Dark Vessel
A hollow or concave utensil which is in need of a wash... hmm I cant see this wor-
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Boldly you sought the power of flame. Now you shall witness it firsthand! ~ Firelord Magmus
Earth can be shaped, molded...you cannot! You are useless! Your kind has no place in my master's world. ~ Earthlord Obsidion[/center]
Dark Vessels are magicians, whether of inborn talent or learned skill, that have little to no respect for balance in the world. They seek to rearrange their world at their own whims or a hidden master's, and as they grow more powerful, can change it with a simple touch. Early in their career, they gain the ability to completely subsume an elemental and gain its abilities. Usually they specialize in an element to master - the most powerful of them attain the rank of Elemental Lord, signifying their absolute mastery over the element. Most Dark Vessels use pseudonyms, usually transliterated names from the elemental language that matches their mastery.
Holy crap! This is what happens if you become a curry addict.
On a serious note though... the fluff here is awesome. The image is also very bad ass indeed.
Pre game rule information stuff...
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Adventures: Dark Vessels adventure to gain power and expand their influence. Usually this means they gain a flock of like-minded individuals they can direct, or they destroy and corrupt as much as they can. Some choose to be defilers, setting fire to forests and sinking islands, while others use more subtle approaches.
Characteristics: Dark Vessels are specialized in their elemental mastery, and can handle excursions to elemental planes with ease. Depending on their choice of mastery, they can also excel at melee or ranged combat.
Alignment: Almost all Dark Vessels are evil, as dominating the elements in such a reckless way leaves little for good intentions. Those few that are not evil are certainly of a neutral bent, though they can be either lawful or chaotic. Those lawful Dark Vessels see the elements as a right, while the chaotic ones tend not to care about them either way and use them when it is convenient.
Religion: While Dark Vessels tend not to be very religious in their quest for power, those that are revere deities of power, death, or destruction. They almost never join the ranks of the supplicants of elemental deities - it is considered an affront to the deity to attempt to control their element as the Dark Vessels do.
Background: Dark Vessels are typically made up of fanatic cultists with a lust for power, with the skill and devotion to excel. Those diplaying the skill and intentions are often approached by cults looking to recruit them for greater elemental beings, those that are outside the power of the Vessel to control. It is not often that these cults are known amongst the general populace except in terror.
Races: Races strongly gifted in magic without a penchant for doing good may find themselves with many Dark Vessel candidates among them. Those that are easily swayed by promises of power may also have an elemental cult within them that harbors Dark Vessels.
Other Classes: Dark Vessels most often work well with other "loner" classes - evil or neutral clerics of evil gods, rogues, or sorcerers. Wizards may see them as forcing magic with a hammer instead of working it with a quill, though they also may admire them for their devotion. Dark Vessels are almost always incompatible with Paladins or good-aligned Clerics, as their philosophies differ largely. Druids and other nature spellcasters are the exact opposite of a Dark Vessel and will clash often.
Role: Dark Vessels inflict damage, control enemies, and can handle certain types of traps. They are somewhat good at dealing with people through lies and propaganda.
Adaptation: Dark Vessels manipulate the elements to their benefit, forcing them to bow to their will or even consuming them in rituals. This can be changed to demons, spirits, or other forces, typically intelligent ones with some will to resist.
Very strong fluff entry. I like the fact that the flavour of class can be easily adjusted to have a different "victim" in mind.
Game rule information...
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GAME RULE INFORMATION
Dark Vessels have the following game statistics.
Abilities: A Dark Vessel's Charisma score affects its damage, ability to manipulate its element and subsume an elemental, and several other things. It is paramount to its effectiveness, while Dexterity and Constitution keep the Dark Vessel alive longer.
Alignment: Any Evil, Lawful Neutral, True Neutral or Chaotic Neutral.
Hit Die: d4
Starting Age: As cleric.
Starting Gold: As cleric.
Class Skills
The Dark Vessel's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Forgery (Int), Hide (Dex), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (the Planes) (Int), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis) and Spellcraft (Int).
Skill Points at First Level: (2 + Int modifier) x 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier
d4 hit points seems a bit harsh and i'm not sure why Forgery, hide and Move Silently are all here. Is there a sneaky infultration element to them?
Class Table...
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{table=head]
Level|
Base Attack Bonus|
Fort Save|
Ref Save|
Will Save|
Special|
Corruptions
1st|
+0
|
+2
|
+0
|
+2
|Essence Bolt (1d6), Enslave Elemental|0
2nd|
+1
|
+3
|
+0
|
+3
|Subsume Elemental (Resistance), Drawn Power (1st)|0
3rd|
+1
|
+3
|
+1
|
+3
|Essence Bolt (2d6), Inflict Corruption|1
4th|
+2
|
+4
|
+1
|
+4
|Drawn Power (2nd)|1
5th|
+2
|
+4
|
+1
|
+4
|Essence Bolt (3d6), Elemental Path|2
6th|
+3
|
+5
|
+2
|
+5
|Subsume Elemental (Traits), Drawn Power (3rd)|2
7th|
+3
|
+5
|
+2
|
+5
|Essence Bolt (4d6)|3
8th|
+4
|
+6
|
+2
|
+6
|Planar Tear, Drawn Power (4th)|3
9th|
+4
|
+6
|
+3
|
+6
|Essence Bolt (5d6), Dominate Elemental (temporary)|4
10th|
+5
|
+7
|
+3
|
+7
|Drawn Power (5th), Elemental Adept|4
11th|
+5
|
+7
|
+3
|
+7
|Essence Bolt (6d6)|5
12th|
+6/+1
|
+8
|
+4
|
+8
|Subsume Elemental (Elemental Ability), Drawn Power (6th)|5
13th|
+6/+1
|
+8
|
+4
|
+8
|Essence Bolt (7d6), Corrupting Touch|6
14th|
+7/+2
|
+9
|
+4
|
+9
|Core Shatter, Drawn Power (7th)|6
15th|
+7/+2
|
+9
|
+5
|
+9
|Essence Bolt (8d6), Elemental Lord|7
16th|
+8/+3
|
+10
|
+5
|
+10
|Drawn Power (8th)|7
17th|
+8/+3
|
+10
|
+5
|
+10
|Essence Bolt (9d6), Dominate Elemental (permanent)|8
18th|
+9/+4
|
+11
|
+6
|
+11
|Drawn Power (9th)|8
19th|
+9/+4
|
+11
|
+6
|
+11
|Essence Bolt (10d6), Obliterate|9
20th|
+10/+5
|
+12
|
+6
|
+12
|Essence Bolt (11d6), Elemental Ascendant|10[/table]
No dead levels and the table has that nice evenly distributed look to it which makes you feel as though your looking at a solidly built class.
Maybe consider upping its bab to medium?
Class features...
Weapon and Armor Proficiency:
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Dark Vessels are proficient with all simple weapons and light and medium armor. While they are able to cast spells, the nature of their magic does not cause them to suffer failure chances.
Your probably better starting this off in light armour and advancing it to medium later on (like the war mage).
Still would would give medium armour a bit more love, which often gets ignored (in my games at least) sadly.
Essence Bolt (Su):
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Dark Vessels first learn to command the elements by shaping raw energies into a damaging bolt. As a standard action, the Dark Vessel may launch a bolt up to 100 ft away that inflicts 1d6 damage for every 2 levels he has (up to 11d6 at level 20) with a ranged touch attack. The type of damage inflicted is chosen at the time of use; it can either be acid, fire, cold, or electric. While the Dark Vessel has an elemental subsumed (see below), the bolt has the following additional effects if its type matches the subtype of the elemental:
I really like this, it kind of takes the eldrich blast and cranks it up a notch in awesome.
Enslave Elemental (Su):
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After shaping an Essence Bolt, Dark Vessels learn to utilize the same energies to summon and bind an elemental to their service. This elemental is a Small elemental (air, earth, fire, or water, your choice) that functions as a familiar, where the Dark Vessel's sorcerer or wizard level is equal to his Dark Vessel level. While enslaved, the elemental provides the Dark Vessel with increased resistance to harsh elements in the form of a permanent Endure Elements spell. The Dark Vessel does not lose XP if his elemental dies because it was Subsumed by his own ability. Unlike other familiars, the act of calling and binding an elemental is easier than attuning oneself to a creature, and thus can be done as a full round action. However, the Dark Vessel, no matter how powerful he is, can only have one elemental enslaved at a time.
This is a pretty cool ability and i like the fact you get Endure Elements. This feature fits the theme very well.
Subsume Elemental (Su):
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At 2nd level, Dark Vessels learn how to absorb an elemental into their body, gaining the abilities of the elemental without diminishing their personalities. When a Dark Vessel first learns how to do this, they gain magical power and resistance from the elemental absorbed. A Dark Vessel cannot subsume an elemental with Hit Dice greater than twice his Dark Vessel levels.
Haha awesome class feature! I asume you can fule this with your own elemental as well right?
Drawn Power (Su):
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Whenever the Dark Vessel has an elemental subsumed within his body, he gains the ability to cast certain spells as spell-like abilities. At 2nd level, he is able to use these spell-like abilities 1/day each. Whenever the Dark Vessel gains new spell-like abilities, he can use all previous levels of spell-like abilities once more per day, up to a maximum of 3/day (for example, when the Dark Vessel gains the ability to use 2nd level spell-like abilities, he can use his 1st-level spell-like abilities 2/day; when he gains access to 3rd, he can use all 2nd-level spell-like abilities 2/day, and all 1st-level spell-like abilities 3/day). The Dark Vessel's caster level is equal to his class level.
These are really cool. I really like the spells you offer.
Could i maybe recomend that you give summon (X elemental) to them at all its various levels. It could be a seperate class feature but it would be cool. I supose this would allow them to always have something they could consume of course, but thats not such a bad thing because at the moment that ability is kind of campaign setting dependant.
Inflict Corruption (Su):
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The Dark Vessel's use of elemental magic is not a natural thing, and often causes corruptions in victims or recipients of it. These corruptions are often beneficial for the Dark Vessel and his allies, and potentially devastating for his victims. At 3rd level, and every odd level afterwards (and again at 20th level), the Dark Vessel may choose a new Corruption to add to his repertoire. Up to three times per day, when the Dark Vessel uses a spell-like ability that targets a single creature, attacks with a melee weapon or unarmed strike, or uses Essence Bolt, he may choose to add a Corruption to his attack. Multiple attacks (such as from high base attack bonus) only risk corruption once. Victims that take damage or suffer an effect from the ability or attack must make an additional Fortitude save (DC = 10 + 1/2 Dark Vessel level + his Charisma modifier) or suffer the corruption. Corruptions are considered Alteration spell effects with indefinite duration; each instance of a corruption can only afflict a creature once, though it may suffer multiple corruptions. A creature already corrupted becomes slightly resistant to further corruptions; for each corruption a creature has, it gains a +1 bonus to its Fortitude save to resist suffering another. A corruption cannot reduce an ability score below 1 with the exception of the Twisted Body corruption.
Wow nice list of options. I would maybe consider upping the uses per day or construct some feats to allow you to do so... in fact this class could use a couple of nice custom feats.
Elemental Path (Su):
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At 5th level, a Dark Vessel begins down the path to ascension. He must choose an elemental subtype (air, fire, water, or earth). He is able to influence naturally occurring elements of that type. By concentrating for 1 round, the Dark Vessel can crudely shape up to 5 cubic foot of loose earth, change the direction of a slow, shallow river, increase or decrease the speed of winds in the area by up to 10 feet, or snuff out or cause a fire to spread up to 20 feet away. In addition, he may use this ability to make a special ritual circle 10 feet in diameter which any Elemental suffers a -2 penalty on its saves against his Subsume Elemental and Dominate Elemental abilities.
Very cool indeed!
Planar Tear (Su):
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At 8th level, a Dark Vessel can tear a small hole through planar walls into one of the elemental planes, creating an effect that imbues the area with elemental power. The area changes to roughly match the energy imbued in the area: an area imbued with fire energy becomes charred and smells of carbon, while an area imbued with water energy becomes damp and slippery; an area imbued with air energy becomes brighter, clean and slightly foggy (not enough to impair vision), while an area imbued with earth energy feels more cramped, becomes dusty and any walls or objects nearby take on a hewn stone appearance. This effect has a radius of 20 feet and functions similarly to a Desecrate spell with a duration of 1 hour per Dark Vessel level.
Creating the tear is a full round action, and enhances the area with a specific elemental subtype (air, fire, water, or earth, chosen at the time of use). All Charisma checks as part of turn attempts against elementals of the same subtype take a -3 profane penalty, and every elemental creature of the same subtype entering an empowered area gains a +1 profane bonus on attack rolls, damage rolls, and saving throws. An elemental of the correct subtype summoned into such an area gains +1 hit points per HD. Within the area, elementals that are turned only run in fear for half the duration (5 rounds) and cannot be destroyed outright.
So they can they make elementals more powerful and then consume them at that level of increased power?
Dominate Elemental (Su):
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Beginning at 9th level, once per day a Dark Vessel can attempt to Dominate an elemental as if by a Dominate Person spell. The DC for this ability is equal to 14 + his Charisma modifier and is a Will save. At 17th level, the duration of this ability becomes permanent and has a DC equal to 19 + his Charisma modifier. The Dark Vessel may only have one elemental dominated at a time.
Hehe, you can become micky mouse out of fantasia but with fire elementals.
Elemental Adept (Su):
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At 10th level, the Dark Vessel becomes adept at manipulating elemental energies and can change the shape of his Essence Bolt into a 30' cone, a 60' line, or a 15' radius area. When shaped in such a way, the Essence Bolt requires a Reflex save (DC = 10 + 1/2 Dark Vessel levels + his Cha modifier) instead of a ranged touch attack, and victims take half damage on a successful save.
In addition, while the Dark Vessel has an elemental subsumed that matches the elemental subtype chosen with Elemental Path, he gains a bonus to damage with his Essence Bolt equal to the subsumed elemental's total Hit Dice, plus another bonus effect:
ooo... i really like this. I'm always a sucker for awesome methods of movement, your pandering to all my likes at the moment. Leaping through fires is particularly cool as well.
Corrupting Touch (Su):
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Beginning at 13th level, the Dark Vessel may corrupt with a simple touch. Three times per day, the Dark Vessel can make a melee touch attack against a creature to inflict them with a corruption, or touch the ground or an object touching the ground to produce the effects of his Planar Tear ability as a swift action.
Interesting ability and it offer more flexability.
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Core Shatter (Su): At 14th level, whenever the Dark Vessel strikes a creature with an Essence Bolt whose damage type opposes the victim's elemental subtype (water opposes fire and earth opposes air), it suffers additional damage equal to half the Essence Bolt's original damage, as if it had vulnerability to that type. If the creature already has vulnerability to that damage type, it instead suffers double damage from the Essence Bolt.
A bit setting dependant but still very cool.
Elemental Lord (Su):
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At 15th level, the Dark Vessel gains the ability to manipulate the elemental energies within his body to augment his powers or create new effects. To do so, he must subsume an elemental that matches the subtype chosen with Elemental Path and then suppress the effects of the Subsume Elemental ability for a short time. He can use any one of the following effects once per round as a free action:
Now thats a class feature with a bold claim in its name... and its lives up to it very well indeed.
Obliterate (Su):
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At 19th level, the Dark Vessel can strike with such force that anything barring complete immunity cannot stop his elemental prowess. Creatures cannot make use of Improved Evasion against his elemental attacks, spell-like abilities and Essence Bolt, and all of his abilities that inflict elemental damage (electricity, fire, cold, and acid damage) ignore Resistance and Resist Energy spells and effects. In addition, as a full round action, the Dark Vessel may unleash a volley of four Essence Bolts. These bolts may be aimed at a single creature or multiple creatures. He may use Elemental Adept to change any of them into cones, lines, or area effects.
A good way to bypass may of the classes innate weaknesses and also add a good amount of flexibility to things. Nice feature.
Elemental Ascendant:
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At 20th level, the Dark Vessel ascends and becomes the perfect fusion of elemental and flesh. He retains his old type, but may choose to be considered either his original type or an Elemental for the purposes of effects of spells. He may still be resurrected as if he were his original type (if it was capable of being resurrected). In addition, whenever the Dark Vessel uses his Essence Bolt to inflict damage that is the same type as the elemental subtype that he has subsumed (air, fire, water, or earth correspond to electricity, fire, cold, or acid, respectively), it automatically bypasses immunity and creates an area identical to a Planar Tear where it strikes.
Nice way to round things off, i like image of making your bolts explode into a Planar Tear when the strike.
Summary
I really rather like this class, its packed to the rafters with flavour and then proceeds to burn said building down with some pretty funky crunch.
I think the biggest problem facing the class is its that some of its abilities are quite setting dependant, but that something for a player and their dm to sort out.
If you get some free time I would be interested in seeing variants of this class using alternate fuel types other than elementals. Though obviously that is probably something you could do after the contest is over and you have more time.
Re: Base Class Challenge Chat Thread II
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