Inculcator (Apath)

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Whereas most mesmerists can bend their victims to their will, inculator's take it one step further: They literally rewrite a victim's personality, possibly turning them into new people.

Class Information

This is a mesmerist archetype that create hidden alternate personalities in their victims.

Publisher: d20pfsrd Publishing based on the works of Jessie Staffler.

Class: Mesmerist.

Hit Die: d8.

Create Alter Ego (Su)

At 1st level a inculator can implant a secondary personality in a victim. This is a one-hour ritual and the target must be helpless or willing. Using a sleeping or unconscious target is the norm. The inculator who created the alter ego can remove it in a one-hour session. Each target can only have one alter-ego; if multiple inculators work on a single target, the resulting alter-ego will be the sum of their combined efforts. An inculator cannot create an alter ego in himself.

The alter ego created by the inculator is an alternate personality that lives inside the target's mind. It is separate from the target and mind-affecting effects can be used against the alter ego if its presence is known. If the presence of the alter ego is not known, mind-affecting effects always target the persona that is in control at the moment.

A beginning alter ego is identical to the target creature in abilities, alignment, and motivation, and has an Ego score of 10 + ½ the inculator's class level + his Charisma score. An inculator can spend inoculation points equal to his Charisma bonus (minimum one) to create an alter ego. Each inculation point can be spent to do one of the following.

  • Change the alignment of the alter-ego by one step, either on the law-chaos or good-evil axis.
  • Give the inculator one goal or motivation appropriate to its alignment. Motivations must be fairly straightforward, such as "obey Mr Mystico", "be loyal to the revolution", "keep the existence of the alter-ego secret", or "kill king Stephanos".

When a motivation of the alter-ego is triggered, the victim must make a Will save equal to the Ego of the alter-ego or be overwhelmed by the alternate personality. The target is allowed a new saving throw after one minute, one hour, and each day thereafter, a success restores control. The target is also allows a new saving throw in the alter-ego is about to do something against the target's nature. The alter-ego and target have only a vague, dreamlike memory of the experiences of the other, but this is enough to masquerade perfectly; needed memories come back naturally as the situation demands.

Alter ego is a form of insanity. Any ability that works against insanity affects alter ego. A Sense Motive check to sense enchantment (DC 25) when the alter-ego is in control can sense that something is wrong. Alter ego is a part of the target's mind and neither a charm, compulsion, enchantment, or a mind-affecting effect.

An inculator can only cultivate a number of alter-egos equal to his class level + his Charisma modifier. If he wishes to exceed this limit, he must first release on of his current targets, as outlined above.

This replaces mesmerist tricks and masterful tricks.

Uses of Inculation
Inculation is a complex ability, and many uses are not obvious at first. Here are a number of ideas of what alter ego can be used to create.
  • Genuine madness. Pretty useless, sadistic, and evil.
  • Double-agent or slave. This is the most obvious use.
  • Spy. The limitations on memory makes the alter-ego's reports less than perfect
  • Telepathic partner. As the alter-ego counts as a separate individual, you can make telepathic contact even when it is not in control and learn what is currently happening.
  • Condition the target against harmful behavior, such as drugs, criminal acts, and so on.
  • Place a cricket voice in the target's mind, like an amplified conscience or devil's advocate.
  • Condition allies against mind control. By motivating the alter-ego to seize control when the target is dominated without otherwise changing motivations or alignment, you give the target a second chance. At high levels you can even give the target an alternate setup of skills and feats. This requires an extraordinary amount of trust.

Continuing Inculation (Su)

At level 5 level, the inculator can rewrite an alter-ego using the same procedure as create alter ego, effectively starting over each time, but likely with more inculation points to spend. A particular target can only be inculated once per day. This replaces the manifold tricks ability from level 5.

Overwhelming Psyche (Su)

At 9th level, when using create alter ego or continuing inculation, the inculator can expend a mesmerist spell slot to increase his inculation points with this target by a number of points equal to the level of the spell slot expended. This replaces the manifold tricks ability from level 9.

Rearrange Abilities (Su)

At 13th level, the inculator can slightly modify the minds of their victim, giving them different skills and abilities in their alter ego. These changes are only used when the victims alter ego is active. Each inculation point can be spent to do one of the following:

  • Exchange all of the target's skill ranks between two selected skills when the alter ego is in control.
  • Swap one of the victim's feats for another one (for which the target must qualify).

This replaces the manifold tricks ability from level 13.

Who Plays an Alter-Ego?
Usually, the alter-ego is an NPC and played by the gamemaster. But players that enjoy a role-playing challenge might want to play the alter-ego of either their own character or another. This can be a good way to keep idle players involved when the action focuses elsewhere. However, the GM is the final arbiter of motivations and alignment and can give pointers or resume control at any time.

Crush Psyche (Su)

At 17th level, each time a target fails a Will save against the Ego of an alter-ego created by the inoculator, that target suffers 1d4 point of Wisdom damage. If Wisdom is reduced to zero, all Wisdom damage is restored, but the target's original personality is destroyed, replaced by the alter-ego. The alter-ego is no longer considered a madness. This Wisdom drain is subtle, a Sense Motive check (DC 40) can notice the target seems distracted and unfocused. A destroyed psyche can only be restored by miracle, psychic surgery, or wish. This replaces the manifold tricks ability from level 17.

Summary of Changed Class Abilities

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

  • Mesmerist Tricks
  • Manifold Tricks
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