Alienist

Alienist

HitDie: d4  Mana: d12  Skills: 4 Saves: FrW Defense: 1/4
 +toHit: Archery 50%, Brawl 50%, Melee 50%, Thrown 50%
 
  There exist beings beyond the capacity of the minds of humans (and demihumans) to comprehend. Dwelling beyond the Outer Planes that define the human concept of the afterlife, these creatures are ancient, inscrutable, tremendously powerful and unbelievably alien. The most well known -- but certainly not the only -- representative of these beings on Theyra is Kysul, who serves as a guardian of any contact between the Prime Material and the Outer Rim, and is served by a handful of scattered mystery cults across the Kinlands.
   The Alienist is a spellcaster who has devoted herself wholly to the intensely esoteric practice of summoning and dealing with these beings. Most would call her a madwoman, a crazed and irresponsible cultist that endangers the safety of all of Theyra. For some Alienists this accusation is true, while others are more responsible -- but no less feared or hated. The most common motive among alienists is knowledge -- knowledge of concepts and ideas that cannot exist in a stable manner in our reality and thus must be experienced firsthand in order to be understood, since human languages lack the terms to express them. This search for ultimate knowledge drives many alienists to enlightenment, damnation or both.
   Alienists are not, by their nature, stable beings. They are driven by inhuman desire and exposed to unknowable secrets and eldritch beings, and as a result their minds are often deeply fractured and the majority of them are no longer able to relate to their original race in any normal way.
   Many lizardfolk are alienists. Their people worshipped the Outer Lords long before humanity or the modern gods existed, and while the modern lizardfolk treat druidism as the closest thing they have to a state religion, alienism forms a distinct minority in their society, and they are the only peoples on all of Theyra (other than aberrations) who respect the practice of alienism. Mind flayers also sometimes become alienists, though their society is fierce in the persecution of these forsaken scholars -- worship of Outer Lords threatens their fiercely regimented social structure, and they long ago turned their backs on their father, Kysul.

CLASS REQUIREMENTS
   The alienist is a prestige class. It counts as a favoured class for all characters. In order to become an alienist, you must have:
   * Skills Levels -- Knowledge (Planes) +10.
   * Known Spells -- Seven total spell levels of Weavecraft spells.
   * Feats -- Augment Summoning.
   * Religion -- You must worship Kysul, or no diety at all. None of Theyra's other gods tolerate alienists.

CLASS SKILLS
   The class skills of the alienist are Bluff, Concentration, Decipher Script, Hide in Shadows, Intimidate, Knowledge (Magic), Knowledge (Mythology), Knowledge (Oceans), Knowledge (Planes), Metamagic, Move Silently, Spellcraft and Use Magic.

CLASS FEATURES
   * Proficiencies -- Alienists gain no additional weapon or armour proficiencies.
   * Spellcasting -- At every level except 1st and 4th, alienists gain a new caster level. They continue to advance in arcane spell access if they had any before entering this class, otherwise advancing in the divine, druidic or other class spell list that allowed them to meet the caster prerequisite given above.
   If the alienist has Domains, she continues to advance those as well, provided she is advancing as a divine caster.
   * Incomprehensible Wisdom -- Alienists gain the Improved Wisdom feat for free at 1st level. If they already have it, they can select any other feat to fill the free slot.
   * Uneasy Mind -- Alienists grow increasingly distant from humanity as they continue to advance in this class, and suffer a penalty equal to their alienist level to Diplomacy and Appraise; they also become very focused on distant mysteries and given to long periods of introspection, and being thus out of touch with the world apply this same penalty to Spot, Listen and Searching.
   * Outer Pathways -- The primary ability of the alienist class is the power to summon pseudonatural creatures from the far-distant realm in which Kysul and his kin dwell. Starting at second alienist level, any 1st-level monster summoning, holy summoning or summon nature's ally spell the alienist casts summons a pseudonatural version of whatever creature it would normally summon. At 3rd level, the 2nd-level spells are so altered, and so on until 10th level, when even 9th-level summoning spells call forth pseudonatural creatures. (The last summoning spell written is the 6th-level one, so alienist levels above 7 alter nothing further.)
   In addition to the normal mana cost of the summoning spell, the pseudonatural summoning of an alienist drains [Summoned Creature's CR x 2] mana, and this mana does not regenerate. Resting recovers it.
   * Surreal Presence -- The sense that there is something faintly off, something wrong about the alienist crystalizes to a razor-sharp clarity at 3rd level, and she gains the benefit (or curse) of a constantly active spook spell as an innate supernatural ability.
   * Mad Certainty -- At 4th level, the alienist's fanatical devotion gives her a kind of ability to ignore physical harm and pursue her obsession with an utterly inhuman resilience even in the face of crippling wounds. She gains Toughness as a bonus feat and a +10 bonus to the Concentration skill.
   * Visitation -- At 5th level, the alienist may use contact other plane at will as an innate spell-like ability. (Contact other plane is not yet implemented, so this ability grants nothing.)
   * Inhuman Allies -- At 6th level, the alienist gains the ability to invoke ancient pacts between the harbringers of the Outer Rim and their Outer Ones' more modern spawn. Aberrations are neutral to her unless she breaks the pact by taking some hostile action against them.
   * Feverish Obsession -- Upon reaching 7th level, the alienist becomes so driven and devoted that she develops an inhuman kind of vigor, working beyond the established limits of the human body. She thus regenerates fatigue points just as dwarves do.
   * Psychic Mortification -- At 8th level, the alienist's mind has become so scorched by outer horrors that mortal traumas no longer have the ability to damage it -- her Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma are sustained at 5 points each.
   * Sanity-Blasting Spellcasting -- At 9th level, the alienist's methods of spellcasting are so otherworldly and alien that any creature of CR 7 or lower who sees her cast a spell takes 1d2 points of Wisdom damage. (Not yet implemented: nothing takes Wisdom damage from her spellcasting.)
   * Distant Apotheosis -- At 10th level, the alienist becomes a fundamentally alien creature herself, developing trememdously increased physical resistance. She gains immunity to critical hits, no longer needs to breathe or eat and does not age. (Only the immunity to critical hits is implemented. She still breathes and eats, and nothing in the game ages her.)

 SPELL LIST
   1st level -- grease, obscurement, spiritwrack, true strike.
   2nd level -- hypnotic pattern, revealed lore, stinking cloud, touch of idiocy.
   3rd level -- animate shadows, explosive runes, lorecall.
   4th level -- confusion, evard's black tentacles, phantasmal killer, premonition.
   5th level -- banishment, distance distortion, dream, nightmare, open the third eye.

THE ALIENIST
   Level  Def  Fort Refl Will CL Special Abilities
     1    +0    +2   +0   +2  -- In. Wisdom, Uneasy Mind
     2    +0    +3   +0   +3  +1 Outer Pathways
     3    +0    +3   +1   +3  +2 Surreal Presence
     4    +1    +4   +1   +4  -- Mad Certainty
     5    +1    +4   +1   +4  +3 Visitation
     6    +1    +5   +2   +5  +4 Inhuman Allies
     7    +1    +5   +2   +5  +5 Feverish Obsession
     8    +2    +6   +2   +6  +6 Psychic Mortification
     9    +2    +6   +3   +6  +7 Sanity-Blasting Sp.
     10   +2    +7   +3   +7  +8 Distant Apotheosis