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Zaeron
2007-07-01, 08:23 PM
This is a variant class based on the wizard. In my homebrewed world, all wizards are forced to specialize. However, specialized wizards gain no benefits from specialization except a +1 to caster level when casting spells of their school, and still must bar two schools. The two barred schools for each school of magic have already been chosen. I was just looking for opinions and comments on this class, the first of eight.

(Note: Do you guys think it's overpowered? It's the Evocation specialized class, so I figured as the pretty much undesputed weakest school, it was safe to give it fairly powerful class abilities, especially since those abilities didn't normally synergize well with the wizard class.)

The Red Swords

The Red Swords were founded during the Dying Time, when the True Tower was shattered and broken. They were the first to rise from the ruins of the True Tower, wielding blades forged with red spellsteel. Masters of the Order of Evocation, the Red Swords honed their skills with both magic and blade into a fine art. No other wizards have blended swordplay and magic as the Red Swords have.

First among the Red Swords is Archmage Sairen Moor, an elf of 325 years. He is one of less than a half dozen members of the Red Swords who actually wields a Dragoncrest blade. Few among the Red Swords ever achieve enough skill with a blade to complete the tests required to gain a Dragoncrest blade, especially as those tests disallow the use of magic in any form, but Sairen has wielded one for nearly fifty years.

The Red Swords rule from Castle Isren, located in Arenhold. They have many smaller keeps, preferring them by far to the towers most other mages build. The Red Swords also maintain the largest standing army of any of the seven Orders.

Of the seven Orders, the Red Swords are the most warlike. More than any of the other Orders, a member of the Red Swords lives for combat. He thrives on it. The final test of an apprentice before they become a full member is to face an opponent in single combat without the use of spells, only a blade. Most Red Swords aspire to raise an army, seeking glory in battle and perhaps enough land to build a keep of their own.

Alignment: Any
Hit Dice: d6
Class Skills/Skill Points: As standard wizard.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Red Swords are proficient with all of the following weapons: Dagger, Shortsword, Longsword, Bastard Sword and Greatsword. At 5th level, the Red Sword gains proficiency with light armor.

The Red Sword
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|
+0|
+0|
+0|
+2|Spellstrike

2nd|
+1|
+0|
+0|
+3|

3rd|
+1|
+1|
+1|
+3|

4th|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+4|

5th|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+4|Armored Mage

6th|
+3|
+2|
+2|
+5|

7th|
+3|
+2|
+2|
+5|

8th|
+4|
+2|
+2|
+6|

9th|
+4|
+3|
+3|
+6|

10th|
+5|
+3|
+3|
+7|Spellstrike, Greater

11th|
+5|
+3|
+3|
+7|

12th|
+6/+1|
+4|
+4|
+8|

13th|
+6/+1|
+4|
+4|
+8|

14th|
+7/+2|
+4|
+4|
+9|

15th|
+7/+2|
+5|
+5|
+9|Spellparry

16th|
+8/+3|
+5|
+5|
+10|

17th|
+8/+3|
+5|
+5|
+10|

18th|
+9/+4|
+6|
+6|
+11|

19th|[center]+9/+4/center]|
+6|
+6|
+11|

20th|
+10/+5|
+6|
+6|
+12|Spellstrike, Devastating[/table]

Spellcasting: A Red Sword gains a +1 caster level bonus on all spells of the Evocation school, and cannot memorize spells from the Transmutation of Enchantment schools.

Spellstrike: A Red Sword may expend a spell of at least 1st level, in order to charge a single melee weapon he is wielding with arcane power. He gains a bonus on attack rolls and damage equal to the level of spell expended, for a number of rounds equal to his intelligence modifier.

Armored Mage: The Red Sword may wear light armor without suffering the usual arcane spell failure chance. Additionally, the Red Sword gains proficiency with Light Armor.

Spellstrike, Greater: This ability can only be used once the Red Sword’s weapon is charged with the Spellstrike ability. As a Standard Action, the Red Sword may fire a blast of arcane energy from the blade. This attack requires a ranged touch attack, and has a maximum range equal to 100ft + 10ft per caster level. It deals 1d6 damage per level of the spell used to charge the blade. (Thus, a 5th level spell would deal 5d6 damage.) Additionally, when resolving melee attacks with a charged blade, the Red Sword now adds his strength and intelligence modifier together to determine extra damage. This bonus damage from intelligence is multiplied as normal for special abilities such as power attack, and when wielding a weapon two handed.

Spellparry: As an immediate action, while wielding a sword he is proficient with, a Red Sword may expend a spell of at least first level in order to automatically counter a spell of equal or lesser level targeting the Red Sword. The spell countered must be either a spell targeting only the Red Sword or with him in its area of effect. This ability must be used when the spell is cast, before any effects take place.

Spellstrike, Devastating: This ability can only be used after the Red Sword’s weapon has been charged with the Spellstrike ability. As a Standard Action, the Red Sword may make a single melee touch attack at his full bonus. If he hits, instead of dealing normal damage, he deals 3d6 damage per level of the spell used to charge the blade. Additionally, the target of the attack must make a fortitude save, DC 10 + the level of the spell used to charge the blade + the Red Blade’s intelligence modifier, or die instantly. If the target of the attack dies from this ability, either due to the damage taken or a failed save, his body is instantly obliterated completely by the arcane force of the blow. Using this ability immediately uses up any charge left in the blade, no matter how many rounds are left.

Callix
2007-07-01, 08:48 PM
You've barred Transmutation, so it can't be overpowered, and all the abilities require you to expend spells. The counterspelling is pretty awesome, and it makes these guys surprisingly good mageslayers. Devastating Spellstrike, though, might be a tad too much. Being able to turn Magic Missile into a weak Disintegrate is a very powerful capstone. Maybe a backlash on top of consuming the spell, and not allowing oyu to use it after a few rounds of Spelstrike? Something like 1d4/spell level damage to user, and use as a full-round action, only when not charged, sacrifice spell and blast at the same time?

Zaeron
2007-07-02, 08:06 PM
You've barred Transmutation, so it can't be overpowered, and all the abilities require you to expend spells. The counterspelling is pretty awesome, and it makes these guys surprisingly good mageslayers. Devastating Spellstrike, though, might be a tad too much. Being able to turn Magic Missile into a weak Disintegrate is a very powerful capstone. Maybe a backlash on top of consuming the spell, and not allowing oyu to use it after a few rounds of Spelstrike? Something like 1d4/spell level damage to user, and use as a full-round action, only when not charged, sacrifice spell and blast at the same time?

I put a little thought into Devastating Spellstrike, and that's a good point. Even with a first level spell, there's always the chance of rolling a one. And the damage is un-savable, so it's even better than disintigrate. It's more like disintigrate only instead of save-or-die it's take-tons-of-damage-or-die.

I don't want it as a full round action since, as you've pointed out, these guys were sort of built to be mageslayers. Nobody ever gets full round actions off against mages anyway. And I do want to stick to the mechanic of 'charge your sword, then use the ability' since it means that the Red Blade can't get off a Devastating Spellstrike in the first round of combat, short of somehow gaining another standard action.

Instead, how about a nice, simple fix. After using Devastating Spellstrike, you may not use the Spellstrike ability to charge your blade with magic for 1d4 rounds afterwards.

This has a major benefit - you can no longer 'spam' low level Devastating Spellstrikes in hopes of forcing a save. Instead, it will be more of a finishing move - once you use it, your primary class feature is negated for a significant amount of time, so you won't throw it around cheaply.

These abilities need to be fairly strong - as you've pointed out, Evocation is a weak school, and one of the barred schools is extremely strong. Tenser's Transformation would have synergised extremely well with this class, but they can't even access it. And that's just one of the many spells they miss out on. Do you think that change brings the capstone ability more in line with the others? I think it removes most of the potential for abuse.

Callix
2007-07-02, 11:11 PM
Yeah, a cooldown is good enough. These guys lose almost all the wizard buffs, not just Tensor's. No Haste, no +abilities, no shaped rock-to-mud mud-to-rock nukes... and no Disintegrate... funny that. Also, no Slow, no Baleful Polymorph. All in all, they need a strong capstone, and making it not spammable is good.

Doi
2007-07-03, 12:21 AM
Really enjoyed this, already have the others scholls?

swordmaster2000
2007-07-03, 12:27 AM
with a d6 HD wouldn't they be kinda weak in melee combat, especially since they don't get armored mage untill lvl 5?

Tallis
2007-07-03, 12:44 AM
I love the flavor of this class, very nice.
Overall it seems okay with the cooldown on the capstone ability. However, for a class based arround a sword, they're pretty weak melee combatants: low AC and BAB.
Keep in mind that I am far from being an expert on balancing classes.

Zaeron
2007-07-03, 06:52 AM
Really enjoyed this, already have the others scholls?

I don't have the other schools yet. When I do, I'll post them in this section of the boards though. The next one I'm working on will either be the illusionist or the abjurer.

As for them being weak in melee, remember they still have full spell progression. I was thinking about increasing the BAB to 3/4ths level, but Spellstrike is supposed to balance their low BAB.

However, what I was considering doing was adding INT to attack rolls as well as damage at 10th level. What do you guys think of that?

I'm wary of making this a class that replaces primary melee classes. I want it to stay a wizard, just a wizard with a sword instead of a staff, and enough incentive to use it at least sometimes.

A lot of the inspiration from this class came from LOTR style wizards. Think Gandalf, going toe to toe with the Balor in Moradin. He wasn't slinging spells around, he was using magic with his sword. I want this class to feel like that, sort of. So I need to strike a balance between melee effectiveness and spellcasting, so that the melee doesn't outstrip the real melee classes, but it's still interesting/effective enough that a wizard would want to actually swing his sword instead of just fireballing someone.

Triaxx
2007-07-03, 10:01 AM
Not to mention he can choose to blast his opponent with a fireball first if he wants to.

I hesitate to mention, but any level spell expended of fourth level or lower, for Greater Spellstrike is completely out classed by Magic missile. On the other hand, it's not susceptible to being resisted, if it hits.

It's actually more useful as a straight damage dealing ability than any sort of fancy ranged attack.

Matthew
2007-07-06, 08:42 PM
Interesting Base Class. It seems to me as though some sort of basic Spell Casting reduction should be in place (such as numbers of Spells per day or Known)