Fleshcrafter (3.5e Prestige Class)

Fleshcrafter

Horrible things can be done with the dark arts of magic. Animating corpses and stitching together golems of mort flesh is just the beginning, however. Why not extend the grotesque process of flaying flesh from bone to yourself and your living enemies? A fleshcrafter is a horrible foe, who delights in crafting complete citadels composed of bloated bodies, rotted flesh and stark sinew of their vanquished foes. The rank odour of undead is compounded by the scent of the living, and all suffering goes beyond pain and turns into decadence.

Prerequisites

Alignment: Any evil.

Feats: Corpsecrafter^LM, Spell Focus (necromancy).

Race: Any humanoid.

Skills: Knowledge (arcana) 10 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 10 ranks

Spells: The character must fulfill any one of the three following criteria:

• Specialization in the Necromancy school.
  
• Have access to either the Death or Evil domain.
  
• Know and can cast 10 or more arcane or divine spells of the Necromancy school or the Evil subschool.
  

Special: The character must have crafted a flesh golem with his or her own power. As a note, using a flesh golem manual for this is allowed.

Table: The Fleshcrafter

Hit Die: d8

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Spells per Day	Claw Damage
1st	+0	+2	+0	+2	Eccentric, preservation, rebuke undead, stitched flesh minion	+1 level of existing spellcasting class	—
2nd	+1	+3	+0	+3	Dark shaping, malformation (claws), rend	+1 level of existing spellcasting class	1d4
3rd	+2	+3	+1	+3	Warp flesh	+1 level of existing spellcasting class	1d4
4th	+3	+4	+1	+4	Malformation (+2 Str)	+1 level of existing spellcasting class	1d6
5th	+3	+4	+1	+4		+1 level of existing spellcasting class	1d6
6th	+4	+5	+2	+5	Malformation (+2 Con)	+1 level of existing spellcasting class	1d8
7th	+5	+5	+2	+5		+1 level of existing spellcasting class	1d8
8th	+6	+6	+2	+6	Malformation (+2 Str, +2 Con)	+1 level of existing spellcasting class	1d10
9th	+6	+6	+3	+6		+1 level of existing spellcasting class	1d10
10th	+7	+7	+3	+7	Macabre parfait, malformation (+4 Str)	+1 level of existing spellcasting class	2d6
Class Skills (2 + Int modifier per level) Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana, religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis)

Class Features

All the following are class features of the Fleshcrafter:

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Fleshcrafters gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.

Spells per Day: When a new fleshcrafter level is gained, the character gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in any one spellcasting class he belonged to before he added the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. This essentially means that he adds the level of fleshcrafter to the level of whatever other spellcasting class the character has, then determines spells per day and caster level accordingly. If a character had more than one spellcasting class before he became a fleshcrafter wherein he meets the above-listed requirements, he must decide to which class he adds each level of fleshcrafter for the purpose of determining spells per day.

Eccentric (Ex): A mixture of the fleshcrafter's alien mindset and slowly corrupting form grants it a bonus to all Intimidate checks equal to his fleshcrafter level, and a +2 bonus to Will saves against spells of the charm and compulsion subschools, as well as to any targeted divination spell that seeks to reveal thought, emotion or alignment. These bonuses do not apply against other creatures with the eccentric extraordinary ability. At 4th level, the Will save bonuses granted by eccentric increase to +4, at 7th to +6 and at 10th to +8.

Preservation (Sp): A fleshcrafter can use gentle repose, as the spell, at will with an effective caster level equal to his character level.

Rebuke Undead (Su): A fleshcrafter can rebuke undead as an evil cleric equal to his class level. If the character can already rebuke undead, he adds his fleshcrafter levels to the levels of the class allowing him to rebuke undead for the sake of rebuking.

Stitched Flesh Minion: A fleshcrafter can establish a greater bond with one of its creations. He may subvert a flesh golem under his control, changing it into a stitched flesh minion. The flesh golem's type changes to undead. Between its old construct type and its new undead type, the stitched flesh minion gains (or retains) the best progression or the best of any two values pertaining to the same feature, as well as gaining the augmented subtype in relation to constructs. The stitched flesh minion gains the undead's d12 hitdie and good Will saves, whilst it retains the construct's average base attack progression and extra hit points, and so on. As it becomes an undead creation, the flesh golem no longer carries the chance of going berserk, and is therefore completely obedient to its master without fail. A stitched flesh minion is magically linked to its master the same way as a familiar, but it cannot retain the fleshcrafter's spells or deliver touch spells, nor does it gain any familiar special abilities. A stitched flesh minion has a turn resistance equal to the fleshcrafter's level, but cannot be destroyed due to turning attempts. If from an enemy's turning check, the stitched flesh minion would be destroyed or commanded, it is merely turned or rebuked. Otherwise, the stitched flesh minion's natural attacks, acuteness and defenses advance as the fleshcrafter gains levels. The stitched flesh minion gains one HD at every new fleshcrafter level, including 1st. The stitched flesh minion also gains the ability to help its master in his fleshcrafting endeavours. The stitched flesh minion can provide aid to the fleshcrafter as per aid another for a +2 circumstance bonus to dark shaping checks and rebuking checks. And, in combination with all of these features, the stitched flesh minion gains the following traits as the fleshcrafter increases in level.

Table: Stitched Flesh Minion

Class Level	Natural Armor Adj.	Str/Dex Adj.	Special
1st-2nd	+0	+1	damage reduction 2/-, Evasion
3th-5th	+2	+2	damage reduction 5/-, Resist disrupting effects
6th-8th	+4	+3	damage reduction 7/-, Improved Evasion
9th-10th	+6	+4	damage reduction 10/-

Dark Shaping (Su): At 2nd level, a fleshcrafter learns to use natural resources in the form of flesh, bone and sinew in order to graft undead. He can shape any type of corporeal undead that isn't a skeleton, but the maximum CR of any undead that he can control with his dark shaping ability is equal to his character level - 4. He may shape a number of undead equal to half his fleshcrafter level. The control that a fleshcrafter can exert upon the undead he has under his control allows him to direct them in attack by ordering them either verbally, telepathically, or even as a nondescript free action with a DC 15 Concentration check. A successfully shaped undead serves the fleshcrafter until destroyed or dismissed from his control. When dismissing one of his undead creations, the fleshcrafter may either choose to simply relinquish control or to destroy the creation, both courses of action taking only a single thought and a free action. Undead created through dark shaping have certain special traits:

• Feats that improve the quality of undead created also apply to undead made with the help of dark shaping.
  
• Undead created through dark shaping have a +4 bonus to Strength and Dexterity that stacks with other such bonuses from feats or other class features.
  
• Undead created through dark shaping can take full actions as normal, even if they are zombies.
  
• Undead created through dark shaping gain a number of ranks in Intimidate equal to the fleshcrafter controlling them - 4. The fleshcrafter can channel Intimidate attempts through his creations, using the undead's modifiers, but adding half his fleshcrafter level as bonus (rounded down). Furthermore, any undead created through dark shaping with a CR of 10 or more channels a frightful presence effect (save DC is Charisma-based.

Shaping Check: In order to shape an undead with a specific CR, the fleshcrafter must make a special shaping check of 1d20 + his fleshcrafter level + his Charisma modifier against a DC of 10 + the CR of the undead he wishes to create. A fleshcrafter cannot shape or control an undead with a CR larger than his character level - 4. If the shaping check fails by more than 5 points, half of the raw materials are lost.

Time Required: The time required to craft an undead using dark shaping is derived by the following formula. You multiply the undead's CR with the shaping check DC and divide by the shaping check result, rounding the outcome to the closest integer. Then you add the resulting undead's Intelligence modifier. This is the number of hours that crafting that undead will take. Crafting an undead with dark shaping requires at least 1 hour.

Shaping Cost: The cost of a dark shaping is measured in raw materials in the forms of specific parts harvested from fresh corpses. To craft a specific undead requires base materials from a number of corpses equal to its CR (rounded up if the CR is fractional).

Malformation (Ex): The fleshcrafter's continued immersion in form altering dark magics gradually corrupts even his own body. His form steadily becomes more resilient and gains monstrous features. At 2nd level, the fleshcrafter's malformation grants it a natural attack in the form of claws. These claws start with a base damage of 1d4 and gradually improve (see the Claw section of Table: The Fleshcrafter).

Table: Small / Large Fleshcrafters

Fleshcrafter Level	Claw Damage
	Small	Large
2nd-3rd	1d3	1d6
4th-5th	1d4	1d8
6th-7th	1d6	1d10
8th-9th	1d8	2d6
10th	1d10	2d8

Furthermore, the fleshcrafter's malformation continues to strengthen and toughen him over the course of his progression.

• At 4th level, the fleshcrafter gains a bonus of +2 to his Strength score.
• At 6th level, the fleshcrafter gains a bonus +2 to his Constitution score.
• At 8th level, the fleshcrafter gains further bonuses of +2 to both his Strength and Constitution score, making a total of +4 to Strength and +4 to Constitution.
• At 10th level, the fleshcrafter gains a final +4 bonus to his Strength score, making a final total of +8 to Strength and +4 to Constitution.

Rend (Ex): From 2nd level on, if a fleshcrafter hits with both claw attacks, he latches onto the opponent’s body and tears the flesh. This attack automatically deals an additional amount of damage equal to twice the fleshcrafter's claws' base damage plus 1½ times his Strength bonus.

Warp Flesh (Sp): At 3rd level, the fleshcrafter gains further control over both his flesh and the flesh of others. In any of the below cases, warp flesh is the equivalent of a 6th level spell, with an effective caster level of 8 + fleshcrafter level. Calculate range, duration and effect correspondingly. The save-DCs of this ability are Charisma-based.

• Malleate Corpse: A use of warp flesh can increase the quality of a fleshcrafter's raw material. He may target 1d4 fresh corpses plus one additional corpse for each 3 fleshcrafter levels he has. A corpse so affected counts as two corpses for the sake of raw materials for dark shaping. Each corpse targeted must be within 30 feet from the others.
• Touch Attack: When used as a melee touch attack against a target creature, warp flesh causes a ripple of extremely violent mutation to surge through the target's body, dealing 2d6 damage per effective caster level. A creature that makes a successful Fortitude save is partially affected, taking only 5d6 points of damage. If the resulting damage dealt by this ability kills the target creature, it will become a zombie 1d4 minutes after death. A zombie made through warp flesh retains twice the number of Hit Dice that the creature had both HD and class levels in life (up to a maximum of twice the fleshcrafter's character level) and obeys the fleshcrafter whose warp flesh ability created him without question. The zombie furthermore gains all the traits of an undead created through dark shaping.
• Transformation: When used upon the fleshcrafter himself or upon an undead creature under his control, warp flesh bestows a transformation effect on the target, as per the spell. When targeting an undead creature under his control that has 10 HD or less, this effect can be made permanent by paying an XP cost equal to 200 times the undead's HD. For undead with more than 10 HD, the XP cost is 500 times that HD.

Warp spell may henceforth be used a number of times equal to the fleshcrafter's class level.

Macabre Parfait (Ex): At 10th level, a fleshcrafter becomes a monstrous creature. He is forevermore treated as a monstrous humanoid rather than as a humanoid for the purpose of spells, magical effects and things such as racial admission standards. Additionally, the fleshcrafter gains damage reduction 5/good and silver, and his claws are treated as evil-aligned for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

The Epic Fleshcrafter

Table: The Epic Fleshcrafter

Hit Die: d8

Level	Special
11th	Warp flesh 6/day
12th
13th	Warp flesh 7/day
14th
15th	Warp flesh 8/day
16th
17th	Warp flesh 9/day
18th
19th	Warp flesh 10/day
20th
Skill Points Per Level 2 + Int modifier per level).

Class Features

All the following are class features of the Epic Fleshcrafter.

Eccentric (Ex): The epic fleshcrafter's eccentric bonus to Intimidate checks increases by 1 for every epic fleshcrafter level, as normal.

Natural Armor (Ex): The epic fleshcrafter's maximum natural armor bonus increases by 1 per level, as usual.

Stitched Flesh Minion: The stitched flesh minion advances as normal, gaining an additional 2 HD, +2 to its natural armor and +1 to its Strength/Dexterity adjustment every level divisible by three (12th, 15th, etc).

Dark Shaping (Su): The epic fleshcrafter's dark shaping ability progresses as usual, as does the maximum number of Hit Dice of undead creatures that he can control.

Malformation (Ex): The base damage of the fleshcrafter's claw attacks no longer increases after 10th level, and neither do the bonuses to Strength and Constitution.

Warp Flesh (Sp): The epic fleshcrafter gains another use of warp flesh per day at every odd-numbered level. The effective caster level for the ability progresses as usual.

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