Yes I know the title sounds kinky to some of you, but I thought about this. A mage whose power is increased by physical wounds to her body. Yes I know, sounds sexier if its a chick too. Oh well.
The concept is not about self wounding though. The character has to be wounded physically by another – and no, you can’t play this girl and ask your buddy to pull his punch. The link is from the physical wounds as well as the emotion behind the attack. Namely hatred. Most creatures attacking you hate you. The others just want to eat you. But that is irrelevant.
Some considerations
Only hit point damage is taken into account. Also, only instant hit point damage. So a wall of fire burning you over consecutive rounds does not help. Falling damage does not count either, nor does damage from traps.
We could limit this to weapon attacks only as well, or to physical damage (ie non energy based – so this prevents her entering mage duels.)
Second consideration is whether the damage powers the spells or just makes her stronger, or perhaps both?
Lets play with the options and see.
“I Like Pain, Is that Wrong?”
Getting Started
54cp for level 1 character. Let’s not worry even about race or disadvantages and do this on a basic level
The Basics
Hit Dice: d8. Figure this character has always been powered my wounds. 4cp
Saves: Fortitude +2, 6cp. Need to be tough to resist physical pain.
Skills: 4cp minimum I think
BAB: 0cp. She is still a caster.
Proficiencies: Simple Weapons. No Armour, No Shields. 3cp
This totals 17cp
Specials
Chose a magic source. I am going with Psionics. Ease of use and no spell components to worry about.
Base Cost for Psionic Progression is 12. Going to not buy caster levels here, so that brings it down to 9cp. Further corrupt this, to no power points gained with progression (some might even think that can be specialised). Total cost 6cp.
This can be done with almost any progression. Even Divine. Not unthinkable of a god of battle or strength or death wanting his priests to be harmed in his name. This might be more suitable to a evil NPC though.
So. Now you have some powers and no caster level and no power to power them.
My initial thought is Hysteria. But the idea was loosely based on a Knight that can ‘soak’ some damage before taking it.
To do this, I take:
Damage Reduction, Specialised to Physical Damage only for effect. 12cp for DR 10/-. Further I corrupt this with a ‘delayed effect’ for cost. Bringing it down to a cost of 8. Damage is delayed by 1 round and is applied at the end of the characters next turn. You might even get away with this been specialised.
Now, lets turn that hit points into Power!
Hysteria, 6cp. Powered by the Hit Point Pool. This is for Caster Level Only. Free action, can convert hit points from that pool into Caster Level at a rate of 2hp per CL +1. Max is current Progression Level +3. Technically this is corrupted etc., but I am not too fused about that. Total Cost 6cp.
Still no power points… Hmmm.
Mana, 6cp. Corrupted/Specialised for Cost. Brings cost in CP down to 2. No access to other mana abilities, does not actually gain Power by taking the Mana ability. Instead, Gains Power from the DR Pool above. Rate of 1hp per PP. Total cost, 2cp.
Warning, don’t try this character if you aint good at number crunching/management.
So putting this all together you have young little lass over there that knows 3 first level psi powers. She has DR 10 at level 1, but has to try use those ‘hit points’ or risk taking the damage that next round.
All in all, in theory, this could actually work.
Option 2: No DR and only have Hysteria/Mana powered by hit point damage you take. Also have existing power points/caster level. Kind of like a Wilder that gets Wild from damage.
Total Class Cost: 39cp leaving a lot left over for a lot more things…
Advancement Ideas
More DR or a Bigger DR Pool should I say. Once could probably change the DR to be a DR of 2 only or 3 and have it all going into a pool up to 10 points. Might make your GM happier that way.
Additional purchase of Mana. With same limitations, but just increase the amount of power you get. IE 2 power for 1 HP from pool.
Of course, higher progression level. One could Tie the DR pool directly to the Progression.
Adding in Power Words (6cp) and specialise it for storing ‘power points’ – ie for the DR Pool itself. GM’s might want you to add this at level 1. Essentially allows your pool to be Con Score/3 round down. Further upgrades on that help as well. No actual spell effects though, only the ability to store the power.
Base Attack, High Saves, More Hit Points, Perhaps Spell Resistance.
All in all a strange idea in my recent line of strange ideas.