Realms of Chaos
2011-03-05, 12:47 AM
The Spellthief
http://worldofcharun.net/images/thumb/1/1a/ArcaneTrickster.jpg/200px-ArcaneTrickster.jpg
“What I do might look complicated at times but I assure you it's not. Behind all of the smoke and mirrors, I just have one more useful tool to do what I’ve always done; take what I want and never look back.”
-Jonas Calloway, Spellthief
While most magic is learned through prayer, study, or blood, there are always a few odd exceptions. With sufficient time and effort, anyone with sufficient will can “bend” reality through sheer force of personality. Though most of these pseudo-magical tricks are of limited application, one of the more common tricks has been known to define entire lives. With sufficient desperation or greed, someone can distort the world and draw it towards them, ripping magical energy and the essence of others towards them. These individuals, having learned a single trick to help them acquire more magic, are known collectively as spellthieves.
Some spellthieves discovered their path while on the way to becoming other casters and decided to take the easier path towards power. Others are taught their art more explicitly by teachers within thief and assassin guilds hoping to benefit from their presence. Though a rare occurrence, a few spellthieves acquire their skills without any form of assistance. Whatever their origins, most spellthieves pick up skills faster than others as their talents let them pick up upon the aptitudes of those nearby, much as they claim the magic of others. When faced with others like themselves, spellthieves are liable to remain wary of having their hard-won powers stolen and copied (though there is talk of bands of spellthieves in larger towns that share spells among the group).
For a vast variety of reasons, many spellcasters tend to look unfavorably (at least) towards spellthieves.Spellthieves rarely bother joining proper spellcasting guilds (as they don’t really seem to fit into either churches or arcanist guilds) and have acquired their skills without the effort that others have put into it (often by piggybacking off the efforts of others), creating a certain amount of resentment. Even worse, spellthieves are well-known for their ability to weaken arcanists and often develop reputations as thieves and assassins even among spellcasters. Even so, thieves and assassins continue training these rogue spellcasters, creating valuable magical allies.
Designer Notes:
While I’ve always supported the general concept of the spellthief, the flavor has always looked incredibly lackluster to me. Especially since the release of dungeonscape, reading through the complete adventure fluff for this guy makes it clear that this was intended to be the original “factotum” (a skilled and roguelike class with a bit of magic who adventures for the sake of challenging themselves and gets along with everybody… yup). Seeing as this guy kind of fails as being a factotum (especially seeing as there is another, better factotum), I just wrote up a few more notes.
Now this guy has become a rogue-like anti-mage class gifted only with the power to obtain even more magic. Furthermore, this guy fits into ongoing campaigns as the roguish spellcaster. While I know that you could argue that the beguiler fits this niche, this guy is a general spellcaster (not restricted to a few schools of magic) amongst roguelike classes. Are you a rogue with a wound that needs looking at? Go see the spellthief. Are you an assassin who needs to commission a magical cloak? Go see the spellthief. Are you a guildmaster who wants a few more wards on the vault? Go see the spellthief.
HD: d6
Alignment: Any
Starting Age: As rogue
Starting Gold: 4d4x10 gp
The Spellthief
{table="head"]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special |0lvl|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th
1st|+0|+0|+2|+2|Mystic Siphon 1d4, Trapfinding|2|1|—|—|—|—|—
2nd|+1|+0|+3|+3|Detect Magic, Spellgrace|3|2|—|—|—|—|—
3rd|+2|+1|+3|+3|Discover Spells, Mystic Siphon 2d4|3|2|—|—|—|—|—
4th|+3|+1|+4|+4|Absorb Spell, Steal Spell-Like Ability|4|3|1|—|—|—|—
5th|+3|+1|+4|+4|Mystic Siphon 3d4|4|3|2|—|—|—|—
6th|+4|+2|+5|+5|Bypass Wards|4|3|2|—|—|—|—
7th|+5|+2|+5|+5|Mystic Siphon 4d4|5|4|3|1|—|—|—
8th|+6/+1|+2|+6|+6|Steal Energy Resistance|5|4|3|2|—|—|—
9th|+6/+1|+3|+6|+6|Mystic Siphon 5d4|5|4|3|2|—|—|—
10th|+7/+2|+3|+7|+7|Arcane Sight|6|5|4|3|1|—|—
11th|+8/+3|+3|+7|+7|Mystic Siphon 6d4|6|5|4|3|2|—|—
12th|+9/+4|+4|+8|+8|Steal Spell Effect|6|5|4|3|2|—|—
13th|+9/+4|+4|+8|+8|Mystic Siphon 7d4|6|6|5|4|3|1|—
14th|+10/+5|+4|+9|+9|Bypass Wards|6|6|5|4|3|2|—
15th|+11/+6/+1|+5|+9|+9|Mystic Siphon 8d4|6|6|5|4|3|2|—
16th|+12/+7/+2|+5|+10|+10|Steal Defenses|6|6|6|5|4|3|1
17th|+12/+7/+2|+5|+10|+10|Mystic Siphon 9d4|6|6|6|5|4|3|2
18th|+13/+8/+3|+6|+11|+11|True Sight|6|6|6|5|4|3|2
19th|+14/+9/+4|+6|+11|+11|Mystic Siphon 10d4|6|6|6|6|5|4|3
20th|+15/+10/+5|+6|+12|+12|Immediate Casting, The Thief Arcane|6|6|6|6|5|4|3[/table]
Class Skills (6 + Int modifier per level, x4 at 1st level): Appraise, Bluff, Concentration, Craft, Decipher Script, Disable Device, Escape Artist, Gather Information, Hide, Jump, Knowledge (arcane), Knowledge (local), Knowledge (religion), Listen, Move Silently, Open Lock, Search,Speak Language, Spellcraft, Spot, Swim, Tumble, Use Magic Device
Class Features
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: You are proficient with all simple weapons and with light armor but not with shields. Because the somatic components required for your spells aren’t as exact as other spells, you can cast spellthief spells while wearing light armor without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance (though you still possess such a chance while wearing heavier armor).
Mystic siphon (Su): Though a spellthief gains a good many powers, most of them stem from their unique ability to disrupt and rip energy forth from the world around them, a talent that allows them to acquire magical energy with hardly any effort. As a standard action, you may make melee or ranged touch attack (with a range of up to 30 feet) that deals damage as indicated on the table above. Alternately, you may add the indicated damage to any melee attack you make or ranged attack made from within 30 feet. In both cases, the damage is never multiplied with a critical hit.
When making an attack using this class feature, you may sacrifice any number of dice of damage and select a spell with a spell level equal to the number of sacrificed dice or lower (minimum 1 for a 0-level spell). If the target is capable of casting spells and possesses the indicated spell (at a spell level up to the number of sacrificed dice), either prepared or as a spell known, you can steal it from them. A spontaneous caster loses a spell slot of the appropriate level and the ability to cast the selected spell for one hour or until you expend its energy (see below) or replace it (see below), whichever comes first. A caster who prepares spells loses all spell slots of spell levels up the number of dice sacrifices that were used to prepare the selected spell.
When a spell is stolen in this way, it is added to your list of spells known (see spells known, below) if you are capable of casting spells of its unmodified spell level. Either way, you may cast the spell once within the next hour if you possess a Charisma score of at least 10 + the spell level. If a prepared caster loses more than one prepared spell in this way, you may choose to use any of them (and any metamagic feats on them) when casting the spell. You use your own class level in place of the target’s caster level and use your Charisma score to determine the spell’s DC. Regardless of whether the stolen spell was a divine or arcane spell, it is cast as an arcane spell. You may not apply metamagic feats to spells cast in this way (but see above) but they are otherwise counted as being cast normally (thus needing components, being vulnerable to counterspelling, etc.).
At any given time, you may possess a number of stored spells in this way equal to half of your class level + your Charisma modifier (minimum 1). If you would pass this limit, you instantly lose a stored spell of your choice. You may not steal more than one spell with a single attack.
Design Notes: One of the things that always ticked me off about spellthieves was the way in which they get their spells. The class was intended as a rogue with the some spells but I see no correlation between sneak attack and spell-stealing. Seeing as you still deal normal damage with your weapon while stealing spells, it seems implied that there are certain weak points of the body that… store magic… or something?
This was my attempt to have the entire mechanic make a bit more sense (at least from the perspective of “a wizard did it”). This is a cross between an inferior sneak attack and an inferior eldritch blast, letting you touch high-AC foes or TWF your way through foes like a normal rogue (albeit a bit weaker) if you prefer.
The first thing that you guys might notice is that this guy actually learns spells as he steals them, making this guy something of an honorable blue mage. It also gives this guy a reason to steal spells from allies in some situations as he can use that spell later on and follow up with additional castings using their own spell slots.
Also, I was sure to make it quite a bit harder for enemies to use the spell that you just took away. After all, the point of taking a spell is to take it away from them, not to just let them use a silenced version of that spell/cast that spell 1 minute later anyways.
I was quite specific about using your own caster level and resetting the save DCs but I am aware that this can make things slightly silly. If you pick up leadership and surround yourself with adepts, things could potentially get pretty crazy. Then again, leadership being completely insane is nothing new to the masses.
Trapfinding: You can use the Search skill to locate traps when the task has a Difficulty Class higher than 20. You may also use the Disable Device skill to disarm magic traps. If you beat a trap’s DC by 10 or more with a Disable Device check, you can study the trap and figure out a way to bypass it (with your party) without disarming it.
Design NotesStandard fare with this one. Moving on.
Spells: You can cast a number of arcane spells, learned through your Mystic siphon class feature (see above) and absorb spell class feature (see below). You can cast any spell you know without preparing it ahead of time, just as a sorcerer can.
To cast a spell, you must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The DC for a saving throw against one of your spells is 10 + spell level + your Cha modifier.
Like other spellcasters, you can only cast a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Your base daily spell allotment is given on the table above. In addition, you receive bonus spells per day if you have a high Charisma score.
Spells Known: You start the game with no spells known but may learn spells through your mystic siphon, absorb spell, or steal spell-like ability class features. At any given time, you may possess a number of spells known of each spell that you possess access to up to 1/2 of your class level (minimum 1). If you would surpass this limit, you must replace another spell.
Special: Though you are otherwise fully capable of including spells in magical items, you are seldom (if ever) aware of the magical formulae involved in such spells and may not scribe scrolls from spells learned through this class.
Design NotesYep, we’ve got ourselves a spontaneous caster who can potentially cast spells from any given spell list. No more waiting for level 4 and no more restrictions for four schools of magic from a single class list.
Also, in case it looks kind of weird or you can’t figure out why this guy can’t scribe scrolls, letting wizards potentially scribe every single spell up to 6th level into their spellbooks without cheese would be… bad.
Detect Magic (Sp): As your mystical talents develop, they extend to your senses and permit you to sense magic around you. Starting at 2nd level, you can use Detect Magic as a spell-like ability a number of times per day equal to your class level + your Charisma modifier with a caster level equal to your class level. With 10 minutes of focus and concentration, you gain regain a daily use of this ability.
Design Notes:That’s right, folks. This revision gets a whole lot more uses of detect magic and can regain them when they run out. I am roughly comparing this to a warlock’s ability to use it at will. There is, however, a reason why I’m not letting this class quite use detect magic at will.
Spellgrace (Su): Your disruptive powers grant you a certain degree of resistance against spells. Starting at 2nd level, against spells and spell-like abilities, you add your Charisma modifier to your AC and all saving throws (these bonuses may not exceed your class level).
Design Notes:Seeing as the spellthief is at least theoretically a “mage-killer” class, it only seemed right to grant the guy a better bonus against spells.
Discover Spells: Starting at 3rd level, your enhanced awareness of magic extends to your bursts of disruptive energy. Rather than selecting a specific spell when using Mystic siphon, you gain awareness of all spells known or spells prepared possessed by the target with a spell level equal to or less than the number of sacrificed dice and you may choose freely from among them.
Design Notes:Yeah, that’s right. Level 3. Though it might seem odd that this ability comes so much sooner than in the original, I have a method behind my madness. Simply put, a spellthief needs this ability as soon as possible just in order to function as intended. When not borrowing spells from allies, the two reasons that you’d steal one from a foe are so a) they can’t use it and b) you might use it against them. Until you get this ability and can reliably choose the best things available for these purposes, you are left to randomly guess spells and hope for the best or to metagame everything to the nth degree. This ability lets spellthieves actually do their jobs the few times that they’re up against casters.
Absorb Spell: Starting at 4th level, you can absorb spells that fail to affect you. First of all, whenever you make a successful saving throw against a spell or spell-like ability that normally possesses a partial effect even with a successful save (such as “reflex half” or “fortitude partial”), you ignore the effect completely with a successful saving throw.
Furthermore, whenever you make a successful saving throw against a spell, you may spend an immediate action to add the spell to your list of spells known as if through your Mystic siphon class feature. If you succeeded on your saving throw by 5 points or more, you store the spell and can use it later as if stolen though your Mystic siphon class feature.
Design Notes:As I’m sure you’ve noticed, this ability has been pressed to a lower level and has been greatly improved. First, it acts as a combination of mettle and evasion (both of which are low-level abilities) against spells, helping to secure the position of the spellthief as the anti-mage. Next, it allows you to learn spells (and possibly store them) simply by making a saving throw against them, helping you to change your role and spell selection in the middle of battle.
While this is indeed a powerful ability, however, I don’t believe that it honestly overshadows anybody or is at risk of causing any problems (especially as there is no improved version).
Steal Spell-Like Abilities (Su): Starting at 4th level, you can use your mystic siphoning to steal more innate forms of magic, stealing spell-like abilities. When hitting an opponent and dealing mystic siphon damage, you may choose to forego any number of dice of damage and elect to steal a spell-like ability. Much like when stealing spells, you learn all spell-like abilities that the target possesses remaining uses for and may select any of them with a spell level up to the number of sacrificed dice. If the target can’t use a spell-like ability at the present time (such as a summoned demon’s summon ability), you can’t steal it.
The target loses a single use of the ability you select and loses the ability to use it further for one hour, until it is replaced, or until you expend its energy. When a spell-like ability is stolen in this way, it is added to your list of spells known if it appears on any spell list and is of a spell level you are capable of casting (if it is unclear what spell level the spell-like ability is, use the highest of all spell levels of spell lists it appears on). Either way, you gain a single use of the spell-like ability to use within the next hour if you possess a Charisma score of at least 10 + the spell level. You use your own class level in place of the target’s caster level and use your Charisma score to determine the spell’s DC. Though it is used as a spell-like ability, you must still provide any expensive material components or foci as well as any XP cost. A spell-like ability stolen in this way counts as a stored spell. You may not steal more than a single spell-like ability with a single attack.
Design Notes:Originally, this ability and steal spell effect were switched in position. As I ran through to write these notes, however, I became aware of how vital this ability is to spellthieves.
While I let you use your own caster level and set the DCs again, many of you will probably spot that you need to provide expensive material components, expensive foci, and XP costs. What, then, could possibly be the purpose of this ability?
Simply put, it expands the selection of targets that a spellthief possesses. Though we all know that spellcasting is the “best” thing in dungeons and dragons (at least from a sheer view of power and versatility), actual spellcasting doesn’t appear too frequently in the monster manuals. Aside from a few odd creatures such as Couatls and dragons, actual spellcasting is very hard to find and it is thus very easy for a spellthief to find themselves with nobody to rob (except, perhaps, another party member), reducing them to a versatile but sub-par caster.
What is more common in the monster manual, however, are spell-like abilities. By letting the spellthief target spell-like abilities, he or she becomes capable of disrupting a much larger proportion of creatures and thus increasing the likelihood of this class performing its job.
Bypass Wards (Su): Your disruptive powers allow you to overcome most forms of magical defense in existence. Starting at 6th level, you are incapable of setting off magical traps and add half of your class level to your AC and saving throws against magical traps (this stacks with your spellgrace class feature). Furthermore, when attacking or making other aggressive actions, you ignore all miss chances and bonuses to AC and/or saving throws that targets have gained through magical (but not supernatural) means.
Starting at 14th level, magical traps (such as fireball traps and explosive runes), spell effects that target objects (such as arcane lock and hardening), and spell effects that target areas (such as guards and wards and forbiddance) fail to function within 10 feet of you as if suppressed by an antimagic field. Furthermore, when attacking or making other aggressive actions, you ignore all damage reduction, regeneration, spell resistance, energy resistances, and immunities that the target has gained through magical (but not supernatural) means.
Design Notes:Considering that we have thieves who are magical, it only made sense to me that they should have some benefits against magical wards/traps. In addition, this ability makes it easier to successfully attack a spellcaster (maybe not in the tippyverse but in most campaigns I’ve heard of) and thus steal from them, weakening the caster further.
Steal Energy Resistance (Su): Starting at 8th level, your disruptive energies can steal some of the defenses of a creature they come into contact with. When hitting an opponent and dealing mystic siphon damage, you may choose to forego any number of dice of damage and instead gain a separate benefit. You learn all forms of energy resistance and immunity that the target possesses and select any number of such immunities or resistances. The target’s resistance to each selected form of energy is reduced by 5 for every dice of damage sacrificed in this way, to a minimum of 0 (immunities are not reduced).
For each resistance and immunity targeted in this way, you gain energy resistance equal to the amount of resistance lost by your target (in the case of immunities, you gain energy resistance 5 per dice of damage sacrificed). Each resistance gained in this way is stored as a stolen spell (counting towards your normal maximum) for 1 hour, until it is replaced, or until the effect granting the target their energy resistance/immunity ends (whichever comes first). At this time, the original target regains their energy resistance they have lost (unless you have lost the energy resistance because an effect ended).
Multiple sources of energy resistance against the same form of energy do not stack.
Design Notes:Not much to say, here. You get this ability long after a normal spell thief would have but the resistance lasts for far longer (long enough, for example, to allow stolen energy resistance from a creature in a thematic dungeon to actually help you while exploring said dungeon), that you can get far more of it (weakening the foe more in the process), and that it allows you to scoop up all of a creature’s resistances at once. All of that should make this more or less worth the wait..
Arcane Sight (Sp): Starting at 10th level, your ability to view magic in the world around you is greatly increased. By spending two daily uses of your detect magic class feature, you may use arcane sight as a spell-like ability with a caster level equal to your class level.
Design Notes:This is part of the reason why detect magic isn’t quite at will. This way, even at level 20, you can’t really keep arcane sight up for more than four or five hours in a row before you need to rest for 20 minutes to gain even one more use and you’d be spending half of your time from then on resting. You can get more arcane sight if you really need it but there are practical limits built in.
Steal Spell Effect (Su): Beginning at 12th level, your disruption of magical powers can siphon an active spell effect from another creature. When hitting an opponent and dealing Mystic siphon damage, you may choose to forego any number of dice of damage and instead gain a separate benefit. You instantly learn all spell effects active on the target with a spell level equal to or less than the number of sacrificed dice and may select any number of them to transfer to yourself. You can’t steal a spell effect if its caster level exceeds your class level + your Charisma modifier.
Upon stealing one or more spell effects, you gain the stolen effect (and the original creature loses that effect) and each spell effect is stored as a stolen spell (though you can’t cast the spell once more, it still counts towards your maximum number of stolen spells) for 1 hour, until it is replaced as a stolen spell, or until the effects normal duration has ended (whichever comes first). If the spell effect’s duration hasn’t expired by the time it’s been replaced or an hour has passed, the spell effect returns to its original target.
You can steal the effect of a spell only if it could be originally cast upon you by the original caster (meaning, among other things, that you can’t steal spell effects with a range of personal). If you try to steal the effect of a spell that can’t affect you, the effect is still suppressed for 1 hour, until you replace it, or until its duration ends.
This ability does not work on spell effects that are immune to dispel magic (such as bestow curse)
Design Notes:Yep, this ability is coming 10 levels late compared with the normal spellthief. There are three main reasons for this.
1: I’m not afraid to admit that I’m a bit of a freak for aesthetics in class design. The original spellthief gave 4 things to steal in the first 5 levels and only gave one more thing in the last 15. This seems a bit aesthetically unbalanced and generally looks a bit clunky to me. I know that I’m alone on this issue but… yeah.
2: You don’t really need spell effects at 2nd level. Back at 2nd level, there aren’t too many magical effects that you could transfer even if you wanted to (and could somehow guess what they were). You only really start needing to steal spell effects when wizards start flying invisible around with stoneskin, protection from arrows, and a globes of invulnerability. This ability might come a level or two “late” but considering that problems with buffs get worse at high levels rather than getting better, it probably won’t hurt too much.
3. By pushing the ability this far back, I am fairly justified in giving it a proper overhaul. Not only does it let you keep the buffs for much longer but it actually lets you wipe opponents clean of many buffs all at the same time, making this ability key in taking down an (unoptomized) caster.
Steal Defenses (Su): Starting at 16th level, you can use your mystic siphoning to steal the physical and magical defenses of targets. When hitting an opponent and dealing mystic siphon damage, you may choose to forego any number of dice of damage and elect to steal either spell resistance or damage reduction. If stealing damage reduction, the target’s damage reduction is reduced by 2 for each dice of damage sacrificed. If stealing spell resistance, the resistance is reduced by 5 for each dice of damage sacrificed. Neither value may be reduced below 0 and thefts of either kind last for 1 hour, until they are replaced, or until a temporary effect granting the damage reduction or spell resistance ends.
If you stole damage reduction, you gain unsurpassable damage reduction (damage reduction X/-) with a value equal to the amount of stolen damage reduction. If you instead stole spell resistance, you gain spell resistance equal to the amount of spell resistance you have stolen. In either case, these benefits only last for the normal duration of this ability. Both kinds of theft count as stored spells. You may not acquire both damage reduction and spell resistance with a single attack
Design Notes:Yep, this ability now allows for damage reduction as well as spell resistance. I can kind of understand why this wasn’t done in the original (maybe) but the duality of stealing magical and physical protections was just too much to resist (and some forms of damage reduction, such as the type where you reform seconds after being hit, have always sounded pretty darn magical to me).
I am aware that this thing allows for incredible drains of spell resistance, turning it into something of a joke for you and allied casters to break through. Considering that we already have the beguiler, wyrm wizard, and factotum ignoring SR and that we have assay spell resistance to laugh at it as well, passing SR doesn’t seem like too big of a deal any more.
True Sight (Sp): Starting at 18th level, your sight can pierce through many forms of deceptive magic. By expending four daily uses of your detect magic ability, you may use true seeing as a spell like ability with a caster level equal to your class level.
Design Notes:Again, this helps explain why detect magic isn’t quite unlimited. With this ability constantly active, it will only last for about 3-4 hours (or far less if also keeping arcane sight active) to run low and need a recharge.
The Thief Arcane (Su): At 20th level, you gain absolute mastery over your various talents. The magical disruption that you create disturbs spells that would warp your mind or locate your position, putting you under a perpetual mind blank effect. Furthermore, you can store stolen spells for up to 24 hours instead of a single hour, increasing the maximum duration that you can keep stolen spell effects, energy resistance, spell-like abilities, damage reduction and spell resistance as well.
Design Notes:I felt that this was a decent-ish capstone, ending with one of the best forms of magical protection against magic and letting you keep the stuff that you steal for much longer.
Immediate Casting (Su): At 20th level, you gain the ability to recreate spells even as you learn them. Whenever you add a new spell to your list of spells known, you may cast that spell (using one of your spell slots) as an immediate action. If a spell is learned through your absorb spell class feature, you may cast that spell as part of the same immediate action. Spells with casting times longer than 1 standard action can’t be cast in this way.
Design Notes:Just in case the other ability wasn’t enough capstone, you get a second one with a bit more oomph. This basically mimics the normal level 20 ability of a spellthief so there shouldn’t be too many problems here.
General Notes: Inspired by Jarian's take on the spellthief (which is wonderfully fantastic), I wanted to try my hand at doing something similar. I ended up with this blue-mage-ish class who turns stealing stuff from enemies into an effective and (hopefully) somewhat powerful option.
While Jarian was aiming at tier 2, I am aiming more at a low to mid tier-3. Lowered spell progression should do the trick but you never know with these kinds of things...
http://worldofcharun.net/images/thumb/1/1a/ArcaneTrickster.jpg/200px-ArcaneTrickster.jpg
“What I do might look complicated at times but I assure you it's not. Behind all of the smoke and mirrors, I just have one more useful tool to do what I’ve always done; take what I want and never look back.”
-Jonas Calloway, Spellthief
While most magic is learned through prayer, study, or blood, there are always a few odd exceptions. With sufficient time and effort, anyone with sufficient will can “bend” reality through sheer force of personality. Though most of these pseudo-magical tricks are of limited application, one of the more common tricks has been known to define entire lives. With sufficient desperation or greed, someone can distort the world and draw it towards them, ripping magical energy and the essence of others towards them. These individuals, having learned a single trick to help them acquire more magic, are known collectively as spellthieves.
Some spellthieves discovered their path while on the way to becoming other casters and decided to take the easier path towards power. Others are taught their art more explicitly by teachers within thief and assassin guilds hoping to benefit from their presence. Though a rare occurrence, a few spellthieves acquire their skills without any form of assistance. Whatever their origins, most spellthieves pick up skills faster than others as their talents let them pick up upon the aptitudes of those nearby, much as they claim the magic of others. When faced with others like themselves, spellthieves are liable to remain wary of having their hard-won powers stolen and copied (though there is talk of bands of spellthieves in larger towns that share spells among the group).
For a vast variety of reasons, many spellcasters tend to look unfavorably (at least) towards spellthieves.Spellthieves rarely bother joining proper spellcasting guilds (as they don’t really seem to fit into either churches or arcanist guilds) and have acquired their skills without the effort that others have put into it (often by piggybacking off the efforts of others), creating a certain amount of resentment. Even worse, spellthieves are well-known for their ability to weaken arcanists and often develop reputations as thieves and assassins even among spellcasters. Even so, thieves and assassins continue training these rogue spellcasters, creating valuable magical allies.
Designer Notes:
While I’ve always supported the general concept of the spellthief, the flavor has always looked incredibly lackluster to me. Especially since the release of dungeonscape, reading through the complete adventure fluff for this guy makes it clear that this was intended to be the original “factotum” (a skilled and roguelike class with a bit of magic who adventures for the sake of challenging themselves and gets along with everybody… yup). Seeing as this guy kind of fails as being a factotum (especially seeing as there is another, better factotum), I just wrote up a few more notes.
Now this guy has become a rogue-like anti-mage class gifted only with the power to obtain even more magic. Furthermore, this guy fits into ongoing campaigns as the roguish spellcaster. While I know that you could argue that the beguiler fits this niche, this guy is a general spellcaster (not restricted to a few schools of magic) amongst roguelike classes. Are you a rogue with a wound that needs looking at? Go see the spellthief. Are you an assassin who needs to commission a magical cloak? Go see the spellthief. Are you a guildmaster who wants a few more wards on the vault? Go see the spellthief.
HD: d6
Alignment: Any
Starting Age: As rogue
Starting Gold: 4d4x10 gp
The Spellthief
{table="head"]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special |0lvl|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th
1st|+0|+0|+2|+2|Mystic Siphon 1d4, Trapfinding|2|1|—|—|—|—|—
2nd|+1|+0|+3|+3|Detect Magic, Spellgrace|3|2|—|—|—|—|—
3rd|+2|+1|+3|+3|Discover Spells, Mystic Siphon 2d4|3|2|—|—|—|—|—
4th|+3|+1|+4|+4|Absorb Spell, Steal Spell-Like Ability|4|3|1|—|—|—|—
5th|+3|+1|+4|+4|Mystic Siphon 3d4|4|3|2|—|—|—|—
6th|+4|+2|+5|+5|Bypass Wards|4|3|2|—|—|—|—
7th|+5|+2|+5|+5|Mystic Siphon 4d4|5|4|3|1|—|—|—
8th|+6/+1|+2|+6|+6|Steal Energy Resistance|5|4|3|2|—|—|—
9th|+6/+1|+3|+6|+6|Mystic Siphon 5d4|5|4|3|2|—|—|—
10th|+7/+2|+3|+7|+7|Arcane Sight|6|5|4|3|1|—|—
11th|+8/+3|+3|+7|+7|Mystic Siphon 6d4|6|5|4|3|2|—|—
12th|+9/+4|+4|+8|+8|Steal Spell Effect|6|5|4|3|2|—|—
13th|+9/+4|+4|+8|+8|Mystic Siphon 7d4|6|6|5|4|3|1|—
14th|+10/+5|+4|+9|+9|Bypass Wards|6|6|5|4|3|2|—
15th|+11/+6/+1|+5|+9|+9|Mystic Siphon 8d4|6|6|5|4|3|2|—
16th|+12/+7/+2|+5|+10|+10|Steal Defenses|6|6|6|5|4|3|1
17th|+12/+7/+2|+5|+10|+10|Mystic Siphon 9d4|6|6|6|5|4|3|2
18th|+13/+8/+3|+6|+11|+11|True Sight|6|6|6|5|4|3|2
19th|+14/+9/+4|+6|+11|+11|Mystic Siphon 10d4|6|6|6|6|5|4|3
20th|+15/+10/+5|+6|+12|+12|Immediate Casting, The Thief Arcane|6|6|6|6|5|4|3[/table]
Class Skills (6 + Int modifier per level, x4 at 1st level): Appraise, Bluff, Concentration, Craft, Decipher Script, Disable Device, Escape Artist, Gather Information, Hide, Jump, Knowledge (arcane), Knowledge (local), Knowledge (religion), Listen, Move Silently, Open Lock, Search,Speak Language, Spellcraft, Spot, Swim, Tumble, Use Magic Device
Class Features
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: You are proficient with all simple weapons and with light armor but not with shields. Because the somatic components required for your spells aren’t as exact as other spells, you can cast spellthief spells while wearing light armor without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance (though you still possess such a chance while wearing heavier armor).
Mystic siphon (Su): Though a spellthief gains a good many powers, most of them stem from their unique ability to disrupt and rip energy forth from the world around them, a talent that allows them to acquire magical energy with hardly any effort. As a standard action, you may make melee or ranged touch attack (with a range of up to 30 feet) that deals damage as indicated on the table above. Alternately, you may add the indicated damage to any melee attack you make or ranged attack made from within 30 feet. In both cases, the damage is never multiplied with a critical hit.
When making an attack using this class feature, you may sacrifice any number of dice of damage and select a spell with a spell level equal to the number of sacrificed dice or lower (minimum 1 for a 0-level spell). If the target is capable of casting spells and possesses the indicated spell (at a spell level up to the number of sacrificed dice), either prepared or as a spell known, you can steal it from them. A spontaneous caster loses a spell slot of the appropriate level and the ability to cast the selected spell for one hour or until you expend its energy (see below) or replace it (see below), whichever comes first. A caster who prepares spells loses all spell slots of spell levels up the number of dice sacrifices that were used to prepare the selected spell.
When a spell is stolen in this way, it is added to your list of spells known (see spells known, below) if you are capable of casting spells of its unmodified spell level. Either way, you may cast the spell once within the next hour if you possess a Charisma score of at least 10 + the spell level. If a prepared caster loses more than one prepared spell in this way, you may choose to use any of them (and any metamagic feats on them) when casting the spell. You use your own class level in place of the target’s caster level and use your Charisma score to determine the spell’s DC. Regardless of whether the stolen spell was a divine or arcane spell, it is cast as an arcane spell. You may not apply metamagic feats to spells cast in this way (but see above) but they are otherwise counted as being cast normally (thus needing components, being vulnerable to counterspelling, etc.).
At any given time, you may possess a number of stored spells in this way equal to half of your class level + your Charisma modifier (minimum 1). If you would pass this limit, you instantly lose a stored spell of your choice. You may not steal more than one spell with a single attack.
Design Notes: One of the things that always ticked me off about spellthieves was the way in which they get their spells. The class was intended as a rogue with the some spells but I see no correlation between sneak attack and spell-stealing. Seeing as you still deal normal damage with your weapon while stealing spells, it seems implied that there are certain weak points of the body that… store magic… or something?
This was my attempt to have the entire mechanic make a bit more sense (at least from the perspective of “a wizard did it”). This is a cross between an inferior sneak attack and an inferior eldritch blast, letting you touch high-AC foes or TWF your way through foes like a normal rogue (albeit a bit weaker) if you prefer.
The first thing that you guys might notice is that this guy actually learns spells as he steals them, making this guy something of an honorable blue mage. It also gives this guy a reason to steal spells from allies in some situations as he can use that spell later on and follow up with additional castings using their own spell slots.
Also, I was sure to make it quite a bit harder for enemies to use the spell that you just took away. After all, the point of taking a spell is to take it away from them, not to just let them use a silenced version of that spell/cast that spell 1 minute later anyways.
I was quite specific about using your own caster level and resetting the save DCs but I am aware that this can make things slightly silly. If you pick up leadership and surround yourself with adepts, things could potentially get pretty crazy. Then again, leadership being completely insane is nothing new to the masses.
Trapfinding: You can use the Search skill to locate traps when the task has a Difficulty Class higher than 20. You may also use the Disable Device skill to disarm magic traps. If you beat a trap’s DC by 10 or more with a Disable Device check, you can study the trap and figure out a way to bypass it (with your party) without disarming it.
Design NotesStandard fare with this one. Moving on.
Spells: You can cast a number of arcane spells, learned through your Mystic siphon class feature (see above) and absorb spell class feature (see below). You can cast any spell you know without preparing it ahead of time, just as a sorcerer can.
To cast a spell, you must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The DC for a saving throw against one of your spells is 10 + spell level + your Cha modifier.
Like other spellcasters, you can only cast a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Your base daily spell allotment is given on the table above. In addition, you receive bonus spells per day if you have a high Charisma score.
Spells Known: You start the game with no spells known but may learn spells through your mystic siphon, absorb spell, or steal spell-like ability class features. At any given time, you may possess a number of spells known of each spell that you possess access to up to 1/2 of your class level (minimum 1). If you would surpass this limit, you must replace another spell.
Special: Though you are otherwise fully capable of including spells in magical items, you are seldom (if ever) aware of the magical formulae involved in such spells and may not scribe scrolls from spells learned through this class.
Design NotesYep, we’ve got ourselves a spontaneous caster who can potentially cast spells from any given spell list. No more waiting for level 4 and no more restrictions for four schools of magic from a single class list.
Also, in case it looks kind of weird or you can’t figure out why this guy can’t scribe scrolls, letting wizards potentially scribe every single spell up to 6th level into their spellbooks without cheese would be… bad.
Detect Magic (Sp): As your mystical talents develop, they extend to your senses and permit you to sense magic around you. Starting at 2nd level, you can use Detect Magic as a spell-like ability a number of times per day equal to your class level + your Charisma modifier with a caster level equal to your class level. With 10 minutes of focus and concentration, you gain regain a daily use of this ability.
Design Notes:That’s right, folks. This revision gets a whole lot more uses of detect magic and can regain them when they run out. I am roughly comparing this to a warlock’s ability to use it at will. There is, however, a reason why I’m not letting this class quite use detect magic at will.
Spellgrace (Su): Your disruptive powers grant you a certain degree of resistance against spells. Starting at 2nd level, against spells and spell-like abilities, you add your Charisma modifier to your AC and all saving throws (these bonuses may not exceed your class level).
Design Notes:Seeing as the spellthief is at least theoretically a “mage-killer” class, it only seemed right to grant the guy a better bonus against spells.
Discover Spells: Starting at 3rd level, your enhanced awareness of magic extends to your bursts of disruptive energy. Rather than selecting a specific spell when using Mystic siphon, you gain awareness of all spells known or spells prepared possessed by the target with a spell level equal to or less than the number of sacrificed dice and you may choose freely from among them.
Design Notes:Yeah, that’s right. Level 3. Though it might seem odd that this ability comes so much sooner than in the original, I have a method behind my madness. Simply put, a spellthief needs this ability as soon as possible just in order to function as intended. When not borrowing spells from allies, the two reasons that you’d steal one from a foe are so a) they can’t use it and b) you might use it against them. Until you get this ability and can reliably choose the best things available for these purposes, you are left to randomly guess spells and hope for the best or to metagame everything to the nth degree. This ability lets spellthieves actually do their jobs the few times that they’re up against casters.
Absorb Spell: Starting at 4th level, you can absorb spells that fail to affect you. First of all, whenever you make a successful saving throw against a spell or spell-like ability that normally possesses a partial effect even with a successful save (such as “reflex half” or “fortitude partial”), you ignore the effect completely with a successful saving throw.
Furthermore, whenever you make a successful saving throw against a spell, you may spend an immediate action to add the spell to your list of spells known as if through your Mystic siphon class feature. If you succeeded on your saving throw by 5 points or more, you store the spell and can use it later as if stolen though your Mystic siphon class feature.
Design Notes:As I’m sure you’ve noticed, this ability has been pressed to a lower level and has been greatly improved. First, it acts as a combination of mettle and evasion (both of which are low-level abilities) against spells, helping to secure the position of the spellthief as the anti-mage. Next, it allows you to learn spells (and possibly store them) simply by making a saving throw against them, helping you to change your role and spell selection in the middle of battle.
While this is indeed a powerful ability, however, I don’t believe that it honestly overshadows anybody or is at risk of causing any problems (especially as there is no improved version).
Steal Spell-Like Abilities (Su): Starting at 4th level, you can use your mystic siphoning to steal more innate forms of magic, stealing spell-like abilities. When hitting an opponent and dealing mystic siphon damage, you may choose to forego any number of dice of damage and elect to steal a spell-like ability. Much like when stealing spells, you learn all spell-like abilities that the target possesses remaining uses for and may select any of them with a spell level up to the number of sacrificed dice. If the target can’t use a spell-like ability at the present time (such as a summoned demon’s summon ability), you can’t steal it.
The target loses a single use of the ability you select and loses the ability to use it further for one hour, until it is replaced, or until you expend its energy. When a spell-like ability is stolen in this way, it is added to your list of spells known if it appears on any spell list and is of a spell level you are capable of casting (if it is unclear what spell level the spell-like ability is, use the highest of all spell levels of spell lists it appears on). Either way, you gain a single use of the spell-like ability to use within the next hour if you possess a Charisma score of at least 10 + the spell level. You use your own class level in place of the target’s caster level and use your Charisma score to determine the spell’s DC. Though it is used as a spell-like ability, you must still provide any expensive material components or foci as well as any XP cost. A spell-like ability stolen in this way counts as a stored spell. You may not steal more than a single spell-like ability with a single attack.
Design Notes:Originally, this ability and steal spell effect were switched in position. As I ran through to write these notes, however, I became aware of how vital this ability is to spellthieves.
While I let you use your own caster level and set the DCs again, many of you will probably spot that you need to provide expensive material components, expensive foci, and XP costs. What, then, could possibly be the purpose of this ability?
Simply put, it expands the selection of targets that a spellthief possesses. Though we all know that spellcasting is the “best” thing in dungeons and dragons (at least from a sheer view of power and versatility), actual spellcasting doesn’t appear too frequently in the monster manuals. Aside from a few odd creatures such as Couatls and dragons, actual spellcasting is very hard to find and it is thus very easy for a spellthief to find themselves with nobody to rob (except, perhaps, another party member), reducing them to a versatile but sub-par caster.
What is more common in the monster manual, however, are spell-like abilities. By letting the spellthief target spell-like abilities, he or she becomes capable of disrupting a much larger proportion of creatures and thus increasing the likelihood of this class performing its job.
Bypass Wards (Su): Your disruptive powers allow you to overcome most forms of magical defense in existence. Starting at 6th level, you are incapable of setting off magical traps and add half of your class level to your AC and saving throws against magical traps (this stacks with your spellgrace class feature). Furthermore, when attacking or making other aggressive actions, you ignore all miss chances and bonuses to AC and/or saving throws that targets have gained through magical (but not supernatural) means.
Starting at 14th level, magical traps (such as fireball traps and explosive runes), spell effects that target objects (such as arcane lock and hardening), and spell effects that target areas (such as guards and wards and forbiddance) fail to function within 10 feet of you as if suppressed by an antimagic field. Furthermore, when attacking or making other aggressive actions, you ignore all damage reduction, regeneration, spell resistance, energy resistances, and immunities that the target has gained through magical (but not supernatural) means.
Design Notes:Considering that we have thieves who are magical, it only made sense to me that they should have some benefits against magical wards/traps. In addition, this ability makes it easier to successfully attack a spellcaster (maybe not in the tippyverse but in most campaigns I’ve heard of) and thus steal from them, weakening the caster further.
Steal Energy Resistance (Su): Starting at 8th level, your disruptive energies can steal some of the defenses of a creature they come into contact with. When hitting an opponent and dealing mystic siphon damage, you may choose to forego any number of dice of damage and instead gain a separate benefit. You learn all forms of energy resistance and immunity that the target possesses and select any number of such immunities or resistances. The target’s resistance to each selected form of energy is reduced by 5 for every dice of damage sacrificed in this way, to a minimum of 0 (immunities are not reduced).
For each resistance and immunity targeted in this way, you gain energy resistance equal to the amount of resistance lost by your target (in the case of immunities, you gain energy resistance 5 per dice of damage sacrificed). Each resistance gained in this way is stored as a stolen spell (counting towards your normal maximum) for 1 hour, until it is replaced, or until the effect granting the target their energy resistance/immunity ends (whichever comes first). At this time, the original target regains their energy resistance they have lost (unless you have lost the energy resistance because an effect ended).
Multiple sources of energy resistance against the same form of energy do not stack.
Design Notes:Not much to say, here. You get this ability long after a normal spell thief would have but the resistance lasts for far longer (long enough, for example, to allow stolen energy resistance from a creature in a thematic dungeon to actually help you while exploring said dungeon), that you can get far more of it (weakening the foe more in the process), and that it allows you to scoop up all of a creature’s resistances at once. All of that should make this more or less worth the wait..
Arcane Sight (Sp): Starting at 10th level, your ability to view magic in the world around you is greatly increased. By spending two daily uses of your detect magic class feature, you may use arcane sight as a spell-like ability with a caster level equal to your class level.
Design Notes:This is part of the reason why detect magic isn’t quite at will. This way, even at level 20, you can’t really keep arcane sight up for more than four or five hours in a row before you need to rest for 20 minutes to gain even one more use and you’d be spending half of your time from then on resting. You can get more arcane sight if you really need it but there are practical limits built in.
Steal Spell Effect (Su): Beginning at 12th level, your disruption of magical powers can siphon an active spell effect from another creature. When hitting an opponent and dealing Mystic siphon damage, you may choose to forego any number of dice of damage and instead gain a separate benefit. You instantly learn all spell effects active on the target with a spell level equal to or less than the number of sacrificed dice and may select any number of them to transfer to yourself. You can’t steal a spell effect if its caster level exceeds your class level + your Charisma modifier.
Upon stealing one or more spell effects, you gain the stolen effect (and the original creature loses that effect) and each spell effect is stored as a stolen spell (though you can’t cast the spell once more, it still counts towards your maximum number of stolen spells) for 1 hour, until it is replaced as a stolen spell, or until the effects normal duration has ended (whichever comes first). If the spell effect’s duration hasn’t expired by the time it’s been replaced or an hour has passed, the spell effect returns to its original target.
You can steal the effect of a spell only if it could be originally cast upon you by the original caster (meaning, among other things, that you can’t steal spell effects with a range of personal). If you try to steal the effect of a spell that can’t affect you, the effect is still suppressed for 1 hour, until you replace it, or until its duration ends.
This ability does not work on spell effects that are immune to dispel magic (such as bestow curse)
Design Notes:Yep, this ability is coming 10 levels late compared with the normal spellthief. There are three main reasons for this.
1: I’m not afraid to admit that I’m a bit of a freak for aesthetics in class design. The original spellthief gave 4 things to steal in the first 5 levels and only gave one more thing in the last 15. This seems a bit aesthetically unbalanced and generally looks a bit clunky to me. I know that I’m alone on this issue but… yeah.
2: You don’t really need spell effects at 2nd level. Back at 2nd level, there aren’t too many magical effects that you could transfer even if you wanted to (and could somehow guess what they were). You only really start needing to steal spell effects when wizards start flying invisible around with stoneskin, protection from arrows, and a globes of invulnerability. This ability might come a level or two “late” but considering that problems with buffs get worse at high levels rather than getting better, it probably won’t hurt too much.
3. By pushing the ability this far back, I am fairly justified in giving it a proper overhaul. Not only does it let you keep the buffs for much longer but it actually lets you wipe opponents clean of many buffs all at the same time, making this ability key in taking down an (unoptomized) caster.
Steal Defenses (Su): Starting at 16th level, you can use your mystic siphoning to steal the physical and magical defenses of targets. When hitting an opponent and dealing mystic siphon damage, you may choose to forego any number of dice of damage and elect to steal either spell resistance or damage reduction. If stealing damage reduction, the target’s damage reduction is reduced by 2 for each dice of damage sacrificed. If stealing spell resistance, the resistance is reduced by 5 for each dice of damage sacrificed. Neither value may be reduced below 0 and thefts of either kind last for 1 hour, until they are replaced, or until a temporary effect granting the damage reduction or spell resistance ends.
If you stole damage reduction, you gain unsurpassable damage reduction (damage reduction X/-) with a value equal to the amount of stolen damage reduction. If you instead stole spell resistance, you gain spell resistance equal to the amount of spell resistance you have stolen. In either case, these benefits only last for the normal duration of this ability. Both kinds of theft count as stored spells. You may not acquire both damage reduction and spell resistance with a single attack
Design Notes:Yep, this ability now allows for damage reduction as well as spell resistance. I can kind of understand why this wasn’t done in the original (maybe) but the duality of stealing magical and physical protections was just too much to resist (and some forms of damage reduction, such as the type where you reform seconds after being hit, have always sounded pretty darn magical to me).
I am aware that this thing allows for incredible drains of spell resistance, turning it into something of a joke for you and allied casters to break through. Considering that we already have the beguiler, wyrm wizard, and factotum ignoring SR and that we have assay spell resistance to laugh at it as well, passing SR doesn’t seem like too big of a deal any more.
True Sight (Sp): Starting at 18th level, your sight can pierce through many forms of deceptive magic. By expending four daily uses of your detect magic ability, you may use true seeing as a spell like ability with a caster level equal to your class level.
Design Notes:Again, this helps explain why detect magic isn’t quite unlimited. With this ability constantly active, it will only last for about 3-4 hours (or far less if also keeping arcane sight active) to run low and need a recharge.
The Thief Arcane (Su): At 20th level, you gain absolute mastery over your various talents. The magical disruption that you create disturbs spells that would warp your mind or locate your position, putting you under a perpetual mind blank effect. Furthermore, you can store stolen spells for up to 24 hours instead of a single hour, increasing the maximum duration that you can keep stolen spell effects, energy resistance, spell-like abilities, damage reduction and spell resistance as well.
Design Notes:I felt that this was a decent-ish capstone, ending with one of the best forms of magical protection against magic and letting you keep the stuff that you steal for much longer.
Immediate Casting (Su): At 20th level, you gain the ability to recreate spells even as you learn them. Whenever you add a new spell to your list of spells known, you may cast that spell (using one of your spell slots) as an immediate action. If a spell is learned through your absorb spell class feature, you may cast that spell as part of the same immediate action. Spells with casting times longer than 1 standard action can’t be cast in this way.
Design Notes:Just in case the other ability wasn’t enough capstone, you get a second one with a bit more oomph. This basically mimics the normal level 20 ability of a spellthief so there shouldn’t be too many problems here.
General Notes: Inspired by Jarian's take on the spellthief (which is wonderfully fantastic), I wanted to try my hand at doing something similar. I ended up with this blue-mage-ish class who turns stealing stuff from enemies into an effective and (hopefully) somewhat powerful option.
While Jarian was aiming at tier 2, I am aiming more at a low to mid tier-3. Lowered spell progression should do the trick but you never know with these kinds of things...