Maerok
2008-05-07, 11:21 PM
Deathdrinker
"This isn't about good or evil, paladin. This is about using one's resources to the fullest!"
~Agoris Agon, deathdrinker
Deathdrinkers are masters of ambiguity; they do not allow their morals to cloud their spellcasting options. They have come to care for only what a spell ultimately does, rather than how it is invoked. To an extent, good spells and evil spells are of no concern to them - a spell is a spell. At the same time, deathdrinkers take advantage of energies freed during the death of a living creature. This allows them to use this newfound power to enhance their own abilities. The concept of death and magic is balanced very carefully in their hands, and many are follows of Wee Jas for this reason. Clerics, Wizards, and Druids, among other spellcasters, who see beyond the connotations of spells and into the circle of life that pervades tabooed magic find the way of deathdrinkers to be very appealing.
HD: d4
Prerequisites:
Non-good or non-lawful (NG, CG, TN, NE, CE)
Able to cast at least three necromancy spells, one of which is at least third level
Spell Focus (Necromancy)
Skill Points: 2 + Int modifier
Skills: Craft, Concentration, Diplomacy, Know (arcane or religion), Profession, Spellcraft
{table=head]Level|BAB |Fort.|Ref.|Will|Special|Spellcasting
1|+0|+0|+0|+2|Pragmatic Spellcaster; Death Pool|-
2|+1|+0|+0|+3|Fair Trade|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
3|+2|+1|+1|+3|Equilibrium|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
4|+3|+1|+1|+4|Harvest|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
5|+3|+1|+1|+4|Necromantic Boon|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
[/table]
Class Features:
Weapons and Armor: Deathdrinkers do not gain new armor or weapon proficiencies.
Pragmatic Spellcaster: The deathdrinker mantra is that what ultimately decides your moral status is not the preconceptions behind a spell but how it is actually used when the pressure is on. Deathdrinkers may cast any spell of a level lower than their class level as if it had no alignment descriptor; the simple act of casting such spells no longer makes them good or evil. Animating the undead eventually becomes a neutral act but making them attack the innocent will drive the caster towards evil. Spells are still treated as of the original alignment for the purpose of certain defenses.
Death Pool (Su): Deathdrinkers can harness the energy that binds a soul to its physical form as it escapes the body. Whenever a living creature of a CR equal to the deathdrinker's ECL or higher is slain within 5 feet of the deathdrinker per class level, he may increase his death pool by one point to a maximum equal to his class levels. As a swift action once per turn, unless noted otherwise, the deathdrinker may spend death points from his pool.
Minor Harm or Heal (1 point): The next spell the deathdrinker casts this turn heals or harms one of its targets (if any) by an amount equal to its spell level.
Morality Veil (2 points): A deathdrinker can flavor a spell with the morality of a creature who provided a death point to him (pick from the two points spent to use this ability). Choose one axis of that alignment and use that in place of the alignment descriptor of the next [good], [evil], [law], or [chaos] spell you cast. Neutral cannot be chosen.
Conversion - Weal (3 points): As an immediate action, the deathdrinker can alter a spell within 30 feet that would damage via positive or negative energy damage into a spell that heals by the other means; mass inflict wounds would heal the living with positive energy and the undead with negative energy, as would mass cure wounds, for example. This requires a successful Spellcraft check (DC equal to 2 x caster level).
Conversion - Woe (4 points): As Conversion - Weal, but all targets are harmed instead.
Lifewell (5 points): The deathdrinker is healed 3d6 points as a standard action, stabilizes automatically when dying as a free action, or gains a +3 bonus to his next save as an immediate action. If he loses the bonus at the beginning of his next turn.
Creatures killed by a death pool enhanced spell do not yield death points.
Fair Trade (Su): Any creature whose death increases the deathdrinker's deathpool or is slain through Harvest receives the benefit of gentle repose. This benefits last for one day per class level. Until the corpse is raised, it cannot be turned into an undead creature by any effect whose caster level is less than or equal to your own (unless it chooses to be).
Equilibrium (Ex): The deathdrinker gains a bonus to Heal checks equal to the size of his deathpool. As long as this bonus is at least +1, he may reroll a Heal check to stabilize a dying creature on his first attempt per creature.
Harvest (Su): At fourth level, a deathdrinker may perform a coup de grace as a standard action and receive the benefit of death knell for a number of rounds equal to its HD.
Necromantic Boon: Deathdrinkers dabble in the dark arts when necessary and are always eager to take on new spells that may suit them. At fifth level, the deathdrinker may add one necromancy spell off the Cleric, Druid, or Wizard spellcasting list (up to fifth level) to his spells known when he prepares his spells for the day. It lasts until the next time he chooses his spells, when he may choose to replace it. He cannot gain a spell of a higher level than he can cast.
"This isn't about good or evil, paladin. This is about using one's resources to the fullest!"
~Agoris Agon, deathdrinker
Deathdrinkers are masters of ambiguity; they do not allow their morals to cloud their spellcasting options. They have come to care for only what a spell ultimately does, rather than how it is invoked. To an extent, good spells and evil spells are of no concern to them - a spell is a spell. At the same time, deathdrinkers take advantage of energies freed during the death of a living creature. This allows them to use this newfound power to enhance their own abilities. The concept of death and magic is balanced very carefully in their hands, and many are follows of Wee Jas for this reason. Clerics, Wizards, and Druids, among other spellcasters, who see beyond the connotations of spells and into the circle of life that pervades tabooed magic find the way of deathdrinkers to be very appealing.
HD: d4
Prerequisites:
Non-good or non-lawful (NG, CG, TN, NE, CE)
Able to cast at least three necromancy spells, one of which is at least third level
Spell Focus (Necromancy)
Skill Points: 2 + Int modifier
Skills: Craft, Concentration, Diplomacy, Know (arcane or religion), Profession, Spellcraft
{table=head]Level|BAB |Fort.|Ref.|Will|Special|Spellcasting
1|+0|+0|+0|+2|Pragmatic Spellcaster; Death Pool|-
2|+1|+0|+0|+3|Fair Trade|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
3|+2|+1|+1|+3|Equilibrium|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
4|+3|+1|+1|+4|Harvest|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
5|+3|+1|+1|+4|Necromantic Boon|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
[/table]
Class Features:
Weapons and Armor: Deathdrinkers do not gain new armor or weapon proficiencies.
Pragmatic Spellcaster: The deathdrinker mantra is that what ultimately decides your moral status is not the preconceptions behind a spell but how it is actually used when the pressure is on. Deathdrinkers may cast any spell of a level lower than their class level as if it had no alignment descriptor; the simple act of casting such spells no longer makes them good or evil. Animating the undead eventually becomes a neutral act but making them attack the innocent will drive the caster towards evil. Spells are still treated as of the original alignment for the purpose of certain defenses.
Death Pool (Su): Deathdrinkers can harness the energy that binds a soul to its physical form as it escapes the body. Whenever a living creature of a CR equal to the deathdrinker's ECL or higher is slain within 5 feet of the deathdrinker per class level, he may increase his death pool by one point to a maximum equal to his class levels. As a swift action once per turn, unless noted otherwise, the deathdrinker may spend death points from his pool.
Minor Harm or Heal (1 point): The next spell the deathdrinker casts this turn heals or harms one of its targets (if any) by an amount equal to its spell level.
Morality Veil (2 points): A deathdrinker can flavor a spell with the morality of a creature who provided a death point to him (pick from the two points spent to use this ability). Choose one axis of that alignment and use that in place of the alignment descriptor of the next [good], [evil], [law], or [chaos] spell you cast. Neutral cannot be chosen.
Conversion - Weal (3 points): As an immediate action, the deathdrinker can alter a spell within 30 feet that would damage via positive or negative energy damage into a spell that heals by the other means; mass inflict wounds would heal the living with positive energy and the undead with negative energy, as would mass cure wounds, for example. This requires a successful Spellcraft check (DC equal to 2 x caster level).
Conversion - Woe (4 points): As Conversion - Weal, but all targets are harmed instead.
Lifewell (5 points): The deathdrinker is healed 3d6 points as a standard action, stabilizes automatically when dying as a free action, or gains a +3 bonus to his next save as an immediate action. If he loses the bonus at the beginning of his next turn.
Creatures killed by a death pool enhanced spell do not yield death points.
Fair Trade (Su): Any creature whose death increases the deathdrinker's deathpool or is slain through Harvest receives the benefit of gentle repose. This benefits last for one day per class level. Until the corpse is raised, it cannot be turned into an undead creature by any effect whose caster level is less than or equal to your own (unless it chooses to be).
Equilibrium (Ex): The deathdrinker gains a bonus to Heal checks equal to the size of his deathpool. As long as this bonus is at least +1, he may reroll a Heal check to stabilize a dying creature on his first attempt per creature.
Harvest (Su): At fourth level, a deathdrinker may perform a coup de grace as a standard action and receive the benefit of death knell for a number of rounds equal to its HD.
Necromantic Boon: Deathdrinkers dabble in the dark arts when necessary and are always eager to take on new spells that may suit them. At fifth level, the deathdrinker may add one necromancy spell off the Cleric, Druid, or Wizard spellcasting list (up to fifth level) to his spells known when he prepares his spells for the day. It lasts until the next time he chooses his spells, when he may choose to replace it. He cannot gain a spell of a higher level than he can cast.