Samhain Spooker (3.5e Class)

Author: ValravenApocalypse (talk) Date Created: 10/03/24 Status: Complete-ish Editing: clarity or wiki magic only, please

Low - Moderate - High - Very High

Rate this article Your rating for this article: Favor Like Neutral Dislike Oppose Submit | Cancel Discuss this article

A class specialized in spooky magic, summoning minions, and wearing those minions like costumes 20

Poor Poor Poor Good Spontaneous Arcane Spellcasting

Samhain Spooker

The Samhain Spooker is a magic user that is particularly themed around summoning monsters, being able to wear those monsters like a costume, and using spooky magic. They draw their power from the powers of harvest, night, nightmares, and revelry, and use many spells that are entirely normal, but have strange manifestations involving candy and creepy crawlers. Note-- Samhain is pronounced saw-in or sow-win

Making a Samhain Spooker

<-Strong points and weak points, and effectiveness with party members.->.

Abilities: Charisma is the most important ability for a Samhain Spooker, as their magic is Charisma based. When they have to wade into combat, they're likely to do so in Eidolon Form, which replaces everything but their mental ability scores.

Races: Most, if not all, races can call on the magic of the Harvest Festival Revel, but the class is particularly attractive to races that are already a bit spooky, outside the norm, or inherently tied to the spirits of harvest and nightmares.

Alignment: Any. They are seldom good, but it's not impossible or forbidden.

Starting Gold: 4d4×10 gp (100 gp).

Starting Age: As rogue.

Table: The Samhain Spooker

Hit Die: d8

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Spells per Day
		Fort	Ref	Will		1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Candle Eyes, Spellcasting, Spectral Skein, Summon Minion of the Night I, Tricks and Treats	1	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Spooky Companion, Minion Form, Relentless Spooks	2	—	—	—	—	—
3rd	+1	+1	+1	+3	Summon Minion of the Night II, Bag of Spooks	3	—	—	—	—	—
4th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Bonus Feat	3	1	—	—	—	—
5th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Summon Minion of the Night III	4	2	—	—	—	—
6th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Better Skeins	4	3	1	—	—	—
7th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Summon Minion of the Night IV	4	3	2	—	—	—
8th	+4	+2	+2	+6	Bonus Feat	4	4	3	1	—	—
9th	+4	+3	+3	+6	Summon Minion of the Night V	5	4	3	2	—	—
10th	+5	+3	+3	+7		5	4	4	3	1	—
11th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Summon Minion of the Night VI	5	4	4	3	2	—
12th	+6	+4	+4	+8	Bonus Feat	5	5	4	4	3	1
13th	+6	+4	+4	+8	Summon Minion of the Night VII	5	5	4	4	3	2
14th	+7	+4	+4	+9		5	5	5	4	4	3
15th	+7	+5	+5	+9	Summon Minion of the Night VIII	5	5	5	4	4	3
16th	+8	+5	+5	+10	Bonus Feat	5	5	5	5	4	4
17th	+8	+5	+5	+10	Summon Minion of the Night IX	5	5	5	5	4	4
18th	+9	+6	+6	+11		5	5	5	5	5	4
19th	+9	+6	+6	+11	Hordes of Minions	5	5	5	5	5	4
20th	+10	+6	+6	+12	Bonus Feat	5	5	5	5	5	5
Class Skills (8 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Arcana) (Dungeoneering) (History) (Nature) (Psionics) (Religion) (The Planes) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Open Lock (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Tumble (Dex), Use Magic Device (Cha). Class Features All of the following are class features of the <-class name->. Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Samhain Spookers are proficient in all simple weapons, all axes and hammers, tridents, scythes, and all whips and chains. They are proficient in all light armor, as well as any armor that is primarily made from hide, leather, or otherwise made from a living creature (such as chitin). Spells: A Samhain Spooker casts arcane spells drawn from the Samhain Spooker spell list. They can cast any spell they know without preparing it ahead of time, assuming they have not yet used up their allotment of spells per day for the spell’s level. To learn or cast a spell, a Samhain Spooker must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a summoner’s spell is 10 + half hit die + the summoner’s Charisma modifier. A Samhain Spooker can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level each day. Their base daily spell allotment is given on Table: Samhain Spooker. In addition, they receive bonus spells per day if they have a high Charisma score (see Table: Ability Modifiers and Bonus Spells). A Samhain Spooker’s selection of spells is extremely limited. A Samhain Spooker begins play knowing four 0-level spells and two 1st-level spells of their choice. At each new Samhain Spooker level, they gain one or more new spells as indicated on Table: Samhain Spooker Spells Known. (Unlike spells per day, the number of spells a Samhain Spooker knows is not affected by their Charisma score. The numbers on Table: Samhain Spooker Spells Known are fixed.) Upon reaching 4th level, and at every second Samhain Spooker level thereafter (6th, 8th, and so on), a Samhain Spooker can choose to learn a new spell in place of one they already know. In effect, the Samhain Spooker “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 summoner spell they can cast. A Samhain Spooker may swap out only a single spell at any given level and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that they gain new spells known for the level. Samhain Spookers choose their spells from the following list: 0—acid splash, arcane mark, caltrops², cure minor wounds¹, dancing lights, daze, detect magic¹, electric jolt², ember, ghost sounds, ghostharp², inflict minor wounds¹, launch item², mage hand, mending, message, no light ³, open/close, prestidigitation¹, read magic, resistance, stick², summon undead servant¹ 1st—ant haul, appraising touch², babau slime², barbed chains, black bag³, blurred movement, burning hands, cause fear, corrosive touch, create alchemical items, cure light wounds¹, darklight³, detect secret doors, detect undead, disguise self, dispel magic, ebon eyes², enlarge person, entangle, expeditious retreat, extract drug³, glue seal, goodberry¹, grease, greater floating disc, greater mage hand², inflict light wounds¹, instant locksmith², instant search², jump, lesser bamf, lesser orb of [energy]², lighten object, long arm, mage armor, magic missile, mount, net of shadows², obscuring mist, pocket conjuration, ray of enfeeblement, ray of sickening, reduce person, silent image, summon minor undead¹, summon monster I¹, summon undead I¹, tongue tendrils³, unseen servant (may be visible at Samhain Spooker’s option), ventriloquism, wall of smoke² 2nd—alter self, animal’s trait (catchall for cat’s grace et al), bamf, barkskin, blur, bonefiddle², cloud of bewilderment², command undead, contact entity I, continual flame, create pit, cure moderate wounds¹, darkbolt², dark whispers, darkness, desecrate, disguise undead², entice gift², fangs of the vampire king², fog cloud, ghost wolf, glide, glitterdust, haste, hideous laughter, inflict moderate wounds¹, inky cloud², invisibility, knock, lesser evolution surge (casts on self), malevolent miasma², minor image, misdirection, produce flame, pyrotechnics, scare, see invisibility, shatter, spectral hand, spider climb, summon monster II¹, summon swarm¹, summon undead II¹, web, web shelter, whispering wind 3rd—arcane sight, assume form, bestow curse, blacklight, claws of darkness², contact entity II, cure serious wounds¹, deft digits, eyes of the zombie³, girallon’s blessing², greater insect spies, greater mage armor², inflict serious wounds¹, insect scouts and spies*, lycanthropy mad monkeys, major image, minor creation, phantom steed, rain of frogs, servant horde², shadow binding², skull watch², spiked pit, stinking cloud, summon monster III¹, summon undead III¹, swarm of fangs, tongues, undead torch², vampiric touch * combines the Pathfinder spells insect scouts and insect spies. 4th—animate dead, arcane eye, baleful polymorph, black tentacles, charm monster, crushing despair, cure critical wounds¹, damning darkness³, dancing chains³, dimension door, evolution surge, explosive cascade², fear, fire trap, greater assume appearance, greater invisibility, hallucinatory terrain, inflict critical wounds¹, liquid pain³, locate creature, monstrous form, orb of [energy]², phantasmal killer, sending, shadow conjuration, shadow invasion, shadow well², shout, solid fog, summon monster IV¹, summon undead IV¹ 5th—animal growth, blight, call dretch horde¹³, call lemure horde¹³, call nightmare³, cloudkill, contact entity III, fiend form, greater bamf, greater evolution surge, insect plague, lesser planar binding, mage’s faithful hound, magic jar, major creation, mass cure light wounds¹, mass inflict light wounds¹, master’s mutation, mirage arcana, night’s caress², nightmare, nightstalker’s transformation², permanency, persistent image, possession, prying eyes, release the hounds, roaming pit, secret chest, seeming, shadow evocation, shadow form², shadowfade², soul shackles³, spiritwall³, summon infernal host, summon monster V¹, summon undead V¹, teleport, true seeing, wall of limbs², wall of ooze³ 6th—alert bebilith³, analyze dweomer, contact entity IV, create undead, creeping doom, discern location, dragon form, eyebite, greater teleport, kiss of the vampire², legend lore, mass cure moderate wounds¹, mass inflict moderate wounds¹, mislead, permanent image, planar binding, programmed image, shadow walk, summon laborers, summon monster VI¹, summon undead VI¹, symbol of fear, true seeing, veil ¹ These spells are always known to the Samhain Spooker for free ² Spell Compendium ³ Book of Vile Darkness Table: Samhain Spooker Spells Known Level Spells Known 0 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 2 — — — 7th 6 5 4 3 — — — 8th 6 5 4 4 2 — — 9th 6 5 4 4 3 — — 10th 6 5 5 4 4 2 — 11th 6 6 5 4 4 3 — 12th 6 6 5 5 4 4 2 13th 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 14th 6 6 6 5 5 4 4 15th 6 6 6 5 5 4 4 16th 6 6 6 6 5 5 4 17th 6 6 6 6 5 5 4 18th 6 6 6 6 6 5 5 19th 6 6 6 6 6 5 5 20th 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 Candle Eyes (Su): The eyes (and mouth) of the Samhain Spooker glow in whatever color they choose at all times, unless suppressed. This duplicates the effects of the psionic power my light. Additionally, they may use detect magic at will, and replicate detect poison or identify at will with a 1 minute ritual. Spectral Skein (Su): The main ability of the Samhain Spooker is the ability to conjure an eldritch facade that draws on the many spooky things of nightmares and the dark places of the world. This is somewhat similar to the ability of the Synthesist Summoner or Monster Channeler, but the forms the Samhain Spooker takes are more defined and less individually powerful. The samhain spooker begins play knowing two costumes and gains a new costume at every odd level. Donning a Spectral Skein requires a Full Round action at first level. At 3rd level, it becomes a Standard Action, then a Move at 6th, a Swift at 9th, a Free at 12th, and an Immediate action at 15th level. The flaws given by costumes do not give a bonus feat (the bonus feat is in effect the benefits of the costume). The samhain spooker may use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + their class level, and a costume lasts for 3 + charisma modifier rounds, unless ended early (A full round action). Construct: The samhain spooker is clad in awkward makeshift armor. They gain the Bot Programming flaw, the Cyborg feat. A samhain spooker who knows this costume may take an hour to make any magical or mundane item they own usable as a warforged component while wearing this costume (it is not a warforged component in any other context). Devil: The samhain spooker's skin turns red and twisted horns grow from the crown of their head. They gain the Unholy Bloodline and Fallen Countenance flaws, the Infernal Taint feat, and a [Fiend] feat they qualify for of their choice (determined when they select this costume), with the normal physical fiendish trait. Ghost: The samhain spooker covers themselves in an all-consuming pale shroud with black eye spots. They gain the Baneful Wound (Good and Silver) and the Ghost-Touched feat. Ghoul: The samhain spooker's skin pales and takes on a deathly pallor as the skin around their eyes reddens while their teeth take on an exaggerated length and sharpness. They gain the Kill Happy flaw, the Ghoul template, and the benefits of A Feast Unknown (other than the undead creation part). Mad Chirurgeon: The samhain spooker pulls on a leather apron and pair of gauntlets. Their hair becomes messy and spiky, and their eyes take on a wild look. They gain the Lack of Empathy flaw (providing care to a character is not considered to be helping them), the feats Advanced Heal, Battlefield Surgeon, Medical Knowledge, and ranks in Heal equal to their class level+3. However, the Mad Chirurgeon's methods are invasive and experimental. Each round they provide care to a character, they deal 1 damage per three class levels to that character before the effects of the provided care. Unlike other costumes, this costume lasts for a number of hours equal to 3 + the samhain spooker's charisma modifier, but each hour the samhain spooker remains in this costume, they must make a Will save (15+1 per previous hour spent) or take 1 Wisdom damage. Skeleton: White bones appear on the samhain spooker's clothes in the rough approximation of their skeleton and they paint a skull-like pattern on their face. They gain the Rotted Limb flaw, the Bone Creature templateBoVD, and the Fall to Pieces and Remote Limbs feats. Vampire: The samhain spooker dons a shadowy black cloak as their skin pales while their eyes become bloodshot. They gain the Light Vulnerability flaw, the Vampire template and the benefits of the Corpsecrafted feat. Werewolf: The samhain spooker's body hunches as they don a furry mantle. Their face elongates like that of a wolf. They gain a bite and two claw feral strikes and enter a rage like a Barbarian of their class level, but also gain the Baneful Wound(Adamantine and Silver) flaw. Witch: The samhain spooker's skin takes an eldritch green pallor as they don a black pointed hat. They gain the Flesh Altered flaw and the Born Invoker feat. They automatically gain the Witchwood StepCM invocation, and may select more invocations for a high Charisma. They choose which invocations they know when they select this costume and cannot change them except when their charisma increases. Zombie: The samhain spooker's clothes become ripped and torn as they appear to quickly decay. They gain the Addled Mind flaw (the round after you don the costume counts as the first round of combat for these purposes), the Corpse Creature templateBoVD, and the Corpse Toughness and Undead Fellow feats. Summon Minion of the Night (Sp): Starting at 1st level, a samhain spooker can summon a creature of fear and darkness a number of times per day equal to 3 + their Charisma modifier. Drawing upon this ability uses up the same power as the samhain spooker uses to call their eidolon form. As a result, they can only use this ability when their eidolon form is not active. This effect is effectively Summon Monster, except the creatures remain for 1 minute per level (instead of 1 round per level). At 3rd level, and every 2 levels thereafter, the power of this ability increases by one spell level, allowing them to summon more powerful creatures. For the creatures that can be summoned at each level, see Summon Minion of the Night Level Lists A samhain spooker cannot have more than one such effect active in this way at one time. If this ability is used again, any existing such effect immediately ends. These spells are considered to be part of their spell list for the purposes of spell trigger and spell completion items, and are always known to the samhain spooker for free. In addition, they can expend uses of this ability to fulfill the construction requirements of any magic item they create, so long as they can use this ability to cast the required spell. Tricks and Treats (Sp): The samhain spooker is primarily known for their monsters and spooky magic, but they also embrace the tradition of gathering and handing out treats to their friends and tricks to their enemies (or vice versa, whatever, I’m not your mom). A samhain spooker’s cantrips are not expended when used, and they always know goodberry and the Cure and Inflict spells appropriate to their spell levels usable per day. When a samhain spooker casts goodberry or a cure spell, they conjure a handful of candy that embodies the effect, when they cast an inflict spell, they conjure eggs, shaving cream, or similar tools of pranking which embodies the effect. These embodied effects act similar to potions or oils, and remain usable for a number of rounds equal to the samhain spooker’s class level, after which point the magic evaporates and the conjured material becomes entirely mundane. The materials conjured this way act as if created by prestidigitation, but explicitly are instantaneous creations, as opposed the ambiguity of the permanency of prestidigitation created items. The samhain spooker also gains Augment Alchemy and Scribe Scroll as bonus feats. At 3rd level, they gain Var. Brew Potion and Brew Restorative Potion As these spell effects are embodied in materials, they can be handed around and thrown. A thrown Trick or Treat has a range increment of 10 ft and is a ranged touch attack. The effect can take effect when it touches the target (whether thrown at or to them), or when it is consumed, at the option of the samhain spooker. Spooky Companion: At 2nd level, the Samhain Spooker is always accompanied by some form of spooky companion. They may choose whether this acts as a familiar, animal companion, skeletal minion, special mount, or the like, and it follows the normal rules for the chosen specific thing, except that it can always speak with its Samhain Spooker master, and always has a minimum intelligence of 3, even if it’s a skeletal minion. For familiars, mounts and animal companions, the appropriate form is generally some form of spooky animal, such as bats, ravens, wolves, spiders, and so on, but horses, goats, and other things not generally seen as “spooky” can be spooky, too. When desired or necessary, the spooky companion can take on a shadowy, indistinct form that lurks in shadows near the Samhain Spooker which is otherwise functionally and mechanically identical to the familiar pocket spell, except for not blocking line of sight, because they’re just in shadows, not a pocket. Finally, at your option, when you gain a Spooky Companion, you may also gain one of the following as a bonus feat– Construct Companion, Shadow Familiar, Stitched-flesh Familiar. You control the aesthetic of what the chosen feat does, so your construct familiar can be a disturbing scarecrow-like thing of wicker and sticks, your stitched-flesh familiar can be skeletal instead of Frankenstein, etc. Minion Form (Su): In addition to their Eidolon Forms, the 2nd level samhain spooker may take on the form of a creature they can summon with Summon Minion. This is always a standard action (it does not reduce as Eidolon Form does over levels), and requires expending one use of the Summon Minion ability. If the samhain spooker has used Summon Minion to summon more than one creature (such as using Summon Monster II to summon multiple monsters from the Summon Monster I list), they may use Minion Form to absorb one of those creaures and take on its form. When the samhain spooker takes on a Minion Form, they take on the full statistics and abilities of the chosen minion, as Polymorph Self, and do not retain any of their normal abilities, except the languages they speak if the chosen minion form is capable of speech. Relentless Spooks: At 2nd level, the samhain spooker gains Serial Killer as a bonus feat, regardless of their actual alignment. Unlike their other feats, they retain this feat in Eidolon Form and Minion Form. Bag of Spooks (Su): At 3rd level, the samhain spooker gains a special magic sack which functions as a permanent black bagBoVD effect. Unlike the normal spell, however, this bag can contain any item created by the samhain spooker (in effect, all items they create whether through mundane or magical crafting are evil), any form of sweets, and anything which involves necromancy, conjuration or illusion magic so long as it does not have the [Good] descriptor. The bag of spooks also provides the samhain spooker with Scaling Bag Full of Knick Knacks as a bonus feat, specifically using the Bag of Spooks as the source of the items and the manifestation of the feat. Any items created with the black bag effect do not count against the limits of the Bag Full of Knick Knacks. Bonus Feat: At 4th level, and again at 8th level and every 4 levels thereafter, you gain a bonus feat chosen from the following options- Aberrant Summoning, Advanced Familiar, Augment Summoning, Beckon the FrozenFrb, Bewitched Summoning, Evolved Companion, Evolved Familiar, Evolved Summon Monster, Fiendish Summoning SpecialistPlaH, Greenbound SummoningLEF, Improved Familiar, Spell Focus/Gtr Spell Focus (Conj, Evo, Illu, Nec or Trans) Better Skeins: At 6th level the samhain spooker's skeins improve. These improvements require the samhain spooker to spend an hour of preparation at the beginning of each day (which may include the fifteen minutes they need for readying spells as a spontaneous caster). Construct: When the samhain spooker dons this costume, they may gain the benefits of a warforged feat, or a feat which requires one to be a construct to take. The spooker chooses the feat during their hour of preparation, and may choose a new one each day during this preparation time. Devil: When the samhain spooker dons this costume, they gain the benefits of their choice of Infernal Speech or Abyssalcry Magic (as well as the relevant language if they don't already know it). They also gain another [Fiend] feat they qualify for, with attendant physical trait, which may be reselected each day during their hour of preparation. Ghoul: During their hour of preparation in the morning, the samhain spooker chooses one of Devil Preparation, Fairy Eater or Heavenly Desserts. When they don this costume, they gain the benefits of that feat. Skeleton: When The samhain spooker dons this costume, they gain one of the variant Skeleton templates from Pathfinder or Libris Mortis, chosen during their hour of preparation each day. Werewolf: When the samhain spooker dons this costume, they gain the rage dice of a barbarian of their level. During their hour of preparation, they may choose a [Fury] feat they otherwise qualify for at the cost of 1 rage die per 3 BAB or HD the feat requires. For the purposes of selecting a Fury feat, treat the samhain spooker as having BAB equal to their class level. Witch: When the samhain spooker dons this costume, they gain the invocation Witch's Broom (as Fell Flight), at 11th, they gain Painful Slumber and at 16th they gain Maleficent Curse. They may reselect one invocation for each available tier during their daily hour of preparation, but cannot reselect the specific invocations granted by the Witch costume. Zombie: When The samhain spooker dons this costume, they gain one of the variant Zombie templates from Pathfinder or Libris Mortis, chosen during their hour of preparation each day. Hordes of Minions (Sp): At 19th level the samhain spooker reaches the pinnacle of their summoning abilities and may now use Summon Minions to replicate the effects of abyssal armySpC, hellish hordeSpC, hunters of HadesSpC, and zombie apocalypseSummon Undead. The samhain spooker can take on their Eidolon Form while replicating these specific effects through Summon Minion. Back to Main Page → 3.5e Homebrew → Classes → Base Classes