Psionic Classes: Chronarch

Chronarch

      “Time is cruel. I can see the end of all things, and I see nothing.”

            Chronomancy, or the art of manipulating time, is a very specific manifestation of Psionic power. Although spells have been created that speed personal time for one or more people, Chronomancy is the manipulation of time on a universal level. Those unique individuals that have been trained in this art are not called Chronomancers, as that is a name coined by Wizards who study temporal magics. To define themselves, this group have named themselves Chronarchs, literally ‘Lord of Time.’

            All Chronarchs belong to the same autarchy named the Fatherhood of the Weave. Stationed in the Astral Sea, the Elemental Chaos and even the Abyss, they represent a united front against the Outer Realm’s warping incursions by ensuring the sanctity of time. Although there are inevitable factions in the Fatherhood, divided by the method by which they achieve their goal, all Chronarchs will work together regardless of race or gender.

            The Fatherhood educates their acolytes in academics and combat. Theirs is a style that shies away from brute force, favouring tactical opportunity and advantageous positioning over vicious assaults.

            A Chronarch’s real talent lies in their ability to twist the fabric of the universe to better suit themselves. They can take fractions of unused time and rearrange it to grant themselves extra actions, change the outcome of potentially fatal effects, create their own personal time-space to experiment in battle, and even steal the time of an enemy to use as a weapon.

¨      Role: Chronarchs twist the workings of time to manipulate the battlefield from the front line.  They defend allies by borrowing time from them, stealing time from their enemies, and recycling it as powerful effects.

¨      Alignment: Any, although many Chronarchs tend to be Lawful Neutral.

¨      Power Source: Psionic

¨      Key Abilities: Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma

¨      Armour Proficiencies: Light armour, medium armour.

¨      Weapon Proficiencies: Simple melee, simple ranged weapons.

¨      Bonuses to Defence: +1 Fortitude, +1 Will, +1 Reflex

¨      Hit Points at 1^st level: 2d8 + Constitution score

¨      Hit Points per level gained: d8 + Constitution modifier

¨      Healing Surges per day: 10 + Constitution Modifier

¨      Skill Points at 1^st level: (2 + Intelligence Modifier) x4

¨      Skill Points per level: 2 + Intelligence Modifier

¨      Attack Growth: 6 levels.

¨      Class Skills: Acrobatics, Appraise, Endurance, Jump, Knowledge (all), Linguistics, Perception, Sense Motive, Survival

Class Features

Army of One (1^st level)

You gain a bonus to AC equal to the number of Teamwork Feats you have. In addition, all of your allies are treated as if they possess the same feats for the purpose of activating your Teamwork Feats.

At 1^st level, you gain a Teamwork Feat as a bonus feat. At 4^th level and every 4^th level thereafter, you gain another Teamwork Feat as a bonus feat.

            Cut the Weave (1^st level)

You have been trained to be particularly lethal with a Scythe. As a full attack action, you can make an additional attack with your Scythe once per turn. This attack gains the Brutal 1 property.

            Echo of The End (1st level)

You gain an Aura 1 effect. All enemies in the aura are marked by you. Enemies that leave the aura retain their mark until the end of their turn.

Weave Weapon Training (1^st level)

You gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls whilst wielding a Scythe. You can choose to use your INT score for the purpose of calculating attack and damage rolls whilst wielding a Scythe. Choose one of the following Weapon Training options. Once this has been chosen, it cannot be changed.

Battening Reed: You treat Scythes as having the Brutal 1 trait, and you gain a bonus to melee damage rolls equal to ½ your CON modifier. This Brutal trait stacks with the Brutal effect of Cut the Weave.

Standing Warp: You treat Scythes as Polearms, Light Blades and Light Thrown (range 3/6) weapons.

Folding Weft: You treat Scythes as Versatile and Off-hand weapons.

Opening Loom: You treat Scythes as Reach weapons. The size of your aura rises by 1.

            Ruler of the Seven Seals (1st level)

At 1st level, you choose one Reign from the list below. Once this choice has been made, it cannot be changed.

Reign of War: When an enemy marked by you makes an attack that does not include you, you can make an opportunity attack against the target. You can use 1 Second or minor action you did not use on your last turn to perform your Cut the Weave in addition to this attack.

Reign of Famine: When an enemy marked by you makes an attack that does not include you, the enemy becomes Weakened before the damage resolves. This effect lasts until the end of the enemy’s turn. You can use 1 Second or minor action you did not use on your last turn to extend the Weakened effect for a number of rounds equal to your DEX modifier.

Reign of Pestilence: When an enemy marked by you makes an attack that does not include you, the enemy suffers Poison damage equal to 2x your WIS modifier. You can use 1 Second or minor action you did not use on your last turn to infect the target with Ongoing Poison damage equal to your WIS modifier (save ends).

Reign of Death: When you reach 0 Hit Points, you do not fall unconscious. Instead, you remain fighting, but you must still make death saving throws. When an enemy marked by you makes an attack that does not include you, you can slide the target 1 square after the attack is resolved. You can use 1 Second or minor action you did not use on your last turn to slide the target an additional number of squares equal to ½ your CHR modifier.

Lord of Time (1^st level)

You can manifest Psionic power. Chronarchs keep track of and can manipulate Seconds. As such, their Psionic powers are much more subtle than other Psionic classes. Often, this takes the form of minor time, unused seconds. As the Chronarch becomes more adept, they can borrow the time of others, and steal the time from enemies.

The number of Seconds you can manipulate per day is equal to your level + your INT modifier x2.

           

            Temporal Dictum (1st level)

            Seconds are not a resource, per se. They are not like Spell Slots or Ki, where they can be spent and regained. There is only so much time in the universe; a Chronarch merely has the power to rearrange it.

            Manipulating Seconds is a free action. You can borrow any action from your previous turn or future turn to use in your current turn. You must declare which actions you are adjusting at the beginning of your turn. At the beginning of an encounter, you count as taking no action on the previous turn. The number of Seconds you have to use to manipulate these actions is the normal time it takes to make them;

                               I.      A full round action takes 6 seconds.

                             II.      An advanced action takes 4 seconds.

                          III.      A standard action takes 3 seconds.

                          IV.      A move action takes 2 seconds.

                            V.      A minor action takes 1 second.

            Once you borrow your time from that turn, you cannot use the action. For example, if you did not use your minor action last turn, you can use 1 Second to use it on this turn, giving you two minor actions, one move action and one standard action.

            If you want to take the standard action of your next turn, you can use 3 Seconds to use it on this turn, granting you two standard actions (potentially two whole attack rounds). However, because you used next turn’s standard action on this turn, you do not get to use it on your next, leaving you with only a move and minor action.

           

            In addition to using actions of the past and future, you can take use the time you glean to augment your regular actions. This is called a Temporal Dictum. All of the following bonuses only last until the end of your turn. After that, they are wasted, and the time is still consumed. You can use a Dictum more than once per turn, but their effects do not stack. For example, if you used Skill Thread twice, you gain a 1d4 bonus to two different skill checks rather than a 2d4 bonus to one skill check. You can use two different Dictums on the same action. Attack Thread and Damage Thread can be used on the same attack, for example.

            All Chronarchs know how to use the following Temporal Dictums;

Armour Thread: 1 Second. You gain a 1d4 bonus to AC until the beginning of your next turn. This bonus rises by 1d4 at 8^th level and every 8^th level thereafter.

Attack Thread: 1 Second. You gain a 1d4 bonus to one attack roll. This bonus rises by 1d4 at 8^th level and every 8^th level thereafter.

Damage Thread: 1 Second. You gain a 1d4 bonus to one damage roll. This bonus rises by 1d4 at 8^th level and every 8^th level thereafter.

Skill Thread: 1 Second. You gain a 1d4 bonus to one skill check. This bonus rises by 1d4 at 8^th level and every 8^th level thereafter. This roll must represent a single action that occurs in one round (you can gain a bonus to Jump over a chasm, but not to Craft an item over several days).

Speed Thread: 1 Second. You gain a 1d4 bonus to Speed.

            At 2^nd level and every 4^th level thereafter, you learn a new Temporal Dictum from the list below;

            Calm Thread: 6 Seconds. You can take 10 on your next skill check, even if there are environmental distractions.

Charging Thread: 3 Seconds. You charge one enemy.

Climbing Thread: 2 Seconds. You move up to your speed. You gain Spider Climb for this movement. Ending the movement on a wall or ceiling results in a fall to the ground.

Defender’s Thread: 4 Seconds. You make a total defence action.

Destroyer’s Thread: 5 Seconds. You make a full attack action.

Evasive Thread: 1 Second. You gain a 1d4 bonus to Reflex until the beginning of your next turn. This bonus rises by 1d4 at 8^th level and every 8^th level thereafter.

Gliding Thread: 3 Seconds. You move up to your speed. You can walk on air as if it were solid ground. Ending the movement in the air results in a fall to the ground.

            Grappling Thread: 1 Second. You make a Grapple attack.

            Healing Thread: 4 Seconds. You regain a Healing Surge.

            Hopping Thread: 3 Seconds. You teleport a distance up to your speed.

            Pulling Thread: 2 Seconds. You make a Pull attack.

            Pushing Thread: 2 Seconds. You make a Bull Rush attack.

            Running Thread: 1 Second. You move up to your speed.

Saving Thread: 1 Second. You gain a +2 bonus to one saving throw.

            Strike Thread: 2 Seconds. You make a basic melee attack.

            Toppling Thread: 1 Second. You make a Trip attack.

            Weaving Thread: 1 Second. You shift one square.

           

            Veto (3^rd level)

            You gain the power to enter your own personal time space, and experiment with the future. At the beginning of your turn, you can opt to enter your own personal time. During this turn, you make your actions as normal, but you cannot use your Temporal Dictum class feature. If you have used the actions of this turn in a previous one, you are still penalised as normal. If you are happy with the outcome of your turn, you can continue it and end it as normal.

            If at any point you are not happy with your turn you can use Veto, and rewind the turn to a previous point. You lose Seconds equal to the cost of the action you Vetoed. You can rewind more than one action, potentially undoing an entire poor turn. If you are killed or rendered unconscious in your personal time, you automatically revert to the beginning of your turn.

            You can only activate Veto once per encounter.

           

            Servitude (6^th level)

            You gain the power to borrow time from an adjacent ally. You can borrow time from one willing adjacent ally in the same manner that you use time from your past and future turns. You cannot borrow time from a dying ally. You cannot combine two sources of time. You can only borrow time from either yourself or your ally.

            Improved Veto (9^th level)

            You can activate Veto twice per encounter. You can use Temporal Dictum with your Veto, but only to a maximum of 1 Second.

           

            Annex (12^th level)

            You gain the power to steal time from enemies. You can steal time from one enemy you have marked in the same manner that you use time from your past and future turns. You choose which enemy to drain this time from at the beginning of your turn. You can only steal up to 2 Seconds from this enemy. You cannot combine two sources of time. You can only borrow time from either yourself or the target.

            Improved Servitude (15^th level)

            You can borrow time from both yourself and your ally. The maximum number of seconds you can manipulate rises by 5.

            Improved Annex (18^th level)

            You can use time from both yourself and your enemies. You can steal up to 3 seconds with Annex. If you adjacent to an ally, you can transfer these seconds to that ally.

             Absolute Veto (20^th level)

            You can activate Veto three times per encounter. You can use Temporal Dictum with your Veto, but only to a maximum of 2 Seconds. If you activate your Veto, but rewind no time, you do not consume that Veto for the encounter.