THE PAIN TOTEM 
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGHH!!!!!" Every so often an orc is born twisted and scarred, barely recognizable. Despite their appearance they do not suffer any ill physical effects from their deformities, even while being in constant pain. Most of them have an inborn talent for magic and quickly become Sorcerers. Their learning however quickly takes a backseat to their rage. These orcs are far more unstable than their brethren, and usually have 'handlers' to calm them down and keep them out of trouble until they are needed in battle.
Whether or not you consider them a blessing or a curse in battle depends on your point of view. Called Pain Totems by the Orcs enemies, they are especially sensitive to anger. Pain Totems absorb the rage of anything near them, swelling with power and growing to monstrous size. The other Orc warriors are less effective, but the Pain Totem itself is quite amazing to watch.
BECOMING A PAIN TOTEM Most Pain Totems begin as Sorcerers, eventually drifting into Barbarian as well.
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS Race: Any Orcish race
Class Abilities: Rage
Base Attack Bonus: +5 BAB
Feats: Extra Rage, Scarred
Class Skills The Pain Totem's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Arcana) (Int), Swim (Str), and Survival (Wis)
Skills Points at Each Level : 4 + int
Hit Dice: d8
BAB Fort Ref Will Abilities
1. +0 +0 +0 +2 Synergistic Rage
2. +1 +0 +0 +3 Channel Rage
3. +2 +1 +1 +3 Steal Rage
4. +3 +1 +1 +4 Synergistic Frenzy
5. +3 +1 +1 +4 Channel Rage
6. +4 +2 +2 +5 Steal Frenzy
7. +5 +2 +2 +5 Channel Rage
8. +6 +2 +2 +6 Giant Among Orcs
9. +6 +3 +3 +6 Steal Life
10.+7 +3 +3 +7 Giant Transformation
Weapon Proficiencies: Pain Totems gain no new armor or weapon proficiencies.
Synergistic Rage (Su): You can Rage more times per day than normal. If any being within 30 feet of you uses a daily use of it's Rage, so do you. If this occurs when you have no daily uses of Rage left, you still enter Rage normally, but take 1 point of temporary Constitution damage when the Rage wears off. Once you are already Raging this does not trigger further uses of Rage until the first wears off.
Channel Rage (Su): At second level you gain a Rage Pool that can hold a certain amount or uses of Rage. The maximum you can hold is equal to your Pain Totem level Plus your Charisma Modifier plus the times per day you can Rage. This replaces the normal limit on how many times per day you can Rage, along with Synergistic Rage. When using Steal Frenzy, daily uses of Frenzy are stored as daily uses of Rage instead. When your Rage Pool is filled, any daily uses of Rage or Frenzy stolen by your Steal Rage/Frenzy abilities are simply burned off into the ether giving you no extra abilities (but still depriving victims of them). When you are Raging you now have different abilities than normal. How powerful they are depend on how high your Rage Pool is. Since they are Supernatural abilities, in Antimagic Fields or other circumstances that would block them the Pain Totem gets its normal Rage abilities. At 2nd, 5th, and 7th level you gain 2 abilities each from the following list. Until you choose from Strength, Constitution, or Iron Mind, you get the normal bonus for Raging for that particular ability. The Rage Pool can only hold uses of Rage for 24 hours or until they are used to enter Rage. If you choose the Strength, Constitution, or Iron Mind abilities, they replace the normal bonuses granted by Rage. Your Rage Pool resets to full at the beginning of each day, and if it is empty you cannot Rage until it refills.
Strength (Su): The Strength Bonus you gain varies depending on your Rage Pool. 1-3: +4, 4-6: +6. 7-9: +8, 10-12: +10, 13+: +12. In addition your unarmed strikes do lethal damage while you are raging, and you are considered to have the Improved Unarmed Strike Feat while Raging. Damage of your unarmed Strike depends on your Rage Pool. 1-3: 1d3, 4-6: 1d4, 7-9: 1d6, 10-12: 1d8, 13+: 2d6.
Constitution (Su): The Constitution Bonus you gain varies depending on your Rage Pool. 1-3: +4, 4-6: +6, 7-9: +8, 10-12: +10, 13+: +12. In addition your Natural Armor Bonus is increased by an amount equal to your new Constitution Modifier.
Iron Toughness (Su): You gain DR x/- when Raging. x is equal to your Rage Pool, with a maximum value of 10. This does not stack with the DR gained from class levels in Barbarian or similar sources.
Terrifying Aura (Su): Any Living being within 30' of you with less Hit Dice than yourself when you are Raging must make a Willpower Save (DC 10 plus half your level plus your Charisma modifier) or become scared. Exact effects depend on the level of your Rage Pool. 1-3: Shaken for 1d4 rounds, 4-6: Shaken for 1d8 rounds, 7-9: Shaken for 2d6 rounds, 10-12: Panicked for 1d4 rounds, Shaken for another 1d6 rounds; 13+: Panicked for 1d6 rounds, shaken for another 2d4 rounds. If the Save is successful, the opponent is immune to this Pain Totems Terrifying Aura for 24 hours. The Save DC gains an Enhancement Bonus equal to your maximum Rage Pool divided by 6.
Iron Mind (Su): The Morale Bonus you gain to your Willpower Saves when Raging increases depending on the power of your Rage Pool. 1-3: +2, 4-6: +4, 7-9: +6, 10-12: +8, 13+: +10. This Saving Throw Bonus does not work against your Handlers.
Empowered Weapon (Su): Weapons you wield gain magical power while you Rage depending on your Rage Pool. 1-3: +1, 4-6: +2, 7-9: +3, 10-12: +4, 13+: +5. They are considered magical for purposes of overcoming Damage Reduction.
Steal Rage (Su): Anytime a being with the Rage ability enters within 30 feet of you, it must make a Willpower Save (DC is 10 plus half your hit dice plus Charisma modifier) or lose 1 daily use of it's Rage ability, which is added to your Rage Pool. It must continually make these Saving Throws while in range until it runs out of daily uses of Rage, or makes it's first successful Saving Throw. Allies may willingly fail their Save and donate as many uses of Rage as they want. If the victim has only one daily use of Rage, and he is currently Raging, and he fails the Saving Throw, he ceases Raging, and you still add 1 use of Rage to your Rage Pool. The Save DC has an Enhancement Bonus equal to the number of uses of Rage currently not in your Rage Pool. Steal Rage may not be used against someone who also has Steal Rage. If 2 Pain Totems are in range enough to trigger this ability, and the opponent only has 1 use of Rage left, they both roll 1d20 + level + Con Bonus, higher total wins (if it's a tie reroll).
Synergistic Frenzy (Su): You can enter Frenzy more times per day than normal. If any being within 30 feet of you uses a daily use of it's Frenzy, so do you. If you cannot normally Frenzy, or this occurs when you have no daily uses of Frenzy left, you still enter Frenzy normally, but take 1 point of Constitution damage when the Frenzy wears off. Once you are already Frenzied this does not trigger further uses of Frenzy until the first wears off.
Steal Frenzy (Su): Anytime a being with the Frenzy ability enters within 30 feet of you, it must make a Willpower Save (DC is 10 plus half your hit dice plus Charisma modifier) or lose 1 daily use of it's Frenzy ability, which is added to your Rage Pool. It must continually make these Saving Throws while in range until it runs out of daily uses of Frenzy, or makes it's first successful Saving Throw. Allies may willingly fail their Save and donate as many uses of Frenzy as they want. If the victim has only one daily use of Frenzy, and he is currently Frenzied, and he fails the Saving Throw, he ceases Frenzying, and you still add 1 use of Rage to your Rage Pool. The Save DC has an Enhancement Bonus equal to the number of uses of Rage currently not in your Rage Pool. Steal Frenzy may not be used against someone who also has Steal Frenzy. If 2 Pain Totems are in range enough to trigger this ability, and the opponent only has 1 use of Frenzy left, they both roll 1d20 + level + Con Bonus, higher total wins (if it's a tie reroll).
Giant Among Orcs (Su): Whenever you enter Rage or Frenzy you become Large Sized, along with your equipment. Your Base Speed increases 10 feet, Reach increases to 10 ft. Remember also that your weapon damage increases due to Size Class.
Steal Life (Su): You may use this ability once per day per point of Charisma modifier (minimum of 1). You choose 1 living injured (injured defined as being at less than full Constitution or Hit Points)target within 60 feet that is visible to you, and it must make a Willpower Saving Throw (Save DC is 10 plus half hit dice plus Charisma Bonus), or lose 2 hit points per your effective character level. You gain hit points equal to the victims Hit Dice x2.
Giant Transformation (Ex): At 10th level you undergo radical magical surgeries taking 24 hours and costing 1000 GP in materials.. Giant Among Orcs becomes permanent, not just when raging. When using Rage or Frenzy you now gain Fast Healing 3.
PLAYING A PAIN TOTEM You are a barely restrained psychotic. You live life in constant pain and suffering, and are an outcast even among your own people. No one likes you, and after several years of being treated badly you wouldn't have it any other way. It's not that your own people don't believe you have supernatural, perhaps gods-given power.It's not that they don't appreciate your ability to fight. But you have even less social skills than the average orc, and lash out unexpectedly at whatever is near when you're upset. Once you gain the Steal Rage ability this massively compunds the problem.
Combat: Your always first in line in a fight. When the Barbarians charge in so do you. It lets you take advantage of their Rage initially, and lets you steal it later. Eventually you'll charge in before them against other opponents capable of Raging to steal their Rage. After that the Rage Pool will kick in and you just swing away relying on brute strength to carry the day.
Advancement: Advancement is kind of a moot point for Pain Totems. No one will teach them anything, and for the most part they aren't willing to learn. Once they get the Channel Rage ability they usually give into their own anger to dull the pain of existence, and lead a short but bloody life.
Resources: Pain Totems without a patron tribe are pretty much on their own. They really only have their own abilities to keep them going at that point, because few if any beings will willingly support them.
PAIN TOTEMS IN THE WORLD "Those things aren't natural. Even the other Orcs don't like them. You see one of those twisted freaks you avoid it boy. Fight the other Orcs." Pain Totems don't interact with the world much. Most of them set and stare into the distance until there's a fight or they sense a problem. And then they go insane and start smashing things. Until no one is angry, the problem goes away, their handlers calm them down, or they die. Some of them are kept in chains until a fight is needed.
Daily Life: As a Pain Totem you will spend most of your day being ostracized by your tribe who live their lives in fear of you. Your'e either kept sedated or chained so anyone getting angry nearby doesn't set you off. Or perhaps there are special handlers, usually spellcasters of some kind who specialize in enchantment.
Notables: Tarn (Sorcerer 1/Barbarian 5/Pain Totem 6) has led his tribe to many victories. he is unusual in that his tribe has allowed him to lead. Perhaps ecause he has seemed less unstable than most of his kind. In fact the strange scars all over his body are said to be a sign from Gruumsh by the Shamans...
Organizations: Pain Totems have no organization. Usually they try to murder each other if given a chance.
NPC Reaction Considering that you look horrible, most non Orcs will find you terrifying. Even most Orcs find you terrifying. In all likelihood most strangers you meet will consider you a monster.
PAIN TOTEMS IN THE GAME Pain Totems are probably better as a NPC Prestige Class. Since their abilities rely on absorbing Rage or Frenzy they will need to be surrounded by teammates or enemies to make proper use of them. They'll also tend to be in the spotlight an awful lot in fights, and pretty much a drawback outside of them. Leadership is a boon to them, as they can have a group of Orc Barbarians as a cohort, making them pretty nasty...
Adaptation: Pain Totems make Orc invasions a bit different. Instead of hundreds of berserkers, you now have dozens of berserkers, a lot of weaker warriors, and a small group (or perhaps even an individual) with serious power.
Encounters: PC's will usually encounter a Pain Totem as the giant, twisted monstrosity in the charging horde of Orc reavers they are about to face. Or as a bedraggled outcast considering either suicide or bloody vengeance somewhere in the bleak places of the world.
Sample Encounter Give an example of how one might encounter a member of this PrC.
EL 12: Tarn is one of the few of his kind to learn restraint, as well as live past the age of 20. At one point he tired of being the pet monster of his tribes chieftain, and made sure to be next to him in a large raid against the humans. With his rage gone the older Orc didn't do so well in battle and fell to the humans. There were few if any survivors. Tarn was one of them. His tribe did not yet know of his ability to steal the Rage from his fellow berserkers, and he faced little punishment. At least no more than the others did. The fight over who was to become chieftain was short and brutal, and to everyone's surprise Tarn won. To their continued surprise he was actually good at it. The tribe prospered under his rule, despite his seeming to be fairly uninterested in being a leader. The truth was that Tarn had found an old sword while in the hills alone returning from the battle. It called to him, and showed him visions of a future. A future without the humans. If only he would wield it. He agreed. Flash forward several years, and Tarn is now undisputed lord of his tribe. His rivals are dead, the priests are dead, and he plans to lead his tribe on a suicidal raid on a nearby human city. The sword has shown him that he and his tribe will die, but the humans will be broken enough that they will fall to the other tribes. He doesn't care anymore. The pain of his existence is now overwhelming, and he's been willing to die for years. After all what does he have left? His blasphemy of killing the priesthood leaves him no afterlife with Gruumsh. The tribe fears him more than anything else. The humans would probably wipe them out eventually anyway. So on this day Tarn sets his wife free, and tells her she is free to remarry, if any of them come back. And he smiles and thinks "Today at last I will die. I can hardly wait."
TarnCE (originally CN) Male Orc Sorcerer1/Barbarian 5/Pain Totem 6
Init +1,
Senses: Listen +3, Spot -1, Dark Vision 60 ft.
Languages Orc, Common
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AC 25, touch 11, flat-footed 24 (+1 Dex, +8 Armor, +6 Shield)
Max possible AC using Channel Rage is 33, touch 11, flat-footed 32 (+ 8 Natural Armor Bonus)
hp 74 (12 HD)
Max hp when using Channel Rage 122
Fort +7,
Ref +4,
Will +8 +2 on Saves vs Pain,
+2 Morale Bonus to Willpower Saves when Raging
Max possible Fort Save when using Channel Rage is +10
Cannot be Dazed or Stunned
Dr 8/- when using Channel Rage
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Speed 40 ft. (8 squares), 30 ft. in armor
Melee Sword of Darkness +15/+10 (1d8+7) or Unarmed Strike (1d3+4)
Max possible when using Channel Rage +19/+14 (1d8+11) or Unarmed Strike (1d6+8)
Base Atk +8,
Grp +12 (+16 with Channel Rage)
Atk Options Inspired Rage, Inspired Frenzy, Steal Rage, Steal Frenzy, Channel Rage (Strength, Constitution, Iron Toughness, Terrifying Aura (Save DC 19), Maximum Rage Pool 8), Rage 2/day, Power Attack
Combat Gear 6 Potions of Cure Serious Wounds, 3 Potions of Protection from Arrows
Sorcerer Spells Prepared (CL 12th)
0: Detect Magic x2, Detect Poison x2 (also knows Flare, Message)
1st: Ray of Enfeeblement x1 (Save DC 14), True Strike x3
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Abilities Str 18, Dex 12, Con 13, Int 6, Wis 8, Cha 16
Max possible when using Channel Rage Str 26, Con 21
SQ Illiteracy, Trap Sense +1
Feats Scarred, Power Attack, Thick Scars, Patterned Scars, Leadership
Skills Climb +10, Concentration +10, Intimidate +10, Listen +2, Spellcraft +1
Possessions +3 Ring of Protection, +5 Heavy Fortification Hide Armor, 3 Potions of Protection from Arrows, 3 Potions of Non Detection, 6 Potions of Cure Serious Wounds, +4 Heavy Steel Shield, Bag of Holding 2, 814 GP, Sword of Darkness (the Swod of Darkness is an artifact whose stats are up to the DM. It should be at least a +3 intelligent longsword somehow capable of seeing the future and manipulating it's wielder).
Cohort CE Male Orc Barbarian 6/Frenzied berserker 4
Followers 20 1st Level Male Orc Barbarians, two 2nd Level Male Orc barbarians, 0ne 3rd Level Male Orc Barbarian.
Scar FeatsScarredYou are born with a network of scars over your entire body. You are in constant pain, but suffer no ill effects from it.
Prerequisites: Any Orc Race, must be taken at 1st level
Benefits: You gain a +2 bonus on Saving Throws against spells or effects that specifically only cause pain (for example Finger of Agony, Symbol of Pain, and Wrack).
Thick ScarsYour scars have grown more prevalent and more ugly with time.
Prerequisites: Scarred, Base Fortitude Save +5
Benefits: You are now immune to effects based on Pain.
Patterned ScarsYour scars have grown into patterns the Shamans assure you have hidden meaning and significance.
Prerequisites: Scarred, Base Willpower Save +5
Benefits: Caster Level for your Arcane Spells is equal to your Effective Character level.
Burning ScarsThe pain from your scars drives you mad sometimes. But it also gives you power...
Prerequisites: Scarred
Benefits: 3 times per day you may increase the Save DC of any Spell or Supernatural Ability you have as a Free Action by +2. This stacks with Feats such as Spell Focus or Ability focus.
Hardened ScarsYour scars have grown iron hard.
Prerequisites: Scarred, and 3 other Scar Feats or Damage Reduction of some kind.
Benefits: You cannot be Dazed, Sickened, Staggered, or Stunned. Your Damage Reduction increases +3 against subdual damage (i.e. if you had Dr 5/-, it is now DR 8/-).
EPIC PAIN TOTEM Hit Die: d8
Skills Points at Each Level : 4 + int
Rage Pool: The maximum amount of uses of Rage/Frenzy your Rage Pool can hold increases by +1 for every level past 20th.
Bonus Feats: The Epic Pain Totem gains a Bonus Feat every 3 levels higher than 20th.
