Spoiler: Priest of Markuk
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Priest of Marduk (Ur-Priest) (Homebrew setting) (Loosely inspired by the Epic of Ahiram) Contributed by: petermcleod117
(This one has a LONG backstory, so please bear with me)
-The Temple of Marduk is an enormous institution. Most humans on Eldas worship in his temples and offer tribute to his priests. He is the Strong One, the Master of the Four Winds, Slayer of Dragons. He rules his pantheon with an iron fist and distributes his justice on the people as he pleases. Yet, in truth neither he nor the other gods actually exist. Eldas is a world with only one God. This God is worshiped under many Names by many races, but He is One. Two the elves He is the Forest Lord, to the dwarves He is the Earth King, and to the savage Witch Clans to the west He is the Moon God (though technically He also has the sun domain). The limits of His priests are created by their ignorance of Him, as He has deemed to only interact with the world through his followers: yet He lends His power only to the most virtuous of souls. In the east, where the civilization of man thrives, he was known as Anu, a benevolent but distant God of law. Over time, the men of the east grew discontent with the power that was rarely given among their race (for man is truly fallen), so they turned to other sources. They found that by bending dark spirits of the wastes to their will, they could gain powers similar to those of a priest of Anu, and so Arcane Magic was invented. One of these Wizards, however, was not satisfied to command the demons. Zahir Aman bent his considerable power and skill to discovering a way to tap the power of the Creator, and stumbled upon a simple arcane ritual which would allow the wielder to siphon power from God. This power was drawn not from the resevour that He used to grant power to His followers, but rather from that which He used to continuously maintain all life in the world. He memorized the ritual, and became the first Ur-Priest, and in his victory a new ambition was born. He desired to supplant the power of the priests of Anu and gain their authority and influence for himself, but how? Then he realized the discontent that had driven him to discover the ritual was in the hearts of the people, and an idea came to him. He would create a false god, a god of stregnth, a god who would solve all the people's problems. A god who they would follow for the sake of security, a god who would make them slaves. So he traveled out into the wastes and summoned a great fiend, and bound it to the ground. He shaped it's features to match his vision, a man with four eyes and a breath of fire, towering fully 2 stories high, and enslaved his speach so he would say what Zahir wanted him to say. With his new power, he tore a portion of the demon's essence from it and fashioned it into an eldritch spear of arcane energy, and with a mighty spell summoned 4 spirits of air and bound them into a net of wind. These he gave to the demon, and then tasked it to pretend to be a god. He raised an enormous zigguraut structure from the ground and made it the temple of his demon thrall. He then changed the ritual of siphoning, so that, while now longer than it was it could be disguised as a chanting prayer and so it produced a voice of the god granting them their power. He devised rituals, mythology, dogma, and much more, crafting the story as he might craft a spell. Then he went and found the discontent of his city (Ur, as it happens), telling them of a new god, the Champion of Anu and of Men who would save them from their daily troubles if they worshiped him. Many flocked to the new temple, and soon the new priesthood of Marduk was formed, all Ur-Priests who believed themselves to be true servants of a god who never was.
-Priests of Marduk can be of any lawful alignment, but tend to be lawful evil. Instead of meditating for their spells, an Ur-Priest must chant for half of an hour the Litany of Marduk out loud to regain them. This chant leaves the caster fatigued, and he must recover as normal.
-Sun Dependency: Priests of Marduk believe that Marduk's chariot is the sun. At noon time, all their spells are considered maximized and extended. During the day all of their spells are treated as if they were one level higher than normal. At night they are considered one level lower than normal, during an anular eclipse they are two levels lower, and during a total eclipse the spells of a priest of Marduk do not work. This has nothing to do with the actual energy they are using, but rather with the Priest's belief that they can use it. Also, during a complete eclipse of the sun, any priests of Marduk must make a DC 25 will save or immediately flee to the nearest place of safety until the eclipse ends.
-Concentrators: A Priest of Marduk carries around one non-magical fist-sized obsidian sphere (called a concentrator) for each level of spell he can cast (so a priest who can cast level 9 spells carries 9 orbs), as well as a single sphere of strange spell-matter about a centimeter in diameter (called a messenger). Prior to casting any spell that requires a clerics holy symbol, the concentrators must be released into the air, where they orbit the caster. Releasing the orbs is a full-round action. As there is no limit to the duration the spheres can orbit, Priests who are about to go into battle often just leave them up, rather than gathering them back (also a full-round action). When casting the spell, they release the messenger orb from their hand and it shifts into the astral plane, traveling to the location of the target. This process does several things. First, the concentrators act as the divine focus for the spell. Second, any spell cast in this way is not subject to spell resistance. Third, the orbs take the place of any material components the spell might have. Fourth, for every round the caster extends the casting time of the spell, the effective caster level increases by one, for a maximum enhancement equal to the number of orbs the caster currently has orbiting him. this reflects him manipulating the orbits of the concentrators to arrange them in configurations of power. Only spells requiring a divine focus can be cast in this way, and enhancing the spell deals 1d4 points of non-lethal damage for each round the casting time is extended. Additionally, if the Priest's spellcasting is disrupted while weaving the spell, the concentrators explode, dealing 1d6 of divine energy for each level of the spell cast plus 1d6 for each round the spell was extended and releasing the effect of a confusion spell of the caster level equivalent to the level of the spell plus each round the spell was extended centered on the caster and effecting him and everyone in range, and the messenger stone is lost and must be replaced as well. If the spell is successfully cast, the Messenger immediately returns to the caster's palm. All spells using concentrators have a verbal component.
This alters an Ur-priest's spellcasting ability.
-He's a sun god, not a death god: Priests of Marduk may only use positive energy with the Channel Siphoned Energy ability. In place of a holy symbol, the priest must use the concentrators and messenger as if he were casting a spell with a divine focus, and each level he sacrifices to power this ability adds one round to the "casting time", dealing 1d4 nonlethal damage per round as normal for the concentrators, with the same risk of exploding increasing with each round. Using this ability has a verbal component. The Priest can only extend the casting time by one round for every round he can use.
-Might of Marduk: The Priests of Marduk unknowingly steal even the domains of the Creator. At 4th level, a Priest may choose two 1st level domain powers from the following domains: Law, War, Nobility, Destruction, Sun, Storm, Fire, Air, Protection, Oracle, Knowledge, Magic, and Destiny. He may use them as a cleric of his level.
This replaces the Siphon Spell Power ability.
-Extract Essence: At 8th level as a spell-like ability, a Priest of Marduk gains the ability to pull a portion of the target's soul (loose XP not already devoted to a character level) and use it to craft a magic item in place of his own XP. If the target is willing, this is a full-round action that deals 1d4 damage to the subject. If the target is unwilling, this takes 5 full rounds and deals 5d4 nonlethal damage to the subject. The Priest can choose to sacrifice the target and use all the XP from him instead (including those invested in class levels). This ability can be used to drain magic items as well, as an Artificer. Alternatively, if the total XP extracted is enough to raise the target to first level in a new class, or if the subject has already benefited from this particular use of this ability and has enough XP to effectively raise him to the next level, it may be redirected back into the target as a potent enchantment, replicating the process of going up a level. See High Rider class below. The Priest may only manipulate as much XP as he currently has HD, and the caster level of the other spell-like abilities is dependent on his hit dice as well. For purpose of duration, the duration of the spell is considered to be the total duration that the Priest can use the ability per day, though it can be broken up throughout.
This replaces all instances of Steal Spell-Like Ability.
-Spear of Ba'al Marduk: At 20th level, the Priest learns the most powerful spell of Ba'al Marduk. He may sacrifice any number of spells from his spell list, but the total spell levels must at least equal 9. All 9 concentrators must be released before the ability can be used. The Priest must spend 9+(spell levels sacrificed) rounds forcing the orbs into the most powerful and unstable of configurations: a straight line. Once in this configuration, the concentrators melt melt entirely and form a powerful crackling beam of pure divine power called the Spear of Ba'al Marduk. The spear can be cast forth as a normal spear of it's type, with an effective bonus to hit equal to 9+(number of spell levels sacrificed). The spear deals (9+(number of spell levels sacrificed)d20 of pure divine damage which is not subject to damage reduction or energy or spell resistance of any kind. Alternatively, the spear can be used to completely obliterate enchantments in an area, acting as a dispel magic spell as cast by a cleric of (9+number of spell levels sacrificed) level. If the total equivalent caster level of the spear exceeds 30, this can be used to nullify artifacts. The ritual has a verbal component. Each round the caster is involved in the ritual deals 1d4 of nonlethal damage, and is subject to the same chance of exploding. However, instead of a confusion spell an insanity spell is instead centered on the caster, and a gate spell is opened to a random level of a random lower plane. Any demons released are in no way bound to serve the caster. The spear disappears after being used. It can be wielded by someone other than the caster, and lasts until used or until the end of a number of hours equal to 9+(the number of spell levels sacrificed). The spear can be made permanent by casting an arcane permanency spell upon it using as much XP as would be required to for an item of it's type. However, Priests of Marduk are prohibited from becoming Arcane casters, and indeed consider any aside from themselves and the Priests of Anu to be anathema, as Zahir Aman does not wish for them to discover the underlying truth about their faith.
High Rider: A Priest of Marduk can extract the essence of a character who is about to go up a level and change it into a level as a High Rider. This is effectively identical to the fighter class. However, instead of a bonus feat the character gains access to a minor spell-like ability. If no bonus feat is available on that level, one of the normal allotted feats for that level is instead a spell-like ability. Each spell-like ability must be based off a spell that the Priest actually has, and the caster level for the spell-like ability is the High-Rider's character level. Some of these spell-like abilities may be made contingent, but that requires the Priest to know and cast the spell Contingency while using this power, and requires the Priest to use his own XP to fuel the contingency spell. The High Rider may only be enchanted with spells that he would be able to cast as a cleric of his high rider level. If a High Rider enters an anti-magic shell, he looses all of his spell-like abilities and is reduced to first level in all respects temporarily.
Originally Posted by petermcleod117
Re: [Alternative Class] Ur-Priest [PEACH]
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