Maho-Tsukai Madness

[Anthrowhale]

I read the Maho-Tsukai rules recently and realized it is quite a unique class.

The rules for the class are spread over multiple source books.

Maho-Tsukai is a prestige class in the Oriental Adventures Rokugan setting (3.0).

The setting was updated to 3.5 in Dragon #318 (which changed nothing for the Maho-Tsukai).

The Taint rules (which Maho-Tsukai depend upon) were further updated in Heroes of Horror, explicitly mentioning the Maho-Tsukai as still a thing and revising one of the class features.

Hence Maho-Tsukai is valid-if-offbeat 3.5 class.

The Maho-Tsukai can:

Make just about every base spellcasting class capable of casting 9th level spells. (As per Sublime Chord, but easier.)
Provide access to it's own spell list and any one other spell list. (as per Rainbow Servant, Archivist, prestige Bard/paladin, etc...)
Provide undelayed access to spontaneous spells (as per Dragonwrought Kobold)
Provide significant persistomancy. (as per Incantatrix / Spelldancer, but weaker.)
Bypass expensive material components. (as per Dweomerkeeper, but weaker.)
Make all spells arcane.
Make all spells nigh-impossible to save against. (as per circle magic)
Provide spontaneous access to a huge repertoire of spells. (as per Uncanny Forethought/Beholder Mage.)

The rules for these are complex as they apply across multiple sourcebooks.


The key class ability here is "Spell Conversion".
A maho-tsukai can "trade in" levels in another spellcasting class for additional levels of maho-tsukai spellcasting ability. Read literally, this is absurdly powerful as a sorcerer 5/maho-tsukai 1 becomes a first level character capable of casting 3rd level spells. I believe the intention and reasonable interpretation is that you trade in sorcerer spellcasting ability for maho-tsukai spellcasting ability. I'd interpret 'another' here as 'one other' so it can only be done for one class.

This also appears to be compatible with prior prestige classes advancing the base class spellcasting ability according to the next line:

Each level of prior spellcasting ability counts as one additional level as a maho-tsukai for purposes of determining spells known and spells per day only.
So a Sorcerer 5/Mindbender 1/Maho-Tsukai 1 has Maho-Tsukai 7 spell access.

There is one difficulty here--the Maho-Tsukai has no listed caster level. The reasonable choice is that the caster level is according to the levels of spellcasting advancement.

Given the above, any class which starts with spellcasting and advances it at every level has access to 9th level spells at ECL 17 explicitly including the Adept but implicitly the Bard and others. This works even for classes starting spellcasting at 4th level since a Ranger 19/Maho-Tsukai 1 can have Maho-Tsukai 17 spellcasting. Further pairing this with {Mother Cyst, Heighten Spell} and Versatile Spellcaster would allow qualifying for Epic Spellcasting (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/feats.htm#epicSpellcasting) feat at ECL 21 if spellcasting begins at level 6 or later. There is no alignment prerequisite so this could even be compatible with Paladin although the role-playing there is obviously tricky. Maybe a Paladin of Ilmater, constantly bleeding to cast their spells?

Buried in the Spell Conversion class feature, we have:

When a maho-tsukai advances a level, she can learn her new spells from either her old spell list or the maho-tsukai spell list...
The Maho-Tsukai spell list is kind of lame just as all other unique spellcaster lists. But pairing that with the Bard list for example is great. A Trickster Spellthief would do even better.


Spell access is as a wizard with spell counts as a sorcerer or better. Since Spell Conversion works with any base spellcasting class (arcane or divine) it provides a mechanism for any spellcasting class to convert to spontaneous spells and upgrades most spontaneous spellcasting classes spells known.

A Maho-Tsukai with Persistent Spell can use:
...the maho-tsukai can enhance her spells without using a higher-level spell slot... although there is level cap:
The maho-tsukai cannot enhance a spell to a level higher than he can cast by this means. This cap appears to be compatible with Versatile Spellcaster, Easy Metamagic, Practical Metamagic etc... so with more investment this cap becomes a nonissue. There is a downside:
The cost is a number of points of temporary Constitution damage equal to the level of the metamagic spell. It appears you must pay this downside, but that can be mitigated by binding Naberius or simply cast Restoration (which is free as per the next item).

Material components and focuses are no longer needed or allowed.
A maho-tsukai must substitute a drop of blood for a spell's material component or focus... It's not entirely clear what happens when the focus is an integral part of the spell as per Mind Jar, but this clearly provides free access to True Resurrection. There is a cost in damage:
Substituting blood for a costly material component requires drawing a greater amount of blood. but the damage caps at 23 hp (or 46 if you use someone else's blood), so it's easy for a persistent mass lesser vigor to fully mitigate this out of combat.

Although a Maho-Tsukai can have access to and know spells from any one class spell list
A maho-tsukai casts arcane spells.... Hence a Maho-Tsukai is a Spell to Power Erudite's best friend.


The trick here has to do with the way the rules for taint changed. First, Corruption is a form of Taint.
This taint... is called corruption... Corruption is used along with Depravity as forms of Taint throughout the chapter. The critical difference between the Oriental Adventures rules and the Heroes of Horror rules is that much higher levels of Taint are allowed. In Oriental Adventures,
If a character's Taint score ever reaches 10, the character is overcome by the taint and becomes a slave of evil. but in HoH, you can have a Taint(=Corruption) score of about Con * 7/2-1 before dieing. So a typical Con 14 wizard could have a Taint (from Corruption) of 55. Paired with:
...saving throws against maho spells have a DC of 10 + spell level + the maho-tsukai's Taint score. the saving throw only succeeds 5% of the time. Furthermore, since the Maho-Tsukai spellcasting depends on Taint it can be powered purely by Corruption (not Depravity) implying no mental symptoms and no physical symptions as per the Taint Suppression class feature update on HoH page 66.


Although Spell Conversion replaces the spellcasting ability of a base class, it does not remove a Spellbook or Prayerbook class feature. Hence, classes with such features still know their spells(!) and can potentially cast them with Maho-Tsukai spell slots. Doing this directly would be akin to a Wizard 1/Sorcerer n using Sorcerer slots to cast wizard spells. This seems somewhat sketchy, but using Versatile Spellcaster has a clear "any spell known" clause.


There are two significant chronic drawbacks to the Maho-Tsukai.

Each time a character casts a maho spell, she must make a will save (DC 10+Spell level) or increase her depravity score by 1. Having a good save, persisting Battle Hymn, getting access to the Pride Domain, etc... can mitigate this. In the worst case, a casting of Restoration within 24 hours removes the taint. This seems mitigatable.

More difficult, Maho-Tsukai is sticky.
If a maho-tsukai wishes to advance in level in another class, she must make a successful Will saving throw with a DC equal to 10 + her Taint score. All the techniques for a high will save are obviously important here but it's difficult to achieve both irresistible saves and advance in some other class. Perhaps it is possible to use Surge of Fortune? But it may be difficult to have such active at the moment of leveling. The desire to use other prestige classes may be the fundamental limiting factor on the chosen level of taint. Note that a Maho-Tsukai with controlled Taint can always "break bad" via the Cloud of Taint spell
Cloud of Taint...increases their targets corruption scores.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

A Ranger 4+, Hexblade 4+, etc. can trade in the full class level's spellcasting ability for an equal level of Maho-Tsukai spellcasting ability. You can trade in Duskblade, Blackguard, etc. spellcasting ability as well. There's no limit to how many different classes' spellcasting one character can trade in. You only need a single level of a class with a good spell list to take, and you can use class levels that have a strong chassis but weak spellcasting to advance your Maho-Tsukai spellcasting ability.

You can also use Versatile Spellcaster to use its spell slots to cast any spell you've learned and added to a spellbook or prayer book. This effectively makes your number of spells known limited only by how much you can spend on adding new spells, and gives you access to the full Wizard list and every divine spell in the game, regardless of what class's spell list you chose to add to Maho-Tsukai.

[Anthrowhale]

A Ranger 4+, Hexblade 4+, etc. can trade in the full class level's spellcasting ability for an equal level of Maho-Tsukai spellcasting ability.

Based on:
Each level of prior spellcasting ability counts as one additional level as a maho-tsukai for purposes of determining spells known and spells per day only.
it seems that only the "level of prior spellcasting ability" qualifies so a Hexblade 5/Maho-Tsukai 1 would have the casting ability of a Maho-Tsukai 3.



There's no limit to how many different classes' spellcasting one character can trade in.
I'm skeptical that "no limit" applies based on this:

A maho-tsukai can "trade in" levels in another spellcasting class ...
The wording of "... another ... class ..." implicitly limits to a single class. If multiple classes was intended it should have said "... other ... classes..." This is not ironclad---the wording could be applied to multiple classes, but this does seem like the most conservative interpretation.


You only need a single level of a class with a good spell list to take, and you can use class levels that have a strong chassis but weak spellcasting to advance your Maho-Tsukai spellcasting ability.

Yeah, this creates a new category of very simple gishes. A Hexblade 5/Maho-Tsukai 1/Hexblade 14 is a gish with full BAB and L9 spells at level 20 since Spell Conversion can apparently be applied anytime in your career. Perhaps one downside is that a Duskblade 5/Maho-Tsukai 1/Duskblade 14 doesn't benefit form Armored Mage since the spells become Maho-Tsukai after conversion.


You can also use Versatile Spellcaster to use its spell slots to cast any spell you've learned and added to a spellbook or prayer book. This effectively makes your number of spells known limited only by how much you can spend on adding new spells, and gives you access to the full Wizard list and every divine spell in the game, regardless of what class's spell list you chose to add to Maho-Tsukai.
That seems to be correct. I'll edit the original post.

I was trying to figure out if there was any single class level as powerful as Maho-Tsukai 1. The only thing I could come up with is Spelldancer 1.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Based on:
it seems that only the "level of prior spellcasting ability" qualifies so a Hexblade 5/Maho-Tsukai 1 would have the casting ability of a Maho-Tsukai 3.

A Ranger 4 has four class levels contributing to his spellcasting ability, it doesn't necessarily matter that the first three levels don't grant any spells/day, because those class levels are still necessary to get spellcasting out of the class. Thus they should be able to be traded in, a Ranger 4 doesn't cast spells as a Ranger 1 and thus only gets to trade in one level, he casts spells as a Ranger 4.


I'm skeptical that "no limit" applies based on this:

The wording of "... another ... class ..." implicitly limits to a single class. If multiple classes was intended it should have said "... other ... classes..." This is not ironclad---the wording could be applied to multiple classes, but this does seem like the most conservative interpretation.

It doesn't say only one other class, it just says another class, i.e. any other class except Maho-Tsukai. Each spellcasting class the character has levels in can be individually measured against that requirement: Is it another class? If yes, it can be traded in.

It also doesn't specify that this only occurs upon gaining the first level of Maho-Tsukai. Without any such limitation, additional levels gained in spellcasting classes can be converted to Maho-Tsukai spellcasting as they're gained.

[Anthrowhale]

A Ranger 4 has four class levels contributing to his spellcasting ability, it doesn't necessarily matter that the first three levels don't grant any spells/day, because those class levels are still necessary to get spellcasting out of the class. Thus they should be able to be traded in, a Ranger 4 doesn't cast spells as a Ranger 1 and thus only gets to trade in one level, he casts spells as a Ranger 4.
I can't get over the fact that

Each level of prior spellcasting ability... does not apply to Ranger 3 as it has no spellcasting ability. Also, given some ambiguous things (what's the caster level?) and the general power level here, I expect a DM who allows this to rule conservatively.


It doesn't say only one other class, it just says another class, i.e. any other class except Maho-Tsukai. Each spellcasting class the character has levels in can be individually measured against that requirement: Is it another class? If yes, it can be traded in.

Applying the multiple class logic leads to Wizard 3/Archivist 1/Mystic Theurge 1/Maho-Tsukai 1 /Mystic Theurge 5 getting access to 9th level spell slots @ECL 11. English can be interpreted that way, but '... another ... class' can also be interpreted as another single class. Again given the power level, I think we should expect a conservative interpretation of the language.


It also doesn't specify that this only occurs upon gaining the first level of Maho-Tsukai. Without any such limitation, additional levels gained in spellcasting classes can be converted to Maho-Tsukai spellcasting as they're gained.
Agreed. Furthermore, it seems you don't need levels in a spellcasting class, just levels in spellcasting ability, which many prestige classes advance.

With regards to known spells exploits, is there an official ruling on which spells a Wizard 1/Sorcerer n can spontaneously cast via Sorcerer slots?

[BWR]

*sigh*

Oriental Adventures really did a **** job of converting L5R stuff. I suppose they tried to make it generic enough to work outside Rokugan, but the stuff ends up being wrong for Rokugan while working weirdly everywhere else because they try to stick too close to setting and system specific quirks.

[Anthrowhale]

With regards to known spells exploits, is there an official ruling on which spells a Wizard 1/Sorcerer n can spontaneously cast via Sorcerer slots?
I finally found the rule forbidding this. It's in Rules Compendium:

A Multiclass Spellcaster can't cast a spontaneous spell from one class in place of one from another class.
Since this pertains to spontaneous spells and not just spontaneous spellcasters (which are also carefully defined in that section), it seems to nerf Wizard 1/Sorcerer n, Wizard 1/Sorcerer n with Versatile Spellcaster, and plausibly Wizard 1/Cleric n with Uncanny Forethought.