Anomaly Scion"There are many with me, but only one with you."
- Hebion the Many, Human Anomaly Scion
There has always been a faint touch of the unusual about those who became anomaly scions. Perhaps it was the way they held their head when eating, cocked at an angle unlike those at the table around them, or turns of phrase that no-one else in the village or town used. They were possessed of mannerisms that did not fit, that seemed outlandish or unsuited, all leading to the comment that they had been “touched”, that in some way, their mental state was not as it should be. Those who had those intuitions were right. Anomaly scions are mentally out of balance, but it is not because their mind is damaged. Rather, their minds work at a far higher capability than those of the people around them, but at the same time, those minds are shared, split between their own, natural mind, and those of other creatures who have come into their heads to share that space.
Becoming a Anomaly ScionAnomaly scions have almost always been targeted by a mental attack from an aberrant creature, and that is usually considered to be the source of the malady that affects them, but there must have been an underlying precondition that allowed that damage to take place and to remain. They come from all branches of manifester, although it is often assumed that wilders are the most susceptible to the invasion of the other minds, with the chaotic and emotionally charged thoughts that are less disciplined than those of the psionicists. Once in the class, they undergo changes as the other minds begin to assert themselves and their own racial makeup, resulting in a combination that is neither human nor aberration, but some midpoint on the journey between.
Table 1: Anomaly Scion
Hit Die: d6Level BAB Ref Fort Will Special Abilities Manifesting
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1 +0 +0 +0 +2 Child in the Mind ---
Cacophony of the Children
2 +1 +0 +0 +3 Unknowable Horde +1 manifesting class
3 +1 +1 +1 +3 Aberrant Mind +1 manifesting class
4 +2 +1 +1 +4 Children in the Mind +1 manifesting class
5 +2 +1 +1 +4 Anomaly Retreat +1 manifesting class
6 +3 +2 +2 +5 Anomalous Focus +1 manifesting class
7 +3 +2 +2 +5 Children in the Mind +1 manifesting class
8 +4 +2 +2 +6 Two-Fold Thrust +1 manifesting class
9 +4 +3 +3 +6 Intrusion Inimical +1 manifesting class
10 +5 +3 +3 +7 Children in the Mind ---
Aberrant Form
Anomaly ScionClass skills (2 + Int modifier per level): Concentration, Craft, Decipher Script, Knowledge (All), Psicraft, Speak Language
Requirements:
Skills: Knowledge (dungeoneering) 9.
Feat: Gibbering Telepathy
Psionics: Able to manifest 3rd-level powers.
Special: Must have failed a will save versus an aberration's mental attack.
Class FeaturesMental power that draws on multiple minds, the anomaly scion defends and is defended by those aberrant minds, all of them sheltering in one body, protecting that body, and even altering it for its defense.
- Powers Known: At every level indicated on the table, the character gains additional power points per day and access to new powers as if she had also gained a level in whatever manifesting 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 (bonus feats, metapsionic or item creation feats, psicrystal special abilities, and so on). This means that she adds the level of anomaly scion to the level of whatever manifesting class the character has, then determines power points per day, powers known, and manifester level accordingly. If a character had more than one manifesting class before she became an anomaly scion, she must decide to which class she adds the new level of anomaly scion for the purpose of determining power points per day, powers known, and manifester level.
- Child in the Mind (Ex): Within your brain, a legacy of a successful mental assault against you, a fragment of an aberration's brain has been lurking, and it now comes to full fruition. It is a complete, separate, and wholly independent mind residing within the same body as you, although it recognizes that keeping you and your friends alive is in its best interests, should it have the intelligence score to do so. However, it will sometimes attempt to step forward and claim the body as its own, should the aberration feel overly threatened by your actions or inaction. You may converse in any language that the aberration within your mind knows. Aberration types are chosen at random from those available.
Fight for Dominance: A fight for dominance occurs whenever your hit points drop below one quarter of their maximum total, as the aberration becomes too frightened of dying to risk your control any longer. You make a Wisdom check versus the aberration. If you succeed, nothing happens. If the aberration succeeds, it steps forward, granting all mental special qualities of the aberration and all physical attack forms (claws, tentacles, bites, etc.), as you partially transform, giving you a twisted, half-human half-aberration appearance. The aberration may manifest at 6 levels below your level, using your power point reserve and powers known, but not your feats or psionic focus. Once the aberration has taken control, it remains in control until you can re-establish dominance. Once you have re-established dominance, the aberration is again quiescent until threatened. You may attempt a fight for dominance once every five rounds to recover control. The aberration attempts to gain control each round spent under one quarter total hit points. This uses your swift action for the round, no matter who starts it.
- Cacophony of the Children (Ex): The noise inside your head of the aberrations bickering and chittering away with one another is distracting, even at the best of times, and at the worst it can make you seem the social fool. You take a penalty on concentration and all charisma based skills (except for use psionic device and use magic device) equal to the number of aberration minds.
- Unknowable Horde (Ex): The explosive growth in the population of your mind has been at times troubling and at times beneficial, but one thing is certain: they all put the survival of the body that is their home uppermost. Whenever a foe attempts to use telepathy, be it granted by race, class, feat or power, to contact your mind, he rolls a d4. On a result of one, he contacts your mind. On any other result, he contacts the hostile mind of an aberration, and reels back in confusion. Your foe must make a Will save versus 15 + two per aberration existent within your mind, or be confused for a number of rounds equal to the number of aberrations within your mind.
- Aberrant Mind (Ex): You have learned to coexist with the creature who shares your mind, and occasionally realize that it may have a better form of attack than you. By expending your psionic focus, you grant to the aberration a single mental standard action that it can use. It may either attack via one of its mental special qualities, or, if you wish, through use of your power point reserve as if it were a manifester of 6 levels lower than you. If you do so, it does not gain access to any feats, psionic focus, or other benefits that you may possess. If the aberration chooses to use one of its own abilities, it is limited to its standard uses per day. If you use this ability more than twice during an encounter, the aberration begins a Fight for Dominance on the third use of this ability and every use thereafter, until one minute after the encounter is over.
- Children in the Mind (Ex): Your mind has become an increasingly populated place, as the first shard of aberrant activity has awakened other latent aberrations, either through a connection shared by all of their type, through other successful mental assaults, or through a method as yet unknown. At levels 4, 7, and 10, you gain another aberration mind within you. Whenever there is a fight for dominance, choose one of the aberrations at random to step forward and challenge you for control.
- Anomaly Retreat (Ex): Sometimes, it has been better for you to retreat completely, forsaking any control over your body in the hopes that another mindset, and another set of tools, may assist your allies more effectively. The aberration within you surges forward, reworking your form into something more suited to its talents and abilities. You step back completely, losing all feats, skills, manifesting or spellcasting abilities, mental and physical scores, or special qualities that you may possess. You become the aberration as presented in the creature's entry, with the sole exception that it is advanced so that its hit dice equals your level. Items are subsumed into the body of the creature and cease to function. While it views your allies as allies, and enemies as enemies, in all other regards it behaves as a typical creature of its species. You may first attempt a fight for dominance 5 rounds after using this ability. It takes a standard action to transform.
- Anomalous Focus (Ex): You have found that the aberrations in your mind can be used to assist in many tasks that would take a part of your own effort and energy, and diverting tasks among the various minds has become a natural way of life. Your aberration mind takes over the responsibility of maintaining concentration on any single power you have manifested and are concentrating on. While maintaining this concentration, the aberration mind is not available for any other tasks, including anomaly retreat and aberrant mind. However, if your hit points drop below one quarter of your total, it will drop concentration on the power and begin a fight for dominance. If necessary, the aberration mind makes Concentration checks using your Concentration modifier.
- Two-Fold Thrust (Ex): Much as you may sometimes resent the presence of your aberration cohabitant, it has also proven to be a useful tool and assistance in times of trouble. Whenever your aberrant companion makes a mental attack against a target, via power, special quality or otherwise, and your psionic mind also makes a mental attack, the target takes a -2 penalty to his saves against both attacks. Attacks that qualify are any special quality that requires a Will save, or a power from the telepathy discipline, or that possess the mind-affecting descriptor.
- Intrusion Inimical (Ex): While the aberration minds within yours may fight and squabble among themselves and with you over petty issues or over survival, whenever a foe attempts to introduce himself into the mix, he is viciously assaulted from all sides. Whenever a foe attempts to use a power on you from the charm or compulsion subschool, he rolls a d4. On a result of one, he contacts your mind. On any other result, he contacts the mind of an aberration. If the contacted mind is affected by the power, you or it roll your save normally. If the affected mind fails its save, it immediately attempts a fight for dominance to gain control of the body. If the affected mind (yours or aberration) is already in control, all other minds attempt a fight for dominance, with each one trying as soon as it is allowed. Thus if you fail a save against dominate person while there are two aberration minds, both of them will attempt a fight for dominance every five rounds.
- Aberrant Form (Ex): You have finally become the thing that has resided in your mind this long time. Your type changes to aberration, you gain darkvision, and receive a permanent +2 to your Constitution score.
- Anomaly Scion (Ex): You retreat, but not so far as you do in the past, for the aberrations have come to trust you more, and will willing grant you a small portion of their mind in order to act. This functions as anomaly retreat, except you may manifest powers at your normal level reduced by 6, including use of all feats and psionic focus that you may have normally.
