Energy Mages

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Maxus
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Energy Mages

Post by Maxus »

Okay, wow. The Fire Mage makes me grin.

I would have fun playing a character with that class. With absolutely no reason to fear fire (except from other uber fire-users), a Fire Mage could be great for quirky stuff to weird out the other party. Like sleeping curled up on the campfire.

AND it's useful on in combat as well as RP.

That's going in my list of stuff I have to try someday (which actually has a large amount of stuff from this board...).

It makes me think, though. How would other energy mages be handled? Just converting the damage/energy types and leaving the same abilities in place would...
suck.

Cold really strikes me as being good for battlefield control. Ice walls, floor freezes a la Sub-Zero, and some widespread damage thrown in for good measure.

Acid would be really good for widespread *or* individual damage (torrential acid rain, ball of acid), battlefield control (acid trenches, sprays, and mists, anyone?), and making enemies cry (because you just melted their sword and full plate armor).

Lightning would probably be better for artillery and popping around the battlefield. I've never heard of a cone of lightning (although I can't think of a reason why not) so they'd probably be more into picking one person at a time and making their life very short.

Sonic would be weird. They'd probably get shatter as an ability, and be able to push people around the battlefield. I like the idea of them eventually dabbling in force damage, as well as creating a similar effect to a bead of force going off. Oh, and they'd probably be able to make silence spells come apart and things like that.

I'll look at Fire Mage again, and polish the ideas a while to see if I can get a shine (Because having a group of these people would be interesting. Cliched, but worth trying to see what happens...)

(Edit: Hey, I just noticed I'm no longer an NPC! Gosh willickers!)
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.

--The horror of Mario

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
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Re: Energy Mages

Post by Username17 »

Most of what you're talking about seems pretty easy. I seem to recall making a Lightning/Sonic PrC for Warmages in the Tome of Fiends. They yelled a lot. Or you could make a singing class which made people explode. People have wanted a good singing chick class since before the 3rd edition hit print.

Acid probably actually wants to be a fog and acid nd poison character. You want to water walk at extremely low level and run around with a spear hunting frogs. You want to be an extra favored class for Wererats. That kind of thing.

Cold similarly writes itself. You freeze things and make shit out of ice.

But basically if you want a complete character based around electricity you kind of can't because this isn't a supers game and it's out of character for people to do the stuff that LiveWire does. You'd have to make a character based on either Storms or Bioelectric Necromancy. The first class writes itself so let's focus on the other one.

Puppeteer
"This time, I think they'll stay up longer, I used more juice."

It is well known to those who investigate such things that electrical energy can bring animation to the freshly dead in much the same way as positive or negative energy can. Those who have a natural inclination towards commanding the lightning can live out their life in obscurity or they can investigate their own abilities.

Those of a particularly investigative bent can accomplish much towards animating the dead and even creating new life. The puppeteer is one such.

Alignment: Electricity is a destructive force, but it is also the source of life. The Puppeteer focuses on the animating aspects, and a lot of them are Lawful. But they don't have to be.

Races: Puppeteers appear in all races, though significant portions of many races live in areas where being a Puppeteer is illegal.

Starting Gold: 6d6x10 gp (210 gold)

Starting Age: As Rogue.

Hit Die: d8
Class Skills: The Puppeteer's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Concentration (Con), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Each skill individually, Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (-), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), and Use Rope (Dex).

Skills/Level: 4 + Intelligence Bonus
BAB: Medium (as Cleric), Saves: Fort: Good; Reflex: Good; Will: Good

Level, Benefit
1 Electricity Resistance, Jolt, Electric Bolts, Puppet the Dead, Electric Magic
2 Disrupting Shock, Familiar
3 Greased Lightning, Repair Construct
4 Fire Immunity, Arc Light, Devastating Thunder
5 Perpetual Storm, Corpse Quickening
6 Persistent Puppets
7 Lightning Bolts
8 Create Golem
9 Army of Puppets
10 Tunneling
11 Magnetism
12 Life Anew

All of the following are Class Features of the Puppeteer class:
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Puppeteers are proficient with all simple weapons, as well as the whip, all martial spears, and all sizes and varieties of chain (including spiked chains). Puppeteers are proficient with light armor but not with shields of any kind.

Electricity Resistance (Ex): A Puppeteer has a Resistance to Electricity equal to twice his level.

Jolt (Su): As a standard action, a Puppeteer can electrify his body, shocking the next creature which he touches or which touches him during the next minute. This shock inflicts 1d6 of electricity damage, with an allowed Fortitude Save for half (DC 10 + ¢© Level + Charisma Modifier).

Electric Bolts (Sp): A Puppeteer can throw bolts of electricity as an attack action. A Lightning Bolt tavels out to short range, and inflicts 1d6 of Fire damage per level. A Lightning Bolt strikes its target with a ranged touch attack.

Puppet the Dead (Su): If the Puppeteer can inflict electricity damage on a corpse, he can can it to rise as a zombie. This zombie can't have more than 4 hit dice for every level of puppeteer he possesses, and it immediately collapses if it has been active for more than 10 minutes or if the puppeteer animates a second corpse.
  • These zombies are of the construct type rather than being true undead, and are healed by electricity damage. Otherwise use the normal zombie template


Electric Magic (Ex): A Puppeteer is considered to have every spell with the Electricity Descriptor on his spell list for the purpose of activating magic items.

Disrupting Shock (Sp): As a standard action, a 2nd level Puppeteer can create an electrical discharge inside another creature's body. This effect causes a d6 of damage and stuns the target for one round. The victim is entitled to a Fortitude save (DC 10 + ¨ö Level + the Puppeteer's Intelligence bonus) to halve the damage and negate the stunning effect. This ability can be used out to Medium range, and it always hits.

Familiar: At 2nd level, a Puppeteer is entitled to a familiar. They may choose a corpse familiar or a construct familiar, but not a normal living animal.

Greased Lightning (Ex): From 3rd level on, a Puppeteer's Electricity cuts through Electricity Resistance, hardness, and Immunity. No more than ¨ö of the damage inflicted by his electrical damage can be negated by hardness or immunity or resistance to electricity. In addition, the Puppeteer ignores the first 5 points of Electricity Resistance that a target has.

Repair Construct (Sp): A 3rd level Puppeteer can energize a construct with a touch. This touch heals 2d8+Level hit points, and is be usable at any time.

Electricity Immunity (Ex): A 4th level Puppeteer is immune to Electricity.

Arc Light (Sp): A 4th level Puppeteer may shed light like a daylight spell from his own body. The clearly electrical light emanates from any portion of the character's body and can be begun or ended as a move action.

Devastating Thunder (Ex): When a 4th level Puppeteer inflicts electrical damage on any target, he inflicts an additional amount of that damage equal to his Intelligence modifier or his class level, whichever is less.

Perpetual Storm (Sp): A 5th level Puppeteer benefits from call lightning at all times.

Corpse Quickening (Ex): When a 5th level Puppeteer animates a corpse, it is not limited to a single standard action.

Persistent Puppets (Su): A 6th level Puppeteer can create lightning zombies which last an entire day before falling apart on their own.

Lightning Bolts (Sp): At 7th level, the Puppeteer can send forth a lightning bolt as the sorcerer/wizard spell, at will. This spell-like ability has a save DC of 10 + ¨ö Level + Intelligence Modifier. Unlike the normal spell, a Puppeteer's Lightning Bolt has no damage cap.

Create Golem (Su): An 8th level Puppeteer can create Flesh Golems. These do not require the expenditure of XP. The latest creation, and only the last one created by the Puppeteer is immune to the berserking trait as it is fully under his control.

Army of Puppets (Sp): A 9th level Puppeteer's animated corpses no longer collapse when he raises another puppet, so long as his total number of puppet's is less than his class level.

Tunneling (Sp): At 10th level, a Puppeteer can teleport short distances, as per dimension door. This ability is usable at will.

Magnetism (Sp): An 11th level Puppeteer can hurl metal objects around at high speed for no discernible reason. This acts like telekinesis, which is usable at will, save that only creatures and objects made primarily of ferrous metals may be lifted and thrown.


Life Anew (Su): A 12th level Puppeteer can create Corpse Creatures with lightning. This is like using create undead save that the creatures are Constructs instead of Undead, are healed by Electrical damage, and don't have any action reduction.


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Re: Energy Mages

Post by Endovior »

I like it, but have to point out a couple notable errors

There's a weird formatting error that distorts a few noteworthy numbers... also, Lightning bolts apparently do Fire damage.

Other then that, good work!
FrankTrollman wrote:We had a history and maps and fucking civilization, and there were countries and cities and kingdoms. But then the spell plague came and fucked up the landscape and now there are mountains where there didn't used to be and dragons with boobs and no one has the slightest idea of what's going on. And now there are like monsters everywhere and shit.
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Re: Energy Mages

Post by JonSetanta »

It's as if Frank has a hand full of aces, just waiting to play them at the right moments.
Very nice.
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Re: Energy Mages

Post by Maxus »

I am in awe, Frank.

Friends have accused me of pulling fun BBEG concepts and good names out of my ass, but Frank, you are pure amazing.

(Edit: Okay, the awe subsided some, and I have one question: Does Magnetism work on people wearing plate armor?)
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.

--The horror of Mario

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
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Re: Energy Mages

Post by Maxus »

Forgive the newbie, but...

I can't help but wonder of what Frank's going to be like with a med degree...

~Doctor~ We'll go in from this side and remove it using--
~Frank~ *swoops in out of the hall*

"Are you fvcking nuts? That's just too complicated and it'll put him in wheelchair by the time he's seventy! His friends will turning backflips down the steet at ninety, and he'd be fvcking dead! Look, here--"

*grabs some paper and a pencil and sketches an series of anatomical charts detailing what needs to be done at each step, explaining all the while*

"--and if you do that, it'll sustain his sexual performance at least to age 80 so he won't have to fvcking inhale fvcking Viagra just to keep his wife from leaving him."

~Doctor~ "He's 10 years old."

~Frank~ "Then he'll have 64 years being able to fvck his girlfriend, which is more than your grandad could ever--"

And my imagination just shut down.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.

--The horror of Mario

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
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Re: Energy Mages

Post by JonSetanta »

A young Dr. Gregory House.

And the Sonic PrC Frank mentioned in a previous Tome was the Seer of the Tempest, the one thing in that Tome that caught my eye and pulled me to this forum out of curiosity many months ago.
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Re: Energy Mages

Post by Username17 »

Magnetism would allow you to attempt to pick up and throw armor that people happened to be wearing, and that would game mechanically be just like throwing them (since they get a save if it's an attended object).

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Re: Energy Mages

Post by Captain_Bleach »

sigma999 at [unixtime wrote:1196291353[/unixtime]]A young Dr. Gregory House.


Except with less class and less witty humor, and much more crude and childish insults.:thumb:
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Re: Energy Mages

Post by Manxome »

FrankTrollman at [unixtime wrote:1196292389[/unixtime]]Magnetism would allow you to attempt to pick up and throw armor that people happened to be wearing,


Does that mean you could attempt to pick up and throw an iron nugget that happens to be embedded in the center of a large non-metallic object? And if so, is the caveat that it works "only creatures and objects made primarily of ferrous metals" (emphasis added) actually meaningful?

(Note that I don't know precisely how Telekinesis works in the first place.)
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Re: Energy Mages

Post by Maxus »


SRD wrote:
Telekinesis
Transmutation
Level: Sor/Wiz 5
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level)
Target or Targets: See text
Duration: Concentration (up to 1 round/ level) or instantaneous; see text
Saving Throw: Will negates (object) or None; see text
Spell Resistance: Yes (object); see text
You move objects or creatures by concentrating on them. Depending on the version selected, the spell can provide a gentle, sustained force, perform a variety of combat maneuvers, or exert a single short, violent thrust.
Sustained Force: A sustained force moves an object weighing no more than 25 pounds per caster level (maximum 375 pounds at 15th level) up to 20 feet per round. A creature can negate the effect on an object it possesses with a successful Will save or with spell resistance.
This version of the spell can last 1 round per caster level, but it ends if you cease concentration. The weight can be moved vertically, horizontally, or in both directions. An object cannot be moved beyond your range. The spell ends if the object is forced beyond the range. If you cease concentration for any reason, the object falls or stops.
An object can be telekinetically manipulated as if with one hand. For example, a lever or rope can be pulled, a key can be turned, an object rotated, and so on, if the force required is within the weight limitation. You might even be able to untie simple knots, though delicate activities such as these require Intelligence checks.
Combat Maneuver: Alternatively, once per round, you can use telekinesis to perform a bull rush, disarm, grapple (including pin), or trip. Resolve these attempts as normal, except that they don't provoke attacks of opportunity, you use your caster level in place of your base attack bonus (for disarm and grapple), you use your Intelligence modifier (if a wizard) or Charisma modifier (if a sorcerer) in place of your Strength or Dexterity modifier, and a failed attempt doesn't allow a reactive attempt by the target (such as for disarm or trip). No save is allowed against these attempts, but spell resistance applies normally. This version of the spell can last 1 round per caster level, but it ends if you cease concentration.
Violent Thrust: Alternatively, the spell energy can be spent in a single round. You can hurl one object or creature per caster level (maximum 15) that are within range and all within 10 feet of each other toward any target within 10 feet per level of all the objects. You can hurl up to a total weight of 25 pounds per caster level (maximum 375 pounds at 15th level).
You must succeed on attack rolls (one per creature or object thrown) to hit the target with the items, using your base attack bonus + your Intelligence modifier (if a wizard) or Charisma modifier (if a sorcerer). Weapons cause standard damage (with no Strength bonus; note that arrows or bolts deal damage as daggers of their size when used in this manner). Other objects cause damage ranging from 1 point per 25 pounds (for less dangerous objects) to 1d6 points of damage per 25 pounds (for hard, dense objects).
Creatures who fall within the weight capacity of the spell can be hurled, but they are allowed Will saves (and spell resistance) to negate the effect, as are those whose held possessions are targeted by the spell. If a telekinesed creature is hurled against a solid surface, it takes damage as if it had fallen 10 feet (1d6 points).


It's a pretty pimp spell, as you can see.

The reason I asked about armor (specifically plate armor), is that armor is often made of metal and always encasing you to the point that it can reasonably drag you along with it.

Shields and weapons I would treat as "Save or be disarmed", but if someone's in metal armor, you can sling them around.

For something like in your question, I'd treat it as the little small piece gets ripped out.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.

--The horror of Mario

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
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Re: Energy Mages

Post by Manxome »

Maxus at [unixtime wrote:1196303916[/unixtime]]For something like in your question, I'd treat it as the little small piece gets ripped out.


So you can rip holes through arbitrarily thick and durable containers as long as there's a piece of ferrous metal trapped inside? Handy.

I suppose the "as with one hand" restriction could be interpreted as putting minimum limits on size and accessibility of the object to be manipulated, which prevents movie-stupidity like "I manipulate the iron in his blood."

Still sounds like you could plausibly use this on anything vaguely sturdy that contains a ferrous component, though, whatever it's "primary" materials, since there's nothing in the description that appears to limit the amount of force based on the size of the targeted object or the amount of ferrous material it contains.

By the by, are D&D mythical metals, like mithril and adamantine, considered ferrous?
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Re: Energy Mages

Post by Maxus »


null wrote:So you can rip holes through arbitrarily thick and durable containers as long as there's a piece of ferrous metal trapped inside? Handy.


Oh, it's not a fixed mount? I had an image of a wall when you said that.

Okay. Then it drags it if it's light enough, or if it's just
too heavy, you can't move it.

Although maybe you could loosen it with Violent Thrusts.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.

--The horror of Mario

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
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Re: Energy Mages

Post by Judging__Eagle »

sigma999 at [unixtime wrote:1196291353[/unixtime]]A young Dr. Gregory House.

And the Sonic PrC Frank mentioned in a previous Tome was the Seer of the Tempest, the one thing in that Tome that caught my eye and pulled me to this forum out of curiosity many months ago.


For me it was the fact that True Necromancers didn't actually add up to anything.

Fighters that could live at lvl 20 vs CR 20 stuff is something that I use to sell anyone on the "Tome" material.
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Re: Energy Mages

Post by Maxus »

Okay, I'm trying to write up an Acid Mage class (except it needs a catchier name) based upon the rough format of the previous two--Resistence, Magic, Extra Damage, and a targeted/area ability at first level, Resistence/Hardness/Immunity partial bypass at 3rd, Acid immunity at 4th...Acid Arrow and Acid Fog would be in there somewhere. The other ideas I'm kicking around are:

-Acid Body (Ex): The Acid Mage's body chemistry has altered so that is naturally acidic, especially the blood and saliva. Any weapon that pierces or slashes the Acid Mage's body take 1d6 acid damage (ignoring hardness), any creature that hits with a natural claw or bite attack takes 1d6 (ignoring acid resistence and DR). This also applies to abilities that involve entering the body, such as an illithid's Extract.
(...Oh, dear God, I just realized an Acid Mage could fill up acid vials with his urine and pass them out. Still, it's not bad being able to say about a character, 'Where he pisses, grass don't grow.')

-Alchemic Tweak: The Acid Mage alter the chemistry of another creature as an attack action. This does 6 + [their extra damage] initially, although the target gets a fortitude save for half damage and to avoid the secondary effect. If the save is failed, the target continues to take damage each round, halving the damage (round down) each round until the damage reaches 1, after which the target stops taking damage. Its range is short and it always hits.

-Poison: At 2nd the Acid Mage may use Poison, as the spell, as an attack option at-will, except the Acid Mage may choose any physical ability score to inflict damage upon. In addition, every third level after (5, 8, 11, 14), the Acid Mage chooses another attribute they can damage. At level 8, the Acid Mage gains Melts in Your Brain and may now include mental attributes in his repetoire.

-Poison and Disease Immunity: At 6th level, the Acid Mage's rather unusual biology means that poisons and diseases, both magical and mundane, are useless against him.

-Water Walk At 4th(?) level, the Acid Mage may use Water Walk as a supernatural ability. They may use and suppress it at will.

-Breath of the Black Dragon: At level (5 or 7), the Acid Mage may produce a cone or line of acid as an attack action. This does 1d6 per character level, and has a range of short (cone) or medium (line) (reflex for half).

Other ideas I'm kicking around:
-Mark, Trail The Acid Mage is keyed in to the special tang of his own acid and can follow the path of someone who has taken damage from one of his acid attacks. The subject continues to leave behind a trail for 1 day after they have been injured, or until the wound have been healed. The Acid mage can reliably follow the trail as long as it does not cross running water or an open space subject to more than moderate wind. Also, the trail ends if the subject is teleported or takes flight.

-Fog Cloud and Solid Fog. Possibly able to see in them.

-Some acid ability that does splash damage.

-Being able to consume a piece of infectious matter and infuse that disease into the next acid attack they project (meaning it doesn't work with Alchemic Tweak) so the target must make a fort save or catch the disease.

Most of these aren't really hard-and-fast, so feel free to suggest alternates/ream me a new rear end for thinking of including that. Oh, and some pointers on the progression would be nice, because I can come up with abilities, but laying them out in a progression often means a lot of revision for me.

(Edit: Just trawled through the SRD. Cloudkill and Stinking Cloud look like they could go in there...)
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.

--The horror of Mario

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
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Re: Energy Mages

Post by Maxus »

Because I'm in a lull between classes, I've been working more on the energy mages.

Sonic would be fun...Here's the abilities I'm tinkering with...

-Class level as a bonus to Sing checks.

-sound-based spell-like abilities (ghost sound, ventriloquism (ventro as an extraordinary ability) sound burst, shatter)

-Shout and Greater Shout, damage scaling by character level.

-Able to blow out your ear drums, requiring you to be healed and THEN cured of deafness.

-That Roar ability of some of the spinxes

-Extraordinary ability to mimic voices and sounds perfectly.

-My favorite, the High Note. You remember the old Bugs Bunny cartoon with the opera singer? Right. Imagine being able to combine two and eventually three different sound-based effects so they happen in a wide radius, and they do damage to the surroundings. You can hold it for...some length of time. Maybe x rounds + Con modifier.
(Maybe even a Fort save so people's head don't explode, hehe...)

-(Edit: Amazing how ideas hit you...Air Guitar. You make the air itself produce the sounds you want, substituting for an instrument and gauranteeing you'll be burned at the stake by superstitious peasants.)
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.

--The horror of Mario

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
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Re: Energy Mages

Post by Catharz »

Maxus at [unixtime wrote:1196346177[/unixtime]]
-Acid Body: The Acid Mage can alter their body's own makeup to make themselves acidic. This lasts for one minute per character level. Any weapon that pierces or slashes the Acid Mage's body take 1d6 acid damage (ignoring hardness), any creature that hits with a natural claw or bite attack takes 1d6 (ignoring acid resistence and DR). This also applies to abilities that involve entering the body, such as an illithid's Extract.

No reason not to make "Alien's Blood" a constant exceptional ability.

Maxus at [unixtime wrote:1196346177[/unixtime]]-Poison: At 2nd the Acid Mage may use Poison, as the spell, as an attack option at-will, except the Acid Mage may choose any physical ability score to inflict damage upon. In addition, every third level after (5, 8, 11, 14), the Acid Mage chooses another attribute they can damage. At level 8, the Acid Mage gains Melts in Your Brain and may now include mental attributes in his repetoire.

Poison is a super-strong spell, and this is an at-will SoD for a goodly number of levels.

Maxus at [unixtime wrote:1196346177[/unixtime]]-Mark, Trail The Acid Mage is keyed in to the special tang of his own acid and can follow the path of someone who has taken damage from one of his acid attacks. The subject continues to leave behind a trail for 1 day after they have been injured, or until the wound have been healed. The Acid mage can reliably follow the trail as long as it does not cross running water or an open space subject to more than moderate wind. Also, the trail ends if the subject is teleported or takes flight.
Too many caveats.


Also, for an acid/poison/disease class... You really need Bees and Disease ("While the world turns I spread my germs").
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Re: Energy Mages

Post by Maxus »

Catharz wrote:Poison is a super-strong spell, and this is an at-will SoD for a goodly number of levels.


Holy crap, you're right. I just checked the damage die on Poison. 1d10...Dang.
I thought it did...lower than that, anyway.
Any suggestions for the amount? 1d4, maybe increases to 1d6 and then 1d8?

Mmkay.

And I might as well make that change...

I really see "Alien Blood" being a fun ability because you quite plausibly could lick your way out of a pair of manacles...
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.

--The horror of Mario

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Re: Energy Mages

Post by JonSetanta »

I need an Explosion mage.
Like, Fire + Force or Sonic.
And for that... I need Keith's Explosive Spell Metamagic remake.
.. or would an FnK Fire Mage/Seer of Tempest work?
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Re: Energy Mages

Post by Maxus »

I dunno. I suppose you could make up an ability based around making stuff go kaboom.

Like...You spend a move action to make a handheld into a bomb, chunk it, it lands, does damage based on its size, or heaviness. Or something.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.

--The horror of Mario

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
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Re: Energy Mages

Post by JonSetanta »

Maybe the trick is in spell combination, then make those multi-spells into SLAs.
Like, a Gust of Wind/Fireball all in one. A Sonic Burst/Flaming Orb. Then have a class full of things like this, one at every level. Classic.
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Re: Energy Mages

Post by Maxus »

I realize that while I'm great on ideas, I'm not so good at actual design. My usual approach is to just turn something out and then modify it down to reality. That being said, here's my unfinished stuff on the Acid Mage. I'll add in weapon/armor proficiencies later and fix any glaring problems those with a superior sense of balance point out. I'm just finally turning this out so I'll have something to work with.

Acid Mage

In the big cities, sanitation isn’t always a consideration for the poorer parts of town. The aristocracy often doesn’t care. That may be ill-advised of the rich and mighty, because Acid Mages seem to thrive in streets where refuse is mixed with the mud.
No one’s isolated the exact cause, but if someone’s raised in unclean conditions, has a lot of bitterness at the world, and some natural magical talent…They seemed likely to became Acid Mages. And the abilities are such that they are prized among the underworld, for their powers at melting vault walls and being able to free themselves from manacles in a matter of seconds. And few things express discontent more completely than ordering a rival to be caught in a blast of acid, which will blister away his skin and turn his muscles into pink froth and soften his bones into paste.
Potentially any race may turn out Acid Mages, but actively being one is illegal almost everywhere that has laws.

HD: d8
BAB: Medium,
Good Saves
Class Skills: The Acid Mage’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Concentration (Con), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Each skill individually, Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (-), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), and Use Rope (Dex).
Skill points 4+Int.

1 Acid Magic, Acid Resistance, Acid Splash, Acid Spray, Bitterness
2 Acid Body, Alchemic Tweak, Poison, Obscuring Mist
3 Concentrated, Water Walk,
4 Acid Immunity, Fog Cloud, Fog Sight
5 Acid Arrow, Poison Mastery,
6 Poison and Disease Immunity, Virulent, Stinking Cloud
7 Black Dragon Breath, Neutralizing Secretion
8 Melts in your Brain, Solid Fog
9 Poison Mist
10
11 Poison Mastery
12 Acid Fog
13 Corrosion
14 Acid Cloud, Poison Mastery,


Acid magic (Su): An Acid Mage is considered to have every spell with the Acid descriptor for the purposes of activating magic items

Acid Resistance (Ex): An Acid Mage has acid resistance of twice his character level

Acid Splash (Sp): An Acid Mage may throw a splash of acid as an attack option. It has short range and does 1d6 per character level, and is a ranged touch attack.

Acid Spray (Sp): As an attack option, Acid Mage may fill the air around him with acidic mist that exudes from his body and goes out to ten feet. Any other creature in the mist takes 1d6 acid damage.

Bitterness (Ex): The Acid mage adds his class level or his charisma bonus, whichever is lower, to his damage rolls with acid attacks.

Acid Body (Ex): The Acid Mage’s chemistry has altered itself. This causes no harm to the Acid Mage, but their blood, sweat, and saliva are now strongly acidic. Any creature that harms the Acid mage with piercing or slashing damage in melee takes 1d6 damage from the spraying blood. In addition, the weapons used to do this take 1d6 damage, ignoring hardness. If the Acid Mage is harmed by a natural weapon, such as a claw or bite attack, the attacker takes max damage from the acid body. Should the occasion arise, an Acid Mage’s saliva does 1d4 damage per round. Should the Acid Mage ever desire to have this trait removed, in the event of wanting children or being able to kiss somebody without branding them, it can be removed with a Limited Wish, Wish, or Miracle.

Itchy Blood (Sp): As an attack option Acid mage can alter the chemistry of a being’s or object’s form, putting a small amount of acid into it. This ability does 6 damage (Plus the extra from Bitterness) which can be halved upon a failed Fortitude Save (DC 10 + ½ HD + Charisma). Should the target fail its save, it continues to take damage, the original amount being halved each successive round (round down in the case of fractions), disappearing the round after it reaches 1. This can be used out to medium range and always hits.

Poison (Sp): An Acid Mage may use Poison as a spell-like ability, but only does 1d4 damage to a physical stat of their choice. The save DC is 10 + one-half character level + Charisma modifier. Every third level (5, 8, 11, 14) afterwards, an Acid mage may select a new attribute to target. At level 8, an Acid Mage gains Melts in Your Brain, and may now target mental attributes. An Acid Mage is immune to his own poison.

Obscuring Mist (Sp): At level 2, An Acid mage may use Obscuring Mist as a spell-like ability at will.

Concentrated (Ex): From 3rd level on, an Acid Mage’s acid cuts through Acid Resistance, hardness, and Immunity. No more than one-half of the damage inflicted by his acid damage can be negated by hardness or immunity or resistance to acid. In addition, the Acid mage ignores the first 5 points of Acid Resistance that a target has.

Water Walk (Sp): At level 3, an Acid Mage reacts strangely with water. An Acid mage has Water Walk as a spell-like ability, which he may activate as a free action and lasts until he decides to deactivate it.

Acid Immunity: At level 4, an Acid Mage is immune to acid damage.

Fog Cloud: At level 4, an Acid Mage has Fog Cloud as a spell-like ability.

Fogsight: An Acid Mage can see in mist and fog unhindered for no reason whatsoever.

Acid Arrow: At level 5 an Acid Mage may use Acid Arrow, as the spell, as a spell-like ability at will.

Poison and Disease Immunity: At level 6, an Acid Mage’s body is now so far from the usual of its race that it is completely untouchable by disease or poison of any kind. This is even proof against its own Virulent ability (see below), and nausea.

Virulent: At level 6, an Acid Mage’s poison, while not exceptionally strong, is definitely different from most anything you’ll encounter. It ignores the Venom Immunity of Druids and the Diamond Body of Monks, and similar abilities of other characters unless the character has total immunity to both all poisons and all diseases, as the Acid Mage.

Stinking Cloud: At level 6, an Acid Mage may use Stinking Cloud as a spell-like ability, at will.

Black Dragon Breath: At level 7, an Acid mage may produce a short-range cone or a medium-range line of acid as an attack option. This does 1d6 per character level, and offers a reflex save (DC 10 + one-half level + Cha bonus) to take half damage.

Neutralizing Secretion: At level 7, should the Acid Mage be concerned about the well-being of its party members, may produce an acid-neutralizing [EDITED] in liquid or mist form that can be substituted for any acid or mist ability they have. It offers Acid Resistance 20. If used to replace the acid effect of Black Dragon breath and used upon a pool or puddle of acid, it renders the hazard inert and harmless (though slimy).

Melts in Your Brain: An acid mage may now choose mental attributes to damage with their Poison effect.

Solid Fog: An Acid Mage may now use Solid Fog as a spell-like ability.

Poison Mist (Ex): The Acid Mage may now use Obscuring Mist, Fog Cloud, or Stinking Cloud, and make the resulting fog/mist an inhaled Poison, as per their Poison ability. Any being that walks through the cloud or is caught in it must make a Fort save each round or be poisoned.

Shape Mist: As long as it has the same volume, an Acid Mage may direct their mist ability to the squares they choose, thus creating walls and rings and hollow spots within the cloud.

Acid Fog (Sp): An Acid Mage may use Acid Fog as a spell-like ability at will.

Corrosion (Ex): An Acid Mage’s acid now ignores all hardness, and any of their attacks that envelope a target in acid (Acid Spray, Black Dragon Breath, and Acid Fog), deal damage to the target’s equipment, as well as to them.

Acid Cloud (Sp): An Acid Mage may generate large amounts of acidic fog as an attack action. He may produce 3 10’ cubes per character level of this acid, and it does 1d6 per character level to everything in it. It stays for a duration of 1 minute/2 levels.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.

--The horror of Mario

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
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Re: Energy Mages

Post by Catharz »

It doesn't seem quite visceral enough. Acid splash, for example, could involve the character vomiting up the acid. You could make this a core ability, adding additional effects like nausea, poison, and disease to anyone hit by it.

There should probably be some type of mind affecting ability, 'acidic wit' or 'vitriol' or something like that.

The resistance/immunity bypassing abilities could function as follows:
I. The 'Acid Mage's' poison, acid, and disease attacks are particularly virulent. To take advantage of resistance to one of these abilities, a character must also have resistance or immunity to another.
That might be too complex, though.

An option to make the diseases harder to resist is to say that a character must be immune to supernatural disease to be immune to an Acid Mage's disease attacks.

A 'carrier' ability which makes the mage immune to the effects of all the diseases he's infected with and adds them to his attacks would be cool.
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Re: Energy Mages

Post by Koumei »

Thread Necromancy, I know, but I was wondering...

1. Puppeteer: What is a Construct creature, for the familiar? Do you mean "take an animal, change the type into Construct, make all changes that entails", or take a small, weak construct as a familiar", or is there a template that does it?

2. Acid Mage: I really must know. What is the edited word in Neutralizing Secretion? I just can't figure out what would trigger the filter.
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Re: Energy Mages

Post by Bigode »

I think it's "[EDITED]". Turns out I was right.

OK, I don't know. :D

On a more serious note, am I the only one that considers 12/20 zombies without any action limitation and up to 48/80 HD (considering either the finish of the class or level 20, if there was one) too much?
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