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The Demented One
2008-02-03, 07:42 PM
Violet Philosopher

The Violet Philosophers are a small group of psions, devoted to discovering the true nature of knowledge itself. They believe that one cannot learn or discover anything. Instead, they believe that each and every mind is completely omniscient, but that most of its knowledge lies dormant and untapped. Thus, instead of learning, one merely unlocks latent knowledge. Violet Philosophers have used this doctrine to tap knowledge of hidden psionic techniques that lies deep within their minds, deeper than the powers accessed by most psions, which they call violet latencies. Violet latencies manipulate the most fundamental aspects of reality–time, space, chance, and even subtler things. For most who know of them, this mastery over time and space is the defining aspect of the Philosophers, and has lead to them being called Reality Weavers, Cosmic Savants, Time Lords. But for the Philosophers themselves, their powers are merely a consequence of their true goal, their pursuit for an understanding of knowledge.

Hit Dice
d4

Requirements
To qualify to become a Violet Philosopher, you must fulfill all the following criteria.
Feats: Skill Focus (Any Knowledge Skill)
Skills: Concentration 10 ranks, Knowledge (Psionics) 10 ranks, Knowledge (Any Two Others) 5 ranks
Manifesting: Must be capable of manifesting 4th-level psionic powers.

Class Skills
The Violet Philosopher’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Autohypnosis (Wis), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Knowledge (All) (Int), Profession (Wis), Psicraft (Int), and Use Psionic Device (Cha).

Skill Points per Level
2 + Int modifier.

{table=head]Level|Base Attack[br]Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Powers

1st|
+0|
+0|
+0|
+2|Latent Psionics, Lore|


2nd|
+1|
+0|
+0|
+3|Violet Latency|+1 level of existing manifesting class

3rd|
+1|
+1|
+1|
+3|Latent Skill (1 skill)|+1 level of existing manifesting class

4th|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+4|Violet Latency|+1 level of existing manifesting class

5th|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+4|Latent Metapsionics|+1 level of existing manifesting class

6th|
+3|
+2|
+2|
+5|Latent Skill (2 skills), Violet Latency|+1 level of existing manifesting class

7th|
+3|
+2|
+2|
+5|Latent Metapsionics|+1 level of existing manifesting class

8th|
+4|
+2|
+2|
+6|Violet Latency|+1 level of existing manifesting class

9th|
+4|
+3|
+3|
+6|Latent Skill (3 skills)|+1 level of existing manifesting class

10th|
+5|
+3|
+3|
+7|Violet Cascade, Violet Latency|
–[/table]

Class Features
All the following are class features of the Violet Philosopher prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
You gain no additional weapon or armor proficiencies.

Manifesting
Whenever you gain a new Violet Philosopher level, except at 1st and 10th levels, you gain new power points per day and powers known as if you had also gained a level in a manifesting class you belonged to before you added the prestige class level. You do not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained.

Latent Psionics (Su)
At 1st level, you learn to tap the psionic powers that lie latent and unrealized within your mind. You gain Expanded Knowledge as a bonus feat. In addition, each day, you may swap out the power learned with the feat for another one, as long as it meets the feat’s requirements.

Lore (Ex)
Violet Philosophers make a wide study of many fields, giving them access to a large body of knowledge and lore. You gain the ability to recall information and secrets concerning a broad variety of topics, similar to the bardic knowledge ability, by making a lore check. You add your class level and Intelligence modifier to the lore check.

Violet Latency (Ps)
At each even level, you unlock a hidden psionic ability, known as a violet latency. Although they are psi-like abilities, not powers, they do function in many ways like a power–you must spend power points to use them, you may apply metapsionic feats to them, and you may spend extra power points to augment some of them. Manifesting a violet latency is a standard action unless otherwise stated/ The manifester level of a violet latency is equal to your own, and their save DC is equal to 10 + ½ your manifester level + your Intelligence modifier. Unless otherwise stated, power resistance applies against violet latencies. You cannot learn a violet latency whose power point cost is greater than your manifester level. All violet latencies have a visual display: a halo of violet light that surrounds the manifester’s head. A full list of them is given below:

Anachragnosis: The anachragnosis latency allows you to create a stable time loop, telepathically contacting your future self to ask questions of him. Each round of this ability, you may ask any question of your future self. Because of the difficulties in communicating through time, your self can only give one word answers, though your questions can be as long as needed. Your future self will never lie to you, but it is not omniscient. Some questions may be outside of its range of knowledge, whereas it may give a false answer for others, because it believes that answer to be true. This effect lasts for 1 round/level. You must spend 9 power points to manifest this latency.

Astral Keystone: The astral keystone latency allows you to infuse a location with a psionic beacon, allowing you to return to it when needed. Manifesting this latency takes one hour. When you manifest this latency, you must choose a location within 30 ft. For the duration of this latency, you may return to that location, as the psionic teleport power except perfectly accurate, as a full-round action. You must expend 5 power points in order to return. This latency lasts for 1 day/level. You must spend 9 power points to manifest this latency, as well as 100 xp. By spending 3 additional power points, the action required to teleport back is reduced to a standard action; 6 points reduces it to a move action; and 9 points reduces it to a swift action.

Astral Shuffle: The astral shufflelatency allows you to teleport the creatures around you en masse into new positions. You may teleport one creature/2 levels within 30 ft. of you to any point within 30 ft. of you. Unwilling creatures may attempt a Will save to negate this ability. You must spend 9 power points to manifest this latency. Each additional power point you spend increases the range of this latency by 5 ft.

Chronometabolism: The chronometabolism latency lets you accelerate or regress the flow of time around a creature within 30 ft. of you, either aging it or restoring its youth. When you target a creature with this ability, it may make a Will save to negate it. If it fails, then each round of this ability, it must make a Fortitude save, or be either aged 1d4 years, or have its age decrease by 1d4 years (you choose whether to age or decrease the age of a creature when you use this ability). This effect lasts 1 round/level. If the aging or reverse-aging causes a creature to gain or lose an age category, it gains or loses the corresponding physical penalties, but not the mental bonuses. If a creature’s age is increased beyond its maximum age, it dies; and if its age is reduced below one year, then that creatures experiences unbirth, and ceases to exist. Only a limited wish, miracle, wish, or another effect of similar power can undo this ability. You must spend 11 power points to manifest this latency. For every two additional power points you spend, the amount the creature ages, or is un-aged, increases by one.

Fractured Geometries: The fractured geometries latency allows you to warp the space around yourself, allowing you to avoid attacks. You may manifest this latency as an immediate action whenever you are attacked with a melee or ranged attack. You make a manifester level check, with a maximum bonus of +10. If the result of the check is higher than the attack’s attack roll, than the attack misses you, regardless of your AC. You must spend 3 power points to manifest this latency. For every additional power point you spend, the maximum bonus on the manifester level check increases by one.

Kinetic Transference: The kinetic transference latency lets you manipulate energy to defend yourself against attack and recharge your psionic reserves. This latency grants you damage reduction 1/– for 1 round/level. In addition, keep track of all the damage prevented by this latency. At the end of its duration, you gain one power point for every three points of damage prevented, to a maximum equal to your caster level. You must spend 7 power points to manifest this latency. For every three additional power points you expend, the amount of damage reduction increases by one.

Master of Chance: The master of chance latency lets you dictate probability. You may manifest this latency as an immediate action whenever a character within 30 ft. of you makes an attack roll, skill check, ability check, or saving throw. You may choose to have them not roll, treating the result as if it were either a natural 20, or a natural 1, at your choice. You must manifest this power before the roll is made. If you manifest this latency on an unwilling creature, it may attempt a Will save to negate it. You must spend 15 power points to manifest this latency.

Second Chance: The second chance latency lets you travel back in time, allowing you to make a single change to your past. You regress time back up to one year/level, returning to a single point in your past. You retain knowledge of the future, though others do not. You may only spend a single round of action in the past, after which you return to normal time. Depending on what actions you take in the past, the present situation may be altered to a drastic degree, which is mediated by the DM. Even if your action alters events such that you do not manifest this latency, you must still spend the XP. You must spend 17 power points to manifest this latency, as well as 1500 xp, plus an additional 100 xp for each year you travel back.

Spatial Dilation: The spatial dilation latency allows you to expand the interior dimensions of a space, causing it to be larger on the inside than on the outside. This latency allows you to double either the height, the length, or the width of any bounded space. You cannot expand a space that has already been expanded with this latency or similar effects, or a space contained in a pocket dimension, such as that of a bag of holding. The additional volume created by this latency cannot exceed one 10 ft.-cube of volume per level. You must spend 7 power points to manifest this latency, as well as 50 xp for every 10 ft.-cube of space created.

Spatial Instability: The spatial instability latency causes your exact position to become indeterminate, as you teleport minute distances constantly, granting you a +4 circumstance bonus to AC for 1 minute/level. You must spend 3 power points to use this latency. For every additional four power points you spend, the bonus to AC increases by one.

Temporal Barrier: The temporal barrier latency creates a wall of dilated time, which appears as a shimmering blue curtain within 30 ft. of you, forming one ten-foot square per manifester level. The barrier is not a physical obstacle, but any creature attempting to move through it must make a Will save or be temporarily removed from time, as the time hop power, with a duration of 5 rounds. The DC to escape is 20. Once a creature escapes the time hop effect, it reappears on the other side of the barrier. Objects and spells are not affected by the barrier. A temporal barrier cannot be attacked, but it can be dispelled normally. The temporal barrier last for 1 minute/level. You must spend 11 power points to manifest this latency. If you spend 8 additional power points, affected creatures do not receive Wisdom checks to escape.

Tesseract: The tesseract latency bends space, causing it to fold and overlap, creating what are commonly known as portals. Each portal is 5 ft. in diameter, and they appear within 100 ft. of you, positioned as you choose. You cannot create a portal in a space occupied by a creature. Anything that enters a portal comes out the corresponding side of the other. A character may make attacks and cast spells or powers through a portal. The portals last for as long as you concentrate on them. You must spend 9 power points to use this ability.

Time Surge: The time surge latency allows you to temporarily accelerate your personal time flow, allowing you to act with great speed. Manifesting this latency is an immediate action, and it allows you to immediately take a move action. After taking the additional action, you are dazed until the end of your next turn. You must spend 3 power points to manifest this latency. By spending four additional power points, you may instead take a standard action, and by spending 12 additional power points, you may instead take a full-round action.

Violet Plague: The violet plague latency spontaneously unlocks all of a creature’s latent knowledge for a brief moment, flooding its brain with information and overloading its mind. You may manifest this latency on any creature within 30 ft. of you. If it fails a Will save, you successfully trigger this cascade of information. It takes 1d6 points of Wisdom burn, and is confused. Each subsequent round, it must save again or suffer the same effect. Once it successfully saves, the violet plague ends. This ability can last a maximum of 1 round/level. You must spend 13 power points to use this ability. For each additional two power points you spend, the Wisdom burn caused each round increases by one.

Whims of Fate: The whims of fate latency allows you to distort the probabilities surrounding you, letting you twist fate for a second chance. Each round, you may reroll any one dice roll. You must keep the results of the reroll. This effect lasts 1 round/level. You must spend 13 power points to use this ability.

Latent Skill (Su)
At 3rd level, you gain the ability to unlock skills hidden in your subconscious. Once per day, you may grant yourself a number of temporary ranks in one skill equal to your class level. These ranks stack with any you may already have in that skill, although you cannot exceed the maximum number of ranks you may have in a skill. These temporary ranks last for 8 hours. At 6th level, you may grant yourself ranks in two skills, and at 9th, you may grant yourself ranks in three skills.

Latent Metapsionics (Su)
At 5th level, you gain secret knowledge of how to alter your powers. You gain any metapsionic feat you meet the requirements of as a bonus feat. In addition, each day, you may swap it out for a different metapsionic feat, as long as you meet its requirements. At 7th level, you gain an additional bonus metapsionic feat, which you may also swap out.

Violet Cascade (Su)
At 10th level, you gain the ability to enter a powerful but dangerous state of mind, known as a violet cascade. While in a violet cascade, you may treat all powers on one of your class power lists as being among your powers known, and are treated as knowing all of the violet latencies. You may enter into a violet cascade once per day as a swift action, and you may remain in it for up to 10 rounds. You may cease a violet cascade as a swift action. However, the amount of knowledge you awaken is extremely draining and potentially dangerous to your mind. Each round of a violet cascade, you lose 2d6 power points, and must make a Will save or take a point of Wisdom burn. The save DC starts at 20, and increases by one each subsequent round.

Illiterate Scribe
2008-02-03, 08:08 PM
Damn, Demented One, why must you keep making such awesome classes? :smalltongue:

One thing that does occur to me though, at first reading - from how long in the future is your Anachragnostic self? What would happen if you manifested just before your death of old age, where there literally isn't a future self to call?

These are just random metaphysical questions, though - great class for any epistemological psions out there.

The Demented One
2008-02-03, 08:24 PM
One thing that does occur to me though, at first reading - from how long in the future is your Anachragnostic self? What would happen if you manifested just before your death of old age, where there literally isn't a future self to call?
I'd say it's determined by the DM, but it doesn't really matter. If you manifested it just before you die...well, there's always a future in the afterlife.

Nice avatar, by the way. We are legion.

Stycotl
2008-02-03, 11:52 PM
very cool. this is a very fluid, naturally-progressing class. i really liek the feel of it.

ShinyRocks
2008-02-04, 11:27 AM
This is creepy as hell, but awesome.

Couple of questions, which may just stem from my ignorance of how abilities are written:

Chronometabolism: the aging effect is 1d4/round. Does that require a roll each round, or does the number from first roll persist through following rounds?

Similarly for Violet Plague - is the 1d6/round rerolled or persistent? Also under Violet Plague you refer to Wisdom burn then Charisma burn - which is it?

The Demented One
2008-02-04, 12:44 PM
This is creepy as hell, but awesome.

Couple of questions, which may just stem from my ignorance of how abilities are written:

Chronometabolism: the aging effect is 1d4/round. Does that require a roll each round, or does the number from first roll persist through following rounds?

Similarly for Violet Plague - is the 1d6/round rerolled or persistent? Also under Violet Plague you refer to Wisdom burn then Charisma burn - which is it?
You roll each round. The reference to Charisma burn is a mistake on my part, didn't change it thoroughly.

JoshuaZ
2008-02-28, 03:09 PM
I like this a lot. One mechanical question: Latent Psionics says that
"At 1st level, you learn to tap the psionic powers that lie latent and unrealized within your mind. You gain Expanded Knowledge as a bonus feat. In addition, each day, you may swap out the power learned with the feat for another one, as long as it meets the feat’s requirements."

Does this mean that as you get higher levels you may swap it out for a higher-level power or does it need to be a power that you could have taken with Expanded Knowledge at the time you gained the feat?

I'm slightly worried about how an erudite might abuse this feat. Similarly, a pair of normal psion could abuse this if they know Psychic Chirurgery.