Evil / Undead Class : Waker of the Beast
by Eric Cagle, Dragon #296
Apocalypse. The world ablaze, A horrid monster stalking the land, crushing the unrighteous and cleansing the world of everything. This is the vision of the waker of the beast.
The "beast" is none other than the tarrasque, an immense creature that is virtually impossible to destroy. Every decade or so, the tarrasque awakens from a deep slumber, terrorizing the land and devouring anything that it encounters.
A waker of the beast is a humanoid who belongs to an apocalyptic cult that believes in the end of the world through the violence caused by the tarrasque. This cult sees the tarrasque as a method of cleansing the world of all living beings, bringing the world back into a pure state of being. However, although the tarrasque is truly a neutral being (being too stupid and hungry to care about complex things like right and wrong), the quest of the wakers of the beast make them evil and deluded beyond compare.
A person usually becomes a waker after receiving powerful visions of the tarrasque. During these nightmares, he can see beast stalking the land, destroying everything in its path. However, he also becomes part of the tarrasque, feeling its power, its hunger, and its lust for destruction. When he awakens, the person either recoils with the horror of the nightmare or is . . . changed. From that moment on, he is drawn to the tarrasque, as a moth to flame, doing whatever he can to cause the beast to rise from its slumber. Moat wakers hope to be devoured by their "god", seeing it as the ultimate sacrifice.
It is unclear how a waker gains his powers from such an uncaring (and un-divine) creature. Scholars suggest that the power that created the tarrasque in the first place can be tapped by anyone willing to relinquish their sanity and identity. As a waker grows in power, he also becomes more like the beast he emulates, growing as thick carapace and bulking up with huge muscles. However, the alien mind of the tarrasque destroys the intellect, and the waker becomes more a creature of instinct and brutality than reason.
Only the truly insane and deluded would want to become a waker. Most wakers are clerics of evil gods who wish to bring about the end of the world by crushing it beneath the feet in tarrasque. Beyond that, almost every other class is represented. Ex-paladins who have given in to evil and madness are also likely candidates to be came a waker of the beast.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Waker of the Beast, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Race: Any humanoid or monstrous humanoid
- Alignment: Lawful evil
- Feats: Power Attack, Toughness,
- Base Attack Bonus: +7
Class Skills
The waker's class skills are Climb, Craft, Intimidate, Listen, Spot, and Survival.
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
| Size | Bite Damage | Claw Damage |
| Small | 1d4 | 1d3 |
| Medium-size | 1d6 | 1d4 |
| Large | 1d8 | 1d6 |
Tarrasque Apotheosis (Su): At 5th level, the waker of the beast's type permanently changes to "monstrous humanoid". All special abilities, spells, or effects treat him monstrous humanoid.
In addition, the waker of the beast grows larger by one size category, which affects many of its statistics. See "Size" for more information on the effects of increasing a size category. Note that this will change the waker's claw and bite damage. However, this final transformation decreases the waker of the beast's Intelligence by a additional -2.
Ex-Wakers: A waker of the beast who willingly and unnecessarily procrastinates going to awaken the tarrasque losses all Class Features except that the waker's Intelligence remains decreased and he retains the monstrous humanoid type.
| Waker of the Beast | Hit Die: d8 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special |
| 1st | +1 | +2 | +0 | +0 | Natural armor +1, locate the sleeper |
| 2nd | +2 | +3 | +0 | +0 | Strength of the beast |
| 3rd | +3 | +3 | +1 | +1 | Natural armor +2, claws and bite |
| 4th | +4 | +4 | +1 | +1 | Strength of the beast |
| 5th | +5 | +4 | +1 | +1 | Natural armor +3, tarrasque apotheosis |
Source: Dragon #296
Older Prestige class adapted to 3.5