Base Class Challenge Chat Thread II

[MammonAzrael]

Awesome theme. I've been thinking of a class that would be a sort of monk/soulknife hybrid/fix, using it's body and mind as it's power, and now I can fit it into the contest.

[unosarta]

Oh man, I have a fun concept in the works.

”I sing of the ancient skies,
Fool hardy lies,
That filled the minds of my fathers,
Chasing away their bothers.

I sing of the roaring fires,
That tore through lyres,
Broke up homes,
And ate the tomes.

I sing of the sacrifice my mothers made,
to fight away the warring raid.
the wounds they received,
their sister’s corpses seen bleed.

I sing of the sacrifice of the strong,
For the idiot throng,
I will not make
That same mistake.”

--Lisaan Oroubourous, Warrior Poet of the Singing Thrush

Going to be an intelligence based Bardic Music/Poetry using Initiator, with roughly Warblade maneuver progression. They will be getting songs per encounter instead of per day, and activate them as a move action, granting all allies the bonus for one round only.

[Amechra]

Interesting.

My idea is a sorta Psychic Warrior (conceptually, not a class clone), who has a part of their personality split off, to be used as a defense, and later on a Schism-like effect.

Will have a uniqueish casting mechanism, and will generally be... something. I don't know.

My father says that almost the whole world is asleep. Everybody you know, everybody you see, everybody you talk to. He says that only a few people are awake, and they live in a state of constant, total amazement.

The first part of The Wake by Abney Park, and in general an awesome quote that will be used for my class.

[Temotei]

I like what I'm seeing so far.

Also, yes, the challenge is open to everyone.

[Lord_Gareth]

Each reality is but the dream of another, and each sleeper a god unknowing.

The Transcendentalist

[Hyooz]

Might enter this one. Toying with an idea right now.

[Temotei]

For those that won first, second, and third place in the last contest, I have a little gift:

PairO'Dice Lost:

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unosarta:

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Derjuin:

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Feel free to leave them here or put them in your signatures. I'll also PM them to you in case you miss this post.

I like the prospective participation. All of this looks promising.

[Lord_Gareth]

Why were there no kneecaps in those prizes?

[Morph Bark]

Each reality is but the dream of another, and each sleeper a god unknowing.

The Transcendentalist

Once I got to "dream" I couldn't finish. I started having dreams within dreams within dreams.

The Inceptor

[Temotei]

Why were there no kneecaps in those prizes?

Because...they kept them? *cowers slightly*

[TheGeckoKing]

I hereby deem the Nightmare Sculptor ready for use, although I could add more paths, i'm too tired to root through books for spell lists, which is why I did the three easy ones and one normal one first.
Therefore, even if it's just a "It's ok", go have a look! Tell me how it is! Is it usable? Is fear immunity at 1st level too much? Does it smell of kippers? Tell me!

[Garryl]

Are partially complete projects that are already posted on these boards allowed as submissions? I've got a project that would fit this nicely, but I never completed it. This would be a good excuse for me to work on it again.

[Hyooz]

Notes and rhymes carry power with them quite simply. They touch the rhythms of magic and life, interacting with them on a fundamental level. To manipulate reality with such is child's play.

My words, however, do not merely describe the world.

They define it.

The Scribe

[unosarta]

Well, the rest of the Warrior Poet is done. Any comments?

[Amechra]

I like the concept, unosarta.

How does my fluff look?

[Temotei]

I've looked at:

The Nightmare Sculptor:

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Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Nightmare Sculptor. They are (Su) effects, unless otherwise noted.

It would probably be best to just note everything as supernatural as is standard, since having this statement makes weapon and armor proficiencies supernatural, as well as spellcasting and armored mage by a strict reading. I'd rule it as is intended, but it would be best to have each one noted with (Su), I think.

Numb to Nightmares (Ex): The Nightmare Sculptor has long been subject to horrors, borne from their own mind. Thus, the fears that can be created by other men simply do nothing for Nightmare Sculptors. A Nightmare Sculptor gains immunity to fear. This immunity ignores anything that would subvert it, such as the Dread Witch's Greater Mastery of Terror class feature. This is not borne by magic or training. The Nightmare Sculptor just does not care.

That's fair.

Phobic Path: At the start of their journey through paranoia, the Nightmare Sculptor must make a grim decision - what phobia defines them best? At 1st level, a Nightmare Sculptor chooses one of the paths below. They then add the spells noted to their spell list, and treat them as any other spell on their spell list (Divine Spells, if any, are cast as Arcane Spells by the Nightmare Sculptor). A few exceptions may occur, but each path, one way or another, gives the Nightmare Sculptor one spell of levels 1st-9th.

All of the phobic paths seem alright upon first glance. I don't remember the Cerebrosis spells too well, though.

Let Me Tell You A Story (Ex): At 3rd level, the Nightmare Sculptor can use their talking skills to greater terrify their enemies. The Nightmare Spinner treats their total ranks in Intimidate as their original ranks in Intimidate, plus half their ranks in Perform (Oratory). This ignores the skill rank cap, but only specifically for this ability.

Nightmare spinner isn't this class's name.

This is fair.

Advanced Learning: At 4th level, a Nightmare Sculptor can add a new spell to their list, representing the result of personal study and experimentation. The spell must be a cleric or wizard spell with the [Mind Effecting] tag, and of a level no higher than that of the highest-level spell the Nightmare Sculptor already knows. Once a new spell is selected, it is added to that Nightmare Sculptor’s spell list and can be cast just like any other spell she knows. If a spell is both a cleric spell and a wizard spell, use the higher of the two spell levels (when different) to determine what level the spell is
for a Nightmare Sculptor. A Nightmare Sculptor gains an additional new spell at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th level.

While I agree that the spells in the descriptor could very well be mind-effecting, the tag is actually mind-affecting.

Fear Me (Ex): At 6th level, the Nightmare Sculptor oozes fear out of their bones, and can make the weak flee with a glance. The Nightmare Sculptor gains a Gaze Attack that makes anyone seeing into the Nightmare Sculptor's eyes make a Will Save (DC is 10 + Levels in Nightmare Sculptor + Wis Mod)
or be affected by a Fear spell, with a caster level equal to the Nightmare Sculptor's. At 12th level, this effect benefits from the Nightmare Sculptor's Fear Me Regardless class ability as if it were being cast like a spell.

Aw. I thought it was going to be literally oozing out of your body. Like, in ooze form. If I use this, I'm fluffing it like that, just so you know.

This is pretty powerful. A gaze attack is constant, remember, making every creature in range of the nightmare sculptor constantly subject to panic, which is an encounter-ending status effect. Making it require an action would reduce its power to a nicer level, as would a daily limit, or maybe just making the status effect shaken instead. You could also reduce its effect to only affect one creature at a time with the option of not affecting anything. That would remove the problem of your allies being in range, as well as remove many problems otherwise. It still makes single- and two-enemy encounters cakewalks--especially at 12th level and past it.

Share Your Worries (Ex): At 9th level, the Nightmare Sculptor of all people, can make a good listener. They know that the horrors the mind can make, inside and out. In fact, they have been known to heal mental integrity with their conversations with their words, and bolster their knowledge of that which induces fear with it. After all, one mind can only imagine so much. A number of times equal to their Wis Mod, a Nightmare Sculptor can converse with a willing creature (creatures with 0 WIS are considered willing regardless) that can hear and understand them for one minute. If they do, they gain a bonus to Intimidate checks equal to that creature's CR, and that creature is healed a number of points of Wis Damage/Drain equal to the Nightmare Sculptor's Wis Mod (Damage is healed before Drain). This Intimidate bonus does not stack, and a larger bonus replaces the previous bonus. A small side effect is that the worry sharer doesn't really find the Nightmare Sculptor scary for a while, and so demoralization checks the Nightmare Sculptor makes against that person automatically fail, for 24 hours.

It took a second reading to see why this works for the class, but I see it now. The only problem I see is that you say "A number of times equal to their Wis Mod..." That means in total, the ability only works a number of times equal to the nightmare sculptor's Wisdom modifier. Did you mean per day, per week, per month, or what?

Fear Me Regardless (Ex): At 12th level, the Nightmare Sculptor is so knowledgeable about fear that pathetic things like the blessing of a god, or that fact your dead doesn't stop them. They simply adapt. When a Nightmare Sculptor casts a spell, they may choose to ignore any [Mind Effecting] and [Fear] tags the spell might have, thus subverting any immunity to these effects.

Good.

Seeds of Paranoia (Su): At 15th level, the Nightmare Sculptor is terror incarnate, and they may sow the seeds of paranoia in their spells. Wis Mod times per day, when the Nightmare Sculptor may infect their spells with a little extra. On top of the normal saves the target makes, it must make one additional Will Save or contract a special kind of Cackle Fever, with an Incubation Period of Instantaneous, and the disease cannot be spread to other victims. This disease ignores immunity to disease (unless the target has Wis -), as it it only an infection in the most basic sense, and more mental degradation. The only way to remove this special disease is to make an opposed dispel check (Use the Nightmare Sculptor's caster level in this case).
While under the disease, the victim loses the ability to tell their dreams from reality slowly, and becomes more un-trusting and paranoid. At the end of their wretched lives, victims of this malady normally live alone, psychotic and delusional.

I thought you weren't going to notate supernatural abilities.

I like it. When you say dispel check, you mean with the dispel spell, you can destroy the effect, right? I just want to make sure there's no other dispel check involved here.

Nightmares Made Real (Su): At 18th level, when the Nightmare Sculptor sleeps, the dreams literally pour out, and induce torment into their enemies. While the Nightmare Sculptor sleeps, the land around them is affected by a Shadow Landscape spell, centered on the Nightmare Sculptor. Allies are unaffected.

Ooh. I like this.

Your Logic Is Not Welcome Here (Ex): At 20th level, the Nightmare Sculptor realizes - it's all in their head. They can subvert immunities and induce insanities, yet help the mad themselves. Why? Because they thought it was the normal thing to do, and their near-omnipotent mind obliged their imagination. The reason they were once weak and now are near-gods? Because their mind thought that was the correct power level and so reality could do nothing as the magic just rewired reality to do as it's told. Hence, with this realization, the Nightmare Sculptor becomes more. They transcend their nightmares, their dreams, and everything else in their way. The Nightmare Sculptor takes no penalties for aging (Existing ones are removed), their maximum age is Infinite, and they gain a continual Greater Visage of the Deity (SpC p231) on their person, with the Nightmare Sculptor being treated as an Evil Cleric for the spell, regardless of their actual alignment.

The nightmare sculptor thought aging and dying was in their head, so they can circumvent it? Okay. I can see that happening in D&D.

It's a fair capstone, I think. The bonuses are large, but not too much so.


Alright. For the most part, I like the class. The gaze attack is the only feature that bothered me, really.

The Warrior Poet:

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Weapon Proficiencies: War Poets are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, and light armors, and shields. They are not proficient with Tower Shields.

This is alright, but you already made a mistake with the name.

Song of the Poet (Ex): The Warrior Poet may sing, read poetry, chant, or make a speech to his allies, to inspire them. He may do this for himself as well, or to his enemies. Once per encounter per point of Intelligence he possesses, the Warrior Poet may sing or read. He knows all poems or songs that he has access to. He has access to Least songs at first level, and gains access to Lesser songs at fifth level, Greater songs at tenth level, and Artisan songs at fifteenth level. Reading or singing is a move action. Least and Lesser songs cost one use per encounter, and Greater and Artisan songs cost two uses.

Under the least songs spoiler, it says it can affect only the warrior poet or his enemies. I think you mean an enemy, since greater songs would be mostly useless if least songs affected all enemies.

Do artisan songs work on the warrior poet as well as on allies? The song that grants rage, bear's endurance, and bull's strength is fairly unnecessary, it seems. Transformation covers nearly the same effects and does it mostly better. The only thing the three-spell combo has over transformation is a +6 bonus to Strength and Constitution as opposed to +4 to each.

I like this allowing maneuver recovery. It's a nice touch.

Battle Poetry (Ex): Starting at sixth level, the Warrior Poet may add his Intelligence modifier to Perform checks, instead of his Charisma modifier. At eighth level, the Warrior Poet may add his Intelligence modifier to Will saves, instead of his Wisdom modifier. At fourteenth level, he may add his Intelligence modifier to attack rolls, in addition to whatever ability score he normally adds to his attack rolls. At twentieth level, he may add it to damage rolls. These bonuses stack with those granted from the Song of the Poet ability.

The Perform part of this comes pretty late and doesn't match up with the table text. I assume you meant for it to be at 2nd level, but the text trumps the table, as they say.

Tactics of the Warrior: Starting at sixth level, the Warrior Poet may gain any tactical feat that they qualify for. They gain another at twelfth level, and another at eighteenth level.

Naming this "Warrior Tactics" would get the point across more concisely. It also sounds better, in my opinion. Keep it if you like it, though.

Quickened Poetry: Starting at tenth level, the Warrior Poet may use his Song of the Poet ability as a free action, once per round.

Does this allow song of the poet to be used more than once per round? A rewording is in order, I think.

"...may use his song of the poet ability as a free action once per round in addition to using it as a move action once per round." You could use that if it does allow two uses per round.

"...may use his song of the poet ability as a free action instead of as a move action." Use that if you meant it to be so. You could also cut out "instead of as a move action," if you like.

Songstrike: Starting at twentieth level, the Warrior Poet may make a strike and spend all of the uses of his Song of the Poet ability per encounter he possesses, as a full round action. If he does so, he empowers the strike, maximising any variabalic damage components to the strike. He deals an additional damage equal to his Intelligence modifier. He may only use this ability once per day.

You like that undefined word (variabalic), don't you? Variable works just fine if you want to replace it, but on Google, you're the first and second results for the word. Maybe it's your signature word.

Anyway, I like it. Combining this with open tome's crippling strike, shadow hand's five-shadow creeping ice enervation strike, diamond mind's time stands still, or even tiger claw's feral death blow would be fairly devastating. That's just looking at 9th-level strikes.


Overall, I don't have much to say about the class. Every dead level still grants a new maneuver, so you're basically covered there.

[unosarta]

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I've looked at:The Warrior Poet:
This is alright, but you already made a mistake with the name.

Arrrgh. I made that mistake like 50 times when writing this class.

Under the least songs spoiler, it says it can affect only the warrior poet or his enemies. I think you mean an enemy, since greater songs would be mostly useless if least songs affected all enemies.

Yes, it is meant to be one enemy.

Do artisan songs work on the warrior poet as well as on allies? The song that grants rage, bear's endurance, and bull's strength is fairly unnecessary, it seems. Transformation covers nearly the same effects and does it mostly better. The only thing the three-spell combo has over transformation is a +6 bonus to Strength and Constitution as opposed to +4 to each.

I like this allowing maneuver recovery. It's a nice touch.

The Artisan effect does affect the Warrior Poet as well.

Good point on the spells. Hm. I think I will replace it with a song that grants the effects of the Keen Edge and Greater Magic Weapon instead. That way it also provides a bonus to any weapon wielder, instead of just strength based ones.

The Perform part of this comes pretty late and doesn't match up with the table text. I assume you meant for it to be at 2nd level, but the text trumps the table, as they say.

Shoooot, that was supposed to be second level.

Naming this "Warrior Tactics" would get the point across more concisely. It also sounds better, in my opinion. Keep it if you like it, though.

I honestly thing Tactics of the Warrior rolls off the tongue better than Warrior Tactics, and I was kind of trying to make the abilities sound more "flowery" so to speak.

Does this allow song of the poet to be used more than once per round? A rewording is in order, I think.

No. Good point. I will add a clause stating that the Warrior Poet may still only use the Song of the Poet ability once per round.

"...may use his song of the poet ability as a free action instead of as a move action." Use that if you meant it to be so. You could also cut out "instead of as a move action," if you like.

I could use this wording, I suppose.

You like that undefined word (variabalic), don't you? Variable works just fine if you want to replace it, but on Google, you're the first and second results for the word. Maybe it's your signature word.

I like that word! Also, it technically should exist. And I like making up words like that, especially when they make more sense than using the existing word, or at least remove confusion. Also, using it twice hardly makes it my catch phrase. And my catch phrase is the first line in my Signature anyway.

Anyway, I like it. Combining this with open tome's crippling strike, shadow hand's five-shadow creeping ice enervation strike, diamond mind's time stands still, or even tiger claw's feral death blow would be fairly devastating. That's just looking at 9th-level strikes.

Thanks!

Overall, I don't have much to say about the class. Every dead level still grants a new maneuver, so you're basically covered there.

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions, even just fluff abilities, that could go in those levels. I desperately hate having those terrible white spaces in my tables.

[TheGeckoKing]

I've looked at:

The Nightmare Sculptor:

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It would probably be best to just note everything as supernatural as is standard, since having this statement makes weapon and armor proficiencies supernatural, as well as spellcasting and armored mage by a strict reading. I'd rule it as is intended, but it would be best to have each one noted with (Su), I think.

Done

That's fair.
Gooooood.


All of the phobic paths seem alright upon first glance. I don't remember the Cerebrosis spells too well, though.
Glad that the paths are O.K. The Cerebrosis spells are alright in my opinion, although the teleportation spell is downright suicidal to escalate.


Nightmare spinner isn't this class's name.
Dammit! Curse you WotC, for taking the good class names!

This is fair.
Again. Goooooood.


While I agree that the spells in the descriptor could very well be mind-effecting, the tag is actually mind-affecting.
Potato, Potato. Wait, who says Poh-TAH-to instead of po-tay-to?


Aw. I thought it was going to be literally oozing out of your body. Like, in ooze form. If I use this, I'm fluffing it like that, just so you know.

I'm tempted to make a Path of the Slimedrowned now.

This is pretty powerful. A gaze attack is constant, remember, making every creature in range of the nightmare sculptor constantly subject to panic, which is an encounter-ending status effect. Making it require an action would reduce its power to a nicer level, as would a daily limit, or maybe just making the status effect shaken instead. You could also reduce its effect to only affect one creature at a time with the option of not affecting anything. That would remove the problem of your allies being in range, as well as remove many problems otherwise. It still makes single- and two-enemy encounters cakewalks--especially at 12th level and past it.

Fixed. Is using your Move Action a good payoff?

It took a second reading to see why this works for the class, but I see it now. The only problem I see is that you say "A number of times equal to their Wis Mod..." That means in total, the ability only works a number of times equal to the nightmare sculptor's Wisdom modifier. Did you mean per day, per week, per month, or what?

Per day. Fixed.

Good.

Goooood.

I thought you weren't going to notate supernatural abilities.
You never saw that! Chuck Norris says you never saw that!

I like it. When you say dispel check, you mean with the dispel spell, you can destroy the effect, right? I just want to make sure there's no other dispel check involved here.
Dispel spell. Fixed.


Ooh. I like this.
I liked it too.


The nightmare sculptor thought aging and dying was in their head, so they can circumvent it? Okay. I can see that happening in D&D.

It's a fair capstone, I think. The bonuses are large, but not too much so.
I thought it was O.K. My mental justification was if they're powerful to stand up to Warblades and Beguilers while suffering from mental delusions or recovering from a breakdown, imagine what happens when they get over it?

Alright. For the most part, I like the class. The gaze attack is the only feature that bothered me, really.

Replies in bold.
Also, that reminds me. Tier. I'd say T3/Low T2 with effort, but i'd like a 2nd Opinion if it's possible.

[MammonAzrael]

Alright, my first draft of the Ascetic is in. The class is has a mix of influences from both the monk and the soulknife, but is solidly its own class. PEACH please! I feel I may have gone a little overboard on the defensive side, though I haven't crunched any numbers yet.

For those wondering, the PP progression is as if they had a spell progression equal to:

[Amechra]

I have the Dreaming system set up, and an example Dreaming.

So anyone have any comments?

[Gideon Falcon]

The Ascetic is a work of art. It's basically THE Soulknife fix, sans psychic strike and such. Psychic strike could easily be a feat or ACF for those who anxiously want it, but in any case I'm just awed by a weapon that can have a base damage of 2d12.

[MammonAzrael]

The Ascetic is a work of art. It's basically THE Soulknife fix, sans psychic strike and such. Psychic strike could easily be a feat or ACF for those who anxiously want it, but in any case I'm just awed by a weapon that can have a base damage of 2d12.

Thank you, I'm really happy you like it! I could see an ACF that turned the class into a more stealthy creature.

And I went to 2d12 because I was looking at the monk and thought "...why does it stop at 2d10? It can go another step up!" And now we have a class other than barbarian that gives the maligned d12 some much-deserved love.

[boomwolf]

Well, I'm after a rather unexplored area of "mind magic"

A full-blown telekinesis class, and not a damn caster, but a Su user.

Now, concept is that the class has a limited "kinetic power" per turn based on level, and that all uses of his telekinesis are actually "free" actions, but more powerful uses (learned later on) take increasing amount of power.

So, is you want you can use your power to make one powerful use, or multiple weaker uses, or even a ****load of very basic uses, depending on what you need that turn.

Kenshi Style for the win...

Maybe add some mind-reading abilities...(Kenshi can apparently fight pretty damn well despite being blind. and I AM trying to imitate him a bit here.)

[Volthawk]

Hmm, I'm thinking of perhaps a class that uses mind-reading to help it in combat. Y'know, getting a small impression of where the other guy will strike to help you avoid/block it, doing the opposite to hit more accurately, that kinda thing. Maybe something along the lines of Spellthief, copying a few abilities of others, or to assist others.

[MammonAzrael]

The ascetic is now sporting improved formatting and two alternate class features!

[Amechra]

Am considering changing my concept to something that uses Psychic Meditation (look at the WotC website) as the basis for casting.

Because that concept just hit me like a pile of bricks, and really wants to be made.

[MammonAzrael]

I'm thinking of adding some Racial class substitutions and feats for the class. Should I add them to the class entry for the contest, or post them in this chat thread?

I will be PEACHing the other entries over the week.

[Temotei]

I'm thinking of adding some Racial class substitutions and feats for the class. Should I add them to the class entry for the contest, or post them in this chat thread?

Those can be in the class entry post.

[MammonAzrael]

Updated the class with Racial substitution levels for Kalashtar and Xeph, and 4 feats.

[MammonAzrael]

Thoughts while reading TheGeckoKing's The Nightmare Sculptor:

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• I love the creepy Inspector Gadget.
• "And then there are the special kind of fearing people?" This sentence comes off as odd, and I'm not sure what it is supposed to mean. Are you talking about people who inspire fear? People who fear and are somehow special? Something else?
• The opening paragraph makes entry feel more like a narrow PrC, like the Nightmare Spinner, rather than an entire base class.
• So these guys can become what they fear? Cool, thought my first thought is that it'd be better to become what others fear, specific to the individuals they're facing.
• Many learn to fear them? Are they well-defined enough to not be mistaken as wizards or sorcerers the vast majority of the time? Or is this a more specific "learn to fear them" refering the the individual Sculptor, and not the class on the whole?
• Adventurers - So the few people who become Nightmare Sculptors by overcoming their fears with their iron will become murderous hobos because deep down they're still trying to avoid their fears? And extreme situations can distract them from their phobia?
• Religion - Needs some grammatical clean up. Tharzidun seems like an extreme choice, and I'm sure there has to be at least one god out there devoted to fear.
• Background - As I said above, it feels like you're building up a "Special" entry requirement for a PrC...I think that a base class needs to be a little more widely available. I would think any suitably frightening incident could spur their magic, and perhaps some could seek it out deliberately.
• Races - Can Kalashtar become Nightmare Sculptors?
• Other Classes - Looks solid. It's really beating home the feeling that these guys are driven not by control of their nightmares, but nearly crippling fear of them.
• Role - Looks solid. I'm currently worried about how they handle creatures immune to fear effects and those immune to mind-affecting effects, but I haven't got to the meat of the class yet.
• Wisdom casting? That is a surprise, given that is seems they're plagued by their nightmares to the point of psychosis, and I thought Wisdom was the most general gauge of overall sanity?
• Strange to see autohypnosis on a non-psionic class, but I can understand the reasoning. I don't feel like having access to all knowledge skills really fits, I'd be more inclined to see them with arcana, dungeoneering, religion, and the planes. Why do they get UMD?
• Spell progression - This is just a personal pet peeve, but I hate that spontaneous casters get their spells a level later than prepared casters. Sorcerers would still be tier 2 if they got their spells at the same level as wizards. So I, personally, like to see classes that don't delay casting a level, unless it is for a reason much better than spontaneous casting.
• Casting stats - I dislike SAD casters, preferring things like the Favored Soul. This, like the spell progression, is a personal preference. If the class requires Wisdom to determine if you can cast the spell, and your bonus spells, I'd prefer the DC to be based off of either Int or Cha.
• Numb to Nightmares makes sense as a mechanic. However, it really clashes with the fluff that a large part of their paranoia is based on trying to avoid their own phobias. They can't have phobias if they're immune to fear.
• Phobic Paths are interesting, and a nice way of defining your character. This could also be a way to reconcile Numb to Nightmares with the fluff. Have each phobic path specify a certain type of thing. Against the specified thing, the nightmare sculptor is not immune to fear, and can never become so.
• WARNING WILL ROBINSON! DEAD LEVELS! DEAD LEVELS! Even assuming that access to a new spell level, a feat gained from your HD, or a stat boost is enough to not be "dead," the class is still sporting 7 dead levels.
• Let Me Tell you a Story is interesting, but I fear it doesn't do much from a practical standpoint. Even optimizing for intimidate use, it front line friendly. And most of its uses wouldn't really qualify for a boost from skilled oratory. Not in 6 seconds. This needs a power boost...a big one. Otherwise it is almost a dead level itself.
• Advanced Learning is close to a dead level, but given its history its ok.
• I like Fear Me, but the DC needs some work. It should either be 14 + Wis mod (as fear is a 4th level spell), or 10 + half your class level + Wis mod. Additionally, I really think this needs to be supernatural, not extraordinary. The intimidate focus is the extraordiary scariness. I'd also remove the note about Fear Me Regardless (which I'll cover when I get there).
• I love Share Your Worries. Make the skill bonus an insight bonus (since that is what it is), and you can remove the parts regarding stacking bonuses.
• Fear Me Regardless is a very important part of this class...one that I feel needs to come earlier than 12th level. Additionally, as worded it can combine with Advanced Learning to hit creatures normally immune to mind-affecting effects with spells that are in no way fear-based. I think it needs to be rewritten as: Creatures that are immune to fear or mind-affecting effects are not immune to any fear-based spells or abilities from you.
• Seeds of Paranoia is pretty cool, but not terribly useful for PCs. Most things they encounter are dead before diseases do much. Very flavorful though!
• Nightmares Made Real is another cool ability that is practically useless for an adventurer. It is only effective when the Nightmare Sculptor can't do anything.
• The fluff of Your Logic is Not Welcome Here is a little...odd for me to follow. while immunity to aging penalties isn't surprising, removing existing ones is highly unusual. The Greater Visage of the Deity is a good choice, though I feel like it would be better to just spell out the abilities gained.
• Very strange that they gain access to all 0th level spells, as the other classes don't.
• I'm going to assume that the spells are otherwise fitting with the theme of fear and nightmares. Thought BBoD does feel a little out of place.
• Path of the Cerebrotic is...odd. Doesn't help that most people won't have access to Dragon 330.
• Path of Confinement is great, though the fluff could use some sprucing.
• Path of the Cystic - So...they're basically extremely mysophobic?
• Path of the Nightbane feels way to open-ended compared to the other paths.
• Path of Oblivion works in our world, but it falls apart in DnD. the afterlife is demonstratively real. Resurrection exists, you can visit dead people, and so much more. This fear is only really applicable to outsiders and other creatures that can't be raised. The spell list works, but the concept behind it doesn't.
• Path of the Vermin fluff should probably be expanded to include all the crawly insects they're summoning.
• Acquired Psychosis looks solid.

Final thoughts: I like the idea, and it is a good attempt at a caster in the same vein as the Beguiler, Dread Necromancer, and Warmage. However, the few abilities it grants and the sheer number of dead levels means that as it stands this would be better as a PrC. It needs to gain some more abilities, from extra feats to Intimidate boosts and so on. You've got some great foundations, now you just need to build on them!