Pale Master, Rebuild (3.5e Prestige Class)

Author: Eiji-kun (talk) Date Created: 6-1-18 Status: Complete Editing: Mechanical changes on Talk

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A updated version of the Pale Master from Libris Mortis. 10 5 Poor Poor Poor Good Prepared Arcane Spellcasting, Spontaneous Arcane Spellcasting, Prepared Divine Spellcasting, Spontaneous Divine Spellcasting Partial

Pale Master

“	There skeletons aren't outside dear. The skeletons are inside you!	”
—Persephone, Human Lich, Age of Skeletons

The pale master has taken their knowledge of necromancy to a new level, not merely raising the dead out of corpses, but actively turning the living into the undead, even their own bodies.

Becoming a Pale Master

Pale Masters make excellent necromancers, bypassing the expenses of animation and giving yourself undead power.

Entry Requirements

Alignment:	Any non-good.
Skills:	Knowledge Religion 8 ranks.
Feats:	CorpsecrafterLM.
Spellcasting:	Must be able to cast command undead or able to rebuke undead. Able to cast vampiric touch.
Special:	The candidate must have spent three or more days locked in a tomb with animate undead. This contact may be peaceful or violent. A character who is slain by the undead and later raised still meets the requirement, although the resulting level loss may delay compliance with other prerequisites.

Table: The Pale Master

Hit Die: d6

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Spellcasting
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Darkvision, Undead Armor
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Animate Dead, Undead Graft (Paralyze)	+1 level of spellcasting class
3rd	+1	+1	+1	+3	Deathless Vigor	+1 level of spellcasting class
4th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Undead Graft (Weakening)	+1 level of spellcasting class
5th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Tough as Bone	+1 level of spellcasting class
6th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Undead Graft (Energy Drain)	+1 level of spellcasting class
7th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Undead Cohort	+1 level of spellcasting class
8th	+4	+2	+2	+6	Undead Graft (Con Drain)	+1 level of spellcasting class
9th	+4	+3	+3	+6	Undead Rebirth	+1 level of spellcasting class
10th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Deathless Mastery, Undead Graft (Death)	+1 level of spellcasting class
Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level. Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (each skill chosen separately) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Pale Master.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The pale master is proficient in the scythe, light armor and medium armor, but not shields.

Spellcasting: At each level after 1st, you gain new spells per day and an increase in caster level (and spells known, if applicable) as if you had also gained a level in a spellcasting class to which you belonged before adding the prestige class level. 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 a Pale Master, you must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining spells per day, caster level, and spells known.

Darkvision (Ex): The pale master gains darkvision 60 ft. If they already have darkvision, their darkvision rises by 60 ft.

Undead Armor (Su): At will, the pale master can summon (or dismiss) undead armor onto their body. The armor is composed of anything from bone to flesh to even ghost whisps, offering different effects. The base armor has +5 AC, no maximum Dex, no armor check penalty, and no arcane spell failure. It counts as non-armor, light armor, or medium armor whenever beneficial. It can be enhanced as if it were actual armor by enhancing your body itself.

When you gain this class feature, choose a material below. You can change the material of your armor each time you level up.

Exoskeleton: Your armor is composed of bone, with a rib cage breastplate. You gain DR/bludgeoning equal to 3 + half your class level.

Ghoul Skin: Your armor appears to be gaunt human leather which stinks of the grave. As a standard action you can release a foul rotting odor which forces a Fort save (DC 10 + 1/2 HD + Con or Cha modifier) to all creatures in 10 ft. Those that fail the save are sickened for 1 minute/level. A creature that successfully saves cannot be affected again by the same pale master's stench for 24 hours. A delay poison or neutralize poison spell removes the effect from a sickened creature. Creatures with immunity to poison are unaffected, and creatures resistant to poison receive their normal bonus on their saving throws. You can toggle the aura at will.

Ghost Shroud: The armor appears to be ghostly and transparent. Your armor bonus becomes a deflection bonus instead.

Mummy Wraps: You are covered in funeral wraps of the mummy. Once per day as a standard action you can expose the dark energies from under the wraps, shaking the will of even the strongest foe. All creature which can see the pale master out to 60 ft must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 HD + Cha modifier) for be paralyzed for 1d4 rounds. A creature that saves is immune for 24 hours. He gains an extra use per day at 4th level and another at 8th level. This is a mind-affecting fear effect.

Shadow Veil: The armor is barely visible, and it makes your flesh seem dark and translucent. You have concealment (20% miss chance) against any creature without darkvision, blindsight, or another sensory method which does not rely on light. This bonus rises to 50% in shadowy illumination and darker.

Vampire Hide: You wear pale colored leather which takes on a rather living hue when soaked in blood. You gain DR/silver equal to 3 + half your class level.

Wight Leather: The wight leather is a warped and twisted form of leather which radiates negative energy. Whenever you deal negative levels from any source, you gain 5 temporary hit points per negative level applied. You also are immune to negative levels yourself, and gain 5 temporary hit points for each negative level you would have gained. Temporary hit overlaps, it does not stack.

Zombie Hide: This thick layer of rotting flesh is tough and durable. You gain DR/slashing equal to 3 + half your class level.

Animate Dead (Sp): At 2nd level the pale master can cast animate dead 1/day as a spell-like ability, and thus does not require material components. The caster level is your character level. Whenever you kill a creature with one of your undead graft touches or spells you can expend the use to cast this as a free action as part of the attack

Undead Graft: At 2nd level the pale master replaces their hand with an undead graft, which ranges from skeletal hands, to zombie hands, to nearly human but somehow wrong. Whatever the appearance, the graft grants a +4 inherent bonus to Strength. In addition, they can make terrible touch attacks with their undead graft, chosen from the list below. The saving throw for any of the abilities is 10 + 1/2 HD + Cha modifier. In addition to the abilities below, they also gain the Graft Flesh^LM feat for undead grafts.

Paralyze (Su): A 2nd level pale master can touch like a ghoul. With a touch a creature must make a Fortitude save or be paralyzed for 1d4 rounds, save negates. Elves are immune to this ability. A successful save renders a creature immune to the same pale master's paralyze touch for 24 hours.

Weakening (Su): A 4th level pale master can drain strength like a shadow. With a touch a creature must make a Fortitude save or take 1d6 Strength damage, save negates. A creature reduced to 0 strength dies as their muscles rot off their bone.

Energy Drain (Su): A 6th level pale master can consume life force like a wight. With a touch a creature takes 1 negative level, which lasts for 1 hour. No matter how many times they make the touch attack, a creature can only gain 1 negative level from this ability per round.

Con Drain (Su): A 8th level pale master can draw the vitality from a creature like a vampire. With a touch a creature must make a Fortitude save or take 1d6 Constitution drain, save negates. The pale master can be used Cha modifier/day.

Death (Su): A 10th level pale master can crush the life from a creature instantly. With a touch a creature must make a Fortitude save or die. This is a [Death] effect. On a successful save, the creature takes 1d6 damage per two caster levels. A successful save renders a creature immune to the same pale master's death touch for 24 hours, and it can only be used Cha modifier/day.

Deathless Vigor (Ex): At 3rd level the pale master becomes more akin to undying flesh. They gain a +4 on Fortitude saves, except against saves which also work on objects.

Tough as Bone (Ex): At 5th level the pale master gains even more undead traits. They become immune to disease, non-lethal damage, and stunning.

Undead Cohort: At 7th level the pale master gains an undead cohort (per Undead Leadership in Libris Mortis). They do not gain any followers from this ability.

Undead Rebirth: At 9th level if the pale master dies, they may rise from the grave 1 round later with the skeleton or zombie template. You keep your mental ability scores, skills, and feats and do not have the usual limitations on what the template can be applied to. You can continue fighting this way (possibly being destroyed again, dead for good), and will persist for 24 hours + 1 hour/character level beyond before de-animating again. At any point you can attempt to be revived. For the purposes of these abilities your undead body still counts as a dead corpse.

Deathless Mastery (Ex): The 10th level pale master has mastered the deathless arts. He becomes immune to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, death effects, critical hits, ability drain, energy drain, and ability damage. He still needs to eat, breathe, and sleep as normal for his type, and still ages normally.

Campaign Information

Playing a Pale Master

Combat: You are a necromancer, but you can handle melee a bit better than normal on account of immunities, armor, and wicked touch attacks which wreck your opponents.

Advancement: You remain a caster, so other caster classes are a good idea.

Resources: The thing about messing with the undead is that you don't make many friends. What organizations one might find are those which creep in the shadow, often for good reason.

Pale Masters in the World

“	Not even death will keep me away.	”
—Chapalu, Human Pale Master

NPC Reactions: Aaaah! A necromancer! GUARDS!

Pale Master Lore

Characters with ranks in Knowledge Religion can research pale masters to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.

Knowledge Religion

DC	Result
10	Pale masters are necromancers who wrap themselves in the armor of undeath, and learn the art of undead grafts.
15	Pale masters can apply dreadful touches that paralyze, weaken, drain, and even kill.
20	Powerful pale masters can even come back from the dead and keep fighting. Nothing will keep them down.
30	Those that reach this level of success can research specific pale masters, their whereabouts, motives, and trivia about them.

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