Break my class? Or Critique it.

Visigani

Banned
Banned
The jist behind the PrC is that it combines a lot of otherwise low power abilities into a character that has many options, but lives beneath heavy restrictions. I also wanted very much to simulate a "theme", in this case the Enchantress of old who was both extremely beautiful and had a primal connection and the volatility of nature. Finally, I endeavored to make some of the abilities rather "cinematic", such as with a Horse as an Animal Companion and a Raven familiar on her Shoulder.


The burdens I have placed on the character in terms of school restrictions, inability to multiclass, and that the majority of her most significant class features are bound up in items (that may be destroyed) was intentional.

Finally, many of the "Class Features" simulate treasure on a more or less limited basis.



Fey Enchanter

Pre-Reqs
Feats: Fey Heritage, Scribe Scroll, Craft Wand
Skills: Bluff 9 Ranks, Use Magic Device 5 Ranks, Perform 5 Ranks
Alignment: Neutral Good, Chaotic Good, True Neutral, or Chaotic Neutral
Special: Must be able to spontaneously cast second level arcane spells, at least three of which must be Enchantment Spells. Must not know any spells of the Necromancy or Evocation Schools of Magic.

Class Features:
HP: d4
BAB: Poor
Weapon and Armor Prof: None
Saves: Good Will, Poor Reflex, Poor Fortitude
Skill Points per level: 6
Skills: Alchemy, Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Knowledge (All, taken individually), Perform, Sense Motive, Spellcraft, Use Magic Device
Spells: You continue gaining spells every level as though you had gained a level in the spellcasting class that allowed you to qualify for this prestige class.

1. Enchanted Heritage, Wand and Grimoire, Fey Bond
2. Imbue Wand, The Beautific
3. Cloak and Talisman, Enchanted Presence
4. Imbue Wand
5. Enchanted Legacy
6. Imbue Wand
7. Wand of Power, Enchanted Skin
8. Imbue Wand
9. Enchanted Power
10. Imbue Wand,
11. At One with Chaos
12. Wand of Mastery
13. Beauty and Truth


Class Features:
Fey Bond: As a Protector and Keeper of the Fey realm you are aware the Fey are nothing if not fickle with their blessing. Should she ever stray from the path of Fey Enchanter she loses all of her class features, her Animal Companion and Familiar abandon her, and save spellcasting she retains only her Wand and Grimoire. However, her wand no longer recharges spells, each activation of a reserve feat consumes a wand charge, and the wand burns and loses all power upon activation of the final charge. Her Grimoire still requires her Wand to Activate. The Grimoire itself is largely unchanged, but she may no longer scribe new spells into the pages and casting from the Grimoire carries a 5% risk of consuming the Grimoire's spell in the casting. Finally, she retain her Fey heritage feats, but they revert to mundane fey heritage feats rather than the enhanced versions below. Becoming lawful does not break the Fey Bond, but becoming Evil does. Lawful characters do not instant lose their class features but they may not continue as Fey Enchanters and so run the risk of losing their Class Features that way. Evil characters instantly lose their class features and become the enemy of Fey everywhere, regardless of alignment. Fey Enchanters who adds a Necromancy or Evocation to her list of spells known or her Grimoire has defiled her Fey Bond just as if she had become Evil, though they are not targeted as she would be if she were Evil. A Fey Enchanter may seek atonement from a Druid with the Fey type and no other. Only a Fey druid has a powerful enough connection to the Primal to be able to restore the Fey Enchanter.

Enchanted Heritage: In addition to its normal benefits, her Fey Heritage feat now allows her to use bardic music and bardic knowledge abilities as a bard of her class level, and allows continued advancement of her familiar. If she does not have a familiar she gains one.

Wand and Grimoire: The Fey Enchantress crafts a Wand and Grimoire usable only by her. When used in conjunction the Fey Enchantress's Wand and Grimoire allow her to access and channel the might of the natural world.
(Wand) The Fey Enchanter's Wand functions as a normal wand with fifty charges, however the Enchanter may mix and match the spells within the wand to her liking, drawing from any spell within her Grimoire or her Spells Known. For example, a Fey Enchanter who knew the spells Charm Person and Web may enchant her wand with 23 charges of Charm person and 27 charges of Web. Unlike normal wands, the Fey Enchanter's Wand recharges a number of charges per day equal to the number of Fey heritage feats the Fey Enchanter has (Fey Enchanter's Choice). If a Fey Enchanter wishes to imbue her wand with different spells she must spend the appropriate gold and experience points as though she were crafting an entirely new wand. If a Fey Enchanter's wand or Grimoire are irrevocably destroyed she may fashion one anew as a special use of the Craft Wand and Scribe Scroll feats. Because of the connection between these items and the Fey Enchanter, the Fey Enchanter must only spend the materials necessary to recreate the item, she need not also expend the experience point cost.

(Grimoire) A Fey Enchanter's Grimoire is a book of spells from either the Druid or Arcane Spell list. A Fey Enchanter who wishes to cast a spell from the Druid spell list must have a Wisdom Score of at least 10+ the spell level. A Fey Enchanter who wishes to cast an Arcane spell from her Grimoire must have an Intelligence Score of at least 10 + the spell level. A Fey Enchanter may cast any spell in her Grimoire at any time, but doing so requires her to use a spell slot of the appropriate level and use her Wand as a Focus (in addition to any Focus or material components the spell normally has). Spells that normally require a standard action or less to cast require at least a full round action when cast from a Grimoire. Grimoire Spells cannot be enhanced by metamagic, nor do they benefit from any other class features.
A Fey Enchanter's Grimoire requires an investiture of personal power as well as access to a scroll or other written copy of the appropriate spell. Scribing a spell into a Grimoire carries the same costs as scribing a spell onto a scroll. However, unlike a scroll a spell is not used up when cast from the Grimoire. Spells cast from the Grimoire use the caster level and ability scores of the Fey Enchanter to determine the DC and caster level. Arcane spells cast from the Grimoire use intelligence, divine spells cast from the Grimoire use wisdom.
A Fey Enchanter may have as many spells scribed into her Grimoire as she has spells known for that level minus one. For example, a Sorcerer 7/Fey Enchanter 1 would be able to scribe four first level spells, two second level spells, and one third level spell into her Grimoire.


Imbue Wand: You may Imbue your wand with any Reserve feat you qualify for. You may use your wand to activate that Reserve Feat as a Standard Action that provokes an attack of opportunity, or you may use your wand to activate a Reserve Feat that may be used when casting a spell.

The Beautific: You gain a +1 inherent bonus for every Fey Heritage feat you possess.

Cloak and Talisman: Fey Spirits present to you a beautiful cloak clasped together around the neck by a precious talisman. Neither Cloak or Talisman possess a magical aura and seem to be of entirely mundane origins. However, when worn the the Talisman provides a bonus to saves equal to half the characters charisma modifier, rounded down and the Cloak provides a bonus to armor class equal to half the characters charisma modifier, rounded down. Both may be enhanced magically as any other cloak and amulet. If these items are irrevocably destroyed while in use by a Fey Enchanter in good standing, the Spirits of the Fey return thirteen days later with new items, as though the character had gained the class feature for the first time.

Enchanted Presence: You gain the Fey Presence feat. Instead of the normal benefits you add the designated spells to your list of spells known. Further, you attract an Animal Companion. For purposes of your Animal Companion your druid level is equal to your caster level to a maximum of your character level. You gain a +1 inherent bonus to Charisma.

Enchanted Legacy: You gain the Fey Legacy Feat. Instead of its normal benefits you add Confusion and Dimension door to your spells known and you may spontaneously cast Summon Nature's Ally as a Druid.

Wand of Power: You may now treat your Wand as a Staff for the purpose of what level spells the Wand may be imbued with.

Enchanted Skin: You gain the Fey Skin feat. In addition to its normal benefits you gain the Timeless Body feat as the druid class feature and you become immune to all poisons, diseases and curses. You gain spell resistance equal to your character level plus your charisma modifier.

Enchanted Power: You gain the Fey Power feat. In addition to its normal benefit a Fey Enchanter may now spend a charge from her wand to increase the DC and caster level of an Enchantment, Illusion, or Transmutation spell she casts by an amount equal to the number of Fey Heritage feats she has.

At one with Chaos: As a full round action you may channel the Fury and Power of Chaos, duplicating the the spell "Miracle". First the caster must make a Fortitude Save as though she had targeted herself with a disintegrate spell. If she is successful and has not been disintegrated she must then make a will save as though she had cast insanity upon herself. In the event of failure no mortal means may protect against these effects. Creatures normally immune to mind effecting spells and effects are immediately struck dead as their minds are simply unmade. In the event the caster has not lost her mind activating this ability leaves the caster exhausted, shatters her wand (though it may be repaired) and consumes 1d20 spell levels worth of spells (Player's choice) from her Grimoire and her Spell Slots. A Fey Enchantress who is unable to pay this price is consumed activating the ability as though she were disintegrated, though this does not prevent the ability from activating as the caster themselves has become the consumed material component. If they survive or are ressurected the player must still pay any associated gold or experience points as she would had she invoked Miracle as a Cleric of the appropriate level.

Wand of Mastery: Your Wand now also acts like a Rod of Absorption. Unlike a Rod of Absorption your Wand may only absorb as many spell levels as you have Charisma bonus and spells cast from the Wand using those spell levels may only be from your Grimoire. However, spells cast in this fashion may be cast as a Standard Action and doing so frees up the Wand to Absorb new spell levels.

Beauty and Truth: The children of the Fae relax their bonds. You may now pursue a class other than Fey Enchanter, but you must otherwise remain a champion of the Fae and are thus still bound by the other restrictions. As a final gift you learn and may now cast invocation as a warlock half your character level.
 
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Why is Scribe Scroll a prereq? Having prereqs that limit the initial class one takes does not make the prestige class any more viable if it doesn't make sense...

"Must not know any spells of the Necromancy or Evocation Schools of Magic."
WHAT?! Simply KNOWING something disqualifies one from being able to take this PrC? How does that make sense? "I know that two plus two is four... :):):):), now I can't be a so-and-so."

Could you separate the fluff text from the actual important rules text for the class features? I really don't feel like reading a whole bunch of "You're a blah blah blah..." in order to critique the mechanical balance of a class. ^^

Quick tip though, a PrC class is no more viable if you make it suck. Make it consistent, balanced (to a point, remember there are 5 tiers of classes), and flavorful. Do NOT try to intentionally make the class less appealing, because that does not in turn make it more viable. Why are so many people scared of power when designing home-brew stuff?! A DM that doesn't let you use home-brew material that is well made and follows the recommendations put forth in printed material is a DM you might not want to play with.
 

Could you separate the fluff text from the actual important rules text for the class features? I really don't feel like reading a whole bunch of "You're a blah blah blah..." in order to critique the mechanical balance of a class. ^^

i totally agree...

A thing that strikes me as very strange is the fact that in the prerequisites you ask for 9 ranks of Bluff (the highest prerequisite as far as skills are concerned...) yet Bluff is not a class skill ???

Perhaps you just missed writing it down...
 

Scribe Scroll is a prereq for the same reason craft wand is... Your Wand and Grimoire.

The reason for the not knowing Necro or Evo schools is part fluff and part balance. Disallowing the player from knowing (i.e. part of spells known or in her grimoire) is little different from being a specialist Wizard.



The mechanicals:

1. Limited Spellbook, rechargable wand, bardic music/knowledge
2. Free Reserve Feat, +5 inherent bonus to Charisma over several levels
3. +1/2 Charisma Bonus to Saves and AC, Bonus Spells Known, Animal Companion
4. Free Reserve Feat
5. Bonus Spells Known, may convert any spell slot to appropriate Summon Nat. Ally.
6. Free Reserve Feat
7. Wand now acts as Staff, X/Cold iron, Timeless Body, Dis/Pois/Curs Immunity, Spell Res.
8. Free Reserve Feat
9. +1 Enchantment Spell DC/Cas. Lev., Use wand charges to increase Spell DCs.
10. Free Reserve Feat
11. Miracle with Significant Drawbacks
12. Use Wand as limited Rod of Absorption
13. Learn invocations as a Warlock half your character level
 

i totally agree...

A thing that strikes me as very strange is the fact that in the prerequisites you ask for 9 ranks of Bluff (the highest prerequisite as far as skills are concerned...) yet Bluff is not a class skill ???

Perhaps you just missed writing it down...


Skills: Alchemy, Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Knowledge (All, taken individually), Perform, Sense Motive, Spellcraft, Use Magic Device


(Note, I did have Bluff, but I added Sense Motive)
 


Special: Must be able to spontaneously cast second level arcane spells, at least three of which must be Enchantment Spells. Must not know any spells of the Necromancy or Evocation Schools of Magic.
Short critique: Annoying (but reasonably simple) to qualify for. Gives lots of very useful features for very little cost. Not balanced.

Really rare to meet the "No Evocation" bit, unless you're VERY specifically going for this PrC. Even the Beguiler gets at least one Evocation spell: Dancing Lights (the PrC otherwise seems made for Beguilers). If a Beguiler finds a simple way to remove what few Evocations are on the Beguiler Spell List, things get a little crazy here. Likewise, almost any spellcaster will pick up Light at some point, simply because it's a really useful cantrip.

The Grimoire is very breakable - you're almost doubling spells known for any spontaneous arcane caster, granting access to *any* arcane spell (not just class ones), and adding access to the Druid spell list. You've included some annoyances in the class (no Evocation / Necromancy), and added a little MAD (Int/Wis casting, Cha-based features). You're obviously building with intent for a Bard-7 or Sorcerer-7 entry... but a simple run-around would be to have a base Int and Wis of 13 (a moderate investment) and pick up the +6 enhancement items to meet the minimum casting requirements. With enough looking, a Beguiler-based character could get in at level 6 (main issue being getting rid of evocations - the Penumbra Bloodline from Dragon Compendium Volume 1 might do the trick, but I'd have to check in detail to be sure, which is... time consuming).

If you're not planning on using Evocations or Necromancy much anyway, this is basically an upgrade to the Sorcerer class (more skill points, better skill list, more spells known, same caster level, same familiar advancement, and lots of bonus abilities). The Sorcerer is already a solid tier-2 choice; this kicks it up a notch, although *probably* not all the way to tier-1 (mostly due to definitions).
 

What additional costs could I add to the class, aside from removing spell levels (which I won't do), while maintaining the class features it has? Further, I want it to be a 7/13 Split, if only for thematic reasons (7 and 13 being "mystic" numbers, for example).

Pain in the ass? Yes, I know.
 

What additional costs could I add to the class, aside from removing spell levels (which I won't do), while maintaining the class features it has?
Very little of note. If you're going to insist on that, you're insisting on a PrC that is going to be very, very close to strictly better than the base class. WOTC made the same mistake fairly often. Full Spellcasting + Useful class features = stronger than the base class in the vast majority of circumstances. When you're starting with something that's at the high end of the power spectrum already, you've got a problem. If you were to force a Bardic entry, it wouldn't be nearly so much of a problem (require Bardic Music and Suggestion as a spell-like ability?), as then you're starting with tier-3, rather than tier-2; pressing it up a bit isn't quite as bad. But you'll always end up with a PrC that's pretty much strictly better than the base class - AKA, "Overpowered".

Sorry.
 

Trying to balance a PrC by using the prerequisites of said class is a bad idea.

I respectfully disagree with Jack. Although most of the class features can be good, they tend not to be when they are standalone. This PrC seems to be getting pulled in multiple directions, which I believe reduces how effective any of its class features can be. Casting? Powerful. This? Slightly more so, but nothing that compares to optimizing. Broken or OP? Not even close. Should a DM allow a regular player to use it? I see no reason why not. Should a DM allow a power-gaming douche to use it? Don't even have them in your campaign, but if you do, then no.

I really can't stress enough how much the "Can't know X" thing is a bad idea. Simple Knowledge of something does not dictate how one acts and the decisions one makes, although it could be considered depending how intelligent one is. Have you read the DMG? It gives guides for designing classes, and has good tips for people new to the process, some of which include prerequisites for PrC's.

At the very least it should be changed from "Cannot know X" to "Cannot have chosen to have learned X, if a choice was given", which would allow Beguiler to enter this PrC without having to induce blunt force trauma in themselves in order to "un-know" something.
 

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