Soul-Sold Feat [3.5]

[mangy_mathan]

In the campaign world I am creating, spirits are a big part of magic. Clerics and druids essentially ask spirits to perform tasks for them. Wizards ignore spirits and manipulate magic directly, which is why they can cast any spell they so desire regardless of alignment but also have a theme of having to work and study quite hard for just a little spark of magic. Sorcerers have a spirit patron that is bound to them from birth, giving them the powers of a wizard with the ease of a cleric.

In this campaign, familiars are the manifestations of those patrons, and so wizards do not have them. Instead, wizards may use the animal companion variant or any of the specialist wizard variants in the SRD. BUT I want to give wizards a chance to acquire a spirit patron by making a contract with an evil spirit, which increases their power, but at a price. my first instinct was to make this a feat, but it might become a prestige class a la tainted sorcerer.


Soul-Sold
You have made a pact with one of the Fallen, offering your soul for greater power.
Prerequisites: Wizard Level 5th, Corrupt Spell, any non-good alignment.
Benefit: You obtain a familiar as a sorcerer, except this familiar is an imp or quasit (depending upon your alignment. Neutral Evil or Neutral casters may pick either). In addition, When you cast an evil spell with your fiendish familiar in arm's reach, your wizard caster level is considered two points higher. However, should you perish, you cannot be raised or resurrected by any means. You are also considered to have the evil subtype in all situations in which it is harmful to you.

Originally I had the familiar gained simply be a fiendish version of a standard familiar. However, it appears that no one I asked thought that was worth the permanent death. So, I upped the familiar. How might I further balance it enough to make it viable?

I wanted this feat to up the caster's power and provide an evil familiar (the manifestation of the spirit involved in the pact), but with the cost of a permanent death, as the soul is harvested by the spirit as is part of the contract. The nature of the familiar and the casting enhancement is free to be morphed, however, as this feat is worked on.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Jack_Simth]

There's a problem with using permanent death as a drawback:

The player isn't banished from the table upon character perma-death; the player just has to make up a new character. It is fundamentally the same objection I had to Zeta Kai's Bio-Mage, which he never did properly refute to my knoweledge.

Essentially, this feat has a drawback that isn't really a drawback in a way that usually matters to game-play.

Also, the effect is mostly negligible. +2 caster level to a spell with a particular descriptor? You can generally get half of that, plus a bonus ability, through the Complete Mage Reserve Feats.

[mangy_mathan]

The familiar is in addition to whatever ability the wizard had instead, such as a skeleton pet (necromancer variant) or an increased caster level for certain energy spells (evoker variant).

Yes, I've heard that the +2 caster level is rather weak. How might I change it to make it more appealing?

Interestingly, the perma-death thing actually seems to be a sticking point. Most of the people I've shown this to say it ruins the deal and they'd never pick the feat because of it. Though I admit it is highly dependent upon play style and probably shouldn't be relied upon.

I also considered the feat causing the character to function as an evil outsider when it's harmful to them, such as when exposed to holy water.

How might you change it, or is it so fundamentally messed up that it isn't worth the effort to make it?

[Jack_Simth]

The familiar is in addition to whatever ability the wizard had instead, such as a skeleton pet (necromancer variant) or an increased caster level for certain energy spells (evoker variant).

Yes, I've heard that the +2 caster level is rather weak. How might I change it to make it more appealing?

Spontaneous Domain access, maybe. It lets you spontaneously convert prepared spells into spells of the same level or lower from an alignment domain (you could also make elemental variants). For that matter, you could even expand the abilities of the feat in question to permit any alignment (substituting other variants for the familiar, of course - a Lantern Archon and ... hmm, what's a good CR 2 or less CG outsider? Oh well...


Interestingly, the perma-death thing actually seems to be a sticking point. Most of the people I've shown this to say it ruins the deal and they'd never pick the feat because of it. Though I admit it is highly dependent upon play style and probably shouldn't be relied upon.

Well, here's the thing.

That particular drawback makes it less attractive, but doesn't do anything for the game balance of the feat itself.

So what you want is some form of power leech - maybe there's a reason demon's want spellcaster's souls. Perhaps they can use those spell slots somehow ... maybe that's how they power their spell-like abilies.


I also considered the feat causing the character to function as an evil outsider when it's harmful to them, such as when exposed to holy water.

How might you change it, or is it so fundamentally messed up that it isn't worth the effort to make it?
Maybe something like....

Oath of Soul's Service
You have contracted with a powerful outsider on an exchange of power...
Requirements: Caster Level 1st, compatible alignment (see below).
Benefit: When you select this feat, choose a domain (Law, Good, Evil, Chaos, Fire, Earth, Water, or Air). You gain the ability to convert prepared spells into spells of that level from the domain, just as a Cleric can convert spells to Cure or Inflict spells. Additionally, you gain a familiar based on that domain and your alignment - a small elemental of the same type as the domain for Fire, Earth, Water, or Air. To have an elemental selection, you must have at least one neutral component to your alignment. If you select an alignment domain, you must have that alignment, and you gain a familiar based on your alignment (the familiar may not be more than one step from your alignment). That is, if you select the Evil domain, you have either an Imp (LE) or a Quasit (CE) as a familiar. If you select the Law domain, you have either an Imp (LE) or a Lantern Archon (LG) as a familiar. If you select the Good domain, you have either a Lantern Archon (LG) or a -------- (CG) as a familiar. If you select the Chaos domain, you have either a --------- (CG) or a Quasit (CE) as a familiar.
Special: You permanently lose one spell slot per spell level, to a minimum of one spell per spell level, of each spell level you can cast. As you later gain access to new levels of spells, you lose access to one spell of each of those levels as well. You are affected by anything that would affect the subtype of the domain you selected, as well as anything that would affect you had you not selected this feat. Further, you have pledged your post-mortem service to this Outsider. When you die, you go to serve the Outsider. You can be Raised or Resurrected as normal, but every time you come back, the Outsider imposes a Geas on you (DM's choice) that cannot be removed by any means save completion. If you somehow lose this feat, the Special section continues to apply, but you lose the benefit.

There - a very tangible benefit, plus some annoying costs. Now the only problem is finding a Small or smaller, CR 2 or less CG outsider....

[Indeed.]

Coure Eladrin, Book of Exalted Deeds.

If you include NG/NE, from the same Book is the Musteval, NG and CR2.

[sigurd]

Why don't you make arcane casters different from most of the other casters by having them bind spirits against their will.

I don't know the mechanic but I think the prospect of a demon\devil\angel etc... escaping and wreaking havoc is intriguing.


Or be done with the spirits and familiars and make all casters summon and bind casters that went before. A familiar that is really a ghost (and everyone sort of suspects this) combined with the thought that wizards don't tend to go to heaven or hell might make them a tad creepy.

Sigurd

[mangy_mathan]

Thanks to all who have tried to help, but I've found that the concept really is best done as something other than a feat. I may design a prestige class instead.