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Elderand
2016-08-29, 03:19 PM
THE PRIMORDIAL MAGE

Some would claim that the first form of magic the mortal races have used where taught to them by dragons, or the result of praying to the gods or the veneration of nature.

This is untrue.

The very first form of Magic that mortal practiced acquired after bargaining with powerful creatures. Primordial spirits, outsiders, fey, abominations or dragons. Ancient pacts were agreed upon and mortals borrowed the essence of power.

Nowadays such practice are rare, the domain of warlocks and dragonfire adepts who gain their power in newer, lesser bargain that cost them much, much more.

But the ancient pacts still holds, the power still there for those with the bygone knowledge of eon long dead.

The Primordial Mage remembers.

Abilities: A high Charisma score makes a Primordial Mage's Invocations harder to resist. High Dexterity is valuable to aim his Eldritch Blast and a good constitution is also valuable.

Alignement: Any

HD: D6

Class skills: Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Arcana) (Int), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Knowledge (Religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int) and Use Magic Device (Cha)
Skill points at first level: (4 + Int Modifier) x4
Skill points at each additional level: (4 + Int Modifier)



Saves

Spells Per Day


Level
BAB
Fort
Ref
Will
Special
Invocation


1st
+0
+0
+0
+2
Eldritch Blast (1d6), Invocation (Least), Book of shadow
3


2nd
+1
+0
+0
+3
Counter Blast, Magic Insight
4


3rd
+1
+1
+1
+3
Eldritch Blast 2d6
5


4th
+2
+1
+1
+4
Deceive Item
6


5th
+2
+1
+1
+4
Bonus feat, Eldritch Blast (3d6)
6


6th
+3
+2
+2
+5
Invocation (Least or Lesser)
7


7th
+3
+2
+2
+5
Damaging Counter, Eldritch Blast (4d6)
8


8th
+4
+2
+2
+6
Quick Pact 1/day
9


9th
+4
+3
+3
+6
Eldritch Blast (5d6), Spell Resistance
9


10th
+5
+3
+3
+7
Bonus feat
10


11th
+5
+3
+3
+7
Eldritch Blast (6d6), Invocation (Least, Lesser or Greater)
11


12th
+6/+1
+4
+4
+8
Imbue Item
12


13th
+6/+1
+4
+4
+8
Eldritch Blast (7d6)
12


14th
+7/+2
+4
+4
+9
Quick Pact 2/day
13


15th
+7/+2
+5
+5
+9
Bonus feat, Eldritch Blast (8d6)
14


16th
+8/+3
+5
+5
+10
Invocation (Least, Lesser, Greater, Dark)
15


17th
+8/+3
+5
+5
+10
Eldritch Blast (9d6), Master Counter
15


18th
+9/+4
+6
+6
+11
Quick Pact 3/day
16


19th
+9/+4
+6
+6
+11
Eldritch Blast (10d6)
17


20th
+10/+5
+6
+6
+12
Bonus feat
18



Class features
Weapon and Armor proficiency: Primordial Mages are proficient with all simple weapons but are not proficient with any armor or shield.

Invocation: A Primordial Mage does not prepare or cast spells as other wielders of magic do. Instead, he possesses a repertoire of attacks, defenses, and abilities known as invocations that require him to focus the wild energy that suffuses his soul. A Primordial Mage can use any invocation he knows and has Readied at will, with the following qualifications:

A Primordial Mage’s invocations are spell-like abilities; using an invocation is therefore a standard action (Unless noted otherwise) that provokes attacks of opportunity. An invocation can be disrupted, just as a spell can be ruined during casting. A Primordial Mage is entitled to a Concentration check to successfully use an invocation if he is hit by an attack while invoking, just as a spellcaster would be. A Primordial Mage can choose to use an invocation defensively, by making a successful Concentration check, to avoid provoking attacks of opportunity. A Primordial Mage’s invocations are subject to spell resistance unless an invocation’s description specifically states otherwise. A Primordial Mage’s caster level with his invocations is equal to his Primordial Mage level.

The save DC for an invocation (if it allows a save) is 10 + 1/2 the Primordial Mage's Caster Level + his Charisma modifier. Finally, unlike other spell-like abilities, invocations are subject to arcane spell failure chance.

Book of Shadow: Unlike a Warlock, whose invocations are etched upon his very soul, a primordial mage's invocations are recorded as rituals into a Book of Shadow. A Book of Shadow is similar in appearance to a Wizard's spellbook. The Primordial Mage starts with 5 invocations into his Book of Shadow. Upon gaining a new level a Primordial Mage adds one Invocation to his Book of Shadow for free. A Primordial Mage may add invocation to his book of Shadow (beyond those gained for free) by expending gold and XP in a ritual during which the Primordial Mage makes contact with an entity of great power and call upon ancient pacts to gain additional arcane knowledge.

A least Invocation costs 1000 gold in reagents and props and 250 xp. A lesser Invocation cost 5000 gold and 500 xp. A greater invocation cost 10 000 gold and 1000 xp and a Dark Invocation costs 20 000 gold and 2000 xp. The ritual takes 1 hour to perform per grade of the invocation.

Once an Invocation is recorded into his book of Shadow, a Primordial Mage may ready it by performing a ritual that takes 15 minutes per grade of the invocation to ready. Once readied a Primordial Mage may use the invocation at will and it is never unreadied unless the Primordial Mage choose to replace it with another Invocation.
At first level a primordial mage may ready 3 different invocations.

Eldritch Blast (Sp): The first ability a Primordial Mage learns is the eldritch blast. A Primordial Mage attacks his foes with pure eldritch power,
using baleful magical energy to deal damage and sometimes impart other debilitating effects.

An eldritch blast is a ray with a range of 60 feet. It is a ranged touch attack that affects a single target, allowing no saving throw. An eldritch blast deals 1d6 points of damage per 2 class level of the Primordial Mage. An eldritch blast is the equivalent of a spell whose level is equal
to one-half the Primordial Mage’s class level (round down), with a minimum spell level of 1st and a maximum of 9th when a Primordial Mage reaches 18th level or higher. An Eldritch Blast can be used to make itterative attacks if the Primordial Mage has them.

An Eldritch Blast can be modified by using an Eldritch essence or Eldritch shape invocation. Unlike Other Invocation, using an Eldritch shape or essence does not take a standard action. Instead they can be applied to an Eldritch Blast as a free action. An Eldritch Blast may only be modified by one Shape and one essence at a time.

An eldritch blast is subject to spell resistance, although the Spell Penetration feat and other effects that improve caster level checks to overcome spell resistance also apply to eldritch blast. An eldritch blast deals half damage to objects. Metamagic feats cannot improve a Primordial Mage’s eldritch blast (because it is a spell-like ability, not a spell). However, the feat Ability Focus (eldritch blast) increases the DC for all saving throws (if any)
associated with a Primordial Mage’s eldritch blast by 2.

Counter Blast (Sp): A primordial Mage command over the oldest form of magic is such that he can disrupt the attempt of others to use Magic. At 2nd Level a Primordial Mage attempt to counterspell a spell or spell like ability using his Eldritch Blast. To do this a Primordial Mage must ready an action to counterspell any spell or spell like ability used within 60 ft of the Primordial Mage. Make an opposed Caster level check (1d20 + caster level + level of the spell or spell like ability). Sucess indicate the spell or spell like ability has succesfuly been countered.

Magic Insight: At second level the Primordial Mage learns the Magic insight Invocation for free in addition of the invocation he gains for gaining a new level. If the Primordial Mage already had the Magic Insight invocation, he may choose another Invocation to learn.

Deceive Item (Ex): At 4th level and higher, a Primordial Mage has the ability to more easily commandeer magic items made for the use of other characters. When making a Use Magic Device check, he can take 10 even if distracted or threatened.

Bonus Feat: At fifth level and every 5 level afterward a Primordial Mage gains a bonus feat. He may select any feat for which he qualifies.

Damaging Counter (Sp): At 7th level a primordial mage may apply the damage of Eldritch Blast upon succesfuly countering a spell or spell like ability. This Eldritch Blast is unmodified by any essence or Shape.

Quick Pact (Ex): At 8th level, a Primordial Mage can more easily contact the entities that grant him power. Once a day he can, by performing a 5 minutes ritual, replaces all his invocation readied. He can do so twice a day at level 14 and three times a day at level 18. The Primordial Mage must have access to his Book of Shadow to use this ability.

Spell Resitance (Ex): At 9th Level a Primordial Mage gain Spell resistance equal to (10 + Primordial mage's class level). If he Already had spell resistance, use whichever is better. A primordial Mage may enable/disable this spell resistance at any point as a free action, even when it is not his turn.

Imbue Item (Su): A Primordial Mage of 12th level or higher can use his supernatural power to create magic items, even if he does not know the spells required to make an item (although he must know the appropriate item creation feat). He can substitute a Use Magic Device check (DC 15 + spell level for arcane spells or 25 + spell level for divine spells) in place of a required spell he doesn’t know or can’t cast. If the check succeeds, the warlock can create the item as if he had cast the required spell. If it fails, he cannot complete the item. He does not expend the XP or gp costs for making the item; his progress is simply arrested. He cannot retry this Use Magic Device check for that spell until he gains a new level.

Master Counter (Sp): While using the Damaging counter ability when successfully countering a spell or spell like ability, a Primordial mage of 17th level may apply a Shape or Essence to his Eldritch Blast as normal.

Notes: Extra Invocation. Instead of Granting a new invocation known, the extra invocation feat allow a primordial Mage to Ready one more invocation than normal.

List of Invocation. In addition from using the Invocation found on the Warlock and Dragonfire adept list, a Primordial Mage may, with DM permission, learn invocations from the list of other homebrewed classes such as the Ebon Initiate (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?163297-3-5-The-Ebon-Initiate-warrior-necrolock-Base-Class) or The Invoker (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?153863-Invoker-3-5-Base-Class-(PEACH))

ImperatorV
2016-08-29, 05:07 PM
I like the idea, and the execution. It's far more powerful then any official invoker and most of the homebrew ones, but I feel that was what you were going for. It hits top end tier three at baseline, but I don't see any "I win" buttons so it's not tier two.

...If I'm reading this right though, it starts with one invocation in the book and up to three readied? That's really strange. Also the text never calls out how many invocations you can have readied, I'm assuming it's the far right column but it'd be nice to have it called out by the RAW.

Elderand
2016-08-29, 05:44 PM
I like the idea, and the execution. It's far more powerful then any official invoker and most of the homebrew ones, but I feel that was what you were going for. It hits top end tier three at baseline, but I don't see any "I win" buttons so it's not tier two.

Indeed, I wanted something stronger than a standard Warlock but also more focused on being a "mage" rather than a gish that most invocation users are geared for.

Which tier it is would be very variable depending on which homebrew invocation are allowed.


...If I'm reading this right though, it starts with one invocation in the book and up to three readied? That's really strange. Also the text never calls out how many invocations you can have readied, I'm assuming it's the far right column but it'd be nice to have it called out by the RAW.

I thought I'd put that in clearly, apparently I did not, my apologies. It starts with 5 invocation in its book and can ready 3.