eccentric casting

[Wraithy]

are there spelcasting or magic heavy classes which cast with their physical stats?
not for any desire to play one, but just wondering.
also, if there was a casting class that relied on a physical stat like that, how would you RP the casting?

dex: *his arms flail about in a massive number of somantic components*
str: *bulge* (I think this is how they did energy balls etc in Dragonball Z)
con: *drinks poison* ...................... *slams head first onto the floor*

[CASTLEMIKE]

The Dragonfire Adept uses constitution.

[Kaelik]

are there spelcasting or magic heavy classes which cast with their physical stats?
not for any desire to play one, but just wondering.
also, if there was a casting class that relied on a physical stat like that, how would you RP the casting?

dex: *his arms flail about in a massive number of somantic components*
str: *bulge* (I think this is how they did energy balls etc in Dragonball Z)
con: *drinks poison* ...................... *slams head first onto the floor*

You could use Illumian sort of. Right set up gets you bonus spells based off of Str. Course you still need the other stat to cast, and for DCs. But it does Help un MAD a Paladin a bit.

[Telonius]

The only thing I can find that's at all similar to what you're asking is the Dragon Shaman's breath weapon. The save for that is Con-based.

I seem to remember a prestige class or feature from somewhere that let you deliver spells through your weapon, which would make Strength (or Dex, for finessed weapons) important, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was.

[blue_fenix]

The Dragonfire Adept uses constitution.

That's incorrect. For his invocations, charisma is the casting stat. Constitution determines the DC of his breath weapon, which is not a spell.


I seem to remember a prestige class or feature from somewhere that let you deliver spells through your weapon, which would make Strength (or Dex, for finessed weapons) important, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was.
You're probably thinking of duskblade from PHB2, which gets up to 6th level spells and can channel touch spells through its weapon. Still requires cha to cast though, IIRC.

There was a homebrew class on the forums recently that was a dex-based caster. Other than that I've never seen such a thing. The main reason not to do it would be that it makes the usual SAD of casters even more so. Take a wizard or sorcerror and tell them they can use a physical stat instead of int or cha and you'll suddenly have significantly more powerful caster. To counterbalance this, any such class would need to either not be a full casting progression class or have other significant drawbacks. I could see it being done as some kind of bizarre PrC, but I have no clue what the fluff or requirements, etc. would be.

[GimliFett]

Based on the old Players Options: Skills and Powers book, I created a class called a Channeler back in 3.0, and only changed them to a 10-level Prestige Class for 3.5. They gained bonus spells based on their Con bonus. Additionally, they could sacrifice hps for additional castings at the risk of fatigue, exhaustion, unconsciousness and death! :smallbiggrin:

Reqs were Constitution 13+, Toughness, Endurance, Base Fort save +2, Concentration 8 ranks and caster level 7+.

[Fax Celestis]

Incarnum classes (Incarnate, Soulborn, and Totemist), while not "casting" per se, are still highly magical. They use Constitution.

[Duke of URL]

I homebrewed a PrC (the Soulgiver (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29928)) that implemented arcane spellcasting based on CON, where instead of the Vancian system, you took temporary STR and CON damage (later, just CON) based on the spell level. Essentially, think of it as channeling life energy into magical effect.

It's not playtested yet, and may need some balancing (especially in the sense of pruning the spell lists down to a Warmage or Beguiler size).

[Crow]

I made one that was CON and (technically) WIS based.

You took damage based upon the level of spell you were casting. If you made a will save, it was subdual, and if you missed, it was real.

Played pretty well.

[Rowanomicon]

As a Psion you can "cast" (manifest) and gain Power Points based on any stat you like. You choose one stat when you make your character and stick with that all the way through.

[Karsh]

Not in 3.5. Psions are based off of INT, Wilders CHA, and Psychic Warriors are based off of WIS.

[dyslexicfaser]

con: *drinks poison* ...................... *slams head first onto the floor*
I think it would be fun to see a class that gets stronger magically after slamming his head into the floor or whatever. He'd be like the living voodoo doll from the xbox game Voodoo Vince.

[Telonius]

You're probably thinking of duskblade from PHB2, which gets up to 6th level spells and can channel touch spells through its weapon. Still requires cha to cast though, IIRC.



:smallredface: That would probably be why I wasn't finding it in the Prestige Classes list.

[horseboy]

"This form of magic has been handed down the Armstrong line for generations!"
Sorry, couldn't help myself.

[Kaelik]

Duskblade=Int casting. And the Spellsword in Complete Warrior get a similar ability that scales in uses per day, though they only get half caster progression.

And Row, you should really read up on those rules, they had a different stat for each school of power, so unless you greatly limited your choice, you really just got hosed.

[Person_Man]

Blood Magus is a Complete Arcane lets you deal hit point damage to yourself in exchange for raising your caster level. That's sorta a Con based caster.

I could have sworn there was a rune based caster that used Con as well, though that might have been 2nd ed or 3.0.

[Wraithy]

"This form of magic has been handed down the Armstrong line for generations!"
Sorry, couldn't help myself.

:smallbiggrin: great