The Archanamach: a playable adaption of the Suel Archanamch

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CalibronXXX
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The Archanamach: a playable adaption of the Suel Archanamch

Post by CalibronXXX »

Archanamach
Your layered magical defenses will not even slow me. You have interfered with my master’s plans for the last time; prepare to die.
-Zechariahs Corrint, Archanamach

The Archanamach are an ancient order with a dual purpose, to both protect and destroy powerful arcane casters. Thething is powerful wizards are hard to kill, I mean really friggin’ hard to kill, so you need training from those who know an arcanist’s weaknesses better than anyone; an arcanist. Your laser-like focus on killing enemy spell casters in order to keep your mentor safe somewhat limits your effectiveness against those who eschew magical protection and empowerment, but since you become a competent spell slinger in your own right, you’ve gotta fight fire with fire after all, you have plenty of options for fighting off more mundane enemies.

Requirements
BAB+5
Skills: Concentration 4 ranks, Spellcraft 4 ranks, Listen 4 ranks, Hide 4 ranks, Move Silently 4 ranks
Feats: Mage Slayer, Iron Will, Danger Sense

Class Skills
Bluff(Cha), Concentration(Con), Craft(Int), Disguise(Cha), Escape Artist(Dex), Hide(Dex) Jump(Str), Knowledge(Arcana)(Int), Knowledge(History)(Int), Knowledge(The Planes)(Int), Listen(Wis), Move Silently(Dex), Search(Int), Spellcraft(Int), Spot(Wis), Swim(Str), Use Rope(Dex)
Skill Points at each level: 4+Int mod
BaB: Good
Saves: Fort Good, Ref Poor, Will Good
D8 Hit Die

Spells Per Day
Level 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
1st 2 1 - - -
2nd 3 2 1 - -
3rd 4 3 2 - -
4th 5 4 3 2 -
5th 5 5 4 3 -
6th 5 5 5 4 2

Spells Known
Level 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
1st 1 1 - - -
2nd 2 1 1 - -
3rd 3 2 1 - -
4th 4 3 2 1 -
5th 4 4 3 2 -
6th 4 4 4 4 2


Spells: An Archanamach with a high enough charisma score can cast arcane spells as shown in the tables above. An Archanamach casts his spells spontaneously. An Archanamach chooses his spells known of the Abjuration, Conjuration(Teleportation), Divination, Illusion, and Transmutation schools from the Sorcerer spell list. An Arcanamach has a caster level equal to three times his class level.

Reduced Spell Failure: At level level one and every 2 levels thereafter you ignore an additional 5% of Arcane Spell Failure from armor and shields.

Tenacious Spells: Add a number equal to the character’s class level to the DC to dispel the character’s Archanamach spells.

Efficient Slayer: Instead of the normal -4 penalty to caster level for spells and spell-like abilities from his Mage Slayer feat, an Archanamach takes only a -2 penalty. Ignore this ability if using Races of War rules.

Mage Bound: In order to take levels in Archanamach you must willingly serve an arcane caster capable of casting fifth level spells that knows the secrets of training the ancient order of assassins and guardians, the Archanamach. If you stop following your patron mage you retain all Archanamach abilities, but can take no further levels in the class until you return to the service of your patron or find a new one.

Aggressive Abjuration: Starting at 2nd level add a number equal to the character’s class level to the character’s dispel checks.

Dispelling Strike: Twice per day, an Archanamach of 2nd level or higher can attempt a dispelling strike with a normal melee attack. If he hits, he deals normal damage, and the victim is subject to a targeted Greater Dispel Magic. At level 4 the Archanamach can use this ability 4 times per day, and at level 6 he may use it once per round.

Pierce Magical Concealment: At 3rd level you gain Pierce Magical Concealment as a bonus feat, and as an added bonus you may see through the visual portion of any Glamer or Figment as if it weren’t there; you may chose see or not see the Glamer or Figment as a non-action. In addition, the caster level inherent in this feat penalty is reduced to -2.

Extended Spell Strength: Beginning at 4th level, the duration of any spell the Archanmach casts on himself is doubled; as if by the extend spell metamagic feat, but without any adjustment to the casting time or spell slot used. Spells that target multiple targets are effected by this power, but only the Archanamch gains the extended duration. Spells effected by this power can be extended as normal, for a total of 4 times the normal duration.

Pierce Magical Protection: At 5th level you gain the Pierce Magical Protection as a Bonus Feat. In addition, the caster level inherent in this feat penalty is reduced to -2.

Flexible Abjurer: At 6th level An Archanamch can lose a number of spell slots whose combined levels equal 5 or more to cast a Greater Dispel Magic.

------------

Well my charts didn't survive the transition from MS Word to message board so you'll have to do your best to read the spells per day/spells known sections. The class is six levels long BTW.
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Re: The Archanamach: a playable adaption of the Suel Archana

Post by the_taken »

It's OK, but I think you should remove the spells know mechanic and set up a set spell list that the Archanamach automatically knows, like the Dread Necromancer. Then, at the levels where you gave the classic mage slayer feats from later in the chain, you should give out advanced learning, where the character can add unorthodox spells to his list.
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CalibronXXX
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Re: The Archanamach: a playable adaption of the Suel Archana

Post by CalibronXXX »

Feedback! Awesometacular! That's more work for me, but it is a very good idea, I'll work on that later, it's bed time for me; damned night job.
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Re: The Archanamach: a playable adaption of the Suel Archana

Post by Catharz »

Giving them Mettle of Will and Mettle of Fortitude might go a little way towards making them more able to passively withstand the depredations of magic users.


Also, what counts as a patron knowing the correct secrets? An Archanomach 6, or just any 9th level wizard? And is it a problem that your caster level will be 18 at 11th level?
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Re: The Archanamach: a playable adaption of the Suel Archana

Post by JonSetanta »

Nice idea! I glanced at those Suel-bastards once and sneered, never to look back.
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CalibronXXX
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Re: The Archanamach: a playable adaption of the Suel Archana

Post by CalibronXXX »

Catharz at [unixtime wrote:1178770202[/unixtime]]Giving them Mettle of Will and Mettle of Fortitude might go a little way towards making them more able to passively withstand the depredations of magic users.

You sure that wouldn't be a little too much? I thought about doing it, but I was slightly leery about the balance of the class as it stands now. I'll think about it when I'm revamping their spell list.


Catharz at [unixtime wrote:1178770202[/unixtime]]Also, what counts as a patron knowing the correct secrets? An Archanomach 6, or just any 9th level wizard? And is it a problem that your caster level will be 18 at 11th level?

Any ninth level wizard that the DM arbitrarily decides can train you; an Archanamach 6 would definitely be qualified to be your mentor. It's caster level 14 actually, 12 if you're not using Races of War; otherwise you'd be too good at dispelling.

Lovin' the praise sigma:biggrin:.

I was thinking about giving them an ability that allows them to use their BAB in place of their caster level, which would bypass the penalties from the Pierce Magical X bonus feats, so they could maintain a good dispelling advantage over your average wizard up through 16th level. Any thoughts on that?
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Re: The Archanamach: a playable adaption of the Suel Archana

Post by Cielingcat »

With a CL thrice your class level, the game dies. Make it equal to character level or it's broken.
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Re: The Archanamach: a playable adaption of the Suel Archana

Post by CalibronXXX »

Cielingcat at [unixtime wrote:1178800145[/unixtime]]With a CL thrice your class level, the game dies. Make it equal to character level or it's broken.

Nope. At sixth level you've got caster level 3, at 7th it's CL6, at 8th it's CL7, at 9th it's CL10, at 10th it CL11, at 11th it CL14. And if you're not using races of war the caster level is 2 less at all points.

If I made it equal to character level it'd go 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2; and with caster level equal to 1/3rd your class level the class dies.
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Re: The Archanamach: a playable adaption of the Suel Archana

Post by Cielingcat »

What? No, your caster level is thrice your class level. At level 6 (Class level 1) you have CL 3, which is broken. At x=7, y=6, which is OK. X=8, y=9, still OK. X=9, y=12, broken. X=10, y=15, broken, x=11, y=18, broken. X can only go up to 11, since the class is 6 levels long.

Seriously, at no levels is that balanced; 7 and 8 are simply unbalanced too little to notice. If you make it equal to character level, it would go 6, 7, 8, 9... All the way to 20, and would be balanced at every level.
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Re: The Archanamach: a playable adaption of the Suel Archana

Post by CalibronXXX »

Did you even read the whole class before posting? There are two unavoidable class features that come bundled with caster levels penalties. At no point do you have a caster level more than 3 higher or lower than your HD, and it is usually closer. So unless you think its zomg borken! for an Archmage or Hierophant to take spell power two or three times then there's nothing wrong with the class' caster level progression.
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Re: The Archanamach: a playable adaption of the Suel Archana

Post by Cielingcat »

Yeah, it gives you -6 to CL (or -4 with RoW). Yeah, that's still broken, since adding to caster level is ridiculously easy. Seriously, none of those three feats are even any good; Mage Slayer is pathetically weak, and the other two are barely worth it.

Here's what you actually do, since the rest of the class sucks. Start as a Ranger for 5 levels, followed by 2 levels of Arcanamach. Then jump into Abjurant Champion for 5 levels, followed by 8 levels in some class like Knight Phantom or whatever. You now have an effective 15 levels in Arcanamach, with a CL of 43 (15*3-2).
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Re: The Archanamach: a playable adaption of the Suel Archana

Post by CalibronXXX »

How are you getting 15 effective casting levels out of a class that only gives caster level progression for six levels?

And I don't see how just being able to ignore all figments and glamers isn't any good. Not to mention automatically dispelling all of someone's AC increasing buffs just by hitting their non-buffed AC; though being a standard action, and you having access to the attack action activated Dispelling Strike, it won't be something you use every combat, but it'll still come in handy against spellcasters that've buffed their caster level, like DMM using Clerics.
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Re: The Archanamach: a playable adaption of the Suel Archana

Post by PhoneLobster »

wrote:How are you getting 15 effective casting levels out of a class that only gives caster level progression for six levels?

You know that thing.

The one with prestige classes.

Where they advance your spell casting as if you had advanced a level in another class.

Its a bit of an odd one.

I mean what with it only happening all the time.
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Re: The Archanamach: a playable adaption of the Suel Archana

Post by CalibronXXX »

The thing is, the class doesn't give out spellcasting at effective level seven; so taking 5 levels in the class and then 5 of Abjurant Champion gives you effective caster level 14(12) and fifth level spells, just the same as if you took five levels of Archanamach and 1 level of Abjurant Champion.

I'll probably have the updated spell list up by the end of the day.
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Re: The Archanamach: a playable adaption of the Suel Archana

Post by PhoneLobster »

For it to work like that you would have to like totally have a special rule.

One that says "unlike every other class under the sun this class caps out its spell casting progression at level 6, even when you advance it with another class"

And thats a sucky rule in a lot of ways because what the heck? Where do you go to next when you finish your six levels?
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Re: The Archanamach: a playable adaption of the Suel Archana

Post by CalibronXXX »

Sublime Chord, Blighter, Consecrated Harrier, Divine Crusader, Holy Liberator, Pious Templar, Temple Raider of Olidammara, Ur Priest, any of these ring a bell? That's just from the first three Completes.

And you go back to the base class you were before you went into Archanamach or into another level appropriate prestige class. Why? Does every character with spell casting have to have Ninth level spells? What about the Dungeonomicon Jester, they only have sixth level spells over 20 levels and they're certainly fine.
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Re: The Archanamach: a playable adaption of the Suel Archana

Post by Cielingcat »

But they cast spells at a CL=Jester level.
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Re: The Archanamach: a playable adaption of the Suel Archana

Post by Catharz »

Why not the classic 'uses BAB to determine relevant effects of spells rather than caster level'? And remember that the Frank & K version of Mage Slayer does not drop caster level, if you're using that (which I assumed because of 'danger sense').

Also, is there a reason to make the spellcasting charisma based? They seem more like wisdom-casters to me, or maybe constitution.
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Re: The Archanamach: a playable adaption of the Suel Archana

Post by the_taken »

Spontaneous CON based spell casting + full knowledge of the entire spell list = new + cool - MAD

I like.
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Re: The Archanamach: a playable adaption of the Suel Archana

Post by CalibronXXX »

Sorry this is taking so long, I'll finish the spell list before too long. I think I will go with Con based spell casting, I think I was just afraid of breaking too far away from the old paradigm when I set it to Charisma.
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