Post/Author/DateTime	Post
darkcser 01-14-08, 12:32 AM	Astral Lord "I'd like you to meet Sir Wren, and his griffon Puck." The Astral Plane touches all other planes, and all creatures within those planes. Each and every creature that has every existed has left behind a faint imprint of themselves on the Astral plane. Astral Travelers since time began have traversed its silvery skies creating Astral bodies. When those bodies disappear, echoes are left behind of the person that once was as well. The Astral Lord is able to draw upon this multitude of echoes, faints traces of those that once were, and shape a new being from their belief and force of will. Astral Lords were once very popular amongst the Godsmen until a heated debate broke out whether Astral Lords were the stepping stone to becoming Powers or merely a bastardized process of creating pseudo-Powers. Proponents of the latter point out that the created Astral Beings only exist because of the Astral Lord's belief and faith in them. Hit Die: d4 Requirements To qualify to become an Astral Lord, a character must fulfill all the following criteria. Skills: craft (drawing, painting, sculpturing, etc.) 8 ranks, concentrate 5 ranks, autohypnosis 5 ranks, knowledge planes 8 ranks Psionics: astral construct, astral caravan Alignment: Astral Lords cannot be true neutral since it requires a strength of belief often to the point of being idealistic. Special: Must have been to the Astral plane. Class Skills The Astral Lord’s class skills are Autohypnosis (Wis), Concentration (Con), Craft (any) (Int), Knowledge (psionics, planes), and Psicraft (Int). Skill Points at Each Level 2 + Int modifier Table: The Astral Lord Level Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Special Powers Known 1st +0 +0 +0 +2 Astral Sanctum, Astral Avatar, Astral Incarnation 2nd +1 +0 +0 +3 Astral Aspect (1), Realize (2) +1 level of existing manifesting class 3rd +1 +1 +1 +3 Astral Aspect (Servitor), Realize (3) +1 level of existing manifesting class 4th +2 +1 +1 +4 Astral Aspect (2), Realize (4) +1 level of existing manifesting class 5th +2 +1 +1 +4 Astral Aspect (Monster), Realize (5), Astral Sanctum Sanctorum (1/day) level of existing manifesting class 6th +3 +2 +2 +5 Astral Aspect (3), Realize (6) +1 level of existing manifesting class 7th +3 +2 +2 +5 Realize (7), Double Aspect, Fast Realize +1 level of existing manifesting class 8th +4 +2 +2 +6 Astral Aspect (4), Realize (8) +1 level of existing manifesting class 9th +4 +3 +3 +6 Realize (9), Instant Realize 1/day +1 level of existing manifesting class 10th +5 +3 +3 +7 Astral Aspect (5), Astral Domain, Realize (10), Triple Aspect Class Features All the following are class features of the Astral Lord prestige class. Weapon and Armor Proficiency Astral Lords gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor. Powers Known At every level from 2nd through 9th, an Astral Lord gains additional power points per day and access to new powers as if he had also gained a level in whatever manifesting class he belonged to before he added the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (bonus feats, metapsionic or item creation feats, psicrystal special abilities, and so on). This essentially means that he adds the level of Astral Lord to the level of whatever manifesting class the character has, then determines power points per day, powers known, and manifester level accordingly. If a character had more than one manifesting class before he became an Astral Lord, he must decide to which class he adds the new level of Astral Lord for the purpose of determining power points per day, powers known, and manifester level. Astral Beings Astral Beings such as an Astral Avatar and Astral Aspects are creatures formed from a collection of Astral Echoes. The Astral Lord first renders the likeness of the Astral Being in some medium (drawing, painting, sculpting, etc.). This process takes 1 week for creating an Avatar. Aspects require one day per Aspect regardless of how many creatures it's composed of. During this time, the Astral Lord meticulously renders the subject and outlines their general personalities, appearances and abilities. It's the creative vision of the Astral Lord given form and substance by matching Echoes, taking on a life of their own. To successfully render an Astral Being the Astral Lord must succeed on a DC 15 + level or CR of the Astral Being times 2. Each additional day beyond the minimum increases the check by 1. Failure means that he was unable to render this particular Astral Being during this attempt. In the case of Aspects it's possible to render some of the Astral Beings that make up that Aspect successfully but not others. Astral Beings being composed of the Astral Echoes of countless beings cannot be made to look exactly like someone. They can however employ other abilities to disguise themselves. Astral Beings are equipped with the equipment they are rendered with but can use any additional equipment given to them. Rendered equipment is limited by NPC wealth guidelines appropriate to their level. No consumable magic equipment maybe rendered. Rendered equipment disappears with the death or dismissal of the Astral Being. If an Astral Being is destroyed while outside of the Sanctum, it will reform in the Sanctum the next time the Sanctum is reverted. If it is destroyed within the Sanctum it must be rendered again. Astral Beings are considered extra planar creatures outside of the Sanctum. Astral Beings may be re-rendered. Major changes like race, gender and opposed alignments will erase the old personality and memories. In the case of alignments it's possible to do it in steps so to preserve the old personality. An Astral Lord can communicate mentally with any Astral Being he created by concentrating. Astral Aspects with spellcasting abilities have their known spells and prepared spells fixed at the time of rendering. This also applies to other daily selected abilities like shaped soulmelds, chameleon focuses, etc. Avatars are not restricted in this fashion. An Astral Lord can only create Astral Beings of alignments that match his own or are only one step away. Astral Beings created by one Astral Lord cannot have opposed alignments on the Good-Evil axis. Astral beings are always loyal to the Astral Lord that created them. They can be charmed or dominated but even then will not harm their creator. Astral Sanctum (Su) The Astral Lord gains the ability to create a small nascent demi plane tangential to the Astral Plane. This plane will serve as the home plane for any of his creations. Initially the plane is only 40 feet in radius. When the Astral Lord renders the Sanctum he is free to render the terrain, weather, buildings, furnishing, etc. as he desires. Normal plants and animals (up to medium size) can also be created during the render process. Animals rendered are not under the control of the Astral Lord. Special materials can also be created. The only limitation is that, everything is non-magical, and vanishes when removed from the Sanctum. Complex creations will require the appropriate knowledge or craft skills, although the Astral Lord can render anything that he has studied in detail without the need for special skills. Most Astral Lords will spend much of their free time sketching or painting interesting sights or objects. It takes a minimum of 1 week to render a Sanctum. The Sanctum has Prime Material Plane traits for all except for the Astral Lord, his Astral Avatar and his Astral Aspects which are affected by Astral Plane traits. The Astral lord has the option to revert the Sanctum and all his creations within it to the original rendered state once of every 24 hours in a burst of blinding white light. This is typically used to restore the Avatar and Aspects to their full power at the end of a day. The Avatar and Aspects retain their memory between reverts. Creature non-native to the Sanctum are never harmed during reverts. Initially the Sanctum is not accessible via the Astral Plane nor is it possible to plane shift there as it is still outside of normal reality. As the Astral Lord grows more powerful the Sanctum will become more accessible. Attempts to carry artifact level items into the Sanctum will cause the Sanctum to rupture, and send the artifact into the Astral Plane. The Sanctum is undamaged by this process. This limitation is removed once the Sanctum becomes a Domain. By concentrating the Astral Lord can see into any point of his Sanctum as well as communicate with anyone there. Alternatively, by concentrating the Astral Lord can allow those inside the Sanctum to see and hear what he experiences. If the Astral Lord is killed, the Sanctum will discorporate after a number of days equal to the Astral Lord's level. Example: Mithril tower in a woodland glade. Astral Avatar (Ex) The Astral Lord gains the ability to create an Astral Avatar, a being drawn from Astral Echoes but so fully realized that it is almost indistinguishable from a real being. Treat as a cohort appropriate to a character with a leadership score equal to character level + Astral Lord level + Cha bonus with a max level of the Astral Lord's character level minus 1 (i.e. like a Thrall). An Astral Lord may not take the leadership feat or the Thrallherd class feature, and will lose them if they were possessed prior to entering the Astral Lord class. In addition to the normal abilities of a Cohort, the Avatar also has: Sanctum Travel (Su): As a standard action the Avatar can travel to the Sanctum. Another standard action will allow the Avatar to return to a space adjacent to the Astral Lord. It can bring along objects as long as their weight doesn’t exceed its maximum load. It cannot carry creatures. This ability (round trip) is usable once per day. The Astral Lord can also dismiss the Avatar with a standard action over any distance even across planes. In this case the Avatar cannot bring along any equipment that didn’t come from the Sanctum. Link (Su): An Avatar can communicate with the Astral Lord as if under the effects of a mindlink. Astral Dependency (Su): If the Astral Lord is killed, the Avatar will discorporate after a number of days equal to the Astral Lord's level. Astral Incarnation (Su) As a standard action The Astral Lord can summon to his hand any unattended non-Astral object that is currently in his Sanctum. The incarnated object is actually pulled from the Sanctum. The weight of the object is limited by the Astral Lord's maximum carrying capacity. The object will persist for a number of minutes equal to the Astral Lord's level before returning to the Sanctum. If the object loses contact with the Astral Lord it will disappear after two rounds returning to the Sanctum. The Astral Lord can also dismiss an object with a standard action. This ability can be used to incarnate worn equipment like armor on the Astral Lord himself; it cannot be used to manifest objects on others. Note: The Sanctum Travel ability of the Avatar may be used to add or remove original objects in the Sanctum. Astral Aspects Like the Astral Avatar they are Astral Beings created from Astral Echoes. Unlike the Avatar they can only exist in the Sanctum or while being Realized by the Astral Lord. Aspects are usually rendered in the form of two or more beings with related functions. A single Aspect can be composed by beings with a total number of levels equal to the Astral Lord's character level. Their maximum levels however cannot exceed half of the Astral Lord's character level rounded down. Beings that compose an Aspect may be selectively excluded when Realizing or Dismissing. Astral Aspects with abilities that are selected daily have those fixed at the time of rendering. This means that prepared spells, shaped soulmelds, etc. cannot be changed unless the Aspect is re-rendered. An Astral Lord gains one Aspect at each even level. Each time the number of Aspects is increase, the radius of the Sanctum increases by 10' as well. Example: A Nomad5/Astral Lord2 can have one Aspect consisting of two Fighter3 and a Cleric1. Realize Aspect (Su) As a full round action, the Astral Lord may Realize one Aspect from the Sanctum to a location with 30 feet. Aspects do not have to remain with 30' after they realize. The duration of the Realized Aspect is concentration plus a number of rounds equal to the Astral Lord's character level. While concentration is maintained, the Astral Lord can mentally communicate with the Aspect's beings. When concentration ends, they can still communicate via normal means. The Astral Lord can also concentrate again to establish mental communication but the Realize duration cannot be extended once the initial concentration is interrupted. The Aspect beings are intelligent, and act with the Astral Lord's best interests in mind. This ability is usable once per day per Astral Lord level. Only one Aspect may be summoned at one time initially but see Double Aspect at level 5 and Triple Aspect at level 10. Aspect beings will return to the Sanctum when their duration runs out or can be dismissed by the Astral Lord as a standard action. Aspects may not carry non-Astral items back to the Sanctum with them but can make use of non-Astral items stored in the Sanctum when they Realize (similar to the Astral Incarnation ability but only when they first appear). Realized Aspects are summoned creatures and as such can be affected by spells like protection from evil. Aspects do not have experience points nor are they capable of gaining experience points. As such they cannot craft magic items, use abilities with an XP cost, etc. They can however craft mundane items provided that the raw materials are non-Astral (i.e. imported into the Sanctum). In theory they can craft objects from raw materials native to the Sanctum but then it would just disappear once it left the Sanctum or once a revert occurs. Note: Aspects that return to the Sanctum still exist (even the dead ones). As such they can heal themselves if they are able as well as pursue other activities like watch the Astral Lord. Fast Realization The Astral Lord can now Realize Aspect as a standard action, and dismiss them as a move action. Double Aspect The Astral Lord can now Realize two different Aspects at the same time. Astral Aspect (Servitor) The Astral Lord can now render weaker but longer lasting Aspects. Aspect beings with a level that is one quarter of the Astral Lord's character level or lower are automatically servitor creatures. These weaker Aspects can be Realized for hours instead of rounds. You can mix servitors and non-servitors in the same aspect. Note: Servitor creatures tend to have very short lifespans in combat situations. Astral Aspect (Monster) The Astral Lord can now render monsters (i.e. creatures that don't have a LA). The maximum CR of a creature that can be rendered is equal to one third of the Astral Lord's character level rounded down. Servitor monsters max out at one sixth. The total levels and CRs of an Aspect is still limited by the Astral Lord's Character level. A monster with CR less than 1 count as 1. Example: A Nomad5/Astral Lord7 can have 6 servitor hippogriffs (CR2) for up to 12 hours at a time. Alternatively he can have a Fighter6 mounted on a griffon (CR4) with one servitor hippogriff (CR2). In the second example the Astral Lord can ride the hippogriff while maintaining concentration on the Fighter mounted on the griffon. Astral Sanctum Sanctorum(Su): Astral Lord can now enter the Sanctum himself (and only himself). The opening is fixed at the point where he used this ability. He can enter once a day as a standard action. All inside can see the area (the square he was at and immediate adjacent squares) where he initiated this ability. The Astral Lord may only remain inside the Sanctum for a number of hours equal to his Astral Lord level. If he remains longer than that the connection to the outside will be lost, and he will be trapped forever in the Sanctum. The Astral Lord may return to the point where he initiated this ability at any time prior to that. Should the point of origin be barred from planar travel, those inside will not be able to view the area. Should the Astral Lord attempt to return, he will appear in a random location on the Astral plane. Once he returns he may not enter the Sanctum again for a period of time equal to what he spent inside the Sanctum. Planar sages have theorized that planes drift about on their own, and that the Astral Lord anchors the Sanctum to the local planes. Once the Astral Lord enters the Sanctum the anchor begins to weaken until all connection is lost. Instant Realization: The Astral Lord can now Realize Aspect as a swift action once per day. Aspects can be dismissed as a free action. Triple Aspect: The Astral Lord can now Realize three different Aspects at the same time. Astral Domain: The Sanctum is now fully manifested in the Astral Plane. It can be accessed via Astral travel or plane shifting. The size of the Domain will continue to grow at the rate of 1 foot in radius per week. The Astral Lord can now travel to and back from the Domain at will as a standard action and can take up to 10 other willing (or helpless) creatures. Furthermore the Astral Lord can remain in the Domain indefinitely without worrying about being trapped, and receives a +20 bonus to locate his Domain during Astral travel. Re-renderings of the Domain now only take 1 day to manifest. The Domain can also now be reverted twice in a 24 hour period. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I was working making a F2/Cru2 and a F2/WB2 combo when I thought "Wouldn't it be nice to try this stuff out in a game?" A couple of days later I came up with this Astral Lord class. It's a class that allows you to try out your whacky build ideas as a player, and still hopefully have a balanced and useful character. I haven't had time to actually test this class but made some pre-emptive attempts at plugging exploits and dead ends. Hopefully I'll have time to refine this, and build a sample character for it. It's a little bit of Amber, and a touch of Between the Shadows. My motivation is already waning so I thought I should post this while I can. I'm already tangenting off to build an "ex-quip" feat with Astral Incarnation as a requirement...
dman11235 01-14-08, 12:42 AM	Well, A for effort, but I must ask, is this a PEACH?
darkcser 01-14-08, 11:13 AM	Yes, PEACH away. Since I'm here I'll list some of the issues I struggled with. I wanted the Aspects not to look exactly as the creator intended to prevent easy "Kage Bushin" tactics where the user creates X number of identical-looking clones. This effect can still be achieved with has of disguise or high disguise skills. The former can be trumped by true seeing while the latter requires high ranks before it's really useful. I originally intended Astral Incarnation to be an odd "Astrally project the items from the Sanctum" kind of idea. In the end though I decided on a call weapon kind of effect contingent on that you can only call something you already have stashed away in the Sanctum. This is somewhat better than a Handysack since the item automatically returns to the Sanctum if dropped. I like the idea of call armor so I wanted the item called to be equipped if desired. Currently I'm considering an "ex-quip" feat to allow the user to exchange and equip what he has with the called item or maybe set of items... maybe as a move action or the equivalent of drawing a weapon. Since the Sanctum is inaccessible to others until it becomes a domain I was concerned that the user would just use it as a completely safe hide away. The time limit, self only and return to point of origin mechanics serve to deal with this problem. I also didn't want users to hide artifacts inside the Sanctum -sending them to the Astral Plane is easy enough in core. I considered the idea of letting the user store large objects like wagons and maybe boats in the Sanctum but I wanted to avoid people storing boulders, 500 gallons of oil, etc. or using it like a vanish. The once a day Sanctum Travel ability of the Avatar with the max carry limit makes it useful and hopefully not too abusable. The different planar traits for different people is a bit odd but I like the idea of a home court advantage. It doesn't really matter until the 10th level of Astral Lord since he can't have any visitors until that time. It does allow the Aspects and Avatar to quickly buff themselves before coming out though... I like the idea of having some sort of contact between the imaginary critters and the user outside of the time they are summon into the real world. Initally I wanted them to be able to see some small area around the user but didn't want to give the user multiple spot checks whenever he came up to something. Instead I've opted for the user to be able to concentrate, and share his audio/visual senses with them. I see potential uses where the user can concentrate and ask his imaginary friends for advice (e.g. "What is this strange writing on the wall?"). I may need to limit the number of critters that can watch at the same time though to prevent massive aid other attempts. Since the critters exist when not called I expect something like a dragon shaman with a vigor aura, and maybe someone with life bond vestments to provide cheap healing. With "free" healing being a possibility, it's in the user's best interests to make sure that his friends are not killed in battle. Now the main question I struggled with: Just how useful are two helpers half of your level? When you're at level 6, two level 3 helpers seem quite useful. At level 20 though two level 10 helpers may just be a small bump on the road for a CR20. Specialization may help a bit. For the sample 12th level character I'm building, I have an Aspect consisting of F2/Cru2, F2/WB2, F2/SS2 armed with spiked chains. Through a mix of punishing stance, iron guard's glare, vanguard strike, leading the attack, combat reflexes, improve disarm and improved trip... it may actually delay a CR12 for a round or two.
dman11235 01-14-08, 12:42 PM	Okay, you asked for it... First thing's first: clear it up. If you want an example of grade A work go to Bhu's Catburglar for a format. Also floating around on the PrC board somewhere is the PrC builder's Cheat Sheet, which you can copy/paste and then fill stuff in to make it loo all nice with a table and boldings and whatnot. Not only does this make it look nice, but it also makes it LOADS easier to read and evaluate. If you want an example of A++ work look at the Moon Magus by Sinfire Titan. He went all out on that tho make it look good and get all the flavor there. Other things come later.
darkcser 01-22-08, 04:59 PM	Still haven't gotten around to reformatting the class. Building a sample character is taking much longer than I had anticipated. Creating an effective character half the level of the campaign CR means being super specialized -something I do very poorly since I tend to go for jack of all trades types. Skeleton for sample character: Nomad5/Astral Lord7 3 Aspects: Basic idea is to build an offensive aspect, a defensive aspect and a misc aspect. For the offensive aspect I'm considering a level 6 charger mounted on a griffon that uses PA, mounted combat, ride by attack and spirited charge. Going for a duskblade5/warblade1 build I'm hoping to utilize a true strike coupled with PA(-6) and spirited charge for +25/3d8+48 (+11/3d8+12 w/o PA assuming str 14 and +1 lance). With quick cast, the true strike can even be swifted once per day. Things became complicated when I considered adding Battle Leader's Charge (can you use this mounted? Does spirited charge multiply the +10? ToB says that additional damage from a strike is not multiplied on a critical but spirited charge is not a critical.) and Leading the Charge (Can you affect yourself? -I seem to recall a "you are your own ally ruling" Does that damage bonus get multiplied by spirited charge? Does the damage bonus apply to the pounce and rake of the griffon?). Also situations like what happens if your mount withdrawls? Can you perform a standard action when your mount withdrawls? This comes up after the rider charges while the griffon pounces... can the rider cast a spell the next round while the griffon withdrawls? This can setup the true strike charge loop. I assume that if the mount provokes an AOO by moving then the rider also provokes? Rules I've never bothered with are coming out of the woodwork. For the defensive aspect I'm considering one WB1/F2/PWar1 and two Cru1/F2/PWar1. These odd builds should give a large number of feats allowing for: combat reflexes, combat expertise, Jotenbrud, ewp:spiked chain, improved trip or improved disarm and Deft Opportunist. With the two crusaders adjacent to the warblade they can create a decent defensive wall. The crusaders will use their iron guard's glare stance and spiked chains to give basically everyone a +4 to AC. The warblade will use punishing stance and iron heart aura to boost saves by +2. If anyone directly charges the wall they'll be subject to three AOOs at +10 (+3 bab +2 str +1 mw +4 deft opp). Since a +10 to hit is almost useless against CR12 encouters they will instead be two trips (+10 touch and +2 str +4 Jotunbrud +4 imp trip = +10 trip) and a disarm (+3 bab +2 str +1mw +2 chain +4 Jotunbrud + 4 deft opp +4 2H +4 imp disarm = +24). Aside from the trip and disarm, they will hopefully luck out on a Leading the Attack or Vanguard Strike which will stack nicely (for up to +12 for a prone target). A crusader strike or two might also be useful if they land. Aside from that I see Stone Bones for defense and Moment of Perfect Mind. Since they have low hp (10+5+6+4+8= 33 for Cru and 35 for WB), and will be clustered together they are vulnerable to area effects. Something like dampen power or intellect fortress by the Astral Lord may help. For the misc aspect I'm considering a DFA5/Incarnate1 and a DragonShaman1/DFA3/Incarnate2 with Draconic Knowledge invocation and Elder Spirit soulmeld (to help out on various knowledge and spellcraft checks) as well as provide some cheap healing between Draconic Vigor and Lifebond Vestments from both. Magical Insight would also be a useful invocation. On the combat side Entangling Breath and Slow Breath at the same time as SU effects are nasty against melee types. Ideally if both DFAs had Slow Breath then they can just alternate between Slow and Entangling in a stagger fashion. A DFA5/DS1 and a DFA5/Incarnate1 allows this but the former will need two feats (shape soulmeld and bonus essentia) to use lifebond vestments to heal 13 hp an hour (ML3+5x2 Essentia). The essentia would be wasted otherwise... maybe another shape soulmeld for dragon mantle would be useful. As such the misc aspect is useful for battlefield control, some esoteric knowledges, identification of magical items and effects, and long term healing.
Zathina_Mage 02-29-08, 09:14 AM	Well this is one hell of a badass class. I personally want to take this class, and play it with my character. Though mostly because of a heavy similarity it has with my very first rpg. Back in 1995, the first time I role played the character I role played (Free Form) was basically in all aspects of what I'm reading an Astral Lord. Just change the words a little basic same concept. Though I really woulnd't have anything to add to it. My only real advice, is to clean it up as suggested earlier and organize it all like bolding some text and creating a little box and doing all this other stuff. But that you don't need to do till your done anyways. I'm going to keep any eye on this thread, if I think of anyway to help you balance it I'll toss out the idea. GREAT freaking class. --EDITED-- Actually I hope you don't mind but I incorperated some of your Astral Lord into my Zathina Mage's fluff. To tell the truth, I think most Zathina Mages would attempt to become Astral Lords if they knew about it. Either way, I made a new god based on a combination of your idea, mine, and some of what I've read in the necronomicon. If you wish, I'll undo what I added based on your creation, but this is me saying I did. Cause your Astral Lord is just awsome.