NeoSeraphi
2011-06-11, 09:40 PM
Author's Note: At the moment, I would really appreciate some feedback on more cyst-specific abilities I could give instead of just meta-abuse. I want this class to be as unique as possible but for some reason I'm having trouble being creative today. Please, help me make this class an interesting and viable alternate for necromancers who want a prestige class that doesn't encourage so much extra book-keeping.
Oh, and if anyone has a suitable picture they'd like to donate, I'd appreciate that, I can't find anything that fits.
The Cyst Lord
"A lot of people hear the word 'necromancy' and they immediately get this mental image of some weak guy with a book and a robe standing over corpses and building an army." "You mean, necromancy's not like that?" "Oh hell yes, it's like that, but there's a whole other type of necromancy that they're ignoring, and that's what I'm gonna teach you tonight, boy." - A Cyst Lord conversing with his new apprentice
A Cyst Lord is a necromancer who has chosen to focus on the decaying nature of the necromancy school, rather than the undead-raising bit. Because his necromantic energies are not being constantly placed into other bodies to give them life, he is able to utilize that energy and usher in a much swifter death for his foes.
Abilities: A Cyst Lord needs his casting stat, whatever it might be, in order to cast his spells. Clerics and dread necromancers are the most likely characters to join the ranks of a cyst lord, as wizards tend to be drawn too much to the power that an undead army can provide to forsake it, and few sorcerers are so religious that they would take up the cause of death. Constitution is helpful to a Cyst Lord as it is to any character, and a good Dexterity will help the character use his powerful ray spells like ray of enfeeblement, ray of sickness, ray of exhaustion, enervation and energy drain.
Requirements:
To become a Cyst Lord, one must meet the following requirements:
Spells: Able to cast at least 4 spells from the Necromancy school, at least one of which must be 3rd level or higher.
Skills: Knowledge (Religion): 8 ranks
Feats: Spell Focus (Necromancy), Mother Cyst (Libris Mortis)
Special: Must undergo a special rite performed by any cleric at any temple which will strip the necromancer of his ability to magically animate or create undead. (Completing this removes animate dead, summon undead, create undead, and create greater undead from your current spell list and all other spell lists you may later acquire. You lose the ability to otherwise breathe life into a corpse through any means other than with the spells raise dead, reincarnate, resurrection and true resurrection)
HD: d8
Class Skills: The Cyst Lord's class skills are Concentration, Craft, Decipher Script, Intimidate, Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (Religion), Sense Motive, and Spellcraft
Skill Points: 2+Int mod per level
The Cyst Lord
{table=head]Level|Base Attack<br>Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Spells
1st|
+0|
+0|
+0|
+2|Cystic Casting, Decay Focus, Rebuke Cysts|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
2nd|
+1|
+0|
+0|
+3|Still Cyst|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
3rd|
+1|
+1|
+1|
+3|Silent Cyst|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
4th|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+4|Cystic Aiming|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
5th|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+4|Cystic Domination, Extended Decay|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
6th|
+3|
+2|
+2|
+5|Necrotic Delivery|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
7th|
+3|
+2|
+2|
+5|Empowered Decay|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
8th|
+4|
+2|
+2|
+6|Split Decay|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
9th|
+4|
+3|
+3|
+6|Cystic Spell Mastery|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
10th|
+5|
+3|
+3|
+7|Decay Thesis, Vampiric Cyst|+1 level of existing spellcasting class [/table]
Class Features:
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Cyst Lord gains proficiency with light armor. She gains no proficiency in any weapon or shield.
Cystic Casting: A Cyst Lord gives up her ability to call the undead, and in exchange, puts all that power into the cyst in her body, and it grants her power. From now on, the cyst becomes a focus for all the Cyst Lord's spells from the necromancy school. All spells she casts from the necromancy school no longer require any material components (expensive or otherwise). Additionally, if the Cyst Lord prepares spells, she may lose a prepared spell in order to spontaneously cast a spell she received from the Mother Cyst feat of equal or lower level than the spell she gave up. If she already is a spontaneous caster, she receives a bonus spell slot of each level she can cast, but it may only be used to cast spells she received from her Mother Cyst feat. Additionally, the Cyst Lord may, at will as a standard action, touch a person who has received a necrotic cyst and force it to shrivel away. If the host is unwilling, he is allowed a Fortitude Saving throw to resist (DC is equal to the DC of the Cyst Lord's necrotic cyst spell, with the -2 penalty for the victim's current cyst applying). The Cyst Lord may not use this touch attack on himself. Finally, the Cyst Lord's connection to her empowered cyst grants her immunity to the necrotic spell line.
Spells: At each level, the cyst lord gains new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable), as if she had gained a level in a spellcasting class that she had prior to entering this prestige class. The spellcasting class she advances must be one whose slots she could use to cast spells from the Mother Cyst feat. If she had more than one of such spellcasting class, she chooses one and advances it.
Decay Focus: A cyst lord is a master of weakening her opponents with necromantic spells. If the cyst lord casts a necromancy spell that targets a single opponent and allows a saving throw, that saving throw's DC is increased by 2 (this stacks with similar effects). If the cyst lord targets an opponent with a necromancy ray that does not allow a saving throw, such as enervation, he may force the target to make a Fortitude saving throw (if the ray hits them), DC equal to the DC the spell would have if it allowed one (but not including the bonus from Decay Focus). If the target fails the saving throw, it receives the effects of the spell twice, and they stack, even if they normally wouldn't be allowed to (such as ray of enfeeblement). For example, if a cyst lord casts energy drain and hits a target, the target would need to make a Fort save, DC 25 (10+9 for the spell level, +1 for Spell Focus+5 for his Charisma modifier). If the target failed the saving throw, he would receive 4d4 negative levels. If he succeeded, he would only receive 2d4 negative levels.
Rebuke Cysts: The cyst lord gains the ability to control the free-walking undead known as skulking cysts with relative ease. Her effective cleric level for rebuking/commanding them is treated as twice her caster level. She may rebuke/command cysts at will, though she must wait at least 3 rounds between attempts. Instead of presenting her holy symbol, the cyst lord must present her cyst and uses it in place of holy power. (This class feature does not power divine feats)
Still Cyst: A cyst lord may use the power she harnesses with her cyst in order to advance her knowledge of metamagic considerably. If the cyst lord has the Still Spell feat, she may now apply it to any necromancy spell she casts without increasing the casting time or the spell level, or preparing it ahead of time. If she does not have the Still Spell feat, she instead gains it as a bonus feat, but receives no other benefits from this class feature. If the cyst lord later spends a feat slot to acquire Still Spell, she may gain the full benefits of this class feature.
Silent Cyst: A cyst lord may use her powers of cystic metamagic to improve her necromancy spells even further. A level 3 cyst lord may apply the benefits of the Silent Spell feat to any necromancy spell she casts without increasing the casting time or the spell level, or preparing it ahead of time. If she does not have the Silent Spell feat, she instead gains it as a bonus feat, but receives no other benefits from this class feature. If the cyst lord later spends a feat slot to acquire Silent Spell, she may instead gain the full benefits of this class feature.
Cystic Aiming: A cyst lord's best friend (other than her cyst) is her ray spells. A cyst lord practices all the time with her ray spells, and now she has learned to aim them properly, with the help of her cyst. When rolling a ranged touch attack for a spell, the cyst lord's Base Attack Bonus is treated as her caster level for the spell she is casting. Additionally, she may use her primary casting stat instead of her Dexterity modifier to determine her accuracy.
Cystic Domination: A cyst lord uses his cyst friends like puppets on strings. From now on, when a cyst lord enslaves a victim via the necrotic domination spell, the slave is pushed to his body's absolute limits, with sometimes deadly repercussions. At the cyst lord's command, a slave may enter a berserker rage similar to a barbarian's rage ability, gaining a +6 bonus to Strength, but dropping his AC down to 0 as he focuses entirely on assaulting his target. Every time the slave takes damage while in this state, he must make a Fortitude save (DC 10+damage dealt). If he fails this saving throw, his rage ends and he becomes exhausted. Then he must make another Fortitude save (DC = to the necrotic domination DC) If he fails this saving throw, the cyst consumes him and transforms his body into a skulking cyst (Libris Mortis) that remains dominated for the remainder of the duration of the spell, at which point it becomes a free-roaming undead.
Otherwise, the rage lasts until the necrotic domination spell ends, at which point the slave becomes exhausted.
Extended Decay: The cyst lord's rays are signs that a person's life is drawing near. Whenever a cyst lord affects a target with a ray, that spells' duration is doubled. (This stacks with the benefits of the Extend Spell feat)
Necrotic Delivery: The cyst lord is now able to send special surprises to her victims. When she uses the necrotic scrying spell to locate a victim with a cyst, the radius of the spell becomes 1 mile/caster level and if she does locate any cyst-bearers, she may cast a necrotic spell on them, ignoring the range.
Empowered Decay: The cyst lord gains the Empower Spell feat as a bonus feat. If she already has this feat, she gains the Sudden Empower Spell (Complete Arcane) feat as a bonus feat, though she may only apply this feat to necromancy spells. If she already has both the Empower Spell and Sudden Empower Spell feats, she gains an additional daily use of Sudden Empower Spell, but it may only be used on necromancy spells. If she gained the Sudden Empower Spell feat as a bonus feat through this class, then later spent a feat slot on Sudden Empower Spell, she gains the full benefits of the Sudden Empower Spell feat, as well as an additional daily use of the Sudden Empower Spell feat that may only be used on necromancy spells.
Split Decay: The cyst lord gains the Split Ray feat (Complete Arcane) as a bonus feat. If she already has this feat, she may choose one necromancy ray spell that she knows. She may apply this feat to that spell on the fly without changing its spell level or increasing the casting time a number of times per day equal to her casting modifier (minimum 1) If the cyst lord later spends a feat slot on the Split Ray feat, she may instead gain the full benefits of this class feature.
Cystic Spell Mastery: The cyst lord is now able to prepare her necrotic spells from memory. If she does not prepare spells, she instead may cast each spell a number of times per day equal to her primary casting modifier as a spell-like ability (minimum 1 per spell)
Decay Mastery: The cyst lord is the ruler of the living, instead of the dead. Her necrotic prowess grants her special privileges. She chooses one necromancy spell of each level that she is able to cast. (If she would later gain the ability to cast a higher level spell, she chooses one that she knows immediately as soon as she gains access to that spell level) When casting these spells, she treats her caster level as if it were 2 levels higher, and may reduce the level adjustment for applying metamagic feats to the spell by -1 per feat (to a minimum of 0, but not below 0). For example, if a cyst lord chose enervation as one of these spells, she could cast an empowered maximized enervation by consuming a 7th level spell slot instead of a 9th level spell slot.
Vampiric Cyst: By 10th level, the cyst lord has earned her title and then some. When faced with a foe who has been affected by the necrotic cyst spell, the cyst lord gains a special attack option similar to the energy drain ability of a vampire. By making a melee touch attack, she is able to bestow two negative levels on the victim, and she gains 5 temporary hit points for each negative level. These temporary hit points are lost in one hour. The victim must make a Fortitude save (which he takes a -2 penalty from necrotic cyst on) 24 hours later or these negative levels become permanent.
Oh, and if anyone has a suitable picture they'd like to donate, I'd appreciate that, I can't find anything that fits.
The Cyst Lord
"A lot of people hear the word 'necromancy' and they immediately get this mental image of some weak guy with a book and a robe standing over corpses and building an army." "You mean, necromancy's not like that?" "Oh hell yes, it's like that, but there's a whole other type of necromancy that they're ignoring, and that's what I'm gonna teach you tonight, boy." - A Cyst Lord conversing with his new apprentice
A Cyst Lord is a necromancer who has chosen to focus on the decaying nature of the necromancy school, rather than the undead-raising bit. Because his necromantic energies are not being constantly placed into other bodies to give them life, he is able to utilize that energy and usher in a much swifter death for his foes.
Abilities: A Cyst Lord needs his casting stat, whatever it might be, in order to cast his spells. Clerics and dread necromancers are the most likely characters to join the ranks of a cyst lord, as wizards tend to be drawn too much to the power that an undead army can provide to forsake it, and few sorcerers are so religious that they would take up the cause of death. Constitution is helpful to a Cyst Lord as it is to any character, and a good Dexterity will help the character use his powerful ray spells like ray of enfeeblement, ray of sickness, ray of exhaustion, enervation and energy drain.
Requirements:
To become a Cyst Lord, one must meet the following requirements:
Spells: Able to cast at least 4 spells from the Necromancy school, at least one of which must be 3rd level or higher.
Skills: Knowledge (Religion): 8 ranks
Feats: Spell Focus (Necromancy), Mother Cyst (Libris Mortis)
Special: Must undergo a special rite performed by any cleric at any temple which will strip the necromancer of his ability to magically animate or create undead. (Completing this removes animate dead, summon undead, create undead, and create greater undead from your current spell list and all other spell lists you may later acquire. You lose the ability to otherwise breathe life into a corpse through any means other than with the spells raise dead, reincarnate, resurrection and true resurrection)
HD: d8
Class Skills: The Cyst Lord's class skills are Concentration, Craft, Decipher Script, Intimidate, Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (Religion), Sense Motive, and Spellcraft
Skill Points: 2+Int mod per level
The Cyst Lord
{table=head]Level|Base Attack<br>Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Spells
1st|
+0|
+0|
+0|
+2|Cystic Casting, Decay Focus, Rebuke Cysts|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
2nd|
+1|
+0|
+0|
+3|Still Cyst|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
3rd|
+1|
+1|
+1|
+3|Silent Cyst|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
4th|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+4|Cystic Aiming|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
5th|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+4|Cystic Domination, Extended Decay|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
6th|
+3|
+2|
+2|
+5|Necrotic Delivery|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
7th|
+3|
+2|
+2|
+5|Empowered Decay|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
8th|
+4|
+2|
+2|
+6|Split Decay|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
9th|
+4|
+3|
+3|
+6|Cystic Spell Mastery|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
10th|
+5|
+3|
+3|
+7|Decay Thesis, Vampiric Cyst|+1 level of existing spellcasting class [/table]
Class Features:
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Cyst Lord gains proficiency with light armor. She gains no proficiency in any weapon or shield.
Cystic Casting: A Cyst Lord gives up her ability to call the undead, and in exchange, puts all that power into the cyst in her body, and it grants her power. From now on, the cyst becomes a focus for all the Cyst Lord's spells from the necromancy school. All spells she casts from the necromancy school no longer require any material components (expensive or otherwise). Additionally, if the Cyst Lord prepares spells, she may lose a prepared spell in order to spontaneously cast a spell she received from the Mother Cyst feat of equal or lower level than the spell she gave up. If she already is a spontaneous caster, she receives a bonus spell slot of each level she can cast, but it may only be used to cast spells she received from her Mother Cyst feat. Additionally, the Cyst Lord may, at will as a standard action, touch a person who has received a necrotic cyst and force it to shrivel away. If the host is unwilling, he is allowed a Fortitude Saving throw to resist (DC is equal to the DC of the Cyst Lord's necrotic cyst spell, with the -2 penalty for the victim's current cyst applying). The Cyst Lord may not use this touch attack on himself. Finally, the Cyst Lord's connection to her empowered cyst grants her immunity to the necrotic spell line.
Spells: At each level, the cyst lord gains new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable), as if she had gained a level in a spellcasting class that she had prior to entering this prestige class. The spellcasting class she advances must be one whose slots she could use to cast spells from the Mother Cyst feat. If she had more than one of such spellcasting class, she chooses one and advances it.
Decay Focus: A cyst lord is a master of weakening her opponents with necromantic spells. If the cyst lord casts a necromancy spell that targets a single opponent and allows a saving throw, that saving throw's DC is increased by 2 (this stacks with similar effects). If the cyst lord targets an opponent with a necromancy ray that does not allow a saving throw, such as enervation, he may force the target to make a Fortitude saving throw (if the ray hits them), DC equal to the DC the spell would have if it allowed one (but not including the bonus from Decay Focus). If the target fails the saving throw, it receives the effects of the spell twice, and they stack, even if they normally wouldn't be allowed to (such as ray of enfeeblement). For example, if a cyst lord casts energy drain and hits a target, the target would need to make a Fort save, DC 25 (10+9 for the spell level, +1 for Spell Focus+5 for his Charisma modifier). If the target failed the saving throw, he would receive 4d4 negative levels. If he succeeded, he would only receive 2d4 negative levels.
Rebuke Cysts: The cyst lord gains the ability to control the free-walking undead known as skulking cysts with relative ease. Her effective cleric level for rebuking/commanding them is treated as twice her caster level. She may rebuke/command cysts at will, though she must wait at least 3 rounds between attempts. Instead of presenting her holy symbol, the cyst lord must present her cyst and uses it in place of holy power. (This class feature does not power divine feats)
Still Cyst: A cyst lord may use the power she harnesses with her cyst in order to advance her knowledge of metamagic considerably. If the cyst lord has the Still Spell feat, she may now apply it to any necromancy spell she casts without increasing the casting time or the spell level, or preparing it ahead of time. If she does not have the Still Spell feat, she instead gains it as a bonus feat, but receives no other benefits from this class feature. If the cyst lord later spends a feat slot to acquire Still Spell, she may gain the full benefits of this class feature.
Silent Cyst: A cyst lord may use her powers of cystic metamagic to improve her necromancy spells even further. A level 3 cyst lord may apply the benefits of the Silent Spell feat to any necromancy spell she casts without increasing the casting time or the spell level, or preparing it ahead of time. If she does not have the Silent Spell feat, she instead gains it as a bonus feat, but receives no other benefits from this class feature. If the cyst lord later spends a feat slot to acquire Silent Spell, she may instead gain the full benefits of this class feature.
Cystic Aiming: A cyst lord's best friend (other than her cyst) is her ray spells. A cyst lord practices all the time with her ray spells, and now she has learned to aim them properly, with the help of her cyst. When rolling a ranged touch attack for a spell, the cyst lord's Base Attack Bonus is treated as her caster level for the spell she is casting. Additionally, she may use her primary casting stat instead of her Dexterity modifier to determine her accuracy.
Cystic Domination: A cyst lord uses his cyst friends like puppets on strings. From now on, when a cyst lord enslaves a victim via the necrotic domination spell, the slave is pushed to his body's absolute limits, with sometimes deadly repercussions. At the cyst lord's command, a slave may enter a berserker rage similar to a barbarian's rage ability, gaining a +6 bonus to Strength, but dropping his AC down to 0 as he focuses entirely on assaulting his target. Every time the slave takes damage while in this state, he must make a Fortitude save (DC 10+damage dealt). If he fails this saving throw, his rage ends and he becomes exhausted. Then he must make another Fortitude save (DC = to the necrotic domination DC) If he fails this saving throw, the cyst consumes him and transforms his body into a skulking cyst (Libris Mortis) that remains dominated for the remainder of the duration of the spell, at which point it becomes a free-roaming undead.
Otherwise, the rage lasts until the necrotic domination spell ends, at which point the slave becomes exhausted.
Extended Decay: The cyst lord's rays are signs that a person's life is drawing near. Whenever a cyst lord affects a target with a ray, that spells' duration is doubled. (This stacks with the benefits of the Extend Spell feat)
Necrotic Delivery: The cyst lord is now able to send special surprises to her victims. When she uses the necrotic scrying spell to locate a victim with a cyst, the radius of the spell becomes 1 mile/caster level and if she does locate any cyst-bearers, she may cast a necrotic spell on them, ignoring the range.
Empowered Decay: The cyst lord gains the Empower Spell feat as a bonus feat. If she already has this feat, she gains the Sudden Empower Spell (Complete Arcane) feat as a bonus feat, though she may only apply this feat to necromancy spells. If she already has both the Empower Spell and Sudden Empower Spell feats, she gains an additional daily use of Sudden Empower Spell, but it may only be used on necromancy spells. If she gained the Sudden Empower Spell feat as a bonus feat through this class, then later spent a feat slot on Sudden Empower Spell, she gains the full benefits of the Sudden Empower Spell feat, as well as an additional daily use of the Sudden Empower Spell feat that may only be used on necromancy spells.
Split Decay: The cyst lord gains the Split Ray feat (Complete Arcane) as a bonus feat. If she already has this feat, she may choose one necromancy ray spell that she knows. She may apply this feat to that spell on the fly without changing its spell level or increasing the casting time a number of times per day equal to her casting modifier (minimum 1) If the cyst lord later spends a feat slot on the Split Ray feat, she may instead gain the full benefits of this class feature.
Cystic Spell Mastery: The cyst lord is now able to prepare her necrotic spells from memory. If she does not prepare spells, she instead may cast each spell a number of times per day equal to her primary casting modifier as a spell-like ability (minimum 1 per spell)
Decay Mastery: The cyst lord is the ruler of the living, instead of the dead. Her necrotic prowess grants her special privileges. She chooses one necromancy spell of each level that she is able to cast. (If she would later gain the ability to cast a higher level spell, she chooses one that she knows immediately as soon as she gains access to that spell level) When casting these spells, she treats her caster level as if it were 2 levels higher, and may reduce the level adjustment for applying metamagic feats to the spell by -1 per feat (to a minimum of 0, but not below 0). For example, if a cyst lord chose enervation as one of these spells, she could cast an empowered maximized enervation by consuming a 7th level spell slot instead of a 9th level spell slot.
Vampiric Cyst: By 10th level, the cyst lord has earned her title and then some. When faced with a foe who has been affected by the necrotic cyst spell, the cyst lord gains a special attack option similar to the energy drain ability of a vampire. By making a melee touch attack, she is able to bestow two negative levels on the victim, and she gains 5 temporary hit points for each negative level. These temporary hit points are lost in one hour. The victim must make a Fortitude save (which he takes a -2 penalty from necrotic cyst on) 24 hours later or these negative levels become permanent.