The Cultist: Old class i made, rehased to a PrC

[ilovefire]

Yeah, some may or may not remember the Cultist i made awhile back. Well, i decided to change it to a PrC, instead of a base class. Here it is, folks.

The Cultist Version PrC
Requirements:
Knowledge: Arcana, ten ranks.
Spellcraft, ten ranks.
Non-lawful alignment.
Any three Meta Magic feats
Must be able to cast level three arcane spells.
Special: Must have willingly hurt themselves, under the tutelage of an existing Cultist, for at least 50% of their total hit points. This does not have to be all at once.



Hit Die: d4
Weapon/Armor profiencies: The Cultist gains profiencies with all simple weapons, but no armor.
BAB progression: As Mystic Theurge
Save progression: As Mystic Theurge
Class skills: Concentration, Craft, Knowledge: Arcana, Heal, Spellcraft, Intimidate, Diplomacy
Skill points at every following level: 2+ INT modifier
Special abilities per level

Lvl 1 +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class, Pain is Power 1/day
Lvl 2 +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class, Weakness is Strength 1/day, Pain of Knowing +1
Lvl 3 +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class, Pain is Power 2/day
Lvl 4 +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class, Weakness is Strength 2/day, Pain is Power reduction
Lvl 5 +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class, Pain is Power 3/day
Lvl 6 +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class, Weakness is Strength 3/day, Pain of Knowing+2
Lvl 7 +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class, Pain is Power 4/day
Lvl 8 +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class, Weakness is Strength 4/day
Lvl 9 +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class, Pain is Power 5/day, Pain is Power reduction
Lvl 10 +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class, Weakness is Strength 5/day, Pain of Knowing +3

Pain is Power: If the cultist takes damage according the level of the spell before any spell level modifiers are applied, rolled to the numbers on Table: The cultist, then the Cultist may apply ONE meta-magic feat that the cultist knows, or doesn’t know, to the spell the cultist is currently casting. If the Meta Magic feat in question results in the spell using a slot that a cultist has no free spell slots in, the cultist still takes damage as normal, however, the spell fails, and does nothing. The cultist does not have to take a concentration check for taking damage while casting a spell for using this ability. The cultist may also change the spell level of a spell, by taking damage as if the spell had been the level wanted. Casting a level nine magic missile, for instance, deals 3d10+9 damage. They may only increase or decrease a spell’s level to a level they can currently cast.

Weakness is Strength: The Cultist may cast spells from any spellcasting classes' spell list that have access to, but do not know, if they take CON damage equal to the level of the spell. This is restricted to spells of a level the caster can already cast.

At level four, and again at nine, the spell level increase caused by applying Meta magic feats from the Pain is Power ability is reduced by one.

Pain of Knowing: At level 2, 6, and 9, the Cultist may add a +1, +2, or +3 bonus, respectively, to all Knowledge and Craft skill checks, but takes 1d4+1, 1d4+2, or 1d4+3 damage, respectively.

Table: The Cultist

Cantrips – 1 HP
1st - 1d4 +1 (2-5)
2nd - 1d6 +2 (3-8)
3rd - 1d8 +3 (4-11)
4th - 1d10 +4 (5-14)
5th - 2d6 +5 (7-19)
6th - 2d8 +6 (8-20)
7th - 2d10 +7 (9-27)
8th - 3d8 +8 (11-32)
9th - 3d10+9 (12-39)

[Omniplex]

Cool theme, but it seems awefully powerful. Maybe if you reduced the spellcasting progression a little, it might be more balanced.

[heretic]

• Suggestions
• Change Pain is Power so that you can only apply metamagic feats you know to spells.
• Use the modified level of the spell to determine damage taken when casting with Pain is Power. Reduce damage taken accordingly. (Otherwise, a quickened magic missile is just as harmful to the caster as a silenced one)
• Open the class to divine casters as well and add Knowledge (Religion) to the list of class skills
• Change Weakness is Strength so that Divine casters may choose to cast any arcane spell that is also a domain spell. (Though not neccessarily one of their domains)
• Make it so that damage taken through any Cultist class abilities may only be healed through nonmagical means.

[NEO|Phyte]

healing only by nonmagical means?
Im sure most adventurers would rather NOT take a week or 2 to let one of their casters heal up.
Perhaps halved effectiveness of healing spells on class-related injuries?

[heretic]

Well since standard healing progression is porportional to character level and therefore, HP, that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

The idea isn't really "put caster out of commission for a coupla weeks", it's more just prevention against "I cast a maximized fireball with a third level spell slot and the cleric heals me on his turn."

Anyway, my ideas are just suggestions.