Master Defiler PrC - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Master Defiler PrC

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
Pennarin
Sep 22, 2003 22:01:10 The contents of this post appear elsewhere. The repost is to better obtain comments and to cover balance issues. What does the Athas.org's Bureau of Classes thinks?

Master Defiler
Defiler epitome, the master defiler is a sorcerer who has sought the power of ancient undeads and of the Dragon. It gains a more in-depth understanding of the defiling process at the cost of greater spellcasting abilities. Its defiling is of the foulest sort and the power it can muster from the land compares to that of no other mortals. The master defilers need physical stamina to channel the vast energies of their sorcery.

Hit Die: d4

Requirements
To become a master defiler (MaD), a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Knowledge (Arcana): 8 ranks
Spellcraft: 8 ranks
Feats: Destructive Raze, Efficient Raze, Great Fortitude
Spellcasting: Ability to cast 3rd level arcane spells.
Others: Must be a defiler. Must have been brought to the brink of death from an inability to gather energy in an area completely devoid of life.

Class Skills:
The master defiler’s class skills (and key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Disguise (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).

Skill points at each level: 2 + Int modifier

Class features

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Master defilers gain no proficiency in any additional weapons, shields or armor.

Obsidian Orb: The master defiler can create a tiny obsidian orb used to gather energy from specially prepared animal life. Creating the orb is taxing, costing the master defiler 100 xp and 50 cp of raw materials. The orb can only be used by the master defiler who created it. To function the orb must be held or be in contact with the skin. The master defiler can at any time use the orb as a conduit for defiling magic, tapping into living beings that have been prepared in an arcane ceremony, and leaving behind an ashen and desiccated corpse. Intelligent animal life gives 4 spell levels of energy per body, while wild animal life gives 1 spell level of energy per 3 hit dice. The energy can be used to substitute energy gathering in zones of poor vegetation or in areas otherwise completely devoid of life, such as the Obsidian Plains. Only two bodies can be tapped at once. For example, a master defiler with three slaves or animals under is control touch and defiles two of them, giving him up to eight levels of spell energy to spend, for a maximum of one spell and one quicken spell, the surplus dissipating into the ground. They must be in touching distance of the master defiler for him to reach and tap their life force. The defiling kills any animal life being taped on the spot, with no chance of later revival.

A master defiler can only have one Obsidian Orb. If he loses it, or it is destroyed, he can create another at the standard cost.

Raze : The terrain yields all to the master defiler. Treat the terrain he defiles in as one category better whenever he uses is orb. This effect stacks with Efficient Raze.

Defile Life : Defiling while using is obsidian orb, the master defiler is under the effect of the undead ability Defile Life (Su) from Terrors of the Dead Lands.

ClassLevel Base Attack Bonus FortSave RefSave WillSave--- Special---Spells/Day
1st------------- +0------------ +0----- +0----- +2 -----Obsidian Orb
2nd------------ +0------------ +0----- +0----- +3--------+1 spellcaster level
3rd------------- +1------------ +1----- +1----- +3 -----Raze
4th------------- +1------------ +1----- +1----- +4--------+1 spellcaster level
5th------------- +2------------ +1----- +1----- +4 -----Defile Life
#2
jon_oracle_of_athas
Sep 23, 2003 2:37:25
What does the Athas.org's Bureau of Classes thinks?

I've made it a policy not to comment on prestige classes by request. If I review one class, I'm suddenly asked to review others and people start whining if I say yes to some and no to others, screaming up about concepts such as favorism. When I first saw the "get the blood flowing again" thread I balked. I'm not going down that road again.

Your class has some issues - I am sure someone else on these boards would be happy (erm, less reluctant) to try to point them out for you.
#3
zombiegleemax
Sep 23, 2003 11:39:21
Originally posted by Pennarin
Master Defiler
Defiler epitome, the master defiler is a sorcerer who has sought the power of ancient undeads and of the Dragon.

Sorcerer? Are there sorcerers on Athas?
Decipher Script is a restricted skill and should be left for rogues and bards. Disguise & Intimidate do not really make sense. Just because the defiler could need it does not mean he should have it. Otherwise every class would have Spot, Listen, MS and Hide as class skills. Skills should be reviewed.
Obsidian Orb: Don't like this. Can it only be used with animals or also with slaves? The text is unclear on this point. But anyway, defiling with more nasty sideeffects is cool, and fitting for the name. Walking around with a battery of pre-defiled energy does not sound cool to me.
#4
xlorepdarkhelm_dup
Sep 23, 2003 12:38:58 There is no sorcerers on Athas (well, not in the standard design, maybe the maker of this PrC has them.... somehow). Hey troz, what do you mean Decipher Script is restricted... as far as I know, there's no exclusive skills in 3.5, do you mean Bards and Rogues are the only ones with it as class skills?
#5
Pennarin
Sep 23, 2003 15:58:11 Sorcerers:
1- It is in the flavor text, where there is never any mention of rules, thus the ''need physical stamina'' instead of ''need Great Fortitude''.
2- Since its flavor, it comes from Rise and Fall of a Dragon King, where it is used to give...well, flavor, to the standard wizard and dates back to before 3rd edition and its sorcerers. Basically an alternative flavor term for wizards.

Ambiguity with the text:
1- Well i'm not a genius in text composition nor in english (i'm french speaking).
2- If this PrC would have been *very* well received, not unlike those of Jon Sederqvist, then help would have been the least of my problems at that point. Jon did an incredible job on his own, but i'm not a pro at this.

Defiling, basically, intelligent races:
1- You know of the special rule, Death Blow or something, that basically allow you to kill someone you have incapacitated? Well there is a monster somewhere (althought for the love of God I can't find it again) that as the ability to incapacitate its victims and injects something to them, but instead of dying, they will become two days later a spawn of that same monster race. With the thought in mind that a character could be condemned to certain death even thought he as recuperated in the inbetween days, I thought a defiler could do the same with intelligent creatures or animals: when they recuperate they find out their life force as been made ready for harvesting throught a prior ceremony and that they are under control of the defiler (a mind control spell does the trick). Then the master defiler uses is breakthrought understanding of the defiling process to gather that energy and power spells whenever the need arises, say in the middle of the Obsidian Plains. All he needs to achieve this is to keep the slaves close to him at all times (not difficult for a arch villain) and an obsidian orb to tap their life energy. At that point the master defiler can defile plants with his palm, like in the novels, or hold the orb in it and touch one slave to suck him dry. See, that didn't take long to explain at all...
2- ''Walking around with a battery of pre-defiled energy'': a generic wizard literally *walks* on the life energy he uses, be he defiler or preserver. The master defiler just takes a precaution for those rare occasions on black glass and such... And the orb is not a battery, it stores nothing. He still needs to tap the life force.

Problems with the skills:
They are pretty much generic at that point, *filler* is the word.

Here is a breakdown of the class:
First- The defiler learns from the study of dragons and undeads to tap the life force of animal life. But the process is limited because he is neither dragon nor undead. He can only tap those who he has specially prepared. An they can drop dead on him at the worst of times too...
Second- The Raze ability is there to say that he has learned more of the capabilities of the new tool he has aquired, the obsidian orb, one of those being a more efficient defiling process if defiling is done thru it. In fact more efficient than that of other defilers with Efficient Raze since the ability and the feat stack.
Third- The defiler learns to change his defiling process to include animal life as well, just like a powerful undead with the Defile Life ability. That new power allows him to hurt beings around him even more when he casts spells. But unless he finds himself stuffed with dozens of fat, helpless humans, in a 10 by 10 room in the Obsidian Plains, he's not going to be able to power spells exclusivly that way. Just like a wizard can't do it on the Plains if there was only one 2 feet tall plant present. Just not enough. So this last power does not invalidate the usefulness of the first one.

Note: the orb is needed for all of the abilities of the class.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Pennarin Sep 22, 2003 22:01:10	The contents of this post appear elsewhere. The repost is to better obtain comments and to cover balance issues. What does the Athas.org's Bureau of Classes thinks? Master Defiler Defiler epitome, the master defiler is a sorcerer who has sought the power of ancient undeads and of the Dragon. It gains a more in-depth understanding of the defiling process at the cost of greater spellcasting abilities. Its defiling is of the foulest sort and the power it can muster from the land compares to that of no other mortals. The master defilers need physical stamina to channel the vast energies of their sorcery. Hit Die: d4 Requirements To become a master defiler (MaD), a character must fulfill all the following criteria. Knowledge (Arcana): 8 ranks Spellcraft: 8 ranks Feats: Destructive Raze, Efficient Raze, Great Fortitude Spellcasting: Ability to cast 3rd level arcane spells. Others: Must be a defiler. Must have been brought to the brink of death from an inability to gather energy in an area completely devoid of life. Class Skills: The master defiler’s class skills (and key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Disguise (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int). Skill points at each level: 2 + Int modifier Class features Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Master defilers gain no proficiency in any additional weapons, shields or armor. Obsidian Orb: The master defiler can create a tiny obsidian orb used to gather energy from specially prepared animal life. Creating the orb is taxing, costing the master defiler 100 xp and 50 cp of raw materials. The orb can only be used by the master defiler who created it. To function the orb must be held or be in contact with the skin. The master defiler can at any time use the orb as a conduit for defiling magic, tapping into living beings that have been prepared in an arcane ceremony, and leaving behind an ashen and desiccated corpse. Intelligent animal life gives 4 spell levels of energy per body, while wild animal life gives 1 spell level of energy per 3 hit dice. The energy can be used to substitute energy gathering in zones of poor vegetation or in areas otherwise completely devoid of life, such as the Obsidian Plains. Only two bodies can be tapped at once. For example, a master defiler with three slaves or animals under is control touch and defiles two of them, giving him up to eight levels of spell energy to spend, for a maximum of one spell and one quicken spell, the surplus dissipating into the ground. They must be in touching distance of the master defiler for him to reach and tap their life force. The defiling kills any animal life being taped on the spot, with no chance of later revival. A master defiler can only have one Obsidian Orb. If he loses it, or it is destroyed, he can create another at the standard cost. Raze : The terrain yields all to the master defiler. Treat the terrain he defiles in as one category better whenever he uses is orb. This effect stacks with Efficient Raze. Defile Life : Defiling while using is obsidian orb, the master defiler is under the effect of the undead ability Defile Life (Su) from Terrors of the Dead Lands. ClassLevel Base Attack Bonus FortSave RefSave WillSave--- Special---Spells/Day 1st------------- +0------------ +0----- +0----- +2 -----Obsidian Orb 2nd------------ +0------------ +0----- +0----- +3--------+1 spellcaster level 3rd------------- +1------------ +1----- +1----- +3 -----Raze 4th------------- +1------------ +1----- +1----- +4--------+1 spellcaster level 5th------------- +2------------ +1----- +1----- +4 -----Defile Life
#2 jon_oracle_of_athas Sep 23, 2003 2:37:25	What does the Athas.org's Bureau of Classes thinks? I've made it a policy not to comment on prestige classes by request. If I review one class, I'm suddenly asked to review others and people start whining if I say yes to some and no to others, screaming up about concepts such as favorism. When I first saw the "get the blood flowing again" thread I balked. I'm not going down that road again. Your class has some issues - I am sure someone else on these boards would be happy (erm, less reluctant) to try to point them out for you.
#3 zombiegleemax Sep 23, 2003 11:39:21	Originally posted by Pennarin Master Defiler Defiler epitome, the master defiler is a sorcerer who has sought the power of ancient undeads and of the Dragon. Sorcerer? Are there sorcerers on Athas? Decipher Script is a restricted skill and should be left for rogues and bards. Disguise & Intimidate do not really make sense. Just because the defiler could need it does not mean he should have it. Otherwise every class would have Spot, Listen, MS and Hide as class skills. Skills should be reviewed. Obsidian Orb: Don't like this. Can it only be used with animals or also with slaves? The text is unclear on this point. But anyway, defiling with more nasty sideeffects is cool, and fitting for the name. Walking around with a battery of pre-defiled energy does not sound cool to me.
#4 xlorepdarkhelm_dup Sep 23, 2003 12:38:58	There is no sorcerers on Athas (well, not in the standard design, maybe the maker of this PrC has them.... somehow). Hey troz, what do you mean Decipher Script is restricted... as far as I know, there's no exclusive skills in 3.5, do you mean Bards and Rogues are the only ones with it as class skills?
#5 Pennarin Sep 23, 2003 15:58:11	Sorcerers: 1- It is in the flavor text, where there is never any mention of rules, thus the ''need physical stamina'' instead of ''need Great Fortitude''. 2- Since its flavor, it comes from Rise and Fall of a Dragon King, where it is used to give...well, flavor, to the standard wizard and dates back to before 3rd edition and its sorcerers. Basically an alternative flavor term for wizards. Ambiguity with the text: 1- Well i'm not a genius in text composition nor in english (i'm french speaking). 2- If this PrC would have been very well received, not unlike those of Jon Sederqvist, then help would have been the least of my problems at that point. Jon did an incredible job on his own, but i'm not a pro at this. Defiling, basically, intelligent races: 1- You know of the special rule, Death Blow or something, that basically allow you to kill someone you have incapacitated? Well there is a monster somewhere (althought for the love of God I can't find it again) that as the ability to incapacitate its victims and injects something to them, but instead of dying, they will become two days later a spawn of that same monster race. With the thought in mind that a character could be condemned to certain death even thought he as recuperated in the inbetween days, I thought a defiler could do the same with intelligent creatures or animals: when they recuperate they find out their life force as been made ready for harvesting throught a prior ceremony and that they are under control of the defiler (a mind control spell does the trick). Then the master defiler uses is breakthrought understanding of the defiling process to gather that energy and power spells whenever the need arises, say in the middle of the Obsidian Plains. All he needs to achieve this is to keep the slaves close to him at all times (not difficult for a arch villain) and an obsidian orb to tap their life energy. At that point the master defiler can defile plants with his palm, like in the novels, or hold the orb in it and touch one slave to suck him dry. See, that didn't take long to explain at all... 2- ''Walking around with a battery of pre-defiled energy'': a generic wizard literally walks on the life energy he uses, be he defiler or preserver. The master defiler just takes a precaution for those rare occasions on black glass and such... And the orb is not a battery, it stores nothing. He still needs to tap the life force. Problems with the skills: They are pretty much generic at that point, filler is the word. Here is a breakdown of the class: First- The defiler learns from the study of dragons and undeads to tap the life force of animal life. But the process is limited because he is neither dragon nor undead. He can only tap those who he has specially prepared. An they can drop dead on him at the worst of times too... Second- The Raze ability is there to say that he has learned more of the capabilities of the new tool he has aquired, the obsidian orb, one of those being a more efficient defiling process if defiling is done thru it. In fact more efficient than that of other defilers with Efficient Raze since the ability and the feat stack. Third- The defiler learns to change his defiling process to include animal life as well, just like a powerful undead with the Defile Life ability. That new power allows him to hurt beings around him even more when he casts spells. But unless he finds himself stuffed with dozens of fat, helpless humans, in a 10 by 10 room in the Obsidian Plains, he's not going to be able to power spells exclusivly that way. Just like a wizard can't do it on the Plains if there was only one 2 feet tall plant present. Just not enough. So this last power does not invalidate the usefulness of the first one. Note: the orb is needed for all of the abilities of the class.