Class: Cultist of the Enlightened Mind

Inspired by this list of mental mutations. I loved the list, so I had to butcher and rewrite it into a class. :D

Here, one felt no weight of the supernatural pressing on the human mind, demanding homage and allegiance. Humanity - with all its distinct capabilities, talents, worries, problems, possibilities - was the centre of interest. It has been said that medieval thinkers philosophised on their knees, but, bolstered by the new studies, they dared to stand up and to rise to full stature.

- Humanism, The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy

The gods are evil. They watch the suffering of the world, yet never interfere. They let brother fight brother, thousands be tortured and executed for heresy, bright minds full of ideas be silenced, and all in their name. They enslave humanity in worship and sacred traditions. They are the most stubborn enemies of progress, understanding and free thought.

This cannot be allowed to continue. Humanity must be enlightened, allowed to rise beyond its barbaric nature and petty squabble, beyond the obsolete churches and their spiteful faiths. Humanity must be set free of the powers that be and build its own destiny.
 

The cults that believe in the power and purity of human mind teach that you should never blindly follow some nebulous divinity or ancient dogmas, but rather trust in your own strength, reason and goals. You should be curious and inquisitive, because your mind is the greatest asset you have and there is a whole world to discover. You should bow your head to those who deserve respect, but never to the authority of violence, fear, or tradition. You should always seek enlightenment.

To seek enlightenment is to ask questions, because only through questions will you get answers. To seek enlightenment is to always search for new knowledge and never refuse an idea without proper consideration. To seek enlightenment is to learn from your betters, but never hold them up as unconditionally right. To seek enlightenment is to challenge your peers, but never humiliate or reject them. To seek enlightenment is to never stop seeking, for the path to enlightenment is just that - a path without end.

But enlightenment is more than knowledge. Enlightenment means understanding. Understanding means power. Power means mastery. Mastery means control. To find enlightenment means to control your fate and the world around you.

Basically, think Leonardo da Vinci with psychic powers.

Unfortunately, some cults got hold of the wrong end of the stick. They chant "the path to enlightenment leads through the power of mind", but seek only personal power rather than understanding, tolerance and freedom. They fail to grasp that psychic powers are incidental, and not the primary aim. They want quick and easy results, not lifelong devotion to truth and reason. They use drugs and rituals to fortify their minds, until they can throw a men across a room and set him alight with nothing but a thought.

They think themselves enlightened. Others find them deranged.

A: 2 Mental Powers (MP), Cult Contacts

B: +2 MP

C: +2 MP

D: +2 MP, Cult Conscription



Cult Contacts

You are part of a cult, which is both a blessing and a curse.

In every town and some villages, there will be someone who knows the secrets signs, passwords and handshakes. You have friends and can ask for favours. But you will occasionally be tasked with a mission and expected to comply. The more favours you request, the more frequent, more difficult and more dangerous your missions will be. Should you refuse or botch your mission, the cult will find and punish you. Should you be exposed, the Church will hunt, torture and execute you.

Cult Conscription
You are adept at gaining new followers for your faith. You attract 1d4 + [Cha mod] hirelings that will faithfully assist you for the promise of enlightenment.

You can also try to preach your beliefs to any non-hostile person or group of people. Reroll their Reaction roll with any bonuses or penalties the GM deems appropriate. For example, you should receive -1 to the roll if the person adheres to a different religion (-2 if they are an ardent worshipper), and +1 if you saved the person or if they are a long-term friend.

Result of "friendly" means that they are receptive to your words and can eventually be initiated into your cult. Result of "indifferent" means that they just don't care and would you stop bothering them, they are trying to sleep! Result of "hostile" means that you angered them and they may very well be truly hostile and thinking of you as a heretic.

People persuaded by your conscription won't automatically become your hirelings or companions, but don't forget that once they join your cult, you can use your Cult Contacts ability on them. Try to woo someone who can be useful in the future - a rich merchant, an member of the Thieves Guild, a king's personal guard, or even the king!

Your fellow cultists can help you with information gathering of rumours and quests, fencing of stolen goods, smuggling, free safekeeping, hiding you with no questions asked - and on top of these benefits, you can ask for special favours. If you manage to convert someone powerful, the favours you can use should also be quite big. Give the secret handshake to the baron and he will have the murders slide.

Do what cults do best - slowly build your power, acquire some favours, then pull the strings from the shadows.

d100 Mental Powers
They said enlightenment, but you heard power. Through drugs and strange potions and even stranger chemicals, you unlocked the full potential of your mind and didn't need to learn and meditate for years as most seekers of enlightenment do. They however tend to be much less unhinged than you are.

1. Strange smell or feeling of unease if supernatural powers are used, or a spirit is present within 30'.
2. Can form ectoplasm to produce a pound of slime at will. It dissipates to nothing within an hour.
3. You can sense arousal within 30' and cause erotic thoughts and feelings with a touch, but you no longer feel sexual arousal and take no joy from sex.
4. Trance for one hour instead of sleeping.
5. Temperature within 30' drops by 10 degrees when you are unhappy or sad. You can use frostbite once per day.
6. Temperature within 30' raises by 10 degrees when you are angry. You can use heat metal once per day.
7. Your eyes glow like a torch when angry or using powers. Anyone who looks at you must Save or be blinded for 1d6 rounds.
8. Your hair raises with static electricity when exited or using powers. Anyone to touch you takes 1 damage.
9. If you sleep embracing a corpse, you awaken in their body in the morning, and your old body have rotted away into a skeleton.
10. Once per year, hibernate for up to three months. You won't need food, water, nor air.
11. Horrible nightmares and flashforwards make you mutter and sob in your sleep. Should you be ambushed or assaulted in your sleep, you wake up just before the attack with a terrifying scream that stuns the attackers for 1 round.
12. Fried nerve endings cause diminished sense of touch and pain. You ignore pain and have 4 rounds to remove Fatal Wounds.
13. Split personality offers advice nobody else can hear. Once per day, reroll an Int or Wis check and take the new result.
14. Your memory lapses and repeats. You keep forgetting what you were doing, telling people things again and again, or acting a little confused. You are immune to mind-affecting effects (positive or negative), as your faulty mind erases and forgets them.
15. You mutter and tell rambling stories even when alone. Roll under Int to know something about any notable creature, location or object you encounter.
16. Prone to irrational weeping in all kinds of situations. You may force everyone within 30' to Save or take disadvantage on all their rolls as they can't stop crying. The power lasts as long as you forgo all your actions to weep.
17. Prone to irrational laughter in all kinds of situations. You may start laughing maniacally (forgoing all your actions to laugh) and split [HD] penalty to all rolls among creatures within 30' in any way you want.
18. Unnatural charm lets you sway people with ease. Once per day, you may cast 1 MD version of charm person.
19. Insects, vermin and parasites are repulsed and try to keep a foot away. Monstrous and giant insects (including all manner of insectoid creatures) must Save to be able to attack you.
20. Magnetic sense always lets you recognise north. You can sense any iron within 30'.
21. You have perfect sense of time to the second. You can decide exactly when to wake up.
22. Numerate as if you had a calculator and advanced algebraic skills. You also have eidetic memory.
23. Highly sensitive to pain and paranoid about threats of injury. Once per day, you may reroll a failed Save.
24. You can feel emotions within 30' and share thoughts with a touch.
25. Phobia of a specific thing: (d8) 1. strangers, 2. spiders, 3. snakes, 4. darkness, 5. small spaces and being trapped, 6. heights, 7. crowds, 8. magic. You gain advantage on all rolls in the presence of your phobia trigger due to heightened levels of adrenaline.
26. Subconscious antipathy disturbs people you meet. You have -2 to Reaction rolls, but +4 to intimidation or similar rolls.
27. Suicidal tendencies and gloomy fixation on death and risk taking. You ignore the first Fatal Wound you would take in a day.
28. Mental block makes you forget any stressful situation. You have a 50% chance to heal 1d6+1 hp after any combat encounter, but if you do so, you won't remember the encounter at all.
29. Narcolepsy gives you a 1% chance per turn in any stressful situation to fall asleep. You are immune to unnatural sleep (including magic, drugs etc.).
30. Aura sight allows you to see auras of living creatures. You can see invisible creatures or those hiding in darkness normally.
31. Enormous ego sure is the greatest thing and you are best at everything ever. Your hireling actually believe that and roll Morale twice, taking the better result.
32. Your mind is clouded in rage whenever you are reduced at or below 30% of maximum hp. You gain +2 to hit and damage and reduce all incoming damage by 2 points. You are immune to pain and fear, but cannot stop fighting until you kill, subdue, or drive off all enemies. If one of your allies has injured you in this encounter, they count as an enemy. You remember nothing from your rage.
33. You have an impulsive disorder: (d6) 1. pyromania, 2. extreme swearing, 3. kleptomania, 4. sex, 5. pain, 6. gloating about your superiority. Once per day when you satisfy your mania, you heal 1d6+1 hp.
34. Planar sense lets you feel portals and dimensional rifts within a mile, and recognise extradimensional or multiplanar beings on sight.
35. Defective alter ego will seize control when you are reduced to 0 hp. Create a second character sheet of a different class for your alter ego, but keep your attributes. The swap lasts until a full night sleep.
36. Seizure attack has a 1% chance per turn to occur in any stressful situation. It lasts for 1 minute and you are incapacitated for the duration. Anyone within 30' of you while you have your seizures takes 1d6 damage per turn from psychic backlash.
37. Unconscious calling attracts hostile creatures, increasing chances of wandering monsters. You are however never surprised and always act on a surprise round.
38. Your mind alone can mend injuries. You have [HD] worth of hp per day that you can heal with a touch.
39. Spectral breeze always blows around you, dissipating any fog or gasses in 1 round.
40. Your aura may glow visibly at will, giving off light as torch. You are however blinded by the sharp glow.
41. You can ignite flammable materials within 30' with a single thought.
42. You can form an empathic bond with an animal. This requires a day of meditation and the animal cannot be hostile. Afterwards, you can speak with the animal, and no matter the distance between the two of you, you can feel its current state of mind. You can only have one bonded animal at a time.
43. You have wizard vision. Decrease your Wis or Cha by 1d6.
44. You have passive telepathy and can hear any telepathic conversation if one of the parties is within 30'.
45. Plant empathy allows you to sense well-being of a plant by touch. Plants and plant creatures will never hinder you (including spells like wall of thorns) or attack you unless you show aggression first.
46. You may touch objects or concentrate in a location to sense dramatic events in their past.
47. Automatic writing allows a spirit to use your hands to write or draw while in a trance. You will not be attacked by spirits unless you show aggression first.
48. You subconsciously repulse dirt and filth, keeping you body and belongings immaculately clean. You get +4 to Save vs diseases if they transmit by contact.
49. Your power of "thought-graphy" can burn an image from your mind no larger that a square foot onto any suitable surface.
50. Call ethereal fog over 30' radius once per day. It dissipates in 10 minutes.
51. You can possess a HD 0 animal for 10 minutes, once per day.
52. You can control a swarm of flies or harmless insects with concentration.
53. You can store a single object small enough to hide in your palm Elsewhere, retrieving it at will.
54. Astral knife (1d6 + Int mod) can be formed at will, but it only harms immaterial spirits.
55. You can see inside dreams with a touch. Once per day, you may whisper to a sleeping person and once they wake up, they will be under the effect of a suggestion.
56. Once per day, you may scare an animal, monstrous animal, magical beast or a beastman with HD lower than yours if it fails a Save.
57. Once per day, you may calm an animal, monstrous animal, magical beast or a beastman with HD lower than yours if it fails a Save.
58. You can make an object you could lift (including yourself) levitate [HD]' off the ground with concentration. You still have to push the object to move it horizontally.
59. Your minor telekinetic powers can make objects within 30' rattle and make noise. You unintentionally use this power when angry, upset, or scared.
60. Hostile spirits are attracted to your inner anguish. Spirits will prefer attacking you over your allies, but should any try to posses you, they will be trapped in your tortured mind. You can talk to your trapped spirits and release them at will, and they are powerless while inside your head. Try negotiating for services.
61. You can talk telepathically with your blood relatives.
62. With concentration, you can control smoke, fog, or a cloud of fine dust.
63. You can form rime and freeze water with concentration, a cubic foot per round.
64. Your mind keeps your body vigorous. Your natural lifespan doubles and you are immune to unnatural ageing.
65. Telekinetically cause an object no larger than a boulder within 30' to jerk suddenly. This can move the object 1' per round, but is quite rough and will damage fragile objects. Any creature holding such an object must Save or drop it.
66. You are able to identify any disease or poison at the moment of contact.
67. You can sense medical condition of others with a touch. You will learn about any injuries, mental disorders, diseases, and their remaining hp.
68. You can sense the nearest body of water larger than a bucket.
69. You can speed read (if literate), reading and studying ten times faster. You have perfect recollection of anything you have read.
70. You have photographic memory. You can search any location you have seen retrospectively, inspecting details you have not paid attention to before.
71. You can accurately measure distances and lengths from sight. This also gives you advantage on any jump checks.
72. You can accurately predict weight of creatures and objects. This also gives you an advantage on checks to move or trip them.
73. You are an insufferable, fanatical knight templar with an extreme moral code. Make up a taboo that you can never break. If anyone else breaks this taboo, you deal double damage against them.
74. You have heightened fine motor skills. You can use both of your hands equally well, and your legs as well as your hands.
75. Improved split personality offers you useful advice and second opinions. Once per day, you may ask the GM a question about your current situation and they must truthfully answer (though this will not reveal secret knowledge you couldn't realistically possess).
76. You can survive comfortably without food and water for [Con] days.
77. You constantly hear whispers and moans of the dead. Once per day when you eat the raw flesh of a dead creature, you may speak with it as per speak with dead.
78. You have dreams about your ancestors' lives, often triggered by recent events in your own life. The GM will offer some useful tips and hints at their discretion.
79. You can gather orgone energy from sexual acts. Instead of using a ration, you can have sex.
80. You have a perfect sense of harmony, rhythm, and can play any instrument instantly. Your heightened hearing allows you to recognise any sound you have already heard, including creatures by footsteps or breath, locations by ambient sounds, or various objects by the noise they make.
81. You can snuff a flame as large as a torch within 30' with a single thought.
82. You are immune to any poisons, diseases or adverse effects acquired through eating and drinking. Instead, you store the effects in your body and can transmit them with a kiss. You can store [HD] such effects.
83. Eyes or nose bleeds when using powers or very stressed. However, no bleeding does any damage to you and you may bleed out hectolitres of blood without feeling any adverse effects.
84. No one but long-term friends can describe you, nor recognise you from even moments ago.
85. When it suits you, you do not count as a living being.
86. You can labour inexhaustibly, performing work of [Cultist templates] x 2 people in any manual labour. You can also labour instead of sleeping and still gain the benefits of sleep.
87. You can tell a creature's greatest fear or regret with a glance.
88. You are unearthly beautiful while at full hp, and disgustingly ugly otherwise. Creatures must Save to be able to attack you while you are at full hp.
89. You have mastered psychosomatic medicine. Any attribute damage you take, you can instead take as normal damage, and vice versa.
90. You can sense pain and death. Anyone who was injured, or killed someone in the past day will cause a short vision of the circumstances when you touch them.
91. You have two extra personalities in your head who disagree on everything. Two times per day, you can take back an action that was already resolved (after any dice are rolled, but before another person takes their turn), provided that you do something completely different instead.
92. Anyone watching you eat must Save or vomit.
93. Once per day, you may create a palm-sized, translucent, ectoplasmic item. Note that you can replicate shapes, but not effects; thus a key would be possible, but not a vial of poison. The item lasts for 10 minutes.
94. Once per day, you can give an evil eye to a creature who then must reroll their next successful Save.
95. You have bipolar disorder. Take a note of the number of the Save you roll in the day - you automatically pass all odd Saves and fail all even Saves.
96. You suffer from terrible nightmares. Reroll a random attribute each time you sleep.
97. You may boil a bucket worth of any liquid within 30' with a thought.
98. Lesser regeneration allows you to regrow fingers, ears, nose, teeth etc., plus heal to full hp from a lunch. However, no matter how minor your injuries are, they always leave behind a hideous scar.
99. You are obsessed with darkness, depth and the underground. You can only sleep in total darkness. As long as you're falling into darkness, the landing will never harm you.
100. You have a third, invisible, telekinetic arm.

Background:
Cultists come from very different paths of life. Roll here for your former career that ended when you were initiated and left for the life of adventure. You start with the described weapon, the extra item, some basic clothes, and 2 skills associated with your profession.

Edit: Slightly reworked the Cult Conscription ability.