So my brother and I play in a campaign on Sundays; he's a Bladebound Magus and I'm a kitsune with levels in more classes than I care to tell you about. Said GM was like, "Hey, you design stuff! Design this for me!" Originally he wanted me to design an archetype that worked with the Black Blade that allowed the magus better spellcasting abilities; we both noted that none of the archetypes in the game actually improve a magus's ability to cast spells, so I agreed to it.
When I sat down to work on it with his notes, however, more and more I decided that this was a concept better handled by a Prestige Class. In my GM's campaign world, black blades are crafted in a set with a white mask; they're part of a secret order that is devoted to destroying the remnants of an all-powerful empire.
With that introduction, here's the class I am working on. It doesn't have a name yet, so in lieu of a name the word [CLASS] just appears wherever the name should be. I'm looking for feedback, so please be brutal!
Interesting. I have no opinion at the moment, but am curious about what others have to say
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- If I get it right, the [class] don't get any Magus arcana. So if the character want to buy them he need to use a normal feat to take extra arcana, right?
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- "Furthermore, once per day the [CLASS] can use his alabaster mask to cast any one spell that belongs to the selected school of magic on the magus spell list, including spells added by arcane repository."
So far, so good.
"At 5th level, the [CLASS] selects a second school to apply these benefits to. At 8th level, he selects a third school. The [CLASS] may cast one spell per mastered school per day using this ability."
I would limit that to 1 extra spell/day, from any of the mastered schools.
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-"Arcane Gift (Su): At 6th level, a [CLASS] adds a number of points to his arcane pool equal to his level. In addition, the alabaster mask functions as a spellbook, allowing the [CLASS] to record up to 1,000 pages of spells into his mask. Finally, whenever the [CLASS] succeeds on a Spellcraft check to identify a spell being cast by 10 or more, he can immediately add that spell to his mask’s spellbook without spending gp if it belongs to one of his mastered schools."
6 arcane points is 3 feats. That become 5 feat when the character get to level 10 in the [class].
Too much.
- "Finally, whenever the [CLASS] succeeds on a Spellcraft check to identify a spell being cast by 10 or more, he can immediately add that spell to his mask’s spellbook without spending gp if it belongs to one of his mastered schools."
He can add spells that are above 6th level? At high level he would have very good chances to make his spellcraft roll and a wizard can scribe in his spellbook spells that are above the level he can currently use.
Honestly I think ti is too good.
- I would change "arcane gift" to the ability to trade + bonus of the black blade for other weapon abilities with a equivalent cost once each level when the character get his new level. He would follow normal magic weapon rules, so he would need to keep at least a +1 bonus beside the other abilities.
Example: when the character get to level 6th in the [class], normally at level 12, his Black blade would be a +3 weapon.
At that point he could trade up to 2 points of enhancement of the for other abilities, as an example making his weapon +1 holy, or +1 keen and Bane (possibly against the enemy organization).
When he get to level 13 he could change the abilities and, as the weapon has become a +4 weapon, take up to 3 points of abilities.
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Personally I thing that the capstone ability of the black blade, Life drinker, is too late and too little to be really useful.
I would use one of the [class] abilities to get it earlier and replace the capstone ability with something different, maybe the ability to become a epic weapon when enhanced with the magus arcana pool.
- If I get it right, the [class] don't get any Magus arcana. So if the character want to buy them he need to use a normal feat to take extra arcana, right?
Sort of. They can spend their bonus feat on the Extra Arcana feat if they wanted to, but the class doesn't specifically give them more Maguc Arcana. Also, Arcane Repository is basically the Spell Blending arcana at every class level, but as far as I know the Spell Blending arcana isn't widely considered a "powerful" arcana, which is why the class functions in the manner it does.
I would limit that to 1 extra spell/day, from any of the mastered schools.
You think so? With the current number of Magus spells per day, I was worried that a spell-focused magus wouldn't get to cast many spells. Perhaps make it like a Cleric's Domain? One bonus spell for each spell level that must be one of the mastered schools? How do you think that sounds?
6 arcane points is 3 feats. That become 5 feat when the character get to level 10 in the [class]. Too much.
I agree with that. I was also thinking about having Arcane Gift remove the Bladebound penalty to the Magus's arcane pool; is there a precedent for something like that?
He can add spells that are above 6th level? At high level he would have very good chances to make his spellcraft roll and a wizard can scribe in his spellbook spells that are above the level he can currently use. Honestly I think it is too good.
The intent was that he could only add spells on the magus spell list (or arcane repository spells). I'll add that to the effect.
I do like the idea of using Arcane Gift to further augment the Black Blade. The fact that it can never do special weapon abilities always seemed weird to me. I'll sit down and see what I can hash out.
The reduction in magic ability is pretty much the only balancing factor in the archetype. Making a Prestige Class should not be an avenue to remove that factor.
I don't think we're talking about the same archetype here. Bladebound Magus doesn't reduce magic ability. It reduces the number of arcane points in the magus's arcane pool ... and basically gives those points to the black blade.
The "balancing factor" is that you give up a Magus Arcana for the Blade Blade. The weapon itself is literally balanced at being worth a feat by the archetype.
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I would limit that to 1 extra spell/day, from any of the mastered schools.You think so? With the current number of Magus spells per day, I was worried that a spell-focused magus wouldn't get to cast many spells. Perhaps make it like a Cleric's Domain? One bonus spell for each spell level that must be one of the mastered schools? How do you think that sounds?
A free spell from a large set of know spells is very powerful. 3 is excessive.
If you want to give him a way to cast more spells and the fights against the specific enemies of the [class] are common, you could give him a way to recover Arcane points when he work against the organization. Maybe giving a special purpose to the Black Blade: Kill members of [organization X] with Life drinker as the special purpose power (I always return to life drinker being a too high level power :P).
Another possibility is to have the mask work as a pseudo pearl of power, allowing him to recharge a used spell slot with one of the selected schools spells as a standard action.
That way you could have the mask giving him up to 3 spells, the balancing factors is that it will not give him 3 spells of his choice on the tip of his fingers. Instead it would give him extra endurance allowing him to recharge used slots.
Note that in any instance giving spells this way is equivalent to giving him as least half of the spell level in arcane points (3 uses of improved spell recall).
6 arcane points is 3 feats. That become 5 feat when the character get to level 10 in the [class]. Too much.I agree with that. I was also thinking about having Arcane Gift remove the Bladebound penalty to the Magus's arcane pool; is there a precedent for something like that?
Remember that the Black blade has some Arcane point (1+int bonus) that somewhat balance the loss from the normal magus progression.
You could say that instead of 1 every 3 levels, the [class] receive 1 arcana point every 2 levels like a normal magus. That would give him 2 more arcana point at maximum level.
Also, Arcane Repository is basically the Spell Blending arcana at every class level, but as far as I know the Spell Blending arcana isn't widely considered a "powerful" arcana, which is why the class functions in the manner it does.
Arcane repository is more like Greater Spell Access. Another ability that is great but appear too late.
Instead of 2 spells of the highest spell level the magus could cast from the magus list or 2 of 1 level lower from the wizard list, you could make it 2 spells from the wizard list of each level the magus could cast, taken 3 level after he has learned to cast spells of that level.I know, it sound a bit confusing, so an example:
At level 7th he take his first level of [class] and Arcane repository.
He has just gained access to 3rd level spells. 3 levels before that he was capable to cast cantrips, 1st level spells and second level spells.
So he can choose 2 cantrips, plus 2 first level spells, plus 2 second level spells.
Later, when he get to level 10, he learn to cast level 4 spells and 3 levels have passed from when he learned to cast 3rd level spells, so he get to add 2 wizard spells to his repertoire.
this progression would continue even after he has taken all the levels in [class], so at 19th level, when 3 levels have passed from when he leaned to cast 6th level spells, he would learn 2 wizard 6th level spells.
The spells would work in all ways like magus spells.
This way he would learn 2 cantrips and 2 spells of all levels from 1 to 6 from the wizard list, instead of 10 like in your version.
essentially he would get an early version of Greater spell access, a ability that he would be unable to get, as it require to be a 19th level magus.
New changes:
Mask and Blade: Also adds to the list of special abilities you can apply to your weapon with the arcane pool. Adds corrosive, corrosive burst, and all four alignment abilities. You need to possess an alignment to add it. (For example, need to be Good to apply holy to your weapon.)
School Mastery: You only get one spell from this ability, instead of one per school. That one spell is now modifiable by spell combat and spellstrike, however.
Arcane Gift: Completely redesigned. Now grants an increasing +1 enhancement bonus to the black blade as the class grows in power. This bonus must be spent on weapon special abilities and you can choose any ability allowed by the arcane pool, as well as a list of four additional abilities based on your mastered schools.