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    Default [3.5 ToB PrC] "Death beats Her wings for you." [PEACH]

    Design Notes
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    This was originally made for Vilpich's contest, but since no judging was ever forthcoming, I've posted it separately to get critique. The entire class was originally based around its image.


    Duke of the Last Light



    "Autumn is a natural part of the world. Think of Death as a comforter, not a foe; let the beat of Her wings lull you to sleep everlasting."
    Brianna Asheholm, Duchess of the Last Light


    Killers.

    The Dukes of the Last Light make no pretensions about what they are; they are killers, servants of Death. But what is commonly misunderstood is what this means to them. Most Dukes are not needlessly cruel; like the gentle brush of Autumn, they slay so that others might live, and destroy so that new creation might take the place of the old, worn, and tired. Many of the decisions made by the collective Duchy are controversial, but as agents of the longest view of all, the Dukes try to consider the greatest good for the most people and the longest time.

    Of course, some do go bad. Death can be a heady mistress.

    Becoming a Duke of the Last Light

    The Dukes of Last Light don't recruit very often, which is not to say that they aren't always keeping at least one eye open for talented warriors with an interest in their arts. The Duchy prefers a certain quality to their recruits and as such does not overly concern themselves with their quantity.

    That being said, most people that join the Duchy go looking for them, and the overwhelming majority of these are martial adepts, typically Swordsages. Many come to the Duchy with impressions that the Dukes and Duchesses therein are something they are not, and it's up to the individual Duke or Duchess to disabuse their students of these ideas - or not to do so. After an initial period of testing and, if need be, training, the Duchess arranges an Ashen Hunt for their student. If they survive, they're sworn into the Duchy, with all that entails, and gain its power.

    ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
    Base Attack Bonus: +6
    Skills: Intimidate 12 ranks
    Feats: Combat Expertise, Improved Trip
    Martial Maneuvers: Must be able to ready at least three maneuvers, one of which must be 3rd level or higher.
    Special: Must participate in (and survive) an Ashen Hunt organized against a creature of at the supplicant's challenge rating.

    Sidebar: Ashen Hunt
    Spoiler
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    The Ashen Hunt is one of the oldest traditions of the Duchy; at its heart, it is a test to confirm how willing the candidate is to kill for the Duchy's beliefs and how self-reliant they are. The supplicant is brought out to some natural environment, stripped naked, and painted with specially prepared blue, black, and green pigments. They are then handed a ritually blessed +1 screaming alchemically silvered longsword and asked how many others they wish to take on the hunt with them. The supplicant is told well beforehand that the more help they take, the greater the foe it is that they will face.

    Regardless of the amount of aid the supplicant chooses (all of them equipped and painted as the supplicant is), the Hunt is then on - the participants hound a creature, usually captured beforehand and released for this purpose, through the environment of the Hunt. When they finally bring it down, the real test begins - the supplicant is told they must extract some part of the creature and escape back to where the Hunt started alive, without letting any of the Dukes slay them. For their part, most Dukes choose to deal nonlethal damage during this test in order to make it easier on the supplicant, but it's not required and shouldn't be expected. If the supplicant makes it back alive, they are bestowed with a ritual kiss, and the power of the Duchy settles upon them like the gentle caress of Autumn and Death Herself.


    Class Skills
    The Duke of the Last Light's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are: Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Arcana) (Int), Knowledge (the Planes) (Int), Knowledge (Religion) (Int), Martial Lore (Int), Ride (Dex)
    Skills Points at Each Level: 4 + Intelligence Modifier

    Hit Dice: d10

    {table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Maneuver Learned|Maneuvers Readied

    1st|
    +1
    |
    +0
    |
    +2
    |
    +2
    |Rising Moon Style|Harvest Moon Strike|0

    2nd|
    +2
    |
    +0
    |
    +3
    |
    +3
    |Veve of Samedi's Mask|Touch of the Ague|0

    3rd|
    +3
    |
    +1
    |
    +3
    |
    +3
    |Falling Leaves Stance|Witch's Intuition|1

    4th|
    +4
    |
    +1
    |
    +4
    |
    +4
    |Glyph of Nuit's Embrace|Crescent Moon Reap|0

    5th|
    +5
    |
    +1
    |
    +4
    |
    +4
    |Crashing Stars Style|Mien of the Baba Yaga|0

    6th|
    +6
    |
    +2
    |
    +5
    |
    +5
    |Kanji of Oni's Fury|Rally to Daybreak|0

    7th|
    +7
    |
    +2
    |
    +5
    |
    +5
    |Dance of the Reaping Scythe|Strike of the Last Breath|1[/table]

    Weapon Proficiencies: The Duke of the Last Light gains no new weapon or armor proficiencies. Many of the Duke of the Last Light's abilities require that she be holding a weapon in one hand and nothing at all in the other (or others, as the case may be with creatures that have more than one hand); sigils created by her class features do not interfere with the use of these abilities, and do not prevent her from using the hand holding the sigil within it should she so desire.

    Maneuvers: At first level (and each level thereafter), the Duke of the Last Light learns a new maneuver as shown on the table above (so a first level Duke leans Harvest Moon Strike, then learns Touch of Ague at second level, and so on). Each time the Duke learns a new maneuver from this class, she selects a discipline from amongst any of the disciplines from which she knows at least one maneuver; her new maneuver is treated as being from that discipline for all purposes (including, but not limited to, meeting prerequisites for learning new maneuvers and applying the effects of her feats and/or class features). Once made, this choice cannot be changed, but the Duke is free to choose a different discipline to associate with each maneuver she learns from this class if she so desires.

    At third and seventh level, the Duke may ready an additional maneuver, if applicable.

    Maneuvers gained through this class cannot be unlearned in favor of another maneuver, even if she would normally have the opportunity to do so (such as by gaining her fourth level of Warblade).

    Maneuvers gained through this class are considered supernatural abilities. However, the Duke may initiate them within an antimagic field, though at additional cost – each maneuver so initiated requires her to snuff out a light source at least the size and intensity of a candle (this is a free action that becomes a normal part of using the maneuver). The light source so extinguished or destroyed is rendered inert, and will never shed light again, even if lit aflame or enchanted.

    Rising Moon Style (Ex): The Dukes of the Last Light favor a one-handed fighting style augmented by magical power drawn from their connection to shadow, frost, and death. At first level, the Duke gains Improved Disarm as a bonus feat and increases the damage of all weapons she wields by one die step, provided she holds a weapon in one hand and nothing at all in the other. Additionally, whenever the Duke would have the chance to make an attack of opportunity she may instead choose to recover a single maneuver.

    Veve of Samedi's Mask (Su): At second level, the Duke begins to inherit the supernatural fighting style common to her brothers and sisters. As a swift action, the Duke forms a sigil in her free hand that lasts for a number of rounds equal to her class level plus her Wisdom modifier; while this sigil is active, the Duke's fear effects function against any non-mindless creature, regardless of that creature's immunities.

    Falling Leaves Stance (Ex): At third level, the Duke of Last Light learns the Falling Leaves Stance. When the Duke of Last Light is in the Falling Leaves Stance (which is treated in all ways as a fifth level martial stance, including requiring a swift action to enter into it and being able to maintain only one stance at a time), she may make an additional melee attack at her highest base attack bonus whenever she successfully initiates one of her strikes, provided she holds a weapon in one hand and nothing at all in the other. Additional attacks generated by this maneuver don't gain the benefits of the strike the Duke initiated and must be directed at the victim of her strike, though they may still benefit from other effects (such as boosts) upon her.

    Glyph of Nuit's Embrace (Su): At fourth level, the Duke of Last Light learns to create an additional supernatural sigil in her free hand, allowing her to draw upon the powers of night to shield herself from sight and harm. As a swift action, she creates a sigil in her free hand that lasts for a number of rounds equal to her class level plus her Wisdom modifier (if she has one or more other sigils active, they blend together to form a new, combined sign); while this sigil is active, the Duke benefits from a 40% miss chance on all attacks made against her and a +4 deflection modifier to her armor class as tendrils of starry light wrap around her, surrounding her in a twilight haze.

    Crashing Stars Style (Ex): A Duke of fifth level and higher is a master of the one-handed fighting style her order favors; she gains Improved Feint as a bonus feat. Additionally, whenever the Duke initiates a boost or strike she may move up to thirty feet (with any movement mode available to her) as a free action once per round that is part of the boost and/or strike, either before or after she initiates the maneuver in question. If the boost or strike in question already causes or requires the Duke to move or charge (such as Shadow Jaunt), she instead increases the amount of movement granted by the maneuver by up to thirty feet or increases the distance of her charge by up to thirty feet, as appropriate.

    Kanji of Oni's Fury (Su): At sixth level, the Duke learns her final sigil, one of elemental rage and fury. As a swift action, she creates a sigil in her free hand that lasts for a number of rounds equal to her class level plus her Wisdom modifier (if she has one or more other sigils active, they blend together to form a new, combined sign); when she activates this sigil, she chooses acid, cold, electricity or fire. As long as the sigil is active, her melee attacks deal an additional 4d6 points of damage from the chosen energy type as both the sigil and her weapon blaze with elemental power.

    Dance of the Reaping Scythe (Ex): The pinnacle of the Duke's fighting arts, the Dance of the Reaping Scythe is a terror to behold on the battlefield. Once per encounter, as a full-round action, the Duke selects and expends one of her readied strikes, then initiates the expended strike against any opponents within her reach that she chooses to attack.

    The strike selected for Dance of the Reaping Scythe must normally apply to only one target (for example, she cannot initiate Steel Wind using Dance of the Reaping Scythe). Maneuvers initiated with Dance of the Reaping Scythe count as only one maneuver for the purposes of resolving Martial Lore checks and the movement granted by the Duke's Crashing Stars Style.

    New Maneuvers
    Spoiler
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    The Duke of the Last Light learns the following maneuvers as indicated on the table above:

    Harvest Moon Strike [Strike]
    Level: 4th level maneuver
    Initiation Action: One Standard Action
    Range: Melee Attack
    Target: One creature

    Wrapping yourself in a quiet stillness, you afflict your victim with the debilitating madness of the rising blood moon.

    The full moon is said to drive men mad, and the blood moon of the harvest is even more powerful. With this strike, the Duke of the Last Light afflicts this lunacy upon her foes. When you initiate this strike, make a melee attack. If you hit, you deal normal weapon damage and your victim must succeed at a Will save (DC 14 + your Wisdom modifier) or suffer a -4 morale penalty on attack rolls, damage rolls, skill checks, armor class and initiative for a number of rounds equal to your class level. This is a mind-affecting, fear effect.

    Touch of the Ague [Counter]
    Level: 4th level maneuver
    Initiation Action: One Immediate action
    Range: Melee touch attack
    Target: Creature touched

    With a casual touch, you wrack your victim with the debilitating illness of Autumn's descent, afflicting both mind and body.

    Autumn brings with it the chill and sickness as the year itself starts to die, and with a casual touch the Duke of Last Light inflicts it upon her victim. When you initiate this maneuver, make a melee touch attack. If you hit, your victim must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 14 + your Wisdom modifier) or suffer a 40% miss chance on all of their attacks, as well as a -2 penalty on Fortitude and Will saves for a number of rounds equal to your class level. Spells and abilities that cure disease remove these penalties.

    Witch's Intuition [Counter]
    Level: 5th level maneuver
    Initiation Action: One Immediate action
    Range: Personal
    Target: You

    Acting with the prescience of a witch, you foresee the failure of your own strike and reposition to attack with even deadlier force.

    You may initiate this maneuver after you have rolled an attack, but before you know the results. If you do, you may choose to re-roll the attack roll; the results of the second roll stand. If your target is currently under a fear effect, you gain a +4 insight bonus to your new attack roll and, if you hit, deal an additional 2d6 points of damage.

    Crescent Moon Reap [Strike]
    Level: 5th level maneuver
    Initiation Action: One Standard action
    Range: Melee attack
    Target: One creature

    Striking a hideous blow, your initial wound spreads into a flaying infection, ripping muscle away from bone with sickening force.

    The sickle moon, named after the harvest tool that cuts down crops, ending their lives. The Crescent Moon Reap is a technique that draws upon its terrible power, flaying its victims alive. When you initiate this strike, make a melee attack. If you hit, you deal normal weapon damage and your victim must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 15 + your Wisdom modifier) or suffer 2 points of Strength damage as their flesh peels away from their bones. Each round thereafter, at the beginning of the victim's turn, it must succeed at another Fortitude save (same DC) or suffer 2 more points of Strength damage as its flesh continues to be flayed away from its bone (a successful Fortitude save ends the effect, though damage that has already been done remains). If the victim is reduced to 0 Strength by this maneuver, they die immediately and their body is left a fleshless husk, unable to be raised with raise dead or reincarnate spells.

    Mien of the Baba Yaga [Strike]
    Level: 6th level maneuver
    Initiation Action: One Standard action
    Range: Melee attack
    Target: One creature

    A hideous blow infects your foe with fear, driving them mad with their innermost nightmares.

    Sometimes all you really need to do is unleash your victim's own demons upon them; when you initiate this strike, make a melee attack. If you hit, you deal normal weapon damage and your victim suffers visions of their worst fears that overwhelm their mind, dealing them 1d8+1 points of Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma damage (DC 16 + your Wisdom modifier half).

    As long as your victim still suffers from ability damage afflicted by this ability, they are treated as though suffering from a fear effect.

    Rally to Daybreak [Boost]
    Level: 6th level maneuver
    Initiation Action: One Swift action
    Area: Thirty-foot radius burst
    Target: Allied creatures in burst

    Supernatural power enhancing your words, you rally the courage of yourself and your allies, aiding them in throwing off hostile intent.

    Autumn is the season of terror, and of necessity it is also the season when the truly courageous are separated from the merely confident. When you initiate this maneuver, you call out loudly to your allies (a silenced or otherwise speech-incapable Duke cannot initiate this maneuver unless they have another means of communicating to their allies, such as telepathy). You and any allied creatures within a thirty-foot radius burst may make new saving throws against any and all undesired effects that permit them; if any given saving throw is successful, it completely removes the undesired effect. Additionally, you and your allies within the burst become immune to fear until the end of the encounter.

    If Rally to Daybreak is initiated at night, the immunity to fear instead lasts until the sun next rises upon the location where it was initiated.

    Strike of the Last Breath [Strike]
    Level: 7th level maneuver
    Initiation Action: One Standard action
    Range: Melee attack
    Target: One creature

    With the merest fraction of Death's power, you draw the life out of your foe, leaving him easy pickings.

    Being strong isn't relevant if your enemy can make you so weak that you cannot resist him, and the ultimate expression of the Dukes' connection with Death taps into this idea. When you initiate this strike, make a melee attack. If you hit, you deal normal weapon damage plus 1d6 points of constitution damage. Your victim must immediately succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 17 + your Wisdom modifier) or become exhausted, as well as suffering a -4 morale penalty to Will saves and skill checks until the end of the encounter.


    Playing a Duke of the Last Light
    As a rule, the Duchy tends to favor quiet, serious sorts for its members, although exceptions certainly exist and changes of heart are also not unknown. For the most part, though, the Duchy tries to dress functionally, displaying small but meaningful symbols such as autumn leaves, the setting sun, or scythes, and goes about their business with a minimum of fuss. The individual Dukes and Duchesses are given quite a bit of leeway in terms of how they live their lives and accomplish any missions they're given, so feel free to play up your own personal style and connection to Death.
    Combat: Most Duchesses come from backgrounds as Initiators, which means that they mix their new-found strikes and counters to debilitate their enemies, following up with more conventional tactics to finish them off. Choose carefully if you want to use a boost or activate one of your sigils, since you can only do one of them on any given turn, and try to put yourself into situations where you can take advantage of your bonus attacks.
    Advancement: Many Dukes choose to advance as whatever kind of initiator they were before, though a minority choose to advance as monks, rogues, and/or fighters.
    Resources: The Duchy is very thinly spread; however, their vague favor with various beings relating to Death, as well as certain varieties of spellcasters, religions and fey, mean they can sometimes barter for some very esoteric favors. Additionally, the Duchy has one large favor for those who are interested: they are willing to aid their members in becoming undead. They tend to favor the Necropolitian template, but are also willing (with a damn good explanation) to look into mummification and turning their members into ghouls and ghasts, with the latter being the most rare. Many Dukes choose not to take this route, either to avoid the social stigma or out of genuine moral or religious qualms, but enough have taken that road over the years to make them seem more numerous than they really are.

    Dukes of the Last Light in the World
    "She showed up, quiet as you please, and politely asked them mercenaries to let us go, nice and calm like. When they saw whatever she was holding in her hand, they said yes."
    Jisha Holdhallow, rescued kidnap victim


    The Duchy does not enjoy the benefits of great amounts of fame or prestige, and its members often come across as mysterious, standoffish, or even untrustworthy. As such, the arrival of a Duke or Duchess is typically greeted with wariness unless they have developed an independent reputation. Oddly enough, the ones that develop the darkest reputations tend to have the sunniest dispositions - possibly because of how disturbing it is to see a smiling, happy person casually afflicting her foes with debilitating madness and terror.
    Daily Life: Unless on special assignment from the Duchy, most Dukes and Duchesses have such free reign with their day that it's difficult to generalize about them. Many of them are adventurers, and can be found laboring away at various personal projects. A few (perhaps a dozen) work full-time for the Duchy, maintaining its diplomatic ties to its allies and working to keep tabs on the general location of the various Dukes and Duchesses.
    Notables: Though many of the Dukes and Duchesses do end up garnering a personal reputation, two in particular stand out:

    Brianna Asheholm
    Spoiler
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    "Death beats Her wings for you."

    Brianna Asheholm has been at this for a long, long time. One of the oldest Duchesses, Brianna became undead centuries ago in order to work with the Duchy full time. She's seen empires rise and fall, witnessed and averted countless cataclysms, and now she is old, and tired, and not even given the courtesy of retiring from view - she's just too valuable to the Duchy, and to the world as a whole. While Brianna has altruistic ends, sheer exhaustion has driven her to the most expedient course of action to fulfill them, even if that means harming the innocent, and she's clashed with adventurers more than once as a result of the incidental sins she's inflicted upon others. Perhaps if someone could shake her from her depression, she might atone for her sins and find a reason to care about existence again. Then again, maybe not.

    Brianna coldly and dispassionately attempts to support the Duchy and fulfill its will without regard to other beings. While not deliberately cruel, Brianna has no qualms about harming the innocent if it will further her mission, and has long since lost any respect she has for the dignity or life of any being, including herself. She is neutral evil.


    Miriska of the Leaves
    Spoiler
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    "I know you don't believe me, but I am truly sorry for this."

    Miriska has been a slave so long that she's forgotten what it's like to be free. At the tender age of twenty-five (young, for an elf) she was informed that her soul had been sold to a devil lord known as the Rusted Baron while she was still in her mother's womb. From then on she was his creature, her free will altered to strip out any ability she had to resist his wishes. She became a warrior, and later a Duchess, at his behest, and now serves as his assassin. Thanks to his agents, she appears before her targets and strikes them down without mercy, sending their souls screaming to his clutches thanks to the cursed blade she wields. Miriska hates that she does this, but her options for resistance are limited, and while she deliberately holds back and attempts only to harm those she has been explicitly told to harm, there is a problem - every time she dies, her soul returns to the Baron, who has her raised from the dead and sent back after those that kill her. Miriska would end her own existence if she could, but is under strict orders not to, and despairs of ever being able to break out of the cycle of violence and abuse that has defined her life.

    Miriska is compelled by magic to obey the whims of a vicious, evil overlord but does not wish to be. She avoids harming those that she is not compelled to hurt, even at personal cost, and does her best to let her victims escape her clutches for as long as possible in order to inconvenience her master at every turn. If she was freed, she would try to make amends for what she has been forced to do and, if he isn't already dead, destroy her master. She is neutral good.

    Organizations: The Duchy of the Last Light theoretically claims the allegiance of all of the various Dukes and Duchesses of the Last Light, but the exact extent of their loyalty can vary, and the Duchy doesn't ask for precedence or even exclusivity from its Dukes. As such, they can sometimes be found moonlighting for mercenary groups, assassins' guilds, temples and other such organizations - or even working for them full-time and moonlighting with the Duchy, or else striving to various degrees to avoid their fellow Dukes.

    Sidebar: The Duchy of the Last Light
    Spoiler
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    The Duchy of the Last Light is not a very formalized organization, and is almost entirely composed of its Dukes and Duchesses, with the odd fey, undead, or druidic member floating around. All in all there are perhaps two hundred members, most of them scattered far and wide and only keeping in touch with letters, magic, and the rare meeting on the road. With that in mind, the Duchy does have informal rules and formal goals.

    The Duchy stands for the other side of nature; the frost of Autumn nights, the descending claw, and the death-rattle. They revere, and sometimes worship, a female figure that they call Death, or sometimes the Quiet Lady or the Mother of Fallen Leaves, and believe themselves to gain favor from Her hand directly. The Duchy seeks out wells of negative energy and either closes them (if they are too inimical to life) or tends to and guards them, making sure that no one else tampers with them and potentially upsets the general balance of life and death. The Duchy seeks out powerful immortals such as the undead or Jade Pheonix Mages and seeks to contain any negative effects they might have on the balance of life and death, sometimes striking alliances for information (especially common with ancient liches, who may be the only beings that remember the knowledge contained within them) and sometimes seeking methods of ending their unnaturally extended lives. Towards these ends, the Duchy cooperates with religions that have similar outlooks, as well as fey and druidic circles, and it's not uncommon to find Dukes and Duchesses that also revere gods such as Eternal Glory or Wee Jas.

    While the Duchy is not strictly evil, its actions sometimes can be, and they often appear to be because of their seemingly casual attitude about death. The Duchy's orthodoxy holds that the dead ascend to a higher state than mere mortality, and thus while the party line is not to kill without need, they don't bother themselves too much if one of their agents goes unstable or downright sadistic until or unless it becomes a problem for the Duchy itself. Additionally, maintaining their ties with some of their allies can sometimes mean pressure to perform dangerous or immoral acts, and while many Dukes would never stoop to that level, many more are pragmatic or ruthless enough to do so in order to serve the greater cause of keeping life and death in balance.

    While lacking in material wealth, the Duchy is easily able to trade in supernatural favors, provided the beneficiary is willing to travel a bit to gain their reward. For the right price, the Duchy is also willing to trade favors or wealth in order to turn someone into an undead being (typically a necropolitian, although mummies are also common. The Duchy never creates an undead being that must feed in this fashion and does not favor creating liches itself either). As well, the Duchy maintains an open bounty on ancient lore of life and death, and significant 'ransom' bounties on captured or enslaved Dukes and Duchesses, paid upon their safe return to a representative of the Duchy itself.


    NPC Reaction
    Most people either assume the Duchess of the Last Light is a warrior or don't quite know what to make of her, depending on how flamboyant or melodramatic her fashion sense runs. Most are somewhat disturbed to see their arts in action; many of the Dukes move at a speed that makes them seem inhuman, and watching their foes succumb to gibbering madness after being touched by their arts only makes them seem more disturbing and otherworldly. That being said, many of the Duchy do perform good deeds, and in regions where those individuals have passed through a Duke may get an unexpectedly warm, if nervous, welcome.

    Dukes of the Last Light in the Game
    Dukes of the Last Light are very similar to Swordsages insofar as they are a melee-focused character that has access to powerful debilitating effects. Outside of combat, they don't change the game much, but within combat they combine mobility with the ability to lay down the law with dire penalties from their new Strikes. Just keep in mind that their native damage is somewhat lower than a Swordsage's would be and plan encounters accordingly.
    Adaptation: Removing the affiliation the Dukes have with an organization - or changing what organization it is - would be the easiest way to adapt them, perhaps as assassins in service of Wee Jas or another such religion.
    Encounters: Encounters with the Dukes are difficult to characterize, as they may be in need of help (rescuing or simply beyond their league), attempting to slay the characters for reasons known or unknown, or are perhaps on a mission the party happens to be in the way of. What is known is that the Dukes don't normally make a large fuss about their conflicts and aren't known for fighting fair - most encounters will start with the Duke attempting an ambush in order to gain and retain the upper hand.
    Last edited by Lord_Gareth; 2012-06-06 at 10:46 AM.


    Quote Originally Posted by Chilingsworth View Post
    Wow! Not only was that awesome, I think I actually kinda understand Archeron now. If all the "intermediate" outer planes got that kind of treatment, I doubt there would be anywhere near as many critics of their utility.
    My extended homebrew sig