Introduction to the Warmage: Be all You can Be (which isn't much :/ )

[ArqArturo]

The Warmage: Be All you can Be (which isn't much :/)

Well, this is a bit of an introductory guide to know what you have, what you don't, and what you can build with a warmage. Is not a big guide, nor is it going to be a very complete one, but it'll give you an idea of what you can do with the Warmage.

And, to that, I'll add a color coding. to make things easier for first-timers:

Difficult, will need plenty of feats/race/combinations to make it work, mostly a high-level effort.

Hard, early on your choices will be painful, but you'll see the results in mid to high-levels

Fairly Easy, you'll see faint signs of good results early game, and great stuff from mid to forward.

Instinctual, even at low levels you'll feel great results. This can be misleading, though, as things that start great, end just as great, but the well runs dry, so keep planning ahead to maintain the gravy train.
---

"What? No, son, this is not the Sorcerer Recruitment Center, you wan't the booth to your left, the one with the pretty gal over there. Wait, what? You want to be a Warmage? Son, I don't know of you're stupid, brave, or both, but it takes a lot of stones to choose the path of the Warmage. Hell, we're right there along with 3rd level fighters, but let's me be clear on what you're going to get: Pain, and lots of it, kiddo! You're gonna be the butt of all jokes of all the RACs (That's Real Arcane Casters for you) in your party, so suck it up and keep on moving, 'cause otherwise you'll end up dead!.

The Warmage

Spoiler

Show

Oh look, it's Mr. Iconic, in the worst position possible in combat. Sorry, but phil wasn't the smartest warmage I ever trained.

So What is to be a Warmage? If you thought about blasting vast armies with rain of fire and thunder, cause earthquakes to shake the foundations of the earth and swallow siege engines, and make the entire battlefield fight against your foes, you've got it wrong. That be the wizard, and occasionally the sorcerer. Will you be leading the battlefield, clad in armor and fighting with sword and spell in glorious combat? Wrong again, bob, leave that to clerics, paladins, and the odd fighter that took levels in a RAC class and has dabbled a bit (although, with a bit of training, you could, too).

Why not? Well, that's because Warmages are no RACs, son. Let's face it, can I blast enemies with fire? Sure, I can do it, and I'm pretty damn good at it, too! But, I can't tell the difference from a flask of acid to a potion of healing, unless I drank it. But a RAC can.

So, who are we, really? We're the volley, we're all lined down, raining the initial balls of fire to break the ranks; we throw balls of fire at the skirmishers, acid at the cavalry, we break the morale of foes in the first stages of war: We be archers, but with fancier ammunition, and awful skills. But, with these skills, we can turn into deadly killing machines. Hell, we might even make a decent RAC out of you, with enough training. Just don't expect to be the equal of the Wizard, because that's not going to happen.

Bad Points: What's so bad about being a Warmage? Besides the lousy payment, terrible PR, and short lifespan, we don't have a lot going on. We have a limited spell selection, and Advanced Learning is nice, but only goes with Evocation spells, and most of them are not the best choice of spells if you want to do something other than just hurting your foes.

Also, our skill selection sucks. But, we get the basics of the RAC skill set: Concentration, Spellcraft, and Knowledge (Arcane).

Good Points: We have few, and this might be our saving grace. Yes, the Beguiler and the True Necromancer have more points in their favor as the "I know all spells" casters, but they lose features we don't when we decide to dabble in other things. So, see to you blessings, that's what I say.

We have a d6 for our HD, which is... Nice, I suppose. Hardier than the Wizard, but we're really not on a contest, here. Spontaneous Spellcasting is good, too. Once you hit the list, you know the list.

Warmage Edge should not be looked down on. This is the one feature that makes us deadly on early levels. Even our cantrips are deadlier, and the wizard will hate you for it when you're all starting juniors. maybe that's why he gets so powerful afterwards... Out of envy, heh. A secondary effect of having Warmage Edge is that you'll probably have a high Intelligence, and that means more skill points, and since we use Charisma as our main stat, I'd suggest either a little investment in the social skills, or in Use Magic Device... Or both!.

We use light armor at first, and that's a good thing, since we don't really need to bother casting any defensive spells most of the time, so we make up by blasting a little more, eventually we move up to greener pastures (heavier armor, that is), so at the long run, it's preferable to stick with light, since it incurs in less penalties for, say, climbing and sneaking. We also have proficiency with Simple Weapons. Not impressive, but it means you ain't going to be completely defenseless when you run out of magical ammo.

Prerequisites: I'll be short and sweet here: You need to be both purty, and smart to be a Warmage. You need to have The Face (while not necessarily be The Face) and The Brains to get what it takes to be a Warmage. This is good, because it means you get more skill points, and perhaps even learn to activate magical items with your high Charisma.

Dexterity is good for sniper mages, while Charisma works best for Blasters. Either way, don't dump Strength, you'll need it for armor. Also Constitution works best not just for hit points, but also for Concentration checks. That leaves Wisdom as a dump stat. Meh, who needs Intuition, right?.

The recruits: Ideal races for War

Spoiler

Show

A Changeling Warmage bringing the hurt to the enemy

Alright let's take a look at you and... What, you brought friends? Okay, the more the merrier! Let's see...

Well, you're a runty Gnome, I'll give you that. You're hardy and slightly overweight, but you ain't no pack mule, son. But, you have a few interesting abilities with Charisma. I'm sure your illusionist buddies will lob off mirages to fend off goblins, but the Blasting pain you'll dish is quite real. And remember, undead don't fall on illusions. Whisper gnomes are also good, despite their lack of Charisma, but Dexterity could work on their favor, and their silence ability helps them to move quietly through enemy forces, but you'll want to invest in Sudden Silence, in case you need to do damage quick while it's in effect.

And you... Meh, Elves. I'm not so thrilled to have you treehuggers here, since most are Wizards and love to look down on us grunts, but elves like you that like to be on the muck and be on the fight, those I like. Keep your bow and sword, you'll need 'em. You might need to run a few times to work on your constitution, but you'll make a fine Sniper due to your quick reflexes, but you'll need to run a few laps or else you'll collapse when you need to climb up a flight of stairs, buddy. For elf variants (because there's a crapload of them), the common wood elf is fine. Gray Elves, since they're agile and smart, are really good without getting funky with CLs and whatnot. If you are considering a CL+ race, consider the Drow, since they get stats that are great for the warmages (avoid bright light, however).

Oh, we got a Halfling here, people! Better check your pockets! AHAHAHAH, just kidding. You're alright for a Sniper as well: Small, and quick. But, you are also a little weak on your bones, to start doing pushups! And get that sling!.

Ah, Humans. Where are you from, son? Rivermeet Woods, Thorheim, or the Karsian Empire? No matter, you're adaptive, and that gives you the gift of Choice, so you can either be a Blaster or a Sniper.

Ok, baldie, what you've... Oooh, nice trick there! You're an Illumian, you say? Ok, you creepy weirdos might keep to yourselves in your monasteries like those monks, but you can wield magic, learn languages faster than anyone, and you're good at muticlassing, so I'll give you that!. Also, I know those magic sigils in your head can help somewhat with skills and even caster level, especially when taking a prestige class with a dead caster level (Krau sigil for caster level, and the Vaul sigil for Charisma checks and skills, giving you the Vaulkrau word that burns a spell slot to give you an insight bonus to your next saving throw. This is an immediate action that is good twice a day).

And you, got strength on those wings, Raptoran? I know, you don't have much, but the fact that you can glide in lower levels, and fly on higher levels makes you a powerful bomber. I suggest being a Sniper, but remember I said Bomber? What's a bomber, you ask? It's a flying Blaster Warmage, of course!.

Ok, you're just another hum... Woah! *calls fire* time to fry, doppelganger! Wait, what, you're a Changeling? Nice! Good thing to have a Black Ops infiltrator. You can learn languages as fast as your Illumian feller, and you can shapechange, not impressive to most RACs, but good enough for me. (Also, if you manage to get your DM to use Races of Eberron, and treat you as a sort of Human, you get additional things).

The Archetypes: Meet the Corps

Spoiler

Show

Deadly, precise, and all-around cocky, Snipers love to be able to deal with enemies one by one.

Ok, son, so you sign here, and here, and here. Oh and a sign here, too. Now, if you ladies leave my island, if you survive recruit training, you will be a weapon. You will be a minister of death praying for war. But until that day you are pukes. You are the lowest form of life on Earth. You are not even sentient freakin' beings. You are nothing but unorganized grabastic pieces of amphibian crap! Because I am hard, you will not like me. But the more you hate me, the more you will learn. I am hard but I am fair. There is no racial bigotry here. I do not look down on dwarfs, humans, halflings or elves. Here you are all equally worthless. And my orders are to weed out all non-hackers who do not pack the gear to serve in my beloved Corps. Do you maggots understand that?.

The Blaster

This here Warmage is a master of destruction in a large scale! Areas are his method, cones are his tools; maps, measurements, these will be your assets. Charisma and Intelligence will be highly needed, as your spells can do a wide arrange of damage to various enemies. Try to empower and maximize your area spells so you give them a bigger and bigger set of hurt every time. But, I recommend to mind your comrades in arms!. Your Priority stats should be as follows: Cha-Int-Dex, and remember, mind your allies in the battlefield.


The Sniper

He moves on the battlefield, silent and deadly. When he is close enough and sees his enemy, he whips out a ray to take that enemy dead in one shot. Hoorah! This is what the sniper does! Obviously, Dexterity is the one you'll need, second only to Intelligence for added damage. Feats that help you hit your targets more accurately and strongly are highly encouraged. Mind your charisma, to get better and better rays.

Now, as a Sniper, you could be tempted to think you're a focused version of The Mailman. While we do have the Orbs in our list, and direct damage in many ways, our list is fairly limited, and unless you manage to get more spells (either with Mage of the Arcane Order, or any of 'em fancy Prestige Classes), you ain't getting much. The Priority of stats should be Dex-Int-Cha. And remember that some feats that affect ranged attacks also affect Ray spells, so Point Blank Shot gives you a floating +1 on both hit and damage.

The Hidden Threat

No! I don't mean it as an invisible enemy (but then again, an Invisible Warmage is a terrifying concept indeed), the hidden threat is more than meets the eye: The enemy sees nothin' but a warmage, but in truth, you suddenly whip out illusions, heal allies, and then you blast 'em!. It's a hard trip, the one you do, but you've learned to expand your spell selection more than the average mage. Prestige Classes that favor adding spells are your best friend, as well as feats that permit that. Your priority Stats vary on just what build you're getting into, but Intelligence should be high as possible, and humans (especially humans with the Able Learner feat) can easily attain skill points that might be prerequisites.

The Gish

And then we have the guys that really like to get in the thick of things. It's a strange thing, considering that most common gishes need some buffs to pull it out. But, with Arcane Strike, and the appropriate dipping and a few other feats, things should get along just fine. Besides, you already know how to wear your armor. Your Priority Stats should be those of a Gish (High Str and Con, then Cha), but always keep in mind Intelligence, similar in many ways to the Hidden Threat.