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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Irda Ranger" data-source="post: 848881" data-attributes="member: 1003">Force Mage CritiqueDisclaimer: I note that this is a revision, but I never read the original. If I rehash any arguments from the last version, I apologize for that.RequirementsFeats: Why is Dodge a prereq for this class? For that matter, why is Skill Focus [Knowledge(The Planes)]? Dodge seems like an aberration, since the rest of the class has nothing to do with physical Dexterity, and what does Force and “the Planes” have in common? “Force” seems more of a general type of Magic, and Skill Focus [Knowledge(Arcane)] seems more appropriate. If you want a second feat, Spell Focus seems more appropriate than Dodge. More “on topic”, if you will.Skills: Again, why Knowledge(The Planes)? There is nothing in this class that seems Planes related.Class SkillsFine. Class FeaturesSpells/ DayWhy does this class have a unique spell progression?It always seems to me that PrC’s that have a unique spell progression force a spellcaster to go back to square one. To meet your skill requirements the spellcaster has to be at least 5th level. When the spellcaster chooses to advance to 6th level, he has the choice of learning new 3rd level spells, or new 1st level spells. If the spellcaster chooses Force Mage, he has to wait until 10th level to get 3rd level spells he could have gotten 4 levels ago as a straight caster. Meanwhile his “straight caster” contemporaries are handing much more powerful spellcasting goodness.I would drop the spells/ day column entirely, and just have a “+1 Spellcaster Level”, even if it isn’t every level. Maybe +1 SL two out of every three or four levels. This way this prestige class doesn’t completely handicap a caster. Otherwise a Wiz10/For10 would have a lot of 4th or 5th level spells, and nothing better.Keep the “Spells Known” column, but change it to “New Spells Known”. A force mage learns these spells in addition to any spells he would normally learn, and they must be chosen from the list you provide.Spells/ Day (cont.)Why is this class using Charisma, and only Chr, as a spellcasting stat? Shouldn’t they have the choice? I would think that if a Wizard takes this class, that the new spells learned are in his spellbook, or is this not the case? If a Wizard took this class, does he cast spells from his Force spell list spontaneously, a’ la the Sorcerer? If not, he should use Int to determine spellcasting variables.Force DamageThis seems very powerful, but I am at work and can’t do a full analysis. However, it would have to be more powerful than this to make up for losing 6th through 9th level spells.Natural Mage ArmorI like this ability. It’s cool.Force ResistanceThis almost seems like a flavor ability, since unless your Force Mage made a habit of hunting other Force mages, I don’t think you would see too many Force Effects. Not a reason to drop it though.Spell ListI like the list. I don’t have a complete spell list in front of me, but shouldn’t this list include Unseen Servant and the various Ottiluke’s Spheres spells? They just seem to fit, to me.Last notesThe Unique Spell Progression makes this class completely unplayable to me as a spellcaster. I would never give up all of my high level spells for the low level spells and powers you have suggested. It would be a complete loss of power. Change the spell progression to +1 Spellcaster Level so that you get maybe 7-8 spellcaster levels out of the class that stack with the 5 levels you have already paid for, and it would be more attractive. If the requirements were lower, I would be tempted to take two levels of this class as a Rogue or Monk (for the Natural Mage Armor), but as it stands, not even that with the Requirements the way they are. It would be easier to just get a magic item that casts these spells for you a limited number of times/ day.Irda RangerEdit for grammar and content.</blockquote>

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