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View Full Version : D&D 3.x Class The Spell Specialist: The most generic, most specific prestige class.



bekeleven
2021-08-04, 08:40 PM
Not all spells are created equal, and casters know it. A spell specialist has chosen to sacrifice some of their general spellcasting prowess for more specific, honed power.

This class is relatively easy for a spellcaster to enter, but most spellcasters will delay their entry until they have access to a spell that really speaks to them.

https://i.imgur.com/8IhHMJP.png?1

Greg Rutkowski (https://www.artstation.com/rutkowski)

Requirements
Skills: Spellcraft 6 ranks.
Spells Known: Must be able to cast the chosen spell.
Feats: One feat that increases your prowess with the chosen spell: Spell Focus in the chosen spell’s school if the spell requires a saving throw, Weapon Focus with the chosen spell’s attack mode, Arcane Thesis for the chosen spell, Spell Mastery including your chosen spell, Spell Penetration if the chosen spell is SR:Yes, or a reserve feat that is activated by having the chosen spell readied.

Class Skills
The Spell Specialist’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).
Skill Points At Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Table: The Spell Specialist


Lvl
BAB
Fort
Ref
Will
Spell Tricks
Special
Spells


1
+0
+0
+0
+2
1
Signature Spell



2
+1
+0
+0
+3
2
Intuitive Spell
+1 Level of existing class



3
+1
+1
+1
+3
3
Spell Thematics
+1 Level of existing class


4
+2
+1
+1
+4
4
Unbound Spell
+1 Level of existing class


5
+2
+1
+1
+4
6
Inherent Spell
+1 Level of existing class


Hit Die: D4.

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the spell specialist prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A spell specialist gains no proficiency in any weapons or armor.

Spellcasting: When a new level in spell specialist is gained, besides the first, the character gains an increased caster level, new spells known and new spells per day as though she had gained a level in a spellcasting class that was able to cast her signature spell. She does not, however, gain any other benefits of this class. She must choose which class to apply this benefit to when she takes her first level of spell specialist.

Signature Spell (Ex): A spell specialist’s ability to cast her chosen spell is more potent. She adds her class level to her caster level with her chosen spell, her attack rolls with any attacks made through the spell, and her spell penetration checks to penetrate a creature’s spell resistance with the chosen spell. She also increases the effective level of her signature spell by 1 level per class level, to a maximum of 9. Any further class levels instead increase the saving throw of her signature spell by 1. The spell is prepared normally, but is treated as a higher level when cast. Since each level in spell specialist beyond the first also adds to her caster level normally, signature spell means that her signature spell’s caster level increases by 2 for each level in the class beyond the first.

Spell Trick: At each new level, and twice at fifth level, the spell specialist gains a spell trick. This trick applies only to her chosen spell, increasing her potency when casting it. Tricks may have prerequisites, or apply only to spells with certain characteristics, as noted in their descriptions. A trick that can be taken multiple times will note what effects that grants in its description.

Area Control (Ex): If taken once, you may choose to be automatically excluded from the area of your signature spell. Effectively, your spell ignores you. If taken a second time, you may shape the area of your chosen spell with more granularity, excluding any 5-foot cubes of your choice from the spell’s area. Any already shapeable spell has a minimum shapeable dimension of 5 feet instead of 10 feet.

Bonus Metamagic Feat: You may take a metamagic feat whose prerequisites you meet. However, that feat can only be applied to your signature spell. If you ever take that feat normally, you may immediately swap Bonus Metamagic Feat to apply to a different feat whose prerequisites you meet. For instance, you could take extend spell (Polymorph). If you ever later learned the feat extend spell, you could change your bonus metamagic feat to quicken spell (Polymorph). This can be used with Metamagic Focus. If taken multiple times, you gain multiple signature metamagic feats.

Combination spell (Su): Once per day per class level, you may cast an additional “rider” spell with your signature spell. The rider spell must be of a lower level than your signature spell, although this checks the slot your signature spell was prepared or cast from, so you can prepare or cast it from a higher level spell slot to combine with higher leveled spells. You can only combine spells that can both target the same target(s), both emanate from you, or both are centered on a location in space. The combined spell is treated as your signature spell’s spell level, and has the longer casting time and lower range of both spells. The effect of both spells occur simultaneously. Roll attacks of both, and anybody affected by both makes any required saves.

Grant Spell (Su): You may convert a personal-range signature spell to have a range of touch. It affects willing targets only. When you use your spell this way, the recipient of the spell is treated in all ways as though they had cast it, but with your caster level, chosen metamagics, and other details.

Invoked Spell (Ex): Once per day per class level, you may cast your signature spell Invoked. An invoked spell can be cast inside of an antimagic field, a dead magic area, on a null-magic plane, or in any other location where you would normally be unable to resolve it. Invoked spells ignore such conditions for their entire durations.

If taken a second time, you do not increase the number of times per day you can invoke spells. Instead, your invoked spells can ignore personal immunities that would interfere with them. For instance, an invoked illusion spell can’t be seen through automatically with True Seeing, or an invoked Dominate Person can affect somebody immune to mind-affecting spells.

Long-Range Spell (Su): If your signature spell has a range expressed in feet, double its range. If your signature spell has a range of touch, it is now a ranged touch with a 30 foot range. You may take this multiple times, but the additions are additive rather than multiplicative, meaning that each additional time grants as much range as the first. This may be combined with Grant Spell.

Metamagic Focus (Ex): Choose a metamagic feat you know other than Heighten Spell. Reduce the level adjustment that feat gives your chosen spell by +1, to a minimum of +0. This can be taken any number of times, reducing a single feat by multiple spell levels, reducing multiple feats, or any combination of the two. As an additional benefit, any metamagic feat you’ve focused doesn’t increase the casting time of your signature spell.

Powersurge (Sp): As a swift action, you may empower your signature spell. All benefits from Signature Spell increase by 10 for one cast within the next round: The bonuses to caster level, attack rolls, spell penetration, and spell level/save DCs. This increases the effective spell level of your signature spell to 9 and then applies any remaining points to increase the save DC. You may use this once per day per class level.

Spell-Like (Sp): You gain your signature spell as a 1/Day spell-like ability. However, you must still pay any XP costs and provide expensive material components, and must provide a material component or focus for any spell that manipulates its component or focus to function, such as the chest required for Secret Chest. You may choose when you gain this ability to apply any +0 metamagic feats to the spell, either metamagic feats that were already +0, or ones reduced to +0 through Metamagic Focus. These choices are permanent. If taken again, increase the daily uses of this ability, and you may choose to add or remove +0 metamagics from the ability each time you select it. You still cast this spell using your appropriate caster level.

Spell Form (Sp): Once per day, you may expend one spell or spell slot of your signature spell in order to become an incarnation of it. Treat this as though you gained the Alternate Form of a Living Spell (MMIII) of your signature spell, and like a living spell, it can only be used on a spell that creates an area or effect. You may apply any metamagics adjusted to +0 with Metamagic Focus to this form for purposes of determining its powers. You retain your intelligence, wisdom, and charisma, and your spell effect’s saving throw is your spell’s normal saving throw. You also retain the ability to cast your signature spell, with its various components (verbal, somatic, etc.) changing to be usable in your new form. The living spell’s spell effect still costs the appropriate amount of XP, and will consume expensive material components from your (now melded) inventory to function. It otherwise uses your casting ability to determine its statistics, such as caster level. This takes a standard action to activate or dismiss, and lasts for 1 round per caster level. You may take this spell trick multiple times to use it that many times per day. In addition, taking it twice reduces the action needed to assume spell form to a move action, and taking it three times allows you to transform as a swift action.

Spell Similarity (Ex): You may treat a second known spell as your signature spell, with some restrictions. The second spell must be closely mechanically and thematically related to your first spell. For instance, a Charm Person specialist could learn another spell that begins with the word Charm. An Enlarge Person specialist could choose a second spell that begins with the word Enlarge (including, for instance, Enlarge Person, Mass). A Fireball specialist could choose Delayed Blast Fireball. All signature spell benefits apply to both of your spells, but that doesn’t mean that, for instance, you would get two spells per day by taking Spell-Like once. Spell-Like and similar abilities require you to choose one of your spells. Any use with daily limits would share those uses, rather than doubling them. You may take this multiple times, with the same restrictions each time. Each additional signature spell must be related to all others.

Unparalleled Mastery (Ex): You automatically recognize anybody within 60 feet of you (or your signature spell’s range, whichever is longer) casting your signature spell. Even if you are not aware of the person, and they are outside of your line of effect (such as if they are invisible, or in an adjacent room), you are still aware that the spell is being cast. You may choose to counter that casting as an immediate action. If you counterspell by using your own prepared spell or spell slot, the attempt automatically succeeds. If you do not wish to use any resources, you can instead make a dispel check (rolling 1D20 + your caster level with your signature spell against a DC of 11 + the other caster’s caster level) to counter it.

If taken a second time, you gain additional options when somebody casts your signature spell: You may counter your signature spell, as above, as a free action at any time. However, if you choose to use an immediate action, then a successful “counter” lets you instead take control of it, redirecting it to any suitable target or area within the original caster’s range. It uses all of its original caster’s statistics for range, duration, and other details, but you are treated as its caster for purposes of choosing its area, any effects decided on spell resolution, and all other effects (such as the ability to dismiss the spell).

Unstoppable Spell (Ex): If your spell deals damage, you can reduce your enemy’s abilities to resist it. The first time you select this trick, half of the hit point damage dealt to any target by your spell is force damage. The second time, all of the damage becomes force damage, and you may have that damage ignore hardness.

Vanishing Performance (Sp): This trick requires your spell be cast targeting an area, and only functions if you have line of effect to that area. Once per day per spell specialist level, as you finish casting your signature spell, you may teleport to the center of its area. This doesn’t function for any areas centered on, or emanating from, the caster. For instance, a Fireball specialist could choose to appear in the center of her fireball. If the chosen space is occupied, the daily use does nothing and is wasted. If your signature spell deals damage, look into Area Control.

Intuitive Spell (Ex): A second-level spell specialist’s mind and body are attuned to the magical energies of her signature spell. She gains the appropriate benefit, based on whether she prepares or spontaneously casts her signature spell. If she can both prepare and spontaneously cast her signature spell, she chooses only one of the following benefits.

If she prepares spells, she may prepare her signature spell without a spellbook, and may spontaneously cast her chosen spell by sacrificing any prepared spell of her chosen spell’s level or higher. She may not apply metamagic feats to a spell cast in this fashion, except those selected by the spell trick Metamagic Focus, above.

If she can already spontaneously cast her chosen spell, she instead gains the ability to prepare it, and can apply any metamagic feats she knows without increasing its casting time this way. She also gains the ability to sacrifice two or more lower-leveled spell slots to cast her chosen spell, so long as the total levels of the sacrificed spells add up to the level of her signature spell. She may add metamagic feats to spells cast this way, sacrificing additional spell levels as appropriate. Each time she casts her signature spell this way, it requires an additional level of sacrificed spells for each previous use since she last refreshed her spells. For instance, a Fireball specialist out of third-level spell slots could cast another Fireball by sacrificing a first and second level spell slot. If she wanted to cast Fireball again, it would require four levels of spells: Two second-level spell slots, or a second-level spell slot and two first-level spell slots.

Spell Thematics (Su): Other spells a third-level spell specialist casts grow towards the likeness of her signature spell. For instance, if her signature spell deals fire damage, her enchantments may impart a dull red glow to their targets, or her area spells will make the affected area appreciably warmer. The only mechanical effect of this change is that her non-signature spells become harder to identify; add +5 to the spellcraft DC.

Unbound Spell (Ex): A fourth-level spell specialist ignores any caps on the scaling effectiveness of her spell. These are usually presented in the form of, “1D6 per level (maximum 10d6).” For instance, a Fireball specialist could cast a caster-level 20 Fireball for 20D6 damage.

Inherent Spell (Ex): A fifth-level spell specialist has become one with her spell. She gains one spell slot of the highest-level spell she can cast, but it can only be used to cast her signature spell (and any metamagics that fit). As she gains new spell levels, this bonus spell slot rises accordingly.

She gains the ability to bypass a creature’s spell immunity with her signature spell, treating spell immunity as spell resistance equal to 15 + the target’s hit dice or caster level, whichever is greater. Anybody attempting to counter or dispel her signature spell must succeed on a caster level check (DC 20 + the spell specialist’s caster level with the spell) or their attempt immediately fails, wasting their action. She may ignore all inexpensive material components of your chosen spell as well as all focuses required to cast it, except for those required for it to function.

bekeleven
2021-08-04, 08:43 PM
Remember the swiftblade? That class was fun!

Remember the master of the unseen hand? That class was garbage. Throw directly in trash, do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars.

This is my attempt to make a generic class to buff that spell you like. I got some balance advice from Emperor Tippy ("worse than mailman") and the end result shot higher than my first draft, I'm hoping it's not too high. All the same, I enjoyed the process, it was a fun class to put together and I think it would be fun to play.

Feedback welcome!

Morphic tide
2021-08-05, 08:42 PM
You might crib from Archmage's slot reservation and have spell level adjustments rather than the pile of daily usage limits, making it somewhat more "organic", so to speak. More specifically:

Area Control is literally just a slight improvement on Shape Spell, making it largely redundant with Bonus Metamagic Feat. Similarly, Long-Range Spell is directly substituting Reach and Enlarge spell, and Unstoppable Spell is an awkward alternate to like five different metamagics, including Searing Spell, Lord of the Uttercold, Born of Three Thunders, and Energy Substitution.

Powersurge is worded poorly as it's specifically just increasing another existing number, you can easily cut everything after the colon, since the 9th-level limit is already stated in Signature Spell. Alternatively, it could double the bonus to just Caster Level to roughly match the minimum CL of the spell level boost, since most spells with attack rolls are going to be nearly perfectly accurate anyways so it's frankly overkill compared to most of the rest of the list, and spell resistance is a Caster Level check to begin with (so cut the "spell penetration" bit, as well)

Spell Form is something that honestly has enough design space to be a class all to itself, but for it being part of this I'd alter the effect to "Whenever you cast your Signature Spell, you may turn yourself into that spell with the Living Spell template for one round per caster level, including any metamagic feats applied and your Signature Spell feature, except that you retain your own hit points, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores. While in this state, you may cast your Signature Spell as if you had Eschew Materials and applied Still Spell and Silent Spell, and must expend any remaining XP costs or material components whenever you apply the spell with Spell Effect or Engulf". This makes a lot fewer alterations and specific callouts, making it easier in play.

Spell Similarity could be defined by matching subschool and descriptor, alongside a set of equivalent qualities shoved in a list or table, rather than the absurdly narrow fluff. You can't go from Alter Self to Polymorph or Shapechange, for example, yet are allowed the detrimental Baleful Polymorph to the beneficial Polymorph. And there's honestly not much damage to having everything apply to both even with the loosened constraints, the entire point of having them is to make it so you're stuck with just a second version of the same niche rather than a fully independent second option.

Intuitive Spell shouldn't saddle the preparation bat, and carry the versatility effect for both. It's a feature applying to literally a single spell, and Spontaneous casters have painful constraints all over the place already. Letting the prepared casters not bother with preparing it, the spontaneous casters metamagic freely, and both churn low-level slots for more uses.

Inherent Spell is honestly kind of a joke of a capstone given how much the rest of the class does. A single extra top-level slot is nothing compare to all those tricks. Additionally, Dispel checks already use caster level like spell resistance does, as the DC is 11+CL. That effect would be better served as "Counterspelling your Signature Spell by means that do not already involve one must pass a Dispel check of DC 6+Caster Level, and all other Dispel checks add 5 to the check DC". Your Signature Spell CL bump gives the same odds to the normally assured counterspells as Dispel Magic normally has, while you're putting the existing Dispels at an overall -10.

Balance-wise, the current state would allow, at 7th level, an Arcane Thesis'd spell with CL 23 (7+4 Signature Spell+10 Powersurge +2 Arcane Thesis) that's Empowered+Maximized for +1 on two picks of Metamagic Focus (-1 each for Arcane Thesis, -1 each for Metamagic Focus), allowing for Scorching Ray to launch six 14+4d6/2 Fire damage attacks with +14 to the Touch attack. This is a total average of 126 damage, making it so you have a meaningful possibility of one-shotting a lot of things out of a 3rd-level slot. And you have a 4th-level slot to fit Enervate or Fell Drain. The bulk of this is on the blunt up-front +10 Powersurge, my suggested adjustment would reduce this to CL 17 for only four rays and take the Touch attack to being at +4.

Negative Energy Ray is one of the most interesting 3.0 choices, being a first-level spell that scales at 1d6/2 CL as Negative Energy, therefore being a wildly superior option for Undead healing to a lot of other methods. With this, you can make it your Signature, Arcane Thesis it at 6th, and at 8th level you'd be getting an extra 4th level slot for it, with its scaling uncapped to have 7d6 base damage, which you have the ability to make Split Ray and Quicken into +0s as well as a 1/day CL rounds of getting to lob four of those 7d6 rays per round. And 5/day +10 CL for +5d6 damage, which can be attached directly to Echoing castings at +2 to repeat every hour at -4 CL and thus -2d6 damage each time when you have, at 8th level, a CL 23 spell.

This thing's able to Mailman very ridiculusly hard from the CL boosts and metamagic, and there are spells and metamagics lurking in the wings that turn into a dramatically silly overall character. Like a Necromancer who's main gimmick is infinite Fell Animate Zombies from Negative Energy Rays metamagic'd into maximum stupidity. Moilian Runebones for +1d6 damage per 2 spell levels at 25 GP a die, Chain Spell moving to CL extra targets at half damage, Echoing Spell having +15 CL to work with for 3-4 extra castings...

nonsi
2021-08-14, 01:29 AM
1. Very good design and execution :smallcool:
2. I second Morphic tide's points

Just a thought for you to entertain, how about adding the following spell trick:
Lowered Slot: Your signature spell now uses one slot lower than it normally would. This trick may be taken once per two Spell Specialist levels at most.
Addressing MT's points, this shouldn't be too abuseable.