Astral Bloodline

*Whether you were raised on the Astral Plane, had an ancestor with a strong connection to the Astral, or simply had a freak brush with an astral conduit in your youth, you have an unusual connection to both time and space. Your senses extend through the Astral Plane to the far reaches of the multiverse, allowing you to perceive and manipulate the timeless potential that binds the multiverse together. Your ancestors may have also held a connection to one of the astral isles or conduits, or like you, may have plied this cosmic ocean—and some may even survive there to this day.*

You can warp time and project your senses into the Astral Plane.

## Feats

Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Forge Ring, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Quicken Spell, Skill Focus (Knowledge [planes]), Weapon Finesse.

## Arcana

When you cast a spell, you can choose to enhance the next spell you cast before the end of your next turn, increasing the enhanced spell’s saving throw DC by 1. The level of the enhanced spell must be lower than that of the spell used to activate this ability.

## Abilities

#### Astral Warp (Sp)

At 1st level, you can create a sparkling field within 30 feet that distorts time within a 5-foot cube. This field lasts until the beginning of your next turn. Any creature that enters the area or that starts its turn within the cube takes 1d4 points of force damage + 1 point of force damage per 2 Mage levels you have (Fort negates). While within the area, a creature takes a –1 penalty on Reflex saves and to AC. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier.

#### Peerless Speed (Su)

At 3rd level, you can tap into the power of the Astral’s enhanced magical nature to gain the ability to accelerate your spellcasting dramatically.

Once per day as a swift action, you can cast one cantrip you know as though it were augmented by the Quicken Spell metamagic feat, without altering the cantrip’s level.

At 5th level and every 2 levels thereafter, the maximum level of the spell you can augment with this ability increases by 1, to a maximum of an 8th-level spell at 19th level. If you use this ability while on the Astral Plane or on any plane whose enhanced magic trait allows you to cast a spell as if augmented by Quicken Spell, you can instead choose to augment the spell as though you had applied the Empower Spell or Maximize Spell metamagic feats instead.

#### Astral Voyager (Sp)

At 9th level, you can send your consciousness to the Astral Plane once per day. This functions as *Lesser Astral Projection* and allows you to bring with you up to one additional willing creature for every 2 Mage levels you have. At 13th level, you can cast *Plane Shift* once per day, but only on yourself and willing targets that accompany you, and only from the Material Plane to the Astral Plane and vice versa. At 17th level, the lesser astral projection ability instead functions as *Astral Projection*.

#### Arrest the Flow (Su)

At 15th level, once per day as an immediate action, you can attune yourself to the Astral’s timeless nature to halt the effects of one condition or affliction (such as paralyzed, stunned, a poison, or a curse), including permanent and instantaneous conditions, until the end of your next turn. You can use this ability even when a condition or affliction would normally prevent you from doing so, regardless of whether you’re targeting that prevention effect’s source. At the end of your next turn the condition or affliction resumes its normal effect and the round delayed by this ability does not count toward the condition or affliction’s duration. This ability has no effect on hit point damage, ability damage, or the dead condition. Alternatively, you can use this ability to extend the duration of any one effect affecting you until the end of your next turn; this does not extend the duration for any other creatures under the effect. At 19th level, you can use this ability twice per day.

#### Timeless Soul (Ex)

At 20th level, the silver skies and conduits of the Astral Plane are permanently connected to you. You become immune to the retroactive aging side effects incurred when leaving a plane with the timeless planar trait. You do not gain negative levels when slain on the Astral Plane while using astral projection, and any effect that would sever your silver cord instead returns you to your physical body if you succeed at a Will save (DC = 10 + the CR of the creature or caster level of the effect that severed the cord). In addition, when applying the Quicken Spell metamagic feat to a spell, it uses up a spell slot only 3 levels higher than the spell’s actual level. This ability does not stack with other abilities that would reduce the spell’s final adjusted level.