Lover

A Base Class for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game

“Omnia Vincit Amor” / “Love Conquers All”

The art practiced by a lover is the art of dethroning kings and crippling armies. They are masters of a mystic enfeebling art that stems from the power of love. Their special training allows them to use supernatural ends to tap into the very life force of others, drawing it out and rendering their victims weak. Their mission is to use these powers to de-escalate violence whenever possible and stomp out the flames of war when they arise.

Bards inspire, wizards study, clerics invoke their gods, and a lover uses the power of affection to cast their spells. Lovers power their spells with love but cannot allowed themselves to truly fall in love with another. If they do, the magical resource is channeled into the one they love rather than their own powers. This dichotomy is something they struggle with on a day-to-day basis and has lead to many a heartbreak. To this effect, many lovers grow cold and icy- trying to shelter their heart from possible contact. Others find a happy medium, able to bask in their work despite their detachment. It should be noted that “lust” and other carnal desires are wholly different emotions and is regarded as entirely separate for the purpose of this class. Physical intimacy does not factor into the lifestyle of a lover despite their name.

Lover training includes hand-to-hand training as well as the development of their supernatural abilities. While they are hardly seasoned soldiers, lover are fierce fighters who use their discipline to their advantage. They are often quite skilled at unarmed combat and lovers often develop ways of dealing with opponents in a non-fatal way.

A lover who experiences true love loses all their power and must violently sever the bond if they wish to regain it. Despite this, lovers are some of the most compassionate souls- tasked with breaking the cycle of hate and violence created by conflict. They use their sapping abilities to weaken their opponents, rendering them unable to fight and thus affording them precious time to resolve their conflicts peacefully. However a lover is not above violence herself, should the situation demand it. Lover orders are many and few have the same exact tenants. Some are state sanctioned, filling the role of a local police force to help de-escalate violence. Others are more self-serving, seeking to cripple military organizations. Some practitioners of the art of the lover are unaffiliated with a specific order, having been exiled or left of their own free will.

Traditionally, lovers are female, though male lovers exist. Though they are more rare there are entire male-dominated brotherhoods of lovers. Many old wives' tales exist about male lovers and there is a slight prejudice against them in some societies.

Formal organizations offer the required training to prospective lover and many have strict rules and oaths that must be sworn (never joining military organizations, never acting in anger or committing unnecessary violence, etc). These orders often send their members on missions to de-escalate tensions in specific regions, to help stop conflict between two groups, or to offer their services in more mundane capacities. These mundane capacities include security/law-enforcement, advisory positions, and courtly duties.

Lover are drawn to the adventuring life quite frequently. Their missions may be long and the scope of their mission is often broad (“Pacify the ogres in the southern mountains”). When they find their goals aligned with adventuring parties they may join them or their order may hire adventurers to aid a lover in her duties. A lovers fights those who would perpetuate the cycle of violence and she must be ready to end such a being’s life if necessary.

Hit Dice: D8.

Role: Lover are magical characters with the ability to drain, pacify, and enfeeble their opponents. They are not fantastic frontline fighters but are no strangers to violence. They are well trained, their powers are deadly, and they find themselves in the line of fire more often than not.

Symbolism: While not universal, lovers will often identify themselves as a member of this class with a symbol. The most common symbol they use is an unclosed circle. This is worn on their garments or tattooed in a prominent location (forehead, palm of the hand, etc). As lovers are known as ambassadors of peace, this symbol is often the key that opens many doors for them in diplomatic circles. The actual form of identification varies from organization to organization (and a few discourage identification) as it is a powerful tool in their arsenal.

Design Insight: What the Heck is a Lover?

A lover is an attempt to make an innovative and wholly new magical character that is free from the influences of other ones. They are not hags with spells (witches), bookish wizards, chaotic sorcerers, or spell-slinging swordsmen like magi. Lovers are a group of “new” magic users that can be added to your game to add a new element to your game that is unfamiliar to veteran players. It helps break up the norms and allows for the unexpected to occur.

Alignment: Any non-Chaotic

Though all lover strive for strict self-discipline, not all achieve it. A chaotically aligned lover would not have the mental stability to logically sort through their emotions and banish the thoughts of love from their mind.

Code of Conduct:

A lover may never truly fall in love. Doing so diverts the magical energy she typically uses for her spellcasting to the one she loves. If she ever falls in love she loses access to her drain class feature and all her spellcasting. This can only be undone by the death of her loved one or a decisive break up (they marry someone else, the loved ones taking genuinely hostile actions toward the lover, etc). After their love has ended in one of these fashions the lover must spend 24 hours calming her heart. A GM is the final arbiter of if a lover has fallen in love. Infatuation, spells that cause her to temporarily fall in love (or act as such), deep loyalty, and friendship do not count as being in love. Only genuine love or a permanent form of enchantment that causes them to fall in love is sufficient to qualify.

Starting Wealth: 3d6 × 10 gp (average 105 gp.). In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.

Class Skills[]

The lover’s class skills are Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (nobility) (Int), Perception (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Sense Motive (Wis).

Skill Ranks per Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Table #-1: The Lover

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Drain 1d6, pacified, spells
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Lover insight, pacify
3rd	+2	+1	+1	+3	Drain 2d6
4th	+3	+1	+1	+4	Enfeeblement
5th	+3	+1	+1	+4	Drain 3d6
6th	+4	+2	+2	+5	Lover insight, pacify
7th	+5	+2	+2	+5	Drain 4d6
8th	+6/+1	+2	+2	+6	Enfeeblement
9th	+6/+1	+3	+3	+6	Drain 5d6
10th	+7/+2	+3	+3	+7	Fire & ice, lover insight, pacify
11th	+8/+3	+3	+3	+7	Drain 6d6
12th	+9/+4	+4	+4	+8	Enfeeblement
13th	+9/+4	+4	+4	+8	Drain 7d6
14th	+10/+5	+4	+4	+9	Lover insight, pacify
15th	+11/+6/+1	+5	+5	+9	Drain 8d6
16th	+12/+7/+2	+5	+5	+10	Enfeeblement
17th	+12/+7/+2	+5	+5	+10	Drain 9d6
18th	+13/+8/+3	+6	+6	+11	Lover insight
19th	+14/+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Drain 10d6
20th	+15/+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	Enfeeblement, true love / ice queen

Class Features:[]

The following are the class features of the lover.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency:[]

The lover is proficient with all simple weapons and light armor. A lover can cast lover spells while wearing light armor without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. Like any other arcane spellcaster, a lover wearing medium armor, heavy armor, or wielding a shield incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component. A lover that has multiclassed still incurs the normal arcane spell failure chance for arcane spells received from other classes.

Drain (Su):[]

At 1st level, as a standard action the lover can make a ranged touch attack against an enemy creature within 30 feet of her and drain its life force. This attack deals 1d6 negative energy damage at 1st level and 1d6 more damage at 3rd level and every odd level thereafter. A lover can do this a number of times per day equal to her Charisma modifier + 1/2 her lover level (minimum +1). This ability does not affect creatures without a Constitution score and never affects creatures noted as not having a soul. Targeting an inappropriate creature with this ability does not consume a use of the ability, but still consumes a standard action.

A lover is healed for an amount equal to the damage she dealt to her enemy with this attack. Any healing over her maximum hp is ignored. Any reduction in the damage dealt likewise reduces the amount of healing the lover receives. If a drain attack results in healing on the target, the lover does not recover any hp from that use of drain.

This effect manifests itself as a bright stream of white light arching from the target to the lover and sheds light like a torch in a direct line from the lover to her target.

Pacified (Ex/Pn):[]

In exchange for the use of her power, a lover is permanently calm- even when it would be appropriate to not be. She cannot receive morale bonuses or penalties, cannot be affected by spells with the emotional descriptor (such as good hope, and rage), and cannot benefit from effects like a bard's ability to inspire courage or a barbarian's rage ability. She gains a bonus against all fear effects and on saves against confusion effects equal to 1/4 her lover level (minimum +1).

Spells:[]

A lover casts arcane spells drawn from the lover spell list. She can cast any spell she knows without preparing it ahead of time. To learn or cast a spell, a lover must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a lover’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the lover’s Charisma modifier.

Like other spellcasters, a lover can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily spell allotment is given on Table: Lover. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Charisma score.

The lover’s selection of spells is extremely limited. A lover begins play knowing four 0-level spells and two 1st-level spells of the lover’s choice. At each new lover level, she gains one or more new spells, as indicated on Table: Lover Spells Known. Unlike spells per day, the number of spells a lover knows is not affected by her Charisma score (See Table: Ability Modifiers and Bonus Spells).

Upon reaching 5th level, and at every third lover level after that (8th, 11th, and so on), a lover can choose to learn a new spell in place of one she already knows. In effect, the lover “loses” the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell’s level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged, and it must be at least one level lower than the highest-level lover spell the lover can cast. A lover may swap only a single spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that she gains new spells known for the level.

A lover need not prepare her spells in advance. She can cast any spell she knows at any time, assuming she has not yet used up her allotment of spells per day for the spell’s level.

Lover Insight:[]

Starting at 2nd level and every 4 levels thereafter, a lover’s unique training comes into play. She must be part diplomat, part bodyguard, part student of the mystical arts, and all the while guard her heart from experiencing true love. She gains one of the following benefits from the list of insights below. An insight may only be taken once.

Defuse (Ex): The lover gains an insight bonus on all Diplomacy check to defuse violent and/or tense situations equal to 1/3 her lover level.
Helpful (Ex): The lover gains a +4 insight bonus on all aid another attempts.
Guardian Sister (Ex): The lover gains Bodyguard as a bonus feat (For a male lover, this insight is called Brother Guardian).
Less Lethal Tactics (Ex): The lover can deal nonlethal damage, ignoring the penalty normally imposed on such attack rolls. In addition she may deal nonlethal damage with weapons that normally cannot deal nonlethal damage, though such attacks suffer the normal penalty associated with dealing nonlethal damage.
Mystic Heart (Ex): Delving into the mysteries of lover magic grants you insight into your own abilities. You gain 1 additional spell per day at your current highest spell level and gain a +2 insight bonus on all Spellcraft checks.
Untapped Strength: You may use your drain class feature 2 additional times per day.
Implant (Sp): When you use your pacify class feature, you may also impart a subtle suggestion (as per the suggestion spell) into the mind of the creature you target. The creature receives a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 lover level + Charisma modifier) to resist the suggestion. The suggestion only lasts so long as the pacify lasts or a number of rounds equal to her Charisma modifier (whichever is higher). A creature who has suffered from a lover’s suggestion via the pacify class feature cannot be affected again for 24 hours by the same lover. A lover who is 10th level (and can thus target all creatures in a radius with her pacify) must select a single creature out of those she can effect. A lover of at least 14th level may target all creatures with the suggestion component of her pacify effect. A lover must be at least 6th level to select this insight.
Retribution (Su): You gain an insight bonus on critical confirmation rolls equal to 1/2 your lover level against creatures who took a hostile action on the previous round. A lover must be at least 6th level to select this insight.
Vicious Drain: Your drain class feature deals 1d6 extra damage. A lover must be at least 6th level to select this insight.
Empathetic Drain (Su): By expending 1 extra use of your drain class feature when you drain an enemy you can cause an ally within 30 feet of you to benefit from the healing instead of you. This may be decided after the damage dice have been rolled (Example: If you cause 10 points of damage, your ally would be healed for 10 points of damage in place of you). This may be used in conjunction with the wither, sap, and addle enfeeblement to restore ability score damage but not other enfeeblements. A lover must be at least 6th level to select this insight.
Frigid: Your drain class feature can deal cold or negative energy damage. You must be at least 10th level and have the heart of ice class feature to select this insight.
Warm: Your drain class feature can deal fire or positive energy damage. If you select positive energy damage, it cannot be used to heal a creature. You must be at least 10th level and have the warming joy class feature to select this insight.
Flame Queller: You gain a +1 enhancement bonus on all attack rolls against chaotic creatures with your drain class feature. If you are at least a 6th level lover, this improves to a +2. At 12th it is a +3 bonus and at 18th level this is a +4. You may apply 1/2 this bonus (minimum +0) against neutrally aligned creatures (on the chaotic/lawful axis).

Pacify (Sp):[]

At 2nd level, a lover can cast calm emotions as a spell-like ability at will as a standard action against a single creature within 30 feet of them. The duration only lasts until the start of the lover’s next turn, though she can take a swift action to concentrate and maintain it. She may maintain this effect indefinitely, so long as she can concentrate and takes a swift action each round to sustain it. The DC of the Will save to resist a lover’s pacify is 10 + 1/2 lover level + her Charisma modifier.

At 6th level activating this becomes a swift action. At 10th level her pacify affects all enemies, and any allies she cares to include, within a 30 foot radius. At 14th level the radius of her ability improves to 60 feet + 10 feet per lover level.

Enfeeblement (Su):[]

In place of dealing damage, a lover can inflict other crippling effects on her target with her drain class feature. The ranged touch attack must still hit. If she forgoes damage and uses another one of these effects, she is not healed by the use of the ability. At 4th level and every 4 levels thereafter a lover may select a new enfeeblement to learn. She may only use one enfeeblement per drain.

Wither: The creature takes 1 point of Constitution damage for every 2d6 points of damage the lover’s drain would cause (6d6 would result in 3 Constitution damage). If the lover has any Constitution damage she is restored 1 point per use of wither. Creatures successfully hit with this ability receives a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 lover level + Charisma modifier). A successful save reduces the effect to 1 point of Constitution damage.
Sap: The creature takes 1 point of Strength damage for every 2d6 points of damage the lover’s drain would cause (6d6 would result in 3 Strength damage). If the lover has any Strength damage she is restored 1 point per use of sap. Creatures successfully hit with this ability receives a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 lover level + Charisma modifier). A successful save reduces the effect to 1 point of Strength damage.
Addle: The creature takes 1 point of Intelligence damage for every 2d6 points of damage the lover’s drain would cause (6d6 would result in 3 Intelligence damage). If the lover has any Intelligence damage she is restored 1 point per use of addle. Creatures successfully hit with this ability receives a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 lover level + Charisma modifier). A successful save reduces the effect to 1 point of Intelligence damage.
Cripple: The creature has its base speed reduced by 5 feet (minimum 5 feet) for every 2d6 points of damage the lover’s drain would cause (6d6 would result in -15 feet base speed) for a number or round equal to the lover’s Charisma modifier. A creature suffering from a lover’s cripple cannot be affected by another cripple effect of an equal or weaker value, though another application will reset the duration. A stronger cripple effect (from a stronger lover) will result in a rest in the duration and the new penalty to movement speed that overrides the old. A lover who uses this on a creature gains a 5 foot bonus to their own movement speed.
Blind: The creature is blinded for a number of rounds equal to the lover’s Charisma modifier. If the lover was blind or had a penalty to her Perception checks due to an effect based on her vision of less than -10, she regains her normal vision without penalties for a number of rounds equal to her Charisma modifier.
Burnout: The creature is fatigued or a number of rounds equal to the lover’s Charisma modifier. A creature who is already fatigued (including creature previously targeted with burnout) who is the subject of this ability is exhausted for the first round of this effect. Creatures successfully hit with this ability receives a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 lover level + Charisma modifier). A successful save reduces the effect to a duration of 1 round (until the end of the creature’s next turn).
Infirmed: The creature takes a penalty on all of its saves equal to the lover’s Charisma modifier to a maximum of 1/4 her lover level (minimum of -1) for a number of rounds equal to her Charisma modifier.
Screaming: The creature begins to scream as loud as they possibly can and drawing attention to itself. Creatures afflicted by this enfeeblement cannot make Stealth checks and non-mindless creatures within 10 feet of them a -2 penalty on attack rolls.
Truthbound: The creature is bound to tell the truth, omitting nothing, if questioned. Creatures may also not attempt to use Bluff checks. A creature can attempt to not answer a question by attempting a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 lover level + Charisma modifier) when asked a question. Successfully making the save allows them to resist answering any questions until the start of their next turn. If they fail, they receive a new save the next time they are asked a question. A lover must be at least 8th level to select this enfeeblement.

Fire and Ice (Su):[]

At 10th level, the lover’s power reaches a critical point and she must make a hard choice if she wishes to continue to grow her mastery of the lover’s art. She must choose to either allow love into her life at the cost of never truly achieving the highest levels of discipline or become cold and lock herself away from the affection of others entirely to focus on her studies. Depending on her choice, she gains one of the benefits below. Once the choice has been made it cannot be changed.

Heart of Ice (Ex): You have learned to lock your heart away. You may never willingly utilize Diplomacy to improve the attitude of another creature but gain the following benefits: +2 damage on all drain attacks (this improves to +3 at 15th level and +4 at 20th), the bonus provided against fear and confusion effects granted to you by your pacified class feature improves to 1/2 your lover level (rather than 1/4). Your alignment shifts one step towards evil and can never move to good again (and cannot be forced to). This drastically affects your characters personality, making them cold and reserved.

Warming Joy (Ex): Your cold heart begins to melt, carefully thawing and allowing you to better understand love. You no longer gain any benefit or penalty from your pacified class feature. In place of it you gain a morale bonus to your Will saves equal to your 1/3 your lover level.

Apotheosis[]

At 20th level, a lover may select one of the following benefits depending on what they selected at 10th level in their “fire and ice” class feature.

True Love (Su): If the lover selected warming joy at 10th level, she can now bring herself to experience true love without danger of losing her power. Should she find true love and it is reciprocated, she is gains the full benefit of this class feature. When she utilizes her drain class feature, any benefits granted to the lover are also granted to the one she loves. In addition, creatures do not recieve a save against her pacify ability and it lasts for 1 minute per casting after she stops concentrating.
Queen of Ice (Su): If the lover selected heart of ice at 10th level, she shuts herself off from her humanity, gaining tremendous power in the process. She may use her drain class feature an unlimited number of times per day. In addition, she may choose to deal 1d6 damage per level with her drain rather than 1d6 per two levels but heals nothing from the attack. Finally, she may cause her drain to deal maximum damage a number of times per day equal to her Charisma modifier.

Table #-2: Lover Favored Class Bonus[]

Race	Bonus	Source
Human	Gain 1/6 of a lover’s insight.	CRB
Elf/ Half Elf	Add +1/4 damage (and thus healing) when using the lover’s drain.	CRB
Half-Orc/ Orc	Add +1/4 on all Intimidate checks to influence and opponent’s attitude.	CRB / ARG
Aasimar	Add 1/3 to the amount of healing you receive for using drain.	ARG
Drow	Gain 1/6 of a new enfeeblement.	ARG
Flikes	Add +1/4 on all Diplomacy checks to influence and opponent’s attitude.	RG4

Table 1-2: Lover Spells Per Day

Level	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
1st	1	-	-	-	-	-
2nd	2	-	-	-	-	-
3rd	3	-	-	-	-	-
4th	3	1	-	-	-	-
5th	4	2	-	-	-	-
6th	4	3	-	-	-	-
7th	4	3	1	-	-	-
8th	4	4	2	-	-	-
9th	5	4	3	-	-	-
10th	5	4	3	1	-	-
11th	5	4	4	2	-	-
12th	5	5	4	3	-	-
13th	5	5	4	3	1	-
14th	5	5	4	4	2	-
15th	5	5	5	4	3	-
16th	5	5	5	4	3	1
17th	5	5	5	4	4	2
18th	5	5	5	5	4	3
19th	5	5	5	5	5	4
20th	5	5	5	5	5	5

Table 1-3: Lover Spells Known

Level	0th	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
1st	4	2	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	5	3	—	—	—	—	—
3rd	6	4	—	—	—	—	—
4th	6	4	2	—	—	—	—
5th	6	4	3	—	—	—	—
6th	6	4	4	—	—	—	—
7th	6	5	4	2	—	—	—
8th	6	5	4	3	—	—	—
9th	6	5	4	4	—	—	—
10th	6	5	5	4	2	—	—
11th	6	6	5	4	3	—	—
12th	6	6	5	4	4	—	—
13th	6	6	5	5	4	2	—
14th	6	6	6	5	4	3	—
15th	6	6	6	5	4	4	—
16th	6	6	6	5	5	4	2
17th	6	6	6	6	5	4	3
18th	6	6	6	6	5	4	4
19th	6	6	6	6	5	5	4
20th	6	6	6	6	6	5	5

Lover Spell List

0th: Daze, detect magic, mending, message, prestidigitation, touch of fatigue
1st: Bungle UM, calm emotions, cause fear*, color spray, corrosive touch, grease, hypnotism, memory lapse APG, negative reaction UC, obscuring mist, peacebond UC, ray of enfeeblement, reduce person, sleep, unprepared combatant UM
2nd: Compassionate ally, daze monster, distracting cacophony UM, glitterdust, haunting mists UM, hideous laughter, hold person, howling agony UM, hypnotic pattern, mad hallucination UM, qualm UC, rage*, reckless infatuation UM, scare, silence, suggestion, touch of idiocy, unadulterated loathing UM
3rd: Ash storm UM, deep slumber, dispel magic, fear, loathsome veil UM, malicious spite UM, ray of exhaustion, sepia snake sigil, sleet storm, slow, stinking cloud, unravel destiny APG, vision of hell UM
4th: Bestow curse, confusion, enervation, hold monster, malfunction UM, mass daze, mass reduce person, rainbow pattern, serenity UM, symbol of slowing UM, utter contempt* UM
5th: Dominate person, feeblemind, foe to friend APG, greater dispel magic, hold monster, irresistible dance, joyful rapture UM, mass suggestion, mind fog, soothe construct UM, symbol of sleep, waves of fatigue
6th: Cloak of dream, euphoric tranquility, mass hold person, plague storm UM, symbol of fear, waves of ecstasy UM

You might ask, “why does a lover have the ability to use spells like rage?” They have access to them but are not fond of using them as they can compel others towards hostile actions. They can be used creatively to achieve their ends. For example, a lover might secretly use rage to make a warmonger show his true colors in court or compel an enemy into throwing the first punch. Sometimes, a little bit of pain makes the wound heal quicker.

Section 15 OGL Copyright Declaration:[]

Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, based on material

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Jason Bulmahn, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and

Skip Williams.

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