Arcanitect [Gramarie Prestige Class]

[kellus]

The Arcanitect

"Oh yeah, the giant mechanical crab boat? I came up with that. Now, not labeling the levers, that was a stroke of genius."


Image credit SBraithwaite of deviantart.com.

The foundation of all gramarie, of all life, of all everything, is energy. Energy is the stock-and-trade of the cosmos. It's found in the light of distant stars as equally as in every inch of our bodies. Energy is the prime resource, the primary product of everything everywhere. Which is why it sucks that so much of it is inaccessible to us. This is the prime difficulty faced by those who study the transfer and change of energy, transforming it from one useless state into another which can be used for any number of marvels. The best of these academes, known as arcanitects, know more about the flow and transformation of energy than nearly anyone else– enough to know that our universe seems to be running out of usable sources of it. Their goal, perhaps the only goal that matters in the grand scheme, is to discover some way to save the cosmos from the most pedestrian and disappointing fate imaginable: death by disorder.

Requirements: To become an arcanitect you must meet all of the following requirements.
Feat: Craft Wondrous Item
Gramarie: Any two ARCD principles
Skills: Craft (any) 8 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 8 ranks, Use Magic Device 10 ranks
Special: Must have the eldritch blast class features
Specialization: Must be specialized in Arcanodynamics.

Hit Die: d4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier

Class Skills: An arcanitect's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Autohypnosis (Wis), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (all) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

The Arcanitect

Level	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Special	Principles	Craft Conversion
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Arcane conservation, eldritch blast +1d6, essence of arcana (silver)	+0	25
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Energy equations, essence of arcana (wood)	+1	50
3rd	+1	+1	+1	+3	Eldritch blast +2d6, essence of arcana (crystal)	+2	75
4th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Energy equations, essence of arcana (gold)	+3	100
5th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Bonus feat, eldritch blast +3d6, essence of arcana (copper)	+3	125
6th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Energy equations, essence of arcana (tin)	+4	150
7th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Eldritch blast +4d6, essence of arcana (ice)	+5	175
8th	+4	+2	+2	+6	Energy equations, essence of arcana (mercury)	+6	200
9th	+4	+3	+3	+6	Bonus feat, eldritch blast +5d6, essence of arcana (lead)	+6	225
10th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Arrow of time, energy equations, essence of arcana (platinum)	+7	250

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the arcanitect.

Weapon and Armour Proficiencies: As an arcanitect, you gain no additional weapon or armour proficiencies.

Arcane Conservation (Su): Energy moneychanging is the secret behind all gramarie, and an arcanitect leverages this in more traditional realms. Every level, you have a limit called a craft conversion limit, as shown on your class table. Whenever you craft an item, you can use this ability if you have a supply of puissance in order to supplement the normal cost with raw arcane energy. You can convert an amount of XP for these items equal to your craft conversion limit by transforming ten times that amount of puissance during the crafting. You can split up the cost of puissance over the course of the crafting, but you can cannot exceed your craft conversion limit on any one project. This limit is 25 XP (250 ebbs) at 1st level, and increases by 25 every level. Knowledge of this fundamental connection grants you a competence bonus on Knowledge (arcana), Spellcraft, and Use Magic Device checks equal to half your class level. This class stacks with any one previous class to determine your caster level.

Eldritch Blast (Sp): At 1st level and every two levels thereafter, you add +1d6 to your eldritch blast damage.

Essence of Arcana (Su): Arcanitects use the ideas behind gramarie to augment more traditional crafting methods; the skilled arcanitect forsakes neither for the other, but instead blends them together. Whenever you craft an item, you can imbue it with puissant energy, as described in the conservation of arcana class feature (see above). If you have attained the appropriate level of achievement, you can get extra effect from this ability. This additional effect depends on the transformer that is providing the puissance for the process; if the puissance for the crafting comes from multiple, liquid, sources, choose one of the types of transformer used in the crafting to dominate.  At 1st level you can only use puissance from silver transformers for this ability, but as you advance you learn to harness the energy from many different kinds.

• Silver: This essence retains some memory of the raw magical energy channeled by the silver transformer. The object imbued glows under moonlight or in the presence of moonsilver. It gains a bonus to its caster level equal to your Intelligence modifier at the time of crafting, but no larger than half your class level at that point. This bonus can allow the spell to exceed normal limitations which are based on caster level, such as the maximum dice limit on a fireball.
  
• Wood: Wood remembers being alive and thus remembers the flow of puissance. The object imbued seems to be carved from a single continuous piece of wood, no matter what it's actually made from. It can act as a reservoir for puissance, and can hold a number of ebbs of puissance equal to its caster level. If it is used to make an attack roll, 5 ebbs of puissance can be spent from this reserve by the wielder as a swift action to guarantee a critical threat on the attack roll if the attack would otherwise hit. This does not count as a natural 20.
  
• Crystal: This is a resonant essence which echoes with the same vibrations as the crystal that provided the power for the crafting. It has strange refractive properties, and glitters as total internal reflection occurs inside of it; its refractive index is at least 2.5, if not otherwise higher. The object imbued hums quietly, and can be persuaded to resonate more frequently, and in certain patterns. If the object is activated with a command word, it can be programmed to speak the command word itself as a logical decision when it is hooked up to a heuristical circuit.
  
• Gold: The essence of the sun is retained even through the mere memory of association with gold. The object imbued restores itself in sunlight; every round spend in direct sunlight restores 1 hit point to it. It can also burn with the intensity of the sun; activating this effect is a standard action while touching the object. It begins to consume itself at a rate of 5 hit points per caster level per round, but during that period the DC of any of its effects increases by +3.
  
• Copper: Copper is a curious metal, and the memory of its touch is like lightning. The object imbued lets off a static shock every time it's touched or handled, and it attracts smaller metallic objects. If the object is hooked up to an electric current, a daily use of it can be activated with sufficient electric power. This requires 10W of electric power per caster level over a single round, and can only be used to provide up to three extra daily uses per day.
  
• Tin: This essence recalls the caustic energies channeled by tin. The object imbued is immune to the touch of any form of alkahest, no matter what it's made of. If the object manipulates water in any way, then after it finishes with its normal use the water is treated as if it were transformed into an amount of acid equal to its previous volume. Note that a 'flask' of acid is traditionally a single pint.
  
• Ice: Those touched by ice burn with passionate intensity! The object imbued is always warm to the touch, never falling below a surface temperature of 0 Centigrade. If the object deals damage, whether through a spell effect or otherwise, the damage is transformed into fire damage. If the object is hooked up to a circuit and at least 1 ebb for every 5 points of damage is provided upon activation, the damage is hellfire damage instead.
  
• Mercury: This essence is strange and fluid, somewhat like the nature of mercury itself. The object imbued functions normally if reduced to a liquid state, as long as it is not separated from the main volume. It can even be diluted with other liquids, and will still function properly when distilled out of them (a DC 15 Craft (alchemy) check). The object also provides a kind of temporal grounding effect; it continues to function normally during the apparent time of a time stop effect, and if it is large enough for people to fit inside, they are similarly able to act during such time as long as they remain enclosed by the object.
  
• Lead: Lead's essence is a paradox; it's the strongest protection known, but also dangerous. The object imbued blocks any effect which is specifically blocked by lead, as if it were made of lead itself. If the obejct somehow deals negative levels, it deals two additional negative levels whenever it would do so.
  
• Platinum: Sometimes called the king of metals, platinum's memory retains a connection to the divine. The object imbued can be keyed to a specific faith, and only activated or used by those of that faith. The DC for a Use Magic Device check to activate the object also increases by 10 if the wielder is not of the correct faith; the object also can be used as a symbol for divine energy. Divine spellcasters who use an object imbued with platinum as a holy symbol gain an extra use of every spell level every day (domain-only spells if they're a cleric) which need to be channeled through the platinum-imbued object.

Energy Equations (Ex): At 2nd level, and every two levels thereafter, you learn an important equation relating to the flow of energy in gramaric systems. This is a discovery which can be applied to your arcanodynamic studies.

• Bigby's Prime Analysis: This equation describes the connection between voltage and puissance. Physically conductive metal, such as copper, can now be used to transport puissance; if the metal is connected to a circuit, puissance which is placed into one part of it can be drawn out of another part of it on the same turn. Puissant flow degrades, at a rate of 1 ebb lost in every transfer for every 10ft. moved. A given circuit can only draw from one metal connection per round.
  
• Drawmij's Algorithm: This equation describes how geoccult poles break down in an area of radiomantic imbalance. Knowing it allows you to  produce the same effect with a less drastic input; sunlight radiating out from your gold transformers now threatens to destabilize geoccult poles the same way that a sunmetal explosion does.
  
• Evard's Numerical Analysis: This equation describes the flow of heat into an area filled with cold energy. Cones of cold energy created with a mercury transformer no longer simply evaporate; Evard's last alorithm tells us that the cold energy has to go somewhere, and it ends up forming a sphere with the same volume as the cone. Anyone who passes through the sphere is subject to the intial effect of the cone; the cone lasts for 1 round per ebb. It tends to flow along heat gradients, and moves at 30ft. per round towards the largest source of fire damage in the previous round or, failing that, the warmest location, inside 200ft.
  
• Leomund's Inequality: This equation describes a strange fluctuation that occurs when comparing a platinum transformer's action in a separate case involving quasi-deities. Knowing it allows you to have your platinum transformer input nets stop binders from contacting vestiges, as well as its normal uses.
  
• Melf's Special Case: This equation describes the alternation of alkalinity with acidity for the special case where a copper transformer is involved. Knowing it allows you to have your copper transformers output basic media instead of acidic media, which deals the same amount of acid damage.
  
• Mordenkainen's Transport Theorem: This equation describes the conservation of arcane energy on either sides of a silver transformer. Knowing it allows you to redefine the assumptions most people make about them; thanks to a greater understanding, you can store two spells in the same output transformer, which can be activated independantly of each other, or even simultaneously if twice the combined cost of puissance for the two spells is provided.
  
• Nolzur's Identity: This equation describes the fundamental connection between puissance and life, previously only seen in wood transformers. Knowing it allows you to treat any living thing, not just plant material, as if it were appropriate to construct a wood transformer. This works just like normal, but it allows you to turn living creatures or animal matter into 'wood' transformers.
  
• Otiluke's Paradox: This equation describes the apparent impossibility of sound developing in silence, based on a view of sound using a model of heat flow. Knowing it allows you to ignore the silencing effect of a crystal transformer, without changing the amount of energy intake. In order to apply this equation, the ambient temperature in the crystal net needs to be above 45 Centigrade.
  
• Otto's Last Theorem: This equation describes the emotional aspect to fire in addition to the purely physical. Knowing it allows you to draw 1 ebb per round from individuals under a rage effect or similar condition if they are in the input net for your ice transformers.
  
• Tasha's Finite Decay: This equation is no laughing matter; it describes the lifespan of a radiomantic metal. While one of your lead transformers is giving off nuclear energy, it can now explode as if it were made of sunmetal.

Principles of Gramarie: You continue to advance your study of gramarie. At 2nd level, and again whenever indicated on the class table, you learn a new principle of gramarie that you qualify for. At 7th level you gain access to Doctorate-level principles, and can refer to yourself as a doctor of any discipline you attain that level of knowledge in.

Bonus Feat: At 5th level and again at 9th level you kind of get screwed since you don't learn a new principle. Instead, you get a free bonus feat with the [Item Creation] tag instead!

Arrow of Time (Su): At 10th level you discover one of the most amazing theorems in arcanodynamic studies, the principle of reverse entropy. Time is only an illusion created by our perception of the universe's flow from order to disorder. This idea, however, lets you reverse the normal decay associated with entropy. Input transformers that you make which normally generate 1 ebb for every 6 points of damage now only require 1d6 points of damage; the exact conversion is semi-random and rolled when energy input occurs. Output transformers which normally produce 1d6 points of damage per ebb now always deal maximum damage.