Immortalist (3.5e Prestige Class)
Immortalist
“ | No longer shall I fear death! | ” |
—Leosla, Human Immortalist |
Immortalists are powerful spellcasters who have transcended mortality in a way few would dare to imagine. These masters of their art have irrevocably erased death and can no longer die. Unlike some profane means of becoming immortal, an immortalist manages to keep his flesh and mortality's pleasures. Many necromancers envy them; common mortals fear them. They are a truly marvelous example on how magic can put nature and even time itself in its place.
Becoming an Immortalist
The path of the immortalist is a tempting one; usually greedy or cowardly individuals take this path over undeath or other terrible means of extending one's lifespan.
Alignment: | Any non-good. |
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Race: | Any non-undead. |
Skills: | Knowledge (Religion) 12 ranks, Spellcraft 12 ranks. |
Spellcasting: | Able to cast 5th level spells or use 5th level Spell-like Abilities. |
Special: | Must know his or her own true name. |
Level | Base Attack Bonus |
Saving Throws | Special | Spellcasting | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Fort | Ref | Will | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1st | +0 | +0 | +0 | +2 | Extend Lifespan, Timeless Body | +1 to Existing Spellcasting Class | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2nd | +1 | +0 | +0 | +3 | Extend Lifespan, Immortal Fortitude | +1 to Existing Spellcasting Class | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
3rd | +2 | +1 | +1 | +3 | Extend Lifespan | +1 to Existing Spellcasting Class | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
4th | +3 | +1 | +1 | +4 | Deathless, Extend Lifespan | +1 to Existing Spellcasting Class | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
5th | +3 | +1 | +1 | +4 | True Immortality | +1 to Existing Spellcasting Class | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level) |
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the immortalist.
Spellcasting: When a new immortalist level is gained, the character gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in whatever 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 immortalist 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 an immortalist, he must decide to which class he adds each level of immortalist for the purpose of determining spells per day.
Extend Lifespan (Ex): At each level except 5th, an immortalist extends his lifespan. Each time he gains this ability, he regresses to his last age category, keeping all of the gained age bonuses while losing any age penalties. He starts at the minimum age for the age category. This ability cannot regress the immortalist beyond young adult.
Timeless Body (Ex): At 1st level, a immortalist no longer takes ability score penalties for aging and cannot be magically aged. Any penalties she may have already incurred, however, remain in place.
Bonuses still accrue, and the immortalist still dies of old age when his time is up.
Immortal Fortitude (Ex): At 2nd level, an immortalist makes the second step in the pursuit of true immortality. His body no longer requires mortal needs and loses many of its previous weaknesses.
- Immunity to diseases, poison, ability damage/drain, fatigue/exhaustion.
- An immortalist no longer needs to eat, sleep, drink or breath, though he may do so if he wishes.
Deathless (Ex): At 4th level, an immortalist makes the penultimate step in his pursuit of avoiding death. By manipulating his true name and other primal pillars of existence, he is able to erase his vulnerability to even supernatural death.
- The immortalist no longer loses levels or experience for dying and being resurrected or raised.
- The immortalist becomes immune to death effects and can no longer be the subject of soul-stealing spells such as Soul Bind or Trap the Soul.
- The immortalist gains immunity to Energy Drain.
- The immortalist can no longer be made into an undead creature, no matter how strong the necromantic magic is.
True Immortality (Ex): At 5th level, the immortalist makes the final step toward immortality. He takes on the following traits:
- Can no longer die of old age. The immortalist is still considered aging for the purpose of gaining bonus based on age. His age category, for all other purposes, is young adult.
- Becomes an Outsider (Native).
- Gains Regeneration 10. (With exceptions; see below.)
- An immortalist's regeneration ability can be overcome in two fashions. Firstly, an immortalist's regeneration is overcome by a weapon aligned to the opposite of one component of the immortalist's alignment (Ex. Lawful counteracts chaotic, good counteracts evil and visa versa.) A neutral immortalist must choose one alignment component that bypasses their regeneration. Secondly, an immortalist must choose one material (Such as steel, mithral, adamantine, cold iron or some other material with their DM's approval) that automatically bypasses their regeneration. A weapon does not need to have both an alignment component and a material component to overcome an immortalist's regeneration; only one of the two is necessary.
- An immortalist regrows any lost body part within one minute; the body part reattaches immediately if pressed against the wound. An immortalist also no longer dies because of head removal. They are, however, helpless until the head is reattached.
- Once per year, an immortalist may return to the world of the living after dying; he is affected by the spell true resurrection one day after his death, no matter the circumstance. This Resurrection ability renews itself each year, at the immortalist's birthday (The day he came into existence). If an immortalist dies when he has already used up his resurrection for the year he is instead resurrected on his birthday (using up his Resurrection use for the year). An immortalist returns where he wants, to his home on a demiplane on the edge of existence or in his native homeland; distance and location do not matter.
- The immortalist is immune to any kind of death or seal over his soul; he cannot be stopped from resurrecting by any means. (Example: The Immortalist is immune to the True Death quality of some elder evil).
Campaign Information
Playing an Immortalist
Combat: As the base class.
Advancement: Immortalists come from every domain of spellcasting. When an immortalist takes upon this path, he usually finishes it. Multiclassing would only delay their ultimate goal.
Resources: Immortalists gain support depending on their moral outlook and former classes; an immortalist wizard should still have the support of his guild and an immortalist cleric should still be in good status with his church.
Immortalists in the World
“ | I have forever turned away the Grim Reaper himself! Do you think you scare me? | ” |
—Gi, Human Wizard Immortalist |
An immortalist is a spellcaster who succeeded at avoiding death, forever. They may take any form, whether the PCs' mentors or the archvillain.
NPC Reactions: Immortalists tend to be unpopular among followers of nature; NPCs like druids tend to hate them for playing with the natural cycle. However, unlike undeath, immortalists still retain their former race's basic features. Immortalists may live multiple lives, using persisted Disguise Self or other spells to live normal lives.
Immortalist Lore
Characters with ranks in Knowledge (Religion) can research immortalists to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.
DC | Result |
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11 | Immortalists are not a myth. |
16 | Immortalists use true naming and arcane or divine magic to erase death from their true name, a powerful process that makes them effectively impervious to final death. |
21 | An immortalist who finally achieves his goal can never effectively be killed. Thus, they simply return once each year, no matter the circumstance of death. |
26 | Info on particular Immortalist. |
Immortalist in the Game
Immortalists deviate from the natural cycle. They tend to be unpopular amongst druids, inevitables and non-player characters. An NPC immortalist is usually a villain using his immortality to get what they want, when they want. An immortalist villian, however, may give the player the feeling that they can never win (Especially against a 5th level immortalist). If an evil immortalist cannot achieve his goal because of some heroes, he can simply wait and outlive them.
Adaptation: Immortalism fits in any generic magical campaign, unless magic is weird in your world you won't need extensive adaptation.
Sample Encounter: COMING SOON
EL whatever: COMING SOON
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