Transmuter Variant Wizard [Archive] - Wizards Community

Transmuter Variant Wizard [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Masterful_Norg
04-02-04, 10:51 PM Spell versatility and Transmutable Memory aren't so fantastic for recharge or spell strain magic sytem campaigns like mine. Therefore, I was hoping that I could receive some feedback on how to make a transmuter variant Wizard more appealing by replacing these abilities with other suitable ones.

I tossed some ideas around with one of my trusted DM friends and we decided that an ability called "transmutable body" or "transmutable space" would make this variant wizard very cool. For "transmutable proportions" we were thinking something along the lines of a Wizard gaining a bonus to escape artist and disguise checks equal to his/her intelligence modifier as well as being able to move through increasingly tighter spaces as levels progress. Eventually the transmuter could slip through a keyhole, though magic doors would require a dispel check. Perhaps the wizard could even change size catagories. "Transmute space" on the other hand would allow the Transmuter variant Wizard to alter his surroundings by stretching small passages so that they were bigger and their fellows could follow them through an enlarged drain pipe for example. Obviously only one of these abilities should be given to the Transmuter because they are really the same. The second ability extends the its effectiveness to the entire party while the first gives bonus to escape artist and disguise checks.

Here are some other ideas I have for replacement features:

Transmutable Mind (allows other mental ability scores for skill checks (such as int for a sense motive) (could fool around with the ballance too much))

Transmutable Life (makes the transmuter able to convert a limited amount of lethal dammage to subdual dammage (could cost spell points or count as the casting of your highest level spell if you use recharge or spell strain))

Improved Alchemy (isn't alchemy really just the process of transmutation I mean didn't alchemists try to "transmute" lead into gold?)

Transmute Stamina (become fatigued in order to cast spell at higher caster level (may bugger with ballance a bit too much))

Any other ideas? I'd love to get feed back on this because I'll soon be playing my second variant Wizard and want to know which one to choose.
Kastas
04-03-04, 05:57 AM Sounds interesting. For your "transmutable body" idea, consider allowing the wizard to gradually take on certain characteristics of a creature of the ooze type (immunity to poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, critical hits, flanking). Obviously, certain traits such as the immunities to polymorphing and mind-affecting effects (which is due to a lack of an intelligence score) would be inappropriate. Eventually, the character would be able to force his way through small openings. This seems to me like a good ability to swap for Transmutable Memory.

"Transmutable Mind" sounds interesting as well, but here's how I'd do it - at every fifth level, allow the character to transform a cross-class skill into a class skill. This seems like a fair enough swap for Spell Versatility. If you think this would be underpowered, allow the wizard to double any previous ranks that he or she has in the skill when they select it, so that their ranks equal what they would be if it had been a class skill for their entire career.

Some other ideas:

-Give the wizard a substantial bonus to dispel transmutation magic (or grant him a special ability to dispel transmuations a certain number of times per day)

-Give the wizard the ability to mimic the form of a creature that he touches. As he gains levels, the extent to which he is able to change himself increases, as do the special abilities he is able to gain (think alter self > polymorph > shapechange)

-As a result of his magical experimentation, allow the wizard to permanently alter his own body. For example, he might grow an extra arm (with obvious applications in combat), an extra pair of legs (increased movement speed), wings (for flying, of course), gills (breathe underwater), or even some kind of sensory apparatus that grants him blindsense out to a certain range. This would require some careful balancing, since some transformations are obviously more powerful than others.

Hope that helps.
Masterful_Norg
04-03-04, 12:19 PM originally posted by Kastas
Sounds interesting. For your "transmutable body" idea, consider allowing the wizard to gradually take on certain characteristics of a creature of the ooze type (immunity to poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, critical hits, flanking). Obviously, certain traits such as the immunities to polymorphing and mind-affecting effects (which is due to a lack of an intelligence score) would be inappropriate. Eventually, the character would be able to force his way through small openings. This seems to me like a good ability to swap for Transmutable Memory.This one I'm not so sure about. I could understand the necromancer gaining "Undead Apotheosis" as an ability because Necromancy deals directly with undead. Transmutation doesn't necessarily have a close tie to oozes. Therefore this wizard would gain immunities, but the comparison between the wizard and the ooze monster type shouldn't be made.

originally posted by Kastas
"Transmutable Mind" sounds interesting as well, but here's how I'd do it - at every fifth level, allow the character to transform a cross-class skill into a class skill. This seems like a fair enough swap for Spell Versatility. If you think this would be underpowered, allow the wizard to double any previous ranks that he or she has in the skill when they select it, so that their ranks equal what they would be if it had been a class skill for their entire career.I like this ability quite a bit and it makes for some skill min/maxing when combined with the Human Paragon and Gestalted with the Rogue. The name of the ability should be "Transmute Métier".

Perhaps a new ability like "Perdurable Mutation" that extends all transmutation affects cast on the self would be a good ability.

"Lycanthropic Metamorphosis" The Transmuter's extensive study of Lycantropy has allowed him/her to gain scent, lowlight vision, improved base land speed, dammage reduction, and natural weapons for a very brief number of rounds without becoming vulnerable to silver.

"Alter Temporeality" (Epicly epic of super imposible epicness, which should actually be the ability of some greater artifact, but oh well) A transmuter may return to a time 10 years/level in the past with 1 companion/10 levels for 3d10 + 1 days/10 levels. From this vantage point the Transmuter can alter the course of history. Because one travelling in such a way has seperated his/herself from the normal timestream killing oneself in the past would result in death in the future but not instantly end the duration of the ability as if it had never been used; therefore one can revive one's past self to avoid dying at the end of the abilities duration. This ability can be used once each 1d4 weeks.
Kastas
04-03-04, 01:59 PM Originally posted by Masterful_Norg
This one I'm not so sure about. I could understand the necromancer gaining "Undead Apotheosis" as an ability because Necromancy deals directly with undead. Transmutation doesn't necessarily have a close tie to oozes. Therefore this wizard would gain immunities, but the comparison between the wizard and the ooze monster type shouldn't be made.I wasn't trying to suggest that the wizard actually become an ooze - it simply seemed to be the closest creature type for the effect that I had in mind. I thought that after a time, the transmuter might become so adept at altering his own body that he could eventually be able to change the way that his internal organs work. For example, he could be immune to poison and sleep effects because his own physiology has become so alien that those types of effects no longer work on it. Similarly, the immunity to critical hits could stem from the fact that his vital organs may no longer be where they used to be (or even work the same way). The flanking immunity could be explained as the transmuter having an ability to easily alter facing by quickly rearranging his body rather than actually turning. These sorts of changes suggest a transmuter with a highly malleable body that he can bend to his whim.
Masterful_Norg
04-03-04, 03:18 PM Thank you for specifying that. I thought that was probably what you meant.

Some Ideas for this class feature's name are:

Malleable Figure/Form/Frame
Protoplasmic Personage
Mutable Moxie (sorry for the slang)

What's your favorite?

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Masterful_Norg 04-02-04, 10:51 PM	Spell versatility and Transmutable Memory aren't so fantastic for recharge or spell strain magic sytem campaigns like mine. Therefore, I was hoping that I could receive some feedback on how to make a transmuter variant Wizard more appealing by replacing these abilities with other suitable ones. I tossed some ideas around with one of my trusted DM friends and we decided that an ability called "transmutable body" or "transmutable space" would make this variant wizard very cool. For "transmutable proportions" we were thinking something along the lines of a Wizard gaining a bonus to escape artist and disguise checks equal to his/her intelligence modifier as well as being able to move through increasingly tighter spaces as levels progress. Eventually the transmuter could slip through a keyhole, though magic doors would require a dispel check. Perhaps the wizard could even change size catagories. "Transmute space" on the other hand would allow the Transmuter variant Wizard to alter his surroundings by stretching small passages so that they were bigger and their fellows could follow them through an enlarged drain pipe for example. Obviously only one of these abilities should be given to the Transmuter because they are really the same. The second ability extends the its effectiveness to the entire party while the first gives bonus to escape artist and disguise checks. Here are some other ideas I have for replacement features: Transmutable Mind (allows other mental ability scores for skill checks (such as int for a sense motive) (could fool around with the ballance too much)) Transmutable Life (makes the transmuter able to convert a limited amount of lethal dammage to subdual dammage (could cost spell points or count as the casting of your highest level spell if you use recharge or spell strain)) Improved Alchemy (isn't alchemy really just the process of transmutation I mean didn't alchemists try to "transmute" lead into gold?) Transmute Stamina (become fatigued in order to cast spell at higher caster level (may bugger with ballance a bit too much)) Any other ideas? I'd love to get feed back on this because I'll soon be playing my second variant Wizard and want to know which one to choose.
Kastas 04-03-04, 05:57 AM	Sounds interesting. For your "transmutable body" idea, consider allowing the wizard to gradually take on certain characteristics of a creature of the ooze type (immunity to poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, critical hits, flanking). Obviously, certain traits such as the immunities to polymorphing and mind-affecting effects (which is due to a lack of an intelligence score) would be inappropriate. Eventually, the character would be able to force his way through small openings. This seems to me like a good ability to swap for Transmutable Memory. "Transmutable Mind" sounds interesting as well, but here's how I'd do it - at every fifth level, allow the character to transform a cross-class skill into a class skill. This seems like a fair enough swap for Spell Versatility. If you think this would be underpowered, allow the wizard to double any previous ranks that he or she has in the skill when they select it, so that their ranks equal what they would be if it had been a class skill for their entire career. Some other ideas: -Give the wizard a substantial bonus to dispel transmutation magic (or grant him a special ability to dispel transmuations a certain number of times per day) -Give the wizard the ability to mimic the form of a creature that he touches. As he gains levels, the extent to which he is able to change himself increases, as do the special abilities he is able to gain (think alter self > polymorph > shapechange) -As a result of his magical experimentation, allow the wizard to permanently alter his own body. For example, he might grow an extra arm (with obvious applications in combat), an extra pair of legs (increased movement speed), wings (for flying, of course), gills (breathe underwater), or even some kind of sensory apparatus that grants him blindsense out to a certain range. This would require some careful balancing, since some transformations are obviously more powerful than others. Hope that helps.
Masterful_Norg 04-03-04, 12:19 PM	originally posted by Kastas Sounds interesting. For your "transmutable body" idea, consider allowing the wizard to gradually take on certain characteristics of a creature of the ooze type (immunity to poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, critical hits, flanking). Obviously, certain traits such as the immunities to polymorphing and mind-affecting effects (which is due to a lack of an intelligence score) would be inappropriate. Eventually, the character would be able to force his way through small openings. This seems to me like a good ability to swap for Transmutable Memory.This one I'm not so sure about. I could understand the necromancer gaining "Undead Apotheosis" as an ability because Necromancy deals directly with undead. Transmutation doesn't necessarily have a close tie to oozes. Therefore this wizard would gain immunities, but the comparison between the wizard and the ooze monster type shouldn't be made. originally posted by Kastas "Transmutable Mind" sounds interesting as well, but here's how I'd do it - at every fifth level, allow the character to transform a cross-class skill into a class skill. This seems like a fair enough swap for Spell Versatility. If you think this would be underpowered, allow the wizard to double any previous ranks that he or she has in the skill when they select it, so that their ranks equal what they would be if it had been a class skill for their entire career.I like this ability quite a bit and it makes for some skill min/maxing when combined with the Human Paragon and Gestalted with the Rogue. The name of the ability should be "Transmute Métier". Perhaps a new ability like "Perdurable Mutation" that extends all transmutation affects cast on the self would be a good ability. "Lycanthropic Metamorphosis" The Transmuter's extensive study of Lycantropy has allowed him/her to gain scent, lowlight vision, improved base land speed, dammage reduction, and natural weapons for a very brief number of rounds without becoming vulnerable to silver. "Alter Temporeality" (Epicly epic of super imposible epicness, which should actually be the ability of some greater artifact, but oh well) A transmuter may return to a time 10 years/level in the past with 1 companion/10 levels for 3d10 + 1 days/10 levels. From this vantage point the Transmuter can alter the course of history. Because one travelling in such a way has seperated his/herself from the normal timestream killing oneself in the past would result in death in the future but not instantly end the duration of the ability as if it had never been used; therefore one can revive one's past self to avoid dying at the end of the abilities duration. This ability can be used once each 1d4 weeks.
Kastas 04-03-04, 01:59 PM	Originally posted by Masterful_Norg This one I'm not so sure about. I could understand the necromancer gaining "Undead Apotheosis" as an ability because Necromancy deals directly with undead. Transmutation doesn't necessarily have a close tie to oozes. Therefore this wizard would gain immunities, but the comparison between the wizard and the ooze monster type shouldn't be made.I wasn't trying to suggest that the wizard actually become an ooze - it simply seemed to be the closest creature type for the effect that I had in mind. I thought that after a time, the transmuter might become so adept at altering his own body that he could eventually be able to change the way that his internal organs work. For example, he could be immune to poison and sleep effects because his own physiology has become so alien that those types of effects no longer work on it. Similarly, the immunity to critical hits could stem from the fact that his vital organs may no longer be where they used to be (or even work the same way). The flanking immunity could be explained as the transmuter having an ability to easily alter facing by quickly rearranging his body rather than actually turning. These sorts of changes suggest a transmuter with a highly malleable body that he can bend to his whim.
Masterful_Norg 04-03-04, 03:18 PM	Thank you for specifying that. I thought that was probably what you meant. Some Ideas for this class feature's name are: Malleable Figure/Form/Frame Protoplasmic Personage Mutable Moxie (sorry for the slang) What's your favorite?