New Arcane Classes; Warmage, Beguiler, Dread Necromancer...

[smootrk]

New Arcane Classes; Warmage, Beguiler, Dread Necromancer...

I have never taken a liking to the standard Sorcerer class, and the newer spontaneous casting classes like warmage, beguiler, and dread necromancer seem like a better way in my opinion. Even the Dragon inspired classes seem like better ways to play up the now-cannon dragon blood sorcerer concept.

I plan to eliminate standard sorcerers altogether and replace with these specialist classes. There are a few holes that need to be filled. For instance, Diviners? Enchanters? Dedicated Conjurers? Maybe Conjurer combined with Abjurer (circle magic demon summoner types?). Maybe Fey Blooded (akin to dragon blooded concept) espouses the fields of Enchantment and Charms?

Anyhow, I am looking for classes to fill these gaps, and I don't always have the time to create stuff from scratch. Does anyone know of good class concepts that fit this method of spontaneous casters using the other missing magic types? Any homebrew classes? other materials I might chop up and recombine to engineer these classes myself?

Any ideas are welcome.

 

[Remathilis]

Well.

Warmages focus on attack magic. That is mostly Evocation, some conjuration, and a spattering of necromancy.

Beguilers focus on charms, illusions, and enchantments.

Dread Necros are all about undead and negative energy.

So here would be my suggestions for roles left "untouched" by these three.

Summoner. Honestly, a GOOD summoner class. Mostly non-damaging conjurations, abjurations (protection from evil, etc) and transmutations (buffs)

Guardian: An abjurer/transmutation (with hints of evocation and conjuration) who excels at protection magic (akin to a body guard). Plus, it would be cool to see a mage-class with heavy armor.

Buffer, item maker, and generalist might have worked also, but they are covered by classes already (bard, artificer, wizard)

 

[smootrk]

Yes, your suggestions mirror my own ideas. Surely these concepts have already been fleshed out into classes previously... just needing to be tweaked to fit that mold that has been established by Warmages, Beguilers, Etc.

More concepts that ought be considered:

Shadow Casters (another sneaky type that might replace a rogue like the beguiler does)
Elemental Specialists (one of each type)
True Witch (potions, fiends, familiars, but not Warlock the class)
Fey caster (a class that ought be the default spontaneous arcane class for elf/fey that isn't wizardish - enchantments, invis, faerie fire, ... all the standard fey stuff)

 

[Zaruthustran]

I too would like to see more of these focused spontaneous casters. The current, wide-open Sorcerer class is too similar to the Wizard.

 

[smootrk]

Is there no one with even homebrew creations designed like the other spontaneous specialists?

I had expected a deluge of class choices... am I the first to think of this (doubtful)?

 

[Rystil Arden]

Yes, your suggestions mirror my own ideas. Surely these concepts have already been fleshed out into classes previously... just needing to be tweaked to fit that mold that has been established by Warmages, Beguilers, Etc.

More concepts that ought be considered:

Shadow Casters (another sneaky type that might replace a rogue like the beguiler does)
Elemental Specialists (one of each type)
True Witch (potions, fiends, familiars, but not Warlock the class)
Fey caster (a class that ought be the default spontaneous arcane class for elf/fey that isn't wizardish - enchantments, invis, faerie fire, ... all the standard fey stuff)

For the Shadow Caster, might I suggest the...uh...the Shadowcaster? (Tome of Magic)

I have two sets of homebrewed 'Witch' and 'Fey Caster' classes, but both were not balanced for your standard D&D game (one set is for my Neospelljammer, with all new classes balanced on gestalts, the other is for my low-magic post-Arthurian setting),

 

[deClench]

Anyhow, I am looking for classes to fill these gaps, and I don't always have the time to create stuff from scratch. Does anyone know of good class concepts that fit this method of spontaneous casters using the other missing magic types? Any homebrew classes? other materials I might chop up and recombine to engineer these classes myself?

Any ideas are welcome.

I think it's a great idea, and it's something that I've been playing around with for a while. I don't enjoy the generalist approach to spellcasting as much. To me, that seems to always end up with the same spell selection. I like being able to *truly* specialize in a school or concept of magic. Sure, it can be more challenging to not have just the right spell at just the right moment, but that's part of the fun!

Now, I'll shamelessly admit that I have just such a class--a specialist illusionist called a phantasm--in Wolfgang Baur's first issue of Kobold Quarterly buried in my article "The Far Darrig."

 

[Sound of Azure]

Is there no one with even homebrew creations designed like the other spontaneous specialists?

I had expected a deluge of class choices... am I the first to think of this (doubtful)?

I doubt you are the first to think of it. Personally, I got lazy halfway through designing a conjuration (summoning) specialist, since I couldn't decide if it would be based on a menu system (like an astral construct) or on a list of summonable beings(kind of like a binder's vestiges).

If you'd like to start a thread (or two) in house rules it'd be fun to hammer out something.

 

[AFGNCAAP]

Well, I don't know of any alternate classes that the OP is looking for, but on a tangent...

I'm ambivalent of the warmage, dread necromancer, beguiler, & the like. However, that's because of the presence of the specialist wizard & sorcerer classes.

Now, if sorcerer & specialist wizard were combined into a new class (or 8 or so new classes), then I think I wouldn't mind classes like beguiler, warmage, and dread necromancer.

I think the main thing for creating classes like these is to consider how specialized of a focus you'd want to go theme-wise.

A "Mighty Conjurer" base class could focus on summoning/conjuration spells, as well as divinations & abjurations necessary for such magics. The caster could pull from both divine & arcane spell lists for class spells, and get bonus feats like Augment Summoning as free bonus feats. Variant class abilities could eb made for themed Mighty Conjurers: celestial summons; dire beasts; fiendish summons; elemental summons; etc.

The Abjurant Champion prestige class could be reworked/included into an "Abjurant Champion" base class. Potent abjuration-related spell list, and slightly-better-than-average combat abilities.

Maybe a 0-9 level bard/enchanter-themed mix for the Enchantment-based core class. (The "Persuader", perhaps?) Lots of enchantment magics & special abilities to sway people, provide magic bonuses, & the like. Also something like Bardic Music for other enchantment-like abilities.

An "Oracle" base class could have a lot of divinination spells or abilities (perhaps an innate detect magic or detect thoughts ability), coupled with a lore/bardic knowledge ability, (and perhaps an ability like the archivist's dark knowledge ability).

And, maybe an "Alterer" base class with lots of transmutation spells, an innate alter self or wild shape-like ability, resistance to polymorph spells, etc.

Just a few ideas.

 

[smootrk]

I doubt you are the first to think of it. Personally, I got lazy halfway through designing a conjuration (summoning) specialist, since I couldn't decide if it would be based on a menu system (like an astral construct) or on a list of summonable beings(kind of like a binder's vestiges).

If you'd like to start a thread (or two) in house rules it'd be fun to hammer out something.

Looks like this will be necessary. I think some sort of Conjurer designed along the same lines as Beguilers or Dread Necro is an ideal start. Some time ago I did an analysis of the Beguiler spell list choices, and I need to look that up again for use as a base line.

I had forgotten about the Shadow Caster class from Tome of Magic (as I don't have this particular book, but I have seen it), but I wonder if it is designed similarily to the other Spontaneous Casters (I think not).

When I locate those other notes I will start a thread to begin the process. Unless others have a strong desire to begin with one of the other concepts, we shall start with a Conjurer/Summoner.