FMArthur
2009-01-01, 02:41 AM
Life Ripper
Life rippers are born with the innate ability to steal life energy from those around them to augment their own life energy. They can only do this when they feel threatened (encounter-only) but are unable to stop it, only direct it. Non-evil life rippers usually carry a pouch filled with dust to focus their power on when they do not wish to target anyone in an encounter.
Hi! This is a very new class, lacking fluff and fluff-related class info for the time being. It does have everything you need to be able to play it, though, and I will be updating later this week with fluff, corrections, and additions.
Game Rule Information
Hit Die: d8
Skill Points: 3 + Int (x4 at first level)
Class Skills: Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Tumble (Dex)
Life Ripper Progression
{table=head]
Class[br]Level|Base[br]Attack[br]Bonus|Fort[br]Save|Ref[br]Save|Will[br]Save|Special
1 |+0 |+2 |+0|+0|Life Drain (15ft, max drain -4), Lifepool Power
2 |+1 |+3 |+0|+0|Focus Drain
3 |+2 |+3 |+1|+1|Lifepool Power
4 |+3 |+4 |+1|+1|d12 Life Drain (20ft, max drain -4)
5 |+3 |+4 |+1|+1|Lifepool Power
6 |+4 |+5 |+2|+2|Hungry Drain (2)
7 |+5 |+5 |+2|+2|Lifepool Power
8 |+6/+1 |+6 |+2|+2|Life Drain (25ft, max drain -5)
9 |+6/+1 |+6 |+3|+3|Lifepool Power
10|+7/+2 |+7 |+3|+3|Supersurge
11|+8/+3 |+7 |+3|+3|Lifepool Power
12|+9/+4 |+8 |+4|+4|Life Drain (30ft, max drain -5), Hungry Drain (3)
13|+9/+4 |+8 |+4|+4|Lifepool Power
14|+10/+5 |+9 |+4|+4|Nemesis
15|+11/+6/+1 |+9 |+5|+5|Lifepool Power
16|+12/+7/+2 |+10|+5|+5|Life Drain (35ft, max drain -6)
17|+12/+7/+2 |+10|+5|+5|Lifepool Power
18|+13/+8/+3 |+11|+6|+6|Hungry Drain (4)
19|+14/+9/+4 |+11|+6|+6|Lifepool Power
20|+15/+10/+5|+12|+6|+6|Life Drain (40ft, max drain -7)[/table]
Class Features
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Life rippers are proficient with all Simple and Martial weapons, shields (but not tower shields), light and medium armor.
Life Drain (Su): At the end of her turn, the life ripper may choose a target enemy within a certain range (shown on the "life ripper progression" chart) and roll a die to determine what she drains from them. At first level she can only roll a d6 for this, but at fourth level she has the option of rolling a d12 instead.
{table=head]
Roll|
d6 Result|
d12 Result
1 | 1 point of Strength| 2 points of Strength
2 | 1 point of Dexterity | 2 points of Dexterity
3 | 1 point of Constitution | 2 points of Constitution
4 | 1 point of Intelligence | 2 points of Intelligence
5 | 1 point of Wisdom | 2 points of Wisdom
6 | 1 point of Charisma | 2 points of Charisma
7 |
- | 1 point of Attack Bonus
8 |
- | 1 point of Armor Class
9 |
- | 1 point of Fortitude Save
10|
- | 1 point of Reflex Save
11|
- | 1 point of Will Save
12|
- | 1 Hit Point/level[/table]
The life ripper can add this drained ability/attribute to her own corresponding ability/attribute or add 10 points to her Lifepool (or 20 when using the d12), which she can use to activate Lifepool powers. This is an untyped modifier and it stacks with itself. The modifier applied to an enemy's stat through Life Drain cannot fall below the life ripper's 'max drain' (indicated on the progression chart) - or half of the max drain for options after 6 on the chart - and the life ripper does not gain anything when nothing is drained from an enemy. The Hit point drain's only restriction is that it cannot reduce a person to below 0 HP. The effects of this ability (both penalties to enemies and bonuses to self) wear off when an encounter ends.
At the end of a life ripper's turn, enemies who are dead or are beyond 4 times Life Drain's range away from her have their attributes restored to normal, but the life ripper's attributes do not reset until the end of the encounter or her own death. Life Drain can reduce an inanimate object to dust after a number of minutes equal to its hardness plus one, multiplied by its hit points.
Lifepool Power (Su): A life ripper can use others' and her own life energy to use various special abilities called Lifepool powers. You only have access to one Lifepool power (of your choice) at first level and may choose an additional Lifepool power to gain access to at every second level after that. You begin every encounter with a Lifepool of 20, and are treated as having that amount available at all times outside of encounters. The cost of each Lifepool power to your Lifepool is reduced by your Intelligence modifier (with a minimum cost of 1); Wisdom is generally used for positive effects for allies, and Charisma is generally used for negative effects on enemies. Below is a list of Lifepool powers:
Booster: At a cost of 10 to your Lifepool, you may boost a single ability score of yours by 2 until the end of the round as a free action. You can do this any number of times up to your Wisdom modifier (or 1, if it is higher) and the bonus stacks. This ability can only be used during encounters.
[br] Vampire Strike: At a cost of 11 to your Lifepool, you may use a standard action to make a melee attack on an enemy, add your Charisma modifier to the damage, and if you hit, heal yourself or a teammate within 30ft by your Wisdom modifier.
[br] Unnatural Speed: At a cost of 16 to your Lifepool, as a swift action you may move an extra five feet.
[br] Power Grapple: At a cost of 19 to your Lifepool, you can add your Charisma modifier any grapple check you make this round.
[br] Indomitable Spirit: At a cost of 20 to your Lifepool, you gain a morale bonus of 1 to a single saving throw. You can increase this by 1 up to your Wisdom modifier for every 2 extra Lifepool you spend for this ability.
[br] Life Burst: At a cost of 23 to your Lifepool, as a full-round action you may roll a saving throw against a single ongoing magical spell or condition currently affecting you, even if it does not normally allow a saving throw. If you succeed, the effect is removed. You may upgrade this to a standard action at an additional cost of 5 Lifepool, a move action with another 5, a swift action with another 5, and finally an immediate action with another 5 (Costing 23, 28, 33, 38, or 43).
[br] Reverse Drain: At a cost of 24 to your Lifepool, as a swift action you may roll a d12 for Life Drain. You lose twice the number for the listed attribute and a target of your choice within 60ft gains that much to the corresponding attribute. If this causes you to die, they instead gain four times the listed number. This lasts up to your Charisma modifier in minutes (minimum 1) or until you decide to return the attributes (doing so is a free action). You may only use this ability if the number of targets currently under this ability's effects is less than your Wisdom modifier (or 1, if it is higher).
[br] Mega Guard: At a cost of 25 to your Lifepool, you can use a full-round action to add your Charisma modifier to your AC and gain your Wisdom modifier as DR until the start of your next turn.
[br] Mega Hit: At a cost of 25 to your Lifepool, you can use a standard action to attack an enemy at melee range, adding your Wisdom modifier to your attack roll and your Charisma modifier to the damage.
[br] Stunstrike: At a cost of 27 to your Lifepool, the next attack you make this round has the effect of the Stunning Fist (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#stunningFist) feat.
[br] Fist Storm: At a cost of 28 to your Lifepool, if you have at least one hand free you can use a standard action to make a single unarmed attack on a number of different enemies within your reach equal to your Wisdom modifier, with a bonus to damage on each of them equal to your Charisma modifier.
[br] Energy Heal: At a cost of 32 to your Lifepool, you may heal every ally within a 20ft radius of you by your Wisdom modifier as a move action.
[br] Living Meteor: At a cost of 35 to your Lifepool, you may use a move action to fly in a straight line up to any target you can see within 60ft of you and they take damage equal to your Charisma modifier plus your class level. They are immediately rendered prone unless they can succeed on a Reflex Save with a difficulty class of 10 + half your class level + your Wisdom modifier.
[br] De-energizing Strike: At a cost of 45 to your Lifepool, you can use a free action to have your attacks cumulatively reduce your target's movement speed by 5 each instead of dealing damage this round. The effect wears off after a number of rounds equal to half your Charisma modifier, minimum 1.
[br] Liferip Attack: At a cost of 70 to your Lifepool, you may use a swift action to make a melee touch attack against a single target. On success, you use the Life Drain ability on your target, in addition to the one(s) always granted at the end of your turn.
Focus Drain (Su): Choose a target within Life Drain range. If they fail a Will Save with a DC of 10 + half your class level + your Charisma modifier, you use the Life Drain ability on them in addition to the one(s) always granted at the end of your turn.
Hungry Drain: You may apply your end-of-turn Life Drain to two targets starting at sixth level. This increases to three targets at twelfth level and then to four targets at eighteenth level. All normal restrictions still apply. If you target a single enemy with more than one of these Life Drains, they lose no additional attributes but you recieve 10 extra Lifepool points.
Supersurge: By doubling the cost of a Lifepool power, you can execute it as a free action.
Nemesis (Su): Any time after you get this ability, you may choose a target affected by your Life Drain to designate as your Nemesis. Any Life Drain bonus recieved from them persists from encounter to encounter with no maximum range until one of you dies or you designate a different Nemesis. The penalty applied to Life Drain targets still vanishes for your Nemesis in the normal way. You must make an active effort to kill them any time you see them or they automatically lose the Nemesis designation.
My Comments, Changelog
This is still somewhat incomplete; some aspects of this class scale better than others (some don't scale at all), and there aren't a large amount of class features. Penalties are not as difficult to keep track of as you might think; I should know, I DM'd a monster about a year ago with this life drain mechanic against a party of six with other monsters in play. If you have comments, complaints or suggestions, I beg you to post! I will be updating this later in the week when I get home (and I'll finally be back with my D&D books).
Life rippers are born with the innate ability to steal life energy from those around them to augment their own life energy. They can only do this when they feel threatened (encounter-only) but are unable to stop it, only direct it. Non-evil life rippers usually carry a pouch filled with dust to focus their power on when they do not wish to target anyone in an encounter.
Hi! This is a very new class, lacking fluff and fluff-related class info for the time being. It does have everything you need to be able to play it, though, and I will be updating later this week with fluff, corrections, and additions.
Game Rule Information
Hit Die: d8
Skill Points: 3 + Int (x4 at first level)
Class Skills: Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Tumble (Dex)
Life Ripper Progression
{table=head]
Class[br]Level|Base[br]Attack[br]Bonus|Fort[br]Save|Ref[br]Save|Will[br]Save|Special
1 |+0 |+2 |+0|+0|Life Drain (15ft, max drain -4), Lifepool Power
2 |+1 |+3 |+0|+0|Focus Drain
3 |+2 |+3 |+1|+1|Lifepool Power
4 |+3 |+4 |+1|+1|d12 Life Drain (20ft, max drain -4)
5 |+3 |+4 |+1|+1|Lifepool Power
6 |+4 |+5 |+2|+2|Hungry Drain (2)
7 |+5 |+5 |+2|+2|Lifepool Power
8 |+6/+1 |+6 |+2|+2|Life Drain (25ft, max drain -5)
9 |+6/+1 |+6 |+3|+3|Lifepool Power
10|+7/+2 |+7 |+3|+3|Supersurge
11|+8/+3 |+7 |+3|+3|Lifepool Power
12|+9/+4 |+8 |+4|+4|Life Drain (30ft, max drain -5), Hungry Drain (3)
13|+9/+4 |+8 |+4|+4|Lifepool Power
14|+10/+5 |+9 |+4|+4|Nemesis
15|+11/+6/+1 |+9 |+5|+5|Lifepool Power
16|+12/+7/+2 |+10|+5|+5|Life Drain (35ft, max drain -6)
17|+12/+7/+2 |+10|+5|+5|Lifepool Power
18|+13/+8/+3 |+11|+6|+6|Hungry Drain (4)
19|+14/+9/+4 |+11|+6|+6|Lifepool Power
20|+15/+10/+5|+12|+6|+6|Life Drain (40ft, max drain -7)[/table]
Class Features
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Life rippers are proficient with all Simple and Martial weapons, shields (but not tower shields), light and medium armor.
Life Drain (Su): At the end of her turn, the life ripper may choose a target enemy within a certain range (shown on the "life ripper progression" chart) and roll a die to determine what she drains from them. At first level she can only roll a d6 for this, but at fourth level she has the option of rolling a d12 instead.
{table=head]
Roll|
d6 Result|
d12 Result
1 | 1 point of Strength| 2 points of Strength
2 | 1 point of Dexterity | 2 points of Dexterity
3 | 1 point of Constitution | 2 points of Constitution
4 | 1 point of Intelligence | 2 points of Intelligence
5 | 1 point of Wisdom | 2 points of Wisdom
6 | 1 point of Charisma | 2 points of Charisma
7 |
- | 1 point of Attack Bonus
8 |
- | 1 point of Armor Class
9 |
- | 1 point of Fortitude Save
10|
- | 1 point of Reflex Save
11|
- | 1 point of Will Save
12|
- | 1 Hit Point/level[/table]
The life ripper can add this drained ability/attribute to her own corresponding ability/attribute or add 10 points to her Lifepool (or 20 when using the d12), which she can use to activate Lifepool powers. This is an untyped modifier and it stacks with itself. The modifier applied to an enemy's stat through Life Drain cannot fall below the life ripper's 'max drain' (indicated on the progression chart) - or half of the max drain for options after 6 on the chart - and the life ripper does not gain anything when nothing is drained from an enemy. The Hit point drain's only restriction is that it cannot reduce a person to below 0 HP. The effects of this ability (both penalties to enemies and bonuses to self) wear off when an encounter ends.
At the end of a life ripper's turn, enemies who are dead or are beyond 4 times Life Drain's range away from her have their attributes restored to normal, but the life ripper's attributes do not reset until the end of the encounter or her own death. Life Drain can reduce an inanimate object to dust after a number of minutes equal to its hardness plus one, multiplied by its hit points.
Lifepool Power (Su): A life ripper can use others' and her own life energy to use various special abilities called Lifepool powers. You only have access to one Lifepool power (of your choice) at first level and may choose an additional Lifepool power to gain access to at every second level after that. You begin every encounter with a Lifepool of 20, and are treated as having that amount available at all times outside of encounters. The cost of each Lifepool power to your Lifepool is reduced by your Intelligence modifier (with a minimum cost of 1); Wisdom is generally used for positive effects for allies, and Charisma is generally used for negative effects on enemies. Below is a list of Lifepool powers:
Booster: At a cost of 10 to your Lifepool, you may boost a single ability score of yours by 2 until the end of the round as a free action. You can do this any number of times up to your Wisdom modifier (or 1, if it is higher) and the bonus stacks. This ability can only be used during encounters.
[br] Vampire Strike: At a cost of 11 to your Lifepool, you may use a standard action to make a melee attack on an enemy, add your Charisma modifier to the damage, and if you hit, heal yourself or a teammate within 30ft by your Wisdom modifier.
[br] Unnatural Speed: At a cost of 16 to your Lifepool, as a swift action you may move an extra five feet.
[br] Power Grapple: At a cost of 19 to your Lifepool, you can add your Charisma modifier any grapple check you make this round.
[br] Indomitable Spirit: At a cost of 20 to your Lifepool, you gain a morale bonus of 1 to a single saving throw. You can increase this by 1 up to your Wisdom modifier for every 2 extra Lifepool you spend for this ability.
[br] Life Burst: At a cost of 23 to your Lifepool, as a full-round action you may roll a saving throw against a single ongoing magical spell or condition currently affecting you, even if it does not normally allow a saving throw. If you succeed, the effect is removed. You may upgrade this to a standard action at an additional cost of 5 Lifepool, a move action with another 5, a swift action with another 5, and finally an immediate action with another 5 (Costing 23, 28, 33, 38, or 43).
[br] Reverse Drain: At a cost of 24 to your Lifepool, as a swift action you may roll a d12 for Life Drain. You lose twice the number for the listed attribute and a target of your choice within 60ft gains that much to the corresponding attribute. If this causes you to die, they instead gain four times the listed number. This lasts up to your Charisma modifier in minutes (minimum 1) or until you decide to return the attributes (doing so is a free action). You may only use this ability if the number of targets currently under this ability's effects is less than your Wisdom modifier (or 1, if it is higher).
[br] Mega Guard: At a cost of 25 to your Lifepool, you can use a full-round action to add your Charisma modifier to your AC and gain your Wisdom modifier as DR until the start of your next turn.
[br] Mega Hit: At a cost of 25 to your Lifepool, you can use a standard action to attack an enemy at melee range, adding your Wisdom modifier to your attack roll and your Charisma modifier to the damage.
[br] Stunstrike: At a cost of 27 to your Lifepool, the next attack you make this round has the effect of the Stunning Fist (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#stunningFist) feat.
[br] Fist Storm: At a cost of 28 to your Lifepool, if you have at least one hand free you can use a standard action to make a single unarmed attack on a number of different enemies within your reach equal to your Wisdom modifier, with a bonus to damage on each of them equal to your Charisma modifier.
[br] Energy Heal: At a cost of 32 to your Lifepool, you may heal every ally within a 20ft radius of you by your Wisdom modifier as a move action.
[br] Living Meteor: At a cost of 35 to your Lifepool, you may use a move action to fly in a straight line up to any target you can see within 60ft of you and they take damage equal to your Charisma modifier plus your class level. They are immediately rendered prone unless they can succeed on a Reflex Save with a difficulty class of 10 + half your class level + your Wisdom modifier.
[br] De-energizing Strike: At a cost of 45 to your Lifepool, you can use a free action to have your attacks cumulatively reduce your target's movement speed by 5 each instead of dealing damage this round. The effect wears off after a number of rounds equal to half your Charisma modifier, minimum 1.
[br] Liferip Attack: At a cost of 70 to your Lifepool, you may use a swift action to make a melee touch attack against a single target. On success, you use the Life Drain ability on your target, in addition to the one(s) always granted at the end of your turn.
Focus Drain (Su): Choose a target within Life Drain range. If they fail a Will Save with a DC of 10 + half your class level + your Charisma modifier, you use the Life Drain ability on them in addition to the one(s) always granted at the end of your turn.
Hungry Drain: You may apply your end-of-turn Life Drain to two targets starting at sixth level. This increases to three targets at twelfth level and then to four targets at eighteenth level. All normal restrictions still apply. If you target a single enemy with more than one of these Life Drains, they lose no additional attributes but you recieve 10 extra Lifepool points.
Supersurge: By doubling the cost of a Lifepool power, you can execute it as a free action.
Nemesis (Su): Any time after you get this ability, you may choose a target affected by your Life Drain to designate as your Nemesis. Any Life Drain bonus recieved from them persists from encounter to encounter with no maximum range until one of you dies or you designate a different Nemesis. The penalty applied to Life Drain targets still vanishes for your Nemesis in the normal way. You must make an active effort to kill them any time you see them or they automatically lose the Nemesis designation.
My Comments, Changelog
This is still somewhat incomplete; some aspects of this class scale better than others (some don't scale at all), and there aren't a large amount of class features. Penalties are not as difficult to keep track of as you might think; I should know, I DM'd a monster about a year ago with this life drain mechanic against a party of six with other monsters in play. If you have comments, complaints or suggestions, I beg you to post! I will be updating this later in the week when I get home (and I'll finally be back with my D&D books).