Thanatos said:
Very cool. I've had powerful NPC's travel along with or just direct the PC's to provide some guidance and direction and occasionally help. I never let them become a crutch though...but I had some good players so it wasn't really an issue.
Yeah, the player that is doing the giant is pretty darn good as a player or as a DM, so its not an issue. Should be quite interesting next session when the giant gets introduced.
I've done something similiar to this. I allow the trading of class features for other things in order to help cut down on multi-classing.
Actually I do this quite a bit too.. but its usually just a trade of a class ability for a feat of some sort.
Essentially, what we are talking about here is a hedge-wizard. To make it a bit more even and playable, you'd need to get rid of both Rage and DR. RP wise, that makes sense...without that burning rage inside of him, he wouldn't really have the ability to shrug off damage as well as a barbarian with that burning rage.
Yeah, to some degree thats what I was thinking. Except its not really a "wizard" or "sorcerer"... more along the lines of "innate ability" but not quite at that level.
Also remember, keep his caster level equal to only the levels he gains spell levels on, so if he gains spells levels on 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 that makes him a 5th level caster.
Yup, most definetly! Just like a prestige class.
Once the game gets up into higher levels, he will have issues using offensive spells to overcome SR. That is fair though, since he can melee and gets fantastic hit points.
Yes, this is true. However, the stated goal for the character was along the lines of "innate abilities that allow him to boost himself or expand his abilities". In some ways, you could almost say, a poor fantasy man's version of a, eeeerg, jedi. So offensive spells would be very limited if none that are known.
A last note would be, definitely make his spell list more limited and more customized along the premise of what the bloodline will be.
Yeah, although probably easiest to do it by making certain schools of magic offlimits than creating all new spell lists.
Your second suggestion works well also. Limit the list, drop familiar, scrolls, wands and counter spelling while upping HD and BAB is a fair trade in my mind. I think I see where you are going with this one also and I'd make sure the character also got light armor (if he doesn't already, I am at work with no books). If the character wants to get to medium armor, make him buy the feat or multiclass, but offer feats to reduce the casting penalty, perhaps 10% or 15% so he has to weigh his decision carefully.
There is an ok feat in I believe the netbook of feats called Armored Casting that I think gives you a -10% adjustment to the casting penalty.
All in all, good alternatives to just playing a standardly-written class. I like the little changes like that myself.
I am in full agreement, although I don't really think Monte did enough with his alternate sorcerer, but we've come up with one for our group... hasn't done any real unbalancing; but we have a single-class sorcerer coming onboard soon so that'll be the real test... as counterpoint, here it is:
Game Rule Information
Sorcerers have the following game statistics.
Abilities: See page 50 of the Player's Handbook.
Alignment: Any.
Hit Die: d6.
Class Skills
The sorcerer's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int, exclusive skill), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Intuit Direction (Wis), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Listen (Wis), Perform (Cha), Pick Pocket (Dex), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Use Rope (Dex). See Chapter 4: Skills for skill descriptions.
Skill Points at 1st level: (4 + Int modifier) x 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All the following are class features of the sorcerer.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Sorcerers are proficient with club, dagger (any type), dart, crossbow (light), halfspear, quarterstaff, shortspear and unarmed.
Spells: Refer to page 50 of the Player's Handbook. Sorcerers get bonus spells known based on their Intelligence ability. When a sorcerer gains a level, he may elect to replace spells he knows currently with new spells that he attempts to learn from scrolls, or other means. Any number of currently known spells may be replaced but once replaced, the sorcerer must relearn the spell if he wishes to have it as a known spell again.
Bonus Feat: A sorcerer can choose a bonus General feat pertaining to arcane magic, i.e. Combat Casting, Improved Counterspell, Improved Familiar, Greater Spell Penetration, Spell Focus, or Spell Penetration are good examples. They may choose to take the Summon Familiar ability.
Eschew Material Components: Since sorcerers are innate, inborn users of the Weave, they do need to utilize the same material components and focuses as wizards. For all intent and purpose, the sorcerer becomes the one and only material component of his spells. However, spells that have a costly material component or focus [i.e. over 1gp in value] require something extra of the sorcerer. A price of 1/25th of the gold piece value of the component and/or focus must be paid with XP, a minimum of 1 XP loss. This is in addition to any spells that also require an expenditure of experience points. It is suggested that if this feature is used, that Bonus Feats not be granted to the character. Additionally, this feature may only be used if the DM requires material components in his campaign.
Summon Familiar: Refer to the Summon Familiar ability on page 50 of the Player's Handbook, page 9 of Tome and Blood and page 57 of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. However, a sorcerer's familiar does not increase its special abilities as rapidly as a wizard's familiar; consult Table 3-19a in this document instead of 3-19 in the Player's Handbook.
Scrying: Sorcerers, like other spellusers, can scry on persons through magical means. As such, sorcerers get access to the Scry skill as an exclusive skill, but it is not a class skill.
Table 3-16a: Alt.Sorcerer
Level Base
Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Special Spells Per Day
1st +0 +0 +0 +2 Eschew Material Components, Bonus Feat
2nd +1 +0 +0 +3
3rd +1 +1 +1 +3
4th +2 +1 +1 +4
5th +2 +1 +1 +4
6th +3 +2 +2 +5 Bonus Feat
7th +3 +2 +2 +5
8th +4 +2 +2 +6
9th +4 +2 +2 +6
10th +5 +3 +3 +7 See Table 3-16 on page 49 of the Player's Handbook
11th +5 +3 +3 +7
12th +6/+1 +4 +4 +8
13th +6/+1 +4 +4 +8 Bonus Feat
14th +7/+2 +4 +4 +9
15th +7/+2 +5 +5 +9
16th +8/+3 +5 +5 +10
17th +8/+3 +5 +5 +10
18th +9/+4 +6 +6 +11
19th +9/+4 +6 +6 +11
20th +10/+5 +6 +6 +12 Bonus Feat
Table 3-17a: Spells Known
Spells Known
Level 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1 5 2 - - - - - - -
2 5 3 - - - - - - - -
3 6 3 - - - - - - - -
4 6 4 2 - - - - - - -
5 7 4 2 - - - - - - -
6 7 4 3 2 - - - - - -
7 8 5 3 2 - - - - - -
8 8 5 4 3 2 - - - - -
9 9 5 4 3 2 - - - - -
10 9 5 4 4 3 2 - - - -
11 9 5 5 4 3 2 - - - -
12 9 5 5 4 4 3 2 - - -
13 9 5 5 5 4 3 2 - - -
14 9 5 5 5 4 4 3 2 - -
15 9 5 5 5 5 4 3 2 - -
16 9 5 5 5 5 4 4 3 2 -
17 9 5 5 5 5 5 4 3 2 -
18 9 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 3 2
19 9 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 3 3
20 9 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 3
Table 3-19a: Familiar Special Abilities
Master
Class Level Natural
Armor Int Special
1-2 +1 6 Alertness, improved evasion, share spells, empathic link
3-4 +2 7
5-6 +3 8 Touch
7-8 +4 9 Speak with master
9-10 +5 10 Speak with animals of its type
11-12 +6 11
13-14 +7 12 Spell Resistance
15-16 +8 13
17-18 +9 14 Scry on familiar
19-20 +10 15
Errata
Amended Spell Trigger: Spell trigger activation is similar to spell completion, but it's even simpler. No gestures or spell finishing is needed, just a special knowledge of spellcasting that an appropriate character would know and a single word that must be spoken. This means that if a wizard picks up a spell trigger activation item (such as a wand or staff) and that item stores a wizard spell, she knows how to use it. Specifically, anyone with a spell on his or her spell list knows how to use a spell trigger item that stores that spell. (This is the case even for a character who can't actually cast spells, such as a 3rd-level paladin). In the instance of bards and sorcerers, only their Spells Known count towards a list of trigger items they can use. These two classes essentially create their own spell lists. The user must still determine what spell is stored in the item before she can activate it. Activating a spell trigger item is a standard action and does not provoke attacks of opportunity. Reference, Dungeon Master's Guide, page 175, paragraph 5.
Identify Spell: If a sorcerer has the Identify in his personal spell list, the sorcerer is not able to cast the eight hour version of the spell.
