Friday, June 25, 2010

Alienist Prestige Class Pathfinder Conversion

Alienist

Hit Dice: d4


Requirements:

To qualify to become a Alienist, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

Skills: Knowledge (Arcana) 8 Ranks, Knowledge (The Planes) 8 Ranks

Feats: Alertness

Spells: Ability to cast at least one Divination spell and at least one summoning spell of 3rd level or higher.

Special: Prior contact with an alienist or Aberrant creature.


Class Skills:

The Alienist's class skills are Craft (Int), Perception (Wis), Handle Animal (Cha), Knowledge (Int), Profession (Wis), Linguistics (Int), Use Magic Device (Cha), Spellcraft (Int)

Skill Ranks per Level: 4 + Int modifier.


Class Features:

The following are class features of the Alienist.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Alienists gain no additional proficiency in any weapon or armor.

Spells Per Day: When a new alienist level is gained, the character gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in a spellcasting class he belong to before adding the prestige class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (improved chance of controlling or rebuking undead, metamagic, or item creation feats, hit points beyond those he receives from the prestige class, and so on), except for an increased effective level of spellcasting. If a character had more than one spellcasting class before becoming an alienist, he must decide to which class he adds each level of alienist for the purposes of determining spells per day. An Alienist can channel stored spell energy into summoning spells that he hasn’t prepared ahead of time. He can “lose” a prepared spell in order to cast any summon monster spell of the same level or lower.


1 Summon Alien

2 Aberrant Form

3 Metamagic Secret

4 Mad Certainty

5 Aberrant Familiar

6 Extra Summoning

7 Metamagic Secret

8 Unusual Anatomy, Insane Certainty

9 Aberrant Form

10 Transcendence

(Chart coming later)

BAB: 10th level +5 (1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4,5,)

Good Save: Will

Spells Per Day: +1 level of existing class per level


Summon Alien (Sp): When an alienist casts an summon monster spell, he summons a “ Aberrant” version of the creature chosen from the appropriate list on page 351 of the Pathfinder Core Rulebook. For example, by casing summon monster V, he could summon a Aberrant dire lion. This adds the “Aberrant template” (see Aberrant Creatures below). If the selected creature would normally be celestial or fiendish, the Aberrant template replaces that template.

Alien Blessing: An alienist applies a +1 insight bonus on all saving throws, but he permanently looses 2 points of Wisdom.


Metamagic Secret: An alienist listens to the secret voices whispering from beyond time's end, and profit thereby. At 3rd and 7th levels, he may choose any metamagic fear as a bonus feat.


Mad Certainty: At 4th level, the alienist's mad certainty in the power of entities beyond the reach of normal space and time lends him an unnatural fortitude. He gains +3 hit points. For every Hit Die he possess beyond 3, he gains an additional +1 hit point as though from the Toughness feat. If he has more than 3 Hit Dice, he gains +1 hit points whenever he gains a Hit Die (such as when he gains a level). However, constantly dwelling on such beings is mentally corrosive, and the alienist's mind begins to fracture. He develops a phobia against a specified kind of creature, suffering a -2 penalty to saving throws, attack rolls, and charisma-based skill and ability checks in regards to those creatures. The selected creature gains a +2 morale bonus to their AC and saving against the phobic alienist. The DM determine the creature feared. Good choices include spiders, snakes, birds, or insects. Beings that share attributes with or those that resemble the selected creature also trigger the phobia.


Aberrant Familiar: At 5th level any familiar the alienist already possesses takes on aberrant qualities and gain the Aberrant template as a result. From this point onward any familiars summoned by the alienist already posses the Aberrant template


Extra Summoning: From 6th level on, the alienist gains one extra spell slot at his highest spell level. This slot can only be used for a summon monster spell. As the alienist becomes able to learn higher level spells, the extra slot migrates up to the new highest level.


Unusual Anatomy (Ex): An Alienist's anatomy is changed, giving him a 25% chance to ignore any critical hit or sneak attack scored against him. If you already have this benefit from the Aberrant Bloodline this bonus increases to 50%. If that to has already been obtained then you gain the “Alien Resistance” ability instead.


Insane Certainty: The alienist's mad certainty crystallizes into a truly chilling mania.He gains another +3 hit points. For every Hit Die he possess beyond 3, he gains an additional +1 hit point as though from the Toughness feat. If he has more than 3 Hit Dice, he gains +1 hit points whenever he gains a Hit Die (such as when he gains a level). His phobia likewise intensifies. All penalties and bonuses listed under Mad Certainty for the selected creature increases to -6/+6.


Aberrant Form (Ex): An Alienist's body becomes truly unnatural, you are immune to critical hits and sneak attacks. In addition, you gain blindsight with range of 60 feet and damage reduction 5/-. The promise of transcendence is near...


Transcendence (Su): At 10th level the alienist though long association with alien entities and intensive study of insane secrets, transcends his mortal form and becomes an alien creatures altogether. His type chances to “outsider”, which means (among other things) that he is no longer effected by spells that specifically target humanoids, such as charm person, but he an be hedged out by a magic circle spell against his alignment. Upon achieving transcendence, the alienist's appearance undergoes a minor physical change, usually growing small tentacles or other strange addition or substitution, such as an extra appendage, organ, eye, or enigmatic lump. The alienist can his this abnormality but the alienist's growth is not under the alienist's control and sometimes it moves, twitches, opens, or otherwise animates of it's own accord.


Anyone who shares the alienist's study of the Far Realms immediately recognizes him as being transcended and he gains a +2 circumstance modifier on all charisma-based skill and ability checks when interacting with such beings. He gains a +2 modifier on Intimidation checks against all other creatures whom he reveals his abnormal nature to.



Aberrant Template coming later

(Same as Pseudonatural template, though I will have to revise it a bit)

2 comments:

  1. Edited

    Added: He can “lose” a prepared spell in order to cast any summon monster spell of the same level or lower.

    Fixed: Edited the Certainty abilities to more accurately reflect Pathfinder's toughness feat.

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  2. Nice job! I'm so glad somebody did this, but this seems a little too good. Even though the 3.5 alienist was way underpowered, having her become a weirdo was part of the appeal. I would keep the -4 penalty on all Bluff, Diplomacy, and Handle Animal checks made to influence nonpseudonatural creatures, and possibly even the -10 escalation, perhaps balanced with an intimidate bonus. I didn't notice the aberrant bloodline before, but it does seem at least partly inspired by the Alienist. Anyway, good stuff!

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