Witness of the Cosmos (3.5e Prestige Class)

Author: Leziad (talk) Date Created: 26th October 2015 Status: Finished Editing: Clarity edits only please

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A highly learned student of elder evils and other eldritch beings.

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15

Divine Spellcasting, Prepared Divine Spellcasting, Spontaneous Divine Spellcasting Full

Witness of the Cosmos

“	Your lives are but ephemeral little flames, easily snuffed by the careless cosmos by accident. But I intend for something greater, something eternal. If I need to sacrifice an entire nation to do so, I will.	”
—Witness Archideus, Human Witness of the Cosmos

When faced with the eldritch truth of the Universe, most people react with disbelief, horror, or denial. If concrete proofs are given, they are likely to cause the poor sod's mind to snap. However, some people instead seek to understand the power in play, seeking to understand them or at l;ast part of it. One of these groups are the Witnesses of the Cosmos, who sought complete understanding — some to acquire the power of these creatures for themselves, and some going farther and worshipping the nightmarish creatures as divine beings. The Witnesses of the Cosmos are not always evil, but usually bad news for whatever civilization they perform their studies and experiments in.

Becoming a Witness of the Cosmos

Entry Requirements  

Skills:	Knowledge (Religion) 17 Ranks, Knowledge (The Planes) 17 Ranks.
Feats:	Dark Knowledge, Forbidden Knowledge, Scholar of the Indigo Sigil.
Spellcasting:	Must be able to cast 7th level divine spells..
Special:	Must have made peaceful contact and studied a creature of the aberration type, outsider with the augmented aberration subtype, creatures with the abomination subtype, outsider native to the far realm, obyrith, or elder evil with a CR of 21 or higher.

Table: The Witness of the Cosmos

Hit Die: d8

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Spellcasting
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Dark Spellcaster, Rites of Contact	+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Blessing from the Heavens, Rites of Ill Intents	+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
3rd	+2	+1	+1	+3	Blessing from the Heavens, Damaged Mind, Rites of Everlasting Life	+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
4th	+3	+1	+1	+4	Blessing from the Heavens, Rites of Deep Contact	+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
5th	+3	+1	+1	+4	Blessing from the Heavens, Cardinal of Horror, Rites of Ascension	+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level) Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Disguise (Cha), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language (None), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Witness of the Cosmos.

Spellcasting: At each level, 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 divine 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 divine spellcasting class before becoming a Witness of the Cosmos, you must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining spells per day, caster level, and spells known.

Dark Spellcaster: A Witness of the Cosmos halves the insight or madness cost of any dark insight spells she casts (to a minimum of 1).

Rites of Contact: A Witness of the Cosmos learns how to communicate with the dark powers from beyond; she gains a secret sign language which is understood by all creatures of the aberration type, outsiders with the augmented aberration subtype, creatures with the abomination subtype, outsiders native to the Far Realm, obyriths, and elder evils. As a result of attempting to contact nightmarish beings, the Witness of the Cosmos adds twice her class level to the amount of madness she requires before she mindbreaks.

Blessing from the Heavens: A 2nd level Witness of the Cosmos receives powerful blessings and gifts from their patron; at 2nd level and each class level thereafter, the Witness of the Cosmos receives a single [deformity] or [vile] feat she meets the prerequisites of as a bonus feat.

Rites of Ill Intents: A 2nd-level Witness of the Cosmos learns the Rites of Ill Intents, which allow her to hide her secrets. Whenever the witness wears a mask or obscures her face with headgear, she hides any deformities and eldritch features she has (ignoring the penalty of deformity feats she has and preventing her from being found out; in effect, she maintains humanoid appearance) and falls under the effect of nondetection with a caster level equal to her character levels plus twice her class levels, making it particularly difficult to pierce.

Damaged Mind (Ex): A 3rd level Witness of the Cosmos becomes immune to [compulsion] effects, [fear] effects, and pain effects. When a Witness of the Cosmos mindbreaks, she always loses 20% of her hit points, no matter her dark insight, and instead of being dazed, instead starts laughing manically for 1 round as per hideous laughter.

Rite of Everlasting Life: A 3rd level Witness of the Cosmos learns a powerful forbidden ritual allowing her to gain everlasting life. Performing the rites require a dark sacrifice that yields a greater effect (DC 40) but grants everlasting lifespan to the witness. The witness reverts to being a young adult as per a partial physical rejuvenation and ceases physically aging. The witness also becomes immune to any effect that would age him further.

Rites of Deep Contact: A 4th level Witness of the Cosmos learns how to properly contact the nightmarish powers from beyond. Once per day she may attempt to communicate with a nightmarish power from beyond, replicating the effect of commune with universe; however, each question automatically causes the Witness to gain 1 point of Dark Insight and inflicts 1d6 points of madness.

Cardinal of Horror: A 5th-level Witness of the Cosmos possesses great power over the Elder beings of this world; she no longer suffers madness from sources with a lower CR than herself and she can attempt to control aberrations and creatures with the augmented aberration subtype as a standard action; this ability behaves as per dominate monster. If the creature makes its saving throw, it is immune to this ability for 24 hours.

Rites of Ascension: A 5th level witness learns the Rites of Ascension, a terrible ritual which allows the Witness of the Cosmos to become a God. The rite must be performed during the overwhelming sign of an Elder Evil to be effective and is extremely difficult to perform, requiring 1 hour of work with a DC 40 dark insight + intelligence modifier check. The ritual also requires 3 days of preparation, after whcih the rite must be performed within 24 hours. As a result, Witnesses of the Cosmos who know the rite often attempt to bring an Elder Evil into the world.

If successful, the witness dies and is reborn after the Elder Evil has passed (or on another world if the Elder Evil destroyed the world), gaining both the Half-Farspawn^LoM and Godspark template with no level adjustment. When taking levels in God, the witness does not need to perform any tasks of ascension to increase her divine ranks.

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