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Kaiisaxo
2012-02-07, 08:26 PM
MASTER MAGICIAN

Most Wizards study hard to learn and improve their magic, however some among them overobsess with their study of spells in order to learn and memorize as many spells as possible, to the point they neglect other areas of magical study, as it is learning to brew potions, scribe scrolls create items, or even actually cast their spells. This overload on their heads has very ill effects on them and makes them very hard to relate to.

Abilities: Inteligence is important for a Master Magician as it determines how much spells he can cast and ready and how hard they are to resist, how many weapons he is proficient with and the bonus he gets for Alien Mind. They also benefit from a high Charisma to learn Arcane Talents, Dexterity and Constitution are very helpful for them as it is for ther arcane casters.

Races: Any race could become a master magician, however elves and humans are specially suited to become master magicians.

Religion: Master Magicians are usually uninterested in the spiritual side of the things, however they tend to favor neutral deities.

Starting Gold: 3d4x10 (75gp)

Starting Age: As Wizard

Alignment: Any neutral

Hit Dice: d4

Class Skills
The Master Magician’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft(Int), Knowledge (All skills taken individually) (Int), Handle Animal (Cha) and Spellcraft (Int)
Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) x4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier.


{table=head]{colsp=10}The Master Magician
Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special|Arcane Talent Uses|AT bonus|Spell Slots|Max Spell Level
1st|+0|+0|+2|+2|Mind Overload|-|-|1+Int|0-level
2nd|+1|+0|+3|+3|Arcane proficiency (+1)|-|-|1+Int|0-level
3rd|+1|+1|+3|+3|Alien Mind|-|-|1+Int|1st level
4th|+2|+1|+4|+4|Arcane Talent 1st| 1+Cha|1d6|2+Int|1st level
5th|+2|+1|+4|+4|Battle Casting| 1+Cha|2d6|2+Int|2nd level
6th|+3|+2|+5|+5|Arcane proficiency (+2)| 2+Cha|3d6|2+Int|2nd level
7th|+3|+2|+5|+5|Instant Counterspell| 3+Cha|4d6|3+Int|3rd level
8th|+4|+2|+6|+6 |Arcane Talent 2nd| 4+Cha|5d6|3+Int|3rd level
9th|+4|+3|+6|+6|Eye of the Caster| 4+Cha|7d6|3+Int|4th level
10th|+5|+3 |+7|+7|Arcane proficiency (+3)| 5+Cha|8d6|4+Int|4th level
11th|+5|+3|+7|+7|Arcane Talent 3rd| 6+Cha|9d6|4+Int|5th level
12th|+6/+1|+4|+8|+8|Eldritch Mind| 7+Cha|10d6|5+Int|5th level
13th|+6/+1|+4|+8|+8|Quick Battlecasting|7+Cha|12d6|5+Int|6th level
14th|+7/+2|+4|+9|+9|Arcane proficiency (+4)| 8+Cha|13d6|5+Int|6th level
15th|+7/+2|+5|+9|+9|Expert senses| 9+Cha|14d6|6+Int|7th level
16th|+8/+3|+5|+10|+10|Arcane Talent 4th|10+Cha|15d6|6+Int|7th level
17th|+8/+3|+5|+10|+10|Weapon Mastery|10+Cha|17d6|4+Int|8th level
18th|+9/+4|+6|+11|+11|Cast on the Fly|11+Cha|18d6|7+Int|8th level
19th|+9/+4|+6|+11|+11|Arcane Talent 5th|12+Cha|19d6|7+Int|9th level
20th|+10/+5|+6|+12|+12|Quintessential Mage|13+Cha|20d6|8+Int|9th level
[/table]
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Master Magician
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Master Magicianes are proficient with a number of simple weapons equal to their Inteligence bonus at the time of character creation (at least 1, enhancement bonuses don't count), but not with any type of armor or shield. Armor of any type interferes with a Master Magician’s movements, which can cause his spells with somatic components to fail.
Spells: A Master Magician casts arcane spells which are drawn from the Sorcerer/Wizard spell list. A Master Magician prepares his spells in advance.
To learn, prepare or cast a spell, the Master Magician must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a Master Magician’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the Master Magician’s Intelligence modifier.
Spell allotment: Like other spellcasters, a Master Magician can cast only a certain number of spells per day. The Master Magician receives a daily alotment of spells as shown on the table. Every spell on this alotment can be used to cast a spell of up to the highest level he can cast.
Spells Known: The Master Magician knows all of the common spells of every level he can cast. (Typically common spells include only those in the phb/srd, but the exact list is subject to DM's ruling)
Mind Overload(Ex): As stated before, the Master Magician knows about every spell in existance, this includes all common knowledge spells but not any custom or exotic one, however he can learn any of those spells from a scroll or a spellbook with a successfull spellcraft check. The Master Magician doesn't need to keep a spellbook. At any time the Master Magician can change a single preppared spell or prepare a single unnussed spell slot with a spell by spending 10 minutes in quiet uninterrupted meditation, if he get's interrupted at any time he must suceed on a spellcraft check (DC 10 + the spell level + 1 for each minute left to successfully preppare the slot) or fail to prepare/switch the slot.

Arcane proficiency(Su): Starting at second level the Master Magician gets a +1 arcane bonus on attack rolls made with non-magical melee weapons. This bonus increases to +2 at 6th level, +3 at 10th and +4 at 14th. This ability doesn't grant true proficiency, even when in practice the Master Magician may attack as if he was proficient with all weapons, he still isn't considered proficient with those he isn't proficient with. He can't apply this bonus inside an antimagic field.

Alien Mind (Ex): At 3rd level a Master Magician's mind has become so warped that it becomes harder to fool, read or control. He wins an alien bonus equal to 4 + his Intelligence modifier on saving throws against Charm, Illussion and Mind Affecting effects.
Arcane Talent: At 4th, 8th, 11th, 16th and 19th levels the Master Magician learns a new arcane talent. Arcane Talents are spell like abilities that the Master Magician can use a limited number of times each day, the Master Magician can decide which arcane talent to use and to expend additional uses for improved or more lasting effects for some of them. A Master Magician has an Arcane Talent Bonus according to his level, the arcane talent bonus works differently according to each Arcan talent

Magic strike(Sp): The Master Magician can expend one use of his Arcane talents to add force damage to a single damage equal to his Arcane Talent Bonus.

Arcane Ball(Sp): The Master Magician can expend one use of his Arcane talents to, as astandard action, shot an energy ball that produces Fire damage equal to his Arcane Talent Bonus. He needs to suceed on a ranged touch attack to inflict this damage.

Mage Barrier(Sp): The Master Magician can expend one use of his Arcane talents to gain damage reduction equal to half his Arcane Talent Bonus. This dammage reduction lasts 1 round per level.

Manifest Item(Sp): The Master Magician can expend one use of his Arcane talents to materialize, as a standard action, an item with a gold cost equal or lower to his Arcane Talent Bonus, this item vanishes after ten minutes, the Master Magician can expend extra uses of his arcane talents to increase this time by 10 minutes for each additional use, he needs to decide if he does this when he manifests the item.

Magical Craft (Sp): The Master Magician can expend one use of his Arcane talents to speed up the creation of an item. Each time he makes a successfull craft check, he can expend one use of his arcane talents to add a number of sp to the progress equal to his arcane talent bonus, if he makes a daily check the added progress is in Copper pieces. He can add multiple uses to a single craft check.

Burning Flash/Consuming Darkness (Sp): The Master Magician can expend one use of his Arcane talents to create a zone of magical Light or magical Darkness, this zone has a radius equal to his Arcane Talent Bonus Feet and lasts 1 round per level.He can expend additional uses to increase the duration of the effect.

Thaumaturgy (Su): When the master magician learns this talent he choses a patron deity(he must have an alignment between 1 step of his chosen deity). He learns and can preppare all divine spells asociated with that deity's domains, provided he has the appropriate Wisdom score, the saves are Wisdom based and he needs a holy symbol to cast them. He expends one daily use for every divine spell he preppares. In addition he can expend a daily use to learn a divine spell from a scroll or a divine caster (he needs a successfull Spellcraft check to learn this spell, if he fails he needs another use to try to learn that spell). When he prepares a non-domain divine spell he has to expend an additional use per spell level. He still has to use one of his regular spell slots to prepare divine spells. Specialist Master Magician's can't learn this talent.
Battle Casting (Su): Starting at 5th level the master magician can preppare and switch preppared spells as a standard action in combat by making a successful spellcraft check (DC 15 + 2x the spell level) if the master magician fails by more than 10 the spell slot is lost. This action provokes attacks of opportunity.
Instant Counterspell (Ex): Starting at 7th level a Master Magician with 10 or more ranks on spellcraft can act as if he had a readied counterspell whenever he sees or hears another spellcaster casting a spell of a level he can cast, provided he suceeds on a spellcraft check. Using this ability consumes a spell slot wether it is preppared or not
Eye of the Caster (Ex): At 9th level the Master Magician with 12 or more ranks on spellcraft can automatically take a 10 on all spellcraft checks.
Eldritch Mind (Ex): At 12th level the Master Magician's mind has become so warped that any attempt to affect it backfires in terrible ways. When he makes a successfull save against Charm, Illussion or Mind Affecting effects he can make an intimidate check against the creature that initiated the effect as a free action, he adds the result of his saving throw as a bonus to this intimidate roll.
Quick Battle Casting (Su): Starting at 13th level the master magician can preppare and switch preppared spells as a move action in combat by making a successful spellcraft check (DC 15 + 3x the spell level) if the master magician fails by more than 10 the spell slot is lost. This action doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity.
Expert Senses (Ex): At 15th level the Master Magician with 18 or more ranks on spellcraft can automatically take a 20 on all spellcraft checks.
Weapon Mastery(Ex): At 17th level the Master Magician gains extra weapon proficiencies as class proficiencies to account for his increased Int score, however this time he can also chose martial and exotic melee weapons.
Cast on the fly:Starting at 18th level the master magician can cast spells without prepparing them first, this action consumes a spell slot (preppared or not) and requires a successfull spellcraft check (DC 35 + 3x the spell level) if the master magician fails by more than 15 the spell slot is lost, if he fails by 15 or less he just fails to cast the spell.
Quintessential Mage:At 20th level the master magician becomes an exemplar among his kind, in addition to earning an unique title he gets two of the following features:
He choses an Arcane Talent, he can use it at will without expending daily uses, he still needs to expend daily uses for extended features.
He learns one extra Arcane Talent
He choses a number of spells equal to his Int bonus, he can cast them without having to prepare them.
He chooses a weapon he is proficient with, he adds his Int bonus to Attack and Damage Rolls made with that kind of weapon.
He get's extra spell slots equal to his Charisma bonus.


Specialist Master Magicians
Master Magicians can specialize on a school and take forbidden schools the same way many wizards do, on doing so they alleviate the difficulty they face when they preppare spells via spellcraft checks, the spellcraft DC's to preppare spells are reduced by 5 when they preppare a spell from their favored school and they get two extra spell slots to preppare spells from their favored school. However they lose 3 daily uses of their Arcane Talents and don't earn an Arcane Talent at fourth level.

Master Magicians and Metamagic Feats
Master Magicians can learn Metamagic feats as other spellcasters do, they apply them at the time they prepare a spell, when they do so they add the slot adjustment to the spellcraft DC.

Master Magicians of different Alignments

Chaotic.- The Master Magician can't learn, prepare or cast any Lawfull spells, he can prepare Chaotic spells without a Spellcraft check.
Good.- The Master Magician can't learn, prepare or cast any Evil spells, he can prepare Good spells without a Spellcraft check.
Lawful.- The Master Magician can't learn, prepare or cast any Chaotic spells, he can prepare Lawful spells without a Spellcraft check.
Evil.- The Master Magician can't learn, prepare or cast any Good spells, he can prepare Evil spells without a Spellcraft check.

Ex-Master Magicians
A Master Magician who stops being neutral cannot gain new levels as a Master Magician, however he retains all of his class abilities, gaining those appropriate to his new alignment.

Kaiisaxo
2012-02-07, 08:39 PM
I really need some help in balancing this class so it doesn't become overpowered or unusable.

JackRackham
2012-02-14, 11:56 PM
I like what you're going for flavor-wise, but this is mechanically wonky.

First off, I'd drop the whole will save thing. As-is, that save is all but unmakeable. If you make it easier, the class will be overpowered. I would simply use the numbers you have for 'spells readied' as their total spells for the day - the trade off being that they can prapare any spell, potentially all of the highest level, and have a better skill list, but have fewer spells per day than a Wizard and slightly slower progression.

Arcane proficiency is useless to a full-caster. I'd drop it. If you like it, I'd reword it. As written it's confusing. Likewise, magic strike isn't very good. +6d6 damage is nothing to a full caster.

On the other hand, Expert Senses, Alien Mind, Instant Counterspell, and Eldritch Mind are all cool abilities. I would move them up some to make them more accessible, as few campaigns reach these levels and their not THAT mechanically overpowering. Maybe Alien Mind at 3 (a +4 to certain saves is fine at this level), Instant Counterspell at 6 (this is very good, but not broken IMO), and Eldritch Mind at 12.

Then, I'd change Expert Senses to be a 'take 10' at level 9 and a 'take 20' at level 15. With this in place, I have a suggestion for a way to keep the flavor of mind overload (which I like) and temper the awesomeness of being able to cast any spell in the game up to the highest level he/she knows.

Rather than having it be a spontaneous thing, have the MM prepare spells as usual every day, but allow him (at-will) to use a move action to switch out to another spell spontaneously by making a spellcraft check (DC 15 + 2x spell level). At level 17 (or 19 if you can think of something else appropriate for level 17), you can give him/her an ability (something Clarity?) that lets him do this as a swift action.

You might even make this a longer progression. Level 1, spend 10 minutes of quiet meditation to change all spells (OOC). Level 5, at-will, change one spell as a standard action. Level 10, at-will, one spell as a move action. Level 15, one spell as a swift action (x/day). Level 20, one spell as a free action (x/day).

Last, I'd probably give this class a good will save.

Hope this helps.

Kaiisaxo
2012-02-15, 11:33 PM
Good ideas, however I would still like to keep the indecisiveness in some fashion, I want to be true to the source (a spellcaster that knew too many spells and always had a hard time choosing the right spell to cast as was effectively unable to favor one over another, but once she passed that hurdle she was scary and nearly unstoppable). Eye of the Caster is the take 10 on spellcraft.

{table=head]{colsp=8}The Master Magician (in progress)
Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special|Spell Slots|Max Spell Level
1st|+0|+0|+2|+0|Mind Overload|1+Int|0-level
2nd|+1|+0|+3|+0||1+Int|0-level
3rd|+1|+1|+3|+1|Alien Mind|1+Int|1st level
4th|+2|+1|+4|+1 ||2+Int|1st level
5th|+2|+1|+4|+1||2+Int|2nd level
6th|+3|+2|+5|+2|Instant Counterspell|2+Int|2nd level
7th|+3|+2|+5|+2||3+Int|3rd level
8th|+4|+2|+6|+2||3+Int|3rd level
9th|+4|+3|+6|+3|Eye of the Caster|3+Int|4th level
10th|+5|+3|+7|+3||4+Int|4th level
11th|+5|+3|+7|+3||4+Int|5th level
12th|+6/+1|+4|+8|+4|Eldritch Mind|5+Int|5th level
13th|+6/+1|+4|+8|+4||5+Int |6th level
14th|+7/+2|+4|+9|+4||5+Int |6th level
15th|+7/+2|+5|+9|+5|Expert senses|6+Int|7th level
16th|+8/+3|+5|+10|+5||6+Int|7th level
17th|+8/+3|+5|+10|+5||4+Int|8th level
18th|+9/+4|+6|+11|+6 ||7+Int|8th level
19th|+9/+4|+6|+11|+6||7+Int|9th level
20th|+10/+5|+6|+12|+6||8+Int|9th level
[/table]
I would also want to give this mage some way to still be relevant on the battlefield after expending all of his slots.(that's what the proficienciy and Magic strike were meant for, and for the wording on Magic strike it is meant to work on weapon damage too)
How would you rephrase Arcane Proficiency?

JackRackham
2012-02-16, 01:24 AM
Good ideas, however I would still like to keep the indecisiveness in some fashion, I want to be true to the source (a spellcaster that knew too many spells and always had a hard time choosing the right spell to cast as was effectively unable to favor one over another, but once she passed that hurdle she was scary and nearly unstoppable). Eye of the Caster is the take 10 on spellcraft.

{table=head]{colsp=8}The Master Magician (in progress)
Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special|Spell Slots|Max Spell Level
1st|+0|+0|+2|+0|Mind Overload|1+Int|0-level
2nd|+1|+0|+3|+0||1+Int|0-level
3rd|+1|+1|+3|+1|Alien Mind|1+Int|1st level
4th|+2|+1|+4|+1 ||2+Int|1st level
5th|+2|+1|+4|+1||2+Int|2nd level
6th|+3|+2|+5|+2|Instant Counterspell|2+Int|2nd level
7th|+3|+2|+5|+2||3+Int|3rd level
8th|+4|+2|+6|+2||3+Int|3rd level
9th|+4|+3|+6|+3|Eye of the Caster|3+Int|4th level
10th|+5|+3|+7|+3||4+Int|4th level
11th|+5|+3|+7|+3||4+Int|5th level
12th|+6/+1|+4|+8|+4|Eldritch Mind|5+Int|5th level
13th|+6/+1|+4|+8|+4||5+Int |6th level
14th|+7/+2|+4|+9|+4||5+Int |6th level
15th|+7/+2|+5|+9|+5|Expert senses|6+Int|7th level
16th|+8/+3|+5|+10|+5||6+Int|7th level
17th|+8/+3|+5|+10|+5||4+Int|8th level
18th|+9/+4|+6|+11|+6 ||7+Int|8th level
19th|+9/+4|+6|+11|+6||7+Int|9th level
20th|+10/+5|+6|+12|+6||8+Int|9th level
[/table]
I would also want to give this mage some way to still be relevant on the battlefield after expending all of his slots.(that's what the proficienciy and Magic strike were meant for, and for the wording on Magic strike it is meant to work on weapon damage too)
How would you rephrase Arcane Proficiency?

Well, at the very least, I would use a spellcraft check, DC 15 +3x Spell level, in place of that crazy high will save for the Mind overload. This should keep the necessary rolls just under 50% for most of the progression, given some effort on the player's part to keep the check makeable (Skill focus, putting stat bonuses into INT, etc. He'd need a 15 al lvl 1, a 27 at lvl 10 and a 43 at lvl 20)

As to making the player more capable in melee, I suppose you could give him a pool of arcane energy in excess of what he can use on spells (as he has a tough time keeping them all memorized), and the ability to channel this through a weapon into, say, force damage (much as you did earlier), but I would make the damage d6/lvl and useable x/day (Perhaps equaling to his spell slots? Or base this off charisma, if you want to limit abuse through SAD, 8+CHA modifier/day or somesuch). 60 damage per round, plus the piddly amount he'll be getting from his weapon at 1/2 BAB is peanuts at lvl 20 (as it should be, since he's not a fighter), but is at least relevent and would make this class an intriguing option as part of a gish build (mitigated by the slower spell progression).

In fact, and this is just an idea off the top of my head, so grainof salt, you could even allow this pool (through another ability at another level) to be used in reverse, as damage reduction as well. So, if the MM in question is silly enough to allow a Barbarian to win initiative and charge him, he can spend one use of this ability to reduce the damage to a non-lethal level - fluffing it as a shield of force, or using force to slow the blade whatever.

Arcane proficiency(Su): Starting at second level, the Master Magician gains a +1 arcane bonus on attack rolls made with non-magical melee weapoAt 14th level even when in practice the Master Magician attacks as if he was proficient with all weapons, he still isn't considered proficient with themns he isn't proficient with. This bonus increases to +2 at 6th level, +3 at 10th and +4 at 14th. This ability does not grant proficiency and does not apply inside an antimagic field.

Kaiisaxo
2012-02-16, 10:02 PM
Did my best to distille the feedback and add some extra goodies, how does it feel? For some reason I started thinking that it could somehow work for Gandalf if the casting was Wisdom based.

JackRackham
2012-02-17, 03:03 AM
This works for me. Most people would, however, ask you to define what constitutes a 'common spell.' Would that be core? Core + Completes? Core+Completes+Spell Compendium? Etc. In some groups, leaving this much room for disagreement could be a problem. Personally, I'm fine with it. Overall, I think this is good. I'd like to hear from someone more knowledgeable how this compares to Wizard, Druid and Cleric. It's defnitely tier 1....

Kaiisaxo
2012-02-18, 12:08 AM
Probably it would be best left to the DM to decide which spells are exotic for the setting.
Do you think it would work for the class if the casting was Wisdom based?

JackRackham
2012-02-19, 07:14 AM
It feels more like INT to me, as-is. But it really depends on how you're fluffing his knowledge of all spells. I have no idea. It might not go over well (in that they may just move it), but it might be worthwhile to post this class on the 3.5 forums and just ask if anyone has advice on how to break the game with it by RAW and if there's anything that just won't work. If anyone can, they can. This will give you an idea of anything further that needs addressed.