Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Athaal 09-08-07, 04:55 PM	Aether Mage The Aether Mage is a mid to high level prestige class for spellcasters that feel sacrificing spellslots is worth the ability to cast extra high level spells. At later levels this class can be potent. Prerequisites: Ability to Cast 5th level arcane spells HD: d4 Skill Points: 2 + INT Class Skills: Concentration, Craft, Decipher Script, Knowledge, Profession, Spellcraft. Level | B A B | Fort | Ref | Will | Special 1st 0 0 0 2 Aether Transmutation 2nd 1 0 0 3 Aether Protection 3rd 1 1 1 3 Aether Secret (Divine) 4th 2 1 1 4 5th 2 1 1 4 Aether Protection 6th 3 2 2 5 Aether Secret (Arcane) 7th 3 2 2 5 Greater Aether Transmutation 8th 4 2 2 6 9th 4 3 3 6 Aether Secret (Divine or Arcane) 10th 5 3 3 7 Aether Fortification Spells At every even numbered level in Aether Mage the character gains a level in a previous spellcasting class for the purpose of spells per day and spell levels known. No other previous class traits are gained. Aether Transmutation At level one the Aether Mage learns how to sacrifice spells to gain other level spells. As a full round action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity, an Aether Mage may sacrifice either; - Two prepared spells that are two levels lower than the spell to be cast if a Wizard or similar, or two spontaneous spell slots if a Sorceror or similar. EG: to cast a 9th level spell sacrifice two 7th level spells/slots. or: - Two prepared spells/slots, one of which is one level lower and one that in two levels lower. EG: to cast a 9th level spell sacrifice a 7th and an 8th level spell/slot. Metamagic feats cannot be applied to the new spells, and the spell must be one known by the caster. Also the spell must be of a level assessable to the caster. This can be used any number of times per day but no other combination of spells/slots can be sacrificed. Aether Protection The Aether Mage may perminently sacrifice a spell slot from any level to perminently gain SR equal to 18 + spell slot removed. Cantrips cannot be sacrificed. At any level where the character gains this ability the SR can either be created (level 2 Aether Mage for example) or added to (level 5 Aether Mage for example). This SR does not stack with other SR. However if another spell slot would be sacrificed at a later level (level 5 Aether Mage for example) then this stacks with the SR. If any more SR would be added at a later time with another level with this ability then the SR is calculated as follows: SR = 18 + spell level sacrificed at level 2 + spell level sacrificed at level 5. The same spell slot level cannot be sacrificed more than once. Aether Secret (Divine) At level 3 the Aether Mage can unlock other class' spell secrets. The Aether Mage can choose spell that only a Divine caster would be allowed to cast normally; and add it to his list of castable spells (if spontaneous) or spell book (if prepared). At level 6 this can be done but with an arcane spell instead. The arcane spell does not have to be on the character's list. At level 9 this can be done for either divine or arcane. Greater Aether Transmutation This functions exactly like Aether Transmutation except that the spell slot loss and gain is perminent. Spell slots lost in this way do not trigger Aether Protection. This can only be used once per day. Aether Fortification When casting a damage dealing spell that hasn't been enhanced by metamagic, the character may choose to take away any number of damage dice from the spell's normal damage dice, and add the same number onto the all DC checks for the next spell cast. The next spell must be cast within one round. There must always be one damage dice remaining. EG: a Wizard 10/Aether Mage 10 can remove up to 14 damage dice from a cone of cold spell and add up to 14 to the DCs of the next spell cast; a charm person spell could have a DC check of 10+1(spell level)+Int Mod+14.
Athaal 09-09-07, 07:58 AM	Added class skills
Athaal 09-09-07, 09:35 AM	If anyone could reply with improvements or changes I would be happy; even if they were negative or involved simple things like formatting or grammer.
Athaal 09-09-07, 10:50 AM	edited grammar
Athaal 09-11-07, 04:57 PM	degrading BUMP
Khatoblepas 09-11-07, 05:21 PM	Wait, does this class get ANY spell progression? At all?
Athaal 09-11-07, 05:23 PM	I forgot to add in the spell asting levels at 3 6 and 9; aside from that no spell casting. This is designed to be a later clas and i dont think its necessary by then
Athaal 09-11-07, 05:24 PM	[ EDIT ] i disagree with my self previously; ill make it alternate level progression at 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 etc
Khatoblepas 09-11-07, 05:48 PM	it's a 1 or 2 level dip class, looks like. It's class features aren't that powerful, (they get Versatile Spellcaster as a bonus feat, looks like) and their capstone ability doesn't really make much thematic sense, and it's a little too powerful. Especially with critical save spells. Transformed Empowered Fireball (-14) + Heightened Necrotic Cyst (+14) + Transformed Empowered Fireball (-14) + Necrotic Domination (+14) comes to mind. You don't want your enemies under the command of your player, do you? (DC10+8+14+Int mod or DC32+Int) Sorcerers don't get anything out of this class. The first level ability is useless to them, as they don't know any spells higher than 7th, so they can't cast them. The Greater Aether Transmutation might lead to a top-heavy caster, though (very, very few low level slots, many high level slots). This class practically makes the wizard weaker. They lose 5 caster levels for something that tries to patch that up, and SR.
Athaal 09-12-07, 01:59 PM	Sorry for latish reply. Well why would Sorcerors never benefit from this class?? They can meet the requirements a mere level later than wizards, but have more spell slots to exchange. That seems fairish. Also Aether Transmutation can be used on any spell level except 1st and 0th theoretically. If the character really wanted they could sacrifice slots for 2nd level spells. On hindsight perhaps the capstone could be powerful i will either reduce the bonus ratio to the DC check, or I will limit the maximum dice that can be reduced from the spell. I haven't thought long enough about it to decide. Also I dont know about the Versatile Spellcaster Feat what book is it in? I dont have all the books to check and compare to feats, and most other people wont aswell.
Khatoblepas 09-13-07, 05:24 PM	Well why would Sorcerors never benefit from this class?? Because sorcerers wouldn't be able to use those slots for anything but metamagic. Sorcerers, having a spells known progression, will never be able to know any 9th level spells. Wizards, on the other hand can learn spells of any level and scribe them into their spellbook, so long as they have the slots. Besides which, Sorcerers aren't strapped for spell slots anyway - and I'm sure they'd prefer to know more spells than having to nerf their spells per day in order to have something they'd have anyway if they didn't lose those caster levels (and still have more spells per day, at that). As a primary arcanist, I would be loathed to give up a couple of caster levels for this, let alone five. besides which, this class has no flavor at all. What's the reason behind all of these class features?