Ahriman, the Darkness Beyond the Gate
The manifestation of Ahriman
Ahriman was once the powerful servant of a now-dead god of evil, and in his defeat at the hands of mortals, he longs for contact with the world that expelled him.
Legend: According to binder history, Ahriman was born a mortal man who grew to great fame and power as a divine servant of a now long dead and forgotten god of darkness. As the mortal hand of his god, Ahriman was charged with expanding his influence and power through the world and he did so, enslaving and killing thousands of villages and cities. When Ahriman set his sights upon the elven forests, the elves were prepared, with a coalition of men and dwarves who fought side by side against Ahriman and his legions of animated dead. The battle became so pitched that Ahriman’s deity ascended from his dark domain to join the fray at his herald’s behest but the gods of the elves attacked the dark god en masse, slaying him, as was their plan all along. With the death of Ahriman’s god, so too did his power wane and his armies were defeated. Brought low by the hateful elves, he was taken prisoner and placed in the darkest dungeon they could find, and every day was given food and a dose of poison so that he may choose to live or die. Ahriman languished this way for decades until one day, his faith broken, he finally escaped captivity and was slain in his escape by his elvish captors as he passed through the gates of the dungeon. With no god to receive him, and all manner of gods offended by his bloody conquest of their peoples, Ahirman followed his god into the void of non-existence and became a vestige.
Special Requirement: You must draw Ahriman’s seal in lamb’s blood in an area not touched by direct sunlight.
The seal of Ahriman, courtesy of Xefas: The blood of Ahriman’s seal turns black as pitch and begins to smoke, and from this smoke a vaguely man-shaped figure appears with burning orange-red eyes. His form coalesces into heavy armor of smoke and with a crown-like helmet for a head. He then pulls his breast plate up to expose his abdomen which is a yawning, swirling portal of darkness beyond the darkest night. His voice, hollow and spectral, comes from this yawning darkness, and he speaks with cool and spiteful tones.
Sign: The irises of your eyes take on a burning orange-red color, like the color of hot coals. Ahriman will also not answer the call of a full-blooded elf, due to his deep hatred of all things elven, or any who follow the faith of an elven deity.
Influence: While influenced by Ahriman, your personality takes on a domineering aspect, and you cannot abide being locked or trapped. You will always seek to escape confinement and will fight to the death to do so. Finally, you develop a deep and abiding hatred of elves and followers of their faiths (suffering a -4 penalty on Diplomacy checks with elves or those faithful to elven gods), for it was they that were Ahriman’s undoing.
Granted Abilities: When bound, Ahriman grants to his host the use of knowledge in the ways of elf-slaying, his affinity with the powers of death, and his power over the undead.
Favored Enemy (elf) (Ex): Ahriman grants his host the favored enemy class feature as a ranger equal to his binder level, with his chosen hatred being elves. He does not get any additional favored enemies, just elves and beings of the elf subtype.
Netherchannel (Su): The binder’s connection with Ahriman manifests in his ability to channel negative energy through his death pact. The binder may summon this necrotic energy to his hands at a moment’s notice, allowing him to channel his necromantic power through a touch. The character must make a touch attack to use this ability and is used as a standard action or it can be added to a single unarmed melee attack the character makes as part of that attack action. Netherchannel may not be combined with any other special ability (such as martial maneuvers). Netherchannel inflicts 1d6 points of negative energy damage per three binder levels. This is a supernatural ability and is not subject to spell resistance. Creatures immune to negative energy damage are unaffected by this ability. This ability may be used to heal those beings to which negative energy is a boon (such as those with the Tomb-Tainted Soul feat), and if it used in this way, the binder lays his death-healing hands upon that creature as a standard action instead of as part of an attack action; normal netherchanneling is too potent and ravaging to do anything but harm. If the character possesses levels in the ebon initiate class, he may add his binder level to his ebon initiate level to determine the strength of his netherchannel class feature to determine its strength.
Rebuke Undead (Su): The binder can rebuke undead as a cleric of his effective binder level. If the binder has the ability to rebuke undead from other classes, his levels in those classes stack with his effective binder level for the purposes of determining his turning ability. Once the character has used this ability, he may not do so again for 5 rounds.
Shadow Skin (Sp): The binder may cast the shadow skin mystery (Tome of Magic, pg 148) using his effective binder level as his caster level once per day. At 13th level, the binder may use this ability twice per day, and at 19th level he may use it three times per day.
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[3.5] New Vestige: Ahriman, the Darkness Beyond the Gate [ToM: Binder]
