PHILOSOPHER

Drawing your water from only one well will lead to death in a time of drought.
-Soboxes, a well-known Philosopher

The Philosopher is a thinking man, and generally a man of faith. This doesn't mean he is a worshiper of gods (nor that he isn't), but merely that he studies them. In his studies, he will find that the mere existence of a deity gives off subconscious magic. In his understanding of magic, both arcane and divine, he can tap into this raw divine power, and craft it into arcane magic. Thus, while the Philosopher gets his magic from a divine source, he actually casts arcane magic.

Abilities: Intelligence is where the Philosopher draws his Aspects and casting from. Charisma improves his Spell Construction and Arcane Font, while Wisdom improves his Aspect Expansion and Divine Font. Dexterity and Constitution are always good.

Role: The Philosopher is a flexible role that depends entirely upon which Aspects the Philosopher chooses the study. He can be a support unit, buffing and healing, or a front line fighter.

Background: A player becomes a philosopher after contemplating on the nature of magic, both arcane and divine, and thinking about the way gods work. Once they have done this, they can go in-depth in their studies, and eventually know the gods so well that they can tap into the natural magic beings such as gods give off without them knowing. Someone might want to become a Philosopher to form a stronger bond with gods, for the academic reasons, or so they can think deeply on the nature of magic while studying it firsthand.

Organization: Sometimes clerics choose to become philosophers, so most religious organizations will accept Philosophers. Mage's guilds and the like will accept them because Philosophers study magic, and cast arcane magic from a divine source.

Alignment: Any alignment.

Races: Mostly humans and elves become philosophers, but any race can become one.

Religion: Religion is a difficult subject to generalize with Philosophers. Some only become Philosophers to study religion more, while some do it to spite the gods.

Other Classes: Most classes get along fine with Philosophers. Wizards and Clerics that are quick to generalize might persecute them.

Adaptation: A DM could put these Philosophers in as a secret cult, as a quest-giving NPC faction, or as a possible class for PC's to join.

Hit Die: d4

Starting Gold: As wizard.

Class Features

Class Skills: The Philosopher's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are: Appraise, Bluff, Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Knowledge (all, taken separately), Listen, Profession, Sense Motive, Spellcraft, Spot.

Skill Points at First Level: (Int mod + 6) x4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: Int mod +6

{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|0lvl|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th|7th|8th|9th

1st|
+0
|
+0
|
+0
|
+2
|Summon Familiar,Deconstruct Spell 1/day|2|1

2nd|
+1
|
+0
|
+0
|
+3
|-|3|2|-

3rd|
+1
|
+1
|
+0
|
+3
|Expand Aspect|3|2|1

4th|
+2
|
+1
|
+1
|
+4
|Font of Power|3|3|2|-

5th|
+2
|
+1
|
+1
|
+4
|Construct Spell 1/day|4|3|2|1

6th|
+3
|
+2
|
+2
|
+5
|-|4|3|3|2|-

7th|
+3
|
+2
|
+2
|
+5
|Expand Aspect|4|4|3|2|1

8th|
+4
|
+2
|
+2
|
+6
|Font of Power|4|4|3|3|2|-

9th|
+4
|
+3
|
+3
|
+6
|Deconstruct Spell 2/day|5|4|4|3|2|1

10th|
+5
|
+3
|
+3
|
+7
|-|5|4|4|3|3|2|-

11th|
+5
|
+3
|
+3
|
+7
|Expand Aspect|5|5|4|4|3|2|1

12th|
+6/+1
|
+4
|
+4
|
+8
|Font of Power|5|5|4|4|3|3|2|-

13th|
+6/+1
|
+4
|
+4
|
+8
|Construct Spell 2/day|5|5|5|4|4|3|2|1

14th|
+7/+2
|
+4
|
+4
|
+9
|-|5|5|5|4|4|3|3|2|-

15th|
+7/+2
|
+5
|
+5
|
+9
|Expand Aspect|5|5|5|5|4|4|3|2|1

16th|
+8/+3
|
+5
|
+5
|
+10
|Font of Power|5|5|5|5|4|4|3|3|2|-

17th|
+8/+3
|
+5
|
+5
|
+10
|Deconstruct Spell 3/day|5|5|5|5|5|4|4|3|2|1

18th|
+9/+4
|
+6
|
+6
|
+11
|Construct Spell 3/day|5|5|5|5|5|4|4|3|3|2

19th|
+9/+4
|
+6
|
+6
|
+11
|Expand Aspect|5|5|5|5|5|5|4|4|3|2

20th|
+10/+5
|
+6
|
+6
|
+12
|Font of Power|5|5|5|5|5|5|4|4|3|3[/table]

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: All simple weapons. Philosophers are also proficient with light armor, although wearing any armor inflicts an arcane spell failure chance.

Spells: A Philosopher casts arcane spells that are primarily drawn from the cleric's domain list. A Philosopher must choose and prepare his spells in advance.
To prepare or cast a spell, the Philosopher must have an Intelligence modifier equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a Philosopher’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the Philosopher’s Intelligence modifier.
Like other spellcasters, a Philosopher can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily spell allotment is given in the above table. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Intelligence score as per Core rules.
A Philosopher must choose and prepare her spells ahead of time by getting a good night’s sleep and spending 1 hour contemplating the nature of magic. While contemplating, the Philosopher decides which spells to prepare.

Aspects: A Philosopher has access to a number of domains, called aspects by Philosophers, equal to their Intelligence Modifier. They do not all need to be from the same deity. Once chosen, a Philosopher cannot change his aspects; he has spent a considerable time studying this specific aspect of creation, and cannot swap this knowledge out with another willy-nilly. A Philosopher can prepare spells from any of their aspects. He gains the appropriate power a cleric would receive for following a domain.

Summon Familiar: As a sorcerer/wizard. Levels in other classes with a familiar stack for the purposes of determining a familiar's power.

Deconstruct Spell: A Philosopher's understanding of magic is such that he can take apart a powerful spell and use it's energy to cast lesser ones. When a Philosopher uses Deconstruct Spell, he selects one spell above 0th level. He can add spells he knows to his prepared spells for that day, where the combined spell levels of the spells he receives equals the spell level of the spell he Deconstructed (0th level spells count as 1/2 of a spell level for the purposes of Deconstruct Spell) plus his Charisma modifier. He must choose the spells he receives from the same Aspect as the one he took it from, as the magic is already specialized to a certain extent. The maximum number of spells a Philosopher can gain from Deconstruct Spell with one use is equal to his Charisma modifier.

Construct Spell: After Deconstructing magic for a while, a Philosopher gains understanding of how to combine spells to create a more powerful one. A Philosopher can combine any number of spells (they must be from the same Aspect) into one of an equal or lesser value from the same Aspect as the pool it was taken from. The spell levels of the spells being merged plus his Charisma modifier must be equal to or greater than the spell level of the spell the Philosopher is constructing. The maximum number of spells a Philosopher can Construct together is equal to his Charisma modifier.

Expand Aspect: Philosophers, as people, grow in time. Their understanding of their Aspects is no exception. A Philosopher with this class ability can expand his knowledge of spells. When a Philosopher gets this ability at 3rd, 7th, 11th, 15th, or 19th level, he chooses one of his Aspects. He can choose up to (Wisdom modifier + Philosopher class levels) spell levels from any spell list, so long as he can cast it, and adds that spell as an spell in the Aspect. The spells must be thematic matchs in order for the spell to be learned; you can learn fireball if you use Expand Aspect on the Fire Domain, but not if you use it on the Water Domain.

Font of Power: Philosophers can choose to specialize between Divine magic and Arcane magic.
//Font of Power still under construction.