Red Mage from FF1 as a base 1-20 class

[galahad2112]

Tell me if this sounds too unbalanced:
3/4 BAB, good will, poor fort/reflex, 3/4 spellcasting (as Dragon Disciple), but with Divine AND Arcane spell lists. Every 4th level, something else cool. Possibly:
BAB+,F,R,W, special, spells/day
1.) +0 0,0,2 --- +1 CL ------- 0/0
2.) +1 0,0,3 --- +1 CL ------- 1/1
3.) +2 1,1,3 --- +1 CL ------- 2/2
4.) +3 1,1,4 Arcane Strike --- 2/2
5.) +3 1,1,4 --- +1 CL ------- 2/2 0/0
6.) +4 2,2,5 --- +1 CL ------- 2/2 1/1
7.) +5 2,2,5 --- +1 CL ------- 2/2 1/1 0/0
8.) +6 2,2,6 Divine Bond ----- 2/2 1/1 0/0
9.) +6 3,3,6 --- +1 CL ------- 2/2 2/2 1/1
10) +7 3,3,7 --- +1 CL ------- 2/2 2/2 1/1 0/0
11) +8 3,3,7 --- +1 CL ------- 2/2 2/2 2/2 1/1
12) +9 4,4,8 Armored Arcana -- 2/2 2/2 2/2 1/1
13) +9 4,4,8 --- +1 CL ------- 2/2 2/2 2/2 1/1 0/0
14) 10 4,4,9 --- +1 CL ------- 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 1/1
15) 11 5,5,9 --- +1 CL ------- 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 1/1 0/0
16) 12 5,5,10 Divine Resilience 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 1/1 0/0
17) 12 5,5,10 --- +1 CL ------- 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 1/1
18) 13 6,6,11 --- +1 CL ------- 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 1/1 0/0
19) 14 6,6,11 --- +1 CL ------- 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 1/1
20) 15 6,6,12 Divine Arcana --- 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 1/1

Proficiencies

Red mages are proficient with all simple and martial weapons as well as light armor and shields (but not tower shields). A red mage can cast arcane spells while wearing light armor and using a shield without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. Like any other arcane spellcaster, a red mage wearing medium or heavy armor incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component. A multiclass red mage still incurs the normal arcane spell failure chance for arcane spells received from other classes.

Spells

A red mage casts arcane spells drawn from the witch spell list. A red mage casts divine spells drawn from the druid spell list. She can cast any spell she knows without preparing it ahead of time. To learn or cast a spell, a red mage must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a red mage's spell is 10 + the spell level + the red mage's Charisma modifier. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Charisma score.

A red mage's selection of spells is extremely limited. A red mage begins play knowing two 0-level divine spells and two 0-level arcane spells, as well as one 1st-level spell of each divine and arcane. At each new red mage spellcasting level level, she gains one additional divine and arcane spell of any level she is capable of casting.

Arcane Strike

At 4th level, a red mage gains Arcane Strike as a bonus feat

Divine Bond

At 8th level, a red mage gains a Divine Bond, as the paladin class feature. Her effective paladin (or druid, if she selects a mount) level is equal to her red mage level -3.

Armored Arcana

At 12th level, a red mage gains proficiency with medium armor, and may cast arcane spells in medium armor without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. A red mage wearing heavy armor counts as having the Arcane Armor Mastery feat.

Divine Resilience

At 16th level, whenever the red mage succeeds on a saving throw against an attack that has a reduced effect on a successful save, she instead avoids the effect entirely, or takes no damage.

Divine Arcana

At 20th level, a red mage gains the ability to cast a single 8th level spell. This spell may be from either the druid spell list or the witch spell list, and may be cast using spell slots that total 8. (e.g. you could spend two 4th level slots to cast this spell once, or two 3rd level slots and one 2nd level slot)
Every day when the red mage regains her spell slots, she may exchange her single 8th level spell for any other valid choice for that day. She may cast this spell up to 3 times per day.

Comments/concerns/suggestions?

[The Red Mage]

A man after my own heart!

Dot.

[Darkholme]

At a glance this doesn't seem problematic.

Though I will note I think it might be easier to make it a magus archetype with channel energy and a couple other healing spells added to the list.

Possibly base it on the 3.X Warmage or Duskblade (the 3.X versions of the Magus.

[Skylancer4]

Darkholme wrote:

At a glance this doesn't seem problematic.

Though I will note I think it might be easier to make it a magus archetype with channel energy and a couple other healing spells added to the list.

Possibly base it on the 3.X Warmage or Duskblade (the 3.X versions of the Magus.

Agreed, use the magus as the start point, tweak the spell list & abilities.

As a rule of thumb, if there is a "core" option that does the majority of what you are attempting to do, use it instead of a ground up creation. Even the "Refresh" is essentially the same as the base magus' ability to regain spells from the arcane pool. The mechanics are there, a lot of things can just be re-fluffed to fit the concept.

[DragoDorn]

dot

[LoneKnave]

Yeah, just use Magus with spells from the Bard list maybe? A Magus/Bard cross looks ideal really.

[Zwordsman]

as a note. I made something similar )although not as strong at all etc). I never got to play it (it requries a rather high level; maybe less so with the newer FAQ) Magus, and oracle, with Mystic theurge. Lv 6 magus lets you use other spell lists. It wasn't too bad, but had some lacking obviously.

I'd love to play this class, looks awesome

[BobtheSamurai]

Gotta watch out for mystic theurge sillyness with an arcane/divine single classed caster though. A strict reading of the RAW gives +2 caster levels per level of MT. I remember seeing something like this with the 3.x sha'ir class (genie binder), though to be fair that class was a full caster IIRC.

[Bluescale]

LoneKnave wrote:

Yeah, just use Magus with spells from the Bard list maybe? A Magus/Bard cross looks ideal really.

Actually, I'd say a bard with the magus spell list would be better. The bard's spell list is not very suited to the red mage, as a red mage can learn many different offensive spells (and mainly elemental ones at that). The bard's spell list, on the other hand, is mainly about illusion and enchantment, not offense (the first direct damage dealing spell a bard gets is the 2nd level sound burst, and it can't deal elemental damage until the bard is level 7, since the Elemental Spell metamagic feat raises the spell level by 1). With the magus spell list, you only need to add the cure spells and you've got it. The bard is a better fit than the magus for the red mage anyway, as in Final Fantasy, there are no prepared spellcasters; all the mages in the original version of Final Fantasy I worked their magic like sorcerers (the remakes switched to the more standard spell point system).