Ultimate Spheres of Power
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Void Blade
At 1st level, the void wielder must bind a special weapon called a void blade, a weapon of terrible power. Any creature slain or destroyed by a void blade finds a fragment of its essence trapped inside. The void blade may retain the essence of up to two creatures at one time. If additional creatures are slain or destroyed, the void wielder may choose to dismiss a retained essence and retain the new essence. Despite the name, the void blade can be any weapon with which the void wielder is proficient. The special abilities of the void blade function only for the void wielder; to any other creature it functions as a normal masterwork weapon of its type. The void blade otherwise functions as a bound weapon and the void wielder still gains additional bound equipment options as normal from leveling, but must always keep her void blade bound.
The void wielder may spend one hour meditating to harness the essence trapped in her void blade. After doing so, she may call forth a copy of the creature as a standard action. Treat this copy as summoning a companion from the Conjuration sphere. Treat the void blade’s class level as her caster level for this ability. This stacks normally with caster levels gained from other sources. The companion remains for 1 round per Hit Die of the original creature without concentration; the void blade may spend a spell point as a free action to increase this to 1 minute per Hit Die. Companions summoned this way start with the normal 1 bonus (form) talent and gain another (form) talent for every three class levels the void wielder has.
Talents granted this way must reflect abilities the original creature possessed. The GM is the final arbiter of which talents are appropriate and particularly weak creatures may not necessarily be able to be granted their full complement of talents (so a level 1 commoner would not gain any additional talents while a Small-sized snake would stop gaining bonus talents once it had a poison bite and a climb speed, but both would have the full Hit Dice appropriate to a companion of that caster level).
The summoned copy appears exactly like the original creature, granting a +10 bonus to any checks made to impersonate that creature, but the essence it is formed from is insufficient to grant any memories or special knowledge. This bonus does not stack with any other bonuses granted from mimicking the creature’s appearance, such as the disguise self spell.
If the void wielder is slain, all essences trapped in her void blade are lost. If a void wielder willingly relinquishes her bond with her void blade and passes it to another, the essences are retained. Doing so requires that the recipient is either a void blade who gives up her own weapon prior to claiming the new one or else is a warrior that has studied under the void wielder for at least one month. In this case, the recipient spends their time retraining a class level into void wielder at no cost beyond the time invested.
This replaces summon equipment and alters bound equipment.
Arsenal Tricks
The void wielder gains exclusive access to the following arsenal tricks. Arsenal tricks that reference an advanced talent are only available in campaigns where the advanced talent is permitted.
Endless Void
The void wielder’s void blade may store an additional essence. This trick may be taken up to three times; the benefits stack.
Soul Blade (requires void wielder 4)
The void wielder’s void blade does not merely capture a part of the target’s essence, but instead traps its soul. Attempts to raise a creature whose essence has been retained in her void blade must succeed at a magical skill check against the wielder’s MSD or have the attempt fail. If this check is successful, the soul is freed and creature is raised as normal. The creature’s essence remains retained in the blade to be summoned as usual.
While the soul is in her possession, she may speak with and question the soul, which retains the knowledge it had in life, but it is under no obligation to answer questions (although bargaining for a peaceful release into the afterlife is usually enough to get a spirit to talk). Souls trapped in her void blade cannot be targeted with the Summon Spirit advanced talent of the Death sphere unless the caster has her void blade in their possession.
She may perform a ritual that functions as the Summon Spirit advanced talent of the Death sphere, with the normal spell point cost and casting time, though may only target souls trapped in her void blade. Treat her class level as her caster level for this ability. While the soul is trapped in her void blade, she counts as possessing the creature’s body for the purpose of determining the save DC modifiers based on connection to the target.
Spirit Prison (requires soul blade, void wielder 14)
The void wielder’s soul blade now functions as a soul gem per the Death sphere’s Soul Trap advanced talent. She may spend the normal spell points required to fully trap the soul as per that talent as part of capturing a slain creature’s essence or as a standard action if targeting an essence already possessed. She uses class level as her caster level for this ability. This stacks normally with caster levels gained from other sources. Losing or releasing an essence also frees the corresponding soul.
U: Part of Ultimate Spheres of Power and does not need to be bought separately from that book