I can never figure out HTML. At any rate, heres the Carnifex. It was first designed as open content on Umbrasa Gravelands. Everything on Umbrasa is open content because they have explicit rules about that.
I figured this class would be a good start for any Hell Raiser campaign.
Carnifex
Consummate torturers, pitiless murderers, creatures weaned on the virtues of cruelty and exploitation one and all... to be a Carnifex is to meditate on the frailties of the body and mind, to cleanse oneself of mercy’s weakness and forever seek to better one's ability to maim the flesh and degrade the spirit.
Like assassins and rogues, the Carnifex's discipline centers to a great degree around the knowledge of human and demi-human anatomy, but where both pursue arts founded on murderous expediency, the Carnifex endeavors to cripple and demoralize before the kill. To strike well before they strike deep is their ideal, marking the degradation of flesh and spirit as a worthier accomplishment than the mere dispatching of a foe.
Some Carnifex wed the cruelty of their art to the imperious dictates of tyrants and conquerors, serving as grim enforcers of the rule of law. Others are but deviants, insatiably drawn to savor and enact the manifold ways in which strength and will can be made to crumble. All are fanatics, whatever their affiliations or lack thereof, implacably drawn to sculpt and break the minds of perceived offenders or easy prey through the cleansing fires of torment.
Through the lives they lead, the atrocities they feel charged or entitled to commit, Carnifex become inescapably versed in the horrors of life and sensation, which the mortal mind can never hope to encompass. Having seen firsthand the depths to which others can fall, the Carnifex grows to discard that which stands as common ground between them; reforging themselves as creatures unreachable and inhuman, their hearts purged of all empathy, fear and doubt.
Alignment: The Carnifex's unswerving focus upon bloodshed and torment preclude goodness on their part, though not all are murderous and depraved as a matter of course. One doesn't necessarily have to be evil to specialize in such a gruesome craft, but few would argue that it helps.
Carnifex have the following game statistics.
Abilities: A Carnifex often depends on their strength to lay emphasis to their assault, their dexterity to execute more devious and intricate maneuvers, or when their cruelty leads them to favor lighter weapons, their wisdom to better target and discern the weaknesses of their foes, and their charisma to cow and horrify others with violent displays.
Alignment: Any non-good.
Table 2-1: The Carnifex Hit Die: d8
Class Base Fort Ref Will
Level Attack Bonus Save Save Save Special
1st +1 +2 +0 +0 Baleful Prowess
2nd +2 +3 +0 +0 Bloodstained Reverie
3rd +3 +3 +1 +1 -
4th +4 +4 +1 +1 Reaver’s Art, Fell Prodigy
5th +5 +4 +1 +1 -
6th +6/+1 +5 +2 +2 Hand of Mercy, Hand of Torment, Sanguine Detachment
7th +7/+2 +5 +2 +2 -
8th +8/+3 +6 +2 +2 Reaver’s Art, Fell Prodigy
9th +9/+4 +6 +3 +3 -
10th +10/+5 +7 +3 +3 Lurid Pangs, Virulent Edge
11th +11/+6/+1 +7 +3 +3 -
12th +12/+7/+2 +8 +4 +4 Reaver’s Art, Fell Prodigy
13th +13/+8/+3 +8 +4 +4 -
14th +14/+9/+4 +9 +4 +4 Lurid Pangs
15th +15/+10/+5 +9 +5 +5 -
16th +16/+11/+6/+1 +10 +5 +5 Reaver’s Art, Virulent Edge
17th +17/+12/+7/+2 +10 +5 +5 -
18th +18/+13/+8/+3 +11 +6 +6 Glacial Divide
19th +19/+14/+9/+4 +11 +6 +6 -
20th +20/+15/+10/+5 +12 +6 +6 Reaver’s Art, Resonant Infliction
Class Skills (6 + Int modifier per level): Balance, Concentration, Heal, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (Local), Listen, Move Silently, Profession, Sense Motive, Spot, Tumble, and Use Rope.
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Carnifex.
Weapons and Armor Proficiency: Carnifex are proficient with all simple weapons, all martial weapons, and light armor.
Baleful Prowess (Ex): The Carnifex knows well the virtues of precision and alacrity, and automatically gains the weapon finesse feat. In addition to being able to apply their dexterity modifier as their attack bonus with light weapons, they can also do so with a single one-handed melee weapon of their choice.
Bloodstained Reverie (Ex): At 2nd level, the Carnifex has become almost spiritually attuned with the spark of violence. Through their own ferocity and exhilaration in the wake of bloodletting, they can all but see and feel the malicious intent of their opponents take form in near prophetic insight toward the cadence of battle. Against creatures that are not mindless, the Carnifex may add their wisdom modifier, if positive, as an insight bonus to their AC while they are wearing light or no armor.
Reaver’s Art (Ex): At 4th level, the Carnifex has turned crippling and disfigurement into their life’s art. Whenever they score a critical hit, they may forsake their critical modifier to ensure that their attacks unduly maim their opponents; shattering bones, cleaving tendons, and rending muscle to mangled, weeping fiber. The opponent who falls pray to this ability must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC: 10 + the Carnifex’s class level) or suffer a -2 circumstance penalty on their attack rolls, armor class, saving throws, and skill checks for the remainder of the battle.
The Carnifex gains additional options as to the effect of their Reaver's Art ability every 4 levels as indicated:
At 8th level, the Carnifex has mastered the art of impeding a target’s range of movement through the ruthless precision of their attacks: parting muscle and skin, wrenching sinew from the bone, and ultimately ensuring that their victim’s every step is hobbled by an accompanying surge of pain. Should the Carnifex wish it, the target’s movement rate is effectively reduced to half by this ability, running or charging becomes impossible, and the target suffers a -4 circumstance penalty against tripping checks and on balance rolls.
At 12th level, the Carnifex can choose to maul the opponent’s primary weapon arm or attacking limb. The target suffers a -5 circumstance penalty on all attack rolls and disarm checks pertaining to the damaged limb, against those wielding weapons two-handed, this penalty is halve but the damage modifier is reduced to the standard single-handed equivalent; a target wielding a weapon in one hand must succeed against an immediate opposed attack roll with the aforementioned penalty to avoid dropping their weapon. For monsters, consider the attack listed under ‘attack’ as the affected weapon.
At 16th level, the Carnifex can choose to crack or split the target’s ribs, causing the bones’ jagged ends to saw into the target’s underlying flesh. Each round, the victim of this attack suffers 1d6 points subdual damage and cannot run lest they suffer the same amount of damage in lethal form. Any movement on the target’s part fatigues them, and a successive instance of this Reaver’s Art levels them exhausted and prone.
At 20th level, the Carnifex may choose to strike with such skill and subtlety that their attack not only bares and excises a targeted mass of muscular or organ tissue, but leaves the surrounding area exquisitely intact and all too responsive in its wake… The initial trauma inflicts 1d6 points of constitution drain, incurs the risk of death through massive damage (Fort DC: 15), and the raw surge of pain that accompanies the vivisection incurs a 50% chance on the target’s part that they will be too blinded by their continuing agony to perform any actions in the wake of their mutilation. All spell casting attempts must first muster a successful Concentration check at the Reaver’s Art DC even if the target does manage to overcome the aforementioned percentile, and any full-round movement on the target’s part will inflict a point of temporary constitution damage on top of the existing drain.
Three consecutive rounds of movement leave the target nauseated, no save, and should the target elude the Carnifex or be spared immediate execution, they lose another constitution point per day, find it impossible to rest, and can suffer neither drink nor sustenance.
All effects of the Reaver’s Art special ability end as soon as the target receives magical healing or two days of complete rest; in the last case, only the Regeneration spell can mend the constitution drain inflicted.
Fell Prodigy (Ex): The Carnifex has gleaned much from their depredations: every panicked scream that they have coaxed forth, every crippling wound that they have wrought upon an opponent’s flesh, every spirit crushed by their brutality leads them to a perpetually burgeoning awareness of mortal frailty. Killer's knowledge and instinct are woven as one into the fabric of their being, and the Carnifex grows increasingly adept at exploiting the wages of agony and horror as a result:
At the 4th level, this awareness manifests as a heightened sensitivity to physical and psychological symptoms of infirmity, such as a fear, exhaustion, and frailty. Against opponents who are Shaken, Panicked, Cowering, Fatigued, Exhausted, or who have a negative constitution modifier, the Carnifex may treat the sum of the target’s penalty as an insight bonus on all attack, intimidation, and bluff rolls against them. Only the highest penalty is to be taken into account for this bonus. Henceforth, Carnifex levels count as rogue levels for the purposes of overcoming the Uncanny Dodge traits.
At the 8th level, the Carnifex has further honed their ability to gage the extent of one’s degradation and vitality, enabling them to surmise the degree of a threat that their enemies yet pose, and how far they are from total collapse. Through instinct, experience, and awareness of even the most elusive of signs, the Carnifex can determine a subject’s proximity to death provided that there are within viewing range. This mimics the effects of the deathwatch spell, and grants the Carnifex a +4 insight bonus on all Sense Motive checks against helpless opponents and those who normally fall within the Fragile range of the deathwatch spectrum.
At the 12th level, the Carnifex has achieved thorough mastery in the ways of butchery and infliction, increasing the DC on all saves against their Reaver’s Art by four and allowing them to wield any weapon that they are proficient with as though they possessed the improved critical feat. This is not cumulative with latter or prior instances of the feat, or anything else that nature, save for the Keen weapon quality.
At the 16th level, the Carnifex may viciously exploit lapses in their opponent’s defense. The Carnifex may inflict their base Reaver’s Art against flat-footed opponents with or without a confirmed critical.
At the 20th level, it becomes perfectly second nature for the Carnifex to outmaneuver, overpower, and all the more thoroughly exploit all weakness and instability in their opponents and victims. Those who through anxiety or weakness afford the Carnifex an insight bonus against them, as per the first tier of this trait, automatically count as flat-footed for the purposes of the Carnifex’s attacks.
Hand of Mercy, Hand of Torment (Ex): At 6th level, the Carnifex guides their blade with ruthless instinct and a morbidly discerning eye, their attacks affecting a cruel balance of viciousness and subtlety to rend the flesh to in the most agonizing of ways, to heighten and prolong suffering as pleases the Carnifex. The Carnifex can inflict subdual damage without suffering any penalty to their attack rolls, although all but the base Reaver’s Art rely on lethal damage, and against creatures that are susceptible to critical hits, the Carnifex may add their wisdom modifier, if positive, as an insight bonus to the damage that they deal.
The Carnifex may apply their Healing skill to further exacerbate the symptoms and scope of physical injuries, allowing them to inflict their Reaver’s Art upon helpless targets with no possible save on their part.
Sanguine Detachment (Ex): In the midst of all the misery that they have witnessed, and all the agony they have caused, the Carnifex has become so callous and jaded that they scarcely remain human. The Carnifex receives a +4 bonus against all fear and enchantment based effects, and on all Sense Motive checks directed against them.
Lurid Pangs (Ex): At 10th level, the Carnifex becomes all the more heinously versed in their cruel art, their brutality made manipulative and insidious by the acuity with which they can ply their targets through the agony of infliction. In the event that the Carnifex successfully performs their Reaver’s art, the target must make a Will save (at the same DC + the Carnifex's base charisma modifier, if positive) lest they become shaken. Witnesses to the victim’s agony are all too able to experience their trauma vicariously, and must make the same Will save lest they also become shaken, provided that they are within thirty feet of the victim.
Creatures with sharp senses, such as low light vision, are susceptible within twice that range. The fear effect is cumulative against the target, should they suffer further in this way.
At 14th level, the Carnifex’s onslaught is pervaded with such violence and horror that those who perish before them are henceforth mired in the trauma of their deaths, becoming so panic-stricken at the very notion of living and all the suffering that they have known it to entail that they must succeed at a Will save (DC: the Carnifex’s class level + the damage of their killing blow) or reflexively shrink away from all reviving overtures.
Virulent Edge (Su): At 10th level, wounds inflicted by the Carnifex rot, weep, and inflame with unnatural haste as the flesh molts and withers before the underlying taint of the assault. Natural or unaided forms of healing, such as that afforded through nonmagical care, rest, and Fast Healing, are voided by the malignant nature of the injuries that have been inflicted. The Carnifex’s attacks always inflict lethal damage against creatures with the Regeneration trait, unless the Carnifex wishes to moderate the damage dealt.
At 16th level, the Carnifex’s attacks naturally assume the Wounding quality.
Glacial Divide (Ex): At the 18th level, the Carnifex has become so inured to bloodshed and tragedy that they are effectively emotionless. Fear, Confusion, and Compulsion are powerless to sway them, and the Carnifex is no longer susceptible to morale bonuses or penalties of any kind. The Carnifex can now take 20 on all bluffs and intimidation that pertain to violence and inscrutability.
Resonant Infliction (Su): At 20th level, the Carnifex is capable of such brutality that it will inexorably permeate the essence of any creature who falls prey to it. Those who are dying or unconscious as a result of the Carnifex’s ministrations are thrown into agonized paroxysms, gnashing and wailing the extremity of their torment with complete abandon.
Even creatures normally immune to criticals are now susceptible to the Reaver’s Art provided that they are sentient (that is, able to imagine the debilitating extremity of the pain that the Carnifex is trained to dispense), and those who are vulnerable at the best of times must make a Will save (DC: 10 + the Carnifex’s level + the Carnifex’s wisdom modifier) if they are rendered dying or disabled through the infliction of the Reaver’s art.
Should they fail, they become permanently insensate as per the effects of the Feeblemind spell.
Helpless creatures subjected to the Reaver’s Art can be sculpted into living Symbols of Pain, at twice the normal range of effect, if the Carnifex is allowed uninterrupted access to them every day for seven days. Such a creature cannot be restored to sanity or independence by any means short of a Miracle, and cannot rest, eat, or drink, although they can be fed with considerable effort. Should the victim of this ability die or be killed, their residual agony will maintain the effect for five rounds afterward, and those already afflicted will suffer its penalties for an hour as though they had merely run out of its range.
Creatures that are immune to fear, and pain are immune to this latter effect, both as potential foci and as victims by proximity, as is the Carnifex.
I figured this class would be a good start for any Hell Raiser campaign.
Carnifex
Consummate torturers, pitiless murderers, creatures weaned on the virtues of cruelty and exploitation one and all... to be a Carnifex is to meditate on the frailties of the body and mind, to cleanse oneself of mercy’s weakness and forever seek to better one's ability to maim the flesh and degrade the spirit.
Like assassins and rogues, the Carnifex's discipline centers to a great degree around the knowledge of human and demi-human anatomy, but where both pursue arts founded on murderous expediency, the Carnifex endeavors to cripple and demoralize before the kill. To strike well before they strike deep is their ideal, marking the degradation of flesh and spirit as a worthier accomplishment than the mere dispatching of a foe.
Some Carnifex wed the cruelty of their art to the imperious dictates of tyrants and conquerors, serving as grim enforcers of the rule of law. Others are but deviants, insatiably drawn to savor and enact the manifold ways in which strength and will can be made to crumble. All are fanatics, whatever their affiliations or lack thereof, implacably drawn to sculpt and break the minds of perceived offenders or easy prey through the cleansing fires of torment.
Through the lives they lead, the atrocities they feel charged or entitled to commit, Carnifex become inescapably versed in the horrors of life and sensation, which the mortal mind can never hope to encompass. Having seen firsthand the depths to which others can fall, the Carnifex grows to discard that which stands as common ground between them; reforging themselves as creatures unreachable and inhuman, their hearts purged of all empathy, fear and doubt.
Alignment: The Carnifex's unswerving focus upon bloodshed and torment preclude goodness on their part, though not all are murderous and depraved as a matter of course. One doesn't necessarily have to be evil to specialize in such a gruesome craft, but few would argue that it helps.
Carnifex have the following game statistics.
Abilities: A Carnifex often depends on their strength to lay emphasis to their assault, their dexterity to execute more devious and intricate maneuvers, or when their cruelty leads them to favor lighter weapons, their wisdom to better target and discern the weaknesses of their foes, and their charisma to cow and horrify others with violent displays.
Alignment: Any non-good.
Table 2-1: The Carnifex Hit Die: d8
Class Base Fort Ref Will
Level Attack Bonus Save Save Save Special
1st +1 +2 +0 +0 Baleful Prowess
2nd +2 +3 +0 +0 Bloodstained Reverie
3rd +3 +3 +1 +1 -
4th +4 +4 +1 +1 Reaver’s Art, Fell Prodigy
5th +5 +4 +1 +1 -
6th +6/+1 +5 +2 +2 Hand of Mercy, Hand of Torment, Sanguine Detachment
7th +7/+2 +5 +2 +2 -
8th +8/+3 +6 +2 +2 Reaver’s Art, Fell Prodigy
9th +9/+4 +6 +3 +3 -
10th +10/+5 +7 +3 +3 Lurid Pangs, Virulent Edge
11th +11/+6/+1 +7 +3 +3 -
12th +12/+7/+2 +8 +4 +4 Reaver’s Art, Fell Prodigy
13th +13/+8/+3 +8 +4 +4 -
14th +14/+9/+4 +9 +4 +4 Lurid Pangs
15th +15/+10/+5 +9 +5 +5 -
16th +16/+11/+6/+1 +10 +5 +5 Reaver’s Art, Virulent Edge
17th +17/+12/+7/+2 +10 +5 +5 -
18th +18/+13/+8/+3 +11 +6 +6 Glacial Divide
19th +19/+14/+9/+4 +11 +6 +6 -
20th +20/+15/+10/+5 +12 +6 +6 Reaver’s Art, Resonant Infliction
Class Skills (6 + Int modifier per level): Balance, Concentration, Heal, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (Local), Listen, Move Silently, Profession, Sense Motive, Spot, Tumble, and Use Rope.
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Carnifex.
Weapons and Armor Proficiency: Carnifex are proficient with all simple weapons, all martial weapons, and light armor.
Baleful Prowess (Ex): The Carnifex knows well the virtues of precision and alacrity, and automatically gains the weapon finesse feat. In addition to being able to apply their dexterity modifier as their attack bonus with light weapons, they can also do so with a single one-handed melee weapon of their choice.
Bloodstained Reverie (Ex): At 2nd level, the Carnifex has become almost spiritually attuned with the spark of violence. Through their own ferocity and exhilaration in the wake of bloodletting, they can all but see and feel the malicious intent of their opponents take form in near prophetic insight toward the cadence of battle. Against creatures that are not mindless, the Carnifex may add their wisdom modifier, if positive, as an insight bonus to their AC while they are wearing light or no armor.
Reaver’s Art (Ex): At 4th level, the Carnifex has turned crippling and disfigurement into their life’s art. Whenever they score a critical hit, they may forsake their critical modifier to ensure that their attacks unduly maim their opponents; shattering bones, cleaving tendons, and rending muscle to mangled, weeping fiber. The opponent who falls pray to this ability must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC: 10 + the Carnifex’s class level) or suffer a -2 circumstance penalty on their attack rolls, armor class, saving throws, and skill checks for the remainder of the battle.
The Carnifex gains additional options as to the effect of their Reaver's Art ability every 4 levels as indicated:
At 8th level, the Carnifex has mastered the art of impeding a target’s range of movement through the ruthless precision of their attacks: parting muscle and skin, wrenching sinew from the bone, and ultimately ensuring that their victim’s every step is hobbled by an accompanying surge of pain. Should the Carnifex wish it, the target’s movement rate is effectively reduced to half by this ability, running or charging becomes impossible, and the target suffers a -4 circumstance penalty against tripping checks and on balance rolls.
At 12th level, the Carnifex can choose to maul the opponent’s primary weapon arm or attacking limb. The target suffers a -5 circumstance penalty on all attack rolls and disarm checks pertaining to the damaged limb, against those wielding weapons two-handed, this penalty is halve but the damage modifier is reduced to the standard single-handed equivalent; a target wielding a weapon in one hand must succeed against an immediate opposed attack roll with the aforementioned penalty to avoid dropping their weapon. For monsters, consider the attack listed under ‘attack’ as the affected weapon.
At 16th level, the Carnifex can choose to crack or split the target’s ribs, causing the bones’ jagged ends to saw into the target’s underlying flesh. Each round, the victim of this attack suffers 1d6 points subdual damage and cannot run lest they suffer the same amount of damage in lethal form. Any movement on the target’s part fatigues them, and a successive instance of this Reaver’s Art levels them exhausted and prone.
At 20th level, the Carnifex may choose to strike with such skill and subtlety that their attack not only bares and excises a targeted mass of muscular or organ tissue, but leaves the surrounding area exquisitely intact and all too responsive in its wake… The initial trauma inflicts 1d6 points of constitution drain, incurs the risk of death through massive damage (Fort DC: 15), and the raw surge of pain that accompanies the vivisection incurs a 50% chance on the target’s part that they will be too blinded by their continuing agony to perform any actions in the wake of their mutilation. All spell casting attempts must first muster a successful Concentration check at the Reaver’s Art DC even if the target does manage to overcome the aforementioned percentile, and any full-round movement on the target’s part will inflict a point of temporary constitution damage on top of the existing drain.
Three consecutive rounds of movement leave the target nauseated, no save, and should the target elude the Carnifex or be spared immediate execution, they lose another constitution point per day, find it impossible to rest, and can suffer neither drink nor sustenance.
All effects of the Reaver’s Art special ability end as soon as the target receives magical healing or two days of complete rest; in the last case, only the Regeneration spell can mend the constitution drain inflicted.
Fell Prodigy (Ex): The Carnifex has gleaned much from their depredations: every panicked scream that they have coaxed forth, every crippling wound that they have wrought upon an opponent’s flesh, every spirit crushed by their brutality leads them to a perpetually burgeoning awareness of mortal frailty. Killer's knowledge and instinct are woven as one into the fabric of their being, and the Carnifex grows increasingly adept at exploiting the wages of agony and horror as a result:
At the 4th level, this awareness manifests as a heightened sensitivity to physical and psychological symptoms of infirmity, such as a fear, exhaustion, and frailty. Against opponents who are Shaken, Panicked, Cowering, Fatigued, Exhausted, or who have a negative constitution modifier, the Carnifex may treat the sum of the target’s penalty as an insight bonus on all attack, intimidation, and bluff rolls against them. Only the highest penalty is to be taken into account for this bonus. Henceforth, Carnifex levels count as rogue levels for the purposes of overcoming the Uncanny Dodge traits.
At the 8th level, the Carnifex has further honed their ability to gage the extent of one’s degradation and vitality, enabling them to surmise the degree of a threat that their enemies yet pose, and how far they are from total collapse. Through instinct, experience, and awareness of even the most elusive of signs, the Carnifex can determine a subject’s proximity to death provided that there are within viewing range. This mimics the effects of the deathwatch spell, and grants the Carnifex a +4 insight bonus on all Sense Motive checks against helpless opponents and those who normally fall within the Fragile range of the deathwatch spectrum.
At the 12th level, the Carnifex has achieved thorough mastery in the ways of butchery and infliction, increasing the DC on all saves against their Reaver’s Art by four and allowing them to wield any weapon that they are proficient with as though they possessed the improved critical feat. This is not cumulative with latter or prior instances of the feat, or anything else that nature, save for the Keen weapon quality.
At the 16th level, the Carnifex may viciously exploit lapses in their opponent’s defense. The Carnifex may inflict their base Reaver’s Art against flat-footed opponents with or without a confirmed critical.
At the 20th level, it becomes perfectly second nature for the Carnifex to outmaneuver, overpower, and all the more thoroughly exploit all weakness and instability in their opponents and victims. Those who through anxiety or weakness afford the Carnifex an insight bonus against them, as per the first tier of this trait, automatically count as flat-footed for the purposes of the Carnifex’s attacks.
Hand of Mercy, Hand of Torment (Ex): At 6th level, the Carnifex guides their blade with ruthless instinct and a morbidly discerning eye, their attacks affecting a cruel balance of viciousness and subtlety to rend the flesh to in the most agonizing of ways, to heighten and prolong suffering as pleases the Carnifex. The Carnifex can inflict subdual damage without suffering any penalty to their attack rolls, although all but the base Reaver’s Art rely on lethal damage, and against creatures that are susceptible to critical hits, the Carnifex may add their wisdom modifier, if positive, as an insight bonus to the damage that they deal.
The Carnifex may apply their Healing skill to further exacerbate the symptoms and scope of physical injuries, allowing them to inflict their Reaver’s Art upon helpless targets with no possible save on their part.
Sanguine Detachment (Ex): In the midst of all the misery that they have witnessed, and all the agony they have caused, the Carnifex has become so callous and jaded that they scarcely remain human. The Carnifex receives a +4 bonus against all fear and enchantment based effects, and on all Sense Motive checks directed against them.
Lurid Pangs (Ex): At 10th level, the Carnifex becomes all the more heinously versed in their cruel art, their brutality made manipulative and insidious by the acuity with which they can ply their targets through the agony of infliction. In the event that the Carnifex successfully performs their Reaver’s art, the target must make a Will save (at the same DC + the Carnifex's base charisma modifier, if positive) lest they become shaken. Witnesses to the victim’s agony are all too able to experience their trauma vicariously, and must make the same Will save lest they also become shaken, provided that they are within thirty feet of the victim.
Creatures with sharp senses, such as low light vision, are susceptible within twice that range. The fear effect is cumulative against the target, should they suffer further in this way.
At 14th level, the Carnifex’s onslaught is pervaded with such violence and horror that those who perish before them are henceforth mired in the trauma of their deaths, becoming so panic-stricken at the very notion of living and all the suffering that they have known it to entail that they must succeed at a Will save (DC: the Carnifex’s class level + the damage of their killing blow) or reflexively shrink away from all reviving overtures.
Virulent Edge (Su): At 10th level, wounds inflicted by the Carnifex rot, weep, and inflame with unnatural haste as the flesh molts and withers before the underlying taint of the assault. Natural or unaided forms of healing, such as that afforded through nonmagical care, rest, and Fast Healing, are voided by the malignant nature of the injuries that have been inflicted. The Carnifex’s attacks always inflict lethal damage against creatures with the Regeneration trait, unless the Carnifex wishes to moderate the damage dealt.
At 16th level, the Carnifex’s attacks naturally assume the Wounding quality.
Glacial Divide (Ex): At the 18th level, the Carnifex has become so inured to bloodshed and tragedy that they are effectively emotionless. Fear, Confusion, and Compulsion are powerless to sway them, and the Carnifex is no longer susceptible to morale bonuses or penalties of any kind. The Carnifex can now take 20 on all bluffs and intimidation that pertain to violence and inscrutability.
Resonant Infliction (Su): At 20th level, the Carnifex is capable of such brutality that it will inexorably permeate the essence of any creature who falls prey to it. Those who are dying or unconscious as a result of the Carnifex’s ministrations are thrown into agonized paroxysms, gnashing and wailing the extremity of their torment with complete abandon.
Even creatures normally immune to criticals are now susceptible to the Reaver’s Art provided that they are sentient (that is, able to imagine the debilitating extremity of the pain that the Carnifex is trained to dispense), and those who are vulnerable at the best of times must make a Will save (DC: 10 + the Carnifex’s level + the Carnifex’s wisdom modifier) if they are rendered dying or disabled through the infliction of the Reaver’s art.
Should they fail, they become permanently insensate as per the effects of the Feeblemind spell.
Helpless creatures subjected to the Reaver’s Art can be sculpted into living Symbols of Pain, at twice the normal range of effect, if the Carnifex is allowed uninterrupted access to them every day for seven days. Such a creature cannot be restored to sanity or independence by any means short of a Miracle, and cannot rest, eat, or drink, although they can be fed with considerable effort. Should the victim of this ability die or be killed, their residual agony will maintain the effect for five rounds afterward, and those already afflicted will suffer its penalties for an hour as though they had merely run out of its range.
Creatures that are immune to fear, and pain are immune to this latter effect, both as potential foci and as victims by proximity, as is the Carnifex.
