The tomb

Game Master loc

Lie was raised to believe that he was special: better than the mere human chattel that served at the pleasure of the denizens of Yin-Sichasi. He received an excellent education, learning how to fight, how to speak, and how to leverage knowledge to keep people under his thumb. And then he was sent out to hunt. Runaways, rogue do-gooder adventurers, Pathfinders, and any other creature of interest to the state of Shenmen: he sought them all out per his father’s whims and brought them back, dead or alive.

On one such hunting trip, he was sent to track down an insidious ahmuuth named Xiu who had been making herself a nuisance throughout the kingdom, stoking discontent and helping mortals slay their monstrous overlords. Lie found Xiu in the burnt-out husk of an old church of Pharasma, ministering to various humans. They strove to do battle and, through the combined might of the ahmuuth and the brave humans gathered there, Lie was subdued. He told them to kill him; he could not abide the shame of defeat, and if they let him live he would hunt them down again and see their heads brought back to his father. But Xiu saw in Lie a possible convert. Xiu ensured that the humans in her charge were safe, and then trapped Lie in a mechanism that he did not fully understand.

Once trapped, Xiu engaged Lie in a series of philosophical discussions on the nature of existence, justice, and fate. These discussions lasted a thousand and one days until Lie found that he finally agreed with Xiu. Under her auspices, Lie returned to Yin-Sichasi and confronted his father in one-on-one combat. Armed with the blessings of his new psychopomp handler, Lie slew his father and finally took control of his own life. He fled Shenmen for one of its nearest neighbors, the Taldan colony of Amanandar. From there his travels took him across the many nations of Tian Xia, where he had many other adventures, though those are tales for another time.

Lie eventually established himself in Goka as a reliable man for recovering stolen artifacts. He still found himself targeted by representatives of Shenmen no matter where he traveled across Tian Xia, and so he began looking for work elsewhere on Golarion where his father’s old coworkers would have a harder time tracking him down. Leveraging his knowledge and reputation as he had been taught, he learned of the distant Avistani land of Ustalav, a place rife with the sorts of monsters that he had been raised with.

Yau Lie is a ru-shi dhampir, born to a Tian-Shu woman and a jiang-shi man. He has traditional Tian-Shu features, but his skin has a more grayish pallor, and his eyes are such a pale blue as to be nearly white. His black hair is tied in a top knot, with a sweep coming down the front and covering the right side of his face. He wields an enormous polearm which has both a hammer’s head and a spear tip: a gift from a Hellknight of the Order of the Wall, living in exile Amanandar, after helping him vanquish a Shoggti making trouble in nearby Tianjing. He balances this beautiful weapon expertly against a darkwood shield carved from a tree in the Forest of Spirits: a gift from a Kami whose forest he helped protect from the rampages of a young forest dragon. He is protected by an O-Yoroi that he received as a gift from an exiled samurai in Shokuro, whom he rescued from the clutches of an a nogitsune oni that had infiltrated the old warrior’s order. (It’s full-plate, but I’m flavoring it as samurai armor.) On this set of armor, he has carved the symbol of the psycopomp usher he serves: The Pale Horse, appropriately a former daemonic demigod who sought a measure of order and redemption after a long existence of damning souls. And finally, he wears his father’s old black and red robe, which he has recently discovered seems to contain a talkative fragment of his father’s soul. (Approximate image.)

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Defense
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AC 27, touch 12, flat-footed 26 (+10 armor, +4 shield, +1 Dex, +1 natural, +1 deflection)
hp 65 (7d8+27)
Fort +11, Ref +5, Will +9 (+2 vs. disease and mind-affecting effects; -1 vs sonic effects and spells)
Defensive Abilities negative energy affinity, resist level drain

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Offense
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Speed: 30 ft. (20 ft. in armor)
Melee: +1 cold iron lucerne hammer +13/+8 (1d12+7/x2)
Special Abilities: champion séance boon (+2), combat trick, counterstrike (+2), energy shield (30), haunt channeler (2d6), legacy weapon (+2), martial skill (+2), mind barrier (12), mind fear (DC 18), physical enhancement (+4), reaping strike +1d6, sudden speed, warding talisman (+2)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 7th)
1/day—charm person, command (DC 16)
Occultist Spells (CL 6th; concentration +11)
2nd (4/day) inflict moderate wounds, perceive cues, resist energy, rope trick
1st (6/day) enlarge person, inflict light wounds, lead blades, shield
0 (at will) grave words, mage hand, mending, resistance

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Statistics
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Str 22, Dex 12, Con 16, Int 20, Wis 12, Cha 7
Base Atk +6; CMB +12; CMD 24

Feats: Heavy Armor Proficiency, Power Attack, Shield Brace, Shield Focus, Vital Strike
Traits: Clever Wordplay [Diplomacy] (social), Pragmatic Activator (magic)
Skills: Acrobatics +3 (-5 ACP, -4 to jump), Appraise +13, Diplomacy +15, Knowledge (arcana, planes, religion) +15, Knowledge (engineering) +11, Knowledge (history) +9, Linguistics +15, Perception +16, Spellcraft +15, Use Magic Device +18; Racial Modifiers +2 Acrobatics, +2 Knowledge (engineering)
Languages: Aklo, Auran, Draconic, Elven, Infernal, Minkaian, Necril, Samsaran, Senzar, Taldane, Tien, Vudrani, Wayang
SQ: Focus Powers (Combat Trick, Counterstrike, Energy Shield, Legacy Weapon, Mind Barrier, Mind Fear, Sudden Speed), Implements (Abjuration: heavy darkwood shield; Necromancy: robe; Transmutation: cold iron lucerne hammer; Trapping of the Warrior Panoply), Hauntist, Heir to Undying Nobility, Knacks, Magic Item Skill, Mental Focus (11 points: Abjuration 4, Necromancy 1, Transmutation 6), Negative Energy Affinity, Object Reading, Possessed Possessions (Necromancy), Reaping Strike +1d6, Resist Level Drain, Resonant Powers (Champion’s Seance Boon (+2 damage on non-spell attacks), Martial Skill (BaB +2), Physical Enhancement (Strength +4 (enhancement)), Warding Talisman (Saves +2 (resistance))), Shift Focus, Sonic Sensitivity, Undead Resistance
Gear: +1 cold iron lucerne hammer, +1 full plate, +1 heavy darkwood shield, +1 amulet of natural armor, +1 ring of protection, +2 headband of vast intelligence, +2 belt of mighty constitution, eyes of the eagle, wand of inflict light wounds (full); 13 gp in coins or miscellaneous gear TBD

Combat Trick (Ex): As a move action, you can expend 3 points of mental focus to gain a single combat feat for which you qualify. This benefit lasts for 1 minute.

Counterstrike (Ex): As an immediate action when you are damaged by a melee attack, you can expend 1 point of mental focus to immediately make a single attack at your highest base attack bonus against the creature that hit you, provided that you threaten that creature. If the attack hits, you gain a bonus on the damage roll equal to 1/3 your occultist level (rounded down, minimum +1). This attack counts as an attack of opportunity.

Energy Shield (Sp): As a swift action, you can expend 1 point of mental focus to surround yourself with a shield that protects you from energy damage. Whenever you take acid, cold, electricity, or fire damage, the shield absorbs the damage (as protection from energy). The energy shield can absorb up to 5 points of energy damage per occultist level you possess. This shield lasts for 1 minute or until its power is exhausted. Its effect doesn’t stack with itself, with protection from energy, or with resist energy. You can activate the energy shield as an immediate action by expending 2 points of mental focus instead of 1. You must be at least 3rd level to select this focus power.

Legacy Weapon (Su): As a standard action, you can expend 1 point of mental focus and touch a weapon to grant it an enhancement bonus. The bonus is equal to 1 + 1 for every 6 occultist levels you possess (to a maximum of +4 at 18th level). Enhancement bonuses gained by this ability stack with those of the weapon, to a maximum of +5. You can also imbue the weapon with any one weapon special ability with an equivalent enhancement bonus less than or equal to your maximum bonus by reducing the granted enhancement bonus by the appropriate amount. The item must have an enhancement bonus of at least +1 (from the item itself or from legacy weapon) to gain a weapon special ability. In either case, these bonuses last for 1 minute.

Martial Skill (Ex): When wielding the weapon used as the panoply’s associated implement, you treat your base attack bonus as though it were 1 point higher for every 4 points of total mental focus invested in all of the associated implements, to a maximum base attack bonus equal to your occultist level. This increase can grant you additional attacks when using the full attack action (for example, a 12th-level occultist with 12 points of mental focus invested among the associated implements would be treated as having a base attack bonus of +11, with iterative attacks at a base attack bonus of +6 and +1).

Mind Barrier (Sp): As a swift action, you can expend 1 point of mental focus to create a shield of mental energy around you that protects you from harm. The shield prevents a total of 2 points of damage per occultist level you possess. It lasts until the start of your next turn or until exhausted. For example, if you are 5th level, the mind barrier protects you from 10 points of damage; if you are hit by an attack that would deal 12 points of damage, the mind barrier is exhausted and you take 2 points of damage. You can activate this ability as an immediate action, but doing so costs 2 points of mental focus instead of 1.

Mind Fear (Sp): As a standard action, you can expend 1 point of mental focus to cause a living creature to succumb to fear. The target must be within 30 feet of you, and it can attempt a Will saving throw to negate the effect. If the target fails the save and has a number of Hit Dice less than or equal to yours, it is frightened for 1d4 rounds. If the target fails the saving throw and has a number of Hit Dice greater than yours, it is instead shaken for 1d4 rounds. This is a mind-affecting fear effect.

Physical Enhancement (Su): The implement enhances its bearer’s body. When you invest mental focus in the implement, select a physical ability score. The implement grants a +2 temporary enhancement bonus to that physical ability score for every 3 points of mental focus invested in the implement (to a maximum of +2 at 1st level, plus an additional 2 for every 6 occultist levels you possess). Ability: Strength.

Sudden Speed (Sp): As a swift action, you can expend 1 point of mental focus to grant yourself a burst of speed. This increases your land speed by 30 feet for 1 minute. This ability does not stack with itself.

Warding Talisman (Su): The implement wards against adverse effects. Whoever wears (or holds, for bells) the implement gains a +1 resistance bonus on saving throws for every 2 points of mental focus invested in the implement, to a maximum bonus of 1 + 1 for every 4 occultist levels you possess.

Mental Focus (Su): An occultist can invest a portion of his mental focus into his chosen implements for the day, allowing him to utilize a variety of abilities depending on the implements and the amount of mental focus invested in them. An occultist has a number of points of mental focus equal to his occultist level + his Intelligence modifier; these points refresh each day. He can divide this mental focus between his implements in any way he desires. If an implement is lost or destroyed, the focus invested in it is lost as well, though the occultist still refreshes those points of focus normally.

Magic Item Skill (Ex): At 2nd level, an occultist’s knowledge of magic items grants him a bonus when attempting to use them. He gains a bonus on all Use Magic Device checks equal to 1/2 his occultist level.

Object Reading (Su): At 2nd level, an occultist learns how to read information from items he examines. Examining an item in this way requires him to spend 1 minute handling the item. If the item is a magic item, the occultist learns its properties and command word as if he had successfully examined the item using detect magic and succeeded at a Spellcraft check. This ability does not reveal whether the item is cursed unless the occultist’s class level is equal to or greater than the caster level of the item. If the item has any historical significance, the occultist learns one piece of information about its past (as determined by the GM). Finally, if the item was last used no longer than 1 day ago per the occultist’s class level, the occultist learns one piece of information about the last creature to use the item. This information might be a glimpse of the creature’s appearance, a brief vision of what it saw while using the item, or perhaps its emotional state when it last used the item. The GM determines what information is gained in this way. This functions like the psychometry occult skill unlock (see page 196), but doesn’t require a skill check and can be used at will.

Possessed Possessions (Su): At 2nd level, and every 4 occultist levels thereafter, when the haunt collector chooses an implement school he doesn’t already know, instead of using implements as normal for that school, he can gain access to a haunted implement—a powerful, spirit-possessed item collected during his travels. When he selects a haunted implement, he forsakes the resonant power from the item’s implement group and instead selects a spirit from the medium’s list of spirits, gaining that spirit’s seance boon in place of the resonant power. He can also call upon the implement’s haunting entity as a swift action to temporarily gain bonuses on all checks associated with the selected legendary spirit’s spirit bonus for 1 round. This spirit bonus is equal to 1/2 the amount of mental focus invested in the implement, to a maximum bonus of 1 + 1 for every 4 occultist levels the haunt collector has. He can call upon this spirit bonus a number of times per day equal to the amount of mental focus invested in the implement, though invoking it doesn’t expend any mental focus. Once the spirit type is selected for an implement, it cannot be changed. This ability alters implements.

Necromantic Champion Spirit Bonus: When you channel a champion, your spirit bonus applies on attack rolls, non-spell damage rolls, Strength checks, Strength-based skill checks, and Fortitude saves.

Necromantic Champion Seance Boon: You gain a +2 bonus on all non-spell damage rolls.

Shift Focus (Su): At 4th level, an occultist gains the ability to shift his mental focus from one implement to another, though some of the focus is lost along the way. Shifting mental focus removes a number of points of mental focus from one implement and adds the same number – 1 to another implement; this takes 1 minute of quiet contemplation while touching both implements. The occultist can shift his mental focus only from one implement to another implement; he can’t shift generic focus into an implement. Unlike expending focus normally, this shift can reduce the effect of a resonant power in the implement from which the mental focus was taken. It does not, however, add to the resonant power of the implement to which the focus is added.

Hauntist (Su): At 5th level, a haunt collector with at least one haunted implement gains the medium’s haunt channeler class feature, with an effective medium level equal to his occultist level – 2. This ability replaces aura sight.

Haunt Channeler (Su): At 3rd level, a medium can use his familiarity with spirits to assist him when dealing with haunts. He can always act on the surprise round against a haunt, and his touch funnels a portion of the haunt into himself, dealing 1d6 points of damage to the haunt per 2 medium levels he possesses as if via positive energy and allowing the medium to ask the haunt a single question. The haunt can answer the question however it chooses. Additionally, the medium can forgo his saving throw against a haunt’s effects to funnel the haunt entirely into himself. If he does so, the medium suffers the haunt’s full effect, but the haunt doesn’t affect anyone else (even if it normally would). The haunt then gains control of the medium’s body for 24 hours. Once per minute, the medium can attempt to end this possession early by succeeding at a Will save (DC = 20 + 1/2 the medium’s class level).

Reaping Strike (Su): At 1st level, whenever a mortal usher deals hit point damage by using the attack action, casting a spell that targets only a single creature, or throwing an alchemical item as a standard action (including an alchemist’s bombs), he deals an additional 1d6 points of damage to the target, plus an additional 1d6 points of damage for every 2 additional class levels he has beyond 1st. This damage is positive energy damage if the target is undead, or negative energy damage if the target is living; creatures that are neither living nor dead, such as constructs, are unaffected by this ability.

Vital Strike: At 1st level, a mortal usher gains the Vital Strike feat, and at 6th level he gains the Improved Vital Strike feat, even if he would not normally meet the prerequisites for them. If the mortal usher already has Vital Strike or Improved Vital Strike when he would gain it through this ability, he can immediately swap it for another feat for which he qualified at the level he first took it. For the purposes of qualifying for any feat that includes Vital Strike as a prerequisite, the mortal usher can use his class level in place of his base attack bonus, adding this value to his base attack bonus from any other classes he has as normal.

Traits
Clever Wordplay [Diplomacy] (social): Your cunning and logic are more than a match for another’s confidence and poise. Choose one Charisma-based skill. You attempt checks with that skill using your Intelligence modifier instead of your Charisma modifier.

Pragmatic Activator (magic): While some figure out how to use magical devices with stubborn resolve, your approach is more pragmatic. You may use your Intelligence modifier when making Use Magic Device checks instead of your Charisma modifier.

Ru-Shi Dhampir Racial Traits

If I enact enlarge person, lead blades, and legacy weapon (with bane and keen), I'm hitting (with power attack) at +13 for 3d8+16/15-20 + 3d8 + 3d6. With that output, I might as well ignore power attack. It takes three rounds of power-up to get there, so it's not likely to happen on the regular, but it is juicy.

"Magics do help when it comes to pilferin', but wha's the joy in tha? I 'ave one rule fer me business, and tha's ta go by me contrac'. Other than tha, is all fair game. Ne'er break me contrac's, an' ne'er will. We 'ave a deal?" Holding out his hand is a somewhat smartly dressed halfling, his brown eyes seem to twinkle behind his golden rimmed spectacles.

In other words, with your +15 to Heal and 7 ranks in Knowledge (planes), if you roll a natural 20, then you can heal 15 + 20 + 5 + 7 = 47 hit points as a full-round action. With Signature Skill, it's instead 14 + 5 + 7 = 26 max if you hit that DC 30.

Finally, if you have room in your equipment purchases, you could pick up Healer's Gloves, which will guarantee you meeting the minimum DC for Treat Deadly Wounds every time.

Signature Skill eventually outpaces Incredible Healer. At Level 10 when the Heal Skill Unlock becomes like a full day of bed rest, you're getting 40 hp minimum reliably, on top of which you can add your Wisdom modifier and ranks in Knowledge (planes) for, at that point, 40 + 6 + 10 = 56 max. Compare that to Incredible Healer, which will probably be 10 ranks, 6 Wis, 3 Class skill +19 for a wide range of 20 (on a natural 1) to max 19 + 20 + 6 + 10 = 55.