PDA

View Full Version : The Sage (3.5 PEACH)



lunar2
2013-01-07, 10:33 PM
this is not a wizard fix, although it would work as one simply be restricting it to the wizard spell list. the wizard specializes in a single branch of magic (it's spell list, and sometimes only a portion of its spell list) in order to gain great power. the sage learns about magic from all the angles, mixing and matching all the styles to find the quickest, easiest way to get a desired result, but sacrificing some raw power in the process.

HD: D4


Sage
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special |0lvl|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|

1st|+0|+0|+0|+2|Scribe Scroll, Efficiency (spontaneous metamagic)|3|2|-|-|-|-|

2nd|+1|+0|+0|+3||4|3|-|-|-|-|

3rd|+1|+1|+1|+3|Lore|5|4|-|-|-|-|

4th|+2|+1|+1|+4||6|5|-|-|-|-|

5th|+2|+1|+1|+4|Bonus Feat|6|5|2|-|-|-|

6th|+3|+2|+2|+5|Spell Power (+1)|6|6|3|-|-|-|

7th|+3|+2|+2|+5|Overcasting (+2)|6|6|5|-|-|-|

8th|+4|+2|+2|+6|Efficiency (1 level)|6|7|6|-|-|-|

9th|+4|+3|+3|+6||6|7|6|2|-|-|

10th|+5|+3|+3|+7|Bonus Feat|6|8|7|3|-|-|

11th|+5|+3|+3|+7|Skill Mastery (spellcraft)|6|8|7|5|-|-|

12th|+6/+1|+4|+4|+8|Spell Power (+2)|6|8|8|6|-|-|

13th|+6/+1|+4|+4|+8|Overcasting (+4)|6|9|8|6|2|-|

14th|+7/+2|+4|+4|+9||6|9|8|7|3|-|

15th|+7/+2|+5|+5|+9|Bonus Feat|6|9|8|7|5|-|

16th|+8/+3|+5|+5|+10|Efficiency (2 levels)|6|9|9|8|6|-|

17th|+8/+3|+5|+5|+10||6|10|9|8|6|2|

18th|+9/+4|+6|+6|+11|Spell Power (+3)|6|10|9|8|7|3|

19th|+9/+4|+6|+6|+11|Overcasting (+6)|6|10|10|9|7|5|

20th|+10/+5|+6|+6|+12|Bonus Feat|6|10|10|10|8|6|
[/table]

Class Skills
The sage’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) × 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the sage.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: sage are proficient with the club, dagger, heavy crossbow, light crossbow, and quarterstaff, but not with any type of armor or shield. Armor of any type interferes with a sage’s movements, which can cause her spells with somatic components to fail.

Spells: A sage casts arcane spells, which are drawn from any spell list. A sage must choose and prepare her spells ahead of time (see below).
To learn, prepare, or cast a spell, the sage must have an Intelligence score
equal to at least 10 + the spell level (Int 10 for 0-level spells, Int 11 for 1st-level spells, and so forth). The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a sage’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the sage’s Intelligence modifier.
Like other spellcasters, a sage can cast only a certain number of
spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily spell allotment
is given on the class table. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Intelligence score. Unlike a bard or sorcerer, a sage may know any number of spells (see Writing a New Spell into a Spellbook,
page 179 of the Player's Handbook). She must choose and prepare her spells ahead of time by getting a good night’s sleep and spending 1 hour studying her spellbook. While studying, the sage decides which spells to prepare. A sage may learn and cast spells at the lowest spell level available, but may not cast a spell until her caster level equals the lowest character level another class could cast the spell.

Bonus Languages: A sage studies texts of all sources, both arcane and divine. sages may choose any language as one of their bonus languages for a high intelligence score at 1st level.

Scribe Scroll: At 1st level, a sage gains Scribe Scroll as a bonus feat. This feats enables her to create magic schools (see Scribe Scroll, page 99, and Creating Magic Items, page 282 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide).

Bonus Feats: At 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th level, a sage gains a bonus feat. At each such opportunity, she can choose a metamagic feat, an item creation feat, or Spell Mastery. The sage must still meet all prerequisites for a bonus feat, including caster level minimums. These bonus feats are in addition to
the feat that a character of any class gets every three levels. The sage
is not limited to the categories of item creation feats, metamagic feats, or Spell Mastery when choosing those feats.

Spellbooks: A sage must study her spellbook each day to prepare her spells. She cannot prepare any spell not recorded in her spellbook, except for read magic, which all sages can prepare from memory. A sage begins play with a spellbook containing all 0-level spells, plus three 1st-level spells of your choice. For each point of Intelligence bonus the sage has, the spellbook holds one additional 1st-level spell of your choice. At each new sage level, she gains two new spells of any spell level or levels that she can cast (based on her new sage level) for her spellbook. For example, when a sage attains 5th level, she can cast 3rd-level spells. At this point, she can add two new 3rd-level spells to her spellbook, or one 2nd-level spell and one 3rd-level spell, or any combination of two spells between 1st and 3rd level. At any time, a sage can also add spells found in other spellbooks or prayerbooks to her own.

Lore: Sages gather a variety of knowledge over the course of their career. At 3rd level, a sage gains the ability to know legends or information regarding various topics, just as a bard can with bardic knowledge. The sage adds her class level and her Intelligence modifier to the lore check. See page 28 of the Player’s Handbook for more information on bardic knowledge.

Spell Power: Sages learn to draw extra power from their spells, making them harder to resist. At 6th level, a sage adds 1 to the saving throw DC of any sage spell she casts. she also gains a +1 bonus on caster level checks to beat spell resistance with her sage spells. At 12th level, these bonuses increases to +2, and at 18th level, these bonuses increase to +3. these bonuses stack with those granted by other sources, such as the spell focus and spell penetration feats.

Overcasting: Through their various studies, sages learn to push their spells further than other casters can dream of. At 7th level, any formula in a sage spell that uses caster level as part of the calculation (such as a fireball that deals clD6 damage) and has a maximum value increases that maximum by +2. At 13th level, this increases to +4, and at 19th level to +6

Efficiency: Sages learn tricks to more easily modify their spells to fit any situation. Beginning at 8th level, the total spell level adjustment caused by metamagic to any spell cast by a sage is lowered by 1 (minimum 0). At 16th level, metamagic costs are lowered by 2. Additionally, a sage of any level can apply metamagic with a cost equal to or less than her efficiency cost reduction to an unmodified spell at the time of casting for free.

Debihuman
2013-01-08, 12:29 PM
I think you lose too much by having it max out at 5th level spells even with the extra feats and additional number of spells you can cast. Your over all number of spells is weaker than a normal wizard and that puts this class at a disadvantage at higher levels. Your spell progression isn't the same for every spell level. That seems off to me.

The special abilities can be duplicated with a few magic items.


Debby

lunar2
2013-01-08, 02:34 PM
of course it is weaker than a wizard. weaker than a wizard is a good thing. and no, you can't duplicate 2 free levels of metamagic on every spell you cast with any magic item (metamagic rods are 3/day). that's what makes incantatrix such a powerful prestige class. the difference between incantatrix and the sage, of course, is that incantatrix puts those free metamagic on 9ths, while the sage puts them on 5ths. the spell power bonus stacks with those magic items, so no, you can't replicate it with magic items (an item that gives +2 gives +2. a sage using an item that gives +2 gets +5). stacking bonuses can't be replicated, because they will always go higher than whatever tries to replicate them.

also, i realized something last night. a sage can use any spell trigger item, even those of 6th-9th level, because it has all spells on its spell list, even those that it can't cast pre-epic. by raw, it can also use any arcane scroll, even those of 6th-9th level, because it meets the caster level requirement.

@uneven spell progression. that's the duskblade progression. i figured it fit best for "less power, more endurance".

Grod_The_Giant
2013-01-08, 03:15 PM
Adept, IIRC, is Tier 4, and it gets a fairly nice but limited list of spells. This gets more and probably better spells. So... hmm.

My first thought is to give it more class features. Letting it improve or outright ignore spell-based level caps (like most evocation spells have), for example, wouldn't hurt. Steal Dark Knowledge from the archivist. Fill up those dead levels.

Oh, and there's usually danger in "any spell from any list" things (coughTrapsmithcough)

lunar2
2013-01-08, 03:31 PM
i was aware of trapsmith when i made this. this gets fabricate at the same class level as a wizard, and one level after a minimum level trapsmith. i don't think there is any major spell this gets before a wizard or other full caster.

@ignoring caster level caps. i thought of that, but was a bit leery of it. this class is already high T3 (but nowhere near T2, thank goodness), i don't want to push it much higher.

Grod_The_Giant
2013-01-08, 03:49 PM
@ignoring caster level caps. i thought of that, but was a bit leery of it. this class is already high T3 (but nowhere near T2, thank goodness), i don't want to push it much higher.

It's not that high, methinks. Great versatility, but doesn't have a huge amount of power, especially because it's working off lower-level spells. (Even with free metamagic and save DC boosts). Caster level caps mainly matter for evocations, which are already the weakest school.

lunar2
2013-01-08, 04:50 PM
alright. move lore to 3rd level, and at 7th, 13th, and 19th level, it increases the caster level cap by +2 (do any spells beside cure light wounds cap at 5, though?). that way, it never goes more than 1 level without getting something special. how does that sound.

i'm moving lore instead of adding something new because lv. 1 is a bit crowded. the spontaneous metamagic was a last minute add-on, but i like it at lv. 1.

Grod_The_Giant
2013-01-08, 04:55 PM
Better, but there are still dead levels at 2-4, 7, 11, 14, and 19.

lunar2
2013-01-08, 05:03 PM
3, 7 and 19 are covered by my proposed changes (lore at 3rd, improved cap on spells at 7th and 19th). only 11 is truly dead, getting nothing but a couple of spell slots.

maybe skill mastery on spellcraft checks at 11th? not too powerful, but fits with the flavor just fine.

Zman
2013-01-08, 05:56 PM
I like the concept but I think you've gone a bit far in lowering its power level. I think if you are looking for Solid Tier 3 it needs 6th level spells. As it stands I think he hurts too madly at low to mid levels. Not getting 3rd level spells until 9th level.

I'd do...

Spell Level : Level Gained
1:1
2:3
3:6
4:9
5:13
6:17

lunar2
2013-01-08, 06:22 PM
alright, here's the deal.

adept: T4. fewer spells per day, limited spell list, no class features (familiar doesn't count).

sage. many spells per day, every spell at whatever spell level would be most beneficial (sometimes lower for early access, sometimes higher for better save DCs), boosts to save DCs, free metamagic that can be applied as needed, instead of guessing ahead of time, gets higher CL cap on spells, other minor flavor abilities. definitely a solid T3 already. it doesn't need more power.

lunar2
2013-01-25, 02:29 PM
realized an issue with the spell levels. trapsmith is worse than i thought, giving the sage haste and dispel magic as first level spells.

so, i'm adding this fix to the spellcasting: a sage casts spells at the lowest spell level available, but may not cast a spell until her caster level equals the lowest character level another class could cast the spell.

trapsmiths can't cast haste until level character level 6, while wizards get it at 5. so a sage takes it as a 1st level spell from the trapsmith list, but can't actually cast it until without a caster level of at least 5. since items that boost caster level are by no means cheap, that should hold off early access to spells for several levels, at least.