"Oh dear... I've made quite a mess." [PrC]

Wounding Spell [Metamagic]
You are capable of causing damage-dealing spells you cast rip away at the bodies of enemies.
Prerequisites: Empower Spell
Benefits: When affected by this feat, a spell that deals damage to a creature also inflicts a bloody wound that does not heal normally. Whenever you prepare or cast a spell as an Empowered spell, in addition to doing normal damage, it also deals 1 point of Con damage to the target. Creatures immune to critical hits are immune to this Con damage.

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Blood Sage
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26.../BloodSage.jpg
Senssish, entering the veins of god stance

HD: d6

Requirements
Alignment: Any nongood, nonlawful
Skills: Concentration 8 ranks, Heal 2 ranks, Martial Lore 4 ranks, Spellcraft 4 ranks
Feats: Empower Spell, Oncoming Storm Expertise, Wounding Spell
Spellcasting: Ability to cast 2nd level arcane spells, including blade of blood(see Players Handbook II)
Maneuvers: Ability to use 2nd level Oncoming Storm discipline maneuvers, including sudden slash.
Special: Must have killed a helpless victim by slowly bleeding them to death.

Class Skills: Balance, Bluff, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Decipher Script, Heal, Hide, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (all skills, taken individually), Martial Lore, Move Silently, Profession, Sense Motive, Spellcraft, Swim and Tumble
Skill-points per level: 4+Int modifier

{table="head"]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special|Spellcasting
1st|+0|+0|+2|+2|Blood memory, vicious knowledge|--
2nd|+1|+0|+3|+3|Insidious slash|+1 level of spellcasting class
3rd|+2|+1|+3|+3|Wounding blade 1|+1 level of spellcasting class
4th|+3|+1|+4|+4|Blood scrying|+1 level of spellcasting class
5th|+3|+1|+4|+4|Greater wounding spell|+1 level of spellcasting class
6th|+4|+2|+5|+5|Stance of bloodwalking|+1 level of spellcasting class
7th|+5|+2|+5|+5|Wounding blade 2|+1 level of spellcasting class
8th|+6|+2|+6|+6|Blood communal|+1 level of spellcasting class
9th|+6|+3|+6|+6|Blood reaver strike|+1 level of spellcasting class
10th|+7|+3|+7|+7|Veins of god stance|+1 level of spellcasting class
[/table]

{table="head"]Level|Man. Known|Man. Readied|Stances Known
1st|0|0|1
2nd|1|1|0
3rd|0|0|0
4th|1|0|0
5th|0|1|0
6th|1|0|1
7th|0|0|0
8th|1|1|0
9th|0|0|0
10th|1|0|0
[/table]

Weapon and armor proficiencies: Blood sages gain proficiency with all simple and martial weapons, but no armors or shields.

Maneuvers: At every level except 3rd, 4th, 7th and 8th, a blood sage gains new maneuvers known from the Diamond Mind, Oncoming Storm, Shadow Hand and Tiger Claw disciplines. You must meet a maneuver's prerequisite to learn it. You add your full blood sage levels to your initiator level to determine your total initiator level and your highest-level maneuvers known.
At 3rd, 6th and 9th levels, you gain additional maneuvers readied per day.

Stances Known: At 2nd level and again at 6th level, you learn a new martial stance from the Diamond Mind, Oncoming Storm, Shadow Hand or Tiger Claw disciplines. You must meet the stances prerequisites to learn it.

Spellcasting: At each level except first, you gain new spells per day and an increase in caster level(and spells known, if applicable) as if you had also gained a level in an arcane spellcasting class to which you belonged before adding the prestige class level. You do not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If you had more than one arcane spellcasting class before becoming a blood sage, you must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining spells per day, caster level, and spells known.

Blood Memory (Su): At first level, you gain the fundamental abilities of violating someone's soul through their disembodied blood. By making a melee attack against a target with blood of some kind, you can force them to make a Will save(DC 10+blood sage level+Int or Cha, whichever is higher), and if they fail they become a victim of your blood memory ability. victims are affected as the status spell, cannot hide or gain the benefits of concealment or invisibility against the Blood Sage. You can also communicate telepathically with the creature if they are within 60 feet of you. The blood sage needs to be holding the melee weapon they used on the victim as a constant focus to use the status. Additionally, you are fully aware of the creature's name, ability scores and alignment at all times.
You may have a number of victims of this ability equal to your blood sage level.

Vicious Knowledge: Blood sages have gathered knowledge over time about the ways of blood and the soul over time, and continue to do so as they progress in the arcane arts. This grants them bonus spells known from the list below. These spells are immediately added to your list of spells known the instant you gain a new spell level. If you already have access to these spell levels, you add the appropriate spells to the appropriate spells known according to level.

1st - babau slime*, bane, critical strike*
2nd - bladeweave*, chain of eyes*, false life, infernal wound*, wracking touch
3rd - clutch of orcus*, dolorous blow*, fear, keen edge, poison, steeldance*, vampiric touch
4th - bloodstar*, burning blood*, contagion, crushing despair, vortex of teeth*
5th - magic jar, nighstalker's transformation*, slay living, symbol of pain, wrack*
6th - aura of terror*, finger of death, fleshiver*, harm
7th - avasculate*, blood to water*, destruction, kiss of the vampire*
8th - avascular mass*, clone, flensing, symbol of death, trap the soul
9th - detonate**, implosion

*Spells found in Spell Compendium
**Spells found in Players Handbook II

Insidious Slash (Ex): At 2nd level, your ability to cut in all the most vital places with painful and damaging effect is far greater than your average warrior. Whenever you roll for melee damage, if you roll a 1 for damage you may instead reroll the damage with a bonus equal to your blood sage level. This can be used in conjunction with martial strikes and boosts, but rolls of 1 on damage rolls for them are not subject to rerolls.
Additionally, whenever you score a critical hit against an opponent, you don't roll for damage but automatically deal the max melee damage for your weapon, multiplied by the weapons critical multiplier and including a bonus to damage equal to your blood sage level.

Wounding Blade (Ex): At 3rd level, you are an expert at hitting an enemy where it will bleed and hurt the most, but unlike a sneak attack, your attacks gouge and bleed heavily. Any melee weapon you wield is considered to have the Wounding special property on it, but it still functions in antimagic fields and cannot be dispelled. This Con damage is in addition to any maneuvers you can use that also deal Con damage.
At 7th level, the damage to Con your weapon deals increases to 2.

Blood Scrying (Sp): At 4th level, you are capable of spying on victims of your blood memory. You can use scrying on them as a spell-like ability at will with a caster level equal to your own. Unlike the normal spell, they do not receive a will save against this ability.

Greater Wounding Spell: At 5th level, you gain a greater version of the Wounding Spell feat. It functions just as the forementioned feat, but the amount of Con damage it deals is equal to 1d4 instead of just 1.

Stance of Bloodwalking (Su): At 6th level, you gain the uncanny ability to teleport between locations using the blood of living creatures. You take a swift action to lose the benefits of any stance you're in to gain the benefits granted by this stance. When in this stance, they may touch a single living creature with blood once per round as a standard action. If their touch attack succeeds, they may teleport themself to any living creature with blood on the same plane of existence, just as the greater teleport spell, except they must exit and enter creatures with blood. If they so wish, they can teleport to any victim of the blood memory ability as a swift action instead of a standard action.
Once per encounter if the blood sage so desires, they can attempt to make a bloody exit from the destination creature. He bursts forth explosively from the creatures body, dealing 10d6 points of damage unless the creature makes a Fort save (DC 10+blood sage level+Con modifier). If using an explosive exit, they exit at the end of a full round action.

Blood Communal (Su): At 8th level, you gain mastery over victims of your blood memory ability. No matter the distance you are from them, so long as you're on the same plane, you are capable of speaking to them telepathically and reading their thoughts as the detect thoughts spell, except they do not receive a Will save against the ability. Additionally, once per day you may forcefully teleport one of your victims to any square within 30 feet of you. A successful Will save(DC 10+blood sage level+Int or Cha modifier) negates the teleportation.

Blood Reaver Strike (Su): At 9th level, you learn a vicious strike meant to reap the very vitality of your foe. This is treated just as a normal martial maneuver: you must ready it and expend it normally. It is a 7th level strike, and does not belong to any discipline. Using this strike requires a standard action to use a melee attack against a single opponent. If your strike hits, you deal an additional 10d6 points of damage which cannot be healed unless done so by a caster which makes a caster level check equal to your initiator level+10. Additionally, on a successful strike the victim takes 1d6 points of Con drain.

Veins of God Stance (Su): At 10th level, you learn the ultimate secret of blood, but can only burst it from your very own blood and soul. You take a swift action to lose the benefits of any stance you're in to gain the benefits granted by this stance. When in this stance, you gain DR 10/magic and bludgeoning, immunity to drain, damage or burn to your Con score, and a 50% chance to avoid the extra damage from critical hits, sneak attacks and other precision based attacks, and you gain the ability to drain blood from your enemies. Instead of taking an attack of opportunity you may summon the blood right from the victims veins, and they must make a DC 20+Con Fort save or take 1d4 Con damage. Each time a character takes Con damage from this ability, they receive 5 temporary hitpoints, which stack but cannot add up to more than double the character's total hit points.

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/ex...ery/108501.jpg
Neshka Dal, ready to bleed another victim

I'm not sure about the balance, but this is quite an interresting PrC. Which spellcasting class is it ideally designed to work with, though? I'm guessing Battle Sorcerer or Duskblade would be best, right?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tempest Fennac

I'm not sure about the balance, but this is quite an interresting PrC. Which spellcasting class is it ideally designed to work with, though? I'm guessing Battle Sorcerer or Duskblade would be best, right?

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Yeah, it was intended for some blastercaster like wizard and sorcerer originally.

Thanks (I was thinking of Battle Sorcerers and Duskblades due to them being better for HPs and BAB). Admittedly, they aren't optimal as far as Metamagic use goes.

Ah, this is a nice martial counterpart to the Hematomancer (formerly known as the Sanguimancer) that I'm working on. Great work as always, Krimm.

I...I love this PrC.

So much.

The picture just makes it so much better, and Insidious Slash is just godly.

Ok, question time!

1. Does wounding spell increase the spell slot level? It definitely should, otherwise there's no reason not to take this feat, unless you lack the prereq.

2. Insidious slash is probably broken:

A: On a damage roll of 1 - is this a 1 on a die, or on the total damage? What happens if you roll a 2 dice weapon? Full reroll for 1 one or just a single die?

B: They reroll with a bonus to damage - wait, a possible +10 and reroll?

C: It says it can be used with maneuvers, but that you can't reroll - so you can use it, but you can't?


As I was reading it, I thought: The class features are really cool and flavorful, and on par with a caster or martial adept. Then I stopped and went back. Here, this class advances both martial adept level fully and caster level 8:10. I'm not even a weathered player and I can tell you that that just seems completely destructive to game balance.

I mean, you only need to be level 3 wizard / 2 (warblade / swordsage) to enter, if you can get the feats, and then by level 15 you have spells as a level 13 wizard (7th level spells) 11 wizard (6th level) [i cans adds], maneuvers as a level 13 warblade & Blood sage, +10 BAB, and HD = 3d4 + 2d12 + 10d6 = 57 + 15*con.

I like the class, but I don't think any DM's will let this fly as a PC. Maybe a BBEG.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bandededed

Ok, question time!

1. Does wounding spell increase the spell slot level? It definitely should, otherwise there's no reason not to take this feat, unless you lack the prereq.

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It only works on Empowered spells, which already increase the spell level.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bandededed

2. Insidious slash is probably broken:

A: On a damage roll of 1 - is this a 1 on a die, or on the total damage? What happens if you roll a 2 dice weapon? Full reroll for 1 one or just a single die?

B: They reroll with a bonus to damage - wait, a possible +10 and reroll?

C: It says it can be used with maneuvers, but that you can't reroll - so you can use it, but you can't?

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A: 1 on the die. If it's a multiple-dice weapon you roll a 1 on one of those dice, you roll that one and keep the rest, with the added bonus.

B: Yes.

C: You can use it with maneuvers, but rerolling 1's isn't applicable to maneuvers. Just weapon damage.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bandededed

As I was reading it, I thought: The class features are really cool and flavorful, and on par with a caster or martial adept. Then I stopped and went back. Here, this class advances both martial adept level fully and caster level 8:10. I'm not even a weathered player and I can tell you that that just seems completely destructive to game balance.

I mean, you only need to be level 3 wizard / 2 (warblade / swordsage) to enter, if you can get the feats, and then by level 15 you have spells as a level 13 wizard (7th level spells), maneuvers as a level 13 warblade & Blood sage, +10 BAB, and HD = 3d4 + 2d12 + 10d6 = 57 + 15*con.

I like the class, but I don't think any DM's will let this fly as a PC. Maybe a BBEG.

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I disagree with the power you're implying it has. Losing the arcane caster levels to the martial adept levels, then the missing ones from the class is comparatively crippled to a normal caster. It makes up for it without going into the levels of uber-god powerful by giving it some melee capabilities.

Let's say a character has a Con modifier of 4 due to magic items and what have you, that's 60+57, which is 117, at level 15, that's none too impressive.

It's designed as most duel-class PrC's are, silver in two subjects, gold in neither.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Krimm_Blackleaf

It only works on Empowered spells, which already increase the spell level.

A: 1 on the die. If it's a multiple-dice weapon you roll a 1 on one of those dice, you roll that one and keep the rest, with the added bonus.

B: Yes.

C: You can use it with maneuvers, but rerolling 1's isn't applicable to maneuvers. Just weapon damage.

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Ah, I see. So there's no reason not to take the feat then, unless you lack the prereq.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Krimm_Blackleaf

I disagree with the power you're implying it has. Losing the arcane caster levels to the martial adept levels, then the missing ones from the class is comparatively crippled to a normal caster. It makes up for it without going into the levels of uber-god powerful by giving it some melee capabilities.

Let's say a character has a Con modifier of 4 due to magic items and what have you, that's 60+57, which is 117, at level 15, that's none too impressive.

It's designed as most duel-class PrC's are, silver in two subjects, gold in neither.

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Okay, but let's change that 1st level of Warblade to another level of wizard. For the loss of 4hp, we gain another caster level and some skill points. Then, we finish out the progression with more levels of wizard, and the result is a bizarre amalgamation that can still cast 9th level spells. So it's a wizard, but with 15th level warblade maneuvers and higher HP and BAB, though missing a few skill points and some base wis save.

Edit: For added fun, make the last four levels levels of archmage. Laugh at your opponents.

Very cool. Would make an amazing BBEG. It felt overpowered at first, but I'm not sure anymore.