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Plantae
2007-01-10, 07:56 PM
I humbly request the honest assistance of the splendid homebrewers here at the Giant in the Playground Forums. I have no head for balancing prestige classes, and the below popped into my head the other day without warning. I am fond of the concept for some reason, but I realize that it fills no necessary niche in terms of fantasy archetypes nor is there any real reason for its existence. Comparable, certainly, to creating a class capable of magically animating carpentry; interesting perhaps, but not necessarily sensical.

THREADMISTRESS (or Threadmaster)
The threadmistress is an urban magical savant with an eccentric power over thread. Her touch awakens it as her magic weaves it into patterns and a weapon for use against her foes. She is no mere tailor, but a strangely gifted witch whose knitting hobby is far from innocent.

Requirements
To qualify to become a threadmistress (Tms) or threadmaster (Tmr), a character must meet all of the following requirements.
Skills: Craft (weave) 8 ranks or Profession (tailor) 8 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 8 ranks, Use Rope 4 ranks.
Spells or Spell-like Abilities: Caster level 5th. Must be able to cast animate rope as a spell or spell-like ability.

Game Rule Information
Base Attack Bonus: Poor (as wizard).
Hit Die: d4.
Saves: Good Will/Poor Fortitude and Reflex.
Class Skills: The threadmistress' class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Profession (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Use Rope (Dex). Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Intelligence modifier.

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the threadmistress class.
Weapons and Armor Proficiency: Threadmistresses gain no additional weapon or armor proficiencies.

THREADMISTRESS
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|
+0
|
+0
|
+0
|
+2
|Animate Thread, +1 Spellcasting

2nd|
+1
|
+0
|
+0
|
+3
|Magic Thread, +1 Spellcasting

3rd|
+1
|
+1
|
+1
|
+3
|Manipulate Thread 3/day, +1 Spellcasting

4th|
+2
|
+1
|
+1
|
+4
|Manipulate Thread 4/day, +1 Spellcasting

5th|
+2
|
+1
|
+1
|
+4
|Manipulate Thread 5/day, +1 Spellcasting[/table]

Animate Thread (Su) [1st]: Any cloth material the threadmistress wills is animated as by the animate rope spell as a move action, unrestrained by whether or not it is "ropelike;" this has the same range as the animate rope spell and is still limited by the length guidelines detailed there, with the assumption that any cloth garment that could be worn by a creature of fine to large size is free to animate. The threadmistress may only use this ability on one cloth article per threadmistress level. She may rearrange the structure of the cloth at will (turning a shirt into a rope, making a scarf into a net, etcetera) as a move action as long as adequate material is available. She may also use this ability to freely unravel or mend any cloth she touches as a standard action (requiring a melee touch attack if the item is worn or held by another creature). Also, as a move action, she can command cloth animated by this ability to fly 30 feet. It remains aloft between such commands, but does not move unless she wills it to. Magic items are not affected by her animate thread ability. She gains the ability to affect magic items at third level, but they are allowed a will save to negate any of the above actions. At fifth level, both animating the thread and commanding it to move become free actions.

Spells per Day/Spells Known: When a threadmistress level is gained, the character gains new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if she had also gained a level in a spellcasting class she belonged to before she added the prestige class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. This essentially means that she adds her levels of threadmistress to the level of some other spellcasting class the character has, then determines spells per day, spells known, and caster level accordingly.

Magic Thread (Su) [2nd]: Any material affected by the animate thread ability of the threadmistress gains a bonus to its hardness and hit points per inch of thickness equal to her ranks in Craft (weave), Profession (tailor), or Use Rope. For every three points of hardness added by this ability, the material also gains a +1 bonus to its Break DC, Escape Artist checks required to break free of it, and its fire resistance. Any cloth material under one inch of thickness should be regarded as half an inch thick while calculating hit points per inch of thickness, regardless of its actual thickness.

Manipulate Thread (Su) [3rd/4th/5th]: The threadmistress learns to control the cloth animated by her animate thread ability in novel ways. She may choose one of the following abilities at each of the indicated levels. She may use her manipulate thread ability once per day per threadmistress level.

Charged Cloth: She may will any cloth she has animated by her animate thread ability to be charged with magical energy as a move action. Any creature that is entangled by, bound to, or wearing the cloth in direct contact with their body takes 1d6 points of magical damage per round until the cloth is removed.

Cloth Hide: The threadmistress may will the cloth affected by her animate thread ability to act as a protective hide when worn. For one minute per level, cloth affected by this ability that is worn grants a natural armor bonus equal to her threadmistress level. This stacks with other natural armor bonuses as long as they come from non-cloth sources.

Imbued Cloth: The threadmistress may alter cloth to store magical energy. Cloth on which this ability is used may store a number of spell levels equal to her threadmistress level for 24 hours. These may be used as additional spells per day or for altering spells with metamagic without increasing their spell level.

Living Cloth: Cloth affected by her animate thread ability now gains stats as an animated object of its size as long as the threadmistress concentrates (a move action). If ropelike, it gains the constrict ability, and if sheetlike, it gains both the constrict ability and the blind ability as listed in the animated object monster entry. Living cloth that is affected by the cloth hide ability gains the natural armor bonus for itself, the same with repelling cloth including the protection from arrows ability, and gains 1d6 damage to its slam attack and constrict ability when affected by charge cloth.

Repelling Cloth: The threadmistress gains the ability to alter a cloth affected by her animate thread ability as a move action so that it provides an armor bonus to AC for one minute per level. This bonus is equal to her threadmistress level. Cosmetically, the cloth appears impervious to being dirtied or stained. This ability may be taken twice; when taken the second time, the cloth also deflects mundane projectiles as the protection from arrows spell when worn during the ability's duration.

Constriction: If a creature in range is entangled by cloth from her animate thread ability, a threadmistress may will the thread to constrict as a move action. The subject is given one attempt to escape with either an Escape Artist check or by breaking the thread or it becomes paralyzed and helpless as the thread tightly constricts its body. The subject then begins to suffocate, though the threadmistress must maintain concentration each round as a move action. The subject may attempt to escape each round but may take no other actions. This ability may only be taken at fifth level.

mikeejimbo
2007-01-10, 08:02 PM
I have to say, I expected something different when I saw "Seamstress.":smallwink:

Plantae
2007-01-10, 08:12 PM
That was an honest mistake on my part. I had forgotten about the secondary meaning of seamstress... that will be immediately fixed as to alleviate any possible confusion. My thanks for pointing that out.

Ultimatum479
2007-01-10, 08:17 PM
...That is actually really cool. Although Animate Thread needs a maximum range on it, possibly based on seamstress level, and a maximum on the amount of separate articles of cloth which can be affected simultaneously.

Fax Celestis
2007-01-10, 08:21 PM
The Magic Thread ability doesn't seem to make sense. I can't recall ever seeing fabric measure in inches of thickness.

Also, I'd suggest acquiring a Raggamoffyn follower somewhere in the progression. Raggamoffyns appear in the MM-II.

Ultimatum479
2007-01-10, 08:28 PM
Oh, by the way, Appraise should be a class skill. Sleight of Hand is a debatable addition too.

Plantae
2007-01-10, 08:37 PM
The issue with range and articles that can be animated at one time has been duly noted in the animate thread description.

I am not familiar with the Raggamoffyn and do not have access to the Monster Manual II. I would honestly prefer to restrict it to the core books anyway, though I guess giving it such a companion would increase the class' overall versatility. The closest thing I can point to is the already existent Living Cloth ability, though I realize its not anywhere close to the same.

The Magic Thread ability is based on the statistics listed on Table 9-9 on page 166 of the Player's Handbook Version 3.5. It lists cloth there as having 2 hit points per inch of thickness (and rope as well). The actual thickness of a piece of fabric depends on what kind of fabric it is; perhaps I should put something to provide that anything thinner than your typical rope has a thickness equal to x inches for simplification purposes?

I do not see the addition of Appraise or Sleight of Hand as overpowering and they are both quite appropriate. Thank you for the suggestion.

Ultimatum479
2007-01-10, 08:57 PM
Well, shirts and the like definitely aren't even an inch thick, so yes, that would be necessary.

Huh. If a bedroll comes with a blanket or quilt -- especially the latter, as that's much thicker -- I finally see a use in buying one. ^_^

It's good that Threadmistresses are now able to animate multiple articles of cloth simultaneously. Otherwise, they'd be a bit underpowered, as it's really easy to burn one attacking cloth at a time with a torch or fire spell and thus completely negate the Living Cloth ability.

Actually, they might still be underpowered, especially with the pre-reqs. What if Magic Thread were a 1st-level spell along with Animate Thread, and the Threadmistress could get four Manipulate Thread abilities instead of 3? You must admit that the first level of Threadmistress is really quite useless on its own...

Plantae
2007-01-10, 10:34 PM
I have to agree that the class may currently be somewhat underpowered. I had the same thoughts on the first level, but I would rather have it start underpowered then start overpowered: much easier to control balance in the latter case. I like the suggestion to grant both Magic Thread and Animate Thread at first level, but I think I might take a slightly different course of action. Rather, I am going to add a line that says that Magic Thread also grants fire resistance, and then give the class full spellcasting.

To solve the problem of the thickness of fabric, I am going to state that anything under one inch of thickness should be treated as if it was half an inch thick.

Ultimatum479
2007-01-11, 07:23 AM
Might wanna change the name in the title, since you changed it in your post.

So the +spellcasting works either for divine or arcane spellcasting levels? Cool.