|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Should I have this be a base class, or a wizard archetype that replaces their Arcane School, Arcane Bond,and Arcane Discoveries?
-----------------------------------------
MAGUS OF THE STARRY HOST
The magi of the starry host are the wizards of Babylon. They do not use spellbooks to memorize spells, and cannot use scrolls. Instead, they observe the heavens and find magical wisdom in the motion of stars and planets. Magi are as much scientists as wizards. They seldom dwell in one place for long, but wander the world, looking for interesting phenomena and omens.
Game Rule Information
Abilities: As arcane spellcasters, magi require a high Intelligence scores for the maximum level of their spells, the number of bonus spells available each level, and the difficulty of saves against them. Magi are teachers and wise men, so high Wisdom scores are also important. As they typically wear no armor, high Dexterity can be useful. High Constitution gives them much-needed bonus hit points.
Alignment: Any
Abbreviation: Mgs
Hit Die: d4
Starting Age: 15 + 2d6
Class Skills
Skills Points At 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) x4
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier
Class Skills: The magus of the starry host’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Alchemy (Int), Concentration (Con), Diplomacy (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (astrology)
(Int), Knowledge (engineering) (Int), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (mathematics) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), Scry (Int), Spellcraft (Int), and Wilderness Lore (Int).
Class Features
All the following are features of the magus of the starry host class.
Weapon & Armor: Proficiency: Magi of the starry host are skilled with club, dagger, and quarterstaff.
Spells: A 1st-level magus of the starry host knows the celestial secrets behind casting all 0-level wizard spells, three 1st-level spells of his choice, plus one additional 1st-level spell per point of his Int bonus.
The only way for him to learn new spells is through spell pilgrimages (see below).
A magus’s spells are arcane, but he doesn’t record them on tablets or scrolls, but instead internalizes the knowledge of the heavens. This enables him to cast any spell he knows without preparing them in
advance. Magi of the starry host receive bonus spells for high Intelligence, and to cast a spell a magus must have an Intelligence score at least equal to 10 + the level of the spell. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a magus’s spell is 10 + the spell’s level + the caster’s Intelligence modifier.
Domain Spell: A magus of the starry host can cast spells from the Heaven domain (see p. 83) as if they were arcane spells of the same level.
Spells in the Heavens: A magus dedicates his magic to a single star (usually a northern star that is in the sky year-round in the Northern Hemisphere, although this may be a serious impediment if he’s forced to travel to the Southern Hemisphere). By concentrating on that star for an hour as it moves in
the night sky, he renews expended spell slots.
Compound Wondrous Incense: A magus is able to make wondrous incense, a magical incense that fills an area with a dweomer that affects everyone who breathes it (see p. 109).
It requires four hours, an Alchemy check (DC 13), and 50 gp in supplies to make one ounce of wondrous incense.
Lore Pilgrimage: A magus can make pilgrimages to special locations where the heavens will reveal powerful lore to him.
The magus can calculate the location of a celestial phenomena that will allow him to either receive 4+Int bonus extra skill points, or learn a bonus metamagic feat (magus’ choice), and when it may be viewed to gain the lore. If he travels to that spot (2d20 x caster level miles from the magus’ home base) at the proper time (1d20 x caster level days from the time he determines the event), he gains the knowledge of a spell, which is added to his repertoire. The base Knowledge (astrology) check DC is 30.
If he fails, he may not attempt to calculate a new lore opportunity for seven days. If he’s successful, he knows the time and place where he needs to be to gain the lore. Once he views the phenomena, he gains the benefits. As with a spell pilgrimage, magic may not be used to significantly augment the journey. The GM should award XP to the magus if the quest is completed.
Once he’s successfully made a lore pilgrimage, a magus may not make another until he reaches a level that gives him a new opportunity (4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th). There is no restriction as to when he can make a lore pilgrimage when he’s eligible for one; if he delays his 4th-level pilgrimage until after he’s reached 8th level, he may still make it then.
Brew Potion: At 6th level, a magus learns to Brew Potion as a bonus feat.
Scrying Star: At 10th level, a magus of the starry host gets a +2 bonus on all Scry checks if his star is clearly visible in the sky. In periods of reduced celestial visibility (e.g., daytime or under clouded skies), he can only receive this bonus after making a Knowledge (astrology) check (DC 20) to determine exactly where his star would be if not for the occluding condition.
Nondetection: At 14th level, a magus gains nondetection as per the spell, only when his star is clearly visible in the night sky.
Observatory: At 18th level, a magus can build an observatory (minimum cost 50,000 gp) in the form of a small step pyramid (ziggurat). If spells are prepared from within the observatory, their DCs are raised by +1. In addition, Knowledge (astrology) rolls (including those for spell and lore pilgrimages) receive a +2 bonus.
TABLE 2-16: THE MAGUS OF THE STARRY HOST
Level Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Special
1 +0 +0 +0 +2 Domain spell, spells in the heavens, Compound
Wondrous Incense
2 +1 +0 +0 +3 Spell pilgrimage
3 +1 +1 +1 +3
4 +2 +1 +1 +4 Lore pilgrimage
5 +2 +1 +1 +4
6 +3 +2 +2 +5 Brew potion
7 +3 +2 +2 +5
8 +4 +2 +2 +6 Lore pilgrimage
9 +4 +3 +3 +6
10 +5 +3 +3 +7 Scrying star
11 +5 +3 +3 +7
12 +6/+1 +4 +4 +8 Lore pilgrimage
13 +6/+1 +4 +4 +8
14 +7/+2 +4 +4 +9 Nondetection
15 +7/+2 +5 +5 +9
16 +8/+3 +5 +5 +10 Lore pilgrimage
17 +8/+3 +5 +5 +10
18 +9/+4 +6 +6 +11 Observatory
19 +9/+4 +6 +6 +11
20 +10/+5 +6 +6 +12 Lore pilgrimage
Table 2-17: Magi of the Starry Host Spells Per Day
Arcane Spells per Day
Level 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1 3 1 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
2 4 2 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
3 4 2 1 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
4 4 3 2 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
5 4 3 2 1 -- -- -- -- -- --
6 4 3 3 2 -- -- -- -- -- --
7 4 3 3 2 1 -- -- -- -- --
8 4 4 3 3 2 -- -- -- -- --
9 4 4 3 3 2 1 -- -- -- --
10 4 4 4 3 3 2 -- -- -- --
11 4 4 4 3 3 2 1 -- -- --
12 4 4 4 4 3 3 2 -- -- --
13 4 4 4 4 4 3 2 1 -- --
14 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 2 -- --
15 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 2 1 --
16 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 2 --
17 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 2 1
18 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 2
19 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3
20 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Looks like a wizard from 3.5 (HD being 1d4), how old is it?
I'd just go archetype and replace everything that goes under the "special" heading.
|
|
As it says in the title the class is from the campaign Testament, which is a part of the d20 system.... so fairly old.
-------------------------
One thing that may have to be adopted is the fact the Magus of the Starry Host needs to travel, a lot, to get their spells. They simply can't research new spells or get them from spell books like normal wizards but travel to different places at time and record their new spells from the night sky/celestial formation.
Though to be honest, this gives them a good excuse to travel with an adventuring party. Not only for protection but to cover the skills they lack. Yet given the nature of how they have a time limit to get the new spells it could also be a hindrance unless the other party member are on board with going where the magus of the starry host need to go when such comes up.
He will also need to be enhances, increased, if the class is to make a good wizard archetype.
I don't think the travel time is really All that important. Very few adventures have really tight time tables that require X absolutely be done by Y before Z. And you're a flipping wizard, you can teleport.
As for archetypes... The vast majority of archtypes are actually worse than the vanilla class. I don't see why you would need to increase this one's power. The niche this one could fill is definitely "skill monkey" with all the bonus skills it could get (though the bonus meta magic feats would probably be the optimal choices). It is basically an intelligence based sorceror, no preparation for spells, no worry about spell books, etc. They have a while class devoted to that. And maybe it makes sense to make it a sorceror archetype now that I read that over again...
I would say that it needs to have a bloodline associated with whatever star they get their inspiration from. It's an astrology based sorcerer drawing on the three wise men in the Bible (even if they did get there after Jesus was born, but hey, everyone can give a little for Christmas) specifically, and Babylonian magi in general, since arcane magic is somewhat limited in the Testament setting. So you need to know what constellations are used in the universe this sorcerer is going into, and then associate it that way. In addition, the lore pilgrimage should be changed to state that the magus of the starry host gains either a spell, 4+Int bonus skill points that the magus can't use to raise any skill above his class level, or a bonus metamagic feat. They also gain access to any spells from the Heaven Domain as arcane magic. They should probably lose the ability to get a familiar and normal spell acquisition if you're really set on using the pilgrimages as the method they use to acquire magic.
Skills should be 2{+Int), and should be Craft Alchemy, Diplomacy, Knowledge (any), Profession, and Spellcraft. HP should be the standard 1d6 for wiz/sorc classes. Add in knowledge mathematics and Knowledge Astrology as new Knowledge skills. Also, you may want to modify the weapons if they are coming from a Persian culture, since if the magi are noblemen, they may have learned other weapons other than the typical club, dagger and quarterstaff.
I'm kind of wondering how this might work as a sorcerer archetype who swaps in Intelligence as the casting stat.