General Prestige Class : Icesinger

by Spencer Kornhaber, Dragon #314

People respond in different ways to tragedy. Some become angry; others are strengthened by their ordeals. A few, however, are filled with a despair so great that their souls become as cold as ice, spurning all warmth and joy. These are the icesingers - men and women who have been emotionally scarred to the point of utter desolation and indifference. Icesingers channel their chilling despair into song and pass their pain to all who can hear them.

All icesingers must have at least some experience with music in order to craft their songs of pain. Some icesingers use their powers to prevent others from experiencing the anguish they themselves have endured. Some, fueled by an icy hatred of joy and warmth, simply seek to bring pain to all they encounter.

Requirements

To qualify to become an Icesinger, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:

Class Skills

The icesinger's class skills are Bluff, Concentration, Craft (any), Disguise, Hide, Intimidate, Move Silently, Perform (any), Profession, and Spellcraft.

Skill Points at Each Level: 6 + Int modifier.

Class Features

All the following are class features of the icesinger prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Icesingers gain no proficiency with any weapons or armor.

Spells per Day/Spells Known: Icesingers cast spells as bards. At 1st level and every icesinger level thereafter, the character gains new spells per day and spells known as if she had also gained a level in the bard class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (such as bardic knowledge). This essentially means that she adds her icesinger level to her bard level (even if that is 0), then determines spells per day, spells known, and caster level accordingly.

Frostbitten (Ex): At 1st level, the icesinger's body begins to adapt to cold. She gains resistance to cold equal to her icesinger level.

Haunting Lament (Su): At 1st level, the icesinger can play a song so mournful and haunting that listeners can't help but become lost in their own memories of painful and grieving times. This ability works exactly like the fascinate function of the bardic music ability, except that it affects all listeners within 90 feet regardless of whether or not they can see the icesinger, and it lasts for as long as the icesinger sings and for a number of rounds equal to her Charisma modifier afterward. Haunting lament is considered bardic music, so using this ability takes up one use of the icesinger's bardic music ability for the day.

Bardic Music: At 3rd level, the icesinger continues to advance her bardic music ability. Her icesinger levels after her 2nd level count as bard levels for all bardic music calculations, including abilities she has and the number of uses of bardic music available per day.

Cold Spell: At 2nd level and at every other icesinger level thereafter, the character chooses one spell of 1st to 6th level with the cold descriptor that she does not already know and adds it to her list of spells known. This spell can come from any class's spell list. If it is on more than one class's list, she gains it at the lowest spell level. This bonus spell known can be of a higher level than the icesinger can currently cast, but she must wait until she can actually cast the spell to use it in that case. Spells gained in this way are cast using bard spell slots, but they do not count against the maximum number of spells known.

Indifference (Ex): At 3rd level, the icesinger becomes even more cold and indifferent to others. She gains a +4 morale bonus on saving throws against charm effects and a +2 morale bonus against all other enchantment effects.

Fingers of Frost (Su): At 5th level, the icesinger can drain the heat from creatures or create a layer of ice on objects with a mere touch. As a standard action, she can make a melee touch attack against a creature. This attack deals nonlethal cold damage equal to 1d4 + her Charisma bonus. In addition, she can use a full-round action once per hour to touch one object or surface and coat a contiguous area up to 10 feet by 10 feet with slippery ice. She can designate the exact area covered, but it must include the point touched. The affected area functions as though it were under the effect of a grease spell. The surface or object remains frozen for hour or until it takes to points of fire damage, whichever comes first.

Song of Sorrow (Su): At 6th level, an icesinger can create a dour requiem that fills all who hear it with pessimism and despair. Every creature within too feet that hears the performance must succeed on a Will save (DC 10 icesinger's level + icesinger's Charisma modifier) or take a -2 morale penalty on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a -1 morale penalty on attack and damage rolls (minimum damage 1). An ally of the icesinger who hears the song gains a +2 morale bonus on this saving throw.

The effects of a song of sorrow last for as long as the icesinger performs and for an additional 3 rounds afterward. While performing a song of sorrow, the icesinger can fight but cannot cast spells or activate magic items by either spell completion or command word. Haunting lament is considered bardic music, so using this ability takes up one use of the icesinger's bardic music ability for the day. Haunting lament is a mind-affecting ability.

Frost Weave (Su): When the icesinger reaches 8th level, the icy pain in her soul manifests itself through her spells. Whenever she casts a spell that would normally deal acid, electricity, fire, or sonic damage, she may choose to convert all such damage to cold damage. She must make this decision at the time of casting, and she must convert all the spell's energy damage to cold when using this ability. Thus, she could cast a shout spell that deals cold damage rather than sonic damage. All other effects of the spell remain unchanged.

Subzero Soul (Su): At 9th level, the icesinger becomes immune to cold and all charm effects.

IcesingerHit Die: d6
CLBABFortRefWillSpecialSpells per Day
1st+0+0+2+2Frostbitten, haunting lament+1 bard level
2nd+1+0+3+3Cold spell+1 bard level
3rd+2+1+3+3Bardic music, indifference+1 bard level
4th+3+1+4+4Cold spell+1 bard level
5th+3+1+4+4Fingers of frost+1 bard level
6th+4+2+5+5Cold spell, song of sorrow+1 bard level
7th+5+2+5+5Frost weave+1 bard level
8th+6+2+6+6Cold spell+1 bard level
9th+6+3+6+6Subzero soul+1 bard level
10th+7+3+7+7Cold spell+1 bard level

Source: Dragon #314

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