[PF:PrC] Energon Evoker - A Single Energy-type Evoker

[Zakaroth]

Old version of the Energon Evoker was posted here. New one can be found in this post.

[Zakaroth]

Some new evocation spells.

[Xerlith]

A minor nitpick - there is no such thing as DR/fire, you meant fire resistance or DR/flaming weapons? it'd be better to just make it DR/piercing and magic.

As a whole, this class seems to be really high-powered. Kind of evocation-only Incantatrix.
Yes, it deals with Evocation spells, which are the weakest, but this... appears to give some room for fun, like this:

Wizard5/This10/Incantatrix4/Archmage1.
Wizard qualifies by taking Alacritous Cogitation. We take the Sound mastery, then proceed to tear everything to shreds with our metamagic goodness. And for every other situation, we're still a wizard with all it's versatility. Archmage is there for the High Arcana that lets all your spells deal sonic.

This gets fun also if we take Wu-Jen 6/this10/Incantatrix3/Archmage1, specialize in fire... Immunity doesn't matter anyway. High Arcana as above. Wu-Jen is there for the Body Outside The Body spell that lets you use Cooperative Metamagic on yourself (Yes, it works).

It gets even more fun if we use Alacritous Cogitation to enter the Ultimate Magus with wizard only... the metamagic explodes.

Of course it's more the question of Incantatrix being ridiculously broken, but it still leaves place for exploits.

Snowcasting+Flash Frost Spell trick costs +1 spell level and gives you +1 caster level and cold damage to literally all your area spells, qualifying for the abilities of this class...

EDIT:
This

This bonus also applies to spells which are associated with energy type (For example; if an Energon Evoker with an affinity for sonic would cast the Silence spell, or an affinity for cold would cast a Freezing Glance spell).

Allows you, only with Snowcasting, to treat all your spells as Evocations. Literally all of them. This might get easily abused.

[Zakaroth]

A minor nitpick - there is no such thing as DR/fire, you meant fire resistance or DR/flaming weapons? it'd be better to just make it DR/piercing and magic.

I meant bypassed by flaming weapons, but you might be right about DR/magic being better.

As a whole, this class seems to be really high-powered. Kind of evocation-only Incantatrix.
Yes, it deals with Evocation spells, which are the weakest, but this... appears to give some room for fun, like this:

Wizard5/This10/Incantatrix4/Archmage1.
Wu-Jen 6/this10/Incantatrix3/Archmage1

Note that it requires you to be able to spontaneously cast 6 evocation spells, one of which must be at least of 3rd level. The spellcasting class increase only applies towards spontaneous spell casters. I don't think these combinations are able to meet the requirements.
This PrC is meant for sorcerer-based blasters, and because sorcerers have very limited list of spells-known, the requirements and spell learning restrictions applied by this PrC are a steep tax on its flexibility. In return he gains powerful blasting abilities.

Snowcasting+Flash Frost Spell trick costs +1 spell level and gives you +1 caster level and cold damage to literally all your area spells, qualifying for the abilities of this class...

Hmmm, I'm not familiar with these gambits, I will have to look into it.

[Xerlith]

As I said, taking the Alacritous Cogitation feat lets you get around the sorcerer-ish requirements. It's a feat from Complete Mage.

Prerequisite
Must prepare arcane spells

Benefit
If you leave an arcane spell slot open when preparing spells, you can use that open slot to cast any arcane spell you know of the same level or lower. Casting the spell requires a full-round action. You can use this feat only once per day, regardless of the number of slots you leave open.

Special
A wizard can select this feat as a wizard bonus feat.

[Zakaroth]

Sounds a bit sketchy though, and doesn't it only allow you to cast one spell "spontaneously" per instance of the feat? I know my DM would never let me get away with something like that

[Xerlith]

Well, RAW you are able to cast _all_ the spells you know, of the same level or lower than the slot you have. So one empty 3rd level slot equals the ability to spontaneously cast all the 1st, 2nd and 3rd level spells.
Some greatest (Meaning the most broken) Ultimate Magus builds use it as a chassis.

[Zakaroth]

To prevent this, I might need to add another requirement. It's kind of difficult though, as the Sorcerer doesn't really have any class skills to put up as a requirement. Or just add sorcerer level 5 or something, but this isn't a elegant solution.

[Xerlith]

Yes, this is the kind of thing that can't really be worked around - D&D is a system with so much complexity, that the loopholes can sometimes be great hurdles to overcome.
Also, if you put the sorcerer requirement explicitly, it prevents, say, the Warmages from taking this class. And Warmages would love this class.
I think a non-spellcasting level would succesfully balance out the things...
And I suppose the Overwhelming Power might want to be pushed a little further. The dead level at 7th...
Duh, how about pushing the Overwhelming Power at about 5th-6th level (that's how Frost Mage does it, anyway, and I know my class has it at 3rd - but it requires sacrificing casting level), moving the abilities around a little and giving a bonus metamagic feat (usable only with the chosen element spells) at second?

[Zakaroth]

Yes, this is the kind of thing that can't really be worked around - D&D is a system with so much complexity, that the loopholes can sometimes be great hurdles to overcome.
Also, if you put the sorcerer requirement explicitly, it prevents, say, the Warmages from taking this class. And Warmages would love this class.
I think a non-spellcasting level would succesfully balance out the things...

Yes, that is certainly true. Its hard to say, balance-wise, I still think the forced two energy-type spells per spell level is quite harsh for sorcerers. "Unfortunately", this penalty is negated by the Warmage..

In a very early draft of this class, which I posted a long time ago, I had overwhelming power at a higher level. Then it was suggested I put it earlier because this class would really need it. However, now I tend to think it can be moved to a higher level. I could easily switch it with Cataclysm, as that ability scales with level anyway.

Some ideas I had for the seventh level.
- Signature Evocation: The evoker may select one evocation spell of forth level or lower. He may expend spell slots of one level lower than the spells level to cast his signature evocation. This does not decrease the spells DC.
- The other was an energon aura/special ability which was based on your type, it could be activated by expending a spell slot (strength was based on the sacced spells level). Although flavorful, I thought such an ability would be to strong.
- Or an ability that would allow you to summon an Energon, but meh, this isnt a summoner.

Thanks for your elaborate feedback btw, I appreciate it a lot.

[Xerlith]

The lower level slot casting is a nice thing, but, you know, metamagic. Also, this still seems to be subject to the snowcasting trick. :P The aura sure appears as balanced.
Or maybe the ability to - since it seems to be a metamagic-heavy class - apply the metamagic feats without increasing the casting time? (it it's there somewhere, I must have overseen/forgot it.)