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View Full Version : D&D 3.x Class The Quantumancer (3.5 Arcane Spellcaster) PEACH



Alabenson
2019-08-28, 08:37 AM
The Quantumancer

There are many avenues towards magical power, some more unorthodox than others. Quantumancers are some of the most unorthodox, studying how magical energy effects the natural world at the smallest scale imaginable. Through these studies, quantumancers learn to apply these effects to, as they put it, force these rules to apply to the macrouniverse, allowing them to radically effect reality as most would observe it.

Adventures: Quantumancers typically treat adventuring as an extended experiment, allowing them to see how they can apply their studies to the real world. The fact that such experiments allow them to accumulate greater power and wealth are merely side benefits.

Characteristics: While the peculiar focus of a quantumancer’s studies leaves them far less versatile than more conventional arcane spellcasters they are still quite capable of wielding destructive magics. Furthermore, their ability to access multiversal probabilities allow quantumancers to sort through and recall knowledge far more efficiently than should be possible, communicate with allies over vast distances and magically transport themselves without needing to access the Astral Plane.

Alignment: Being scholars, quantumancers tend to lean slight more towards law versus chaos as a disciplined mind is better able to master their studies, but quantumancers of all alignments can be found.

Religion: Like wizards, quantumancers tend to be drawn to the worship of deities of knowledge and magic, such as Boccob. However, quantumancers as a rule aren’t an especially religious group.

Background: Virtually all quantumancers find their start at private academies, where they learn the intricacies of their unique approach to magic.

Races: Humans, with their willingness to embrace new and strange forms of magic, make up the majority of quantumancers, with half-elves and gnomes comprising significant minorities. Elves and dwarves tend to favor more traditional forms of magic, while few half-orcs have the academic inclination to pursue this form of magic.

Other Classes: Quantumancers generally get on best with more marital classes, who appreciate their ability to blast apart opponents with magical power. Wizards, on the other hand, frequently chafe at working with quantumancers, whom they view as upstarts and rivals.

Role: While quantumancers possess a far more limited assortment of spells than other spellcasters, they’re exceptionally skilled at using offensive magic to destroy their enemies. Furthermore, their abilities and mundane skills enable them to act as immensely effective sages.

GAME RULE INFORMATION
Quantumancers have the following game statistics
Abilities: Intelligence is the most important ability for a quantumancer, as it powers not only their spellcasting but also several of their class features. Furthermore, quantumancers also value Dexterity as armor interferes with their spellcasting, and Constitution provides them with much needed hit points.
Alignment: Any
Hit Die: D4
Starting Age: As cleric
Starting Gold: As sorcerer

Class Skills:
Concentration, Craft, Decipher Script, Knowledge (any), Listen, Profession, Speak Language, Spellcraft, Spot
Skill Points at 1st level: (4 + Intelligence Modifier) x4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Intelligence Modifier



LevelBABFortRefWillSpecial 0th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th



1st+0+0+0+2 Living Ansible, Quantum Knowledge (+1 dice) 2 0 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --



2nd+1+0+0+3 Quantum Jaunt 3 1 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --



3rd+1+1+1+3 Tunneling Spell 1/day 3 1 0 -- -- -- -- -- -- --



4th+2+1+1+4 Arcane Superposition (1 slot) 3 2 1 -- -- -- -- -- -- --



5th+2+1+1+4 Quantum Knowledge (+2 dice) 3 2 1 0 -- -- -- -- -- --



6th+3+2+2+5 Living Ansible (two-way communication), Tunneling Spell 2/day 3 2 2 1 -- -- -- -- -- --



7th+3+2+2+5 Arcane Superposition (2 slots) 3 3 2 1 0 -- -- -- -- --



8th+4+2+2+6 Quantum Bound 3 3 2 2 1 -- -- -- -- --



9th+4 +3+3 +6 Quantum Knowledge (+3 dice), Tunneling Spell 3/day 3 3 3 2 1 0 -- -- -- --



10th+5+3+3+7 Arcane Superposition (3 slots) 3 3 3 2 2 1 -- -- -- --



11th+5+3+3+7 Living Ansible (share senses) 3 3 3 3 2 1 0 -- -- --



12th+6+4+4+8 Tunneling Spell 4/day 3 3 3 3 2 2 1 -- -- --



13th+6+4+4+8 Arcane Superposition (4 slots), Quantum Knowledge (+4 dice) 3 3 3 3 3 2 1 0 -- --



14th+7+4+4+9 Quantum Teleport 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 1 -- --



15th+7+5+5+9 Tunneling Spell 5/day 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 1 0 --



16th+8+5+5+10 Arcane Superposition (5 slots), Living Ansible (transplanar) 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 1 --



17th+8+5+5+10 Quantum Knowledge (+5 dice) 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 1 0



18th+9+6+6+11 Tunneling Spell 6/day 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 1



19th+9+6+6+11 Arcane Superposition (6 slots) 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2



20th+10+6+6+12 Quantum Shift 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3




Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A quantumancer is proficient with all simple weapons. Quantumancers are not proficient with any type of armor or shield. Like other arcane spellcasters, a quantumancer wearing armor or using a shield incurs a chance of arcane spell failure.

Spells: A quantumancer casts arcane spells, which are drawn from the quantumancer spell list given below. When a quantumancer gains access to a new level of spells, he automatically knows all the spells for that level on the quantumancer’s spell list. A quantumancer must choose and prepare their spells ahead of time (see below)
To cast a quantumancer spell, a quantumancer must have an Intelligence score of 10 + the spell’s level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a quantumancer spell is 10 + the spell’s level + the quantumancer’s Int modifier.
A quantumancer can only prepare a certain number of spells per day. Their base daily spell allotment is given on the table, and in addition they may prepare additional spells if they have a high Intelligence score. When the table indicates that the quantumancer may prepare 0 spells of a given level, they gain only the bonus spells they would be entitled to based on their Intelligence score.
Until other spellcasters, a quantumancer doesn’t have a hard limit on the number of spells he can cast per day. Instead, each time the quantumancer casts a spell he must wait a number of rounds before he can cast another spell of that particular level. Recharging magical energy doesn’t require any action on the part of the quantumancer and doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity. As long as a quantumancer is alive, he naturally recharges his energy. The table below lists the length of time the quantumancer must wait before recasting their spells.



Spell Level Recharge Time



Highest Possible 1d6+1 rounds



Second Highest Possible 1d6+1 rounds



Third Highest Possible 1d4+1 rounds



Fourth Highest Possible 1d4+1 rounds



Fifth Highest Possible 1d4 rounds



Sixth Highest Possible 1d4 rounds



Seventh Highest Possible 1d3 rounds



Eighth Highest Possible 1d3 rounds



Ninth Highest Possible 1 round



Tenth Highest Possible 1 round




Living Ansible (Su): A quantumancer is able to establish a mental connection with a willing, living creature with an Intelligence score of at least 3 within 30 ft as a full round action. Thereafter, the quantumancer can freely mentally communicate with the creature as long as they are both on the same plane, although two-way communication is not possible. The quantumancer may maintain this ability to communicate with a number of creatures equal to their Intelligence modifier (minimum 1). The quantumancer can sever this connection as a free action.
At level 6, the quantumancer improves their ability to communicate, allowing for two-way communication between the quantumancer and their targets.
At level 11, the quantumancer develops the ability to link their senses with those of an individual they have established a mental link with. When the quantumancer uses this ability they may either choose to perceive what the target perceives or have the target perceive what the quantumancer is perceiving. This link may last for up to one minute per class level, after which the quantumancer must wait at least 1 hour before linking their senses with that target again.
At level 16, the quantumancer masters their ability to communicate with those who they established a connection with. From this point forward, the quantumancer may mentally communicate or share their senses with their targets even when they and their targets are on different planes.

Quantum Knowledge (Su): Quantumancers are instinctively able to utilize the intellects of multiple iterations of their consciousness across different superimposed multiverses to tackle mental challenges. Whenever a quantumancer makes an Intelligence-based skill check they roll an additional dice and may use the higher of the two results. At 5th level and every four levels thereafter (9th, 13th and 17th) the quantumancer may role an additional dice, to a maximum of rolling five extra dice at level 17.

Quantum Jaunt (Su): Beginning at 2nd level the quantumancer develops the ability to adjust multidimensional probability so that they shift their position slightly relative to the rest of the multiverse. As an immediate action, the quantumancer can effectively teleport up 5 ft. per class level in any direction. As this ability involves manipulating quantum probabilities as opposed to the forces normally used for teleportation effects it can be used even in areas that have been cut off from the Astral Plane. However, it is still blocked by effects that block all dimensional travel, such as the dimensional anchor spell.
The quantumancer can use this ability a number of times per day equal to their Intelligence modifier (minimum 1)

Tunneling Spell (Su): At 3rd level, the quantumancer learns to apply the theory of quantum tunneling to their spells to a limited degree. Once per day, the quantumancer can cast one of their quantumancer spells as a tunneling spell. Such a spell ignores any physical or magical barriers that would normally obstruct line of effect or provide cover from the effect. If the affected spell has an area of effect, determine the squares it effects as if no barriers were in place, even if said barriers would otherwise provide total cover. If the affected spell requires an attack roll to hit, then it ignores any modifiers to the target’s AC other than size and Dexterity. Finally, the affected spell automatically bypasses any spell resistance possessed by its targets.
At 6th level and every 3 levels thereafter (9th, 12th, 15th, and 18th) the quantumancer gains an additional use of this ability per day.

Arcane Superposition (Ex): A quantumancer of 4th level or higher can choose to leave one of their spell slots in a state of superposition, where multiple possibilities exist simultaneously until one is observed. The quantumancer may designate a single quantumancer spell slot of up to one level lower than the highest spell level the quantumancer can prepare as a superpositioned slot, which is left empty until the quantumancer chooses to cast a spell from it, at which point the quantumancer treats that slot as though they had prepared that spell normally.
At 7th level and every 3 levels thereafter (10th, 13th, 16th and 19th) the quantumancer may designate an additional slot as a superpositioned slot when they prepare spells for the day.

Quantum Bound (Su): Starting at level 8, a quantumancer gains the ability to transport themselves over long distances by shifting dimensional probability. As a move action, the quantumancer can transport themselves plus one additional willing creature per 3 class levels a distance of up to 100 ft. per class level. As this ability involves manipulating quantum probabilities as opposed to the forces normally used for teleportation effects it can be used even in areas that have been cut off from the Astral Plane. However, it is still blocked by effects that block all dimensional travel, such as the dimensional anchor spell.
The quantumancer can use this ability three times per day.

Quantum Teleport (Su): At 14th level a quantumancer’s ability to transport themselves and their allies via shifting dimensional probabilities. As a standard action, the quantumancer can transport themselves plus one additional willing creature per 3 class levels anywhere on the same plane of existence. The quantumancer must have either visited the target location previously or have a thorough and accurate description of the place they are transporting to.
The quantumancer can use this ability two times per day.

Quantum Shift (Su): A quantumancer of 20th level masters the ability to adjust where they and their allies are in relation to the multiverse. As a standard action, the quantumancer can transport themselves plus one additional willing target per class level to any other location in the multiverse. This ability functions regardless of any effects that would normally block dimensional travel, such as the dimensional lock spell.
The quantumancer can use this ability two times per day.

Quantumancer Spell List
0: acid splash, dancing lights, daze, detect magic, disrupt undead, flare, light, ray of frost, read magic

1: alarm, bigby’s tripping hand, burning hands, cloudburst, comprehend languages, dawn burst, detect secret doors, detect undead, dispel ward, endure elements, grease, guiding light, ice dagger, identify, jet of steam, mage armor, magic missile, nimbus of light, obscuring mist, produce flame, ray of flame, sandblast, shield, shocking grasp, tenser’s floating disk

2: battering ram, bigby’s slapping hand, bigby’s striking fist, bigby’s warding hand, blast of force, continual flame, darkness, detect thoughts, flaming sphere, fog cloud, force ladder, frost breath, gust of wind, local tremor, locate object, protection from arrows, rainbow beam, ray of ice, resist energy, scorch, scorching ray, see invisibility, shatter, snowball swarm, soundburst, veil of shadow

3: arcane sight, bigby’s disrupting hand, capricious zephyr, chain missile, clairaudience/clairvoyance, daylight, deeper darkness, dispel magic, fireball, glowing orb, great thunderclap, invisibility purge, lightning bolt, nondetection, prismatic mist, protection from energy, rainbow blast, scintillating sphere, searing light, sleet storm, sound lance, tongues, wall of light, wind wall

4: arcane eye, blistering radiance, dimensional anchor, dimension door, fire shield, force missiles, forcewave, greater floating disk, ice storm, lesser globe of invulnerability, locate creature, otiluke’s resilient sphere, scying, sending, shout, solid fog, stoneskin, thunderlance, wall of fire, wall of ice

5: ball lightning, bigby’s interposing hand, break enchantment, cacophonic burst, cone of cold, cyclonic blast, prismatic ray, prying eyes, radiance, shard storm, sonic shield, teleport, wall of force, wall of stone

6: analyze dweomer, antimagic field, bigby’s forceful hand, blade barrier, chain lightning, greater dispel magic, globe of invulnerability, howling chain, otiluke’s freezing sphere, ray of light, sympathetic vibration, thunderfield, true seeing, wall of iron

7: greater arcane sight, banishment, bigby’s grasping hand, delayed blast fireball, earthquake, firestorm, forcecage, plane shift, prismatic spray, radiant assault, greater scrying, spell turning, sunbeam, greater teleport

8: bigby’s clenched fist, dimensional lock, discern location, mind blank, otiluke’s telekinetic sphere, polar ray, prismatic wall, greater prying eyes, greater shout, sunburst, whirlwind

9: bigby’s crushing hand, foresight, freedom, implosion, meteor swarm, mordenkainen’s disjunction, prismatic sphere, reality maelstrom, teleportation circle

nonsi
2019-09-14, 02:47 PM
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Mechanically speaking, this class is very well designed and seems complete.
One point of concern that comes to mind is that tracking recharge times might prove to be a lot of bookkeeping.

DeAnno
2019-10-23, 06:35 PM
This is an interesting concept. I'm going to sort of random-walk through questions/concerns/comments.

First of all, with regards to the casting system, can you prepare a spell in multiple levels, and therefore have it accessible on multiple recharge counters? Like, if I was 9th level and prepared Empowered Fireball in a 5th level slot and regular Fireball in a 3rd level slot, could I cast it two rounds in a row? This feels like it might not be necessarily unbalanced, but could be against the themes you're trying to use with the class.

Second, the mechanic is especially powerful when it comes to spells that have durations of 1 min/level or longer: these spells can essentially always be kept on with minimal effort, even multiple instances of them at once! Also, utility spells like, for example, teleport, can be used on a pretty short timer. This isn't necessarily broken with a fixed list, but it makes for some interesting abilities.

Tunneling Spell might do better to be a little more standardized and just target Touch AC. As is the interaction with Monks is pretty weird, and there are probably more weird interactions as well; this is what Touch AC is for. As for if the cover breaking effect is broken or not, I'll say it's very strong when used in an unfair way set up in advance. Limiting the use on a long recharge timer might do better for it than a big per day allocation that can be burnt all at once to magnify that unfairness.

Spell List Comments: It looks like you kept yourself to SRD and Spell Compendium.

Zeroes: Repeatable Detect Magic is very good. Offensive options here are fine too.

Firsts: Some really good spells here for the mechanic, in particular Detect Secret Doors. A very strong selection of different combat spells too.

Seconds: Resist Energy is probably broken here, as you can cover the whole party with every energy type for a long period. Maybe there should be a restriction that only one instance of each spell you prepared can be active at once?

Thirds: Arcane Sight is a luxury almost no other caster can afford to use practically, but a fun one. Dispel Magic is extremely strong with this mechanic, and nondetection is as well. I was surprised not to see Hailstones on the list, it's a staple SC spell and a near clone of Scorching Ray, which is with the 2nd levels.

Fourths: Arcane Eye and it's successors are another case of "really strong" using the repeatable spells. Scrying too. The supply of good attack spells really dropped off (though Solid Fog is good), this is a class that appreciates Metamagic a ton. Lack of Orb spells is probably fair.

Fifths: Repeatable Wall of Stone is definitely itself.

Sixths: Wall of iron weirdly is less impressive than Wall of Stone, considering the circumstances. Not much else to say about stuff here.

Sevenths: Greater versions of a lot of previous good interactions.

Eighths: Repeatable Mind Blank and Discern Location is super ridiculous.

Ninths: Foresighting the party is fun but not that much better than Foresight on yourself. A pretty reasonable level.

The teleport enabling class features are a bit weird in the context of the repeatable teleportation spells already on the spell list.

Overall this class is very strong. I would probably call it Tier 1 even with the limited list, so many of the spammable interactions you can't really get anywhere else and they do a wide variety of strong things.