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Chainsaw Hobbit
2010-06-18, 12:25 PM
Battle Mage

"Turn you into a frog? Naaa, I'll burn you to a crisp."
- Adrian Stormsworn, Human Battle Mage

Battle Mages are arcane casters that have devoted their lives and focus to offensive and defensive magic.
This is my take on converting the War Mage from complete arcane to a prestige class.

Becoming a Battle Mage

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Feats Combat Casting
Class Abilities Ability to cast 3rd level arcane spells.
Skills Concentration (7 ranks)

Class Skills
Skills Points at Each Level: 4 + int
Spellcraft, concentration, knowledge (arcana), diplomacy, intimidate, bluff.

Hit Dice: d6
Battle Mages need to be able to take a bit of punishment when forced into semi-close combat, they still fight from the back but can take a stray arrow and shrug off a magic missile from a rival sellcaster.

{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort Save|Reflex Save|Will Save|Special|Sellcasting
1st|+0|+0|+2|+2|Armored mage (Light)|
2nd|+1|+0|+3|+3|Battle rays|+1 of existing spellcasting class
3rd|+1|+1|+3|+3|Metamagic feat|+1 of existing spellcasting class
4th|+2|+1|+4|+4||+1 of existing spellcasting class
5th|+2|+1|+4|+4|Arcane battle focus|+1 of existing spellcasting class
6th|+3|+2|+5|+5|Armored mage (medium)|
7th|+3|+2|+5|+5|Greater battle rays|+1 of existing spellcasting class
8th|+4|+2|+6|+6|Metamagic feat|+1 of existing spellcasting class
9th|+4|+3|+6|+6||+1 of existing spellcasting class
10th|+5|+3|+7|+7|FWACKOOM!!!|+1 of existing spellcasting class
[/table]

Armored mage (Light) (EX)
You may wear light armor without any kind of spellcasting failure chance. You also gain proficiency with all light armor
Added to help the Wizard/Sorcerer's painfully low AC.

Armored mage (Medium) (EX)
You may wear mediem armor without any kind of spellcasting failure chance. You also gain proficiency with all medium armor

Metamagic feat (EX)
You gain a metamagic feat of your choice

Battle rays (SP)
At the beginning of the day choose 2 of the following powers, for the rest of the day you can cast each of these spell-like powers at will. Each spell-like power is a ranged 20 squares (100 ft) touch attack with an attack bonous equal to your intelligence modifier + half your battle-mage level.
Added to make up for the missing spell-levels, this makes the Battle Mage feel like an original class.

Flame ray
1d8 + your intelligence modifier fire damage, add an extra d8 damage when you reach Battle Mage level 7.

Frost ray
1d8 + your intelligence modifier cold damage, add an extra d8 damage when you reach Battle Mage level 7.

Lightning ray
1d8 + your intelligence modifier electricity damage, add an extra d8 damage when you reach Battle Mage level 7.

Force ray
1d6 + your intelligence modifier force damage and you may move the target 1 (5 ft) square in any direction, you may move the 2 (10 ft) squares when you reach Battle Mage level 7.

Withering ray
1d6 + your intelligence modifier negative energy damage and the target takes 1 temporary point of strength damage, it also does 1 temprorary point of constitution damage at Battle Mage lv 7.

Shielding ray
1d6 + your intelligence modifier force damage and an ally with 3 squares (15 ft) of the target gain a bonus to AC equal to your intelligence modifier for 1 round.
they also gain an equal bonus to saving throws when you reach Battle Mage level 7.


FWACKOOM!!!
When casting a spell that hits at least 2 targets at a time you gain a bonus to attack rolls, save DCs, and damage equal to the number of targets attacked by the spell.
Look! I'm FWACKOOMING you king!

Greater battle rays (SP)
You can also choose from the following:

Draining ray
2d6 + intelligence modifier negative energy damage and the target takes 1d2 temporary damage to a chosen ability score.

Inferno ray
2d8 + intelligence modifier fire damage and the target takes ongoing fire damage equal to 1d8 + your intelligence modifier for 1d2 rounds.

Blizzard ray
2d8 + intelligence modifier cold damage and the target's speed is halved for 1d2 rounds.

Storm ray
2d8 + intelligence modifier electricity damage and the target can choose to let you slide them 1 square in any direction or take extra damage equal to 1d8 your intelligence modifier.

Concussion ray
2d8 + intelligence modifier force damage and the target must make a fortitude save or be dazed for 1d4 rounds.

Arcane battle focus (EX)
You are improving at the arcane arts of war, you may choose which field you excel in. Gain one of the fallowing benefits.

Arcane vitality
Gain 1 extra hit point per hit dice, this effect also applies from now on.
Good for skirmishing and support Battle Mages this makes it so you can take just a bit more battle damage.

Ray sniper
Gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls with your battle rays or other spells that require attack rolls when attacking from more than 6 squares (30 ft) away.
Ray sniper gives the opposite benefit Arcane vitality gives, it is very useful for Battle mages that like fighting from a distance instead of staying just behind the fighter and occasionally being attacked in melee.

More will be added soon.

DragoonWraith
2010-06-18, 12:27 PM
Combat Casting is a hideous feat, why would you require that? Make it Skill Focus (Concentration), at the least.

I can't say that Armored Casting is worth a spellcasting level; it's definitely not worth two.

Temotei
2010-06-18, 12:28 PM
"Was that supposed to hurt?"
- Corack Stormblade, Human Rune Tank

Mhm. :smalltongue:

Chainsaw Hobbit
2010-06-18, 12:30 PM
Combat Casting is a hideous feat, why would you require that? Make it Skill Focus (Concentration), at the least.

I can't say that Armored Casting is worth a spellcasting level; it's definitely not worth two.

I plan to add at-will touch attack spells to fix the problem.

DragoonWraith
2010-06-18, 12:31 PM
Not sure how much that fixes things, honestly. At-will-ness has been rather overestimated throughout 3.5, and you should be careful about falling into the same trap.

Chainsaw Hobbit
2010-06-18, 12:51 PM
I added battle rays! (Including the new shielding ray.)

Frog Dragon
2010-06-18, 12:59 PM
Force ray is kinda broken. Imagine you have someone at the edge of a cliff. FORCE RAY! fall down with nothing but a ranged touch attack.
However, other than abuse, they're positively worthless. 1d6+6 damage sucks royally. See the reserve feats in complete mage. They're much better than this and still kinda weak.

Dead_Jester
2010-06-18, 01:17 PM
Agree with frog dragon, maybe you should just let them take reserve feats. Also, thi shouldn't lose any casting levels, it just doesn't get anything remotely worth 2 caster levels.

Milskidasith
2010-06-18, 01:34 PM
This is strictly worse than any number of PRCs... spellsword is at least dippable, abjurant champion removes the need for armor, both actually give you BAB so you can be a battle mage, etc.

Anyway, Force Ray isn't that bad; Melf's Unicorn Arrow does almost the exact same thing, just with a really high bull rush check. Otherwise, this class is terribly weak.

Josha, might I suggest, instead of churning out PrCs, actually getting the ones you make to a level where they are usable? Every PrC you've made so far has been very, very weak and seemingly unfinished.

Chainsaw Hobbit
2010-06-18, 01:52 PM
I made battle rays hurt more.

Milskidasith
2010-06-18, 01:54 PM
That's not going to make the class any more terrible... it's not good for gishes, it loses caster levels for straight casters, and the rays you get are worse than Archmages abilities. It also has a terrible class skill list, which I just noticed.

ErrantX
2010-06-18, 02:16 PM
That's not going to make the class any more terrible... it's not good for gishes, it loses caster levels for straight casters, and the rays you get are worse than Archmages abilities. It also has a terrible class skill list, which I just noticed.

I have to say that I second Milskidasith here. I think what you're doing is going about this a little wrong. First off, read this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=150609). It's Djinn_In_Tonic's homebrew guide and I think it can help you put ideas together a little better. Secondly, you need to decide what this class is: A gish support class, or a blaster class. Once you've decided that, then focus on something with that decision. If this is a blaster, don't give it little pea shooter rays. Reserve feats exist and are better for this purpose. Have it upgrade their current payload of offensive magic. Take a page from the Combat Medic in Heroes of Battle, provide "Offensive Kickers" which do additional stuff to an enemy, or come up with ways to really just make those spells hurt. If you're going gish, well, come up with ways to synergize attacking with a weapon and casting a spell. It's hard to really be more helpful than that. Find a theme, figure out what your end goal is, and then work towards it.

2 bent coppers,
-X

Chainsaw Hobbit
2010-06-19, 07:16 PM
I made it no longer underpowered! :biggrin:

PersonMan
2010-06-19, 07:55 PM
At 6th level you mistyped the Fortitude save as +5.

I make the same mistakes, my classes sometimes suddenly get +44 to a save at 5th level instead of +4.

Milskidasith
2010-06-19, 08:48 PM
I made it no longer underpowered! :biggrin:

No, you didn't. The only part about this class that's remotely worth it is the fact that you get to auto daze a target if you hit with a ray, and even Spellwarp Sniper is better at doing that. Everything else is still incredibly weak, and auto dazing for 1d2 rounds is not good design, because such abilities should always involve a save.

ErrantX
2010-06-19, 11:34 PM
I made it no longer underpowered! :biggrin:

Moar battlefield control, less... I don't know man. I don't know.

-X