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Greetings Playgrounders! I'm reading Tome of Magic and I admit that I love binders! I really like the fluff and the crunch of the class, so I thought that I could create some homebrew for it...
Without much ado, let me present you the Order of the Vestiges!
Greenhilt - The Bald Fighter
Starshine - Red Blur
Vaarsuvius - Ultimate Arcane Power
Durkon - Terror of the Dwarves
Elan - The Dashing Melody
Belkar - Death's Li'l Helper
Bonus Stuff!
GREENHILT - THE BALD FIGHTER
Level: 5 - Binder Check: 27 - Special Requirement: No
Legend: in his time Greenhilt was a strong and valorous fighter. Bound by an oath sworn by his father, he set up on a long quest to destroy a powerful lich who threatened to conquer the entire Multiverse. Unfortunately, the cunning lich frustrated many times his attempt to kill him, angering the bold fighter and leading him on the brink of madness. In the last, epic battle against the lich, Greenhilt managed to destroy the evil undead, but was fatally wounded by him: for a strange twist of the fate, the final blow with the green-hilted sword that gave him his name, the blow that killed the lich's corporeal form, cut the abomination's phylactery in two, thus releasing its corrupted soul. The undead soul latched to the dying Greenhilt' spirit, thus denying the poor fighter a pleasant rest in the Afterlife and turning him into a vestige.
Manifestation: An ornate greatsword falls point-wise on his seal, driving a hole in it; the elaborate hilt, colored in green, turns into the visage of a bald man, who speaks to you with a strong and clear voice.
Sign: you lose all your hair and your complexion becomes dark.
Influence: you feel the urge to find the most dangerous undead in the area and destroy it; if pitted against undead they are always your first target, even if there are some other, more dangerous enemies around.
Granted powers:
- Weapon proficiency: you become proficient with the greatsword; if you are already proficient in its use, you instead gain a +2 competence bonus on attack rolls with it.
- Greenhilt greatsword: using a move action which doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity, you can summon a green-hilted greatsword. Greenhilt greatsword has different special abilities depending from your effective binder level:
{table=head]EBL|Greatsword Summoned
10th or lower|+3 Greatsword
13th - 16th|+3 Undead bane Greatsword
17th - 19th|+4 Undead bane Binding Greatsword
20th|+4 Undead Bane Binding Speed Greatsword[/table]
The greatsword disappears (until you summon it again) if it leaves your grasp for more than 1 round.- Great cleavage: you gain all the feats from the Power attack-Cleave-Great cleave tree; if you already have one or more of such feats, you gain an additional +1 competence bonus on attack and damage rolls when you employ them.
- Giant strength: you gain a +4 bonus on Strength.
- Otherwordly feat: using a swift action you can call upon this ability, which grants you for 1 round the use of any [Fighter] feat for which you meet the prerequisites, even if you don't have the chosen feat. Once you have used this ability, you cannot do so again for 5 rounds.
Alternatively, you can choose to use this ability to gain use for 1 round of any [Fighter] feat even if you don't meet prerequisites: if you use this variant you won't be able to call on Otherwordly feat again while your current pact with Greenhilt stands.- Builder's Art: you gain a +10 competence bonus to Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering); you can make checks in this skill even if untrained.
STARSHINE - RED BLUR
Level: 4 - Binder Check: 23 - Special Requirement: Yes
Legend: one of the greatest thieves of her times, Starshine was a daring and beautiful rogue, loved by her friends and hated by her enemies. After a hard and sorrowful youth she grew up as one of the finest thieves of the local guild, but soon abandoned that path and turned to a life of adventuring, the best way to gain riches and powerful items. During her adventuring days she found and nearly missed her love, the bard Elan, and the two of them embarked on a quest to destroy a dangerous lich who threatened to free a terrifying magical beast. The two succeeded in their endeavour, but as she thought that life was at last beginning to reward her, her beloved Elan died: mad with sorrow, Starshine turned back to her life of thievery, stealing anything she could put her hands upon from anyone, without preferences or prejudices, for since Death had stolen the most precious possession she had, she could well do the same to the entire world. Her bitterness against life grew until her last hour, when she staged the greatest robbery of her career: she stole her very soul from the gods, becoming a vestige.
Special Requirement: you must place on the seal a stolen item, even if devoid of actual value; the item vanishes before Starshine appears.
Manifestation: Starshine slowly appears from nothingness as a beautiful human woman with impossibly long red hair: she's naked, but the hair cover her body as a long dress. In her left hand she grips a longbow, while in her right she holds a green-feathered arrow. The woman speaks to you with a caressing voice, proposing her pact: in case of a good pact she, before vanishing, smiles suavely to you; in case of a poor pact she instead mocks you showing her tongue, before vanishing.
Sign: your hair become red and long, and you always have a strand out of place on your forehead.
Influence: you feel the urge to lie to everyone, apart from those you consider an intimate family member; if you have the opportunity to seize a valuable good, be it a magic item, a gem, a treasure or anything else, you have to catch it, no matter the consequences. Lastly, if you have but a single gold piece you feel the need to devote some time to polish and clean it.
Granted powers:
- Weapon proficiency: you gain the proficiency with the composite longbow, composite shortbow, longbow and shortbow. If already proficient with any of these weapons, you instead gain a +2 competence bonus on attack rolls with them.
- Neverending purse: while bound to Starshine, as a standard action which doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity you can designate any purse or bag in your possession as a Neverending purse: such an item works as a Bag of Holding IV which, however, only weights 5lbs; if you die, quit your pact with Starshine or designate another purse, the first purse reverts to its nonmagical status; apart from the weight, a Neverending purse works by all means as a normal Bag of Holding, with all its features and limitations.
At any time you (and only you) can reach in the purse and take a masterwork set of thieves' tools, a grappling hook, 50ft of silk rope, a shortbow and 20 arrows: these items, which are never counted against the purse weight, stay in existence until the purse keeps its designation as Neverending purse.
You can designate only one purse in this way.- Starshine' stealth: you gain a +8 competence bonus to Move Silently and Hide checks.
- Sneak Attack, Bitch: you can make sneak attacks as if you were a Rogue whose level is half your effective binder level. If made against an opponent whose gender is opposite to yours and whose Charisma is higher than yours, the sneak attacks are made as if your Rogue level was instead equal to your EBL, provided that you scream the name of the power itself.
- Silver tongue: you know how to lie: you can activate this power as a move action which doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity and gain a competence bonus to a single Bluff check equal to half your EBL; this power only affects verbal bluffing: it won't give any bonus to Feints, to Create a diversion to Hide and to Deliver a secret message. Once you have used this ability, you cannot do so again for 5 rounds.
VAARSUVIUS - ULTIMATE ARCANE POWER
Level 6 - Binder Check: 30 - Special Requirement: Yes
Legend: the great Vaarsuvius was an elven spellcaster of singular power: after studying Magic under the powerful Aarindarius, and after spousing the humble and sweet baker Inkyrius, the elf set forth in the world to begin a quest to find the Ultimate Arcane Power, a power so unimaginable that even the gods would have to bow to its wielder. This quest led the elf from one adventure to the other, up to the point when the Wizard was enrolled in a party of adventurers to rid the world from a dangerous lich: during this long quest, Vaarsuvius made powerful enemies, such an Ancient Black Dragon who, wishing to take her revenge for the death of her only child, decided to kill and bind the souls of Vaarsuvius' two children. In an attempt to thwart the dragon's plans, Vaarsuvius made a pact with three evil outsiders representing the three ethical shades of Evil: the fiends gave to the Wizard the long sought Ultimate Arcane Power, but in doing so condemned the poor elf to a dreadful fate. After the long quest against the lich had ended, after a life spent in regret for the loss of the dear Inkyrius (who asked the divorce from a now-monstrous Vaarsuvius) and their children, Vaarsuvius' soul was denied its rightful Afterlife, because of the pact the elf made with the three fiends: thus Vaarsuvius became a vestige, fueled by its hatred for the fiendish outsiders that ruined its life.
Special Requirement: you must draw the seal in an area subject to an arcane spell. Moreover, Vaarsuvius agrees to be bound only by someone who commands a minimum of knowledge of arcane matters: he requires that you have at least 5 ranks in Knowledge (Arcana) and Knowledge (The Planes).
Manifestation: in the distance you can hear a flutter of wings, and in a few moments an ordinary black crow perches calmly on the seal you traced. The crows tells you with its croaking voice that he's Vaarsuvius' emissary, and that he'll be its master medium in the stipulation of the pact. If you manage to strike a good pact, the crow takes off and perches quietly on your shoulder, then vanishes; if you strike a poor pact, the crow screeches loudly and rushes against your face, vanishing before hitting you in a cloud of feathers which turn to black smoke and disappear.
Sign: your physical features change in a way that your gender is no longer discernible: your physical build, your secondary sexual traits, your bodily hairs alter to make it impossible to determine (short of direct inspection of your private parts) if you are male or female.
Influence: you behave arrogantly and contemptous toward anybody, apart from Wizards, for which on the other hand you show deference and admiration. You refrain to attack or harm in any way an enemy Wizard, turning against him only if you are hit by one of his spells.
Granted powers:
- Vaarsuvius' brain: you gain a +4 bonus to Intelligence. This bonus doesn't grant you additional spells due to an high spellcasting ability score, nor dos it provide you with addition skill points.
- Hatred of the Fiends: the hatred Vaarsuvius feels against Devils, Demons and Daemons is reflected in this powerful ability: every time you are confronted by Evil outsiders you can affect these enemies with an effect from the following list for the duration of 1 round (a Will ST negates). You can:
- deprive them of their Spell Resistance;
- deprive them of their Damage Reduction;
- block their Fast Healing or Regeneration;
- deprive them of their Spell-like abilities, including their ability that some outsiders have to summon other members of their race;
- deprive them of their elemental Immunities and Resistances.
Once you have used this ability, you cannot do so again for 5 rounds.- Vaarsuvius' Will: you can use spell trigger items, such as wands and staves, as if you were a wizard of your effective binder level.
- Single Soul: while you are bound to Vaarsuvius you are immune to all forms of external possession and mental alteration influencing your personality, including but not limited to the Magic Jar, Charm and Dominate spells, the psionic power Mind Seed and a ghost's Malevolence.
- Blackwing: you can summon a familiar, the black crow from Vaarsuvius' manifestation. Regarding its powers and abilities, you are treated as a Wizard whose level equals your EBL.
DURKON - TERROR OF THE DWARVES
Level: 5 - Binder Check: 25 - Special Requirement: Yes
Legend: when he was alive, Durkon was a dwarf Cleric of a God of Thunders. A strange omen hold that he would have brought the downfall of his kingdom, so he was cast away not to return before his death. In the human lands, he began an adventuring career that led him to be enrolled in a party set to destroy a powerful lich bent on world domination: the quest was long and hard, but at last he and his fellows managed to destroy the undead abomination. Feeling that the time was right to return home as a hero, he set up on his journey to his homeland. Unfortunately, he was not right: not wishing to lose many followers from the downfall of the dwarven kingdom, the God of Thunders struck Durkon down with one of his lightnings, preventing him to set foot back in his lands and thus saving the dwarven dominions; however, having been killed by his very god, Durkon's soul lost its pole star, wandered aimlessly for a long time and at last he became a vestige.
Special Requirement: you have to pour at least a pint of beer on the seal.
Manifestation: from nowhere, a flux of beer begins to fall, filling an invisible mug 10ft tall. When the mug is full, inside the beer a bearded and frowning visage appears, which sorrowfully gazes at you. Every time the visage speaks, its voice isn't immediately heard: instead, bubbles form inside the beer and rise to the surface, where they burst and release the vestige's voice, gloomy and bubbly.
Sign: if you are a male, you grow a long and fluent beard; if you are female, your hair grow and style theirselves in two long braids.
Influence: you start speaking with an heavy accent; moreover, you don't just speak with it, but use the accent in written speech too. You become a great estimator of dwarven beer, and feel the urge to drink it every time you can; moreover, having Durkon completely lost faith in Religion, you feel compelled to attack and kill any Cleric you see, friend or foe.
Granted powers:
- Durkon's resolve: you gain immunity to spells from the Enchantment (Charm) school.
- Sever divine link: when you're bound to Durkon, you gain the power to sever the divine link between a god and his clerics. Using a standard action which provokes attacks of opportunity, you prevent the Cleric targeted with this power from casting divine spells for 1 round. Once you have used this ability, you cannot do so again for 5 rounds.
- Lightning attunement: you gain immunity to Electricity; moreover, if struck with an Electricity attack, in the round following the attack you can unleash an electric bolt to a maximum range of 5ft per EBL that deals damage equal to that you ignored: target is entitled a ST vs Reflex to halve damage.
- Turn/Rebuke Undead: You can turn or rebuke undead as a cleric of your effective binder level. As with a cleric, you turn if you are good and rebuke if you are evil. If you are neutral, you choose whether to turn or rebuke upon binding with Durkon and cannot later change your mind. If you have the ability to turn or rebuke undead from other classes, your levels in those classes stack with your effective binder level for the purpose of determining your turning ability. Once you have used this ability, you cannot do so again for 5 rounds.
- Durkon's sight: you gain Darkvision up to 60ft; moreover, you gain a gaze attack, whose target must succeed in a ST vs Fortitude to avoid being blinded for 1 round. Once you have used this gaze attack, you cannot do so again for 5 rounds.
ELAN - THE DASHING MELODY
Level: 2 - Binder Check: 20 - Special Requirement: Yes
Legend: Elan's myths are strongly tied to those regarding the vestige Starshine. In his youth Elan was a naive and kind Bard, whose effectiveness was seriously limited by his subpar intellect; after gaining some level in a powerful prestige class, however, and after falling in love with Starshine, he became more confident both as an adventurer than as a man. He fought against a powerful lich in a long and hard quest to save the world, and thus he, a narrator of legends, became himself a legend: this was his doom, as his dramatic sense warned him that his death was near. After some years, indeed, when his life with Starshine seemed by then perfect, he felt that his moment had come: one night Elan closed his eyes to never open them again. Problem was, being devoted to Banjo, a puppet god of his devising, his soul wasn't actually guided to any Afterlife, thus he became a vestige.
Special Requirement: while you draw the seal you have to sing or whistle a song.
Manifestation: the air is filled with the music from a lute, a sweet melody accompained by manifestation of light over the seal; after a few moments, a suave voice begins to sing along the melody, singing the pact to strike: all of his sentences are rhymed and perfectly in tune to the song. Once the pact is sealed, if it's good the melody stops and the voice sings the words "Sign, sign, sign, sign the good pact!"; if the pact is poor the melody ends abruptly with what seems the characteristic sound of a breaking lute string.
Sign: you become blonde and charming: every member of your race and opposed gender you meet, regardless of his or her allegiance, is physically attracted to you.
Influence: you are genuinely attracted by artistic manifestations of every kind, be them musical performances, oratory, dance ao anything else. While witnessing such an exhibition you are loathe to stop it and feel obliged to watch and enjoy the show until it finishes.
Granted powers:
- Dazzling smile: you gain a +4 bonus to Charisma. You gain this bonus only if you show Elan's sign.
- Undressed Invisibility: if you completely undress, you can use a standard action which provokes attacks of opportunity to indefinitely vanish from sight as per the Invisibility spell. Every limitation from this spell are in force; moreover, if you pick up any object of any kind, be it a weapon, a garment, a ring, a magic object, anything not part of your body, you turn visible again. You gain this power only if you show Elan's sign.
- Weapon proficiency: you gain the proficiency with the rapier and the Weapon finesse feat.
- Musical affinity: once per day, for a number of rounds equal to half your Charisma bonus (minimum 1), if playing a lute you gain a competence bonus to Perform (Lute) checks equal to your EBL and can make checks in this skill even if untrained; moreover, you gain an ability similar to Bardic song as if you were a Bard whose level is half you EBL. You gain this power only if you show Elan's sign.
- Immunity to glass: you are immune to damage caused by shattered glass.
BELKAR - DEATH'S LI'L HELPER
Level: 3 - Binder Check: 25 - Special Requirement: Yes
Legend: myths abound around Belkar, also known as the Belkster or Death Li'l Helper, but all of them are invariabily linked by a common detail: massacre. There are many legends about his deeds: some say that in the remote Battle of Azure City he alone caused half the casualties for the invading army; others tell that in the fight against an hydra he cutted so many heads to make her faint from blood shortage; others still narrated of how he alone killed in cold blood an emissary of Tiamat.
This hurricane of destruction found his end in the battle against a terrible lich when, surrounded and submerged by a hord of undeads, he suffucated under the heap of corpses he himself trucidated. Not wishing to have anything to do with such a scourge of nature, too evil and merciless even for their standards, the Gods of Evile declined every responsibility about his soul: without a guide for his spirit, Belkar became a vestige.
Special Requirement: to summon Belkar you need to kill a living being and pout its blood on the seal.
Manifestation: from nowhere, a rain of severed heads begins to fall on the seal, heads belonging to the most disparate humanoid and not humanoid races: humans, elves, dwarves, zombies, hydra's heads, gryffins, you name them, you have them. The heads on the base begin to liquefy in a pool of blood leaving room for the new ones, and the loop begins again. Belkar speaks through these heads, two or three of them at the time, that speak to you before being submerged again by other severed heads.
Sign: your feet become hairy: even if you can still wear shoes or boots, you are at a discomfort with them
Influence: Blekar keeps his bloody demeanor: every time you are in presence of someone who could only slightly consider as an enemy, rival, obstacle or otherwise, you feel the urge to attack and kill him. Moreover, you feel the need to seduce every living being of opposite gender with an higher Charisma than yours.
Granted powers:
- Dagger mastery: you gain the Two Weapon Fighting feat, but only if you fight with two daggers; moreover, you gain a +1 competence bonus on attack and damage rolls with these weapons.
- Sexy God of War: every 4 enemies killed by yourself and without help (apart from the Scruffinator, see below) you gain a +2 enhancement bonus to Charisma, which fades in 1 hour.
- Summon the Scruffinator: you can summon a pet, Scruffy, which is loyal to you. Scruffy is an Half-Fiendish/Vampire/Shade/Pseudonatural Cat, which fights on your behalf and aids you. It stays in existence as long as you are bound to Belkar, but if killed you can't summon it for 6 hours.
Differently by normal vampires, Scruffy can operate perfectly under sunlight. Scruffy gains a bonus to all its abilities equal to half your effective binder level.- Jumpin' Belkar: you gain a +20 on Jump checks. You gain this bonus only if you are barefoot and showing Belkar's sign, and once you have used this ability, you cannot do so again for 5 rounds.
- Craft disturbing image: using a standard action to talk to an enemy, you can evocate on his mind the worst nightmarish images he can conceive, demoralizing him up to the bone. He suffers a -1 on attack and damage rolls and to skill check for 1d4+1 rounds, and has to roll his Will save to avoid being dazed for 1 round.
- Gourmet chef: you gain 4 ranks in Profession (Gourmet chef). Note that these are actual ranks, not a bonus.
BANJO - THE PUPPET GOD
Level: 1 - Binder Check: 15 - Special Requirement: No
Legend: not much is known about the mysterious Banjo. Binder lore tells that he was a mighty god of ancient times, devoted to the art of lute playing and cake eating; as grand as he was, however, he never had many followers, counting among them only a handful of orcs, who later turned to the worship of his Evil twin, and the bold bard Elan, his Chosen One. As the kind Elan died, without any worshipers to keep the flame of his faith alit, Banjo faded from the Multiverse and became a vestige, waiting for the right time to come back.
Manifestation: a ghostly hand rises from the seal, and after a few moments the smiling figure of Banjo materializes upon it, his hands clutched around his banjo. He speaks with a melodious voice, accompaining every word with a chord from his lute.
Sign: your face turns to a smile and, for some strange reason, you can't feel your legs.
Influence: Banjo forces you to play a banjo every time you can; before a big battle he comples you to propose a pie eating contest to solve the matters instead of fighting.
Granted powers:
- Banjo's banjo: you can summon a magic banjo that counts as a masterwork banjo; you can use this instrument as a weapon that works as a masterwork club, dealing an additional point of damage to Evil opponents.
- Banjo's Art: you gain 4 ranks in Perform (Banjo). Note that these are actual ranks, not a bonus.
- Master of Puppets: you can use the Command spell (Will negates). Once you have used this ability, you cannot do so again for 5 rounds.
- Power of Coffee: when you bind Banjo, you don't need to sleep.
In the first post:
Should be "Death's 'lil Helper", not "Death 'lil Helper".
In the second post(Roy):
thus denying the poor fighter a pleasant rest in the Afterlife and turning him in a vestige.
-"into a vestige."
-What is the point of having Mighty Cleaving on the sword you can summon, if the vestige itself grants you the entire feat chain?
-I would strongly consider limiting Otherworldly Feat to Fighter feats. Also, maybe allow it as an immediate action so you can use it for Lightning Reflexes when ambushed by a group that includes a sorcerer. Also, using this for... say an epic feat with high ability score requirements might be problematic. Although actually many "normal" feats are more powerful than many epic feats from what I hear, but you get the idea.
Since I accidently skilled Halley we are now on to:
In the fourth post(V):
quest led the elf from an adventure to the other,
-"from one adventure to another" is probably the phrase you are looking for.
black crow perks calmly on the seal you traced.
-"perches"
You refrain to atack or harm in any way an enemy Wizard, turning against him only if you are hit by one of his spells.
-"You refuse to attack"
every time you are confronted against Evil outsiders you can affect these enemies with an effect from the following list for the duration of 1 round (ST on Will to negate). You can:
-"confronted by", also, I have never seen the phrasing "(ST on Will to negate)" before, and it took me a second to figure it out. I suggest a more standard phrasing.
including their ability that some outsiders have to summon other members of their race;
-I would change "their" to "the"
-Ending the pact early by denying a saving throw should prevent you from replacing the vestige for 24 hours I would think... it is a pretty powerful ability.
... actually... you know what? I am going to stop here and just say that if you can fix these grammatical errors without my help, please do so. If you can't and I happen to recheck this thread, then I might continue to point them out.
EDIT: Halley's bow proficiency stuff looks a little odd. Durkon's Turn/Rebuke doesn't say if you lose control of commanded undead at the end of it.
EDIT^2: Some basic stats for the Scruffinator(sp) would be nice... looking up all those templates is going to be a PAIN... also, with the ability score bonuses, it might be more of a threat than YOU are, if a little glass-cannonish due to lack of hit-dice.
Thank you for the suggestions. I corrected where it was due. You'll excuse me since English is not my primary language.Quote:
Originally Posted by DracoDei
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/refrainQuote:
You refrain to atack or harm in any way an enemy Wizard, turning against him only if you are hit by one of his spells.
-"You refuse to attack"
You'll pass me this one.Quote:
Originally Posted by Merriam-Webster
Of course, you're right. Going to change the ability with something more useful.Quote:
-What is the point of having Mighty Cleaving on the sword you can summon, if the vestige itself grants you the entire feat chain?
You're probabily right, considering that in the Afterlife Roy learnt one of such feats.Quote:
-I would strongly consider limiting Otherworldly Feat to Fighter feats. Also, maybe allow it as an immediate action so you can use it for Lightning Reflexes when ambushed by a group that includes a sorcerer. Also, using this for... say an epic feat with high ability score requirements might be problematic. Although actually many "normal" feats are more powerful than many epic feats from what I hear, but you get the idea.
Again, you're right. Removing that variant.Quote:
-Ending the pact early by denying a saving throw should prevent you from replacing the vestige for 24 hours I would think... it is a pretty powerful ability.
Haley's bow stuff had the same sentence repeated two times. Corrected, thank you.Quote:
EDIT: Halley's bow proficiency stuff looks a little odd. Durkon's Turn/Rebuke doesn't say if you lose control of commanded undead at the end of it.
Durkon's stuff is copy/pasted directly from Tenebrous ability.
Hm, I probabily have to tweak the Scruffinator a bit to make it work.Quote:
EDIT^2: Some basic stats for the Scruffinator(sp) would be nice... looking up all those templates is going to be a PAIN... also, with the ability score bonuses, it might be more of a threat than YOU are, if a little glass-cannonish due to lack of hit-dice.