Refinement of the Body

Cultivation

Physical Purification

Level

1

The hand nearly obeys; the body arrives a half-breath late to its own intention. But mortals spend their whole lives being “nearly” whatever they sought to become.

Upon taking this feat, to gain its benefits, you must spend at least 400 hours, within 6 months, practicing balance and control by exercises such as standing on poles, holding poses, or catching dropped grains using only one finger. Every day before beginning your training you must apply liniments and soak in a medicated bath of loosening oils and sinew-changing reagents pressed from snakes and other flexible creatures. The oils cost no less than 500 gp (in total over the training period).

At the end of the 400 hours you must make a DC 15 Fortitude save. Without the oils, the DC is 20. With GM permission you may undergo a different form of training. Failure deals 1d6 Dexterity damage and wastes the attempt; you may begin a new attempt at any time by resuming your training.

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 oils to begin with). This doubling, unlike most Pathfinder doubling, is exponential (doubling twice results in a fourfold increase, not a threefold increase).

You may also increase the HD of your Heart Demon by 1d3 and the Heart Demon’s minimum HD by 1 to gain the benefits immediately, with no check or preparation required.

On success all of your joints dislocate and relocate in sequence over a few minutes (this is as painful as it would be normally). Over the next week your joints slowly normalize so your hand’s resting position isn’t behind your back and your neck is not most comfortable turned a hundred thirty five degrees.

You gain the following benefits:

Your Dexterity increases by 2. If the bonus from Skillful also applies to Dexterity, the two together raise it no higher than a +2 modifier.

You never trip of your own accord, fumble an object, misjudge a step, or move too far or too little by accident. Your handwriting becomes flawless, or at least does not degrade with fatigue and haste, and the same is true of your knife work. You can chop leeks at the speed of sound. You can always land on your feet (this does not stop you from falling prone afterwards from the force of impact), and even when your limbs are extended as far as you can strain them you do not shake. Lastly, when you stretch in the morning, you never get a half-popped joint or unsatisfying stretch.