Author Topic: [3.5e] Child of Darkness  (Read 2148 times)

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[3.5e] Child of Darkness
« on: October 24, 2011, 07:25:59 PM »
Because there are transcendence classes for other templates, like Dry Lich, Half-Dragon, and so on... why not one for one of the few templates that really needs it, the Vampire?

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It was a terrifying ordeal, to be sure.  An abomination against all that is holy and righteous in the world, draining the life out of you through its fangs.  That was your final memory before arriving in Purgatory.  You saw the endless expanse around you, where lost souls await admittance into the realms of their respective lords.  In the back of your mind, you hear your judges weighing your past deeds, determining whether or not you've maintained your ideals or if the taint of darkness you've suffered has condemned you.

A taint of darkness?  Adventurers are no saints, to be sure, but you have always aimed to do well in your lifetime.  You prayed for victory, safety, and salvation at the churches of Heironeous, Pelor, and Kord in turn, and never entered the church of one such as Nerull without the intention of sacking it of valuables and destroying the structure.

"Don't be foolish.  Your soul will not be admitted into the heavens, for it belongs to me!"

A voice in your ear.  The voice of that creature that killed you not long ago.  An inexplicable pull feels like it's rending you from the world of the dead back to the realm of the living.  It's compelling you to return.  The singular voice is eventually joined by others, dark whispers telling you vile secrets and blasphemes against the gods.  Maddening whispers that are slowly warping your mind and your soul.

Suddenly, a warm glow surrounds you, and everything goes dark.  You feel heavy, like you've been asleep for years, and your body doesn't want to respond to your movements.  You hear your name being called.  One of your companions, a man of faith.  You open your eyes and see the lot of them standing around you, early in the morning next to a dying campfire and a couple of tents.  Your memory is hazy, but you know that you fell fighting a vampire, and that now you are back.  Your heavy body grudgingly yields to your control, and you sit up to look around.  Overall, the group seems relieved.

You take some time to get your strength back and shake off the unnatural cold of death that lingers still in your body.  Eventually the group breaks camp and you travel back towards the village that the vampire was tormenting with his undead minions.  Once there, a celebration is held in your honor.  Still weary from your ordeal, you retire somewhat early from the festivities in favor of a warm bed for you to recover your strength further.

Your sleep, however, is restless.  The dark whispers that found you on the other side of death have followed you back into the world of the living.  A relentless curse haunting your sleep and sabotaging your sanity.  You awake the next morning in a cold sweat, the chill of death once again present, but fading.  You go over to the wash basin to wake yourself up with some cold water, and see your reflection in the pool.  Your skin is deathly pale, and it seems like you've lost almost 10 pounds, as gaunt as you are.  You doubt the priest had somehow failed in the casting of his spell, but you know that your are not the same man you once were.

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Pre-Requisites: Any non-good.
Hit Dice: 5 HD
Special: Must have been slain by a vampire's blood drain or energy drain attacks and then brought back to life (not undeath).  If you become a vampire or spawn in the interim, you must be destroyed before taking levels in this class.  Your class abilities do not function while you possess the vampire template or are vampire spawn.

BAB: Low
Saves: All good saves
Hit Die: d12
Levels: 11
Skill Points: 4+intelligence modifier
Class Skills: Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Disguise (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (all) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), and Use Magic Device (Cha)

Class Abilities:

Invocations*Knowledge from the Beyond: At first level, a child of darkness heeds the secrets being told to him by the whispers he hears in his sleep, and their corrupting nature alter him dramatically.  A child of darkness can sacrifice up to 3 feats that he possessed before entering the prestige class.  For each feat sacrificed, she gains the Extra Invocation feat, allowing her to select some least invocations to augment her repertoire of abilities.

Daylight Blindness: The sun is anathema to the powers seeking to take command of the child of darkness, and the child of darkness always feels a strong desire to avoid it whenever possible.

The Call: In spite of being returned to life, children of darkness are still constantly being called by a corrupting force, which they further embrace as they gain levels in this class.  At 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th levels, this corruption causes them to permanently lose 1 point of constitution.  This constitution loss cannot be recovered by any means.  However, the corruption does not take without giving.

At 3rd level, the child of darkness's strength score increases by 2 points, and she also gains a slam attack.  Depending on whether the child of darkness is small or medium, this slam attack does 1d4 or 1d6 points of damage, respectively.

At 5th level, the child of darkness's dexterity score increases by 2 points, and she gains Combat Reflexes as a bonus feat.

At 7th level, the child of darkness's strength score increases by another 2 points, she gains the blood drain special ability.  Whenever the child of darkness establishes or maintains a pin on another creature, they take 1d4 points of Constitution drain.  Each point of constitution drained in this manner grants the child of darkness 5 temporary hit points that last for up to an hour.

At 9th level, the child of darkness's charisma score increases by 2 points, and she gains Fast Healing 2 and becomes particularly difficult to destroy.  The child of darkness can choose to bind her soul to a coffin or similarly-sized container.  If she does so, and is later reduced to 0 hit points or fewer, the child of darkness assumes a gaseous form (as the spell) and drifts back to her designated coffin.  Once inside, she is restored to 1 hit point, but is unconscious until she recovers her full, normal hit points.

Master of Darkness: At 11th level, the child of darkness transcends mortality, becoming an undead creature.  All of her ability scores increase by 2 points, her fast healing increases to 5, she gains Turn Resistance +4, and she gains damage reduction 10/magic and silver.  Furthermore, her invocations cease being spell-like abilities and are transformed into supernatural abilities.  They are no longer advanced in any meaningful way by Prestige Classes that advance spell casting.  Their caster level is set to the child of darkness's character level, with saving throw DCs equal to 10 + 1/2 the child of darkness's hit dice + the child of darkness's Charisma modifier.

For the effects of spells and abilities, the a child of darkness of 11th level or higher is treated as a vampire, although she does not possess the usual vampire vulnerabilities to mundane sunlight or water or the actual vampire template.

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Re: [3.5e] Child of Darkness
« Reply #1 on: October 24, 2011, 07:26:16 PM »
Reserved for Invocation list, coming soon!