Battle Caster [3.5 Prestige class]

[Lither]

Sure, hitting thing with a big sword isn't what we wizards normally do, but it has a strange relaxing effect.

Entry Requirements:
Must be able to cast 3rd level spells (arcane or divine).
Concentration 6 ranks
Craft (Armourer) 6 ranks
Base Attack Bonus +3

Hit Die: d8
{table=head]Level | Base Attack Bonus | Fort Save | Ref Save | Will Save | Special |Casting Profession
1st | +1 | +2 | +0 | +2 ||+1 level of existing arcane/divine spellcasting class
2nd | +2 |+3 | +0| +3 |Armour Repurposing, Bonus Feat,
3rd | +3 | +3 | +1| +3 ||+1 level of existing arcane/divine spellcasting class
4th | +4 | +4 | +1 | +4 |Bonus Feat, |+1 level of existing arcane/divine spellcasting class
5th | +5 | +4 | +1 | +4 ||+1 level of existing arcane/divine spellcasting class
6th | +6 | +5 | +2 | +5 |Armour Redesigning, Bonus Feat
7th | +7 | +5 | +2| +5 ||+1 level of existing arcane/divine spellcasting class
8th | +8 | +6 |+2| +6 |Bonus Feat, |+1 level of existing arcane/divine spellcasting class
9th | +9| +6 | +3 |+6||+1 level of existing arcane/divine spellcasting class
10th | +10 | +7 | +3 | +7 |Armour Remodelling, Bonus Feat, |+1 level of existing arcane/divine spellcasting class
[/table]

Class Features:

Proficiencies:
Battle Casters gain proficiencies in all armour and all Martial weapons.

Skill Points: 4+ Int modifier

Class Skills: The Battle Caster's Class Skills are as follows; Concentration (Con), Craft (Int) Decipher Script (Int), Intimidate (Cha) Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), and Spellcraft (Int).

Armour Repurposing: If a Battle Caster spends an hour with their armour, they reduce the armour check penalty and arcane spell failure chance to that of one lower. This stacks with bonuses from Mithral and other sources.

Bonus Feats: These feats are selected from the list of Fighter Bonus Feats.

Armour Redesigning: If a Battle Caster spends an hour with their armour, they reduce the armour check penalty and arcane spell failure chance to that of one lower. This stacks with bonuses from Mithral and other sources, including Armour Repurposing.

Armour Remodeling: If the Battle Caster spends 24 hours with their armour, they no longer suffer any penalties for wearing it.

[Yitzi]

Looks to me like for most purposes, Fighter 2/Psiwar 2 into Eldritch Knight (for arcane casters; for divine casters, just ditch the Eldritch Knight and continue with the base class) would make more sense, and that's a horrible build. You end up with the same casting ability, the same number of feats, 2 better BAB, far easier entry, far eaand a bit of psionic ability...all you lose is the armor bonuses. Realistically, you'd want to go Fighter 1 into Eldritch Knight, for 2 fewer feats and no armor bonus but far easier entry, 3 more casting levels and 3 better BAB.

[Hazzardevil]

Heres what I think;
Armor Repurposing is confusing and really, with half casting, nobody would take it, theres an old rule about builds:
Never spend levels on what can be solved with cash.

[Phosphate]

So you're wasting 5 levels of spellcaster and 1 level in multiclass (because you have to get that military weapon proficiency from somewhere), and you have to waste 10 skill points in Concentrate, which rarely needs more than 5, just to be able to wear heavier armor?

Um...no?
Maybe this would be better as a 5 level PRC. Give 1 Fighter Bonus Feat per level, and give all 3 armor things.

[Veklim]

Maybe this would be better as a 5 level PRC. Give 1 Fighter Bonus Feat per level, and give all 3 armor things.

Good thought there, drop the requirements a little to maybe 6 ranks in concentration and make sure they only drop a couple of spellcasting levels, and it makes far more sense.

[Lither]

So you're wasting 5 levels of spellcaster and 1 level in multiclass (because you have to get that military weapon proficiency from somewhere), and you have to waste 10 skill points in Concentrate, which rarely needs more than 5, just to be able to wear heavier armor?

Um...no?
Maybe this would be better as a 5 level PRC. Give 1 Fighter Bonus Feat per level, and give all 3 armor things.


Good thought there, drop the requirements a little to maybe 6 ranks in concentration and make sure they only drop a couple of spellcasting levels, and it makes far more sense.

It's been changed. They now get full BAB, the requirements have been reduced, they get proficiency in all martial weapons as well and they only drop two casting levels.

[Veklim]

Cool, much better actually. Now there's a reason to use this over most other options out there.

Table needs a little TLC though, I'd advise a seperate column for spellcasting, and you should drop the iterative attacks on the BAB entries, they're irrelevant AND wrong.

Where is Craft on the class skills btw? For a class which is designed around the principle of remodelling their armour, they will have a hard time without the skill on their list I'd say, which brings me to another point...why no Craft (Armourer) on requirements?

Spellcraft doesn't need the proviso on the class list, it's just as relevant to divine as arcane. Decipher script is also missing from the class list, and I'd argue that's fairly important here too. You may also wish to put in how many skill points per level these guys actually get, and move the skills section up so it's directly under the table, before the rest of the text.

Other than that, it's taking shape nicely.

EDIT:
You should think about dropping the BAB requirement (to +3 maybe) or removing it completely perhaps. The need to cast 3rd level spells is restriction enough, at the moment, a pure wizard needs 10 levels before they can gain entry into this, should be aiming for levels 6-8 for preference with most PrCs.

[Lither]

Cool, much better actually. Now there's a reason to use this over most other options out there.

Table needs a little TLC though, I'd advise a seperate column for spellcasting, and you should drop the iterative attacks on the BAB entries, they're irrelevant AND wrong.

Where is Craft on the class skills btw? For a class which is designed around the principle of remodelling their armour, they will have a hard time without the skill on their list I'd say, which brings me to another point...why no Craft (Armourer) on requirements?

Spellcraft doesn't need the proviso on the class list, it's just as relevant to divine as arcane. Decipher script is also missing from the class list, and I'd argue that's fairly important here too. You may also wish to put in how many skill points per level these guys actually get, and move the skills section up so it's directly under the table, before the rest of the text.

I really have no excuse here, do I? That's all been changed. The number of skill ranks per level have been moved into the Class Features section.


Other than that, it's taking shape nicely.

EDIT:
You should think about dropping the BAB requirement (to +3 maybe) or removing it completely perhaps. The need to cast 3rd level spells is restriction enough, at the moment, a pure wizard needs 10 levels before they can gain entry into this, should be aiming for levels 6-8 for preference with most PrCs.

I've moved the BAB requirement to +3.