The Barrier Mage- Say no to magic (3.5) (Base Class)

[The-Mage-King]

Barrier Mage

"Um, no."
-Tyitas Baequisithek, elf Barrier Mage, to another mage, regarding a spell.


Nearly the polar opposite of the warmage, the barrier mage is a class focused on battlefield control and defending themselves from offensive magic. Wherever there's a risk of being blasted by magic, you can find these fellows erecting unpleasant surprises for their foes.

Adventures: Barrier mages adventure for a variety of reasons- some do it because there's nothing else to do, others because of their friends are in the group and defensive spells might help with that, and still others are just in it for the money.

Characteristics: At lower levels, barrier mages are going to be adjusting the environment in minor ways to make the battle go easier on their party. At higher levels, barrier mages excel at laying ambushes with their wall spells. Nothing makes people feel worse than chasing a rogue through a Wall of Dispel Magic and finding that the rogue wasn't alone.

Alignment: Barrier mages come from all types, and thus can be of any alignment, though the strict training gives them a slight leaning towards Law.

Races: Any race that trains warmages might also train barrier mages- if you have the 'sword' of magic, then the 'shield' of magic can't be far behind.



Abilities: Intelligence is the biggie here. It powers your spells, and gives you a nice little deflection bonus at higher levels. Pump it to max. Dexterity and Constitution are always nice for anyone, and you may want to consider making Strength a moderately high priority- you have no spells that you can just fire at someone, and the few you have that deal direct damage are to convince people to not grapple you.
Alignment: Any.
Hit Die: d8.


Class Skills

The barrier mage’s class skills are: Concentration , Craft , Decipher Script, Knowledge (Strategy and Tactics) (History) (Arcana), Listen, Profession, Spot, and Spellcraft.

Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) x4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Level	BAB	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Dispeller's Haze, Mystic Training, Sudden Shield 1/day	3	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3		4	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
3rd	+1	+1	+1	+3		5	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Advanced learning	6	3	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
5th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Defensive Shell, Sudden Shield 2/day	6	4	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
6th	+3	+2	+2	+5		6	5	3	—	—	—	—	—	—
7th	+3	+2	+2	+5		6	6	4	—	—	—	—	—	—
8th	+4	+2	+2	+6	Advanced learning	6	6	5	3	—	—	—	—	—
9th	+4	+3	+3	+6		6	6	6	4	—	—	—	—	—
10th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Sudden Shield 3/day	6	6	6	5	3	—	—	—	—
11th	+5	+3	+3	+7		6	6	6	6	4	—	—	—	—
12th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	Advanced learning	6	6	6	6	5	3	—	—	—
13th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8		6	6	6	6	6	4	—	—	—
14th	+7/+2	+4	+4	+9		6	6	6	6	6	5	3	—	—
15th	+7/+2	+5	+5	+9	Improved Defensive Shell, Sudden Shield 4/day	6	6	6	6	6	6	4	—	—
16th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	Advanced learning	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	3	—
17th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10		6	6	6	6	6	6	6	4	—
18th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11		6	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	3
19th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11		6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	4
20th	+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	Advanced learning, Sudden Shield 5/day	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	5

Weapon and Armor Proficencies: A Barrier Mage is proficient with all simple weapons.They are not proficient with any type of armor or shield. Armor of any type interferes with a Barrier Mage’s gestures, which can cause his spells with somatic components to fail.

Spellcasting: A barrier mage casts arcane spells, which are drawn from the barrier mage's spell list. Like a sorcerer, he can cast any spell she knows without preparing it ahead of time. When a barrier mage gains access to a new level of spells, he automatically knows all the spells for that level given on the barrier mage’s spell list. Barrier mages also have the option of adding to their existing spell list through their advanced learning ability as they increase in level (see below).

To cast a spell, a barrier mage must have an Intelligence score of 10 + the spell’s level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a barrier mage’s spell is 10 + the spell’s level + her Intelligence modifier. Like other spellcasters, a barrier mage can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given in the table above. In addition, she receives bonus spells for a high Intelligence score.

Dispeller's Haze (Ex): A barrier mage is a specialist in the defensive arts. Whenever he casts a non-direct damaging barrier mage spell (including those gained from Advanced Learning) with a duration greater than instantaneous (including the suppression effect for dispel magic and related spells), he may add his Wisdom modifier in rounds to the duration of the spell.
Scrolls scribed by a barrier mage receive no benefit from dispeller's haze. Scrolls activated by a barrier/ mage also receive no benefit from dispeller's haze. Nor do most other magic items (Ex: wands, potions). However, any magic item that uses the barrier mage's caster level to activate (Ex: Staffs) also receives the benefits of dispeller's haze.

Mystic Training (Sp): At 1st level, a barrier mage has learned how to use several minor magics each day. He may use the spell-like abilities detect magic, flare, light, read magic, and resistance a combined total of times per day equal to his Intelligence modifier plus 3. These spell like abilities do not count against his total number of spells per day.

Sudden Shield: At 1st level, once per day, a barrier mage may take an immediate action to cast a spell from the barrier mage spell list with a casting time of one standard action as an immediate action. He gains another use of this ability per day at 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th levels.

Advanced Learning (Ex): At 4th level, a barrier mage can add a new spell to her list, representing the result of personal study and experimentation. The spell must be a cleric or wizard spell of the abjuration or transmutation school (but not of the Polymorph sub-school of transmutation), and of a level no higher than that of the highest-level spell the barrier mage already knows. Once a new spell is selected, it is added to that barrier mage’s spell list and can be cast just like any other spell he knows. If a spell is both a cleric spell and a wizard spell, use the lower of the two spell levels (when different) to determine what level the spell is for a barrier mage.
A barrier mage gains an additional new spell at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th level.

Defensive Shell (Su): At 5th level, a barrier mage manifests a small shell of force around himself, not enough to stop all attacks, but enough to deflect most. He adds his Intelligence modifier to his AC as a deflection bonus whenever he is able to add his Dexterity bonus to AC.

Improved Defensive Shell (Su): At 15th level, a barrier mage has improved his personal shell of force. He adds twice his Intelligence modifier as a deflection bonus to AC whenever he is able to add his Dexterity bonus to AC. In addition, he adds his Intelligence modifier as a deflection bonus to AC whenever he is not able to add his Dexterity bonus to AC.





Barrier Mage Spell List:


1st
Alarm, Babau Slime*, Dispel Ward*, Endure Elements, Grease, Hold Portal, Mage Armor, Obscuring Mist, Protection from Chaos/Evil/Good/Law, Resist Planar Alignment*, Shield, Wall of Smoke*

2nd
Arcane Lock, Balor Nimbus*, Cloud of Bewilderment*, Dispel Magic, Distracting Ray*, Fog Cloud, Lesser Spell Immunity*, Protection from Arrows, Protection from Negative Energy*, Protection from Positive Energy*, Resist Energy, Sting Ray*

3rd
Avoid Planar Effects*, Dispelling Screen*, Dragonskin*, Greater Mage Armor*, Magic Circle against Chaos/Evil/Good/Law, Protection from Energy, Reverse Arrows*, Stinking Cloud, Wall of Light*, Wind Wall

4th
Forceward*, Force Claw*, Greater Resistance*, Lesser Globe of Invulnerability, Ray Deflection*, Remove Curse, Solid Fog, Spell Resistance, Stoneskin, Wall of Chaos/Evil/Good/Law*, Wall of Dispel Magic*, Wall of Sand ^(Snd), Wall of Water^(Snd)

5th
Acid Sheath*, Anticold Sphere^(Fsb) Antifire Sphere^(Snd), Break Enchantment, Crawling Darkness*, Dismissal, Greater Dispel Magic, Lesser Ironguard*, Refusal*, Symbol of Spell Loss*, Wall of Force, Wall of Stone, Zone of Respite*

6th
Antimagic Field, Freezing Fog*, Globe of Invulnerability, Greater Dispelling Screen*, Guards and Wards, Repulsion, Ruby Ray of Reversal*, Superior Resistance*, Transcribe Symbol*, Wall of Iron

7th
Banishment, Energy Immunity, Forcecage, Ironguard*, Planar Bubble*, Slime Wave*, Spell Turning, Wall of Greater Dispel Magic*

8th
Dimensional Lock, Field of Icy Razors*, Iron Body, Maze, Mind Blank, Prismatic Wall, Protection from Spells

9th
Absorption*, Disjunction, Magic Miasma*, Maw of Chaos*, Reaving Dispel*

*This indicates a spell found in Spell Compendium.

^(Snd) Indicates a spell found in Sandstorm.

^(Fsb) Indicates a spell found in Frostburn


_____________________

This was made for a friendly challenge with Melayl, o'er in this thread. Place your votes for your favorite class of the two there, if you would.

[Dead_Jester]

How about adding the other wall spells in other splatbooks (such as wall of sand and glass from sandstorm), and maybe some other battlefield control spells, because right now, this class is cannot actively contribute to combat for most of it's levels (it can only do passive area denial).

[The-Mage-King]

Hm... I'll look through for some more spells for lower levels. Give me a day, since I'm AFB right now....

[Swooper]

Some more spells that ought to be on the spell list:
Dimensional Anchor
Battlemagic Perception (SpC - really, this spell is awesome for this guy)
Anticipate Teleportation (SpC)

...And probably a lot more. I'd say he needs a bit more offensive power (of the battlefield control variety, of course) - being too defensive gets boring in play. Also, you seem to be undecided on the actual name of the class. The heading says Deflector Mage but the text uses Barrier Mage. Which is it?

The class skill list is pretty short (especially for a class as madly int-SAD as this). Maybe the perception skills belong on it too? Someone with the bodyguard role might want to keep an eye out for threats.

Class feature suggestion: The ability to extend the Defensive Shell bonus to an ally vs a single attack as an immediate action, possibly dropping the Shell from the mage until his next turn or something.

Other than that, this looks pretty good.

[The-Mage-King]

Hm... Those are pretty good ideas. I tried to steer away from the anti-teleport stuff, but those would work.

[Rathgar]

I like the idea of this character, it's definitely the kind of mage I'd want to play, but there's one glaring problem that I noticed right when I first looked at him. He has no level 0 spells.

[The-Mage-King]

I like the idea of this character, it's definitely the kind of mage I'd want to play, but there's one glaring problem that I noticed right when I first looked at him. He has no level 0 spells.

Neither do the Dread Necromancer. 0-levels aren't really important.

Now, if there's enough talk that they are, I can add an ability like the Duskblade's...

[Obrysii]

I like the idea of this character, it's definitely the kind of mage I'd want to play, but there's one glaring problem that I noticed right when I first looked at him. He has no level 0 spells.

That's pretty normal for this "style" of mage - ie, Beguiler, Warmage, Dread Necromancer sort of thing, if I recall correctly.

Excellent use of a theme.

[Rathgar]

It's been a while since I've delved into D&D, so I haven't seen the stats for a Beguiler or a Dread Necromancer, but the Warmage DID have Level 0 spells. A whopping 4 of them. If he had Resistance, Read Magic, and Detect Magic, then he'd have a few Cantrips to play with that are still thematically appropriate. If none of those, at least put Read Magic and Detect Magic at Level I. Well, if you want to listen to me, Mr. Hasn't-Played-In-A-Couple-Of-Years.

That being said, the only things I can think of other than that which I would change would be the addition of a couple of the newer walls, like the aforementioned Wall of Sand. So, in other words, I'd play this today as is, but with a couple of tweaks, it could be even better.

[The-Mage-King]

...I'll write up a "You can use minor spells as SLAs" class feature. Give me a bit.

[Rathgar]

Oh, one more idea. You might can add in a bonus on dispel checks equal to your Charisma or Wisdom modifier, like the Warmage's Warmage edge ability. Perhaps have that ability work on the duration of remains in play effects instead.

[The-Mage-King]

Ideas taken into account, and the OP has been adjusted.


________
Changelog: Added Mystic Training and Dispeller's Haze, added Wall of Sand, Wall of Water, Antifire Sphere, and Anticold Sphere to spell list.

[The-Mage-King]

Are there any further issues with the class, or is it good?

[ghostaxe]

This class would be a great 4 level dip for melee types. Wraithstrike (2nd level, spell compendium, transmutation) is a swift action spell that lasts 1 round, make all melee attacks touch attacks. Dispeller's haze probably could boost that to 4 rounds, which is usually the entire length of a battle.

[Arbitrarious]

Why no Wall of Fire or Wall of Ice? How about a good 'ole web and black tentacles. I understand this a battlefield control class, but I wouldn't shy away from the damaging control effects.

Also, I agree the class needs some reliable offense abilities. It doesn't have to be amazing, just something better then a crossbow. Perhaps since they are defensive you drop their HD and give them a damage shield that absorbs damage from attacks they take and let's them redirect it as a bolt against enemies?

Example/Suggestion:

Drop the HD to d6

Abjurer's Wrath (Su): You are surronded by ablative field of force that absorbs some the damage you suffer and allows you to visit that damage upon your foes. Anytime you are the victim of an attack that deals HP damage you may subtract 1 + 1/2 your HD from the amount (maximum half, rounded down). This damage is stored in reserve that you can later channel as an attack. At anytime this reserve can hold no more then 10 times your class level in damage. After 1 minute of not absorbing any damage the reserve empties itself.

As a standard action you can fire a ray as touch attack at any creature in medium range. This ray deals 1d6 untyped damage + an additional 1d6 for every 4 class above 4th (2d6 at 8th, 3d6 at 12th, etc). When using this attack you may choose to spend damage from your reserve to increase it's effectiveness. Each point of damage spent from your reserve increases the damage by 1. You can spend no more than your class level in damage on any single ray. You must have at least 1 point in your reserve to use this ability, but you need not spend any points on increases it's effect.

[DracoDei]

I am against offensive abilities for this class... would ruin the flavor.

Int to Saves (max class level) might not be overboard though... then he can use the money he saves on a cloak of resistance and ring of protection to get himself a magic crossbow or something...

[The-Mage-King]

This class would be a great 4 level dip for melee types. Wraithstrike (2nd level, spell compendium, transmutation) is a swift action spell that lasts 1 round, make all melee attacks touch attacks. Dispeller's haze probably could boost that to 4 rounds, which is usually the entire length of a battle.

Well, if it's 4 levels, it isn't really a dip, is it?

Why no Wall of Fire or Wall of Ice? How about a good 'ole web and black tentacles. I understand this a battlefield control class, but I wouldn't shy away from the damaging control effects.

It isn't intended to be a damaging class- this was made for a challenge involving the best defensive/anti-spellcaster base class.

[QUOTE]Also, I agree the class needs some reliable offense abilities. It doesn't have to be amazing, just something better then a crossbow. Perhaps since they are defensive you drop their HD and give them a damage shield that absorbs damage from attacks they take and let's them redirect it as a bolt against enemies?[QUOTE]

Not part of the style- this was made to be the most aggrivating thing to Wizards possible.

Example/Suggestion:

Drop the HD to d6

Abjurer's Wrath (Su): You are surronded by ablative field of force that absorbs some the damage you suffer and allows you to visit that damage upon your foes. Anytime you are the victim of an attack that deals HP damage you may subtract 1 + 1/2 your HD from the amount (maximum half, rounded down). This damage is stored in reserve that you can later channel as an attack. At anytime this reserve can hold no more then 10 times your class level in damage. After 1 minute of not absorbing any damage the reserve empties itself.

As a standard action you can fire a ray as touch attack at any creature in medium range. This ray deals 1d6 untyped damage + an additional 1d6 for every 4 class above 4th (2d6 at 8th, 3d6 at 12th, etc). When using this attack you may choose to spend damage from your reserve to increase it's effectiveness. Each point of damage spent from your reserve increases the damage by 1. You can spend no more than your class level in damage on any single ray. You must have at least 1 point in your reserve to use this ability, but you need not spend any points on increases it's effect.

As good of an idea as that is, it doesn't work with the flavor- this is the guy who sets up the magical trap and lets the fighters loom in around the foe in the most damaging way possible, while the target's magic items are suppressed.

I am against offensive abilities for this class... would ruin the flavor.

Yep. Defense first, offense left to the fighter types.


EDIT QUOTE:

Int to Saves (max class level) might not be overboard though... then he can use the money he saves on a cloak of resistance and ring of protection to get himself a magic crossbow or something...

Hm... That could work. Give me a minute to think up a name for it...

"Knowledgable Resistance", maybe...

[werik]

I really like this class as it is. I also like the idea of giving the barrier mage a bonus to disspell attempts, as was previously mentioned. Maybe an improved form of counterspelling might be a good idea, too. You might want to consider inventing two or three other wall type spells. A wall of slow might be interesting, for example. I don't know if any other wall affect with slow already exists. Overall, great job!

[Shades of Gray]

How does Sudden Shield interact with Advanced Learning? The former says it has to be from the Barrier Mage spell list, but Advanced Learning adds the spell to the character's spell list. May these advanced learning spells be used with this class feature?

[The-Mage-King]

Yes, they may.

And, for future reference, please PM me if you have a question like that and posting in the thread would rate as "Necromancy". That is, if it's more than six weeks since the last post.

[The-Mage-King]

Tweaked the wording on Dispeller's Haze. Considering adding a few spells to the list.