Listener to Light



''The Light says many things. It whispers secrets long lost, from worlds that have passed from the pages of history. And I remember for them.''

- Sara, Listener to Light

If one thing could ever be said of the Light, it would be that it is truly, utterly, eternal. Light existed before the heavens formed, before gods and demons played, before it all. And it will still be there, underneath it all, when the universe has fallen once more to dust. So Light is eternal. But what, then, might it know? What secrets of worlds fallen and times lost might it whisper, if only one could hear it speak?

Listeners to Light learn to sharpen their internal senses, using the Light they wield to amplify their 'hearing' to tap into the eternal, all-encompassing knowledge of the Light. To a lost world, a Listener stands as a furious beacon of enlightenment to all seeking it. And to so-called ‘enlightened’ cultures, Listeners are sages without peer. For none but them can tap the eternal memory of the universe in their search for truth. Their Light sees through lies, casts aside the shadows of subterfuge, and in the end makes them something rather more than a simple scholar.

Requirements
To become a Listener to Light, you must fulfill all the following criteria.

Skills: Knowledge (Any three) 8 ranks

Special: Merciful class feature

Class Skill List
Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Forgery (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge [All skills, taken separately] (Int), Listen (Wis), Perform (Cha), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Use Magic Device (Cha)

Skill Points
4 + Int modifier at each level.

Hit Die
d6

Weapon and Armour Proficiencies
A Listener to Light gains no additional proficiencies.

Illuminations
A Listener to Light, whilst still a potent Evoker, loses some of her power in exchange for her uniquely close bond to the Light that speaks to her from within. Her access to Illuminations from her Evoking Class, as well as her Evoker Level, progresses at the listed rate. If she has more than one Evoking Class, then she must choose one of them when she takes her first level in Listener to Light. Once made, this choice cannot be changed.

Remembered Weaving (Ex)
A Listener still remembers the bits and pieces of power that her old vocation gave her, and remains fully capable of tapping into their strength. But as with anything, her focus on something beyond the physicality of the universe weakens her.

A Listener to Light gains additional costume elements as her Evoker Level and Illuminations progress. As such, a Champion 10/Listener to Light 10, would have access to four costume elements.

Listener to Light (Su)
The Light sees everything, hears everything, and knows everything. But to most, even those able to tap its power, that memory is beyond them. To most Champions, Empaths, and even Stargazers, the ancient knowledge held within the Light is never known, the whispers faded beneath the trials of each passing day. A Listener however, is one of the rare few who, one day, finds themselves sensing the Light within them. To many this is a frightening experience, thoughts not of one’s own is rarely a sign of mental stability – but in the end most realise that it is not psychosis they are hearing, but the rarely heard calls of the Light that pulses within them.

At first level, a Listener gains an innate ability to ‘hear’ those memories, reaching within to ask the Light what it knows of the world around them, or those before them. The Listener gains the Bardic Knowledge ability as a bard of twice her class level - this stacks with other sources of bardic knowledge. In addition, she gains the ability to manifest Sensitivity to Psychic Impressions with an effective Manifester Level equal to her Evoker Level. For every three class levels, half the time required to sense a distinct event.

At level 4, the Listener’s inner senses sharpen further, her mind opening to hear the whispers of Light that permeate the world around her and flow from the thoughts of all. She gains a permanent effect as Detect Thoughts. At level 6, this effect bypasses any immunity to mind-affecting effects other than those granted by mindlessness, although it grants any with such immunity a +5 bonus on their saving throw. At level 10, the effect is enhanced to the degree that it permanently acts as the third stage of Detect Thoughts that the Listener may focus on any number of targets up to equal to her Evoker Stat Modifier - these targets need only be within the Listener's line of sight. The save for this effect is based off of her Evoker Stat and gains a +5 bonus to DC at level 10.

At 7th level, the Listener’s senses becomes attuned even to those things that the Light does not say, reaching beyond the said to the realm of the not-said. She innately knows if someone she is conversing with is mundanely disguised – although she cannot tell the person’s true identity. Furthermore, her ability to listen through the screen of words crafted by cons and liars makes the truth they wish to hide ring in her mind with near-perfect clarity. A Listener gains an Insight bonus to Sense Motive equal to her class level, may always roll to detect a lie, and is automatically aware of any magical bonuses to Bluff her target is benefiting from.

Finally the Listener may, at 10th level, a Listener has tapped so far into the very nature of the universe's Light, that she may, once a week, commune fully with the eternal memory of reality and ask questions of it.

Once per week, she may cast a modified Commune, with a caster level equal to her class level. The spell functions as normal except for a few principal differences. The Listener will automatically commune with the Light, regardless of alignment or faith. The Light is always helpful in its answers, and it is always in the Light's interest to answer as fully as possible.

Inner Voice (Su)
A Listener speaks not only from her own knowledge, but from the knowledge of the eternal Light, the memory that is beyond time acting as a guide for her words, gently steering her – or does she steer it? – towards a greater understanding of the universe.

At 1st level, a Listener to Light may, as a standard action, gain an untyped bonus to a single Intelligence based skill check equal to [Evoker Stat Modifier (to a maximum of Class level) + Class level].

Light Guides (Su)
The Light remembers everything, when and where it happened is of no consequence to a memory that spans all of time. And a Listener quickly finds that, to their mind, time seems little more than an easily adjustable variable when searching for knowledge that will aid in choosing their path.

Through one minute of meditation, a Listener may connect themselves close enough to the Light for them to hear a whisper of answer when they ask of it if a path is wise. This functions as the spell Augury, cast as if the Listener had a CL equal to her EL. She may use this ability (class level) times per day.

Piercing Memory (Ex)
And as with choosing a path, so too with knowing where to strike upon a being that arrays itself against the power of Light. The Listener gains Knowledge Devotion as a bonus feat, with a single difference. There is no limit to the knowledge of the Light, as there is for any mortal. As such, a Listener to Light doubles the bonus damage granted by Knowledge Devotion up to five or your current Class Level, whichever is more advantageous. This feature may explicitly bypass Knowledge Devotion's normal limitations.

The Present is Eternity (Su)
The whole universe turns in the flickering of a single flame, and in each spark there lies the memory of it all. Connecting deeper into the flow of Light through them, a Listener may search for more than a simple feeling as to an action – but a simple message as to where it might lead if taken (or not taken) now. She gains the ability to cast Divination with a CL of her EL a number of times per day equal to her class level.

Guiding Voice (Ex)
All Evokers could be said to hear, or see, or in some way understand the Light that flows through them. But for Listeners, at some point, that ethereal sense becomes something…more. When casting any Divination school spell like Augury or Divination, a Listener my roll twice and take the better result for the validity of the information found by the spell. In addition, the Listener can spend a move action to trigger Inner Voice instead of a standard action.

No Shadows (Su)
Light burns away darkness, but in most cases leaves shadow in between. But for Listeners, where it comes to facts? Their radiance burns any traces of shadow and dark out of existence within their sight, letting them see all as it truly is. The Listener gains the effects of a permanent True Seeing effect.

Word-Forged Weapons (Su)
The words of the Light ring greater than almost any force in the multiverse with their innate truth, weaving through the lies and assumptions created by a reality where almost all is suspect to most. But a Listener, when faced by such, wields those truths of hers as weapons, breaking through the defences of her foes with the backing of multiversal Truth behind her.

At 9th level, a Listener ignores all miss chance, damage reduction (including DR/-) and reduces her target's Deflection bonus to Armor class by up to her class level (max 10).