I am working on a homebrew right now with a wizard specialaizing time-travel. Or rather I would be, if pathfinder didn't have such a limited spectrum for this. I was really stretching to find spells that would be relevant to a time-wizard, even if I re-imagined the way the spell itself was cast (ie: stoneskin as a result of objects being slowed in time as they approach you)
I haven't yet looked at ulitmate magic, but I think this is still going to be a blind-spot. Suggestions?
Also, in regards to aging, I would like to point out that there is no consideration that skills like perception actually go up with age. This seems like another oversight as most elderly people I know begin losing their vision. I've been working on some alternate benefits/penalties for different ages. Do you think such a thing is necessary? why or why not?
These are just two age brackets, I'll post others if you all are interested, but this gives a good representation of what I'm thinking.
Age: Middle Age
Advantages: - Old enough to know better- Your experience at this age gives you a strong sense of danger. You gain a +1 bonus to knowledge and perception checks to notice and identify threatening creatures, traps, or other obvious dangers in your surrounding.
Disadvantages: - Too young to care- You feel a need to prove that you are still young and capable. You may never back down from a challenge of physical skill. Alternatively, you may choose to treat this as the wrecklessness age trait of young characters. (you may not withdraw unless your hit points are below 1/2 maximum)
Age: Old
Advantages: - Natural teacher- You are able to articulate you experiences clearly to others and anticipate their own issues. You gain a +2 circumstance bonus every time you use the aid-another action.
Stronger than you look- You are able to summon strength from your body that no one would expect. Once per week, you may raise your Strength score by 2 as an extraordinary ability for a number of rounds equal to your constitution modifier. After you use this ability, you are fatigued for the same number of rounds.
Disadvantages: - Frail- Your body is not as resilient as it once was. You take a -2 penalty versus poisons and diseases.
Aged appearance- Your skin loses elasticity, your hair begins losing colour and starts falling out. You take a -2 penalty to diplomacy and bluff checks against creatures that could find you romantically attractive.
Good call on the diplo/bluff stuff. Sometimes you just need another pair of eyes to notice your fever-dreamed ideas.
Age: Venerable
Advantages: -Storyteller- You have many tales to tell from your youth, some of them more exaggerated than others. Gain a +4 bonus on perform (oratory) and bluff checks.
Collected knowledge- You gain a +2 bonus to all knowledge skills that you have ranks in.
Seer- You are close to the grave and have a limited connection to the other side. Once per week, you may touch a creature and glimpse its afterlife. You can accurately predict and describe the plane where that creature’s spirit will travel after it dies.
Reduced appetite- You need less food each day and complain less when you are without food. You require half the normal amount of food and water, and gain a +2 circumstance bonus to resist the effects of starvation and thirst.
Disadvantages:- Lame- Your base land speed is reduced by 10 feet. (to a minimum of 5 feet)
Vision loss- You take a -2 penalty to all perception checks.
Dim vision- If your race posesses darkvision, its range is reduced by 10 feet. If your race posesses low-light vision, you lose this ability.
Unsteady- You take a -2 penalty to all dexterity based skills. Alternatively, you may choose to take a -2 penalty to all ranged weapon attacks.
Easily fatigued- Due in part to your reduced appetite, you become tired easily. You take a cumulative -2 penalty to saves versus fatigue and exhaustion until you rest for 8 hours each day.
As far as chronomancers go, I hadn't made too many homebrew spells to fill out the list, but that's a good idea. More dice to roll though, but that's fine. High Dexterity bonus was another way to interpret the temporal mastery of the wizard. (+7 before buffs), also lots of quickened spells.
Here's a short list of spells that could be seen as "time-related" feel free to expand: (in no particular order, some taken from 3.5's spell compendium) temporal stasis, time stop, mending, calcific touch, web, expeditious retreat, wilting, diminish plants, excavate, stonebody, stoneskin, ray of exhaustion, sepia snake sigil, foresight, solid fog, permanency, waves of fatigue, flesh to stone, contingency, disintegrate, statue.
and a few new ones in ultimate magic just came out. I just saw a sampling, but there's stuff like "evade aging" and "sands of time" which just are just awesome additions and do a reasonable job of addressing some previous sink-holes in the mechanic. I'm going to have to purchase Ultimate magic to have a full look.
and a few new ones in ultimate magic just came out. I just saw a sampling, but there's stuff like "evade aging" and "sands of time" which just are just awesome additions and do a reasonable job of addressing some previous sink-holes in the mechanic. I'm going to have to purchase Ultimate magic to have a full look.
If you haven't already, check out the the oracle section--I think there's a Time mystery that you can probably steal some ideas from. Also, the book is just awesome in general.
Also, as cfalcon said upthread, check out the psionics sources for more time-related stuff. Many of the clairsentience powers deal with time--either viewing the future/past or bringing a bit of the future/past into the now--and of course the psychoportation powers deal with space and time all by themselves. These powers can pretty easily be converted into spells with set levels. Dreamscarred Press has updated the psionics system and powers to be Pathfinder-compatible in their Psionics Unleashed book, which is a great buy if you like psionics in the slightest.