Time Merchant (Time Thief)
Some of you may remember a while back we did a survey of sorts, which determined that you, our readers, wanted to see more support for third party content. As third party publishers ourselves and big supporters of other third party work, we of course leapt at the chance to support and promote our fellow third party publishers. This week we take a look at the time thief. After reading it, this class became an instant hit with me, and conceptually offers a unique approach. This week’s new archetype, the time merchant, puts a somewhat risky spin on the concept of borrowing time, allowing the time thief to invest in their own future. While this archetype is somewhat less versatile than the original time thief, it should keep a lot of the same style and vision as the original. I hope you like it, and be sure to pick up a copy of The Genius Guide to the Time Thief.
New Time Thief Archetype
Time Merchant
Time merchants are intriguing individuals who have the power to manipulate time, much in the same way as a time thief. Unlike a traditional time thief, however, time merchants have the ability to not simply take time from the future, but also to invest temporal energy from the present for use later. Experienced time merchants can even lend time to other characters or borrow from others for her own use.
Bank Time (Su): At 4th level, a time merchant gains the ability to store some of her temporal energy for later use. As a standard action, a time merchant can choose to divert temporal energy for a short time, allowing her to use the time from the present to perform an action in the near future. If she does so, the stored time ends up in her time bank, a special temporal construct unique to each time merchant. A time merchant can store a number of standard actions in her time bank equal to her Charisma modifier. Time stored in this way slips away after a short time, and if not expended within 1 minute, falls back into the time merchant’s life as an idle moment.
As a free action, a time merchant can make a withdrawal of 1 standard action from her time bank; if she does, she can take an additional standard action that round in addition to her normal actions for that round. She can only use this ability once per round, on her turn. At 8th level, and every 4 levels thereafter, the number of standard actions the time merchant can withdraw from her time bank each round increases by 1.
This ability replaces the temporal talent gained at 4th level.
Temporal Exchange (Su): At 6th level, a time merchant can temporarily slow down her pace through time in order to store a brief moment for future use, or can expend stored future moments to act more quickly in the present. Once per minute, a time merchant can spend 1d4 motes in order to take a standard action as a move action. If the time merchant does not have enough motes remaining to pay for this ability, she is staggered for a number of rounds equal to the number of motes she was lacking to pay for this ability. Alternatively, a time merchant can spend a standard action in order to take a move action in place of a standard action; if she does, she regains 1 mote that she expended earlier in the day.
This ability replaces the temporal talent gained at 6th level.
Borrow Time (Su): At 9th level, a time merchant can borrow a large amount of time from the future in order to use it right now. As a free action, a time merchant can choose to gain an entire round’s worth of actions, in addition to the normal round’s worth of actions she can take in a turn. While under the effects of this added time, the time merchant moves easily and unimpeded through the physical world, as though affected by a freedom of movement spell, potentially allowing her to act even if she is rendered helpless or immobile in some fashion. After using this ability, the time merchant is placed in a state of suspended animation, as with a temporal stasis spell, for 1 round, except that any injury or condition that would affect the time merchant that is inflicted on her during this time takes effect immediately when the suspended animation ends. A time merchant can use this ability once per day at 9th level, and an additional time per day at 18th level.
This ability replaces the aevum power gained at 9th level (the time merchant’s daily aevum pool still increases by +1, as normal).
Time Banker (Su): At 12th level, a time merchant becomes much more adept at storing time in her time bank and can accept time from other characters. Whenever a time merchant stores a standard action in her time bank, any number of characters within 30 feet can choose to store temporal energy in the time merchant’s time bank as an immediate action. If they do, they are staggered on their next turn and the time merchant adds an additional standard action to her time bank. Additionally, a time merchant can store a number of standard actions in her time bank equal to twice her Charisma modifier. Finally, when a time merchant makes a withdrawal from her time bank, she can choose to expend 1 or more standard actions from her time bank in order to gain 2 temporary motes for each standard action expended in this way. These temporary motes last for 1 minute and must be used within this time, or they are wasted.
This ability replaces the temporal talent gained at 12th level.
Invest Time (Su): At 14th level, a time merchant is able to invest a portion of the time stored in her time bank in another character. As a swift action, a time merchant can expend 1 standard action from her time bank in order to grant a character within 30 feet an additional standard action on their next turn.
This ability replaces the temporal talent gained at 14th level.
Taking Time (Su): At 20th level, a time merchant gains mastery over her own personal timeline and can take from her future or her past in order to alter the flow of time with relation to herself. The time merchant gains the ability to control the age of her body, and as a standard action, she can choose to alter her physical age to whatever she chooses. She also becomes aware of her maximum lifespan in years. By use of this ability, a time merchant can choose to never die of old age. Additionally, a time merchant can choose to place herself in a state of suspended animation for 24 hours, as with the spell temporal stasis. If she does, then for the next 24 hours after that, she is able to act as though under the effects of a haste spell.
This ability replaces the time killer class feature.