The Transcholar
"And in the bloodlit dark behind his eyes, silver phosphenes boiled in from the edge of space, hypnagogic images jerking past like a film compiled of random frames. Symbols, figures, faces, a blurred, fragmented mandala of visual information."Image credit xeena-dragonkizz of deviantart.com The Transcholar studies gramarie with a very specific goal in mind: that of transcending the normal, physical world to become a creature of pure gramarie.
Requirements: To become a transcholar you must meet all of the following requirements.
Gramarie: Any three HEUR or IMCH principles
Skills: Autohypnosis 13 ranks, Bluff 13 ranks
Specialization: Must be specialized in Heuristicism or Imachination
Hit Die: d4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifer
Class Skills: A transcholar's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Autohypnosis (Wis), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (architecture and engineering) (Int), Knowledge (dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (the Planes) (Int), Knowledge (psionics) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Open Lock (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), and Use Magic Device (Cha).
The Transcholar
Level | Base Attack Bonus | Fort Save | Ref Save | Will Save |
Special |
Principles
|
1st | +0 | +2 | +0 | +2 | Applied focus, convergence (controller) | +0 |
2nd | +1 | +3 | +0 | +3 | Convergence (sustainer), minor virtuality | +1 |
3rd | +1 | +3 | +1 | +3 | Convergence (farseer), tangibility | +2 |
4th | +2 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Convergence (thinker), doctorate principles | +3 |
5th | +2 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Transcendance | +4 |
All of the following are class features of the transcholar.
Weapon and Armour Proficiencies: As a transcholar, you gain no additional weapon or armour proficiencies.
Applied focus: As a transcholar, your training depends heavily on a blend of techniques between heuristicism and imachinery. Upon entering this class, you count as a specialist in both disciplines, and can select specialist and doctorate-level principles from either discipline. However, the foundations of your education require a very specific skill set. You must learn all of the following principles at the earliest opportunity: ARCD101, BIOY101, ELDK101, HEUR101, HEUR245, HEUR328, IMCH101, IMCH295, YGGD101. If you already know all of these principles which are available for you to select, you may select other principles as normal.
Convergence (Su): A transcholar's studies bring you closer to your ultimate goal: to sublimate your essence into a being of pure gramarie. To do so, you must learn new applications of your gramaric principles in ways that affect and replace the needs of your physical body.
- At 1st level, you begin altering your principles to affect your essence, starting with your Heuristicism principles. You can include yourself as an element in a gramaric circuit that you prepare; if you do so, you can make logical decisions at any control point within the circuit with only mental actions, without having to be at the actual location of the control point.
- At 2nd level, you make the first physical changes to your body via a modified preparation of BIOY101, and become able to subsist on puissance alone. As long as you receive a number of ebbs of puissance per hour equal to your HD, you no longer need to eat or drink. If you receive twice that much, you no longer need sleep, and if you receive three times, you no longer breathe.
- At 3rd level, your facility with Imachination principles improves, granting you the ability to create illusions in your mind of events which occur elsewhere. Whenever you are an element of a gramaric circuit, you can treat all bubbles connected to the circuit as scry sensors, as per the scrying spell (giving you information up to a 10-foot radius distance from the edge of the bubble). Any creature with Int 12 or higher that views such a bubble can make a DC 20 Intelligence check as normal to realize that the bubble is a scry sensor.
- At 4th level, you come even closer to your ideal, using gramaric circuits to aid your thought processes. Whenever you are an element of a gramaric circuit, you can use the result of the circuit's Autohypnosis check in place of any mental skill check you make, though no more than once per round. In addition, you can make a number of logical decisions in the circuit per round equal to your Intelligence modifier.
Principles of Gramarie: You continue to advance your study of gramarie. At each level other than 1st, you learn a new principle of gramarie that you qualify for. At 4th level you gain access to Doctorate-level principles, and can refer to yourself as a doctor of any discipline you attain that level of knowledge in.
Minor virtuality (Su): Your experiments in becoming a virtual creature, one made entirely of gramarie, have paid dividends. Beginning at 2nd level, once per day per class level you can become incorporeal as a standard action, remaining so for up to 1 minute. During this time, your body fades into an immaterial form of altered imachinery that retains your basic likeness. While this ability is active, you acquire the incorporeal subtype. You gain a fly speed equal to your land speed (perfect maneuverability), as well as a deflection bonus to armor class equal to your natural armor bonus, if any (instead of the normal deflection bonus granted to incorporeal creatures). You can use your equipment normally, deriving benefits from items that enhance your capabilities, including armor and weapons; however, all your equipment remains material even when you are incorporeal (but see Tangibility, below).
While using this ability, you often appear almost like a ghost wearing items of the material world. This doesn’t make your equipment more susceptible to attack (the normal rules for attended objects apply), but it does make it impossible for you to enter or pass through solid objects while wearing solid equipment. If you drop your material equipment, you can pass through solid objects at will as normal for an incorporeal creature. If you become corporeal again (such as through an act of will or from the duration of this ability running out) in an occupied square, you are shunted to the nearest empty square, taking 1d6 damage for every 10 feet of movement.
Tangibility (Su): Upon reaching 3rd level, you learn to transform your equipment into gramarie, for a short time. Whenever you use your minor virtuality ability, you can virtualize your equipment as well, rendering it incorporeal with you. The number of pieces of equipment you can virtualize is equal to twice your Transcholar class level. This has no effect on the equipment’s function, but now when you are incorporeal, you can enter or pass through solid objects while wearing nothing other than the designated equipment. Once designated, the equipment automatically changes to incorporeal when you shed your body, and it returns to corporeality when you do.
Transcendance (Ex): At 5th level, you have achieved your goal, and transformed into a being of pure gramarie. You build an Essence Vault, a gramaric construction which maintains your existence, and leave behind the physical world forever.
To build your Essence Vault, first you prepare a semi-space via YGGD101, which is fixed to a location in space. Inside, you place a Simple Orthogonal Engine prepared with ELDK101; a WoodOut transformer prepared with ARCD101; an Additive Controlled illusion of yourself, targeting all available senses, prepared with IMCH295 and IMCH101 (and IMCH388 if you know it); and a gramaric circuit (via HEUR101) connecting them all, controlled by an Exotic Intelligence prepared using HEUR328. Finally, you place your own body and equipment within the semi-space, as an element of the circuit, close the semi-space from the inside, and use a modified version of BIOY101 to transcend the physical world.
Once you transcend, your own mentality replaces the Exotic Intelligence. You keep your mental ability scores, but lose your physical scores. Like a normal Exotic Intelligence, you can take 10 on all mental skill checks, and can make up to 100 logical decisions within your Essence Vault circuit per round. You have telepathy and mindsight within your Essence Vault's bubble (both inside and out).
Your Essence Vault has a bubble which extends outward in realspace from the location of your closed semi-space, to a radius based on your normal size (5 feet if you are Medium or smaller, 10 feet if you are Large, 15 feet if you are Huge, etc.). Your Convergence (farseer) ability applies within this bubble, and extends to the normal range of your vision (rather than being limited to 10 feet beyond the edge of the bubble). The only visual manifestation of your existence is the illusion of yourself within the bubble. This illusion functions exactly as if you were incorporeal at all times, as per your Minor Virtuality ability, except that all equipment you have on your physical body inside the space is incorporeal with you. If you used IMCH388 in the preparation of your illusion, you can spend uses of your Minor Virtuality ability to instead become fully corporeal for 1 minute.
Unlike other semi-spaces, you can move the location of your Essence Vault (and its associated bubble) with the integrated Simple Orthogonal Engine. It moves with a fly speed equal to your land speed, with perfect maneuverability. Your physical body becomes the fuel source for the circuit, and you need no outside source of
puissance to run your engine or the other principles which make up your Vault. If you know HEUR302, you can prepare principles that you know in the physical world, as normal for a gramarist.
Your mind is forever divorced from your body, and can never return to it. However, you may change your equipment by opening your Essence Vault (a very dangerous proposition, since you can be destroyed or crippled if elements of your circuit are removed or destroyed) and adding or removing items from your body.
If your circuit is destroyed, or if your former body within it is destroyed (removing the power source), you die; if resurrected, you return to your original state (pre-transcendance), but can transcend again by building a new Essence Vault.