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View Full Version : Incantifier [Prestige Class] from Dragon Mag... :(



asphen fox
2007-11-22, 10:30 AM
I heard about this PrC somewhere (I forgot)... And I was hoping on using it... I'm currently a Sun Elf Wizard 5 (with 1 & 3 Elf Wizard substitution Levels)/ Incantatar 1 in our campaign. I'm just wondering if anyone knows anything about it at all and if they have the issue of the Dragon Mag. If anyone can post its progression stuff please post it here. I would greatly appreciate it. :smallbiggrin:

Skjaldbakka
2007-11-22, 10:32 AM
Somehow I doubt that is OGL.

Catch
2007-11-22, 10:37 AM
Somehow I doubt that is OGL.

Apparently not. (http://home.neo.rr.com/rulestweak/blog/planescape/incant.htm)

Though that might not be the same class, fox.

SoD
2007-11-22, 10:50 AM
Ooh, owch. I'm tempted to play as one of those some time. But a spellcaster with fortitude as the good save? That's a bit odd...

Jack_Simth
2007-11-22, 10:59 AM
... a 10 level PrC that requires a Wizard-11, at a minimum, to enter?

Azerian Kelimon
2007-11-22, 11:03 AM
Must have a helluva capstone then...

Adumbration
2007-11-22, 11:14 AM
Must have a helluva capstone then...

Well, an incantifier does gain spell absorption, five points to one of his physical attributes, spell-like abilities at will and you don't have to sleep, eat or breathe.

Sounds like helluva lot better than some other prestige classes. :smallbiggrin:

Nermy
2007-11-22, 11:18 AM
Well, an incantifier does gain spell absorption, five points to one of his physical attributes, spell-like abilities at will and you don't have to sleep, eat or breathe.

Sounds like helluva lot better than some other prestige classes. :smallbiggrin:

I'd rather have full casting progression.

Dragonmuncher
2007-11-22, 11:22 AM
Am I the only one who thinks this class is not particularly good? You lose 5 spell levels, the spell resistance is terrible (8+levels in the prestige class. Anyone CR-appropriate's going to be able to just ignore it.), and if you don't absorb spells you lose a level.

The attribute boosts are neat, but not too amazing. How often does a wizard use strength? Dex, maybe, and Con always helps, but I'd rather have a spell level. Especially since it's still d4 HP.

Becoming an outsider is good, but losing a level 7 spell slot to be able to cast a 1st level spell at will? No thanks.

And for a final complaint, the flavor is generic. Oh look, another group of wizards who love magic and think that power is nifty.

Kurald Galain
2007-11-22, 11:30 AM
Whoever made up that name really needs a thesaurus... :smalltongue:

SmartAlec
2007-11-22, 08:48 PM
Tough prerequisite, though:

Special: One must find an incantifier willing to instruct one in their methods.

The Incantifiers are a banned Faction of Sigil, and were almost wiped out by the Lady of Pain. Harder than finding a living Incantifier is getting him or her to admit that he/she is one.


And for a final complaint, the flavor is generic. Oh look, another group of wizards who love magic and think that power is nifty.

Having said that above, the 'exiled Faction looking to keep the essence of their techniques alive' does make for cool backstory. These guys came within a hair's breadth of controlling the City of Doors before they were kicked out!

OneWinged4ngel
2007-11-22, 11:08 PM
Whoever made up that name really needs a thesaurus... :smalltongue:

Bwahahahahhahaa... too true.

Anyways, let's examine this class a bit more closely, shall we? Point by point...


Incantifier

The baatezu snickered at the old man, laughing him off. Reaching back, it swung an enormous backhand, striking him across the face. The old man's head, however, instead of tearing off as neatly as it should have, simply tilted slightly to the side. "Physical weakness can easily be rectified through proper use of sorcery, creature.", the old man hissed through wrinkled lips as his fingertips audibly thrummed with the sound of magic. "On the other hand, the only cure for foolishness is death..." This guy obviously hasn't heard of the Owl's Wisdom spell. :smallwink:


The Incantifiers are a group of wizards that once held great power; shattered by disaster, they now wander the planes singly, finding apprentices to pass on their credo: Magic Is All. To them, ultimate power is the only thing worthwhile, and magic is the only path to it. Through their bizarre rituals and rites of passage, they become magical beings, eating and breathing magic. Furthermore, their altered forms grants them impressive physical power, even as they seem to age into decriptitude and weakness. More information can be found on them in the Monstrous Compendium: Planescape II. This is a ten-level PrC. Okay. Mediocre fluff. Of course, it's just fluff, so you can totally ignore it.


Hit Die: d4
Good Saving Throws: Fortitude
Base Attack Bonus: As for Wizard or Sorcerer

Class Requirements:
To qualify as an incantifier, the character must fufill the following criteria

* Alignment: Any nongood
* Base Will Save: +6
* Skills: Concentration 10, Knowledge (Arcana) 10, Spellcraft 15 Whoa, gotta be level 12 to enter a 10 level PrC? Yow!


* Feats: Any three metamagic feats. Skill Focus (Knowledge: Arcana) may be used in place of a metamagic feat.
* Spellcasting: The ability to cast 6th-level arcane spells.
* Special: One must find an incantifier willing to instruct one in their methods.

Class Skills:

Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
The incantifier's class skills (organized by key ability) are:

* Constitution: Concentration
* Intelligence: Alchemy, Knowledge (Arcana), Scry, Spellcraft
* Wisdom: Search These class skills suck. You lost your knowledges, and this is obviously 3.0 due to the inclusion of Scry... and you're not getting much (read: Anything) in the way of physical abilities to expand what you can do physically with your newfound focus on magical enhancement of the body. Also... I guess Search was Wisdom in 3.0... or this is wrong. Either way, I don't remember. So whatever.


Class Features:
The following are the features of the Incantifier prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Characters who take a level of incantifier gain no special proficiency with armor, shields, or weapons.

Spells per Day: Growing in power as an incantifier also enhances one's knowledge of magic, though the focus on the alteration of one's form into a magical being slows that progression somewhat. At 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, and 10th levels, the incantifier gains new spells a day as if he had gained a level in the arcane spellcasting class he had belonged to before becoming an incantifier. He does not gain any other bonus that a character of that class would have gained. If the character has more than one arcane spellcasting class, he must choose which one is enhanced by the incantifier bonus when the bonus spells are gained. OUCH. My casting HURTS. I'm not even going to get this class up to its full level unless epic is allowed, and my casting is going to blow. Well, let's hope that the abilities are good enough to make up for the loss of 9th level spells and more.


Magical Aura: An incantifier is automatically noticed by any spell that detects magic, such as Analyze Dweomer or Detect Magic, instantly. However, the incantifier is immune to actual analysis, as the primal magic which he uses overwhelms mortal spellcasters. Okay... pretty much like any other D&D character of 12th level or higher, but it works when you're naked and unbuffed.


Spell Resistance (Ex): Being an incantifier grants a SR equal to 8 + incantifier levels. This sucks. Hardly even matters. Everyone has a caster level higher than your SR.


Chilling Demeanor: As time goes on, the incantifier grows detached from humanity and social graces, and the power he gains with time twists his body, making it appear older and weaker. Upon becoming an incantifier, he gains a -2 competence penalty to any Bluff or Diplomacy check. This penalty is increased by one every level thereafter - to a total of a -10 competence penalty at ten level. Meh.
Furthermore, the incantifier's irises become silver. At the 3rd level, his irises and pupils have become silver, and by 6th level, his eyes are completely dominated by the metallic hue. Filler fluff, really. Not mechanics. Doesn't matter.


Sorcerous Vampirism (Su): Incantifiers require a regular diet of magic spells and items to sustain their powerful forms. Yeah... powerful... like the guy who has a higher level transmutation spell? Oh, wait, nope...
They must absorb a number of spell levels equal to their level every week or lose a level as if he had just lost a permanent level to energy drain. Okay. So you have to get hit by some of the most dangerous things in the game (spells) or lose levels permanently. Ow.
Any spell which is cancelled by the incantifier's spell resistance counts as "absorbed" You mean the spell resistance that is so low it'll never work against enemies of your CR?
providing spell levels equal to its spell level. In place of spells, incantifier may consume a magical item, draining the magic of it to sustain himself. This provides a number of spell levels equal to the caster level required to create the item in the first place. Well, you're either doing that or hiring weakling magelings (or otherwise enlisting the services of another. Perhaps a party member or summoned creature or whatever) to cast Magic Missile at you 15+ times a week. Second option's cheaper. The third option, trying to actually absorb spells from enemies you're fighting, is just suicidal. However, this ability is moderately useful if you want to destroy some harmful artifact that doesn't have the artifact label. Doesn't really clarify if it'll work on cursed items. You can check on that.
The process of consuming a magical item takes a minute for every spell level it provides, and requires the incantifier to touch the item in question. The incantifier may not drain artifacts (major or minor) dry in this manner. At 4th level, the incantifier gains the ability to absorb spells cast at him. Any spell that fails to overcome the incantifier's spell resistance heals 1 HP per level of the spell. Yeah, that's going to happen often. Not really. Everyone has a caster level higher than your SR.
At 8th level,if the save DC of the spell is higher than the Spell Resistance of the incantifier when absorbing a spell, the incantifier may regain a spell slot of the spell's level or lower, as if he had not cast a particular spell that day. Also unlikely to ever happen.


Magical Enhancement: The physical power of the Incantifier grows as time goes on. At 2nd level, he gains a single point to add to his strength, dexterity, or constitution. This bonus is gained again every two levels thereafter - at 4th, 6th, 8th, and 10th levels. This is a permanent attribute increase, and not an enhancement. Yeah, gaining 1 point to a physical stat every other level is worth losing a spell level every other level?


Lack of Hunger (Su): At 3rd level, the incantifier no longer needs to consume food or water to sustain his form.

Lack of Breath (Su): At 5th level, the incantifier no longer needs to breathe. This grants an +8 bonus on any Fortitude save against gas attacks.

Lack of Slumber (Su): At 6th level, the incantfier no longer needs to sleep. He gains an immunity to any sleep-based spell or effect. So it's like you got a Ring of Sustenance over the course of 4 very high levels. Greeeeaaat.


Being of Sorcery: At 8th level, the incantifier's creature type changes to outsider. This is the capstone for you non-epic folks, and it's underwhelming! Hurrah!


Planar Adaptation (Su): At 9th level, the incantifier becomes immune to planar and non-magical temperature extremes, as if he had the Attune Form spell (Manual of the Planes, pg. 33) cast upon him at all times. ...Okay, I can mimic the effect of a low level spell as an epic effect. Greeeeaaat.


Spell-like Abilities (Su): At 10th level, the incantifier may choose up to three spells of no greater than third level that he knows, which become spell-like abilities usable at will by the incantifier from that point on. For each spell-like ability he gains in this fashion, he loses a spell slot equal to the (level of spell chosen + 6). He must have a spell slot to lose in order to gain the spell-like ability.

Yay, give up high level spell slots for low level spell like abilities. When you're epic. Greeeeaaat.

Okay... this class sucks. A lot. It gives up tons of spellcasting power for the low low benefit of almost-always-failing SR, a coupla physical stat points (which is far outstripped by transmutation), and the ability to turn into an outsider at the non-epic cap.

asphen fox
2007-11-23, 11:27 AM
Wow.. I've only heard about this PrC so I didn't know that I won't get full caster progression if I used it... :smallbiggrin: Thanks Guys! I think I'd stick to my Wizard 5/ Incantatar 10/ Archmage 5 build.

Chrizzt
2007-11-28, 05:18 PM
Uh... hi there
I don't have my copies of the Dragon magazine here, but as far as I remember the Dragon Magazine's Incantifier is a 5 Level Prestige class which "only" loses 2 caster levels (3 tops, not sure) and has some nice abilities... but I can only check on friday. If I don't forget until then I will check.

Aquillion
2007-11-28, 06:16 PM
Somehow I doubt that is OGL.Someone can still provide a vague, general overview of the class and what it does in their own words, anyway. At least I hope it's better than the one linked to above.

Geez, that class is rubbish. It is basically a Monk to the traditional wizard's Swordsage, right down to the pointless change to outsider type at level 20. You're giving up all your actually useful features, to get... a bunch of worthless fluff benefits and some stat bosts that, when put into your casting stat, won't even begin to make up for the amount of magic you lost to all those spellcasting levels.

This is my favorite part:
However, the incantifier is immune to actual analysis, as the primal magic which he uses overwhelms mortal spellcasters.You mean those mortal spellcasters of vastly superior power who, unlike the incantifier, will actually get 9th level spells? Mortal spellcasters who don't have to break their own magical items to survive? Mortal spellcasters capable of making bluff checks?

Honestly, if you took out the stat gains, that could be a perfectly-decent full casting PRC. You're getting some weak fluff abilities, and in exchange you're taking penalties to a few skills and you have to drain yourself some magic every so often.

WhyBother
2007-11-29, 03:13 AM
The Incantifier appears in the Dead Factions article in Dragon Magazine #339. It's a 5-level prestige class, with easier pre-reqs and slightly better powers than the version linked to above. I never played Planescape, so I don't know if the version linked to was an attempt to update an old Planescape class to 3.x, or an attempt to water down the Incantifier class from Dragon (maybe they thought it was too good...?). In either case, the Dragon Mag. Incantifer is basically just a wizard who loses the ability to heal naturally and a need for food/sleep, and gets instead SR and the ability to absorb spells to heal instead.

*Edited for clarity. As a PS: the SR of the Dragon class is pretty good, and he gets bonus metamagic feats on the levels where he doesn't get spells as a previously-advanced arcane caster class. You could condense the linked class into 5 levels and still suck more than the version given in Dragon.

Chrizzt
2007-11-29, 08:35 AM
Not to forget that he can no longer die of old age ; )
An other possibility for wizards to cheat death...