|
Ok, with the distinct lack of actual Mystical Samurai, i'm pulling some minor stings with this one. Namely making characters similar to the persona characters (if you don't know what a persona is, then look here http://megamitensei.wikia.com/wiki/Megami_Ibunroku_Persona) or the samurai from shin megami tensei 4(info found here http://megamitensei.wikia.com/wiki/Shin_Megami_Tensei_IV)
The archetype lore is that your character has a second soul. A soul that is closer in ilk to non-human(angel/demon/aberrant/beast etc), and yet it is still your soul. by channeling the power from this other soul, you can manifest some of its supernatural powers to boost your physical attacks, provide protection, grant abilities, and at the highest levels summon a manifestation of him as your battle partner for a time (like a crazy mix of summoner,sorcerer and samurai). it might also work as a prestige class, with focuses in the arcane, in addition ot melee combat. Imagine a brawler, berzerker, monk etc with this kind of magical potential along with the potential for polar duality of being a servent of good/light gods while also having a shadowy demonic element of your soul.
Dark can be good, light can be bad, and the grey is not always the grey, but its the choices you make that ultimately define what you are.
|
|
How about the "spooky possessed armor" Samurai from Darkstalkers?
i Can imagine that could be a varient. Your 2nd souls apperance can be whatever you want it to be, as also is your manifestation of it.
And i Imagine imbuning your armour with your soul might make it much more protective of you.and you might even get awesome abilities too (like flying on wings made of shadow)
This is also a bit of an ideas space for discussion, rather than an main area for stats. that being said, there would probably be a pool of soul points to spend on your other souls manifestations, which would restore daily, but could also be partially replenished with a sacrifice of hp, or by synchronizing your souls(making a check which takes time) once you get to a certain level.
And casting spells with this is an option, with the right amount of manifestation points.
A samurai might not cast magic, but the persona characters and shin megami tensei samurai do it all the time. its just a matter of channeling their soul and the rest (along with your enemies) is history.
|
|
On the side, I do imagine a Cu Chulainn style archetype for the bloodrager could be really cool. For those who are not total suckers for mythology, Cu Chulainn was a hero from the Irish ulster cycle and Scottish mythology, who had the power of the riastrad, or 'warp spasm'. Think of it like a barbarians rage when suddenly his sweat turns to mutagen. When Cu Chulainn has a riastrad, he mutates rapidly as he rages. The results are... Something like this..."The first warp-spasm seized Cúchulainn, and made him into a monstrous thing, hideous and shapeless, unheard of. His shanks and his joints, every knuckle and angle and organ from head to foot, shook like a tree in the flood or a reed in the stream. His body made a furious twist inside his skin, so that his feet and shins switched to the rear and his heels and calves switched to the front... On his head the temple-sinews stretched to the nape of his neck, each mighty, immense, measureless knob as big as the head of a month-old child... he sucked one eye so deep into his head that a wild crane couldn't probe it onto his cheek out of the depths of his skull; the other eye fell out along his cheek. His mouth weirdly distorted: his cheek peeled back from his jaws until the gullet appeared, his lungs and his liver flapped in his mouth and throat, his lower jaw struck the upper a lion-killing blow, and fiery flakes large as a ram's fleece reached his mouth from his throat... The hair of his head twisted like the tange of a red thornbush stuck in a gap; if a royal apple tree with all its kingly fruit were shaken above him, scarce an apple would reach the ground but each would be spiked on a bristle of his hair as it stood up on his scalp with rage."
And it goes back to normal after he stops, he survives it, and this is coming from a HUMAN. Yeahhh, and this is one of his biggest ones during a massive battle, where he killed thousands of warriors and made walls from the dead. He also had a riastrad as a child when some children started trying hurt him. He singlehandedly kicked the tar out of the group and then killed the hound of ulster(think hellhound only mortal dog), and as an apology, became the loyal servant of the king of ulster.He also was taught by the female master of war, Scathach. She taught him techniques that would render armour a mere tissue level resistance, and put him through training that a normal human would have died on the way through it. I also see something like his special last moment being a feature, where after taking a mortal wound, he used his belt to tie himself to a stone so he could keep fighting until death(morragan, Irish godess of war and death) physically came for him in crow form. Last stand from samurai, I need to borrow you for this.
Also, this guy used a nasty weapon called the Gae Bulg, a javelin with a barbed tip. Get hit with that and you had to cut it out, taking a good chunk of your body with it. It could be used in pathfinder as an exotic javelin style weapon.
|
|
It's all fluff. If the powerset fits, all you need to do to "homebrew" your class is to say "it works exactly like X but his powers come from the soul not the blood/mind".Mechanically it works a little. Thematically, No.
And I don't believe in using the aigis class as it is psionic, with powers coming from the mind, not the soul.
You do it your way, and I will do it my way. I was thinking of doing this class for a home-brew campaign where demons/demonic creatures were able to set up domains. In the domain, the creature is way more powerful, gains a few new attacks, and is immune to some of the various cheap moves. Sleep-hard to land. Banish-Useless, since while its in its domain, it counts as being in its home plane. Death, might do a bit of damage, but it won't be a one hit kill. And the domain lasts as long as the demon is alive. that being said, the demons do take a hit to their hp to set it up, and if they die, they are kind of stuck in the mortal world as a spirit forever. which could give the shaman the chance to say "hay, do you want to be my wandering spirit so you can stop being stuck in this limbo thing."
That's ripped from shin megami tensei 4 but i do not care. It could work in other campaigns to, if the demon decides they want to set up shop in the mortal world for a bit, they can just drop down a domain and prey on any that foolishly enter it. Makes the demons in the inn, or basement more threatening when you cannot just kill them immediately.
|
|
As a side thing to your previous comment, I was wondering if making it a prestige class might work, given that it could cover a wider array of styles. The monk, channeling a second soul into his attacks. the Magus, with 2 souls. A gunslinger in the style of Dante from devil may cry. So many fluffy varients. Even jojo from jojo's bizzare adventure would be possible.
Have you checked out the Occult playtest? Honestly when I say the Spiritualist I immediately thought of Stands/Personas and I think the Medium could probably do the multiple persona thing. They aren't perfect for what you want, but perhaps a good starting point.
In the domain, the creature is way more powerful, gains a few new attacks, and is immune to some of the various cheap moves.
Also, Demon lords have rules for something like this, giving them mythic powers when they are in their domain.
|
|
Have you checked out the Occult playtest? Honestly when I say the Spiritualist I immediately thought of Stands/Personas and I think the Medium could probably do the multiple persona thing. They aren't perfect for what you want, but perhaps a good starting point.
In the domain, the creature is way more powerful, gains a few new attacks, and is immune to some of the various cheap moves.Also, Demon lords have rules for something like this, giving them mythic powers when they are in their domain.
Funny you mention it. I do have the playtest but have yet to read it proper. I did skim read and found that some of the psionic classes are coming back in official paizo style, with most of the classes going towards a more mysterious and supernatural bend, with spirits, telekinetics and other things you want to have on your side, though it opens the doors to Carrie builds for psionics, and enemies that challenge the players perceptions on what might be a threat, with the potential for really atmospheric campaigns. I would not mind putting those classes in
Also, I did not know the demon lords could do that, though they are intentional boss monsters so it is expected they have that kind of insurance. The domain thing is so I can set up the big threat while posting smaller threats with a distinct identity. The party can only hack through a dark cult leader, or evil mystic so many times before it becomes routine. Putting in a demonic alraune, within a lair filled with massive roots that try to attack the players and drag them into the walls for a good blood drain, or into a constrictive blood draining grip. The alraune might hang from the ceiling and try charming them as well, or casting magical spells. To defeat it, they would have to exploit its weakness(namely that it is a mostly stationary target, that is affected by slashing weapons and is a plant, there by vulnerable to fire). Though the alraune has been draing the blood of adventurers for some time and might have grabbed some of the sorcerers bloodline magic and powers. It's a boss ment to challange them at lower level, but can be scaled up to fit the state of the party.