PAIN MANIFESTER "One day. One day they'll understand. One day they'll all die choking on their own teeth." There are misfits and outcasts in every generation, and Orc society is no exception. The scrawny and weak will be mercilessly beaten down physically and mentally in an "attempt to toughen them up". Most will die. Some will live but with little of their mind left, and have to be put down. And some will have just enough magical talent to have their madness overlooked (or perhaps they just manage to hide it well enough). Little more than rabid dogs, one day their frustration at being unable to summon a Familiar will be rewarded when their pain and hate manifests as a physical entity.
BECOMING A PAIN MANIFESTER Pain Manifesters are Arcane spellcasters that have been tortured mentally and physically, and gone mad. They try for years to summon a familiar, and fail. One day they succeed, just not in a way anyone anticipated.
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS Racial: Any Orcish.
Class Abilities: Must be able to cast 2nd level or higher Arcane spells. Must be unable to summon a Familiar, or able to but not have done so.
Skills: Knowledge (Arcane) 8 Ranks
Special: Must have been tortured to the point of insanity (mentally or physically, doesn't matter).
Feats: Retributive Spell
Class Skills The Pain Manifester's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Decipher Script (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Arcana)(Int), Listen (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int)
Skills Points at Each Level : 4 + int
Hit Dice: d4
[b] BAB Fort Ref Will Abilities[/b]
1. +0 +0 +0 +2 Manifest Pain
2. +1 +0 +0 +3 +1 Level of Arcane Spellcasting Class
3. +1 +1 +1 +3 Empower Manifestation, +1 Level of Arcane Spellcasting Class
4. +2 +1 +1 +4 +1 Level of Arcane Spellcasting Class
5. +2 +1 +1 +4 +1 Level of Arcane Spellcasting Class
6. +3 +2 +2 +5 Empower Manifestation, +1 Level of Arcane Spellcasting Class
7. +3 +2 +2 +5 +1 Level of Arcane Spellcasting Class
8. +4 +2 +2 +6 +1 Level of Arcane Spellcasting Class
9. +4 +3 +3 +6 Empower Manifestation
10.+5 +3 +3 +7 +1 Level of Arcane Spellcasting Class
Weapon Proficiencies: Pain Manifesters gain no new weapon or armor proficiencies.
Manifest Pain (Su): At will as a Standard Action you may summon all the hatred and pain you have bottled up over the years into a physical manifestation, similar to the way some Psions can create ectoplasmic guardians. It's appearance varies, and is up to you, however it's appearance does not affect it's abilities.
Manifestation of Pain
Medium Aberration (Chaotic Evil)
Hit Dice: Hit Dice same as the Keepers
Initiative: The Manifestation gets its Dexterity Bonus and an Enhancement Bonus equal to half your Pain Manifester level .
Speed: Fly 50 ft. (10 squares), Perfect
Armor Class: The Manifestation gets a Deflection Bonus to Armor case equal to your Pain Manifester level.
Base Attack/Grapple: Same as the Keepers.
Attack: Primary Attack +x melee (1d4+Strength Modifier)
Full Attack: 2 Primary Attacks +x melee (1d4+Strength Modifier) and 1 Secondary Attack +x melee (1d4+Half Strength Modifier)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Horrific Appearance
Special Qualities: Rejuvenation, Dark Vision 60', Energy Resistance 5 (Acid, Cold, Electricity, Fire, and Sonic), Immunities
Saves: Saves same as the Keepers
Abilities: Str, Dex, and Con are 10 plus your Pain Manifester levels. Int, Wis, and Cha are same as yours.
Skills: Hide +4, Intimidate +4, Listen +4, Move Silently +4, Spot +4 (Don't forget to add stat or Feat bonuses)
Feats: Choose 3 Feats
Challenge Rating:
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always Chaotic Evil
Decide what the Primary and Secondary attacks look like and whether they are bludgeoning, piercing, slashing, etc. Every 3 hit dice the Manifestation gains a Feat just like characters do. Every level it gains skill points as well.
Horrific Appearance (Su): Identical to Ghosts ability on page 118 of Monster Manual.
Immunities: The Manifestation is immune to mind affecting effects, death effects, sleep effects, paralysis, polymorph, energy drain, ability drain and damage, poison, disease, and non-lethal damage.
Rejuvenation (Su): Identical to Ghosts ability on page 118 of Monster Manual. To get rid of a Pain Manifestation permanently, it's creator must be slain.
The Pain Manifestation also gets several abilities from the following table (choose 1 for every 3 hit dice):
Retributive Attack (Su): The Manifestations natural attacks gain an Enhancement bonus to hit and damage rolls equal to the highest amount of damage their creator has taken from a single hit this turn.
Retributive Defenses (Su): Whenever the Manifestation is struck the attacker must make a Willpower Save (DC is 10 plus half hit dice plus Charisma) or take the damage as well. Prereq: Must be 12 or more Hit Dice.
Retributive Gaze (Su): Death, 30', Fortitude Save negates (Save DC is 10 plus half Hit Dice plus Charisma Bonus). Prereq: Must be 12 or more Hit Dice.
Retributive Blast (Su): Once every 1d4 turns the Manifestation can unleash a blast of energy in a 60' cone. Damage is equal to 4d6 plus the total damage it has suffered since last using the blast (if it is the first time using the blast it adds the total damage suffered so far in this encounter). The damage is untyped, foes may make a Willpower Save (DC is 10 plus half hit dice, plus Charisma modifier) to only take half damage.
Retributive Armor (Su): The Manifestation gains DR 3/-. For every 3 points of damage dealt it's DR increases by 1 until the encounter has ended.
Retributive Critical (Su): Against any foe that has harmed its creator, the Manifestation criticals on 18-20. These criticals do 3x damage.
Retributive Shriek (Su): If the Manifestation ever takes 25% or more of it's hit points from a single blow, it may unleash a Retributive Shriek as a Free Action. All opponents within 60' must make a Willpower Save (DC is 10 plus the damage done to the Manifestation plus it's Charisma Bonus) or be Panicked for 2d6 rounds, and take a -3 Morale penalty to all rolls for 5 minutes after. Any opponents saving successfully still take a -2 Morale penalty to all rolls for 1d6 rounds.
Retributive Grasp (Su): The Manifestation may make a Grapple Check as a Free Action without provoking an attack of opportunity if it hits successfully with its primary attack. A successful Grapple check allows it to Constrict each round doing damage equal to the last hit it took before initiating the Grapple plus 1 point of temporary Constitution damage.
Retributive Size (Su): Once per day, if your creator suffers a loss of more than 25% of his hit points, the Manifestation can increase to Huge Size for 1 hour. This adds +16 Strength, +8 Con, Deflection Bonus to AC increases by +5. Remember to add new size penalties and bonuses where appropriate to BAB, skills, and AC. Damage of Natural Attacks increases to 1d8. Prereq: Must be 12 or more HD.
Retributive Reflection (Su): The Manifestation gains Spell Resistance equal to 10 plus it's hit dice. Any spell targeting it personally (i.e. the spell targets '1 creature') that doesn't make it through it's Spell Resistance is reflected back at the caster instead who takes the full effects.
Retributive Power (Su): The Manifestation's Base Attack Bonus is equal to it's Hit Dice.
Empower Manifestation (Su): At 3rd level you may cast Transmutation or Abjuration spells whose Range is listed as Personal on your Manifestation instead if it is within 60'.
At 6th level all Abjuration or Transmutation spells you cast on your Manifestation have their Duration doubled.
At 9th level you may sacrifice a spell of any level to heal your Manifestation as a Free Action if it is within 60'. Damage healed is 1d6 times the spell level plus your Charisma Modifier.
PLAYING A PAIN MANIFESTER Hatred of pretty much every other living thing is what drives you. Life is pain, death is freedom. Many of your kind tend to go out in blazes of glory, not coincidentally causing a large death toll in the process. You pretend loyalty to your tribe, secretly waiting for the moment you can murder them all, and hoping they don't look too closely into the people who have been disappearing lately.
Combat: Pain Manifester's prefer to avoid combat leaving that to their Manifestations. They much prefer to inflict the pain that has been done to them on helpless victims.
Advancement: Pain Manifesters have the same options for advancement as most Sorcerers or Wizards. Most however obsessively try to make their Manifestations as powerful as they possibly can.
Resources: Pain Manifesters are loners one and all. They have to threaten others to get their help.
PAIN MANIFESTERS IN THE WORLD "Sir, I'd uh..I'd leave that one alone if I were you." Pain Manifesters usually spend time in arcane study, raving about the people who have wronged them (real or imaginary), plotting revenge, or maybe just staring into spce and muttering gibberish. People try to interact with you as little as possible.
Daily Life: Plotting. Your life is all about plotting. You'll get them all one day. They'll see. See those Orcs over there whispering? It's obvious who they're whispering about. So obvious.
Notables: Grendel (CE Male Orc Sorcerer 6/Pain Manifester 6). Life hasn't always been easy for Grendel. But then he found his new friend. A bigger, scarred, twisted, vaguely orcish thing from his own subconscious...
Organizations: There are no organizations dedicated to assisting Pain Manifesters, though there have occasionally been some devoted to hunting them down...
NPC Reaction NPC's are generally terrified completely of Pain Manifesters. After all you're a babbling lunatic prone to homicidal ravings who summons monsters and kills people seemingly at random.
CLASS NAME IN THE GAME Statistically Pain Manifesters really aren't much different from other summoner types, they're just a bit more versatile in some ways, a bit less in others.
Adaptation: This is a pretty dark NPC. It'll be for very dark or evil campaigns, or pretty much an NPC class.
Encounters: It's easy to anger a Pain Manifester. People do it all the time without realizing it, sometimes just by saying hi. Unless one has been convinced to help with a tribal raid, the PC's will likely encounter one they've offended somehow or when they discover someone other than themselves is trying to take out the local orc tribe.
Sample Encounter EL 12: The PC's have been hired to convince a local Orc tribe to back off from raiding the town. Upon sneaking into their village at night they find a great many of them dead, hanging from trees and mutilated. There are signs the rest have fled. Do they return to the town? Or find out what's going on?
GrendelCE Male Orc Sorcerer 6/Pain manifester 6
Init +1,
Senses: Listen +9, Spot +0, Dark Vision 60'
Languages Orc, Common
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AC 22, touch 14, flat-footed 21 (+1 Dex, +3 Deflection, +3 Natural, +5 Armor)
hp 78 (12 HD)
Fort +6,
Ref +5,
Will +10
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Speed 30 ft. (6 squares)
Melee +1 Morningstar +8/+3 melee (1d8+1)
Base Atk +6,
Grp +7
Combat Gear 2 Potions Cure Serious Wounds
Spells Known (Caster Level 11) 0 (DC 13):Caltrops, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Launch Bolt, Message, Read Magic, Resistance, Touch of Fatigue
1 (DC 14):Backbiter, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Ray of Enfeeblement, Spirit Worm
2 (DC 15):Blindness/Deafness, Invisibility, Ray of Sickness, Ray of Weakness, Scorching Ray
3 (DC 16):Fly, Greater Mage Armor, Mass Curse of Impending Blades, Protection from Energy
4 (DC 17):Bestow Curse, Greater Resistance, Nightstalker's Transformation, Stoneskin
5 (DC 18): Summon Monster V
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Abilities Str 12, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 16
SQ Light Sensitivity, Manifest Pain, Empower Manifestation
Feats Combat Casting, Greater Spell Penetration, Improved Initiative, Retributive Spell, Spell Penetration
Skills Concentration +11, Intimidate +12, Knowledge (Arcana) +8, Listen +9, Spellcraft +8
Possessions+3 Ring of Protection, +3 Amulet of Natural Armor, +5 Bracers of Armor, Wand of Lightning Bolts (10th), 2 Potions Cure Serious Wounds, +1 Morningstar
Manifestation of Pain
Medium Aberration (Chaotic Evil)
Hit Dice: 12d8+36 (90 hp)
Initiative: The Manifestation ges its Dexterity Bonus and an Enhancement Bonus equal to half your Pain Manifester level .
Speed: Fly 50 ft. (10 squares), Perfect
Armor Class: 19 (+3 Dex, +6 Deflection), touch 19, flat-footed 16
Base Attack/Grapple: +12/+15
Attack: Claw +12 melee (1d4+3)
Full Attack: 2 Claws +12 melee (1d4+3) and 1 Bite +7 melee (1d4+1)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Horrific Appearance, Retributive Critical, Retributive Size, Retributive Power
Special Qualities: Rejuvenation, Dark Vision 60', Energy Resistance 5 (Acid, Cold, Electricity, Fire, and Sonic), Immunities, Retributive Armor
Saves: Fort +6. Ref +5. Will +10
Abilities: Str 16, Dex 16, Con 16, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 16
Skills: Hide +7, Intimidate +7, Listen +4, Move Silently +7, Spot +4
Feats: Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave, Improved Sunder, Combat Brute
Alignment: Always Chaotic Evil
EPIC Pain Manifester Hit Die: d4
Skills Points at Each Level : 4 + int
Spellcasting The Epic Pain Manifester's caster level is equal to her class level minus 2. Her number of spells per day doesn't increase after 20th level.
Empower Manifestation The Epic Pain manifester's Pain Manifestation gains another ability at Level 22, and every 3 levels thereafter.
Bonus Feats: The Epic Pain Manifester gains a Bonus feat for every 3 levels higher than the 20th.