Author Topic: Mind Pirate [Base]  (Read 15456 times)

Offline phaedrusxy

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Mind Pirate [Base]
« on: August 31, 2012, 02:41:15 AM »
Mind Pirate


Charon image by ElConsigliere at deviantart.com
   
Penny for your thoughts?
-Charon, Boatman of the Styx, a famous Mind Pirate

Unknown to some, there are mortals who actually live in the lower planes, and call them home. Since the River Styx winds its way through all of the lower planes, many of them make their homes alongside its banks. Some of these learn to harness its memory-draining powers, to steal the secrets of their enemies, and instead of losing their own memories to the Styx, to be able to recover the lost memories of others by drinking its foul waters. These men and women, skilled at both navigation and stealing memories, are known as Mind Pirates, and they are some of the most valued thieves in the planes. The only trade that rivals that of souls in the lower planes is the trade of information, and as many fiends say why pay for what you can steal?

Mind Pirate
A spellthief with a lower-planar twist, and focus on negative energy.
Abilities: Charisma is important to a Mind Pirate, as his spellcasting and special abilities are based on it.
Races: Any race found in the lower planes (or who can somehow acquire waters of the Styx to inoculate themselves with) can become a Mind Pirate.
Alignment: Any non-good. Calling upon the foul powers of the River Styx is enough to taint one with evil. So even if she were good before becoming a Mind Pirate, she won't remain that way for long.
Starting Gold: 4Xd4x10
Starting Age: As rogue

Class Skills
All skills are class skills for the Mind Pirate, as the knowledge contained within the dark waters of the Styx is both varied and deep.
Skill Points at 1st Level: (6 + int)x4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + int

Hit Dice: d8


Level
Base
Attack Bonus
Fort
Save
Ref
Save
Will
Save

Special
1st+0+2+0+2Styx-forged Weapon, Sapping Strike +1d6, Steal Memory (Appraisal), Spellcasting, Inoculated Mind
2nd+1+3+0+3Forgotten Lore
3rd+2+4+1+3Steal Memory (specific)
4th+3+4+1+4Waterborne (swim speed)
5th+3+4+1+4Steal Memory (skill), +2d6 Sapping Strike
6th+4+5+2+5Waterborne (Walk on Water), Slippery Mind
7th+5+5+2+5Steal Memory (feat), Greater Sapping Strike
8th+6/+1+6+2+6Waterborne (Breathe Water)
9th+6/+1+6+3+6Steal Memory (spell), +3d6 Sapping Strike
10th+7/+2+7+3+7Sky Barge
11th+8/+3+7+3+7Improved Innoculated Mind
12th+9/+4+8+4+8Safe Passage
13th+9/+4+8+4+8Steal Memory (Spell-like), +4d6 Sapping Strike
14th+10/+5+9+4+9Tabula Rasa
15th+11/+6/+1+9+5+9Steal Memory (supernatural)
16th+12/+7/+2+10+5+10Planar Barge
17th+12/+7/+2+10+5+10Steal Memory (mind), +5d6 Sapping Strike
18th+13/+8/+3+11+6+11Plumb the Depths
19th+14/+9/+4+11+6+11Planar Admiral
20th+15/+10/+5+12+6+12Thought Falls, Reason Rises

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: The Mind Pirate is proficient with simple weapons, light armor, shields (except tower shields), and his Styx-Forged Weapon (see below). He does not incur arcane spell failure while casting in light armor.

Styx-forged Weapon: A Mind Pirate gains the use of a weapon quenched with the waters of the styx while being forged. They gain the benefits of the Ancestral Relic feat with this weapon, and in addition can use it to drain the life force from their enemies (see Sapping Strike). If this weapon is lost or destroyed, the Mind Pirate may return to the Styx to forge another one in a ritual that takes 24 hours. The new weapon will contain all of the abilities of the original, and the original will lose all magical properties (if it is still in existence).

Sapping Strike (Su): At 1st level, the Mind Pirate may make a touch attack that does 1d6 negative energy damage as an attack action. He may also add 1d6 negative energy damage to attacks made with his Styx-forged Weapon, or with unarmed strikes or natural weapons. This damage increases by 1d6 every four levels (+2d6 at 5th, +3d6 at 9th, etc).

An undead creature hit by your Sapping Strike takes no negative energy damage, but it must make a successful Will saving throw or flee as if panicked for 1d4 rounds +1 round per class level (as from Chill Touch).

Steal Memory (Su): After successfully damaging a target with her Sapping Strike or Greater Sapping Strike, a Mind Pirate can try to steal some of the creature's memories. This is a part of the action used to make the attack. What exactly the Mind Pirate can steal varies depending on their class levels, as follows:

(Appraisal) The Mind Pirate first must learn to appraise what memories a target has, so that she can pick a specific one to steal later. After successfully damaging an enemy with her Sapping Strike, she may try to gain basic knowledge of one of the following with a single Appraisal: which skills the target has ranks in; a list of feats, spell-like abilities, prepared or known spells, or supernatural abilities the target has; or other kinds of general knowledge the target has (for instance, whether the target knows anything about spies in the King's court). The target may resist such a probing with a Will save (DC 10+1/2 Mind Pirate's level + Mind Pirate's charisma modifier).

Due to the general nature of such knowledge, the Mind Pirate cannot actually remove it from the target's mind. The Mind Pirate just takes a look around, casing the joint for a later raid. The target still retains all knowledge and use of its abilities even on a failed save against this ability.

(Specific) At third level, the Mind Pirate can try to learn a specific secret from the target for which he has general knowledge (where a key is hidden, etc). He may choose a specific memory which he suspects the target has to steal. The target can resist this with a Will save (DC 10+1/2 the Mind Pirate's class level + his charisma modifier). The target loses access to the memory for 1 minute per Mind Pirate level, and the Mind Pirate gains access to it for that long. If the target's mind does not contain any memories about what the Mind Pirate is trying to steal, the Mind Pirate learns that they don't know what he wants, which in itself can be useful information.

(skill) At 5th level, he can try to steal ranks in a skill the target has. He may choose a skill, and steal up to his character level plus 3 ranks from the target. He gains the benefit of those ranks, and the target loses them, for 1 hour per Mind Pirate level. The target is still considered to have these ranks for the purposes of prerequisites, it just loses the use of them. The Mind Pirate may only have up to twice his level plus six stolen skill points at any one time.

(feat) At 7th level, the Mind Pirate can steal a feat from the target for 1 hour per Mind Pirate level. The Mind Pirate may have only one stolen feat at a time, and he must meet the prerequisites to actually use it.

(spell) At 9th level, the Mind Pirate can steal a spell of up to 1/2 the Mind Pirate's level. (As steal spell ability of the spellthief).

(Spell-like) At 13th level, the Mind Pirate can steal a spell-like ability. The Mind Pirate must still provide any experience components that the spell would normally require. (Otherwise as steal spell-like ability of the spellthief class).

(supernatural) At 15th level, the Mind Pirate can steal a supernatural ability. (As steal spell-like ability, but works on supernatural abilities).

(mind) At 17th level, the Mind Pirate can attempt to steal all of the target's memories at once, effectively stealing her entire mind, intact. Once per round, a target damaged by the Mind Pirate's Sapping Strike or Greater Sapping Strike ability must make a will saving throw, or have all of its memories drained, reducing it to a catatonic state (treat as a permanent daze effect). The Mind Pirate stores the subject's mind within her Styx-Forged Weapon, and the weapon can contain only one such mind at a time. While a mind is stored in her weapon, the Mind Pirate gains access to all knowledge that the creature had, as if she had used a Mindrape spell on the target. The Mind Pirate may also use any of her other Steal Memory abilities on the target's mind at will, and the target gets no save to resist. The Mind Pirate may return the subject's memories with a touch as a standard action at any time, but may choose to modify or remove parts of them (again as with the Mindrape spell). The Mind Pirate gains a +10 circumstance bonus on bluff and disguise checks to impersonate a creature whose memories it currently has stored in its Styx-Forged Weapon, and can answer any question that the subject could with equal proficiency.

If the Mind Pirate desires to keep the mind of more than one creature, she can create a special receptacle to store the mind in. This receptacle is a crystal vial filled with waters from the Styx mixed with rare oils, herbs, and ungents worth at least 1000 gp per hit challenge rating of the target. Such a receptacle can only hold one mind at a time, but the spellthief can choose to replace the mind currently held in it with another one as often as she likes. This only takes a standard action on her part, once she has crafted such a receptacle and has it in hand.

Spellcasting (Ex): By drinking from the waters of the River Styx, the Mind Pirate absorbs some of the lost memories of spellcasters that have been absorbed by the foul waters. He gains the ability to cast spells (spells known and per day as a bard). All spells known must be chosen from the bard spell list, or from the wizard/sorcerer spell list schools of abjuration, divination, necromancy, illusion, or enchantment.

Inoculated Mind (Ex): Constant exposure to the waters of the Styx hardens the Mind Pirate's mind to intrusions, especially those that might steal or corrupt his memories. At first level, he becomes immune to any effect which would alter his memories against his will. He may still allow his memories to be altered if he wants to, though.

Forgotten Lore (Ex): The Mind Pirate learns to filter the lost memories out of the Styx, and absorb them into his own mind. At second level, he gains the bardic knowledge ability, and as well is considered to have ranks in all skills.

Waterborne (Ex): The river becomes a second home to the Mind Pirate. At 4th level, he gains a swim speed equal to half of his base movement, a +8 bonus on all swim checks, and the ability to take 10 on swim, even in conditions where taking 10 is not normally possible.

Waterborne (Walk on Water) (Ex): At 6th level, the Mind Pirate may walk on water as if it were solid ground.

Slippery Mind (Ex): At 6th level, he gains the Slippery Mind ability (as the rogue ability).

Greater Sapping Strike (Su): At 7th level the Mind Pirate's ability to drain its enemies of strength improves. He may give up all extra dice of negative energy damage from his Sapping Strike ability to instead deal one negative level with each successful attack. The DC to remove this negative level after 24 hours is 10+1/2 the Mind Pirate's class level + his charisma modifier.

Waterborne (Breathe Water) (Ex): At 8th level, he gains the ability to breathe water.

Sky Barge (Su): At 10th level, the Mind Pirate can bestow upon any barge or other small ship he captains the ability to fly with a speed of 60' (perfect) for as long as she is at the helm.

Improved Innoculated Mind (Ex): At 11th level, he gains immunity to all Mind-Affecting spells and effects, but can raise or lower this resistance at will as a free action even when it isn't his turn.

Safe Passage (Sp): At 12th level, the Mind Pirate has a mystical ability to always know the best route to take to reach a destination safely. As long as he is within 1 mile of any body of water, he may use Find the Path at will as a spell-like ability.

Tabula Rasa (Sp): At 14th level, the Mind Pirate learns to rewrite his own memories and those of others. He may use Psychic Reformation once per day as a spell-like ability. He need not pay the experience cost normally associated with this power.

Planar Barge (Sp): At 16th level, the Mind Pirate gains the ability to tap into the powers of the Styx, which wanders through all planes in some form, to transport himself, a barge which he is piloting in a river or other body of water, and all of the barge's passengers and cargo to any other plane of existence as if he had cast Plane Shift on all of them. However, the barge always appears in a river or other body of water of some kind. If no such body of water is available in the destination plane, the spell-like ability fails to work. This is usable once per day at 16th level, and one more time per day at 19th.

Plumb the Depths (Sp): As the Styx reaches its tributaries into all worlds, so all thoughts make their way to it, eventually. For one who knows how to search through its vast waters, no secret is safe. At 18th level, the Mind Pirate gains the ability to produce an effect similar to the Hypercognition power as a spell-like ability once per day as a standard action. He must have at least a drop of water from the river Styx to use as the focus for this ability, however.

Planar Admiral (Sp): At 19th level, the Mind Pirate becomes the ultimate ship's captain, capable of taking his crew from any spot in any body of water to any destination in any other body of water in an instant, as if by the travel function of the Gate spell. He may do this twice per day.

Thought Falls, Reason Rises (Su): At 20th level, the Mind Pirate's powers of the mind have reached their pinnacle. If he is killed, his thoughts will eventually make their way back to the waters of the Styx, flowing down streams and under hills, until they find their way back home. 1d4 days later the Mind Pirate's mind will reform in the dark waters, and claim the body of some poor soul who's fallen into the River Styx and drowned. This works as the Reincarnate spell, except that the Mind Pirate does not lose a level, and his new body slowly changes to match his old form after another 1d4 days. The Mind Pirate also will no longer die of old age, but continues to age up until his maximum normally, and then becomes more and more gaunt as time goes on after that, eventually appearing as little more than a skeleton, although he is not truly an undead.

Alternate Class Features:
Styx Warrior
Replace Spellcasting with access to maneuvers from any three disciplines chosen from the list below: Argent Moon, Anima River, Gentle Breeze, Far Realm, Infinite Lotus, Infinite Shore, Interesting Times, Mental Grip, Riven Hourglass, Riverside View, Sleeping Goddess, and Stygian Nightmare. His maneuvers known and readied are as a Warblade of his level. The Styx Warrior may recover one maneuver every time he damages someone with his Styx-Forged Weapon. His Styx-Forged Weapon also counts as a discipline weapon for all purposes related to his martial disciplines.
 
(click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: January 17, 2022, 04:26:38 PM by phaedrusxy »
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Offline sirpercival

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Re: Memory Thief
« Reply #1 on: August 31, 2012, 07:46:07 AM »
This is awesome!  I'd put the class features in the table and replace "signature weapon" in the descriptions with the name of the class feature.  I'd also maybe break the damage and the memory stealing up into two separate abilities, so that that way you can deal with them separately with feats & prcs.
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Offline Garryl

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Re: Memory Thief
« Reply #2 on: August 31, 2012, 08:53:38 AM »
Innoculated Mind: Monks get Still Mind, not Slippery Mind. Also, once you've lowered the 12th level immunity (which should say immunity, not resistance), how do you get it back?

Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: Memory Thief
« Reply #3 on: August 31, 2012, 10:36:49 AM »
Thanks guys. I'll fix the errors later. I wrote this in an insomnia-fueled mania at 3 AM, so there's no surprise that there are some mistakes. :P Let me know if you see any others, or have suggestions.

And I don't know what happened to my picture... Guess I'll have to dig up another one.

Any thoughts? I kind of think some of the abilities are a bit weak, but overall I think the power level is about what I was looking for (high tier 3). The class will of course be significantly weaker vs. undead, but I think with decent spell access, it still has plenty to fall back on, and I don't think all classes have to fare equally well in all situations.
« Last Edit: August 31, 2012, 10:40:47 AM by phaedrusxy »
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Offline sirpercival

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Re: Memory Thief
« Reply #4 on: August 31, 2012, 10:40:47 AM »
I am the assassin of productivity

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Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: Memory Thief
« Reply #5 on: August 31, 2012, 05:04:39 PM »
OK, so I filled in the table, and broke up the abilities a bit. I also just said that he's proficient with his Styx-Forged Weapon instead of giving him a proficiency of his choice. So go crazy with the morphing, sizing Styx-Forged weapons! :P

Now looking at the spacing of the abilities in the table, I think I should probably move them around a bit to get rid of some dead levels, and maybe add another thing or two later in the class. Planar Travel and/or Teleportation while in a boat from one river to another might be fitting. Or maybe some more water-themed abilities.

And is there a way to resize an image without rehosting it?
« Last Edit: August 31, 2012, 05:07:37 PM by phaedrusxy »
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Offline sirpercival

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Re: Memory Thief
« Reply #6 on: August 31, 2012, 05:25:11 PM »
{img height=} or {img width=}

I'll take a look at the edited version shortly.
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Offline TheGeometer

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Re: Memory Thief
« Reply #7 on: August 31, 2012, 07:31:54 PM »
I like the idea of stealing memories, but the mechanic seems to have few combat applications, especially for a fighting class. Might I suggest the additional ability "Steal Short-Term Memory?"

Quote
Steal Short-Term Memory - in place of an ordinary use of the Steal Memory ability, you may steal memories that are more recent. If the opponent fails the save, he or she loses all memory of the past round, and thus repeats the actions that he or she did. This repetition is in general terms, such as attacking a specific enemy in a specific way, but this ability cannot cause the opponent to perform actions that would be too foolish in light of changing circumstances, such as moving off of a cliff, or swinging a sword at open air.

At level X, you may steal 2 consecutive rounds of short-term memory at a time, and the opponent is forced to reenact those rounds. At level X + Y, you may steal 3 consecutive rounds.

This doesn't have to be exact, but I think an idea something like this could really make the class stand out.

Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: Memory Thief
« Reply #8 on: August 31, 2012, 10:03:39 PM »
I changed how the capstone works substantially. I'm not convinced the class really needs more to be effective in combat (it already gets up to 6th level spells from a great set of spell lists), but I'll think about it. It's more designed to shine in out of combat roles as a spy, interrogator, and source of information. With the ability to deal a negative level with every touch attack much like a Souleater, I think it can already be quite nasty in combat past 7th level, anyway.

I added a few more mid-high level abilities related to travel, as well. I'm not sure what to add to the last few levels of the class. I think I'm pretty happy with it now, but would still love more feedback, especially on the perceived power level and party roles it could fill. I worry a bit that I may have pushed this too far. Is this still tier 3? Or has it crept into 2 (or 2.5)? Many of its abilities are still quite limited and relatively easily defended against, and also more useful out of combat. So I think it's still tier 3, but would like other opinions.

Edit: Added a capstone which I thought was appropriate. I decided not to go with a template (like lich, etc).
« Last Edit: August 31, 2012, 11:33:46 PM by phaedrusxy »
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Offline sirpercival

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Re: Memory Thief
« Reply #9 on: September 01, 2012, 06:14:11 PM »
You're missing a Sapping Strike increase at 20th level.  Also those two dead levels right at the end are driving me nuts... I'll see if I can think of anything good.
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Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: Memory Thief
« Reply #10 on: September 01, 2012, 08:37:26 PM »
You're missing a Sapping Strike increase at 20th level.  Also those two dead levels right at the end are driving me nuts... I'll see if I can think of anything good.
No I'm not.

I guess... I don't really think most people play to 20th. What bothers me more is that some of the abilities come so late.

I was thinking of bumping the hit die to d8, also.
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Offline sirpercival

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Re: Memory Thief
« Reply #11 on: September 01, 2012, 08:57:36 PM »
You're missing a Sapping Strike increase at 20th level.  Also those two dead levels right at the end are driving me nuts... I'll see if I can think of anything good.
No I'm not.
...I can is maths good.  Yes.  You are of course correct.

Quote
I guess... I don't really think most people play to 20th. What bothers me more is that some of the abilities come so late.

I was thinking of bumping the hit die to d8, also.
Lol.  Most people don't, no.  But there are people who do, and who play epic.  For example, there are a lot of games that I've run that you can just bring a 20th level character into.  I think it's worth having abilities at all levels... It's your call, though.
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Offline xzyx

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Re: Memory Thief
« Reply #12 on: September 01, 2012, 11:30:16 PM »
phaedrusxy you have been amazing. I'm going to use this class right now, and thank you for your hard work =D

This memory thief rocks ^^

Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: Memory Thief
« Reply #13 on: September 01, 2012, 11:42:15 PM »
Thanks. :D Glad you like it. I thought it was a cool concept that was interesting enough to deserve its own class.

I think I'll add a couple more abilities to the two "dead" levels. I'm thinking of making at least one of them a powerful information gathering power, like Hypercognition, with the fluff changed to searching through all the lost memories in the Styx to find what you're looking for. And I think the other will be the travel version of Gate while piloting a boat.
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Offline sirpercival

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Re: Memory Thief
« Reply #14 on: September 01, 2012, 11:42:45 PM »
Thanks. :D Glad you like it. I think I'll add a couple more abilities to the two "dead" levels. I'm thinking of making at least one of them a powerful information gathering power, like Hypercognition, with the fluff changed to searching through all the lost memories in the Styx to find what you're looking for. And I think the other will be the travel version of Gate while piloting a boat.

Those sound great.
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Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: Mind Pirate
« Reply #15 on: September 02, 2012, 10:27:23 AM »
Since these guys are nautical thieves, which are typically known as pirates, I changed the name. Other than slight tweaks, I don't think I'll be modifying this class anymore at this point.
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Offline Bozwevial

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Re: Mind Pirate
« Reply #16 on: September 02, 2012, 01:32:42 PM »
You're just out to create more work for me, aren't you. :p

When stealing additional skills or feats, you just overwrite the old ones, yes? You don't have to forget them first. There's no dismissal action, but frankly I can't see why you would need one outside of edge cases.
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Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: Mind Pirate
« Reply #17 on: September 02, 2012, 04:37:02 PM »
You're just out to create more work for me, aren't you. :p

When stealing additional skills or feats, you just overwrite the old ones, yes? You don't have to forget them first. There's no dismissal action, but frankly I can't see why you would need one outside of edge cases.
I thought our resident clerk might pick up a nautical leaning after you saw this. :P

Yeah, if you steal more of something than you can hold, then you have to "forget" some of the older ones. I'd assumed it would be player's choice, but I guess I should specify exactly how that works rather than leaving it up to guesswork.
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Re: Mind Pirate
« Reply #18 on: September 02, 2012, 08:36:44 PM »
Also, do you have to guess what you're stealing? Or can you just take your pick? Do you have to declare beforehand that you're stealing a specific category of thing, or can you decide afterward?
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Re: Mind Pirate
« Reply #19 on: September 03, 2012, 12:36:55 AM »
Also, do you have to guess what you're stealing? Or can you just take your pick? Do you have to declare beforehand that you're stealing a specific category of thing, or can you decide afterward?
Is the ability not clearly worded enough?

Quote
Steal Memory (specific)(Su): At third level, the Mind Pirate can try to learn a specific secret from the target for which he has general knowledge (where a key is hidden, etc). He may choose a specific memory which he suspects the target has to steal. The target can resist this with a Will save (DC 10+1/2 the Mind Pirate's class level + his charisma modifier). The target loses access to the memory for 1 minute per Mind Pirate level, and the Mind Pirate gains access to it for that long. If the target does not know what the Mind Pirate is trying to steal, the Mind Pirate learns that they don't know what he wants, which in itself can be useful information.

I'd intended that you have to guess what you're trying to steal, and it is possible that the target might not know what you want. You don't get any special information about memories other than the ones you've already stolen that the target has. If you have no idea what the target might have, you could just use the 1st level ability to get a random memory, but of course that's basically totally in the realm of DM fiat...

You could guess a category, like the names of spies who have infiltrated the King's guards, but if there is more than one appropriate memory, then I guess you'd get a random one from the list, unless you further specified what you were looking for.

I know there is some vagueness in this ability, and it will have to rely somewhat on DM interpretation, but I can't really think of a better way to handle it. I don't think it is any more vague than many other divination and information gathering abilities in D&D, though. :P
I don't pee messages into the snow often , but when I do , it's in Cyrillic with Fake Viagra.  Stay frosty my friends.