Adept base class

[Chronologist]

Just an idea I thought up a while ago, finally put on paper this week. Sorry about the formatting. The class's focus is on balancing combat and spellcasting while focusing on a singe school of arcane magic.

Comments, additions, any are welcome. I know I'm missing a few

Adept

“Casting that spell was the last mistake you’ll ever make”.
--Genevieve Straad, evoker adept

It is said that some men are born great, others achieve greatness, but some have greatness thrust upon them. Sorcerers are born magical, Wizards achieve magical ability, but Adepts have magic thrust upon them. Adepts are people who have grown up or lived in areas of high magical saturation; magic has literally bled into their bodies, infusing them with arcane power. Adepts vary in cause and attributes, as much as the type of magic that is part of their bodies.

MAKING AN ADEPT
Adepts are less focused than either sorcerers or wizards, using their wide range of abilities to assist them in combat. Their role in a group varies, though most tend to assume leadership roles. Adepts usually fight along the front lines with the cleric, using their magic to turn the tide of battle.
Abilities: The most important characteristic for an adept is a high Charisma. This force of personality should be supported by a hardy Constitution in order to resist the arcane force coursing through them. Beyond that most Adepts focus their bodies to survive the horrors of the world around them.
Races: As highly magical races, Elves, Half-Elves and Humans are most prone to becoming Adepts. Since areas of magical saturation are usually far from civilization, Half-Orcs and the nomadic Halflings sometimes become Adepts by accident. Gnomes sometimes become illusion-oriented adepts, and Dwarves never become adepts due to their innate magical resistance.
Alignment: Adepts come form all walks of life, so they can be of any alignment. However, the spontaneous nature of their abilities leads them towards chaos.

CLASS FEATURES
The adept’s class features let him access arcane power to improve his combat abilities.
Weapons and Armor Proficiency: Adepts are proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with light and medium armor and shields, but not tower shields.
Channeling: Adepts have a unique method of casting spells. First of all, they select a specific school of arcane magic. They know all sorcerer/wizards spells of that school of any level they can channel. Saving throws are based on the Adept’s Charisma modifier, her ability to force the magic out of her body and control it with her sheer willpower.
At the beginning of each combat encounter, an Adept’s body fills with arcane energy, granting her a number of Focus points equal to half her level, rounded down. This is the maximum focus an Adept can ever have.
Ability to channel spells is equivalent to casting spells for the purpose of prestige classes. Bonuses to caster level increase channeling and focus pool as though the character had gained another level of adept, but no other class features.
For the sake of balance, characters who choose Divination as their school of magic may choose one additional school, and be able to channel and learn one spell per class level of your choice from that school, but you don’t get any other abilities of that school, nor can you take feats as though you could channel spells of that school.


Table 1-1: The Adept Hit Die d8
Class
Level AttackFort Ref Will Special
1 +0 +0 +0 +2 Channel Cantrip (at will), Magic in the Blood Su
2 +1 +0 +0 +3 Channel (1st level),
3 +2 +1 +1 +3 Recover Focus (Move Action)
4 +3 +1 +1 +4 Resist Magic
5 +3 +1 +1 +4 Channel (2nd level)
6 +4 +2 +2 +5 (MitB 2)
7 +5 +2 +2 +5
8 +6 +2 +2 +6 Channel (3rd level)
9 +6 +3 +3 +6 Recover Focus (Swift Action)
10 +7 +3 +3 +7 Absorb Magic
11 +8 +3 +3 +7 Channel (4th level)
12 +9 +4 +4 +8 (MitB 3)
13 +9 +4 +4 +8
14 +10 +4 +4 +9 Channel (5th level)
15 +11 +5 +5 +9
16 +12 +5 +5 +10 Magical Epiphany
17 +12 +5 +5 +10 Channel (6th level)
18 +13 +6 +6 +11
19 +14 +6 +6 +11
20 +15 +6 +6 +12 Channel (7th level)
Class Skills (2+Int modifier per level): Concentration, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Knowledge (Geography), Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (The Planes), Spellcraft, Use Magic Device,

PLAYING AN ADEPT
As an Adept, you seek to master your magical abilities. Oftentimes, new experiences and adventures lead you to learn more about yourself. Your abilities may frighten you, them may amaze you, but they are your first defense and your greatest weapon.

Religion
Few Adepts are openly religious, the ungodly nature of their abilities doesn’t lead towards piety. The most popular deity among religious adepts is Kord, for his inner strength. Others revere Boccob due to his knowledge of all magic, something they strive for.

Other Classes
Adepts tend to fare well with other arcane classes, sorcerers see them as cousins, similar to bards. Wizards, however, see their abilities as a by-product of their own magic, nothing more. Other than that, they enjoy the company of Monks for their self-mastery and see Favored Souls as kindred spirits of a sort. Among melee classes they most match the mentality of fighters.

Combat
Depending on your style, you might be in the back, blasting enemies, behind the scenes causing confusion, or in the front lines defending the party. Enchantment, Abjuration, and Transmutation archivist usually focus on melee combat and stay in the front lines.

Advancement
Adepts are made, it’s not a choice. A character either becomes an adept or he doesn’t. Adepts generally advance through increased understanding of themselves, and due to their unique natures, they seldom find teachers.


Magic in the Blood: Lasts for 1 minute, usable 1/day per point of constitution modifier. The ability improves at 6th and 12th level.
Abjuration: You gain a +2 deflection bonus to AC. This improves to +4 at 6th level and +6 at 12th level.
Conjuration: You can conjure any kind of mundane item to your hands for the duration. At 6th level you can summon 3 ob, and at 12th level you can summon 5 objects.
Divination: You gain a +2 insight bonus to initiative and attack rolls. This improves to +4 at 6th level and +6 at 12th level.
Enchantment: You can increase any combination of your attributes by 4. At 6th level this becomes 8, and at 12th level 12. You can’t put more than half into any one attribute.
Evocation: Your weapons burn/freeze/shock/dissolve/blast when hit, dealing an extra 1d4 damage on a hit. This improves to 2d4 at 6th level and 3d4 at 12th level.
Illusion: You fade partially from sight, gaining a 10% miss chance against enemy attacks. This improves to 30% at 6th level and to 50% at 12th level.
Necromancy: Whenever you hit an opponent with a weapon or spell and deal damage of any kind, you gain 1 hit point. At 6th level this improves to 3, and to 5 at 12th level.
Transmutation: You gain claw(s), can replace weapon attacks, that deal 1d6 damage on a hit. 2d6 damage at 6th level, and 3d6 damage at 12th level.

Recover Focus: At 3rd level an Adept’s body has gotten used to its reserves of Focus being used up. Every combat round when an adept doesn’t channel he can spend a move action to recover 1 point of Focus. At 9th level an Adept can recover 1 Focus by expending a swift action (or two points of focus with a move action and a swift action). An Adept can’t recover Focus over her maximum.

Resist Magic: At 4th level the saturation of an Adept’s body rejects other arcane sources, like two magnets of the same polarization. An adept adds her constitution modifier to saves against spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities. However, she has to resist all forms of arcane magic affecting her, including that of her allies.

Absorb Magic: At 10th level an Adept can bend arcane magic so that it is harmlessly absorbed into her body. Once per day per point of Charisma bonus if an adept makes a save against an arcane spell she can choose to completely negate the spell and gain a number of Focus points equal to the spell level (this can exceed her maximum spell level).

Magical Epiphany: At 16th level, once per day when an Adept absorbs a spell with her Absorb Magic class feature she can choose to cast a spell during the next round, one that can exceed her maximum spell level, as long as she pays the required number of points of Focus. It can be any spell from the category she’s linked to.

 

[milo]

I might have missed something in reading, but I don't see a cost for channeling. My guess is 1 point of focus = 1 spell level, not sure though.
They have max of 10 focus points at 20th level.
Not many spells off of base focus points, but as long as you don't want to do any moving and cast a spell that takes a standard action you can get 2 points back every round. You can also absorb spells cast at you for more focus points that can go above max. That doesn't seem like it is too bad to me as far as power.

Absorb Magic: At 10th level an Adept can bend arcane magic so that it is harmlessly absorbed into her body. Once per day per point of Charisma bonus if an adept makes a save against an arcane spell she can choose to completely negate the spell and gain a number of Focus points equal to the spell level (this can exceed her maximum spell level).

With this ability does it work with ANY spell that you save against or spells with you as a target?

 

[Celebrim]

Wow. A base class submission that is not wildly unbalanced and actually seems broad enough to be a base class. Color me impressed.

There is some definate Mearlsian design going on here; have you read the Iron Hero's rules?

It's a pretty interesting variant spellcaster. It's got the flexibility thing going on that as psion has, but its not outright broken like the psionic classes.

I foresee four problems, two minor, on moderate, and one major.

The first minor problem is the phrase, "At the beginning of a combat encounter..." This is so incredibly vague and does nothing to explain what said character is able to do out of combat. What if combat 'encounters' occur two rounds apart? Do you still get your full recovery? I don't think that is the intention.

The second minor problem is that the Enchanter's blood power gives an unnamed bonus to stats(!!).

The moderate problem is that you aren't thinking about what this character can really do. You think divination is going to be weak? This is a character that can cast divinations essentially at will outside of combat. The real weak choices are probably Illusion and Enchantment, because you'll have the same problem a thief faces against things immune to sneak attack. Evocation is also going to be the weak choice here, because you can never really go nova. If you wanted to 'blow things up good', sorcerer or warlock is better for that. The real strength of this character is going to be in spamming out buffs and doing utility spells over and over and over again. Noone in the party ever need go without a long duration buff again.

The major problem I foresee is the unlimited spell-list. This isn't a problem if you confine yourself to core spells, but as you bring in spells from other products (core and third party) unlimited access to the full spell-list gets to be very problimatic (see cleric). Very quickly you are going to find that with a sufficiently broad spell list, divination is not disadvantaged, and furthermore that the character is going to always have a spell for the occasion regardless of what school of magic they took and regardless of the situation.

 

[Chronologist]

OK, I'll respond to the questions in order.

Milo,
1. The cost for channeling is 1 point of Focus per spell level. Cantrips cost nothing, and can be cast as many times as the Adept wants to.

2. Adepts only recover Focus when they do NOT cast a spell that round, they can't spend actions to recover, then spend a standard action to cast. This means that they have to fight normally for multiple rounds to recover, and each round they do so they're giving up actions.

3. Absorb Magic affects any spell targeting you, but others are still affected. If a wizard Fireballs you and your 2 friends, if you make the save you absorb spell levels as Focus, but your friends are still hit. I designed a feat (min level 12) that negates the spell entirely for all targets if you make the save. And remember, Absorb Magic only works against Arcane Magic, Divine Magic hits Adepts like everyone else.



Celebrim, yeah, I put a lot of thought into this, I didn't just want it to fit one setting or character build, I wanted a truly Base class. My only concern is that is doesn't multiclass too well, but neither do pretty much all the non-Core base classes.

On to your comments,

1. I stated "at the beginning of the combat encounter Focus recovers" mostly for 2nd level characters, so they get 1 spell per fight, instead of one spell per day. After 3rd level they can recover with move actions so they can always fill up before a fight.

2. Enchanter's Blood is an enhancement bonus. Sorry about that, I kind of wrote the abilities quickly. Most of the time went into the Fluff and the Channeling.

3. I can see how Divination would look strong here, but I designed the Adept from a combat perspective. It's always nice to know about your enemies beforehand, but in a serious fight Divination doesn't really do a whole lot IMO. I feel giving divination a few extra spells to choose from rounds it out a little more. Evocation is powerful enough as I see it, they can't go Nova every round, but they can do it a whole lot longer than even a sorcerer.

Now the biggie,
4. I could see that being easily abused, Celebrium. I'd keep it that way for my games, but maybe instead they learn 4 spells per level of the highest they can channel, and they can learn spells they see other spellcasters cast? I'd prefer to keep it open, but limiting the spell list might make combat go faster.

Thanks so much for the feedback, It's much appreciated. I have some questions myself, though. Does the class have a nice ramping of class features? Is anything too strong? Too weak? What would be another class feature or two that would make the class feel more unique, or does it seem original enough already?

Any feedback is welcome

Chronologist