Index

Factions
Athar
Believers of 
   the Source
Bleak Cabal
Doomguard
Dustmen
Fated
Fraternity of 
   Order
Free League
Harmonium    
Mercykillers 
Revolutionary
   League
Sign of One
 Society of 
   Sensation
Transcendent
   Order
Xaositects

 

Other Stuff
Message
   Board
What's New?
What's This?
 PCGen Files
Links
Credits and
    Legal
Submissions
Contact

 

 

           

 

 

All things are divine, or so say the Believers of the Source.  Life, indeed the entire cycle of lives that come from death and rebirth, is merely a test to unlock it.  That's the whole point of it all.  Everyone is being tested - primes, planars, even the powers themselves.  If you succeed and come closer to the divine, then next life you'll be reincarnated as something higher up the scale.  If you fail, you'll drop down.  It's pretty simple.

The only problem is, no one's quite sure what the test is.  Are you supposed to be kind or harsh?  Generous or miserly?  Good or Evil?  The Godsmen are trying to figure it out, but no one's sure.  But once you do figure it out, you become truly divine, and you become a power - a god - yourself.  The Believers' last Factol, Curran, did just that, and is now a full-fledged power that grants spells to his clerics.  

Of course the test doesn't end there.  Even once you get to the level of power, there are still challenges to overcome.  Divinity is not the end of the test, but simply the next level.  The Godsmen believe that even the powers can ascend to something greater, though that's so far above us mere mortals that no one has any clue what it is or what it involves.

This ascension, the Godsmen say, is the ultimate goal of the multiverse.  There are only a finite number of beings in the multiverse, and one day everyone will ascend.  What happens then?  The Godsmen say that the multiverse will simply end.  It'll just fade out of existence without anyone left.  And then, they say, everyone can get along with existence on a higher level of being.

In Sigil, the Believers make their home in the Great Foundry, where metal is shaped and forged as they symbolically shape and forge their own souls.  In the Outer Planes, the Godsmen's primary plane of influence is the Ethereal, where protomatter is molded into the multiverse, and where they believe the True Source exists, the source of all divinity.

 

 

 

Good With People
Godsmen see the divinity inherent in others, and interact with others well.
Prerequisites:  Membership in Believers of the Source
Benefit:  You gain a +3 bonus to Diplomacy checks, and Diplomacy is always a class skill for you.

Harness Divinity
Godsmen learn to harness their own innate divinity in their quest for perfection.
Prerequisites:  Membership in Believers of the Source
Benefit:  Choose either Cure Light Wounds or Inflict Light Wounds.  You may cast the chosen spell once per day for every four character levels you possess.  

The Cycle of Testing
Godsmen believe that your outward form in this life reflects your choices in previous lives.
Prerequisites:  Harness Divinity  
Benefit:  Whenever you die, you may choose to be reincarnated as per the spell.  This reincarnation takes effect ten minutes after you die.  

Influence New Form
Some Godsmen learn to control their new forms as they learn the secrets of the multiverse.
Prerequisites:  The Cycle of Testing
Benefit:  When you roll for your new form during reincarnation, you may add or subtract five to the result of the roll.

Cumulative Life Experience
Many Godsmen believe that your intuition is the sum of the lessons you have learned in previous lives.
Prerequisites:  Membership in Believers of the Source
Benefits:  A number of times per day equal to your wisdom modifier, you may add a +2 bonus to any one skill check.  This bonus represents the intuition you�ve gained from past lives.  You must choose to use this feat before the roll is made.   

Disciple of the Foundry
At the Great Foundry, Godsmen spend countless hours working the forges.
Prerequisites:  Membership in Believers of the Source
Benefit:  You gain a +3 bonus to all craft checks

Previous Life Experience
Godsmen with enough past lives often discover that their intuition is strong enough to grant them a small amount of proficiency in skills that they have never trained in.
Prerequisites:  Wisdom 13+, Cumulative Life Experience
Benefit:  You may attempt to use all skills untrained, even if they can normally only be used with training.

Priest of the Great Unknown [General, Athar, Godsmen]
The Athar venerate the Great Unknown, which they believe is the only true divinity.
Prerequisites:  Membership in the Athar or Godsmen, access to a domain.
Benefit:  You are now a priest of the Great Unknown, and you must renounce your former deity as a fraud.  However, you retain all your spellcasting abilities and may replace your spell domains with any other spell domains of your choice (you may only do this when you first take the feat, and you may not choose an alignment domain unless you are of that alignment, i.e. you cannot choose the Law domain unless you are lawful). 
Normal:  Priests may forsake their deity and worship the Great Unknown without taking this feat.  However, they may not choose new domains when they do this.  Clerics that worship the Great Unknown without ever having worshiped any previous powers gain access to the Knowledge domain as well as those domains that match their alignment.

Imbue Crafted Weapons and Armor
Many Godsmen learn to channel their blossoming divinity into the items they so lovingly craft.
Prerequisites:  Disciple of the Foundry, Harness Divinity
Benefit:  You may craft magical arms and armor as a cleric of the same level with the Craft Magical Arms and Armor feat.  If knowledge of a spell is a prerequisite for an item, you must use a scroll of that spell, and it is consumed in the crafting.  This feat may only be used on items that you yourself craft.

What Kills You Makes You Stronger
Godsmen believe that their soul becomes stronger through learning from past mistakes, even the deadly ones.
Prerequisites:  Membership in Believers of the Source; You must have died at least once.
Benefit:  If your last death was caused by something that allowed a save, you gain a +3 bonus to that saving throw.  If your last death was due to damage, you gain a +3 bonus to your fortitude save.

 

 

 

 

 

EMPYREAN BARD

Luce was both a mathematician and a musician, who believed that all moments in time had a unique sound.  While this sound, which he dubbed an "empyrean resonance," was too high to be heard, he believed they could transposed down several octaves, so that mortal ears could hear them.  In this way, several moments of time could be strung together, creating music out of each moment's resonance.  The concept caught on like wildfire and quickly spread throughout the Cage, as residents flocked to concerts where they would here the empyrean melodies of a grand fountain, a busy street, or a great battle.  

In the last few years, a bard named Marician has taken empyrean melodies further.  After much training, meditation, and work on the complex mathematics behind the melodies, he taught himself how to hear the melodies with the naked ear, and studied them intensely.  In time, he came to understand that they not only reflected reality, but affected it as well.  By singing empyrean melodies transposed down to vocal range, he has learned to change reality with his songs, and has gathered about him many young Godsmen eager to learn his ways.  Marician and his followers believe that empyrean melodies are the source of reality, and perhaps a manifestation of the True Source itself.  Surely, by studying it, they can achieve the divinity so sought after by all Godsmen. 

 

Class
Level		 Base
Attack
Bonus		 Fort 
Save		 Ref
Save		 Will
Save		 Special Spells per day/ 
Spells known
1 +0 +0 +0 +2 Empyrean Ear, Empyrean Performance (Moving Tune)  
2 +1 +0 +0 +3 Empyrean Performance (Metamagic Performance) +1 bard spellcasting level
3 +2 +1 +1 +3 Empyrean Performance (Song of What Is Not)  
4 +3 +1 +1 +4 Empyrean Performance (Skillful Composition) +1 bard spellcasting level
5 +3 +1 +1 +4 Empyrean Performance (Reality Allegro)  
6 +4 +2 +2 +5 Empyrean Performance (Empty Chord) +1 bard spellcasting level
7 +5 +2 +2 +5 Empyrean Performance (Song of What Is)  
8 +6 +2 +2 +6 Empyrean Performance (Healing Tune) +1 bard spellcasting level
9 +6 +3 +3 +6 Empyrean Performance (Antimagic Song)  
10 +7 +3 +3 +7 Empyrean Performance (Divine Melody) +1 bard spellcasting level

 

Requirements
To qualify as an Empyrean Bard, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria.
Skills:  Perform 8 ranks, Knowledge (Mathematics) 5 ranks
Other:  Must be able to cast 1st level arcane spells, Harness Divinity

Class Skills
An Empyrean Bard's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Wis), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather Information (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Perform (Cha), Spellcraft (Int), and Tumble (Dex).

    Skill Points at Each Level 4 + Int modifier.

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Empyrean Bard

Hit Die:  d6

Weapon and Armor Proficiency:  Empyrean Bards gain no new weapon or armor proficiencies.

Spells per day/ Spells known:  Whenever an Empyrean Bard gains a new level, they gain new spells per day and spells known as if they had gained a level in an existing spellcasting class.  If they have levels in more than one spellcasting class, they must choose which one to apply this to.

Empyrean Ear:  An Empyrean Bard can hear the empyrean melodies of the multiverse.  These melodies are always heard by the bard, though it never interferes with their normal hearing.  The melodies are always appropriate to the situation.  The Melodies at a festival might sound light and cheerful, while those of a battle would be soaring and dramatic.  This allows the bard to better interpret what's happening around them, giving them a +2 bonus to Sense Motive checks.

Empyrean Performance:  Empyrean Performance grants the bardic music ability of bards, and Empyrean Bards gain an extra  performance every level, just as normal Bards do.  However, using empyrean melodies, a bard can create musical effects far beyond that of other bards.  An empyrean performance counts as a bardic music use, except they consume two uses of the ability, instead of one.

Moving Tune:  Thoughtful Rhythm is the most basic of empyrean melodies.  It can only subtly influence reality, changing the mood of a situation.  Those listening to a Moving Tune have their attitudes adjusted one step in any direction in respect to any other creature.  He can affect a number of hitdice with this ability equal to his ranks in perform.  

Metamagic Performance:  An Empyrean Bard may weave empyrean melodies into the verbal components of the spells they cast.  This allows them to cast any spell as if he had any metamagic feat.  The bard must still cast the spell at a higher level, this ability only simulates having the feat.  Metamagic Performance counts as a number of bardic music uses equal to twice the number of extra levels required by the metamagic feat.  For instance, Rogar, an Empyrean Bard, wishes to cast a Empowered Sleep spell.  Empower Spell requires that the spell be cast in a slot two levels higher, so Rogar must cast Sleep as a third level spell, and he uses up four bardic music uses.  If a metamagic feat does not cost any additional levels, it still uses up one bardic music use.  Spells affected by Metamagic Performance cannot be cast silently - the Silent Spell feat cannot be used in conjunction with them and are considered to have a verbal component, even if they did not before.

Song of What Is Not:  By singing empyrean melodies of things that do not exist, an Empyrean Bard may fool others into believing that they do.  Singing a Song of What Is Not duplicates the effects of a Major Image spell, as cast as a Sorcerer of Equal level.  

Skillful Composition:  By singing this empyrean melody, and Empyrean Bard may substitute his perform skill for any other skill on any one roll.  When jumping, the music lifts him up into the air, when concentrating it soothes his mind, ect.

Reality Allegro:  By singing a moment's empyrean melodies faster than is natural, an Empyrean Bard can speed up time, at least for him, giving him an extra standard action that round.  Reality Allegro is a free action.

Empty Chord:  By singing a Empty Chord, an Empyrean Bard can interfere with the empyrean resonances of any creature or object, dealing damage to it.  When using Empty Chord, the Empyrean Bard makes a Perform check and deals half the result of that check in damage to any single target.  If the target is a living creature, it is allowed a Will save for half damage.

Song of What Is:  By singing empyrean melodies of things that are not, he may bring them into existence.  Singing a Song of What Is duplicates the effect of a Major Creation Spell.

Healing Tune:  By singing this empyrean melody, a bard may weave his own divine energy into the song of the moment, healing all listeners a number of hitpoints equal to half their performance check.

Antimagic Song:  Magical effects have empyrean melodies as well, and by disrupting these, an Empyrean Bard my duplicate the effects of a Dispel Magic.

Divine Melody:  The ultimate goal of any Empyrean Bard is to unlock their own divinity through song.  Divine Melody allows them to cast any divine spell as if they were a cleric of equal level.  To do so, they must first make a perform check, the DC equal to twice the level of the spell they wish to cast plus 10.  This ability costs a number of bardic music uses equal to twice the level of the spell emulated.  If they fail, their perform check, they still use up their bardic music uses.  Under no circumstances can they cast any spell of a level higher than a cleric of equal level to their character level could cast.

 

 


DISCIPLE OF THE CYCLE

 Some Godsmen have died so many times they barely remember what race they started out as.  These cutters delve into the depths of the Cycle of Testing, trying new forms each time they die, and learning from each.  Though they do not seek death, they understand that death is merely a setback, and another step on the road towards divinity.

Class
Level		 Base
Attack
Bonus		 Fort 
Save		 Ref
Save		 Will
Save		 Special
1 +0 +2 +2 +2 Shapes of the Past, Immunity to Raising, Holistic Reincarnation
2 +1 +3 +3 +3 Mitigate Loss
3 +2 +3 +3 +3 Choose Form

 

Requirements
To qualify as a Disciple of the Cycle, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria.
Feats:  Influence New Form
Other:  Must have died and been reincarnated.

Class Skills
A Disciple of the Cycle's class skills (and the key ability for each) are:  Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (Religion), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Cha)

    Skill Points at Each Level 4 + Int modifier.

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Disciple of the Cycle

Hit Die:  d8

Weapon and Armor Proficiency:  Disciples of the Cycle gain no new weapon or armor proficiencies.

Shapes of the Past:  A Disciple of the Cycle may shift into any other race or animal that has previously been one of the Disciple's incarnations during their deaths and rebirths (either due to the Cycle of Testing feat or a normal Reincarnation spell).  When he does so, he is considered to completely loose his previous race and acquire the new one, and any equipment carried or worn resizes to fit the new form.  There is no time limit to how long he can stay in this form, but if a Disciple of the Cycle stays shifted for more than 1 hour in a day, his experience gain for that day is halved.  Additionally, if he spends more than four hours in day shifted, he looses all special abilities from his Disciple of the Cycle class, and may not gain any more levels in any class until he receives an Atonement spell.  Disciples should learn mainly from their current forms, so they experience events from all possible angles, and not rely on their past forms.

Immunity to Raising:  If a Disciple is killed, under no circumstances whatsoever can they be brought back to life except through reincarnation.

Behind the Curtain:
Why only three levels?

Like the Wayfarer from Tome and Blood, the Disciple of the Cycle has only three levels.  Why?  Simply put, while the concept is very interesting, there is simply not enough to do with it to warrant many levels.  In addition, a Disciple's main form of offense will be their normal class, not their Disciple class.  Therefore, the class becomes less useful the more levels it has.  The only other option was to make the abilities a feat chain, and obviously they're too powerful as feats.

 

Mitigate Loss:  When a Disciple of the Cycle is reincarnated, they may make a saving throw with a DC of 10+ his character level.  If they succeed, they loose enough experience to meet the bare minimum required for their current level.  If the Disciple dies from suicide or gross negligence for their own safety (even including heroic sacrifices on their part), they may not attempt this.

Choose Form:  Each time the Disciple dies, they may choose their new reincarnation from the list of possibilities on the Reincarnation table or any other race with an ECL of +1 or less.  They may not, however, pick any form they have previously assumed; Disciples wish to see life from all possible vantage points.  If a Disciple of the Cycle is at least 13th level, they may choose to spend a feat to increase the ECL available to +2.

 

 

 

Factol Ambar Vergrove

Ambar's story is a sad one.  Coming from a secluded part of the Outlands called Fayrill, Ambar grew up in the wild.  The elves of Fayrill, called the Quybier, were unusually lawful and militant, and frowned upon nonconformity.  But Ambar's mother, a elfmaiden named Galina, was a nonconformist through and through. For one thing she bore Ambar, whose father was a human.  When she didn't marry him, the Quybier elders were unsure whether to be grateful or angry.  They didn't enjoy the idea of having a human among them, but neither did they approve of births out of wedlock.  But things got worse from there - Galina wouldn't fit in and shape herself to the Quybier's stiff and formal traditions.  Instead, she seemed to spend all her time laughing, singing, dancing, and playing the harp, activities that would be quite normal among most elves.  

Eventually, the Quybier elders just gave up on ever getting her to conform, and exiled her so that her disruptive behavior wouldn't spread to the rest of the Quybier.  So Galina took her child and began a life in the forest.  Fayrill had long been a haven for elves, and the landscape seemed designed to live in, full of trees whose branches provided excellent shelter, wild berries and fruits to eat, and soft moss to sleep on.  Indeed, the Quybier's legends say that it was once part of the Seelie Court, but became detached from that realm as the Quybier became more and more lawful.  Whatever the truth, Galina had no trouble surviving, and Ambar was raised drinking clear spring water, eating luscious fruits, and sleeping under the stars.

He was content for many years, until he spied a group of Quybier straying through his wood.  That was when he saw the elfmaiden Caye, and Ambar fell in love.  He asked Caye's father, Florien, for her hand, but was harshly refused.  Ambar didn't understand why - in his sheltered existence, he didn't know that he was considered poor by others.  To him, he lived in a palace.  Still, Florien's refusal didn't stop Ambar.  Instead, he secretly wooed Caye without her father's knowledge, and eventually she came to live with him in the forest.

Caye, Ambar, and his mother all lived happily for a few years, and eventually Caye became pregnant.  But before she could bear Ambar a child, her father caught back up with her.  He was a powerful man, and has sent troops to track the couple down and return Caye to him.  What he hadn't really expected was that Caye would fight back.  In the ensuing scuffle, both Caye and Galina were killed, and Ambar was brought in chains before Florien.  Accused of kidnapping Caye, Ambar replied, "I accuse you!  I accuse you, murderer of my mother, slayer of my consort and unborn child!  I accuse you of killing my happiness, of defiling my home, and robbing me of my future. Dare you deny me? Dare you demand recompense in the face of that which you owe me?"

Florien had never meant for Caye to die, and was shamed by Ambar so greatly that he gave Ambar a casket filled with gems and begged him to depart forever.  Ambar, with nothing left to loose, took the gems and complied.  Over the next several years, Ambar prospered.  His wood-lore was great, and he invested his fortune in gems wisely.

He searched the Great Ring for a new home, and eventually he found one with the Believers of the Source, whose approach to life seemed to compliment his own.  His mellow, calm, and above all friendly demeanor (he still has everyone call him by his first name) earned him plenty of friends within the faction, and he seemed to gravitate toward leadership positions within the Believers until he became Factol.  He's extremely popular within his faction (although outside of it, many others find him a bit of a bore) and half of the faction would lay down their lives for him, though Ambar never asks this of anyone.  He values lives more than he does philosophies - a rare trait among the factols.

Tactics:  The following represents Ambar's normal gear - if he was expecting trouble he could outfit himself with nearly any non-artifact in the DMG.  Should he be ambushed unexpectedly, he will generally cast Haste on himself and either attempt to escape if the odds look bad or fight if the odds look good (using his full round action to attack, and his hasted partial action to cast buff spells on himself).  

 

Ambar, M Half-Elf Ranger12 Bard7  CR 19; Size:M Type Humanoid; HD (12d10)+(7d6)+38; hp 200; Init +4 (+4 Dex, +0 Misc); Spd Walk 30'; AC 19 (flatfooted 15, touch 19), Neither *Sword +2 (Long/Dancing) +22/+17/+12/+7 (1d8+5 19-20/x2 can be loosed to attack on its own) or ; SA: Bardic knowledge (+8), Bardic music 7/day, Elven Blood, Favored Enemy (Khaasta), Favored Enemy (Tso), Favored Enemy (Sohmiens), Immunity to sleep, save +2 vs enchantment spells; Vision: Low-light, Normal AL: NG; Sv: Fort +12, Ref +13, Will +13; Str 16, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 18, Cha 18

Skills and Feats:  Animal Empathy +14, Climb +9, Craft (Blacksmithing) +6, Craft (Bowmaking) +6, Craft (Weaponsmithing) +6, Diplomacy +14, Handle Animal +14, Heal +14, Hide +14, Listen +6, Move Silently +24, Perform +12, Ride +8, Search +3, Sense Motive +7, Wilderness Lore +14; Ambidexterity, Two-Weapon Fighting Craft Rod, Craft Staff, Craft Wand, Expertise, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Leadership, Power Attack
     Possessions:   1 Amulet of the Planes,  1 Boots of Elvenkind,  1 Helm of Telepathy,  1 Cloak of Displacement (Major),  1 Gem of Seeing,  1 Ioun Stone (Iridescent),  1 Ring +5 (Protection),  1 Sword +2 (Long/Dancing),
 

Skills and Feats:  Animal Empathy +14, Climb +9, Craft (Blacksmithing) +6, Craft (Bowmaking) +6, Craft (Weaponsmithing) +6, Diplomacy +14, Handle Animal +14, Heal +14, Hide +14, Listen +6, Move Silently +24, Perform +12, Ride +8, Search +3, Sense Motive +7, Wilderness Lore +14; Ambidexterity, Two-Weapon Fighting Craft Rod, Craft Staff, Craft Wand, Expertise, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Leadership, Power Attack
     Possessions:   1 Amulet of the Planes,  1 Boots of Elvenkind,  1 Helm of Telepathy,  1 Cloak of Displacement (Major),  1 Gem of Seeing,  1 Ioun Stone (Iridescent),  1 Ring +5 (Protection),  1 Sword +2 (Long/Dancing),
    
Typical Ranger Spells Prepared:    Level 1:  Alarm x1, Animal Friendship x1, Delay Poison x1, Detect Animals or Plants x1, Detect Snares and Pits x1, Entangle x1, Magic Fang x1, Pass without Trace x1, Read Magic x1, Resist Elements x1, Speak with Animals x1, Summon Nature's Ally I x1, Level 2: Animal Messenger x1, Cure Light Wounds x1, Detect Chaos x1, Detect Evil x1, Detect Good x1, Detect Law x1, Hold Animal x1, Protection from Elements x1, Sleep x1, Snare x1, Speak with Plants x1, Summon Nature's Ally II x1, Level 3: Control Plants x1, Cure Moderate Wounds x1, Diminish Plants x1, Greater Magic Fang x1, Neutralize Poison x1, Remove Disease x1, Summon Nature's Ally III x1, Tree Shape x1, Water Walk x1.

Bard Spells:    Level 0: Detect Magic x1, Light x1, Mage Hand x1, Mending x1, Prestidigitation x1, Read Magic x1, Level 1: Charm Person x1, Feather Fall x1, Mage Armor x1, Message x1, Level 2: Bull's Strength x1, Cat's Grace x1, Tongues x1, Level 3: Haste x1, Scrying x1.