Re-posting from my original question in the actual product thread (as I got no answer) ...
I have some questions about the Pain Taster prestige class (found in Occult Mysteries).
The Disciple of Pain class ability refers to daily hour-long self-torture routines, both the more intentse "starter" versions and the less intense "follow-up" versions. But nowhere do I see the hit point damage and other damage caused by these routines. And there must be some, considering both the descriptions and the reference under the Pain Mastery class ability.
Did something get left out, or am I suffering from selective blindness?
As a side note, when comparing the Occult Mysteries version and the original version (in AP 15, The Armageddon Echo), the Disciple of Pain description has now been seriously upped in its "ick" factor. Maybe the mechanics didn't catch up with the flavour?
And why did the author remove the reference to the Fortitude DC 15 (or Will DC 20) saving throw needed to survive the initiation rite into the prestige class?
... furthermore, Set had some relevant questions too in the same thread:
Set wrote (and I simply copy and pasted):
In addition to that, I observed earlier that the 5th level Pain Mastery ability appears to be designed around the Disciple of Pain class ability, but instead refers to the Masochism ability (both in name and mechanics, sacrificing hit points for a bonus).
I imagine that, during conversion / updating, something got changed in mid-design, and not all changes were propogated successfully.
Also, kind of odd that in a book with new mortification techniques / rules, the Pain Taster wouldn't really interact with them. Possibly those two rules elements were written by different people who did not know what the other hand was doing and couldn't coordinate their developments?
Probably something (the questions about Pain Mastery / Masochism / Disciple of Pain) that should be FAQ'd.
/end of copy and paste
So, any answers?
No answers yet ... maybe I should post this in the rules section so it can be FAQ'ed?
You don't take damage from breaking each of your ribs?!? Or making an incision in your abdominal _cavity_, or inserting a needle into your heart, or any of the other more intense "starter" self-torture rituals?
I find that hard to believe, particularly as the "ick" factor has been upped so much since the 5-level version of this prestige class in 3.5.
Does anyone know who was responsible for the Pain Taster prestige class' revised write-up in Occult Mysteries? I would really like to get some answers to the questions above ...
For those of us still interested in these issues, Mark Moreland (the developer in question) kindly weighed in with some answers here.