Sarsen Mage Class

The below is copied from the Google Doc for completeness. It is not a finished class, and is not available for PCs.

Alignment: Any

Hit Die: D8

Class Skills: Acrobatics, Appraise, Craft, Fly, Heal, Knowledge (All), Linguistics, Profession, Perception, Spellcraft, Stealth, Survival

Skill Ranks: 4 + Int Modifier

Spellcasting: A Sarsen Mage prepares spells as if he were a wizard and selects spells from appended spell list. A Sarsen mage also gains access to the magical abilities of the monsters they slay if certain rituals are completed.

Studied Target: The Sarsen mage gains the Slayer ability of the same name. Unlike a slayer, this ability can only ever affect one target. The bonus given by this ability is equal to the Sarsen’s INT bonus.

Slayer Talent: The Sarsen gain’s slayer talents, and from 12th level on advanced slayer talents. The Sarsen must qualify for all talents that are selected.

Infusion: The Sarsen mage is able to extract magical essences from the corpses of certain beasts. Doing so is not a trivial matter. The Sarsen is able to perform rituals of preservation. These rituals must be performed on a still living creature and require an hour and 50 gp worth of alchemical fluids. The target of the rituals does not need to be helpless, but must not leave a 10 foot diameter for the entire ritual. If the creature is slain within the hour after the completion of the ritual the Sarsen may extract the necessary fluids, organs, and other things in a process taking five minutes and requiring concentration as if casting a spell. The Sarsen mage may then implant the essence within their own body. This is a painful ritual taking five minutes that most mages insist they perform on themself though anyone would be able to attempt it with a DC25 Heal check. The Sarsen takes D8 constitution damage from this ritual.

There are two kinds of essences that may be extracted. The first are Passive, and provide always active and at-will abilities such as Darkvision and Auras. The Sarsen may have a number of these abilities equal to their INT bonus.

The second kind are Active. These are extracted from magical creatures which have powers that have recharge times or uses per day/week/etc… Each arm that the Sarsen has may carry two essences, their head and neck may each carry one, each leg may carry two, three may be implanted in the abdomen, and three may be on their back. Certain essences will only be permitted to be applied to specific places (A breath weapon must be in the neck, and a gaze attack must be in the head, for example). To use an essence, the Sarsen makes an a check against the caster level of the essence (when it was in it’s original creature) + 10. The Sarsen rolls INT + CL. Each time an essence is used within a 24 hour period the DC to use it increases by 5. The essence takes on the CL of the Sarsen when used unless their CL is too low to use that essence, in which case it is the CL of the original host creature.

A Sarsen mage may ‘overwrite’ an essence with a new essence, but they may not give up an essence that they have without a replacement.

Example: Mira is a 8th level Sarsen mage, who has captured a Witchwyrd (CR6 Monstrous Humanoid). She decides to extract essences from this being, and so while it is unconscious and bound performs the ritual of preservation. Witchwyrd has a set of spell like abilities, constant detect magic, and the abilities to catch and form magic missiles at will. After completing the ritual, Mira kills the creature and spends five minutes extracting the essence of its spell like abilities. She implants this into an active slot in her hand, and takes 6 Constitution damage in the process. While woozy, she decides that the magic eyes that will allow her to detect magic all the time are also a remarkable find and decides to take a chance. She extract’s it’s eyes puts that essence into her own eyes, filling a passive slot. She gains constant detect magic and takes another 5 Constitution damage. Nearly dead, Mira decides to stop. If she had more vitality, she may have taken the constant mage armour ability the Witchwyrd had. This would have brought her over the four passive essences she can carry but Mira would gladly have sacrificed the scent ability she had gained for the constant mage armor.

A few weeks later, Mira uses her essence of the Witchwyrd to cast Dimension Door. To do so, she makes a INT+CL check ( Total bonus +12) vs. a DC of 10 the Witchwyrd’s CL (Total 18). She succeeds, and casts Dimension Door. A few hours later, she needs to use the Witchwyrd’s Dispel Magic spell. She makes a check against DC 23. Then, in desperation, she uses it one more time to cast Resilient Sphere, at a DC of 28. She would be able to cast another Dimension Door if she needed to, but such a task would be at DC 33 -  just beyond her abilities.

Magical Blending: A Sarsen learns to use the magical powers of the essences they have within them to cast spells which are similar, but not identical, to the ones they enabled in their original host. Whenever using a essence that grants the casting of spells (as spells or as spell like abilities) a Sarsen mage can choose to make a spellcraft check with a DC = 10 + 2 X Spell Level. If they succeed, they may use that essence to cast a spell of the same school and of the same level or lower if it is in the Sarsen’s spellbook.