level of Dirgesinger for the purpose of determining their progression.
Dirgesong: (Su) A dirgesinger gains the dirgesong ability, the ability to sing grief, sadness and other emotions directly into other creatures. Dirgesong follows the same rules as bardic music (see Bardic Music, page 29 of the Player’s Handbook). Dirgesinger levels stack with bard levels for the purpose of determining how often a character can use dirgesong or bardic music. Dirgesinger levels do not stack with bard levels for determining which bardic music effects and spells a bard has access to.They gain a variety of songs as noted below. Each of these songs counts as a use of bardic music. The DC for each song if applicable is 10 + the skill ranks of the Dirgesinger's perform skill with the highest skill ranks. Dirgesongs are necromantic mind affecting abilities unless otherwise noted.
Despite the name of this ability it can be used with Perform (Dance) or similar Perform skills, in which case it applies to creatures who can see the Dirgesinger's performance rather than hear them.
Song of Sorrow: The first song all Dirgesingers learn, a tearful performance causing those listening to it to fall to despair allowing tragedy to befall them more easily. When they play this song enemies within 60ft of the dirgesinger must make a will save or suffer a -4 penalty on saving throws and armor class. This penalty lasts for as long as the dirgesinger keeps this dirgesong active and for 5 rounds after.
Song of Lesser Awakening: By singing and stirring the buried regrets within a recently slain corpse a dirgesinger can animate the corpse of a creature within 30 feet. This requires the dirgesinger to make a Perform check (DC 10 + target creature’s HD). The slain creature can have no more Hit Dice than the dirgesinger’s character level. If the attempt fails, the dirgesinger can try again in a later round. The corpse to be awakened must have been dead for no more than 1 hour. The awakened gains either the zombie or skeleton template (It is up to the Dirgesinger, if they select Skeleton than the corpse's flesh simply falls off the corpse). The creature remains animate as long as the dirgesinger continues to perform and for 5 rounds after. The newly created creature obeys the Dirgesinger completely and the Dirgesinger can control it telepathically. Even if the undead is destroyed the Dirgesinger can simply use this song again on the creature as long as an hour has not passed since it's initial passing and it is still a mostly complete corpse.
This dirgesong is treated as a necromancy spell effect for the purpose of spells, abilities, feats and items that boost such effects.
Song of Horror: A dreadful performance which strikes terror into foes. All enemies within 60ft of the Dirgesinger are shaken as long as they can hear or see the Dirgesinger performing this song. In addition, each round they are maintaining this song they may select one enemy within range being affected by this song. If they fail a will save they become unable to act due to being paralyzed by fear and cower for one round. Any given creature suffers a -2 penalty to this saving throw for each time they have failed this save against this specific iteration of the dirgesong. This Dirgesong is a fear effect.
Lament: Dirgesingers gain a variety of personal songs, relating to their own personal losses or tradeties. At each level they select one ability from the following list. Abilities can't be selected multiple times unless otherwise stated. An ability marked with the (Dirgesong) tag is dirgesong and function as above. An ability marked with the (Musical) tag requires the Dirgesinger to expend one use of their Bardic Music ability to activate that ability. Activated abilities require a standard action to use unless otherwise stated.
Bolstering Requirem: Whenever an undead creature is affected by any of your bardic music or dirgesongs they gain a bonus to their turn resistance equal to your charisma modifier (Minimum +1 Turn Resistance).
Last Rites (Musical): This lament has two uses. First by performing a eulogy all corpses within a mile of the Dirgesinger are laid to rest and become warded against undeath. These corpses become exceptionally difficult to raise into undeath and any such caster needs to beat a CL check against 15+ The Dirgesinger's ranks in perform in order to raise them. If the effect doesn't have a CL (Such as an undead creature's create spawn ability) then use the animating creature's HD in place of CL. This effect does not prevent raise dead or similar resurrection magics.
Secondly, they can target a single corpse of a living creature slain within the last hour and sing a terrible song instilling utter grief and despair into the fallen soul of the creature. This causes the dead soul to become depressed and apathetic and to not respond to resurrection magic that requires a willing soul to function. A caster attempting to resurrect a creature under the effect of this ability must make a CL check vs 15+ the Dirge Singer's ranks in perform in order for their resurrection magic to overcome the soul's despair.
Blades of Death: Any creature hit by a Dirgesinger's melee attack suffers a -2 penalty on their saving throws against any of their dirgesongs for one minute. In addition, whenever the Dirgesinger is using bardic music or one of their dirgesongs and they kill a creature with a melee attack they may as a free action activate either their Song of Lesser Awakening or Song of Awakening if the creature is a valid target for those abilities, spending a use of bardic music as normal. If they kill such a creature via a coup de grace attempt they don't need to spend a use of bardic music to activate either dirgesong.
Doomspeak: The Dirgesinger gains the feat Doomspeak (Champions of Ruin) as a bonus feat without having to meet the prerequisites. Using this feat is treated as a Dirgesong.
Sword of Despair: You now gain full base attack bonus and a good fort save progression for levels taken in Dirgesinger (This is changed retroactively for previous levels taken in Dirgesinger). In addition, adjacent enemies take a -1 penalty on attack rolls, armor class, skill checks and saving throws due to the aura of despair radiating from you, this is a fear effect. Finally, if you personally slay a sentient living creature (Int 3+) creature with a melee weapon you regain one use of bardic music for that day that must be spent on a dirgesong. However, you can’t ever have more uses of bardic music than your normal daily cap at any one time, regardless of how many creatures you slay.
Song of Closure (Dirgesong): By singing a song bemoaning the tragic loss of life you may call back the spirit of a creature slain within the past day. This spirit does not retain any of its abilities and is not even really a creature (It is treated as if being an incorporeal undead with a single hit point and HD and saving throws equal to what it had in life). However, it does retain all of its knowledge and can speak freely with the Dirgesinger and others nearby. The Dirgesinger does not control the spirit and the spirit must want to willingly share knowledge with the dirgesinger. This spirit lasts for one hour before returning to its proper afterlife.
Song of Grieving Comrades (Dirgesong): The Dirgesinger sings a song detailing the grief of a creature’s friends if they should die. When using this dirgesong the Dirgesinger targets one allied creature within 60ft. If that creature’s HP is dropped to 0 or below within the next 1d4 rounds + 1 round per class level the creature instantly heals 1d6 per character level hopefully preventing their death. If the character doesn’t die with the given timeframe they instead heal one hit point per character level.
Song of Death's Inevitability (Dirgesong): A performance embodying the fragility of life causes a target to suffer greatly the closer he is to death. When using this dirgesong the Dirgesinger targets one creature within 60ft. That creature suffers a -4 penalty against death effects and if they are below 50% of their maximum hit points than they take 50% more damage from all sources. If the target is below 0 hit points or knocked unconscious due to non lethal damage then they suffer two more effects. First all damage dealt to the target is lethal damage, bypassing any regeneration the creature may have. Secondly, if they are dealt enough lethal damage to normally kill them they die, despite any effects such as the spell Delay Death which may prevent that. The effects of this dirgesong last for as long as the Dirgesinger keeps performing and for one minute after.
Song of the Banshee's Cry (Dirgesong): This dirgesong takes three rounds to take effect. After three rounds of performing the Dirgesinger selects one creature who has heard the entire continuous performance. That creature must make a fort save or die, if they succeed they take 1d6 negative energy damage per character level of the Dirgesinger. This is a death effect.
Extra Dirgesongs: Every day the Dirgesinger gains a number of bonus uses of their bardic music ability equal to their class level. These bonus uses must be used on dirgesongs rather than bardic music or other uses.
Quicken Dirgesong (Musical): By spending 4 uses of bardic music the Dirgesinger can use any of his dirgesongs as a swift action and can maintain them with a swift or standard action.
Companion of the Fallen (Musical): By spending a use of bardic music the dirgesinger can command an undead creature within 100ft if it fails a will save (As Rebuke Undead). The undead creature must have a number of HD equal to or less than one half of the Dirgesinger's character level. If the undead is mindless the Dirgesingers HD is considered doubled for the purposes of this ability. Items that boost ones level for rebuking also boost the Dirgesingers character level for the purpose of this ability. If the Dirgesinger commands an undead creature they have animated with Song of Awakening Lesser or a similar dirgesong than that undead creature becomes animated as long as it remains commanded by this ability, the dirgesinger does need to spend one use of bardic music each day to maintain the animated undead however. The dirgesinger can only command one undead at a time, if they command another than the previous one is released immediately.
Eroding Defenses: If the Dirgesinger uses any dirgesong or bardic music effect such as doom speak that penalizes a creatures will saving throw than the affected creature also gains a penalty to their spell resistance and any damage reduction they may have equal to the penalty of will save they currently have.
Tragic Performance: When the Dirgesinger is maintaining any Dirgesong effect they are also under the effects of a sanctuary spell with the DC to attack them equal to 10 + their ranks in perform. If they perform any attack that is not from a Dirgesong than the sanctuary effect is broken and can’t be regained for one minute.
Song of Broken Blades (Dirgesong): Items decay and rust as even inanimate things are brought to ruin by this song. While the Dirgesing sing this song all items within 100ft have their hardness and constructs have their damage reduction reduced by the Dirgesinger’s charisma modifier (Minimum 0 hardness/damage reduction). In addition, manufactured weapons deal 5 less damage per attack and manufactured armor has its armor class bonus halved for the duration of this song. Finally, every round at the start of their turn the Dirgesinger can as a free action deal 1d6 damage per two character levels to any item within 100ft. This damage ignores hardness under 20.
Dance of Incoming Death: If the Dirgesinger hits with a melee attack on a creature who is currently under the effects of one of their dirgesongs they deal an additional point of damage per class level of the Dirgesinger and can treat the target’s damage as if was lowered by an equal amount (Minimum 0 Damage Reduction) .
Haunting Melody (Musical): By spending an additional use of bardic music a Dirgesinger can increase the DC of any of their dirgesongs by 2. This lament can only be used once per dirgesong.
Fleeting Glimpse of Success (Dirgesong): With a quick haunting cry or similar tone the Dirgesinger shatters a momentary success of an enemy. If an enemy within 30ft succeeds on an attack roll, skill check or saving throw you may use this Dirgesong as an immediate action and force them to reroll that roll and then take the worse of those two rolls. Using this dirgesong takes 3 uses of bardic music to activate.
Requiem of the Dead: When using their Song of the Dead metamagic feat it no longer increases the spell level of the spell it modifies, nor does it increase the casting time of the spell. Finally, it also affects both living and undead creatures instead of just undead creatures.
Song of Tragic Wounds: (Dirgesong): A tragic song of unexpected loss causes swords and arrows to find their mark much easier. While performing this dirgesong if any enemy within 100ft is hit by a melee or ranged attack that attack deals extra damage based on how much the attack exceeded the enemy's ac. If the attack roll was greater by 5 the damage is increased by 3. If the attack roll was greater by 10 then the attack deals an extra 10 points of damage. Finally if the attack roll was greater than the enemy's ac by 20 than the attack is an automatic critical hit. These effects are not cumulative, only the greatest of the effects applies. Thus an attack that beats their target's AC by 20 only is a confirmed critical hit, it doesn't also add +3 or +10 to its damage roll.
Aura of Lingering Regret: (Su) The Dirgesinger can produce an aura around them which lets them feel and call out to the sorrow of those around them. This aura functions automatically whenever the Dirgesinger is making a perform check and for one minute after (Regardless if it is a regular check or for bardic music or a dirgesong.). This aura radiates out from them at a radius of 60ft.
At level 2 this aura lets the Dirgesinger have a general sense of all creatures' grief and sorrow within this range giving him a +5 bonus on sense motive and diplomacy checks against those affected.
At 3rd level this aura improves, letting the Dirgesinger get a sense of the laments of those fallen. He can tell approximately how long ago a corpse was slain (Within an hour, Within a Day, Within a week or within a year) and the HD of the corpse when it was alive. In addition, by spending a use of his bardic music ability he can stir a corpse slain within a day and ask it questions as the spell Speak with Dead cast at a caster level equal to his character level. A specific dirgesinger can only question a corpse once.
At 5th level this aura improves again. For every round an enemy remains within this aura they suffer a stacking -1 penalty to their saving throws against the Dirgesinger's dirgesongs. This penalty stacks up to the Dirgesinger's charisma modifier and lasts until the enemy remains outside the Dirgesinger's aura for one continuous minute.
Orphic Performance: (Su) At the peak of their abilities a Dirgesinger develops a performance that embodies their own sorrows and regrets and puts it into a dirgesong of potent effect. They may select from any one of the following Dirgesongs.
Song of Awakening, A Deferment of Rest: By singing of lost opportunities and failed goals the Dirgesinger brings back a creature from death for a short time. This song functions as Song of Lesser Awakening except as follows. Instead of gaining the skeleton or zombie template the creature retains all of its previous abilities and only gains the undead type (Do not recalculate HP despite the target losing their constitution score). Any abilities that the target had whose DC or similar mechanics were based on constitution score are now based on the target's charisma score. The newly created undead is also fully intelligent and completely loyal to the Dirgesinger while animated.
Song of Restored Life, A Rekindling of Passion Lost: To grieve is to be alive and to remember tragedy is also to recall overcoming such loss. This dirgesong is a rather optimistic song for a Dirgesinger and grants all living allied creatures a +6 bonus to will saves and immunity to fear effects while this song is in effect and for 5 rounds after. Undead creatures are reminded of their living selves and despite their undead type are treated as living for the purposes of spells and effects for the duration of this song and for 5 rounds after. However, they still retain their undead traits. Thus they become immune to Turn/Rebuke Undead (Though undead commanded via rebuke remain commanded) and are immune to spells such as Undeath to Death but are still healed by negative energy and immune to death effects due to their racial Undead Traits.
Song of Torment, A Sorrow to Never Be Overcome: By composing a brief performance the Dirgesinger can instil utter despair into a single target within 100ft. Upon the first round of using this ability the target simply suffers a -2 penalty to saves, attack rolls and skill checks. On the second round the target must make a will save or simply fall prone to their knees and weep for 1d4 rounds as the music causes a surge of grief within them. On the third round the penalties the target has increases to -6 and they must make another will save or fall unconscious for an hour. After the third round this song ends. Regardless of their success or failure, the penalties from this song become permanent as they enter a near constant state of depression from the effects of this song. Once a creature enters this state of depression they have a 50% chance each night of suffering the effects of the spell Nightmare (DC equal to this song's DC) and waking up fatigued the next day. A break enchantment spell cast by a caster level higher than the Dirgesinger's character level or a wish or miracle spell is required to break this effect.
A creature needs not stay within 100ft for the full three rounds but they must be able to either see or hear the Dirgesinger's performance in order to suffer the effects of this dirgesong.
Song of The Horde, The Despair of the Masses By singing of the horrors of life and the suffering one undergoes through life they bring back many undead. This song functions as Song of Lesser Awakening except as follows. Instead of animating a single creature they animate one creature per character level within range. In addition, these creatures remain animated for one minute per character level after the Dirgesinger has stopped singing.