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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Spatzimaus" data-source="post: 3469173" data-attributes="member: 3051">ChannelerMy favorite, the INT-based Freeform class.  It's a drain-based class, dealing a combination of Mental and Physical damage to the caster as he throws spells; Mental is treated like Subdual, except it can only be healed with a specific line of heal-over-time spells, the "Clarity" line, or with natural rest; normal heal spells do nothing for it.Prerequisite: Affinity(Freeform)BAB +3/4, d6 HD, good Will save, 6+INT skill pointsAdditional class skills: Concentration, Focus, Knowledge(arcana), Manifestation, SpellcraftArmor: noneNWP at 1At 3rd and 11th levels the Channeler can pick a Talent from his Primary class.At 7th and 15th levels the Channeler gains a Bonus Feat; this can be from his Primary class or be any Channeler-specific Feat (including magical Feats, i.e. metamagic).At level 2 the Channeler can use metamagic spontaneously, which increases the level used by the spell for purposes of drain (i.e., an empowered fireball has the same drain as a 5th-level spell); for spells with casting times of "1 action", this increases the casting time to a Full-Round Action.  He also gains any 1 "Shaping" metaform; these are metamagics that take single-target spells (especially rays) and convert them into more useful shapes (cone, ball, chain, etc.).At level 5, he gets another level 1 Shaping metaform; at 9 he gets a level 1-2 Shaping, at 13 he gets a level 1-3 Shaping, at 17 he gets a level 1-4 Shaping.  (A few examples: "Cone" is level 1, "Ball" is level 2, "Chain" is 3, "Cloud" is 4)And now for the important part.At each level, a Channeler gains a number of Discipline Points (DPs) equal to his class level plus 3.  Additionally, he gets bonus DPs from high INT equal to (INT mod * character level / 2), rounded down; only Innate INT counts for this (no bonus for temporary INT from items or buffs).DPs are used to determine how effective the Channeler is at each type of magic.  In each discipline (think school of magic), he buys a number of ranks (max equal to his class level, not character level).Basic Elements cost 3 DP/rank, Advanced Elements cost 4 DP/rank, Astral or Psionic magic cost 5 DP/rank, and Time magic costs 6 DP/rank.(Effectively, the number of ranks corresponds to D&D's class level when determining what level of spell you can cast consistently.)A Channeler can't use any spell of higher level than his INT minus 10, and INT determines save DCs.  He also can't cast a spell if double the spell level is higher than his rank in the appropriate magic type, and if the spell level is higher than his rank he has a few other limitations I won't really bother with here.The Channeler spell list is identical to that of the Wizard (our prepared-magic class, which will be explained next), except for two limits:> Channelers can't use any spell with an XP cost> "Chain" spells (spells that have analogues at every level, which we have quite a few of; imagine a cure spell that cures Xd8 + level (max 5*X) and you get the idea) can be used normally; anything else is one spell level higher.  This tends to focus Channelers on the more basic magic, like shooting lightning or healing people.A spell deals 4 lethal damage per spell level to its caster (cantrips deal 2), by default, and he's forced to make a Concentration check (DC 5 + spell level + damage) to succeed in the spell.  However, Channelers have learned to mitigate this damage by channeling the energy (hence the name).  They make a check: 1d20 + number of ranks (see DPs above) + INT mod - ACP + circumstance modifiers vs a flat DC of 10(ACP = Armor Check Penalty; the circumstance modifiers are small, such as +2 if using an element on its associated plane or -2 on the opposed plane.)Failing causes the spell to be lost, but since the DC is a flat 10, this isn't a problem for whatever magic you focused on.For each point of success, 2 lethal damage is converted to 1 mental damage.  Once all of the damage is mental, each additional point reduces the mental damage by 1, to a minimum of 1 point of mental damage (which doesn't trigger a Concentration check).  No form of damage reduction or immunity can prevent this damage.Since mental damage can't be quickly healed, this tends to keep Channelers from casting low-level spells ad nauseum between fights; it adds up quickly.As a practical example: a character level 7 Channeler, corresponding to a level 6ish 3E character, with around 40 HP, can cast 2nd level or lower spells at will, 3rd-level spells with minimal drain (~4 mental), 4th or 5th spells while taking some damage (~8 mental, or ~4 physical and 8 mental) and having a noticeable chance of fizzling, and could even try a 6th-level spell in an emergency (although the chances of successfully casting through the damage would be slim).Effectively, to go up by one spell level requires gaining 4 to your Channeling checks; you can increase the base ranks by 1 per level, plus your INT mod is increasing, but it means you won't progress quite as quickly as a Wizard would; it's more Bard-like, in practice, although you CAN throw high-level spells if you're willing to accept a decent drain.</blockquote>

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