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Arioch
2008-02-04, 12:55 PM
The country my current campaign is set in is a technocracy, the continent's only major magic item producer, where a lot of the day-to-day tasks are carried out by golems. It lacks a coherent national government, but the capital, and thus most of the population (the capital is set in basically the only fertile area in the country) is controlled by the Order of Technomancy.

I wanted the technomancer to have a very item-focused theme, but I didn't want to use the artificer. I definitely wanted them to be arcane, and similar to the wizard, and the artificer had altogether the wrong feel. So I made the technomancer a wizard, but I have replaced several abilities. They no longer have familiars, school specialisation, or normal wizard bonus feats.

What I want to know is: is the below class balanced, and if not, what do I need to change?

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa251/OverlordCain/NewPicture7.jpg
Weapon and Armour Proficiency: Technomancers are proficient with the club, dagger, heavy crossbow, light crossbow and quarterstaff, but not with any armour or shield.
Spells: As a wizard variant, the technomancer draws spells from the sorcerer/wizard spell list and prepares and casts spells as a wizard does. For more information, see p56 of the player’s handbook.
To learn, prepare or cast a spell, the technomancer must have an Intelligence score of at least 10 + the spell’s level. The Difficulty Class far a saving throw against a wizard’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the technomancer’s Intelligence modifier.
Bonus Languages: A technomancer may substitute Checarn (world's equivalent of Draconic) for one of the bonus languages available to his race.
Scribe Scroll: At 1st level, a technomancer gains Scribe Scroll as a bonus feat, allowing him to create magic scrolls.
Spontaneous Repair: At any time, a technomancer may cast any repair spell (such as repair light damage, Spell Compendium p173) of a spell level he can cast by sacrificing another prepared spell of that level. For example, a technomancer who wanted to repair a damaged construct could give up a prepared magic missile, a 1st-level spell, to cast repair light damage. Unlike cure spells, repair spells only affect constructs, not living creatures.
Spellbooks: As a wizard variant, technomancers record their spells in spellbooks. For more information, see p57 of the Player’s Handbook. A technomancer begins play with a spellbook containing all 0-level wizard spells and three 1st-level wizard spells, plus one extra 1st-level spell per point of Intelligence bonus the technomancer has. At each new technomancer level, he gains two new spells of any level that he can cast (based on his new level) for her spellbook.
Bonus Feats: At 4th level and every 4th level thereafter (8th, 12th, 16th and so on) the technomancer gains a bonus feat. This must be an item creation feat, a complete list of which is given below.
Retain Essence (Su): At 6th level, a technomancer gains the ability to salvage the XP from a magic item and use those points to create another magic item. The technomancer must spend a day with the item, and he must also have the appropriate item creation feat for that item. At the end of that day, the magic item is irreparably destroyed and the technomancer can extract the XP it took to create the item in the form of magical energy, which he can use in place of his own XP when crafting an item. This “craft reserve” has a maximum of 500XP per technomancer level and unused XP fades after a month.
For items with charges or ones which may otherwise be consumed, work out the XP per charge and extract XP accordingly. For example, when salvaging a wand with 30 charges left (50 charges total), the technomancer would receive 2% of the total XP used to create the wand per charge, for a total of 60%.
Sever Control (Su): At 14th level, as a full-round action which provokes attacks of opportunity, a technomancer can channel a pulse of disruptive magical static at a construct within 50 feet. The effect of this blast is to sever the chains of command from a construct to its master. If the master is within 5 miles of the construct at the time, he or she may make a Will save (DC 10 + ½ your class level + your Cha modifier) to resist this disruption. Masters outside the 5-mile radius are not automatically aware of the loss of their construct, and do not become aware even if the construct is brought within 5 miles. They may, however, learn of the loss by other means.
If the master fails his or her save or is outside the 5-mile radius, the construct finds itself freed from all magical ties. If it has an Intelligence score, it may now act as it sees fit, and may choose to continue serving its master if he or she has treated it well. If it is mindless, its behaviour is determined on the following table.
d% Behaviour
1-70 No action
71-90 Inert
91-100 Berserk
No action: The construct does nothing: it simply stands idle. It will defend itself if attacked, and will spend 1 round retaliating, but otherwise performs no actions. Every round the construct spends doing nothing, there is a 1% chance that it will become inert.
Inert: The construct, with no instructions as to what it should do, shuts down. It falls prone and can perform no actions. It will not defend itself if attacked. However, it is still magical and can still be rendered down using a technomancer’s render construct ability. If reanimated (such as by the master re-taking control or by animating spells), it suffers no ill effects from its time inert.
Berserk: The construct goes out of control, attacking nearby targets indiscriminately. Whether the target was an ally or foe before the construct went berserk is immaterial – each round it attacks the nearest detectable target with all its power, holding nothing back. The magic in the construct surges, giving it a +2 bonus to Strength and +2 on all saving throws. Each round, there is a cumulative 5% chance that the construct runs out of power, suddenly becoming inert.
If the construct’s original master is aware of his loss of control, is within 5 miles of the construct and still has the object or ability that allowed them to control the construct initially, he can make a caster level check (DC equal to the construct’s HD) after 1 minute and every subsequent round to regain control, with a +5 bonus on the check if the construct is mindless and not berserk. If he succeeds, the construct immediately returns to its controlled state, whether or not it is willing. The exception to this is if the construct has gone berserk. In this case, all attempts to control the construct fail until it has burnt itself out and become inert.
Render Construct (Su): From 19th level a technomancer can render down constructs for XP using his retain essence ability. The construct in question must not be hostile and must either be controlled by the technomancer or uncontrolled. It can be inert as long as its magic remains. The technomancer must spend three days with the construct and must have the Craft Construct feat. The construct must not become hostile or attempt to move without the technomancer’s command during this time, and the technomancer must spend at least 8 hours per day with the construct and must conduct no prolonged strenuous activity during the three days. If any of these conditions are broken, the attempt fails and the technomancer must start again. At the end of the time, the construct is irreparably destroyed and the XP used to create is added to the technomancer’s “craft reserve”.
Multiclassing: As a specialist wizard, the technomancer cannot multiclass as any other wizard variety.


I think it should keep the artificer's retain essence ability. I'm considering changing the Sever Control ability on the grounds that it is too complicated and unnecessary.

Lord_Gareth
2008-02-04, 01:59 PM
The class is...

Well.

Compared to normal wizard, it's superior. No, it doesn't get metamagic feats, but with identical spell selection, no forbidden schools, and the crafting feats to pack a disposable punch, it ends up being the better. As to how to fix it, no idea.

Yakk
2008-02-04, 03:10 PM
I was thinking -- how about an item-centric spellcasting system?

Ie, you imbue tools with your spells, which only you can use.

Without your tools, the only magic you can use is repair.

Reduce spells per day, maybe add spells per encounter (fast recharging items), and give metamagic points that allow one to boost your tool-cast spells on the fly?

But that's a flavor change. As noted, the biggest problem is that the above class is "wizard plus".