Crazy Caster Prc... broken?

[jayaint]

Okay, here's my crazy question.. I want to Flavor-fy the Mystic Theurge and see if I can make it have a little more swagger, tailor it a bit, and give it some personality. So here's my idea, and I would like some feedback before I dig into mechanics and numbers...

Take 1 part Geomancer (MotW splat)
Add 1 part Mytsic Theurge (3.5 DMG)
Shake well, Pour on Ice.

Oh, for real, you mean?

Use Geomancer prereqs.
Add a prereq of- Religion: Must be a cleric of a God of Arcane Magic.
Give the new PrC the Spell Versatility class ability from Geomancer. (as it stacks from 0-9)
Give BAB, saves and HD from MT.
Give MT "double spell progression" at each level.

(And here is where my feeble class-creating skills will be taxed) Make the Geomancer's "Drift" mechanic represent a caster who is trying to wield too much magical power, and as such, it begins to twist him in physical, mental, emotional, and game mechancal ways. I would imaigne that for *balance* the drift will have to tend to balance down, as opposed to balance up. Some ideas I had on this were, for instance:

(at the lowest order of Drift) Caster's body glows (strong aura) under any Detect Magic. (Even if no buffs, items, etc are present.)

(medium order of Drift) All spell effects of the caster turn invisible, however the caster's hands and eyes radiate as Daylight during any round that he/she casts.

(at the highest order of Drift) Radiate Wild Magic zone (10ft).


I would need help coming up with 5 levels of 10 options of Drift, but I would first like to see if you all think this class has a chance of working, being semi-balanced, or just being cool.

Please let me know, comments, questions, critiques. Thanks.

 

[Eolin]

I think the Mystic Theurge has no flavor. Therefore, for most games, it should be made to have flavor. So more power to ya. Sounds like you've got a good starting point ... but why specifically a magic deity? That'll pretty well limit them to one deity per world.

 

[jayaint]

The reason in this instance, Eolin, is that I happen to be playing a Cleric of Mystra 3/Wizard 2 who is on his way to becoming a MT

But, aside from that, I felt that by putting a little more narrowness to the prereqs I could inject it with some flavor. If I get done with my version and its good enough to inspire someone to create a narrowed-for-flavor version for Druid/Summoner mixes... well, I think that would be cool.

Basically.. I'm feeling daunted by trying to come up with a huge five-tiered Drift list... especially if the wonderful house-rulers here at EN think there are issues with the class to begin with. *shrug*

I should just "do the d*mn list" and stop whining... but I like a little feedback once in awhile.

Thanks.

 

[the Jester]

Honestly, your drift ideas don't sound like drawbacks at all edit: except for the wild zone. You're adding considerable power to an already extremely powerful prc; while I understand your desire to add flavor to the mt, adding abilities is a bad way to go about it imo.

Adding prereqs doesn't really balance anything out- the prereqs involved are easy and simple. Also, narrowing it to followers of a single god (or type of god) is okay for flavor, but one of the main theories of 3e design is to not balance mechanical advantages with rp restrictions.

If you're going to bump the mt's power I think you need to add actual drawbacks to it- the drift stuff, properly handled, could work, but even minor drift would have to have serious drawbacks to accomodate the addition of the spell versatility ability- that's one incredible ability. With an mt/geomancer you could easily break the game.

(I'm not trying to be discouraging- but as a dm, I'd never allow someone to improve the mt.)

 

[jayaint]

(I'm not trying to be discouraging- but as a dm, I'd never allow someone to improve the mt.)

LOL... I understand. And my intention really isn't to do so. But, as I mentioned in my first post... my class-creating-creativity isn't all that great. If you had a chance to create a "drift" or two... what would be appropriate for each level (roughly, a low, a mid, and a high)??

Basically while re-reading MotW the Spell Versatility ability seemed almost tailor-made for what the MT does. So was just trying to figure out a way to incorporate it. I solemnly swear I was not trying to make the MT any more _______ (nerfed, broken, horrible mechanic'd, etc)