One way for a curst to deal with his wretched lot in life is to embrace wholeheartedly the divine punishment that afflicts him. This is accomplished by striking a dark pact with some evil outsider. In exchange for his soul, the curst acquires great power and a terrible freedom of sorts. No longer is the curse a source of pain but instead becomes a fount of strength and power. Most who take this drastic step become the wholly evil embodiment of all that makes the curst so hated. A very few indeed, however, find a measure of peace and dignity, and are no longer burdened by their heritage.
Most soulless are wizards, but more than a few sorcerers and clerics find their way down the black paths that lead to this prestige class. Few members of other classes have easy access to the knowledge required to become one of the soulless. Reportedly, the leader of the curst company in Blessed is a soulless of spine-chill- ing evil.
Hit Die: d8.
Requirements
To qualify to become a soulless, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
THE CURST
THE CURST
Race: Curst.
Alignment: Any non-good. Knowledge (arcana): 9 ranks. Knowledge (the planes): 4 ranks. Base Will Save: +5.
Special: To become a soulless, a character must expend 5,000 XP. The character’s base Will save must still be at least +5 after any modification for level incurred due to XP expenditure. Furthermore, this expenditure must be a sacrifice to a non-hostile abyssal or infernal creature.
Class Skills
The soulless’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Innuendo (Wis), Intuit Direction (Wis), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Arcana) (Int), Knowledge (The Planes) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), and Swim (Str).
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the soulless prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Life as a soulless is dangerous. Members of this prestige class are proficient with all simple and martial weapons. The soulless gain no proficiency with armor or shields.
Spells per Day: At every odd numbered level as a soulless, including 1st level, the curst gains new spells per day just as if he had advanced a level in the spellcasting class he had before becoming a soulless. His actual level in that spellcasting class does not change, and so he does not gain any additional benefits associat- ed with advancing a level, such as an addition- al hit die, improved base attack bonus or base saves, and so on. The soulless can use a num- ber of spells per day equal to his newly adjust- ed level in his spellcaster class, and his caster level is adjusted as well to determine level- variable spell effects. If the soulless has more than one spellcasting class, he must choose which one is affected by the increase in spells per day. Once this decision is made, it cannot be changed.
Alter Self: The soulless acquires the spell-like ability to alter self. He can use this ability once per day at 1st level, and then once more per day for every three full levels acquired as a soulless thereafter. Treat the soulless’ caster level as the total of all his class levels. This ability is often used in conjunction with essence theft to acquire an ability that the curst’s normal anato- my could not duplicate.
Essence Theft: The soulless have the supernat- ural ability to temporarily absorb some of the essence of a dying creature, thus gaining some of the dying creature’s capabilities. Essence theft is a full-round action. It must be per- formed within one round of the creature’s death. Only living creatures from the Material Plane are subject to essence theft upon their demise. A soulless cannot, for example, use essence theft against the undead or an outsider. Essence theft has a range of touch.
By means of essence theft, a soulless can tem- porarily gain any one special attack or special quality of the creature this ability is used against. To succeed, the soulless must make a Will save with a DC equal to 10 plus the crea- ture’s Hit Dice. If this Will save fails, essence theft cannot be used again for one day. Otherwise, essence theft can be used once per day per level earned as a soulless.
A character successful with essence theft retains the stolen attack or ability for a number of rounds equal to his level earned as a soulless plus his Wisdom modifier. Essence theft cannot be used to steal spell-casting abilities from a wizard or other spellcaster. Furthermore, abili- ties dependent on devotion to a higher power, such as a cleric’s ability to turn undead, cannot be stolen. Other class-related abilities are sub- ject to essence theft.
For example, a 3rd-level soulless with a 15 Wisdom is fighting a displacer beast. The beast falls, and the soulless steps forward to use essence theft as a full-round action. He must make a Will save (DC 16). If successful, the soulless can steal either the beast’s displace- ment or resistance to ranged attacks (player’s choice). He keeps the stolen quality for five rounds.
Immunities: At 5th level, the soulless gains the extraordinary ability of immunity either to poison, fire, or electricity. At
10th level, he gains a second immunity to another one of these three attack forms. Resistance to Necromancy: The soulless gains a +4 resistance bonus against all Necromancy spells and spell-like abilities. Resistances: As the soulless increases in level, he becomes resistant to certain forms of attack. At 3rd level and then again at 6th and 9th level,
he can choose one of the following attack forms to be resistant to: cold, fire, or acid. The characters gains resistance 20 against the cho- sen attack form. He cannot choose any one attack form more than once. Resistances are extraordinary abilities.
See in Darkness: At 5th level, the soulless’ eyes change in both appearance and ability. His eyes become solid white, lacking both iris and pupil. The soulless also becomes able to see perfectly in darkness of any kind, even that cre- ated by a deeper darkness spell.
Soullessness: The soulless are not called such without good reason. A soulless curst has lost much of what it is that made him the person he was. He has become cold, almost emotionless. He can no longer feel the pain of his wretched condition nor can he experience much in the way of empathy for others. He becomes immune to all Enchantment (Compulsion) spells, but suffers a –2 penalty to all Charisma- based skill checks.
Telepathy: Upon becoming a 2nd-level soul- less, the curst gains the supernatural ability to communicate telepathically with any creature within 100 feet that has a language.
Unnerving Gaze: Once per combat encounter, a soulless of at least 8th level can affix an enemy creature with his inhuman stare. The enemy must succeed at a Will save (DC 15) or suffer a –1 morale penalty to all attack rolls for 1d3 rounds. This is not a gaze attack in the same sense as a medusa’s petrification gaze. Eye contact is not required for unnerving gaze to function.