III Character Options New Profession and Feats This section introduces one new skill and several new feats for building Mythos characters New Profession The following new Profession skill is gained normally with skill ranks, although those ranks have a downside unique among skills, representing the mental strain from contemplating such alien concepts Characters who have Profession as a class skill can also choose the skill Profession (Yog-Sothothery philosopher) Unlike Knowledge skills, researching and understanding the forbidden knowledge and horrors of Yog-Sothothery is as much an act of willpower as it is a collection of facts and skills Profession (Yog-Sothothery Philosopher) A character who spends ranks in Profession (YogSothothery philosopher) can function as a scholar on the topic of the Cthulhu Mythos, using this skill in place of Knowledge checks or Spellcraft checks made to interpret, understand, identify, and learn about Mythos-related topics (including most matters covered in this book) It can also be used in place of any skill used to cast rituals (page 126) Gaining ranks in Profession (Yog-Sothothery philosopher) strains the minds of most mortals You take a –1 penalty on saving throws against dread (page 90), insanity, and confusion if you have at least rank The penalty increases by for every ranks you have (for instance, 10 ranks gives you a -2 penalty, 15 ranks a -3 penalty, etc) New Feats Mythos heroes and villains alike can make use of these feats, many of which are of particular use to Dreamlands cats, gnorri, Mythos ghouls, and zoogs Close to Undeath Although you are still a living creature, your flesh is infused with necromantic energies that make you, in some ways, akin to the undead Prerequisites: Cha 13, ghoul Benefit: Negative energy damage heals you rather than harms you, as if you were an undead creature Positive energy still heals you as well, but it is only half as effective In addition, when you are healed by positive energy, you must make a successful DC 15 Fortitude save to avoid being sickened for 1d4 rounds Dreamer Your vivid imagination unlocks the secret world of the Dreamlands to you Prerequisite: Cha 13 Benefit: You can travel knowingly in your dreams to the shared universe of the Dreamlands (page 103) Generally, you can only bring miniscule mundane things without value (such as a leaf or rock) between your physical form and the Dreamlands unless they are artifacts or magic items designed to be brought this way You can wake yourself up from the Dreamlands by concentrating as a standard action You must succeed at a Charisma check against DC 15, at which point your dream-form vanishes until you return to the Dreamlands, and you awaken in your physical body You can only attempt to wake up from the Dreamlands once every 10 minutes When you gain this feat, you gain full access to all your dream form's memories alongside your waking 75