Type: Pact Magic
Source: Tome of Magic
You know how to make pacts with otherworldly spirits called vestiges.
Benefit: By employing a short ritual, you can contact a vestige and make a pact with it. You are treated as a 1st-level binder for this purpose, regardless of your character level. Thus, only 1st-level vestiges are available to you, and you can bind to only one vestige at a time. Furthermore, unlike characters with the soul binding class feature, you gain only one power from the vestige you bind, as given on the page 74, Tome of Magic.
To contact a vestige, you must draw its unique seal visibly on a surface (generally the ground), making the image at least 5 feet across. Drawing a seal requires the ability to mark a surface and 10 consecutive rounds of concentration, and the act provokes attacks of opportunity. A seal not used within 1 minute of its drawing loses all potency, and you must draw a new one to contact the vestige. A vestige might also have other requirements for contact, as noted in its entry (see page 18, Tome of Magic).
Once the seal is drawn, you must perform a ritual requiring a full-round action to summon the corresponding vestige. During this time, you must touch the seal and call out to the vestige using both its name and title. The ritual fails if you cannot be heard (for example, if you are within the area of a silence spell). Otherwise, a manifestation of the vestige appears in the seal's space as soon as you finish the ritual. This image is not the actual vestige; it is merely a figment - an illusion that cannot harm or be harmed by any creature. Creatures that interact with the image or study it carefully automatically recognize it as illusory. The summoned image ignores everyone but you, and if you fail to address it for 1 round, it disappears whence it came. The vestige speaks in whatever language you used to call it.
To make a pact with your summoned vestige, you must make a binding check (1d20 + your effective binder level + your Cha modifier). This process requires 1 minute, but you can choose to make a rushed binding check as a full-round action at a -10 penalty. The DC for this check is provided in the description of each vestige. You must make your perilous pact alone; others cannot aid you in any way. Whether the binding check succeeds or fails, you gain the power granted by the vestige for 24 hours. During that time you cannot rid yourself of the vestige unless you possess the Expel Vestige feat. If you fail the binding check, however, vestige influences your personality and your actions, and you are said to have made a poor pact. (Specifically, the vestige's presence changes your general demeanor, and it can force you to perform or refrain from certain actions. The influence of each vestige is described in its individual entry.) If your binding check is successful, the vestige has no control over your actions and does not influence your personality. In this case, you are said to have made a good pact.
While under the influence of a vestige, you must adhere to its requirements to the best of your ability. If you are conscious and free-willed and you encounter a situation in which you cannot or will not refrain from a prohibited action or perform a required one, you take a -1 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, and checks until the vestige leaves you.
As long as you are bound to a vestige, you manifest a specific physical sign of its presence, as given in its entry. This sign is not an illusory or shapechanging effect, and someone true seeing perceives it just as it is. You can hide a sign mundane or magical means without penalty.
The vestige is bound to your soul by the pact. It cannot be targeted or expelled by any means except the Expel Vestige feat nor can it be suppressed except by an antimagic field or similar effect.
The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against any supernatural powers granted by a vestige is 10 + 1/2 your effective binder level + your Cha modifier.
Special: Characters who have the ability to bind vestiges through other means (such as the soul binding class feature) cannot take this feat. If you become a binder after taking the feat you lose its benefit.