[3.5] Dabbling Master of Every Kind of Magic!

[Morph Bark]

After seeing something of this sort here, I dug up old notes I had made for making a class that tries to combine all forms of magic that 3.5 has given us. This is the final result (so far, it still needs some changing). From original intent, it is mainly meant for NPC use, not PC use. Basically the idea was: "Commoner that tries to gain all magic powers in an attempt to defend her home, but due to that might be expelled from her community."

To really be able to play this class, you need the following books: PHB, Complete Arcane, Tome of Magic and Magic of Incarnum. The Tome of Battle, PHB II, Miniatures Handbook and the Eberron Campaign Setting can give additional options for your class features. Other than those, just about every book you have access to will greatly improve your choices.

DABBLEMASTER

“When it comes down to it, I just want to be free. Free to do everything, to learn everything. And maybe, just maybe, others can be free with me.”

“Why focus on one area of study, when you can master a little bit of all?”

When a young commoner girl steps into the big city, she might oft see great wonders of architecture, crowds of busy people and amazing magical feats of power. Anything she might see might attract her and inspire her to become of such capabilities that she can do such things as well. In other scenarios, she might have been attracted to less openly-practiced forms of magic due to her curiosity or simply unwillingness to comply with the norms of society. At any rate, there are many ways to venture into the world of magical powers, but the dabblemaster is the one that picks up the pieces of each and every study and advances them to their peaks. While their study is far from narrow, they never become truly capable with any of their studies, only getting tiny bits of each advanced to the levels of a real master. Any who learn of a dabblemaster’s abilities often frown upon them or call them worthless dabblers (which they ultimately derived their name from), mumbling in annoyance at how they could have gotten so far with so many different things at once. Many dabblemasters are proud of what they can do, but prefer to keep it hidden so they can come out with it as a surprise, or simply because others don't necessarily need to know.

Abilities: Constitution is important for a dabblemaster due to their low amount of hit points and they need it to shape enough soulmelds. Charisma is important because their spells, powers, mysteries, invocations, infusions, binding and their auras depend on it. Intelligence is important so they get more skill points, and for those who want to power their truenaming. Strength is important for those dabblemasters who wish to focus on martial ability and the use of maneuvers. Ultimately, it depends on what choices the dabblemaster makes for their Feature Slots.

Role: A dabblemaster can do a variety of things, so her role can vary widely depending on her choice of abilities. In a party she will likely seem a bit underwhelming to others due to being so spread out in abilities and not being very strong in other areas, making her mainly a back-up caster.

Alignment: Dabblemasters don’t really fixate on a single alignment, though many still incorporate views imposed on them in childhood merged with the strange mixture of views the variety of magic they wield brings with it. They often are at least partly neutral, Chaotics being more common than Lawfuls as dabbling doesn't require as much of a disciplined focus on a single thing, but this does not mean there are no Lawful dabblemasters.

Races: Humans, changelings and gnomes are the most likely ones to be interested in becoming a dabblemaster due to the variety the class offers; truthfully, these three races are amongst the ones that may sometimes be the least bothered by social stigma overall, and only need an interest in all things magical to be willing to enter, though they may not realize the consequences of doing so until later.

Religion: Dabblemasters don't stick to any specific religion, though gods of magic, skills and progressing personal power either for yourself or others are most common. Dabblemasters don’t really revere one god above another and run the gamut of religious views, if they have any.

Other Classes: Arcane casters will likely be annoyed at your changing powers, which includes the power of arcane magic, but yet they will be curious and wonder how you pull it off; manifesters and artificers will likely offer a similar reaction. Divine casters will deem you an affront to their god and their principles and think you possess no soul as you deal with binding spirits beyond the time and space of the planes to your soul. Incarnum-users loathe you not because of how simple you make incarnum look, but because they think you offer up not only your own soul but those of others of past and future to alien spirits. Binders however, treat you with respect like you are one of their own, though they shake their heads because you still cling to the magic practices of those who condemn you and them. Warriors will frown upon you as you only rarely venture into melee, when you have picked the right options for it. Skillful rogues and their kin grin smugly as you won’t ever be as good as them, yet curse with grudging respect for being able to become better through your own various kinds of magic.

Hit Die: d6

Starting Gold: 5d4x10

Class Features

Class Skills: The dabblemasters's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are: Appraise (Int), Autohypnosis (Wis), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Knowledge (all of them; Int), Listen (Wis), Martial Lore (Int), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language (n/a), Spellcraft/Psicraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), Truespeak (Int), Tumble (Dex) and Use Magic/Psionic Device (Cha).

Skill Points at First Level: (8+Int bonus)x4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 8+Int bonus

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Eldritch blast (1d6), fundamental of shadow, meldshaping (1 soulmeld)
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Feature slots, invocation (least)
3rd	+2	+1	+1	+3	Chakra bind (crown), meldshaping (2 soulmelds)
4th	+3	+1	+1	+4	Eldritch reinforcement 1/day
5th	+3	+1	+1	+4	Meldshaping (3 soulmelds), soul binding (1 vestige, level 1)
6th	+4	+2	+2	+5	Chakra bind (feet and hands)
7th	+5	+2	+2	+5	Eldritch reinforcement 2/day, soul binding (level 2)
8th	+6	+2	+2	+6	Invocation (lesser), meldshaping (4 soulmelds)
9th	+6	+3	+3	+6	Soul binding (level 3)
10th	+7	+3	+3	+7	Eldritch reinforcement 3/day
11th	+8	+3	+3	+7	Meldshaping (5 soulmelds), soul binding (level 4)
12th	+9	+4	+4	+8	Chakra bind (arms, brow and shoulders)
13th	+9	+4	+4	+8	Eldritch reinforcement 4/day
14th	+10	+4	+4	+9	Invocation (greater), meldshaping (6 soulmelds), soul binding (level 5)
15th	+11	+5	+5	+9	Chakra bind (throat and waist)
16th	+12	+5	+5	+10	Eldritch reinforcement 5/day, soul binding (level 6)
17th	+12	+5	+5	+10	Meldshaping (7 soulmelds)
18th	+13	+6	+6	+11	Chakra bind (heart or soul)
19th	+14	+6	+6	+11	Eldritch reinforcement 6/day, soul binding (level 7)
20th	+15	+6	+6	+12	Invocation (dark), meldshaping (8 soulmelds)

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: The dabblemaster is proficient with all simple weapons. The dabblemaster is proficient with light armour and with light shields.

Eldritch blast (Sp): At level 1 the dabblemaster gains an ability that is exactly like a warlock’s eldritch blast ability, being a ray attack with a range of 60 feet that 1d6 points of damage and is affected by spell resistance, etc. However, this eldritch blast ability doesn’t gain more damage dice as the dabblemaster gains levels, as normally.

Fundamental of shadow (Su): At level 1 a dabblemaster must pick a fundamental mystery off the list of available fundamentals: the list of available fundamentals is the same as the shadowcaster’s. This fundamental is useable 3/day.

Meldshaping: While a dabblemaster never gains essentia, nor the ability to bind them to a chakra, she does gain the ability to shape soulmelds. At level 1 she can shape a maximum of 1 soulmeld. This maximum increases as shown on the table, but may never exceed her Constitution modifier. They have access to all soulmelds.

Feature slots: Starting at level 2, you gain a number of so-called feature slots as shown on the (spoilered) table below. Each of these slots has a level and can be filled with a variety of things. You need a Cha score of 10+feature slot level to use any spells/powers/mysteries of that level. Save DCs are Cha-dependant unless otherwise specified (as is possible with maneuvers). A slot can be filled with:

• Any arcane spell of equal level, which can be cast once per day.
• Any divine spell of equal level, which can be cast once per day.
• Any psionic power of equal level, plus you are granted ((2xpower level)-1) power points to use to manifest the power or any other psionic powers you fill other slots with (or to augment them, which you can only do if you have filled more than one slot with a psionic power).
• Any martial maneuver of equal level, which can be initiated once per encounter. You must spend a full-round action doing nothing to recover a maneuver. You also gain a stance of the same discipline, which must be of a lower level than the maneuver you choose. You don't need to fulfill the number of prerequisites the maneuver and stance require, unlike normal.
• Any draconic aura or a marshal’s major aura. This can only be done to a slot of level 2 or higher and the aura grants a bonus equal to the level of the slot minus one.
• Any mystery of equal level. Once you get access to 4th-level mysteries, any 1st- to 3rd-level mysteries you pick are useable twice per day and count as spell-like abilities. You don't get bonus feats for completing Paths.
• An infusion of equal level, which you can use once per day.
• An utterance from the Lexicon of the Evolving Mind of equal level, useable as normal for an utterance.
• An utterance from the Lexicon of the Crafted Tool of two levels lower than the level of the feature slot, useable as normal for an utterance.
• An utterance from the Lexicon of the Perfected Map of three levels lower than the level of the feature slot, useable as normal for an utterance.

A higher-level slot can be filled with a lower-level spell/power/maneuver/mystery, but this provides no actual change to it. Your effective caster/manifester/initiator/shadowcaster/artificer/truenamer level is equal to your dabblemaster level. Once you gain an ability slot, you must choose something to fill it, after which it cannot be changed. A slot can also be filled with a level 0 spell, which becomes useable three times per day per level of the ability slot used (3/day for a level 1 slot, 18/day for a level 6 slot).

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{table=head]Level|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th
1st|-|-|-|-|-|-
2nd|2|-|-|-|-|-
3rd|3|-|-|-|-|-
4th|4|-|-|-|-|-
5th|5|1|-|-|-|-
6th|5|2|-|-|-|-
7th|5|3|-|-|-|-
8th|5|4|1|-|-|-
9th|5|4|2|-|-|-
10th|5|4|3|-|-|-
11th|5|4|4|1|-|-
12th|5|4|4|2|-|-
13th|5|4|4|3|-|-
14th|5|4|4|4|1|-
15th|5|4|4|4|2|-
16th|5|4|4|4|3|-
17th|5|4|4|4|4|1
18th|5|4|4|4|4|2
19th|5|4|4|4|4|3
20th|5|4|4|4|4|4[/table]

Invocations: At level 2 the dabblemaster gets access to a least invocation. This may be any invocation as long as it is a least invocation. At level 8 she gains another invocation, this time a lesser invocation. At level 14 she gains a greater invocation and at level 20 she gains a dark invocation. These invocations function in the same manner as they do for dragonfire adepts and warlocks.

Chakra binding: At level 3 the dabblemaster can start binding a soulmeld to appropriate chakras. She can only ever bind one single soulmeld at a time, but she can bind it to as man chakras as she likes, as long as she has access to those chakras. While at level 3 she only has access to the crown chakra, at level 6 she gains access to the feet and hands chakras, at level 12 to the arms, brow and shoulders chakras and at level 15 to the throat and waist chakras. At level 18 she can choose either the heart or soul chakra to gain access to.

Eldritch reinforcement: At level 4 the dabblemaster becomes able to collect the raw magical strength from the depths of her shattering soul and call them to the surface, melding with her body. Once per day she can activate this ability as a free action (but only during her turn) and gain a +2 bonus to her Constitution and increase her eldritch blast damage by 1d6 for an amount of turns equal to 1 + her (newly improved) Constitution modifier. Furthermore, her BAB becomes equal to her HD and she becomes proficient with all simple and martial weapons and all shields.
At level 7 and every three levels thereafter she gains another daily use of this ability. A dabblemaster may activate as many daily uses of this ability at once and they stack with one another. After activating this ability a dabblemaster must wait until its effects have subsided again before she can use it again.

Soul binding (Su): At level 5 a dabblemaster can bind a vestige, just like a binder can. However, while she learns to bind more powerful vestiges as shown on the table, she doesn’t learn any of a binder's other class abilities. A dabblemaster's effective binder level is equal to her dabblemaster level -4.


Feats

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Improved Eldritch Reinforcement
Prerequisites: Eldritch reinforcement 2/day
Benefit: You gain one extra use of eldritch reinforcement. Additionally, when using eldritch reinforcement, one other ability score of your choice is increased by 2 for every two uses of eldritch reinforcement you use simultaneously. You must choose which ability score is affected by this when you pick this feat. Once decided it cannot be changed.
Special: You may take this feat more than once. Each time you take this feat, you may choose an additional, different ability score to be affected.

[Peregrine]

I'm afraid I will be absolutely no help when it comes to judging the balance of this class. I wouldn't know where to begin. I just have a hunch that it'll be as abusable as polymorph spells: every additional source you have available gives yet more options that might lead to game-breaking combinations.

The ability to choose spells from any list will be a dream come true for some optimisers; there are spells available at rather lower spell levels for some half-caster class or another than they would be for the full casters, or available sooner for divine casters than for arcane, etc.

Other comments... Word of warcrafting? *snicker* I think "ability slots" should be renamed; it's a bit confusing when "ability" usually means Str, Dex, et cetera.

[Morph Bark]

I'm afraid I will be absolutely no help when it comes to judging the balance of this class. I wouldn't know where to begin. I just have a hunch that it'll be as abusable as polymorph spells: every additional source you have available gives yet more options that might lead to game-breaking combinations.

The ability to choose spells from any list will be a dream come true for some optimisers; there are spells available at rather lower spell levels for some half-caster class or another than they would be for the full casters, or available sooner for divine casters than for arcane, etc.

True, but that goes for prettymuch any magic-using class out there, though admittably this one has it even moreso. Originally I wanted to make the ability slots go up to level 9, but then thought "that doesn't really work". Even though it'd be awesome to have someone who is almost like a commoner cast a single level 9 arcane spell, then another level 9 divine spell and then use some level 8 psionic powers in combination with a level 8 maneuver to kill someone, utterly confounding onlookers.

Hence why instead I halved the progression so it only goes up to level 5. Midway through the level 5 slot wasn't gained until level 20 either, but that seemed a little too late. Originally the dabblemaster could also end up with some higher-level truename stuff (like the infamous gate-at-will, which I didn't even take into consideration), but I dropped that so that the dabblemaster never gains an ability sooner than the class it was made for.

Other comments... Word of warcrafting? *snicker* I think "ability slots" should be renamed; it's a bit confusing when "ability" usually means Str, Dex, et cetera.

I could make up a different name, yeah. I just used "ability slots" because I was thinking of class abilities. Originally I used "ability points" but that would make one think of power points, and that's not how it works. Suggestions are welcome though.

[Milskidasith]

How does this interact with PrCs that advance spellcasting?

[Darkxarth]

I'd play this class in an instant. I really don't think there is much room for abuse, given how few spells/etc. the Dabblemaster knows, even at higher level. However, I am not familiar enough with vestiges, mysteries, soulmelds, or martial maneuvers to be positive. Still, it seems solid and intriguing.

[Morph Bark]

How does this interact with PrCs that advance spellcasting?

I would presume that would work, but it would count as neither an arcane, divine, nor manifesting one specifically.

...perhaps I should put in a clause against dual-progressions?

I'd play this class in an instant. I really don't think there is much room for abuse, given how few spells/etc. the Dabblemaster knows, even at higher level. However, I am not familiar enough with vestiges, mysteries, soulmelds, or martial maneuvers to be positive. Still, it seems solid and intriguing.

Essentially, they are magic systems that are quite a bit more balanced than spellcasting, especially since it has fewer options. They have some really powerful tricks that can be (ab)used by crafty enough an optimizer, but that is the case with everything. Mysteries essentially stand in-between spells and invocations in their practice, and the system tends to be viewed as weak. Vestiges and soulmelds offer mainly passive boosts to a character, whilst martial maneuvers from Tome of Battle are seen to be the way melee characters should have been all along.

[Sereg]

I...I don't know if this is balanced, but it's...it's beautiful!

[NecroticPunch]

Actually, as soon as this qualifies for Mystic Theurge, wouldn't it be leveling up twice on every level up? Since it's both arcane and divine... you might want to put something in place to stop that.

[Morph Bark]

I...I don't know if this is balanced, but it's...it's beautiful!

Thank you!

Actually, as soon as this qualifies for Mystic Theurge, wouldn't it be leveling up twice on every level up? Since it's both arcane and divine... you might want to put something in place to stop that.

It wouldn't, I would say, as it doesn't truly count as either arcane or divine. And even if you did count it as both, I would say that while you do gain more ability slots, you can only use them for arcane or divine spells, so in the end you would only be nerfing yourself.

[Tinydwarfman]

What's that? No real casting? Wonderful! It couldn't be more balanced!

[Morph Bark]

What's that? No real casting? Wonderful! It couldn't be more balanced!

Y'know, I'm not sure whether to take this sarcastically, or as a compliment.

[Kurtmuran]

i love it i hope its ok if i can use it in my dungeon for one npc i was bulid like this

[Morph Bark]

i love it i hope its ok if i can use it in my dungeon for one npc i was bulid like this

Sure, go ahead! That's what it's for anyway.

I still would like to hear thoughts on the balance aspect of this though. I don't suppose there are any homebrewers on these forums familiar with all the used magic systems of 3.5?

[hamishspence]

In one of the novels I read, the main character was "The Samildanach- Master Of Every Art"

This seems more like "the student of every art"- but I like it.

[Ilmryn]

I like the idea of a character that can do all kinds of magic.

This class would probably work great for a "master of all magic"-type npc for an adventure im thinking of. However, I would need to know how an epic progression for this would work...

[lord pringle]

If you're playing in the lands of un-life don't read this spoiler.

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can I use this for a bad guy in my game?

[Morph Bark]

In one of the novels I read, the main character was "The Samildanach- Master Of Every Art"

This seems more like "the student of every art"- but I like it.

At first I considered giving it level 8 vestiges at level 20 and not making the spells/powers/mysteries/maneuvers go at half-rate but full-rate (so up to level 9 at level 17), but that seemed too strong for it. Of course, a DnD version of The Samildanach could simply be an epic dabblemaster.

(On a sidenote, do you recall the title of the novel? I searched for it but only found that Samildanach is Gaelic that means "Master of all arts and trades". Fitting though. Perhaps a PrC for this that is like the Sublime Chord is to the Bard could be called that.)

I like the idea of a character that can do all kinds of magic.

This class would probably work great for a "master of all magic"-type npc for an adventure im thinking of. However, I would need to know how an epic progression for this would work...

I could figure something out for that. Maybe work in some feats too.

If you're playing in the lands of un-life don't read this spoiler.

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can I use this for a bad guy in my game?

If you're playing in the lands of un-life don't read this spoiler.

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Of course. I'd be pleased to see how it works out!

[DragoonWraith]

DABBLEMASTER

“When it comes down to it, I just want to be free. Free to do everything, to learn everything. And maybe, just maybe, others can be free with me.”

“Why focus on one area of study, when you can master a little bit of all?”

The name strikes me as a bit silly, but then that makes sense given the roots as a commoner girl, heh.

When a young commoner girl steps into the big city, she might oft see great wonders of architecture, crowds of busy people and amazing magical feats of power. Anything she might see might attract her and inspire her to become of such capabilities that she can do such things as well. In other scenarios, she might have been attracted to less openly-practiced forms of magic due to her curiosity or simply unwillingness to comply with the norms of society. At any rate, there are many ways to venture into the world of magical powers, but the dabblemaster is the one that picks up the pieces of each and every study and advances them to their peaks. While their study is far from narrow, they never become truly capable with any of their studies, only getting tiny bits of each advanced to the levels of a real master. Any who learn of a dabblemaster’s abilities often frown upon them or call them worthless dabblers (which they ultimately derived their name from), mumbling in annoyance at how they could have gotten so far with so many different things at once; others might even try to prosecute them for insulting the workings of magic itself, or their god, or the power of nature, or the souls that power their abilities. As such, many dabblemasters tend to hide what they truly are, often staying out in the country in small communities they devote themselves to, or wandering around and about in an attempt to flee prosecution while still sticking to their guns.

Honestly, I find the concept of dabblers being persecuted a bit ridiculous. A bit of head shaking, comments on wasted potential, I could see. Persecution though?

Abilities: Constitution is important for a dabblemaster due to their low amount of hit points and they need it to shape enough soulmelds. Charisma is important because their spells, powers, mysteries, invocations, infusions, binding and their auras depend on it. Intelligence is important so they get more skill points, and for those who want to power their truenaming. Strength is important for those dabblemasters who wish to focus on martial ability and the use of maneuvers.

Ultimately, that's kind of MAD. You can specialize, but that defeats the purpose of the class. Then again, it's not so bad; everyone likes Constitution and Intelligence is used for everyone's skillpoints. I'm thinking this is fine.

Role: A dabblemaster can do a variety of things, so her role can vary widely depending on her choice of abilities. In a party she will likely seem a bit underwhelming to others due to being so spread out in abilities and not being very strong in other areas, making her mainly a back-up caster.

If that's the case, that's a problem. I mean, the point of this is to be spread out and yet still effective; if you're not, then there's not really any point, is there?

Alignment: Dabblemasters don’t really fixate on a single alignment, though many still incorporate views imposed on them in childhood merged with the strange mixture of views the variety of magic they wield brings with it. They often are at least partly neutral, though those who settle down in small communities are the more lawful ones, while the wanderers are the more chaotic ones.

See, Chaos would seem appropriate for a class that refuses to stick with any one study. They're like anti-wizards.

Races: Humans, changelings and gnomes are the most likely ones to be interested in becoming a dabblemaster due to the variety the class offers, but social stigma may prevent some of them from trying; truthfully though, these three races are amongst the ones that may sometimes be the least bothered by social stigma overall, and only need an interest in all things magical to be willing to enter, though they may not realize the consequences of doing so until later.

Again, seriously, social stigma just strikes me as ridiculous.

Religion: Dabblemasters are often shunned by clerical groups and in extreme cases might not even be allowed in temples if it is known what they are and what they do. Dabblemasters don’t really revere one god above another and run the gamut of religious views, if they have any.

Still think this is a bit silly.

Other Classes: Arcane casters will likely be annoyed at your changing powers, which includes the power of arcane magic, but yet they will be curious and wonder how you pull it off; manifesters and artificers will likely offer a similar reaction. Divine casters will deem you an affront to their god and their principles and think you possess no soul as you deal with binding spirits beyond the time and space of the planes to your soul. Incarnum-users loathe you not because of how simple you make incarnum look, but because they think you offer up not only your own soul but those of others of past and future to alien spirits. Binders however, treat you with respect like you are one of their own, though they shake their heads because you still cling to the magic practices of those who condemn you and them. Warriors will frown upon you as you only rarely venture into melee, when you have picked the right options for it. Skillful rogues and their kin grin smugly as you won’t ever be as good as them, yet curse with grudging respect for being able to become better through your own various kinds of magic.

Yeah... some of this works, but I dunno. Why so much hate?

Hit Die: d4

OK.

Starting Gold: 5d4x10

No idea if that's a large or small amount; hardly important, anyway.

Class Skills: The dabblemasters's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are: All of them. The dabblemaster does not relinquish anything in terms of magic and skill.

However! Dabblemasters have a special restriction to their use of skills: they may never max out their ranks in any specific skill unless they also have it as a class skill from another class and they may never gain more than one skill rank in any skill upon gaining a level in dabblemaster.

I have to be honest: I detest this idea. I don't think multiclassing works well with this class (as it's effectively a spellcaster with very unique spell slots), and this is a base class, not a prestige class. I think that restriction is really very dumb. The Factotum gets all skills; this class can as well, I think.

If you're really dead set on this (which I think is a poor choice; this is an arbitrary restriction that's only going to frustrate players), just say that they can take ranks in any skill for 1 skill point, but the maximum ranks they can put into a skill is the cross-class maximum, unless it has been a class skill for another class.

Skill Points at First Level: (4+Int bonus)x4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4+Int bonus

Sort of low, all things considered. You don't have the Int-synergy of a Factotum, so I don't think you'll be encroaching on their schtick if this was 6+Int and the skill restriction wasn't there.

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: The dabblemaster is proficient with one melee weapon of her choice and one ranged weapon of her choice. The dabblemaster is proficient with light armour and with light shields.

Uhh... no simple weapons? That seems ridiculous. Plus, really, isn't having proficiency with only two weapons kind of defeating the purpose of dabbling in everything?

Eldritch blast (Sp): At level 1 the dabblemaster gains an ability that is exactly like a warlock’s eldritch blast ability, being a ray attack with a range of 60 feet that 1d6 points of damage and is affected by spell resistance, etc. However, this eldritch blast ability doesn’t gain more damage dice as the dabblemaster gains levels, as normally.

Fair enough.

Fundamental of shadow (Su): At level 1 a dabblemaster must pick a fundamental mystery off the list of available fundamentals: the list of available fundamentals is the same as the shadowcaster’s.

Only one kinda sucks; Shadowcasters get 3. Still, I guess you're getting other stuff.

Meldshaping: While a dabblemaster never gains essentia, nor the ability to bind them to a chakra, she does gain the ability to shape soulmelds. At level 1 she can shape a maximum of 1 soulmeld. This maximum increases as shown on the table, but may never exceed her Constitution modifier. They have access to all soulmelds.

This... is close to pointless unless you start investing a lot of feats into it. It just doesn't really do anything.

Ability slots: Starting at level 2, you gain a number of ability slots as shown on the (spoilered) table below. Each of these slots has a level and can be filled with a variety of things. A slot can be filled with:

• Any arcane spell of equal level, which can be cast once per day.
• Any divine spell of equal level, which can be cast once per day.
• Any psionic power of equal level, plus you are granted ((2xpower level)-1) power points to use to manifest the power or any other psionic powers you fill other slots with (or to augment them, which you can only do if you have filled more than one slot with a psionic power).
• Any martial maneuver of equal level, which can be initiated once per encounter. You must spend a full-round action doing nothing to recover a maneuver. You also gain a stance of the same discipline, which must be of a lower level than the maneuver you choose. You must fulfill the number of prerequisites the maneuver and stance require, but the maneuver may be used to fulfill the prerequisites for the stance you choose.
• Any draconic aura or a marshal’s major aura. This can only be done to a slot of level 2 or higher and the aura grants a bonus of half the level of the slot used for it.
• Any mystery of equal level. If you pick a 2nd-, 3rd- or 5th-level mystery, you must also have filled other slots with the previous mysteries in the same path. Once you get access to 4th-level mysteries, any 1st- to 3rd-level mysteries you pick are useable twice per day and count as spell-like abilities.

A higher-level slot can be filled with a lower-level spell/power/maneuver/mystery, but this provides no actual change to it. Once you gain an ability slot, you must choose something to fill it, after which it cannot be changed. A slot can also be filled with a level 0 spell, which becomes useable three times per day per level of the ability slot used (3/day for a level 1 slot, 15/day for a level 5 slot).

"Ability" in D&D means Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, and Cha. The name here is confusing and misleading; you should choose another. "Feature Slots" perhaps. I don't know. The path restriction on Mysteries and the prerequisite restriction on Maneuvers is not really a great idea, IMO. That just doesn't really work for this class; they should be able to pick and choose what they're using.

Spoiler

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{table=head]Level|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th
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2nd|2|-|-|-|-
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4th|4|-|-|-|-
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10th|5|4|1|-|-
11th|5|4|2|-|-
12th|5|4|3|-|-
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14th|5|4|4|1|-
15th|5|4|4|2|-
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18th|5|4|4|4|1
19th|5|4|4|4|2
20th|5|4|4|4|3 [/table]

Only going up to 5th level seems kind of low. Bard goes up to 6th, Artificer goes up to 6th, plus it works a lot better with Mysteries to go up to 6th. The only class that goes to 5th is the Duskblade, but they're a free Gish with decent class features, and a solid chassis. This class has neither. The Bard's spell progression just seems appropriate here.

Invocations: At level 2 the dabblemaster gets access to a least invocation. This may be any invocation as long as it is a least invocation. At level 8 she gains another invocation, this time a lesser invocation. At level 14 she gains a greater invocation and at level 20 she gains a dark invocation. These invocations function in the same manner as they do for dragonfire adepts and warlocks.

4 Invocations? Well, I suppose that makes sense, considering that DfA's only get 8. Useful, but not amazing.

Word of warcrafting I: At level 3 the dabblemaster gains access to something that could be seen as a second pool of ability slots, except this one is different and far smaller, focusing on powers simulating those of the artificer and the truenamer. At level 3 they gain access to either a 1st-level infusion or a 1st-level utterance from the Lexicon of the Evolving Mind. An infusion can be used once per day, while an utterance can be used at will as per the normal rules for Truenaming.

Well, the obvious is that Utterances are awful, so no one will ever choose those. Plus you can't swap around skillpoints like you can features, so you'd have to invest in Truespeak, which would just be a really dumb thing to do. My main question, though, is why these aren't just included in the normal feature slots? What's special about them? They aren't more powerful nor do they seem like they deserve it. This strikes me as weird.

Eldritch reinforcement: At level 4 the dabblemaster becomes able to collect the raw magical strength from the depths of her shattering soul and call them to the surface, melding with her body. Once per day she can activate this ability as a free action (but only during her turn) and gain a +2 bonus to her Constitution and increase her eldritch blast damage by 1d6 for an amount of turns equal to 1 + her (newly improved) Constitution modifier. At level 7 and every three levels thereafter she gains another daily use of this ability. A dabblemaster may activate as many daily uses of this ability at once and they stack with one another. After activating this ability a dabblemaster must wait until its effects have subsided again before she can use it again.

So it's... spell rage? Really, you just don't get great damage from this, and the Con bonus is eh, OK. It's pretty minor.

Soul binding (Su): At level 5 a dabblemaster can bind a vestige, just like a binder can. However, while she learns to bind more powerful vestiges as shown on the table, she doesn’t learn how to bind and cope with several vestiges at once, or to enhance the power of a vestige further, or even to suppress the signs of the vestige. Due to this and the fact that binders themselves too are often prosecuted by churches, dabblemasters refrain from being out in the open much.

Enhance the power of a Vestige further? What does that mean? Also, what's your effective Binder level for the sake of the level of Vestige and Vestige-granted abilities? I assume it's class level, but you should say so.


Conclusion
I'm not sure. I think the feature slot progression could be improved, I think the way the class skills work is really just dumb, and I think Words of Warcrafting is out of place; those could easily be rolled into the feature slot thing.

That said, I like the feature slots. That's an interesting idea. Kudos on that.

[hamishspence]

(On a sidenote, do you recall the title of the novel? I searched for it but only found that Samildanach is Gaelic that means "Master of all arts and trades". Fitting though. Perhaps a PrC for this that is like the Sublime Chord is to the Bard could be called that.)

it was Bridget Wood's The Sorceress- though I've seen the name in other fiction.

David Gemmell's Knights of Dark Renown has a man called Samildanach as the heroic leader of an order of knights, who rode through a portal to another world to fight evil prior to the start of the book. And, like the word suggests, is exceptionally good at a wide range of things.

He does reappear later in the novel. Precisely how and in what character role- well, I don't want to spoil it .

[TheLonelyScribe]

Oh! Just an idea I had on weapon proficiencies, how about they don't gain proficiency in anything, but non-proficiency penalties are lessened? That seems to fit the flavor pretty well. Just thought might be a little better than only two weapons, really.

Great class, by the way, exactly the kind of thing I like, original solutions to interesting problems with a dash of creative flavor on the side.

[Starbuck_II]

This is interesting.
Kinda of like a base class Mystic Theurge (except you choose which you are doing double in).

[Morph Bark]

The name strikes me as a bit silly, but then that makes sense given the roots as a commoner girl, heh.

Kind of the intention, yes.

Honestly, I find the concept of dabblers being persecuted a bit ridiculous. A bit of head shaking, comments on wasted potential, I could see. Persecution though?

Persecution I mainly factored in since it's heavily done with Binders. I suppose it makes less sense for this class since they don't gain vestiges until level 5 though. I admit on half-assing some of the fluff and I changed the crunch around until the last moment before posting while keeping the fluff the same. Vestiges were gained at level 1 when I started this, but later moved it since that seemed more fitting and balanced as well.

Ultimately, that's kind of MAD. You can specialize, but that defeats the purpose of the class. Then again, it's not so bad; everyone likes Constitution and Intelligence is used for everyone's skillpoints. I'm thinking this is fine.

MAD seemed better than SAD to me. I'm thinking perhaps I should make the Ability stuff Int-based though.

If that's the case, that's a problem. I mean, the point of this is to be spread out and yet still effective; if you're not, then there's not really any point, is there?

Eh, I suppose you're right. I had my head to much focused on keeping this as a relatively low-power class compared to most. As if it were a high-tier NPC class, sort-of. That was my original view at least.

See, Chaos would seem appropriate for a class that refuses to stick with any one study. They're like anti-wizards.

Again, seriously, social stigma just strikes me as ridiculous.

Still think this is a bit silly.

I'll change that when I get to it. Not all temples and clergy should do this, but some might, but I guess that they might do the same with members of other classes, like city temples not wanting barbarians around or such.

I have to be honest: I detest this idea. I don't think multiclassing works well with this class (as it's effectively a spellcaster with very unique spell slots), and this is a base class, not a prestige class. I think that restriction is really very dumb. The Factotum gets all skills; this class can as well, I think.

If you're really dead set on this (which I think is a poor choice; this is an arbitrary restriction that's only going to frustrate players), just say that they can take ranks in any skill for 1 skill point, but the maximum ranks they can put into a skill is the cross-class maximum, unless it has been a class skill for another class.

I only included that because I feared the class would be intruding too much on the Factotum's ground as the Jack-Of-All-Trades class and then getting some more than the Factotum is getting. I don't intend to make any other classes obsolete, but I guess it is better to just remove that part. Your idea is interesting, but it would just make things a bit strange and a hassle. I didn't do better though.

Sort of low, all things considered. You don't have the Int-synergy of a Factotum, so I don't think you'll be encroaching on their schtick if this was 6+Int and the skill restriction wasn't there.

I suppose, but I'll keep it at 4 for now at least, especially if I change the Cha-dependency to Int.

Uhh... no simple weapons? That seems ridiculous. Plus, really, isn't having proficiency with only two weapons kind of defeating the purpose of dabbling in everything?

I considered it making "all simple weapons and one melee martial/exotic and one ranged martial/exotic" (or just martial) or just all simple weapons, but that's when I was still viewing the class as more of an upgraded, magic-dabbling commoner. I'll change that to "all simple".

Only one kinda sucks; Shadowcasters get 3. Still, I guess you're getting other stuff.

Yep, that's the idea. No getting close to what the original users of these things had.

This... is close to pointless unless you start investing a lot of feats into it. It just doesn't really do anything.

Mainly minor boosts to various things, I suppose, since you don't get essentia and can't bind them to chakras. I'm keeping it this way unless the class needs a boost. Then perhaps I might give them essentia equal to half their level or something like that.

"Ability" in D&D means Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, and Cha. The name here is confusing and misleading; you should choose another. "Feature Slots" perhaps. I don't know. The path restriction on Mysteries and the prerequisite restriction on Maneuvers is not really a great idea, IMO. That just doesn't really work for this class; they should be able to pick and choose what they're using.

Feature Slots sounds good! Was waiting for a suggestion, heh. Yeah, I was thinking of class abilities rather than ability scores when making that, but Feature Slots is definitely better, thanks.

The mysteries don't have the "need 2 of previous level" limitation at least, like the Shadowcaster, and I suppose I could remove the path restriction too, though that seemed like the whole point of the mysteries when I looked over them. Still, nothing big. The maneuvers are different though. Are you sure it would be fine with them not needing to stick to prerequisites for the maneuvers they wish to learn?

Only going up to 5th level seems kind of low. Bard goes up to 6th, Artificer goes up to 6th, plus it works a lot better with Mysteries to go up to 6th. The only class that goes to 5th is the Duskblade, but they're a free Gish with decent class features, and a solid chassis. This class has neither. The Bard's spell progression just seems appropriate here.

I was trying to figure out the best way to go about that. 9th level was obviously too high. Going at 3/4s would go up to 8th, which is still too much. At 1/2 progression of casters/initiators it goes up to 5th. It made sense at the time is all I can say.

Well, the obvious is that Utterances are awful, so no one will ever choose those. Plus you can't swap around skillpoints like you can features, so you'd have to invest in Truespeak, which would just be a really dumb thing to do. My main question, though, is why these aren't just included in the normal feature slots? What's special about them? They aren't more powerful nor do they seem like they deserve it. This strikes me as weird.

As they are, Utterances are awful, but I wholeheartedly support the homebrew fixes I have seen around these boards. I didn't include them in the feature slots since they have a different progression (level 1-6 rather than 1-9) in their system, but if I change the Feature Slots to go from level 1-6, this could be included in there.

So it's... spell rage? Really, you just don't get great damage from this, and the Con bonus is eh, OK. It's pretty minor.

Prettymuch. I'm thinking I could add some other things in there like getting BAB equal to HD and martial weapon proficiency to momentarily make them a sort-of quick melee-er. Then they would be better able to use their maneuvers as well.

Enhance the power of a Vestige further? What does that mean? Also, what's your effective Binder level for the sake of the level of Vestige and Vestige-granted abilities? I assume it's class level, but you should say so.

Er, I meant by that as in the Pact Augmentation the Binder gets, as well as other things. Sorry for being vague there. I forgot to check over the Vestiges for Binder level dependant things too... but since they start getting the soulbinding at level 5, I would think their effective Binder level is Dabblemaster level -4.

Conclusion
I'm not sure. I think the feature slot progression could be improved, I think the way the class skills work is really just dumb, and I think Words of Warcrafting is out of place; those could easily be rolled into the feature slot thing.

That said, I like the feature slots. That's an interesting idea. Kudos on that.

Yeah, I'm removing the skill restrictions and will look at a way to make Word of Warcrafting merge with the Feature Slots, which will progress from level 1-6 instead.

Thanks for looking it over, DragoonWraith. Appreciate the kudos.

it was Bridget Wood's The Sorceress- though I've seen the name in other fiction.

David Gemmell's Knights of Dark Renown has a man called Samildanach as the heroic leader of an order of knights, who rode through a portal to another world to fight evil prior to the start of the book.

I see... thanks, perhaps I should look into those and read either sometime if I am able to.

Oh! Just an idea I had on weapon proficiencies, how about they don't gain proficiency in anything, but non-proficiency penalties are lessened? That seems to fit the flavor pretty well. Just thought might be a little better than only two weapons, really.

Great class, by the way, exactly the kind of thing I like, original solutions to interesting problems with a dash of creative flavor on the side.

Ha! That could always be another idea. Perhaps the penalty-lessening could work for improvised weapons as well in that case. If others support this idea, I could pitch it in there.

M'glad you like the originality, though I view it as only slightly original.

This is interesting.
Kinda of like a base class Mystic Theurge (except you choose which you are doing double in).

Prettymuch, yeah. It's an all-theurge right from the start, you could say.

[DragoonWraith]

I only included that because I feared the class would be intruding too much on the Factotum's ground as the Jack-Of-All-Trades class and then getting some more than the Factotum is getting. I don't intend to make any other classes obsolete, but I guess it is better to just remove that part. Your idea is interesting, but it would just make things a bit strange and a hassle. I didn't do better though.

I didn't really like my suggestion; I thought it was a pretty dumb thing for a base class. A prestige class could probably do something like that if it wanted *shrug*. Anyway, as for obsolescing the Factotum... I'm tempted to think that the Factotum obsolesces this, rather than the other way around. The flavor is extremely similar, but the Factotum gets unique features instead of just having a lower but extremely versatile progression. It seems better executed, I think.

On the other hand, I really do like the Feature Slots. Those are interesting, unique, and could be a lot of fun. From a design perspective, the Factotum seems better, but a player... I can definitely see the appeal here. This is definitely an interesting class.

[Morph Bark]

I didn't really like my suggestion; I thought it was a pretty dumb thing for a base class. A prestige class could probably do something like that if it wanted *shrug*.

Yeah, and whilst I might want to create a small PrC or two for this, I agree it doesn't befit a base class.

Anyway, as for obsolescing the Factotum... I'm tempted to think that the Factotum obsolesces this, rather than the other way around. The flavor is extremely similar, but the Factotum gets unique features instead of just having a lower but extremely versatile progression. It seems better executed, I think.

Heh, well it would always be hard to beat one of the best-designed base classes in 3.5, of course.

On the other hand, I really do like the Feature Slots. Those are interesting, unique, and could be a lot of fun. From a design perspective, the Factotum seems better, but a player... I can definitely see the appeal here. This is definitely an interesting class.

Thanks. I'm going to try to figure out a new progression for them and merge Word of Warcrafting with it. I'll try see what other small changes I might make as well.

[Morph Bark]

Okay, so, updates made today:

• Changed Ability slots going from 1-5 to Feature slots going from 1-6 in levels;
• Got rid of Word of Warcrafting I-IV, added their contents to Feature slots;
• Got rid of the limited skill clause;
• Added stuff to Eldritch Reinforcement to make it better and give the dabblemaster some instant melee Fighter capabilities.
• EDIT: also changed the fluff a bit in places.

I am going to change the Binding and Meldshaping progressions tomorrow due to these implemented changes and clarify a small few things.

[Morph Bark]

I still feel as if I am not entirely finished with this. I am especially bothered by the dead levels, because I just really want those gone, but without botching up other progressions since now they are all done so nicely. I thought of adding a changeable Bonus Feat at level 12 á la Chameleon, but it must be a Meta-something feat or a Reserve/Psionic/Incarnum feat, but that just takes care of one.

I'm also going to look into making a PrC for this that would be to this class as the Sublime Chord is to the Bard. And perhaps a non-magical variant of this class, using Barbarian, Ranger, Paladin, Rogue, Bard, Monk, Fighter, Knight, Samurai, Swashbuckler, Ninja and Scout.

I thought of making feats for this, but I'm stumped on that, so perhaps I should just let that go.

[TheLonelyScribe]

Whatever you choose to do, I would like to tell you that you made a really cool class! Congrats!

[Markus Darkmind]

Wonderful concept, good class as for now. I was wondering tough: you said you designed it as a NCP class, seeing as it probably is on the underpowered side for PC use. Given that, how do you think a PC version should be modified?
Also, from what I understood, the slots table refers to the character's spells/powers etc. per day. What about spells and powers known? I must have missed it...

[enigmatime]

This is a very interesting class. I like it mostly because of the versatility of it. Also, it is a class that could cause a character to become a Chronomancer by stumbling upon some Chronomancy spell. Overall, good class.

[Morph Bark]

Whatever you choose to do, I would like to tell you that you made a really cool class! Congrats!

Thanks!

Wonderful concept, good class as for now. I was wondering tough: you said you designed it as a NCP class, seeing as it probably is on the underpowered side for PC use. Given that, how do you think a PC version should be modified?
Also, from what I understood, the slots table refers to the character's spells/powers etc. per day. What about spells and powers known? I must have missed it...

It's actually all known. You can fill a feature slot with the various things listed, and a spell will be useable 1/day, while a maneuver will be useable 1/encounter and auras can be turned on 24/7 prettymuch (unless you have more than one).

Furthermore, while it started out as being meant to be NPC-level, I think it has gotten to the point that it is on-par with PC classes, though perhaps it will be moreso used for NPCs by DMs.

This is a very interesting class. I like it mostly because of the versatility of it. Also, it is a class that could cause a character to become a Chronomancer by stumbling upon some Chronomancy spell. Overall, good class.

Thanks!

I didn't know there was Chronomancy though... is that something homebrew too?


Today I considered if I should find a way to combine vestiges, soulmelds and invocations into the feature slots as well... but decided against that since that is far harder to balance together and a level 1 vestige isn't on-par with a level 1 or level 2 spell or such, it's just too different. Invocations could be put in, but as is they get so few of them it matters little I think. I could put Least Invocations in level 1+ slots, Lesser into level 3+ and Greater into level 5+ though... getting rid of Dark altogether other than for the PrC. Soulmelds are even tricker than vestiges, so better not.

I had some thoughts for other abilities, but those have nothing to do with magic, so I'm guessing I should just save up on those and create a non-magical counterpart to this using stuff like rage, favoured enemies, skirmish, sneak attack, etc.

So I guess if noone else has an idea, for now I am done with this base class, and just have to move on to the PrC.