I've Got Your 'Eye of the Beholder' Right Here! And Here and Here! (3.5 PEACH Please)

[NeoSeraphi]

The Beholder Mage

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Prerequisites: In order to become a beholder mage, you must meet the following prerequisites:

Feats: Ocular Spell (Lords of Madness)
Skills: Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 8 ranks
Spellcasting: Able to cast 3rd level spells
Special: Must have the Aberration Blood (Lords of Madness) feat, unless the character is not a humanoid, in which case it may ignore this prerequisite


HD: d4
Class Skills: The beholder mage has Concentration, Craft, Decipher Script, Intimidate, Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (Dungeoneering), Knowledge (Nature), Knowledge (Religion), Profession, Spellcraft, and Spot as class skills
Skill Points: 2+Int per level


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

1st|

+0

|

+0

|

+0

|

+2

|Madness Lore, Bonus Feat|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

2nd|

+1

|

+0

|

+0

|

+3

|Eye Growth, Eye Ray (Inflict Moderate Wounds)|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

3rd|

+1

|

+1

|

+1

|

+3

|Improved Ocular Spell|

4th|

+2

|

+1

|

+1

|

+4

|Eye Growth, Eye Ray (Slow)|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

5th|

+2

|

+1

|

+1

|

+4

|All-Around Vision|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

6th|

+3

|

+2

|

+2

|

+5

|Eye Growth, Eye Ray (Sleep)|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

7th|

+3

|

+2

|

+2

|

+5

|Bonus Feat|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

8th|

+4

|

+2

|

+2

|

+6

|Eye Growth, Eye Ray (Fear)|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

9th|

+4

|

+3

|

+3

|

+6

|Greater Ocular Spell|

10th|

+5

|

+3

|

+3

|

+7

|Eye Rays, Eye Growth|+1 level of existing spellcasting class [/table]

Class Features: All of the following are class features of the beholder mage.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Beholder mages gain no additional proficiencies.

Spellcasting: At every level except 3rd and 9th, a beholder mage gains new spells per day, spells known, and an increase in caster level as if she had gained levels in a spellcasting class she had prior to taking levels in beholder mage. If she had more than one casting class, she must decide which one to advance at every level of beholder mage.

Madness Lore (Ex): A beholder mage is a powerful caster who wishes to emulate the mighty beholder, and so she journeys down a twisted path to find the aberration within. A beholder mage may automatically succeed a DC 10+HD Knowledge (Dungeoneering) check made to identify an aberration (he recalls the minimum level of information without needing to make a check), and receives a +5 bonus on all Knowledge (Dungeoneering) checks related to aberrations (such as if he actually wanted to attempt a Knowledge check without automatic success).

Bonus Feat (Ex): At 1st and 7th level, a beholder mage gains an [Aberration] feat as a bonus feat. The feat must have Aberration Blood as a prerequisite, and the beholder mage must meet all prerequisites for the feat. A non-humanoid beholder mage does not gain the benefits of this class feature.

Eye Growth (Ex): At 2nd level, and every even level after that, a beholder mage grows an additional eye. The beholder mage may choose where the eye grows, it may grow from any part of her body, including her forehead, the back of her head (though it will be obscured by her hair, if she has any), her hands, her arms, her legs, her chest, her stomach, her back, where ever she likes.

Eyes that the beholder mage grows grant her a +1 bonus to her Spot checks (these bonuses stack with one another). The eyes have the same vision quality as the beholder mage (if she has darkvision or lowlight vision, so do her new eyes).

Each eye the beholder mage grows with this class feature allows her to store another Ocular Spell, as normal. The beholder mage must have line of sight to the target of her Ocular Spells with her extra eyes in order to use them. (Eyes that are masked by clothing cannot fire Ocular Spells). This ability does not allow her to fire more than two spells from two eyes as a full-round action.

Eye Ray (Sp): Also at every even level except 10th, the beholder mage gains an eye ray. Each eye ray comes assigned to the eye it has grown in at the same level as, and cannot be fired out of a different eye. (The eye ray acquired at 2nd level may only be fired out of the eye grown at 2nd level, and so on)

An eye ray allows the beholder mage to mimic a spell, with a caster level equal to his highest arcane or divine caster level. Unlike an actual beholder, a beholder mage's eye rays are spell-like abilities, not supernatural and thus using one of them provokes an attack of opportunity and they must overcome spell resistance. A beholder mage may fire a single eye ray as a standard action. Even if the beholder mage somehow gains multiple standard actions in a single round, she may not use the same eye ray more than once in the same round. The eye rays are otherwise usable at will.

Eye rays are rays, and therefore do not have an area of effect ability. They affect only a single target creature. To use an eye ray, a beholder must succeed on a ranged touch attack against a single target within 60 feet.

Inflict Moderate Wounds: At 2nd level, the beholder mage can cast inflict moderate wounds as a spell-like ability. This works as the spell. A successful Will save (DC 12+the beholder mage's primary casting ability modifier) halves the damage.

Slow: At 4th level, the beholder mage can cast slow as a spell-like ability. This works as the spell. A successful Will save (DC 13+the beholder mage's primary casting ability modifier) negates the effect.

Sleep: At 6th level, the beholder can cast sleep as a spell-like ability. This works as the spell, except there is no HD limit. A successful Will save (DC 11+the beholder mage's primary casting modifier) negates the effect.

Fear: At 8th level, the beholder mage can cast fear as a spell-like ability. This works as the spell. A successful Will save (DC 14+the beholder mage's primary casting ability modifier) merely renders the creature shaken for 1 round.

Improved Ocular Spell (Ex): Beginning at 3rd level, once per day per class level a beholder mage may use the Ocular Spell feat as she casts the spell. If she is a prepared caster, this does not require her to have prepared the spell with the feat, and if she is a spontaneous caster, she does not increase her casting time with the spell.

The spell still uses up a spell slot two levels higher (prepared casters may sacrifice a spell slot two levels higher, and convert it into the spell that they wish to affect, and retain the original spell slot the spell was prepared in for later use).

A beholder mage may not use Improved Ocular Spell to fire a spontaneously applied Ocular Spell out of an eye that is currently holding an Ocular Spell. She may only fire the ray out of an "empty" eye.

All-Around Vision (Ex): It might surprise a beholder mage when she discovers this, but there actually are other advantages to having more than two eyes than the ability to shoot lasers out of them. Starting at 5th level, while the beholder mage has four or more eyes unobscured and uncovered by clothing, she becomes immune to flanking. She does not grant attackers who flank her a bonus to their attack rolls, and she does not allow flankers to gain flank-based precision damage against her (unless they have other ways of qualifying, such as an invisible rogue).

Greater Ocular Spell (Ex): Starting at 9th level, a beholder mage becomes the master of her eyes. Her Ocular Spell feat now has an effective spell level adjustment of +0. It no longer requires extra casting time for a spontaneous caster. (The Improved Ocular Spell feature also no longer requires expending a spell slot two levels higher to use it).

Eye Rays (Su): Finally, at 10th level, a beholder mage gains the power she sought after for so long. Once per round, a beholder mage may fire an Ocular Spell that she either has stored in her eyes or may cast using a daily use of her Improved Ocular Spell feature as a free action, as if she were a beholder. This is exhausting on the beholder mage, and after doing this, that eye is forced shut, and may not be used to see, fire an eye ray, or for the Ocular Spell feat. The eye remains shut for one hour. The beholder mage takes a -1 penalty to her Spot checks per eye she must close, and if all her eyes close, she is effectively blinded until at least one eye opens again. (If she closes all but 3 or fewer eyes, her All-Around Vision feature stops working as well).

[DracoDei]

Spellcasting: At every level, a beholder mage gains new spells per day, spells known, and an increase in caster level as if she had gained levels in a spellcasting class she had prior to taking levels in beholder mage. If she had more than one casting class, she must decide which one to advance at every level of beholder mage.

X out of X advancement is considered a no-no for arcane casting classes unless the pre-requisites are a nerf to the character (such as feats that don't go with full-caster very well), the class itself imposes drawbacks(such as The Rose Gunner and even that is 9/10)

Madness Lore (Ex): A beholder mage is a powerful caster who wishes to emulate the mighty beholder, and so she journeys down a twisted path to find the aberration within. A beholder mage automatically succeeds all Knowledge checks made to identify an aberration, and receives a +5 bonus on all Knowledge (Dungeoneering) checks related to aberrations.

Eh... if it is an infinite degree of success than this is hax against epic creatures that require a lot of research/knowledge to be able to figure out how to fight. Other than that, it... well it is very good, but not beyond the pale.

Bonus Feat (Ex): At 1st and 7th level, a beholder mage gains an [Aberration] feat as a bonus feat. The feat must have Aberration Blood as a prerequisite, and the beholder mage must meet all prerequisites for the feat.

This is non-sensical for nonhumanoids who don't have the "aberration blood" feat... unless you mean that there is an "or" clause in a lot of the feats, and that "abberation blood" can be on one side of the "or" and the character can qualify with the other part.

Eye Growth (Ex): At 2nd level, and every even level after that, a beholder mage grows an additional eye. The beholder mage may choose where the eye grows, it may grow from any part of her body, including her forehead, the back of her head (though it will be obscured by her hair, if she has any), her hands, her arms, her legs, her chest, her stomach, her back, where ever she likes.

Eyes that the beholder mage grows grant her a +1 bonus to her Spot checks (these bonuses stack with one another). The eyes have the same vision quality as the beholder mage (if she has darkvision or lowlight vision, so do her new eyes).

Each eye the beholder mage grows with this class feature allows her to store another Ocular Spell, as normal. The beholder mage must have line of sight to the target of her Ocular Spells with her extra eyes in order to use them. (Eyes that are masked by clothing cannot fire Ocular Spells).

Fluff-wise this should include clauses for when you qualify as getting all-around vision. Never mind, that comes later. Other than that... this is what I was expecting when I saw the pre-requisites (if not from the time I saw the picture).

Improved Ocular Spell (Ex): Beginning at 3rd level, once per day per class level a beholder mage may use the Ocular Spell feat as she casts the spell. If she is a prepared caster, this does not require her to have prepared the spell with the feat, and if she is a spontaneous caster, she does not increase her casting time with the spell.

The spell still uses up a spell slot two levels higher (prepared casters may sacrifice a spell slot two levels higher, and convert it into the spell that they wish to affect, and retain the original spell slot the spell was prepared in for later use)

A beholder mage may not use Improved Ocular Spell to fire a spontaneously applied Ocular Spell out of an eye that is currently holding an Ocular Spell. She may only fire the ray out of an "empty" eye.

So spontaneous casters are probably not going to load up all their eyes, or at least are going to quickly unload one at the first reasonable excuse... unless spontaneous casters don't need to "load" there eyes in the first place. Prepared casters are going to unload an eye at the first reasonable opportunity (or most of them will).

All-Around Vision (Ex): It might surprise a beholder mage when she discovers this, but there actually are other advantages to having more than two eyes than the ability to shoot lasers out of them. Starting at 5th level, while the beholder mage has four or more eyes unobscured and uncovered by clothing, she becomes immune to flanking. She does not grant attackers who flank her a bonus to their attack rolls, and she does not allow flankers to gain flank-based precision damage against her (unless they have other ways of qualifying, such as an invisible rogue)

Here and also earlier (in another ability) there is a period missing. In less pedantic news the word "lasers" is anachronistic and thus needlessly immersion breaking. I am glad to see that this is covered, and having it separately from the extra eyes at least reduces weird tricks with other sources of extra eyes, and encourages staying in the class another level (I don't mind dipping, I just think that everything should have reasons to seriously consider NOT dipping).

Greater Ocular Spell (Ex): Starting at 9th level, a beholder mage becomes the master of her eyes. Her Ocular Spell feat now has an effective spell level adjustment of +0. It no longer requires extra casting time for a spontaneous caster. (The Improved Ocular Spell feat also no longer requires expending a spell slot two levels higher to use it)

AFAICS "Improved Ocular Spell" is a class ability, not a feat. Also, this is a very sudden drop. Metamagic reducers are suspect, but if you are going to give them I PERSONALLY would like to see it go to +1 before it goes to +0. Of course if it just went to +1 and stayed there (possibly going to +0 via an Epic progression), that would kill 1.5 birds with one stone.

Eye Rays (Su): Finally, at 10th level, a beholder mage gains the power she sought after for so long. Once per round, a beholder mage may fire an Ocular Spell that she either has stored in her eyes or may cast using a daily use of her Improved Ocular Spell feature as a free action, as if she were a beholder. This is exhausting on the beholder mage, and after doing this, that eye is forced shut, and may not be used to see or for the Ocular Spell feat.

Up until this last part I thought this would be utterly broken cheese... now it is just pretty broken. 3+/hour free Quicken? The munchkin's are salivating... at least it discourages going nova all at once... you can now go nova (in slightly smaller ways) two or three times a day effectively.

The eye remains shut for one hour. The beholder mage takes a -1 penalty to her Spot checks per eye she must close, and if all her eyes close, she is effectively blinded until at least one eye opens again. (If she closes all but 3 or fewer eyes, her All-Around Vision feature stops working as well)

Again, lacking a period (might be an artifact of some weird copy-paste error).
Boiler-plate looks good...


Summary: Broken, could be fixed. 8/10 casting would probably do it. Lose casting at 1st and 10th(or maybe 9th) levels.

[NeoSeraphi]

This is non-sensical for nonhumanoids who don't have the "aberration blood" feat... unless you mean that there is an "or" clause in a lot of the feats, and that "abberation blood" can be on one side of the "or" and the character can qualify with the other part.

True, I'll add in that if you're not a humanoid you just don't get the class feature.

Here and also earlier (in another ability) there is a period missing. In less pedantic news the word "lasers" is anachronistic and thus needlessly immersion breaking. I am glad to see that this is covered, and having it separately from the extra eyes at least reduces weird tricks with other sources of extra eyes, and encourages staying in the class another level (I don't mind dipping, I just think that everything should have reasons to seriously consider NOT dipping).

Immersion breaking is part of what I do. It's just my style of homebrewing.

AFAICS "Improved Ocular Spell" is a class ability, not a feat. Also, this is a very sudden drop. Metamagic reducers are suspect, but if you are going to give them I PERSONALLY would like to see it go to +1 before it goes to +0. Of course if it just went to +1 and stayed there (possibly going to +0 via an Epic progression), that would kill 1.5 birds with one stone.
Up until this last part I thought this would be utterly broken cheese... now it is just pretty broken. 3+/hour free Quicken? The munchkin's are salivating... at least it discourages going nova all at once... you can now go nova (in slightly smaller ways) two or three times a day effectively.

It's not Quicken Spell. Quicken Spell has been errata'd to be changed into a swift action. Greater Ocular Spell can be used in the same round as the Quicken Spell feat.

As for the reduction, it's just a reward for staying in the class for 9 levels. Giving a -1 reduction earlier wouldn't encourage longevity so much.

[DracoDei]

I am somewhat at a disadvantage because I don't know exactly what ocular spell does, having never read Lords of Madness. I hope I was able to help despite this limitation.

[NeoSeraphi]

I am somewhat at a disadvantage because I don't know exactly what ocular spell does, having never read Lords of Madness. I hope I was able to help despite this limitation.

Ah. Ocular Spell does pretty much what you'd expect. It lets you cast a spell ahead of time and prepare it in your eye. The main advantage of this is it turns any spell into a ray with a 60' range, so it lets you use touch spells at a distance that is twice as far as Reach Spell with a lower level adjustment. (The disadvantage is, obviously, most characters only have two eyes)

[JoshuaZ]

I am somewhat at a disadvantage because I don't know exactly what ocular spell does, having never read Lords of Madness. I hope I was able to help despite this limitation.

Occular Spell lets you store spells in your eyes and then release them as rays.

[eftexar]

Hmm...
Ocular spell obviously has advantages for single target spells, but nerfs alot of other spells. I would say you could grant it a few more abilities. Maybe the ability to straight up fire eye beams (for when the beholder mage is out of spells) or the ability to summon a beholder just to throw out a couple ideas?

[NeoSeraphi]

Hmm...
Ocular spell obviously has advantages for single target spells, but nerfs alot of other spells. I would say you could grant it a few more abilities. Maybe the ability to straight up fire eye beams (for when the beholder mage is out of spells) or the ability to summon a beholder just to throw out a couple ideas?

I thought about the eye beams part, but the beholder's eye rays are just so powerful! I guess I can add a few in.

[DracoDei]

Another rule of thumb is that if you lose any caster levels, one of them is the first one... discourages munchkin's from dipping the class. Then again, it isn't a hard and fast rule and if you really think the first two levels are that weak (or the feats that useless), then it should be fine.

[NeoSeraphi]

Another rule of thumb is that if you lose any caster levels, one of them is the first one... discourages munchkin's from dipping the class. Then again, it isn't a hard and fast rule and if you really think the first two levels are that weak (or the feats that useless), then it should be fine.

The first level is just not worth dipping. You get a single bonus feat (in exchange for being forced to take a feat tax to get in) and auto-succeed on identifying aberrations, which you could do just as easily if you had an Item Familiar. (The DC for Knowledge checks is 10+HD anyway, so it's pitiful).

The second level is now considerably better, but it's still not as good as Improved Ocular Spell.

Added the Eye Rays to the even levels to improve the flavor and capability of the class.

[DracoDei]

The first level is just not worth dipping. You get a single bonus feat (in exchange for being forced to take a feat tax to get in) and auto-succeed on identifying aberrations, which you could do just as easily if you had an Item Familiar.

Don't know much about item familiars. But if you look at a lore table you will see at least one point you need to clarify.

(The DC for Knowledge checks is 10+HD anyway, so it's pitiful).

Technically correct, but there are two problems. One of the is systematic, and not something this homebrew needs to fix necessarily (being aware of it might be good).

The first problem is that it makes the high HD sluggers intrinsically harder to discover stuff about rather than the low HD sneaks and scales oddly with level. Again, not the central problem that this homebrew needs to address here.

The other, more important issue, is that you seem to be overlooking is that the DC isn't technically a single number for each species.

In general, the DC of such a check equals 10 + the monster’s HD. A successful check allows you to remember a bit of useful information about that monster.

For every 5 points by which your check result exceeds the DC, you recall another piece of useful information.

I would suggest some boiler plate specifying what you are currently only implying obliquely, namely that you automatically achieve the MINIMUM level of degree of success. In other words you ONLY identify it, you do not automatically know every possible bit of information about the race of every aberration you see*. The higher levels of success (the 15+HD and higher degrees), you should probably still have to roll for. Then again, I guess it is a somewhat situational ability so shooting the moon might not be too bad. As long as the campaign isn't such that you aren't discovering the Achilles heels of one of Cthulu's greatest servants, just by listening for 2 seconds to the specific type wordless babbling coming from someone who glimpsed them from a mile away.


*Or even hear an incomplete, third-hand description of... although if you can figure out the species from such an description, I guess remembering all the information you could if you actually saw it in front of you isn't THAT much of a stretch... still, visuals etc can serve as jog to memory.

[NeoSeraphi]

Fair point. Updated to say that "automatic success" only allows you to identify a creature as if you succeeded a DC 10+HD Knowledge check.

[Steward]

X out of X advancement is considered a no-no for arcane casting classes unless the pre-requisites are a nerf to the character (such as feats that don't go with full-caster very well), the class itself imposes drawbacks(such as The Rose Gunner and even that is 9/10)

I'm sorry, but can you explain this to me? What's "X out of X advancement"?

[JoshuaZ]

I'm sorry, but can you explain this to me? What's "X out of X advancement"?

Means that one gets spellcasting advancement at every level of the PrC. So for example, an archmage gets 5/5 but an eldritch knight gets 9/10.

[Steward]

Thanks! I can see now how that might be a little too powerful for a spellcasting prC. The other abilities seem solid and well-balanced so dropping a couple of caster levels won't be enough to drive people away.

[Zaydos]

Prerequisites: In order to become a beholder mage, you must meet the following prerequisites:

Feats: Ocular Spell (Lords of Madness)
Skills: Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 8 ranks
Spellcasting: Able to cast 3rd level spells
Special: Must have the Aberration Blood (Lords of Madness) feat, unless the character is not a humanoid, in which case it may ignore this prerequisite

So either a feat or being non-humanoid. I'd say the prerequisites are a bit light, but they don't always have to be heavy.

HD: d4
Class Skills: The beholder mage has Concentration, Craft, Decipher Script, Intimidate, Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (Dungeoneering), Knowledge (Nature), Knowledge (Religion), Profession, Spellcraft, and Spot as class skills
Skill Points: 2+Int per level

Compared to wizard: Less knowledges (and no Knowledge the Planes) but Intimidate and Spot might be a step up, but I like Knowledge (the Planes) and I'm not going to be using Intimidate as a wizard so I'd say about even (Spot can be useful).

Class Features: All of the following are class features of the beholder mage.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Beholder mages gain no additional proficiencies.

Spellcasting: At every level except 3rd and 9th, a beholder mage gains new spells per day, spells known, and an increase in caster level as if she had gained levels in a spellcasting class she had prior to taking levels in beholder mage. If she had more than one casting class, she must decide which one to advance at every level of beholder mage.

Nothing much to say here; without seeing class features you can't really say much.

Madness Lore (Ex): A beholder mage is a powerful caster who wishes to emulate the mighty beholder, and so she journeys down a twisted path to find the aberration within. A beholder mage may automatically succeed a DC 10+HD Knowledge (Dungeoneering) check made to identify an aberration (he recalls the minimum level of information without needing to make a check), and receives a +5 bonus on all Knowledge (Dungeoneering) checks related to aberrations (such as if he actually wanted to attempt a Knowledge check without automatic success).

My thoughts on this are similar to DracoDei's

Bonus Feat (Ex): At 1st and 7th level, a beholder mage gains an [Aberration] feat as a bonus feat. The feat must have Aberration Blood as a prerequisite, and the beholder mage must meet all prerequisites for the feat. A non-humanoid beholder mage does not gain the benefits of this class feature.

Works with the prerequisites, not worth dipping for so not much to say, the first level is better than Lv 6 of wizard (which isn't hard) but not worth fulfilling the prerequisites to dip it.

Eye Growth (Ex): At 2nd level, and every even level after that, a beholder mage grows an additional eye. The beholder mage may choose where the eye grows, it may grow from any part of her body, including her forehead, the back of her head (though it will be obscured by her hair, if she has any), her hands, her arms, her legs, her chest, her stomach, her back, where ever she likes.

Eyes that the beholder mage grows grant her a +1 bonus to her Spot checks (these bonuses stack with one another). The eyes have the same vision quality as the beholder mage (if she has darkvision or lowlight vision, so do her new eyes).

Each eye the beholder mage grows with this class feature allows her to store another Ocular Spell, as normal. The beholder mage must have line of sight to the target of her Ocular Spells with her extra eyes in order to use them. (Eyes that are masked by clothing cannot fire Ocular Spells).

Can they cast spells from all eyes as a single Full-Round Action? If so you're talking the ability to cast 7 spells in a turn, without recourse to Quicken Spell; even with the limitations (single target, turns them into rays) that's actually rather ridiculous even with 2 losses of spellcaster level (+6 spells in a turn is incredible nova potential and makes the action economy cry more than it used to; also effectively Still and Silent Spell as you cast them ahead of time when it doesn't matter if you wave your hands and speak). If they're still limited to firing only any given 2 spells at a time then it adds some nice versatility while still adding power in the use of an extra spell a round for a few rounds a fight.

Eye Ray (Sp): Also at every even level except 10th, the beholder mage gains an eye ray. Each eye ray comes assigned to the eye it has grown in at the same level as, and cannot be fired out of a different eye. (The eye ray acquired at 2nd level may only be fired out of the eye grown at 2nd level, and so on)

An eye ray allows the beholder mage to mimic a spell, with a caster level equal to his highest arcane or divine caster level. Unlike an actual beholder, a beholder mage's eye rays are spell-like abilities, not supernatural and thus using one of them provokes an attack of opportunity and they must overcome spell resistance. A beholder mage may fire a single eye ray as a standard action. Even if the beholder mage somehow gains multiple standard actions in a single round, she may not use the same eye ray more than once in the same round. The eye rays are otherwise usable at will.

Eye rays are rays, and therefore do not have an area of effect ability. They affect only a single target creature. To use an eye ray, a beholder must succeed on a ranged touch attack against a single target within 60 feet.

Sleep: At 2nd level, the beholder can cast sleep as a spell-like ability. This works as the spell, except there is no HD limit. A successful Will save (DC 11+the beholder mage's primary casting modifier) negates the effect.

Inflict Moderate Wounds: At 4th level, the beholder mage can cast inflict moderate wounds as a spell-like ability. This works as the spell. A successful Will save (DC 12+the beholder mage's primary casting ability modifier) halves the damage.

Slow: At 6th level, the beholder mage can cast slow as a spell-like ability. This works as the spell. A successful Will save (DC 13+the beholder mage's primary casting ability modifier) negates the effect.

Fear: At 8th level, the beholder mage can cast fear as a spell-like ability. This works as the spell. A successful Will save (DC 14+the beholder mage's primary casting ability modifier) merely renders the creature shaken for 1 round.

I'd actually place no HD, standard action Sleep above single target Slow. Deep Slumber is a 3rd level spell that functions just like sleep but with a 10 HD cap, meanwhile the Slow ability is debuffed.

Improved Ocular Spell (Ex): Beginning at 3rd level, once per day per class level a beholder mage may use the Ocular Spell feat as she casts the spell. If she is a prepared caster, this does not require her to have prepared the spell with the feat, and if she is a spontaneous caster, she does not increase her casting time with the spell.

The spell still uses up a spell slot two levels higher (prepared casters may sacrifice a spell slot two levels higher, and convert it into the spell that they wish to affect, and retain the original spell slot the spell was prepared in for later use).

A beholder mage may not use Improved Ocular Spell to fire a spontaneously applied Ocular Spell out of an eye that is currently holding an Ocular Spell. She may only fire the ray out of an "empty" eye.

Looking at the last paragraph I'm guessing the intent is for casting and firing the spell to be a single action, so in short turning the spell into a 60-ft ray. If so neat, flavorful ability, but not too powerful. If not then this ability favors wizards more heavily than it already does (being completely useless to spontaneous casters).

All-Around Vision (Ex): It might surprise a beholder mage when she discovers this, but there actually are other advantages to having more than two eyes than the ability to shoot lasers out of them. Starting at 5th level, while the beholder mage has four or more eyes unobscured and uncovered by clothing, she becomes immune to flanking. She does not grant attackers who flank her a bonus to their attack rolls, and she does not allow flankers to gain flank-based precision damage against her (unless they have other ways of qualifying, such as an invisible rogue).

An ability they definitely should get.

Greater Ocular Spell (Ex): Starting at 9th level, a beholder mage becomes the master of her eyes. Her Ocular Spell feat now has an effective spell level adjustment of +0. It no longer requires extra casting time for a spontaneous caster. (The Improved Ocular Spell feature also no longer requires expending a spell slot two levels higher to use it).

Alright, with the loss of 2 CL they definitely deserve something good and as they focus on this metamagic feat a reduction to it works well.

Eye Rays (Su): Finally, at 10th level, a beholder mage gains the power she sought after for so long. Once per round, a beholder mage may fire an Ocular Spell that she either has stored in her eyes or may cast using a daily use of her Improved Ocular Spell feature as a free action, as if she were a beholder. This is exhausting on the beholder mage, and after doing this, that eye is forced shut, and may not be used to see, fire an eye ray, or for the Ocular Spell feat. The eye remains shut for one hour. The beholder mage takes a -1 penalty to her Spot checks per eye she must close, and if all her eyes close, she is effectively blinded until at least one eye opens again. (If she closes all but 3 or fewer eyes, her All-Around Vision feature stops working as well).

This ability is pretty good no matter what, an extra spell in a round you need it at no increase to spell level is quite nice. The penalties are enough that it probably works. Though if a full-round action fires all 7 (at this level) spells this gives them 9 spells in a round before they even start trying to break action economy. As single target spells these won't be the encounter ending battlefield control that a normal wizard might be slinging they can easily be enough to shatter encounters that could actually get around such tactics (just imagine if 8 of them are meta-magic enhanced Orb of X).

Really besides the question of if a full-round action fires just 2 spells or all 7 (the latter being just too much nova potential) the class looks pretty good. A free super-quicken is a nice ability without being Incanatrix level silliness, and the ability to routinely get 3 spells a round without relying on it is rather nice with the single target limitation keeping it from being anywhere near as broken as it could be. The 2 levels lost is enough to sting without making you lose 9th level spells and the high level abilities help make up for the sting (at 15th level you might only have 7th level spells but you can use two death effects in a round targeting different saves easily enough).

[NeoSeraphi]

Can they cast spells from all eyes as a single Full-Round Action? If so you're talking the ability to cast 7 spells in a turn, without recourse to Quicken Spell; even with the limitations (single target, turns them into rays) that's actually rather ridiculous even with 2 losses of spellcaster level (+6 spells in a turn is incredible nova potential and makes the action economy cry more than it used to; also effectively Still and Silent Spell as you cast them ahead of time when it doesn't matter if you wave your hands and speak). If they're still limited to firing only any given 2 spells at a time then it adds some nice versatility while still adding power in the use of an extra spell a round for a few rounds a fight.

Absolutely not! Thanks for pointing that out, I'll update that immediately.

I'd actually place no HD, standard action Sleep above single target Slow. Deep Slumber is a 3rd level spell that functions just like sleep but with a 10 HD cap, meanwhile the Slow ability is debuffed.

True, guess I'll shift it around a bit. (though the sleep DC is still lower than the slow's)

Looking at the last paragraph I'm guessing the intent is for casting and firing the spell to be a single action, so in short turning the spell into a 60-ft ray. If so neat, flavorful ability, but not too powerful. If not then this ability favors wizards more heavily than it already does (being completely useless to spontaneous casters).

Indeed. I couldn't figure out how to say it nicely without that unfortunate implication. The word "spontaneously" was the only word that fit. "On the fly" was too informal. It just lets you cast and fire as a single action.

This ability is pretty good no matter what, an extra spell in a round you need it at no increase to spell level is quite nice. The penalties are enough that it probably works. Though if a full-round action fires all 7 (at this level) spells this gives them 9 spells in a round before they even start trying to break action economy. As single target spells these won't be the encounter ending battlefield control that a normal wizard might be slinging they can easily be enough to shatter encounters that could actually get around such tactics (just imagine if 8 of them are meta-magic enhanced Orb of X).

No, not at all. Never intended for them all to be fired at once. And the feat itself just says "both", but it also says you can't hold more than two even if you have more than two eyes. Either way, I'll update and make it clear that it's only two as a full-round action.

[LibrarianHuntar]

For lo, thy Seraphi Homebrew registers as Narwhal level awesome (Narwhalmage, Narwhalknight and Narwhalassasin classes pending)

[Noctis Vigil]

I like the class a lot. But then, it's NeoSeraphi Homebrew(TM), so no surprises there. Let's face it, everyone has wanted laser eyes at least once. My only question is, do any of the prerequisites require an alignment? I don't have Lords of Madness, and somehow Aberration Blood sounds like it might.

For lo, thy Seraphi Homebrew registers as Narwhal level awesome (Narwhalmage, Narwhalknight and Narwhalassasin classes pending)

...OK, NeoSeraphi has got to at least attempt these now, because the idea of a mage casting cone of Narwhal makes me giggle like a maniac.

[Cieyrin]

I like the class a lot. But then, it's NeoSeraphi Homebrew(TM), so no surprises there. Let's face it, everyone has wanted laser eyes at least once. My only question is, do any of the prerequisites require an alignment? I don't have Lords of Madness, and somehow Aberration Blood sounds like it might.

Nope, you just have to be humanoid and have ancestors with questionable tastes. No alignment requirements involved, as the aberrant are beyond our mortal morals.