Darwin
2009-08-01, 10:14 PM
As a part of a project to balance out wizards in our playgroup I'm attempting to split up the schools between a number of base classes in the likes of Beguiler, Warmage and Dread Necromancer. The first piece of this puzzle is going to be the favorite of our beloved batman: conjuration.
Looking over the conjuration school we have several types of spells: control, damage, creation, teleportation and finally summoning. Every single one of these archetypes are quite powerful compared to most other spell types, so even after splitting up the schools to different classes, I'll split up conjuration into two classes.
Two archetypes that go well together are control (glitterdust, web, and solid fog), and teleportation (benign transposition, dimension door, teleport) so I'll leave those two for another base class, and focus on summoning.
Enter the Malconvoker
Looking for inspiration I stumbled across the Malconvoker (complete scoundrel). A summoning focused prestige class that turned evil against evil by manipulating evil outsider into doing his bidding. This is the guy every summoner wants to be, flavor-rich and with powerful class features that makes summon nature's ally cry when compared to this guy's summon monster spells.
So how do we make this schmuck work?
Simple, first we craft up a base class with poor BAB, good will save and the spell progression of a sorcerer. Then we look at the Malconvoker's class features, and spread them out over the 20 clean levels at our disposal. Keeping in mind that our role models are the beguiler, warmage and dread necromancer we want this guy to have one thing he's great at, and not so much more than that, so for his spell-list we'll add the summon monster line, and just that.
An early problem with the summon monster line is it's duration, what good does summoning a monster do you when it's only there to do your biddings for a single round? Nothing! We'll average out the duration and let it stay that way disregarding caster level.
Another issue with the Malconvoker is that there is a lot of cool evil outsiders there, and his main weapon of choice; summon monster, won't let him summon most of them. The SRD presents us with a variant rule for individualized summons lists, we'll use this to make our Malconvoker even more interesting.
Augment Summoning is a feat any wise player will pick for his base class Malconvoker, so let's do him a favor and pick it for him, we'll add Augment Summoning as a class feature at level 5.
Another semi-unique thing about summoning spells is the casting time. Rather stand a standard action you'll have to spend an entire round summoning, this makes you vulnerable to dispelling and disturbances while you're casting. Adding a class feature that speeds up the process to a standard action is a nice and strong feature to add at 12th level.
There's been a few other adjustments, and there will probaly be more once I get a little input from you my dear readers, but let's skip ahead to what you came here looking for, presenting, the base class Malconvoker!
{table="head"]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9
1st|+0|+0|+0|+2|Rapid Summoning, Timed Contract, Devil's Deal|3||||||||
2nd|+1|+0|+0|+3|Deceptive Summons, Planar Binding|4||||||||
3rd|+1|+1|+1|+3|Bluff Bonus +1|5||||||||
4th|+2|+1|+1|+4||6|3|||||||
5th|+2|+1|+1|+4|Augment Summoning|6|4|||||||
6th|+3|+2|+2|+5||6|5|3||||||
7th|+3|+2|+2|+5|Bluff Bonus +2|6|6|4||||||
8th|+4|+2|+2|+6|Deceptive Summons (Fury)|6|6|5|3|||||
9th|+4|+3|+3|+6||6|6|6|4|||||
10th|+5|+3|+3|+7|Fiendish Legion|6|6|6|5|3||||
11th|+5|+3|+3|+7|Bluff Bonus +3|6|6|6|6|4||||
12th|+6/1|+4|+4|+8|Deceitful Bargaining|6|6|6|6|5|3|||
13th|+6/1|+4|+4|+8|Eyes of the King|6|6|6|6|6|4|||
14th|+7/2|+4|+4|+9|Deceptive Summons (Resistance)|6|6|6|6|6|5|3||
15th|+7/2|+5|+5|+9|Bluff Bonus +4|6|6|6|6|6|6|4||
16th|+8/3|+5|+5|+10|Improved Calling|6|6|6|6|6|6|5|3|
17th|+8/3|+5|+5|+10||6|6|6|6|6|6|6|4|
18th|+9/4|+6|+6|+11|Safe Summoning|6|6|6|6|6|6|6|5|3
19th|+9/4|+6|+6|+11|Bluff Bonus +5|6|6|6|6|6|6|6|6|4
20th|+10/5|+6|+6|+12||6|6|6|6|6|6|6|6|5[/table]
Summons Known:
{table="head"]Level|I|II|III|IV|V|VI|VII|VIII|IX
1st|1||||||||
2nd|1||||||||
3rd|1||||||||
4th|2|1|||||||
5th|2|1|||||||
6th|3|1|1||||||
7th|3|2|1||||||
8th|4|2|1|1|||||
9th|4|3|2|1|||||
10th|5|3|2|1|1||||
11th|5|4|3|2|1||||
12th|6|4|3|2|1|1|||
13th|6|5|4|3|2|1|||
14th|7|5|4|3|2|1|1||
15th|7|6|5|4|3|2|1||
16th|8|6|5|4|3|2|1|1|
17th|8|7|6|5|4|3|2|1|
18th|9|7|6|5|4|3|2|1|1
19th|9|8|7|6|5|4|3|2|1
20th|10|8|7|6|5|4|3|2|1[/table]
Class Skills (2 + Int modifier per level): Bluff, Concentration, Craft, Disguise, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (the planes), Profession, Spellcraft.
Malconvokers are proficient with all simple weapons. They are not proficient with any type of armor or shield. Armor of any type interferes with a malconvoker’s gestures, which can cause his spells with somatic components to fail.
- Spells -
A malconvoker casts the summon monster, and planar binding line of spells.
To cast a spell, a malconvoker must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a malconvoker’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the malconvoker’s Charisma modifier.
Like other spellcasters, a malconvoker can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on the table. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Charisma score.
Unlike a wizard or a cleric, a malconvoker need not prepare his spells in advance. He can cast any spell he knows at any time, assuming he has not yet used up his spells per day for that spell level. He does not have to decide ahead of time which spells he’ll cast.
At every time the Malconvoker attains a new level of spells he may add an additional summonable monster to his currently available summon monster lists. The added monster must be an Evil Outsider, this includes any creature with the fiendish template, with a CR of no more than the spell level. For example: Justin the Malconvoker has attained 5th level, granting him access to his 3rd level spell Summon Monster III, Justin pages through his monster manual for monsters to add to his spells, for his 3rd level spell he adds a Howler (CR 3), for his 2nd level spells he adds Dretch demon, and for his 1st level spells he adds a Lemure demon.
- Timed Contract -
Unlike other spellcasters the Malconvoker doesn't rely on experience to lengthen the duration of his summons. The duration of any summon monster spell cast by the Malconvoker has a duration of 10 rounds, not regarding his caster level.
- Devil's Deal -
Rather than a specific list of creatures available, the Malconvoker's array of devils to his disposal grows with him. Whenever the Malconvoker gains access to a new level of spells he may add one additional Evil Outsider to each of his summon monster lists available.
- Bluff Bonus -
At 3rd level and every four levels thereafter the Malconvoker recieves a +1 bonus to his Bluff checks.
- Rapid Summoning -
Knowing the works of summoning monsters in and out allows the Malconvoker to speed up the process. The casting time for any summon monster spell cast by the Malconvoker is reduced to a single standard action.
- Eyes of the King -
At 13th level the Malconvoker may use Eyes of the King (Spell Compendium) as a Spell-like Ability with the caster level equal to his Malconvoker level.
What haven't been mentioned here is original material from Complete Scoundrel which means that posting it here would be copyright infrigement. The rest of the class features can be found with the original Malconvoker prestige class on page 48 in Complete Scoundrel.
The class is currently in an alpha state, having seen no playtest and no reviews by other sources than myself. Critique, opinions and ideas are needed and more than welcome :smallredface:
Looking over the conjuration school we have several types of spells: control, damage, creation, teleportation and finally summoning. Every single one of these archetypes are quite powerful compared to most other spell types, so even after splitting up the schools to different classes, I'll split up conjuration into two classes.
Two archetypes that go well together are control (glitterdust, web, and solid fog), and teleportation (benign transposition, dimension door, teleport) so I'll leave those two for another base class, and focus on summoning.
Enter the Malconvoker
Looking for inspiration I stumbled across the Malconvoker (complete scoundrel). A summoning focused prestige class that turned evil against evil by manipulating evil outsider into doing his bidding. This is the guy every summoner wants to be, flavor-rich and with powerful class features that makes summon nature's ally cry when compared to this guy's summon monster spells.
So how do we make this schmuck work?
Simple, first we craft up a base class with poor BAB, good will save and the spell progression of a sorcerer. Then we look at the Malconvoker's class features, and spread them out over the 20 clean levels at our disposal. Keeping in mind that our role models are the beguiler, warmage and dread necromancer we want this guy to have one thing he's great at, and not so much more than that, so for his spell-list we'll add the summon monster line, and just that.
An early problem with the summon monster line is it's duration, what good does summoning a monster do you when it's only there to do your biddings for a single round? Nothing! We'll average out the duration and let it stay that way disregarding caster level.
Another issue with the Malconvoker is that there is a lot of cool evil outsiders there, and his main weapon of choice; summon monster, won't let him summon most of them. The SRD presents us with a variant rule for individualized summons lists, we'll use this to make our Malconvoker even more interesting.
Augment Summoning is a feat any wise player will pick for his base class Malconvoker, so let's do him a favor and pick it for him, we'll add Augment Summoning as a class feature at level 5.
Another semi-unique thing about summoning spells is the casting time. Rather stand a standard action you'll have to spend an entire round summoning, this makes you vulnerable to dispelling and disturbances while you're casting. Adding a class feature that speeds up the process to a standard action is a nice and strong feature to add at 12th level.
There's been a few other adjustments, and there will probaly be more once I get a little input from you my dear readers, but let's skip ahead to what you came here looking for, presenting, the base class Malconvoker!
{table="head"]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9
1st|+0|+0|+0|+2|Rapid Summoning, Timed Contract, Devil's Deal|3||||||||
2nd|+1|+0|+0|+3|Deceptive Summons, Planar Binding|4||||||||
3rd|+1|+1|+1|+3|Bluff Bonus +1|5||||||||
4th|+2|+1|+1|+4||6|3|||||||
5th|+2|+1|+1|+4|Augment Summoning|6|4|||||||
6th|+3|+2|+2|+5||6|5|3||||||
7th|+3|+2|+2|+5|Bluff Bonus +2|6|6|4||||||
8th|+4|+2|+2|+6|Deceptive Summons (Fury)|6|6|5|3|||||
9th|+4|+3|+3|+6||6|6|6|4|||||
10th|+5|+3|+3|+7|Fiendish Legion|6|6|6|5|3||||
11th|+5|+3|+3|+7|Bluff Bonus +3|6|6|6|6|4||||
12th|+6/1|+4|+4|+8|Deceitful Bargaining|6|6|6|6|5|3|||
13th|+6/1|+4|+4|+8|Eyes of the King|6|6|6|6|6|4|||
14th|+7/2|+4|+4|+9|Deceptive Summons (Resistance)|6|6|6|6|6|5|3||
15th|+7/2|+5|+5|+9|Bluff Bonus +4|6|6|6|6|6|6|4||
16th|+8/3|+5|+5|+10|Improved Calling|6|6|6|6|6|6|5|3|
17th|+8/3|+5|+5|+10||6|6|6|6|6|6|6|4|
18th|+9/4|+6|+6|+11|Safe Summoning|6|6|6|6|6|6|6|5|3
19th|+9/4|+6|+6|+11|Bluff Bonus +5|6|6|6|6|6|6|6|6|4
20th|+10/5|+6|+6|+12||6|6|6|6|6|6|6|6|5[/table]
Summons Known:
{table="head"]Level|I|II|III|IV|V|VI|VII|VIII|IX
1st|1||||||||
2nd|1||||||||
3rd|1||||||||
4th|2|1|||||||
5th|2|1|||||||
6th|3|1|1||||||
7th|3|2|1||||||
8th|4|2|1|1|||||
9th|4|3|2|1|||||
10th|5|3|2|1|1||||
11th|5|4|3|2|1||||
12th|6|4|3|2|1|1|||
13th|6|5|4|3|2|1|||
14th|7|5|4|3|2|1|1||
15th|7|6|5|4|3|2|1||
16th|8|6|5|4|3|2|1|1|
17th|8|7|6|5|4|3|2|1|
18th|9|7|6|5|4|3|2|1|1
19th|9|8|7|6|5|4|3|2|1
20th|10|8|7|6|5|4|3|2|1[/table]
Class Skills (2 + Int modifier per level): Bluff, Concentration, Craft, Disguise, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (the planes), Profession, Spellcraft.
Malconvokers are proficient with all simple weapons. They are not proficient with any type of armor or shield. Armor of any type interferes with a malconvoker’s gestures, which can cause his spells with somatic components to fail.
- Spells -
A malconvoker casts the summon monster, and planar binding line of spells.
To cast a spell, a malconvoker must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a malconvoker’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the malconvoker’s Charisma modifier.
Like other spellcasters, a malconvoker can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on the table. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Charisma score.
Unlike a wizard or a cleric, a malconvoker need not prepare his spells in advance. He can cast any spell he knows at any time, assuming he has not yet used up his spells per day for that spell level. He does not have to decide ahead of time which spells he’ll cast.
At every time the Malconvoker attains a new level of spells he may add an additional summonable monster to his currently available summon monster lists. The added monster must be an Evil Outsider, this includes any creature with the fiendish template, with a CR of no more than the spell level. For example: Justin the Malconvoker has attained 5th level, granting him access to his 3rd level spell Summon Monster III, Justin pages through his monster manual for monsters to add to his spells, for his 3rd level spell he adds a Howler (CR 3), for his 2nd level spells he adds Dretch demon, and for his 1st level spells he adds a Lemure demon.
- Timed Contract -
Unlike other spellcasters the Malconvoker doesn't rely on experience to lengthen the duration of his summons. The duration of any summon monster spell cast by the Malconvoker has a duration of 10 rounds, not regarding his caster level.
- Devil's Deal -
Rather than a specific list of creatures available, the Malconvoker's array of devils to his disposal grows with him. Whenever the Malconvoker gains access to a new level of spells he may add one additional Evil Outsider to each of his summon monster lists available.
- Bluff Bonus -
At 3rd level and every four levels thereafter the Malconvoker recieves a +1 bonus to his Bluff checks.
- Rapid Summoning -
Knowing the works of summoning monsters in and out allows the Malconvoker to speed up the process. The casting time for any summon monster spell cast by the Malconvoker is reduced to a single standard action.
- Eyes of the King -
At 13th level the Malconvoker may use Eyes of the King (Spell Compendium) as a Spell-like Ability with the caster level equal to his Malconvoker level.
What haven't been mentioned here is original material from Complete Scoundrel which means that posting it here would be copyright infrigement. The rest of the class features can be found with the original Malconvoker prestige class on page 48 in Complete Scoundrel.
The class is currently in an alpha state, having seen no playtest and no reviews by other sources than myself. Critique, opinions and ideas are needed and more than welcome :smallredface: