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MattKatt
2008-01-28, 01:43 PM
First off, huzza for a title with too much alliteration!

Second, Iv seen several variations of classes that are arcane magic-users with some fighting prowess, and Iv seen some classes that are fighters with some magical aptitude, but Iv never seen anything I like. I'm a fan of fighting, and I like it when I can get equipment or feats that improve my fighting. I'm also a fan of magic, but I find that most of the time, unless your a sorcerer, its too "involving" in the form of upkeep (learning new spells, deciding what spells to have today, etc.). So, I'm going to attempt to create a core class that can be both an adaptive fighter and effective magic user without the pitfalls of a weak or overpowered class, hard as that may be.

Instead of making a class from scratch, I chose instead to modify an existing class. In this case, I chose to meld the fighter and sorcerer classes. So I sat down, grabbed my trusty Phb 3.5 and wrote this:

Combat Caster Concept

{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|0lvl|1st|2nd|3rd|4th

1st|
+0|
+2|
+0|
+2|Bonus Feat|3|1

2nd|
+1|
+3|
+0|
+3|Bonus Feat|4|2

3rd|
+2|
+3|
+1|
+3|Summon Familiar|4|2|1

4th|
+3|
+4|
+1|
+4|Weapon Bonus +1|4|3|2

5th|
+3|
+4|
+1|
+4||4|3|2|1

6th|
+4|
+5|
+2|
+5|Bonus Feat|4|3|3|2

7th|
+5|
+5|
+2|
+5||4|4|3|2|1

8th|
+6/+1|
+6|
+2|
+6|Weapon Bonus +2|4|4|3|3|2

9th|
+6/+1|
+6|
+3|
+6||4|4|4|3|2

10th|
+7/+2|
+7|
+3|
+7|Bonus Feat|4|4|4|3|3

11th|
+8/+3|
+7|
+3|
+7||4|4|4|4|3

12th|
+9/+4|
+8|
+4|
+8|Weapon Bonus +3|4|4|4|4|3

13th|
+9/+4|
+8|
+4|
+8||4|4|4|4|4

14th|
+10/+5|
+9|
+4|
+9|Bonus Feat|4|4|4|4|4

15th|
+11/+6/+1|
+9|
+5|
+9||4|4|4|4|4

16th|
+12/+7/+2|
+10|
+5|
+10|Weapon Bonus +4|4|4|4|4|4

17th|
+12/+7/+2|
+10|
+5|
+10||4|4|4|4|4

18th|
+13/+8/+3|
+11|
+6|
+11|Bonus Feat|4|4|4|4|4

19th|
+14/+9/+4|
+11|
+6|
+11||4|4|4|4|4

20th|
+15/+10/+5|
+12|
+6|
+12|Weapon Bonus +5|4|4|4|4|4[/table]

Hit Dice: d6

Class Skills: Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Ride (Dex), Spellcraft (Int) and Swim (Str)
Skill points at 1st Level: (2+Int modifier) x 4
Skill points at Each Additional Level: 2+Int modifier

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: CLASS are proficient with all simple and martial weapons. CLASS are also proficient with light armor and shields (not tower), but are still susceptible to spell failure.

Spells: CLASS cast spells just like a sorcerer, basing the ability off charisma. They get the same number of spells known, but less spells per day. They do not learn spells above 4th.

Bonus Feat: Class gain fighter bonus feats, like fighters, only after 2nd level, they gain one every 4 levels instead of 2.

Summon Familiar: This acts like a sorcerers Summon Familiar, except that the CLASS's effective sorcerer level is one half his current level. For example, at 3rd level, when a CLASS would gain a familiar, that familiar would be 1st level. When the CLASS becomes 4th level, the familiar rises to 2nd level.

Weapon Bonus: Due to the combative magical nature of the CLASS, they gain a +1 weapon enhancement bonus at 4th level to any one weapon they yield. This +1 bonus is to both attack roll and damage and replaces the master-work quality and the enchantment bonus of the weapon. Any other ability the weapon has is still effective.
In order to bestow this bonus to a weapon, the CLASS must meditate with the weapon for 8 hours undisturbed. This can be repeated for another weapon, but the first weapon then losses this bonus
For example, Jall, the 8th level CLASS, has been using a longsword he bestowed with the Weapon bonus, making it a +2 longsword. On his adventures, he then finds a +1 Bane Rapier. He decided to replace his longsword with the rapier. After 8 hours of meditation, the rapier becomes a +2 Bane Rapier, and the +1 longsword reverts back to being a regular longsword.
This bonus increases by +1 every 4 levels.


A quick breakdown as to how I arrived at the current build:

Base Attack Bonus
As you can see, the base attack bonus is taken from neither the fighter, nor the sorcerer. I decided instead to take the middle ground of most fighting/casting classes (cleric and druid mainly) and go for the double multiple of 3 attack. I feel this makes the class more competent as a fighter but not over competent for a caster.

Saves
I kept the fighters Fort and the Sorcerers Will and left the Ref alone. It seems the most obvious choice.

Hit Dice and Skills
I ruled out both d4 and d10 as hit dice as both where either too good or too bad for the class. I chose d8 over d6 because I felt that at later levels, d6 would under power the class due to the lack of higher level spells.
The skills are a mix of both fighter and sorcerer skills, removing some that really didn't benefit the flavour of the class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies
Obviously this class would gain the fighters martial weapon proficiencies as well as some shield and armor proficiencies. But heavier armor would indeed continue to effect somatic components so nothing higher than light armor would be used.

Spells
I decided to keep the sorcerer side of the class by leaving the spell casting the same with 2 exceptions. 1; the sorcerer now gains a number of spells per day equal to a wizards spells per day. And 2; due to the training of both spell casting AND combat, this class would not learn spells above 4th level, much like a ranger or paladin.

Special
I kept the fighters bonus feat but gave the class less, effectively halving it. I also kept the sorcerers familiar, but reduced its power. This keeps the flavour of the fighting-caster class without overpowering either. I started to feel this class may be a little underpowered, so I added the weapon bonus ability in an attempt to even it out.


Obviously, this class is a work in progress, but I would like any and all comments or criticism towards it, except ones of pure flame. Hopefully I can end up with something any player would like to play and any GM allow to be played. So far, the only criticism Iv gotten was from my girlfriend: "What?! They cant get Finger of Death?!"

GoC
2008-01-28, 03:22 PM
I'm afraid I don't like it.
A. It's very weak at higher levels.
B. A combat mage shouldn't cast spells and fight. He should cast spells [i]to[/b] fight! In other words he should
have numerous powerful defensive (so he can wade into melee) and swordlike spells.

wormwood
2008-01-28, 03:37 PM
It looks OK, I guess. I'd much rather just play a duskblade, though. The duskblade gets good abilities that help to meld together the arcane and martial bits of the class. If I recall correctly, the duskblade gets better BAB as well. The only thing I can see in favor of CLASS is access to a wider variety of spells. Of course, they're likely going to be taking the same stuff that a Duskblade would.

MattKatt
2008-01-28, 09:09 PM
I'm afraid I don't like it.
A. It's very weak at higher levels.
B. A combat mage shouldn't cast spells and fight. He should cast spells [i]to[/b] fight! In other words he should
have numerous powerful defensive (so he can wade into melee) and swordlike spells.

What if I changed it so that the class can learn all level spells, but limited the knowledge to certain spell schools?

GoC
2008-01-29, 05:37 PM
What if I changed it so that the class can learn all level spells, but limited the knowledge to certain spell schools?

How about limiting him to defensive buffs (anything with a target can instead only target himself) and damaging effects?

isitolian
2008-01-29, 05:40 PM
The Miniatures Handbook contains statistics for a Battlemage or a Warmage- I forget which because I haven't read it in a while. They can cast combat spells and use light armor without penalties to their magic. They are interested in "doing the most damage in the least amount of time".

---
I'm a multiclass fighter-rogue-sorcerer specializing in enchantment.

Shadow
2008-01-29, 05:47 PM
It looks OK, I guess. I'd much rather just play a duskblade, though. The duskblade gets good abilities that help to meld together the arcane and martial bits of the class. If I recall correctly, the duskblade gets better BAB as well. The only thing I can see in favor of CLASS is access to a wider variety of spells. Of course, they're likely going to be taking the same stuff that a Duskblade would.I was thinking the exact same thing as I read through this.

Why not just ask your DM if you can expand the Duskblade's spell selection and let him choose something(s) to remove in order to offset it?
The Miniatures Handbook contains statistics for a Battlemage or a Warmage- I forget which because I haven't read it in a while. They can cast combat spells and use light armor without penalties to their magic. They are interested in "doing the most damage in the least amount of time".That would be Warmage, also in another book (although which one escapes me at the moment-- Complete Arcane possibly?) but with the proper build they are extremely overpowered! One trick ponies, mind you, but overpowered nonetheless.

AmberVael
2008-01-29, 05:56 PM
Honestly, unless you really really want some feats, I'd just go with the battle sorcerer variant. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#sorcererVariantBattleS orcerer)
I mean, it's pretty much your class with better HD, better spells known, more spells per day, and have the ability to wear armor. Their only difference is, as I said before, the lack of feats.