Evil / Undead Classes : Aberrant Paragon
by Keith Baker, Dragon #332
Just as mortal spirits travel to the plane of Dal Quor when they sleep, all mortals possess a primal bond to Xoriat. The followers of the Dragon Below call upon this link for strength, but gaining the power of Xoriat comes at a terrible price. A character who draws on the power of madness undergoes a mental and physical transformation, slowly becoming one of the aberrations she reveres.
Normally, characters can only take levels in a paragon class corresponding to the character's race. However, taking levels in this class represents a primal change in the character's race, forever tying her to Xoriat. A character who pursues this path is known as an aberrant paragon. Levels in this class might represent a conscious decision on the part of the character or the slow seduction of Xoriat's whispers. Any character can become an aberrant paragon but cannot possess or later take levels in any other paragon class. Taking this class represents the character abandoning her original race to embrace the darkness. A character cannot take aberrant paragon as her first class level.
Abilities: An aberrant paragon can come from any background and follow any number of different paths. As a result, the ideal abilities of the paragon are tied to the classes possessed before being touched by darkness. A sorcerer or warlock might want to continue to develop her sinister Charisma, while a crazed barbarian might follow this path to enhance his Strength and Constitution.
Alignment: Aberrant paragons cannot be lawful or good. The majority tends toward chaotic and evil alignments.
Requirements
To qualify to become an Aberrant Paragon, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Special: Must be a follower of the Dragon Below.
Class Skills
The aberrant paragon's class skills are Bluff, Climb, Concentration, Diplomacy, Escape Artist, Hide, Intimidate, Knowledge (dungeoneering), Knowledge (the planes), Move Silently, Sense Motive, and Survival.
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
The aberrant paragon is slowly corrupted by her connection to dark powers. In time, she becomes something completely unnatural, an aberration as horrible in her own way as a dolgaunt or mind flayer.
Class Abilities: The power of Xoriat flaws through the aberrant paragon, enhancing mental and magical ability. If the paragon has levels in one of the listed classes she can channel this power to enhance certain class features. At 1st and 3rd level, an aberrant paragon with levels in one of the listed classes can select a single class and gain the specified benefits. Only these aspects of the chosen class are affected; the paragon does not gain access to any other Class Features or benefits.
- An alienist, cleric, favored soul, or sorcerer adds this class level when determining caster level, spells known, and spells per day. Divine casters only receive this benefit if they worship the Dragon Below.
- A barbarian adds this class level to her barbarian level to determine both the number of uses of rage per day and other rage abilities, such a greater rage and tireless rage.
- A psychic warrior or wilder adds this class level when determining manifester level, power points per day, and powers known.
- A soulknife adds this class level to determine the enhancement bonus of her mind blade.
- A warlock adds this class level to determine the power of her eldritch blast and the caster level of her invocations.
If the paragon does not possess levels in any of these classes, she gains no benefit from this ability.
Darkvision (Ex): Over time, the paragon's shifting physiology affects her vision. At 1st level, an aberrant paragon gains darkvision with a range of 60 feet. At 3rd level, the range increases to 120 feet. If the character already possesses darkvision, she adds half this value to the range of her existing darkvision.
Ability Boost: Aberrant paragons progress down one of two paths. Some gain an unnatural charm and ability to influence people, a magnetism that belies the horror that lies beneath the skin. Others gain tremendous strength at the cost of their sanity, as the savage madness of Xoriat grows too difficult to conceal. At 2nd level, a character chooses one of the following options: add +2 to Charisma or add +2 to Strength and subtract -2 from Charisma.
Unnatural (Ex): Animals and other natural creatures sense the unnatural nature of the aberrant paragon. From 2nd level on, the paragon suffers a racial penalty on Handle Animal and wild empathy checks. This penalty equals the character's paragon level. In addition, unfriendly animals might become hostile without warning.
Aberrant Apotheosis (Su): At 3rd level aberrant paragon's type changes to aberration. He becomes immune to spells and effects that specifically target humanoids, gains darkvision out to 60 feet, and gains a +2 racial bonus to his Constitution score.
| Aberrant Paragon | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | Class Abilities |
| 1st | +0 | +0 | +0 | +2 | Darkvision 60 ft. | +1 level |
| 2nd | +1 | +0 | +0 | +3 | Ability modification (+2), unnatural | - |
| 3rd | +2 | +1 | +1 | +3 | Aberrant apothesis, darkvision 120 ft. | +1 level |
Source: Dragon #332