Monday, June 5, 2017

Gourmand Archetypes: The Cephalovore

Recently I've been experimenting with expanding the Gourmand class I created for Pathfinder with a number of Archtypes. Here is the first, there shall be more to follow...

This one blends elements from the two conflicting "psychic" rules for Pathfinder, both elements from Paizo's Occult Adventures and psionics rules from Dreamscarred Press's Ultimate Psionics. Similarities to the Illithid (or Mind Flayer), which is considered product identity for D&D, are not-at-all coincidental.


The Cephalovore


An Archetype of the Gourmand class for the Pathfinder role-playing game.

While Gourmands are notoriously un-picky eaters, the Cephalovores are quite the opposite. Cephalovores specialize in the consumption of one thing only — brains. Specifically the brains of intelligent or psychically capable creatures. Through this unique diet the cephalovore hopes to expand his own consciousness.

Class Skills: A Cephalovore adds all Knowledge skill to his list of class skills.

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: A Cephalovore is proficient with all simple weapons, light picks, and heavy picks, and with light and medium armor, but not shields. This replaces the Gourmand’s normal weapon and armor proficiencies.

Brain Surgery: Because of their extensive experience in working with brains, the Cephalovore gains the Trepanation feat as a bonus feat at 1st level. At 8th level he gains Cranial Adjustment as a bonus feat, and at 16th level, he gains Cranial Implantation. The Cephalovore does not need to meet any of the prerequisites of these feats. This ability replaces the Bite class feature.
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Consume: A cephalovore must consume the entire brain of his foe in order to use his Consume ability. This modifies the Consume ability.

Aggressive Trepanation: At 9th level, the Cephalovore learns to quickly and efficiently penetrate the skull of his foe and expose that which the caphalovore most desires. As a full-round action, the Cephalovore can make an attack with a light or one-handed piercing weapon. On a successful attack, the target’s skull is penetrated, dealing 1d3 points of Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma damage, in addition to the base damage of the weapon. On a natural 1 on the attack roll, the Cephalovore’s intentionally slip-shod work turns out to be beneficial, affecting the target as if he had successfully performed a full Trepanation.
This ability replaces Swallow Hole.

Psionics: Starting at 1st level, the Cephalovore gains a limited psionic abilities. He is treated as a Psionic character and gains a number of psionic power points as a Aegis of his Gourmand level. In addition, he receives bonus power points per day if he has a high Intelligence score (see Table: Ability Modifiers and Bonus Power Points), treating his manifester level for the purposes of bonus power points as equal to his Gourmand level.

The Cephalovore learns specific powers as he advances in level. The Cephalovore simply knows these powers; they are ingrained in his mind, and he does not need to prepare them, though he must get a good night’s sleep each day to regain all his spent power points. The Difficulty Class for saving throws against the Cephalovore’s powers is 10 + the power’s level + the cephalovore’s Intelligence modifier.

At 1st level, the Cephalovore knows the Bite of the Wolf and Detect Psionics powers. Detect Psionics does not count as a knack for the Cephalovore — the Cephalovore must always expend power points to use it.
At 4th level, the Cephalovore adds Psychic Interference and Sense Minds to his list of psionic powers known.
At 7th level, the Cephalovore adds Feat Leech and Psionic Blast to his list of psionic powers known.
At 10th level, the Cephalovore adds Psychic Drain and Power Leech to his list of psionic powers known.
At 13th level, the Cephalovore adds Leech Field to his list of psionic powers known.
At 16th level, the Cephalovore adds Decerebrate to his list of psionic powers known.
At 19th level, the Cephalovore adds Psychic Chirurgery to his list of psionic powers known.

This replaces Epicurean, Gourmand’s Gluttony, and all instances of the Acquire Special Quality ability.

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