Leech (Apath)

Unofficial rules compendium

Whoo-hoo-hoo, look who knows so much. It just so happens that your friend here is only MOSTLY dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive.
—Miracle Max, the Princess Bride

The leech is a practitioner of the art of health care. They use their knives to cut away unsightly hair, blemishes, to drain pustules, amputate limbs, and otherwise bring forth health and beauty through selective destruction. They use leeches to remove harmful substances, curses, and even spell effects. They use medicines to counter disease and ailments. They use massage to promote well-being and bring forth inner energy. Naturally, all this requires a practical knowledge of anatomy, which can also make leeches dangerous in combat when they get a good opening to use their skills for destruction.

At the same time, leeches work to improve their patients' physical well-being in other ways—through hygiene, cosmetics, hairdressing, and baths. In a civilized city everyone who can afford to visits a leech at least once a week, and their stalls are both health parlors and centers of news and gossip. Leeches are more than just cosmeticians and surgeons, they also provide a social outlet. They try to please the customer as best they can, and provide entertainment in the form of songs, stories, and interesting conversation as they work. Some leeches also have scientific ambitions, and become quite knowledgeable on a variety of subjects. Unlike true scholars, leeches always look at the practical application of knowledge and are not above experimentation.

Leeches thrive in cities and markets. Some travel from market to market, but most prefer to settle in a larger town and practice their profession where there are plenty of wealthy customers. Most are content with a life as a part of the social circuit of their towns, keeping track of gossip and subtly helping their favorites on the social scene, gaining influence through friends and favors rather than wealth and power.

The leech archetype represents a non-supernatural healing tradition. Because supernatural healing is the norm in Pathfinder, and natural healing is also rather quick and simple, the efficiency of the leech's healing abilities have to be rather cinematic to be at all competitive. The leech also uses some methods that are not recommended medical practice today but a part of medieval medicine—like bleeding. Do not try this at home.

Publisher: Trailseeker Magazine.

Class Information

This is a rogue archetype.

Hit Dice: d8.

Unchained Leech The leech incorporates changes to the rogue from Pathfinder Unchained. Pathfinder unchained additions are in brown. Ignore all brown text if not using the unchained rogue.

Class Abilities

A leech has all class abilities of the normal rogue, except as follows.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

Leeches are proficient with the dagger, club, dart, sap, rapier, shortsword, and kukri and with light armor but not with shields.

Facing Death

A leech is used to facing death, and has strong saving throws against Fortitude and Will but weak Reflex saving throws. Facing death and healing knife replaces trap sense.

Healing Knife (Ex)

A leech gains Heal as a class skill and may add either her Dexterity or Intelligence bonus to Heal skill checks instead of her Wisdom modifier. A leech can apply a poison to a blade with no chance of poisoning herself, and can do so as a move action. She also learns a leech talent. This must be picked from leech talents and may not be picked from normal rogue talents.

Medical Training

Each leech gets to choose a medical background. This is an indication of how she learned and will develop her medical skills. Choose one of the following. This replaces trapfinding.

Doctor of Medicine (Ex): A doctor has a proper education. She is able to read even the most diffuse undecipherable handwriting and codes used to hide obtuse lore. Add all Knowledge skills to the doctor's list of class skills. The doctor gains a bonus equal to half her class level (minimum +1) on all Heal and Linguistics checks.

Field Medic (Ex): It is said that there are two ways to learn medicine—to study at a university, or to follow an army on campaign. Adventurers usually leave as many dead and wounded as a small army. Field medics develop stern authority to handle unruly wounded. A field medic gains a bonus on Intimidate and Heal checks equal to half her leech level (minimum +1).

Quack (Ex): A quack is a skilled healer and knows a little bit about everything, but lacks a proper education. Her medicine is home-made and includes quite a bit of folk remedies. At first level, a quack gains a bonus on Heal checks, Diplomacy checks to gather information, and on unskilled Knowledge checks equal to half her leech level (minimum +1), and can perform all Knowledge checks as if skilled.

Practiced Healer (Ex)

At second level, a leech can work faster with the Heal skill. Providing first aid, treating a wound, or treating poison can be done as an immediate action, but the leech needs to be adjacent to the target. Treating a disease or tending a creature wounded by a spike growth or spike stones takes a full-round action. Treating deadly wounds takes 10 minutes of work. Providing long-term care requires 2 hours of light activity, and the leech can treat a number of patients equal to her Heal skill modifier. By spending more hours each day, she can treat multiples of her normal limit. This replaces evasion.

Leech Talents

At second level a leech gains a talent, and he learns another at every even-numbered level. Leeches as a group are generalists, but each leech picks up some tricks and specialties. These work like rogue talents. At level 10, a leech gains the advanced talents ability and can now choose talents that have advanced specialties as a prerequisite.

This is a modification to rogue talents. A leech can select a rogue talent she fulfills the prerequisites for instead of a leech specialty at any time, and can select advanced rogue talents once she gains the advanced talents class feature.

Stalwart

At 4th level, , a leech can use mental and physical resiliency to avoid certain attacks. If she makes a Fortitude or Will saving throw against an attack that has a reduced effect on a successful save, she instead avoids the effect entirely. This ability can only be used if the leech is wearing light armor or no armor. A helpless leech does not gain the benefit of the stalwart ability. This replaces uncanny dodge.

Improved Stalart (Ex)

At 8th level, when the leech fails a Fortitude or Will saving throw against an effect that has a reduced effect on a successful saving throw, the leech is considered to have succeeded at the saving throw and suffers the lesser effect. This does not help against effects completely negated by a successful save. Improved stalwart replaces the unchained rogue's improved uncanny dodge.

Table: Leech

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1st	+0	+2	+0	+2	Finesse training, healing knife, medical training, sneak attack +1d6
2nd	+1	+3	+0	+3	Leech talent, practiced healer
3rd	+2	+3	+1	+3	Finesse training, sneak attack +2d6
4th	+3	+4	+1	+4	Debilitating injury, stalwart, leech talent
5th	+3	+4	+1	+4	Rogue's edge, sneak attack +3d6
6th	+4	+5	+2	+5	Leech talent
7th	+5	+5	+2	+5	Sneak attack +4d6
8th	+6/+1	+6	+2	+6	Improved stalwart, leech talent
9th	+6/+1	+6	+3	+6	Sneak attack +5d6
10th	+7/+2	+7	+3	+7	Advanced talents, leech talent, rogue's edge
11th	+8/+3	+7	+3	+7	Finesse training, sneak attack +6d6
12th	+9/+4	+8	+4	+8	Leech talent
13th	+9/+4	+8	+4	+8	Sneak attack +7d6
14th	+10/+5	+9	+4	+9	Leech talent
15th	+11/+6/+1	+9	+5	+9	Rogue's edge, sneak attack +8d6
16th	+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+10	Leech talent
17th	+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+10	Sneak attack +9d6
18th	+13/+8/+3	+11	+6	+11	Leech talent
19th	+14/+9/+4	+11	+6	+11	Finesse training, sneak attack +10d6
20th	+15/+10/+5	+12	+6	+12	Master strike, leech talent, rogue's edge

Summary of Changed Class Abilities

These abilities of the original class are lost or modified in this archetype:

• Class Skills
• Weapon and Armor Proficiency
• Trapfinding
• Uncanny Dodge
• Rogue Talents
• Trap Sense
• Evasion
• Improved Uncanny Dodge

Leech Talents

These additional talents are available to leeches. A GM may allow normal rogues to select these talents, but they will often lack the needed skills. Leech that that inflict Constitution damage only work on creatures that have a Constitution score; they won't work on most constructs and undead.

Apothecary (Ex)

Prerequisite: Medical training

Benefit: You can create healing kits, medicines, ingested alchemical creations, drugs, and poisons with astounding speed. This uses Craft (Alchemy). It takes you one-tenth the normal amount of time to create such items, and you can apply poison to a weapon as a swift action.

Bleed (Ex)

Benefit: By applying live leeches (part of a healer's kit) or precise surgery, a leech can remove harmful effects from a living creature. This removes the effects of exceptional abilities, poison, disease, temporary negative levels, spells, and spell-like abilities. Hit point and attribute damage cannot be healed in this way.

Make a Heal check against a DC of 20 + the caster level of the effect or hit dice of the creator, or against double the Saving throw DC of a poison or disease. Success removes the condition. Bleeding takes ten minutes, and the leech can bleed up to three patients simultaneously. Bleeding, successful or not, inflicts one point of Constitution damage and can be retried as often as desired.

Expert Surgeon (Ex)

Time	Constitution Damage	Heal Check
1 hour	1d6	+5
15 minutes	1d4	±0
5 minutes	1d3	-5
1 minute	1d2	-10
1 full round	1	-20

Prerequisite: Surgery

You can perform surgery in longer or shorter time. The Constitution damage varies depending on how much time you spend, and there is also a bonus or penalty on the Heal check.

Grooming (Ex)

Benefit: By spending fifteen minutes and making a Heal skill roll with a difficulty equal to the target's Charisma score, the leech gives that creature +1 alchemical bonus to all Charisma-based skill checks. For every ten points of margin on the skill roll, the bonus increases by one. This lasts until the recipient's next rest period (never more than 24 hours).

A leech is not completely occupied while grooming, she can converse or gather information meanwhile. However, he cannot engage in combat or other strenuous activity without spoiling the grooming attempt.

Enthrall (Ex)

Benefit: By speaking continuously, the leech can enthrall her audience, as the spell. The Will saving throw DC is 10 + half the leech's class level + the leeches Charisma modifier. The leech can use this ability as often as she likes, but a target that passes the Saving throw is immune to further enthrall or suggestion attempts from her for 24 hours.

If the leech is currently grooming or operating on the target, the save DC is at +4, and they can't get out of the enthrallment automatically in case of danger. After all, they have a razor at their throat. They do get a chance to save each round while in danger.

First Aid (Ex)

Benefit: You can try to patch up damage. This is a full round action that provokes an attack of opportunity during which both the patient and leech are flat-footed. Any attack or movement in the meantime ruins the effect. On the leech's turn in the next round, this restores a number of hit points equal to the leech's Heal skill modifier (no roll allowed). Each use of this ability inflicts one point of Constitution damage on the target, even if it is interrupted.

Makeup Artist (Ex)

Benefit: If the leech helps someone put on a disguise (including herself), there is a +4 circumstance modifier to all disguise rolls as long as that disguise is in use, up to a maximum of 24 hours. A disguise can be touched up to extend the duration.

By taking 6 hours to build a specific disguise (whig, mask etc), a makeup artist can give a specific person who uses this kit a +4 Disguise for a specific role. The beneficiary can don the kit as a full-round action without aid form the makeup artist.

Suggestion (Ex)

Prerequisite: Enthrall

Benefit: By clever wording and verbal trickery, the leech can make almost any proposition seem reasonable. In this way, the leech can use suggestion (as the spell) on anyone he has first enthralled. The Will Saving throw DC is 10 + half the leech's class level + the leech's Charisma modifier. The leech can use this ability as often as he likes, but a target that passes the Saving throw is immune to further suggestion attempts for 24 hours.

Surgery (Ex)

Benefit: The surgeon can use the Heal skill to perform surgery. Surgery takes fifteen minutes, during which both the patient and leech are flat-footed. This ability can be used any number of times in a day (time and Constitution permitting).

If surgery is aborted to do anything else (such as defending from an attack), the patient takes an immediate 1d6 Constitution damage. After completed surgery, the patient is exhausted and takes 1d6 points of Constitution damage, but also gains considerable benefits, depending on the type of surgery performed.

With surgery the surgeon can make a Heal skill check and the patient recovers this many hit points. Surgery can heal attribute damage to attributes other than Constitution. Divide the result of the Heal check by five, this is the number of attribute damage points restored. Surgery will also cure the following conditions if the Heal roll is 20 or more: bleed, blinded, deafened, entangled, shaken, and sickened. Damaged limbs can be restored to normal function. In general only long-lasting conditions are worth removing by surgery.

A newly dead creature can be resuscitated (made alive and stable), but this requires a Heal check with a DC equal to the negative hit points the creature currently suffers from or the time in minutes since it died, whichever is greater.

Advanced Leech Talents

These abilities are available to a leech with the advanced talents ability.

Bleed, Greater (Ex)

Prerequisite: Advanced Talents, Bleed

Benefit: The leech can use the bleed ability to remove curses, supernatural abilities, permanent negative levels, petrifaction, and polymorph effects.

Conditioning (Ex)

Prerequisite: Advanced Talents, Enthrall, Suggestion

Benefit: You can create a lasting suggestion that changes how the target behaves in a situation you specify. This works like suggestion, but has an unlimited duration and can be triggered multiple times. Each time it is triggered, the victim gains a new saving throw to negate the ability, but each saving throw suffers a cumulative -1 penalty; when the saving throw requires a roll of 21 to succeed, the conditioning has become permanent an no more saving throws are allowed.

Cosmetic Surgery (Ex)

Prerequisite: Advanced Talents, Makeup Artist, Surgery

Benefit: You can create a lasting disguise by performing surgery on the target. The target gets a permanent +20 bonus on Disguise checks to impersonate the creature you surgically altered it to look like. The target cannot change size and retains their original creature type. If the target tries to adopt a different disguise, calculate disguise modifiers from the target's surgical form, but without the +20 bonus.

Final Touch (Ex)

Prerequisite: Advanced Talents, Grooming

Benefit: At this level of ability, your grooming skills have become legendary. Final touch allows you to groom several creatures with the aid of assistants. Assistants do the actual grooming, but the leech gets to make the skill roll, as long as she spends at least a minute making final touch-ups.

Surgery, Major (Ex)

Prerequisite: Advanced Talents, Surgery

Benefit: Major surgery has all the benefits and drawbacks of surgery and add the following extra effects. Major surgery can cure attribute drain the same way surgery cures attribute damage. Major surgery can reattach severed limbs (except the head) and remove all kinds of parasitic infection.

A recently dead creature can be resuscitated, this requires a Heal check with a DC equal to half the negative hit points the creature currently suffers from or the time in hours since it died, whichever is greater.

See Also

• Poison Making

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