Veilweaving
Weaving veils each daily is somewhat similar to the method used by many spellcasters to prepare spells. To weave his veils, a veilweaver must first benefit from a Long Rest. If his rest is interrupted, each interruption adds 1 hour to the total amount of time he has to rest to clear his mind, and he must have at least 1 hour of rest immediately prior to regaining lost power points.
After resting, a veilweaver must meditate, slowly weaving his veils for the day in a process that takes 1 hour. Like with preparing spells, a veilweaver must have enough peace, quiet, and comfort to allow for proper concentration. At the end of this hour, he loses the effects of any veils he has decided to unravel and gains the effects of any new veils he has woven.
Veil Selection and Weaving
Until he weaves new veils, the veilweaver has full access to any veils he already has woven from the previous day. During the meditation period, he chooses which veils to weave and can abandon some or all of the veils from the previous day to make room for new veils.
A veilweaver can freely chose to weave any veil from his class list, barring any restrictions imposed by his class. However, a veilweaver cannot weave more than one copy of the same veil, nor can he have more than one veil occupying the same chakra.
A veilweaver must decide which veils, if any, are bound to a chakra (see below) at the same time that he weaves them for the day.
Unraveling a Veil
The process of dismissing or destroying a veil is called unraveling. Typically, a woven veil remains in effect until the veilweaver chooses to unravel it, usually to replace it with a new veil when weaving veils for the day. However, some veils may unravel through normal use—as indicated in their descriptions—or may unravel through damage or direct attack.
Chakras
The humanoid body possesses 10 natural chakra points which gather and channel akashic energy. These chakras correspond to various body slots for magic items, as it is the chakra points that allow the magic items to affect the wearer.
The chakra locations are: Head, Feet, Hands, Arms, Headband, Shoulders, Neck, Belt, Chest, and Body.
Some classes may gain access to unique chakra slots not normally available, as described in the class description.
Every veil is associated with a chakra, even if it is not bound to it. Woven veils are only tied lightly to their chakra and do not interfere with magic items that occupy the same slot. A veil attached to a chakra appears somewhat translucent and slightly unreal.
Some veils can occupy different chakras, giving you a choice of where to attach the veil when you weave it. Even if a veil is associated with more than one chakra, you cannot weave more than one copy of any given veil at the same time. Two veils cannot be attached to the same chakra.
Binding Chakras
When a veil is attached to a chakra, it is tied in place with a small thread of akasha; however, some classes gain the ability to bind veils to a chakra, looping them around the chakra in increasingly complex, mystical knots until the veil and chakra seem to almost merge together. A veilweaver must choose which veils (if any) to bind when weaving veils for the day.
A veil bound to a chakra draws infinitely more energy from your chakra and is more tightly bound to reality. It becomes visually indistinguishable from a real item, though it can still be identified as a veil. However, by becoming tangible and real, a veil bound to a chakra closes that body slot, preventing you from benefiting from a magic item worn in that slot. For example, a veil that forms a hat when bound to the crown chakra would prevent you from wearing or benefiting from any hat, helmet, headband, or phylactery worn on the head.
A veil bound to a chakra gains new, more powerful abilities that the basic veil does not possess. If a veil can be bound to multiple different chakras, it only gains the bound abilities of the chakra it’s actually bound to.
Ouranic and Chthonic Energies
Most akashic energy flows from the higher planes where the energies of creation are densest through the material and into the lower planes where the energies of creation are least present. Some veils and other akashic magic require the use of extremely pure akasha and have the Ouranic descriptor. Other veils and akashic magic draw from the powers of the lower planes and have the Chthonic descriptor. Only creatures with special training (usually through taking the correct feat) can use ouranic or chthonic akasha.
While ouranic and chthonic are not inherently good or evil, the types of abilities most commonly powered by these energies are. Most ouranic veils and abilities have the good descriptor while most chthonic veils and abilities have the evil descriptor.
Essence
Every creature contains a finite amount of essence in their being, referred to as an essence pool. Those who practice akashic magic are able manipulate their essence to give their veils greater power. By investing points of essence into their akashic magic, a veilweaver increases that veil’s potency.
If a veil can be visualized as a fine tunic woven from the magical threads of creation, each point of essence can be viewed as a gem which temporarily adorns that tunic, making it more lavish and increasing its value. The gem, however, can be easily unclasped and moved from the tunic to the cloak, from the cloak to the gloves, from the gloves to a necklace, with each receptacle gaining increased benefits while the gem remains attached.
Akashic Receptacles
Veils, akashic feats, and other abilities which can hold a veilweaver’s essence are called akashic receptacles and have a limited amount of energy that they can hold based on the veilweaver’s level or the capacity of the receptacle. Anything which can store essence outside of an essence pool is a receptacle.
Investing Essence
Essence can invested into any receptacle you posses as a swift action. You can move any amount of your essence from your pool to any number of your receptacles or back all as a single action; you need not use separate actions for each receptacle.
Invested essence remains in its receptacle until you reallocate it on a later turn or return it to your essence pool.
Essence invested into a veil applies the full amount of essence to all of the veil’s base effects and all of its chakra bind effects if it is bound to a chakra.
Binding Essence
Some receptacles bind essence in a way similar to binding a veil to a chakra, locking the essence in place for the day. You need not bind essence at the same time that you weave or bind veils. Once you bind essence into a receptacle, it is unable to be moved until 24 hours have passed or you next weave veils for the day, whichever comes first.
If a receptacle with bound essence is sundered or disjoined, you immediately lose the bound essence as essence damage.
Essence Damage
Essence damage functions much like ability damage, temporarily reducing your total available essence. If you take essence damage, the damage is dealt first to any essence in your essence pool. If you essence pool is depleted and any essence damage remains to be dealt, the damage is applied randomly to essence invested in your essence receptacles, ignoring any bound essence unless all of your invested essence in bound.
Negative Levels and Essence
Whenever you gain a negative level, you also lose one point of essence. This essence cannot be restored as long as the negative level remains; however, it is restored immediately when the negative level is removed.
Healing Essence Damage
Like ability damage, essence damage heals naturally at the rate of 1 point per day after a Long Rest. Extended rest periods and and long-term care increase the rate of healing for essence in the same way that they do for ability damage.
Spells and effects that heal ability damage can also heal essence damage.
Essence Burn
A specialized form of essence damage is referred to as essence burn. Essence burn functions exactly the same as essence damage, except that it can only heal naturally. Abilities that heal ability damage or essence damage do not heal essence burn. Essence burn is typically taken willingly to power certain powerful abilities.
Healing Essence Burn
Essence burn heals naturally when you Rest but otherwise cannot be healed, even with magical healing. While resting, essence burn heals at a rate of 1 point per minute, meaning that most essence burn can be healed even with a short rest.
Temporary Essence
Some abilities may grant you temporary essence, which can temporarily give you more essence than normally available in your essence pool. If you take essence damage or burn, temporary essence points are always damaged or burned first, regardless of whether or not they are invested. Temporary essence is only borrowed and not part of you, so it cannot be recovered through normal rest or healing effects, though it generally acts and can be used in all other ways just like normal essence while you possess it.
Stolen Essence
Some abilities may allow you to steal essence from other creatures, draining them of their life force. Stolen essence mostly functions the same as normal essence, with a few exceptions noted below. Stolen essence is not temporary essence.
Though stolen essence is a potent source of power, using the life energy of another being slowly erodes and consumes it until nothing is left. Each day when you weave your veils, you take one point of essence damage to your stolen essence, even if you choose not to weave any new veils or are unable to weave veils. This damage cannot be reduced or prevented.
Stolen Essence Pool
Essence stolen from other creatures does not readily mix with the essence stored in your essence pool. Stolen essence accumulates in its own separate Stolen Essence Pool.
Stolen essence acts as normal essence in most other ways and may be invested in veils, class features, feats, and other essence receptacles just as normal essence can, and you can have both normal essence and stolen essence invested in the same receptacle.
Gaining Stolen Essence
Holding on to the essence of another creature is difficult, as it fights to be freed from your control. You may only possess stolen essence from one creature at a time. If you steal essence from a new creature, any stolen essence you already possess from the first creature is immediately lost (you may choose to lose the new stolen essence instead). Stolen essence from different creatures does not stack.
Essence stealing abilities always attack in the same manner, always stealing essence in the same way, meaning that they never stack with themselves. Stolen essence gained from the same creature using the same method does not stack. For example, if you use the Black Templar‘s Drain Essence ability on a creature, using Drain Essence again replaces the stolen essence harvested earlier. However, if you gain stolen essence from the same creature using different class features, such as using both Drain Essence and the Harvest Soul ability of the Chthonic Master class, the stolen essence from that creature does stack, giving you more stolen essence than if you had used only one ability.
Essence Damage and Burn
If you take essence damage or burn from any source, you may choose whether to take the damage to either your personal essence pool or your stolen essence pool, but all damage must apply to that pool. However, if you take more damage than you have essence in the chosen pool, excess damage is dealt to the other essence pool. Damage and burn dealt to stolen essence cannot be healed by any means; it is simply destroyed.
Invested and bound essence is damaged randomly as normal for essence damage, regardless of essence type.
Essence Capacity
| Hit Dice | Essence Capacity |
|---|---|
| 1st–5th | 1 |
| 6th–11th | 2 |
| 12th–17th | 3 |
| 18th–20th | 4 |
Each character can invest only a limited amount of their essence into any one veil, feat, class feature, magic item, or other akashic receptacle. Regardless of how large your essence pool is, your total Hit Dice place a hard limit on your essence capacity, as shown on Table: Essence Capacity. Some class features, feats, magic items, or other abilities or effects may modify your essence capacity.
Some akashic receptacles, such as some magic items, have their own maximum essence capacity, representing the largest amount of essence the item can hold. Use the smaller of the receptacle’s capacity or your own capacity for determining the maximum essence you can invest into such a receptacle.