The stoneheart is an archetype of the bloodrager class, available to vishkanya bloodragers.
While medusa that breed with humans produce only their own kind, vishkanya do not breed true in the same fashion. Stonehearts lack the effortless magical power of true medusa and instead blend the inherited magical and physical abilities of the parentage into a unique and potent fighting style.
Ancestral Gaze:
While the stoneheart is bloodraging, she channels the petrifying power of the medusa in her own fashion. As a swift action she may target an enemy within 30 feet and begin to petrify them, dealing 1d6 points of damage and an additional 1d6 damage every four levels thereafter when she selects them and at the beginning of each of her turns. An enemy that takes damage from ancestral gaze becomes fatigued. An enemy that is slain outright by ancestral gaze is turned to stone. Enemies that are immune to petrification are immune to this damage.
The enemy may attempt to avoid the gaze as they would a gaze attack:
“Averting Eyes” grants a 50% chance to avoid this effect each turn, but grants the stoneheart and adjacent creatures concealment against the enemy.
“Wearing a Blindfold” avoids the effect entirely, but grants total concealment to other creatures against the enemy as though it were blind.
While she is not required to maintain constant eye contact with the target, the effect ends if they leave her line of sight or either ends a turn out of range of this ability.
In addition, the stoneheart may expend additional rounds of rage as a free action to enhance the effect of her petrifying gaze for a turn. Enemies struck by the enhanced gaze must make a Fort save (DC 10 +½ HD + Charisma modifier) to avoid its additional effect. She may not apply more than one of these enhancements each turn.
At 5th level she may spend 4 additional rounds of rage to make her target staggered for 1 round.
At 9th level she may spend 8 additional rounds of rage to make her gaze to affect all enemies within 30 feet. Her primary target can be struck by both the regular effect and the enhanced effect (only getting a save against the latter).
At 13th level she may spend 6 additional rounds of rage to make her target dazed for 1 round and staggered for 1 round thereafter
At 17th level she may spend 12 additional rounds of rage to petrify her target.
This ability replaces Spells, Eschew Materials, Blood Casting, and Blood Sanctuary.
Many Serpents Style:
The stoneheart gains the following abilities. Unless otherwise notes she may use these abilities at any time, even when not bloodraging.
Vicious Sting: At 1st level she grows a nest of serpents for hair that grants her a sting attack that deals 1d4 damage (1d3 if small). This is a primary natural attack. The stoneheart may count her sting attack as an unarmed strike for the purpose of feats, items, or abilities that affect unarmed strikes. She counts as having the Improved Unarmed Strike feat for the purpose of qualifying for feats.
Prehensile Hair: At 2nd level the stoneheart may use her hair to retrieve unattended items within 5 feet and stowed items carried on her person as a swift action. She can hold items with her hair but cannot wield weapons or manipulate these items save to put them in her hand.
Hair and Blade: At 4th level the stoneheart has learned to wield weapons and strike out with her serpents with equal skill. She may use her sting attack as a primary natural attack, using her full BAB and strength bonus, while wielding only one light or one-handed weapon in one hand. It does not gain 1½ Strength bonus unless she has no other weapons or natural attacks.
Striking Serpents: At 6th level the stoneheart’s serpents strike with a mind of their own. She gains Combat Reflexes as a bonus feat, except that she may only use her sting attack to make these attacks. If she already possesses this feat she may immediately exchange it for another feat for which she qualified at the level she took Combat Reflexes.
Mighty Serpents: At 8th level her serpents have grown enough to strike opponents at a distance, gaining an additional 5 feet of reach with her sting attack and Prehensile Hair ability.
Emergency Petrification: At 10th level while bloodraging she may turn the full fury of her gaze upon a willing ally within range of her Ancestral Gaze ability as an immediate action, turning them to stone. Her bloodrage ends immediately upon using this ability.
She also gains the ability to return to flesh a creature she has petrified. This process takes 10 minutes and leaves them at their health when they were petrified or at -10 hit points, whichever is higher. She may only perform this restoration once per week.
Medusa's Wrath: At 12th level the stoneheart warrior gains Medusa’s Wrath as a bonus feat, even if she doesn’t meet the prerequisites. If she already possesses this feat she may immediately exchange it for another feat for which she qualified at the level she took Medusa’s Wrath.
Venomous: At 14th level the serpents become venomous. Their sting gains the poison special ability, inflicting the poison from the vishkanya’s Toxic racial trait. Striking an enemy this way does not expend a daily use of the Toxic trait (yes you can milk the snakes). If she has the Sleep Venom feat she may apply it through this ability or through Poisonous Blood, but doing so does expend a daily use of the Toxic trait.
Poisonous Blood: At 16th level different venoms in the veins of vishkanya and greater medusa manifest into a caustic substance she uses to strike back at enemies. Once per round when she takes damage from a melee attack that deals slashing or piercing damage she may spray her attacker with blood that deals 1d6/two levels acid damage (Reflex save for half, DC 10+½ HD+Char) and has the poison special ability, inflicting the poison from the vishkanya’s Toxic racial trait. Striking an enemy this way does not expend a daily use of the Toxic trait.
Distant Glare: At 18th level the range of her Ancestral Gaze ability increases to 60 feet.
Garden of Statues: At 20th level the damage die of her Ancestral Gaze increases to 1d10. When any character that has taken damage from her Ancestral Gaze ability within the last minute would die while within 60 feet of her, she may choose to petrify them instead. She becomes immune to petrification at all times.
These abilities replace bloodline powers and Mighty bloodrage.
This archetype is intended to be usable with the "Unchained Bloodrager", which makes the same changes to Bloodrage as the Unchained Barbarian does to Rage.
So, what do people think?
A few things I'm particularly uncertain about:
Hair and Blade - too weak, too strong, too restrictive?
Ancestral Gaze- I changed it from being a standard gaze attack and made it work more like the mesmerist, the damage is intended to represent a slower but focused, harder to resist petrification ability. Is the potential action economy gains on the enhanced gaze too much?
The hair was made a sting attack instead of bite because physically it seemed a closer fit, and didn't want to rule out natural attack builds.
Uncanny dodge fortuitously gives most of the benefit of all-around vision anyway.
Giving a bump.
Also, not married to the name if anyone has suggestions.
I think that increasing the hair's reach is a bit much, and the "Emergency Petrification", though thematically awesome, seems to not fit mechanically well. I'd recommend making that Many Serpents Style features- and maybe the Gaze too- work more like bloodraging does- only active during the rage. Perhaps instead of greater/mighty bloodrage you could give a damage boost or a free condition from the gaze?
I think that increasing the hair's reach is a bit much, and the "Emergency Petrification", though thematically awesome, seems to not fit mechanically well. I'd recommend making that Many Serpents Style features- and maybe the Gaze too- work more like bloodraging does- only active during the rage. Perhaps instead of greater/mighty bloodrage you could give a damage boost or a free condition from the gaze?
Well the gaze is only active during bloodrage. The intent was that because bloodrage rounds can be expended to intensify the gaze there is a more realistic risk of running out of them, and so out-of-rage abilities were strengthened, but perhaps this isn't a useful control. I can see a few abilities that could be easily switched to only be active during bloodrage (mighty serpents, venomous, poisonous blood)
Regarding the reach my point of comparison was the battlefield control offered by Path of War classes, but I see the issue. Would making the reach only apply on AoOs help, or is that precisely the concern?
I am loath to remove Emergency Petrification, do you have a suggestion for another drawback to using it? I suppose it could simply be rage expenditure.
Also just noticed an error from swapping things around, the cost of the 9th level power should be 6 and the 13th should be 8.