Congulair

In ages past, before the Great Flood, sea elves and nommos clashed in a great war. In the end the sea elves were defeated and enslaved. As a punishment for disobedience these elven slaves were often forced to march across the glaciers where they would surely freeze or be picked off by marauding squawks. Despite the great odds against them, the strongest of exiled sea elves managed to survive, eventually congregating into a small band of rebels.

Unfortunately, when the nommos and the squawks learned of the enduring group, they were pushed into more remote and less hospitable regions of the glacial surface and all access to the sea was blocked. Several days into the long Fiskheim night it seemed that the rebel elves would perish. According to legend, in this darkest hour, the sky was suddenly lit with a flash of bright light. A shooting star had landed miles away from the camp of half-frozen sea elves. Attracted by the curious sight, the thunderous sound and the eerie warmth, they investigated. The weary elves found that the meteor had formed a large melt pool and they all immediately dived in, starved of warmth and moisture as they were. The pool was so comfortable that they took no notice of the tiny squid-like creatures that they were sharing it with.

By the next day, many of the rebels were infected by the highly adaptable organism. The small squid creatures quickly mutated to take advantage of the elves' biology. In some cases the weaker members of the band withered away and died. For the strongest members, however, a beneficial symbiotic relationship had developed. The symbiote's adaptation carried over to its host. The elves became immune to cold and their bodies began excreting a substance that made them impervious to the sharp ice on which they were forced to traverse. This was the blessing that the rebels needed. Aided by their newfound powers, they fought off an invading tribe of squawks. From that point on, the Congulair was born. Time would help them develop new ways to harness the power of their symbiotes and eventually allow other races to join their ranks. The small band of rebel slaves slowly grew into an army of freedom fighting Congulairs.

**Role:** Congulairs are masters of melee combat. Their innate armor and weaponry at later levels always allows them to be armed and ready. Their oath instills within them that they should always fight for the freedom of themselves and others. They are one of the few aquatic warriors that are often as adept above the ice as they are below it.

**Alignment:** The Congulair’s strict oath attracts many lawful followers but neutral and even chaotic members are known to exist. These individuals are often held in check by the lawful members of this order. Any Congulair who violates the oath will be hunted down and annihilated.

**Hit Die:** d10

### REQUIREMENTS

To qualify to become a Congulair, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:

* **Base Attack Bonus:** +5.
* **Skill:** Survival 5 ranks.
* **Feats:** Endurance, Toughness.
* **Special:** The Congulair must take the following oath before accepting a parasitic symbiote into their body:

“*I swear on my life that I will always fight for the freedom of myself and others. I will endeavor to slay those that enslave others and Congulair oath-breakers. I will not bestow a symbiote upon any that does not take this oath.”*

A symbiote will not bond with a character who does not meet the base attack bonus and feat requirements. Instead, the petitioner becomes afflicted with the following disease:

**Gelurot**
 **Effect** 1 Con damage, target must make a second Fort save or damage is drained instead; **Cure** 3 consecutive saves.

**CLASS SKILLS:** The Congulair’s class skills are Climb (Str), Intimidate (Cha), Perception (Wis) and Survival (Wis).

**Skill Ranks at Each Level:** 2 + Int modifier.

### **CLASS FEATURES**

All of the following are Class Features of the congulair prestige class:

### **Weapon and Armor Proficiency**

While the Congulair gains no proficiency with any weapon or armor, they are automatically proficient with their own gelugarma and icelance.

### **Blessing of the Symbiote (Ex)**

Once the symbiotic parasite enters a qualifying body, it becomes part of it, cannot be separated by any means and dies when the host dies. Within 24 hours of the meld, the new Congulair gains the cold subtype (if he does not already have it), thus gaining immunity to cold and vulnerability to fire. In addition, his unarmed attacks may inflict cold damage instead of their normal type.

The symbiote, which grafts itself inside the host’s abdominal wall, appears in an autopsy as a tiny, ice-blue, squid-like creature with dozens of tendrils. Reproduction of the symbiote is not as simple as it is for other parasites because the creature does not share a body with others of its kind. While genderless, this organism still requires another of their species to create offspring. Therefore, two Congulairs must spend at least 24-hours in close physical contact with one another. Afterwards, one of them (chosen randomly), will develop a small cyst in their abdomen within 2 weeks.

A single hard, round egg will eject itself from the cyst a few days later and will not hatch until exposed to fresh, clean water (not salt water) for at least an hour. Until then, the 1-inch diameter egg is as indestructible as adamantine and will remain viable indefinitely. Once hatched, the miniscule larva will quickly seek an uninfected host. If it does not find one within a few hours, it perishes. Symbiotes can only take part in reproduction once every 419 days. Reproduction of symbiotes is nearly always a deliberate act and the host is often sponsored by the Congulairs who were responsible for the creation of the larva.

### **Gelugarma (Ex)**

Upon reaching 2nd level, the frozen warrior can exude a gel-like substance from his pores that quickly freezes solid. The substance, a rock hard crystal, the color of glacial ice, adds a natural armor bonus. The liquid armor seeps through light armor and clothing, freezing over it. The result is a warrior who appears to be clad in an icy exoskeleton from head to toe. It takes a full round of action for the warrior to generate a full suit of gelugarma and he can dismiss it, or pieces of it, at will. The armor confers a +3 natural AC bonus at 2nd level, increasing by +2 every 3 levels thereafter. Unfortunately, gelugarma cannot be used with medium or heavy armor, as it either destroys those types of armor, or makes movement in them impossible. Although the armor looks and feels like ice, it is not adversely affected by heat or pressure and can be generated even in the warmest climates or deepest locales.

Gelugarma quickly melts away when not physically touching the Congulair, dissipating completely within 2d4 rounds.

### **Ice Sickle (Ex)**

At 2nd level, a Congulair can use a swift action to create an excess of this gelugarma substance in one hand and form it into a sharp sickle. It has the same statistics as a masterwork sickle crafted of ever-ice, though it melts away 1 round after leaving the Conguair’s hands. This sickle is treated as a magic weapon with regard to overcoming damage reduction.

### **Frostboon (Su)**

A 3rd-level Congulair gains access to his first frostboon, choosing one from the list on the next page. He gains another at 6th and 9th levels. The Congulair can use any one frostboon a number of times per day equal to the total number of frostboons he has access to, so at 3rd level he may use his frostboon once per day. At 6th level, he may use both frostboons twice per day each. At 9th level, he may use all three of his frostboons three times per day. When applicable, the save DC to resist a frostboon’s effect is equal to DC 10 + the Congulair’s level + the Congulair’s Charisma modifier.

### **Icelance (Ex)**

At 4th level, the Congulair can create a shortspear or a short sword out of his gelugarma ice as a standard action. At 7th level, the frostlance can take the form of a normal spear, a great spear, or a halberd. At 10th level, the Congulair’s icelance can become a long spear, lance, or ranseur.

A Congulair may choose what type of icelance to create from his list of available weapons at the time of creation and may change the weapon’s form to any other icelance form available to him as a swift action.

All icelances are treated as magic weapons with regard to overcoming damage reduction. They share the same statistics as a masterwork weapon crafted of ever-ice, though the icelance melts away 1d4 rounds after leaving the Conguair’s hands.

### **Rimefire Armor (Su)**

As a free action, a Congulair of 9th level or higher can sheath his gelugarma in a ghostly blue aura. While active, any creature striking the Congulair with its body or a handheld weapon deals normal damage but at the same time the attacker takes 1d6 points of cold damage + 1 point per caster level (maximum +15). Creatures wielding melee weapons with reach are not subject to this damage if they attack the Congulair. The Congulair may dismiss this effect at will.

### **Rimefire Weapon (Su)**

At 10th level, the Congulair’s ice lance is a weapon of Frost, Frostburn (described in Chapter 4) and Icy Burst. It glows with the same eerie radiance as his Rimefire Armor. The Congulair may swap out each of these magical abilities for a +1 magical weapon bonus at the formation (or reformation) of this weapon.

## Frostboons

### ***Cold Touch (Sp)***

A Congulair with this frostboon may cast *elemental touch* (PATHFINDER ADVANCED PLAYER’S GUIDE, cold effect only) as a spell-like ability. His caster level equals his total character level. In addition to the other attacks that convey the effects of this spell-like ability, you also deal cold damage and the related special effect when you attack with your ice sickle or frostlance.

### ***Frostsmite (Su)***

A Congulair with this frostboon can imbue his innate ice weapons with the power to smite a chosen opponent. As a swift action, the Congulair chooses one target within sight to frostsmite. While attacking with his ice sickle or frostlance, the Congulair adds his Constitution bonus (if any) to her attack rolls and adds her Congulair level to all damage rolls against the target of her frostsmite. The first successful frostsmite attack does an additional 2 points of cold damage per level the Congulair possesses. In addition, frostsmite attacks automatically bypass any DR the creature might possess. The frostsmite effect remains until the target of the frostsmite is dead or the next time the Congulair rests and regains his uses of this ability.

### ***Hibernate (Ex)***

The warrior with this frostboon can put himself in a state of suspended animation, virtually freezing his entire body. Once initiated, the process is irreversible and he becomes incapacitated for 1d6 rounds, after which the ability is in full effect. During the incapacitation stage, the Congulair concentrates on the circumstance or circumstances that will trigger the symbiote to wake him up. These instructions can be as complicated as the character desires. While in hibernation the character's body effectively becomes an object; it does not require food, drink, or air. Furthermore, it is immune to everything that an object is immune to. In addition, the Congulair's body gains a hardness of 10 (and keeps the same number of hit points). The character stays in this state until the desired circumstances come to pass, or the character's body takes damage. It takes ld6 minutes for the Congulair to wake up from the effect. The Congulair awakens in the same state that he went into the hibernation.

### ***Icebind (Su)***

When a Congulair scores a hit with his ice sickle or frostlance, he can impede his target’s mobility by coating him in a thin layer of gelugarma ice. The creature can negate this effect with a Fortitude save; otherwise, it is considered frosted and affected as if by a *slow* spell for 1d4 rounds.

### ***Icy Murk (Ex)***

A Congulair with this frostboon can emit a 20-foot-radius cloud of gelugarma ice crystals as a swift action while underwater (centered on himself). This cloud provides total concealment. The murk persists for 1 minute and then dissipates. In addition, the ice crystals deal 1d6 points of cold damage to everything within them on your turn each round. All targets can make Fortitude saves each round to avoid the damage. A Congulair (including the one that created the cloud) can see through the cloud as if it was not there.

### ***Slippery Ice (Sp)***

A Congulair with this frostboon may cast *slippery ice* as a spell-like ability, centered on himself or on objects that he touches, using his total character level as his caster level. Congulairs are immune to the effects of this frostboon, although they may be affected by this spell if cast by any other means. Large groups of Congulairs have been known to use this ability to turn entire battlefields into slippery ice rinks where they have the advantage.