Heartwielder



''This is no mere weapon, nor even a true Device. She is my heart made manifest, so that I may wield its true light against those who would seek to snuff it out.''

- Unknown Heartwielder, shortly before proceeding to beat the evil out of her opponent.

To some, they are the utter opposites of Bombardment Mages, wielding the power of their furious souls close up, directly through their Device. To others, they are ignorant, savage wielders of brute strength in all situations, even ones where simple use of other powers of Light would suffice. Both those statements are in fact – to a point – true. But there is a great deal more to Heartwielders than meets the eye – and far more than one not a member of their ranks ever knows.

Heartwielders pour the power that other Evokers use in their Illuminations into their Devices, awakening their Light forged companions to sentient awareness. Those Devices become, in time, something very similar to a literal extension of their souls. In exchange, Heartwielders gain an utterly loyal friend and companion in their struggle to spread their Light across reality. And to all who walk the path of Heartwielder, that has never been said to be less than enough.

Requirements
To become a Heartwielder, you must fulfill all the following criteria.

Base Attack Bonus: +10

Feats: Weapon Focus (Device)

Special: Evoker Level 6

Class Skill List
Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge [Local] (Int), Perform (Cha), Sense Motive (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), Use Magical Device (Cha)

Skill Points
4 + Int modifier at each level.

Hit Die
d10

Weapon and Armour Proficiencies
A Heartwielder gains no additional proficiencies.

Illuminations
A Heartwielder loses little of her power as an evoker, but she does lose some, pouring so much of her power into her Device has downsides. A Heartwielder continues to progress access to Illuminations from her Evoking Class, as well as her Evoker Level, as shown. If she has more than one Evoking Class, then she must choose one of them when she takes her first level in Heartwielder. Once made, this choice cannot be changed.

Enchanced Weaving
A Heartwielder remembers fully the power and majesty of their costume elements, and lose none of their access to it as they progress in level. Their levels in Heartwielder either stack with their levels in previous Evoking classes, or count as levels in Empath for the purposes of Costume Progression (whichever is more advantageous).

Cartridges (Su)
Heartwielders gain a Cartridge at 1st level, and then again at levels 4, 7 and 10.

Empowered Costume
Heartwielders fight with an utter disregard of their own ability to lose, wielding the power of their Device and Costume in glorious combination and with a level of strength that few can hope to match.

At 1st level, a Heartwielder gains a special costume effect that is always active and gained in addition to all others. This costume effect, however, does not have a base effect. Its Essence and Cartridge Boost effects are described below:

Essence Boost: For every mote invested in this effect, up to an investment ceiling of twice your class level, you gain two motes that can be used only to invest into other costume and device effects.

Cartridge Boost: When you expend a Cartridge to boost the effects of Empowered Costume, choose two costume or device effects that you have active and trigger the Cartridge Boost effect for both.

Heartforged Device
At the core of the Heartwielder’s power, regardless of what might be said to the contrary, lies their Device. The bond forged between a Heartwielder and her chosen weapon awakens the Device to awareness and, with time, strengthens their connection until it is truly unbreakable.

At first level, the Heartwielder may choose to reshape her current Device as it awakens to sentience, becoming an Intelligent Item with the purpose of Serve and Protect Wielder. Reshaping her device allows her to change her Device Type to any that either they, or an Empath, could select. This can only be done once, when she takes her first level in this class, and once completed the decision can never be changed. She may also at this point freely change her Enhanced Armaments to suit her new Device. In any situation where her Device would – through whatever means – gain dominance over her, it will immediately relinquish that control. A Heartwielder’s Device gains in power at the rate listed below.

If her Device is damaged or destroyed, a Heartwielder may restore it to full functionality and existence through a powerful ritual that calls upon the bond between them. This ritual takes one hour if her Device has been damaged, and six if her Device has been destroyed.

For the purposes of spellcasting, the Device's Caster Level is equal its wielder's Evoker Level.

At 4th level, the Heartwielder and her Device have attained connection such that they may never lose each other. She may summon her Device to her, as long as it is on the same plane of existence, as a swift action. If it is not on the same plane of existence as her, she may locate its current planar location as a full round action. She may also, 1/day, restore her Device to full existence and functionality through a one minute long ritual of remembrance. Acting as a pure extension of her body, and the light that burns within her, her Device grants her an effective Evoker Level equal to her character level for the purposes of crafting and evoking Assault Shape Blasts alone. It also grants (class level) motes for the purposes of paying the costs of these blasts. These motes refresh as normal.

At level 7, a Heartwielder has reached a rapport so deep with her device, that the two intelligences may share senses and – in emergencies – even control of their forms. A Heartwielder may treat the senses of her Device as her own. In addition, a Heartwielder may, as an immediate action in response to being subjected to any form of effect that grants mental control over her, surrender control of her body to her Device. She may designate one simple action for the Device to take with her body, such as “kill the mage”, “protect (person)” or simply “flee”. The Device will make every attempt to fulfil the command given to it by its master, but is unable to access any spells or non-Assault Shape Illuminations that she may have and will always flee combat if she is reduced to less than 10% of her hit points.

At level ten, the bond between Device and Heartwielder grows to transcend the very nature of their separation. They count as one creature whenever it would be to their advantage. As such, the Heartwielder may never be disarmed, nor may she have her weapon sundered. If she is ever, by whatever means, separated from her Device, she may call it back to her as a free action. If her Device is ever destroyed or damaged, she may return it to full existence and functionality in a ritual taking one minute. Her once per day ability to restore it becomes a once per encounter ability that requires a standard action. Her Device, regardless of its actual type, may be treated as a one handed, light, finessable weapon whenever it would be to her advantage. In addition, once per week, if the Heartwielder is slain but her Device survives, it returns her to life in her next round as if her Device had cast True Resurrection.

A Heartwielder who reaches these heights may also choose to reshape their Device once more. This process follows the same rules as before, except that the Heartwielder may choose to change her Device Type to any other.

Light’s Edge (Ex)
The weapon of a Heartwielder transcends the usual limits of its material trappings, becoming a potent focus for the Light that burns within its master. Wrapped in Light itself, it becomes a conduit of its master’s power, tearing through defences and burning with glorious power as it brings down those who stand against it.

At level three, a Heartwielder always carries a modified Enhanced Device effect, ignoring Device restrictions and in addition to all others. She automatically has (class level) motes invested into it, without lowering her mote pool and bypassing normal investment limits. For the purposes of a Heartwielder, the Cartridge Boost effect of Enhanced is treated as being permanently active, allowing her to shift the enhancements of their device as a free action.

She gains a new Cartridge Boost effect for Enhanced, granting a number of additional ‘floating’ enhancements equal to those granted by her Enhanced effect or her class level, whichever is lower. This effect lasts for (Evoking Stat Modifier) rounds.

Steel is my Body (Ex)
The Light of a Heartwielder’s connection to her Device goes both ways. It could not, in fact, do anything but. And whilst she holds her weapon, she shares with it its resilience.

At level five, so long as a Heartwielder is holding her device and makes a successful Will or Fortitude save that would normally reduce the save’s effect, she suffers no effect from the spell at all. Only those spells with a saving throw entry of “partial” or “half” are affected by this ability, and only for purposes of Will and/or Fortitude saves with these descriptors.

Fire is my Blood (Ex)
At some point along the way, Heartwielders literally transcend the limits of their mortal shell, rising from human (or whatever race they may be), to something…more. Their body pulses with Light itself, fury echoing from their motions, and their blood burns away much that would try to harm them.

At eighth level, a Heartwielder’s body and blood grow so suffused with the Light that her blood simply burns away many things that most have great cause to fear as they attempt to gain a foothold on her. She gains immunity to poison, disease, paralysis, stunning, death effects and necromancy effects.