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zegram 33
2012-04-27, 10:39 AM
A seal master is an arcane, at will caster, with the quirk that they usually must first "lay" a spell as a kind of runic mine before it will trigger on whatever triggering settings it was given. It's more of a support/battlefield control character than a direct slayer.


Class skills (and each skills key ability) are as follows:
Decipher script (int), Forgery (int), Hide (dex), Knowledge: arcana (int), Knowledge: nature (int), Knowledge: the planes (int), Listen (wis), move silently (dex), spot (wis)

skill points at 1st level: 4+int modifier x4
skill points at each additional level: 4+int modifier
Hit Die: d8


{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special
1st|+0|+0|+2|+2|Seal size I, Rank I seals
2nd|+1|+0|+3|+3|Seal inscription
3rd|+2|+1|+3|+3| Rank II seals
4th|+3|+1|+4|+4|Seal size II, Hidden seal
5th|+3|+1|+4|+4|Rank III seals
6th|+4|+2|+5|+5|Unseal
7th|+5|+2|+5|+5|Rank IV seals
8th|+6/+1|+2|+6|+6|Seal size III
9th|+6/+1|+3|+6|+6|Rank V seals
10th|+7/+2|+3|+7|+7| Seal senses, Weapon seal
11th|+8/+3|+3|+7|+7|Rank VI seals
12th|+9/+4|+4|+8|+8|Seal size IV, Spellseal
13th|+9/+4|+4|+8|+8|Rank VII seals
14th|+10/+5|+4|+9|+9|Hidden seal
15th|+11/+6/+1|+5|+9|+9|Rank VIII seals
16th|+12/+7/+2|+5|+10|+10|Seal size V
17th|+12/+7/+2|+5|+10|+10|Rank IX seals
18th|+13/+8/+3|+6|+11|+11|Time seal
19th|+14/+9/+4|+6|+11|+11|Rank X seals
20th|+15/+10/+5|+6|+12|+12|Capstone:undetermined[/table]

Class Features

Weapon and armour proficiencies: Seal masters are proficient with all simple weapons, as well as light and medium armor.
However, to "cast" seals a Seal master must have both hands free

Seals
Seals are circular sigils that the seal master creates to duplicate the effect of spells.They are targeted on a point or area rather than an idividual creature, and can be left floating in he air in any orientation, or alongst walls or really any configuration the seal master so chooses. At 2nd level a Seal Master can inscribe seals on himself, and at 10th level on other creatures or there weapons. They are usable at will, and come in two main types, active and passive. Once a seal with a duration is activated, it will remain active indefinatley, even once the seal master himself has died. However, the seal master can only maintain 1/2 level (min 1) +wis modifier of seals at one time, including passive seals yet to trigger. He can end the effect of a single seal as an immediate action, or all seals as a swift action. seals with no duration count against this limit whilst passive but are immediatley removed once they are triggered.

Active seals such as wall of force and endure elements are triggered instantaneously as they are cast, reamaining in effect until the seal master chooses to end them.

Passive seals lie dormant withing there sigil until they are triggered. the settings to trigger a seal can be anything, from a free action by the seal master, to a proximity (or proximity of a certain creature or individual) to contact or even a codeword. However, as a side effect of this process, passive seals cannot be triggered by any means until the beginning of the seal masters next turn.

A seal itself is an extraordinary ability of its caster, and thus functions normally within antimagic fields. However, the "CASTING" of the seal is a supernatural ability, thus seals can only be placed at a range of touch within an antimagic field, although the effects of the seal function as if the field was not there).

1st level Seal Masters cannot place seals upon weaponry or living creatures

A seal is cast at a range of 10 ft /seal master level (to the center of the seal).
The size of seal that the seal master can use increases as he levels up:

At 1st level he is capable of creating up to a 5ft diameter seal as a standard action or a 10ft diameter seal as a full round action.

At 4th level he is capable of creating up to a 10ft diameter seal as a standard action, or a 20ft diameter seal as a full round action.

At 8th level he is capable of creating up to a 15ft diameter seal as a standard action, a 30ft diameter seal as a full round action, or a 5ft diameter seal as a move action.

At 12th level he is capable of creating up to a 20ft diameter seal as a standard action, a 40ft diameter seal as a full round action, or a 10ft diameter seal as a move action.

At 16th level he is capable of creating up to a 25ft diameter seal as a standard action, a 50ft diameter seal as a full round action, or a 15ft diameter seal as a move action.

At 20th level he is capable of creating up to a 30ft diameter seal as a standard action, a 60ft diameter seal as a full round action, or a 20ft diameter seal as a move action.

A seal master requires at least one hand free to cast a seal as a standard action, and two hands free to do so as a move or full action.

There are 4 different effect area's from the seal, these define where the efect of the seal wll be targeted, but in all cases it only effects one side of the seal, ie a blast type will create a 180 degree blast outwards from one side of the seal, but someone standing 1 ft behind the seal would be entirely unaffected. the same is true of all types of seal:

bubble: a semicircle equal to the seals radius, about 1 face of the seal.

blast: a semicircle equal to the seals radius plus 5ft to the radius for every two seal master levels or

column: a column firing directly out from the seal and travelling for 5ft per every 2 seal master levels.

flat: affects only the surface of the seal and things in contact with it.

Seals affect every creature in range regardless of the initial spells area of effect.

Class abilities

Arcane runist:A Seal master can always sense seals and rune around him. Additionally, he may use scrolls and spell-completion devices as a wizard of the same level.

Seal inscription: At 2nd level the seal master gains the ability to inscribe passive seals on himself and release them as a touch attack, taking a swift action. Seals used this way only ever effect the target thus touched, however.

Unseal: At 5th level a seal master may use his spellcraft skill as if it were the open lock skill to open locked doors, and as if it were the disable device skill to…disable devices, as long as he has the arcane mark seal on the object he is thus affecting.

Seal senses
At 7th level the seal master can place miniature seals over a creatures sensory organs to preclude the creature from using that sense. Sealing creatures eyes will afflict it with blindness, its ears with deafness, and its nose will not allow it to smell anything or use scent. Sealing a creatures sense of touch will entangle it as it loses all co-ordination. If the sense that a creatures bindsense or blindsight is based upon is sealed, it acts as if blinded. Even creatures that would usually be immune to these effects can be affected by them with this ability, so long as they have recognisable anatomy to target (sealing an oozes sense of smell, for example, would be impossible).
The target can avoid this affect with a reflex save of 10+1/2 the seal masters seal master level+wisom mod.
This ability takes a full round action and has a range equal to the normal casting range of seals, but the sensory organ in question must be in range (in cases of a multiheaded beast, as many organs of that type as are in range can be sealed).


True seal: At 10th level the seal master can transfer his seals onto weapons, even allies arrows or such. These trigger on an attack as normal, but target only the attacked creature and allow no reflex saves as long as the attack hits, at which point the seal is used up. Instead, the user may place a normal seal onto the weapon to have its normal effect upon contact, for example a force seal on the weapons hilt activated by a keyword to allow party members protection. This secondary ability extends to the seal masters hands, as well, allowing him to have active seals inscribed onto his hands. For ranged weapons it is the ammunition that is “sealed”, not the weapon itself. He can also now inscribe seals onto living creatures directly.
For ALL uses of this ability he must inscribe the seal by touching the item or part of the person to be sealed.


Spellseal:At 12th level the seal master may use his attack of opportunity each round to attempt to counterspell one spell targeted at him. To do so he must make a spellcraft check to identify the spell as normal, but does not need to know the spell being cast, but is simply capable of sealing and thus stopping the effect. At 16th level this effect improves to include any spell targeted within 30ft of the seal master (although he can still only counterspell one spell per round as it consumes his attack of opportunity for that round).
In addition, at 12th level he may cast “dispel” on touch at will, and at 16th level “greater dispel”.

Hidden seal: at 14th level any seal created by the Seal master to be smaller than 1ft in diameter is unable to be detected by detect magic, arcane sight, true seeing, or any other such spell.

Time seal:At 18th level the seal master may use “Time stop” as the spell, except he may target it to another character, allowing an ally to gain the benefits. He may use this ability once per day.

Rank Seals
Unless otherwise noted, all of these seals are as the spell except for the duraction and area of effect, which are: as the seal used for it. I have listed whether it is active or passive, as well as the type of area it effects.

Rank I Seals
Arcane mark: passive, flat. can be made to glow with illumination of any colour when triggered. this can therefore emulate the effect of the spells "light" and "darkness"

Undead seal: passive, blast. Deals 1d8/ level to undead

Elemental seal: passive, blast. Deals 1d6/level damage of cold, electricity of fire damage.

Arcane Lock: active, flat

Sleep: passive, flat. As the spell but affects 1 HD per seal master levels

Alarm: active, bubble

Endure elements: active, bubble

Entangle: passive, flat

Rank II Seals
Web: passive, flat

Acid arrow: passive, flat

Gentle repose: active, bubble

Summon Swarm: passive, flat. only one swarm can be active at any one time.

Zone of truth: passive, column

Spike growth: passive, flat


Rank III Seals
Glyph of warding: passive, flat

Magic circle against X: Active, Bubble

Explosive runes: exactly as the spell, cannot be made to trigger on contact etc

slow: passive, flat

Secret page: active, flat

Sepia snake sigil: active, flat


Rank IV Seals
True seal: as wall of force: active or passive (on seal masters choice), flat

Mark of justice: precisely as the spell (casting time of 10 mins)

Hallucinatory Terrain: passive, bubble

Wall of Fire: passive, flat. (the actual "wall" is formed by the seal)

Illusory wall: passive, bubble

Spike Stones: passive, flat

Clairaudience/clairvoyance: passive, flat as the spell, but the seal (when triggered) acts as the magical sensor, and thus must be first laid by the seal master.


Rank V Seals

Transmute rock to mud: passive, blast

Transmute mud to rock: passive, blast

Dismissal: passive, cone

Gate: passive, flat. Can only be used in its transport capacity. Rather than being able to transport the party anywhere, the gate will open at a secondary point when another gate seal is cast (can create a link between two or more places as long as the seal master casts the spell at those place). (I know this I barely even gate anymore, but that’s what I chose to call it, any critique on this would be MUCH appreciated).

scrying: active, flat. (the seal itself will become opaque and then show the scryed target)

insect plague: passive, flat. only creates one swarm, and only one swarm can be active at any one time.


Rank VI Seals
Circle of death: passive, bubble

Undeath to death: passive, bubble

Disintegration: passive, flat: unlike the normal disintegration spell, it can destroy 10 cubic ft of nonliving matter per each 10ft of seal in contact with that matter (so a 20ft wide seal will destroy 20 cubic ft of material etc). a seal can be used to destroy as little nonliving matter as the seal master wishes, up to the maximum of that.

Animate objects: passive, burst

Animate Plants: passive, burst

Control water: passive, burst

Move earth: active, burst


Rank VII Seals
Antimagic field: passive, bubble

Reverse gravity: passive, column

Symbol of stunning: passive, blast

Break enchantment: active, flat

Geas: as the spell


Rank VIII Seals
Antipathy: active, blast

Sympathy: active, blast


Binding: passive, flat. as the spell, but the seal used for the binding must be maintained to keep the target bound. once the seal is released the spell ends

Rank IX Seals
Temporal stasis: passive, flat. Can only affect 1 target, and, as binding, lasts until the seal is released.

Teleportation circle: passive, flat

Discern Location: active, flat

Rank X Seal
Freedom: as the spell
Imprisonment: passive, flat. can only affect one target and, as binding, lasts until the seal is released.

zegram 33
2012-04-27, 10:44 AM
Post saved in case of edits

silphael
2012-04-27, 04:17 PM
The Grand Seal is somehow strange: technically such an effect should be reversible, if only by "deific intervention" or things like that.

zegram 33
2012-04-27, 05:00 PM
thats true.
i'll be completley honest, i was hurting for a capstone, and it seemed like a logical evolution of the imprisonment spell.
if anyone has any other ideas for a "seal" type capstone id love to hear them :smallsmile:

togapika
2012-04-27, 07:48 PM
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01670/winking-seal_1670392i.jpg

Seal Master!

bobthe6th
2012-04-27, 07:48 PM
man, I came here looking for a sea druid... so disappointed...

and pun n'nijd... so sad. you get a free PEACH to make up for it.

will do the PEACH soon

Bhu
2012-04-27, 09:19 PM
Am I bad that upon seeing the title i immediately thought of a Druid who uses Seals as weapons?

zegram 33
2012-04-28, 10:52 AM
wow, punstream.
also: hehe, Seal greatclub.
i'll be completley honest, i had originally intended to include a
"Seal masters seal Seal" dealing 1d12 damage per level to aquatic mammals, but decided against it as the rest of the class is fairly serious.

in other news: i seriously cant get any pictures showing up in the thread, is there any tutorial on it somewhere in the depths of the forums? thanks

Blynkibrax
2012-04-30, 09:59 AM
I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thought this would be some kind of prestige class based around aquatic mammals.

zegram 33
2012-04-30, 01:36 PM
i think its getting to the point i either need to do a seperate homebrew or at least an ACF granting seal summoning powers for combat.
hmn....they're amphibious, and celestial porpoises as a mount does sound pretty amusing.

edit: i have also added in a few more spells, the movement penalty spells from the druid list and a few divination spells to give the class a bit of utility if theres no specialised caster in the group.

divinations might be a bit MUCH on the options side, if anyone would see what they think

katarl
2012-05-01, 10:18 AM
Excellent idea, reminds me of the Keepers from the Thief series. There's a lot to comment on:

The skills are... a bit odd. Why survival, spot and k.nature? Also, Skill points at level 1 are x4, not x3.

Why good Reflex and a cleric's hitpoints? This is a spellcasting class, with direct damage abilities. It's also got average BAB, are you expecting this class to enter combat?

Spells as seals is a fine concept, but doesn't level as casters do- 3+wis means you'll gain only one more seal per day per 8 levels (exc. items). 1/2 level (min 1)+wis might be preferable. While I'm on the topic- why Wis? Surely Int or Cha would fit more? Problem with not having fluff.

Gaining Read Magic and Detect Magic at will at level one is a bit strange too, why not allow them to use scrolls and/or spell-completion devices as a wizard/sorcerer of the same level? Add in an ability to sense glyphs and seals, and you'll achieve the same effect with less fuss.

Gate- Travel by Seal? :smallwink:

At level 9, that kind of teleportation is to be expected from a full-caster. The fact that it is perfectly located every time is balanced out by having to leave a seal at the point of egress.

Spellseal- what if you get combat reflexes?

Seal senses- why DC 2xcl? What's wrong with the usual 10+1/2 level + primary spellcasting modifier?

Binding- allow all variants, but the Binding permanently takes up a seal slot (from your 3+wis) until you release the prisoner. Imprisonment might do the same.

Grand Seal- really don't like this capstone, would end the class with something completely different- maybe some ultimate ability, such as shapechange, power word kill or wail of the banshee.

A more obv one: your pic link is broken. To put pictures on this thread, copy the URL of the picture you want (right click the picture, then select Copy Image URL), then paste that using the Insert Image button while editing your post. It is, however, more polite to the owners of the website (I've been told off before) to save the picture to your computer first, then upload the picture to a picture-hosting site, such as Photobucket before copying the new URL. This also protects the picture from being deleted when the original is.

For ideas on how to develop the class, I'd see the diabolist and summoner from Palladium Fantasy, or the Runescribe from Arcana Evolved. The diabolist can scribes an unlimited number of runes that only activate when he's empowered them (which he definitely can't do an unlimited number of times) and the trigger is met. The runescribe gets unique abilities in addition to spells, and can scribe so many runes daily.

I also did a glyph-based magic-system for 3.5 a while ago (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=139876), you might also get some ideas from there.

Hope this helps.

zegram 33
2012-05-02, 04:29 AM
thats wonderful, thank you.


The skills are... a bit odd. Why survival, spot and k.nature? Also, Skill points at level 1 are x4, not x3.


survival..im not entirely sure what i was thinking. will remove.
spot is because he needs to get the jump on enemies or he will essentially never connect with his passive seals, so i added that. although i guess outsourcing to the party rogue type isnt a bad plan at all.
and knowledge nature is there because i wanted him to have all the knowledge types that pertain to monsters, so he can be a) party pokedex and b) so that he can know what a monster uses for its sense a lot of the time, for the seal senses ability.


Why good Reflex and a cleric's hitpoints? This is a spellcasting class, with direct damage abilities. It's also got average BAB, are you expecting this class to enter combat?

essentially, yes. because his passive seals cannot trigger until the beginning of his next turn, he cant use them if the party is suprised. so whilst he can trap or remove most things perfectly if he gets the jump and they move to he right spot, i wanted him to be able to survive in melee (mainly with the use of seals on weapons etc). but now that you mention it, might just remove that, have him as wizard, and have him stay at the back sealing senses and using his active seals.


Spells as seals is a fine concept, but doesn't level as casters do- 3+wis means you'll gain only one more seal per day per 8 levels (exc. items). 1/2 level (min 1)+wis might be preferable. While I'm on the topic- why Wis? Surely Int or Cha would fit more? Problem with not having fluff.

thats true, 5 seals at 20th level isnt really enough. I had been worried about wall of forces caging people in, butlooking at it, forcecage does precisley the same thing. i think i shall add in your idea of 1/2 level+cast stat.

I'll be completley honest, the use of wis was to try and get rid of the SAD that casters benefit from, and because fluff wise, he's a mage who draws his power from an ancient language of magic (a kind of written truespeaker, but hopefully less sucky). although thats "wise", i did spend quite a while wondering about whether that was in-game wis or int.


Gaining Read Magic and Detect Magic at will at level one is a bit strange too, why not allow them to use scrolls and/or spell-completion devices as a wizard/sorcerer of the same level? Add in an ability to sense glyphs and seals, and you'll achieve the same effect with less fuss.

yep, that was an attempt to make sure they nevr lost track of there own seals. again, your way is neater and simpler.


Gate- Travel by Seal?

At level 9, that kind of teleportation is to be expected from a full-caster. The fact that it is perfectly located every time is balanced out by having to leave a seal at the point of egress.
firstly, that made me activley laugh :smalltongue:
secondly, glad it fits well.


Spellseal- what if you get combat reflexes?

hmn..on the one hand, thats fairly unlikely and you still need to make the spellcraft check on each spell and neutralize it fully. on the other hand, that would be pretty powerful as a defense. robably limit it to once per round i think.


Seal senses- why DC 2xcl? What's wrong with the usual 10+1/2 level + primary spellcasting modifier?

that would work better yes.


Binding- allow all variants, but the Binding permanently takes up a seal slot (from your 3+wis) until you release the prisoner. Imprisonment might do the same.

that....is a very good idea. not sure why i didnt think of that.


Grand Seal- really don't like this capstone, would end the class with something completely different- maybe some ultimate ability, such as shapechange, power word kill or wail of the banshee.

yeh, i think i'll remove this until i can figure out a better capstone

thanks very much for your explanation of the imaging process, and thank you for the link to your class.
ive read through and it does the traps extremley well.

additionally, im glad im not the only one who has trouble imagining a suitable capstone for this kind of class :smallwink:

zegram 33
2012-05-07, 07:06 PM
page 3 seems far enough
bump?

toapat
2012-05-07, 07:30 PM
I think this class would make a good grenedere class, with proper modifications so they dont need to throw small hills

Eldest
2012-05-07, 10:12 PM
This isn't the PEACH you're looking for, but please also make a Seal Clubber ACF, with the ability to spontaneously use up a seal to summon Dire Seals with clubs to beat up anybody who though this ACF was going to be mean to seals.

zegram 33
2012-05-11, 01:53 PM
working on an aquatic themed ACF, though its looking to be more of a seperate class entirely really. might take a while due to exams.

also, does anyone have any more comments or thoughts having looked over it?

zegram 33
2012-05-27, 07:26 AM
bumptacious