Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Shedlazzar 02-18-08, 12:24 AM	Plaguebearer http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs21/f/2007/293/0/7/Plague_by_RedQueen2112.jpg Cough, cough, hack, wheeze. -William "The Sick" to a now dead guard. Stories have been told of sickly, disease ridden men and women shambling into towns and leaving behind nothing but famine and disease. This is done by none other than Plaguebearers, insane clerics devoted to one of the sickest and most foul domains ever to disgrace the land: Pestilence. Haters of all forms of noncorrupt life, they use their formidable arsenal of spells and abilities to malevolently shape the world around them. As expected, Plaguebearers have no issues with undead and more often than not will have a host of zombies and skeletons at their call. BECOMING A PLAGUEBEARER ENTRY REQUIREMENTS To qualify to become a Plaguebearer, a character must fulfill all the following criteria: Skills: Knowledge (Religion) 8 ranks Heal 4 ranks Spells: Able to cast 4th level divine spells Alignment: Any nongood Special: Must have access to the Pestilence domain and be afflicted with five diseases Class Skills A Plaguebearer’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int). Skills Points at Each Level : 2 + int Hit Dice: d6 BAB Fort Ref Will Abilities 1. +0 +2 +0 +2 Disease Host, Spell Casting 2. +1 +3 +0 +3 Unnatural Aura 3. +2 +3 +1 +3 Stench of the Sick 4. +3 +4 +1 +4 Tatterdemalion 5. +3 +4 +1 +4 Do Unto Others 6. +4 +5 +2 +5 Plague 7. +5 +5 +2 +5 Stench of the Dying 8. +6 +6 +2 +6 Flesh of the Putrid 9. +6 +6 +3 +6 Pandemic 10.+7 +7 +3 +7 Pestilent Apotheosis Weapon Proficiencies: Plaguebearers gains no new weapon or armor proficiencies. Spell Casting: When a new Plaguebearer level is gained, the character gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in a divine spellcasting class he belonged to before adding the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained, except for an increased effective level of spellcasting. If a character had more than one divine spellcasting classes before becoming an Plaguebearer, he must decide to which class he adds the new level for purposes of determining spells per day. Disease Host (Su): The body of a Plaguebearer is ripe with disease, though he feels none of their effects. Cosmetic signs, such as pustules and other abnormalities manifest normally. At first level, a Plaguebearer gains a bite attack that does damage equal to the bite of a creature of his size minus one size category. Should he hit his target, he may choose one disease within his body and have it infect his victim. Normally a diseases takes days to take hold of its victim, so great is a Plaguebearers' control that his take merely seconds. The incubation period is translated from days to rounds and the new fortitude save is a DC 10 +1/2 his HD +Cha mod (Min 1). In addition, should the Plaguebearer be struck by a natural attack, the Plaguebearer may also inflict the attacker with a disease of his choice. Unnatural Aura (Su): Animals can sense sickness and they generally stay away from it. The Plaguebearer radiates a near palpable aura of unease. Animals, whether wild or domesticated, can sense the unnatural presence of a Plaguebearer at a distance of 30 feet. They will not willingly approach nearer than that and panic if forced to do so; they remain panicked as long as they are within that range. Stench of the Sick (Ex): The air around a Plaguebearer is permeated with the smell of sickness and death. Anybody who comes within ten feet of the Plaguebearer must make a fortitude save with a DC of 10 + 1/2 HD + Cha mod (Min 1) or be sickened as long as they remain. Should someone save, they are immune for 24 hours. Tatterdemalion (Ex) : Gathering scraps of clothing and old, discarded rags, a 4th-level Plaguebearer is able to make such articles into light armor with a the following stats: armor bonus +4, maximum Dex bonus +5, armor check penalty –1, arcane spell failure 15%, speed 30 ft./20 ft., weight 20 lb. Only a 4th-level or higher Plaguebearer can wear this armor and gain these benefits; other wearers treat it as padded armor. This armor is considered masterwork quality and can be fashioned into magic armor. Do Unto Others (Su): By fourth level the diseases inside a Plaguebearer's body are under pressure, causing his entire body to be covered in seeping lesions and boils. Should the Plaguebearer be struck by a critial hit, a cloud of disease bursts from the wound. Everyone adjacent to the Plaguebearer must make a fortitude save of be inflicted with a disease of the Plaguebearer's choice. Each person must be afflicted by the same disease. Plague (Su): When the Plaguebearer uses a bite attack to infect a victim the DC of the fortitude save is increased by one. In addition, once every 1d4+1 rounds, the Plaguebearer may attempt a ranged touch attack with a maximum range of fifteen feet. Should he succeed, he vomits a ball of mucus and filth at his target who then must succeed at a fortitude save of 10 +1/2 Plaguebearer's HD + Cha mod (Min 1) or contract a disease. Regardless of the outcome, the target takes 1d4 points of acid damage as the Plaguebearer's stomach acids eat away at the flesh. Everyone adjacent to the victim must also make a fortitude save or contract the disease, though they don't take the acid damage. Doing this is a standard action which provokes an attack of opportunity. Flesh of the Putrid (Su): So tainted is the body and mind of the Plaguebearer that he no longer is able to eat normal food. He requires one half the regular amount, and this must be rotting flesh, feces, or similar items. Should he try to eat cooked food, the Plaguebearer vomits it up and becomes sickened for an hour with no save. Stench of the Dying (Ex): No longer is the smell of a Plaguebearer merely unpleasant, any living creature that comes within five feet of a Plaguebearer must succeed a DC 10 +1/2 HD + Cha mod (Min 1) or be nauseated for 1d2 rounds from the initial shock of his odoriferous body. Pandemic (Su): Should the Plaguebearer bite his victim at ninth level the DC for the save against the disease is increased by another one. Furthermore, a Plaguebearer commands a disease that infests his body to become sentient. He supernaturally enhances a disease, making it smarter by giving it a point of his own Intelligence. He establishes a telepathic link with the disease that functions at a range of one mile per class level of the Plaguebearer. The Plaguebearer can then attempt to infect a target with his chosen disease, using his bite or spit ability. If successful, the disease can tell the Plaguebearer telepathically what its host experiences. In all other respects, the disease is a normal disease; if the victim fights it off or a cure disease spell is used, the disease and the viral agent die. The Plaguebearer regains his Intelligence point 24 hours after the disease dies. Pestilent Apotheosis (Su): By tenth level the Plaguebearer's connection to filth and disease is so great he undergoes a horrific transformation, his type changes to augmented humanoid and he gains the ooze subtype. With these Exceptions: he is not blind nor does he gain blindsight. He gains immunity to critical strikes, sleep effects, paralysis, polymorph, and stunning. He may still be flanked as normal and must eat, breath, and sleep. In addition, the Plaguebearer may squeeze through any opening up to one-tenth his size. Equipment worn must be able to fit in the hole or it gets left behind.
Shedlazzar 02-18-08, 01:34 PM	22 views and no comments? Balanced? Overpowered?
Shedlazzar 02-18-08, 02:31 PM	Well, esteemed people of the board, I'm off to work. I hope when I return there are some comments.:)
Shedlazzar 02-18-08, 11:18 PM	Bump! :bigeyes:
Half_Dragon_Infernal 02-18-08, 11:30 PM	Very nice, i just read it. Doesn't seem to overpowered, but explain the diseases. Are they automatically generated, or does he have to infect himself with them to store them? Explain.
Shedlazzar 02-19-08, 01:36 AM	The domain power of Pestilence makes anyone who has it immune to the effects of diseases. That makes them a walking bank of nastiness. The acquisition of the diseases can be done by fighting various monsters or by simply casting contagion a bunch of times.
Shedlazzar 02-19-08, 04:02 AM	Another bump for the masses!
DonThelonious 02-19-08, 04:29 AM	Sorry it took me so long to get around to this, I am doing this from work and had some other things to do first. So lets see :whatsthis... I've been a long time fan of the forums and finally decided to make an account. This is a little class that a friend and myself came up with over the course of a few days. Welcome aboard! We love fresh ideas and this seems to be a nice one. DO you have access to the BoVD? In it is the Cancer Mage PrC, a sick little monstrosity if ever there was one... Plaguebearer http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs21/f/2007/293/0/7/Plague_by_RedQueen2112.jpg Cough, cough, hack, wheeze. -William "The Sick" to a now dead guard. Stories have been told of sickly, disease ridden men and women shambling into towns and leaving behind nothing but famine and death. This is generally the work of Plaguebearers, insane clerics devoted to one of the cruelest and most foul domains ever to disgrace the land: Pestilence. Not much for fluff, but what there is is nice. Nice picture as well. BECOMING A PLAGUEBEARER ENTRY REQUIREMENTS To qualify to become a Plaguebearer, a character must fulfill all the following criteria: Skills: Knowledge (Religion) 8 ranks Spells: Able to cast 4th level divine spells Alignment: Any nongood Special: Must have access to the Pestilence domain Odd as it sounds, you might considor making Heal 4 Ranks a prerequisite. It sounds odd, but in truth healers would have the most knowledge regarding the body and what diseases do to it. A few ranks in Heal would reflect the Plaguebearers prior knowlede of human(-ish) anatomy. Class Skills A Plaguebearer’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int). Skills Points at Each Level : 2 + int Good. Looks about right. Hit Dice: d8 I would suggest dropping the HD to a d6. The plaguebearer keeps all his spell casting and is gaining some nifty (and dangerous) abilities as well. BAB Fort Ref Will Abilities 1. +0 +2 +0 +2 Disease +1 level of existing divine casting class 2. +1 +3 +0 +3 Toxic Body +1 level 3. +2 +3 +1 +3 Stench of the Dying +1 level 4. +3 +4 +1 +4 Do Unto Others +1 level 5. +3 +4 +1 +4 Diseased Familar +1 level 6. +4 +5 +2 +5 Plague +1 level 7. +5 +5 +2 +5 Unatural Aura +1 level 8. +6 +6 +2 +6 Flesh of the Putrid +1 level 9. +6 +6 +3 +6 Pandemic +1 level 10.+7 +7 +3 +7 Pestilent Apotheosis +1 level You can get rid of the +1 level thing, and just say Spellcasting at first level. This will help clean the table up a bit. Weapon Proficiencies: Plaguebearers gains no new weapon or armor proficiencies. Okay. Spell Casting: When a new Plaguebearer level is gained, the character gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in a divine spellcasting class he belonged to before adding the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained, except for an increased effective level of spellcasting. If a character had more than one divine spellcasting classes before becoming an Plaguebearer, he must decide to which class he adds the new level for purposes of determining spells per day. As I said above... Disease (Su): The body of a Plaguebearer is ripe with diseases, though he feels none of their effects. At first level, a Plaguebearer gains a bite attack that does damage equal to the bite of a creature of his size minus one size category. Should he hit his target, he may choose one disease within his body and have it infect his victim. The incubation period is instant and the new DC of the save is 10+1/2 his HD+Cha mod (Min 1). In addition, should the Plaguebearer be struck by a natural attack, the Plaguebearer may also inflict the attacker with a disease of his choice. Okay, there are some pretty wild and powerful diseases out there. What you should do is give the plaguebearer access to a specific disease at first level, then at they advance they would gain more powerful and debilitating diseases at different levels. If you have not already, I suggest checking out the Book of Vile Darkness, there are some pretty horrible diseases in there. Toxic Body (Ex): Poisons are just another trivial thing to a Plaguebearer. From here on out, a Plaguebearer gains immunity to the effects of poisons, though not immunity to poisons themselves. Should he be inflicted with a poison for the next 1d4+1attacks he may choose to infect his target with that poison. The save for the poison is the same as his diseases. This ability is a bit confusing as written. So plaguebearers are immune to poison but not immune:confused:? This is a nifty ability, not to mention powerful, but being able to poison your foes doesn't fit with the class very well. Just give them a bonus on saves vs. poison that scales with the class and drop the ability to add the poison to their attacks. Stench of the Dying (Ex): The air around a Plaguebearer is permeated with the smell of sickness and death. Anybody who comes within ten feet of the Plaguebearer must succeed at a DC 10 + 1/2 HD + Cha mod or be sickened as long as they remain. Should someone save, they are immune for 24 hours. What kind of save is it? Obviously its a Fort, but you might want to do fix this. The ability is nice, I for one hate the smell of sick people. Do Unto Others (Su): By fourth level the diseases inside a Plaguebearer's body are under pressure. Should the Plaguebearer be struck by a critial hit, a cloud of disease bursts from the wound. Everyone adjacent to the Plaguebearer must make a fortitude save of be inflicted with a disease of the Plaguebearer's choice. Sweet ability. Fits well. You might want to add some fluff on the physical appearance of plaguebeares at this point. I imagine them covered seeping lesions, angry boils, and other vile looking signs of disease. Diseased Familiar (Su): When reaching fifth level, the Plaguebearer gains knowledge of how to summon a Diseased Familiar. Should he find a pile of trash or similar items weighing 500 pounds or more, he may summon his familiar from it. Doing this takes one hour. See below table for more info. This needs to be made a bit clearer. What exactly is the familiar? Why do they need 500lbs. of trash? Will any trash do, or is there special unguents, alchemical liquids, special monster feces, etc. needed? Is there an XP cost to the ritual? This should definitly not be a free thing though, and I will explain that when we get down to the familiar description. Plague (Su): When the Plaguebearer uses a bite attack to infect a victim, he may now choose two diseases to infect at once. These diseases must be different. In addition, once every 1d4+1 rounds, the Plaguebearer may attempt a ranged touch attack at a range of ten feet. Should he succeed, he vomits a ball of mucus and filth at his target who then must succeed at a fortitude save of 10+1/2 Plaguebearer's HD + Cha mod or contract a disease. Regardless of the outcome, the target takes 1d4 points of acid damage as the Plaguebearer's stomache acids eat away at the flesh. Doing this is a standard action which provokes an attack of opportunity. Fixed. Okay, this ability sounds really neat. I would honestly drop the additional diseases to bite and concentrate on the spit. Something to consider is that by this time most enemies will know to stay back, so you might consider making the spitball into a splash weapon, requiring everyone adjacent to the target square to have to make saves as well. Unatural Aura (Su): Animals can sense sickness and they generally stack away from it. The plaguebearer radiates a near palpable aura of unease. Animals, whether wild or domesticated, can sense the unnatural presence of a Plaguebearer at a distance of 30 feet. They will not willingly approach nearer than that and panic if forced to do so; they remain panicked as long as they are within that range. This should honestly be a low level ability, because the plaguebearer would already be horribly diseased. I would require the animals to make Will saves though. Flesh of the Putrid (Su): So tainted is the flesh and mind of the Plaguebearer that he no longer is able to eat normal food. He requires one half the regular ammount of food, and these must be either rotting flesh, feces, or similar items. Should he try to eat cooked food, he vomits it up and becomes sickened for an hour. Eew:yuck:! Very fitting, though gross and disturbing... Pandemic (Su): Should the Plaguebearer bite his victim at ninth level, he may inflict three diseases of his choice. Furthermore, should he spit he may inflict two disease of his choice. None of these diseases may be the same. Okay, rather than a bunch of diseases you should focus on upping the save DCs for just one. Something like victims suffer a -2 penalty. Also for the spit I would up the ante on it and make it form a 10ft.x10ft. cloud that forces all who come into contact to make a save. The plaguebeare could even have some rudimentary control over the cloud, something like a move action and a successful concentration check he can set the cloud of disease rolling around the battlefield. If you decide to go this route though I suggest limiting the number of times it can be used per day to something like 1+Con modifier. Pestilent Apotheosis (Su): By tenth level the Plaguebearer's connection to filth and disease is so great he undergoes a horrific transformation, his type changes to augmented humanoid and he gains the ooze subtype. With these Exceptions: he is not blind nor does he gain blindsight. Though he gains immunity to critical strikes, sleep effects, paralysis, polymorph, and stunning. He may still be flanked as normal and must eat, breath, and sleep. In addition, the Plaguebearer may squeeze through any opening up to one-tenth his size. Equipment worn must be able to fit in the hole or it gets left behind. Looks good. The Plaguebearer's Diseased Familiar Upon or after reaching 5th level, a Plaguebearer can call an Otyugh to serve him. The Plaguebearers' familiar further gains HD and special abilities based on the Plaguebearer's character level (see the table below). A Plaguebearer may have only one diseased familiar at a time. Okay, cool. They get a disease infested abberation for a friend. Remember though that otyughs are semi intelligent (Int 5), which is enough to be sentient. Should the Plaguebearer's familiar die, he may call for another one after a day. The new diseased familiar has all the accumulated abilities due a familiar of the Plaguebearer's current level. No. No no no no no! This is a special type of familiar, not just some stray cat or a bird attracted to a spell. Minimum waiting time for a familiar like this should be a month. Also this is one of the reasons I said you should require some special substances or something. Letting players do this for free is begging for abuse. Also as an intelligent creature the otyugh would demand some form of compensation for its service, whether its the corpses of slain foes or something else. Character Level Bonus HD Natural Armor Adj. Str Adj. Special 12th or lower +2 +1 +1 Empathic link, improved evasion, share saving throws, share spells 13th-15th +4 +3 +2 Speak with Plaguebearer 16th-18th +6 +5 +3 19th-20th +8 +7 +4 Spell resistance Character Level: The character level of the Plaguebearer (his Plaguebearer level plus his original class level). Bonus HD: Extra eight-sided (d8) Hit Dice, each of which gains a Constitution modifier, as normal. Extra Hit Dice improve the servant’s base attack and base save bonuses, as normal. Natural Armor Adj.: This is an improvement to the familiar's existing natural armor bonus. Str Adj.: Add this figure to the familiar's Strength score. The abilities mentioned in the “Special” column of the accompanying table are described below. Empathic Link (Su) The Plaguebearer has an empathic link with his familiar out to a distance of up to 1 mile. The Plaguebearer cannot see through the familiar's eyes, but they can communicate empathically. Because of the limited nature of the link, only general emotional content can be communicated. Because of the empathic link between the familiar and the Plaguebearer, the Plaguebearerhas the same connection to a place or an item that the familiar does. Improved Evasion (Ex) If the familiar is subjected to an attack that normally allows a Reflex saving throw for half damage, it takes no damage on a successful saving throw and only half damage on a failed saving throw. Improved evasion is an extraordinary ability. Share Saving Throws For each of its saving throws, the familiar uses either its own base save bonus or the Plaguebearer's, whichever is higher. The familiar applies its own ability modifiers to saves, and it doesn’t share any other bonuses on saves that the Plaguebearer might have. Share Spells At the Plaguebearer's option, he may have any spell (but not any spell-like ability) he casts on himself also affect his servant. The servant must be within 5 feet at the time of casting to receive the benefit. If the spell has a duration other than instantaneous, it stops affecting the servant if it moves farther than 5 feet away and will not affect the familiar again even if the familiar returns to the Plaguebearer before the duration expires. Additionally, the Plaguebearer may cast a spell with a target of “You” on his familiar (as a touch range spell) instead of on himself. A Plaguebearer and his familiar can share spells even if the spells normally do not affect creatures of the familiar's type (abberation). Speak with Plaguebearer(Ex) If the Plaguebearer's character level is 13th or higher, the Plaguebearer and familiar can communicate verbally as if they were using a common language. Other creatures do not understand the communication without magical help. Blood Bond (Ex) If the Plaguebearer's character level is 16th or higher, the familiar gains a +2 bonus on all attack rolls, checks, and saves if it witnesses the Plaguebearer being threatened or harmed. This bonus lasts as long as the threat is immediate and apparent. Spell Resistance (Ex) If the Plaguebearer's character level is 19th or higher, the familiar gains spell resistance equal to the Plaguebearer level + 5. To affect the familiar with a spell, another spellcaster must get a result on a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) that equals or exceeds the familiar's spell resistance. These all look pretty cut and dry. Good work. ----- Overall I like this class alot. It would make for a very terrible BBEG and thats what I love to see. It still needs a little more work though, and you might want to read through it a couple of times to find spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors. Good work;)
Shedlazzar 02-19-08, 03:13 PM	Thank you very much of taking the time to read over the entire class for me. I like most of your ideas and will talk them over with my friend. A new version should be up shortly. And with more fluff! Edit: I hate dead levels, that's why the aura was added in around that level. Any suggestions? Edit: About the diseases: In order to be able to inflict the diease, he himself must be affected by it. I thought it would be to have this guy wandering the world in search of powerful and rare diseases. Kinda like knowlege is power. And the fact that he can alter his diseases for different opponents. Like cha damage for animals or str for weak things. What would you suggest be done? Home brewn diseases?
DonThelonious 02-20-08, 01:39 AM	Thank you very much of taking the time to read over the entire class for me. I like most of your ideas and will talk them over with my friend. A new version should be up shortly. And with more fluff! Your very welcome. Edit: I hate dead levels, that's why the aura was added in around that level. Any suggestions? I hate dead levels as well. You might think about giving them Contagion as a spell like ability usable 1/day. Its not over powered and fits the theme. Edit: About the diseases: In order to be able to inflict the diease, he himself must be affected by it. I thought it would be to have this guy wandering the world in search of powerful and rare diseases. Kinda like knowlege is power. And the fact that he can alter his diseases for different opponents. Like cha damage for animals or str for weak things. What would you suggest be done? Home brewn diseases? Nowhere on this does it say he can alter the damage of the diseases he does. If thats true than you need to put it in there. That brings his diseases to a whole new level if that is the case, because now we are talking designed diseases and this class just became a true biological weapon. If your going to let the character basicly design special diseases than you need to come up with some rules and limitations on what those diseases can do.
Half_Dragon_Infernal 02-20-08, 10:29 AM	I think what he means is that he can use the diseases that do those types of ability damage based on the situation. The Incubation period for diseases would weaken this PrC though.
Einvaldurinn_mikli 02-20-08, 11:06 AM	I like it. It's a cool concept. Well done and well presented. Thing is though, it gives you everything that Cleric does, has very forgiving prereqs and it gives you some pretty nifty abilities. That's a little too good. I think it should lose a caster level in there somewhere, either at level one or level ten. But that might just be me.
Neraagile 02-20-08, 05:02 PM	I'm surprised.... he hasn't got a Plague Aura.... thats the first thing I expected him to have .... an Aura projecting his disease out into an area.... really cool. But seems to me like the Cancer Mage with spellcasting. If you have acess to the Book of Vile Darkness, check it out, that way you might come up with something to set them apart.
Shedlazzar 02-22-08, 03:09 PM	The diseases that he gets are the ones he is currently infected by. Like if he gave himself Filth Fever and Slimy Doom, if he bit someone, he could choose one or the other. And as for the incubation period, I forgot to write that it becomes instant. Would that push it over the top?
DonThelonious 02-22-08, 05:47 PM	Making the incubation instant might be a little much, but I could see you changing the xdx Days to xdx Rounds. So say the incubation is 1d3 days, the new incubation period would be 1d3 rounds. Class is coming along great, by the way.
Shedlazzar 02-25-08, 09:04 PM	Bump for great justice!
Shedlazzar 02-26-08, 06:47 PM	Bump
DonThelonious 02-26-08, 10:22 PM	Hey, not be a rain on your parade, but your only allowed to bump a thread once every 48 hours. And I think the class is pretty much done. Now all you need is a sample character and some playtesting.