So, I have a request for an Arch-type for the Battle Scion from New Path's Compendium (Kobold Press). I think it's a fairly straight forward request, but I wanted to bounce the idea off the board.
Basic Idea: An Arcane School Specialist Arch-type (No Name as Yet), in much the same way a Wizard Specializes.
Here is what I'm leaning towards currently. I haven't "prettied it up" to follow that standard Arch-type format yet, as I'm still hammering out the details.
Mechanical Details, Benefits: Choose one School of Magic. Starting at 4th level, you receive an additional spell slot of each spell level you can cast, from 1st on up. Each day, a Battle Scion can prepare a spell from his specialty school in that slot. This spell must be in the Battle Scion's spellbook. A Battle Scion can select a spell modified by a metamagic feat to prepare in his school slot, but it uses up a higher-level spell slot. This Modifies the Battle Scion's Spell's class ability.
Mechanical Details, Drawbacks: A Battle Scion that chooses to specialize in one school of magic must select two other schools as his Prohibited Schools, representing knowledge sacrificed in one area of arcane lore to gain mastery in another. A Battle Scion treats all spells of his prohibited schools as if they do not appear on the Wizard/Sorcerer spell list. If using a spell trigger or spell completion item to cast a spell from one of his prohibited schools, he must use the Use Magic Device skill to do so.
I toyed with the idea of granting school abilities to replace existing Battle Scion abilities, but that looked like a balancing nightmare and decided that focusing on one thing (Spell Casting) would be easier/simpler/more elegant.
One additional Spell / Level seems like it will give the class a larger pool of magic to draw from (which is the idea), but the prohibited school's will make them much more focused (which prevents them from even using scrolls/wands, something traditional wizards can use to get around the restrictions). In effect, the pool got bigger, but it also got shallower.
How's this outline look? Any glaring issues?
Here is the finished version. Fairly simple. Does this look ok? Comments?
Arcane Scion (Battle Scion Archtype)
An Arcane Scion focuses his arcane study on a specific specialized field of magic, gaining increased mastery within his chosen field of study. This specialization comes at the price of versatility, requiring the scion to completely abandon the study of two other fields to find the time to pursue both martial training and specialized magical training.
Specialized Training (Ex): At 1st Level, the Arcane Scion must choose a single school of magic to pursue. Once made, this choice may not be changed, as it represents specialized training. Starting at 4th Level, you receive and additional spell slot for each spell level you can cast, from 1st on up. Each day, an Arcane Scion can prepare a spell from his specialized school in this bonus slot. This spell must be in the Arcane Scions Spell-book. An Arcane Scion can select a spell modified by a Meta-magic feat to prepare in his school slot, but it uses up a higher level spell slot as normal. This modifies the Battle Scions Spell's Class Ability.
An Arcane Scion must select 2 School's of Magic as his Prohibited Schools, representing knowledge sacrificed in one area of arcane lore to gain mastery in another. An Arcane Scion treats all spells of his prohibited Schools as if they do not appear on the Sorcerer/Wizard Spell List. If using a Spell Trigger or Spell Completion item to cast a spell from one of his prohibited schools, he must use the Use Magic Device skill to do so. An Arcane Scion is treated as a Specialist Wizard for the use of the Spell-Craft Skill, gaining a +2 bonus to checks pertaining to his specialized school, but a -5 penalty on checks from his Prohibited Schools.
Thanks, any thoughts on if the loss of 2 schools and spell trigger/completion is a sufficient loss to justify an additional spell/level?