The Symbiote

You are not a Swordsage, or in any way a martial adept in the standard sense. Instead, the Swordsage class is being used as a chassis to easily simulate your life as an alien, symbiotic creature with inhuman strength, grace, and killer instincts. Whether some ancient abomination unsealed from a long-forgotten stasis beneath the earth, a sorcerous creation gone horribly right, the lost blood of a fallen deity congealed with the last moments of its hatred, or something else altogether, a few things remain constant. You were once strong, but now you are weak. You require a host, which will sustain you and act as a liaison between your own unknowable mind and the insignificant creatures of flesh that inhabit this world. Blood and magic will make you strong again.

Level: This Alternate Class Feature must be taken at 1st level.

Replaces: Your Race. Do not choose a starting race. You do not gain any of the Swordsage's "Quick to Act", "Discipline Focus", "Evasion", and "Improved Evasion" class features.

Benefits:

Mortal Host: At 1st level, you attract a member of a Humanoid race that does not possess racial hit dice or a level adjustment, which has a single level in an NPC class of your choice. Seduced by promises of power, they have become your host – forever bonded to you, body and soul. Their pain is your pain, their death your death. The two of you are effectively a single creature, moving together, taking actions together, and so on. Your host cannot be targeted by any means, and so their hit points, saving throw bonuses, and armor class are largely irrelevant (you'll be using yours instead). Although, they may use their Skills, Feats, and so on, separate from you. Your Host does not gain experience points. You are effectively their character class, do all the work, and reap all the rewards.

Alternatively
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In a Gestalt game, you could set up your second class as being the class of your Host. While the Symbiote advances as a Swordsage, their Host could be advancing as a Duskblade, or a Cleric, or what-have-you. Since you are almost a single creature, it works out all the same – the change is mostly flavor.


Your Host is important for two reasons. One, you are incapable of speaking, reading, or understanding any intelligible language. However, you may telepathically communicate with your Host, and the two of you fully share one another's sensory input. They facilitate your communication with the outside world.

Secondly, as a weakness you have opened yourself up to as part of the bond that sustains your life, your Host is capable of rebelling against you, even though they are so very insignificant in terms of power. Typically, you possess complete control of your Host. They walk because the tendrils you have embedded in their muscle tissue manipulates their flesh into walking. They breathe because you manually operate the functioning of their organs. Sometimes, however, the Host may disagree with your actions, and rebel. When this happens, roll a d6. On a 1, 2, or 3, nothing happens. On a 4, 5, or 6, the relationship reverses. The Host takes control of you, and you are powerless to stop them, as they use all of your capabilities to satisfy their every whim. After (8 – number rolled) hours, you regain control, although the Host may try again to rebel if they so choose. If the Host fails a rebellion roll, they may not try again for (4 + number rolled) days. Physical harm makes you less capable of asserting your dominance, and so if you are at less than 1/2 your maximum hit points, the Host may rebel on a 3, 4, 5, or 6. If you are at less than 1/4 your maximum hit points, the Host may rebel on a 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6.

Alternatively
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Typically, the player of the symbiote is also controlling the Host (not to be confused with the Symbiote Character controlling the Host). They decide when to roll for rebellion, and this mechanic is purely for the player to throw in something interesting for their character during play.

Alternatively, if you don't care for the idea much, you could make both halves of your character so similar and in-tune, that they don't really disagree ever. That's fine too.

Alternatively alternatively, you could hand over the reins of the Host and their rebellion to the DM or another player, if you prefer a little more surprise and adversity.


Natural Traits:
You may be either an Aberration or an Outsider (chosen at character creation). This supersedes your Host's type. Your Size is that of your Host's. Your land speed is 30 feet, and you have Darkvision out to 60 feet. Your body is naturally considered Light Armor with a +4 AC value, which does not impart a movement penalty, maximum dex bonus, armor check penalty, or arcane spell failure. Your unarmed attacks deal your choice of slashing, bludgeoning, or piecing damage (chosen each time you attack). As this class now represents your growth as whatever kind of creature you are, you may not multiclass out of it.

Internal Panoply:
As a full-round action, you may eat a magical item, and begin digesting it. Digestion lasts for 24 hours, and you may only eat and digest a single item at a time. After an item has been digested, it becomes part of your Internal Panoply; a magical organ that now resides somewhere in your host. A Ring of Sustenance might become a Perfected Metabolism, imparting its reduction in necessity for food and sleep by supplying your host-body with boundless energy, while a Cloak of Fire Immunity might become Centralized Heat Regulators, dispersing excess heat to such a degree that fire leaves you unscathed. As a swift action, you may "equip" any item in your Internal Panoply, and no two items can occupy the same "slot", as normal (such as "wearing" two helmets, or three rings). Swapping one "equipped" item for another requires only another swift action, as you shift biological support from one magical organ to another. Armor "equipped" in your internal panoply replaces the bonus your natural traits provide. Weapons you "equip" need only be visible when you attack with them, manifesting as a duplicate version of itself, or even just a tentacle or claw, protruding from your body before being absorbed once more.

Alternatively
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This feature is basically just to allow you to be a big gelatinous monster without having to wear a thousand pounds of magical doodads like your standard adventurer. If you want, you may discuss with your DM an additional layer of abstraction. Instead of eating magical items and growing magical organs from that, your DM might just allow you to grow whatever kind of panoply you want, conforming to Wealth By Level, or whatever standard your group uses, and he will, in turn, adjust the loot he drops accordingly. Depending on the kind of Symbiote you have in mind, this might be more flavorful.


Enhanced Mutation:
At 1st, 4th, 6th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th level, you gain a Mutation from the following list. These are all Extraordinary in nature, and may not be changed after selection.

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Biohazardous Energy
You may not purchase this Mutation if you have ever used a Desert Wind maneuver previously (first level is a good time). Choose "Cold", "Electricity", or "Acid". The energy you express through the Desert Wind becomes that type instead of fire, allowing you to breathe acid, or discharge internally generated electricity. Furthermore, dice of energy damage dealt by your Desert Wind maneuvers increase by 1 step (so, d6s become d8s).

Cellular Regeneration
You gain Fast Healing equal to the highest level of maneuver you currently know. This healing deactivates if you no longer have any unexpended maneuvers readied.

Defensive Duality
Whenever you fail a saving throw against a Mind-Affecting Effect, you may choose to shunt that effect onto the part of your character that is not currently dominant. If you are in control, the effect goes to your Host. If your Host is in control, it goes to you. If that personality is not capable of taking control and acting in accordance with the unnatural influence, then it merely howls impotently until the duration expires. Otherwise, they attempt to gain control and obey the Mind-Affecting Effect. For instance, a Suggestion to flee the room that you shunt to your Host would force them to attempt a rebellion roll against you. If they succeed, they take control and flee the room. If they fail, they suffer as per normal for failing a rebellion.

Extended Tentacles
You are considered to be one Size Category larger for the purposes of your Reach. This Mutation may be taken multiple times, although it may never increase your Reach past that of a Colossal creature.

Immortal Skin
You possess Damage Reduction X/Magic, where X is the number of maneuvers your class allows you to Ready at any given time. With a second purchase, this becomes Damage Reduction X/-, and you gain Damage Reduction Y/Magic, where Y is the number of maneuvers you class allows you to Know at any given time. In both cases, this benefit deactivates if you no longer have any unexpended maneuvers readied.

Inhuman Senses
You gain Scent and Blindsense out to 30 feet.

Molecularly Efficient Guts
You have an additional space inside you that functions like a Type I Bag of Holding. Separate from your Internal Panoply, this may safely contain virtually any kind of item, and even living things if they can fit (you may choose to provide air to the chamber if you so choose). Unwilling creatures may be swallowed whole if you already have them pinned in a grapple. Your insides have an Armor Class of (10 + natural armor bonuses), and escaping the grapple or dealing (your Constitution score) hit points of damage causes you to vomit them back up into an adjacent square. At level 5, your guts upgrade to function like a Type II Bag of Holding. At level 9, Type III. And, at level 13, Type IV.

Mutable Form
You and your Host may squeeze through any space that is not water-tight by temporarily dissolving your Host's physical body into your own. If your Host is forced into such an unnatural shape for longer than (highest level of maneuver known) rounds, you immediately take 1 Constitution Burn. Every round after that, you take another 1 Constitution Burn, until you are capable of filling the proper amount of space for your Host's size. A second purchase alleviates this restriction, allowing you to force yourself into a tight space and remain their indefinitely. It should be noted that you are still roughly the same volume as you would be in your Host's natural form. So, while you could hide in, say, a 2-inch diameter pipe, it might need to be a relatively long pipe.

Mutagenic Reconstitution
You may dissolve any magical item you have stored in your Internal Panoply, gaining "Evolution" points equal to 1/2 the standard gold piece value of the item. At any time, you may spend any or all of your accumulated Evolution points to "purchase" a magical item of the same value, growing an organ in your panoply that simulates its effects.

You may conglomerate similar items together in a more efficient manner. If you have multiple items in your Internal Panoply that occupy the same "slot", such as multiple helmets or multiple weapons, you may fuse them together. Choose one item to be the "base" item. The non-base items are dissolved like the above option, but they impart their full base value, rather than 1/2. However, the Evolution points they impart must be spent immediately, and must be used to modify the base item.

Shapeshifting
You may spend a standard action to alter the appearance of yourself and your host to a certain extent. You may not use this ability to increase or decrease your Host's size category. But, other than that, they may appear as a completely different person; even a member of a completely different race. This may effect sounds, altering their voice or even mimicking the voice of another person, as well as scents, fooling bloodhounds into losing your trail, covering up the stench of blood, or manufacturing a perfume fit for a gala. You may alter yourself to appear as the Host's clothing, mimicking any non-magical outfit, from beggar's rags to a sublime gem-woven ordeal fit for a emperor (the gems are still made of your flesh, so I wouldn't try prying them off). Taking hit point damage may ruin the disguise, forcing you to make a DC (10 + damage dealt) Concentration check to not revert to your natural form. Sprouting tentacles to attack with, or vomiting acid may also give away that you are not what you seem.

Superhuman Physique
Add (the higher of your Strength or Dexterity modifier) + (highest level of maneuver known) as a bonus to all Strength and Dexterity based skill checks. You are always considered to have had a running start when making a Jump check.