Background- Around a year ago, I read Savage Species, and fell in love with the monster classes in the book. As I wanted some way to gain the abilities of such classes, and preferably more than one of them, I made this class, my very first. Please enjoy, and PEACH:
Student of the Weird
"I tell you, he may look like a freaky bugger, but trust me: there are few handier in a fight than Jeckel."
Glortek, Dwarf Fighter, when talking to someone about his Student of the Weird companion
Students of the Weird are scholars who are obsessed with one thing: The strange creatures of the world. Angels, demons, and savage beasts alike all fascinate the Student of the Weird equally. Students of the Weird often wish to be like these creatures, and do everything they can to learn these creatures abilities and be like them, often seeing them superior to regular humanoids on at least one level.
Alignment: Students of the Weird can be found to be equally good, evil, or neutral, most often having their alignment being influenced by what creatures they seek to imitate. However, on the law vs. chaos field, most are either found to be either lawful or chaotic, depending on how they learned a monster's abilities. This is because while all Students receive training in their abilities from at least one admired monster, and must look at books for reference, Students either learn most of their abilities from structured books or directly from the monsters themselves.
Ability Scores: The most handy ability score for a Student is his Constitution score, which helps keep him alive in combat, and is the main score used in his class abilities. The next most handy score is his Intelligence score, which helps the Student research things on monsters and whatever other topics the party may wish to know about, and also boosts his meager amount of skill points.
The importance of the rest of the scores is mainly dependent on which monster classes he or she chooses for his or her Student of the Odd class feature.
Races: Most often, humans and half-elves take this class, due to their natural curiousity and drive. Less commonly, gnomes or halflings might take this class in order to find out more about monsters from the monster's perspective, or half-orcs and elves might take this class in order to gain monster abilities to help defend their home or tribe.
*Note: All references to "monster class" refers to the monster classes as written in Savage Species
Student of the Weird
HD: d8
Skill points: 4 + Int mod (4 + Int mod x 4 at first level)
Skills: Appraise, Balance, Concentration, Craft, Decipher Script, Forgery, Knowledge(all), Search, Sense Motive, Spot, Survival, Use Magic Device
Student of the Weird
| Level | Base Attack<br>Bonus | Fort Save | Ref Save | Will Save | Special |
|---|
| 1st | +0 | +0 | +0 | +2 | Unusual Anatomy, Slightly Magical(0) |
| 2nd | +1 | +0 | +0 | +3 | Aberrant Twist |
| 3rd | +2 | +1 | +1 | +3 | Unusual Anatomy |
| 4th | +3 | +1 | +1 | +4 | Slightly Magical(1) |
| 5th | +3 | +1 | +1 | +4 | Unusual Anatomy |
| 6th | +4 | +2 | +2 | +5 | Student of the Odd |
| 7th | +5 | +2 | +2 | +5 | Slightly Magical(2), Unusual Anatomy |
| 8th | +6 | +2 | +2 | +6 | Student of the Odd |
| 9th | +6 | +3 | +3 | +6 | Aspect of the Odd(1), Unusual Anatomy |
| 10th | +7 | +3 | +3 | +7 | Student of the Odd, Slightly Magical(3) |
| 11th | +8 | +3 | +3 | +7 | Increasingly Odd |
| 12th | +9 | +4 | +4 | +8 | Student of the Odd |
| 13th | +9 | +4 | +4 | +8 | Aspect of the Odd(2), Slightly Magical(4) |
| 14th | +10 | +4 | +4 | +9 | Student of the Odd |
| 15th | +11 | +5 | +5 | +9 | Aberrant Soul |
| 16th | +12 | +5 | +5 | +10 | Student of the Odd, Slightly Magical(5) |
| 17th | +12 | +5 | +5 | +10 | Aspect of the Odd(3) |
| 18th | [center]+13/center] | +6 | +6 | +11 | Student of the Odd |
| 19th | +14 | +6 | +6 | +11 | Slightly Magical(6) |
| 20th | +15 | +6 | +6 | +12 | Student of the Odd, Full-Blown Monstrosity |
Class Feature Descriptions:
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Students of the Weird are proficient with simple weapons and light armor
Unusual Anatomy(Ex): Students of the Weird often so obsessed with the odd creatures of the world that this manifests on their form. They begin to grow appendages they never had before, gain defenses they never before had. At 1st level, and every two levels after until 9th (3rd,5th,7th), Students of the Weird gain a special ability that distinguishes them from all normal members of their race. At each level, they choose one of the abilities below. Abilities chosen more than once stack:
Spoiler
- +1 to Natural Armor
- Resistance 5 to one energy type, energy types stack, but may only build to resistance 10
- Alternate Movement: Each may only be selected once. All movement speeds are equal to the base land speed of the character. Select one of the following: Flight (maneuverability clumsy, character grows wings), Swim speed (character grows a tail), Climb, Burrow.
- Natural Attack: Each natural attack form may only be selected once. All damages are based on a Medium-sized creature. Select one of the following when the ability is taken: 2 Claw attacks (1d4 damage, or 1d6 damage if Climb Speed is selected), 1 Bite attack (1d6 damage), 1 Tail Slap (1d8 damage, may only be taken if Swim Speed is selected), 2 Wing Buffets (1d3 damage, may only be selected if Flight Speed is selected)
Slightly Magical(Sp): As part of their studies to become more like the monsters they observe, Students of the Weird often come across arcane knowledge and spells. While they study these spells somewhat, they are not quite as good as a normal spellcaster because they do not concentrate on spells, instead preferring to learn more about monsters. Thus, they do not learn to handle a wide range of spells, thus, the Student may only cast spells of the Transmutation, Conjuration, or Evocation schools, as well as one other school of spell. Still, they do acquire the ability to cast a few spells in an odd manner, as befits them. At 1st level and every three levels after(4th,7th, 10th, 13th, 16th, 19th), Students of the Weird gain the ability to cast one spell of the level listed in parentheses on the table, or lower, as a normal spell once per day. Thus, XP and component costs must be paid, focuses are also needed.
For example, a 4th level Student of the Weird could gain the ability to cast one 1st level spell or cantrip as a spell, while a 7th level Student of the Weird could gain the ability to cast a 2nd level, 1st level, or a cantrip as a spell once per day.
These spells count as spells known for the purpose of entering a prestige class or qualifying for and being affected by a feat. For all spell-like abilities, the caster level is equal to 1/2 the Student's class level(minimum one). All spells are chosen from the sorcerer/ wizard spell list.
Aberrant Twist: At 2nd level, the Student's body begins to subtly reflect the changes that it will undergo as the Student continues to journey into the world of monsters. The Student gains Abberation Blood as a bonus feat (from Lords of Madness).
Student of the Odd: After a while, the Student of the Weird's studies of monsters and such have given way to more abilities. At 6th level and every two levels after, the Student may gain the class features only of any monster class, with the following restrictions:
Spoiler
-The Student gains no ability score boosts, nor natural armor increases of the
monster class. The only case in which a Student may gain an ability score boost is if, due to the restrictions of this class features or the monster level's design, it would not gain anything else from the monster class at that level.
-The Student gains the class feature levels as first a 1st level monster, then 2nd level and so on. Students may choose to enter more than one monster class, but after taking a level in another monster class, may not take any more effective levels in that monster class. For example:
A 6th level Student of the Weird decides to gain the class features of the Minotaur monster class(with the restrictions listed here). At 8th level, he or she decides to continue the path of the Minotaur, and gains the class features(with the restrictions listed here), of a 1st level Minotaur. At 10th level, he or she decides to enter into the Drider class, thus gaining the class features of a 1st level Drider(with the restrictions listed here). From here on, the Student may continue to progress in the Drider class, or switch to another class, never returning to the Drider or Minotaur classes
- The Student may not gain the class features of any monster with the Construct, or Elemental type. In addition, the Student cannot gain levels in any Undead monster with the incorporeal subtype
-The Student gains no weapon proficiencies, immunities, or feats, unless the feat is specifically named (for example: Improved Initiative)
-If a class grants subtypes, the Student may not gain any alignment subtypes that would contradict his or her alignment (For example, a Good Student can't gain the Evil subtype)
-The Student may only gain one of the following subtypes: Archon, Angel, Fire, Cold
-For any affects that depend on monster HD, instead use the Student of the Weird uses their class level.
- The Student may not gain the swarm subtype, nor can he or she gain the shapechanger subtype unless he or she has the ability to change form.
-If a class grants a natural attack and the Student already has it, then the Student uses whichever version has the highest damage die.
-If a class grants a natural attack, the weapon deals damage as appropriate to the Student of the Weird's size.
-Any effective spellcasting levels stack if more than one class offers effective spellcasting levels in the same class. Whichever class has more effective levels counts. For example: A Student has two effective levels in Drider, and selected cleric as the spellcasting class, and has taken three levels in Ghaele, which also offers effective cleric spellcasting levels. Since the Drider class grants two levels of spellcasting, and the Ghaele three, the Student can cast spells as a 5 level cleric
-If a monster class grants resistance to one or more energies, the Student may only gain one resistance.
-If a monster class grants spell resistance, the Student does not gain it.
-Lastly, if a monster class grants multiple spell-like abilities, the Student may select a number of these abilities equal to either his or her Constitution or Intelligence modifier, whichever is higher. The Student gains all improvement s to these abilities, but does not gain any other spell-like abilities.
With each new monster class that the Student adventures into, his body changes to reflect his or her similarity to the monster that the Student is trying to become, twisting the Student's form more and more, eventually (depending on how many monster classes are taken), becoming what looks like a human with dozens of monster traits. To give some examples of cosmetic form changes, say a Student has taken levels in the Minotaur, Drider, and Ghaele class. The Student might have started growing thick hair on parts of his or her body, or all over his or her body (Minotaur), have a slight skin color change to match that of a drider's, or started growing chitin on some parts of his or her body (Drider), and have a slightly noble and elegant look despite of this (Ghaele), obviously looking very strange. Students of the Weird often get strange looks because of this, and some folk of a religious bent may view them with suspicion.
Aspect of the Odd: As he travels more along his odd path, the Student of the Weird becomes even more odd. At 9th level, and every four levels after that, the Student gains the ability to change his type (usually humanoid), to another type he has chosen, for a number of rounds equal to 1/3 his class level + his or her Con modifier. At each level this ability is gained, the Student learns to change into one type, and gains all abilities of having that type. For example:
A 9th level Student first gains this ability. He chooses one type (Giant), and may change into solely that type when using this ability. At 13th level, he decides to add another type (Fey) to his list of types known.
When affected by this change, the Student's outward appearence does not change except to slightly hint at his temporary type, such as a sunken face for Undead, and looking slightly larger for Giant.
Increasingly Odd: At 11th level, the Student of the Weird's physical oddness increases. The Student gains a subtype from the following list:
Air, Aquatic, Chaotic, Dragonblood, Earth, Evil, Goblinoid, Good, Lawful, Reptilian, and Water.
Abberrant Soul(Ex): By 15th level, the Student's body has become so odd and possibly freakish, his or her type changes to Aberration, and she gain all the traits of that type.
Full-blown Monstrosity: At 20th level, the oddness of the Student hits its peak. For a number of rounds equal to his Constitution modifier + 5, he effectively assumes the physical form, and all the abilities and modifiers of a monster that he choose monster level class features from, effectively becoming that monster. When in this form, the Student gains the physical appearance of, spell-like abilities, extraordinary and supernatural abilities, Base Attack Bonus, and Saves of the monster, and cannot use any of his abilities derived from class levels.
A good bit of text, but worth the read, I think.
Please PEACH