Ioun Master (3.5e Prestige Class)

Ioun Master
"You see this stone? So much power, if you're willing to look a little deeper..."

Hundreds, thousands, millions of little colored stones circling over your head, you take power from every one. Everyone has overlooked the power of these stones for something better: a magic belt, a magic hat, silly little trinkets really. You have a rock, a sturdy magic rock, what could possibly be more powerful. You have tapped into the power of these stones that so many people have began to overlook as they've gotten stronger, you've unlocked more strength from these stones than anyone though possible, you learned how to use the stones as weapons, use the stones as protection, use these stones as a source of power. You are an ioun master, and you answer to no one but the stones.

Becoming a Ioun Master
A character who wants to be an ioun master needs to have one thing: an obsession with ioun stones. This obsession tends to develop in magic users, though anyone with knowledge (arcana) might just develop a love for these stones.

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the ioun master.

You do not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If you had more than one spellcasting class before becoming an ioun master, you must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining spells per day, caster level, and spells known.

' (Sp):''' As an ioun master learns how to unlock the power of the stones, she learns how to use her ioun stones as weapons. As a standard action, an ioun master can shoot a number of ioun stones equaling the number of attacks she can make per round at a target creature. This is a ranged attack with a range of 15ft that deals 1d6+1 damage per stone. The stones instantly return back to her after this ability is used.

 (Su): The ioun master learns how to make one of her stones semi-sentient. At 1st level, an ioun master may replace her familiar with one of her ioun stones, adding her level to her effective level for determining how strong and which abilities her familiar gets. If the ioun master does not have a familiar, she treats her class level as her effective wizard level for determining familiar strength and abilities. An ioun master may change which ioun stone is her familiar, this is a ritual that costs 100gp and takes 12 hours.

 (Su): At 2nd level, an ioun master can send her ioun stone out farther than she could before. The amount of distance the ioun stone may spend rotating around the ioun masters head increase to 10ft per level. An ioun master can bring her stones closer or farther away as a free action. The range of the ioun masters ioun attack increases to 60ft.

 (Su): At 2nd level, the ioun master learns how to unlock The first level of powers in her ioun stone. The abilities her ioun stones grant her increase with the following table:The Ioun Master's Stone Abilities. At second level, she gains the ioun affinity ability associated with the stones she carries, at 5th level, she gains the greater ioun affinity abilities.

' (Sp):''' At 3rd level, The ioun master unlocks the elemental abilities hidden in her ioun stones. When using her Ioun Attack, she deals additional elemental damage as shown on the Table:The Ioun Master's Stone Abilities.

 (Su): At 4th level, An ioun master no longer needs to have her ioun stone rotating around her head to gain its abilities, she only needs to have it on her person.

' (Sp):''' At 5th Level, An ioun master can unleash her stones in a unrelenting attack. A number of times per day equal to her class level + her primary spellcasting modifier, an ioun master can shoot all her ioun stones at once at a target, dealing damage as if every stone was part of an ioun attack, with a reflex save for half damage.

Playing a ioun master
Combat: An ioun master loves to use his stones in combat, shooting them at his enemies. He may have more than ten stones circling around him at once, each one providing a different form of damage, each one a potential weakness to an enemy. With the abilities the ioun master unlocks, he may become a sort of Swiss army knife for the party, though not always.

Advancement: Once an ioun master has finished his path of obsession, he most likely will continue with his original class.

Resources: An ioun master may find help from other people who are privy to the power of the stones, but are more likely to find help from their original class resources.

Ioun Masters in the World
"Ooooo, pretty colors."

Ioun masters are not great in number, and are only identifiable by the number of ioun stones floating around their heads. If two ioun masters meet, they will be most courteous to each other. However, to everyone else, they are usually nothing more than a specialist wizard.

NPC Reactions: NPCs do not treat ioun masters any differently than they would a spellcaster, though they may be in awe of the countless stones circling his head.

Ioun Master Lore
Characters with ranks in knowledge (arcana) can research ioun master to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.