General Prestige Class : Rimefire Witch
Untold ages ago, a powerful uldra deity of the frostfell by the name of Hleid was defeated by her nemeses Iborighu. But Iborighu failed to destroy her existence completely, and the last fragments of her being scattered into the polar seas in a desperate attempt to escape destruction. These spheres of magical cold energy were the first rimefire eidolons, and as they struck the seas they manifested great icebergs to further hide and protect themselves from Iborighu and his minions. They waited, patient but potent, for the time to come when Hleid could be reborn and vengeance against Iborighu could be realized. The rimefire eidolons strive to achieve this goal by sending out hidden signals to touch the last few devoted worshipers of Hleid in hope of recruiting their aid.
A character who follows this mysterious call to its source, the core of a rimefire iceberg, becomes infused with great power by the rimefire eidolon. This action forms a powerful bond between the character and the eidolon; once this bond has been created, the character can draw magical power and strength from the iceberg surrounding the eidolon. This grants her several magical abilities, including the ability to channel rimefire as a ranged attack. Ar the same time, she slowly begins to take on aspects of the rimefire eidolon itself, transforming over time into a devoted guardian of the eidolon to which she has become bonded. These fey guardians represent the final apotheosis of the rimefire witch.
The only people who have been able to follow the rimefire call and forge a bond with the eidolon within are worshipers of Hleid, and among them, females are the most likely to hear the call of the rimefire, since the priesthood of Hleid is typically made up of women. Males who answer this call are not unknown, but are much less common; they are known as rimefire warlocks. Originally, uldras were the only worshipers of Hleid, but since her near destruction she has opened her arms to any who would revere her.
Rimefire witches are not bound to remain physically on the iceberg home of their bonded eidolon; in fact, many rimefire witches rarely visit their eidolon. Instead, they spend much of their time crusading against the cult of Iborighu or researching methods to restore Hleid to her proper glory.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Rimefire Witch, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Skills: Concentration 6 ranks, Knowledge (history) 6 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 9 ranks, Spellcraft 6 ranks
- Feats: Iron Will, Mark Of Hleid,
- Spells: Able to cast 1st-level divine spells.
- Patron Deity: Hleid.
- Special: Once a character meets all the requirements listed above, she soon has a vivid dream in which she receives a call from a rimefire eidolon. Once she wakes from the dream, she knows the most direct route to the rimefire eidolon's iceberg, as if she had cast discern location to find it. This call does not force the character to answer, but until she travels to the iceberg and accepts the bond of the rimefire eidolon that dwells within, she cannot take any levels of rimefire witch. The journey to the iceberg should be played out as a minor quest, perhaps with some encounters with Iborighu cultists bent on preventing the rise of a new rimefire witch.
Class Skills
The rimefire witch's class skills are Climb, Concentration, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Heal, Jump, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (history), Knowledge (religion), Sense Motive, Spellcraft, and Swim.
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All the following are class features of the rimefire witch prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Rimefire witches gain proficiency with the trident. The trident is the favored weapon of Hleid, and many rimefire witches choose to wield tridents as well. They gain no other proficiency with weapons, armor, or shields.
Spells per Day/Spells Known: When a new rimefire witch level is gained, the character gains new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if she had also gained a level in a spell-casting class she belonged to before adding the prestige class. She does nor, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (improved chance of controlling or rebuking undead, metamagic or item creation feats, and so on), except for an increased effective level of spellcasting. If a character had more than one spellcasting class before becoming a rimefire witch, she must decide to which class she adds the new level for purposes of determining spells per day and spells known.
Rimefire Bond (Su): A rimefire witch becomes bonded on a deeply spiritual level with the rimefire eidolon that selected her as its guardian. Both the witch and the eidolon are constantly aware of the other's location and condition, as if both were under the effects of a status spell. This is a permanent effect that cannot be dispelled or destroyed.
The bond also shores up the mind and will to live of the witch and her eidolon; both gain a +2 morale bonus on all saving throws against mind-affecting and death effects while the other is alive. A rimefire bond is powerful enough that it even extends across planes.
If a rimefire witch or her eidolon is killed, this bond is broken. A surviving rimefire witch loses all her supernatural and spell-like abilities granted by this class (but not her spellcasting ability) until she restores the slain eidolon to life and returns it to its iceberg. A surviving eidolon does not lose any of its abilities, and typically waits for a year before sending out a call for a new guardian. If the slain member of the bond is brought back to life within a year of death, the rimefire bond instantly reforges itself despite any physical distance between the two. If more than a year has passed, the rimefire witch does not regain her powers but within a week she is contacted in her dreams by a new rimefire eidolon; once she travels to its iceberg and accepts its bond of rimefire she immediately regains her lost powers.
Detect Minion of Iborighu (Sp): A rimefire witch possesses the spell-like ability to detect minions of Iborighu at will. This spell-like ability functions like detect evil, except that it detects the presence or absence of devotion to Iborighu in a living creature's aura and soul. Undetectable alignment can block this ability, as can certain magic items that have similar effects, such as the mantle of hidden faith.
Rimefire Bolt (Su): At 3rd level, a rimefire witch's bond with her eidolon becomes powerful enough that she can summon and direct a bolt of rimefire, as long as she is currently in the boundaries of a frostfell. Summoning and directing a rimefire bolt is a standard action. Rimefire bolts have a range of 30 feet and attack as ranged touch attacks, dealing damage equal to 1d6 + the witch's Charisma modifier. Half this damage is cold damage and half is fire damage; for more information on rimefire, see Frostfell.
At 6th level, a rimefire witch deals cold damage equal to 2d6 + her Charisma modifier with her rimefire bolt.
At 9th level, a rimefire witch deals cold damage equal to 3d6 + her Charisma modifier with her rimefire bolt.
Ice Skate (Sp): At 4th level, a rimefire witch gains the ability to use ice skate as a spell-like ability. She can use this ability a number of times each day equal to her Charisma modifier (minimum of once per day), at a caster level equal to her rimefire witch level.
Word of Recall (Sp): At 7th level, a rimefire witch gains the ability to use word of recall as a spell-like ability. She can use this ability once per day, and it always recalls her to the chamber of her bonded rimefire eidolon.
Iceberg (Sp): At 10th level, a rimefire witch gains the ability to use iceberg as a spell-like ability. She can use this ability once per day, at a caster level equal to her rimefire witch level.
Rimefire Apotheosis (Su): Upon achieving 10th level, a rimefire witch undergoes a dramatic transformation as the bond with her eidolon physically changes her into a fey creature. Her type immediately changes to fey, and she can no longer be affected by effects that target her old type; she does become susceptible to attacks and effects that harm or aid fey. She gains low-light vision, damage reduction 5/cold iron, and a +2 racial bonus to her Charisma score as her skin and hair become light blue or white in color. Once she undergoes rimefire apotheosis, the death of her bonded eidolon does not cause the loss of her supernatural or spellcasting abilities.
| Rimefire Witch | Hit Die: d6 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | Spells per Day |
| 1st | +0 | +2 | +0 | +2 | Rimefire bond, detect minion of Iborighu | +1 level of existing class |
| 2nd | +1 | +3 | +0 | +3 | - | +1 level of existing class |
| 3rd | +1 | +3 | +1 | +3 | Rimefire bolt (1d6) | +1 level of existing class |
| 4th | +2 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Ice skate | +1 level of existing class |
| 5th | +2 | +4 | +1 | +4 | - | +1 level of existing class |
| 6th | +3 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Rimeflre bolt (2d6) | +1 level of existing class |
| 7th | +3 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Word of recall | +1 level of existing class |
| 8th | +4 | +6 | +2 | +6 | - | +1 level of existing class |
| 9th | +4 | +6 | +3 | +6 | Rimefire bolt (3d6) | +1 level of existing class |
| 10th | +5 | +7 | +3 | +7 | Iceberg, rimefire apotheosis | +1 level of existing class |
Source: Frostburn