Author Topic: Panphobic (3.5 base), who is afraid of everything  (Read 3928 times)

Offline sirpercival

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Panphobic (3.5 base), who is afraid of everything
« on: August 15, 2013, 03:08:19 PM »
Panphobic



It's amazing where the paranoid mind can take you...

A Panphobic goes through life knowing that everything in the world is a valid source of terror. It's hard on the nerves, to be sure, but constant paranoia is helpful in that it teaches you to be on your toes. Unless you're frightened of being on your toes... then you're kinda screwed.

Adventures: A Panphobic adventures to get away from the things at home that were terrifying her. Sadly, she finds even more to be afraid of out in the world.

Characteristics: A Panphobic is something of an enigma, in that she has a wide variety of abilities to choose from, which can be useful in various situations, depending on which phobias she acquires. However, all Panphobics tend to be furtive, sneaky characters.

Alignment: Panphobics are never lawful -- they don't trust any ideologies but their own skin.

Religion: A Panphobic is just as likely to be frightened of religion and religious figures as anything else. However, a few offer up their souls in the hope that faith in a higher power might give them comfort in the cold, dark night. (Spoiler alert: it doesn't work.)

Background: The only thing that Panphobics have in common with each other is a preponderance of traumatic events, childhood horror stories, and mental instability which leads to the intense fear reactions they experience from a variety of stimuli.

Races: A Panphobic can come from nearly any race, though those races who feel little emotion (such as warforged) are very rare.

Other Classes: When you're a Panphobic, it's pretty much guaranteed that you're terrified of every other class. Almost any character has some ability or tendency which scares the living daylights out of you. However, since you have the same reaction to everything, you get along with members of other classes about as well as can be expected, and you don't play favorites with your paranoia.

Role: A Panphobic is generally a skillful and stealthy character, though depending on the phobias chosen she might fit in as a primary source of ranged or melee damage, as a support character, or as a utility knife fit for any and every situation.

Adaptation: In one campaign, a Panphobic might be a spiritcaller, acquiring multiple companion entities whom she feeds with her emotions and who grant her abilities in return. In another, she might be an oracle who enters a prophetic trance to unlock her powers.

GAME RULE INFORMATION
Panphobics have the following game statistics.
Abilities: Charisma is important for save DCs; Dexterity is important for defense and stealth; Constitution is important for staying alive; Intelligence is important for all those pesky skills; Wisdom is important for perception and Will saves; and Strength is important if you ever master the Fight or Flight response.
Alignment: Any non-lawful.
Hit Die: d8.
Starting Age: As rogue.
Starting Gold: As rogue.

Class Skills
The Panphobic's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

Skill Points at First Level: (6 + Int modifier) x 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier

Panphobic


Level
Base
Attack
Bonus

Fort
Save

Ref
Save

Will
Save


Special


Phobias
1 +0          +2 +2 +2 Mild panic, paranoia, simple fright 3
2 +1          +3 +3 +3 Sneak attack +1d6 4
3 +2          +3 +3 +3 Phobos animae 4
4 +3          +4 +4 +4 Run and hide 5
5 +3          +4 +4 +4 Panic, sneak attack +2d6 5
6 +4          +5 +5 +5 Contagious paranoia 6
7 +5          +5 +5 +5 Compound fright 6
8 +6/+1      +6 +6 +6 Continuous anxiety, sneak attack +3d6 7
9 +6/+1      +6 +6 +6 Disappearance 7
10 +7/+2      +7 +7 +7 Strong panic 8
11 +8/+3      +7 +7 +7 Fear calls to fear, sneak attack +4d6 8
12 +9/4        +8 +8 +8 Improved run and hide 9
13 +9/+4      +8 +8 +8 Complex fright 9
14 +10/+5      +9 +9 +9 Improved continuous anxiety, sneak attack +5d6 10
15 +11/+6/+1  +9 +9 +9 Extreme panic 10
16 +12/+7/+2  +10 +10 +10 Improved phobos animae 11
17 +12/+7/+2  +10 +10 +10 Sneak attack +6d6 11
18 +13/+8/+3  +11 +11 +11 Improved disappearance 12
19 +14/+9/+4  +11 +11 +11 Crippling fright 12
20 +15/+10/+5 +12 +12 +12 Greater continuous anxiety, sneak attack +7d6, ultimate panic 13


Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Panphobic.

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Panphobics are proficient with all simple weapons, with all types of armor (light, medium, and heavy), and with shields (except tower shields).

Mild panic (Ex): Each individual phobia that a Panphobic has gives her particular abilities as she attempts to overcome and draw strength from the many, many things that frighten her.

At first level, a Panphobic acquires three phobias from her class list; she acquires an additional phobia at 2nd level, and every even level thereafter (as shown on the table above). Each of phobia the Panphobic acquires has two abilities: a base ability (tier 0) which grants some benefit at all times, and a higher-tier ability which must be activated by spending Dread.

A Panphobic begins each encounter with all of her phobias at the tier 0, and with 0 Dread. However, if the subject of one of her phobias is present (e.g., a spider for a Panphobic with Arachnophobia), that phobia begins at tier 1, but she suffers a -4 penalty to all saves vs fear effects for the encounter.

As a free action on her turn, but no more often than once per round, the Panphobic may choose to become shaken for one round to accrue 1 point of Dread. She gains no benefit from other creatures' abilities or effects which cause her to be shaken, only her own will, as she exposes her mind to the the things which frighten her the most.

Then, as a swift action, the Panphobic may spend any amount of Dread she has accrued to increase the tier of one or more phobias that she knows. At 1st level, she may not increase any phobia beyond tier 1. Once increased, the tier of each phobia remains so for the duration of the encounter, unless otherwise specified in the phobia description.

At the end of the encounter, all phobias reduce back to tier 0, and any Dread remaining evaporates.

Paranoia (Ex): A Panphobic feeds off of fear; it's her bread and butter. A Panphobic cannot ever become immune to fear effects, and receives no benefit from morale bonuses to saves vs fear (such as from a Paladin's Aura of Courage).

Simple fright (Ex): Such a student of fear is a Panphobic that she understands quite easily how to inflict such upon others. Whenever she confirms a critical hit against an opponent in combat, the Panphobic may spend 1 Dread as a free action to force that opponent to make a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 class level + Charisma modifier) or become shaken for 1 minute. This is a mind-affecting fear effect.

Sneak attack (Ex): This ability, as the rogue ability, is gained at 2nd level, with increases gained at the levels indicated in the table. Panphobics prefer to strike from the shadows... it's safer that way.

Phobos animae (Ex): Sometimes fear can take on a life of its own, crawling down the narrow synapses to strike at the primal terror that a Panphobic has made her own. Beginning at 3rd level, whenever the Panphobic successfully saves against a (Su) or (Ex) fear effect created by another creature, she accrues 1 Dread.

Run and Hide (Ex): Being able to escape from one's enemies, real or imagined, is an essential skill to learn. Whenever a Panphobic of 4th level or higher moves at least twice her speed in a single round, she automatically makes a Hide check as a free action (even if she is observed, though she still requires cover or concealment as normal), with no penalty for the movement to Hide or Move Silently. If she had moved due to the Frightened or Panicked condition, once she makes the Hide check, she is no longer required to keep moving until or unless the enemy which inflicted the condition succeeds on the Spot check to observe her.

Panic (Ex): Starting at 5th level, a Panphobic becomes more efficient at using her own fear against her enemies. She may spend 2 Dread to increase a phobia from tier 1 to tier 2 (the abilities a phobia grants are cumulative as its tier increases). Whenever she uses her Mild Panic ability to become shaken, she accrues 2 Dread instead of 1; alternatively, she may choose to become frightened for 1 round instead of shaken, in which case she accrues 3 Dread instead of 2 (in this case, the source of her fear is the encounter itself, for fleeing purposes).

Contagious paranoia (Ex): Upon reaching 6th level, a Panphobic's constant state of distress can rub off on her enemies. Any enemy with 30 feet of her loses any immunity to fear that it had (though not immunity to mind-affecting effects, if any) for as long as it remains in the area, instead receiving a +5 bonus to saves vs fear effects.

Compound fright (Ex): By 7th level, the raw, acrid fear that runs through a Panphobic's veins can spur her to heights she never knew were possible. As a standard action at any time, she may spend 2 Dread so that she may take 20 on the next skill check that she makes in the encounter, even if circumstances (or the skill description itself) would prevent it. Taking 20 in this manner takes no extra time -- instead, she simply functions as if she rolled a 20 on the attempt.

Continuous anxiety (Ex): A Panphobic's standard level of fear is much higher than other people's, and (like everything else) such heightened emotion grants her abilities beyond that of the unsuspecting public. At 8th level, the Panphobic may spend 8 hours meditating on a particular thing which frightens her, and suffers the penalties of being shaken for the duration of this time. At the end, she picks a single phobia from among those she has acquired; this phobia is tier 1 at all times. (If some effect changes the tier of that phobia for any reason, it returns to the appropriate tier automatically at the end of the encounter.) She may choose a different phobia whenever she spends 8 hours in meditation.

Disappearance (Su): A Panphobic hones her stealth almost by accident -- hiding from the horrible things which terrify you is often the best, or only, idea. At 9th level, her hiding ability reaches a new level of subtlety and strength. Whenever a creature fails a Spot check against the Panphobic's Hide check, that creature must make a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 class level + Charisma modifier) or forget that the Panphobic is there.

Strong panic (Ex): Beginning at 10th level, a Panphobic is even more efficient at transforming her fear into power. She may spend 3 Dread to increase a phobia from tier 2 to tier 3. Whenever she uses her Panic ability to become shaken, she accrues 3 Dread instead of 2; if she becomes frightened, she accrues 5 Dread instead of 3; and in addition she may choose to become panicked for 1 round instead of shaken or frightened, in which case she accrues 8 Dread (again, the source of her fear is the encounter itself, for fleeing purposes).

Fear calls to fear (Ex): A Panphobic knows how to play upon the fears of others. At 11th level, in addition to the other situations in which sneak attack would be triggered, she can sneak attack creatures who are shaken, frightened, panicked, or cowering (even if they couldn't normally be sneak attacked).

Improved run and hide (Su): Starting at 12th level, a Panphobic's Run and Hide ability triggers whenever she moves at least her speed (instead of twice her speed) in a round. In addition, she needs no cover or concealment to make a Hide check when using this ability.

Complex fright (Ex): When a Panphobic reaches 13th level, she revels in fear, worships it like a goddess in the night. As an immediate action, the Panphobic may spend 3 points of Dread that she has accrued to roll twice on a saving throw and take the better result.

Improved continuous anxiety (Ex): At 14th level, the phobia chosen by a Panphobic for her Continuous Anxiety class feature is tier 2 at all times (instead of 1).

Extreme panic (Ex): By the time the Panphobic reaches 15th level, her skill at drawing upon her own fear is reaching its peak. She may spend 5 Dread to increase a phobia from tier 3 to tier 4. Whenever she uses her Panic ability to become shaken, she accrues 4 Dread instead of 3; if she becomes frightened, she accrues 7 Dread instead of 5; when she becomes panicked, she accrues 12 Dread instead of 8; and in addition, she may choose to become cowering for 1 round instead of shaken, frightened, or panicked, in which case she accrues 19 Dread.

Improved phobos animae (Ex): Beginning at 16th level, the fear that other creatures bring to battle have very little effect on a Panphobic -- her own neuroses and psychoses are far more compelling. Whenever the Panphobic successfully saves against a (Su) or (Ex) fear effect created by another creature, she gains 2d6 Dread; in addition, even on a failed save, she suffers no worse than shaken.

Improved disappearance (Ex): When the Panphobic achieves 18th level, she is very good at being unobtrusive. She is considered to be Hiding at all times, even when observed or when she does not have cover or concealment. The Panphobic may activate or deactivate this effect as a free action.

Crippling fright (Su): Upon reaching 19th level, a Panphobic has learned to transfer some of the soul-wrenching terror that she feels every waking moment to her enemies. With a melee touch attack as a standard action, she may transfer any amount of Dread up to her Charisma modifier to an enemy. That enemy suffers a -1 to all attack and damage rolls, skill checks, ability checks, and AC for each point of Dread they have, and a -1 to all saves for every 2 points of Dread. The subject automatically removes 1 point of Dread as a free action each round on their turn.

Greater continuous anxiety (Ex): At 20th level, the phobia chosen by a Panphobic for her Continuous Anxiety class feature is tier 3 at all times (instead of 1 or 2).

Ultimate panic (Ex): A Panphobic of 20th level, her skill at drawing upon her own fear is reaching its peak. She may spend 8 Dread to increase a phobia from tier 4 to tier 5. Whenever she uses her Panic ability to become shaken, she accrues 5 Dread instead of 4; if she becomes frightened, she accrues 9 Dread instead of 7; when she becomes panicked, she accrues 16 Dread instead of 12; and when she cowers for 1 round, she accrues 25 Dread.
« Last Edit: August 15, 2014, 11:15:08 AM by sirpercival »
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Offline sirpercival

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Re: Panphobic (3.5 base), who is afraid of everything
« Reply #1 on: August 15, 2013, 03:12:45 PM »
Phobias
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« Last Edit: August 15, 2014, 08:38:44 AM by sirpercival »
I am the assassin of productivity

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Offline sirpercival

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Re: Panphobic (3.5 base), who is afraid of everything
« Reply #2 on: August 15, 2013, 03:12:57 PM »
Feats
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Many thanks to Arz and Theseventh for feat ideas!
« Last Edit: February 07, 2014, 08:52:44 AM by sirpercival »
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Offline TheGeometer

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Re: Panphobic (3.5 base), who is afraid of everything
« Reply #3 on: August 15, 2013, 05:31:47 PM »
So, first you make a class that gets its abilities from looking at things, and now you make a class that gets them from being afraid of things? Your next project should be a type of magic where eating different things makes different magical effects happen somehow. We'll call it Gastromancy.

That said, this is actually a very solid spellcasting mechanic. I've been meaning to do something like this with Spirit Magic, keeping the concept of harming yourself to get the energy for spells, but making the ways in which you harm yourself more general. In short, I like it. It was interesting seeing what kinds of abilities you could think up to get from fear.
« Last Edit: August 15, 2013, 05:36:55 PM by TheGeometer »

Offline Arz

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Re: Panphobic (3.5 base), who is afraid of everything
« Reply #4 on: August 16, 2013, 03:33:15 PM »
Races: Needs a shout-out to the poor miserable gully dwarf.

Abilities: Shouldn't you be afraid of having high and low scores?

Proficiency: I'd scale back the armor (they can't drop it) and give them tower shield and all martial weapons.
Oops, spotted the reason for this in Eleutherophobia. Still would give it tower shield since you can use it for cover.

Disappearance: The fluff text leads me to think this should be a mind-affecting ability. Try rewording it like ...or ignore your terrified existance until next revealed to it.

Anxiety: As one of the few non-encounter abilities it seems too minor. Gaining one at each of tiers 3, 2, 1 instead of just one...

3 more phobias and its triple the max allowed by the class. You can do it! Also, find it a bit odd that none of the tier 0 abilities scale with level. Finally is there any tier=level limit? Its stated at first level, and then not expanded upon.

Barophobia seems more of a climb check thing. Jumping requires trust that gravity will be constant.

Chionophobia needs fire shield for snow ball prevention.

Emitophobia is a little fuzzy on the potion ability. Can it grab multiple at higher tiers? What would the duration be under continuous anxiety?

And a loose feat idea for you that needs a dread limit of some sort...

Reverberant Paranoia
Your fears infect even the greatest oratory and causes chaos among the masses.
Prerequisites: Paranoia class feature.
Benefit: Whenever you are affected by an Aura of Courage (or other emanation that reduces fearlike bless or inspire courage), all other beneficiaries may give up that bonus for the benefits of one of your phobias.