In that vein, I've designed this with the intent of being on-par with a rogue in power, while looking like a paladin/barbarian/duskblade. I can only hope I'm meeting this goal in having it be a contributing member to a party (unlike the fighter) without being overpowered (like the druid). Flavour-wise, I wanted to return to a more 'true' form of Vancian spellcasting than D&D currently uses; as the Dying Earth saga limited their actual spells per day to a handful, but were generally of such power that the mere threat of its could be sufficient.
Pact Maker
Flavour Text: There are creatures out there. Entities of immense power in the multiverse, whether they be a god, a vestige, a planar lord, or even an entity of the Far Realm. With the right mindset & knowledge of ancient rites that even they recognize & respect, they can be called, they can be flattered, and they can grant both favors & knowledge to those that please them.
Amongst the easiest of favors to ask for is knowledge of martial prowess. Mantras, runes, techniques, magical herbs of enhancement, & spells of might all work towards making the pact maker a warrior of some skill.
But this is nothing to the power of direct intervention, where the pact maker calls upon an entity directly for action to be taken. The confidence of its power and those who are aware of what the pact maker is capable of can mean the end of a fight with the mere threat of its use.
Hit Dice: d10
Class Skills: Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (religion, arcana) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Use Magic Device (Cha)
Skill Points at 1st Level: (4+Intelligence modifier) x 4
Skill Points at each additional level: 4+Intelligence modifier
Weapon & Armor Proficiency: Simple & Martial Weapons, all types of armor & shields (except tower)
Code: Select all
LV BAB Fort Ref Will Special
01) +1 +2 +0 +2 Spells, Mastery
02) +2 +3 +0 +3 Patron's Blessing (1/day)
03) +3 +3 +1 +3 Imbued Resilience (Intellect Fortress), Bonus Feat
04) +4 +4 +1 +4 Mastery, Patron's Blessing (2/day), Trackless Step
05) +5 +4 +1 +4 Imbued Resilience (Elemental Mastery)
06) +6/+1 +5 +2 +5 Bonus Feat, Patron's Blessing (3/day)
07) +7/+2 +5 +2 +5 Mastery, Forsaken Footsteps
08) +8/+3 +6 +2 +6 Imbued Resilience (Mortal's Supremacy), Patron's Blessing (4/day)
09) +9/+4 +6 +3 +6 Bonus Feat, Patron's Blessing (3/day)
10) +10/+5 +7 +3 +7 Patron's Blessing (5/day), Mastery, Water Walking
11) +11/+6/+1 +7 +3 +9 Imbued Resilience (Elemental Dominion), Patron's Boon
12) +12/+7/+2 +8 +4 +8 Bonus Feat, Patron's Blessing (6/day)
13) +13/+8/+3 +8 +4 +8 Arcanist's Bane, Mastery
14) +14/+9/+4 +9 +4 +9 Patron's Blessing (7/day), Air Walk
15) +15/+10/+5 +9 +5 +9 Bonus Feat
16) +16/+11/+6/+1 +10 +5 +10 Patron's Blessing (8/day), Spell Mastery
17) +17/+12/+7/+2 +10 +5 +10 Dimensional Stride
18) +18/+13/+8/+3 +11 +6 +11 Bonus Feat, Patron's Blessing (9/day)
19) +19/+14/+9/+4 +11 +6 +11 Mastery
20) +20/+15/+10/+5 +12 +6 +12 Patron's Blessing (10/day)
Code: Select all
. 0 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th
1st 3 0 — — — — — — — —
2nd 3 0 — — — — — — — —
3rd 3 — 0 — — — — — — —
4th 4 — 0 — — — — — — —
5th 4 — — 1 — — — — — —
6th 4 — — 1 — — — — — —
7th 5 — — — 1 — — — — —
8th 5 — — — 1 — — — — —
9th 5 — — — — 2 — — — —
10th 6 — — — — 2 — — — —
11th 6 — — — — — 2 — — —
12th 6 — — — — — 2 — — —
13th 7 — — — — — — 3 — —
13th 7 — — — — — — 3 — —
15th 7 — — — — — — — 3 —
16th 8 — — — — — — — 3 —
17th 8 — — — — — — — — 4
18th 8 — — — — — — — — 4
19th 9 — — — — — — — — 4
20th 9 — — — — — — — — 4
Spells: A pact maker casts divine spells, which are drawn from the pact maker spell list. A pact maker must choose and prepare his spells in advance (see below).
To prepare or case a spell, a pact maker must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a pact maker's spell is 10 + the spell level + the pact maker's Charisma modifier.
Like other spellcasters, a pact maker can only cast a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on the above table. In addition, he receives bonus bonus spells per day if he has a high Charisma score.
He must choose and prepare his spells ahead of time by getting a good night's sleep and spending 1 hour meditating and communing with extraplanar entities for spells. A pact maker may prepare and cast any spell on the pact maker spell list, provided that he can cast spells of that level, but he must choose which spells to prepare during his daily meditation.
As a reminder, the spells per day chart is not cumulative. With the level increase, the pact maker will lose the ability to cast spells of the lower spell levels as he gains access to the new spell level. For example, a 10th level pact maker can only memorize one 5th level spell, and additional spells per day from a high Charisma modifier only apply for level 5 spells (2 5th level spells with a Cha of 20+, 3 with a Cha of 28+, etc).
Pact Maker Spell List
0 Level: arcane mark, detect magic, ghost sound, prestidigitation, read magic
1st Level: burning hands, color spray, power word (pain)*, shocking grasp, silent image, sleep
2nd Level: acid arrow, blindness/deafness, cloud of bewilderment*, scorching ray, shadowspray*, ghoul touch, glitterdust, web
3rd Level: deep slumber, fireball, ice storm, lightning bolt, major image, mesmerizing glare*, shadow binding*, stinking cloud
4th Level: charm monster, cone of cold, evard's black tentacles, finger of agony*, phantasmal killer, solid fog, wall of fire
5th Level: baleful polymorph, cloudkill, friend to foe*, host monster, magic jar, symbol of pain, wall of force, wrack*
6th Level: acid fog, circle of death, endless slumber*, eyebite, flesh to stone, heartfreeze*, incendiary cloud, programmed image
7th Level: control weather, forcecage, evil glare*, finger of death, insanity, mass hold person, prismatic spray
8th Level: flensing*, irresistable dance, mass charm, maze, power word (stun), trap the soul, wrathful castigation*
9th Level: dominate monster, imprisonment, mass hold monster, reality maelstrom*, wail of the banshee
* - Non-PHB spells
Patron's Blessing: At 2nd level, the character makes a pact with a specific outer-planar patron, pledging alleigance to it and serving as a one of his chosen. Available patron lords are enigmatic entities that hold little interest in the realm of mortals, so rarely demanding anything from their chosen, seeming satisfied with flattery and a simple vow to prove their pledge.
The vow associated with the patron is simply a show of loyalty, and rarely has anything specific to the patron's vested interests. It is a taboo of behavior that the character must adhere in order to access his patron's blessing ability. Failure to follow the vow results in the character's inability to gain their patron's blessing for minimum of 24 hours, followed by an hour of prayer and supplication to appease their patron lord. Available taboos include, but are not limited to...
* Cannot eat meat
* Cannot own more than he can carry
* Must make a daily offering (such as food, flowers, or incense)
* Cannot bathe
* Cannot cut her hair
* Cannot touch a dead body
* Cannot drink alcohol
* Cannot wear a certain color
* Cannot light a fire
* Cannot sit facing in a certain direction
The patron's blessing can be called upon once per encounter, as a swift action. The character can call for an additional blessing one time per day every two class levels (2/day at 4th level, 3/day at 6th level, etc).
The exact benefits vary with the patron lord chosen, and all bonuses are sacred bonuses.
* Patron Alpha: +2 to save DCs of spells cast, +(Cha mod) to spell penetration, & gain alpha blast for (Cha mod) rounds
...Alpha Blast (Su): Close range, ranged touch attack, 1d6 force damage per caster level
* Patron Beta: +(Cha mod) to attack & damage for 3+(Cha mod) rounds
* Patron Gamma: +(Cha mod) to AC, saves, & 5*(Cha mod) temp HP for 5+2*(Cha mod) rounds
* Patron Delta: For (Cha mod) rounds, roll twice for any d20 roll and take the higher of the two.
* Patron Epsilon: +2 Strength, +2 Dexterity, Gain SR (8 + Caster Level + Cha mod) for 5+2*(Cha mod) rounds.
Editor's Note: I haven't come up with names or flavour for the patrons yet, and I need to come up with more.
Bonus Feat: Gained initially at 3rd level, and every 3rd level after that, a bonus feat for the character. These bonus feats must be drawn from the feats noted as fighter bonus feats. A fighter must still meet all prerequisites for a bonus feat, including ability score and base attack bonus minimums.
Mastery: At 1st level, and every three levels afterwards (4th, 7th, 10th, 13th, etc), the pact maker gains a bonus metamagic feat from the list below.
The pact maker must still meet all prerequisites for the bonus metamagic feat.
Trackless Step: Starting at 4th level, a pact maker leaves no trail in natural surroundings and cannot be tracked. The pact maker has become something that the land no longer recognizes, and cannot deactivate this ability.
Imbued Resilience (Intellect Fortress): Available at 3rd level, and must be wearing a specially prepared set of masterwork (or better) armor, requiring 100gp of materials and an hour-long ritual to attune the character to the specific set of armor. At a later point in time, the character can choose to no longer be attuned to the armor and go through the ritual again with a different set.
Once attuned to the armor, the character can activate its ability as a full-round action while wearing the armor. Once activated, its protection lasts for 24 hours or taken off (whichever comes first). The effect must expire before it can be reactivated.
For as long as the ability is active, the character is protected from attempts at mental control as if under the effects of a protection from evil spell (with no other benefit as would be expected with the spell).
Imbued Resilience (Elemental Mastery): Gained at level 5, while under the effects of Imbued Resilience (Intellect Fortress), the character is bestowed energy resistance 10 against all energy types.
Forsaken Footsteps: Starting at 7th level, the pact maker is no longer impeded by natural terrain or undergrowth. The ground could be sandy, muddy, swampy, filled with natural thorns/briars and other overgrown elements; but the pact maker moves at normal speed and without other impairment. Areas that have been magically manipulated to impede motion (including, but not limited to entangle, rock to mud, etc) still affect him.
Imbued Resilience (Mortal's Supremacy): Available at 8th level, while under the effects of Imbued Resilience (Intellect Fortress), the character is also warded against bodily contact from summoned creatures (as per protection from evil).
Water Walking: Starting at level 10, the character can cast water walk at will (as the spell) as a free action.
Imbued Resilience (Elemental Dominion): Gained at level 11, while under the effects of Imbued Resilience (Intellect Fortress), the the character is bestowed energy resistance 10 against all energy types. This replaces the Imbued Resilience (Elemental Mastery) ability.
Patron's Boon: Gained at level 11, the character's patron lord improves its blessing in order to maintain loyalty from the character. Choose one additional ability granted by another patron lord. When patron's blessing is activated, both benefits are imparted to the character.
Arcanist's Bane: Gained at 13th level, takes a full-round action to activate. Imbues a weapon with a single use of greater dispel magic (targetted version only), that is cast upon the first entity struck by the weapon. Caster level is equal to class level.
Air Walk: Gained at 14th level, the character can cast air walk at will (as the spell) as a free action.
Dimension Stride: Gained at 17th level, the character can cast dimension door at will (as the spell) as a move action.
