Prolonger

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:Who really wants to find out what happens when a sod's body and spirit part ways? Sure, everyone says that a cutter wakes up in some new plane or another as a petitioner, but how does any single person know - really know - that's what's going to happen to him? What if it's all a grand peel? Or if the chant's straight, but a blood's bound for infernal regions when his name's written in the dead-book? Why take the chance? A blood's best off cheating the Pale Horseman as long as he can, no matter what it takes. Giving Death the laugh, now that's the way to do things. Myself, Z haven't died in more than 50 years, and I'll put it off another 50 years ifZ can. You'd be wise to do the same.
:- Doruzed Grayblade, Prolonger rogue
The Prolongers - also called Cheaters - are a secret brotherhood of cutters who believe that life is the only point to living, and that death is the end, or the doorway to a dark and frightening eternity. Now, these views aren't uncommon, but the Prolongers are unusual in that they do something about it. They resist death by every means at their disposal, imbibing potions of longevity and elixirs of youth anytime they can, seeking to protect themselves with complicated contingency spells or rings of regeneration, and so on. Even if a Prolonger should get himself Lost, he's got a pact with the others to make use of rings of wishes, clones, or rods of resurrection to make sure a Cheater's spirit doesn't go gentle into that good night.
All of this isn't too unusual - after all, any mage worth his salt can live as long as he wants, usually - but there's one more dark about the Cheaters that makes them hated and feared wherever they go. See, like the incantifers, they've taken their beliefs over their humanity. When a blood becomes a Prolonger, he's altered so that he can use the life force of other people to keep himself alive. No one's sure how this is done, but a Cheater's not remotely human anymore, regardless of what he says or thinks.
Prolongers come from any walk of life, but most of them are human as opposed to gith, elf, or what-have-you. It seem the terror of mortality runs deep in humans. Since a Prolonger's life could be jeopardized by common knowledge of his allegiances, he'll try to keep his nature secret. Prolongers look just like they did before they unnaturally extended their life spans, and can blend in anywhere they could've before. There are only two things that mark Cheaters: First of all, their eyes are cold and dead, since cutters can't hide the age of their spirits; second, they're scared. Living ia dread of death from moment to moment makes them creatures of misery and fear. Their laughter's forced and uncomfortable, they start at loud noises, and most of all they're cowards to the core.
==Combat==
Prolongers retain their class and level, but their transformation into Cheaters makes them incapable of further advancement, just as if they'd become undead. Because a cutter's got to find a way to live a couple of centuries before attracting the brotherhood's attention, most candidates are high-ups by the time they agree to become Prolongers. A typical Cheater's a character of 10th to 19th level (d10+9), with the appropriate abilities. Rogues and mages are the most common types of Prolongers, but a few warriors and bards can be found in their ranks. Prolonger priests're unheard of - the depth of disbelief necessary to be a Prolonger just isn't compatible with the faith required to be a priest.
Over their extended lives, Prolongers gather a lot of defenses and magical items. A Prolonger's almost never found without magical protections such as rings, cloaks, or bracers that drop his effective AC to 0 or better. A typical Cheater appears in parentheses above; she's a 14th-level thief, with leather armor +3, a ring of protection +2, and a Dexterity of 17, for a total AC of 0. She's probably got other defensive magic such as a cloak of the bat, a ring of regeneration, or a necklace of adaptation. If it might save her from dying, she's interested in owning it.
The most unique and dangerous power of Prolongers is their ability to perform an energy drain, similar to that of some types of undead. Once per week, the Cheater can drain one level per round of continuous contact. Each level drained removes one year of age from the Cheater. The victim gets a saving throw versus spell with a -2 penalty to resist losing a level. The process halts if the victim breaks contact with the Prolonger, so the Cheater prefers to use this ability against a helpless or restrained target. Against a target that's free to struggle, the Cheater has to make a successful normal attack to begin using the ability, and continue to make an attack roll with a -4 penalty each round to keep her hand on her victim.
==Habitat/Society ==
Prolongers aren't really a faction, or even a sect; there are a lot of Cheaters who don't know anyone else like themselves, having developed the means of cheating death on their own. Those who are aware of other Cheaters regard themselves as an elite brotherhood or club, with no particular agenda or common causes. It's extremely unusual to run across more than one Prolonger at a time, but it's quite common to find a Prolonger with a group of hired swords and spell-slingers to protect him. In fact, it's not unheard of to find a Prolonger as a member of one of the more open-minded factions.
Prolongers rarely stay in one area for long, since their vampiric life-theft's hard to hide for any amount of time. Since they're terrified of dying, most Prolongers avoid combat and try to lure their chosen victims into situations where they can be rendered helpless without a fight - for example, using magic or paralytic poisons to take the fight out of a cutter before he knows what hit 'im.
Once a Prolonger's selected a victim, he'd rather drain him dray and dispose of the body instead of trying to make three or four kills for the same results. Therefore, they like to go after bloods of exceptional energy and vitality (that is, characters who can provide several years of counter-aging at one time instead of croaking after one level loss).
Prolongers tend to provice extreme reactions from people who discover what they are. The Mercykillers, Believers of the Source, and Harmonium have no room in their hearts for a blood who takes life from others to sustain himself. The Dustmen regard Prolongers as an abomination, a blight upon the mulitiverse to be hunted down and sent to death's cold embrace. On the other hand, neutral or evil members of the Athar, leak Cabal, and Fated admire a cutter who can give death the laugh.
==Ecology ==
Prolongers've passed beyond the normal cycles of life and can't rightly be called natural beings anymore. A side effect of using their life-draining power is an accelerated depletion of that stolen energy. Most Prolongers age 10 times faster than a normal person, which forces them to steal a sod's life-force once every 4 to 5 weeks just to keep from growing older.
It is rumored that the Prolongers' secret transformation is a pact of service to a power of death. In other words, they cut a deal for Death to leave them be, and make sure he stays busy with substitute lives. Other folks say that Prolongers exchange parts of their being for stuff of the Demiplane of Shadow, becoming living shades. The Prolongers certainly aren't rattling their bone-boxes about their methods, and they often go to efforts to silence cutters who ask too many questions.
Category:Sects
Category:Planescape Appendix II Sects