The Thaumaturge: D&D 3.5 Base Class [PEACH]

[CN the Logos]

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.

[Pyromancer999]

What purpose does locking spells serve? It's not entirely clear in your post.

[Chambers]

I like the concept, but I think only have at most 9 different spells per day is too limited.

The Spirit Shaman from Complete Divine may be a better way to do this. They get the full Druid spell list and cast their spells spontaneously, but each day they choose a couple spell for each spell level and can spontaneously cast only those spells. So they are like a sorcerer that can change their spells known list each day.

How that might work for the Thaumaturge: Each day they choose X number of spells per spell level. These become their spells known for that day and they can cast them spontaneously. The spells known are chosen from their spellbook, which can filled with additional spells like any other Wizard.

I would remove the ability to switch out locked or known spells during the day. They already have high day to day variation - including a mechanic for within the day variation pushes the class towards Tier 1.

[CN the Logos]

What purpose does locking spells serve? It's not entirely clear in your post.

It's the alternative to preparing individual slots. Instead of doing that, the thaumaturge chooses the spells they want to be able to cast that day, and can cast those spells spontaneously, as if they were a sorcerer, bard, etc...


I like the concept, but I think only have at most 9 different spells per day is too limited.

The Spirit Shaman from Complete Divine may be a better way to do this. They get the full Druid spell list and cast their spells spontaneously, but each day they choose a couple spell for each spell level and can spontaneously cast only those spells. So they are like a sorcerer that can change their spells known list each day.

How that might work for the Thaumaturge: Each day they choose X number of spells per spell level. These become their spells known for that day and they can cast them spontaneously. The spells known are chosen from their spellbook, which can filled with additional spells like any other Wizard.

Yeah, I'll take a look at that. My worry, though, is that wizard/sorcerer spells are generally more overpowering than druid spells, so I'm unsure as to where I should draw the line. If I give the thaumaturge access to too many spells at once, it becomes the knowledge of the wizard with the spontaneous casting of the sorcerer, which would kinda sorta be insane. I wonder if a feat to add an additional locked spell or two be an acceptable option. Anyone got any ideas on this?


I would remove the ability to switch out locked or known spells during the day. They already have high day to day variation - including a mechanic for within the day variation pushes the class towards Tier 1.

Yeah, that's what I was wondering. I'll probably let the original idea sit for a while before I start editing, get various opinions before I start changing things, but your post was quite helpful. Thank you.

[Pechvarry]

Perhaps as a compromise, change the number of locked spells to equal class level. At 20th level, this would be 20 spells/day -- roughly 2/3rds the spells known of a sorcerer. From there, go the way of the Factotum and include the caveat "you may only have one spell prepared of your highest spell level available to cast".

Alternatively, leave it as-is and include as a bonus feat option, a feat that lets you lock an additional spell (once again, I'd make the feat specify that you can't choose to lock a spell of your highest level capable). I'm not too keen on this one because it's what the shrewd optimizer would always choose.

Final suggestion: a second class feature that grants additional spells locked, but more limited. For example, in addition to what you have (spells locked that have no restrictions on level except "of a level you can cast)", include a feature at level 6 that allows you to lock one additional spell of up to 2nd level. At level 10, you may lock an additional spell of up to 4th level. At 14th, up to 6th level and so on (note that it's always a spell of one level lower than your max). This gives you 14 total locks, and 4 of them are guaranteed to be lower level than the max level.

On a related note, as written, it looks like a level 20 thaumaturge would prepare 3-4 9th level spells, 5-6 8th level spells, and find abilities to burn spell levels under that or something.

Also, multiclassing means you're not getting your "lock" class feature and thus, suffocating spells known? Or should there be a bit added about prestige classes reading something like "if a Thaumaturge gains an additional level of spellcasting (such as through a prestige class), it also gives +1 i the thaumaturgy class for purposes of discerning how many locks they have"?

Take my suggestions with a grain of salt.

[CN the Logos]

Perhaps as a compromise, change the number of locked spells to equal class level. At 20th level, this would be 20 spells/day -- roughly 2/3rds the spells known of a sorcerer. From there, go the way of the Factotum and include the caveat "you may only have one spell prepared of your highest spell level available to cast".

Considering that the class can know as many spells as a wizard and can cast any of its locked spells as many times as it has spell slots available, I think that would boost the class's power far beyond what I was looking for.


Alternatively, leave it as-is and include as a bonus feat option, a feat that lets you lock an additional spell (once again, I'd make the feat specify that you can't choose to lock a spell of your highest level capable). I'm not too keen on this one because it's what the shrewd optimizer would always choose.

Yeah, feats by default can only be taken once, but it would become slightly tiresome seeing the same feat taken for every single member of the class, without exception. Like druids and Natural Spell, which is more or less a class feature.


Final suggestion: a second class feature that grants additional spells locked, but more limited. For example, in addition to what you have (spells locked that have no restrictions on level except "of a level you can cast)", include a feature at level 6 that allows you to lock one additional spell of up to 2nd level. At level 10, you may lock an additional spell of up to 4th level. At 14th, up to 6th level and so on (note that it's always a spell of one level lower than your max). This gives you 14 total locks, and 4 of them are guaranteed to be lower level than the max level.

This might work. Or maybe simply ruling that the thaumaturge can only lock one spell per day of his highest possible spell level, and two of his second highest, perhaps combined with a slightly improved rate of gaining locked spells?


On a related note, as written, it looks like a level 20 thaumaturge would prepare 3-4 9th level spells, 5-6 8th level spells, and find abilities to burn spell levels under that or something.

I've been thinking about that. I wasn't terribly worried about it when I was writing, since they only get four 9th and five 8th level spells at level twenty, and if that's all they prepare, they're down to cantrips once they're done with those. The class also loses most of the wizard's methods for boosting spells per day (no specialist, no focused specialist, you need a 24 in Int to get a 7th level bonus spell, and I've always loathed the practice of allowing players to boost their stats to whatever arbitrarily high number by shopping at Ye Olde Magic Mart). But now I'm wondering what ways there are to abuse unused spell slots. Off the top of my head, I can recall Arcane Strike, which is good but probably not as good as just casting the spells you use to power it.

Anyone know of any other ways to exploit that I should be worried about?


Also, multiclassing means you're not getting your "lock" class feature and thus, suffocating spells known? Or should there be a bit added about prestige classes reading something like "if a Thaumaturge gains an additional level of spellcasting (such as through a prestige class), it also gives +1 i the thaumaturgy class for purposes of discerning how many locks they have"?

The bolded is how it's intended to work. I put the locking mechanic under spellcasting to indicate that anything advancing spellcasting advances that too, and put the number of spells lockable on the table for convenience, but it is unclear. I'm thinking I should just make a separate entry for it that states that outright, reducing confusion.


Take my suggestions with a grain of salt.

Well, you've given me some stuff to think about, and I thank you for it. I probably won't start making changes here until tomorrow night, but in the meantime I'll be looking over the ideas I have for improvements.