Mage of the Necromantic Order (PEACH) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Mage of the Necromantic Order (PEACH) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Tuhljin
07-14-07, 03:19 AM Background: This PrC is based on the "Mage of the Arcane Order" (Complete Arcane), having been extensively reworked for a custom campaign setting wherein a guild of necromancers has gained the sort of legitimacy usually reserved for more traditionally "acceptable" practitioners of magic. For one thing, in certain lands, raising undead is actually legal under certain strict circumstances (often involving temporary use or a signed contract from the deceased - e.g. we'll give you gold or some other service now if we get your corpse later...) if the caster is a licensed necromancer of this Order. Not all members of the guild join this prestige class, but it is a common choice for what the guild calls "Freelance Necromancers" - those that are licensed but for the most part carry out their own agendas, only occasionally called upon to do something for the guild.

Please help me determine whether the class is balanced and useful. (That is to say, "PEACH.")

A class feature entry of "Unchanged" indicates that it functions the same as the mage of the Arcane Order feature of the same name except for flavor changes (the name of the order, etc.).

MAGE OF THE NECROMANTIC ORDER

Requirements
Feats: Cooperative Spell and any one other metamagic feat.
Skills: Knowledge (arcana) 8 Ranks, Knowledge (religion) 4 Ranks.
Spells: Able to prepare and cast an arcane necromancy spell of 2nd level or higher.
Special: Prospective members must pay an initiation fee of 1000 gp. (This fee also covers a special necromancer's license, allowing the use of certain necromancy spells in certain regions of the campaign world.)

Class Skills
The mage of the Necromantic Order's class skills are: Bluff, Concentration, Craft, Decipher Script, Diplomacy, Knowledge (all skills, taken individually), Profession, and Spellcraft.
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Mage of the Necromantic Order Hit Die: d4
Lvl BaB Fort Refl Will Special Spellcasting
1st +0 +0 +0 +2 Guild member, Spellpool I +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
2nd +1 +0 +0 +3 Bonus feat +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
3rd +1 +1 +1 +3 Undead Empathy +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
4th +2 +1 +1 +4 Spellpool II +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
5th +2 +1 +1 +4 New spell +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
6th +3 +2 +2 +5 Dark lore +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
7th +3 +2 +2 +5 Spellpool III +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
8th +4 +2 +2 +6 Advanced learning +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
9th +3 +2 +2 +5 Bonus feat +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
10th +3 +2 +2 +5 Regent, regents' cache +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class

Class Features
The following are class features of the mage of the Necromantic Order ("guildmage") prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Mages of the Necromantic Order gain no additional proficiencies with any weapon or armor.

Spellcasting: At each level, a mage of the Necromantic Order gains new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if he had also gained a level in an arcane spellcasting class to which he belonged before adding the prestige class level. He does not, however, gain any other benefi t a character of that class would have gained (such as the bonus feat sometimes gained by a wizard). If he had more than one arcane spellcasting class before becoming a mage of the Necromantic Order, he must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining spells per day and spells known.

Guild Member: Unchanged.

Spellpool (Su): Unchanged except as follows. Understandly, the spellpool of the Necromantic Order focuses on spells of the necromancy school. It still contains spells of all other schools, but there are fewer of them to go around. Accordingly, higher-ranked guild members are given priority access to these spells. See "Spell Availability" below.

The price of a second initiation (as required if the mage loses the special focus which allows him access to the spellpool) is only 750 gp, rather than 1000 gp, because a new necromancer's license is not necessary. (In reality, the license alone is sold for 1000 gp, but the order gives a discount to those that will pay monthly dues and hopefully contribute to the spellpool.)

Bonus Feat: At 2nd level and again at 9th level, a mage of the Necromantic Order gains sudden insight from studying the texts of ancient grimoires. He chooses to gain either a metamagic feat of his choice, a feat from the following list, or any feat that has one of these listed feats as a prerequisite: Corpsecrafter, Fearsome Necromancy, Master of Undeath, Necromantic Presence, Sickening Grasp, or Spell Focus (necromancy). He must still meet the prerequisites of the feat.

Undead Empathy (Ex): At 3rd level, the mage is better able to influence intelligent undead and can even use diplomacy on mindless undead. He gains Undead Empathy (Eberron Campaign Setting) as a bonus feat even if he doesn't meet the prerequisites.

New Spell: Unchanged except that this class feature is given only at 5th level.

Dark Lore (Ex): The mage of the Necromantic Order picks up many sundry details of notable persons, legends, and objects in his studies of necromancy and the occult. At 6th level, he gains a +2 bonus on any Knowledge check that somehow significantly involves the undead or necromancy, such as the history and legend of a famous necromancer or an organization devoted to destroying undead. If he has the lore or bardic knowledge ability, he applies this bonus to that ability's rolls as well when the check involves an appropriate subject. He also gains a +2 bonus on all Knowledge (religion) and Knowledge (arcana) checks. These bonuses stack.

Advanced Learning (Ex): At 8th level, a guildmage can add two new spells to his spellbook, representing the result of personal study and experimentation combined with support from fellow guildmages and the guild's libraries and other resources. The spells must be cleric or druid spells of the necromancy school and of a level no higher than 4th. Once the new spells are selected, they are forever added to that mage's spell list and can be prepared and cast as arcane spells. The guildmage may prepare them without referring to a spellbook. (Some spells that are on the sorcerer/wizard spell list are lower level spells for clerics or druids. A guildmage that selects such a spell may from now on prepare and cast it at the lower spell level.)

Regent (Ex): Unchanged, with one addition. When calling a spell from the spellpool, a regent adds 5 to his d20 roll to determine spell availability.

Regents' Cache (Su): A regent has access to a special section of the spellpool reserved for the highest-ranking guildmages which holds all manner of spells for emergency use. Once per day after determining that a desired spell is unavailable from the spellpool, a 10th-level mage of the Necromantic Order may declare he is tapping into this cache, which in effect lets him successfully call for the spell anyway this one time (though it does not make it available to call upon again later that day). He may decide to do this at any point during the full-round action required to call a spell, whether before rolling any d20s or after rolling one or more. The regent may select any spell that he knows is unavailable for the day (he isn't limited to the one he most recently found unavailable). This ability does not give access to spells that, as per the DM's discretion, are never in the spellpool.

Spell Availability: The spells in the spellpool change daily, based on the contributions of member casters. Every time a caster calls a spell (see "Calling a Spell" in "The Spellpool" sidebar, Complete Arcane pg. 49) of any school besides necromancy (which are always available), he rolls a d20 and uses the table below to determine whether the spell is available. "Access tier" refers to the stage of access to which the guildmage has privileges: Spellpool I, Spellpool II, or Spellpool III. The die roll must be the indicated value or higher for the spell to be available. If the indicated number is a 1, no roll is necessary because spells of that level are always available. If a desired spell is unavailable, the caster can continue checking for other spells until an available one is revealed, which does not add any time to the full-round action required for calling a spell. Once a spell is determined to be unavailable, the caster cannot check for it again until the following day.
Access Desired Spell's Level
Tier 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
I 1 4 8 - - - - - -
II 1 1 3 6 9 12 - - -
III 1 1 1 1 3 6 9 12 15

Certain non-necromancy spells may always be available even to lower-ranking guildmages because of their frequent use by members, in which case no roll is necessary to determine availability. Some of the spells that are always available are those with "undead" or "undeath" in the name (such as detect undead, disguise undead, and the various summon undead spells) as well as the following: stone bones, iron bones, and vile death. Other spells may be added to this list by the DM, but it is recommended that this be kept to a minimum.

This chance of finding a spell is not absolute. Some spells might never be in the spellpool (even if they are necromancy spells or the table indicates a 1), as determined by the DM. See the "Spell Availability" section of "The Spellpool" sidebar in Complete Arcane (pg. 49).
Tuhljin
07-16-07, 08:51 PM :bump: for comments. Do you think this is balanced? I wonder if it would be overpowered if the (annoying) feat requirement of Cooperative Spell were changed and/or if the spellpool's availability restriction is too much.
Stormbrand
07-17-07, 09:07 PM One thing to consider for balance. What is the cap on the Spellpool? Only so many spell levels at once?

Otherwise, a mage with downtime could pour dozens of spell levels into the spellpool, and thus draw out spell after spell after spell.
Tuhljin
07-18-07, 12:14 AM Do you have Complete Arcane? I didn't make up the spellpool, y'know. The only alterations I made to it actually nerfed it. I don't want to come off sounding defensive - I really am looking for balance and I appreciate the input - but it sounds like you aren't familiar with the official Mage of the Arcane Order prestige class.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Tuhljin 07-14-07, 03:19 AM	Background: This PrC is based on the "Mage of the Arcane Order" (Complete Arcane), having been extensively reworked for a custom campaign setting wherein a guild of necromancers has gained the sort of legitimacy usually reserved for more traditionally "acceptable" practitioners of magic. For one thing, in certain lands, raising undead is actually legal under certain strict circumstances (often involving temporary use or a signed contract from the deceased - e.g. we'll give you gold or some other service now if we get your corpse later...) if the caster is a licensed necromancer of this Order. Not all members of the guild join this prestige class, but it is a common choice for what the guild calls "Freelance Necromancers" - those that are licensed but for the most part carry out their own agendas, only occasionally called upon to do something for the guild. Please help me determine whether the class is balanced and useful. (That is to say, "PEACH.") A class feature entry of "Unchanged" indicates that it functions the same as the mage of the Arcane Order feature of the same name except for flavor changes (the name of the order, etc.). MAGE OF THE NECROMANTIC ORDER Requirements Feats: Cooperative Spell and any one other metamagic feat. Skills: Knowledge (arcana) 8 Ranks, Knowledge (religion) 4 Ranks. Spells: Able to prepare and cast an arcane necromancy spell of 2nd level or higher. Special: Prospective members must pay an initiation fee of 1000 gp. (This fee also covers a special necromancer's license, allowing the use of certain necromancy spells in certain regions of the campaign world.) Class Skills The mage of the Necromantic Order's class skills are: Bluff, Concentration, Craft, Decipher Script, Diplomacy, Knowledge (all skills, taken individually), Profession, and Spellcraft. Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier. Mage of the Necromantic Order Hit Die: d4 Lvl BaB Fort Refl Will Special Spellcasting 1st +0 +0 +0 +2 Guild member, Spellpool I +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class 2nd +1 +0 +0 +3 Bonus feat +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class 3rd +1 +1 +1 +3 Undead Empathy +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class 4th +2 +1 +1 +4 Spellpool II +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class 5th +2 +1 +1 +4 New spell +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class 6th +3 +2 +2 +5 Dark lore +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class 7th +3 +2 +2 +5 Spellpool III +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class 8th +4 +2 +2 +6 Advanced learning +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class 9th +3 +2 +2 +5 Bonus feat +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class 10th +3 +2 +2 +5 Regent, regents' cache +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class Class Features The following are class features of the mage of the Necromantic Order ("guildmage") prestige class. Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Mages of the Necromantic Order gain no additional proficiencies with any weapon or armor. Spellcasting: At each level, a mage of the Necromantic Order gains new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if he had also gained a level in an arcane spellcasting class to which he belonged before adding the prestige class level. He does not, however, gain any other benefi t a character of that class would have gained (such as the bonus feat sometimes gained by a wizard). If he had more than one arcane spellcasting class before becoming a mage of the Necromantic Order, he must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining spells per day and spells known. Guild Member: Unchanged. Spellpool (Su): Unchanged except as follows. Understandly, the spellpool of the Necromantic Order focuses on spells of the necromancy school. It still contains spells of all other schools, but there are fewer of them to go around. Accordingly, higher-ranked guild members are given priority access to these spells. See "Spell Availability" below. The price of a second initiation (as required if the mage loses the special focus which allows him access to the spellpool) is only 750 gp, rather than 1000 gp, because a new necromancer's license is not necessary. (In reality, the license alone is sold for 1000 gp, but the order gives a discount to those that will pay monthly dues and hopefully contribute to the spellpool.) Bonus Feat: At 2nd level and again at 9th level, a mage of the Necromantic Order gains sudden insight from studying the texts of ancient grimoires. He chooses to gain either a metamagic feat of his choice, a feat from the following list, or any feat that has one of these listed feats as a prerequisite: Corpsecrafter, Fearsome Necromancy, Master of Undeath, Necromantic Presence, Sickening Grasp, or Spell Focus (necromancy). He must still meet the prerequisites of the feat. Undead Empathy (Ex): At 3rd level, the mage is better able to influence intelligent undead and can even use diplomacy on mindless undead. He gains Undead Empathy (Eberron Campaign Setting) as a bonus feat even if he doesn't meet the prerequisites. New Spell: Unchanged except that this class feature is given only at 5th level. Dark Lore (Ex): The mage of the Necromantic Order picks up many sundry details of notable persons, legends, and objects in his studies of necromancy and the occult. At 6th level, he gains a +2 bonus on any Knowledge check that somehow significantly involves the undead or necromancy, such as the history and legend of a famous necromancer or an organization devoted to destroying undead. If he has the lore or bardic knowledge ability, he applies this bonus to that ability's rolls as well when the check involves an appropriate subject. He also gains a +2 bonus on all Knowledge (religion) and Knowledge (arcana) checks. These bonuses stack. Advanced Learning (Ex): At 8th level, a guildmage can add two new spells to his spellbook, representing the result of personal study and experimentation combined with support from fellow guildmages and the guild's libraries and other resources. The spells must be cleric or druid spells of the necromancy school and of a level no higher than 4th. Once the new spells are selected, they are forever added to that mage's spell list and can be prepared and cast as arcane spells. The guildmage may prepare them without referring to a spellbook. (Some spells that are on the sorcerer/wizard spell list are lower level spells for clerics or druids. A guildmage that selects such a spell may from now on prepare and cast it at the lower spell level.) Regent (Ex): Unchanged, with one addition. When calling a spell from the spellpool, a regent adds 5 to his d20 roll to determine spell availability. Regents' Cache (Su): A regent has access to a special section of the spellpool reserved for the highest-ranking guildmages which holds all manner of spells for emergency use. Once per day after determining that a desired spell is unavailable from the spellpool, a 10th-level mage of the Necromantic Order may declare he is tapping into this cache, which in effect lets him successfully call for the spell anyway this one time (though it does not make it available to call upon again later that day). He may decide to do this at any point during the full-round action required to call a spell, whether before rolling any d20s or after rolling one or more. The regent may select any spell that he knows is unavailable for the day (he isn't limited to the one he most recently found unavailable). This ability does not give access to spells that, as per the DM's discretion, are never in the spellpool. Spell Availability: The spells in the spellpool change daily, based on the contributions of member casters. Every time a caster calls a spell (see "Calling a Spell" in "The Spellpool" sidebar, Complete Arcane pg. 49) of any school besides necromancy (which are always available), he rolls a d20 and uses the table below to determine whether the spell is available. "Access tier" refers to the stage of access to which the guildmage has privileges: Spellpool I, Spellpool II, or Spellpool III. The die roll must be the indicated value or higher for the spell to be available. If the indicated number is a 1, no roll is necessary because spells of that level are always available. If a desired spell is unavailable, the caster can continue checking for other spells until an available one is revealed, which does not add any time to the full-round action required for calling a spell. Once a spell is determined to be unavailable, the caster cannot check for it again until the following day. Access Desired Spell's Level Tier 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 I 1 4 8 - - - - - - II 1 1 3 6 9 12 - - - III 1 1 1 1 3 6 9 12 15 Certain non-necromancy spells may always be available even to lower-ranking guildmages because of their frequent use by members, in which case no roll is necessary to determine availability. Some of the spells that are always available are those with "undead" or "undeath" in the name (such as detect undead, disguise undead, and the various summon undead spells) as well as the following: stone bones, iron bones, and vile death. Other spells may be added to this list by the DM, but it is recommended that this be kept to a minimum. This chance of finding a spell is not absolute. Some spells might never be in the spellpool (even if they are necromancy spells or the table indicates a 1), as determined by the DM. See the "Spell Availability" section of "The Spellpool" sidebar in Complete Arcane (pg. 49).
Tuhljin 07-16-07, 08:51 PM	:bump: for comments. Do you think this is balanced? I wonder if it would be overpowered if the (annoying) feat requirement of Cooperative Spell were changed and/or if the spellpool's availability restriction is too much.
Stormbrand 07-17-07, 09:07 PM	One thing to consider for balance. What is the cap on the Spellpool? Only so many spell levels at once? Otherwise, a mage with downtime could pour dozens of spell levels into the spellpool, and thus draw out spell after spell after spell.
Tuhljin 07-18-07, 12:14 AM	Do you have Complete Arcane? I didn't make up the spellpool, y'know. The only alterations I made to it actually nerfed it. I don't want to come off sounding defensive - I really am looking for balance and I appreciate the input - but it sounds like you aren't familiar with the official Mage of the Arcane Order prestige class.