Svarti (Channeller)

Posted by EarthDragon on 10th January 2017.

Magic and power is not limited to the traditional magic-using classes. Individuals with wild talents, known as svarti, have the power to channel magical forces through themselves without the tedious complications of ritual or spells. They are touched by magic in a special way and master it without the years of study required of traditional spell-using classes, or even the directed focus of the selusid. They embrace the power of magic on their own, using innate senses and talent. If they survive the experience, they go on to become quite capable and even powerful wielders of mystical energy. The mystical energies channelled by svarti are called weaves, rather than spells, as they represent and intuitive weaving of mystical energy.

  Adventures

Many svarti become village healers or diviners, respected and admired in their communities. Others find themselves shunned, their abilities misunderstood or even feared. Those who find a place of value in their communities often venture forth for the betterment of their homes, seeking aid for their communities or to support others from their villages or regions that are traveling abroad. Others travel to find a place for themselves where their abilities won't bring scorn and distrust. All seek to better understand the bizarre potentials thrust upon them by their innate power.

  Alignment

There are no alignment restrictions for svarti, though most tend to be either neutral or good.

  Background

Svarti can come from any race, the difference being that they learn to channel the powers of magic through innate intuition and experimentation. There are no schools or colleges designed to train svarti, and even a svarti who emerges in a village that already has one benefits only a little from training from another svarti. Their powers are usually individual and often unique.

  Role

Svarti can fill any number of roles within an adventuring group, depending on their individual magical talents. They can provide healing, offensive spells or buffs, depending on what specific powers they know from the broader repertoire of svarti.

  Game Rule Information

  Abilities

Wisdom determines how powerful a weave a svarti can cast, and how hard their weaves are to resist. Wisdom and Charisma both determine how many weaves the svarti can cast per day. To cast a weave, a svarti must have a Wisdom score of 10 + the weave's level. A svarti gets bonus weaves based on both Wisdom and Charisma that is, if the svarti has high enough ability scores in both Wisdom and Charisma to grant bonus weaves, they gain the bonus weaves from both. The Difficulty Class of a saving throw against a svarti’s weave is 10 + the weave's level + the svarti's Wisdom modifier. Like any spell caster, a svarti benefits from high Dexterity and Constitution scores.

  Alignment

Any

  Vitality Points

d6.

  Class Skills

The svarti’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Composure (Wis), Concentration (Wis), Craft (lnt), Gather Information (Cha), Heal (Wis), intimidate (Cha), Invert Weave (Int), Knowledge (varies) (Int), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), and Weavesight (Int).

  Skill Points at 1st Level

(4 + Int modifier) x 4.

  Skill Points at Each Additional Level

4 + Int modifier

  Class Features

All of the following are class features of the svarti.

  Weapon and Armour Proficiency

Svarti are proficient with all simple weapons and with light armour. Note that some armour types incur armour check penalties to the skills Balance, Climb, Escape Artist, Hide, Jump, Move Silently, Pick Pocket, and Tumble. Also, Swim checks suffer a -1 penalty for every 5 pounds of armour and equipment carried.

  The Five Powers

Svarti draw upon the Five Powers of magic to cast arcane weaves.

  Affinities

Svarti begin play with Affinity for one of the Five Powers (Air, Earth, Fire, Spirit, or Water). This Affinity makes the svarti particularly strong with weaves that use only that Power. He or she will be less capable with weaves that involve the other powers, and be somewhat hampered in weaves that don't use that affinity at all. Svarti can gain more Affinities with the Extra Affinity feat.

  Talents and Weaves

Svarti begin play having one common Talent and knowing six common weaves of 0 or 1st level (including multilevel weaves that include level 0 or 1). These starting weaves do not have to be within the svarti’s Talent, but they usually are. A svarti can gain more Talents with the Extra Talent feat. At each additional level, svarti can learn one additional common weave of any level which he or she is able to cast. (If the svarti can cast weaves within the level range of a multilevel weave, you can learn that weave. For example, Raise Fog is level 2-8. If the svarti can cast 2nd-level weaves, they can learn Raise Fog.) These are weaves that the svarti has managed to "figure out" on his or her own, relying on intuition and experience with the Five Powers. In addition, the svarti can learn new weaves by observation. See the Weavesight skill description for more information. A svarti is limited to casting a certain number of weaves of each level per day. The number of weaves he or she can cast per day is improved by their bonus weaves granted by Wisdom and Charisma, if any. A svarti may use a higher-level slot to cast a lower-level weave if they so choose. For example, if an 8th-level svarti bas used up all of his or her 3rd-level weave slots for the day but wants to cast another one, they could use a 4th-level slot to do so. The weave is still treated as its actual level not the level of the slot used to cast it. To learn or cast a weave, a svarti must have a Wisdom score of at least 10 + the weave's level. The Difficulty Class for saving throws against svarti weaves is 10 + the weave's level + the svarti's Wisdom modifier. Unlike other spell casters, svarti have slots of particular levels. They do not use spell points like other classes do.

  Over-channelling

Svarti can over-channel to cast more weaves than they are normally able to (see Over-channelling, in the Weaves section). For instance, following the example above, if a svarti had cast all their 1st-level weaves already in one day, they could attempt to over-channel to cast another one. Svarti are used to the rigours of over-channelling, unlike some prestige classes, so they get a +5 competence bonus on Concentration checks when attempting to over-channel. They also get a +5 competence bonus on Fortitude saves when they fail at over-channelling attempts.

  Cross-Talent Weaves

Svarti excel in the Five Powers only within their Talents. Due to their flexibility, a svarti may learn and cast any 0-level, 1st¬ level, or 2nd-level weave, regardless of whether it is within one of his or her Talents. However, a svarti may only learn and cast weaves of 3rd level or higher if they are within one of his or her Talents.

  Block

Although their self-training lends svarti a great deal of flexibility, it doesn't come without a price. The dangers of learning the Five Powers unaided result in a "block": an emotional trigger without which the Powers can't be activated. Blocks form naturally as a svarti first learns to access the Five Powers; they are a sort of buffer which reduces the risk of inadvertently channelling enough power to destroy the svarti’s ability to channel or even kill the svarti. Unfortunately, they persist even after the svarti learns to control their power, preventing the svarti from channelling freely whenever he or she wants to. Typical blocks include the need to be angry, serene, excited, fearful, or even lustful. Regardless of the block's exact nature, it always requires that the svarti make an effort to attain the exact emotional state before he or she can channel. This is a full-round action, and requires a Composure check against DC 15 (normally – the DC can be increased to 20 if the svarti is in an opposed emotional state, or decreased to 10 if already in a similar state). Once a svarti reaches the emotional state necessary to bypass the block, they may maintain that state (and channel freely) for an hour without having to roll again. Remember that the svarti’s emotions affect everything he or she does – a svarti who must conjure terror within themselves to channel is truly afraid, and should behave appropriately. A svarti’s block can be removed with the Eliminate Block feat. However, female svarti cannot take the Eliminate Block feat until 3rd level. Male svarti do not face that restriction, and may choose to take the feat and eliminate their blocks at 1st level. Once eliminated, the svarti's block is gone forever, and the svarti may channel at any time, regardless of emotional state.

  Bonus Channelling Feats

At 2nd level, and every three levels thereafter (5th, 8th, 1lth, 14th, 17th, and 20th), the svarti gets a bonus channelling feat. The svarti can choose any channelling feat, so long as he or she meets all the usual prerequisites for it. Important: These bonus feats are in addition to the feats that a character of any class gets every three levels. The svarti is not limited to channelling feats when choosing those feats due to character level.

The ability to channel slows the aging process. Starting at 3rd level, divide your level by 2. The result is the number of years that must pass for your character to age one year. For example, a 4th-level svarti ages one year for every two years that goes by (in other words, they age at half the rate of normal people). A 12th- level wilder ages one year every six years (or about one-sixth the rate of normal people).

  Ex-Members

There are no special rules for svarti leaving their class.

* Base attack bonuses are handled differently for epic characters.

** Save bonuses are handled differently for epic characters.

*** Number of Weaves per day does not increase past 20th level.