Revisiting the Necrocarnate base class
I liked the ideas discussed last month, and decided this weekend to add the class to the homebrew world I'm building- which meant that I had to add it to the class document for said world, and in the process write a complete mechanical description of it and clean up the rules a little (really, just specifying what happens in fringe cases and closing loopholes, that sort of thing).
In the process, it became abundantly clear to me that the Necrocarnate by its very nature should not be a poor-BAB class- it's far too combative. It wants to be closer to the Totemist than the Incarnate, in other words, at least in terms of the class table- its Soulmeld selection will determine where its powers really focus (and those should, as Chronologist noted, be largely stealth and illusion focused IMO). So, I redid the class table to instead use medium BAB, and get an essentia progression equal to Totemist rather than Incarnate and Foundationist. Since I was doing that, I figured it would be fair to give Necrocarnate extra skill points, like the Totemist also gets, and also to give it Bluff and Intimidate as class skills.
With all these tweaks, combined with the idea I had to fill a dead level at 18th, I figured I should post my newer version and see what others thought of it.
Alignment: Necrocarnum itself is by its very nature a craft of pure and darkest Evil, involving as it does the capture and torture of souls to extract power from them unwillingly- but it is also, ultimately, a tool. Non-Evil people can use it for non-Evil ends, and it is possible to avoid staining one's soul too deeply by using mostly Evil souls for the process. Therefore, a Necrocarnate cannot be Good-aligned, but is not otherwise restricted in alignment (however, note the Aura of Evil class feature below).
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Necrocarnates are proficient with all Simple weapons, Light armor, and Shields (but not Tower Shields).
Class Skills: The Necrocarnate's class skills are: Bluff (CHA), Craft (INT), Fly (DEX), Intimidate (CHA), Knowledge (Arcana) (INT), Knowledge (Planes) (INT), Knowledge (Religion) (INT), Profession (WIS), and Spellcraft (INT).
Skill Points per Level: 4 + INT modifier.
Hit Die: d8.
Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special Soulmelds Essentia Binds
1st +0 +2 +0 +2 Aura of Evil, Chakra Bind (Least), Essentia Drain (1), Necrotic Touch (1d6) 2 1 1
2nd +1 +3 +0 +3 Shield of Souls 3 2 2
3rd +2 +3 +1 +3 Chakra Bind (Least), Necrotic Touch (2d6) 3 2 2
4th +3 +4 +1 +4 Essentia Drain (2) 4 3 2
5th +3 +4 +1 +4 Chakra Bind (Least), Necrotic Touch (3d6) 4 5 2
6th +4 +5 +2 +5 Expanded Necro Capacity +1 4 6 3
7th +5 +5 +2 +5 Chakra Bind (Lesser), Necrotic Touch (4d6) 5 7 3
8th +6/+1 +6 +2 +6 Essentia Drain (3) 5 7 3
9th +6/+1 +6 +3 +6 Chakra Bind (Lesser), Necrotic Touch (5d6) 5 8 3
10th +7/+2 +7 +3 +7 Trap the Soul 6 11 4
11th +8/+3 +7 +3 +7 Chakra Bind (Lesser), Necrotic Touch (6d6) 6 12 4
12th +9/+4 +8 +4 +8 Essentia Drain (4) 6 13 4
13th +9/+4 +8 +4 +8 Chakra Bind (Greater), Necrotic Touch (7d6) 7 14 4
14th +10/+5 +9 +4 +9 Expanded Necro Capacity +2 7 15 5
15th +11/+6/+1 +9 +5 +9 Chakra Bind (Greater), Necrotic Touch (8d6) 7 18 5
16th +12/+7/+2 +10 +5 +10 Essentia Drain (5) 8 19 5
17th +12/+7/+2 +10 +5 +10 Chakra Bind (Heart), Necrotic Touch (9d6) 8 20 5
18th +13/+8/+3 +11 +6 +11 Essentia Storm 8 22 6
19th +14/+9/+4 +11 +6 +11 Chakra Bind (Soul), Necrotic Touch (10d6) 9 24 6
20th +15/+10/+5 +12 +6 +12 Deathless, Essentia Drain (6) 9 28 6
Meldshaping: A Necrocarnate has the ability to shape Soulmelds, which are drawn from the Necrocarnate Soulmeld list. All Necrocarnates know (and can shape) all Soulmelds from this list, but note that shaping Soulmelds designated as Necrocarnum activates the character's Aura of Evil class feature (see below). Necrocarnates are not restricted from shaping any Soulmelds on their class list by alignment or other descriptors.
The DC for a saving throw against a Necrocarnate's Soulmeld is 10 + the number of points of essentia invested in the Soulmeld + the Necrocarnate's CHA modifier. The Meldshaper Level is equal to the Necrocarnate level.
A Necrocarnate can shape only a certain number of Soulmelds per day. His base daily allotment is given in the class table below. The maximum number of Soulmelds that the character can have shaped simultaneously is equal to his CON score minus 10, or the number of Soulmelds allowed for his level, whichever is lower. At 1st level, a Necrocarnate can shape two Soulmelds at a time (assuming he has a CON score of at least 12). As he advances in level, he can shape an increasing number of soulmelds.
Unlike other meldshapers, a Necrocarnate does not gain a pool of personal essentia at 1st level- Necrocarnates do not naturally possess essentia, they steal it (see Essentia Drain below).
A Necrocarnate does not study or prepare Soulmelds in advance, but must have a good night's rest and must meditate for 1 hour to shape his Soulmelds for the day (see Shaping Soulmelds, on page 49 of Magic of Incarnum).
Essentia Drain (Su): Necrocarnates do not gain a pool of essentia from Necrocarnate class levels, unlike other meldshaping classes; however, a Necrocarnate does have an essentia pool which may be filled by stealing essentia from other creatures. Essentia in this pool can be invested into his Soulmelds to increase their power, just as essentia from any other sources can be; should the Necrocarnate have a permanent essentia pool in addition to this "unfilled" pool from Necrocarnate levels, then essentia from both pools may be combined and invested as normal for characters with multiple sources of essentia. For example, a Necrocarnate with one Incarnum feat (all of which grant a point of essentia) has one permanent point of essentia which never goes away, and his maximum essentia limit is one higher than the number given in the Necrocarnate class table below. As with other meldshapers and essentia users, the Necrocarnate's character level determines the maximum quantity of essentia that he can invest in any single Soulmeld, as noted in Magic of Incarnum table 2-1: Essentia Capacity. As a Swift Action, a Necrocarnate can reallocate his essentia investments in all of his Soulmelds, every round (see Magic of Incarnum, page 50, "Essentia").
Necrocarnates fill their essentia pool by draining power from living creatures. Whenever a Necrocarnate deals damage to a living creature with his Necrotic Touch ability, or a special ability from any Soulmeld with the Necrocarnum descriptor (such as the ranged touch attack granted by the Arms Chakra Bind of Necrocarnum Touch), he may use this ability as a free action to gain 1 point of essentia. At every 4th Necrocarnate level, the Necrocarnate gains 1 more point of essentia when damaging a living creature this way. Essentia gained this way lasts for 24 hours, or until the character rests and reshapes his Soulmelds for a day, whichever comes first; during this time it can be invested and used as normal. When the drained essentia "expires," the Necrocarnate's essentia pool is reduced to its base amount (typically 0, though a character with other sources of essentia may have permanent points that never go away, as described above) and is immediately reallocated as if the character took an action to reinvest essentia (though this "action" is involuntary and occurs whether the Necrocarnate wants it to or not).
If a Necrocarnate who is carrying drained essentia (acquired via this ability) dies, then all drained essentia immediately expires as noted above. If the Necrocarnate is brought back to life via Raise Dead or other similar means, his essentia pool will once again be empty/at its base level.
Should a Necrocarnate try to drain essentia from a target that is resistant to his Necrotic Touch or damaging ability (whether by Spell Resistance, or another method), then the Necrocarnate gains the standard amount of essentia if any damage at all from the Necrotic Touch (or whatever) affects the target; if the target takes no damage from the Necrotic Touch (or whatever), however, then the Necrocarnate gains no essentia. It is possible for a Necrocarnate to gain more points of essentia than were dealt as damage, though such an event is extremely unusual. A Necrotic Touch (or other ability) that removes temporary hit points from its target is considered to have damaged the target, for the purposes of Essentia Drain, even if the target took no real damage from it.
Necrotic Touch (Su): A Necrocarnate can steal the life force from his foes merely by touching them. As a standard action, a Necrocarnate may make a melee touch attack against a target and deal 1d6 damage plus another 1d6 damage for every two Necrocarnate levels beyond 1st. Objects, and creatures of the Construct type, take half damage from this ability, but creatures of the Undead type take full damage (despite not being "alive" in the technical sense). This ability does not allow a saving throw for reduced damage or effect, but it is subject to Spell Resistance (the Necrocarnate's class level is used as the caster level for the roll).
Aura of Evil (Ex): A Necrocarnate, even one of non-Evil alignment, generates an aura of Evil for the purposes of the Detect Evil spell as an Evil-aligned Cleric/Paladin of the same level as his Necrocarnate level. This aura is not always active, however; even Evil-aligned Necrocarnates only show an aura of Evil under specific conditions. The Aura of Evil is active (and detectable) only while the Necrocarnate is carrying essentia drained from a living creature, or is using one or more Soulmelds with the Necrocarnum descriptor.
Chakra Binds: Necrocarnates are more flexible than other meldshapers with regard to opening their various Chakras. Instead of gaining open Chakras at specific levels, as other meldshaping classes do, a Necrocarnate instead chooses a not-yet-open Chakra of the appropriate tier upon gaining a Necrocarnate class level noting a Chakra Bind. The Heart and Soul Chakras are gained at 17th and 19th levels, respectively, but otherwise the character chooses which Chakra to open at each odd-numbered level, according to the following lists. The Least Chakras are (Crown, Feet, Hands), while the Lesser Chakras are (Arms, Brow, Shoulders), and the Greater Chakras are (Throat, Waist). Thus, a 1st-level Necrocarnate could start with the Crown Chakra, and upon attaining 3rd level could then choose to open Feet, and then Hands upon attaining 5th- but if desired, the character could instead start with Feet, then gain Hands at 3rd, and Crown at 5th.
Shield of Souls (Su): At 2nd level, a Necrocarnate gains the ability to use the unwilling souls bound into Necrocarnum for other purposes. Once per day per two class levels, a Necrocarnate can gain a profane bonus on saving throws equal to +1 per Necrocarnum soulmeld he has shaped (thus, a Necrocarnate with 3 Necrocarnum melds shaped gains a +3 bonus). This bonus lasts for a number of rounds equal to the Necrocarnate's CHA modifier. Activating this ability is an immediate action.
Expanded Necro Capacity (Ex): At 6th level, and again at 14th, the essentia capacity of any Soulmelds with the Necrocarnum descriptor increases by 1. This only affects Soulmelds with the Necrocarnum descriptor, not feats, class features, or other abilities involving or allowing essentia investment.
Trap the Soul (Su): If a Necrocarnate of 10th level or higher successfully uses Essentia Drain on a creature, then that creature's soul is bound up in the Necrocarnate's web of power. Should the creature die during the time the Necrocarnate has essentia in his pool from that Essentia Drain action, then the creature cannot be brought back from the dead by any means until after the essentia expires from the Necrocarnate's essentia pool, just as if the Necrocarnate had used Soul Bind on the creature. Once the drained essentia expires from the Necrocarnate's essentia pool, for whatever reason, the creature may be brought back via normal means (and the Necrocarnate cannot thereafter reestablish the "trap"). A Necrocarnate may choose to allow a "soul-trapped" creature to be brought back, but must do so voluntarily- coercion cannot be used to force the character to allow the creature to come back.
Essentia Storm (Su): An 18th-level Necrocarnate gains the ability to disrupt the essentia drained from his targets, and break it up to release the energy held within. Once per day, as a standard action, the Necrocarnate can activate this ability to create a Burst of raw force in a 40-foot radius around himself. Once the energy cascade begins, it cannot be stopped; the Necrocarnate's essentia pool is immediately drained back to its "empty" or base level (this also frees any creatures affected by the character's Trap the Soul ability, as described above). For each point of essentia lost in this way, creatures within the radius take 1d4 points of Force damage; a Fortitude save (DC 10 + half the Necrocarnate's level + the Necrocarnate's CHA modifier) is allowed for half damage. Unlike the Necrotic Touch, this ability is not subject to Spell Resistance. Creatures of the Undead and Construct types take damage from this ability just as other creatures do, despite it using a Fortitude save; however, objects are not affected at all. The Necrocarnate is not himself harmed by this explosive burst, but any allies nearby take damage and make saving throws like any other creature caught in the radius. Also, since this leaves the Necrocarnate drained of most energy and power, it is normally only used in truly desperate circumstances.
Deathless (Su): A 20th-level Necrocarnate who has at least one Soulmeld with the Necrocarnum descriptor shaped gains the following abilities and immunities: Darkvision 60 feet; Immunity to: ability damage to physical ability scores (mental ability scores can still be damaged), ability drain, bleed, death effects, disease, energy drain, exhaustion, fatigue, nonlethal damage, paralysis, poison, sleep effects, stunning; Immunity to any effect that requires breathing (such as inhaled afflictions, "cloud" spells such as Cloudkill, etc.). The Necrocarnate does not need to breathe, eat, or sleep while this ability is active, though he must still rest for 8 hours (performing no significant activity) as normal for use of abilities (such as natural healing) that require rest.
