The "Storm King" PrC (Maaajor Revision)

Arthaus

First Post
Very fixed up.

The Storm King

Inspirations: Metropolis (Anime, Rintaro), The Weather (I was walking about the streets of Toronto, and it was the first day it had snowed. At the same time, a storm was brewing, and every so often, lightning would strike, but the snow dulled the whole thing, making the bolt sort of gently light up the whole sky. Very inspiring.), “I can’t stop loving you” (A song by Ray Charles – get and listen to it, and this class will make a lot more sense)

Background:

“So what’s it going to be?” Resting on the hilt of his sword with the tip of the blade against the ground, Arthaus addressed the king so distantly one would think the fate of a kingdom did not, in fact, hang in the balance. This far away attitude however, was not mimicked by the king in the least. Sitting down with his back against the wall, his former royal guard littered about his throne room like thrown out rags, calmness was not the king’s current forte.
“Don’t think I won’t get angry…” Arthaus repeated himself with the same distant tone. As his lips hung off the last word, “Angry”, a bolt of lightning crashed into the side of the castle somewhere nearby bringing the destruction of stone and the screams of men with it. Indeed, outside of throne room, a far more violent scene was playing itself out. The survivors of the castle assault, now far outnumbered by the dead, were either fleeing or still fruitlessly trying to quiet the horrible blaze which was bringing ever corner of the castle down. Lightning split the sky with an eerie level of direction, clawing and tearing away at turrets and towers as if the gods themselves were angry. And even as bolt and flame fashioned so much death that one would think no greater destruction could be wrought, the most ceaseless attack on the castle was manned by no force of physical destruction, but instead by the sheet of anger that had been blanketing the castle since the assault had begun. This most horrible attack was the hate filled storm. The rain that fell from it was so dark it was as though the heavens themselves were crying, and it carried on like a storm of years. Misery fell with every droplet, and it was still as enduring as it had been since it was begun only a few hours past.
“I will not warn you anymore…” Arthaus’ calm veneer was beginning to fade. His eyes began to grow angry, and it seemed as if currents of lightning were forming behind them.
“How will you return what you stole?” Every word came out of his mouth like venom. The king, finally admitting to himself that there was no escape, managed to speak.
“I… I… I don’t even remember who you are… why have you brought this hate down on me?”
This was not the answer Arthaus’ wanted. However, he had never expected the king to remember him anyway, so he began a speech which he had written a long time ago.
“I had no doubt that you would have forgotten me. However, since it turns out I’m far more important then you ever would have imagined, let me jog your memory a bit. Listen to this little story I have to tell.
“Three years ago, when you began your “Campaign of Unification” in order to gloriously assemble the divided kingdoms under one banner, you made, at least by my calculations, only one mistake. Of the many towns that you had conquered, let me make note of one: Lavernay. You probably don’t remember it. It was insignificant, it had only several hundred people to its name. Now, your mistake was not in destroying that town,” Arthaus’ speech grew even more hateful then, “not in murdering my family,” with the word family, bolts of lightning began to leap off and around him, “not in murdering the only woman I ever have, and ever will love…” his eyes faded to sheets of electricity, “Your only mistake, from what I can tell, was leaving me alive.”
The king began to press himself against the wall, his delirious mind not even capable of rational thought anymore. However, he managed to leap to his feet then, and ran for the great twin door which let out of the throne room. Arthaus waved his arm at it, and a torrent of wind flew from his hand, shutting the door before the king could make his escape. The king turned around, facing Arthaus, with his eyes filled with raw terror.
“What do you want from me?” The king both screamed and pleaded at the same time. Arthaus began to walk slowly towards the king, dragging his great sword behind him. He stopped right in front of the king, and grabbing him by the collar, glared into the king with all the pain that he had suffered, a pain so great that no man deserved to know it. He then thrust his blade, quick at lightning, through the king, impaling him against the throne room doors.
“I want my life back.” Even as the king began to die, Arthaus did not let go. Only when his last breath drifted from his lungs did Arthaus leave him rest on the cold blade that had made its way through his body. Arthaus then opened the door with the king still planted upon it, and made his way out of the throne room. He had no new purpose in mind, no new goal to be accomplished, but for the first time in the long time that he could remember, the rain that was always with him slowed down, and then stopped. With that as well, he finally managed to cry.

Description:

A Storm King is a character who, for one reason or another, has lost the ability to cry. It’s not that they’re not sad anymore, it’s not that they’ve overcome their pain, but rather, a very curious phenomenon takes place: from the moment when they shed their last tear, it begins to rain. A Storm King no longer cries internally, because the clouds do it for him instead.
Since a Storm King becomes so connected with the weather, he also begins to gain several powers over it. He begins to master powers of weather, as well as the ability to control extremely destructive lightning. Though the Storm King is transformed by something emotional, by mastering his sadness and his anger, he ends up becoming a powerful force of nature as well.
A Storm King can be born from any background, and from any race, and the only thing that seems to unite them is sadness, and rain.

Requirements:

BAB: 6+
Knowledge (Nature): 5 Ranks
Wilderness Lore: 5 Ranks
Feats: Iron Will, Storm Sight (New, see below)
Special: Must have gone through a sufficient enough roleplaying experience that would justify the Storm King’s sadness and depression.

Storm Sight (General)
For some arcane reason, your character has developed the ability to predict storms.
Prereqs: Character Level 3+, Knowledge (Nature): 4 Ranks.
Benefits: The character is always aware of the location and strength of any storm within up to 1000 miles of the himself.

Class Skills:

The Storm King’s class skills are: Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Intimidate (Cha), Intuit Direction (Wis), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Nature) (Int), Wilderness Lore (Wis)

Skill points per level: 2 + Int modifier.

Class Features:

BAB: +3/4. (As per a cleric)

HD: D6

Good Saves: Fort, Will.

Weapon and Armor proficiencies: Storm Kings are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, as well as all armors.

Lightning Powers: This is not actually a power, but a description of powers to come. The Storm King’s tremendous power is centered around two key elements: Rain and Lightning, and this is reflected by how his abilities work. For the Storm King, Rain represents his sadness, and he innately develops the ability to conjure storms of varying degrees of power as he grows in level. Lightning, on the other hand, represents his anger and thirst for revenge. However, just as his sadness is the source of his anger, so his powers of Rain and weather are the source of his destructive powers of lightning.
Each power that lets the Storm King conjure storms describes how many lightning powers the Storm King may have active at once, in addition to the weather effects. The weakest storm that he may conjure allows one lightning power to be active, and the strongest allows up to three.
Each lightning power takes one round to activate, and once active, grants the character the ability to do certain things. These powers can be dispelled at will. In addition, each lightning power carries certain cosmetic effects, and so when multiple powers are combined, the Storm King becomes a terrifying sight indeed.

Sadness: Sadness is the first Rain based power that the character gains. The effects are as follows:

- It takes only one round of thought (this occurs passively) to conjure up Sadness, and it can dispelled within a further round.
- The storm has a radius of 100 meters, centered on the Storm King.
- The storm is not strong enough to dangerously effect living things, but it will put out torches, fires, and so on.
- The Storm King may have one lightning power active.

Sadness is gained at first level, and is a supernatural ability.

Lightning Blade: At 2nd level, the Storm King gains his first lightning power, that of the Lightning Blade. While the Storm King has the Lightning Blade power activated, any physical attack (Sword or arrow, as long as it is a physical weapon) he makes inflicts an additional 2D6 points of lightning damage. While this power is active, whatever weapon the character is using becomes covered in thin trails of lightning. This is a supernatural ability.

Quantum Leap: At 3rd level, the Storm King gains the amazing power to make small, instantaneous teleports. As long as the Storm King has this power active, during his turn he’s allowed to make a 20 foot teleport in any direction. He may go through enemies, allies and objects, as long as the distance is no greater then 20 feet. While this power is active, the Storm King appears slightly translucent, and bolts of lightning seem to stir around in his insides. This is a supernatural ability.

Conduction: At 4th level, the Storm King becomes a master of his own element, and needs no longer to suffer electrical damage. As long as the Conduction ability is active, the Storm King becomes totally immune to lightning based damage. Further more, any time he does suffer lightning damage, the Storm King may make an immediate touch attack against a single opponent in range, and inflict the damage he would have taken upon his enemy. While this power is active no cosmetic changes take place, however, whenever the Storm King is struck by lightning base damage, an eruption of electricity envelopes him, and either dissipates to the ground, or is directed at a nearby enemy. This is a lightning power, and as such, counts against the number of powers the character may have active at once. This is a supernatural ability.

Torrent: At 5th level, the Storm King develops the ability to conjure even more potent storms, as his mastery of rain increases. The effects are as follows:

- It takes 10 minutes of thought (this occurs passively) to conjure up Sadness, and it can be dispelled with a further minute of effort. However, it may not last longer then a day, and will begin to dissipate automatically if the Storm King falls asleep.
- The storm has a radius of 1 mile, centered on the Storm King.
- The storm covers the area with thick rain, and buffets it with high mile winds. As such, any creature outdoors in the radius of the storm suffers -1 to attack rolls, and flying creatures suffer a -2 penalty.
- The Storm King may direct burst of high mile wind at opponents as a full round action. The wind must be directed away from the Storm King, and as such can only push things away from him. The Storm King may target one medium sized or lower opponents and attempt to knock them prone. Medium Sized opponents make a fortitude check against a DC of 12, Small opponents against a DC of 16, and tiny opponents against a DC of 20.
- While the storm is active, the Storm King suffers a -1 penalty to attack and skill rolls due to the effort required to maintain the storm.
- The Storm King may have two lightning powers active.

This is a supernatural ability.

Storm Warning: At 6th level, the Storm King can see vast distances through his storms. While this ability is active, he is aware of all surroundings and living things within the radius of his active storm (though only in a vague sense, he cannot listen in on a conversation, he simply knows where things are). In addition to this ability of clairsentience, he gains an insight bonus of +2 to his AC and Reflex saves. While this power is active, the Storm Kings eyes seem to fade away, and become replaced with raging torrents of electricity. This is a supernatural ability.

Blitz: At 7th level, the Storm King becomes terrifyingly mobile, as he gains the Blitz ability. If the Storm King decides to have Blitz as one of his currently active lightning powers, he may acts as if under the effects of the Haste spell. While the Blitz ability is active, sparks of electricity seem to dance off the edge of the Storm Kings fingers, hair, and so on, giving him a frenzied appearance. This is a supernatural ability.

Lightning Ride: At 8th level, the Storm King gains the ability to travel massive distances using storms. As long as this lightning power is active, and as long as there is a storm out (natural or otherwise), the Storm King may spend a full round action to teleport anywhere within the radius of the storm, or any other storm within a 1000 miles. This power may obviously only be used outdoors. While this power is active, no cosmetic changes occur, however, when used, the Storm King is struck by a bolt of lightning, whereupon he disappears and reappears in a bolt of lightning somewhere else. Using it requires a full round action, and is a supernatural ability.

War Form: At 9th level, the Storm King learns to conduct massive amounts of electricity through his body, and can use it to bring death and destruction to his enemies. While War From is active, the Storm King may substitute any one of his normal attacks for a ranged lightning attack. The attacks are made just like normal attacks, with Attack rolls and all (Using is base attack roll), but they have a range of up to 100 feet, and inflict 6D6 lightning damage. The Storm King may freely change between normal and ranged attacks while the War Form is active. In addition, anytime an enemy makes a successful hand to hand attack against the Storm King, they suffer 1D6 points of damage. While this power is active, a single huge bolt of lightning dances around and through the Storm King, and when it is activated, the bolt forms on the Storm Kings hand, and launches (and a new one forms). This is a supernatural ability.

Hurricane: At 10th level, the Storm King is able to call a storm of devastating power. The effects of this are as follows:

- It takes an hour of thought (this occurs passively) to conjure the storm, and a Torrent must be in place first. It takes 10 minutes to dissipate the Hurricane, but if the Storm is maintained for more then an hour, it will begin to dissipate automatically. It can be used no more then once per day.
- The storm has a radius of 10 miles, centered on the Storm King.
- The storm ravages the surrounding area. It causes floods, and destroys villages, and any creature outdoors in this storm suffers a -2 penalty to attack rolls, and flying creatures suffer a -4 penalty.
- The Storm King may direct bursts of wind as per the Torrent ability, but further more, bolts of lightning crash down inside the storm. Every round, a bolt of lightning inflicting 10D10 points of damage crashes down somewhere in the storm. It may be directed by the Storm King if he so wishes at any opponent, as a full round action.
- While the storm is active, the Storm King suffers a -2 penalty to attack and skill rolls due to the stress it places on him, and this penalty lingers for the rest of the day.
- The Storm King may have three lightning powers active at once.

This is a supernatural ability.

The Storm King:

Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special Abilities
1st / +0 / +2 / +0 / +2 / Sadness
2nd / +1 / +3 / +0 / +3 / Lightning Blade
3rd / +2 / +3 / +1 / +3 / Quantum Leap
4th / +3 / +4 / +1 / +4 / Conduction
5th / +3 / +4 / +1 / +4 / Torrent
6th / +4 / +5 / +2 / +5 / Storm Warning
7th / +5 / +5 / +2 / +5 / Blitz
8th / +6 / +6 / +2 / +6 / Lightning Ride
9th / +6 / +6 / +3 / +6 / War Form
10th / +7 / +7 / +3 / +7 / Hurricane
 
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EOL

First Post
Okay I don't have the time to give it a complete critique, but I do have an idea for an additional requirement:

Add a requirement that makes the character sustain 40 points (Give or take 10) of lightning damage, from a single attack. It be mostly up to you as the DM when that happened, but it can be fun for awhile for the PC to be running around saying, "Is it a mage? Does he cast Lightning Bolt?"
 

Arthaus

First Post
Not that anyone seems to care here, :( but I did get a bunch of feed back on another board, and I made major revisions to this PrC.

It's a far easier read now, among being more balanced and exciting.
 




Deranged Youth

First Post
Yum... I like this. I really like the story part.
Hmmm... well, the war attack thingy seems a bit powerful to me... 6D6 damage per attack, without duration, AND 1D6 damage to attackers? Owchies.
If it weren't for that, I would make an official *Yoink*. But until that is either justified as okay for the level OR fixed, I cannot yoink. Sorry, but those are the rules.
 

Arthaus

First Post
My justification for the 6d6 damage was assuming that a 20th level character would still rather use his weapon attacks rather then a ranged lightning attack (which only uses the base attack bonus) in general.

However, if 6d6 is too much, what do you recommend? 4 or 5D6?

3D6 definately sounds too low.

Anyway, thanks for the input.
 

Stormprince

First Post
Um... I really like it... but then, if you go by my nickname, I'm probably biased ;)

Just wanna know, where's the love for the Storm Princes?!? ;.;

;)

Christopher
 

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