| Benly |
So I had these lying around, and seeing another poster's take on making kitsune sorcerers more mythological-feeling prompted me to get around to posting my own. These are fairly powerful feats, since I tend to err on the side of making things a little strong and then toning them down as needed; the text is also fairly lengthy since I like to clarify my homebrews and avoid awkward ambiguities.
The Fox Sorcery feat arose from my noticing that a sorcerer gets very little benefit from taking the Magical Tail feat, so I wanted to implement a way for a kitsune sorcerer to end up as a proper nine-tailed magical fox. The three followup feats each help modify the character to fit one of the many mythological variations of the nine-tailed fox - a ghostly being that mimics the dead and spreads disease, a demon that possesses the living and eats their flesh, or an emissary from the spirits bearing good and bad fortune.
Fox Sorcery
You have integrated your spellcasting talents with your race's magical abilities.
Prerequisites: Kitsune, able to spontaneously cast dancing lights
Benefits: At first level and every odd-numbered level thereafter, you grow an additional tail, to a maximum of nine. If you know fewer than nine of the spells from the following list, you are instead limited to a number of tails equal to the number of spells you are able to spontaneously cast from this list: dancing lights, disguise self, charm person, misdirection, invisibility, suggestion, displacement, confusion, and dominate person.
Your tails grant several magical benefits. If you possess the Kitsune Magic racial trait, you may use faerie fire in place of your dancing lights spell-like ability. When you apply metamagic to one of the spells from the list above, the final spell level of the spell after modification is treated as one lower, to a minimum of the spell's original level. This does not stack with other benefits that reduce the cost of metamagic feats. If you also possess the Fox Shape feat, you may cast these spells while in fox form without requiring the ability to speak or make arcane gestures, although if you lack the ability to speak in fox form you may only make simple suggestions with suggestion. You must still speak and gesture to cast spells with verbal and somatic components in human or kitsune form, and are still subject to arcane spell failure.
Special: If you possess the Magical Tail feat, spell-like abilities granted by that feat count as knowing the relevant spell for purposes of this feat; you do not actually gain the spell as a spell known, and instead of the metamagic bonus, you gain an extra use per day of that spell-like ability. Spells known from this feat's list count as spell-like abilities already possessed for purposes of the Magical Tail feat; thus, if you know disguise self and charm person, your first Magical Tail feat will grant you misdirection as a spell-like ability.
Ghost Fox Sorcery
One of your ancestors was a ghost fox, a kitsune of great magical power who clung to life after death to spread disease and misery among the living.
Prerequisites: Kitsune, Fox Sorcery, undead bloodline
Benefits: The spells contagion and greater contagion are added to your spells known as a third-level and fifth-level spell respectively as soon as you have the ability to cast spells of the appropriate level. These spells benefit from Fox Sorcery's metamagic bonus, and if you have Fox Shape, you may cast these spells while in fox form as per Fox Sorcery. When a humanoid dies in your presence, you can choose to "learn" its image. Thereafter, when you assume human form, you can choose to assume the learned form instead of your own, exactly duplicating that person's physical appearance. This is a physical transformation rather than an illusion and grants most of the benefits of alter self, although you do not gain the associated ability score bonus. In addition to the usual benefits of magical disguise, you take on the person's voice and minor habits, gaining a +20 to both Disguise and Bluff checks to pass as that person. (This does not stack with the bonuses granted by Disguise Self or similar effects.) However, your tails remain semi-present in this form - while they will magically conceal themselves even under clothes too close-fitting to allow it, anyone who sees you naked, looks under your robes, or otherwise inspects your backside without the full concealment of clothes will spot your tails, ruining the disguise. Disguise self or similar illusions may conceal the tails, but imperfectly; anyone who interacts with you in a situation that would normally expose your tails while so disguised gets another Perception check to see through your disguise, using disguise self's bonus instead of this ability's normally-superior bonus, and anyone who actually touches the area where your tails should be will feel the tails there. You may only learn one appearance at a time at low levels, but gain the ability to learn another at fifth level and every five levels thereafter (to a maximum of five learned appearances at twentieth level.) If you learn another appearance when you already have learned your maximum number, you lose the ability to assume one of the appearances you have previously learned.
When you acquire your ninth tail, you take on some of the qualities of the undead. You may choose to be treated as either a humanoid or an undead creature for the purposes of any effect which treats the two types differently.
Demon Fox Sorcery
One of your ancestors was a kitsune who became a diabolic figure through wicked acts and dark contracts, using their powers to possess mortals and devour them.
Prerequisites: Kitsune, Fox Sorcery, infernal or abyssal bloodline
Benefits: The spells marionette possession and magic jar are added to your spells known as soon as you are able to cast spells of the appropriate level. These spells benefit from Fox Sorcery's metamagic bonus, and if you have Fox Shape, you may cast these spells while in fox form as per Fox Sorcery. As a full-round action, you may remove and devour a vital organ from a living helpless enemy. Make a coup de grace attempt against that enemy; if the enemy dies as a result, you gain the benefits of death knell. If you are damaged when you use this ability, you may choose to recover 1d4+1 hit points instead of gaining 1d8 temporary hit points.
When you acquire your ninth tail, the fiendish power within you awakens. You may choose to be treated as either a humanoid or an outsider with the (evil) subtype for the purposes of any effect which treats the two types differently.
Fox Emissary Sorcery
One of your ancestors was chosen to act as a fox emissary, given the power to convey blessings and curses from the fey spirits of the First World to the mortal world.
Prerequisites: Kitsune, Fox Sorcery, fey bloodline
Benefits: The spells bestow curse and major curse are added to your spells known as a third-level and fifth-level spell respectively as soon as you are able to cast spells of the appropriate level. These spells benefit from Fox Sorcery's metamagic bonus, and if you have Fox Shape, you may cast these spells while in fox form as per Fox Sorcery. When an ally within 30' of you makes a d20 roll and you dislike the outcome, you may cause the d20 to be rerolled as an immediate action and use the new outcome in its place. No individual may benefit from such a reroll more than once per day, and you may not grant a reroll to yourself. Once per week, you can extend a great blessing to either a community or an individual to whom you have never granted either a great blessing or a reroll. If you bless a community, they will enjoy general prosperity and well-being for a month; if you bless an individual, he will enjoy some great stroke of luck within the next month. Only one community may enjoy your blessing at a time, although you may continue to bless individuals while a community is generally blessed. The exact effects of a great blessing are always up to the GM to decide, and will generally not directly assist you as an adventurer. While you may well enjoy the goodwill and favor of those blessed, attempts to extort great wealth or enormous favors by the granting or withholding of blessings have been known to backfire from time to time, generally to the detriment of whichever greedy parties came up with the scheme to exploit the First World's blessings. The exact details are again up to the GM's discretion; the spirits of good fortune will be more likely to look favorably on a kitsune who lives comfortably off voluntary gifts than one who extorts expensive items from those under her blessing. You may extend a second great blessing per week at tenth level, and a third at twentieth level, although all restrictions on who may receive a great blessing apply as usual.
When you acquire your ninth tail, you take on some of the qualities of the fey. You may choose to be treated as either humanoid or fey for the purposes of any effect which treats the two types differently.
| Benly |
Eugh, obviously right after I post this I think of a way of sorting out a concern I had with things like Persistent Spell. The current version replaces the abusable and unwieldy metamagic bonus with:
"As a full-round action, you may modify these spells and bloodline bonus spells with a spell level equal to or less than your number of tails with either the effects of the Extend Spell feat or the effects of the Still Spell and Silent Spell feats. You do not require the relevant metamagic feats to do this, and the spell level of the spell is not adjusted."
This raises the spectre of casting in full armor, of course, which is doable with feat investment as long as you only ever want to cast spells off a predetermined list and never want to move and cast in the same round. Aside from that, the main purpose is to let the character cast subtly or in fox form when needed, or stay disguised/invisible a little longer. The bloodline bonus is just throwing a bone; there are probably abuses I haven't thought of, but they're also probably less problematic than Persistent Dominate Person with kitsune save DCs.
| Matrixryu |
This is an interesting way of handling the different kitsune themes. I like how the various feats work with different bloodlines and grant different benefits when you gain nine tails. :D
The length of the feats could be an issue. On one hand you were able to fit in a lot more flavor than I was when trying to restrict the size of the kitsune sorcerer bloodline that I posted, but on the other hand I think these are several times longer than the longest feat that Paizo has put out. Though, I guess length doesn't matter that much in homebrew setting ;)
| Benly |
This is an interesting way of handling the different kitsune themes. I like how the various feats work with different bloodlines and grant different benefits when you gain nine tails. :D
The length of the feats could be an issue. On one hand you were able to fit in a lot more flavor than I was when trying to restrict the size of the kitsune sorcerer bloodline that I posted, but on the other hand I think these are several times longer than the longest feat that Paizo has put out. Though, I guess length doesn't matter that much in homebrew setting ;)
There are two reasons for that, pretty much.
First, my basic standpoint is that since I don't need to worry so much about page space, I can make sure my material is clearly worded rather than having a few lines of feat and then pages of FAQs and clarifications. Ghost Fox Sorcery's face-stealing would probably say something like "this works as Alter Self, except that you keep your tails. Your tails will magically conceal themselves under any clothes that cover your backside" and then have a bunch of forum threads titled "Ghost Fox + Looking Up Skirt - what do?" For readability purposes, I could probably break a lot of the clarifications down to "special" sections, though.
Second, these feats would probably be split across multiple chunks of material in an official Paizo product, leading to a mass of almost-useful feats that nobody ends up taking. If Fox Emissary Sorcery were structured after most official Paizo racial feats, it would probably be three feats: one for the bonus spells, one for the reroll, and one for the great blessing, even though the great blessing is explicitly not mechanically useful for adventuring and the bonus spells are deliberately ones that are redundant but flavorful for anyone who qualifies to take it.