[Screen name]Mage of Total Annihilation

[ToTo_Annihalation]

Mage of Total Annihilation
Centuries ago there was a powerful mage, Toren, who discovered during his adventures one of the thirteen secrets of enlightenment. The secret was that all destruction is permanent, and creation is only temporary. Toren embarked on a rampage of destruction, his powers fueled by the magic of his enlightenment. Entire Continents vanished under his power, Civilizations wiped ffrom the face of existence, and the entire material plane trembled at his power. He destroyed himself though, consumed by his thirst for destruction, and almost all apprentices followed in his wake. The few that were left passed on their master's teachings to others. Nowadays Mages of Total Annihilation no longer destroy everything they see, they now survive to learn as much about the secret of enlightentment as possible, and prepare for the second coming of Total Annihilation when they are ready.

Requirements: Alignment: any nongood
Spells: Ability to cast Fireball or Lightningbolt
Feats: Any two Metamagic feats.
Skills: Knowledge Arcana 8
Special: Must have Evocation or Conjuration as your specialty school, if the character is a specialist, and must have destroyed somthing of great size, power, or importance.

Mage of Total Annihilation

BAB Fort Ref Will Abilities Spells
1. +0 +0 +0 +2 Annihilator, Arcane Spellcaster level +1
Thirst for Destruction
2. +1 +0 +0 +3 Destroyer 1d4 Arcane Spellcaster level +1
3. +1 +1 +1 +3 Demolisher +10
4. +2 +1 +1 +4 Arcane Spellcaster level +1
5. +2 +1 +1 +4 Arcane Spellcaster level +1
6. +3 +2 +2 +5 Destroyer 1d6 ,
Demolisher +20
7. +3 +2 +2 +5 Dsintegrate Arcane Spellcaster level +1
8. +4 +2 +2 +6 Arcane Spellcaster Level +1
9. +4 +3 +3 +6 Demolisher +30
10.+5 +3 +3 +7 Destroyer 1d8 Arcane Spellcaster level +1

Weapon Profiency: Mages of Total Annihilation gain no profiency in any weapons or armor.
Arcane Spellcaster Level When a Mage of Total Annihilation gains a bonus spellcaster level from this class, he only gains the spells he would get if he had leveled up in his arcane spellcaster class, not any familar benefits, ability to turn undead, or bonus feats.
Thirst for Destruction: Mages of Total Annihilation are driven by a thirst for destruction, a Mage of Total Annihilation must give up an additional school of magic and must completely Annihilate at least 1 cubic foot per Lvl of Mage of Total Annihilation of any material in a solid form.
Annihilator: If a Mage of Total Annihilation’s spell deals damage equal to double damage of the target’s maximum Hp, the target remains are completely destroyed, this ability works against inanimate objects and formerly live objects.
Destroyer: Mages of Total Annihilation gain this bonus to damage with their spells as a result of their devotion to destruction.
Demolisher: Mages of Total Annihilation have this extra radius to their damaging spells, spells with a single target radius are unaffected.
Disintegrate: Mages of Total Annihilation learn the disintegrate spell, for free at level 7.

[Geethree]

I don't like the Demolisher ability because it requires math on the player's part. Some siimple addition or multiplication is fine, but this requires a calculator. I'd change it to something simpler or at least something less numbers-intensive.

How about, "spells cast from the Evocation school are cast at +1 caster level," and it scales up as you level up?

[Starbuck_II]

But Fireball is capped at Lv10 doing 10d6 so +1 isn't always helpful.?

Maybe Demolisher is +5 feet raduis each.
+5 then +10 then +15 feet raduis.

It looks okay, strange about the Thirst for Destruction getting rid of a additional school. But it that is your choice.

[ToTo_Annihalation]

My idea is that they are to busy destroying stuff to worry about other magic as much and thus lose some of it. Also do you think it is to much of a price to pay for the class' abilities?

[Lord_Nathanel]

heheh Should have a "destroys everything" feat. I am not much of a mage person but I liked this one for its sheer kill em all blasting.

[ToTo_Annihalation]

That's what i made it for nath. Explosions, carnage, amd annihilation

[Grey Watcher]

The only criticism I have has already been voiced. A percentage increase to area of effect spells is both hard to calculate and can get a little extravagant with larger spells. I mean, if a game has a spell that was conceived in the same spirit as this class, the stacking effects could get WAAAY out of control. I think a flat bonus avoids both problems.

[Musrum]

Disintegrate: Mages of Total Annihilation learn the disintegrate spell, for free at level

This ability is worth almost nothing to a Wizard but a hell of allot to a Sorceror. Which is fine, I think Sorceror focused PrC's are a bit thin on the ground.

Destroyer would scale better if it increased the damage die by one step: 1d4 -> 1d6 etc. However you would only do this once at level 5(?).

[Zherog]

<<snipped flavor text>>

The flavor text accomplishes the job it's supposed to do - lay out what the class is about, and provide a bit of history if appropriate.

Requirements: Alignment: any nongood
Spells: Ability to cast Fireball or Lightningbolt
Feats: Any two Metamagic feats.
Skills: Knowledge Arcana 8
Special: Must have Evocation or Conjuration as your specialty school, if the character is a specialist, and must have destroyed somthing of great size, power, or importance.

This is quite easy to get into. May I suggest another "Special" ability that adds some flavor (though doesn't really change how hard it is to get in)? "May not have any item creation feats (exception: a wizard may have scribe scroll, but vows to never use the ability)" Creating stuff is the antithesis of this class, after all.

<<snipped the table>>

You're missing the Hit Die, Class Skill List and number of Skill Points per level.

Arcane Spellcaster Level When a Mage of Total Annihilation gains a bonus spellcaster level from this class, he only gains the spells he would get if he had leveled up in his arcane spellcaster class, not any familar benefits, ability to turn undead, or bonus feats.

This could be worded slightly better. I'd recommend yanking the code from the Arcane Trickster in the SRD.

Thirst for Destruction: Mages of Total Annihilation are driven by a thirst for destruction, a Mage of Total Annihilation must give up an additional school of magic and must completely Annihilate at least 1 cubic foot per Lvl of Mage of Total Annihilation of any material in a solid form.

This destruction is a one time thing? If it's a one time thing, the "per level" text is useless. If it's more than just a one time thing, you'll need to specify how often.

What constitutes "Completely annihilated?" As far as I know, the only way to do so in the Core Rules is via the Sphere of Annihilation - an artifact.

Annihilator: If a Mage of Total Annihilation’s spell deals damage equal to double damage of the target’s maximum Hp, the target remains are completely destroyed, this ability works against inanimate objects and formerly live objects.

And it looks like you've provided another mechanism for total annihilation of something.

This doesn't work on living matter?

Does the damage have to come from one spell, or can it accumulate. For example, if I'm trying to totally destroy a wooden table with 20 hit points, do I have to do 40 points of damage with only one spell?

Also, when talking about "maximum hit points" of a corpse, you need to be a little careful. Max could be interpretted two ways, in my opinion. A) The full hit points the creature had when alive. B) The maximum hit points the creature could have had when it was alive. For example, a 2nd level fighter with an 18 con is going to have somewhere between 19 and 28 hit points. If he rolled a 5 for his 2nd level hit die, he would have 23. This would be max under A. 28 would be the max under B, regardless of what the fighter rolled for his hit die at 2nd level.

Destroyer: Mages of Total Annihilation gain this bonus to damage with their spells as a result of their devotion to destruction.

What if the spell doesn't do damage, such as Bull's Strength, Baleful Polymorph, Blink, etc?

Demolisher: Mages of Total Annihilation have this extra radius to their damaging spells, spells with a single target radius are unaffected.

So spells without a radius (such as Lightning Bolt) are unaffected? A quick look through an Excel version of the SRD I have reveals that the following are the only Evocation spells with a "Radius" entry:

Delayed Blast Fireball
Fireball
Leomund's Tiny Hut
Meteor Swarm
Shatter (in certain instances)
Sunburst

Also, the following spells have a "Diameter" entry, so you might be able to argue they would be effected:

Flaming Sphere
Otiluke's Resilliant Sphere
Otiluke's Telekinetic Sphere
Tenser's Floating Disk

The following are some of the spells not affected:

Burning Hands
Cone of Cold
Chain Lightning
Ice Storm
Lightning Bolt
Magic Missle
Polar Ray
Shocking Grasp
Shout
Wall of Fire/Ice/Force

There's others, too.

Basically, I think you're limiting this ability needlessly by using the word "Radius." Perhaps you could allow all Evocation spells to be cast as though effected by the Enlarge Spell metamagic feat, without increasing the spell level or casting time. Alternatively (or even in addition to), you could allow the use of the Widen Spell feat at a reduced cost (it's currently a +3 effect). I wouldn't reduce it below 2, however.

I think either of these (or some combination) will provide you a better machanic within the game for what you are trying to accomplish.

Disintegrate: Mages of Total Annihilation learn the disintegrate spell, for free at level 7.

This is quite weak for a wizard, but as Musrum pointed out, this is a big boon to Sorcerers.

***

Overall, I find the class to be weak, actually. A sorcerer who takes this class through to the end won't be able to gain the all important 9th level spells until Epic levels. I also personally think Evocation is one of the weakest schools to "specialize" in. However, I know plenty of other people who feel otherwise, as well.

Some things need to be fixed mechanically. One thing that is nice to see, though, is an Arcane class that is available to sorcerers about as easily as to wizards!