Root of Evil

You surround yourself with the corrosive presence of the void, and it gnaws at whichever part of your enemies you turn it toward. While you maintain this stance, you inflict one of the following penalties on opponents within close range (25 feet + 5 feet per 2 initiator levels):

• −1 on Fortitude, Reflex, and Will saving throws.
• −1 on all attack rolls.
• −1 to AC.
• −2 on combat maneuver checks and to CMD.

Once per round as a free action, you may exchange the current penalty for a different one from this list. The −1 penalties increase by 1 for every four initiator levels you possess, to a maximum of −4, and the −2 penalty increases by 2 at the same rate, to a maximum of −8.

Focusing on what you hold to be inevitable, you shape aetherial might into a void's blade.

When you initiate this boost, a void's blade appears in your hands, taking the form of a masterwork melee weapon you are proficient with. The blade has hardness 10 and 10 hit points, and is treated as a magic weapon for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. It lasts a number of rounds equal to your initiator level before vanishing; if you throw it or otherwise relinquish your grip on it (such as by being disarmed), it dissipates at the end of the following round. You can maintain multiple void's blades at once by initiating this boost multiple times, though no more than you can wield.

If you are currently wielding a mind blade or equivalent weapon of ideals, you can instead amplify it: until the start of your next turn, all such weapons you wield gain one weapon special ability equivalent to a +1 enhancement bonus, chosen from the list of special abilities available to a soulknife's enhanced mind blade (or that weapon's own equivalent list).

In the infinite knowledge of uncreation there is a record of every danger, including this one. Initiate this counter when you make a saving throw; you gain a +2 insight bonus on that save.

You gain at the loss of others. After initiating this boost, you gain a +1 luck bonus to your AC until the start of your next turn for each debuffed opponent within close range (25 feet + 5 feet per 2 initiator levels), up to a maximum bonus of +5.

When you assume this stance, your skin gains a deathly pallor, and your canines, if any, sharpen and elongate. While maintaining this stance, whenever you reduce a creature to 0 or fewer hit points, you gain temporary hit points equal to twice that creature's Hit Dice. These temporary hit points do not stack with themselves (use the higher value) and last for 1 minute.

The disciple crosses the distance without slowing for it. As part of this strike, make a charge; the charge's movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity, and you do not suffer the standard −2 penalty to Armor Class for charging. Your attack at the end of the charge deals an additional 1d6 points of damage.

By shifting slightly between two worlds, the disciple slips beneath his foe's senses. Make a melee or ranged attack; the target is flat-footed against this attack.

The disciple's weapon carries a sliver of the void into the wound, and nothing magical will settle there afterward. Make a melee attack. If it hits, it deals an additional 2d6 points of damage, and the target must succeed on a Will save (DC 12 + initiation modifier) or take a −2 penalty on saving throws against spells and supernatural abilities for a number of rounds equal to your initiation modifier.

The void bites deeper through a warded man than a bare one. Until the start of your next turn, your attacks deal an additional 1d6 points of damage. Against a creature currently under one or more buffs or ongoing spell effects, this bonus increases to 3d6.

Whatever strikes the disciple is marked, and the mark rots inward. Initiate this counter when a creature within range attacks you. The attacker must succeed on a Will save (DC 12 + initiation modifier) or be sickened for 1d4 rounds and take a −2 penalty to AC for a number of rounds equal to your initiation modifier.

The disciple bends through the melee like a branch in wind, and the blade arrives with the whole weight of the tree behind it. You may move up to 10 feet before making this attack; this movement does not provoke an attack of opportunity from the target. Make a melee attack. If it hits, it deals an additional 2d6 points of damage.

The disciple turns the blade with the flat of his own and steps into the gap it leaves. Initiate this counter when a creature makes a melee or ranged attack against you. Make an opposed attack roll; if your result exceeds the attacker's, the attack is negated.

The disciple raises the three-sided guard, and the enemy meets whichever face he is holding forward. While you maintain this stance, you gain an effect based on your current mode. If you change modes, the stance's benefit changes with it.

• Berserker: When you hit a creature with a charge attack or with an attack granted by a Root of Evil counter, you deal an additional 1d8 points of damage. This increases to 2d8 at initiator level 12.
• Nullifier: You gain a +2 deflection bonus to AC against attacks made by creatures currently under one or more spell effects or buffs, and a +2 insight bonus on saving throws against spells and spell-like abilities.
• Hexer: The first time each round that an opponent within close range (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels) fails a saving throw, you may inflict a −2 penalty on that creature's next attack roll or next saving throw (your choice) made before the end of your next turn. Inflicting the penalty is not an action.

The disciple throws a ring of aether that returns to him — or rather, he returns to it. Make a melee attack against a creature within charge distance; you may first teleport to any open square adjacent to that creature, so long as you have line of sight to that square. The target is flat-footed against this attack, and if the attack hits, it deals an additional 3d6 points of damage. This teleportation does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

The disciple compresses absence into a sphere and lets it fly. Make a ranged touch attack against a creature within range. If it hits, the sphere deals 5d6 points of damage plus your initiator level. This damage is untyped; it is treated as magic for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction and affects incorporeal creatures normally.

The disciple reads the attack apart before it arrives. Initiate this counter when a creature makes a melee or ranged attack against you. Make a Spellcraft check, opposed by the attacker's attack roll; if your result is higher, the attack is negated.

The disciple pinches reality between two fingers and pulls it out of the world. Choose a point within range. A sphere of devouring darkness opens there. Any creature that starts its turn within the zone takes 3d6 points of damage and is pulled up to 15 feet toward the sphere's center, stopping there (a successful Reflex save, DC 14 + initiation modifier, negates the pull but not the damage). The zone's area is difficult terrain for creatures moving away from its center.

Pale root-shapes of nothing coil up out of the ground and take hold of the disciple's prey. Make a melee attack. If it hits, it deals an additional 5d6 points of damage, and the target must succeed on a Reflex save (DC 14 + initiation modifier) or be held fast for 1d4 rounds: it cannot move from its space, though it may otherwise act. The target may attempt a new save at the end of each of its turns to end the effect early.

The bough bends under the blow and comes back through the man who threw it. Initiate this counter when a creature within your reach makes a melee attack against you. Make an opposed attack roll; if your result exceeds the attacker's, the attack is negated and you immediately make a melee attack against the attacker at your full base attack bonus, dealing an additional 4d6 points of damage.

The disciple studies the threads binding magic to flesh, and his weapon becomes the shears. The next attack you land before the start of your next turn deals an additional 2d6 points of damage and carries a targeted dispel magic effect (caster level equal to your initiator level) against one spell or buff of your choice active on the creature struck.

The universe announces an outcome and the disciple declines it. Initiate this counter when a creature within range succeeds on a saving throw. That creature must reroll the save with a −2 penalty and take the second result. If the creature is currently suffering one or more debuffs, the penalty is −4 instead.

Orbs of caged nothing wink into being around the target, orbit once, and converge. Make a melee attack. If it hits, it deals an additional 7d6 points of damage, and the target must succeed on a Will save (DC 15 + initiation modifier) or suffer a debuff determined at random. Roll 1d6: 1 — a −2 penalty to AC; 2 — a −2 penalty on saving throws against spells and supernatural abilities; 3 — blinded; 4 — sickened; 5 — slowed (as the slow spell); 6 — roll twice more, ignoring further 6s. Each effect lasts a number of rounds equal to your initiation modifier (blinded lasts 1d4 rounds).

The disciple plants his feet and lets the void spin about him like a storm wearing a man for its eye. Make one melee attack roll and compare it to the AC of every enemy within your reach; each creature it would hit takes your weapon damage plus an additional 4d6 points of damage.

The oldest thing in any forest is not fast, and has not needed to be for a long time. While you maintain this stance, you gain DR 5/—, fast healing 3, and immunity to bleed effects and withering, but your base land speed is reduced by 10 feet and you cannot charge. The fast healing increases to 5 at initiator level 15.

The disciple drinks from the world's absence. You regain a number of power points equal to half your initiator level. Once you have used this boost, you cannot use it again until you have recovered it and either one minute has passed or the encounter has ended.

The guard rises until there is nothing above it. Initiate this counter when you are the target of a melee attack, a ranged attack, or a targeted spell or spell-like ability. Make a Spellcraft check, opposed by the attack roll or by a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) as appropriate; if your result is higher, the attack or spell is negated as it affects you. If your result is lower, you still gain DR 10/— and energy resistance 20 against that one attack or spell.

The disciple opens his hand, and somewhere beneath the enemy the drain is unstoppered. Every enemy in the area takes 10d6 points of damage (Reflex half, DC 16 + initiation modifier). Creatures that fail the save are withering for 2 rounds.

The disciple walks, because running would imply the outcome is in doubt. Move up to half your speed in a straight line toward a creature. This movement ignores difficult terrain, does not provoke attacks of opportunity, and cannot be stopped or redirected by any effect short of a solid wall. Creatures in the path are pushed 5 feet out of it as you pass. At the end of this movement, make a melee attack against the target. If it hits, it deals an additional 12d6 points of damage, and the target must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 16 + initiation modifier) or be knocked prone.

Standing near the disciple is standing at the lip of a well with no bottom. While you maintain this stance, at the end of your turn every enemy within 10 feet of you takes 2d6 points of damage, and you gain temporary hit points equal to the total damage dealt this way, to a maximum of twice your initiator level (these do not stack with themselves; they last 1 minute).

Three planes of light snap into a pyramid around the disciple, and what strikes the pyramid comes back out of it. Initiate this counter when you are the target of a melee attack, a ranged attack, or a targeted spell or spell-like ability. Make a Spellcraft check, opposed by the attack roll or a caster level check as appropriate; if your result is higher, the attack or spell is negated as it affects you, and the attacker takes 10d6 points of damage (Reflex half, DC 17 + initiation modifier), regardless of range.

The disciple's blade reminds the flesh how much it has been looking forward to stopping. Make a melee attack. If it hits, it deals an additional 12d6 points of damage, and the target must succeed on a Will save (DC 17 + initiation modifier) or be slowed (as the slow spell) for a number of rounds equal to your initiation modifier. If the target was already suffering a debuff when struck, a failed save also leaves it staggered for 1 round.

For one moment the disciple is the door the universe must ask permission of. Until the start of your next turn, you may initiate up to two Root of Evil counters you have readied without spending immediate actions to do so, you gain a +2 insight bonus on the opposed rolls of your Root of Evil counters, and your counters deal an additional 2d6 points of damage where they deal damage.

The disciple raises both arms, speaks a word that unmakes the space it is spoken into, and for one heartbeat the battlefield is inside the void looking out. Every other creature in the area takes 16d6 points of damage (Reflex half, DC 18 + initiation modifier). Creatures that fail the save are dazed for 1 round and withering for a number of rounds equal to half your initiation modifier.

Low, mid, high — the distinctions were always a courtesy to the enemy. Initiate this counter when you are the target of, or within the area of, any attack, spell, supernatural ability, or maneuver. Make a Spellcraft check, opposed by the attack roll, caster level check, or initiator level check (1d20 + initiator level) as appropriate; against effects with none of these, your check is instead opposed by a DC equal to 5 + the effect's saving throw DC, or by DC 20 if the effect has no saving throw DC. If your result is higher, the effect is entirely negated as it affects you. If your result is lower, you take half damage and suffer no other effects from it.

Roots of absence sink through the floor of the world and branches of it cage the sky. While you maintain this stance you cannot move except for 5-foot steps, and you cannot be moved: you are immune to forced movement, and cannot be knocked prone. You gain a +4 deflection bonus to AC, DR 10/—, and a +5-foot bonus to your reach. Every square you threaten is difficult terrain for enemies, entering or leaving a square you threaten provokes an attack of opportunity from you, and you may make a number of additional attacks of opportunity each round equal to your initiation modifier. When you end this stance, you may spend 1 power point to teleport up to 30 feet as part of the same swift action.

The disciple has stopped waiting for things to return to the void on their own. Initiate this counter when you are the target of, or within the area of, any attack, spell, power, supernatural ability, or maneuver. Make a Spellcraft check, opposed by the attack roll, caster level check, manifester level check, or initiator level check as appropriate; against effects with none of these, your check is instead opposed by a DC equal to 5 + the effect's saving throw DC, or by DC 20 if the effect has no saving throw DC. If your result is higher, the effect is negated entirely as it affects you, and becomes swallowed.

Until the end of your next turn, you may release the swallowed effect as a swift action: Neo Almagest detonates in a 30-foot-radius burst centered on any point within close range (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels), dealing 12d6 points of damage plus half the damage the swallowed effect would have dealt to you (Reflex half, DC 19 + initiation modifier); roll the negated effect's damage as if it had struck or affected you to determine that amount. If the swallowed effect would have dealt no damage, Neo Almagest instead deals 18d6. Creatures that fail the save are also withering for 2 rounds.