Feats and Classes (Wyre)

[Cheiromancer]

Risen Demons and Fallen Angels

Risen Demon (template): This template may be applied only to an outsider with the [evil] and [chaotic] subtypes. Apply the following changes:

• The risen demon loses the [evil] subtype.
• The risen demon’s damage reduction loses the good component, if present. If this would improve the damage reduction (as DR 10/cold iron or good is improved by dropping “good”) add vulnerability (+50% damage) to any remaining material elements (e.g. cold iron).
• The native plane of a risen demon is the astral plane (for determining the effects of banishment and the like).
• Risen demons gain a negative level for 24 hours if they use a racial ability with the lost subtype (e.g. blasphemy, unholy smite), but can cast spells and use class abilities without penalty.

Risen demons can use and acquire abilities (including spells, feats and class features) that require being a fiend.
Special: A risen demon ignores the domain prerequisites for the Moral Flexibility feat. Few have greater insight into good and evil than a risen demon.
CR/LA adjustment: +0. A risen demon is perhaps slightly weaker than a standard demon, but not enough to warrant a difference in CR or LA.

By changing a few words, this template can be adapted to risen devils, fallen angels, rogue inevitables, and so on.

Recommended House Rule: Outsiders who lack the [good] subtype cannot enter the prime unless conjured. Evil outsiders cannot freely enter a good-aligned plane or hallowed ground (if forced to enter, they become [glossary]nauseated[/glossary]). Native outsiders are not subject to these restrictions.

There are normally changes in appearance when this template is applied. Wings (if present) are often lost, or change in form. Feathers are typically for angels, but Erinyes have them too. A fallen angel might have moulting/unkempt feathers, or the traditional bat wings. Transparent, insect-like wings might be fitting for either a risen demon or a fallen angel. A kind of fey touch; especially good if a creature is vulnerable to cold iron. I suppose a risen demon or devil might get back feathered wings, but losing them would be simpler. If a DM wants to reduce the ECL of an outsider with this template, loss of the ability to fly would be a good first step.

My interpretation of Nehael (before her transformation in Graz'zt's prison) is that she was a risen succubus with the heretical (chaotic evil morals) feat. This feat gives her keen insights into demonic behavior, and enabled her to rise in Graz'zt's favor. This didn't help much when he learned of her betrayal, of course!

She was already a risen succubus at the beginning of the story hour, a fact that no-one, herself included, was aware of. Her alignment was CN (evil tendencies), but became true neutral verging on neutral good because of Eadric's influence. Her heretical feat, plus the weight of millenia of sins, gave her a strong evil aura, but not as strong as if she had the evil subtype. Since she counted as an evil outsider (though not an [evil] outsider) she couldn't enter hallowed ground.

Nwm's atonement converted her fully to neutral good and wiped away the accumulated taint from her history. Since she no longer counted as evil, this enabled her to enter hallowed ground (or even Oronthon's heaven, if she had so chosen). She registers as neutral to alignment detecting magic because of the heretical feat.

We haven't seen enough of Nehael since her transformation in Graz'zt's prison to speculate on what the transformation involved. Though Sep did say she taught Nwm some spells; lots of druid levels, maybe?

 

[Cheiromancer]

I hate to incessantly bump my own threads, but I would love to hear discussion of or contributions to Wyre flavored material. Here is a little summary of the game material I have posted thus far in this thread. It is a little scattered among my posts, but the thread is only one page so far, and so none of these should be hard to find:

Feats

Aspirant: a gateway feat to Extra Domain, gives a bonus to Know:Religion checks.
Sectarian: a gateway feat to Extra Domain, and get better domains.
Extra Domain: Get an extra domain.

Heretical: Appear a step towards a specific alignment.
Moral Flexibility: ignore most good/evil effects and restrictions.
Ethical Flexibility: ignore most law/chaos effects and restrictions.

Reconciliation of Religion: some druid and cleric class abilities stack. (Renamed: was Reconciliatory Sophist)
Sophism: divine caster levels stack when determining level.

Mystic Insight: some wizard and cleric class abilities stack. (Renamed: was Urgic Mystic)
Insight into the Green: some wizard and druid class abilities stack. (new- edited in)
Theurgic Adept: arcane and divine caster levels stack when determining caster level.

Theurgic Focus: get a cleric/wizard or druid/wizard gestalt level.

Template(s)

Risen Demon. (easily changed to become Fallen Angel, Risen Devil, etc.)

Prestige Class
Goetic Magician. Of this class the Jester said:

Your current version of the GM seems spot on to me; I think it's now balanced with a straight wizard."

 

[tleilaxu]

your stuff is interesting and, as far as i can tell, well written.

don't have much to say besides that

 

[Cherub]

Perhaps it might be a good idea to have Sep give his take on what you;ve so carefully crafted...seeing that it relates to his campaign setting and getting his feedback may help to refine this further and perhaps even add a few more dimensions to it not previously thought of...

 

[Cheiromancer]

Hi Cherub!

'Twould be nice if Sepulchrave came by, but he's doesn't post on these boards nearly as often as I would like. Writing this stuff is a way of passing the time between updates of the story hour, or new stuff in his Rogue's Gallery. It is fun in its own way, but I like reading his material better.

So.

The Risen Demon/Fallen Angel template I posted above is less than half the story about the vicissitudes of outsiders. It can model an angel who has fallen from grace, but who is still halfway between heaven and hell. To model the other half of the fall, you have to undo the negation of the template (i.e. pretend that he was a risen devil, and remove the risen devil template).

For example, suppose we are talking about a fallen angel who has lost the [good] subtype, acquired a vulnerabilty to silver (original DR was 10/silver or evil, say, but now is 10/silver), has the astral as his home plane and while he can use holy smite at will, now costs a negative level each time. (I don't think this is an actual species of angel; I'm just making up abilities).

This angel has only fallen halfway. To model his falling all the way into hell, give him the [evil] subtype, add the good component to his DR, replacing the vulnerability with "or" (so he has DR/silver or good), make Hell his home plane and let him use unholy smite at will. In other words, make him like he was originally, only with good and evil reversed.

Some spells seem inappropriate for a fiend, but are hard to reverse. Raise dead; do you keep it (so the fiend can tempt people by offering to restore loved ones to life), do you reverse it (slay living) so you can kill your enemies, or twist it (create undead) so you can bring beings back as unholy mockeries of life? Similarly, what do you do with a succubus's energy draining kiss? It is not an ability with the evil descriptor, nor is there any obvious "opposite." Maybe lesser restoration?

I suggested that fiends (all evil outsiders, actually) be barred from good aligned planes and from hallowed ground. This can be extended; some fiends might be confined to evil planes and unhallowed ground. They can't freely enter the astral plane, and can only be conjured to areas of utmost evil on the Prime (if they can be conjured at all). Such fiends would have to have "extra evil" in their write-up. Vulnerability to good weapons, regeneration that can only be overcome by good, lots of evil-subtyped spell-like abilties, corrupted spell-like abilities (as in the BoVD), smite good, etc..

Check out Sepulchrave's Exalted and Exemplar templates (in the Rogue's Gallery under Celestial Dignities) and imagine them with good and evil reversed. That's the kind of thing I am thinking about. (The link to the rogue's gallery is in my sig, which should be in the first post of this thread)

 

[Cheiromancer]

Speaking of the exalted and exemplar templates.... Sepulchrave mentioned that he never got the "perfect" template quite the way he wanted it. Ironic, that- not being able to get the perfect template just perfect. To while the time between posts away, I'll take a stab at it....

Let's see, it's a temporary dignity, like paragon, but my impression is that it is superior to the paragon template. Superior to paragon That sounds grotesquely overpowered. Perhaps increased duration would work? Eadric was a paragon paladin for like 1 round/level, tops. Maybe if he were perfect it would last a while longer.

"Perfect" for me sounds like the flavor text for a natural 20. Using the variant that a natural 20 counts as 30 (which goes along with the variant that a 1 counts as -10), a template that promiscuously adds +10 all over the place might be a good place to start. Either where the celestial rolls a d20 against a fixed DC, or an opponent rolls a d20 against the celestial. Just as long as the +10 gets in on one side or the other. Sounds good. How about this:

Perfected

"Perfected" is a template that can be added to any exemplar or exalted celestial. It is a temporary dignity, somewhat less dramatic in its effects than the paragon template, but while a creature is typically granted paragon status for a period of no more than a few minutes, a celestial may be graced with perfection for hours or even days at a time.

A perfected celestial gains the following benefits, which stack with the benefits of the exemplar or exalted template.


AC: Perfected celestials gain a +10 luck bonus to their AC.

Attacks: Perfected celestials gain a +10 luck bonus to all attacks. They ignore miss chances due to concealment.

Improved Damage (Ex): Any attack which can score a critical hit does double damage, as if the celestial had made a critical hit. The additional damage does not apply to opponents who are immune to critical hits. If the perfected celestial threatens and confirms a critical hit in the normal way, the crit multiplier increases by +1.

Special Attacks: If a perfected celestial's special attacks can score critical hits, the damage is doubled (see "Improved Damage"). If the perfected celestial possesses any other extraordinary , supernatural or spell-like attacks that otherwise permit a saving throw, the save DC against those attacks increases by +10.

Perfected Maximization (Ex): All variable numeric damage-dealing spell-like abilities of perfected celestials are considered maximized.

Special Qualities:

Perfected Movement (Ex): Perfected celestials act under a continuous freedom of movement effect. They do not draw attacks of opportunity. Each round a perfected celestial may take an extra movement action either at the beginning or end of its round.

Perfected Reflexes (Ex): Perfected celestials cannot be flanked, and are never flat-footed.

Perfected Will (Su): Perfected celestials enjoy the benefits of a mind blank spell which cannot be dispelled. They also gain a +20 competence bonus to Concentration checks.

Lucky (Ex): A perfected celestial gets a +10 luck bonus to all ability checks, caster level checks, grapple checks, initiative rolls, saving throws and skill checks.

DR: Perfected celestials gain DR /epic. Weapons wielded by perfected celestials are considered to bear epic enchantments.

SR: A perfected celestial gets a +10 luck bonus to spell resistance.

CR: +10


*****

If Sepulchrave ever sees this, perhaps he will be emboldened to share his own "perfect" template. Just because he was not satisfied with it doesn't mean that it was not better than this.

Of course, if anyone else thinks they can improve upon perfection, () I encourage them to post their suggestions here!

 

[the Jester]

Perhaps make perfected maximization apply to supernatural abilities as well?

 

[Cheiromancer]

Perhaps make perfected maximization apply to supernatural abilities as well?

Exalted empowerment doesn't apply to supernatural abilities, and I would like to preserve the symmetry. Which means that if exalted empowerment were tweaked that way, I would do exactly what you suggest.

*****

Here's a feat that departs from the Outsider theme:

[edit] See post 20 for the revised version. Or look in the spoiler to see what Moleculo commented on. [/edit]
[sblock]
Self-incarnation (General)
Although you may be of a different race, class or gender, a former charcter lives on in you.
Benefit: You have the memories of a character who died at least a day earlier. That character's soul must be free to return; if a true resurrection could not return that character to life, this feat may not be taken. Your new character appears magically nearby, or in a suitable place chosen by the DM. Furthermore, you gain a +2 to saves versus death magic.
Special: This feat may be only be taken at character creation.[/sblock]

This feat is to represent how Fillein/Jovol/Teppu is the same character. Its primary benefit is in the metagame; the new character can use IC knowledge that the old character had, and may have similar goals as well. Its mechanical benefit is rather less than that of Great Fortitude, but is still worthwhile, I think.

If a character becomes undead, or has their soul trapped or devoured, they cannot "self-incarnate." I think the true resurrection test accounts for these cases.

Note that the new character doesn't *have* to be of a different race/class/gender than the previous one, unless, of course, a campaign's rules for character creation so stipulate. If all a player's characters are named Bob, and they are all great-sword wielding fighters... well, this feat is an in-game explanation for why.

 

[Moleculo]

I though the Fellein/Joval/Teppu arc had been described through an epic spell. I remember Sep saying something along the lines of the spell's effect allowing reincarnation equivalent to the previous incarnation's EL. The starting character level of a new PC made after a PC's death is usually one level lower/house ruled. You might include that stipulation.

 

[Cheiromancer]

I though the Fellein/Joval/Teppu arc had been described through an epic spell. I remember Sep saying something along the lines of the spell's effect allowing reincarnation equivalent to the previous incarnation's EL. The starting character level of a new PC made after a PC's death is usually one level lower/house ruled. You might include that stipulation.

Good point. And I seem to recall that same statement by Sep, but I can't find the reference. However, an epic spell should be able to grant the user the benefit of a feat, wouldn't you think? The rules about epic spells are messed up. I would rather write feats.

I was thinking: compare a player's ability to roll up a new character at (previous level -1) to the benefit of the old character getting a raise dead. From the perspective of the party, either way they get a character who is one level lower than the previous character. Whether it is the same character who has been raised, or a different character, doesn't make a whole lot of difference. Except that the knowledge possessed by the old character is not transferred. So, in some sense, all PCs get raise dead for free. The actual benefit of a casting of the spell is that the old character's memories, reputation and legal rights are preserved. That's what the 5000 gp of diamonds mentioned in the raise dead spell description actually get you.

This feat is in lieu of a casting of raise dead. So when is a feat worth 5000 gp or more? I'd say around 6th level, since Upper Krust says PC wealth is worth a feat, and the difference of PC wealth between 7th and 6th level is (19 000 - 13 000) = 6000 gp.

Suppose this feat upgraded the "free" raise dead to a "free" true resurrection? I.e. did not cause a loss of level? This benefit is worth about 25000 gp; the cost of the material components of a true resurrection (the cost of NPC spellcasting is trivial in comparison). That would be around 14th level (150 000 - 110 000 = 40 000 gp). So...

Self-incarnation (General)
Although you may be of a different race, class or gender, a former character lives on in you.
Pre-requisite: ECL 6
Benefit: You have the memories of a character who died at least a day earlier. That character's soul must be free to return; if a raise dead could not return that character to life, this feat may not be taken. Your ECL is the same as that character's would be after being raised. Your new character appears magically nearby, or in a suitable place chosen by the DM. If your ECL is at least 14, replace these references to raise dead with true resurrection. You gain a +2 bonus to saving throws versus death effects.
Special: This feat may only be taken at character creation.