Pale Master

Of Necromancy's several aspects, its power over controlling, creating and destroying unlife is certainly one of its strongest draws, whether for good or ill. Divinely-empowered individuals who battle and vanquish the unliving are well-known, in deed if not by name. However, those with arcane abilities must pursue other means, and most who practice Necromancy lack the dedication and other aspects of personality to truly devote oneself to the deathless arts. For a very few, those who are so driven may walk the path of the Palemaster.

Through the use of highly secret and decidedly dark lore, a Palemaster begins to take on a unique and macabre power. Though they sacrifice some ability to advance in their spell casting, they gain physical and magical characteristics that make the end result worth the cost. A Palemaster's body eventually becomes a hybrid of living and unliving as the Palemaster takes on more and more characteristics of the latter. Immunities and special abilities, like the ability to paralyze or kill with a simple touch, make the Palemaster a fearsome individual.

The path to become a Palemaster is neither short nor simple, and those who walk such a path do so in darkness and often solitude. Beyond a measure of arcane magical ability, one who wishes to be a Palemaster must have questionable ethics at the very least. As one cannot truly perfect one's art without the bodies of the once-living, actions considered “evil” by most are often required. The path of a Palemaster is one of corruption of form and, some would say, of spirit. Predictably, Palemasters are reviled by Aeridinites and embraced often enough by Corathites, in as much as that dark faith can “embrace” anything or anyone.

• Hit Die: d6
• Proficiencies: None
• Skill Points: 2 + Intelligence Modifier
• Skills:
  • Concentration
  • Craft Armor
  • Craft Weapon
  • Heal (Skill)
  • Hide
  • Listen
  • Lore
  • Move Silently
  • Persuade
  • Spellcraft
• High Saving Throw(s): Fortitude, Will
• BAB: Third

Requirements

• Alignment: Any non-good
• Arcane Spellcasting: Level 3 or higher

Abilities

• Level 1
  • Bone Skin
• Level 2
  • Animate Dead (Feat)
• Level 3
  • Darkvision
• Level 4
  • Summon Undead
• Level 5
  • Deathless Vigor
• Level 6
  • Undead Graft I
• Level 7
  • Tough as Bone
• Level 8
  • Undead Graft II
• Level 9
  • Summon Greater Undead
• Level 10
  • Deathless Master Touch
  • Deathless Mastery

Notes

• The spellcasting requirement refers to the caster level required, not the level of spell that can be cast. Three levels of Bard, Sorcerer, or Wizard fulfils this requirement.
• Pale Masters can take epic spells at level 15, regardless of spell casting ability, provided they meet the spellcraft requirements. The duration of the spells chosen while leveling as a pale master will be based on pale master levels.
• Every 2 levels, the pale master gains additional spell slots per day, as if she had leveled in her previous spell caster class. This gain only applies to spells per day ' not to learning new or higher level spells ' and it does not grant additional spell slots past the usual maximum at level 20.
• Pale master levels do not affect spells known. Characters do not choose spells when leveling as a pale master, nor do pale master levels affect the number of spells that may be selected when leveling as a sorcerer or bard. Thus, the only way sorcerers and bards may make use of the higher-level spell slots granted by pale master levels is through metamagic. On the other hand, wizards can make use of the higher-level spell slots by learning new spells from scrolls, making the wizard a more powerful base class for pale masters.
• Warning: the pale master's caster level only increases by 1 every 2 levels, so a level 10 wizard/ level 30 pale master would have caster level 25 (10 + 30/2), compared to caster level 40 for a level 40 wizard. This is sometimes a considerable disadvantage.

Epic Pale Master

The pale master's bond with the undead continues to grow, as she becomes the epic pale master.
 

• Hit Die: d6
• Skill Points: 2 + Intelligence Modifier
• Bonus Feats: 13, 16, 19, 22, 25, 28
• Epic Bonus Feats:
  • Automatic Quicken Spell I - III
  • Automatic Silent Spell I - III
  • Automatic Still Spell I - III
  • Epic Energy Resistance
  • Epic Spell Focus
  • Epic Spell Penetration
  • Improved Combat Casting
• Epic Bonus Feats at 15th level Pale Master and above:
  • Epic Spell: Dragon Knight
  • Epic Spell: Epic Mage Armor
  • Epic Spell: Epic Warding
  • Epic Spell: Greater Ruin
  • Epic Spell: Hellball
  • Epic Spell: Mummy Dust