Barna13
2022-08-07, 03:31 AM
What is Stigmata:
Stigmata is an exalted feat from book of exalted deeds with a prerequisite feat of Nimbus of light. Notably, exalted characters of any class can take this feat. Ask your GM nicely to be chill about the exalted requirements.
"You can heal the wounds and ailments of others using your own life energy. When you activate this ability, as a free action, you immediately take at least 2 points of temporary Constitution damage. You can take as many points of Constitution damage as you wish, as long as you remain alive and conscious. Once you have activated your stigmata, you can touch your allies to heal them of 1 point of damage per level they possess for every 2 points of Constitution damage you take. In addition, any character you touch who is suffering from a disease can immediately make a new saving throw against that disease with a sacred bonus equal to the number of points of Constitution damage you took. If the character succeeds on that saving throw, she is freed from the disease. You can use this touch on one ally per point of Constitution damage you take. As with delivering a touch spell, you can touch up to six allies as a full-round action. A single person can only benefit once from each activation of your stigmata, but each activation lasts for 1 hour. For example, if you sacrifice 4 points of Constitution, you can grant four allies a number of hit points of healing equal to twice their level. Each ally who was suffering from a disease would make a new saving throw with a +4 sacred bonus. If only two of your allies were wounded at the time you activated the stigmata, you could "save" the other two uses for up to 1 hour, in case other characters become wounded within that time. Even if the characters you originally healed were injured again, however, they could not benefit from the same activation of your stigmata. When you use this ability, the wounds on your body bleed in proportion to the Constitution damage you take. The bleeding persists for 1 hour, and the Constitution damage cannot be restored by any means until the bleeding has stopped. Once the bleeding has stopped, you can freely activate the stigmata again, whether or not you have recovered your lost Constitution, as long as you have enough Constitution left to use the ability and survive."
What does this mean? If you take 20 CON damage, you can heal each member of your party for 10X their level. 50 burst healing is absolutely bonkers at level 5, it's likely going to be a full heal or nearly a full heal in a standard action. Thus it provides the coveted burst healing between the levels of 2-10(between cure light wounds being good and clerics getting heal). But 20 CON damage is a big if! How do we make a character that can tank it?
Race:
CON is king. So the 3 big options are
1. Dragonborn Mongrelfolk(all-rounder with a +6 CON and dragonborn stuff)
2. Dragonborn Water Orc(only a +4 CON, but also a +4 STR if you're crazy enough to do this with a melee class)
3. Whisper Gnome(Only a +2 Con, but all the whisper gnome goodies that help you not get hit and be sneaky)
Special shoutout to mineral warrior, which gives another +4 CON, +2 STR DR 8/Adamantine, and 3 natural armor.
Class:
Psion: The d4 is very bad. But remember that CON damage can never reduce your max to lower than 1/level. So if you're going all-out on the CON damage and don't have max hp, a d4 and a d6 are likely to leave you with similar help. And psions have the best generation of temp HP in the game with vigor(5/level). They also have access to the share pain+psicrystal combo which halves attack damage against them. On top of that, you're a fully functional spellcaster with a lot of backline support you can give when you're not bleeding.
Erudite: Spell to power is broken and erudite also gets an extra feat over psion. A matter of preference.
Ardent: Psion, but with a d6 and more restrictive powers. You might not have the feats to take lots of expanded knowledge. But with custom mantles and max hp/level, ardents probably edge out psions.
Barbarian:D12 HP, and rage giving an extra 4 untyped CON. Also a damage sponge that can't often afford to lose 10*level hit points. Stigmata on a barbarian is a crazy ability you whip out at a dramatic moment, rather than an integral ability to the class.
Warblade: If you're crazy enough to want to enter melee range with this, Warblade gives you d12 hp and its general excellence.
Cleric: A d8 hp won't save you and neither will cure serious wounds. But as an awesome last resort for a cleric, you could do worse.
Wizard/Sorcerer: If you prestige into a high-HD class, it might be okay. See cleric
Commoner: This is the best way to play commoner and also the best way to use this feat. I will take no questions.
Binder: Not a great choice overall, but by dipping 1 level and binding Naberius you get "Faster Ability Healing: You heal 1 point in each damaged ability score every round, and 1 point in all drained ability scores every hour." This still doesn't let you heal the damage you take until 1 hour has past, but definitely has appeal for attritional campaigns where you regularly have 5+ encounters a day, or for lower level campaigns where you can't afford several rods of bodily restoration. Naberius' trait of talking about how smart you are also has lots of flavor potential with psion/erudite in particular.
Feats:
Improved toughness/toughness: It's HP that losing CON can't take away from you.
Tempting fate: You're going to be reduced to -10, this lets you survive that. Basically needed on non-psionics and a great even on them. It's another 2 feats though, which is a bummer
Practiced mannifester: If you're dipping binder as a psion, it's a must.
Overchannel+talented: An extra 5 or 10 hp per casting of vigor for 2 feats. If you're going all-in, it's not a bad choice.
Items:
CON boosters(don't pick amulet, you'll want that to be disposable): Needed, you're taking 20 CON damage.
Amulet of tears: Must have for non-psions. Basically 36 temporary hp for 2300gp. Buy many of these, and spam them in combat before switching them out.
Healing belt: Best magic item in the game. When you heal your stigmata damage off(which most non-psions will probably want to do), you'll need a pile of healing belts.
Rod of Bodilly restoration: If you want to pull this trick more than 1day and not get put out of commission for a week afterwards, you'll need these. At 12 CON healing/day for 3100, it's a steal.
Examples(both level 5 assuming max hp):
Jim the Dragonborn Mongrelfolk ardent4/binder 1. level 5 you'd have 32 class hp, from 26(18 base+2 item+6 racial) CON jim gets an extra 40, and from vigor he gets an extra 25 for a total of 85. After eating 20 CON damage to activate stigmata, jim is left with a respectable 37 hp. With his trusty psicrystal, he can tank up to 70 points of weapon damage, even if he doesn't cast vigor again. Naberius lets him use stigmata many times a day before he gets a rod of bodily restoration(and practiced spellcaster means his vigor/astral construct are still at level 5).
Dave the mineral warrior dragonborn water orc warblade3/fighter 1. Dave gets 58 class hp, from 28((18 base+2 item+10 racial) CON dave gets another 36 hp, and another 4 from improved toughness, for a total of 98 hp. After taking 20 con damage, he's left with 52 hp. With his full-plate, natural armor, and damage reduction, it will still take many blows to drop Dave. And with his greatsword, he's no slouch in a fight. With -4 to INT, WIS, and CHA, he's a little confused about the religious implications of his actions, but he's got the spirit.
Stigmata is an exalted feat from book of exalted deeds with a prerequisite feat of Nimbus of light. Notably, exalted characters of any class can take this feat. Ask your GM nicely to be chill about the exalted requirements.
"You can heal the wounds and ailments of others using your own life energy. When you activate this ability, as a free action, you immediately take at least 2 points of temporary Constitution damage. You can take as many points of Constitution damage as you wish, as long as you remain alive and conscious. Once you have activated your stigmata, you can touch your allies to heal them of 1 point of damage per level they possess for every 2 points of Constitution damage you take. In addition, any character you touch who is suffering from a disease can immediately make a new saving throw against that disease with a sacred bonus equal to the number of points of Constitution damage you took. If the character succeeds on that saving throw, she is freed from the disease. You can use this touch on one ally per point of Constitution damage you take. As with delivering a touch spell, you can touch up to six allies as a full-round action. A single person can only benefit once from each activation of your stigmata, but each activation lasts for 1 hour. For example, if you sacrifice 4 points of Constitution, you can grant four allies a number of hit points of healing equal to twice their level. Each ally who was suffering from a disease would make a new saving throw with a +4 sacred bonus. If only two of your allies were wounded at the time you activated the stigmata, you could "save" the other two uses for up to 1 hour, in case other characters become wounded within that time. Even if the characters you originally healed were injured again, however, they could not benefit from the same activation of your stigmata. When you use this ability, the wounds on your body bleed in proportion to the Constitution damage you take. The bleeding persists for 1 hour, and the Constitution damage cannot be restored by any means until the bleeding has stopped. Once the bleeding has stopped, you can freely activate the stigmata again, whether or not you have recovered your lost Constitution, as long as you have enough Constitution left to use the ability and survive."
What does this mean? If you take 20 CON damage, you can heal each member of your party for 10X their level. 50 burst healing is absolutely bonkers at level 5, it's likely going to be a full heal or nearly a full heal in a standard action. Thus it provides the coveted burst healing between the levels of 2-10(between cure light wounds being good and clerics getting heal). But 20 CON damage is a big if! How do we make a character that can tank it?
Race:
CON is king. So the 3 big options are
1. Dragonborn Mongrelfolk(all-rounder with a +6 CON and dragonborn stuff)
2. Dragonborn Water Orc(only a +4 CON, but also a +4 STR if you're crazy enough to do this with a melee class)
3. Whisper Gnome(Only a +2 Con, but all the whisper gnome goodies that help you not get hit and be sneaky)
Special shoutout to mineral warrior, which gives another +4 CON, +2 STR DR 8/Adamantine, and 3 natural armor.
Class:
Psion: The d4 is very bad. But remember that CON damage can never reduce your max to lower than 1/level. So if you're going all-out on the CON damage and don't have max hp, a d4 and a d6 are likely to leave you with similar help. And psions have the best generation of temp HP in the game with vigor(5/level). They also have access to the share pain+psicrystal combo which halves attack damage against them. On top of that, you're a fully functional spellcaster with a lot of backline support you can give when you're not bleeding.
Erudite: Spell to power is broken and erudite also gets an extra feat over psion. A matter of preference.
Ardent: Psion, but with a d6 and more restrictive powers. You might not have the feats to take lots of expanded knowledge. But with custom mantles and max hp/level, ardents probably edge out psions.
Barbarian:D12 HP, and rage giving an extra 4 untyped CON. Also a damage sponge that can't often afford to lose 10*level hit points. Stigmata on a barbarian is a crazy ability you whip out at a dramatic moment, rather than an integral ability to the class.
Warblade: If you're crazy enough to want to enter melee range with this, Warblade gives you d12 hp and its general excellence.
Cleric: A d8 hp won't save you and neither will cure serious wounds. But as an awesome last resort for a cleric, you could do worse.
Wizard/Sorcerer: If you prestige into a high-HD class, it might be okay. See cleric
Commoner: This is the best way to play commoner and also the best way to use this feat. I will take no questions.
Binder: Not a great choice overall, but by dipping 1 level and binding Naberius you get "Faster Ability Healing: You heal 1 point in each damaged ability score every round, and 1 point in all drained ability scores every hour." This still doesn't let you heal the damage you take until 1 hour has past, but definitely has appeal for attritional campaigns where you regularly have 5+ encounters a day, or for lower level campaigns where you can't afford several rods of bodily restoration. Naberius' trait of talking about how smart you are also has lots of flavor potential with psion/erudite in particular.
Feats:
Improved toughness/toughness: It's HP that losing CON can't take away from you.
Tempting fate: You're going to be reduced to -10, this lets you survive that. Basically needed on non-psionics and a great even on them. It's another 2 feats though, which is a bummer
Practiced mannifester: If you're dipping binder as a psion, it's a must.
Overchannel+talented: An extra 5 or 10 hp per casting of vigor for 2 feats. If you're going all-in, it's not a bad choice.
Items:
CON boosters(don't pick amulet, you'll want that to be disposable): Needed, you're taking 20 CON damage.
Amulet of tears: Must have for non-psions. Basically 36 temporary hp for 2300gp. Buy many of these, and spam them in combat before switching them out.
Healing belt: Best magic item in the game. When you heal your stigmata damage off(which most non-psions will probably want to do), you'll need a pile of healing belts.
Rod of Bodilly restoration: If you want to pull this trick more than 1day and not get put out of commission for a week afterwards, you'll need these. At 12 CON healing/day for 3100, it's a steal.
Examples(both level 5 assuming max hp):
Jim the Dragonborn Mongrelfolk ardent4/binder 1. level 5 you'd have 32 class hp, from 26(18 base+2 item+6 racial) CON jim gets an extra 40, and from vigor he gets an extra 25 for a total of 85. After eating 20 CON damage to activate stigmata, jim is left with a respectable 37 hp. With his trusty psicrystal, he can tank up to 70 points of weapon damage, even if he doesn't cast vigor again. Naberius lets him use stigmata many times a day before he gets a rod of bodily restoration(and practiced spellcaster means his vigor/astral construct are still at level 5).
Dave the mineral warrior dragonborn water orc warblade3/fighter 1. Dave gets 58 class hp, from 28((18 base+2 item+10 racial) CON dave gets another 36 hp, and another 4 from improved toughness, for a total of 98 hp. After taking 20 con damage, he's left with 52 hp. With his full-plate, natural armor, and damage reduction, it will still take many blows to drop Dave. And with his greatsword, he's no slouch in a fight. With -4 to INT, WIS, and CHA, he's a little confused about the religious implications of his actions, but he's got the spirit.