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Falco1029
2013-11-02, 12:09 PM
OOC CommentsSo, I really like the concepts of both the Beguiler, and the Dread Necromancer. I wanted to put something together that combined the potential minion-mancy of both, without being its own thing that overshadowed them. A prestige class seemed to be the option.

Note that I'm well aware that beguiler has many other potential functions, but I did mostly avoid the 'trickster/rogue alternative' angle for this class. This is a minion-mancy class, basically, and so does ignore some of the other themes of both classes.

I know many 'combined spellcaster' classes are considered to gimp both classes to some extent, but I tried to make up for that by giving them plenty of bonuses to help them be effective leaders. I know it doesn't make up for the loss of caster levels, but that's the tradeoff. Speaking of which, the prerequisite class features aren't exactly important to the class, I just wanted to make it difficult to take the prestige class with a couple of dips.

As a note, this is the first prestige class I've attempted. Not very skilled at homebrew yet. Glad to hear suggestions to improve the class, make it more unique, or otherwise enhance it.


The Legion-Master

While many Dread Necromancers focus on advancing themselves towards becoming a Lich, and advancing Necromantic magic above all others, and most Beguilers focus on subtle manipulations and out of the way, invisible magics, some focus instead on servants and followers, luring people to their side or animating their minions from the remains of the dead. Those that combine both of these become Legion-Masters.

Legion-Masters don't advance as fully in some of the more subtle aspects of the Beguiler class, including their skills and special abilities, nor do they gain the aspects of Undeath that the Dread Necromancer works towards. Instead, he learns to better control his minions, both dead and living, creating a commanding presence for himself, and an intimidating aura when regarded by his enemies.

Entry Requirements

Alignment Non-Good, Non-Chaotic
Class Features: Rebuke Undead, Lich Body, Cloaked Casting.
Feats: Leadership or Undead Leadership
Skills: Intimidate 9 ranks

Class Features

Hit Die: d6
Skill Points: 6 + Int modifier
Class Skills: Appraise, Bluff, Concentration, Craft, Decipher Script, Diplomacy, Disable Device, Forgery, Gather Information, Hide, Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (Local), Knowledge (Religion), Listen, Open Lock, Profession, Ride, Search, Sense Motive, Speak Language, Spellcraft, Spot, Survival, Swim, Tumble, Use Magic Device, Use Rope
Proficiencies: No new Proficiencies



Table 1: The Legion-Master
Spells Per Day




Level
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Special


1st

+0

+0

+0

+2
Adaptive Casting, Rebuke Undead, Rebuke Humanoid


2nd

+1

+0

+0

+3
Improved Leadership +2


3rd

+1

+1

+1

+3
Despot's Aura (5ft)


4th

+2

+1

+1

+4
Command Resistance


5th

+2

+1

+1

+4
Permanent Charm/Command, Despot's Aura (10ft)


6th

+3

+2

+2

+5
Servant Mastery


7th

+3

+2

+2

+5
Despot's Aura (15ft)


8th

+4

+2

+2

+6
Improved Leadership +4


9th

+4

+3

+3

+6
Despot's Aura (20ft)


10th

+5

+3

+3

+7
Permanent Domination/Control




Spellcasting


+1 level of prerequisite Spellcasting classes


+1 level of prerequisite Spellcasting classes


+1 level of prerequisite Spellcasting classes


+1 level of prerequisite Spellcasting classes


+1 level of prerequisite Spellcasting classes


+1 level of prerequisite Spellcasting classes


+1 level of prerequisite Spellcasting classes


+1 level of prerequisite Spellcasting classes


+1 level of prerequisite Spellcasting classes


+1 level of prerequisite Spellcasting classes





Spellcasting: At each new Legion-Master level, the Legion-Master gains new spells per day and spells known as if advancing in level in both his Dread Necromancer and Beguiler classes, and increases his effective caster level for both (this includes gaining new Advanced Learning spells anytime their caster level reaches the appropriate level). He does not advance any other class features from either class (Except where noted below).

Rebuke Undead/Humanoids(Su): The Legion-Master continues to advance in capability to Rebuke or Command Undead. In addition, he may Rebuke (or command) living Humanoids as he does undead, at an effective level equal to his Legion-Master class levels only.

Adaptive Casting: A Legion-Master may, upon gaining his first level, choose either Intelligence or Charisma. From then on, both his Beguiler spells and Dread Necromancer spells alike will use that attribute to calculate spell DCs, spell modifiers, bonus spells, and anything else determined by the primary casting ability.

Improved Leadership: At 2nd level, a Legion-Master gains a +2 bonus to his Leadership score for the purpose of determining followers. If he is using Undead Leadership, this is cumulative with the normal bonus for attracting undead, and cancels out the penalty for mundane followers. This has no effect on the Cohort that can be attracted.

At 8th level, this bonus improves to +4.

Despot's Aura (Su): At 3rd level, the Legion-Master projects an aura of command that boosts the confidence of his allies and destroys that of his enemies. Allies within 5 feet gain a bonus equal to his Charisma modifier to all checks against fear and sickness, or for any morale checks if using those systems.

Enemies within 5 feet at the beginning of a turn must instead succeed on a Will Save (difficulty of 10 + Legion-Master level + Cha modifier) or be Shaken, and also take a penalty equal to the Legion-Master's Charisma modifier to any morale checks automatically.

The range of this extends by 5 feet every 2 levels (10 at 5th, 15 at 7th, etc). If the Legion-Master also has access to Fear Aura, that feature is removed, and instead the Despot's Aura extends an additional 5 feet.

Command Resistance (Ex): At 4th level, both the Legion-Master and any allies within his Despot's Aura gain a bonus equal to half his Legion-Master levels to Enchantment and Illusion spells, or anything else meant to magically compel, influence, or control. This also grants an effective turn/rebuke resistance, whether to his undead, or to his living followers (in the rare instance of another Legion-Master or other individual with a capability to turn/rebuke humanoids).

Permanent Charm/Command: At 5th level, the Legion-Master may cast any Charm spell or any Command Undead spell with a duration of permanent by raising the effective spell level by +1, working in most ways like a Metamagic feat, but not being enhanced by any feat or feature that would affect metamagic. He has a limit of permanently Charmed individuals equal to 4HD/spellcasting level of Beguiler or Dread Necromancer, whichever is higher, and may not permanently Charm any individual with more HD than himself. Permanently Commanded Undead instead fall under the HD limit of Animated Undead, even if the Legion-Master didn't create the Undead himself.

Servant Mastery: When a Legion-Master of 6th level or above uses the animate dead spell to create undead, she can control 4 + her Charisma bonus HD worth of undead creatures per class level (rather than the 4 HD per level normally granted by the spell). Also, anything falling under Permanent Charm/Command (Or Domination/Control below) is limited to 4 + her Charisma bonus HD per class level instead of 4HD per class level.

Similarly, when he casts the control undead spell, the spell targets up to (2 + her Cha bonus) HD/level of undead creatures, rather than the 2 HD/level normally granted by the spell.

Finally, once per day, the Legion-Master can treat the save DC of any Charm or Compulsion subschool spells as if Heightened to the maximum spell level he can cast, without taking up a higher level spell slot.

Permanent Domination/Control: At 10th level, the capabilities of Permanent Charm/Command extend to Dominate spells and Control Undead as well. Permanently Dominated individuals fall under the HD limit of Permanently Charmed, and Permanent Undead fall under the limit of Animated Dead.

Falco1029
2013-11-02, 12:10 PM
Reserved for future use

Falco1029
2013-11-02, 12:11 PM
Reserved for Future Use

Changelog
11/2/2013 - Some basic typo and wording fixes.
11/4/2013 - Wording Clarifications.
11/6/2013 - Changed the Charm/Compulsion Heightening capability to once per day.

Xerlith
2013-11-03, 02:49 AM
I like it. Overall it's a nice theurge class. And you CAN still get 9th level spells.

I mean, with those prereqs, a Beguiler2/Dread Necro4/Legion-Master 10/(for example)Abjurant Champion4 nets you casting as a Beguiler 12 and Dread Necro 18. Meaning 9th level DN spells and 6th level Beguiler spells. Not bad I guess.

Falco1029
2013-11-03, 06:35 AM
I like it. Overall it's a nice theurge class. And you CAN still get 9th level spells.

I mean, with those prereqs, a Beguiler2/Dread Necro4/Legion-Master 10/(for example)Abjurant Champion4 nets you casting as a Beguiler 12 and Dread Necro 18. Meaning 9th level DN spells and 6th level Beguiler spells. Not bad I guess.

Ah, I hadn't actually figured on just continuing to focus on one of them, that's my bad. That does make it a little better.

I do wish there were other dual-arcane theurge classes though.

Xerlith
2013-11-04, 03:13 AM
There is Ultimate Magus. It progresses prepared/spontaneous casting though.

JoshuaZ
2013-11-04, 09:26 AM
The table seems to have some formatting issues.

I like the idea behind this.

Adaptive Casting helps deal with the MAD issue.

Command Resistance- there's a weird bit in how this works in that since the turn resistance only applies to undead, it won't protect against rebuking of your humanoid allies by another Legion-Master. Is that deliberate?


Meta-Magic

This is generally spelled without the hyphen.

Servant Mastery is potentially very strong, especially the automatic heightening.

There's some question over whether Advanced Learning advances when a PrC level adds to spellcasting. You may want to spell out explicitly if this does or does not happen. Since the PrC involves not one but two classes with advanced learning, this will end up mattering a lot more.

I had an idea a while ago for a warmage/dread necromancer PrC, but thought such a narrow focus might not work well. Seeing how well this is done makes me more optimistic though. You've balanced out the crunch and fluff well, and it clearly integrates the features from both classes in an effective way. I'd be willing to play this and probably allow it in my games.

Falco1029
2013-11-04, 11:43 AM
The table seems to have some formatting issues.

Yeah, I copied it from a table that uses a second 'table' for spellcasting, to make it easier to write this out.


I like the idea behind this.

Adaptive Casting helps deal with the MAD issue.

Command Resistance- there's a weird bit in how this works in that since the turn resistance only applies to undead, it won't protect against rebuking of your humanoid allies by another Legion-Master. Is that deliberate?

I actually added rebuke Humanoid after that, so didn't think to go and change that. I'll reword it so it does apply there.



This is generally spelled without the hyphen.

Fixed. I knew it seemed wrong. XD


Servant Mastery is potentially very strong, especially the automatic heightening.

Yeah it basically is a fairly potent version of Undead Mastery, but I replaced the attribute augmenting with a wider scope. It's still meant to be more powerful though, because of the focus of the class.

The automatic heightening is fairly potent though. Do you (or anyone) think it might be better suited to a separate capability at a higher level (Maybe place it in level 9 so you get more than just a larger aura)?

Edit: I changed it to just be once per day, similar to a Sudden feat.


There's some question over whether Advanced Learning advances when a PrC level adds to spellcasting. You may want to spell out explicitly if this does or does not happen. Since the PrC involves not one but two classes with advanced learning, this will end up mattering a lot more.

I did mention that it includes advanced learning, but I'll make it a little bit more clear that it's definite.


I had an idea a while ago for a warmage/dread necromancer PrC, but thought such a narrow focus might not work well. Seeing how well this is done makes me more optimistic though. You've balanced out the crunch and fluff well, and it clearly integrates the features from both classes in an effective way. I'd be willing to play this and probably allow it in my games.

Thanks! And if you do attempt such a prestige class, link it to me and I'll take a look, as that was another combination I've actually been interested in before.

JoshuaZ
2013-11-10, 10:43 PM
Thanks! And if you do attempt such a prestige class, link it to me and I'll take a look, as that was another combination I've actually been interested in before.

Done. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16397327#post16397327)