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LordErebus12
2012-11-25, 12:45 AM
Eldritch Knight

Studying the martial and arcane arts to equal degree, the eldritch knight is a versatile combatant who can cast a fireball on her foes or charge them with sword drawn. The eldritch knight takes pride in her ability to use the right technique for the job: spells against physically tough foes and force of arms against spellcasting enemies.

Eldritch knights split their time between physical training to become better soldiers and arcane study to learn more powerful spells. They tend to be driven individuals, because simultaneously perfecting their spellcasting and combat prowess requires immense time and effort. Eldritch knights are never truly at home among arcane spellcasters or elite soldiers, so many drift from wizard school to mercenary unit to band of adventurers. Every would-be eldritch knight must demonstrate both skill with a broad array of weapons and mastery of the basics of arcane spellcasting.

Thus, almost all eldritch knights are multiclass characters already, with fighter/wizard the most common combination. A few eldritch knights were once bards, and even paladin/sorcerers aren’t unheard of.

Eldritch knights can be found wherever there’s a good fight or the promise of arcane lore. They find higher level fighters and wizards particularly interesting, and some eldritch knights apprentice themselves for a time to learn the finer points of arcane technique or weapons prowess.

BECOMING AN ELDRITCH KNIGHT
To qualify to become an eldritch knight, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Skills: Concentration 8 ranks, Knowledge (Arcane) 4 ranks or Spellcraft 4 ranks.
Spells: Able to cast 3rd-level arcane spells.
Proficiency: Proficient with all Martial Weapons.

Class Skills
The eldritch knight class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motives (Wis), Speak Languages (N/A), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Use Magical Device (Cha).

Skills Points at Each Level : 4 + int

Hit Dice: d6

{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special|Spells Per Day
1st|+1|+2| +0|+0| Armored Mage, Bonus Feat | ------
2nd|+2|+3|+0|+0| Arcane Channeling |+1 of existing spellcasting class
3rd|+3|+3|+1|+1| |+1 of existing spellcasting class
4th|+4|+4|+1|+1| Eldritch Shielding|+1 of existing spellcasting class
5th|+5|+4|+1|+1| |+1 of existing spellcasting class
6th|+6|+5|+2|+2| Eldritch Barrage | ------
7th|+7|+5|+2|+2| |+1 of existing spellcasting class
8th|+8|+6|+2|+2| Eldritch Resilience |+1 of existing spellcasting class
9th|+9|+6|+3|+3| | +1 of existing spellcasting class
10th|+10|+7|+3|+3| Eldritch Defenses |+1 of existing spellcasting class
[/table]

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Eldritch knights gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.

Spells per Day:
At the progression noted above, the eldritch knight gains new spells per day as if he had also attained a level in any one arcane spellcasting class he belonged to before he added the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of the original class would have gained.

1st - Armored Mage:
You gain the ability to ignore arcane spell failure while wearing light armor. If you already possess this ability from a prior class (such as Warmage or Duskblade), levels in this class stack with that class for any improvements gained to the Armored Mage ability.

1st - Bonus Feat:
An eldritch knight may choose a bonus feat from the list of feats available to fighters. This is in addition to the feats that a character of any class normally gets every three levels.

Eldritch knights may also select Arcane Strike (CW), Battle Caster (CA), Combat Casting, Eldritch Weapon (see below), Practiced Spellcaster (CA/CD), or Smiting Spell (PH2) as a bonus feat instead.

2nd - Arcane Channeling (Su) :
You can use a standard action to cast any touch spell you know and deliver the spell through your weapon with a melee attack. Casting a spell in this manner does not provoke attacks of opportunity. The spell must have a casting time of 1 standard action or less. If the melee attack is successful, the attack deals damage normally; then the effect of the spell is resolved.

You do not; however, gain the ability to let you can cast any touch spell you know as part of a full attack action, as does the Duskblade class feature at 13th level; however, if you also are a Duskblade with this ability, your eldritch knight levels stack for the levels required to gain this extra ability at 13th level.

4th - Eldritch Shielding (Su):
You can use a free action to deflect incoming damage, sacrificing a spell-slot or prepared spell of your choice to reduce damage dealt to you from an outside source by 1d6 per level of the spell /spell-slot sacrificed. You can use this ability only once per any creature's turn.

6th – Eldritch Barrage (Su) :
As a swift action, you can sacrifice one spell of 2nd level or higher with an energy descriptor (acid, cold, electricity, fire, sonic) to add 1d8 per two spell levels of the appropriate energy type to all attacks you make with a single weapon until the end of your turn.

If the weapon is a double weapon, then only one side receives this bonus damage. If the weapon is a ranged weapon, it deal only 1d6 damage per two spell levels.

8th - Eldritch Resilience (Su):
You can use an immediate action to deflect incoming elemental damage, sacrificing a spell with an energy keyword (acid, cold, electricity, or fire) of your choice to reduce energy damage of that type dealt to you from an outside source by 1d10 per level of the spell sacrificed.

10th - Eldritch Defenses (Sp):
As an immediate action, you can sacrifice one prepared spell or spell-slot of your choice to add a bonus equal to the level of the sacrificed spell to one saving throw. You can choose to add this bonus after having rolled, but before you know whether the save succeeded or failed.

-------------------------------

Big thanks to Redwarlock, who has worked quite hard in helping me finish this crazed undertaking, let the playtesting begin... oh mighty DM. :smallwink:

LordErebus12
2012-11-25, 12:48 AM
Eldritch Weapon (Reserve feat)
Prerequisites: Concentration 4 ranks, Arcane Caster Level 1st, Base Attack Bonus +1

Benefit: As a swift action, as long as you have a conjuration spell of 1st level or higher available to cast, you can summon an eldritch weapon made of force into your open hand.

This weapon can take the shape of any melee weapon with which you are proficient. The weapon remains in your hand until dropped, thrown, or disarmed, at which point it vanishes as it leaves your hand.

The weapon functions as a masterwork weapon of its type, but it is weightless and transparent in appearance. As this is a force effect, it deals damage normally to incorporeal targets. Summoning this weapon is a supernatural ability.

The weapon improves as a magic weapon, based on your base attack bonus or your arcane caster level, whichever of the two is lower. If the chosen form is a double weapon, only the main-hand end gains this enhancement. If you wish to enhance both ends, treat the effective enhancement as one lower for each end.

{table=head]{colsp=3}Eldritch Weapon
Minimum Base Attack Bonus|Minimum Arcane Caster Level|Weapon Quality
+1|1|Masterwork
+4|4th|+1 enhancement
+8|8th|+2 enhancement
+12|12th|+3 enhancement
+16|16th|+4 enhancement
+20|20th|+5 enhancement
{colsp=3}Epic Progression
+22|24th|+6 enhancement
+24|28th|+7 enhancement
+26|32th|+8 enhancement
+28|36th|+9 enhancement
+30|40th|+10 enhancement
[/table]

Epic Eldritch Weapon
Prerequisites: Concentration 24 ranks, Arcane Caster Level 21st, Base Attack Bonus +21

Benefit: With one minute of concentration and the appropriate spell slot, you can reduce the enhancement bonus of your eldritch weapon by any amount (but not below +1) to permanently enchant that chosen summoned weapon with one or more special abilities, such as flaming or keen. You must be able to cast the spells used in the creation of the abilities, whether its prepared or known, and it counts as a casting of that spell.

This also allows your weapon's enhancement bonus to rise above +5.



Ranged Eldritch Weapon
Prerequisites: Concentration 4 ranks, Arcane Caster Level 1st, Base Attack Bonus +1, Eldritch Weapon

Benefit: Your eldritch weapon can now take the form of any melee or ranged weapon of your choosing, including projectiles and thrown weapons. Summoning a new projectile or thrown weapon takes the same amount of time and the same action as loading or drawing a mundane projectile or weapon of the same type. Thrown weapons and projectiles vanish immediately after impact.



Legendary Spellcaster
Choose a spellcasting class modified by a practiced spellcaster feat that you possess. Your are able to utilize more powerful spell levels than you would be able to cast.

Prerequisites: Spellcraft 12 ranks, practiced spellcaster

Benefit: Half your bonus to caster level from the feat 'practiced spellcaster' to the chosen spellcasting class actually is counted as increases for the purposes of spell progression. This feat affects only to your spells per day and spells known. It does not increase your caster level, just treats your chosen class as two levels higher.

This benefit can’t increase your spell access to higher than your Hit Dice. However, if you can’t benefit from the full bonus immediately, if you later gain Hit Dice in levels of nonspellcasting classes, you are able to apply the rest of the bonus.

LordErebus12
2012-11-25, 12:49 AM
Reserved for anything. below is fine to post and rate it, Tier wise or add some constructive criticism or ideas.

LordErebus12
2012-11-28, 10:15 PM
what am i? a leper?

RedWarlock
2012-11-29, 02:17 PM
Mmm.. tasty, tasty leper..

Wait, where was I going with this?

Amechra
2012-11-29, 08:07 PM
Eldritch Weapon's table doesn't work, since PCs can't get a BAB of higher than 20 without some serious shenananananananananigans.

Other than that, you can give them more class features; it wouldn't be overpowered.

RedWarlock
2012-11-29, 10:40 PM
It's extended beyond BAB +20 for epic. (Personally I think it should be segmented into a separate table, perhaps even a separate feat, but it's his content.)

And really, you think nearly full casting, full BAB, and 4 skills per level needs more class features on top? Abjurant champion does have more class features, but it's only 5 levels, and only 2 per on skills.

The only thing I'd go for as more would be more uses of pre-existing class resources, like more spell-slot usage, or something with a give and take to it, like a 'take this penalty for that benefit'-type thing.

LordErebus12
2012-11-29, 11:14 PM
Eldritch Weapon's table doesn't work, since PCs can't get a BAB of higher than 20 without some serious shenananananananananigans.

Other than that, you can give them more class features; it wouldn't be overpowered.

im in agreement with Redwarlock, it would be broken if it was given more abilities, on top of everything presented, i feel it would be too much to add in another ability.

it has more skills, skill points, two extra abilities that stack, and better feat choices. all this at a cost of one caster level.

and you ask for more? hahaha. :smallbiggrin:

as for the feat table:
other than a duskblade, nothing will have a bab of +20 and a caster level of 20 at 20th level, nor will any first level class have access to this at first level.

3rd level is the minimum class level for anyone other than a duskblade who would want this feat.

Unless you go epic, you will not reach a +5 weapon or higher with a non-duskblade, this was done intentionally to limit what abuse this may cause by a bit and give the duskblade an extra edge on the other classes (something it lacks, compared to most Tier 1-2 classes).


redwarlock, would you help me? i cannot figure out how to add a break in the table for the epic.

Saidoro
2012-11-30, 12:12 AM
im in agreement with Redwarlock, it would be broken if it was given more abilities, on top of everything presented, i feel it would be too much to add in another ability.
Well, yeah, they get some neat stuff now, but you're charging them an extra casting level. This is even worse for full caster gishes than before and only slightly less 'shooting self in the foot'-ish for duskblades than it was. This really needs more class features to be at all viable.

And as a side note, BAB advances with half level for all classes in epic, eldritch weapon should take this into account.

RedWarlock
2012-11-30, 12:12 AM
Here's a revised table, a little more cleaned up, with a split for epic:

{table=head]{colsp=3}Eldritch Weapon
Minimum Base[br]Attack Bonus|Minimum Arcane[br]Caster Level|Weapon[br]Quality
+1|1|Masterwork
+4|4th|+1 enhancement
+8|8th|+2 enhancement
+12|12th|+3 enhancement
+16|16th|+4 enhancement
+20|20th|+5 enhancement
{colsp=3}Epic Progression
+24|24th|+6 enhancement
+28|28th|+7 enhancement
+32|32th|+8 enhancement
+36|36th|+9 enhancement
+40|40th|+10 enhancement
[/table]

(watch out for the breaks in the subhead-lines. The forum accepts [ br ] as a in-line break, but seems to want to reformat them as < br />, which it doesn't take.)

LordErebus12
2012-11-30, 12:29 AM
Well, yeah, they get some neat stuff now, but you're charging them an extra casting level. This is even worse for full caster gishes than before and only slightly less 'shooting self in the foot'-ish for duskblades than it was. This really needs more class features to be at all viable.

Practiced spellcaster (bonus feat) covers this, should it bother you so much...

And as a side note, BAB advances with half level for all classes in epic, eldritch weapon should take this into account.

how would you go about it?

Saidoro
2012-11-30, 12:52 AM
Practiced spellcaster (bonus feat) covers this, should it bother you so much...
No it doesn't. At all. All practiced spellcaster does is increase your caster level, it doesn't grant you extra spells per day or new spell levels, which are the really important things. The best spells, gish spells especially, tend not to be significantly level dependent. This is simply not a class I would ever take levels in. Even without the opportunity cost of things like Abjurant Champion and swiftblade, the actual cost of 3 lost caster levels(2 for duskblade) puts it out of the range of things I am interested in. Good casters don't lose caster levels, and that applies to gishes as well.

Eldritch Weapon should advance the threshold BAB by 2 instead of 4 for each step in epic levels.

LordErebus12
2012-11-30, 01:05 AM
how about at 8th level, for no loss in caster level:



Eldritch Armor (Su): As a swift action, you can sacrifice one spell of 3rd level or higher with a force descriptor to create special armor more fitting such an arcane warrior. This manifests as a transparent, almost spectral suit of half plate armor that adds a deflection modifier to the Eldritch Knight.

This armor grants a deflection modifier instead of an armor modifier; equal to 3 plus 1/4th your caster level (Maximum +8). This effect lasts 1 minute per caster level.

Unlike mundane armor, this armor entails no armor check penalty, arcane spell failure chance, or speed reduction. Since this armor is made of force, incorporeal creatures can’t bypass it the way they do normal armor.

This does not stack with mage armor or improved mage armor.

RedWarlock
2012-11-30, 01:08 AM
Practiced spellcaster (bonus feat) covers this, should it bother you so much...
Well, not really, for Practiced Spellcaster, it only benefits caster level for spell effects, you're still getting slower spell-level and slots gains.

As-is, I could see *maybe* putting that later casting level back in, but not both, and only if one didn't add any other new class features.

If we added in something else, a capstone or something, the casting would have to stay as-is. (though in general I might suggest pushing the Eldritch Barrage and sp-per-day back to level 6 anyway. One off, four on, repeat.)

As is, we kind of need some theme to go with. The original EK was entirely open-ended, whereas here, you begin to refocus this into more of a Duskblade-lite/Spellsword (PrC from Complete Warrior), with more emphasis on *how* one goes about combining spells and the sword, in this case, though elemental spells and channeled spell-strikes.

Duskblade gets armored casting, while Spellsword gets ASF reduction (in an entirely different and incompatible fashion, meant to bridge the gap between full-on fighters and sorc/wiz-casters). You already have the feat Battle Caster available in the bonus feat list, so no need to mess with that, really.

Any kind of extraneous Utility ability is largely pointless by late levels, since they'll likely have spare low-level slots to burn on those sorts of effect..

Ooh, what about a defensive ability? Burn a spell slot as a free action to reduce damage being received by 1d6/spell level? Give that one at level 4. Then maybe, expansion of the same idea, burn a slot as an immediate action to add a bonus to a save equal to the spell's level. Maybe word it like with action points, after you've rolled for the save, but before you know the result. That'll be the capstone.

LordErebus12
2012-11-30, 01:52 AM
changes all around... new feat, new class ability. its basically a suit of improved mage armor.

LordErebus12
2012-11-30, 02:06 AM
i like it this way... the new feat might be off... maybe count as only a +1 increase, not a +2

RedWarlock
2012-11-30, 02:08 AM
This is what I would recommend:

{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special|Spells Per Day
1st|+1|+2| +0|+0| Armored Mage, Bonus Feat | ------
2nd|+2|+3|+0|+0| Arcane Channeling |+1 of existing spellcasting class
3rd|+3|+3|+1|+1| |+1 of existing spellcasting class
4th|+4|+4|+1|+1| Eldritch Shielding|+1 of existing spellcasting class
5th|+5|+4|+1|+1| |+1 of existing spellcasting class
6th|+6|+5|+2|+2| Eldritch Barrage | ------
7th|+7|+5|+2|+2| |+1 of existing spellcasting class
8th|+8|+6|+2|+2| Eldritch Resilience |+1 of existing spellcasting class
9th|+9|+6|+3|+3| | +1 of existing spellcasting class
10th|+10|+7|+3|+3| Eldritch Defenses |+1 of existing spellcasting class
[/table]

New Abilities

1st - Armored Mage:
You gain the ability to ignore arcane spell failure while wearing light armor. If you already possess this ability from a prior class (such as Warmage or Duskblade), levels in this class stack with that class for any improvements gained to the Armored Mage ability.

4th - Eldritch Shielding (Su):
You can use a free action to deflect incoming damage, sacrificing a spell-slot or prepared spell of your choice to reduce damage dealt to you from an outside source by 1d6 per level of the spell /spell-slot sacrificed. You can use this ability only once per any creature's turn.

8th - Eldritch Resilience (Su):
You can use an immediate action to deflect incoming elemental damage, sacrificing a spell of your choice with an energy keyword (acid, cold, electricity, or fire) to gain energy resistance of that keyword's type equal to twice the spell level until the start of your next turn.

10th - Eldritch Defenses (Sp):
As an immediate action, you can sacrifice one prepared spell or spell-slot of your choice to add a bonus equal to the level of the sacrificed spell to one saving throw. You can choose to add this bonus after having rolled, but before you know whether the save succeeded or failed.

LordErebus12
2012-11-30, 02:15 AM
way better, thanks

willpell
2012-11-30, 02:43 AM
Eldritch Weapon seems too "spellish" for a feat IMO, but otherwise this is really good homebrew - elegantly simple, rather than overloaded with every cool thing the author could think to cram in, but enough to make the archetype pretty well viable (I qualify "pretty well" just because I'm not an expert judge or anything).

LordErebus12
2012-11-30, 03:31 PM
Eldritch Weapon seems too "spellish" for a feat IMO

Perhaps, i think i would like it to be an arcane reserve feat, but im unsure how to word it; I've split the epic progression from the normal feat, meaning it will cost another feat to gain an enhancement higher than +5.

LordErebus12
2012-11-30, 03:34 PM
And as a side note, BAB advances with half level for all classes in epic, eldritch weapon should take this into account.

done, its halved. however, doesnt make a bit more sense for the caster level requirement should also be halved?

RedWarlock
2012-11-30, 04:43 PM
No, CL continues to increase 1:1, as far as I know.

LordErebus12
2012-11-30, 05:39 PM
No, CL continues to increase 1:1, as far as I know.

i meant for non-duskblades. as written, only duskblades would have a 40th caster level plus a bab of +30.