Magic Is In My Soul! [3.5/PF Base Class] (PEACH)

[Ionbound]

This is my first brew...Hopefully, if this is good, I'll make some more.


The magic of the universe is in my very soul...If you think that your puny books and blood can defeat me, think again.

The Spellbinder

http://media.wizards.com/images/magic/daily/arcana/1155_fathommage_2.jpg

Wizards have their book, sorcerers their blood, but the Spellbinder has magic in their very soul. They are wellspring of Arcane Power, always filled to brimming with the strange power necessary to cast spells. However, this power comes at a price, and whenever a spellbinder casts a spell, the power they command ravages their body. Thus, many spellbinders are sickly, exhausted people, seemingly animated by something else: Their power.

Alignment: Any
Hit Dice: d6
Class Skills: Concentration, Craft, Decipher Script, Knowledge (all, taken individually), Profession, Spellcraft, Use Magic Device
Skill Points: 2+Int Modifier



Levels
Good Saves: Fort and Will
Bad Save: Ref
BaB
Abilities
Spells Memorizable


1
+2
+0
+0
Spellcasting, Summon Familiar
3


2
+3
+0
+1

5


3
+3
+1
+1

7


4
+4
+1
+2

9


5
+4
+1
+2

11


6
+5
+2
+3

13


7
+5
+2
+3

15


8
+6
+2
+4

17


9
+6
+3
+4

19


10
+7
+3
+5

21


11
+7
+3
+5

22


12
+8
+4
+6/+1

24


13
+8
+4
+6/+1

25


14
+9
+4
+7/+2

27


15
+9
+5
+7/+2

28


16
+10
+5
+8/+3

30


17
+10
+5
+8/+3

31


18
+11
+6
+9/+4

33


19
+11
+6
+9/+4

34


20
+12
+6
+10/+5

36



Spellcasting: A spellbinder can learn any arcane spell, drawn from the Beguiler, Death Master, Duskblade, Hexblade, Jester, Sorcerer, Spellthief, Wizard, and Wu Jen lists. A spellbinder can cast any spell she knows without preparing it ahead of time

To learn or cast a spell, the spellbinder must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a spellbinder’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the spellbinder’s Intelligence modifier.

Unlike other spellcasters, a Spellbinder may cast an unlimited number of spells per day. However, to cast a spell, they spellbinder must take 1 point of Charisma or Constitution damage per spell level, whichever is lower.

Like a wizard, a spellbinder can learn any spell. To do so, she must spend 1 day per level of the spell to be learned studying it, at which point she knows the spell and may cast it as normal. However, the spellbinder can only remember a certain number of spells at once, as shown on the above table. If she tries to remember more than that, she simply forgets the oldest spell she has memorized.



Caster Level
Spells Known


1st-2nd
1st


3rd-4th
2nd


5th-6th
3rd


7th-8th
4th


9th-10th
5th


11th-12th
6th


13th-14th
7th


15th-16th
8th


17th+
9th



Familiar: A spellbinder can obtain a familiar. Doing so takes 24 hours and uses up magical materials that cost 100 gp. A familiar is a magical beast that resembles a small animal and is unusually tough and intelligent. The creature serves as a companion and servant.

The spellbinder chooses the kind of familiar he gets. As the sorcerer advances in level, his familiar also increases in power.

If the familiar dies or is dismissed by the spellbinder, the spellbinder must attempt a DC 15 Fortitude saving throw. Failure means he loses 200 experience points per spellbinder level; success reduces the loss to one-half that amount. However, a spellbinder’s experience point total can never go below 0 as the result of a familiar’s demise or dismissal. A slain or dismissed familiar cannot be replaced for a year and day. A slain familiar can be raised from the dead just as a character can be, and it does not lose a level or a Constitution point when this occurs.

A character with more than one class that grants a familiar may have only one familiar at a time.

Overhauled the spell-memorization system. They can still learn any arcane spell, just not all at once.

Removed Bard casting since it breaks the class.

Changed the damage/spell level from 1d6 non-lethal to 1 Con or Cha.

[Ionbound]

Reserved for Feats

[Ionbound]

Reserved for Epic Progression.

[Xerlith]

This easily gets into Tier 0.

Any spell in the game? Learning as the Wizard, casting as the Sorcerer? This is going to generate unlimited power.

Quick showcase - a Necropolitan Dread Necromancer 1/Spellbinder19 casts with no limits. Bonus points for Draconic Aura of Vigor. And Therapeutic Mantle Soulmeld.

I'd recommend slowing the progression to the Bard's... Or somehow changing the mechanic of learning spells. Now it seems a bit like... An offspring of a Warlock, Artificer and Sorcerer. On steroids.

[Ionbound]

This easily gets into Tier 0.

Any spell in the game? Learning as the Wizard, casting as the Sorcerer? This is going to generate unlimited power.

Quick showcase - a Necropolitan Dread Necromancer 1/Spellbinder19 casts with no limits. Bonus points for Draconic Aura of Vigor. And Therapeutic Mantle Soulmeld.

I'd recommend slowing the progression to the Bard's... Or somehow changing the mechanic of learning spells. Now it seems a bit like... An offspring of a Warlock, Artificer and Sorcerer. On steroids.

Alright, I forgot to factor in Fast Healing when I was trying to balance this.

The idea was the uncertainty involved would prevent someone from pushing too far. At 20th level, assuming a Con mod of +3 and taking the average of the d6 HD each level, you're going to have 120 or so HP. And casting a 9th level spell can do up to 54 damage, which is about half. You can push if you're desperate, but you run the risk of passing out or dying. But, like I said, I forgot to factor in sources of Fast Healing. Thanks for pointing that out.

[Ionbound]

Alright, nerfed the memorization system. Any more feedback would be very much appreciated. I want to make this class playable, both for players and GMs.

[Adam1949]

Alright, I forgot to factor in Fast Healing when I was trying to balance this.

The idea was the uncertainty involved would prevent someone from pushing too far. At 20th level, assuming a Con mod of +3 and taking the average of the d6 HD each level, you're going to have 120 or so HP. And casting a 9th level spell can do up to 54 damage, which is about half. You can push if you're desperate, but you run the risk of passing out or dying. But, like I said, I forgot to factor in sources of Fast Healing. Thanks for pointing that out.

HP is the most renewable resource in the game. If you're at 5th or higher level, the Bard has Refreshment (BoED) on his spell list, which recovers all nonlethal damage as a standard action. If you act like an undead in regards to Positive and Negative energy, then the Death Master has the Inflict series of spells right on his list; thus healing you for more than you pay if you have, say, Maximize Spell.

[Qwertystop]

Also, Bards get the Cure spells. Casting CLW gets you 1d8+CL, and deals you 1d6 damage. Even at first level, you'll come out ahead on average, and it just gets more efficient as you gain levels (since the healing goes up and the damage doesn't).

Also, you heal 1 nonlethal damage per hour without any other modifiers - that's a spell level regained every three hours average, every six hours at best.

[Ionbound]

Alright I removed Bard casting. It didn't make much sense, flavor-wise, and since it breaks the class, it needs to go.

Qwerty, that's the point. Wizards and sorcerers refresh their spells every day, Spellbinders slowly regain spell levels over time.

[Qwertystop]

Hmmm... how does nonlethal damage interact with temporary HP? Wizards can get plenty of that with False Life.

Constitution is easy to boost with spells or items, and healing items (the ones worth getting) are cheap.

Also, this still has problems with constructs and Repair spells, exactly the same as with Cure spells when it had the Bard list but race-limited (to an excellent race).

Finally, there's a problem in the interaction between the limit on spells-memorized-at-one-time and the copied-straight-from-Wizard knows-all-cantrips-and-two-spells-per-level-plus-a-few-at-first-level-for-high-INT. The latter doesn't fit in the former.

[Ionbound]

Hrm...I think this does need a rework...Any ideas on how to maintain cast from HP as the main limitation of a class?

[Qwertystop]

Hrm...I think this does need a rework...Any ideas on how to maintain cast from HP as the main limitation of a class?

It isn't really doable. Might be able to manage it with ability damage, but HP is way too easy to both raise and recover.

[Ionbound]

Hmm...Maybe 1 Con damage/spell level? With the stipulation that it becomes Charisma damage if you are immune to Con damage or lack a Con score?

[Qwertystop]

Considering all the emphasis on souls despite the class currently having nothing to do with that (it's all physical toughness for more spells and pure intelligence for DCs), you could say the damage goes to the lower of Con and Cha. I don't think having effectively three casting stats to keep up would be too much of a problem, considering this is still a full caster with potentially infinite spells per day.

[Ionbound]

The soul stuff is just fluff...What does Charisma have to do with blood, anyways? But I do think that works pretty well. Editing!

[Qwertystop]

The soul stuff is just fluff...What does Charisma have to do with blood, anyways? But I do think that works pretty well. Editing!

What does blood have to do with any of this? Charisma (as force-of-personality) just has more to do with the soul than Constitution. It's a bit odd to say one thing in fluff and have every bit of crunch go in a completely different direction.

[Ionbound]

What does blood have to do with any of this? Charisma (as force-of-personality) just has more to do with the soul than Constitution. It's a bit odd to say one thing in fluff and have every bit of crunch go in a completely different direction.

Sorcerer fluff is the magic in their blood...I dunno. The idea of the Con damage was that she sheer mass of the power the Spellbinder commands messes up their body. While the soul is strong, the flesh in not and all that.

[Seltsamuel]

Isn´t there a soulmeld out there whicht absorbs one point of ability damage? My Hellfire Warlock has used it, but I cant remember its name :smallannoyed: