Comments and feedback are welcome as always.
Scion of the Worm
“My masters are not far behind.”
- Shtahalam, scion of the worm
Scions of the worm are those that have decided to place themselves in the services of the psurlons completely, in the hope of gaining a greater understanding of psionics. They serve their psionic masters in exchange for power and grow more and more like their masters.
Psions and wilders seem most attracted to the scion of the worm class, but psychic warriors who wish to bolster their combat abilities also find that the class features are of interest.
NPC scions of the worm are mostly found wandering the wastes on errands for their masters, but can also be encountered in the city-states and villages, searching for secrets or slaves to bring back. They often go wrapped in large garments, passing themselves for one of the New Races to avoid arousing suspicion about their appearance.
Hit Die: d6.
Requirements
To qualify to become an scion of the worm, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Alignment: Neutral evil.
Race: Any humanoid.
Skills: Concentration 8 ranks, Knowledge (planes) 4 ranks, Knowledge (psionics) 8 ranks.
Feats: Combat Manifestation.
Psionics: Able to manifest 3rd-level powers.
Special: Must make friendly contact with an elder psurlon and undergo a ritual in which he willingly submits to read thoughts to prove his sincerity.
Class Skills:
The scion of the worm’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (planes and psionics only) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Psicraft (Int), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), and Spot (Wis).
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.
The Scion of the Worm
Have a
!Kind of funny. I've been playing Shattered Lands recently and had some ideas to do with Psurlons, and Llod and Dwyer and such. Perhaps one could make a supplement about some of the ancient ruined cities and civilizations of the Tablelands. Perhaps something involving time travel...
He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of the class would have gained (bonus feats, metapsionic, psionic or item creation feats, psicrystal special abilities, and so on).
The psicrystal is not a class feature. Since this class is a psionic class it would count toward the effective level for determining psicrystal abilities. In fact the way it is written in the XPH, every level would count not just the ones on which manifester levels are gained. Of course, that might be a unintended implication of the particular language used in the text, but it is the way it is written.
P.22 XPH: "Psicrystal abilities are based on the owners level in psionic classes. Levels from other classes do not count toward the owner's level for purposes of psicrystal abilities."
Mmm, psurlon-ey (-ish? -ic?). I think it's a little disappointing, however, that he doesn't get any astral plane-based benefits or anything like that.
Funny, its the one thing that I thing makes this class great: it totally sidesteps, rule-wise and fluff-wise, the home plane of the psurlon, so that a DM who doesn't want the astral in his game (like me) can put them in an alternate plane.
Could something perhaps be incorporated to allow him to communicate with his extradimensional masters more easily?
Nice idea. You have a suggestion as to how to proceed with this? Example abilities in WotC books perhaps...
Scion of the Worm
“My masters are not far behind.”
- Shtahalam, scion of the worm
"All the children sing to the worm"
I hate 'em. They're nasty, evil, vile, digusting, revolting bad guys. They're repulsive in every way, just like like the psurlons. I hate worms...Which means I love this class
They'll make excellent villians to stomp and squish :DHave a
Meth, you earned it (and no, it doesn't have any worms in it :P )- a 1st level ability said "At 1st level...", something you don't do, look up any WotC book and all the PrCs you and me have already done
In the XPH, the elocater, metamind, psion uncarnate and warmind all have a 1st level ability where it says "At 1st level...", nearly 50% of the PrC utilize that formulation. Perhaps in the books printed after it they changed their formulation...
Mmm, psurlon-ey (-ish? -ic?). I think it's a little disappointing, however, that he doesn't get any astral plane-based benefits or anything like that. Could something perhaps be incorporated to allow him to communicate with his extradimensional masters more easily?
I based the scion off the psurlon 3e description from Lords of Madness, where there is no mention of them coming from the Astral plane, but from the Far Realms. I like the 2e version more and I think we should sometime do an athasian version of the psurlon that is truer to the 2e MC.
He should definate remove the mention of psicrystals, as they are not a class ability. They are a feat and gain in power with every level in a psionic class gained as stated in the quoted text. This includes PrCs that would be considered psionic.
That terminology is used in every XPH PrC that hve an increase in manifester level. It seems that a psionic PrC does not add its level to determine the abilities of a psicrystal.
Have a
Why, thank you! He, what's that squirming out of it... :P
Now to the points I want to make. IMO the Psurlon Apotheosis seems kinda weak. I would make the humble suggestion that some ability mods get tosses in and maybe some natural armor, like half of what a psurlon gets or something.
And since the psurlons come from the Far Realm, I would add knowledge (planes) 4 ranks to the requirements, and knowledge (planes) to the skill list.
Here is the last one. Why only two manifester levels? IMHO, I do not think that the abilities that they are getting are so powerful that 3 mainferster levels balances against them. I would add a +1 manifester level, making it +1 at 1st, 3rd, and 5th.
Anyway, those are my thoughts. Great job!
nic
Now to the points I want to make. IMO the Psurlon Apotheosis seems kinda weak. I would make the humble suggestion that some ability mods get tosses in and maybe some natural armor, like half of what a psurlon gets or something.
Now that you mention it, it really does look weak, since the scion just get the monstrous humanoid type. I think I'll come with something more for that level.
And since the psurlons come from the Far Realm, I would add knowledge (planes) 4 ranks to the requirements, and knowledge (planes) to the skill list.
They do come from the Far Realms in the 3rd edition, and the Astral in 2nd ed, but since that skill isnt specific beside being for the ''planes'', I'll add it to the skill list, as it is something a scion could learn after gaining level in that PrC. I'll also add it as a requirement since psurlon are generally so rare as to being unknown to someone without knowledge of the planes.
Here is the last one. Why only two manifester levels? IMHO, I do not think that the abilities that they are getting are so powerful that 3 mainferster levels balances against them. I would add a +1 manifester level, making it +1 at 1st, 3rd, and 5th.
Since I'll be upping up the psurlon apotheosis, I'll change the manifester level progression at the same time for +1 at 2nd, 3rd and 4th level.
Funny, when I saw the title of this thread the very first thing I thought, and continued to think until I read the actual post and saw it was about psurlons, was the thingy that was an artifact and people would wear (conundrum sinkworm or something?) that would eventually turn them into giant sinkworms and eventually they would be reborn in their original form but with some certain abilities. From the psionic artifacts of athas book I believe . . . yep, page 78. The Corundum Wormskin.
nic
The state acheived by one transformed by the Corundum Wormskin would make for an interesting template...
I added the skill bonus because of the change of the scion's body and that it is realistic to keep it in case it became an ex-sion of the worm, as the apotheosis ability is kept by the character.
Funny, when I saw the title of this thread the very first thing I thought, and continued to think until I read the actual post and saw it was about psurlons, was the thingy that was an artifact and people would wear (conundrum sinkworm or something?) that would eventually turn them into giant sinkworms and eventually they would be reborn in their original form but with some certain abilities. From the psionic artifacts of athas book I believe . . . yep, page 78. The Corundum Wormskin.
nic
I actually made the mistake of letting a PC get ahold of the Corundum Wormskin when I had my 2e campaign many years ago. I then realized my mistake and put many hours into coming up with a cool way to get him to get rid of it.
I actually made a whole adventure arc where he (a human psionicist) was approached by the Order, but when they realized he was 'infected', the Order members told him to cleanse himself of the taint that he was carrying if he wished entry into the Nexus and the Order, or be hunted!