 Spherewalker
Source Pathfinder #2: The Skinsaw Murders pg. 73
A spherewalker is one who embraces the philosophy of Desna: travel far and wide, fight for your dreams, and indulge your desires. Spherewalkers explore extreme locales, dream fantastic dreams, and press their luck (good and bad) to make their lives interesting and noteworthy. They are known for founding cities, discovering lost civilizations, and going places where none have ever trod. They may choose to walk the distant paths alone or try to understand the mysteries of the mind and soul and become great leaders. Above all, spherewalkers seek adventure, with all the risks and rewards that such endeavors bring.
Spherewalkers are often multiclassed characters, as they tend to dabble in various classes to suit their adventuring needs. Their versatility adds extra depth and utility to combat-oriented characters (barbarians, fighters, rangers), their unusual magic appeals to spellcasters, and their special abilities make it easy for nonmagical characters to get out of tight spots.RequirementsTo qualify to become a spherewalker, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria:
Deity: Desna.
Base Attack Bonus: +5
Skills: 5 ranks in any two of the following skills: Climb, Knowledge (geography), Knowledge (nature), Knowledge (religion), Perform, Ride, Survival, or Swim.
Feats: Martial Weapon Proficentcy (starknife), one survivor feat (Great Fortitude, Iron Will, or Lightning Reflexes), one explorer feat (Acrobatic, Agile, Athletic, Endurance, Run, or Self-Sufficient).
Special: A spherewalker-to-be must have journeyed far in his lifetime, visiting two locations sacred to Desna that are at least 200 miles apart. Class SkillsThe Spherewalker's class skills are Balance, Climb, Concentration, Escape Artist, Handle Animal, Heal, Jump, Knowledge (geography), Perform, Ride, Spot, Survival, Swim, and Tumble.
Skill Points at each Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Hit Die: d8.Class Features| Level | Base Attack Bonus | Fort Save | Ref Save | Will Save | Special | Spells Per Day | | 1st | +0 | +2 | +2 | +0 | Landmark, longstrider | +1 level of spellcasting class | | 2nd | +1 | +3 | +3 | +0 | Efficient sleep, star slinger | +1 level of spellcasting class | | 3rd | +2 | +3 | +3 | +1 | Dream link | +1 level of spellcasting class | | 4th | +3 | +4 | +4 | +1 | Divine luck | +1 level of spellcasting class | | 5th | +3 | +4 | +4 | +1 | Swarm form | +1 level of spellcasting class | |
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The following are class features of the spherewalker prestige class.
Landmark (Su): At 1st level, as a full-round action a spherewalker can create a mental landmark for her current location and thereafter take a standard action to note the general direction of that landmark. For example, if she sets her landmark in Magnimar and later travels to Korvosa, she can determine that Magnimar is roughly west of her current location. The landmark doesn’t have to be a city or any kind of recognizable site—it could be in the middle of the ocean or even midair. This is a scrying effect. A landmark location is one category more familiar for the purpose of teleporting (“studied carefully” becomes “very familiar” and so on). A spherewalker can have one landmark per class level. She can discard an existing landmark as a standard action and does not need to be at that location to discard it. Spherewalkers can take a minute to share a landmark with another spherewalker, and often do so to arrange meetings in unusual places without the need for maps or directions. A spherewalker can only detect the location of landmarks on her current plane, though they do not vanish if she leaves the plane and she can reference them if she returns to that plane.
Longstrider (Sp): At 1st level, a spherewalker may use longstrider once per day. Her caster level is equal to her character level.
Spells per Day: When a spherewalker gains a level, she gains new spells per day as if she had also gained a level in a spellcasting class she belonged to before she added the prestige class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. This essentially means that she adds the level of spherewalker to the level of whatever other spellcasting class she has, then determines spells per day and caster level accordingly.
If the character had more than one spellcasting class before she became a spherewalker, she must choose which class she adds each spherewalker level to for the purpose of determining spells per day.
If the spherewalker has no levels in a spellcasting class, she instead gains one 1st-level domain spell slot, which she may use to prepare spells from any of Desna’s domains as if she were a cleric. Her caster level is equal to twice her class level. With each new spherewalker level, she gains a new spell slot for a spell level equal to her class level. A 5th-level spherewalker would thus have a spell slot for one domain spell from 1st to 5th level spells. The number of bonus spells and spell save DCs are set by the spherewalker’s Wisdom score.
Efficient Sleep (Su): At 2nd level, a spherewalker gains a +4 sacred bonus to resist sleep effects and only needs 4 hours of sleep (or restful calm, for creatures that do not need actual sleep) instead of the normal 8 hours to become rested. Most spherewalkers prefer to sleep the normal amount, and if they use this ability they like to make up for it on later days by sleeping late.
Star Slinger (Ex): At 2nd level, any starknife a spherewalker uses in combat is treated as if it had the returning magic weapon special ability. Such weapons gain no additional enhancement bonuses or magical properties beyond this effect.
Dream Link (Sp): A 3rd-level spherewalker can form a mental bond with another willing intelligent creature as if using the telepathic bond spell. To do so, she and the target must spend at least 4 hours sleeping within 10 feet of each other. Either person in the link can end it as a standard action; otherwise it is permanent. If one person in the link dies, the other is stunned for 1 round and staggered until she can rest for 10 minutes. A spherewalker can only maintain one such link at a time, though she may be the recipient of multiple links. Married spherewalkers often link themselves to their spouses.
Divine Luck (Su): At 4th level, a spherewalker can add a luck bonus equal to her class level on an attack roll, skill check, or saving throw a number of times per day equal to her Charisma modifier (minimum 1/day). She may add this bonus after she has rolled but before she knows if the unmodified result is a success or failure.
Swarm Form (Su): At 5th level, a spherewalker gains the ability to transform into a swarm of Diminutive butterflies. In swarm form, she has a space of 10 feet (roughly filling the entire area) but can shape this space to fill four contiguous squares (such as a 5-foot-by- 20-foot line, an L-shaped cloud, and so on) and can squeeze through any space large enough to contain one of her component forms. The swarm can fly at a speed of 40 feet (good). Like any swarm, it can occupy the same space as another creature regardless of its size.
Any creature that begins its turn sharing a space with a swarm must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 10 + spherewalker level + Constitution bonus) or be nauseated for 1 round. Unlike most swarms, a spherewalker in swarm form does not do swarm damage to creatures she’s swarming over. The swarm form is immune to weapon damage but is vulnerable to mundane fire attacks (torches, alchemical fire, burning oil, and so on), and energy attacks from weapon (such as flaming and frost) deal full damage even though the basic weapon damage has no effect. Although a swarm cannot make attacks, the spherewalker can cast spells as normal while in swarm form (although spells with material components could prove difficult).
A spherewalker can use this ability a number of times per day equal to her class level and remain in this form for up to one minute. While in swarm form, she may expend one use of this ability as a free action in order to remain in swarm form for an additional minute (rather than changing back to her normal form and activating it again). Changing back to her natural form before the effect ends is a standard action.
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