Friendship Through Superior Firepower! Magical Girl Base Class, Set Up! [3.5]

[Owrtho]

Actually, yes they do.

Huh, how have I never seen that part of the description before. Man that is stupid. Well, now I know something to houserule in games I run.

However, Immediate Action barriers would need a line like "you need not spend a swift action in your next turn to maintain a Barrier that you have activated ou of your turn."

Except you don't. Maintaining a barrier is a free action, not a swift action. Thus even if you lose your swift action the turn after activating it, you still can maintain it. Unless you mean that you would keep your swift action to use for anything. If it wasn't a free action, you wouldn't be able to have more than one barrier at a time.

Speaking of that, it seems that most any barrier that is actually a barrier, should have the option to place more than one of them at a time. After all, who doesn't want the ability to make a maze using barriers? Or strategically block various paths that are not close enough for one continuous barrier? The increased mote cost would be enough that it doesn't seem likely to be that powerful. As for the ones like the spotlights, those could just be stated to not stack with themselves, at which point yo could have barriers default to multiples of the same one being allowed.

Owrtho

[Regalus]

Awesome stuff

IMO this should be included as part of the base feature for preparing their illuminations, or something it unlocks at level 5 or something, after all even the magus can still use offensive spells separately from their special flurry; but that's just my humble opinion.

[Serafina]

Yes it probably should be available pretty soon. It's not too powerful, and i really dislike Archetypes (or classes for that matter) whose playstyle-defining features only come online by mid-level or later.

If anything i am somewhat worried that the damage gets out of hand during the later levels, where you can reliably hit with a -4 modifier and Blast damage gets higher. But:
A 16th-level Magical Girl would probably attack with +20/20/20/15/15/10. Each hit deals 8D8+2D6+11 damage, with 9D6+14 damage from the Illumination. Assuming an average of 4 hits (including the Illumination), that works out to 261 damage. Mind you, she's more likely to land 3 hits against most CR-appropriate Monsters, and against some she can't flurry if she wants to hit properly and/or needs outside boni.

Conclusion:
The ability seems pretty balanced with the rest of the magical Girl - it only adds damage, and not too much of it as far as i can see for now. I'd actually remove my paragraph that forbids prismatic damage from being added to the Blast.

[Serafina]

Since Selinia just pointed out that Magical Girls make good mounted combatants, a new multiclass feat!

Rider of Light:
Prerequisites:Mount or Divine Bond (Mount) class feature, Costume +1
Benefit: Your Magical Girl levels stack with your Cavalier-levels to determine the effect of your Mount class feature, your Expert Trainer class feature and your Costume bonus. You can summon or dismiss your mount whenever you summon or dismiss your Costume. Your Mount always returns to full hitpoints at the end of the day, even when slain.
If you have a Divine Bond with a Mount, your Paladin levels stack with your Magical Girl levels to determine its effects. You can summon and dismiss your Mount whenever you summon or dismiss your costume. Damage to your Mount only vanishes at the end of the day, instead with every summoning.
Special: If appropriate to your setting, your Mount can take a fantastic form, such as that of a Magical Beast or even that of a machine. This does not grant it any special features or alters its statistics in any way, and it remains its original type of creature.
Special: If you have the Mentor Animal Archetype, your Mount can be your Mentor Animal.

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This is mostly intended for the Cavalier - if you are a Paladin you're supposed to take it in concert with Luminous Champion. Bog-standard level-stacking, and the ability to summon your mount doesn't really do much, except maybe keep your mount out of the way in ambushes eliminate eventual problems of transporting it. As a general rule, IMO, everything you gain from class features should be available to you regardless of situation anyway, so this is hardly a huge advantage, just a fix for a problem.

Might require some work on the wording to make it less convoluted, but i think it gets across what i planned.

[DrakeRaids]

Since cartridge boost stacks with other enhancement bonuses, that means You could stack it multiple times correct? Is this intended?

[Serafina]

Most likely not, Selinia probably just forgot to add a " Multiple uses of this ability do not stack with themselves." paragraph.
The practically identical ability of the Magus doesn't stack with itself either.

[userpay]

Being that I'm working on an app for the magical girl game I would like to make a request, is there any chance that a multiclass feat could be made for Magitech Templar? While the Devicer archetype strikes pretty close it doesn't quite reach mecha girl status. Heavy Costume would need to either be integrated or a requirement I would think.

Along the same vein I'm somewhat disappointed that Spirit Shooter and Devicer can't be combined (since I am going for a shooty Magical Girl/Magitech Templar) though I suppose Evolved Device might be the closest workaround. If you have a Twinned Device would Evolved Device work on both at the same time?

[Serafina]

Actually, Spirit Shooter and Devicer are, as far as i can tell, supposed to be combinable.

As for a Multiclass-feat: Those are easy.
Pick a signature but not too strong ability from your class. If it has spells, caster level for those might also be an option, as are minor abilities (such as wild empathy). You should generally not gain new class features from a Multiclass feat, just advance existing ones.
On the magical girl side you take either costume bonus or motes, and Evoker level is also an option.
Place your benefits thusly that entry requires 2 or 3 levels in your class and 2 or 3 in the Magical Girl class. The stronger your class and the ability advanced by your feat, the higher the entry requirements should be.
Last but not least, pick features that blend similar features, such as animal companions/familiars and your device/mentor animal.

There, done - you just created a multiclass feat.

And now, an example.
The Magitech Templar has three major abilities: Magitech Armor, Magitech Upgrades and Armored Sense Upgrades.
Only the first is actually scaling with level, and the latter two grant new abilities instead of advancing old ones. Hence, advancing Magitech Armor is the best choice.
Now, the Magitech Templar obviously relies on his armor. Hence, advancing his Costume is the best choice.
Now we are advancing two very similar abilities - both are armor. Add a Paragraph that allows you to designate your Magitech Armor as your Costume.

Okay, so now we have to check the power of this Multiclass feat.
A Level 18 Magical Girl who has it and two Levels in Magitech Templar gains a free +5 armor and one Magitech Upgrade. That's not particulary strong - a +5 armor is cheap at level 20. Certainly not worth loosing your True Illumination and Come Back for.
A Level 18 Magitech Templar on the other hand gains 13 Costume points. That's quite powerful.

Conclusion: For a Magical Girl the feat and a dip are a weak option. For a Magitech Templar the feat and a dip are a very strong option. I guess we need some adjustment. This can be done by increasing the required level in Magical Girl, or by advancing another Magitech Templar class feature.

However, we are pretty much out of class features that wouldn't require us to break the "no new features" option. However, Upgrades are only a small feature, so they are an option. Obviously we can't let them stack fully or we'd almost have a Gestalt-character. Solution: Tie them to Magical Girl level in a way that is not advanced by levels in Magitech Templar, and grant one or maybe two upgrades at those levels. Let's go with 1 Upgrade at Evoker level 10.

Okay, what do we have now?
A Magical Girl 18/2 gains a free +5 Armor and two Armor upgrades. That's better, but is it worth it?
A Magitech Templar 17/3 looses two upgrades, one Sense Upgrade and his Capstone in exchange for 13 costume points. Still powerful, but more equal than before.

Okay - we don't want to raise the Magitech Templar entry requirement for this feat higher than 2, since it's already pretty weak. And we only have one class feature left - that you gain at level 3. Ah, but we don't have to have all features that are advanced as requirements! Simpy state that it gets advanced when you have it! Now obviously we can't fully advance Senses either, so lets take the same option at before - upgrade at Evoker Level X. Lets take 12, and move the old upgrade to 8 to space it out.

Now a Magical Girl 17/3 gets two Upgrades and two Sense Upgrades. Yes, that's something that lets the flavor shine trough without being too powerful.

However, a Magitech Templar 17/3 is still gains a massive boost! He can summon his armor whenever he wants AND he gains 13 whole costume points. That's a LOT for one feat and a small loss of features. Maybe we should reduce that a bit. Limiting the Maximum Costume bonus should help! No need to reduce the amount of points as well when we do that tough.

Okay, so what do we have?
Magitech Costume
Your Costume is not just an expression of your personality, but also of your ingenuity
Prerequisites: Power of Friendship, 1 Magitech Upgrade
Benefits: Your Magitech Crusader and Magical Girl Class levels stack to determine the Bonus of your Magitech Armor and your amount of costume points. Add half your Magitech Crusader levels to your Magical Girl levels to determine your Maximum Costume Bonus. You may designate your Magitech Armor as your Costume, even if it is not light armor. You add your Magical Girl levels to determine the effects and DCs of your Magitech Upgrades. If you have Armor Sentience and Armored Sense Upgrade, you add your Magical Girl levels to determine their effects and DCs.
Special: At Evoker Level 8, you gain a Magitech Upgrade. At Evoker Level 12, you gain a Armored Sense Upgrade.

There we go - a Multiclass feat.

[userpay]

Actually, Spirit Shooter and Devicer are, as far as i can tell, supposed to be combinable.

Well I think technically they are I just wasn't quite sure considering how they both replace Device and Device - Limit Form. More of a double check if you will.

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As for a Multiclass-feat: Those are easy.
Pick a signature but not too strong ability from your class. If it has spells, caster level for those might also be an option, as are minor abilities (such as wild empathy). You should generally not gain new class features from a Multiclass feat, just advance existing ones.
On the magical girl side you take either costume bonus or motes, and Evoker level is also an option.
Place your benefits thusly that entry requires 2 or 3 levels in your class and 2 or 3 in the Magical Girl class. The stronger your class and the ability advanced by your feat, the higher the entry requirements should be.
Last but not least, pick features that blend similar features, such as animal companions/familiars and your device/mentor animal.

There, done - you just created a multiclass feat.

And now, an example.
The Magitech Templar has three major abilities: Magitech Armor, Magitech Upgrades and Armored Sense Upgrades.
Only the first is actually scaling with level, and the latter two grant new abilities instead of advancing old ones. Hence, advancing Magitech Armor is the best choice.
Now, the Magitech Templar obviously relies on his armor. Hence, advancing his Costume is the best choice.
Now we are advancing two very similar abilities - both are armor. Add a Paragraph that allows you to designate your Magitech Armor as your Costume.

Okay, so now we have to check the power of this Multiclass feat.
A Level 18 Magical Girl who has it and two Levels in Magitech Templar gains a free +5 armor and one Magitech Upgrade. That's not particulary strong - a +5 armor is cheap at level 20. Certainly not worth loosing your True Illumination and Come Back for.
A Level 18 Magitech Templar on the other hand gains 13 Costume points. That's quite powerful.

Conclusion: For a Magical Girl the feat and a dip are a weak option. For a Magitech Templar the feat and a dip are a very strong option. I guess we need some adjustment. This can be done by increasing the required level in Magical Girl, or by advancing another Magitech Templar class feature.

However, we are pretty much out of class features that wouldn't require us to break the "no new features" option. However, Upgrades are only a small feature, so they are an option. Obviously we can't let them stack fully or we'd almost have a Gestalt-character. Solution: Tie them to Magical Girl level in a way that is not advanced by levels in Magitech Templar, and grant one or maybe two upgrades at those levels. Let's go with 1 Upgrade at Evoker level 10.

Okay, what do we have now?
A Magical Girl 18/2 gains a free +5 Armor and two Armor upgrades. That's better, but is it worth it?
A Magitech Templar 17/3 looses two upgrades, one Sense Upgrade and his Capstone in exchange for 13 costume points. Still powerful, but more equal than before.

Okay - we don't want to raise the Magitech Templar entry requirement for this feat higher than 2, since it's already pretty weak. And we only have one class feature left - that you gain at level 3. Ah, but we don't have to have all features that are advanced as requirements! Simpy state that it gets advanced when you have it! Now obviously we can't fully advance Senses either, so lets take the same option at before - upgrade at Evoker Level X. Lets take 12, and move the old upgrade to 8 to space it out.

Now a Magical Girl 17/3 gets two Upgrades and two Sense Upgrades. Yes, that's something that lets the flavor shine trough without being too powerful.

However, a Magitech Templar 17/3 is still gains a massive boost! He can summon his armor whenever he wants AND he gains 13 whole costume points. That's a LOT for one feat and a small loss of features. Maybe we should reduce that a bit. Limiting the Maximum Costume bonus should help! No need to reduce the amount of points as well when we do that tough.

Okay, so what do we have?
Magitech Costume
Your Costume is not just an expression of your personality, but also of your ingenuity
Prerequisites: Power of Friendship, 1 Magitech Upgrade
Benefits: Your Magitech Crusader and Magical Girl Class levels stack to determine the Bonus of your Magitech Armor and your amount of costume points. Add half your Magitech Crusader levels to your Magical Girl levels to determine your Maximum Costume Bonus. You may designate your Magitech Armor as your Costume, even if it is not light armor. You add your Magical Girl levels to determine the effects and DCs of your Magitech Upgrades. If you have Armor Sentience and Armored Sense Upgrade, you add your Magical Girl levels to determine their effects and DCs.
Special: At Evoker Level 8, you gain a Magitech Upgrade. At Evoker Level 12, you gain a Armored Sense Upgrade.

There we go - a Multiclass feat.

Thanks a lot for the breakdown! I've always considered myself bad at homebrewing as I tend towards fluff as mechanics as opposed to balanced mechanics. I'll keep that breakdown in mind for future situations where I want to combine two classes.

Also if it helps I was planning on taking the Repeating Crossbow Upgrade (except as a gun), making that my Device, and twinning it if possible though I'll probably double check with the DM on that last part without having that as a second Upgrade as well. I was also potentially looking at the Evolved Device to beable to switch it into Power Fist for giggles though I'll probably save that for when the game turns into gestalt later on (if he allows me to swap the multiclass feat out at that time).

[Serafina]

Well, technically, that's not an option.
While you designate an existing armor as your device (hence, no problem designating your Magitech-armor as such - even if the feat didn't state so, you could do it with the feat that allows you to designte heavy armor), you do NOT designate an existing weapon as your Device.
Instead, your Device takes the form of a specific weapon. That has various effects, most notable of all is that your Device can't be a weapon with a unique enchantment (such as a Songblade) nor of a special material.

However, i see nothing wrong with designating an armor-integratd weapon as your device. Simply add "if your armor has integrated weapons, one of these can be treated as your device".

[userpay]

So how does this sound to be added in? "If your armor has an integrated weapon you may designate it as your device, if you have the same weapon integrated twice and you have the Twinned Device feat you may designate both of them as your devices."

[DrakeRaids]

I hae a multiclass feat for the Harrowed and Magical Girl. A character I'm playing in another game uses Harrowed to give her a superpowered evil side, and the classes actually mesh pretty well. In any case, here it is. Not really happy with the name, and not sure on the balance really. Imput welcome

Tenebrous Dawn
Benefit: Tenebrous Touch (2d6) and Power of Friendship
Effect: Sometimes when a soul is shadowed, that simply gives it the means to shine all the brighter. The Harrowed Magical Girl may spend a single mote extra mote when she invokes a strike, blast, or burst illumination. Should the illumination succeed then the target takes the wielders Tenebrous Touch once in addition to all other effects, and for the purpose of developing her Tenebrous Touch and its DC's, the characters magical girl and harrowed levels stack. Furthermore, as long as she has half her mote pool or more full, the magical girl enjoys a +1 save against The Monster Within.

[Owrtho]

Well, technically, that's not an option.
While you designate an existing armor as your device (hence, no problem designating your Magitech-armor as such - even if the feat didn't state so, you could do it with the feat that allows you to designte heavy armor), you do NOT designate an existing weapon as your Device.
Instead, your Device takes the form of a specific weapon. That has various effects, most notable of all is that your Device can't be a weapon with a unique enchantment (such as a Songblade) nor of a special material.

However, i see nothing wrong with designating an armor-integratd weapon as your device. Simply add "if your armor has integrated weapons, one of these can be treated as your device".

In this case, the easiest method might be to have a separate feat that allows you to integrate your device into your armour. Something like:

Integrated Device
You have learned to integrate your device into your armour.
Prerequisites: Magitech Costume, any Magitech Upgrade that grants a weapon
Benefit: You may as a swift action combine your device with any weapon built into your Magitech Armor from a Magitech Upgrade. This causes the weapon to gain all the benefits of being your device, including benefiting from costume points and feats or abilities that effect your device. Changing your device back to its normal form is likewise a swift action.
Special: If you have the twined device feat, you may combine your device with two integrated weapons at a time.

Anyway, another class that might allow a similar idea would be a magical girl/engineer mix.

Owrtho

[Serafina]

Speaking of Integrated Devices:

Devices in Magical Girl shows are often capable of doing quite a few things, and so are the Magical Girls themselves.
While their Illuminations represent their combat abilities really well, they do nothing to represent their utility-abilities. Fortunately, Magical Girls have Use Magic Device. Unfortunately, we rarely if ever see a Magical Girl pulling out an Item other than her Device.

Solution: Allow Devices to duplicate the Functions of Wands and Scrolls.
Since this is not a huge advantage, it shouldn't carry a huge cost, such as an Archetype, Feat or Prestige class. Instead, it should be a specific enchantment or a new class feature.

Class Feature:
Device Magic
Many Magical Girls learn to use their connection to the light for more than just combat. By preparing special ingredients and with the aid of their device, they can achieve a wide array of miraculous effects.
At 5th level, a Magical Girl can integrate Spell Trigger items into her device. She can integrate a Scroll or Wand into her Device via a ceremony that takes one hour. If she succeeds on a Use Magic Device check, the wand or a number of scrolls equal to half her class level are destroyed. Instead, her device gains exactly the same amount of spells and charges that the wand or scrolls had. If the check fails, nothing happens and she can try again on the next day. A Device can hold any number of charges and spells.

Once her Device contains charges and spells, a Magical Girl can activate them like any other spell trigger item, but needs to spend at least a full round action. She needs to succeed on a Use Magic Device check and gains her Devices Enhancement Bonus (if any) to it. The DCs are equal to the DCs to activate the Item she transferred the spell from, but she may use her Charisma to fulfill attribute requirements. The spells work exactly as if they had been cast from the item was integrated into the device.

This ability works with Trinkets, Ranged Devices and other variant Archetypes.

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This is first and foremost a way to store wands and scrolls conveniently. As a small bonus, the Magical Girl gets a small bonus (1-5) to her UMD-check, and she can activate higher-level spells without buying scrolls from a Sorcerer or Oracle, which makes accessing them a bit easier (though it was possible before)

And a feat
Mystic Trinket
You far surpass the mystic abilities of more martial Magical Girls.
Prerequisites: Evoker Level 10, Trinket
Benefits: You can integrate a Staff spell trigger item into your Trinket. This works the same way as Device Magic. You only transfer the spells, not any other abilities of the staff.
You use your Evoker Level and Charisma to determine the effects of the spells that were stored in the staff. You can recharge one charge per day to one staff that has been integrated into your device. You can integrate multiple staffs into your trinket, but they all share the same charges when you do so.
Activating a spell stored in this manner has a DC of 20+twice the spell level.

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Okay, this effectively gives a Magical Girl the abiliy to cast 9th-level spells. If she has the money to spend on such expensive items, that is, and if her GM allows her access to them. It also always requires a full-round action and a UMD-check to activate[, with the potential to loose charges. That, along with the full-roumd action, should make it cumbersome enough that she won't cast in battle. I also limited it to Kofu Shojos to make them a more attractive Archetype.

This feat really needs som review and opinion, since the ability to recharge staffs is quite a huge boon. However, i think that Kofu Shojos need a good boost - they loose access to most of the feat support and Prestige Classes that Magical Girls get, so a feat exclusively for them seems pretty nice.

[Selinia]

*Turns around and works on character building for a day. Returns.*

SO MANY POSTS.

As for Barrier Maidens: We already have them ;) I'd like the idea that Kofu Shojos "Barrier Maiden" class features applies to boni given by Barriers:
"You also increase any Boni to Saves or AC and any Damage Reduction granted by your barriers by your Wisdom bonus".
Something like that - would make Wisdom much more useful for that Archetype.

Edit: Or maybe better yet:
Barrier Maiden (Su):
(...other text...). You also add your Wisdom modifier to your Charisma modifier to determine the effect of your Barrier-Illuminations.

Done. Kofū shōjo now adds Wis to Cha to determine the effects of her Barriers. It seemed the most forthright and universally useful ways to go about it, and it's arguably the class's weakest archetype to begin with.

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I know that the discussion is currently focused on the new barrier illuminations but I have a question. Has anyone considered altering the Mist Breaker's interaction with blast Illuminations so that rather than eliminating them whole sale she converts them into Strikes which use Melee touch attacks? Bonus points for allowing them to add their Modified Unarmed damage from their Blazing Spirit class feature to the damage of these special "Strike" Illuminations.

For example, homing 'shot' could be converted into a psudo-full attack; allowing the Mist Breaker the same number of melee touch attacks as she would've gotten shots against adjacent opponents, and would otherwise operate the same. While the Busters become super light charged power attacks.

As it stands, the loss of blast illuminations is a severe blow to the archetype, greater in some some ways to the drawbacks of some of the other archetypes. After all, even the Kofu Shoujo and Spirit Shooter can still prepare strike illuminations if they need to. Having the Mist Breaker convert Blasts into melee touch attacks stays in theme with the Mist Breaker without shooting it in the foot by loosing roughly 1/4 of the magical girl's options; which just so happens to be the portion containing most of their raw fire power.

This alteration would help the Mist Breaker better fulfill its design goal as the Melee expert of the Magical Girl Archetypes, keep it on par with the other Archetypes, as well as providing it with a niche in terms of illumination interaction on par with the one Kofu Shojo and the Spirit Shooter currently possess with Blast and Burst Illuminations.

So, what do you guys think?

]I can't see anything wrong with that. It's still a drawback (since you don't have ranged attack anymore) of course, but at least you don't loose your really damaging Illuminations (because Strikes mostly don't do damage)

I would actually propose something akin to the Magus (yeah yeah, i do like that class) Spellstrike-ability here:

Flurry of Light
At Xth(?) level, the Spirit Breaker can prepare Blast Illuminations. However, she can not evoke them normally as ranged attacks. Instead, a a Full-Round Action, she can make all her melee attacks at a -2 penalty and evoke a Blast Illumination that needs a Touch-Attack to hit. She makes an attack roll with her full BAB -2 against AC (not Touch-AC) for this Blast Illumination, if it hits it deals additional damage equal to her Unarmed Strike damage.
This can be combined with Two-Weapon Fighting normally. The Blast can not profit from Prismatic Calling.


That'd effectively be Flurry of Blows like a Monks, with the added benefit of a Blast Illuminations damage. While it might seem similar to Limit Mode at first, it has a couple of difference
-The Blast needs to hit AC instead of Touch-AC, therefore loosing a major benefit of Blasts.
- All Attacks take a -2 penalty. Nothing crippling, but noticeable especially at lower levels.
- It can not be used on a charge.

Let's see. A low-level (say, 6th) character with TWF and this ability could make three attacks: 1 normal, 1 TWF, 1 Flurry. She would deal her unarmed damage (1D8+2D6+8) on each hit that lands, plus 6D6+5 if the Illumination hits. All Attacks are made at +7 (+4 BAB, -2 TWF, -2 Flurry, +5 Cha, +1 MW, +1 WF), which is hardly overwhelming. The maximum damage dealt is 3D8+12D6+29, which works out to an average of 84 - again, assuming that all attacks hit.
In comparison, a Magical Girl using the same Blast Illumination will do 8D6+5 (due to prismatic calling) - 41 average damage, but almost guaranteed to hit and at range.[/SPOILER]

I am hesitant to include the 'flurry' version of this ability. Not so much because the damage is high, but because it is very close to being strictly better than limit form. I like magus, but some things ought to stay in their domain - or in the domain of a proper multiclass PrC.

However, I will add the ability to punch people with Blasts as an intrinsic part of the class from level one, because glub it all why not. It at least give an alternate road to building a mistbreaker than two-weapon fighting flurries of doom.

Speaking of that, it seems that most any barrier that is actually a barrier, should have the option to place more than one of them at a time. After all, who doesn't want the ability to make a maze using barriers? Or strategically block various paths that are not close enough for one continuous barrier? The increased mote cost would be enough that it doesn't seem likely to be that powerful. As for the ones like the spotlights, those could just be stated to not stack with themselves, at which point yo could have barriers default to multiples of the same one being allowed.

Owrtho

Fair enough. Restriction on barrier sustaining removed. Too tired to utilize greater loquaciousness.

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Yes it probably should be available pretty soon. It's not too powerful, and i really dislike Archetypes (or classes for that matter) whose playstyle-defining features only come online by mid-level or later.

If anything i am somewhat worried that the damage gets out of hand during the later levels, where you can reliably hit with a -4 modifier and Blast damage gets higher. But:
A 16th-level Magical Girl would probably attack with +20/20/20/15/15/10. Each hit deals 8D8+2D6+11 damage, with 9D6+14 damage from the Illumination. Assuming an average of 4 hits (including the Illumination), that works out to 261 damage. Mind you, she's more likely to land 3 hits against most CR-appropriate Monsters, and against some she can't flurry if she wants to hit properly and/or needs outside boni.

Conclusion:
The ability seems pretty balanced with the rest of the magical Girl - it only adds damage, and not too much of it as far as i can see for now. I'd actually remove my paragraph that forbids prismatic damage from being added to the Blast.

See my mention above. I genuinely like the ability, but it seems out of place on a mere archetype. For one thing, archetypes don't give out free candy - for everything you gain, you have to lose something. And honestly, the only ability I can see the mistbreaker losing that would be big enough for this to replace is Limit Form, which I think they really ought to keep.

It's something I like, and I'll keep it in mind, but I have a hard time seeing it outside a PrC. Some things are good enough that the only currency you can really buy them with are class levels.

Since Selinia just pointed out that Magical Girls make good mounted combatants, a new multiclass feat!

Rider of Light:
Prerequisites:Mount or Divine Bond (Mount) class feature, Costume +1
Benefit: Your Magical Girl levels stack with your Cavalier-levels to determine the effect of your Mount class feature, your Expert Trainer class feature and your Costume bonus. You can summon or dismiss your mount whenever you summon or dismiss your Costume. Your Mount always returns to full hitpoints at the end of the day, even when slain.
If you have a Divine Bond with a Mount, your Paladin levels stack with your Magical Girl levels to determine its effects. You can summon and dismiss your Mount whenever you summon or dismiss your costume. Damage to your Mount only vanishes at the end of the day, instead with every summoning.
Special: If appropriate to your setting, your Mount can take a fantastic form, such as that of a Magical Beast or even that of a machine. This does not grant it any special features or alters its statistics in any way, and it remains its original type of creature.
Special: If you have the Mentor Animal Archetype, your Mount can be your Mentor Animal.

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This is mostly intended for the Cavalier - if you are a Paladin you're supposed to take it in concert with Luminous Champion. Bog-standard level-stacking, and the ability to summon your mount doesn't really do much, except maybe keep your mount out of the way in ambushes eliminate eventual problems of transporting it. As a general rule, IMO, everything you gain from class features should be available to you regardless of situation anyway, so this is hardly a huge advantage, just a fix for a problem.

Might require some work on the wording to make it less convoluted, but i think it gets across what i planned.

Implemented, with a few tweaks. Costume is an ability that no feat should ever fully stack - it's too general, and too powerful. It would be like making a multiclass feat for Wizard that let you stack your levels for the purposes of spells per day. Since there's a nice discussion of it right below, I'll get to it there, but in this specific case there was a pretty happy solution. Rather than making levels stack for costume bonuses, I've set it to allow the mount to share certain costume abilities while you are astride it.

For a Cavalier primary, MG secondary, it'll give a flexible ability. Weightless alone would easily be worth the price of entry in many builds (even at one point, it's still flight for a martial class - extremely rare, and nothing quite matches the look of shock on the face of a flying enemy when you charge them), along with the handful of basic illuminations they'll get along the way.

For a MG primary, you get a mount, obviously. The costume sharing is primarily to avoid the paradoxical and nonsensical situation of a mid-level magical girl suffering a significant decrease in mobility on mounting up. Between quick, nimble, and weightless, magical girls are really good at getting where they need to be - even if their mount is summonable, it seems odd to deny them their perks to get them in a saddle.

Since cartridge boost stacks with other enhancement bonuses, that means You could stack it multiple times correct? Is this intended?

This was not intended. Derp. Fixed is all I can say here.

Actually, Spirit Shooter and Devicer are, as far as i can tell, supposed to be combinable.

They are now. I had intended them to be mergable for square one, but that was before I implemented the Cartridge Overclock idea (which is the main thing keeping them incompatable, as you can't replace Device - Limit Form twice). A devicer can now choose to give up Cartridge Overclock to keep her Limit Form ability (or trade it away for something else).

You still can't combine overclock and spirit shot though - if you could, there would be almost no reason to play a straight spirit shooter. Although if your Teana has a Subaru around, there's pretty much no reason for that anyway.

Spoiler

Show

As for a Multiclass-feat: Those are easy.
Pick a signature but not too strong ability from your class. If it has spells, caster level for those might also be an option, as are minor abilities (such as wild empathy). You should generally not gain new class features from a Multiclass feat, just advance existing ones.
On the magical girl side you take either costume bonus or motes, and Evoker level is also an option.
Place your benefits thusly that entry requires 2 or 3 levels in your class and 2 or 3 in the Magical Girl class. The stronger your class and the ability advanced by your feat, the higher the entry requirements should be.
Last but not least, pick features that blend similar features, such as animal companions/familiars and your device/mentor animal.

There, done - you just created a multiclass feat.

And now, an example.
The Magitech Templar has three major abilities: Magitech Armor, Magitech Upgrades and Armored Sense Upgrades.
Only the first is actually scaling with level, and the latter two grant new abilities instead of advancing old ones. Hence, advancing Magitech Armor is the best choice.
Now, the Magitech Templar obviously relies on his armor. Hence, advancing his Costume is the best choice.
Now we are advancing two very similar abilities - both are armor. Add a Paragraph that allows you to designate your Magitech Armor as your Costume.

Okay, so now we have to check the power of this Multiclass feat.
A Level 18 Magical Girl who has it and two Levels in Magitech Templar gains a free +5 armor and one Magitech Upgrade. That's not particulary strong - a +5 armor is cheap at level 20. Certainly not worth loosing your True Illumination and Come Back for.
A Level 18 Magitech Templar on the other hand gains 13 Costume points. That's quite powerful.

Conclusion: For a Magical Girl the feat and a dip are a weak option. For a Magitech Templar the feat and a dip are a very strong option. I guess we need some adjustment. This can be done by increasing the required level in Magical Girl, or by advancing another Magitech Templar class feature.

However, we are pretty much out of class features that wouldn't require us to break the "no new features" option. However, Upgrades are only a small feature, so they are an option. Obviously we can't let them stack fully or we'd almost have a Gestalt-character. Solution: Tie them to Magical Girl level in a way that is not advanced by levels in Magitech Templar, and grant one or maybe two upgrades at those levels. Let's go with 1 Upgrade at Evoker level 10.

Okay, what do we have now?
A Magical Girl 18/2 gains a free +5 Armor and two Armor upgrades. That's better, but is it worth it?
A Magitech Templar 17/3 looses two upgrades, one Sense Upgrade and his Capstone in exchange for 13 costume points. Still powerful, but more equal than before.

Okay - we don't want to raise the Magitech Templar entry requirement for this feat higher than 2, since it's already pretty weak. And we only have one class feature left - that you gain at level 3. Ah, but we don't have to have all features that are advanced as requirements! Simpy state that it gets advanced when you have it! Now obviously we can't fully advance Senses either, so lets take the same option at before - upgrade at Evoker Level X. Lets take 12, and move the old upgrade to 8 to space it out.

Now a Magical Girl 17/3 gets two Upgrades and two Sense Upgrades. Yes, that's something that lets the flavor shine trough without being too powerful.

However, a Magitech Templar 17/3 is still gains a massive boost! He can summon his armor whenever he wants AND he gains 13 whole costume points. That's a LOT for one feat and a small loss of features. Maybe we should reduce that a bit. Limiting the Maximum Costume bonus should help! No need to reduce the amount of points as well when we do that tough.

Okay, so what do we have?
Magitech Costume
Your Costume is not just an expression of your personality, but also of your ingenuity
Prerequisites: Power of Friendship, 1 Magitech Upgrade
Benefits: Your Magitech Crusader and Magical Girl Class levels stack to determine the Bonus of your Magitech Armor and your amount of costume points. Add half your Magitech Crusader levels to your Magical Girl levels to determine your Maximum Costume Bonus. You may designate your Magitech Armor as your Costume, even if it is not light armor. You add your Magical Girl levels to determine the effects and DCs of your Magitech Upgrades. If you have Armor Sentience and Armored Sense Upgrade, you add your Magical Girl levels to determine their effects and DCs.
Special: At Evoker Level 8, you gain a Magitech Upgrade. At Evoker Level 12, you gain a Armored Sense Upgrade.

There we go - a Multiclass feat.

This actually strikes me as a good place to give my own thoughts on multiclass feats, since a lot of people are making them (which I love and appriciate, don't get me wrong). I don't pretend to be an expert here, but I think I might have a useful thought or two in my sleep-deprived ramblings.

The first thing to bear in mind is that a multiclass feat is not a multiclass PrC. The latter has much stiffer entry requirements, and often advances most or all of the major features of each half. Multiclass feats are multicalssing-lite, and should be treated as such. There are certain things they should never advance - finding what they should is the biggest part of making a multiclass feat.

There are, in a broad sense, two types of scaling, which I'll name here for convenience. Luxury Scaling actually makes something better realative to a character's level. A level 20 magical girl's costume, for example, is going to be a much bigger portion of her character's power than a level 5 magical girl's will be. Necessity Scaling, in contrast, only increases to meet the challenges of a higher level. Caster level stacking and save-DC stacking are prominent examples of this, as is any form of animal companion. If they don't scale, they fade to uselessness very quickly - or even become outright liabilities.

As a rule of thumb, we want to stack our two classes when it comes to Necessity Scaling, but stay away from stacking Luxury Scaling. Of course, not all classes have the abilities to make this practical - magical girl only has one real necessity scaling ability: evoker level. Evoker level is boring as glub, which is where we get into the interesting part.

The other half of a multiclass feat is Merging. Take two class features, and make them more than the sum of their parts. Often, this comes in the form of an conversion - an ability that takes features from one half of the class to fuel the other, so that even a dip level can be a significant part of one's playstyle without actually adding much power. I'm talking and thinking in circles, so here's an example using the above as a baseline:

Magitech Costume
Your Costume is not just an expression of your personality, but also of your ingenuity
Prerequisites: Costume +1, 1 Magitech Upgrade
Benefits: Your Magitech Crusader and Magical Girl Class levels stack to determine the enhancement bonus of your Magitech Armor, as well as your Armor Sentience and Armor Sense class features and the save DCs of your magitech upgrades. You may designate your Magitech Armor as your Costume, even if it is not light armor.

Additionally, you gain access to the following Upgrade (it must still be acquired normally if you wish to benefit from it).

• Radiant Core: Your armor has adapted to use your own luminous energy as a power source, channeling the power of your spirit effortlessly. Whenever you assign costume points, you may assign an additional costume point. This costume point is purely artifical in nature, and as such is not constrained by costume limits. Thus, it can be used to bring the number of points allocated to an effect over a magical girl's usual maximum. Unlike most upgrades, this upgrade may be taken a second time - its effects stack.

And there you go. A MG primary will benefit from the plethora of passive scaling abilities a Templar gets, along with bypassing the need for the Heavy Costume feat. A Templar primary gets access to the incredible flexibility of a costume - and if they're willing to sink a pair of Upgrades, they can access the powerful three-point costume effects with just two levels in magical girl.

Which is another minor point I'd like to make - don't make the entry requirements too harsh on these. Again, they're not PrCs. Anyway, rambling done, and the revised Magitech costume has been added to the feat list.

I hae a multiclass feat for the Harrowed and Magical Girl. A character I'm playing in another game uses Harrowed to give her a superpowered evil side, and the classes actually mesh pretty well. In any case, here it is. Not really happy with the name, and not sure on the balance really. Imput welcome

Tenebrous Dawn
Benefit: Tenebrous Touch (2d6) and Power of Friendship
Effect: Sometimes when a soul is shadowed, that simply gives it the means to shine all the brighter. The Harrowed Magical Girl may spend a single mote extra mote when she invokes a strike, blast, or burst illumination. Should the illumination succeed then the target takes the wielders Tenebrous Touch once in addition to all other effects, and for the purpose of developing her Tenebrous Touch and its DC's, the characters magical girl and harrowed levels stack. Furthermore, as long as she has half her mote pool or more full, the magical girl enjoys a +1 save against The Monster Within.

It is almost 6AM. I cannot intelligently critique anymore. I am out of mind-thoughts. I expended them all above. Just letting you know that I intend to give this a fair look once I'm thinking at a capacity a few steps above grape jello. The same goes for anything else I missed.

[userpay]

They are now. I had intended them to be mergable for square one, but that was before I implemented the Cartridge Overclock idea (which is the main thing keeping them incompatable, as you can't replace Device - Limit Form twice). A devicer can now choose to give up Cartridge Overclock to keep her Limit Form ability (or trade it away for something else).

You still can't combine overclock and spirit shot though - if you could, there would be almost no reason to play a straight spirit shooter. Although if your Teana has a Subaru around, there's pretty much no reason for that anyway.

This is where I was a little confused but now I'm a little disappointed as I really wanted to use the two together. I mean Devicer seems perfectly suited to guns after all but you need Spirit Shooter in order to get access to good ranged abilities. One thing to note though Cartridge Overclock - Accel Form mentions using Spirit Shots... Which you can't use since in order to take the two archetypes together you have to give up Cartridge Overclock to begin with. Typo or are you still somehow planning on integrating the two down the road?

This actually strikes me as a good place to give my own thoughts on multiclass feats, since a lot of people are making them (which I love and appriciate, don't get me wrong). I don't pretend to be an expert here, but I think I might have a useful thought or two in my sleep-deprived ramblings.

The first thing to bear in mind is that a multiclass feat is not a multiclass PrC. The latter has much stiffer entry requirements, and often advances most or all of the major features of each half. Multiclass feats are multicalssing-lite, and should be treated as such. There are certain things they should never advance - finding what they should is the biggest part of making a multiclass feat.

There are, in a broad sense, two types of scaling, which I'll name here for convenience. Luxury Scaling actually makes something better realative to a character's level. A level 20 magical girl's costume, for example, is going to be a much bigger portion of her character's power than a level 5 magical girl's will be. Necessity Scaling, in contrast, only increases to meet the challenges of a higher level. Caster level stacking and save-DC stacking are prominent examples of this, as is any form of animal companion. If they don't scale, they fade to uselessness very quickly - or even become outright liabilities.

As a rule of thumb, we want to stack our two classes when it comes to Necessity Scaling, but stay away from stacking Luxury Scaling. Of course, not all classes have the abilities to make this practical - magical girl only has one real necessity scaling ability: evoker level. Evoker level is boring as glub, which is where we get into the interesting part.

The other half of a multiclass feat is Merging. Take two class features, and make them more than the sum of their parts. Often, this comes in the form of an conversion - an ability that takes features from one half of the class to fuel the other, so that even a dip level can be a significant part of one's playstyle without actually adding much power. I'm talking and thinking in circles, so here's an example using the above as a baseline:



And there you go. A MG primary will benefit from the plethora of passive scaling abilities a Templar gets, along with bypassing the need for the Heavy Costume feat. A Templar primary gets access to the incredible flexibility of a costume - and if they're willing to sink a pair of Upgrades, they can access the powerful three-point costume effects with just two levels in magical girl.

Which is another minor point I'd like to make - don't make the entry requirements too harsh on these. Again, they're not PrCs. Anyway, rambling done, and the revised Magitech costume has been added to the feat list.

I don't know... To me it feels like the MG is getting all the benefits, this is also assuming you stick with minimum levels to qualify.


MG
Gets better armor, armor bonus scales, gets/scales Armor Sentience, DCs of Magitech stuff scales.

Templar
MG still scales its Templar's DC/armor bonus/Sentience (which it would get if it didn't take MG anyway) but none of the MG abilities scale unless you spend class features/feats and that's for a maximum of 3 points (not counting feats since you'd probably only spend one or two feats on Stylish). Then again I'm not as familiar with MG as I am with Templar so there might be something I'm missing.


Now granted I might be undervaluing costume points, I'm trying to compare them to Templar's upgrades though Templar's upgrades are probably more like a combination of illuminations and costume points, but that doesn't appear to be an even trade. Also no designating integrated weapons (Power Fist, Repeating Light Crossbow) as devices?

[Serafina]

I don't know... To me it feels like the MG is getting all the benefits, this is also assuming you stick with minimum levels to qualify.


MG
Gets better armor, armor bonus scales, gets/scales Armor Sentience, DCs of Magitech stuff scales.

Templar
MG still scales its Templar's DC/armor bonus/Sentience (which it would get if it didn't take MG anyway) but none of the MG abilities scale unless you spend class features/feats and that's for a maximum of 3 points.


Now granted I might be undervaluing costume points (I'm trying to compare them to Templar's upgrades) but that doesn't appear to be an even trade. Also no designating integrated weapons (Power Fist, Repeating Light Crossbow) as devices?

Yes, you ARE underestimating costume points.

Let's assume you have 10 costume points (16th level) with my original version
That can give your weapon +18 damage and then another +4D6 elemental damage. That's quite a boost for three levels and a feat, especially when you are dual-wielding.
That was just way too much, especially since its not the only thing you gain from those three class levels.

Now, Selinias version MAY be a bit on the weak side, i don't know enough about the values of Magitech Upgrades. I think at the very least it could also advance Evoker level as well, since right now you are corret - it advances nothing on the Magical Girl side.


Since we are speaking of armor, something occured to me:
Expanded Wardrobe REQUIRES you to bind to another suit of armor to gain its benefits. While that can be beneficial, it means that you can't just shift your costume points around - which is pretty much the main reason why you would take that feat.
And spending money on an entire new set of armor is kinda a bad idea. The feat isn't that good in the first place, and this really kills it.

Hence, a change:
"You can also bind yourself to an armor that you have already designated as your costume instead, summoning the same armor with a different allocation of costume points".

[userpay]

Yes, you ARE underestimating costume points.

Let's assume you have 10 costume points (16th level) with my original version
That can give your weapon +18 damage and then another +4D6 elemental damage. That's quite a boost for three levels and a feat, especially when you are dual-wielding.
That was just way too much, especially since its not the only thing you gain from those three class levels.

Now, Selinias version MAY be a bit on the weak side, i don't know enough about the values of Magitech Upgrades. I think at the very least it could also advance Evoker level as well, since right now you are corret - it advances nothing on the Magical Girl side.

Duly noted.

Aye Evoker level and maybe one or two more costume points (without spending upgrades/feats, maybe reduce the upgrade to takeable once) for the Templar I would think at least. As is if one were to go MG dipping Templar they'd still fall into the situation you mention whereas Templar dipping MG doesn't come close. From my perspective (and note I haven't had a chance to take a close look at illuminations just yet) Templar focus's more on defense whereas MG is defensive/offensive depending on the build. You take away the need for MG to put points into defense and you see the offense scale faster than you would with a Templar.

Hmm... Maybe this would be better off as a PrC rather than a multiclass feat.

[Story Time]

Out of mind-thoughts? I'll share one.

Magitech Costume

"By the power of Love and Justice, you shall be punished!"
The trinket costume device opened and summoned forth a Gundam.


No, I wouldn't seriously suggest this as a class feature.

[Serafina]

Eh, if we take Nanoha as a guideline the Gundam will be squished anyway
(Depending on the series of course, some experimental gundams have really insane firepower).

[Story Time]

It's not so much the fire-power that interests me... See, I have this mental image of this cute little girl who smiles almost always, but she goes missing from time to time. Even from her friends who know her secret.

And where do they find her? In the mechanic pit, tuning her costume. She'd be a gear-monkey, splattered with grease, cranking tools, blowing colored bubble gum, and listening to girl-pop songs on head-phones while she worked.

"...hide where love can save us!" ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

She'd be multi-talented.

[userpay]

So if we were to use MG and Templar in a PrC… Hmm… Well let’s use Strike Witches as an example for now since that’s the only show that comes to my mind (or at least one that I’ve fully watched) where the two are used together. Remember that I’m not as familiar with MG as Templar so there’s probably several parallels from MG that I’ll miss.
Overall the magic and tech level for Strike Witches would probably be considered low powered. The following spoiler is a listing of all the magic demonstrated in the anime.

Spoiler

Show

Most of their magic went to utilizing the Striker Units so they didn’t have more than one or two magic abilities.
Barriers: All characters could do this at varying strengthsSanya V. Litvyak: Radio/visual enhancement
Charlotte E. Yeager: Super Speed
Gertrud Barkhorn: Super Strength
Perrine H. Clostermann: AoE Lightning
Sakamoto Mio: Far Sight and Special Sword Technique
Miyafuji Yoshika: Healing
Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke: Blindsense?
Lynette Bishop: Bullet Magic
Erica Hartmann: Manipulates Wind?
Francesca Lucchini: Take in, Manipulate, and Discharge Magic
Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen: Future Sense

The striker units could easily be a mix of costume points and Magitech Upgrades so both would progress but probably at half speed.
Magic wise the characters were specialized so probably no advancement on illuminations at least in terms of gaining new ones. Evoker level advancement is a possibility and certain abilities they showed also fall under Magitech Upgrades and Armored Sense Upgrades.
Barriers could be represented by enhancement bonus + certain upgrades so the enhancement bonus should still scale, but possibly at half rate.
None of the equipment showed sentience (aside from possibly the enemy) so probably no advancement for Armor Sentience/Armored Sense Upgrades outside of scaling if they already have an ability.
Armor Expertise is a possibility but not necessary.

[NineThePuma]

I would argue that Strike Witches doesn't really embody the Magical Girl feel that we have from this class.

On the other hand, magitech templar + Magical Girl brought this to mind.

[userpay]

I would argue that Strike Witches doesn't really embody the Magical Girl feel that we have from this class.

On the other hand, magitech templar + Magical Girl brought this to mind.

Perhaps not but at least for what I've watched there is very little that combines the two much less to the point of what you said.

Actually looking at the existing PrCs combining MG and Templar could well be a variant of Costumed Crusader. Can PrC's have archetypes?

[NineThePuma]

According to Pathfinder itself, no, but we're homebrewing. Screw the rules, we're doing what's awesome.

[Owrtho]

Just realized a typo with soulcrafted costume.
"Note they only apply to armor if you have made the armor a soulcraft form with the feat of the same name."
should read:
"Note they only apply to armor if you have made the armor a soulcraft talisman or a soulcraft form with the feat of the same name."

Anyway, PRC archetypes seem to be an interesting idea, provided they fit the concept.

Owrtho

[userpay]

So for Oversized is it apply able to ranged weapons? Along the same vein would the effect apply to blasts instead of strikes for Spirit Shooters?

[Selinia]

Stargazer

"Do you ever just, like, look up and think about all the stuff up there? Just waiting for us? Would it really hurt for us to maybe... say hi or something?"
-Jade Harley, a Stargazer

It is arguably the first step to becoming a magical girl that is the hardest of all. The step forward, to shout out in defiance against the darkness and take up the mantle of light. Some receive the aid of a mentor animal, to guide them and show them the way. But for others, that is not enough. These souls have a radiance no less mighty, but one turned inward and away from the world. Their lot is often a painful one - to look upon shadows that they cannot muster the brightness to cast aside.

But there are strange things among the stars, many of them capable of communicating in ways most mortal minds will never comprehend. Some of these alien beings offer of themselves a bond, shaping their very essence to forge a conduit through which the faint of heart but strong of spirit could shine. Thus are born Stargazers - beings for whom two souls have merged to create a single brilliant light.

Class Features:

A stargazer gains all of the class features listed below.

Skills: A stargazer adds Knowledge (All) to her class skills. She does not gain Perform or Diplomacy as class skills.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Stargazers are not proficient with any weapons or armor. What is more, a stargazer wearing armor smothers her connection her her soulbound companion - unlike most magical girls, her illuminations suffer from Arcane Spell Failure chance when garbed in armor of any kind.

Soulbound Companion (Su): At some point, every stargazer has bonded with an otherworldly entity. More than a mere channel for her power, the being is part of her, fundamentally fused to her very essence. Calling or dismissing a soulbound companion is a swift action, and it may be brought into any space adjacent to the stargazer.

A soulbound companion is not a true summoned creature, however, being neither an independent entity nor entirely real. The companion occupies a single space, but does not impede movement in any way, and can even share its space with other creatures regardless of size. It cannot be targeted by any means, and is not subject to an form of effect or damage. Additionally, a soulbound companion does not possess its own initiative, and acts only in response to impetus from the stargazer.

Whenever the stargazer uses an action to move (including special movement, such as charging or running, but not including any movement that does not directly result from an action, such as five-foot-steps or the effects of a martial maneuver), the soulbound companion may move with a fly speed equal to the stargazer's base land speed, and perfect maneuverability. The soulbound companion is unimpeded by physical or magical obstructions, but is incapable of moving more than [25 + 5/two evoker levels] feet from the stargazer. If it would be forced outside this radius (such as my the movement of the stargazer herself) the soulbound companion vanishes at once, though it may be called anew with no delay or penalty.

As a standard action, the stargazer can force her soulbound companion to make an attack. This is a melee touch attack with a reach of five feet, dealing 1d8 force damage on a successful hit. This damage increases by 1d8 when she achieves an evoker level of 3, and again at each odd-numbered evoker level thereafter (to a maximum of 10d8 at EL 19). The stargazer treats her soulbound companion as her device: she may allocate costume points to its attack, and may use Strike illuminations through her soulbound companion's attacks as if they were her own.

The exact aesthetics of a soulbound companion are highly variable, and each one is unique to its stargazer partner.

This ability replaces Device.

Illuminations: The stargazer uses her Int, rather than Cha, for all purposes relating to the use and resolution of Illuminations (including save DCs, attack rolls with bursts and blasts, and Cha-dependant effects of specific illuminations).

Costume: The stargazer may not attune to any form of armor as a costume - only unarmored clothing.

Empathy (Ex): At 4th level, the stargazer's bond with her soulbound companion begins to flow in both directions, letting her begin to understand the surging maelstrom of spirits all around her. The stargazer may add her Int modifier to sense motive checks, and to perception checks to detect living creatures.

This ability replaces Not Without Fear.

Guardian Spirit (Su): At 7th level, the stargazer learns to direct her companion in the subtle arts of defense. Whenever her soulbound companion makes an attack, any ally sharing its space gains a bonus to AC until the spirit companion's next turn. This bonus is equal to the stargazer's Int modifier.

This ability replaces Shrug it Off.

Many as One (Su): At 10th level, the stargazer's inhuman resonance with the life all around her has reached a point where it actively pours into the world around her. Whenever she benefits from a morale bonus, she may share that bonus with all allies within 10 ft of her or her soulbound companion. Whenever the stargazer suffers from the shaken, frightened, or panicked conditions, all enemies within 10 ft of her or her soulbound companion must make a DC [10 + 1/2 Evoker Level + Int] Will saving throw or face an identical condition for as long as they remain within that radius.

This ability replaces The Meaning of Courage.

Manifest Companion (Su): At 12th level, the stargazer's power has grown to the point where she may bring her soulbound companion into full, physical existence as a writhing mass of ectoplasmic power. Manifesting her companion or dissolving it back into its ethereal state are both move actions.

While physically manifest, the companion fully occupies its square, blocking movement, providing flanking bonuses, and otherwise acting as appropriate for a physical creature. While in this form, it may be attacked - it possesses an AC equal to [the stargazer's AC + her Int modifier], but does not have a health total. Instead, any damage dealt to it in this state is dealt to the stargazer as nonlethal damage. In addition, while manifest, the stargazer may take a full-round action to make a full attack with her soulbound companion's attack. For the purposes of such a full attack, treat the stargazer's base attack bonus as equal to her HD.

Tabula Rasa (Su): At 15th level, the stargazer's link to the thoughts around her has reached its purest level. Beyond mere senses and crude outpourings of emotion, the stargazer's soulbound companion has at last shared its most unsettling ability - an ability which allows the stargazer to link with another on the same fundamental level she shares with her companion. When her soulbound companion makes a successful attack against its target, the stargazer may forgo dealing damage to inflict the following effect instead. The target is entitled to a Will save with a DC of [10 + 1/2 Evoker Level + Int]. On a successful save, it has no effect, and the target becomes immune to this ability for 24 hours. The stargazer may voluntarily lower the save DC for this effect, to a minimum of 10.

The stargazer enters the mind of a creature, learning everything that creature knows. The stargazer can erase memories as she sees fit, potentially warping opinions, or even alignment. Severe changes to personality and changes to alignment can be corrected by a break enchantment spell (although an atonement spell might be needed as well, depending on circumstances). Alterations to memories and subtler thoughts can be restored only through use of a miracle or wish.

Using this ability is mentally straining and emotionally disturbing, and if the stargazer is not careful she will find it rebounding upon her and ravaging her consciousness. When she uses this ability, successful or not, the stargazer must make a Will saving throw with a save DC equal to that which was used against this ability's target. If the stargazer fails, she instantly acquires 1d4+1 negative levels. These negative levels fade at a rate of one per hour.

This ability replaces Voice of Light.

[radmelon]

Okay, 50 internets for the homestuck reference. You deserve it.

The archetype is very nice as well. I like the mind-altering ability, even if I think it fits strangely with the magical girl theme.

[Owrtho]

Stargazer

This is amazing, and I really want to use it, if only it didn't fit the magical girls I'm currently working on. That said, this combine with an ozodrin/harrowed/beast sculpted combo could be entertaining if you wanted to go with a more eldritch horror stargaze type theme.

The Homestuck reference is quite nice too.

Soulbound Companion (Su): ...
As a standard action, the stargazer can force her soulbound companion to make an attack. This is a melee touch attack with a reach of five feet, dealing 1d8 force damage on a successful hit. This damage increases by 1d8 at 3rd level, and again at each odd-numbered level thereafter (to a maximum of 10d8 at 19th level). The stargazer treats her soulbound companion as her device: she may allocate costume points to its attack, and may use Strike illuminations through her soulbound companion's attacks as if they were her own.

Anyway, I'd think you might want to provide the option for iterative attacks. Also, can this be used for things like martial maneuvers, charge attacks, sneak attacks, etc. Seems such things would be worth noting.

Owrtho