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Jeff the Green
2012-12-09, 10:29 AM
Author's note:
The Faerie Court Mage was originally designed for the Adem campaign world, which uses sonofzeal's Minimum Intervention Balance Fix (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=211407). If you are not using this fix, you may ignore the references to "beholden" and "dampening. Thus the Oath of Fealty class feature would instead read thusly:

Oath of Fealty (Ex)
A faerie court mage takes an oath of fealty to her patron. If at any point she disobeys her patron, she immediately suffers a -2 penalty to attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks, and her fey familiar (if any) disobeys her in whatever way it finds most humorous. These effects last for 24 hours. Multiple instances of disobedience do not stack, but reset the duration of the penalty. If she ever attacks his patron, one of his patron's subordinates, or a creature under his patron's protection, she loses all faerie court mage class features, and suffers a -2 penalty to attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks until she receives an atonement spell.


Faerie Court Mage

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Image by ©Stephanie Pui-Mun Law (http://www.shadowscapes.com). Used with permission.

[i]Hand in hand, with fairy grace,
Will we sing, and bless this place.
—William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

Fey are, as a rule, magical creatures. Even the least of them project small glamours and protective spells, and the Lords and Ladies of Faerie can produce illusions that are more substantial than reality. They are limited, however. No faerie can match the variety of a wizard, a cleric, or even a sorcerer, and very few have any knowledge of necromancy or conjuration. There is no substitute for mortal magic.

To fill this gap, a fey may appoint a mortal spell caster to be a court mage. These mages must be well-schooled in the magics favored by the fey, but fey also look for spellcasters with versatility, intelligence, and above all, a desire for power and prestige. The mortals that sign away their freedom in this way gain incredible control over illusions and enchantments, and eventually can create their own desmesne in Faerie.

Hitdie
d4.

Requirements
To qualify to become a faerie court mage, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria.

Alignment
Any Chaotic.

Race
Any humanoid or monstrous humanoid.

Skills
Bluff 8, Knowledge (nature) 4, Perform 4, Spellcraft 8

Feats
Extend Spell, Mastery of Faerie Enchantment (PGtE), Spell Focus (Enchantment or Illusion)

Spells
Able to cast at least three Illusion spells and three Enchantment spells. At least one spell from each school must be at least 3rd level.

Special
Must be selected as the court mage of a fey with at least 10 HD.

Table: The Faerie Court Mage


Level
Base Attack
Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Special
Spellcasting


1st

+0

+0

+2

+2
Oath of fealty, fey magic +1
+1 level of existing spellcasting class


2nd

+1

+0

+3

+3
Fey familiar, fey skin DR 2
-


3rd

+1

+1

+3

+3
Secret of faerie
+1 level of existing spellcasting class


4th

+2

+1

+4

+4
Fey magic +2
+1 level of existing spellcasting class


5th

+2

+1

+4

+4
Fey skin DR 4
+1 level of existing spellcasting class


6th

+3

+2

+5

+5
Secret of faerie
+1 level of existing spellcasting class


7th

+3

+2

+5

+5
Fey magic +3
+1 level of existing spellcasting class


8th

+4

+2

+6

+6
Personal desmesne
-


9th

+4

+3

+6

+6
Secret of faerie
+1 level of existing spellcasting class


10th

+5

+3

+7

+7
Fey magic +4
+1 level of existing spellcasting class


Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level): Bluff, Concentration, Craft, Disguise, Hide, Intimidate, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (nature), Knowledge (nobility and royalty), Perform, Profession, Speak Language, Spellcraft

Class Features
All of the following are Class Features of the faerie champion prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Faerie court mages gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.

Spells per Day/Spells Known
At every level except 2nd and 8th, a faerie court mage gains new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if she had also gained a level in whatever spellcasting class to which she belonged before she added the prestige class level. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If she had more than one spellcasting class before becoming a faerie court mage, she must decide to which class she adds each level for the purpose of determining spells per day and spells known.

Oath of Fealty (Ex)
A faerie court mage takes an oath of fealty to her patron. If she was previously beholden to a wildborn, spirit, or church, she ceases to be beholden to that entity and is instead beholden to his patron fey. If at any point she disobeys her patron, her powers are dampened (if she is beholden to her patron), she immediately suffers a -2 penalty to attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks, and her fey familiar (if any) disobeys her in whatever way it finds most humorous. These effects last for 24 hours. Multiple instances of disobedience do not stack, but reset the duration of the penalty. If she ever attacks his patron, one of his patron's subordinates, or a creature under his patron's protection, her powers are dampened, she loses all faerie court mage class features, and suffers a -2 penalty to attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks until she receives an atonement spell.

A faerie court mage also takes a -4 penalty to saving throws versus spells or spell like abilities from the Enchantment or Illusion schools cast by her patron fey or her subordinates; this penalty stacks with any penalties he might receive for disobeying his patron or attacking his patron, his patron's subordinates, or a creature under his patron's protection. In addition, a faerie court mage's patron fey and her subordinates automatically overcome any spell resistance she may have.

Fey Magic (Su)
By learning the techniques of faerie magic, a faerie court mage can make her illusions and enchantments more difficult to resist. She gains a +1 bonus to the DCs of her Illusion and Enchantment spells as well as to caster level checks for Illusion and Enchantment spells to defeat spell resistance. At 4th level and every three levels thereafter this bonus increases by one, to a total of +4 at level 10.

Any spells a faerie court mage casts are treated as though they were cast by a fey. For example, a 4th level druid with the Resist Nature's Lure class feature gains a +4 bonus to any spell cast by a faerie court mage.

Fey Familiar (Ex)
At 2nd level, a faerie court mage's familiar, if any, is granted a boon by her patron fey. It gains the half-fey template, using its master’s character level or the familiar’s normal HD total, whichever is higher, to determine its access to spell-like abilities. In addition, a faerie court mage's levels, except for first, stack to determine her familiars' abilities. If a faerie court mage later gains the ability to summon a familiar, that familiar gains the half-fey template.

Fey Skin (Ex)
Starting at 2nd level, a faerie court mage's skin begins to deflect attacks, but she gains the weaknesses of the fey. He gains DR 2/Cold Iron. As the faerie champion increases in level, this DR increases in effectiveness to DR 4 at 5th level and to DR 6 at 8th level. This damage reduction stacks with any similar damage reduction gained through the faerie champion's race, class, feats, or other source.

A faerie court mage gains a vulnerability to iron and magic that targets fey, however. She takes an additional 1d6 damage from any attack with an iron or cold iron weapon and is affected by any spells or effects that would normally affect fey in addition to any that would normally affect creatures of her type.

Secret of Faerie (Ex)
At 3rd level and every three levels thereafter a faerie court mage gains insight into the workings of Illusions and Enchantments. She can learn a single Illusion or Enchantment spell from the Bard, Cleric, Druid, or Sorcerer/Wizard lists (or any other list approved by the DM) as a bonus spell. This spell must be of a level she can normally cast. If she casts spells spontaneously the spell is immediately added to her spells known but does not count against her normal limit. If she prepares spells from a spellbook she may add the spell to her spellbook without any cost.

Personal Demesne (Sp)
When she reaches 8th level, a faerie court mage's patron permits her to create her own demesne in faerie. This functions as the genesis spell, with the following exceptions. She must use this ability on the prime material plane, not the ethereal plane. A permanent invisible portal to her desmesne exists where she used this ability, though she can set entry conditions as she wishes. Her demesne contains plantlife (but not animals) suited to a single environment that she chooses when she uses this ability. Once per week, she may travel to her desmesne as though through plane shift. A faerie court mage may only have a single demesne at a time, but she may destroy her demesne by returning to its portal and performing a ritual lasting one hour, after which she may create a new one.

Sherishade
2012-12-10, 03:40 AM
I really like this class I will probably use it next time I play a mage char. I've always liked being an enchantment caster and having the demesne sounds pretty awesome for a base or even a personal library/experiment location.

Zman
2012-12-10, 01:36 PM
Solid class. Very good Beguiler PrC even with the lost casting levels due to the increase in Save DCs.

For the Secrets of Faerie, I'd allow those spells to be prepared or cast once per day effectively granting another casting for a spontaneous caster, or another prepared spell for a Wizard so long it is the selected spell. Otherwise, I have to say it is very well done and is playable as is.

Grelna the Blue
2012-12-12, 07:00 PM
Okay, first off, I really like the concept. A lot. I've got nothing to add to it. However, I do have a couple small things I'd take away, just because it is so nice.

First, I'd originally been going to write that +4 to DCs on two schools was too high, but then noticed the two lost casting levels, which reconciled me. And then I noticed that Spell Focus is a prereq. It seems to me that the Spell Focus should not stack, that Fey Magic +1 should just extend the increase in DC to whichever school the Fey Mage has not taken Spell Focus in. I think that +5 to spell DCs in one school is a plus too far, unless the Fey Mage takes Greater Spell Focus later to get it.

Second, I could see arguments for good Reflex saves or good Will saves for this mage. I think both is a bit too good.

But that's just me. Overall, very nicely done.

Debihuman
2012-12-13, 12:45 PM
I am horrid at balancing classes but I love this.