Hokay, time to write some stuff.
Aquan Champion
Oh, look at that. You've cornered me. I wonder if you knew that steam is hotter than fire?
-Dhaikk Whiteyes, Aquan Champion
No one knows where the first Aquan champion came from, or what race they were or even which water-linked Power created them.
One thing is certain though; Powers who command of vast kingdoms of water in any of the Planes have agents that embrace all the varied forms of water. Aquan Champions are called to perfrom a wide range of tasks for their patron Power; from infiltrating a rival Power's temple to slaying enemies that threaten to disrupt their domains or brokering alliances with new allies against their foes.
Of course, to join these ranks one needs to not only have belief in their Power, one must also have their own faith returned.
This is usually done at the birth or creation of a future Aquan Champion. Leaving them marked with an uncanny appearence. Scales, deep blue skin with a moon white belly, lumiescent eyes, gills, spines and limbs that look like fins are all common signs of one that is destined to live and serve in the name of one of the Powers that commands the very flow of the multiverses waters.
Pre-Requisites:
Feat: Must have the Child of the Endless Waters feat.
Skill: Must have Master* ranks in a Proffession skill that is related to water in some manner (Ex. Sailor, Fisherman, Blacksmith, Astronomer, Miller**, Pearldiver).
Skill: Must have 8 Ranks in Swim.
Skills: Must have 8 ranks in two of the three following skills: Diplomacy, Concentration or Intimidate.
Special: Must have established contact with their chosen Power via either casting the Augury or Commune Spell or hiring someone else cast these spells with you in their presence. Any XP costs are assumed by your character, not the caster and you, instead of the caster, may ask the questions.
Special:Once an Aquan Champion has begun their training they are expected to perform one task for their patron Power each year; some Aquan Champions choose to champion their Patron's causes in a more strident manner and go from one quest to an other in their Patron's service.
Special:Must own a masterwork dowsing rod (can be found with a week or less of searching in a forest, made out of wood, or purchased as a masterwork tool with a base cost of 2 gp).
*: That is, two ranks. As per the Dungeonomicon.
**:Only millers who operate River-Powered Mills
Hit Dice: D8
Class Skills: Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (cha), Gather Information (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Geography, Nature, Religion and The Planes) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), Use Rope (Dex).
Skills/Level: 6 + Intelligence Bonus
BaB:Good
Saves: Fort: Good, Reflex: Good; Will: Good
Alignment: Aquan Champions come in all creeds and codes of conduct. Each however tends to be within line with their patron Power in at least one way. The power that an Aquan Champion brings to a Power's cause has some undecided Aquan Champions moving from place like a pice of flotsam and serving many Powers. Other Aquan Champions are loyal to the death for thier patron Power and are as intractable as a glacier.
Races: Any race that reveres water or recognizes it as important has Aquan Champions who can perform a variety of tasks, usually of the extraordinary adventuring kind. Although Aquan Champins who help farmers find water springs are how most people recognize them with their water-themed clothing and dowsing rods.
Level, Abilities
- The many forms of water, Initiate of the Creek [Flow like water, Waterfall meditation, Steamlodge enlightenment], Dowsing
- Initiate of the River [Test of drowing, Ice shatters steel, Steam burns fire]
- Initate of the Lake [Lake's Belly, Glacier defense, Shifting vapours ]; Seek the Headwaters
- Initiate of the Ocean [Call the seas, Ring of ice, Rising vapours]
- Initiate of the the Eternal Waters [Drown the world, Freezing Breath, Steam Jet] Seek the font of all Waters
Weapon and Armour Proficiency: The Aquan Champion gains no proficiency with armor or weapons.
The many forms of water: At 1st level and every afterwards, an Aquan champion gains abilities that relate to one of the three main forms that water takes. Its liquid form, water; its solid form, ice; and its vaporous form, steam. As the Aquan Champion progresses each of their three forms will gain new abilities.
However, an Aquan Champion may only be in one of their three forms at any time and such may only use the abilities of a form if they are in said form. Changing from any form (or no form) to any other form (or no form) takes 1 minute. An Aquan Champion may remain in any form or no form, for as long as they choose.
Any special abilities that force a target to make a save must do so against the following DC: 10 + 1/2 The Aquan Champion's total hit dice + the Aquan champion's Charisma modifier.
Initiate of the Creek:
At 1st level, the Aquan Champion has undergone various rituals that test their mental and physcal endurance as well as forging a permanent bond with water that allows them to literally take on some of it's properties.
Flow like Water (Water)(Su): Be like water. In a cup, water is the cup. In a bowl, water is the bowl. Also, water cannot be crushed in a dragon's jaws.You are affected as if you have a Freedom of Motion spell cast on you. You can also find and disable traps like the Rogue's Trapfinding ability. However you may use your ranks in Diplomacy instead of ranks in Disable Device to disarm traps.
Waterfall Meditation(Ice)(Ex): Some say that meditatin under an icy waterfall brings enlightenment. It also builds tolerance against numbing cold. You have Resistance to Cold equal to your ranks in the Concentration skill.
Steamlodge enlightenment(Steam)(Ex): Hours in Saunas and Sweat lodges have inured you to the effects of heat, most of the time. You have Resistance to Fire equal to your ranks in the Intimidate skill.
Dowsing: At 1st level the Aquan Champion can intuit the nearest body of water, providing they have the proper tools, and sometimes with great experience, without anything except their own intuition and training. This dowsing takes ten minutes of uninterupted concentration per attempt and can be performed as often as the Aquan Champion wishes.
An Aquan Champion that is Dowsing for water makes a d% roll under 50 + 5 per level of Aquan Champion that the character has (up to a maximum of +25% at all five levels). In addition, an Aquan Champion that is Dowsing may add 1 to their check against value for every 5 ranks they have in the following skills: Knowledge (Nature), Knowledge (Geography) and Search.
As well they may add 1/2 of their ranks (rounded down) in one of the three following skills: Diplomacy, Concentration or Intimidate if they are looking for fluid water (Diplomacy), ice (Concentrate) or evaporated water/clouds/steam/fog (Intimidate).
A Dowsing character who does not have a dowsing rod has their check total reduced by 25.
If the d% result rolled is less than the number that is checked against, then they find the direction that the nearest body of water is located and how long it will take to reach. Buried water is noted as such and if the water is clean or fouled, with animal/plant life or devoid of life, fresh or salty is also revealed.
If the d% result rolled is more than the number that is checked against, then they find the direction of a body of water that is in a random direction is located and how long it will take to reach. Buried water is noted as such and if the water is clean or fouled, with animal/plant life or devoid of life, fresh or salty is also revealed.
The dice rolled should be done by the game referee to actually surprise the Dowsing character; however they may attempt an other Dowsing attempt to find a better reading.
Example:
Yethon Sturgeounskin is a 1st lvel Aquan Champion attempting to Dowse for the nearest body of water. He has 9 ranks in Search, 5 Ranks in Knowledge (Nature) and 9 ranks in Diplomacy, and Concentrate. Yetho alos has his Dowsing rod and is looking for fluid water in a forest.
The total chance of success is 50 + 5 (1 level in the Aquan Champion class) 1 (5, but not 10 Ranks in Search) + 1 (5 ranks in Knowledge (Nature) + 2 (1/2 Ranks in Diplomacy, since he's looking for fluid water) for a total of 58% chance of finding the nearest body of water.
Higher levels, more training and ensuring that he has his Dowsing Rod will increase the success of the Dowsing attempts.
Example:
Yethon Sturgeounskin is a 5st lvel Aquan Champion attempting to Dowse for the nearest body of water. He has 13 ranks in Search, 5 Ranks in Knowledge (Nature), 5 Ranks in Knowledge (Goegraphy) and 13 ranks in Diplomacy, Concentrate and Intimidate. Yethon also has his Dowsing rod and is looking for fluid water in a desert.
The total chance of success is 50 + 25 (5 level in the Aquan Champion class) 2 (10, but not 15 Ranks in Search) + 1 (5 ranks in Knowledge (Nature) 1 (5 ranks in Knowledge (Geography) + 6 (1/2 Ranks in Diplomacy, since he's looking for fluid water) for a total of 85% chance of finding the nearest body of water.
Initiate of the River:
At 2nd level, the Aquan Champion has learned the secrets of all three forms of water and can express these forms to combat enemies; either by affecting his enemies directly or by making them more vunerable to subsequent attacks.
Test of Drowing(Water)(Su): Even a small bucket of water can cause grief. If in the right place. As a standard action an Aquan Champion may cause any single target with a Physiology (Ex. anything that breathes) touched to drown. The target must make a Fortitude save or be stunned, if they succeed the save they are dazed instead.
An Aquan champion attempting to use their Test of Drowning power on a dazed target makes them stunned them on a failed save, An Aquan Champion who uses this power on a stunned target kills them on a failed save.
Ice shatters steel(Ice)(Su):Although extremely hard, ice is very brittle, making everything around it brittle as well. As a Standard Action, you may use the
Shatter spell (with a range of touch) at will. You may also destroy magical items, but they get to make a Fortitude save to recude the effect to 1d6 points of damage per level in the Aquan Champion Class; this damage ignores all hardness. The targeted object may use the objects save or the wearer's save, whichever is higher. This ability can be used to shatter up to 10 cubic feet of normal material per round.
[Note on attacking worn or carried items:
To make an attack on a carried or worn object make an attack roll against the object’s AC. A carried or worn object’s AC is equal to 10 + its size modifier + the Dexterity modifier of the carrying or wearing character. -www.d20srd.org "Sundering objects"]
Steam burns fire(Steam)(Sp)*: Steam is hotter than any fire; fire creatures rue the day they learn this fact at the hands of a Steam-channeling Aquan Champion. As a standard action an Aquan Champion may fire a blast of steam at any one target with a range of close. This blast is a ranged touch attack that deals 1d6 points of Fire damage per level of the Aquan Champion plus +1 per hit dice of the Aquan Champion. This fire damage ignores any effect that would reduce damage from fire damage, including Resistance or Immunity to fire damage.
Initate of the Lake:
At 3rd level, the Aquan Champion gains immunities that each form of water is well known for. Either being impossible to slice or damage a mass of water, being extremely resilient when frozen and simply whirling past most things that would harm it.
Lake's belly (Water)(Su):You ever try stabbing a lake? There's no weak point. The Aquan Chamption is immune to Critical Hits or Sneak Attacks [edit: not sure if I should include "or any other effects that grant more damage beyond a weapons effects or an attacker's training"]. [I 'might' include power attack immune as well; or limit damage to weapon damage + str only]
Glacier Defense(Ice)(Su):It takes an Fiend's lifespan and an obsessed Dwarf's patience to cut down a glacier. The Aquan Champion gains DR X/- where X equals their ranks in the Concentration skill.
Shifting vapours(Steam)(Su):A house full a hole full, but you cannot gather a bowlful.The Aquan Champion has a 60% miss chance against all attacks that target their person. This increases by 5% every level past 3rd to a max of 70% at level 5.
Seek the Headwaters (Sp): At 3rd level an Aquan Champion may use pools of water to create an effect similar to that of a Teleport spell. However the starting and ending points must be a body of water wide enough for the Aquan Champion (and any of his or her companions) to enter. So, a litre of water spilled on the ground is a permissable entry or exit point, while a two-foot wide water drain is not. The Aquan Champion may specify a body of water as the exit point, or may specify a body of water that may be within range; examples include "The smallest body of water inside the cellers of the nefarious Count Shufstaffen's fortress" or "The nearest Oases from these windswept dunes".
Initiate of the Ocean :
At 4th level, the Aquan Champion has tapped into not only the nature of water within themselves, but also around them and from the elemental plane of water itself.
Call the Seas(Water) (Su):The very seas will defend me!The Aquan champion may summon up any Creature of the [Water] or [Aquatic] subtypes as a full round action. The creature summoned must have a CR of the Aquan Champion's ranks in the Diplomacy skill -5. The summoned Creature aids the Aquan Champion as much as they can as long as the Aquan champion does not change forms. The summoned creature and the Aquan Champion can communicate normally even if there is no language that they both share.
Ring of Ice(Ice) (Su):Ice sticks to anything, making it fall down. Any or All enemies within 30 feet of the Aquan champion fall prone as layers of ice ahere to their form and cannot make 5 foot steps. On a successful fort save they are merely reduced to half speed. This affects all creautres, even flying ones; other creatures that normally cannot be knocked prone are reduced to 5 feet of movement and cannot make 5 foot steps.
Rising Vapour(Steam) (Su):Heated fluids rise and steam is no exception. The Aquan Champion gains a flight speed of 20 feet per 10 ranks that they have in the Intimidate skill.
Initiate of the the Eternal Waters:
At 5th level, the Aquan Champion has become a force to be reckoned with, able to simply destroy lesser beings or wreak havoc upon any who would oppose the will of their patron Power. Whether their patron Power is an wild and violent Abyssal Pirate-lord who commands vast seashell-crafted navies upon infinite sulfurous seas or a cold and serene Celestial Emperor that rules a vast undersea kingdom.
Drown the World(Water)(Su):Those who would do you harm clutch at their throats, seeking air that they cannot reach. An Aquan Champion emits an Aura of Drowning and suffocation that extends in a 30-foot radius. All breathing creatures within 30 feet of the Aquan champion count as being under water. This drowning aura also accelerates the process of drowning.
Normally a creature can breate for a numbe of rounds equal to it Constitution score before it begins to drown. Within an Aquan Champions drowning aura, a creature can only hold its breath if it can make a DC 10 Constitution check every round. Each round the DC increases by 1. When the character finally fails its Constitution check, it begins to drown. In the first round, it falls unconsious (0 hit points). In the following round, it drops to -1 hit points and is dying. In the third round, if it is in the drowining aura, it drowns.
Freezing Breath (Ice)(Sp): An ice cold wave of air and snow crystals rush from your body, freezing your foes to death Using the table below, the Aquan Champion deals cold damage equal to all targets equal to 1d6 points of cold damage per Hit Dice that they have. Those targeted by the Cone and Line effect may make a Reflex Save for half damage; the Radius allows no save.
Steam Jet(Steam) (Sp)*:The shifting strands of eye-sweating steam slam into your enemies. Using the table below, the Aquan Champion deals fire damage equal to all targets equal to 1d6 points of firedamage per Hit Dice that they have. Those targeted by the Cone and Line effect may make a Reflex Save for half damage; the Radius allows no save. This fire damage ignores any effect that would reduce damage from fire damage, including Resistance or Immunity to fire damage.
*:Note: The Steam Burns Fire Freezing Breath and Steam Jet abilities are Spell-Like Abilities and thus can provoke Attacks of Opportunity when used. Also, to overcome the Spell Resistance of targets the Aquan Champion has a Caster level equal to his total Hit Dice.
Freezing Breath/Steam Jet area of effect:
Code: Select all
[br]When using either Freezing Breath or Steam Jet, the Aquan Champion must choose how much time per round they will spend preparing their power. Shorter amounts of time yield smaller affected areas, while larger amounts of time result in a larger affected area.[br][br]Swift Action: 15' Cone; 10' Radius; 30' line[br]Move Action: 25' Cone; 20' Radius; 50' line[br]Standard Action: 35' Cone; 30' Radius; 80' line[br]Full round Action: 90' Cone; 50' Radius; 100' line[br]
Seek the root of all Waters: At 5th level an Aquan Champion may use pools of water to create an effect similar to that of a Plane Shift spell with the same restrictions as the Seek the Headwaters ability. there is however no deviation from the intended target.
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New Feat:
Child of the Endless Waters [Skill]
Somewhere along your time as a fetus you were touched by a Power that controls water in some form. Marking you as their herald to all the Planes. So, you can swim and not drown; which is helpful, b/c all the other kids in your village will throw rocks at you because you have big old fish eyes, or deep blue scales or something and you would hide under the bridge until your mom or some kindly hobo came by to help you out.
You are more in tune with water than anyone else you have met. This is a Skill Feat that scales with your ranks in the Swim Skill.
Benefit: Swim is a Class skill for you at all times. You may also take 10 when swimming, even when otherwise threatened or distracted.
4:You gain a swim speed equal to your Swim skill skill check. Rounded down to the nearest 5 feet. If you already have a swim speed this adds to your existing swim speed. You may still drown however.
9:You may attack underwater with no penalties to attack rolls or damage.
14:You can breathe in water. You can still suffocate in a vacum or if buried in earth
19:You may grant your abilities granted by this feat to others. With a maximum of one individual per 5 ranks that you have in the Swim skill.
Drawback: You look wierd. If you're lucky you get away with wierd eyes, gills behind yor ears or having a collapsible fin on your back that sometimes chafes you. If you're unlucky you have webbed hands and feet, a fish's head, your skin looks like a fishes or you have a large dorsal fin. You can still use equipment normally (you may choos to masterwork any item so that you can wear it in your new form, magic items always reshape themselves to fit ther wearer), but people think you look odd or are an exotic hero race or monster. This a perfect excuse to have a shark's head, have orange and white skin like a Clownfish or look like any aquatic race that you fancy (from Sahaugin to Merfolk).
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[original post]
New PrC: Aquan Champion or "I've finally it figured out"
New PrC: Aquan Champion; or "I've finally figured out how to make this character concept actually work"
Preamble and class concept discussion and class idea evolution:
For a long, long time now I've had this idea for a character concept that I have thought about and done notes on, but have never been able to figure out how to build in a viable manner.
The original character was first used in a play by post RP thread, which was sort of freeform D&D based RPG that was actually run by someone on the Megatokyo board RP section (most of the RP threads there have no one reffing, so things definately get out of hand and are frankly boring as people keep god-modding themselves up and up and up; while never actually paying attention to what they could probably do with what powers they've given themselves).
The concept I had come up with a year or so before that as a mortal champion for a nebulous power relaed to the moon, tides and the ocean. Which I extraplated to emcompass all water in all of its forms which led to the water (or 'flexible') form, the ice (or 'unyeilding') form and the steam (or 'destroying') form.
The class works by allowing members of the class to choose a form that is most suitable for their current situation;
-a two-weapon using water form that focuses on moving around its foes and being encouraging to its allies and dicouraging to its foes (this third last part I've only concreted now)
-a tower (or greatsheild) and mace (or warhammer) using form that has the character absolutely covered in thick slabs of ice that both hamper enemies from moving past them and from attacking easily
-a form that is shrouded in solid steam with a massive two handed blade of steam; something like a barbarians rage, but I'm not going to actually grant any RoW barbarian abilities, since that steals the RoW's barbarian's thunder
Basically the class allows the user to tap into one of the three forms once per encounter for a number of rounds equal to half the ranks in a skill; Diplomacy (Water), Concentration (Ice), Intimidate (Steam).
The effectiveness of these temporarily granted weapons and armour scales via Greater Magic Weapon and Magic Vestment cast on each item of equipment that the character gets; with a Caster Level equal to their character level. Of course if you try to loan these items to someone else they either flow away as water, shatter like broken ice or wisp away like steam, but they reappear with a swift action on the character.