Hi all
In my second run of Curse of the Crimson Throne, one of my players (rakshasa bloodline sorcerer) wants to add some oracle levels to help with healing in a 6-man party that at this point have no healing save wands (swashbuckler, ninja, stonelord paladin, hunter without healing spells, sorcerer, and magus).
We discussed Mystic Theurge but since it hamstrings his sorcerer and oracle abilities greatly and delivers not much bang for its yuck, I played around with the idea of a spontaneous mystic theurge.
At this point, we are also thinking about just using wands and later Leadership to attract a healbot cohort, but I wanted to float this new prestige class to the hivemind.
What do you guys think?
Conduit
Some use power from within, projecting the force of their personality to channel arcane powers. Others are vessels for divine forces, becoming agents of any gods that share the same interests. Conduits are extraordinary people who wield powers both within and without. They learn to cast arcane and divine spells in unison and develop powers that tap into both their divine and arcane source of power.
Role: Some conduits believe their arcane might is another manifestation of a divine gift (or curse). They tend to see themselves as agents of beings far beyond the mortal realm, and act as such. They might travel to spread the word of aligned gods, actively seek out those that oppose her divine patron, or aid temples or allied cults in communities or even cities.
Others see their inner arcane powers as a reason why they were blessed by an unknown patron. These individuals see their divine gifts as a curse more often than not, fearing these gifts will come at a price – their own personal freedom. While most enjoy their divine powers, they try to focus on increasing their arcane strength out of a burning desire to remain in control. These conduits tend to travel a lot, seeking out places of learning, ancient crypts, or other sources of lore. Others become paragons of their people, leading them to new heights of power.
Alignment: Any.
Hit Die: D8
Requirements
To qualify to become a conduit, a character needs to fulfill all the following criteria:
Skills: Spellcraft 5 ranks.
Spells: Able to cast spontaneously 2nd-level divine spells and 2nd-level arcane spells.
Class Skills
The conduit’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are: Diplomacy (Cha), Knowledge (Arcana) (Int), and Spellcraft (Int).
Skill Ranks at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All of the following are features of the conduit prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Conduits gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.
Spells per Day
Each level, a conduit gains new spells per day as if she had gained a level in any one arcane and any one divine spellcasting class she belonged to before taking levels in conduit. Once she makes this choice at first level, those two classes become her parent classes. She effectively adds her conduit levels to both parent classes to determine spells known, spell slots per day, and caster level, but not to determine any other abilities of those classes.
Conduit Spell (Su)
At 1st level, a conduit learns to draw power from both arcane and divine spells. She can cast two spells, one of each spell list of the two parent classes (see above) simultaneously, as long as they use the same action. This uses a slot of a level equal to the highest level of the two spells cast. This slot may come from either parent class. She may make any choices of the spell, such as targeting, independently of each other. A conduit cannot use metamagic feats with conduit spells (but see conduit surge later).
A conduit can cast a conduit spell once per day at 1st level, plus an additional time at 3rd level and every 2 levels therafter, up to 5 times per day at 9th level.
Slot Conduction (Su)
At 1st level, a conduit becomes a bridge between her inner and outer gifts. She is able to use her arcane spell slots to cast divine spells and vice versa, but only for spells one level below the slot used. For instance, she could use a 4th level divine spell slot to cast any of her known arcane spells of 3rd level or lower.
Conduit Surge
At 2nd level, a conduit learns to increase his powers. She chooses one of the following benefits, thereby increasing the power of one of her parent classes, or her conduit abilities. At 4th, 6th, and 8th level, she gains another power from an expanded list. Any time she chooses a new power, she can choose one of any list she had previously access to. For instance, a 6th level conduit could pick a power from the 2nd, 4th, or 6th-level list. Unless noted differently, you can only select a surge once. Conduit surges emulating class abilities always use Charisma to determine their saving throw DC.
Arcane Conduit (Su): The conduit adds her class levels to her arcanist levels to determine the effects of her exploits, and her total arcane points. She does not gain any exploits this way. Only conduits with arcanist as a parent class can take this surge.
Blood Conduit (Su): The conduit adds her class levels to her sorcerer levels to determine the effects of her bloodline abilities, including bloodline spells known. She does not gain new bloodline powers or bloodline feats this way. Only conduits with sorcerer as a parent class can take this surge.
Eldtritch Conduit (Su): The conduit adds her class levels to her magus levels to determine the effects of her bloodrage abilities, bloodline spells, and her eldritch pool points. This does not grant bloodrage abilities or eldritch pool abilities. Only conduits with the eldritch scion magus as a parent class can take this surge.
Inspiring Conduit (Su): The conduit adds her class levels to her bard levels to determine the effects of any of his bardic performances, as well as her total rounds per day of bardic performance. Only conduits with bard as a parent class can take this surge.
Hunter’s Conduit (Su): The conduit adds her class levels to her hunter levels to determine the abilities of his animal companion. Only conduits with hunter as parent class can take this surge.
Oracular Conduit (Su): The conduit adds her class levels to her oracle levels to determine the effects of any revelations she knows, as well as to determine the bonus spells from her mystery. She does not gain new revelations this way. Only conduits with oracle as a parent class can take this surge.
Patron Conduit (Su): The conduit adds her class levels to her witch levels to determine the effects of any hexes she knows, as well as bonus spells from her patron. Only conduits with ley line guardian witch as a parent class can take this surge.
Ragesong Conduit (Su): The conduit adds her class levels to her skald levels to determine the effects of any of his ragesongs, as well as her total rounds per day of ragesong. Only conduits with skald as a parent class can take this surge.
Summoning Conduit (Su): The conduit adds her class levels to her summoner levels to determine the abilities of her eidolon. Only conduits with summoner as a parent class can take this surge.
A 4th level conduit adds the following options to her conduit surge list.
Arcane Surge: The conduit learns one magus arcana for which she meets the prerequisites. Only conduits with magus as a parent class can take this surge. You can take this surge more than once.
Aspect Surge: The conduit learns the aspect ability of a 10th level summoner. Only conduits with summoner as a parent class can take this surge.
Bloodline Surge: The conduit learns the 9th level power of her bloodline. Only conduits with sorcerer as a parent class can take this surge.
Companion Surge: The conduit gains the raise companion ability of a 10th level hunter. Only conduits with hunter as a parent class can take this surge.
Conduit Metamagic (Su): A conduit with this power can add one metamagic feat to her conduit spell. This metamagic feat affects both spells independently. As usual for using metamagic feats with spontaneous spellcasting, this conduit spell has its casting time increased and uses a higher spell slot, as indicated by the metamagic feat used. For instance, a conduit casting an silent (+1 spell slot) conduit spell uses a spell slot one higher than the highest level of both spells. If both spells use a standard action, the silent conduit spell becomes a full-round action to cast.
Performance Surge: The conduit adds either dirge of doom or inspire greatness to her known bardic performances. Only conduits with bard as a parent class can take this surge. Alternatively, conduits with skald as a parent class can choose this option, but are limited to dirge of doom.
Revelation Surge: The conduit learns one revelation granted by her mystery. She must meet the prerequisits for that mystery. Only conduits with oracle as parent class can take this surge. You can take this surge more than once.
A 6th level conduit adds the following options to his conduit surge list.
Focus Surge: The conduit gains the second animal focus ability as a 8th level hunter. Only conduits with hunter as a parent class can take this surge.
Hexing Surge: The conduit learns one major hex. This counts as having the major hex ability. Only conduits with witch as a parent class can take this surge.
Exploit Surge: The conduit learns one greater exploit. This counts as having the greater exploit ability. Only conduits with arcanist as a parent class can take this surge.
An 8th level conduit adds the following options to his conduit surge list.
Bloodline Surge: The conduit learns the 15th level power of her bloodline. Only conduits with sorcerer as a parent class can take this surge.
Conduit Overload (Su): This ability allows a conduit to cast conduit spells without using her daily conduit spells, by spending two slots of the required level, each from another parent class. Using this ability counts as using a metamagic feat for the purposes of determining casting time of the conduit spell.
Empathic Surge: The conduit gains the greater empathic link ability of a 14th level hunter. Only conduits with hunter as a parent class can take this surge.
Performance Surge: The conduit adds either soothing performance or frightening tune to her known bardic performances. Only conduits with bard as a parent class can take this surge. Alternatively, conduits with skald as parent class can gain song of the fallen if they choose this surge.
Lifebond Surge: The conduit learns the life bond ability of a 14th level summoner. Only conduits with summoner as a parent class can take this surge.
Perfect Conduit (Su)
At 10th level, a conduit perfects the balance between arcane and divine magic. Whenever she casts a conduit spell, she increases the DC to save against both spells by 2. Furthermore, she combines her levels in both parent classes and her conduit classes to determine the caster level for both spells. Whenever she uses slot conduction, she no longer has to use slots of a higher level to fuel spells from the other list.
New Feat Options
Extra Surge (Surge class ability): You gain one additional surge you meet the prerequisites for. You can take this feat more than once.
You don't need to go full on prestige class in order to accomplish what the player wants. Allow him to broaden his bloodline to include a limited number of healing spells as spells known, or let him discover an item granting those spells known, or let him have some divine event happen to his character where he is gifted with some spells known. Then he can use his normal pool of sorcerer spells per day to optionally heal, instead of blasting it all away in five rounds of combat.
For example there's a 3pp bloodline called the "Divine Bloodline" that lets you choose a cleric domain, could be the healing domain for example, and add those spells to your spells known.
I would maybe suggest reskinning the Razmiran Priest archetype for sorcerers.
If you really want to cook up new player options though, that can be fun, but you can inevitably only balance them by playing them. So, you'll need to do tweaking after the fact. Just keep in mind, it goes a lot smoother to give than to take away. So, I'd start weaker and buff it up as needed.
Consider the Magister class. It's 3pp, but it's basically a spontaneous Mystic Theurge that can gain access to a number of interesting class features, including (but not limited to) Sorcerer Bloodlines and Oracle Mysteries.