Thief of Life

Description:

The Blood of Vol has always been a dangerous cult, with its long association with the undead and opposition to the natural order. But what most people are overlooking is that, at the core of its doctrine, the Blood of Vol is seeking immortality for all of its members. One method of accomplishing this without joining the ranks of the undead is pursue the Path of Life. Those that do so learn how the ending of one life can extend and amplify another. Those that practice the more violent aspects of this path are known as the Thieves of Life.

Role: Thieves of life almost always are thieves or assassins that, either due to a traumatic experience or a lifetime of just scrapping by, are deeply concerned with their survival. Cultivated by priests of the Blood of Vol with promises of immortality, they quickly become more confident, and more aggressive, in their fighting styles.

Source: FoE, pg. 84

Alignment: Thieves of life are usually evil, seeking to gain immortality at the expense of others. Rarely, neutral ones have a legitimate reason for doing so.

Hit Dice: d8

Requirements:

To qualify to become a thief of life, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

Alignment: Any non-good alignment.

Race: Any humanoid or monstrous humanoid.

Skills: Heal 5 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 5 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 5 ranks.

Special: Sneak attack +2d6, Worshiper of the Blood of Vol.

Class Skills:

The thief of life's class skills (and the key abilities for each skill) are Acrobatics (Dex), Bluff (Chr), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Chr), Disable Device (Dex), Disguise (Chr), Escape Artist (Chr), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Stealth (Dex) and Use Magic Device (Chr).

Skill Points at Each Level: 8 + Int modifier.

Table: The Thief of Life

Class Features:

All of the following are class features of the thief of life prestige class.

Weapons and Armor Proficiency: Thieves of life do not gain any new proficiencies with weapons or armor.

Lifesense (Su): At 1st level, the thief of life gains lifesense, as per the universal monster ability. The range of this sense starts at 15' and gains 5' per additional level, to a maximum of 60' at 10th level.

Sneak Attack (Ex): At 2nd, 6th and 10th level, the thief of life's sneak attack increases by +1d6.

Borrow Vigor (Su): At 4th level, the thief of life gains the ability to steal some life force from a creature he has downed. Anytime the thief of life reduces a living creature to negative hit points, he gains a number of temporary hit points equal to that creature's Hit Dice. These temporary hit points last for 1 hour and do stack with other sources of temporary hit points, but not with multiple uses of this class ability. The living creature that is reduced to negative hit points must be within range of the thief of life's lifesense for this class ability to work.

Immunity to Fear (Ex): At 5th level, the thief of life gains immunity to all fear based effects (magical, psionic or otherwise).

Immunity to Energy Drain (Ex): At 7th level, the thief of life gains immunity to energy drain and other effects that bestow temporary negative levels. He is still affected by permanent negative levels, if the negative levels start out as permanent.

Steal Vitality (Su): At 8th level, the thief of life gains the ability to steal the dying life force to steel his mind against other effects. Anytime the thief of life kills a living creature, he gains immunity to fatigue, exhaustion and sleep effects for a number of hours equal to that creature's Hit Dice. Multiple uses of this ability does not stack. The living creature that is killed must be within range of the thief of life's lifesense for this class ability to work. This effect is in addition to the Borrow Vigor class ability, provided that both apply at the same time.

Immunity to Death Effects (Ex): At 9th level, the thief of life gains immunity to death effects.

Steal Immortality (Su): At 10th level, the thief of life gains the ability to steal a portion of a dying creature's soul. Anytime the thief of life kills a living creature that has equal or more Hit Dice that he does, he does not age for one year and does not need to eat or sleep during that time (although you must still rest for 8 hours to regain spells or heal naturally). This prevents the penalties for physical attributes, but does not prevent the improvement to mental attributes. A living creature killed with this class feature active cannot be raised by effects short of miracle, reality revision, true resurrection or wish, and the thief of life automatically knows that the creature has been raised (if not exactly where or by what means). Unlike other similar class features from this prestige class, effects of Steal Immortality do stack.

The living creature that is killed must be within range of the thief of life's lifesense for this class ability to work. This effect is in addition to the Borrow Vigor and Steal Vitality class abilities, provided that some or all apply at the same time.