ENTROPIST

Salorras Paragon: Entropist · Base path: Mage (Wizard) — soul-bound book-mage of the Arcanawrath, master of the entropic Strand of the Pale Thread. A 5-level Pathfinder 1e prestige class for the only mages who wield the wild, forbidden magic of entropy with perfect stability — the rarest and most feared arcanists of Salorras.

The entropists are perhaps the only spellcasters who can access the all-powerful spells of the necromancy school — the entropic Strand of the Pale Thread — without those spells being dangerous and uncontrollable to themselves, despite the wild-magic instability this category of magic suffers in the cosmology of Salorras. That instability is no accident of any one plane: in the prehistoric eras the Pale Thread of the Fabric was derailed by the eolmes, and ever since the magic drawn from it has acted wildly and unpredictably, forbidden to all but the masters who can bridle it.

Few things are known to the world about these exceedingly rare mages, for they gather in small castes and live nearly cut off from the rest of the societies of Salorras. The myth says that the first known entropist in history was Ymenos Talak’Er, and that he received the occult and ancient secret of the entropists from the god of forbidden knowledge himself, Kaith’otl, as a gift for his unshakable faith in the doctrine of that religion.

The entropists handle the powers of negative energy with outstanding ease and have accepted death and its unknown paths as part of their very existence. The mystic powers they hold are often of staggering level, for they can decipher even the spells of the highest magic, so long as those belong to the necromancy school — and this alone stirs unease and wariness in even the most powerful “ordinary” mages.

The only official and known sect of entropists in Salorras is called the Arcanawrath and lies in the city-state of Naerys, in the south of the continent of Asmeda, forming the core of one of the oldest factions of the world — the Congress of Mysticism. Their role has political facets, for they pull the strings of the confederation of the Free Cities of South, though their chief concern is the safekeeping of ancient knowledge and forbidden spells that they keep for their eyes alone.

Religion is a matter that does not concern most entropists, though some of them — usually the oldest and those who belong to the Arcanawrath — disagree, seeing their role as bound closely to the doctrine of the deity Kaith’otl.

One becomes an entropist only from the path of an arcane spellcasting class whose spells are prepared through a spellbook, such as the mage. In general it is uncommon to find anyone with an entropist, given the great rarity of the prestige class. Even if one comes into contact with members of the Congress of Mysticism, it is by no means easy to arrange an audience with a member of the core of the Arcanawrath sect, whose members are for the most part entropists.

Hit Die: d6.

Requirements

To qualify to become an entropist, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

Class: Any non-spontaneous arcane spellcasting class (such as wizard).

Feats: Greater Spell Focus (necromancy), Skill Focus (Spellcraft).

Skills: Knowledge (arcana) 15 ranks, Knowledge (planes) 15 ranks, Spellcraft 15 ranks.

Spells: Ability to cast 7th-level arcane spells, and knowledge of 5th-level or higher spells from at least five schools of magic, including necromancy.

Special: The secrets of the most occult magic in the world — the entropic Strand of the Pale Thread — must be revealed to the character by another entropist, who serves as their mentor for four months. Throughout this period the new entropist must also study the book Shadows on Ice — the most important tome of necromancy spells that ever existed in Salorras, guarded by the Congress of Mysticism in Naerys — though it is said that at least two further copies of this book have been made over the course of history, whose holders or whereabouts are unknown.

The Entropist

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort	Ref	Will	Special	Spells per Day
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Control necromancy, necromancy attune	+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Negative conduit 1/day	+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
3rd	+2	+1	+1	+3	Purest conduit, wild magic adept	+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
4th	+3	+1	+1	+4	High necromancy, negative conduit 2/day	+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
5th	+3	+1	+1	+4	Phylactery, wild magic master	+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class

Class Skills

The entropist’s class skills are Craft (Int), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

Skill Ranks at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Class Features

All of the following are features of the entropist prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency. An entropist gains no proficiency with any armor or shield. They are proficient with the club, dagger, heavy crossbow, light crossbow, and quarterstaff (as a mage).

Spells per Day. When a character first enters the entropist prestige class, and at each entropist level thereafter, they continue to gain all the features tied to the advancement of arcane spells as though they had gained a level in the arcane spellcasting class in which they could cast 7th-level spells before — but they do not gain the other abilities of that previous class (such as an extra bonus feat). If the newly entered character had more than one arcane spellcasting class before becoming an entropist, they must declare which class they will continue to advance for spells per day.

Control Necromancy (Ex). The entropist can use any spell belonging to the necromancy school without it being subject to wild magic — even if they meet that wild-magic instability outside the cosmology of Salorras. This is what it means to wield the entropic Strand of the Pale Thread with perfect stability.

Necromancy Attune (Ex). At 1st level, on completing their study of the book Shadows on Ice, the entropist attunes to the Negative Energy Plane and automatically gains innate knowledge of new spells belonging exclusively to the necromancy school. The number of spells the entropist can learn this way advances independently of their existing spellcasting class and grows per the Entropist Spells Known table below. The spells learned through this list may be invoked spontaneously, without preparation, exactly as a sorcerer would. The entropist may of course also learn any necromancy spell in the traditional way through a spellbook — but those spells are not granted spontaneous casting like the innate spells above. Regardless of where the knowledge of the spell comes from, it normally occupies a spell slot from those the entropist is entitled to each day, according to the progression of the arcane spellcasting class they have followed until now.

Entropist Spells Known

Class Level	0	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
1st	9	5	5	4	4	4	3	2	–	–
2nd	9	5	5	4	4	4	3	2	1	–
3rd	9	5	5	4	4	4	3	3	2	–
4th	9	5	5	4	4	4	3	3	2	1
5th	9	5	5	4	4	4	3	3	3	2

Negative Conduit (Su). At 2nd level, the entropist becomes a “living conduit” of negative energy. From this point on they are healed by negative energy and harmed by positive energy — as an undead creature would be — though they gain none of the other traits, weaknesses, or benefits of the undead type. In addition, once per day the entropist can channel a terrible measure of negative energy drawn straight from the core of the Negative Energy Plane: a touch attack dealing 1d8 points of negative energy damage per caster level (maximum 20d8). The purity of this energy allows the target no Will save for half damage. The entropist may instead channel this energy to heal themselves or an undead creature. At 4th level the entropist gains an additional use per day of this ability.

Purest Conduit (Su). At 3rd level the entropist’s conductivity with the Negative Energy Plane becomes so pure that the negative conduit functions as though maximized — as if cast through the Maximize Spell metamagic feat. The entropist no longer rolls the d8s to learn the result of the negative energy their touch deals; they instead count every die they are entitled to roll as having automatically come up 8.

Wild Magic Adept (Ex). At 3rd level the entropist reaches such mastery that they can turn the wild magic of the Pale Thread to their advantage. Whenever the entropist casts any spell of the necromancy school, there is a chance the spell is enriched with a beneficial effect, per the Adept d% column of the Wild Magic Beneficial Effects table below.

Wild Magic Beneficial Effects

Adept d%	Master d%	Beneficial Effect
01–50	01–30	The spell functions normally.
51–70	31–55	The spell (or spell-like ability) functions normally, but any material components are not consumed and the spell is not expended from the caster’s mind — the spell slot, prepared spell, or spell-like ability use can be used again.
71–85	56–75	The spell functions at increased power, as if cast with the Empower Spell feat; saving throws against it take a –1 penalty. If the spell is already empowered, this result has no further effect.
86–95	76–90	The spell functions at maximum power, as if cast with the Maximize Spell feat; saving throws against it take a –2 penalty. If the spell is already maximized, this result has no further effect.
96–100	91–100	The spell functions at increased speed, as if cast with the Quicken Spell feat. If the spell is already quickened, this result has no further effect.

High Necromancy (Ex). At 4th level the entropist gains such deep knowledge of the necromancy school that they treat any spell belonging to it as one level lower for the purpose of which spell slot it occupies on the Spells per Day table of their existing arcane spellcasting class. Such spells are prepared like any others, and the spell’s power is kept at its true level — for example, an entropist may prepare a 9th-level necromancy spell in an 8th-level spell slot without diminishing its power (its DC remains 10 + the entropist’s relevant ability modifier + 9). The drawback of this powerful ability is that the entropist cannot invoke these spells spontaneously, even though they belong to the necromancy school. Finally, the entropist may read and learn ultra-rare spells of high necromancy whose level exceeds that of 9th-level spells. This tier is informally styled “10th level” and applies to a mere handful of spells written during the Era of Myths; finding such spells is no easy matter in the world of Salorras, and the GM should treat it with care. These unique spells are prepared in 9th-level spell slots.

Phylactery. At 5th level the entropist can enclose a piece of their soul in a phylactery (as a lich’s phylactery). The entropist does not need the Craft Wondrous Item feat to make the phylactery — but they must still pay the cost in gold and the time its construction requires. When the entropist dies, their soul flees into the phylactery, and 1d10 days after their death it begins to roam the surrounding area until it recognizes and seizes a compatible dead body to dwell in and return to life once more, at the full height of its powers.

Wild Magic Master (Ex). At 5th level the entropist gains even finer control of the wild magic of the Pale Thread. From now on, for these cases of necromancy magic they use the Master d% column of the Wild Magic Beneficial Effects table above.

Lysanthir’s Pledge

An excerpt from the spellbook “Shadows on Ice.”

The Forbidden Archives, Naerys, 404 IIE.

14th of the month of Myrbor, day of Serral, 261 IIE.

“Lysanthir Qywin, archmage and faithful servant of the Keeper of Myths, came to me at the Wand, paralyzed by his terror of the abyssal scourge that tightens around the material world like a noose around a hanged man’s throat.

Certain of the coming wave of the Saragothan demons, yet clouded by the Keeper of Myths’ refusal to heed his desperate call, the archmage begged me for magic to shield his homeland from utter ruin — a command, one might better call it.

But the Keeper of Myths is not a being who lends you his hand, nor spoon-feeds you as the Bright Sun does. Great as my need to come also to the Umithaes valley may be, my priority is to stand in Salorrian with the rest of my brethren, and on the front of the Isle of Astugar in the resistance against the gate-demon Jiazgalok.

The decision was made, and so the archmage was granted the Seed of Exorcism to weave the supreme spell he held in his mind — together with this sister phylactery, Thirjen, whose frozen aura I miss so. But the spell, being dangerous to mortal existences, I knew would cost the archmage his soul. A soul chewed by the shadowed teeth of Erebus, tormented in the dark eternal vortex made of chaos and misery…”

— Ymenos Talak’Er