Warmage Fix

[NigelWalmsley]

The Warmage is the redheaded stepchild of the fixed list casters. The Beguiler and Dread Necromancer both have spell lists full of game-changing spells, while the Warmage gets different flavors of blasting (and some admittedly nice BFC effects). This is an effort to beef of the Warmage a little bit, so that someone might be able to justify playing a Warmage who actually relied on the Warmage spell list, rather than immediately doing their level best to add as many new spells to it as possible. As such, that list has been expanded to include sidelines in buffing allies, some logistics-based utility, and suite of divinations.

Warmage
Of course you should fight fire with fire. You should fight everything with fire.

Soldiers do not fight alone. This is true not only in the literal sense that armies contain more than one person, but in the broader sense that no army contains just soldiers. Armies need food, weapons, shelter, transportation, and any number of other things. But beyond those mundane needs, any army that wishes to be taken seriously needs magic. Who provides this magic varies from army to army, but nations with dedicated armies will usually develop magical traditions dedicated to the art of war. The practioners who are part of these tradtions are known as warmages.

While all warmages posses a basic facility for casting spells that harm their enemies, enhance their allies, or provide logistical support, different cultures train their warmages in their own specialized techniques. Warmages in service to necromantic powers are often encouraged to learn the unholy arts of the Uttercold. Some armies deploy specialized warmage corps dedicated to raining down destruction on their foes, while others specialize their warmages towards small-unit support roles. Of course, not every warmage is a member of an army. Some have discovered that while their techniques are useful on the battlefield, they are equally prized among adventures.

Alignment: As there are no alignment restrictions on either war or magic, the warmage may be of any alignment.

Hit Die: d4

Class Skills
The warmage's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Knowledge (any) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), and Survival (Wis).

Skill Points: 4 + Int modifier (x4 at 1st level).


LevelBABFortRefWillSpecial
1+0+0+0+2Spells, Armored Mage, Warmage Edge
2+1+0+0+3War Magic Study
3+1+1+1+3Advanced Learning
4+2+1+1+4Sudden Enlarge
5+2+1+1+4Advanced Learning
6+3+2+2+5Improved Sudden Metamagic (+1)
7+3+2+2+5Advanced Learning
8+4+2+2+6Sudden Empower
9+4+3+3+6Advanced Learning
10+5+3+3+7Improved Sudden Metamagic (+2)
11+5+3+3+7Advanced Learning
12+6/+1+4+4+8Sudden Widen
13+6/+1+4+4+8Advanced Learning
14+7/+2+4+4+9Improved Sudden Metamagic (+3)
15+7/+2+5+5+9Advanced Learning
16+8/+3+5+5+10Sudden Maximize
17+8/+3+5+5+10Advanced Learning
18+9/+4+6+6+11Improved Sudden Metamagic (+4)
19+9/+4+6+6+11Advanced Learning
20+10/+5+6+6+12Sudden Quicken


Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The warmage is proficient with light, shields, and all simple weapons.

Spells: A warmage casts arcane spells, which are drawn from the warmage list. The warmage automatically knows all the spells on the warmage list, as well as a selection of additional spells her Advanced Learning ability. If she gains access to knew spells through effects such as Prestige Domains, she automatically knows those spells as well. She can cast any spell she knows without preparing it ahead of time. The warmage's spell DCs and bonus spells are determined by her Intelligence score.

The warmage recieves the same spells per day as a sorcerer of her level.

At the DM's discretion, the warmage may exchange spells on the warmage list for other evocation or damaging spells of the same level from the sorcerer/wizard list.

Armored Mage: Warmages recieve specialized training that allows them to cast more effectively in armor. A warmage ignores the arcane spell failure chance of any armor with which she is proficient.

War Magic Study: The warmage's mandate is to study the magic of war. As such, at 2nd level she gains War Magic Study (Dragon #309) as a bonus feat. This does not confirm on him knowledge of any particular War Spells, though organized warmage traditions will typically teach their initiates War spells they have derived.

Adanced Learning: At 3rd level and each odd-numbered level thereafter, the warmage gains additional spell knowldege. She may select either one evocation spell of any spell level which she can cast from the sorcerer/wizard list, or one spell of any school of a level up to one less than the highest level she can cast from the sorcerer/wizard list. This spell is added to her list of spells known at the level at which it appears on the sorcerer/wizard list.

Sudden Enlarge: At 4th level, the warmage gains Sudden Enlarge (CArc) as a bonus feat. If she already has the feat, she can choose a different metamagic feat. She does not need to meet the prerequisites for Sudden Enlarge, but must meet the prerequisites for any substituted feat.

Improved Sudden Metamagic: Warmages are adept at modifying their spells under combat conditions. At 6th level and again every four levels thereafter, the warmage gains one additional use of each Sudden metamagic feat she possesses. Additionally, at her option she may take any metamagic feats as Sudden metamagic feats instead, gaining the ability to apply their effect once per day without effecting the level of the modified spell (increased by the bonus from this ability). She may substitute Sudden metamagic feats for their non-Sudden equivalents for the purpose of meeting prerequisites.

Sudden Empower: At 8th level, the warmage gains Sudden Empower (CArc) as a bonus feat. If she already has the feat, she can choose a different metamagic feat. She does not need to meet the prerequisites for Sudden Empower, but must meet the prerequisites for any substituted feat.

Sudden Widen: At 12th level, the warmage gains Sudden Widen (CArc) as a bonus feat. If she already has the feat, she can choose a different metamagic feat. She does not need to meet the prerequisites for Sudden Widen, but must meet the prerequisites for any substituted feat.

Sudden Maximize: At 16th level, the warmage gains Sudden Maximize (CArc) as a bonus feat. If she already has the feat, she can choose a different metamagic feat. She does not need to meet the prerequisites for Sudden Maximize, but must meet the prerequisites for any substituted feat.

Sudden Quicken: At 20th level, the warmage gains Sudden Quicken (CArc) as a bonus feat. If she already has the feat, she can choose a different metamagic feat. She does not need to meet the prerequisites for Sudden Quicken, but must meet the prerequisites for any substituted feat.

Warmage Spells
The warmage spell list has been modified. A number of evocation spells have been reduced in level, and a number of other spells have been added. The Warmage spell list is as described in Complete Arcane, but with the following spells added or re-leveled.

0th Level: burning hands, magic missile
1st Level: alarm, endure elements, enlarge person, longstrider, mage armor, protection from alignment, reduce person, snake's swiftness (SpC)
2nd Level: animal aptitude*, cone of cold, fireball, heroics (SpC), lightning bolt, mass snake's swiftness (SpC), resist energy, rope trick, sending
3rd Level: anticipate teleport (SpC), chain lightning, circle dance (SpC), clairaudience/clairvoyance, create food and water, dispel magic, fly, haste, mass mage armor (SpC)
4th Level: detect scrying, mass longstrider (SpC), mass enlarge person, minor creation, mass reduce person, scrying, secure shelter, stoneskin
5th Level: fabricate, major creation, mass fly (SpC), prying eyes, wall of stone
6th Level: greater anticipate teleport (SpC), greater dispel magic, hero's feast, mass animal aptitude*, mass heroics*
7th Level: control weather, gate (travel only), greater scrying, mage's magnificent mansion
8th Level: greater prying eyes, meteor swarm, storm of vengeance, true creation
9th Level: foresight

Spells marked with a * are new spells.

New Spells
Animal Aptitude
Transmutation
Level: Warmage 2
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: 1 min./level
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: Yes

The spell grants the target a +4 enhancement bonus to one ability score.

Animal Aptitude, Mass
Transmutation
Level: Warmage 6
Range: Close
Target: One creature/level, no two of which can be more than 30 ft. apart

Mass animal aptitude works like animal aptitude, except that it effects multiple creatures. Each creature recieves a bonus to the same ability score.

Heroics, Mass
Transmutation
Level: Warmage 6
Range: Close
Target: One creature/level, no two of which can be more than 30 ft. apart

Mass herorics works like heroics, except that it effects multiple creatures. Each creature recieves the same bonus feat.

Alternate Class Features
Not all warmages are trained in the same way. While the archetypical warmage is one who stands behind the lines of the army raining death on her foes, other warmages fight in different ways, and some develop specialized techniques for using battlefield magic.

Arcane Commando
Not all wars are won on the battlefield. Some warmages are trained to attack from cover of stealth, wearing down enemy armies without ever giving battle. These techiques are common both among nomadic armies and among those like the Gnomes or Kobolds who prefer to engage in guerrila warfare.
Level: 1st
Replaces: Warmage Edge, War Magic Study, Sudden Enlarge, Improved Sudden Metamagic, Sudden Empower, Sudden Widen, Sudden Maximize, Sudden Quicken
Benefit: The warmage gains the Traps class feature of the Rogue. The warmage gains Track as a bonus feat. The warmage adds Disable Device, Hide, Move Silently, Open Lock, and Search to her list of class skills. The warmage gains skirmish as a scout (CAdv) of her level minus one (meaning it advances on even levels rather than odd ones).

Arcane Messenger
The impact of the warmage extends far beyond the battlefield. Specialized warmages can prove an invaluable intelligence asset to their armies.
Level: 10th, 14th, or 18th
Replaces: Improved Sudden Metamagic.
Benefit: Casting sending, scrying, or greater scrying on a willing target does not expend a spell slot. The warmage must still be of a high enough level to cast these spells.

Battle Magician
While the effects of magic are quite impressive on the scale of a dungeon, they are somewhat less so on a battlefield. A well-placed fireball or cloudkill can turn the tide of a battle, but some warmages prefer a more brute-force approach. Such warmages are not necessarily popular with the line troops of their armies.
Level: 10th, 14th, or 18th
Replaces: Improved Sudden Metamagic.
Benefit: Spells cast by the warmage increase in range. Close range spells become medium range, medium range spells become long range, and long range spells become extremely long range (1000ft + 100ft/caster level). The area of the warmage's spells increases by 50% per level below the highest level of spell she can cast (so a 3rd level spell cast by a warmage who can cast 6th level spells would effect an area 250% of its normal size). If this increase results in an area that is not a multiple of five, round up to the next multiple of five.

Energy Adept
Warmages have access to spells that deal almost every type of energy damage, but some feel that even this flexibility is insufficient. They want to be able to create cones of acid or lines of sound.
Level: 6th, 10th, 14th, or 18th
Replaces: Improved Sudden Metamagic. If she takes this ability at 6th level, she gains the baseline benefits of Improved Sudden Metamagic at whatever level she does not take an alternate class feature that replaces it.
Benefit: The warmage gains Energy Substitution [Acid, Cold, Electricity, and Fire] (CArc) as bonus feats. Applying one of these feats to one of her spells does not increase its casting time.

Energy Mastery
Some warmages are not satisfied by simply damaging people with energy and prefer to debilitate them as well.
Level: 14th or 18th
Replaces: Improved Sudden Metamagic.
Benefit: Spells the warmage casts that deal acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic damage inflict additional effects to any target who takes damage. Targets who take acid damage are nauseated for one round per caster level. Targets who take cold damage are slowed (as the spell slow) for one round per caster level. Targets who take electricity damage are effected as by a targeted greater dispel magic (caster level equals the warmage's caster level). Targets who take fire damage take one half the damage again in the next round. Targets who take sonic damage are stunned for one round. In all cases, targets recieve a fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 the warmage's caster level + the warmage's Intelligence modifier) to negate the effects.

Enduring Magic
The warmage's spells last longer than ususal.
Level: 10th, 14th, or 18th
Replaces: Improved Sudden Metamagic.
Benefit: Spells the warmage casts with a Saving Throw of (Harmless) have an increased duration. If they normally last 1 round per caster level, they instead last 1 minute per caster level. If they normally last 1 minute per caster level, they instead last 10 minutes per caster level. If they normally last 10 minutes per caster level, they instead last 1 hour per caster level.
Special: Enduring Magic may be taken twice.

Gish
Every culture that fights with both sword and spell (which is to say: every culture) has some name for those who combine the two tactics. Elven Bladesingers, Dwarven Battlesmiths, Eldritch Knights of various orders. But while the Elves insist that it is with them that the technique originated, there can be no doubt that it is the silver sword-wielding Gish of the Githyanki who represent the best-known example of this tradition. It is from them that the general term for warmages who practice with both sword and spell is taken.
Level: 1st
Replaces: Warmage Edge. The warmage recieves one less spell slot at each level of spells she can cast.
Benefit: The warmage's base attack bonus changes to Good (as a Fighter). Her hit die changes to a d8. She gains proficiency with all martial weapons and with medium armor. She gains the Arcane Channeling ability of the duskblade (PHBII), except that she can use it on a single attack at 1st level and on multiple attacks at 6th level. She may exchange any number of warmage spells for duskblade spells of the same level.

Increased Force
The warmage's spells do additional damage.
Level: 6th, 10th, 14th, or 18th
Replaces: Improved Sudden Metamagic. If she takes this ability at 6th level, she gains the baseline benefits of Improved Sudden Metamagic at whatever level she does not take an alternate class feature that replaces it.
Benefit: The damage die of spells cast by the warmage increases by one step, to a maximum of a d12.
Special: Increased Force may be taken multiple times. Its effects stack.

Volume of Fire
The warmage's spells effect additional targets.
Level: 10th, 14th, or 18th
Replaces: Improved Sudden Metamagic.
Benefit: The warmage's caster level counts double for the purposes of determining the number of targets her spells effect.

Source Abbreviations:
CAdv: Complete Adventurer
CArc: Complete Arcane
SpC: Spell Compendium
PHBII: Player's Handbook II

Obviously, these changes suggest changes that could be made to the Beguiler and the Dread Necromancer as well. Certainly, I personally consider the fact that of the three classes which get Advanced Learning, no two have the same progression, to be offensively stupid and would recommend you pick some centralized progression to use. But the Beguiler and Dread Necromancer are honestly quite reasonable as printed, and you would be entirely justified in deciding they don't need any additional power.

I've re-written the Warmage's "Spells" ability to clarify that the Rainbow WarSnake type tricks explicitly work. I personally consider these to be RAW already, but as there is some debate, I figured I'd make it explicit how this fix is assuming things will work.

I've combined Advanced and Eclectic Learning into a single class feature for simplicity. I also made Eclectic Learning slightly better, because I feel that the RAW version is a little too punishing. Forcing you to cast a spell out of a higher level slot pushes you towards either downtime spells (where the slot doesn't matter) or broken ones (where the effect is worth it). Instead, you get the same set of spells, but out of correctly leveled slots. Sticking it at odd levels gives you a gradual progression, with new spells and Advanced Learning coming in at different points. It does push you towards Mindbender-type tricks, but I think that's an acceptable level of system mastery to support.

[DeAnno]

War Magic Study is really weird. Like, why are you sending people to Dragon #309 for a core class feature? It's just untidy, especially considering you're relatively restrained with sources otherwise. I'd replace it with something similar that you just spell out.

I'm not in love with the choice to go to weak BaB, especially as it doesn't do wonders for trying to be an Arcane Commando. I think Gish is really strong already (strongly consider delaying full attack channeling by many more levels) so going to Medium overall is probably fine, or at least give it to the Commando.

Sudden Metamagic might want a clause that if the class gives you a Sudden feat and you already have it you can choose another feat as a bonus feat.

Frostburn has a lot of spells that are strong for a caster working on a very large battlefield (Snowsight, Boreal Wind, Blizzard, Blood Snow, the list really goes on and on. If you're going to make a habit of book-poaching for ACFs maybe do something with all of that.

On a less extreme note Control Winds is appropriate to be on the normal spell list and its absence is stark. You may also want to consider Telekinesis. They should probably also get Disjunction, as not having it to strip buffstacks away at high levels is extremely crippling, and not in a way the Warmage should be crippled I think. Disjunction is probably the most important spell in the game for high-level tactical combat.

[NigelWalmsley]

War Magic Study is really weird. Like, why are you sending people to Dragon #309 for a core class feature? It's just untidy, especially considering you're relatively restrained with sources otherwise. I'd replace it with something similar that you just spell out.

You're absolutely right that it's disproportionately obscure. The issue is that the Warmage needs something that hooks into magic for mass battles. You want to be able to do things like the mage cabals from A Practical Guide to Evil, Communions from the Dominions games, or the group magic from Wheel of Time. But there's not anything really like that in D&D as-is. I considered giving them Circle Magic access of some kind, but the one in the DMG isn't especially good for this. Heroes of Battle doesn't have anything great either, as its approach to armies is mostly "MTP it".

I see two reasonable options. One, I could bit the bullet and write up some vague War Magic rules for the Warmage to use. Two, I could turn that (and the Sudden feats) into a bonus feat list, and bury the obscure feat in a list of other options that allow you to ignore it if it doesn't work for your campaign.


I'm not in love with the choice to go to weak BaB, especially as it doesn't do wonders for trying to be an Arcane Commando. I think Gish is really strong already (strongly consider delaying full attack channeling by many more levels) so going to Medium overall is probably fine, or at least give it to the Commando.

Well, the Commando is mostly expected to be using Skirmish on spells, not actually attacking directly. That said, going to Medium BAB overall and dropping full BAB from the Gish would naturally delay full attack channeling a bit, and make it overall less dangerous. It also keeps the class closer to expected entry times for Gish PrCs.


Frostburn has a lot of spells that are strong for a caster working on a very large battlefield (Snowsight, Boreal Wind, Blizzard, Blood Snow, the list really goes on and on. If you're going to make a habit of book-poaching for ACFs maybe do something with all of that.

It's possible. The issue is that there's always going to be something you can justify adding (because pretty much every spell is useful in a war), so no matter where you draw the line, there'll be something outside it that could be inside. The hope is that the list customization clause in the Spells ability allows you to get specific spells that you think are better for you for whatever reason (combined with better Advanced Learning).


On a less extreme note Control Winds is appropriate to be on the normal spell list and its absence is stark. You may also want to consider Telekinesis. They should probably also get Disjunction, as not having it to strip buffstacks away at high levels is extremely crippling, and not in a way the Warmage should be crippled I think. Disjunction is probably the most important spell in the game for high-level tactical combat.

Control Winds is a good catch to add. Disjunction seems like a reasonable pickup for 9ths. I'm not sure on Telekinesis, as it doesn't seem like they get that much else in line with it (no Mage Hand or Unseen Servant). I guess they get the X-ing Hand spells.

[radthemad4]

Energy Adept
Warmages have access to spells that deal almost every type of energy damage, but some feel that even this flexibility is insufficient. They want to be able to create cones of acid or lines of sound.
Level: 6th, 10th, 14th, or 18th
Replaces: Improved Sudden Metamagic. If she takes this ability at 6th level, she gains the baseline benefits of Improved Sudden Metamagic at whatever level she does not take an alternate class feature that replaces it.
Benefit: The warmage gains Energy Substitution (CArc) as a bonus feat. Applying it to one of her spells does not increase its casting time.
Is this supposed to be for all the energy types? The Complete Arcane feat makes you choose one particular energy type from Fire, Electricity, Acid and Cold.

[NigelWalmsley]

Is this supposed to be for all the energy types? The Complete Arcane feat makes you choose one particular energy type from Fire, Electricity, Acid and Cold.

The intention was that it was for all of them. Frankly, I didn't even realize the feat only gave you one type at a time.

[radthemad4]

It not mentioning an energy type made me think that might be the case. Do you intend for it to work for Sonic too? I ask because the Complete Arcane feat doesn't

[NigelWalmsley]

It not mentioning an energy type made me think that might be the case. Do you intend for it to work for Sonic too? I ask because the Complete Arcane feat doesn't

I did not. I don't know that anything particularly bad happens if you let it, but I consider those to be the core energy types (and wrote e.g. Energy Mastery with that in mind). I also intended it to qualify you for stuff like Lord of the Uttercold and Uttercold Assault Necromancer. Lemme re-write it to just give the four feats.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

I definitely like the fact that you've largely kept to the warmage's original Warmage-Edge-and-Sudden-Metamagic schtick and focused on the spell list instead of trying to overly complicate it, since one of the best use cases for the warmage is as a class for folks who like simpler caster classes.

A few comments:


War Magic Study: The warmage's mandate is to study the magic of war. As such, at 2nd level she gains War Magic Study (Dragon #309) as a bonus feat. This does not confirm on him knowledge of any particular War Spells, though organized warmage traditions will typically teach their initiates War spells they have derived.

I see two reasonable options. One, I could bit the bullet and write up some vague War Magic rules for the Warmage to use. Two, I could turn that (and the Sudden feats) into a bonus feat list, and bury the obscure feat in a list of other options that allow you to ignore it if it doesn't work for your campaign.

You actually don't need to write up vague rules for that, since the War Spells article already has a "Guidlines for Creating War Spells" section and all of the published [War] spells follow those guidelines. You can basically rewrite and condense that section and you're good to go.


Sudden Quicken: At 20th level, the warmage gains Sudden Quicken (CArc) as a bonus feat. If she already has the feat, she can choose a different metamagic feat. She does not need to meet the prerequisites for Sudden Quicken, but must meet the prerequisites for any substituted feat.

20th level is far too late for the warmage to be picking up Sudden Quicken, I feel. The base feat is already waaay too restricted at 6(!) prerequisite feats, when no Sudden Metamagic is really worth locking behind that many prereqs; the ability to cast multiple spells per round is generally a key part of blasting starting at the mid-high levels, as spells like celerity and arcane fusion come online at those levels and metamagic rods and other metamagic reduction can make normal Quicken Spell economical around then as well; and the duskblade, who also gets a "free quicken X/day" ability, starts its free Quicken-ing at 5th level and gets up to 4/day at 20th level, just one usage short of this warmage.

While there's a certainly big difference between a duskblade being able to quicken a spell in addition to attacking in melee and a warmage being able to quicken a beefy AoE spell, it's not a "wait 15 levels for the same trick" difference. It's particularly noticeable since Improved Sudden Metamagic lets a warmage turn any feat into a Sudden version, so they could just pick up normal Quicken Spell as Sudden Quicken at 6th level! I would at the very least swap Sudden Quicken for Sudden Maximize, maybe even Sudden Widen, so it comes online when it's more relevant and players can actually get some mileage out of it.

What would probably be better, though, is replacing all of the "Sudden X" class feature entries with "Bonus Sudden Metamagic Feat" where they can pick up any Sudden Metamagic feat of their choice or a regular metamagic feat taken as a Sudden one, as you suggested with the bonus feat list idea. Improved Sudden Metamagic's feat-translation clause plus the various "If you already have this feat, pick any other metamagic feat" clauses basically let them do that already, so you might as well make it official.


Warmage Spells
The warmage spell list has been modified. A number of evocation spells have been reduced in level, and a number of other spells have been added.

Just to double-check, I'm assuming you've only listed the changed or added spells here? The list looks pretty anemic at high levels otherwise.

Assuming that's the case, I'd suggest just two changes. First, meteor swarm could stand to come down a level or two to 8th or even 7th, given that it's among the weakest 9ths and control weather or a War Magic fireball has much the same wide-area-obliterating effect. Adding in storm of vengeance (another relatively-weak-for-9th-level spell but one that perfectly fits the warmage's "blow the crap out of a huge area at extreme range" playstyle) as an 8th-level spell would be nice as well.

Second, one minor gap I see in the warmage's new capabilities is battlemagic perception and/or duelward. You've added dispel magic and greater dispel magic to deal with enemy casters but no buffs to help protect allies from said enemy casters, so adding some potent counterspell capability would help with that while sticking to the "large scale magic" and "straightforward playstyle" themes.

Otherwise, I think the spell list looks good. A nice amount of battlefield-scale information-gathering and utility without adding too much complexity, and what remaining gaps there are can largely be filled in with Advanced Learning.


Arcane Commando
[...]
Replaces: Warmage Edge, War Magic Study, Sudden Enlarge, Improved Sudden Metamagic, Sudden Empower, Sudden Widen, Sudden Maximize, Sudden Quicken


This isn't remotely worth the trade. Yes, ACFs like the Feat Rogue or Thug Fighter claim that swapping out a feat progression for a precision damage progression is a fair trade, but given Improved Sudden Metamagic's cumulative effect, the warmage is effectively giving up twenty-five bonus Sudden Metamagic feats in exchange for +5d6 precision damage, trapfinding capabilities, and a crappy feat that rarely sees any use even when gained for free.

I would change the tradeoff to just Warmage Edge (since Skirmish directly replaces it) plus one use of Improved Sudden Metamagic like the other ACFs (roughly equivalent with Skirmish in offensive terms) plus War Magic Study (since a more sneaky caster won't need such a bombastic feature).

If the goal with forcing the warmage to give up the free metamagic was to encourage warmage PCs with this ACF to try to be sneakier and more surgical with their spells, then instead of giving up the free metamagc I'd swap it out. Trade Enlarge/Empower/Widen/Maximize/Quicken for Still/Silent/Invisible/Deceptive/Sculpt and suddenly the warmage is less about blowing the crap out of tons of soldiers and is more about blowing people up without them knowing what hit them. (Of course, if you take my above suggestion to let the warmage pick up any Sudden feat this change wouldn't matter, but you could still put in a note suggesting players pick those feats with this ACF.)

Also, if you're not going to give the warmage a Medium BAB overall, I'd suggest giving it that as part of this ACF. Even if it's mostly going to use Skirmish with spells and has some metamagic to make its spells more subtle, a roguish commando type is probably going to want to get a bit gishy and/or backstabby at some point and supporting that would be good.


Enduring Magic
[...]
Benefit: Spells the warmage casts with a Saving Throw of (Harmless) have an increased duration. If they normally last 1 round per caster level, they instead last 1 minute per caster level. If they normally last 1 minute per caster level, they instead last 10 minutes per caster level. If they normally last 10 minutes per caster level, they instead last 1 hour per caster level.

I'd let this ability also apply to offensive damage-over-time spells--though as a separate choice from harmless spells, so a warmage could pick each once or double up on one or the other--since the DoT spells they get that would qualify are ones like sleet storm and blade barrier that don't see a ton of use otherwise.


Gish
[...]
Replaces: Warmage Edge. The warmage recieves one less spell slot at each level of spells she can cast.
Benefit: The warmage's base attack bonus changes to Good (as a Fighter). Her hit die changes to a d8. She gains proficiency with all martial weapons and with medium armor. She gains the Arcane Channeling ability of the duskblade (PHBII), except that she can use it on a single attack at 1st level and on multiple attacks at 6th level. She may exchange any number of warmage spells for duskblade spells of the same level.

A few points for this one:

1) I wouldn't have the warmage trade out Warmage Edge entirely here, I'd just restrict it to touch spells (channeled or otherwise).

2) If you're going to hand out medium armor proficiency here, you should probably throw in Battle Caster as a bonus feat so the warmage can actually make use of said armor without having to spend an extra feat on it.

3) I'd tweak the spell exchange slightly so the warmage can choose to trade out 1st-level warmage spells for duskblade spells immediately, then trade out 2nd-level warmage spells for duskblade spells when they get access to 2nd-level spells, and so on. A player won't necessarily know how they want to tweak their spell list for their whole career when they're first starting out, and that's a lot of up-front decision-making for what should be a more pick-up-and-play class.


Frostburn has a lot of spells that are strong for a caster working on a very large battlefield (Snowsight, Boreal Wind, Blizzard, Blood Snow, the list really goes on and on. If you're going to make a habit of book-poaching for ACFs maybe do something with all of that.

It's possible. The issue is that there's always going to be something you can justify adding (because pretty much every spell is useful in a war), so no matter where you draw the line, there'll be something outside it that could be inside. The hope is that the list customization clause in the Spells ability allows you to get specific spells that you think are better for you for whatever reason (combined with better Advanced Learning).

I second the point that Frostburn has a lot of great massive-area blasting spells that the warmage would love in a way that most other splatbooks don't, and Cold Spell Specialization + control temperature for the +2 damage per die with every spell is a fairly common combo for cold-themed blasters, so a cold-focused ACF would be pretty cool, if you'll pardon the pun. Something like this, perhaps:


Combat Cryomancer
There's a reason that one of the most famous classic blunders is "Never get involved in a land war in the Frostfell"!
Level: 1st
Replaces: Warmage Edge, War Magic Study, Sudden Enlarge, Improved Sudden Metamagic, Sudden Empower, Sudden Widen, Sudden Maximize, Sudden Quicken
Benefit: The warmage gains Energy Substitution (Cold) and Snowcasting as bonus feats. At the levels when she would normally gain a bonus sudden metamagic feat (4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th), she instead selects one spell with the [Cold] descriptor of any spell level that she can cast from any spell list and adds it to her list of spells known; if the spell appears on multiple spell lists at different levels, use the the level at which it appears on the sorcerer/wizard list. At the levels when she would normally gain Improved Sudden Metamagic or enhancements to that class feature (6th, 10th, 14th, and 18th), she instead gains a bonus feat from the following list: Cold Focus, Cold Spell Specialization, Energy Admixture (Cold), Frostfell Prodigy, Frozen Magic, Greater Cold Focus, Icy Calling, Piercing Cold, Sudden Energy Admixture (Cold).

[NigelWalmsley]

You actually don't need to write up vague rules for that, since the War Spells article already has a "Guidlines for Creating War Spells" section and all of the published [War] spells follow those guidelines. You can basically rewrite and condense that section and you're good to go.

Fair. Honestly, my expectation is that anyone who is going to be in a situation where War Magic Study comes up probably already has access to those rules or something equivalent.


What would probably be better, though, is replacing all of the "Sudden X" class feature entries with "Bonus Sudden Metamagic Feat" where they can pick up any Sudden Metamagic feat of their choice or a regular metamagic feat taken as a Sudden one, as you suggested with the bonus feat list idea. Improved Sudden Metamagic's feat-translation clause plus the various "If you already have this feat, pick any other metamagic feat" clauses basically let them do that already, so you might as well make it official.

Yeah. And, as I mentioned, doing something like that also lets me punt on doing anything about War Magic Study, as it'll just be on a list of bonus feats and you can just not take it if your campaign is not going to use it.


Just to double-check, I'm assuming you've only listed the changed or added spells here? The list looks pretty anemic at high levels otherwise.

Yes, that was the intention.


First, meteor swarm could stand to come down a level or two to 8th or even 7th, given that it's among the weakest 9ths and control weather or a War Magic fireball has much the same wide-area-obliterating effect. Adding in storm of vengeance (another relatively-weak-for-9th-level spell but one that perfectly fits the warmage's "blow the crap out of a huge area at extreme range" playstyle) as an 8th-level spell would be nice as well.

Done.


Second, one minor gap I see in the warmage's new capabilities is battlemagic perception and/or duelward. You've added dispel magic and greater dispel magic to deal with enemy casters but no buffs to help protect allies from said enemy casters, so adding some potent counterspell capability would help with that while sticking to the "large scale magic" and "straightforward playstyle" themes.

The class gets (Greater) Dispel Magic because the other fixed list casters do. I think those are things any mage ought to have access to, not any particularly special thing. I'm leery of giving them abilities that push counterspelling, because I tend to think that it's not a very fun game dynamic. Players using their abilities to stop stuff from happening isn't fun, and it makes the action economy disadvantage for casting enemies even worse.


I would change the tradeoff to just Warmage Edge (since Skirmish directly replaces it) plus one use of Improved Sudden Metamagic like the other ACFs (roughly equivalent with Skirmish in offensive terms) plus War Magic Study (since a more sneaky caster won't need such a bombastic feature).

I might have it replace just the bonus feats. Or maybe make it into Sneak Attack. Also I need to double-check exactly what the rules for Weapon-like Spells say to figure out if I need to override them to get the damage to work with Fireball.


I'd let this ability also apply to offensive damage-over-time spells--though as a separate choice from harmless spells, so a warmage could pick each once or double up on one or the other--since the DoT spells they get that would qualify are ones like sleet storm and blade barrier that don't see a ton of use otherwise.

That's totally reasonable.


1) I wouldn't have the warmage trade out Warmage Edge entirely here, I'd just restrict it to touch spells (channeled or otherwise).

Warmage Edge is largely unnecessary for the Gish, because they already get to add both Strength and weapon damage. Keeping it means that the Warmage potentially (depending on what stats you can swing) gets damage numbers that are unreasonably large at 1st level, while not doing much at higher levels.


2) If you're going to hand out medium armor proficiency here, you should probably throw in Battle Caster as a bonus feat so the warmage can actually make use of said armor without having to spend an extra feat on it.

This version has it's Armored Mage class feature written to work with any armor you're proficient with so I don't need to do exactly that.


3) I'd tweak the spell exchange slightly so the warmage can choose to trade out 1st-level warmage spells for duskblade spells immediately, then trade out 2nd-level warmage spells for duskblade spells when they get access to 2nd-level spells, and so on. A player won't necessarily know how they want to tweak their spell list for their whole career when they're first starting out, and that's a lot of up-front decision-making for what should be a more pick-up-and-play class.

That's a fair change.


I second the point that Frostburn has a lot of great massive-area blasting spells that the warmage would love in a way that most other splatbooks don't, and Cold Spell Specialization + control temperature for the +2 damage per die with every spell is a fairly common combo for cold-themed blasters, so a cold-focused ACF would be pretty cool, if you'll pardon the pun. Something like this, perhaps:

My concern is basically that I don't want the Warmage to be a "blasting and also Frostburn because the spells there happen to line up" class. It does sound like there's room for a Cold Evoker PrC though (something similar to the Seer of the Tempest (https://dungeons.fandom.com/wiki/Seer_of_the_Tempest_(3.5e_Prestige_Class))).

[PairO'Dice Lost]

The class gets (Greater) Dispel Magic because the other fixed list casters do. I think those are things any mage ought to have access to, not any particularly special thing. I'm leery of giving them abilities that push counterspelling, because I tend to think that it's not a very fun game dynamic. Players using their abilities to stop stuff from happening isn't fun, and it makes the action economy disadvantage for casting enemies even worse.

I'm not a huge fan of counterspelling-heavy builds either, but I think it's a lot safer on something like the Warmage than it would be on another fixed-list caster like the Beguiler or Dread Necromancer (or your Seer or Warden; I saw that thread and will head over for a review in a bit). The Warmage relies a lot more on one-and-done spells than the others do and lacks a way of making minions (barring picking up summoning/mind-control/animation via Eclectic Learning) to conserve spell slots, so there's a lot more competition for spell slots and he can't just sit back and spam battlemagic perceptions and dispel magics if he also wants to have any offensive contributions. And as mentioned he doesn't have much in the way of caster-defense spells like a Sorcerer, caster-lockdown spells like a Beguiler, or personal enhancements like a Dread Necromancer, so countering enemy casters is pretty much his best defense.

If you'd rather not go the counterspelling route, I'd at least add one or two spells to the list for save boosts or energy resistance/immunity (which, incidentally, would make it a bit easier for the Warmage to safely blast around his allies) so it can do something to buff allies aside from a late-game fire shield.


I might have it replace just the bonus feats. Or maybe make it into Sneak Attack. Also I need to double-check exactly what the rules for Weapon-like Spells say to figure out if I need to override them to get the damage to work with Fireball.

Only spells requiring attack rolls are "weaponlike," so no, precision damage doesn't work with AoEs unless you add a clause to that effect.


Warmage Edge is largely unnecessary for the Gish, because they already get to add both Strength and weapon damage. Keeping it means that the Warmage potentially (depending on what stats you can swing) gets damage numbers that are unreasonably large at 1st level, while not doing much at higher levels.

To be fair, "unreasonable large damage numbers at 1st level" is kind of the warmage's existing schtick, and a 1d4+5 magic missile is already basically a save-or-die against many 1 HD humanoids. :smallamused:

If you're concerned about low-level damage numbers, dropping it entirely isn't too bad, but perhaps pushing it back a few levels would be a good compromise.


This version has it's Armored Mage class feature written to work with any armor you're proficient with so I don't need to do exactly that.

Missed that, good call.


My concern is basically that I don't want the Warmage to be a "blasting and also Frostburn because the spells there happen to line up" class. It does sound like there's room for a Cold Evoker PrC though (something similar to the Seer of the Tempest (https://dungeons.fandom.com/wiki/Seer_of_the_Tempest_(3.5e_Prestige_Class))).

It's not just that the spells happen to match, it's also that the cold blaster build is already quite synergistic and pretty common, so having a Cold Evoker ACF for the Warmage makes as much sense as having an Uttercold Assault Necromancer ACF for a revised Dread Necromancer, I feel. But it's not integral enough that there needs to be such an ACF if you don't want one.

[NigelWalmsley]

If you'd rather not go the counterspelling route, I'd at least add one or two spells to the list for save boosts or energy resistance/immunity (which, incidentally, would make it a bit easier for the Warmage to safely blast around his allies) so it can do something to buff allies aside from a late-game fire shield.

I mean she does get Resist Energy. The list could pick up some additional defensive buffs, but I risk encroaching on the Warden if I give them too much of that. I'd have to think about it. They do get a pretty reasonable set of buffs though, I think. They just don't get the really high-end defensive ones (Death Ward, Mind Blank, Freedom of Movement).


To be fair, "unreasonable large damage numbers at 1st level" is kind of the warmage's existing schtick, and a 1d4+5 magic missile is already basically a save-or-die against many 1 HD humanoids. :smallamused:

The traditional Warmage needs that to compete with the damage other damage-based characters are dealing. A Fighter or Barbarian is hitting for 2d6+6 with a Greatsword. And, yeah, there are ways that's worse than a Magic Missile, but there are also ways it's better. A Rogue does comparable damage when Sneak Attack goes off. Conversely, if you're hitting people with Arcane Channeling, you're already about on par with the Fighter-types (if not ahead, depending on stats). You just don't need Warmage Edge to be effective.


If you're concerned about low-level damage numbers, dropping it entirely isn't too bad, but perhaps pushing it back a few levels would be a good compromise.

I guess I just don't consider Warmage Edge to be such an iconic class feature that it's necessary to preserve here. It fixes their damage at low levels. At high levels you basically don't notice it exists.


It's not just that the spells happen to match, it's also that the cold blaster build is already quite synergistic and pretty common, so having a Cold Evoker ACF for the Warmage makes as much sense as having an Uttercold Assault Necromancer ACF for a revised Dread Necromancer, I feel. But it's not integral enough that there needs to be such an ACF if you don't want one.

I don't disagree that it's a solid build, it's just that it seems like it ought to be a PrC. It's true that a Warmage might build that way, but so might a Sorcerer or a Wizard (or even something more exotic like a Druid). The Uttercold Assault Necromancer example you give is a good one, because that should be a PrC too. It's written up as one here (https://dungeons.fandom.com/wiki/Uttercold_Assault_Necromancer_(3.5e_Prestige_Class )), and a Dread Necromancer qualifies fairly easily. Not quite automatically, as for some reason Chill Touch isn't a [Cold] spell, but Kelgore's Grave Mist is, and that's a great choice for your 4th level Advanced Learning if you're going into the PrC.

As a PrC, you'd require Cold Spell Specialization and/or Energy Substitution (Cold), [Cold] spells at each spell level (Warmage meets up to 6ths, which is at least as far as you'd go), and some kind of spell level and/or skill ranks requirement to level-gate it properly (9 ranks in Survival makes Warmage or Druid the primary choices, 9 ranks in Knowledge (the Planes)* for Warmage, Wizard, or Cleric). Class features would include a passive Control Temperature, extra [Cold] spells known (1/level, plus maybe the ability to swap spells known for [Cold] spells), and some kind of secondary ice-based shtick. There are a lot you could give them. Make things slick like Grease, make people Slowed like Slow, make people immobilized, make things out of ice (if you're going for Incantatrix-tier cheese, this is the pick, because Simulacra are things), conjure blizzards, or just get totally arbitrary other bonuses that happen to be frost-themed.

*: Speaking of which, the class should probably have a limited set of Knowledges. Arcana is a given, the RAW Warmage gets History, and you want The Planes for a lot of elemental PrCs. Architecture and engineering and Nobility and royalty are justifiable from a flavor perspective.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

I don't disagree that it's a solid build, it's just that it seems like it ought to be a PrC. It's true that a Warmage might build that way, but so might a Sorcerer or a Wizard (or even something more exotic like a Druid). The Uttercold Assault Necromancer example you give is a good one, because that should be a PrC too. It's written up as one here (https://dungeons.fandom.com/wiki/Uttercold_Assault_Necromancer_(3.5e_Prestige_Class )), and a Dread Necromancer qualifies fairly easily. Not quite automatically, as for some reason Chill Touch isn't a [Cold] spell, but Kelgore's Grave Mist is, and that's a great choice for your 4th level Advanced Learning if you're going into the PrC.

I was going to argue that both the Combat Cryomancer and Uttercold Assault builds are better off as ACFs because they're the kind of playstyles you can build around starting at character creation...but after double-checking Lord of the Uttercold, I recalled that I'd houseruled its prereqs in my games to be potentially selectable at 1st in the right build but that it's not officially available until 6th level. That being the case, doing both of those playstyles as PrCs does indeed make sense.


*: Speaking of which, the class should probably have a limited set of Knowledges. Arcana is a given, the RAW Warmage gets History, and you want The Planes for a lot of elemental PrCs. Architecture and engineering and Nobility and royalty are justifiable from a flavor perspective.

Those all look good, and I'd suggest Geography as well since the "lands and people" part goes with the training in warcraft and the "terrain and weather" part is important for strategy and logistics.