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When the prize is immortality, there is precious little a thief of life will not do to grasp it.

Requirements

Class Features

Lifesense (Ex): You first learn how to recognize the ebb and flow of life energy. You can sense the location of living creatures within 5 feet (as if you had blindsense), and can also determine the condition of creatures near death within this range (as if you were using the deathwatch spell).

At each odd-numbered level, the range of this ability expands by 5 feet.

Sneak Attack (Ex): Beginning at 2nd level, you deal extra damage when you are flanking an opponent or at any time when the target would be denied its Dexterity bonus. This extra damage applies to ranged attacks only if the target is within 30 feet. See the rogue class feature, PH 50). The amount of extra damage dealt is 1d6 at 2nd level, and it increases by 1d6 for every four thief of life levels thereafter (at 6th and 10th).

Borrow Vigor (Su): Once you reach 4th level, you can keep a portion of the life-force of fallen foes for yourself. Anytime you reduce a living creature to —1 or fewer hp with a sneak attack, you gain temporary hit points equal to the creature's HD. These hit points last for a maximum of 1 hour, and multiple quantities of temporary hit points gained from this ability do not stack.

If you have an essentia pool, you also gain 1 temporary essentia point, which you can immediately invest in any essentia receptacle (even incarnum feats). This essentia lasts for 1 hour; multiple uses of this ability do not stack. (See Magic of Incarnum for rules on using essentia.)

Immunity to Fear (Ex): By 5th level, your repeated exposure to death itself renders you incapable of feeling the emotion that so terrifies lesser mortals. You gain immunity to fear effects.

Immunity to Energy Drain (Ex): At 7th level, you gain immunity to energy drain effects.

Steal Vitality (Su): Starting at 8th level, you can steal the life energy of a dying creature to use as your own. Whenever you reduce a living creature to —10 or fewer hit points with a sneak attack, you draw all remaining vitality from its body as the creature's soul departs. The body shrivels swiftly to a husk, every drop of blood within drying up in an instant. You gain immunity to fatigue, exhaustion, and sleep effects for a number of hours equal to the creature's HD. Multiple uses of this ability do not stack (use only the longer duration).

Immunity to Death Effects (Ex): At 9th level, you gain immunity to death effects.

Steal Immortality (Su): At 10th level, you can take advantage of a dying creature to (briefly) cheat death itself. This is the pinnacle of achievement for a disciple of Vol. Whenever you reduce a living creature to —10 or fewer hit points with a sneak attack, in addition to stealing its life energy (see Steal Vitality, above) you devour a small portion of its soul. The slain creature's HD must equal or exceed your own for this power to take effect. This has no further ill effect on the slain creature, but you become effectively immortal for the next year: Your body does not age (delaying the onset of ability score penalties due to age, but not mental ability score improvements), and you need not eat or sleep (though rest might still be required to regain spells and similar abilities).

If you have an essentia pool, you also gain temporary essentia points equal to one-half the slain creature's HD, which you can immediately invest in any essentia receptacle (even incarnum feats). This essentia lasts for 1 hour; multiple uses of this ability do not stack. (See Magic of Incarnum for rules on using essentia.)

Unlike with the steal vitality feature, any creature slain by this attack cannot be brought back to life except by means of a miracle, true resurrection, wish, or similar magic. Furthermore, you become instantly aware of any creature slain by you in this way returning to life (though you don't necessarily know where the resurrection occurs).

Advancement