Specialist Base Caster: The Thaumaturge !PEACH!

[PhantasyPen]

Greetings! So I have recently completed a new base class for my homebrew setting.

The Thaumaturge is a specialized type of caster that gains a small pool of spells that all share certain common descriptors. It's neither an arcane nor a divine caster, as magic in general is much rarer in my setting, and such categorizations are much harder to distinguish.

[Silva Stormrage]

Okay I like the concept and it's pretty straightforward as well. I haven't seen focused casters based around descriptors so thats an interesting idea to me at least.

Couple comments.
1) Free Metamagic that can reduce to 0 is strong. I mean 3.5 casting PRCs are strong enough that I imagine most uses of this class will still PRC out at 6th level but still. I would push the levels you gain this class feature down 1-2 levels and make it so it can reduce metamagic below +1. Metamagic is already amazing even if you don't go down the incantrix hole.
2) Being able to grab spells from any list is broken because of all of the various prestige classes out there with their own spell list. I would highly highly recommend changing it to any druid/wizard/sorcerer/cleric spell instead. Example spells include Haste and Hideous Laughter (Trapsmith and Bard) at 1st, Summon Giants and Greater Bestow Curse as 4th level spells (Disciple of Thrym and Demonologist). I know some of those don't have descriptors/sub schools just pointing out the issues of allowing PRC spell lists to be pulled from.
3) I would kinda like to see a bit more class features, not even things necessarily powerful but just to round out the class beyond spells known and metamagic reduction. I know most base casters other than the druid don't really have class features but I consider that kinda a design flaw. Maybe something like a scaling bonus to spellcraft checks regarding spells of their "School"?

Still with those minor quibbles out of the way I think its a good class!

[PhantasyPen]

Thanks for the review Silva! Honestly I thought about adding more class features, but I couldn't think of any beyond what I already have. Not too sold on a simple +Numbers bonus, have you any other suggestions?

[heavyfuel]

From personal experience (so take this with a grain of salt) having a spellcasting class with different ability scores to calculate Save DC and Bonus Spells simply means no one will take any spells that require Saving Throws.

Even for a class with limited spells, this means the Holy Word line of spells, Forcecage, and Orb of X line of spells. Dunno if there are too many buffs with these descriptors, but if there are, expect people to favor buffs over spells with saves.

If you really wish to make sure the players can't dump Cha, I'd give make some class feature based off Cha. Maybe Focused Matamagic and Rapid Metamagic can be used 3+Cha times per day each or something.

As for the descriptiors, I'd say you should allow "Lawful and Good", "Lawful and Evil", "Chaotic and Good", and "Chaotic and Evil" as options. Seriously, there are like 30 Chaotic spells across every book, a few more Lawful spells. No sane person would choose Chaotic or Lawful by themselves to represent 1/3 of their possible spell selection.

Also, may I ask why no Earth or Water descriptor?

Final note on descriptiors, have you considered "Sanctified" and "Corrupt" spells? I'm pretty sure they can't be selected because they don't actually have a descriptor and the class casts spontaneously, but maybe make this more explicit.

Besides that, I second everything Silva said. Anyway, that's my two cents.

[PhantasyPen]

If you really wish to make sure the players can't dump Cha, I'd give make some class feature based off Cha. Maybe Focused Matamagic and Rapid Metamagic can be used 3+Cha times per day each or something.

I like this as a way to make people stop trying to get me to remove Focused metamagic, thanks!

As for the descriptiors, the list is not finished yet

[heavyfuel]

I like this as a way to make people stop trying to get me to remove Focused metamagic, thanks!

As for the descriptiors, the list is not finished yet

To be fair, I do agree with the idea that you shouldn't give free MM reducers that can drop the adjustment to zero.

MM reducers are ridiculously strong, doubly so for a class that gets bonus MM feats.

Caping it to a maximum reduction of Cha (minimum +1), AND limiting it to Cha uses per day wouldn't be overboard.

If you have 16 Cha, you get to reduce it by 3 levels (minimum +1), thrice per day.

Something like that is a good measure

[Nielspeterdejon]

Sounds "Peachy" to me :D

[Climowitz]

Someter levels give two or more class features while others give none. Try to split them so that every level gives something apart from new spells. Also try to fill the void with stuff that does not mean a power spike like a +2 to identify spells of the chosen descriptors or a +1 to saves against that descriptor.

[Southern Cross]

I'd also suggest you keep the "within one step" for the alignment descriptors as well, so that, for example, a Chaotic Neutral thaumaturge should be able to learn the Chaos Good and Evil descriptors.

[rferries]

Just chiming in to say that I really like this whole concept. A great and elegant way to build a spellcasting PC or NPC around a particular theme.