Can I get help making a germaphobic caster?

[Sour_Grape]

Ok so basically I want to make a noble germaphobic caster for an upcoming 3.5e campaign I'm playing in with my friends. We have been allowed one minor magic item each, and I have chosen to have a pair of gloves that seal my characters magic away when they are on, allowing only cantrips, as I want my character to have strong, uncontrollable magic. This is my first time playing 3.5e, and I would like for my character to be able to live up to the ideas I have for him. Any help would be appreciated!

[daremetoidareyo]

Ok so basically I want to make a noble germaphobic caster for an upcoming 3.5e campaign I'm playing in with my friends. We have been allowed one minor magic item each, and I have chosen to have a pair of gloves that seal my characters magic away when they are on, allowing only cantrips, as I want my character to have strong, uncontrollable magic. This is my first time playing 3.5e, and I would like for my character to be able to live up to the ideas I have for him. Any help would be appreciated!

You don’t have unlimited cantrips, but there is one cantrip that you’ll be interested in: prestidigitation. Sometimes called minor wish, prestidigitation will be able to be your sanitary wipe of choice

[Doctor Despair]

Unseen Servant could be a good spell for you to pick up

[Particle_Man]

Are you aiming for the wild mage prestige class? Otherwise how is your magic uncontrollable, exactly?

[Sour_Grape]

Are you aiming for the wild mage prestige class? Otherwise how is your magic uncontrollable, exactly?

I dont really know, as I said, my first time playing 3.5e, but I kind of want just raw, uncontrolled power, kind of more like a backup that my character would rather not use.

[Sour_Grape]

You don’t have unlimited cantrips, but there is one cantrip that you’ll be interested in: prestidigitation. Sometimes called minor wish, prestidigitation will be able to be your sanitary wipe of choice

Yeah, I definitely want that. I've played 5e before, and Im pretty sure that it was a cantrip in that version as well.

[Telonius]

The first thing that came to mind when you mentioned "germaphobic" was actually a Wu Jen, a class from Complete Arcane. The class has to follow a certain taboo, or be unable to cast. You could model that as the "germaphobic" thing.

There aren't very many ways to model "uncontrollable magic" in 3.5. Wild Mage is one of the few. But it's more about giving a spell a variable caster level, than saying, "I really don't know what's going to happen when I unleash this." Truly random effects happen more often when you're deliberately using a magic item that you know is either random and dangerous or random and harmless - like using a Rod of Wonder, or drawing from the Deck of Many Things.

If you really want to give your magic a random, variable effect, I'd talk to your DM about homebrewing a flaw for that. Be sure the rest of the party is on board with it, too, because typically people expect a Wizard's spells to do what they're supposed to do. Having a 5% chance of randomly incinerating your party with each spell you cast might not be as fun for the rest of the group as you think.

[Segev]

The trouble with this concept isn’t the concept, but the way it clashes with the mechanics and how the game expects you to use your class features. Wizards, I particular, prepare their spells. So do Wu Jen.

If he can’t control it without help and is afraid to use his magic, what manner of training and profession did he work towards? He presumably tries to have a “normal life” despite his “problem,” so what is that normal life’s training, work, and goal?

If you really want to lean into it, I thing the sorcerer class will fight you the least. But you’re still going to in practice have full control over your magic and the game will expect you to use it strategically to keep up with challenges of your level.

One way to approach it is with an attitude of your character not being particularly competent because his training is always interrupted by his magic. The spells you cast in combat erupt from you involuntarily, at least on the fiction layer. You are choosing them deliberately as the player, so they are always as useful as you can make them. But your character is constantly worried and maybe grateful when his out of control magic save his bacon.

Be careful of the temptation to have the RO excuse for dropping spells carelessly with your allies in the AoE. It will sometimes seem reasonable; don’t do it unless the other players are on board with it. (A rogue or monk might not mind once they have Evasion, but still, ask their players, first.)

[Biggus]

I dont really know, as I said, my first time playing 3.5e, but I kind of want just raw, uncontrolled power, kind of more like a backup that my character would rather not use.

Is Forgotten Realms material available? If so the Spellfire Wielder feat (and later, the Spellfire Channeler prestige class) from Magic of Faerun might suit you. It's meant to represent magic in its raw, primal form, and under certain circumstances there's a danger of it releasing random blasts of energy. It requires DM approval though, so if you like the idea of it, check with them before designing your character around it.



Be careful of the temptation to have the RO excuse for dropping spells carelessly with your allies in the AoE.

What does RO mean?

[Particle_Man]

There is the Wilder class. Psionics but that is close to magic (a point system instead of spell slots, and you do not prepare spells daily but just “know” what you have). You can increase your caster level (taking the gloves off) but risk enervation (makes you less useful in combat and drains your magic a bit).

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/classes/wilder.htm

[Segev]

What does RO mean?

Typo. Meant “RP,” for “role playing.”

[H_H_F_F]

Wilder was what I was thinking - but yeah, just talk to your DM. You could easily arrange something like a percentage to randomise a sorcerer spell, or a roll each day you go without the gloves to see whether or not you release a spell accidently.

Do remember that unlike 5e, you can cast very few cantrips per day.

Either way, you should go for a spontaneous caster. It just doesn't really make sense with a prepared caster. I'd go with sorcerer for arcane, wilder for manifesting, or favored soul for "the powers of a chaotic god are storming within me" vibe.