There is an awesome power in the mind, and that power can come out in many various ways. Some use their own energy to whisk people into a new location or even a new dimension with a simple thought. Others use the Astral Plane to create different kinds of energy with ease. Yet perhaps the most unique manifesters are those who can get their power from other people when they need it most.
There are those that have the ability to assimilate energy away from another person’s attempt to manifest their powers. Many of them are able to use this ability because of their intense devotion to their own goals. With the thieving sculptors, this is the case for them and the two powers that drive their kind: astral construct and assume form. Their intense devotion to the astral plane allows them to use any energy – even that of other manifesters intending them harm – to bring about the results they need from the astral plane.
Becoming a Thieving Sculptor:
The path to the thieving sculptor is normally through the formbound spiritist class because it grants access to both the astral construct and assume form powers. However, this is not the only route that can produce a thieving sculptor. Shapers (who gain access to the astral construct power at level 1) can gain access to this class by way of the Expanded Knowledge feat to receive the assume form power. Egoists (who gain access to the assume form power at level 5) can gain access through the Expanded Knowledge feat to receive the astral construct power. Any manifester who takes the Expanded Knowledge feat twice in order to gain both of the needed powers can also gain access to this class through those means.
Entry Requirements:
To qualify to become a thieving sculptor, a character must fulfill the following criteria:
Manifesting: Manifester level 3
Skills: Craft (sculpting) 9 ranks
Powers: Able to manifest the astral construct and assume form powers
GAME RULE INFORMATION
Hit Die: d8
Class Skills:
The Thieving Sculptor class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are: Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Disguise (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge: Geography (Int), Knowledge: Nature (Int), Knowledge: Psionics (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Psicraft (Int), Spot (Wis), and Swim (Str). Skill Points: (2 + INT)
Class Features:
All of the following are class features of the thieving sculptor.
Manifesting: At each level except 2nd and 9th of the thieving sculptor class you gain powers known, maximum power level known, and power points as if you had also gained a level in a manifesting class that you had access to before taking this class. You do not, however, gain any other benefits a character of either class would have gained. If you have more than one manifesting class, you must decide to which class you add a level of manifesting progression.
Assimilate Power: At 1st level, a thieving sculptor gains the ability to use psionic power that is specifically targeted at him. You must be the sole target of the power and the power must allow a save to negate the effect entirely. If you succeed on the save, you can assimilate as many power points from the power being manifested as were spent on the manifestation or your highest manifester level, whichever is lower. The assimilated power points are added to a special pool of power points separate from the power points gained through the manifesting class that allowed entry into the thieving sculptor class.
The special power point pool has certain restrictions for its use. A thieving sculptor’s special power point pool can only ever have as many power points in it equal to his manifester level. Additionally, a thieving sculptor can only gain a number of power points through these means equal to three times his manifester level over the course of any day. All assimilated power points disappear completely when the character rests to regain spent power points and to possibly alter the powers on their known power list. Essentially, when a thieving sculptor rests their pool of assimilated power points is set to zero.
The power points in this special pool can be saved and used later on the same day that they were assimilated to manifest either the astral construct power or the assume form power. You may augment either of these powers to the fullest capability up to the customary limit at your manifester level, but you are limited to using power points from this source on only the two specified powers. You may use power points from your regular pool in conjunction with power points from this ability, but only to manifest the two named powers. (This is an exception to the rules about being able to combine power points from multiple sources to manifest a power)
Characters from classes with the ability to rotate powers onto and off of their known powers list (such as the formbound spiritist class) can only use this ability if they have chosen to be able to manifest either astral construct or assume form for that given day.
Astral Thumping: A thieving sculptor’s prowess with astral construct increases at 2nd level. An astral construct can be created with a special gift to its attack abilities. On the first successful attack that an astral construct who benefits from this ability makes, the astral construct does an additional amount of damage equal to the astral construct level + your thieving sculptor level. Thus, a 5th level astral construct created by a 4th level thieving sculptor would do an additional 9 damage on its first attack. This extra damage only occurs on a construct’s successful first attack, and only two constructs per day can be affected by this class feature.
Astral Flanker: At 3rd level a thieving sculptor begins to learn how to make astral constructs in a more menacing way – often to the benefit of his own combat ability. Each astral construct he makes appears more threatening than an average construct and thus more distracting to the opponent. The astral construct receives no extra bonuses to attack or damage. However, any ally who is in a flanking position with the astral construct receives a +2 increase to their flanking bonus. Normally this means that an ally receives a +4 flanking bonus to hit instead of a +2, but this is not necessarily always the case. The ally must be directly across from the astral construct, however. Classes that manipulate flanking bonuses from unusual angles (such as the flanker ability from the elocater class) do not gain the additional bonus to their flanking ability unless they are truly opposite the astral construct.
Astral Repair: At 5th level the thieving sculptor’s astral constructs gain the ability to repair themselves when they use a slam attack. The amount of damage repaired is equal to the amount of damage dealt on the slam attack up to the astral construct level + your thieving sculptor level. The choice to use this ability must be made immediately after the damage for the slam attack is rolled. This repair is true hit point repair, not temporary hit points. This ability can only be applied once per round regardless of how many slam attacks an astral construct can have per round. If the astral construct uses an attack or ability that is not its slam attack, it receives no benefit from this ability.
Formbound Thumping: At 6th level the thieving sculptor’s practice with the astral construct pays off with benefits to their own imprints gained through the assume form power. This ability functions like the astral thumping ability except that the thieving sculptor is the target. A thieving sculptor can make a powerful attack that deals extra damage equal to the thieving sculptor level + thieving sculptor’s Charisma modifier. This extra damage can only be applied to a natural attack gained through the assume form power. Furthermore, this extra damage can only be applied on the first successful strike after changing shape via the assume form power. This ability can be used 2/day.
Astral Mind Assault: At 8th level a thieving sculptor’s astral constructs become more dangerous to opposing manifesters. If you expend your psionic focus after manifesting astral construct for the purpose of inducing this effect, the next opponent your construct successfully attacks takes 1d4 points of either INT, WIS, or CHA damage. This damage type must be chosen when you expend your psionic focus. If the attack misses, the attack is not wasted and the astral mind assault simply affects the first target the astral construct hits.
Formbound Flanker: At 9th level the thieving sculptor’s experiments with astral constructs pays off again. The imprinted forms gained through the [[assume form]] power become more menacing than normal. This ability functions like the astral flanker ability except that the thieving sculptor himself is the subject of the effect. Allies who receive a flanking bonus from a thieving sculptor in one of their imprinted forms finds that their flanking bonus receives a +2 increase. As with the astral flanker ability, this bonus is only conveyed to allies who are directly across from the thieving sculptor. A thieving sculptor with this ability who is flanking with their own astral construct grants the +2 bonus from this ability to their astral construct in addition to receiving the +2 bonus granted by the Astral Flanker class feature.
Formbound Life: At 10th level the thieving sculptor’s experiments with the astral construct grant them a final boost. If the thieving sculptor successfully hits with a natural attack from an imprinted form, the thieving sculptor gains an amount of temporary Hit Points equal to half of the damage dealt (rounded down). These hit points last 10 rounds. Every attack counts for this ability, however multiple sources of hit points gained through this ability do not stack. With each attack, the thieving sculptor has a choice to keep his current temporary hit point total or replace it with the new total from the new attack. In all other ways these temporary hit points are treated as normal temporary hit points.
