[Tome] The Endbringer

[Dominicius]

The Endbringer



“...for all things come to an end and in the multiverse there is no such thing as life eternal.” – the final proclamation over Ventalus, a dead world.


An Endbringer is an individual with the power to bring oblivion to an entire world. Such power can stem from pure hatred or it can be carefully bred and trained for a specific purpose but whatever the source one thing is constant, those that take up this mantel will never again value life in the same way. They become less human and more like to the great and terrible powers of the multiverse. Because of this, few characters are able to walk this path but those that do are among the most feared and hated individuals in the existence.


Entry Requirements
Character Level: 15
Alignment: Varies

Hit Die: d10
Base Attack Bonus: 1/2
Good Saving Throws: Will
Skill Points: 6+Int
Class Skills: The Endbringer does not have class skills, instead he can continue to advance in skills from a single class he already has levels in.

Level:	Abilities:
1:	Path, World Link, End Time, Form of Doom
2:	Life Link
3:	Cloak of the Destroyer
4:	Heart of Darkness
5:	Worldbreak

Class Feature

All ability save DCs are based on the character's highest mental ability modifier.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The Endbringer gains no new proficiency with any weapon or armour.

Path (Ex): At first level the Endbringer can choose to focus on magic or on combat. The first makes all Endbringer levels advance spellcasting in a class that the character already has levels in. The later cause all Endbringer to have good BAB instead of poor and gives the character access to a bonus combat feat at first level and every second level thereafter.

World Link (Ex): To use many of his abilities an Enbringer must establish a link with the world he walks upon. Establishing or breaking a link is a laborious process that needs to be performed uninterrupted for 24 hours. At the end loses the ability to travel between planes, being affected by the equivalent of a Dimensional Anchor Spell with an infinite caster level, in return the character can sense living creatures anywhere on the world up to being able to pinpoint their exact location and can tell exactly how much HD they have.
To forcibly break a link established by an Endbringer a character must use the Wish spell and wait for a day, after which the Endbringer must make a Fortitude Save (DC equal to the Wish DC). If he fails, the link is broken.

End Time (Ex): All worlds have an End Time, when all things upon it are destined to oblivion. An Endbringer who has established a bond with a world knows how to bring this time to the present. This process usually involves fulfilling the prophecies and conditions laid down centuries ago and were woven into the fabric of the world from the very beginning.
Should an Endbringer ever be successful in his mission then a link will open between the world he is bound to and the negative energy plane, causing it to gain the Major Negative Planar Trait at which point the world will never again be able to sustain life.

Form of Doom (Ex): The Endbringer can assume a form of his choosing, causing him to radiate an aura of terror and despair. All those that look upon the Endbringer directly while he is in this form must make a Will save or cower for one day. Those that make their saving throw are instead shaken until they lose sight of the Endbringer. Creatures that are immune to fear are automatically shaken instead.
This form can be anything that the Endbringer chooses, ranging from a burning angel to a faceless horror, but once chosen no other form may be assumed. This is not an illusion but a distortion of reality itself as such True Seeing and similar offer no protection against this ability.

Life Link (Ex): If an Endbringer dies while on a world he is linked to he can leech life from the very planet itself to revive two days later after being slain in random location in the world. This replicates the effects of true resurrection. In addition, the character becomes immune to ability damage and ability and level drain as long as the bond is maintained.

Cloak of the Destroyer (Su): The Endbringer can surround himself in a vortex of negative energy. Anyone trying to attack him or use a hostile spell against him (spell that do not have the 'harmless' descriptor in their saving throw) must make Fortitude save with a DC of 40 or instantly crumble to ash. Those who make their saving throw become immune to this ability for one round. This is a supernatural death effect.

Heart of Darkness (Ex): Some people become Endbringers because they lust for power and this is the reason why. From this point on, every creature that the Endbringer kills that is native to the world he is linked to has its soul trapped in his heart (if the creature has no heart than it simply grows a large black sapphire within itself). The Enbringer’s heart can hold an unlimited amount of souls and he can use them for any purpose he desires (this varies from game to game but generally anything that a soul can be used for in a setting is fair game to the Endbringer).
An Enbringer’s heart is a much valued item that can only be taken from a dead Enbringer who is not linked to any world. Usually such hearts contain countless souls making them sought after prizes for the powers that be.
An Endbinger who has his heart taken cannot be revived.

Worldbreak (Su): At the Apotheosis of his power an Enbringer can destroy an entire world with a single blow. This ability can manifest as either a large meteor descending upon the world, an archer firing an arrow directly up into the sky or a bard who plays the tune to end existence.
Once a day, by channeling for two full round actions the character can unleash an attack that instantly destroys any creature of level 20 or lower. Creatures above level 20 need to make Fortitude with a DC of 45 or suffer the same fate. This is not a death effect. If an Endbringer uses this attack upon a world where the conditions for the End Time were met then its range increases to ‘world’ and ignores immunity to energy drain such as that even undead are affected. Creatures killed by this ability do not rise as wights.
If the Enbringer takes damage while channeling this ability he must make a concentration check equal to the damage taken or waste the ability.


Campaign Information
The Endbringer makes for a great traditional villain for most campaigns where the fate of an entire world is at stake but that does not always need to be the case. There are several ideas for how you can introduce this class into your games to suit your needs.


Save the World
“I will never allow the destruction of this world! You will not harm anyone!”

In a traditional campaign an Endbringer is the ultimate villain and the final enemy the heroes are likely to face. In such a game entering the Endbringer class should only be taken by evil characters and completely unavailable to all others. The Endbringer in such campaigns wants to end the world because he is either after power (Sephiroth), enjoys destruction (Kefka), or a perceived injustice (Kuja).
Perhapse the most fun thing about this class is that you as a DM can fit the End Time conditions to the story you wish to run, allowing you to keep the class well within the confines of the campaign

The Gods War
“By the decree of Bahamut, this world and all its inhabitants are sentenced to oblivion.”

War is constant in the multiverse and no wars are more terrible than those of the gods. In this campaign a single god could potentially rules over multiple worlds and all of their inhabitants and wage war over worlds that belong to other gods. And when a god considers a world a lost cause he uses Endbringers to deal with it. A good god might send an angel of death to a world which he considers irredeemably evil or an evil god can seek to destroy a world from which a good god draws most of his strength. In the end however, good and evil are just words in this type of game and there is no one that is truly righteous.
With this model it is entirely possible for the PCs to be in the role of Endbringers rather than the other way around. They would act to fulfil the will of their god or act as independent assassins on a cosmic scale. Good characters with levels in Endbringer are nothing out of the ordinary.

Enemy from the Beyond
“It has been imprisoned for ten thousand years and now... it is hungry.”

An Endbringer can also fill the role of a faceless horror/ancient evil that travels from world to world and devours all life there. In such a campaign the PCs would mainly concern themselves with stopping the Enbringer from coming to their world or becoming free in the first place. Actually fighting the faceless horror is not something to be done lightly and will need a lot of build up and preparation, in the end it might even come to pass that the PCs will not be able to save their homeworld only to come face to face with its destroyer later when they become more powerful.
This setup works well for campaigns that want a grimmer feel than Save the World but do not want to into the 40k territory of the Gods War.

In any case, be careful about introducing this class into your campaign if you are afraid of putting your campaign world on the line. Be sure you are aware of the risks involved.

=====

This will probably be the last class I do. For the most part I feel that there are already classes to cover everything people would want to play so I do not feel there is anything I can add after this.

Anyway, any input is welcomed.

[Kaelik]

Form of Doom needs to be specified as a fear effect, or needs some different wording.

As it is not currently specified, Paladins may argue about their level of subject to Cowering, and if you want it to bypass Fear immunity, then you should know that you have to change the wording of Shaken, currently, if a Paladin or otherwise Fear immune creature makes it's save, they cannot become shaken, so they are not unless you specifically change the wording to "Have the effects of being shaken as a non fear effect" or "are shaken, even if they are otherwise immune to fear."

Also, I have no idea what you mean by "ignores all immunities" and neither do you.

Are creatures in Temporal Stasis killed? Are imprisoned creatures killed? Are undead, you know, the ones that heal from negative energy killed? What about someone immune to negative levels, but not to negative energy, what about immune to negative energy, but doesn't heal from it?

[Grek]

I think the favour on this flass is fucking retarded. Just saying.

[Kaelik]

I think the favour on this flass is fucking retarded. Just saying.

Me too, but that's really not worth posting most of the time.

[Josh_Kablack]

Why the hell is this a prestige class and not just a unique monster / template?

You're only making more work for yourself by writing it out as a PrC

[Dominicius]

I'd have gladly made it a template if they at all worked outside of DM jurisdiction. When given into the hands of the players the crushing LA causes all sorts of problems.


Yea forgot to make FoD a supernatural feat effect.

As for worldbreak, I am not sure how to properly word it. The no immunities part is meant to prevent defense but it does not prevent evasion. Stuff like Temporal Stasis or Time Hop allow you to evade the attack because you are on entirely different time stream when the it happens. But if you actually get hit then there is no protection against the negative levels. That is the intent anyway.

Also, what do you consider stupid about the fluff? Just so I know what needs fixing.

[Prak]

Damnit. I was hoping for a Hecatomb class...

hmm.... which reminds me that fusing mechanics need to be worked out... and probably never will work well, anyway...

[Josh_Kablack]

I'd have gladly made it a template if they at all worked outside of DM jurisdiction. When given into the hands of the players the crushing LA causes all sorts of problems.

How many games do you see where players can honestly expect to play 16th+ level world-shatterers? Do you honestly run such games or expect anyone to run such games?

This is obviously a campaign's archvillan, and nothing but a campaign's archvillan and I stand by my assertion the writing such up as PrCs is a wasteful use of your own time.

[Krusk]

I think the favour on this flass is fucking retarded. Just saying.

I think the crunch on this class is pretty awful too.

Level 1 in the class gives you literally nothing but the ability not to leave that plane.

Why specifiy alignment only to write "Varies". Waste of space and time.

World Link - Infinate Caster Levels - This is stupid. Don't do it. Infinate anything is bad to put into rules and just begging for someone to abuse it.

Life Link - If he dies while on a world he is incapable of leaving. (Waste of space text).

Cloak of Destroyer - Fort save vs what, and instant death against anyone who attacks or uses a "Hostile Spell" is stupid. More importantly, define hostile spell please. (Accidental cure light wounds without knowing the PC is an undead?)

World Break - two rounds, and then the world ends. this is dumb. I mean its tome, and level 20 abilities usually just say "You win" but this is dumb even by those standards.

[Prak]

Endbringer

Unbeknownst to many, there is a secret game for the fate of every world, and yes, there are many of them. The Endbringer is a player of this game, and strives to destroy worlds to increase their own power. To destroy world, one must undertake a vast, consuming ritual, using 20 key souls, and as many lesser souls as they can obtain.
This may seem a simple task, but each Endbringer is in contention with the others. Even those who form temporary alliances never truly trust or stop working against their ally of convenience. Indeed, an Endbringer is almost always mentored by another, and must either escape, or kill their mentor. Beyond their rivals, the are heroes of Hope and Virtue which defend the worlds, and even other villains who do not wish their world destroyed will fight Endbringers (perhaps all their stuff is there).
That said, no Endbringer, save those who die to foolish mistakes early on, is alone in their bid for power. There are dark gods which are more than willing to grant Endbringers favor for a taste of the sacrifices that would otherwise be offered up to the nothingness of the universe.
Finally, Endbringers often seek out, or craft for themselves, relics of great power.
Strictly speaking, there's nothing saying an Endbringer must actually destroy worlds, but it's typically the entire appeal of the path. Others, usually those who aren't completely insane, see the value in Endbringer powers for other pursuits which can often bring them plenty of power in their own right. In fact, the favouring gods tend to prefer these Endbringers who don't end worlds, as it means the god doesn't have to pack up and leave, or try to find new followers on another world.

Requirements
Alignments: Any Evil
Skills: Knowledge (Arcana, Religion, or the Planes) 8r
Special: Must be trained by an existing Endbringer (just long enough to gain their first class level), or given the knowledge of the path by a powerful outsider, or read the Tome of Endings. Must perform a sacrifice strictly to become an Endbringer (basically kill someone, "in the name of/for the glory of" a god, and not accept any Sacrifice Reward).

HD: d8
BAB: Special, see below
Saves: Good Will
Skills:
Skill Points: 4+Int

Level	Special]
1	Craft of Doom, Soul Harvest, Form of Doom, Minions
2	Sphere, Doom Touched Immunity
3	Dark God's Favour
4	Sphere, Doomy Doom Artifacts of Doom
5	Soul Sustenance
6	Sphere, End Bringing

Craft of Doom
There are many ways to end a world, but they can all be classified into one (or possibly more) of four categories, known as the Dooms. The Doom of Corruption poisons the world and it's inhabitants, making them the instrument of their own destruction. The Doom of Deceit fools the Endbringer's quarry into seeing them as an ally, or even a hero, and thus he may work with less resistance. The Doom of Destruction goes out and pursues the destruction of a world in a proactive manner which usually involves much more outright violence and many more weapons than other dooms typically do. The Doom of Gluttony merely consumes and acquires, eating and stealing what it wants.
While most Endbringers are spellcasters, there is nothing which requires them to be. At first level, the Endbringer decides which Doom he primarily works with, which will influence later abilities, and how his basic abilities progress, which typically coincides with their doom.

• Corruption Endbringers typically begin as spellcasters and continue to grow as such, having a Poor (1/2 HD) BAB, but gaining in spellcasting ability with each level as if they had gone up a level in their original class (but only the spellcasting bit). Corruption Endbringers gain a bonus equal to half their character level on Diplomacy, Disable Device, Escape Artist, and Knowledge checks as they seduce those they converse with to their way of thinking surprisingly easily, corrode physical matter with a mere touch and act of will, and constantly hear whispers of creatures outside of time about all manner of things.
• Deceit Endbringers are often thieves and liars to begin with, and the knowledge of dark secrets does not change this, giving them Fair (3/4 HD) BAB, and the Sneak Attack ability of a Rogue (Rogue and Endbringer Levels stack in this event. If the Endbringer belonged to a class with an ability similar to, but different from SA, the Scout's Skirmish abilty, or the Ninja's Sudden Strike, for example, the Endbringer may choose to improve this ability instead). Deceit Endbringers gain a bonus equal to half their character level on Bluff, Disguise, Forgery and Use Magic Device checks, for obvious reasons.
• Destruction Endbringers are almost without exception great, swaggering warlords, wading into battle for themselves, alongside their minions and Abominations. They were generally members of a martial class before learning the Path of Endbringing, and continue to improve their combat abilities, gaining Full (1/1 HD) BAB, and gaining, or improving, a Barbarian's Rage ability (levels stack for Core Barbarian Rage, Tome Barbarian Rage Dice and the DR gained from the Tome Rage ability). Destruction Endbringers gain a bonus equal to half character level on Disable Device and Intimidate checks, and a bonus Combat, Necromantic (use Character Level in place of Caster Level), Monstrous (Fiend, etc.), or Skill (Disable Device or Intimidate) feat at 7th level and every three levels thereafter (10th, 13th, etc.)
• Greed Endbringers do not generally have a common beginning (though there is a strange preponderance of monstrous races who have become Greed Endbringers). Greed Endbringers gain the BAB of their creature type (Humanoids gain Fair, Undead Half, Outsiders Full, etc.), and a Bite attack and the Swallow Whole ability. The damage of a Greed Endbringer's Bite, and the max size they can swallow depend upon the character's level, with every five levels constituting a virtual increase in size for these purposes (they do not gain ability bonuses, natural armour, actual size increase, or any other effect of changing size, they merely do more damage with their bite, and can swallow larger creatures. Swallowed creatures are not held within the Endbringer's body, but rather a demi-plane with the minor negative dominant trait, and otherwise shares the traits of whatever plane the Endbringer is on. This does not change the way Swallow Whole works at all). Greed Endbringers gain a bonus equal to half character level on Appraise, Gather Info, Sleight of Hand, and Survival checks as they become intimately familiar with all manners of riches, know the best ways to steal information and goods, and are sustained by their gluttony even when all around them is dust and rocks.

Soul Harvest
Anytime an Endbringer, a minion under their direction, or Abomination controlled by them kills a creature with an Intelligence of 3 or more, the soul of that creature is bound to the Endbringer. They may unbind these souls to create Soulgems as normal, but they are generally much more valuable to an Endbringer than that. These souls fuel the rituals they use to destroy worlds, and cannot be removed from them except as specified: if they choose to release a soul, it will return to the creature's body, if it is animate or preserved, returning the creature to life, otherwise it goes on to the afterlife as normal. They may also place them into gems as a character usually would.
An Endbringer may only have up to 2(Character Level) souls bound to him at any time.
A soul may be unbound by a wish spell, but only if it has not otherwise been released or used.

Yes, you have to keep track of the things you've killed. To be honest, it's highly unlikely someone's going to want to unbind Goblin #3's soul, so you can probably just keep track of named characters, possibly making a mark next to the name that you've likely already written down to remember the name of a plot important NPC, and then keep a chart of number of things killed by HD.

Form of Doom
The special effects department works overtime on the Endbringer. While it will not change his stats in any way, and his general form must remain roughly the same, he may otherwise appear anyway he wishes, so long as it does not duplicate another creature. Effectively, the Endbringer can pick a bunch of Fiendish Physical Traits to manifest. Regardless of his form, he always is surrounded by a palpable field of wrongness, detectable by those who know how (Radiates Evil as an Evil Outsider), which otherwise acts as the Fear Aura of a Bone Devil (Charisma Based DC). Endbringers may also take Necromantic and Fiend feats, using Character Level as Caster Lever when it matters.

Minions
The Endbringer, above all else, is a leader. A cult leader, an army leader, a commander of bound demons, it doesn't matter, they command a horde of lesser creatures to bring them glory. The Endbringer gains a [Leadership] feat of their choice. These minions are not controlled through any magical, absolute means, but rather mundane means, such as pay, sacrifice, fear, devotion, etc. It is possible that you will tell your minions to do something, and they will refuse. You'll probably kill them and go round up some more, though, so it's not like it's a huge thing.

By the source material (Hecatomb, an experimental, and poorly executed game by WotC), Endbringers should be able to merge minions into Abominations. I have yet to work out a proper method of doing this, though I'm currently thinking of just using prescribed templates by creature type and a bullshit ritual, possibly costing souls.

Sphere
At 2nd level, the Endbringer begins to gain the innate power of his chosen Doom. He gains Basic Access to a Sphere, chosen from the list below, and no, it need not match the doom he chose as his primary at level one.
The Endbringer gains access to another sphere, or improves his access to a sphere already possessed every other level. Endbringers gain Fiendish Traits for each Sphere they Possess.
[insert list of spheres here, ordered by dooms. It's forthcoming]

Doom Touched Immunity
The powerful energies of the Dooms do not leave an Endbringer untouched, and not every touch is scarring. A 2nd level Endbringer gains immunity to a specific effect tied to his Primary Doom.

• Corruption- Knowing well the path of Corruption and seduction of ideals, the Corruption Endbringer is immune to mind affecting effects, the simplest form of corruption.
• Deceit- The energies of Deceit grant their Endbringers a limited immunity to the deception of others, manifesting as the ability to ignore illusion effects of a spell level lower than or equal to half their character level.
• Destruction-Destruction Endbringers are notably more resilient than their fellows from other Dooms. They are immune to Smite effects (not just the extra damage, the attack literally does not affect them), and an Energy Type of their choosing.
• Greed- The energies of Greed render their Endbringers immune to disease and poison, the better to consume and acquire all they set their eyes upon.

Dark God's Favour
By third level, the Endbringer has attracted the favour of a dark god. This gives them access to a sphere/domain (Endbringer's choice as to which it acts as), and a turning/rebuking ability, according to the chosen god.
[insert list of gods]

Doomy Doom Artifacts of Doom
Endbringers seek out and create powerful items known as Relics. Creation of a Relic is possible through the expenditure of a bound soul (the Endbringer gains Craft of the Soulstealer). No feat is needed to create an item. Otherwise, relics are created as normal for a given type of item, save for the following specifications:

• The Endbringer's Character Level functions as Caster Level for the creation of an item.
• The Endbringer may create Artifacts which are within his Character Level
• The Endbringer may substitute Evil spells of the same level for any required spell he does not have (in effect using the power that would other wise cast said evil spell to mimic the effect of the other).
• Endbringer Created Relics always radiate evil, at the Creating Endbringer's aura strength or the items, whichever would be stronger.

Soul Sustenance
At fifth level, the Endbringer is sustained by his evil. When a fifth level Endbringer is reduced to or below -10 hp, his body automatically consumes a soul to place his body into a recuperative sleep during which time the Endbringer gains Fast Healing equal to the HD of the soul used until they've reached half max hit points, or have been awakened (any method of awakening that would require a roll has it's DC raised by 10. Automatic forms of awakening a target, such as spells, require a Character Level Check by the character trying to wake the Endbringer against a DC of 10+Endbringer's character level). This process always consumes the least powerful soul by HD bound to the Enfbringer. Complete destruction of the body kills the Endbringer, but this will not free souls he has bound to him.
In cases where the Endbringer has "died" since a specific soul has been bound, there is a percentile chance it is no longer there to be unbound. This chance is equal to 100/# of souls bound, minimum one percent.

End Bringing
By the end of the class, the Endbringer understands the secrets necessary to destroy a world. Using the Sacrifice rewards system from Book of Vile Darkness, he may conduct a lengthy ceremony involving mass sacrifices to destroy the plane he is on. The Knowledge Religion DC for this sacrifice is 100, and only modifiers from "Sacrifice Elements" apply to his check (no feats, class bonuses, items, whatever, just his ranks, unmodified ability bonus, and Sacrifice Elements). The ceremony requires 20 victims of 16+HD, known as Keysouls, (which gives a +80), which may be sacrificed then, or taken from souls bound to the Endbringer (in the latter case, they do contribute to his check). The Ceremony automatically consumes all souls bound to the Endbringer, whether they're used to fuel it or not, and lasts 10 hours, minimum (half an hour per Keysoul, whether sacrificed during the ceremony or taken from bound souls). The bound souls are consumed ten minutes prior to the end of the ceremony (and the total length is determined before it begins, so no saying "oh, no, it's going to be another hour... yeah..." right as someone snipes you from the crowd).
After the Ceremony is finished, the plane gains the major negative planar trait, and is destroyed in ten minutes. If the Endbringer is slain before the plane is destroyed, it will be saved, though much damage will already have been done.

And that's how you create an apocalypse causing class. It may not be great (I was going off the top of my head and spot adjudicating), but at least it has a specific flavour.

Suggestions and feedback are welcome. I'd like to make the class a bit longer, because saying "Hey, congrats on reaching level 11, you can destroy the world" is just weird... but I'd need to work on more abilities, this is the strictest base line for the source material, pretty much.

[Miryafa]

These are what's going through my head as I'm reading it.

World Link (Ex): If you can sense where any creature in the world is at any time, that's great.
The Fort DC is that of the Wish right?

End Time (Ex): This doesn't mechanically do anything. Just add it on to World Link, and say like "5 days from when this is activated the world will end" or "as a standard action, the character can begin the end of the world," and then the world gains the traits of a minor negative energy plane.

Form of Doom (Su): How about Will DC 15 + level? That would be cool.

Cloak of the Destroyer (Su): Fort DC 15 + level? That would be cool. Actually, I would prefer a fortitude DC of 40 or so for this.

Heart of Darkness (Su): If you give the ability to create soul gems with the souls you've sucked up, that meshes perfectly with Frank & K's Wish economy.

Worldbreak (Su): I'd like to imagine floating parallel to the ground and attacking it with a black and red glowing scythe.
Instead of 20 negative levels, why not just all living things die, this is not a death effect, and all nonliving things are destroyed.
Instead of within 10 miles, why not just everything on the planet, usable only when linked?

[Dominicius]

Well this class may not have been my best work but I still owe it some attention. I've taken into account the comments and made some tweaks to it, hopefully it is more polished now.