Magic-Absorbing Staff (3.5) WIP

[Zexion]

Okay, so I was thinking about magic. What if instead of wizards calling on magic through rituals and such, what if their staffs absorbed magic by themselves, and the energy in the staffs could be used to cast spells. I'm thinking that the absorption power of a staff would increase with the leveling up of the wizard. If this was made into a class based on the SRD Wizard, I would say that more spells would be allowed per day, and you could cast at will, but it would be required to have enough magic in your staff to cast the spell (maybe a point-based system?)
PS: Guess what book I was reading.

[ArcanistSupreme]

So you're trying to make Gandalf? It sounds to me like you're trying to make a psion that's dependent on his staff. The easiest way to do this would be to just play a psion and carry around the staff, but that's hardly any fun. I wouldn't know how to go about creating an entirely new class though.

[arguskos]

I recently made a class that was hailed as a 3.5 "Gandalf": the Magister (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=139935).

[ArcanistSupreme]

That would also work.

[arguskos]

Note that I didn't include a rod of absorbption-like effect, but it's easy to put into the Magister. Probably could replace Arcane Beyond Material, or somewhere around that level.

[DracoDei]

It isn't Gandalf I don't think... his didn't absorb magic that I know of...
it is probably the badguy wizards from the Enchanted Forest Chronicles (Dealing With Dragons, Talking to Dragons, Utensil Strength, etc) by Patricia Wrede.

[Zexion]

Congratulations to DracoDei, who hit the book I was reading straight on. Good job.
Any more thoughts? A mechanic, for how the absorption effect works?

[DracoDei]

Off the top of my head:
Look up "Staff of Power", and at later levels give them the ability to do area Dispel Magics (for the cost of a few charges?) that absorb the spells rather than just removing them... progressing to Dispel Magic, Greater, and finally Disjunction as a capstone.

Beware of them hiring spellcasting, especially of bunches of 1st level spells to turbo-charge between adventures... probably need to keep an careful balance of the maximum number of spells levels (or whatever measure you use) they can hold at a time. The psionics rate for spells probably works better than straight-up spell-levels, but exponential might be even better...

[Zexion]

Okay, so off the top of my head, the amount of charges used in a spell is the spell level squared . Maximum charges is ten plus the class level squared. Creatures with spell-like abilities, the maximum number of charges absorbed is two-thirds the number of charges would take to cast the spell. The magic obviously won't be absorbed all at once, so we need a mechanic for that. I'm going to keep thinking about this, and I'll see what I have tomorrow.

Maybe I'll factor in the ability to absorb the HD of Magical Animals. Dragons are definitely going to have a special mechanic.

[Zexion]

And maximum spell level is as Wizard, Cleric, or Druid. Pretty standard.

[DracoDei]

Don't forget to include the sneezing for the dragons... and I wouldn't have it absorb HD... just spell-likes, sorcerer casting, and eventually the Supernaturals, including the breathweapon (probably in stages represented by reduced effective age catagory for the BW).

[Zexion]

Okay... when you start (at level one), you may choose a type of creature (other than Magical Beast and Dragon). You absorb 100% of their magic, twice as fast as you would normally. Magical Beast and Dragon are automatically selected, so you need not choose those.
Different effects apply to each type of creature, so I will list them here.
Excellent
Applies To: Dragon, Magical Beast, Fey
Standard absorption effect applies, with all modifiers doubled.

Standard
Applies To: Giant, Humanoid, Monstrous Humanoid, Ooze, Outsider, Plant, Vermin
Standard absorption effect applies.

Impossible
Applies To: Animal, Abberation (if no spell-like abilities)
Absorption does not function. Too bad.

Dischant
Applies To: Construct, Undead, Elemental
Target must make a DC (5+class level+spell level) every minute or have their ability scores and bonus hit points calculated as if they were one size category smaller (Construct), 2d4 points of Dexterity (Undead), or one age category (Elemental)

[Zexion]

Oh, and one more category:

Allergic Reaction
Applies To: Dragon,
Target must make a DC (10+caster level+1d20) Fort save or be nauseated, slowed, and disabled. Also, all abilities are calculated as if the dragon was one age category lower. If the dragon fails the save by 10 or more, all abilities are calculated as if the dragon was two age categories lower.
Any thoughts?

[Knaight]

Look up the Spellthief. It has useful stuff.

[DracoDei]

Constructs don't have constitution scores.

[Zexion]

Then they must make the save or have their stats calculated as if they were one size category smaller. I'll make the change.