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Message: <blockquote data-quote="FoxWander" data-source="post: 1754792" data-attributes="member: 1356">Great post! I remember looking through the first installment but never getting around to adding anything, even though I felt the same way about the sorcerer problem. I'm pleased to see some of your lineage templates are almost exactly the same ideas I've had- namely the Shifter and Divine Receptacle lineages. And all the other ideas are just as great. Now I do have something to add though. I've been running my group through a published adventure where the main adversary is a necromancy themed sorcerer. It inspired me to consider what the personality of someone who has natural, inborn necromancy powers must be like. I have to imagine they'd have a pretty strange view on life. Which got me to thinking of Brian Lumley's Necroscope. If you've never read it, the main character has the natural ability to speak with the dead. Exactly as you and I might have a conversation about life, our job, or our hobbies; this character would sit in a graveyard and talk to the dead. And then there's the kid in The Sixth Sense. Anyway, all of this leads up to a lineage type you don't have yet. So here's my contribution- The Death-Touched LineageDeath-touched sorcerers are the descendents of those scarred by necromancy or a prolonged relationship with the undead (perhaps their mother was energy drained while they were in the womb?). This lineage gives them an affinity for the death, spirits and the undead.Benefit: Death-touched sorcerers gain Knowledge (Religion and Arcana) and Move Silently as class skills. Their nature makes them naturally suited for esoteric thought as well as embodying the phrase ‘quiet as the grave’. They may also speak with the dead at will, but note: this is not as the spell of the same name. They are actually conversing with the spirit of the departed and not the “imprinted knowledge stored in the corpse”, and the spirit is under no compulsion to answer, whether truthfully or not; or indeed to even answer at all. The desire of the spirit to communicate is solely a function of diplomacy and its nature in life. Also unlike the spell, the corpse does not actually ‘speak’, rather the sorcerer receives any reply mentally. Thus any companions or observers hear only a one sided conversation. The sorcerer must either be within normal conversation range (about 20’ max) of the actual corpse (or a part of it), or he must be touching a person or object very dear to the dead creature in life. This speak with the dead ability gives them a +2 on any applicable Gather Information checks. Death-touched sorcerers may learn any Necromancy spell regardless of the spell list from which it comes.Special Limitation: Death-touched sorcerers are heavily influenced by their ancestry and suffer some of the vulnerabilities of that undead heritage. Whenever a death-touched sorcerer is the subject of a Cure Wounds spell they must make a Will save appropriate to the level of the spell or be damaged by the spell instead. The sorcerer may apply spell resistance, if any, and may attempt a second Will save to take only half damage. Conversely though, if the death-touched is the subject an Inflict Wounds spell they may be cured by it instead with a successful Will save. Due to their strong affinity to death and the spirit world they are left with a natural weakness toward good magic, receiving a –2 penalty to all saving throws against any spell, spell-like ability, or supernatural ability of the good descriptor or used by creatures of the good subtype.Lineage Spells: The death-touched sorcerer has a specific affinity with death and the undead and that manifests in a Lineage Spell List. These lineage spells may never be changed through spell swapping or spell evolution, but only through Innate Ability evolution. These lineage spells are gained as bonus known spells as soon as the sorcerer is able to cast spells of that spell level. The sorcerer gains the Death-Touched Lineage spell list.Death-Touched Lineage Spell List: 0–touch of fatigue; 1st-chill touch; 2nd-command undead; 3rd-vampiric touch; 4th-animate dead; 5th-magic jar; 6th-create undead; 7th-ethereal jaunt; 8th-create greater undead; 9th–energy drainLineage Abilities: The death-touched sorcerer’s connection with the dead grows over time and they become more attune to the forces of the spirit world. -- At 8th level the death-touched sorcerer gains the ability to sense the undead, spirits, ethereal and incorporeal creatures within 60’ at will. This reduces the miss chance versus incorporeal creatures to 25%. The death-touched sorcerer also gains protection as if under a permanent Death Ward spell.-- At 14th level the death-touched sorcerer's connection to their undead ancestry deepens such that they take on some of the traits of undeath. The sorcerer gains immunity to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects), poison, sleep effects, paralysis, stunning, and disease; as well as fatigue and exhaustion effects. However, this radical change to their very nature has a deep impact on their ability to connect with and understand the living. They suffer a –2 penalty to any skill checks involving interaction with those who are not dead.-- At 20th level, a death-touched sorcerer becomes so attune to their lineage that they gain the outsider type as well as the augmented and native subtypes. The sorcerer undergoes a minor physical transformation, often gaining a deathly pallor and a cold, though not unnaturally so, touch. There may be other manifestations as well- an unnatural gleam in their eyes, the musty smell of grave dirt around them, etc.. They are forevermore treated as an outsider rather than as a humanoid (or whatever the sorcerer’s creature type was) for the purpose of spells and magical effects. Additionally, the death-touched sorcerer gains the following benefits.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Darkvision out to 60’.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Gain Damage Reduction 10/magic(Su) </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Gain Immunity to critical hits, non-lethal damage, ability drain, physical ability score damage (Str, Dex, Con), and death from massive damage.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> No longer needs to breathe, eat or sleep</li> </ul>Unlike other outsiders, the sorcerer can be raised, reincarnated, or resurrected just as other living creatures can be. Thoughts? Comments? Adjustments?</blockquote>

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