IdentityCrisis
First Post
The Wizard has raw power and versatility, but pays for it with limited spells per day and the need to select spells in advance. The Sorcerer gets more spells per day and can cast on the fly, but makes painful sacrafices in versatility for it. And even he can run out of spells. Neither gives me that feeling of eating and beathing magic all day long.
And on a differant matter, the classes which make effective healers right from level 1 come saddled with role-playing baggage that some players (myself included) don't like; I can make a Fighter who tries to avoid fighting or a Rogue who only uses his talents for honest purposes, but I can't make an athiest Cleric whose powers aren't bound to D&D's flawed alignment system.
To address both of these issues, I've come up with a new magic-using class I'd like you all to critique. This class can access the Cleric, Druid and Wizard/Sorcerer spell lists, can learn many more spells than a Sorcerer, can cast spontaneously and is not limited by spells per day. The draw-back is that this class gains raw power *extremely* slowly; they can do a variety of things and they can do them all day, but even a Bard packs more spell-casting punch.
Let me know what you think.
**HEDGE MAGE**
Treat as a Wizard for all purposes (saving throws, skill points, summoning familiars, etc.) except as noted below.
FEATS:
A Hedge Mage (HM for short) does not gain Scribe Scroll or bonus feats as wizards do.
MAGIC ITEMS:
HMs do not learn how to use scrolls, wands and the like.
SPELL-CASTING:
At first level, a HM can choose to learn any (4 + Wisdom bonus) 0th-level spells from the Wizard, Cleric and Druid lists. At each level thereafter he can learn any (2 + Wisdom bonus) spells from those lists, provided he is capable of casting it. They do not need spellbooks and do not need to memorize spells.
HMs do not gain spells per day; instead, they gain a point of magery for each level of HM (so a level 3 HM has 3 magery). To cast a spell, a HM must expend magery equal to or greater than (1 + 4x), where x is the level of the spell. So a 0th-level spell takes 1 magery, a 1st-level spell requires 5 magery, and so on. Also, a spell is always treated as though the caster were the lowest level Wizard, Cleric or Druid (depending on whichever spell list the spell comes from) who could cast that spell, plus 1 caster level per additional point of magery spent. Thus, a level 7 HM can only cast Magic Missile as though he were a level 3 Wizard. However, expended magery is normally regained in full at the beginning of the next round.
EXERTION:
A HM can exert himself to cast slightly more powerful spells than normal, but the effort drains him and makes his future spells weaker. He may lower both his current and maximum magery by 1 each at any time before casting a spell, and in exchange gain 3 points of "temporary" magery which are not regained after being used. He is not required to use these temporary points first or all at once, but he can use no more than 3 of them total in a round. His maximum magery is restored (and any remaining temporary points are lost) after getting 8 hours of rest.
A HM's ability to exert himself to cast higher-level spells is taken into account when determining which spells he can learn when gaining a level.
Two categories of spell work slightly differantly for an HM:
LASTING SPELLS:
Any spell that functions over time (non-instantaneous and non-permenant) lowers the HM's maximum magery by the same amount as it lowers his current magery. These maximum points are restored as soon as the spell is dropped, and the HM can drop any spell he is maintaining as a free action. Nothing (even a night's rest) can restore the maximum magery while the spell is maintained, however.
Spells with a timed duration do not expire when their duration ends if the HM doesn't want them to, unless the HM expended temporary magery points to cast the spell. If he did, the HM must spend the same amount of magery again (normal and/or temporary) to reset the duration and maintain the spell.
CURATIVE SPELLS:
Hedge magic can cure, but it can only do so much for one person in a given day. Each time a person is healed by an HM's magic, that person gains a number of "curative resistance" points equal to (1 + 4x), where x is the level of the spell being cast. If the target's ((curative resistance - Wisdom bonus) / 3) rounded down is greater than 0, no healing effect takes place unless an equal amount of extra magery is expended. Any other non-healing effects take place as normal.
So a level 1 HM with no Wisdom bonus can cast Cure Minor Wounds on any given person 3 times per day, and at second level he can cast it 6 times. With a Wisdom bonus of +2 he could cast it 5 times per person per day at level 1 and 8 times at level 2. With a Wisdom penalty of -2, he could only cast it on a given person once at level 1. And so on.
Note that curative resistance is only built up if the spell actually heals you; undead would gain resistance when hit with inflict spells, not cure spells. Resistance applies to any HM spell regardless of whether he was the one who previously healed the target or not (two HMs can't heal you twice as much), but does not apply to non-HM magic (resistance won't stop a Cleric). Resistance is lost after 8 full hours of rest.
And on a differant matter, the classes which make effective healers right from level 1 come saddled with role-playing baggage that some players (myself included) don't like; I can make a Fighter who tries to avoid fighting or a Rogue who only uses his talents for honest purposes, but I can't make an athiest Cleric whose powers aren't bound to D&D's flawed alignment system.
To address both of these issues, I've come up with a new magic-using class I'd like you all to critique. This class can access the Cleric, Druid and Wizard/Sorcerer spell lists, can learn many more spells than a Sorcerer, can cast spontaneously and is not limited by spells per day. The draw-back is that this class gains raw power *extremely* slowly; they can do a variety of things and they can do them all day, but even a Bard packs more spell-casting punch.
Let me know what you think.
**HEDGE MAGE**
Treat as a Wizard for all purposes (saving throws, skill points, summoning familiars, etc.) except as noted below.
FEATS:
A Hedge Mage (HM for short) does not gain Scribe Scroll or bonus feats as wizards do.
MAGIC ITEMS:
HMs do not learn how to use scrolls, wands and the like.
SPELL-CASTING:
At first level, a HM can choose to learn any (4 + Wisdom bonus) 0th-level spells from the Wizard, Cleric and Druid lists. At each level thereafter he can learn any (2 + Wisdom bonus) spells from those lists, provided he is capable of casting it. They do not need spellbooks and do not need to memorize spells.
HMs do not gain spells per day; instead, they gain a point of magery for each level of HM (so a level 3 HM has 3 magery). To cast a spell, a HM must expend magery equal to or greater than (1 + 4x), where x is the level of the spell. So a 0th-level spell takes 1 magery, a 1st-level spell requires 5 magery, and so on. Also, a spell is always treated as though the caster were the lowest level Wizard, Cleric or Druid (depending on whichever spell list the spell comes from) who could cast that spell, plus 1 caster level per additional point of magery spent. Thus, a level 7 HM can only cast Magic Missile as though he were a level 3 Wizard. However, expended magery is normally regained in full at the beginning of the next round.
EXERTION:
A HM can exert himself to cast slightly more powerful spells than normal, but the effort drains him and makes his future spells weaker. He may lower both his current and maximum magery by 1 each at any time before casting a spell, and in exchange gain 3 points of "temporary" magery which are not regained after being used. He is not required to use these temporary points first or all at once, but he can use no more than 3 of them total in a round. His maximum magery is restored (and any remaining temporary points are lost) after getting 8 hours of rest.
A HM's ability to exert himself to cast higher-level spells is taken into account when determining which spells he can learn when gaining a level.
Two categories of spell work slightly differantly for an HM:
LASTING SPELLS:
Any spell that functions over time (non-instantaneous and non-permenant) lowers the HM's maximum magery by the same amount as it lowers his current magery. These maximum points are restored as soon as the spell is dropped, and the HM can drop any spell he is maintaining as a free action. Nothing (even a night's rest) can restore the maximum magery while the spell is maintained, however.
Spells with a timed duration do not expire when their duration ends if the HM doesn't want them to, unless the HM expended temporary magery points to cast the spell. If he did, the HM must spend the same amount of magery again (normal and/or temporary) to reset the duration and maintain the spell.
CURATIVE SPELLS:
Hedge magic can cure, but it can only do so much for one person in a given day. Each time a person is healed by an HM's magic, that person gains a number of "curative resistance" points equal to (1 + 4x), where x is the level of the spell being cast. If the target's ((curative resistance - Wisdom bonus) / 3) rounded down is greater than 0, no healing effect takes place unless an equal amount of extra magery is expended. Any other non-healing effects take place as normal.
So a level 1 HM with no Wisdom bonus can cast Cure Minor Wounds on any given person 3 times per day, and at second level he can cast it 6 times. With a Wisdom bonus of +2 he could cast it 5 times per person per day at level 1 and 8 times at level 2. With a Wisdom penalty of -2, he could only cast it on a given person once at level 1. And so on.
Note that curative resistance is only built up if the spell actually heals you; undead would gain resistance when hit with inflict spells, not cure spells. Resistance applies to any HM spell regardless of whether he was the one who previously healed the target or not (two HMs can't heal you twice as much), but does not apply to non-HM magic (resistance won't stop a Cleric). Resistance is lost after 8 full hours of rest.
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Maybe even give him his charisma bonus to magery points, although I don't think that should count for getting higher level spells.
