Hiya All,
Its been a little while since I have been here but I was hoping I could get some feedcack from you guys on a PrC I am working on for my Home Brew campaign...
The idea is basically a wizard/sorcerer prestige class that focuses on the use of the staff. As such, it gets some considerable power with the staff but gives up access to higher level spells. As I said, feedback is appreciated. Feel free to rip, tear, and cut this thing to shreds so I can patch what needs patching.
Description:
Staff masters are arcane spell casters who have elected to forgo some of the pinnacle of arcane power in exchange for an intimate mastery of the archetypal mage symbol, the staff. They gain unsurpassed powers when wielding their signature staff. Wizards are most commonly inspired to become staff masters, though sorcerers and occasionally bards make the transition.
This is the basic fluff blurp and could use some ideas...Mostly just holding a place right now.
Requirements:
To qualify to become a staff master, a character must fulfill all the following requirements:
Alignment: Any
Skills: Knowledge (Arcane) 8 ranks, Spellcraft 8 ranks
Feats: Craft Wand, Scribe Scroll
Special: the ability to cast 3rd level arcane spells, successful apprenticeship with a staff master.
The basic idea here is that a character opting into the PrC would be an arcane caster, generally of at least 6th level. Ideally, the caster would be 10th level and then switch into the PrC and progress until he becomes a 20th level character.
BAB
Base Attack Bonus
+0/+1/+1/+2/+2/+3/+3/+4/+4/+5
This is a pretty basic progression, using the wizard BAB progression. The PrC is really not intended as a melee combatant, obviously, though it does have some fall back skill with the staff for use in an emergency.
Saves
Fort Save +0/+0/+1/+1/+2/+2/+3/+3/+4/+4
The Fort save follows the weak progression used by the wizard class.
Ref Save +0/+1/+1/+1/+2/+2/+2/+3/+3/+3
The Reflex save is slightly improved over that of a regular wizard.
Will Save +2/+3/+3/+4/+4/+5/+5/+6/+6/+7
And lastly the Will save follows the good progression used by the wizard.
And, the real meat of the PrC is here,
Class Skills: The staff master’s class skills are Concentration (Con), Craft, Knowledge (all skills taken individually), Profession, Spellcraft
Skill Points At Each Level: 4 + Intelligence Modifier
I could not think of any real good reason to include any other skills. Anyone else have any ideas?
Class Features:
All of the following are class features of the staff master prestige class:
Absorption: Upon reaching 5th level, the staff master gains the ability to use her staff to absorb arcane spells and spell-like effects as per a rod of absorption. However, the staff does not communicate the level of the spell prior to absorbing it. Spells replace one charge per level. If the staff master tries to use the staff to absorb more charges than the reservoir can currently hold, the excess energy is immediately discharged into the staff master causing 1d6 points of damage per charge.
The idea here is to allow higher level staff masters to have an alternate means of restoring their arcane reservoir and also to give them a power to offset their increasing weakness in terms of the power of individual spells cast. By this point, the character lags 3 caster levels behind an equivalent level wizard in terms of the level of spells he can cast. A 15th level wizard can cast cast 8th level spells while the staff master is limited to 6th level at this point.
Craft Staff: At 1st level, a staff master gains the craft staff feat for free and without needing to meet the prerequisites.
He also gains the ability to create a special staff master staff capable of holding the reservoir of energy with which he fuels his spells. Such a staff is the only staff with which a staff master may use his class features. The staff master’s first such staff is created during his apprenticeship under his staff master mentor and its completion marks his entry into the staff master prestige class. The basic staff master staff has a base cost of 15,000gp plus 600 XP. A staff master can create a staff with powers beyond the basic powers of the staff master staff. If he elects to do so, he pays the costs associated with creating such a staff as well as the basic costs of creating a staff master staff. He may then create the arcane reservoir in the staff and use it as his staff master staff.
If a staff master looses his staff or it is destroyed, he must create another staff before he can use most of his class features.
If the staff master already possesses the Craft Staff feat, he does not get a substitute feat.
The Craft Staff feat is essential to the PrC but it normally has a prerequisite of 12th level. This would make the PrC limited to 8 levels at most. Giving the character the feat early does not seem overpowered as the character would have a difficult time creating a staff at that point anyway...
Imbue Staff I: Up reaching 3rd level, a staff master gains the ability to permanently imbue her staff with a single spell of no greater than 3rd level. This spell must be one that the spell master knows and can cast either spontaneously or prepare daily. It must be an arcane spell. Once the spell is imbued in the staff, the staff master can cast the spell 3 times per day with at no cost. It does not cost the staff master to imbue the spell into the staff and such spells do not count against the staff master’s daily allotment of available spells. As the staff master increases in level, she can imbue additional spells into her staff.
Imbue Staff II: As per Imbue Staff I except that the staff master can permanently imbue his staff with a single spell of no greater than 5th level.
Imbue Staff III: As per Imbue Staff I except that the staff master can permanently imbue her staff with a single spell of no greater than 7th level.
These are for flavor and to make the individual staff master a bit more distinct. I toyed with the idea of making the spell level lower but allowing unlimited use, a la the Staff of the Magi.
Power Staff: The staff master can create a reservoir of arcane energy contained within his personal staff. The reservoir contains 20 charges plus five charges per staff master prestige class level. He may use this reservoir of energy to cast spells to which he has access without expending any of his daily allotment of spells. A spell consumes a single charge per spell level.
Such energy cannot be used to cast spells under the effect of a metamagic feat (see the Staff Feats class feature.)
The staff master can recharge this reservoir of energy but doing so takes one hour of uninterrupted concentration and costs 10 XP per charge. Recharging also requires that the staff master be well rested, as required to prepare spells or regain his daily allotment of spells. The staff can also be recharged using the Absorption class ability.
A spell cast using the staff for power still requires the necessary material components and the staff master must pay any XP cost associated with the casting.
Improved Power Staff: Upon reaching 6th level in the staff master class, the staff master can create a greater reservoir of energy inside his staff. It may now store 20 charges plus ten charges per staff master level.
This is the core of the staff master class, the ability to create such a reservoir and use it to power spells. Still, it may be subject to abuse, okay IT IS subject to abuse as at the moment nothing prevents a player from dipping into the PrC for a level or two in order to get access to the reservoir...except maybe the loss of the spell casting level.
Penetration: Upon reaching 8th level, a staff master gains the ability to more easily pierce the SR of her targets when using her staff to power her spells. The targets of such spells have their SR reduced by one per level of the staff master.
This compensates for the loss of access to higher level spells and makes the class a little more tough, as it is designed to be...
Retributive Strike: Upon reaching 10th level, the staff master gains the ability to inflict a retributive strike by deliberately breaking his staff, as per a staff of power or a staff of the magi (see DMG p280). The staff master has a 100% chance of traveling to a random plane upon breaking the staff and does not suffer any damage from the explosion.
Just somehow seemed appropriate that a staff master at the height of his power would have such an ability...
Spells per Day: At every even level a staff master gains additional spells per day as if she had gained a level in her existing arcane spell casting class. If she possessed more than one arcane spell casting class prior to becoming a spell master, she must decide which class she will gain spells in. She does not gain any other abilities associated with an increase in level in the previous class, such as additional metamagic feats or improvements of her familiar.
Here is the hit...The character loses five caster levels for the purposes of determining the available spells. He still has the character levels so his spells are not appreciably weaker, he just loses access to 9th level spells.
Staff Feats: Upon reaching 5th level, the staff master gains the ability to apply metamagic feats to spells powered by his staff. Applying the metamagic feat does not increase the casting time of the spell.
I did not want to allow the metamagic feats too early as a key to balancing those feats is pushing the spell level up. With the arcane reservoir contained in the staff, the staff master could sidestep that balancing feature. By the time he gets access to Staff Feats, he is already high enough level for the problem to have balanced itself some...I think.
Staff Focus: Upon reaching 4th level, the staff master increases the puissant nature of the spells she powers with her staff. The DC to save versus such spells increases by +2. This effect does not stack with the Spell Focus or Improved Spell Focus feats.
Greater Staff Focus: Upon reaching 7th level, the staff master increases the puissant nature of the spells he powers with his staff. The DC to save versus such spells increases by an additional +2 (for a total of +4). This effect does not stack with the Spell Focus or Improved Spell Focus feats.
Again, just something to buff the PrC up a bit and make them a little more prestigious.
Staff Mastery: Upon reaching 2nd level, the staff master learns the hidden secrets of combat with a staff. She can use the staff as a dual weapon as if she possessed the Two-Weapon Fighting feat. (See DMG p160)
Not a huge feature but something to allow a fall back position. besides, it seems that such a class ought to know how to best smack someone with a staff.
And thats about it....I am toying with the idea of adding one more class feature at maybe 4th level, one that allows the PrC to convert charges into damage when using the staff as a melee weapon. Something along the lines of 1d6 points of damage per charge expended with a limit of one charge per staff master level. That would cap it at 10d6. Too powerful?
Anyway, as I said, feedback and criticism...err, constructive criticism...is not only appreciated, its eagerly sought.
Its been a little while since I have been here but I was hoping I could get some feedcack from you guys on a PrC I am working on for my Home Brew campaign...
The idea is basically a wizard/sorcerer prestige class that focuses on the use of the staff. As such, it gets some considerable power with the staff but gives up access to higher level spells. As I said, feedback is appreciated. Feel free to rip, tear, and cut this thing to shreds so I can patch what needs patching.
Description:
Staff masters are arcane spell casters who have elected to forgo some of the pinnacle of arcane power in exchange for an intimate mastery of the archetypal mage symbol, the staff. They gain unsurpassed powers when wielding their signature staff. Wizards are most commonly inspired to become staff masters, though sorcerers and occasionally bards make the transition.
This is the basic fluff blurp and could use some ideas...Mostly just holding a place right now.
Requirements:
To qualify to become a staff master, a character must fulfill all the following requirements:
Alignment: Any
Skills: Knowledge (Arcane) 8 ranks, Spellcraft 8 ranks
Feats: Craft Wand, Scribe Scroll
Special: the ability to cast 3rd level arcane spells, successful apprenticeship with a staff master.
The basic idea here is that a character opting into the PrC would be an arcane caster, generally of at least 6th level. Ideally, the caster would be 10th level and then switch into the PrC and progress until he becomes a 20th level character.
BAB
Base Attack Bonus
+0/+1/+1/+2/+2/+3/+3/+4/+4/+5
This is a pretty basic progression, using the wizard BAB progression. The PrC is really not intended as a melee combatant, obviously, though it does have some fall back skill with the staff for use in an emergency.
Saves
Fort Save +0/+0/+1/+1/+2/+2/+3/+3/+4/+4
The Fort save follows the weak progression used by the wizard class.
Ref Save +0/+1/+1/+1/+2/+2/+2/+3/+3/+3
The Reflex save is slightly improved over that of a regular wizard.
Will Save +2/+3/+3/+4/+4/+5/+5/+6/+6/+7
And lastly the Will save follows the good progression used by the wizard.
And, the real meat of the PrC is here,
Class Skills: The staff master’s class skills are Concentration (Con), Craft, Knowledge (all skills taken individually), Profession, Spellcraft
Skill Points At Each Level: 4 + Intelligence Modifier
I could not think of any real good reason to include any other skills. Anyone else have any ideas?
Class Features:
All of the following are class features of the staff master prestige class:
Absorption: Upon reaching 5th level, the staff master gains the ability to use her staff to absorb arcane spells and spell-like effects as per a rod of absorption. However, the staff does not communicate the level of the spell prior to absorbing it. Spells replace one charge per level. If the staff master tries to use the staff to absorb more charges than the reservoir can currently hold, the excess energy is immediately discharged into the staff master causing 1d6 points of damage per charge.
The idea here is to allow higher level staff masters to have an alternate means of restoring their arcane reservoir and also to give them a power to offset their increasing weakness in terms of the power of individual spells cast. By this point, the character lags 3 caster levels behind an equivalent level wizard in terms of the level of spells he can cast. A 15th level wizard can cast cast 8th level spells while the staff master is limited to 6th level at this point.
Craft Staff: At 1st level, a staff master gains the craft staff feat for free and without needing to meet the prerequisites.
He also gains the ability to create a special staff master staff capable of holding the reservoir of energy with which he fuels his spells. Such a staff is the only staff with which a staff master may use his class features. The staff master’s first such staff is created during his apprenticeship under his staff master mentor and its completion marks his entry into the staff master prestige class. The basic staff master staff has a base cost of 15,000gp plus 600 XP. A staff master can create a staff with powers beyond the basic powers of the staff master staff. If he elects to do so, he pays the costs associated with creating such a staff as well as the basic costs of creating a staff master staff. He may then create the arcane reservoir in the staff and use it as his staff master staff.
If a staff master looses his staff or it is destroyed, he must create another staff before he can use most of his class features.
If the staff master already possesses the Craft Staff feat, he does not get a substitute feat.
The Craft Staff feat is essential to the PrC but it normally has a prerequisite of 12th level. This would make the PrC limited to 8 levels at most. Giving the character the feat early does not seem overpowered as the character would have a difficult time creating a staff at that point anyway...
Imbue Staff I: Up reaching 3rd level, a staff master gains the ability to permanently imbue her staff with a single spell of no greater than 3rd level. This spell must be one that the spell master knows and can cast either spontaneously or prepare daily. It must be an arcane spell. Once the spell is imbued in the staff, the staff master can cast the spell 3 times per day with at no cost. It does not cost the staff master to imbue the spell into the staff and such spells do not count against the staff master’s daily allotment of available spells. As the staff master increases in level, she can imbue additional spells into her staff.
Imbue Staff II: As per Imbue Staff I except that the staff master can permanently imbue his staff with a single spell of no greater than 5th level.
Imbue Staff III: As per Imbue Staff I except that the staff master can permanently imbue her staff with a single spell of no greater than 7th level.
These are for flavor and to make the individual staff master a bit more distinct. I toyed with the idea of making the spell level lower but allowing unlimited use, a la the Staff of the Magi.
Power Staff: The staff master can create a reservoir of arcane energy contained within his personal staff. The reservoir contains 20 charges plus five charges per staff master prestige class level. He may use this reservoir of energy to cast spells to which he has access without expending any of his daily allotment of spells. A spell consumes a single charge per spell level.
Such energy cannot be used to cast spells under the effect of a metamagic feat (see the Staff Feats class feature.)
The staff master can recharge this reservoir of energy but doing so takes one hour of uninterrupted concentration and costs 10 XP per charge. Recharging also requires that the staff master be well rested, as required to prepare spells or regain his daily allotment of spells. The staff can also be recharged using the Absorption class ability.
A spell cast using the staff for power still requires the necessary material components and the staff master must pay any XP cost associated with the casting.
Improved Power Staff: Upon reaching 6th level in the staff master class, the staff master can create a greater reservoir of energy inside his staff. It may now store 20 charges plus ten charges per staff master level.
This is the core of the staff master class, the ability to create such a reservoir and use it to power spells. Still, it may be subject to abuse, okay IT IS subject to abuse as at the moment nothing prevents a player from dipping into the PrC for a level or two in order to get access to the reservoir...except maybe the loss of the spell casting level.
Penetration: Upon reaching 8th level, a staff master gains the ability to more easily pierce the SR of her targets when using her staff to power her spells. The targets of such spells have their SR reduced by one per level of the staff master.
This compensates for the loss of access to higher level spells and makes the class a little more tough, as it is designed to be...
Retributive Strike: Upon reaching 10th level, the staff master gains the ability to inflict a retributive strike by deliberately breaking his staff, as per a staff of power or a staff of the magi (see DMG p280). The staff master has a 100% chance of traveling to a random plane upon breaking the staff and does not suffer any damage from the explosion.
Just somehow seemed appropriate that a staff master at the height of his power would have such an ability...
Spells per Day: At every even level a staff master gains additional spells per day as if she had gained a level in her existing arcane spell casting class. If she possessed more than one arcane spell casting class prior to becoming a spell master, she must decide which class she will gain spells in. She does not gain any other abilities associated with an increase in level in the previous class, such as additional metamagic feats or improvements of her familiar.
Here is the hit...The character loses five caster levels for the purposes of determining the available spells. He still has the character levels so his spells are not appreciably weaker, he just loses access to 9th level spells.
Staff Feats: Upon reaching 5th level, the staff master gains the ability to apply metamagic feats to spells powered by his staff. Applying the metamagic feat does not increase the casting time of the spell.
I did not want to allow the metamagic feats too early as a key to balancing those feats is pushing the spell level up. With the arcane reservoir contained in the staff, the staff master could sidestep that balancing feature. By the time he gets access to Staff Feats, he is already high enough level for the problem to have balanced itself some...I think.
Staff Focus: Upon reaching 4th level, the staff master increases the puissant nature of the spells she powers with her staff. The DC to save versus such spells increases by +2. This effect does not stack with the Spell Focus or Improved Spell Focus feats.
Greater Staff Focus: Upon reaching 7th level, the staff master increases the puissant nature of the spells he powers with his staff. The DC to save versus such spells increases by an additional +2 (for a total of +4). This effect does not stack with the Spell Focus or Improved Spell Focus feats.
Again, just something to buff the PrC up a bit and make them a little more prestigious.
Staff Mastery: Upon reaching 2nd level, the staff master learns the hidden secrets of combat with a staff. She can use the staff as a dual weapon as if she possessed the Two-Weapon Fighting feat. (See DMG p160)
Not a huge feature but something to allow a fall back position. besides, it seems that such a class ought to know how to best smack someone with a staff.
And thats about it....I am toying with the idea of adding one more class feature at maybe 4th level, one that allows the PrC to convert charges into damage when using the staff as a melee weapon. Something along the lines of 1d6 points of damage per charge expended with a limit of one charge per staff master level. That would cap it at 10d6. Too powerful?
Anyway, as I said, feedback and criticism...err, constructive criticism...is not only appreciated, its eagerly sought.
