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expirement10K14
2008-08-04, 02:25 PM
Random Mage
Random Magic is a powerful tool, and many believe it to be the same as the wild magic used by Wild Mages, although there is no way to prove or disprove this theory. Random magic never gives specific results, it changes day to day and week to week, giving those that manipulate it strange and sometimes ferocious powers.
Random Mages tap into the powers of random magic. By using randomness they are able to gain more spells, albeit at random levels of power and usefulness. Random Mages tend to be Sorcerers, as most sorcerers are chaotic in nature, but Wizard's make up about a fourth of all Random Mages. Divine casters can become Random Mages, but many follow strict moral codes or follow lawful deities, making them ineligible for its powers.
Random Mages sometimes form groups, although they mostly adventure apart from others of their kind. They are very friendly towards Wild Mages, seeing them as Random Mages that gain the powers of random magic in a different way.
Hit Die- D6
Prerequisites:
Alignment- Any Chaotic
Skills-- Knowledge (Arcana) 10 ranks, Spellcraft 5 ranks
Spellcasting- Must be able to cast fourth level spells.

{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Spells

1st|
+0|
+0|
+0|
+2|Random Magic (2 Spells)|

2nd|
+1|
+0|
+0|
+3||+1 level of existing spellcasting class

3rd|
+1|
+1|
+1|
+3|Random Mind|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

4th|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+4|Extra Random Magic|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

5th|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+4|Random Magic (3 Spells)|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

6th|
+3|
+2|
+2|
+5|Random Meta-Magic|

7th|
+3|
+2|
+2|
+5|Improved Random Mind|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

8th|
+4|
+3|
+3|
+6|Extra Random Magic|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

9th|
+4|
+3|
+3|
+6|Random Re-Roll|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

10th|
+5|
+3|
+3|
+7|Random Magic (4 Spells)|+1 level of existing spellcasting class [/table]

Class Skills (2+Int Modifier per level): Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Knowledge (All Skills Take Individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int).

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Random Mage gains no new proficiencies.

Random Magic: At first level a Random Mage learns to gain more power through randomness. He gets a random spell as a spell like ability usable multiple times per day.

He choses one spell from each level of spell that he can cast. If the wild mage is able to cast ninth level spells he, instead of getting a spell one level higher than his maximum, gets an additional ninth level spell. These spell must be on his class list and the Random Mage must not be banned from casting it (I.e. A wizard may not choose a spell from a prohibited school). He then chooses four additional spells from any level he can cast. These must also be on his class list, though he need have them prepared or known (as a sorcerer) and he must not be banned from casting them. Each day he randomly rolls to choose two spells. He gains these spells as spell like abilities usable a combined total of 3+his intelligence modifier per day. Everyday after renewing his spells (I.e. After resting) he loses the old spell-like abilities and randomly chooses new ones. He can change which spells are considered to be randomly chosen once per week by meditating for three hours. If the same spell is rolled twice, re-roll for a new spell.

At higher levels the Random Mage gains the ability to get more spells. He randomly chooses 3 spells at fifth level, and 4 at tenth.

Random Mind- At third level different parts of a Random Mage's mind conflicts with each other, fighting for control over itself, creating a masked alignment as they vie for control.. He rolls each day to determine what is seen from Detect Alignment or similar effects.

Roll 1d6 twice, and check it against the following table. If the results are different then the Random Mage can choose which to take. If the results are the same the Random Mage must take that result.
Good v. Evil
Result|Alignment
1-2|Good
3-4|Neutral
5-6|Evil
Law v. Chaos
Result|Alignment
1-2|Lawful
3-4|Neutral
5-6|Chaotic
This ability does not change how abilities that work against certain alignments effect the Random Mage (such as a paladin's smite evil ability or a Holy weapon).

Extra Random Magic: Your randomness evolves, allowing you to make more use out of Random Magic. At fourth and eighth levels you can use the spell-like abilities granted by the random magic class feature one additional time per day.

Random Meta-Magic- At sixth level your random magic is sometimes more powerful than you can imagine.
Every time you use a spell-like ability granted by the Random Magic class feature roll 1d% and check the result on the table below for any extra effect. The spell-like ability is modified as per the feat listed as if it was a spell, except that its level is not modified. If the feat would have no effect on the spell, then nothing happens.
Roll|Effect
0-25|Normal
26-30|Silent Spell
31-40|Nothing
41-45|Still Spell
46-55|Nothing
56-60|Empower Spell
61-70|Nothing
71-75|Enlarge Spell
76-85|Nothing
86-90|Quicken Spell
91-99|Nothing
100|Maximize Spell

Improved Random Mind: At seventh level the randomness of your brain makes you immune to mind-affecting spells and spell-like abilities.

Random Re-Roll: You gain some control over the abilities granted by your random magic abilities. At eight level after picking the spell-like abilities granted by the random magic class ability you may re-roll one of them. You must keep the re-roll, even if it is of a lower level or the same spell. If it is a spell you have gained as a spell-like ability that is not the one you re-rolled roll again.

New Feats
Improved Random Magic [General]
Through the randomness in your mind you gain even more power over random magic.
Prerequisites: Random Magic Class Feature, Extra Random Magic Class Feature
Benefits: You may use your Random Magic Spell-Like abilities 4+intelligence modifier times per day.
Normal: You can use Random Magic Spell-Like Abilities 3+intelligence modifier time per day.
Special:This feat may not be taken twice and it's effects do not stack.

Advanced Random Re-Roll [General]
You discover to use your ability to re-choose spells can be made more powerful.
Prerequisites: Random Magic class ability, Random Re-Roll Class Ability
Benefits: You can re-roll two spell-like abilities generated from the Random Magic ability. You must choose which two at the same time, meaning you can't re-roll one, then re-roll again because it is lower than the original.
Normal: You can re-roll one spell-like ability generated by the Random Magic ability.
Special: This feat may not be taken multiple times and it's effects do not stack.

Extra Random Magic [General]
You have learned to tilt the scale towards more powerful spells while using Random Magic.
Prerequisites: Random Magic Class Feature
Benefits: You may choose five additional spells from any level you can cast, as long as they are on your class list and you aren't banned from using them.
Normal: You may only choose four.
Special: This feat may not be taken twice, and it stacks with the Extra Random Magic class feature.

Does anybody have ideas for the two empty slots? This was originally going to be a base class, but I changed my mind. There is not much fluff, but it will be added as the week goes on.

DracoDei
2008-08-04, 03:04 PM
Having no serious drawbacks either as a result of taking levels of the class or by requiring skills/feats that aren't particularly useful, this should not advance caster level at its first level. As it stands, their is little reason for a sorcerer not to shift into this class as soon as they can.

expirement10K14
2008-08-04, 03:18 PM
Having no serious drawbacks either as a result of taking levels of the class or by requiring skills/feats that aren't particularly useful, this should not advance caster level at its first level. As it stands, their is little reason for a sorcerer to shift into this class as soon as they can.

I think you mean no reason for a sorcerer not to, but I get the point.

This is my first attempt at something like this, so that is advice is useful. The class does seem a bit over powered, and I think I'll take away spell casting at levels 1,3,6, and 9, as the random meta-magic ability is quite powerful now that I look at it.

DracoDei
2008-08-04, 04:13 PM
Don't think you had that ability when I first looked at it, and yes, it looks decently powerful. Not sure one way or the other about not advancing casting at 3rd or 9th, but 1st and 6th definitely seem justified.
Drop the "Special" section from the Improved Random Magic feat,... actual keep that line but remove what you have for it and put that it stacks with the boosts at 4th and 8th levels from the Extra Random Magic class feature.

expirement10K14
2008-08-08, 10:13 PM
Don't think you had that ability when I first looked at it, and yes, it looks decently powerful. Not sure one way or the other about not advancing casting at 3rd or 9th, but 1st and 6th definitely seem justified.
Drop the "Special" section from the Improved Random Magic feat,... actual keep that line but remove what you have for it and put that it stacks with the boosts at 4th and 8th levels from the Extra Random Magic class feature.

Okay, thanks. I was trying to keep a pattern with the caster levels, although that crashed and burned. I'll give back 3rd and 9th. I am still very new to home brew, so even if it is odd I based it around what is fun to play, not what is normal, although I do wish to keep balance.

insecure
2008-08-09, 07:36 PM
If you've got Complete Arcane, you should look at the "wild mage". It's basically the same idea, but much more random.

Jack_Simth
2008-08-09, 07:59 PM
Random Magic: At first level a Random Mage learns to gain more power through randomness. He gets a random spell as a spell like ability usable multiple times per day.

He choses one spell from each level of spell that he can cast. If the wild mage is able to cast ninth level spells he, instead of getting a spell one level higher than his maximum, gets an additional ninth level spell. These spell must be on his class list and the Random Mage must not be banned from casting it (I.e. A wizard may not choose a spell from a prohibited school). He then chooses four additional spells from any level he can cast. These must also be on his class list, though he need have them prepared or known (as a sorcerer) and he must not be banned from casting them. Each day he randomly rolls to choose two spells. He gains these spells as spell like abilities usable a combined total of 3+his intelligence modifier per day. Everyday after renewing his spells (I.e. After resting) he loses the old spell-like abilities and randomly chooses new ones. He can change which spells are considered to be randomly chosen once per week by meditating for three hours. If the same spell is rolled twice, re-roll for a new spell.
Err... Parse error?

He gets "a" random spell, but later, he gets multiples? He rolls for it, but he chooses them? Can this section be cleaned up a bit?

expirement10K14
2008-08-09, 08:03 PM
Err... Parse error?

He gets "a" random spell, but later, he gets multiples? He rolls for it, but he chooses them? Can this section be cleaned up a bit?

It is meant to give a random chance to be able to cast your spells extra times per day, but there is a chance you get a 0 and 1st level spell to use.

I based it loosely off the wild mage. VERY loosely. It was more of a thought experiment to try homebrew than a professional homebrew, I am looking to see what people think of it.

Jack_Simth
2008-08-09, 08:18 PM
It is meant to give a random chance to be able to cast your spells extra times per day, but there is a chance you get a 0 and 1st level spell to use.

I based it loosely off the wild mage. VERY loosely. It was more of a thought experiment to try homebrew than a professional homebrew, I am looking to see what people think of it.

... clearly, I need to be a bit more verbose in what I mean by "please clairify".


He choses one spell from each level of spell that he can cast
Suggests listing of possibilities is strictly limited to what he could have chosen - e.g., the 9th level Sorcerer/2nd level Random Mage choses spells at levels 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.


. If the wild mage is able to cast ninth level spells he, instead of getting a spell one level higher than his maximum, gets an additional ninth level spell.
Suggests that the previous line implied that the said 9th level Sorcerer/2nd level Random Mage (also, you use Wild Mage and Random Mage somewhat interchangably; this needs to be more consistent) would have a 6th level spell on there somewhere - which isn't the case from what has been explicitly stated.


These spell must be on his class list and the Random Mage must not be banned from casting it (I.e. A wizard may not choose a spell from a prohibited school).
This section seems fine, but....


He then chooses four additional spells from any level he can cast.
This seems redundant - he's already selected a set of spells from any level he can cast. What's up?


These must also be on his class list, though he need have them prepared or known (as a sorcerer) and he must not be banned from casting them. Each day he randomly rolls to choose two spells.
This will be an awkward mechanic - you'll end up needing d13's, d11's, d9's, and so on, if you're doing a "flat" probability curve. If all your dice are electronic, this isn't an issue - OpenRPG (for instance) will happily do a d45 if you tell it to, but if we're assuming a physical tabletop, this could be an issue. You might want to change things around a bit so that he's looking at, say, his top three spell levels, plus one higher, plus his four that he already has - so you're always rolling on a d8 (which is fairly common among D&D players).


He gains these spells as spell like abilities usable a combined total of 3+his intelligence modifier per day.
Favors Wizards over Sorcerers - by a lot - due to Intelligence as the primary casting stat for Wizards. You might want to re-phrase that so it uses the primary casting stat, regardless. Additionally, you'll want to put some caveats in that spell-like ability, to avoid free Wishes and similar - I'd suggest cloning a bit of text from the Archmage's Spell-like ability option, to close that aspect.


Everyday after renewing his spells (I.e. After resting) he loses the old spell-like abilities and randomly chooses new ones. He can change which spells are considered to be randomly chosen once per week by meditating for three hours. If the same spell is rolled twice, re-roll for a new spell.
"He can change which spells are considered to be randomly chosen" - huh? You mean he can change his choices for his random list, correct?

expirement10K14
2008-08-09, 09:11 PM
I am going to completely re-work this. I will edit it in a day or two, I have a lot of time off of school (5ish more weeks).

Kiren
2008-08-09, 09:26 PM
nice idea, great choice for a even more random mage