Occult Lore

Author	Keith Baker, Adam Bank, Chris Jones, Scott Reeves, and Elton Robb
Publisher	Atlas-Games
Publish date	2002
OGL Section 15	occult-lore

The material below is Open Game Content

Gleaner

Gleaners have the following game statistics.

Abilities: For the most part the magic of the gleaner is derived from her relationship with her attendant spirits. As a result, Charisma plays an important role for the gleaner. To cast a spell, a gleaner must have a Charisma score of 10 + the spell’s level. Bonus spells are based on Charisma. The DC of a save against a gleaner’s spell is 10 + the spell’s level + the gleaner’s Charisma modifier. Wisdom is also important for a gleaner, as many of her rituals result in conflicts of will with the spirits she seeks to control.

Alignment: Any

Hit Die: d4

CLASS SKILLS

The gleaner’s class skills are Concentration (Con), Craft (Wis), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Spiritcraft (Wis, exclusive skill). As the gleaner does not use traditional forms of magic, she does not learn Spellcraft, although some acquire Knowledge (arcana) to gain an academic understanding of the subject. Knowledge (spirits) and Knowledge (the planes) are commonly taken by gleaners, and many possess some level of skill as professional undertakers.
Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) x 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier

CLASS FEATURES

All of the following are class features of the gleaner.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Gleaners are skilled with the club, dagger, light crossbow, and quarterstaff. Gleaners are not proficient with any sort of armor or shield. Gleaners suffer arcane spell penalties due to wearing armor when casting first level spells or soul bind, but do not have to overcome armor penalties when using the Invoke Spirit ability and its associated spell-like effects.

Spells: The greatest power of the gleaner lies in her ability to call upon her bound spirits. However, a gleaner does learn a limited number of arcane spells, tied to her role as a medium and her knowledge of the dead. A gleaner casts these spells as a sorcerer or bard does; she does not need to memorize spells in advance.

A gleaner may learn the following spells. New spells are marked with an asterisk and can be found in Appendix II.

1st Level — absorb revenant,* release revenant,* speak with dead
Additional Levels — death knell, disrupt undead, enforced return,* gentle repose

After learning the three indicated spells at 1st level, a gleaner learns an additional spell from the “Additional Levels” list at each subsequent level until she knows them all. These are all cast as 1stlevel spells by the gleaner.

Activate Spirit: Throughout her career, a gleaner will create magic items associated with her class — spiritstones, reliquaries, and focal charms. These relics are designed to sustain revenants; while the spirit draws on the relic for sustenance, the gleaner teaches it ways to affect the physical world. By expending activation points — spiritual energy that the gleaner feeds to the revenant to coax it to action — in conjunction with these items, the character can produce a variety of mystical effects. At 1st level, Activate Spirit gives the gleaner 2 activation points; each additional level of the gleaner class gives the character additional points as given in the gleaner class progression table. Activation points and the process of using and enhancing gleaner magic items are described
in greater detail in the following section on gleaner relics; creation information for gleaner magic items is given below.

The revenants that the gleaners deal with are the same traces of personality that a spellcaster accesses when he uses the speak with dead spell. A revenant is not the soul of a person who has died; it is the traces of that personality left behind in the body after death. The art of the gleaner allows her to give this residue a semblance of life, and to nurture it while it evolves into a sentient being in its own right. High-level gleaners do gain an ability similar to the soul bind spell, but that spell is not the same thing as removal of a revenant.

Detect Undead (Sp): At 1st level a gleaner can detect undead at will as a spell-like ability. This ability duplicates the effects of the spell, but the gleaner may be able to gather additional information about the targets of the ability; see the description of the Spiritcraft skill.

Turn or Rebuke Undead: A gleaner is most interested in the revenants left behind when a soul leaves this world. But through her studies, a gleaner gains a keen understanding of all forms of undead. As a result, at 1st level a gleaner may attempt to bend a restless spirit to her will or banish it from this realm. A gleaner may affect undead as a cleric of equal level to her gleaner level. Initially a gleaner Turns or Rebukes based on her alignment, just like a cleric. However, if the gleaner has a revenant within her spiritstone of the opposite alignment, she may draw on the energy of that spirit and Rebuke or Turn as if her alignment matched that of the revenant. For example, a good-aligned gleaner normally Turns undead, but if she has access to evil revenants, she can choose to Rebuke undead instead.

A gleaner may attempt to Turn or Rebuke undead a number of times per day equal to three plus her Charisma modifier.

Extra Turning: Extensive knowledge of the nature of revenants and the undead make the gleaner a force to be reckoned with in the spiritual realm. As a result, a gleaner automatically receives the Extra Turning feat at 3rd level, and again at 12th level.

Spiritual Education: A gleaner’s relics are her most important tools. A gleaner can enhance the power of her reliquaries or focal charms by expending experience. However, as she gains knowledge she can also pass this along to her relics with no loss. Each time a gleaner receives this ability, she may raise two of her reliquaries or focal charms by one rank apiece, provided that this does not raise the relic to a rank higher than her own level in the gleaner class. A gleaner cannot store these bonuses for later use; if she does not have two relics when her level increases, the bonus is lost. See the section on gleaner relics for additional information about the powers of relics.

Soul Bind: Most of the gleaner’s skills deal with the manipulation of revenants — echoes of souls that have passed. At 17th level, the gleaner’s power increases to the point where she can trap souls themselves, preventing any form of resurrection for as long as the gleaner keeps the soul imprisoned. This functions in a manner identical to the soul bind spell. To use this effect, the gleaner must expend 20 of her activation points; she must also have the usual material component associated with the spell.

Create Spiritstone: A spiritstone is the first relic that a gleaner learns to create. It is a repository for revenants — a power source that sustains these fledgling spirits until they grow in power and can be transferred to a reliquary. To create a spiritstone, a gleaner must have the Create Spiritstone special ability, and spend 100 gp and one day to
perform the associated ritual. The cost covers the stone — a sapphire that turns jet black at the completion of the ritual — and additional materials. It does not cover the cost of any sort of setting for the stone.

A gleaner can only have a single spiritstone at any one time. She feeds the revenants inside it with her own spiritual energy, and part of the ritual involves forging a link between the stone and her own soul. Creating a new stone destroys this link, incidentally dispersing the revenants stored within. This also means that unlike reliquaries and focal charms, there is no mystical market for stolen spiritstones; there is no way to transfer the link with a stone from one gleaner to another. The stone itself can be sold for 90 gp. The section on gleaner relics provides details on the powers of spiritstones.

Create Reliquary: At 5th level a gleaner gains the ability to create a reliquary — a vessel for a revenant that nurtures the spirit and enhances its ability to affect the physical world. Reliquaries generally take the form of small, gilded bottles or boxes, tightly sealed and covered with mystical sigils. Creating a basic reliquary costs 250 gp and requires the creator to have the Create Reliquary special ability and expend 250 XP. The gleaner must then select one of the revenants from her spiritstone to place within the reliquary. Reliquaries are extremely valuable to gleaners, and as a result they can fetch a significant price if there are buyers who recognize the value of the object. A reliquary can bring up to 200 gp purely for the value of the materials that go into its creation. Among gleaners, a reliquary is worth 1,000 gp per rank of the relic.

The powers of reliquaries are described in more detail in the section on gleaner relics.

Create Enhanced Reliquaries: While a basic reliquary allows a revenant to survive without support from a gleaner, there are limits on the power of the spirit one can contain. At 10th level a gleaner learns to enhance her reliquaries, which allows the spirit within to advance to greater levels. To perform this ritual, a gleaner must possess a rank 5 reliquary. She must then spend an additional 2,000 gp worth of mystical supplies and precious stones, and expend an additional 1,000 XP; this boosts the reliquary to rank 6. Enhanced reliquaries can be sold on the open market for 1,200 gp, although a gleaner aware of its power may pay up to 2,000 gp per rank of the reliquary.

Create Focal Charm: The section on gleaner relics describes the process through which a powerful spirit can be released from a reliquary, transcending to a new level of existence. The resulting spirit is more powerful than any trapped revenant. To maintain a connection to the spirit and draw upon its powers, at 15th level a gleaner creates a focal charm — effectively, a holy symbol for a pantheon of one. Creating a focal charm requires the user to have the Create Focal Charm special ability, and to destroy a rank 10 enhanced reliquary. In addition, the gleaner must spend
5,000 gp and 5,000 XP. A focal charm has a market value equal to 4,000 gp, but can fetch up to 50,000 gp from another gleaner. There is no set form for a focal charm; the shapes a charm can take are as varied as the holy symbols of the gods of the world.

Table: The Gleaner

Level	BAB	FS	RS	WS	Activation Points	Special Abilities	1st level Spells Per Day
1	+0	+0	+0	+2	2	detect undead; Create 1 Spiritstone; Activate Spirit; Turn/Rebuke Undead	1
2	+1	+0	+0	+3	4	—	1
3	+1	+1	+1	+3	5	Extra Turning	2
4	+2	+1	+1	+4	7	—	2
5	+2	+1	+1	+4	8	Create Reliquary	3
6	+3	+2	+2	+5	10	Spiritual Education	3
7	+3	+2	+2	+5	14	Spiritual Education	4
8	+4	+2	+2	+6	16	Spiritual Education	4
9	+4	+3	+3	+6	20	Spiritual Education	5
10	+5	+3	+3	+7	24	Create Enhanced Reliquary	5
11	+5	+3	+3	+7	32	Spiritual Education	6
12	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	36	Extra Turning	6
13	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	44	Spiritual Education	7
14	+7/+2	+4	+4	+9	48	Spiritual Education	7
15	+7/+2	+5	+5	+9	56	Create Focal Charm	8
16	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	72	Spiritual Education	8
17	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	80	soul bind	9
18	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	96	Spiritual Education	9
19	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	104	Spiritual Education	9
20	+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	122	Spiritual Education	9