Gestalt Classes: The Purple Mage

In a party with an elf alchemist//gunslinger, an aasimar investigator//slayer, a halfling bloodrager//magus, a half-elf arcanist//witch and a half-orc druid//shaman, the dhampir purple mage sits with a single class... A gestalt class.

Behold!

The Purple Mage

Level	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Special
1st	+1	+0	+0	+0	Academy Crests
2nd	+2	+0	+0	+0	Dilettante Training
3rd	+3	+1	+1	+1	Academy Crests
4th	+4	+1	+1	+1	Dilettante Training
5th	+5	+1	+1	+1	Academy Crests
6th	+6/+1	+2	+2	+2	Dilettante Training
7th	+7/+2	+2	+2	+2	Academy Crests
8th	+8/+3	+2	+2	+2	Dilettante Training
9th	+9/+4	+3	+3	+3	Academy Crests
10th	+10/+5	+3	+3	+3	Dilettante Training
11th	+11/+6/+1	+3	+3	+3	Academy Crests
12th	+12/+7/+2	+4	+4	+4	Dilettante Training
13th	+13/+8/+3	+4	+4	+4	Academy Crests
14th	+14/+9/+4	+4	+4	+4	Dilettante Training
15th	+15/+10/+5	+5	+5	+5	Academy Crests
16th	+16/+11/+6/+1	+5	+5	+5	Dilettante Training
17th	+17/+12/+7/+2	+5	+5	+5	Academy Crests
18th	+18/+13/+8/+3	+6	+6	+6	Dilettante Training
19th	+19/+14/+9/+4	+6	+6	+6	Academy Crests
20th	+20/+15/+10/+5	+6	+6	+6	Dilettante Training, Royal Magister

Alignment: Any.

Role: Purple mages train in a smattering of virtually everything in their novice pursuits, but none of it comes into play until they truly see combat. After their first few battles, purple mages learn to develop abilities according to the role they or others put them in.

Special: Purple mage levels are always considered key class levels for monster and NPC advancement. In addition to increasing CR for adding levels in a key class, every two purple mage levels increase the CR of a monster or NPC by +1.

Hit Die: d10.

Starting Age: Trained.

Starting Gold: 6d6 x 10 gp (average 190 gp); in addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.

Class Skills: The purple mage can choose any 15 skills as class skills.

Skill Points Per Level: 6 + Int modifier

Weapon and Armour Proficiency: A purple mage is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, as well as light armor and bucklers.

Academy Crests: At 1st level, a purple mage chooses four features from any classes or monsters (such as a fighter’s bonus feats and a sorcerer’s spellcasting) other than this one; the purple mage can select class features from archetypes if desired. The purple mage gains those two features, using her purple mage level as her level in that class or racial hit die of that monster for determining its benefits, such as for the number of dice of sneak attack damage, how many spells the purple mage can prepare, and so on. A purple mage selects one additional feature at every even-numbered level and two additional features at every odd-numbered level thereafter. All features selected in this manner must be of levels in their respective classes equal to or lower than the purple mage’s level or from a monster with racial hit dice equal to or lower than twice the purple mage's level at the time they are selected. The benefits of this feature are retroactive. Features belonging to 10th level or higher in a class or to a monster with 20 or more racial hit dice are considered Graduate Crests. You gain a +1 bonus to all Charisma checks and Charisma-based skill checks involving other purple mages per Graduate Crests feature you have selected.

Dilettante Training: At 2nd level and every even-numbered level thereafter, a purple mage selects a benefit from the following list. Each benefit can only be selected once, and some have certain prerequisites that must be met before they can be selected.
• Armor Bond (Requires Armor Mastery)
You can bond with a suit of armor using an 8 hour ritual, allowing you to add the enhancement bonus of the armor to your CMD; this bond is broken when you bond with a new suit of armor.
• Armor Mastery
You gain proficiency with medium and heavy armor, and all shields (including tower shields). You suffer no chance of arcane spell failure and no armor check penalty from armor or shields you use, and can provide somatic components using a hand occupied with wielding a shield.
• Bodily Health
You gain a bonus equal to 1/4 your class level to armor class, concentration checks, Constitution checks, and Fortitude saving throws. Your maximum hit points increase by 1 per level.
• Clear Thought
You gain a bonus equal to 1/4 your class level to Intelligence checks and Intelligence-based skill checks. You increase the radius of any special senses you possess (including Darkvision) by 10 Feet per 3 class levels.
• Epic Form (Requires Heroic Form)
When you would die while your Heroic Form is active, instead this benefit activates, ending all negative effects and conditions on yourself and restoring your hit points to maximum. You are then subject to a Polymorph effect at a caster level equal to your character level. This effect cannot be dismissed, dispelled, negated, or suppressed, even by a dead magic zone or antimagic field. As long as the duration of this Polymorph effect has not expired, this benefit cannot activate, and you can be killed normally.
• Escape Plan
Once per day, when an enemy reduces your hit points to less than 1/4 maximum but not below 0, you are subject to a special Shadow Walk effect that transports you directly to the nearest safe place, and with a duration that expires only once you have reached your destination. This effect cannot be dismissed, dispelled, negated, or suppressed, even by a dead magic zone or antimagic field. This benefit considers the “nearest safe place” to be the closest location (even across planar boundaries, as Shadow Walk allows) with no creatures, terrain, or traps that are harmful, hindering, or hostile to you; you cannot use this effect to travel anywhere except to this safe place.
• Final Form (Requires Epic Form)
When you would die while your Epic Form is active, instead this benefit activates, ending all negative effects and conditions on yourself and restoring your hit points to maximum. You are then subject to a Greater Polymorph effect at a caster level equal to your character level. This effect cannot be dismissed, dispelled, negated, or suppressed, even by a dead magic zone or antimagic field. As long as the duration of this Greater Polymorph effect has not expired, this benefit cannot activate, and you can be killed normally.
• Gainful Exercise
You gain a bonus equal to 1/4 your class level to attack rolls, damage rolls, Strength checks, and Strength-based skill checks. For every 6 class levels you possess, your are treated as if you were one size larger for determining your carrying capacity, CMB, CMD, and the size of creatures you can attempt combat maneuvers against. Also, weapons you wield deal damage as if they were one size larger for every 4 class levels you possess.
• Heroic Transformation
When you would die, instead this benefit activates, ending all negative effects and conditions on yourself and restoring your hit points to maximum. You are then subject to an Alter Self effect at a caster level equal to your character level. This effect cannot be dismissed, dispelled, negated, or suppressed, even by a dead magic zone or antimagic field. As long as the duration of this Alter Self effect has not expired, this benefit cannot activate, and you can be killed normally.
• Leadership and Influence
You gain a bonus equal to 1/4 your class level to Charisma checks and Charisma-based skill checks. You gain the Leadership feat as a bonus feat, even if you don’t meet the prerequisites, and your cohort can be of a level up to your class level -1. Furthermore, you add 1/4 your class level to the level of all your followers (e.g. followers of a 12th level purple mage that would normally be 3rd level would instead be 6th level).
• Quickness of Action
You gain a bonus equal to 1/4 your class level to initiative rolls, Dexterity checks, Dexterity-based skill checks, and Reflex saving throws. If your initiative score at the end of your turn is higher than 20, you can take an extra turn this round at your initiative score -10.
• Understanding
You gain a bonus equal to 1/4 your class level to Wisdom checks, Wisdom-based skill checks, and Will saving throws. You gain 2 additional skill points per level; furthermore, you can choose an additional skill as a class skill at every even-numbered level. This benefit is retroactive.
• Weapon Bond (Requires Weapon Mastery)
You can provide somatic components using a hand occupied with wielding a weapon. You can bond with a weapon using an 8 hour ritual, allowing you to add the enhancement bonus of the weapon to your CMB; this bond is broken when you bond with a new weapon.
• Weapon Mastery
You gain proficiency with all exotic weapons, and do not provoke attacks of opportunity for making combat maneuver checks, ranged attacks, or touch attacks against creatures you threaten.

Royal Magister: At 20th level, the purple mage can replace any one feature from her Academy Crests ability with a different feature of her choice from any class as part of a full 8 hours of rest.

Favored Class Options

Dwarf:​ +1/3 to CMD.

Elf: +5 Feet to all movement speeds per 3 times this favored class bonus is selected.

Gnome: +1/3 to Will saving throws against mind-affecting effects.

Half-Elf: +1/4 of an Academy Crests selection.

Halfling: +1/3 to Reflex saving throws against area effects.

Half-Orc: +1/3 to CMB.

Human: +1/5 of a bonus feat.

Other: +1/4 of a Dilettante Training selection.

A minor change to try and balance that I really think you should implement, change the hit dice down to 10, 12 is only available if you gestalt Barbarian or a third party class and i think it should be that way just due to the health bonus it gives. I would also say at the beginning of play they select one save to be there poor save and two to be good saves, I feel like this is a slight tweak which will make them mug easier to play alongside and not feel too overshadowed. Also I would think of reducing skill points to 7 since 8 is a lot for a lot of gestalt (imagine a wizard/Arcanist gestalt with an 18 INT, at level one that’s 12 skill points).

d10 sounds good to me, and I'll move the skill points down to an even 6+Int. I'll change all the saves to low, actually, since there are save boosting Dilettante Training options.

Thanks for the feedback!

Have I misunderstood something, or would this allow you to gain ridiculous numbers of spellcasting progressions (and other assorted key features of classes)? At first level, for example, you could take the oracle and sorcerer spell progressions as your first two crests (which then progress automatically as you level); at second level add in wizard casting, at third mix in the psychic's casting and perhaps some cleric progression, etc? Because even in the context of gestalt, that's overpowered - normally, getting two progressions of that sort (plus a few minor extra abilities) is as far as gestalt can take you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pi4t

Have I misunderstood something, or would this allow you to gain ridiculous numbers of spellcasting progressions (and other assorted key features of classes)? At first level, for example, you could take the oracle and sorcerer spell progressions as your first two crests (which then progress automatically as you level); at second level add in wizard casting, at third mix in the psychic's casting and perhaps some cleric progression, etc? Because even in the context of gestalt, that's overpowered - normally, getting two progressions of that sort (plus a few minor extra abilities) is as far as gestalt can take you.

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Good catch, it's only supposed to allow up to two total spellcasting progressions. I was thinking about how to word it, decided I'd get back to it later, and never did.
Any advice on wording that restriction?