Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Lineov 03-12-08, 12:16 AM	Hello all, I've been working on a Base Class as a mockery of the Red Mage, not just from final fantasy, but specifically from Brian Clevinger's Red Mage in the 8-bit theater. This is not a remake of anything (although the BAB progression resembles an arcane caster we all know and love), but I guess for those who don't read 8-bit theater, Red Mage believes he exists inside the universe of D&D and has a copy of his character sheet which he can change, (thus changing himself as well) Let me know what you think, I know it's a little over the top, it's supposed to be. Take it in stride. I have all of this in a .doc format, drop an email if you want to see it. Without further ado, I give you the Red Mage (rebuild 6.5) The 8-bit Red Mage Written By: looneybin43@hotmail.com Apologies to the cast of the 8-bit theater at: www.nuklearpower.com Based on D&D 3.5 Rules. Our understanding is not yet complete. We haven't enough knowledge to fully break the rules, but we may, bend them to our favor from time to time. These are the first steps, little one, the first steps to ASCENSION! In your travels you will learn much of the world and much of yourself. You will bend the rules and the rules will bend you. That is the very nature of the game. But remember this, their dice is our free will... It's all in the dice. (nuklearpower.com comic (http://www.nuklearpower.com/daily.php?date=011010)) Adventures: A Red Mage adventures because he is an outcast looking for a group of friends to try and manipulate. He enjoys being a strategist for a party, but not actually fighting in battle he much rather prefers to tell others what to do in order to survive. Characteristics: Frustrated with being a low powered spellcaster, and not being versatile enough, Red Mages are spellcasters versed both in destruction and healing magic. Because of this specialization, Red Mages also tend to act as strategists for the party, coercing party members into their crazy hair brained schemes (which usually involve more complexity then most Rube Goldberg contraptions). They can even resort to changing their own character sheet in times of crisis in order to make their schemes work. Religion: Due to reasons unknown, Red Mage's tend to shy away from religion, worshiping no deities, (or at least none worth mentioning). It is speculated that they act this way because of their increased levels of paranoia about the nature of the universe. Although none of them have any certifiable proof or evidence, they do all tend to believe in a being of unimaginable power, known only to their sacred order as the almighty “Dee-Em”. Races: Any race may become a Red Mage, especially a race such as human or elf because of the spellcasting abilities, however races that generally are considered to have a low amount of intelligence tend to stay away from being Red Mages because this is a base stat for the red mage that are rather important for the Red Mage abilites. Game Rule Information Alignment: CG, CN, a rare amount of Red Mages are CE, follow DM's discretion if allowing Evil PC's. By having the ability to make changes to their own character sheet, a Red Mage goes against the natural law and order of the universe. A Red Mage takes serious penalties for becoming non-chaotic. See “Ex-Red Mages” under class features for details. Hit Die: d6 Class Skills: The Red Mage class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are; Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Knowledge (Metagame), Knowledge (Strategy) (all other knowledge skills, taken individually) (Int), Profession (Strategist) (Cha), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Use Magic Device (Cha). See Chapter 4 in the Core Rulebook 1 for skill descriptions. Skill Points at 1st Level: (8 + Int modifier) x 4 Skill Points at each additional Level: 8 + Int modifier Class Features All of the following are class features of the Red Mage. Weapon and Armour Proficiency: A Red Mage is proficient with longswords and light armor, but not shields. Because the somatic components required for Red Mage spells are simple, a Red Mage can cast spells while wearing light armor without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. However, a Red Mage wearing medium or heavy armor or using a shield incurs a chance of arcane spell failure (see page 123 of the Player's Handbook) if the spell in question has a somatic component. Note that wearing armour heavier than leather imposes a penalty to the skills Climb, Hide, Jump, and Move Silently. Swim checks also suffer a –1 penalty for every 5 lbs. of armour or equipment carried. Spellcasting: A Red Mage can cast a limited amount of arcane spells. They learn spells like a sorcerer, and will not have to memorize them daily the way a wizard does. DC modifiers for their spells are based on their intelligence instead of their charisma or wisdom. The chart below determines how many spells/day the Red Mage has at each level. If the Red Mage has at least 1 spell/day for a specific level of Arcane Spell, then when they gain their first spell/day of that arcane spell level, they may choose up to three spells from the Sorcerer spell lists that they know. Red Mages may not learn or cast 0th level spells (cantrips), or 9th level spells. Scheme: When preparing for a battle, the Red Mage can suggest a course of action for players to follow. The Red Mage must have at least 4 ranks in Profession (Strategist) in order to activate this class feature. The Red Mage makes a Knowledge (Strategy) check, DC = 20-intelligence bonus of least intelligent party member. If the check succeeds, the Red Mage is allowed to confer a plan to a number of his allies (equal to his total intelligence score/# of party members) granting each a +1 pre-planning bonus to attack, damage, and spell save DCs for the duration of combat. This bonus increases by +1 per 5 levels of Red Mage (bonuses granted at levels 5, 10, 15...etc). Bonuses may not be used against members of the party if they are acting of their own will. Grand Intellect: At Level 1 the Red Mage may swap during any skill check his charisma modifier with the intellect modifier. Skill Charge: At Level 2 the Red Mage can put a larger than normal amount of ranks that can be put into any Class Skill or Cross-Class Skill. Effectively, although you are level 2, (which would normally limit you to 5 ranks in a Class Skill, 2.5 ranks for a Cross-Class Skill) you can have as much as twice that amount in any Class Skill or Cross-Class Skill. Useless Healing: At Level 2 the Red Mage gains the power to heal a member of the party seemingly at random, for no other purpose other than that he can. This class feature is called Useless Healing, and he can use it 3 times per day to heal a party member 1d4 + 1/2 Red Mage Level. A Red Mage has a 50% of the ability healing someone other than his intended target, though it must be someone in the party. He can only heal a party member if they are somewhere between 90-99% of their max health. Swap: At Level 4 the Red Mage believes he understands the nature of the D&D universe and creates for himself a copy of his abilities and stats on a character sheet. The first character sheet a Red Mage makes for himself has no cost (see below). As a character gains levels in the Red Mage class they will be able to make a change to their character sheet, by swapping amounts of points and abilities for any other equivalent amount of points or abilities. Changes made to the character sheet are actually changed on the players copy of the character sheet and are considered permanent until changed again. These class features are called “Swaps” and are limited as follows. At Level 4 a Red Mage may make a single swap per day towards a swap feature. This amount increases once per day at levels 7, 11, 15, 18 and 20. A Red Mage must be conscious in order to change a character sheet. When attempting to make a swap, you must make a Will Save DC 20 - Character's Level in Red Mage. If you fail this Will save you essentially become insane for 2d4 hours and your swap fails. (Your insanity and penalties are subject to DM's discretion). If you make the will save, it takes 6 full rounds of concentration (i.e. flat-footed and immobile, concentration check only under certain conditions, see the PHB under spellcasting for details) for the change to fully occur. Should the Red Mage lose his character sheet (by theft, negligence, stupidity, or any combination thereof) he can sacrifice 2000 XP to create a new character sheet based on his stats that he can continue to manipulate in this way. If a Red Mage creates a new character sheet, the old character sheet, wherever it is, disappears from existence. If another PC or NPC who is not a Red Mage steals or finds a Red Mage character sheet, they will not be able to affect the Red Mage's stats. If another Red Mage PC or NPC steals or finds another Red Mage's character sheet they will be able to change it as if it was their own sheet, (and the Red Mage associated with it), by using their own swaps/day to change the other Red Mage's sheet. A Red Mage may not swap points or abilities off one character sheet, and assign them to another. Skill (Swap): At Level 4 the Red Mage (as a Swap Feature) may Swap skill points on a character sheet. Activating this swap requires the use of one swap/day. He may move any amount of ranks from any amount of skills into one skill, or he may move any amount of ranks in any one skill into any other amount of any other skills. He may not reduce the number of ranks in a skill to less than 1. He may not add to a skill that he doesn't have at least 1 rank in. A Red Mage can't begin to swap skill points until he has at least 7 ranks in Knowledge (Metagame). Spell (Swap): At Level 6 the Red Mage (as a Swap Feature) may forget a single spell he knows of any level and learn a new spell of the same level from the Sorcerer's spell lists. Activating this swap requires the use of one swap/day. A Red Mage can't begin to swap spells until he has at least 12 ranks in Knowledge (Metagame). Stat (Swap): At Level 9 the Red Mage (as a Swap Feature) may shift any number of base stat points from any number of stats into a single stat, or may move any number of stats from a single stat into several other stats. Activating this swap requires the use of two swaps/day. He may not reduce a stat to have a base below 10 nor may he remove from a stat that is already at a base of lower than 10. A Red Mage can't begin to swap base stat points until he has at least 15 ranks in Knowledge (Metagame). Self-Scheme: At Level 10 the Red Mage has become so self confident in his own ability to pre-plan a battle that he may try and scheme to grant himself the bonuses conferred by the Scheme ability. A Red Mage must have at least 10 ranks in Profession (Strategist) in order to use this ability. Forgetful Damage (Swap): At Level 13 the Red Mage (as a Swap Feature) may ignore damage from one enemy during one attack round. The DM will still roll for hit, because some weapons have extra special effects besides damage upon a hit or a critical, but the Red Mage simply ignores all damage (under the assumption that he would forget to write down on his character sheet that he took damage) that he would take from this enemy. A Red Mage must use two swaps/day in order to achieve this effect, and must declare he is using it just after he would take damage. He may calculate how much damage he would have left after the hit before declaring that he is using this feature. A Red Mage can't begin to forget damage until he has at least 20 ranks in Knowledge (Metagame). Feat (Swap): At Level 14 the Red Mage (as a Swap Feature) may forget a feat he knows (losing all bonuses it confers) and replace it with a new feat. Activating this swap feature requires the use of three swaps/day. The Red Mage must already have the prerequisites for the feat he is learning. A Red Mage may not forget a feat if it has been conferred as a class special feature, or if it is acting as a prerequisite for another feat, class, special ability etc. (Ex: A Red Mage who cross classes a fighter, can not erase and replace fighter feats that have been granted as bonus feats from the fighter class.) A Red Mage can't begin to swap feats until he has at least 29 ranks in Knowledge (Metagame). Speedy Swap: At Level 16 the Red Mage may attempt to use swap features when only concentrating 3 full rounds. If he does, he must declare that he is Speed Swapping and the insanity check becomes, Will Save DC 25 - 1/2 Character's Level in Red Mage. Save (Swap): At Level 19 the Red Mage (as a Swap feature) may move any number of base save (for Fort, Ref, and Will) points from any one save to any combination of the other two. Or they may move any combination of base save points from two of the base saves into the other one. A Red Mage must expend three swaps/day to attempt this change. The Red Mage may not lower a base save to less than 0. A Red Mage can't begin to swap base save points until he has at least 30 ranks in Knowledge (Metagame). Epic Red Mages: A Red Mage who exceeds the 20th level, will gain 1 additional swap/day per 4 epic levels he gains. (24, 28, 32 etc..) A Red Mage will also continue to increase his Scheme Bonuses +1 at every 5 levels beyond the 20th (25, 30, 35...etc.) Ex-Red Mages: Should a Red Mage become non-chaotic, for any reason, they will lose all swap features they have gained, they will not be able to learn any new swap features, their character sheet becomes permanent as is, changing only for bonus conferred at level up as defined by their current class, and their Scheme ability's DC becomes DC = 30 + Int bonus of most Intelligent party character. If the Red Mage has achieved Self-Scheme, he may no longer scheme himself. BAB Fort Ref Will Abilities 1. +0 +0 +0 +1 Scheme, Grand Intellect 2. +1 +0 +0 +1 Skill Charge, Useless Healing 3. +1 +1 +1 +2 4. +2 +1 +2 +3 Swap 1/day, Skill Swap 5. +2 +1 +2 +4 6. +3 +2 +2 +5 Spell Swap 7. +3 +2 +2 +6 Swap 2/day 8. +4 +2 +2 +6 9. +4 +3 +3 +7 Stat Swap 10. +5 +3 +3 +7 Self Scheme 11. +6 +3 +3 +7 Swap 3/day 12. +6/+1 +4 +4 +8 13. +6/+2 +4 +4 +8 Feat Swap 14. +7/+2 +4 +4 +9 Forgetful Damage 15. +7/+3 +4 +4 +9 Swap 4/day 16. +7/+3 +5 +5 +10 Speedy Swaps 17. +8/+3 +5 +5 +10 18. +9/+4 +5 +5 +11 Swap 5/day 19. +9/+4 +5 +5 +11 Save Swap 20. +10/+5 +5 +5 +12 Swap 6/day Spells per day Level Spell Levels 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1. 2 1 2. 3 2 3. 3 2 1 4. 3 2 2 5. 3 3 2 6. 3 3 2 1 7. 3 3 2 2 8. 3 3 2 2 1 9. 3 3 3 2 1 10. 3 3 3 3 1 11. 3 3 3 3 2 12. 3 3 3 3 2 1 13. 3 3 3 3 2 2 14. 3 3 3 3 3 2 15. 3 3 3 3 3 3 16. 3 3 3 3 3 3 1 17. 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 18. 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 1 19. 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 20. 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 Red Mage Human Starting Package Armor: Studded Leather Armor (AC Bonus +3, Max Dex Bonus +5, AC Penalty -1, 30ft.) Weapons: Longsword (1d6, Crit 19-20/x2, 4lbs, slashing) includes red sheath and red belt for sword. Skill Selection: I would consider maxing Concentration, Knowledge (Metagame), Knowledge (Strategy), and Profession (Strategist). Spread the others out evenly. Feat: Negotiator. Bonus Feat: Persuasiveness. Spells Known: 1st-level spells - magic missle, sleep, true strike. Gear: A Red Travelers Outfit, complete with Red Pants, Red Hat w/ Feather (which doubles as his pen), Red Boots, and Red Cape that he can wear over armor and tear off before battle as a swift action. Backpack with waterskin, one day's trail rations, bedroll, stack, flint and steel. Hooded lantern, three pints of oil. A book with 200 perforated pages of blank blueprints, and two bottles of white ink. Starting Gold: 4d4 x 10. IT SHOULD BE NOTED... DM's... Be wary of the power gamer Red Mage. Granted, the class is built for power gamers to go crazy, but take it in stride. Any check that the Red Mage may make using Knowledge (Metagame) should have really high DC's.
The_Mad_Linguist 03-12-08, 02:06 PM	Skill charge should have a caveat that it doesn't let you qualify for PrCs. You might want to look at the chameleon PrC for inspiration. It's available on the WotC site in a preview for Races of Destiny (IIRC).
Lineov 03-19-08, 04:59 PM	Suggested changes made, thanks Linguist. I also added the number of spells per day.
LordPendragon 03-29-08, 07:53 PM	I like it :D A few things, however... Basing bonus skill points off Cha doesn't make much sense; after all, Red Mage himself was a tactical "genius", so I'd expect some Int synergy from the class (or at least not removing Int from what it normally applies to). Also, Knowledge (Metagame) ranks should be a prerequisite for using the various swap features.
Lineov 03-30-08, 11:08 PM	I guess I always thought of Red Mage as being able to if know know a skill inherintly, he'd be able to charm his way to allow someone to help him out with a skill. I know he's a "tactical genius" but how many of his plans have actually worked out the way they were supposed to? I've begun test gaming the Red Mage in a campaign i'm running... Harold: Okay.. so i'm gonna try and scheme... ummm... Me: Allright, so give your party your plan. Harold: Hey guys! I've... got... a... plan! (Tommy Boy Homage) (At this point someone said Yikes! but I forget who...) Harold: So... we gotta get up there, to close the gate right? We'll turn the town... INTO A FLYING MACHINE! YOU! (Points to the druid) Chop down some trees! Get us some wood! YOU! (Points to the two barbarians) Start dismantling houses! Let's go people! Let's MOVE MOVE MOVE MOVE MOVE! I think it'll turn out to be an interesting campaign...
pigknight 03-31-08, 12:07 AM	Still weaker than a druid.
Lineov 03-31-08, 08:39 AM	Still weaker than a druid. Any suggestions for improvement then?
M-bark 03-31-08, 12:08 PM	Still weaker than a druid. That's GOOD. Personally, I like the class and how it's layed out. Skill Points should still be Int based, IMO, however. 8-bit's Red Mage is intelligent, he just doesn't act like it most of the time and is absent-minded (low Wis score). Why does he have only proficiency with the longsword though? And what's up with the nonstandard save progressions?
Lineov 03-31-08, 12:45 PM	That's GOOD. Personally, I like the class and how it's layed out. Skill Points should still be Int based, IMO, however. 8-bit's Red Mage is intelligent, he just doesn't act like it most of the time and is absent-minded (low Wis score). Never thought of it like that... I may change it, I just figured it might be fun to try... Why does he have only proficiency with the longsword though? And what's up with the nonstandard save progressions? The proficiency with longsword only was a personal decision on my behalf, it's a decent singular weapon to make up for the crappy spell progression, and if they really want a better weapon later, they can always feat swap. The non-standard save progression was also a personal thing trying to make sure that he didn't power up too quickly, trying to balance when a character gets feats, stat bonuses, spells, saves, class features, etc... Every level he gets a little of something if not something else.
Shinigami42 03-31-08, 04:47 PM	Red Mage had a very low CHA score, and I believe that he mentioned that all red mages suffered from the same, on account of using CHA as a dump stat. Maybe he could have the ability to use his int modifier instead of CHA on CHA skill checks?
Lineov 04-22-08, 11:35 AM	update 5.5 Added Forgetful Damage and a 20th level swap per day (brining the total to 6). I've also added a basic starting package for stylistic clothing and general flavor.
Dionon 04-25-08, 05:14 PM	This is less of a peaching then it is of a glomping... I'm sorry, but as a rabid fan of 8-bit theater, I love this class to pieces, especially since Red Mage is my favorite character, and honestly, among my immediate friends, he's the one that I associate with myself... So yeah, I honestly don't see anything wrong with it, as long as you leave the warning at the bottom lol.
Lineov 05-22-08, 04:54 PM	:bump: