New Class Concepts [3.5]

[EdroGrimshell]

I came up with a couple classes a while back and they are still only concepts currently (except the evershifter) and i need help with the class features.

The Evershifter: A warrior that uses aspects to alter their form slightly to gain benefits. Average BAB, Good Fort and Ref saves, Fast Healing starting at 8th level (limited to half HP), Minor Shape Change starting at 5th level, increasing ability to ignore sneak attacks.

The Scavenger: A character that needs very little to be effective. Fills the fifth wheel and acts as a jack-of-all-trades. Easy use of improvised weapons, taking residual magic and using it, imbue held weapons and worn armor with magic

The 9 Color Mages: Blue (Gains spells experienced (seen this a few times already but don't really think they are too effective)), Red (Rapid casting, support magic), Yellow (Alchemy), Green (nature magic), Orange (Summoning), Violet (???), Black (destructive magic), White (Curative and support magic), and Grey (Hexes, curses, and similar abilities). I need an idea for for the Violet Mage

[Latronis]

Evershifter

Uncanny dodge already covers less susceptible to sneak attacks fairly well.

This might be a good place to start for the shifting abilities

[EdroGrimshell]

Evershifter

Uncanny dodge already covers less susceptible to sneak attacks fairly well.

This might be a good place to start for the shifting abilities

I actually am using fortification (25% at 4th, 75% 10th, immunity at 16th)

The aspects are three staged and he gains access to 21 by 20th level (starts with two gains one every level after 1st) and can manifest up to five simultaneously at 20th level (one 3rd stage, two 2nd stage, and two 1st stage)

[Violet Octopus]

I need an idea for for the Violet Mage

Unless they're under 'support', you don't have enchantment, illusion or divination. Personally I think grey is a good fit for subtle enchantment and divination, while violet could get illusion and spells like glitterdust, because they're sparkly =D

Although, how much are you planning to adhere to the existing spell schools?

edit: with black's destructive magic, do you mean elemental damage or death spells? I'm guessing you mean evocation, because of final fantasy, but if you mean death, perhaps hexes & curses should get moved to them.

What about utility spells, like transmute X to Y spells (there are heaps of others, but that's the first one I thought of without a clear assignment)

[Delandel]

Evershifter = Warshaper PrC from Complete Warrior. It's almost exactly what you described. Average BAB, good fort save, it alters its form slightly to gain benefits (enlarge natural weapons or grow new ones), gains fast healing, and ability to ignore critical hits and sneak attacks.

Scavenger... Factotum sounds like what you want. They are the epitome of jack of all trades.

9 color mages, no idea what you're getting at. A class? A PrC? The idea of a wizard going for a specific archetype is thoroughly covered in Complete Mage and other books already. There's even a Master Specialist PrC in there. "Red" is vague, but any wizard is the ultimate support. There's an alchemist PrC in Eberron that I recommend looking at. Green, er, isn't this a druid? Arcane doesn't really cover nature, though I guess you could make an interesting duird/wizard PrC. Orange = focused specialist conjuror with some wizard variants, if you really want to go hardcore summoning there's PrCs out there like the Malconvoker. Black = focused specialist evoker, warmage, or a sorcerer (they do it very well at high levels). Pewpew isn't very fleshed out in PrCs though, so there's a nice hole for you to fill (like my frostfire mage). White magic, again not really arcane but divine. Grey = focused specialist necromancer, necromancy has the best debuffs and curses. I'd also look at the Hexblade class. Blue is a neat niche though.

Hope that helps.

[Violet Octopus]

Seconded on the point about druids/divine.

Is this an attempt to replace all currently existing classes with these colour mages? If so, awesome. If not, it clashes with the traditional divides set out by preexisting classes.

[EdroGrimshell]

The color mages are meant to be arcane casters only.

The blue mage uses an alternative system that lets them mimic other creatures abilities (spells, spell-like abilities, supernatural abilities, and extraordinary abilities).

The red mage is the definition of booster (complete mage archetype). includes spells from the enchantment, divination, and transmutation schools.

Yellow represents an enhanced ability to use the Craft (alchemy) skill in spellcasting. Mostly transmutation.

Green offers is more of a wild shape-less druid crossed with the wu jen and witch sorcerer variant. A widely diverse spell list with class features revolving around the natural world.

Orange is the archetypical summoner, empowering his summons and making them last longer, they are also battlefield control. Conjuration specialist of course.

Violet, just got the idea, familiar oriented caster. they augment their familiar in a way that makes it more effective in or out of combat while maintaining some illusion and enchantment spells themselves.

Black is anything and everything destructive, not based on final fantasy. Evocation conjuration and necromancy

Grey hexes curses and what have you, the grey uses enchantment, illusion, necromancy, and abjuration as their field of expertise.

Whites are the ultimate healers, using damaging spells to drain life force and store it for later healing. Their like ticks or leeches in a sense. Necromancy and conjuration (healing).

Every one of these mages has a little from every school of magic but each one has a focus on how they cast their spells.

[Chrono22]

I rather think that violet should be the purview of illusionists and enchanters.
It's not a visible color in rainbows.

[EdroGrimshell]

Like i said before, this is more on how they cast rather than what they cast. The blue mage learns spells by experiencing them while also gaining other abilities from creatures while the red mage casts spells quickly and efficiently.

The general break up is that each class has a little of everything with one or to schools they actually focus on (replacing wizards with these guys). Only the blue mage doesn't actually fit that mold.

Blue: Doesn't have a school of focus. Learns spells through experience. A commonly used theme i know (links to existing blue mages please)

Red: Doesn't have a school of focus. Casts spells quickly and/or in rapid succession

Yellow: Transmutation. Uses alchemy to enhance and refine his spells (metamage)

Green: Enchantment. Accesses ley lines and fey magic to enhance his spells and make them usable in new ways.

Orange: Conjuration. Long lasting summonings and a small managerie of always available creatures.

Violet: Illusion. Distorts perception for truly real illusions that can actually cause harm (nonlethal only as its only in the mind).

Black: Evocation. Dangerous surges of power (wild surge like ability) and pushing the limits ("uncapping" most spells)

Grey: Abjuration. A hexer and protector that keeps his allies from getting hurt while also making his enimies more succeptible to attacks.

White: Necromancy. Take damage dealt from spells and store it as healing for a later time

[Violet Octopus]

well, the most well-known blue mage homebrew is this:
http://community.wizards.com/go/thre...ass__Blue_Mage
however it only learns spells/SLAs based on spells, which I find unfortunate. It's easily expandable to things like mind blast though, if you use the DC to determine the effective spell level.

I like that they cast in different ways. Do you mean something like, say, beguiler vs. warmage, which have the same type of spellcasting, but beguiler's casting is augmented by their Cloaked Casting mechanic, or do you mean more fundamental differences in spellcasting (e.g. cleric preparation vs. wizard preparation)?

[EdroGrimshell]

well, the most well-known blue mage homebrew is this:
http://community.wizards.com/go/thre...ass__Blue_Mage
however it only learns spells/SLAs based on spells, which I find unfortunate. It's easily expandable to things like mind blast though, if you use the DC to determine the effective spell level.

I like that they cast in different ways. Do you mean something like, say, beguiler vs. warmage, which have the same type of spellcasting, but beguiler's casting is augmented by their Cloaked Casting mechanic, or do you mean more fundamental differences in spellcasting (e.g. cleric preparation vs. wizard preparation)?

That specific blue mage got eaten by the renovations, i have a copy saved luckily. There was a psionic one on these boards that mimiced supernatural abilities.

Yes, the casting would be more like the beguiler and warmage. This is why i asked for class features specifically. I will need some major help for all of the colored mage's class features and spell lists (although i should have a workable copy of the blue mage soon).

The order i want to actually work in is primary colors (blue, red, and yellow), then secondary colors (violet, orange, and green), and finally the black, grey, and white mages.

[EdroGrimshell]

Anyone on class feature for these guys, please post them.

[Altaria87]

I was actually going to make a class very much like your Orange Mage called the Monster Trainer (basically, has a 'party' of six monsters that he can power up, can only have one out at once though), so I guess I could come up with a few ideas for your Orange Mage

[EdroGrimshell]

I was actually going to make a class very much like your Orange Mage called the Monster Trainer (basically, has a 'party' of six monsters that he can power up, can only have one out at once though), so I guess I could come up with a few ideas for your Orange Mage

Someone's been watching pokemon. If you want look up pokemon d20 for ideas. The quote for the monster tamer is funny.

[Altaria87]

Someone's been watching pokemon. If you want look up pokemon d20 for ideas. The quote for the monster tamer is funny.

Oh come on, we all know what quote I'll be using.
"I want to be the very best, that no-one ever was..."
- Ash Ketchum, Famous Monster Trainer
On topic: I'd also like to help with the Green Mage, and the Violet one if you're still going with Familiar Magic, an obvious one for Violet Mage to start off:
Improved Familiar.
A 1st Level Violet Mage gets Improved Familiar as a bonus feat.

[EdroGrimshell]

Improved Familiar.
A 1st Level Violet Mage gets Improved Familiar as a bonus feat.

I'd say also increase effective caster level for this purpose of familiars to. Thanks for the idea there.

[Altaria87]

Okay, next idea:
Spontaneous Familiar Buffing
A 3rd level or higher Violet mage can give up a 2nd level or higher spell slot to cast Owl's Wisdom, Bull's Strength, Eagle's Splendor, Cat's Grace, Bear's Endurance or Fox's Cunning on their Familiar at any range.
An 11th level or higher Violet Mage can do the same thing but giving up a 6th Level slot to give their Familiar a +8 bonus.