CN the Logos
2010-10-17, 05:10 PM
The Thaumaturge
HD: d4
Class Skills: Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).
Skill Points: 2+Int mod/level, x4 at first level
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special
1st|
+0|
+0|
+0|
+2|1 Locked Spell, Bonus Feat
2nd|
+1|
+0|
+0|
+3|
3rd|
+1|
+1|
+1|
+3|2 Locked Spells
4th|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+4|Bonus Feat
5th|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+4|3 Locked Spells
6th|
+3|
+2|
+2|
+5|
7th|
+3|
+2|
+2|
+5|4 Locked Spells
8th|
+4|
+2|
+2|
+6|Bonus Feat
9th|
+4|
+3|
+3|
+6|5 Locked Spells
10th|
+5|
+3|
+3|
+7|
11th|
+5|
+3|
+3|
+7|6 Locked Spells
12th|
+6/+1|
+4|
+4|
+8|Bonus Feat
13th|
+6/+1|
+4|
+4|
+8|7 Locked Spells
14th|
+7+2|
+4|
+4|
+9|
15th|
+7+2|
+5|
+5|
+9|8 Locked Spells
16th|
+8+3|
+5|
+5|
+10|Bonus Feat
17th|
+8/+3|
+5|
+5|
+10|9 Locked Spells
18th|
+9/+4|
+6|
+6|
+11|
19th|
+9/+4|
+6|
+6|
+11|
20th|
+10/+5|
+6|
+6|
+12|Bonus Feat[/table]
Spells Per Day
{table=head]Level|0th|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th|7th|8th|9th
1st|3|1|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
2nd|4|2|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
3rd|5|3|1|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
4th|5|4|2|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
5th|5|5|3|1|-|-|-|-|-|-
6th|5|5|4|2|-|-|-|-|-|-
7th|5|5|5|3|1|-|-|-|-|-
8th|5|5|5|4|2|-|-|-|-|-
9th|5|5|5|5|3|1|-|-|-|-
10th|5|5|5|5|4|2|-|-|-|-
11th|5|5|5|5|5|3|1|-|-|-
12th|5|5|5|5|5|4|2|-|-|-
13th|5|5|5|5|5|5|3|1|-|-
14th|5|5|5|5|5|5|4|2|-|-
15th|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|3|1|-
16th|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|4|2|-
17th|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|3|1
18th|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|4|2
19th|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|3
20th|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|4[/table]
Spellcasting: A thaumaturge casts arcane spells which are drawn from the sorcerer/wizard spell list. Thaumaturges prepare themselves for spellcasting by mentally focusing on a small number of spells to use for the day; a process often refered to as "locking" those spells (see below).
To learn, lock, or cast a spell, the thaumaturge must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a thaumaturge’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the thaumaturge’s Intelligence modifier.
Like other spellcasters, a thaumaturge can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily spell allotment is given on the thaumaturge spells per day table above. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Intelligence score.
Like a standard wizard, a thaumaturge may know any number of spells. To prepare her mind for the rigors of spellcasting, she chooses a small number of spells each day to focus on. After getting a good night’s sleep and spending one hour studying her spellbook, she selects a number of non-cantrip spells equal to the level of the highest level spell she can cast (so a third level thaumaturge can select two spells, an 18th level one can select nine, etc...) and locks those spells in her mind. For the remander of the day, the thaumaturge may cast any of these spells spontaneously. She may always spontaneously cast her cantrips. She does not, however, have access to any of the spells she has not chosen to focus on for the day. A thaumaturge may choose to switch out spells she has mentally locked onto by releasing a formerly locked spell (a full round action) and spending [30 + (5 x spell level)] minutes focusing on a new spell. While refocusing, a thaumaturge must have her spellbook on hand to refer to.
Thaumaturges learn spells in the same way and at the same rate wizards do. They also use a spellbook and material/focus components in the same fashion.
Bonus Feats: At 1st level, 4th level, and every four levels after that, the thaumaturge chooses a bonus feat from the following list: Eschew Materials, Metamagic Specialist (as the PHII alternate class feature), Obtain Familiar, Scribe Scroll, any crafting feat, any metamagic feat, or any reserve feat.
Notes: For my first homebrew class, I thought I'd try something simple; a modification of an existing class, namely the wizard. The reason this class exists is because I like the idea of a distinction between casters who learn and cast by hours of careful study and casters who cast by force of personality, but the wizard as written in the Player's Handbook is just too easy to abuse to have a place in the Tier 2 and 3ish games I prefer. Thus, my attempt at a solution; rather than trashing all of Batman's nifty gadgets, I thought I'd force him to more carefully consider what he puts on his utility belt.
I'm not terribly satisfied with the name of the class as stands, because thaumaturgy is a very general term for magic. Every caster is technically a thaumaturge. I was thinking about eventually adding a Cha-based option that loses the "locking" mechanic in exchange for being limited to a sorcerer's spells known (plus possibly a cleric domain, I haven't decided if the bonus feats compensate for the lost spell slots or if I need something else to make this class an attractive option for Cha-based casters). If something like that is added and replaces the sorcerer, the thaumaturge's name makes a bit more sense. Of course, "wizard" and "sorcerer" are general terms made more specific by D&D, so I could just suck it up.
I'm also uncertain about giving them the ability to switch out locked spells in the middle of the day. Offhand, the time needed to do so seems like it would prevent extreme craziness from occurring in battles, but if the thaumaturge can switch locked spells too quickly, he becomes the wizard with spontaneous casting, which is exactly the opposite of what I wanted to accomplish. I was also thinking about having the class only automatically get one spell per level up instead of the wizard's two, while retaining the virtually unlimited number of spells known; thus giving the DM slightly more discretion over what a thaumaturge in his game can do. I don't feel like that would be a bad thing, but I want your input.
I'm totally new to homebrewing, so I may have overlooked some really obvious things. Also, I'm aware this doesn't totally solve every problem with arcane magic; things like gate and shapechange are still absolutely insane by RAW. My goal was to place this class solidly in Tier 2; going any lower than that while keeping the "scholarly arcane master" feel requires cutting down the spell list or rewriting a bunch of spells, neither of which I feel like doing right now. Please feel free to give feedback so that I can improve.
HD: d4
Class Skills: Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).
Skill Points: 2+Int mod/level, x4 at first level
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special
1st|
+0|
+0|
+0|
+2|1 Locked Spell, Bonus Feat
2nd|
+1|
+0|
+0|
+3|
3rd|
+1|
+1|
+1|
+3|2 Locked Spells
4th|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+4|Bonus Feat
5th|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+4|3 Locked Spells
6th|
+3|
+2|
+2|
+5|
7th|
+3|
+2|
+2|
+5|4 Locked Spells
8th|
+4|
+2|
+2|
+6|Bonus Feat
9th|
+4|
+3|
+3|
+6|5 Locked Spells
10th|
+5|
+3|
+3|
+7|
11th|
+5|
+3|
+3|
+7|6 Locked Spells
12th|
+6/+1|
+4|
+4|
+8|Bonus Feat
13th|
+6/+1|
+4|
+4|
+8|7 Locked Spells
14th|
+7+2|
+4|
+4|
+9|
15th|
+7+2|
+5|
+5|
+9|8 Locked Spells
16th|
+8+3|
+5|
+5|
+10|Bonus Feat
17th|
+8/+3|
+5|
+5|
+10|9 Locked Spells
18th|
+9/+4|
+6|
+6|
+11|
19th|
+9/+4|
+6|
+6|
+11|
20th|
+10/+5|
+6|
+6|
+12|Bonus Feat[/table]
Spells Per Day
{table=head]Level|0th|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th|7th|8th|9th
1st|3|1|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
2nd|4|2|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
3rd|5|3|1|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
4th|5|4|2|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
5th|5|5|3|1|-|-|-|-|-|-
6th|5|5|4|2|-|-|-|-|-|-
7th|5|5|5|3|1|-|-|-|-|-
8th|5|5|5|4|2|-|-|-|-|-
9th|5|5|5|5|3|1|-|-|-|-
10th|5|5|5|5|4|2|-|-|-|-
11th|5|5|5|5|5|3|1|-|-|-
12th|5|5|5|5|5|4|2|-|-|-
13th|5|5|5|5|5|5|3|1|-|-
14th|5|5|5|5|5|5|4|2|-|-
15th|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|3|1|-
16th|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|4|2|-
17th|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|3|1
18th|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|4|2
19th|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|3
20th|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|4[/table]
Spellcasting: A thaumaturge casts arcane spells which are drawn from the sorcerer/wizard spell list. Thaumaturges prepare themselves for spellcasting by mentally focusing on a small number of spells to use for the day; a process often refered to as "locking" those spells (see below).
To learn, lock, or cast a spell, the thaumaturge must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a thaumaturge’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the thaumaturge’s Intelligence modifier.
Like other spellcasters, a thaumaturge can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily spell allotment is given on the thaumaturge spells per day table above. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Intelligence score.
Like a standard wizard, a thaumaturge may know any number of spells. To prepare her mind for the rigors of spellcasting, she chooses a small number of spells each day to focus on. After getting a good night’s sleep and spending one hour studying her spellbook, she selects a number of non-cantrip spells equal to the level of the highest level spell she can cast (so a third level thaumaturge can select two spells, an 18th level one can select nine, etc...) and locks those spells in her mind. For the remander of the day, the thaumaturge may cast any of these spells spontaneously. She may always spontaneously cast her cantrips. She does not, however, have access to any of the spells she has not chosen to focus on for the day. A thaumaturge may choose to switch out spells she has mentally locked onto by releasing a formerly locked spell (a full round action) and spending [30 + (5 x spell level)] minutes focusing on a new spell. While refocusing, a thaumaturge must have her spellbook on hand to refer to.
Thaumaturges learn spells in the same way and at the same rate wizards do. They also use a spellbook and material/focus components in the same fashion.
Bonus Feats: At 1st level, 4th level, and every four levels after that, the thaumaturge chooses a bonus feat from the following list: Eschew Materials, Metamagic Specialist (as the PHII alternate class feature), Obtain Familiar, Scribe Scroll, any crafting feat, any metamagic feat, or any reserve feat.
Notes: For my first homebrew class, I thought I'd try something simple; a modification of an existing class, namely the wizard. The reason this class exists is because I like the idea of a distinction between casters who learn and cast by hours of careful study and casters who cast by force of personality, but the wizard as written in the Player's Handbook is just too easy to abuse to have a place in the Tier 2 and 3ish games I prefer. Thus, my attempt at a solution; rather than trashing all of Batman's nifty gadgets, I thought I'd force him to more carefully consider what he puts on his utility belt.
I'm not terribly satisfied with the name of the class as stands, because thaumaturgy is a very general term for magic. Every caster is technically a thaumaturge. I was thinking about eventually adding a Cha-based option that loses the "locking" mechanic in exchange for being limited to a sorcerer's spells known (plus possibly a cleric domain, I haven't decided if the bonus feats compensate for the lost spell slots or if I need something else to make this class an attractive option for Cha-based casters). If something like that is added and replaces the sorcerer, the thaumaturge's name makes a bit more sense. Of course, "wizard" and "sorcerer" are general terms made more specific by D&D, so I could just suck it up.
I'm also uncertain about giving them the ability to switch out locked spells in the middle of the day. Offhand, the time needed to do so seems like it would prevent extreme craziness from occurring in battles, but if the thaumaturge can switch locked spells too quickly, he becomes the wizard with spontaneous casting, which is exactly the opposite of what I wanted to accomplish. I was also thinking about having the class only automatically get one spell per level up instead of the wizard's two, while retaining the virtually unlimited number of spells known; thus giving the DM slightly more discretion over what a thaumaturge in his game can do. I don't feel like that would be a bad thing, but I want your input.
I'm totally new to homebrewing, so I may have overlooked some really obvious things. Also, I'm aware this doesn't totally solve every problem with arcane magic; things like gate and shapechange are still absolutely insane by RAW. My goal was to place this class solidly in Tier 2; going any lower than that while keeping the "scholarly arcane master" feel requires cutting down the spell list or rewriting a bunch of spells, neither of which I feel like doing right now. Please feel free to give feedback so that I can improve.