Lesser Heavenly Circuit

Cultivation: Qi Condensation
Level: 5

The Governing and Conception vessels are the most fundamental. Connecting them forms the Lesser Heavenly Circuit, and here the Endless Path truly, for the first time, takes a half-step above the world of rotting flesh.

This is a Breakthrough feat. Once you have taken this feat, the DCs to take any feats from the previous realm increases by 5.

Upon taking this feat, you gain no benefits. To gain its benefits, you must spend one week undisturbed in a location that matches your Spiritual Root (you may not attempt this breakthrough elsewhere). After the week is over you may attempt a DC 30 Will save followed by a DC 30 Fortitude save. By taking special pills worth no less than 2500 gp, you may reduce the saving throw DC to 24; also, for every feat on the Endless Path you have taken beyond Purge the Body of Corpses and Purge the Body of Sediment, the DC is reduced by a further 3 (so the minimum DC for the well-prepared cultivator without increasing time or cost is 15).

Failure deals 1d6 damage to all ability scores and the attempt is wasted. You explode outward, dealing 1d6 untyped damage per HD to everything within 60 ft. Also, your Heart Demon gains 4 HD and immediately manifests and attempts to take over; defeating your Heart Demon then reduces its HD by 4 back to where it was. You may not try to break through again before your ability score damage is cured; also, you may not attempt to break through in the same place until a year passes and the ambient Qi recovers.

By doubling the amount of time and/or wealth required, the DC of the save can be lowered by 2 per doubling (you may not double the wealth required if you are not using pills to begin with). This doubling, unlike most Pathfinder doubling, is exponential (doubling twice results in a fourfold increase, not a threefold increase).

You may not skip a Breakthrough without confronting your Heart Demon. There is no way to skip the check and meditation required to gain the benefits of this feat; however, you may postpone the confrontation by increasing the Heart Demon’s minimum HD by 2 and increasing its HD by 1d6 in order to reduce the DC of the check by 5. If this increases the Heart Demon’s HD to more than your HD+2, this is treated as if you had failed your save. If and when you succeed, your Heart Demon immediately loses 4 HD.

On success the place gives itself to you. Over a final hour the qi of the location bends inward and pours into the opened circuit, and when it is done the ground, water, and air for some distance are spiritually barren and will not recover for years. You hang a few inches off the ground for the length of the inrush and settle when it ends. The three Fields connect and the circuit runs its first full loop; the lower Field, cold and empty since you scoured the channels, fills for a brief instant, then recedes as you let the circuit fall asleep again, and as you stand you leave behind a pool of thin clear sweat that, for once, has no scent a mere mortal can smell.

You gain the following benefits:

Your Terror increases by 1.

You gain a Qi pool. The size of your Qi pool is equal to half the number of Endless Path feats you have. You also gain the Slow Fall and High Jump abilities. Lastly, you gain a +2 competence bonus to Reflex saves; if your base Reflex save was Poor, it becomes Good instead (you do not gain the competence bonus in this case).

You gain all the abilities that a Monk gains with his Ki Pool; however, your strikes only count as magical, even if you are level 8 or higher — you must cross into higher cultivation realms to count as more advanced materials. Your Qi pool can be used as spell points for Spheres of Power also; however, you may use only one point at a time, and accessing it is a swift action every turn. You may also use a Qi point to take 13 instead of 10 on a skill check (if you already take 13 from another effect, you take 15 instead).

Your body is comfortable in cold and heat, and you treat Cold and Heat bands as being one less severe than they actually are for the purposes of nonlethal damage. You no longer need to sleep for eight hours a day, only six, and you can do so with your eyes open. You also become aware of your own position, orientation, and are aware within minutes of being poisoned. When touching an object you can feel the texture along its whole body from placing a single finger on the end, and you inherently know its weight. Dirt and grime no longer stick to you and fall off of your skin and hair like rain glances off a waterfowl.