Author Topic: Netherese Arcanist (Also Mythallar and Quasi-Magical Item Rules)  (Read 6702 times)

Offline Raineh Daze

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This is more or less a straight conversion from 2E, going from a few paragraphs and the arcs table. Yes, it is horribly, horribly imbalanced (and beginners are pretty damn appalling--it's less studious than modern wizardry, but harder). They're supposed to be flat out impossible under the rules of the FR: after the fall of Netheril, magic was revised; and the whole 4E mess removes their source of magic.

Strictly speaking, post-Netheril they would just be normal Wizards due to Mystra's revisions of the system.

If playing one in the right time period: there are no damage caps on spells. Extending this, all caster level based effects likely have no limit.

Feel free to modify the arcs and bonus arcs if you think the numbers are off.



ARCANIST



An Arcanist is a spellcaster whose ability to cast spells is restricted only by their spell knowledge and ability to draw magic from the Weave itself. However, if they fail to learn a spell once, that spell is forever beyond them.

MAKING AN ARCANIST
A wizard, only more specialised and less restricted!
Abilities: Intelligence is the most important attribute for an Arcanist, as it determines bonus arcs per day, and influences their ability to learn new spells.
Races: Many races have arcane spellcasters, but only the humans--in particular, the Netherese--ever developed magic to the extent displayed here. It is rumoured that halflings were an offshoot due to the magic of Netherese Enclaves, but it is unlikely they ever reached such lofty heights of skill.
Alignment: Any; though many Arcanists are Chaotic Neutral due to their interests lying entirely in subverting natural laws and academic achievement, as well as to match Mystryl's.
Starting Gold: No idea!
Starting Age: As Wizard

Class Skills
The Arca's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are.... (As Wizard)
Skill Points at 1st Level: (2+int)x4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + int

Hit Dice: d4



Level
Base
Attack Bonus
Fort
Save
Ref
Save
Will
Save

Special
No. of ArcsMaximum
Spell Level
1st+0+0+0+2Specialisation, Bonus Feat11
2nd+1+0+0+3-21
3rd+1+1+1+3-42
4th+2+1+1+4-72
5th+2+1+1+4Bonus Feat113
6th+3+2+2+5-143
7th+3+2+2+5-204
8th+4+2+2+6-274
9th+4+3+3+6-325
10th+5+3+3+7Bonus Feat395
11th+5+3+3+7-516
12th+6/+1+4+4+8-666
13th+6/+1+4+4+8-787
14th+7/+2+4+4+9-857
15th+7/+2+5+5+9Bonus Feat948
16th+8/+3+5+5+10-1158
17th+8/+3+5+5+10-1309
18th+9/+3+6+6+11-1409
19th+9/+4+6+6+11-1559
20th+10/+5+6+6+12Bonus Feat, Archwizard17010

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Arcanists are proficient with the club, dagger, and quarterstaff, but not with any type of armor or shield. (If crossbows have been invented before the character's lifetime, add light and heavy crossbow proficiency)

Spells: An arcanist casts arcane (no, really?) spells drawn from the sorcerer/wizard spell list. She can cast any spell she knows without preparing it ahead of time, the way a wizard or cleric must.

To learn, prepare, or cast a spell, the arcanist must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against an arcanist’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the arcanist’s Intelligence modifier.

Unlike other spellcasters, an arcanist can cast as many spells per day as she likes, so long as the combined spell level in a day does not exceed her number of arcs. An arcanist receives bonus arcs per day equal to half the number of bonus power points per day a psion of equal intelligence would receive, rounded down.

Unlike a bard or sorcerer, an arcanist may know any number of spells. She does not need to memorise her spells for the day; simply learning them is enough. She needs eight hours of rest, otherwise the previous day's total spell level is carried forwards.

Arcanists do not use somatic components, and thus never suffer from arcane spell failure.

0th level spells use no arcs to cast, but require a personal and unique ritual to achieve an effect--the results are standardised but not the process. These are known as cantras.

Specialisation: At 1st level an Arcanist chooses a field of magic to be their Major Field, one to be their Minor Field, and one to be their Barred Field. An Arcanist may never learn spells from their Barred Field, and they can only invent spells belonging to their Major Field.
Inventives: Conjuration, Evocation
Mentalisms: Enchantment, Illusion
Variations: Transmutation, Necromancy

Divination and Abjuration spells are considered universal to all fields; one as it fits none, and the other as a basic necessity of the profession.

Bonus Feats: At 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th level, an arcanist gains a bonus feat. At each such opportunity, she can choose a metamagic feat*, an item creation feat, or Spell Mastery. The wizard must still meet all prerequisites for a bonus feat, including caster level minimums.
*In this regard, they function as Prepared Casters rather than Spontaneous Casters--thus, Quicken Spell is usable, and applying Metamagic does not make a spell a fullround action.

Spell Knowledge: An arcanist begins play with knowledge of two cantras, plus one more for every point of intelligence bonus she has, and three 1st-level spells of your choice, again with as many bonus spells as points of Intelligence bonus. At each new arcanist level, she gains two new spells of any spell level or levels that she can cast (based on her new arcanist level). At any time, an arcanist can try to learn a new spell from a spellbook or similar tome of magic, but this requires a spellcraft check of 20+(Spell Level*2) or the arcanist can never learn the spell. Unlike normal skill checks, this cannot succeed on a roll of 1, must be rolled (no source of an automatic result of 20--not even for a Greater Deity--can apply), and no source of rerolls may be used.

Archwizard: At 20th level, the arcanist has the magical knowledge and power to become an archwizard, and is expected to create a mythallar and convert a mountaintop into a floating city-cum-personal domain. She may cast and learn 10th level spells. These have world-altering effects that would normally be expected of Epic Magic, but without the restrictions on learning and transcribing, or the spellcraft DC checks--though the DC must still be calculated and the time put in to research the spell.

Epic spells created in this way have a minimum casting time of one hour, and often involve complicated material components (the engorged gizzard of an ancient dragon, for instance) that cannot be bought or rituals (if the resulting spell DC would be 10xSpell Level, it's one; 20xSpell Level, it's both. Only extra casting time may be used as a mitigating factor in this, and the final DC cannot exceed 30xSpell Level). Metamagic may be used to enhance spells to this level.

Without this class feature, arcanist casting is capped at 9th level spells. Even with this feature, an Arcanist may not take Improved Spell Capacity or utilise any other form of Epic Spellcasting.

EPIC ARCANIST

Hit Die: d4
Skills Points at Each Level : 2 + int
Spells: The arcanist's arcs per day and available spell level continues to advance beyond 20th level, as shown on the following table.
Bonus Feats: The Epic Arcanist gains a Bonus Feat (as a wizard) every 3 levels higher than 20th. They may not take Improved Spell Capacity until level 40 onwards, or Epic Spellcasting at all.

Arcanist
Level
No. of ArcsMaximum
Spell Level
2118510
2220010
2321510
2423010
2524510
2626010
2727510
2829010
2931010
3033010
3134510
3236010
3337510
3439010
3540011
3641011
3742011
3843011
3944011
4045012
41 (Karsus)46012
42++1012




MYTHALLAR

A Mythallar is a 150' crystal sphere that draws magic straight from the Weave and distributes it to its surroundings. Almost too bright to look at, anything except a specially constructed stand is annihilated the instant it is brought into contact with the Mythallar's surface--including creatures, without a save.

Quasi-magical Items function within a 1 mile radius of the Mythallar (including the floating mountaintops that serve as a base for enclaves).

Crafting a Mythallar requires 6 months of work, Craft Wondrous Item, 500,000 GP in raw materials for both the stand and the crystal itself, and finally the casting of a 10th level spell.*

QUASI-MAGICAL ITEMS

A quasi-magical item is designed to utilise magic in specific ways--but never natively imbued with any, nor with the ability to store it. Thus, away from a mythallar they are simply masterwork items; whilst within a mile of one they display the full extent of their abilities.

Both the purchase and creation costs of a quasi-magical item are 1/10th of the price of their fully magical counterpart, with no XP cost, but they are intended to be permanently active, or with the ability to disable the enchantment entirely. Thus, spell-use items such as wands, scrolls, potions, rings of three wishes, and so on can never be turned into quasi-magical items.

Many quasi-magical items are made for the domestic market, and provide lighting, plumbing and security for homes inside enclaves.

An arcanist doesn't need to know the exact spell to make an item if it would use a spell from their Major Field.

CRAFT QUASI-MAGICAL ITEM
Prerequisites: Caster Level 1st, knowledge of at least one cantra.
Effect: You can craft quasi-magical items.




*
Ioulaum's Empower Mythallar (Seed: Empower Mythallar)
Universal (Arcanist)
Spellcraft DC: 200
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 6 Hours
Range: Touch
Target: The finished Mythallar to be empowered
Duration: Instantaneous.
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

The base spell, and Seed, for creating a Mythallar. When cast, the touched crystal begins to draw magic from the Weave, and will promptly destroy the caster if they are still touching it a minute later. It is highly advised to put the Mythallar in its stand before casting.

It can be combined with other seeds in order to create a more unique Mythallar (there is, for instance, one intelligent example that can withhold magic from some item or person), in which case the duration remains the same as for Empower Mythallar.

This Seed cannot be used with an Epic spell slot: it only works with numerical spell slots and, consequently, the Arcanist's Archwizard class feature.
« Last Edit: July 26, 2017, 01:52:20 PM by Raineh Daze »

Offline Gazzien

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Re: Netherese Arcanist (Also Mythallar and Quasi-Magical Item Rules)
« Reply #1 on: April 04, 2014, 03:03:00 PM »
The mythallar seed cannot be used with normal Epic Spell rules... but can be combined with other seeds? What?

Offline Raineh Daze

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Re: Netherese Arcanist (Also Mythallar and Quasi-Magical Item Rules)
« Reply #2 on: April 04, 2014, 03:16:18 PM »
The mythallar seed cannot be used with normal Epic Spell rules... but can be combined with other seeds? What?

Wording issue.

Basically, trying to say: you must use it with the Archwizard ACF, only I worded it appallingly. >_>;

Might try and do the Netherese Priest stuff. That's a headache (I could probably fudge it to thematically be the same sort of thing, but... still more work than the Arcanist, since clerics changed more from 2E and this was already a variant of a variant) but it was bothering me when I was trying to sleep last night. Other Casters aren't so hard to do, though. And then you have the full Netheril ruleset. :p

EDIT: There, reworded the Empower Mythallar stuff.
« Last Edit: April 04, 2014, 03:36:55 PM by Raineh Daze »

Offline Gazzien

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Re: Netherese Arcanist (Also Mythallar and Quasi-Magical Item Rules)
« Reply #3 on: April 04, 2014, 04:36:06 PM »
The mythallar seed cannot be used with normal Epic Spell rules... but can be combined with other seeds? What?

Wording issue.

Basically, trying to say: you must use it with the Archwizard ACF, only I worded it appallingly. >_>;

Might try and do the Netherese Priest stuff. That's a headache (I could probably fudge it to thematically be the same sort of thing, but... still more work than the Arcanist, since clerics changed more from 2E and this was already a variant of a variant) but it was bothering me when I was trying to sleep last night. Other Casters aren't so hard to do, though. And then you have the full Netheril ruleset. :p

EDIT: There, reworded the Empower Mythallar stuff.
There we go. I like it.