Spirit Emissary (Apath)

Unofficial rules compendium

Spirit emissaries take it upon themselves to bring the wisdom of the spirits into an unruly world.

Background

Spirit emissaries cultivate strength and unity with the spirit world through knowledge, self-control, and willpower. The core of their powers is the ability to invest power in a spirit companion and to take in a portion of that spirit’s power in exchange. This process creates a powerful bond to the spirit realms, allowing the spirit emissary to sense and pacify otherworldly creatures. They learn to channel powerful outsiders into the physical form of their spirit animal, creating a powerful hybrid called an animus to guide, protect, and advise her.

Spirit Emissaries of Porphyra

The world of spirits touch upon both the elemental realms, the material plane, and the higher worlds of the gods. Spirits claim an understanding an unity with all three worlds, something that leave them open to accusations of elementalism by adherents of the divine and of being deists by elementalists. Not surprisingly, this makes Porphyran spirit emissaries somewhat paranoid among people, but not among spirits.

Class Information

This is a prestige archetype built on the Rivethun emissary prestige class from Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Adventurer’s Guide.

Role: Spirit emissaries invoke the animus of their spirit animal and use their spells to support both the animus and other allies.

Alignment: Any. Spirits can have any imaginable goal and ethos (and some that are hard to even imagine), this means even the most quirky spirit emissary can find a spirit ally to give them power.

Hit Die: d8.

Starting Wealth: 3d6 × 10 gp (average 105 gp.) In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.

Class Skills

The spirit emissary’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Fly (Dex), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (planes) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Survival (Wis).

Skill Ranks per Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Class Features

The following are class features of the spirit emissary prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

A spirit emissary is proficient with all simple weapons, and with light and medium armor.

Spell Casting

A spirit emissary casts divine spells drawn from the shaman spell list. A spirit emissary must choose and prepare her spells in advance.

To prepare or cast a spell, a spirit emissary must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell’s level. The saving throw DC against a spirit emissary’s spell is 10 + the spell’s level + the spirit emissary’s Wisdom modifier.

Like other spellcasters, a spirit emissary can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily spell allotment is given on Table: Spirit Emissary. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Wisdom score.

Spirit emissaries commune with their spirit animals to prepare their spells. Each spirit emissary must choose a time when she must spend 1 hour each day in quiet contemplation with her spirit animal to regain her daily allotment of spells. A spirit emissary can prepare and cast any spell on the spirit emissary spell list, provided that she can cast spells of that level, but she must choose which spells to prepare during her daily communion.

Orisons Spirit emissaries can prepare a number of orisons, or 0-level spells, each day as noted on Table: Spirit Emissary. These spells are cast like any other spell, but they are not expended when cast and may be used again.

Animus (Sp)

At 1st level, a spirit emissary learns to call down very diverse spiritual servants, using her spirit animal as the focus and conduit to create a hybrid creature called an animus.

This ability functions as summon monster I, except the spirit emissary can summon only a single creature at a time (though she can select a different creature each time and can always decide to summon a single creature from a lower-level list). This summoned creature appears in the spirit animal’s location, replaces the spirit animal for the spell’s duration, gains the familiar’s spirit animal ability, and obeys the spirit emissary as if it were her spirit animal. An animus typically retains some superficial traits of the spirit animal used as a conduit in its summoning, but gains no other abilities of the spirit animal (such as share spells or evolution points). Spells and effects on the spirit animal animus while it exists, even if it would not normally be a viable target for the spell or effect. When the animus disappear and the spirit animal reappears, the spirit emissary can select which effects affecting the animus will continue to affect the spirit animal; all other effects are removed. The spirit emissary must be within 30 feet of her spirit animal to use this ability.

The animus remains for 1 round per caster level; it vanishes once this duration expires or it is reduced to 0 or fewer hit points. The spirit animal reappears in the animus’s last location and suffers none of the damage, status effects, or spells affecting the animus when it vanished.

As the spirit emissary grows in power and prestige, the effective summon monster spell she can use to conjure an animus improves, as indicated on Table: Spirit Emissary. At 19th level this ability can be used as gate, but the spirit emissary must provide the material components of the spell.

The animus ability is affected by any feat or effect that affects summon monster and the monsters summoned by such a spell. It does not work with metamagic feats.

The spirit emissary can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + her Wisdom modifier. Each use is a standard action.

Spirit (Su)

A spirit emissary forms a mystical bond with the spirits of the world. She forms a lasting bond with a single spirit, which grants a number of abilities and defines many of her other class features. This is a variant of the shaman's spirit ability.

At 1st level, a spirit emissary gains the spirit ability granted by her chosen spirit. The spirit emissary has no spirit spell slots. Instead she adds the spirit magic spells offered by her spirit directly to her spell list. She prepares and casts these spells like any other spell on her spell list. A spirit emissary cannot use hexes and does not add the hexes possessed by that spirit to the list of hexes that she can use.

At 8th level, the spirit emissary gains the abilities listed in the greater version of her selected spirit. At 16th level, the spirit emissary gains the abilities listed for the true version of her selected spirit. At 20th level, a spirit emissary undergoes a transformation as she manifests as a pinnacle of her main spirit. The nature of this manifestation depends on the spirit emissary’s spirit, and is described in its entry.

If the spirit emissary takes levels in another class that grants a mystery (such as the oracle), the spirit and mystery must match, even if that means one of them must change. Subject to GM discretion, the spirit emissary can change her former mystery or spirit to make them conform.

Spirit Animal (Ex)

By communing with the incredible powers of her spirit, the spirit emissary forges a cherished bond with one specific servant of that spirit—known as a spirit animal. A spirit animal is a creature chosen by a spirit emissary to serve as a conduit, allowing her to access the magic of her spirit on a daily basis. While the spirit animal does not store the spells like a witch’s familiar does, the spirit animal serves as her conduit to divine power. A spirit emissary must commune with her spirit animal each day to prepare her spells. If a spirit emissary’s spirit animal is slain, she cannot prepare new spells until the spirit animal is replaced. The spirit emissary’s spirit animal also grants her special powers. This ability uses the same rules as the wizard’s arcane bond class feature and is treated as a familiar, except as noted below.

A spirit emissary uses her class level as her effective wizard level when determining the abilities of her spirit animal. A spirit emissary can select any familiar available to wizards to serve as her spirit animal, although her spirit animal is augmented by the power of her chosen spirit. Once selected, the spirit animal cannot be changed. Although a spirit emissary’s spirit animal uses the statistics of a specific animal, it is treated as an outsider with the native subtype for the purposes of spells and abilities that affect it. The spirit emissary’s spirit animal is treated as a familiar for the purposes of all spells, effects, and abilities that affect familiars.

Levels of different classes that are entitled to familiars stack with spirit emissary levels for the purpose of determining any spirit animal abilities that depend on the spirit emissary’s level. If a spirit emissary possesses such levels in other classes, her spirit animal always uses the spirit emissary rules for spirit animals, not those used by familiars of other classes (such as witches, wizards, or sorcerers with the arcane bloodline). If the spirit emissary has witch levels, her spirit animal also serves as the conduit to her patron and stores her witch spells. If a spirit animal is lost or dies, it can be replaced after 24 hours through a special ritual that consumes material components worth 200 gp per spirit emissary level. The ritual takes 8 hours to complete. The new spirit animal must be of the same sort of creature as the previous one.

Spirit Strength (Ex)

At 2nd level a spirit emissary strengthens her bond to the spirit world by channeling additional divine power through her spirit animal. The spirit animal gains 2 evolution points as if it were an eidolon (as the summoner class feature) and can use them to purchase eidolon evolutions from the following list: burrow, climb, flight, gills, improved natural armor, magic attacks, skilled, swim, tail, and unnatural aura. It can freely reassign all of its points to purchase different evolutions each time the spirit emissary advances in level.

At 10th level ans 18th level, the spirit emissary’s spirit animal gains 2 additional evolution points.

Sixth Sense (Sp)

At 3rd level a spirit emissary gains detect undead as a spell-like ability, usable a number of times per day equal to her spirit emissary level. At 5th level, this spell-like ability also detects creatures of the fey type.

The spirit emissary must continue concentrating to discern which auras are undead and which are fey, gaining this knowledge as she learns the strength and location of each aura on her third round of concentration.

At 7th level, this spell-like ability also detects creatures of the outsider type, also requiring concentration to distinguish between aura types.

Parley (Sp)

At 4th level, a spirit emissary gains the ability to cast calm spirit once per day per class level as a spell-like ability (her caster level equals her character level). At 9th level, she can also use this spell-like ability to calm corporeal undead and creatures of the outsider type. At 16th level, she can use this spell-like ability to calm creatures of the fey type as well. The effectivs spell level of this ability is half the spirit emissary's class level and the save DC of this ability is 10 + 1/2 the spirit emissary's class level + her Wisdom modifier.

Augment Summoning (Su)

At 6th level, a spirit emissary’s bond to an animus strengthens considerably, gaining Augment Summoning as a bonus feat. If the spirit emissary already has Augment Summoning, she can choose any feat she meets the prerequisites for as a bonus feat instead.

Manifest Will (Su)

At 8th level, spiritual energy flows both into and out of the spirit emissary, allowing her to overcome the limitations of her physical body by sheer force of will. The spirit emissary selects either Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution. As an immediate action, she can substitute her Wisdom modifier for her selected ability’s modifier on a single ability check, attack roll, saving throw, or skill check. She can use this ability a number of times per day equal to her Charisma modifier + half her spirit emissary level.

At 14th level and again at 20th level, she can select one more physical ability score she can affect with this ability.

Spirit Conduit (Su)

At 11th level, when the animus vanishes, the spirit emissary can have her spirit animal appear in an empty square adjacent to herself instead of in the animus’s location.

Greater Spirit Conduit (Su)

At 19th level, when the animus vanishes, the bond allows the animus to leave parting insight when it vanishes, answering a single yes-or-no question for the spirit emissary as per commune.

Archetype: Patron Conduit

Certain spirit emissaries are tied to witch patrons rather than to spirits. The patron conduit channels the impersonal power of a witch patron through a familiar. Patron conduit is a witch archetype and have all the witch's class features, except as noted.

Animus (Su)

The patron conduit gains the spirit emissary's animus ability, usable a number of times per day equal to 3 + her Intelligence modifier. The animus works with the patron conduit's familiar instead of connecting to a spirit animal. This replaces hex.

Evolved Familiar (Su)

At 10th level a patron conduit strengthens her bond to her familiar. The familiar gains 2 evolution points as if it were an eidolon (as the summoner class feature) and can use them to purchase eidolon evolutions from the following list: burrow, climb, flight, gills, improved natural armor, magic attacks, skilled, swim, tail, and unnatural aura. At 18th level, the patron conduit familiar gains 2 additional evolution points. It can freely reassign all of its points to purchase different evolutions each time the patron conduit advances in level. This replaces major hex and grand hex.

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