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Zaydos
2015-09-17, 01:00 AM
NOVA BLAST MAGE

"Power is what I hold in my hand. I open it and you will see destruction." – Zyal the Destroyer of Kingdoms

A Nova Blast Mage is a master of destructive force and the evoking of its power into reality. They hold great arcane power which can change the world like a meteor strike. At the height of their powers a single spell can devastate a small country. A Nova Blast Mage destroys armies, blasts away fortifications, and wields the power of a striking star.

Becoming a Nova Blast Mage

Nova Blast Mages are born of talent. Each Nova Blast Mage is a savant of evocation, their natural power in it such that it eventually occludes their power in other fields. To become one you must have this talent, this ability, and genius. Even then most mages with the talent never develop it to the extent required to become a Nova Blast Mage.

Prerequisites:
Skills: Concentration 15 ranks, Spellcraft 5 ranks.
Feats: Maximize Spell, Spell Focus (Evocation)
Alignment: Any non-Good.
Spells: Ability to spontaneously cast at least 1 6th level Evocation spell, and 3 total Evocation spells.

Class Skills
The Nove Blast Mage's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are: Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Arcana) (Int), Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).
Skills Points at Each Level: 2 + int

HD Type: d4.


LevelBase Attack BonusFort SaveRef SaveWill SaveSpecialSpells
1st
+0
+0
+0
+2Expand Evocation, Force Barrage+1 level of evocations
2nd
+1
+0
+0
+3Bonus Metamagic Feat, Intensify Evocation+1 level of evocations
3rd
+1
+1
+1
+3Nova Blast, Star Strike Spell+1 level of evocations
4th
+2
+1
+1
+4Bonus Metamagic Feat, Destructive Evocation, Evoker's Metamagic+1 level of evocations
5th
+2
+1
+1
+4Evocation of Mass Destruction, Powerful Evocation+1 level of evocations


Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: A Nova Blast Mage’s weapon is explosive destruction, and the occasional siege engine. They have no need of, and gain no new, regular Weapon or Armor Proficiencies.

Spellcasting: At each level Nova Blast Mage gains new spells per day and spells known as if they had gained a level in an arcane spellcasting class they had previously. However new spells known gained with these levels may only be used to learn Evocation spells, and any spells per day gained from their highest X levels, where X equals the number of levels of Nova Blast Mage advancing that class's casting, may only be used for Evocation spells, this does not affect bonus spell slots for high ability scores (for example a 15th level sorcerer/5th level Nova Blast Mage would have 6 spells of each level 0 to 9 before bonus spells, however only their 6th level or lower spells could be freely any school and they have 4 7th level slots that can be used for any school their remaining 2 7th level and 6 8th and 9th level spells must be used for Evocations; a 12th level sorcerer/3rd level bard/5th level NBM that advanced sorcerer once and bard 4 times would have 1 5th and 1 6th level Sorcerer slot that could only be used for evocation and 2 1st and 2 2nd level bard slots that could only be evocation spells).

Expand Evocation: A Nova Blast Mage is a destroyer of armies and learns how to use widespread magic. When casting an evocation spell with an Area a Nova Blast Mage may expend an open (no prepared spell) spell slot of the same or higher level to increase its area (and range if they are the same) by 100% of its original area (metamagic effects are included in this original area). A Nova Blast Mage may expend more than one additional spell slot this way each increasing the area by 100% of the original area. For example a Nova Blast Mage could cast Cone of Cold with 2 5th level slots to cover a 120 ft cone, or with 7 5th level slots to cover a 420 ft cone. A particularly insane one could expend 8 5th, 8 6th, 7 7th, 7 8th, and 7 9th to cast a 2220 ft Cone of Cold, or with the Widen Spell metamagic 7 8th and 7 9th to cast a 1680 ft Cone of Cold (widening it would maximize its area if it were a 3rd level or lower spell base in this scenario).

Force Barrage: A Nova Blast Mage is a master of evocation from its basics to its heights. They gain Magic Missile as a bonus 1st level spell known for all arcane spellcasting classes (adding it to their spell list if necessary); if they already know Magic Missile they may select a different 1st level spell on their spell list to add to their spells known (this does not have to be evocation). When casting Magic Missile a Nova Blast Mage may expend a 3rd level or higher spell slot to add 5 to their number of missiles for each level above 2nd and to double their range for each level above 2nd (remember 2 doublings equal a tripling, so max is octuple range). Levels added due to Metamagic are not calculated into this effect however it can be raised to compensate (a maximized Magic Missile cast from a 4th level slot gains no benefit, one cast from a 7th fires 15 missile and triple distance), and if Enlarged it treats the new range as the base range before doubling so that they do not equal a tripling.

Bonus Metamagic Feat: At 2nd and 4th level a Nova Blast Mage gains a bonus metamagic feat of their choice that they fulfill the prerequisites for. They may only apply the benefits of this metamagic feat to Evocation spells.

Intensify Evocation: A Nova Blast Mage learns to increase their evocations to maximum power. Beginning at 2nd level a Nova Blast Mage may opt to half the area of an evocation effect to add +1 damage per die and increase the save DC by +2. They may not combine this with Expand Evocation. They may expend a second spell slot of the same level to increase the damage by an additional +1 per die and increase the save DC by another +2; they gain no benefit from additional spell slots beyond this one.

Nova Blast (Su): A Nova Blast Mage learns to release a nova blast a powerful force of destruction and light. Beginning at 3rd level a Nova Blast Mage may release this blast from the palm of their hand as a standard action. This is a force effect dealing 5d6 damage +2d6 per Nova Blast Mage level in a cone 5 ft long per spell level of Evocation you have available or a line 10 ft long per spell level of Evocation you have available. A Reflex save (DC 10 + 1/2 character level + Cha modifier) halves this damage. Creatures with light sensitivity caught in the area which fail their saves are blinded for 1 round. Creatures with light blindness are blinded for 1 round regardless of saving throw result. Once you have used this ability you must wait 1 round before using it again.

Star Strike Spell: What use is it to cast a spell that strikes an army if you must cast it within your own army? A Nova Blast Mage learns to extend their magic to the very horizon to rain destruction on foes who think that a mere 2000 ft is safe. Beginning at 3rd level when casting an Evocation spell to which Enlarge spell may be applied a Nova Blast Mage may expend additional spell slots of the same or higher level to extend its range. For each spell slot past the first spent the range of the spell increases by 100%, if Enlarge is applied to the spell then its doubling is considered to be part of the spell's base range for this effect.

Destructive Evocation: What use is the power to destroy if creatures simply hide behind walls? Beginning at 4th level a Nova Blast Mage's evocation spells deal full damage to objects regardless of the type of damage they deal; they are still affected by hardness just not halved or otherwise reduced before hand. In addition if a Nova Blast Mage's evocation spell destroys a wall, tower shield, or other source of cover or total cover it damages creatures on the other side of the obstruction as if it had never been there.

Evoker's Metamagic: A Nova Blast Mage is a master of evocation and may easily modify and reforge it on the fly. Beginning at 4th level a Nova Blast Mage's evocation spells never have their casting times increased due to Metamagic and the first 3 metamagic feats a Nova Blast Mage applies to an Evocation spell have their level increase reduced by 1 (to a minimum of 0). For example if a Nova Blast Mage cast a Quickened Maximized and Empowered Ray of Frost it would normally be a 9th level spell, however this would reduce it to 0 + 3 + 2 + 1 or a 6th level spell. If they wanted to cast a Silenced Enlarged Stilled Empowered Magic Missile it would reduce the first three metamagic effects to +0 but have no effect on the +2 from Empowered leaving it a 3rd level spell.

Evocation of Mass Destruction: As useful as a Nova Blast Mage is to an army there is a reason why they are not maintained by the governments of the world. A Nova Blast Mage's ultimate technique is one of wide spread destruction. Beginning at 5th level a Nova Blast Mage may 1/day declare an Evocation they cast with an Area of Effect to be an Evocation of Mass Destruction. They may not combine this with Star Strike Spell, Intensify Evocation, or Widen Evocation. An Evocation of Mass Destruction has its area increased to 1/2 mile per 5 ft of the original area (this is before potential doubling such as from Widen Spell); for example if applied to Meteor Swarm each Meteor would explode in a 4 mile radius, and if applied to a Widened Cone of Cold the cone would be 12 miles long. A Nova Blast Mage is immune to their own Evocation of Mass Destruction.

Powerful Evocation: A Nova Blast Mage pours power into their spells, filling them to the brim with energy, beyond the normal limits that bind more common wizards and sorcerers. Beginning at 5th level whenever a Nova Blast Mage casts an Evocation spell with a limit to its caster level for determining its effect (such as fireball) this limit is increased by 1 CL per 2 CL above the original limit the Nova Blast Mage possesses (for example a CL 20 Nova Blast Mage deals 15d6 damage with fireball, 10 + 1/2 10 = 15, and gets 7 missiles with Magic Missile, 9 + 1/2 11 = 14.5 at 1 missile + 1 missile per 2 above 1st).

So question: How do you like the spellcasting?

nikkoli
2015-09-17, 07:31 AM
I want to use this so badly. But I haven't had any campaigns that lasted long enough to enter into this before they die off. But that magic missile ability is fanastic. Is the nova blast ability at will?

Zaydos
2015-09-17, 10:08 AM
I want to use this so badly. But I haven't had any campaigns that lasted long enough to enter into this before they die off. But that magic missile ability is fanastic. Is the nova blast ability at will?

It was meant to be but I decided to make it limited to every other round.

And added Destructive and Powerful Evocations at 4th and 5th respectively. Destructive allows you to actually blow up walls without resorting to Sonic damage (walls take 1/2 to 1/4 damage from most sorts of magic normally this negates that), and Powerful Evocations gives you a mechanical justification for taking the 5th level other than mass slaughter of peasants (since to be fair you're a 17th level sorcerer you have ways to mass slaughter peasants that don't involve giving up the ability to cast high level non-evocations if you want them) by allowing you to deal more damage with your lower level evocations and giving you a reason to boost your caster level (increase CL cap of spells by 1 per 2 above it you are).

nikkoli
2015-09-17, 12:29 PM
I like those two additions, they aren't in the chart though, I know it says the level you get them, but that throws some people.