Huge thanks to Methvezem, squidfur-, and brun01 who busted their asses to help this class become worthy of the rather vague AB kit.
If you got comments or rants, I'll be there. Same with the Here's How You Make It Better stuff sure to come.
I bid you enjoyment!
Aspirant
“I see…I see…the ravaged wastes, healed…so much greenery!”
- Xaymon, brown elf would-be avangion
Aspirants are wizards or psions bent on attaining a higher form of existence, that of an advanced being. They seek to become avangions or dragons with a passion that rivals that of the elves and their running. In their study of texts, and their questioning of sages and seers, they come to see what course to power is best to achieve their goal. Paramount in what is required is profound knowledge of sorcery, tampered with the Way.
Knowledge of dragons and avangions, being so rare and restricted, means all aspirants are individuals who have been priorly exposed to such knowledge, sparking a lifelong interest and devotion in its pursuit. Those who follow the path of the avangion may have studied wizards of ages past and uncovered secrets about the great Nerad or Korgunard, while dragon path followers may have pierced the veil cast over the sorcerer-kings, or heard of the great Throkat or Farcluun.
Usually wizard/psions, a few aspirants come from the wilder and psychic warrior class. Not surprisingly templars and royal defilers can be found among the aspirants due to their access to royal libraries. Humans are the most often encountered members of this class, for their love of sorcery can become all encompassing. Elves’ love for magic is as grand as humans but they usually don't care about long-laid plans.
Aspirants can be found anywhere. Some scour the wastes for ancient secrets and lore, while others seek employment by the Veiled Alliance or sorcerer-kings to gain access to their libraries. NPC aspirants can typically be found operating on their own, or as learned officials in the ranks of merchant houses or templarates.
Hit Die: d4.
Requirements
To qualify to become an aspirant, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Feats: Iron Will.
Skills: Knowledge (arcana) 6 ranks, Knowledge (psionics) 6 ranks.
Spells: Able to cast 2nd-level arcane spells.
Psionics: Able to manifest 2nd-level powers.
Special: Must have studied at least one ancient text on avangions or dragons, or discussed becoming one with such a being.
Class Skills:
The aspirant's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Autohypnosis (Wis), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Disguise (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Knowledge (all skills taken individually) (Int), Literacy (none), Profession (Wis), Psicraft (Int), Search (Int), and Spellcraft (Int).
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Same with Here's How You Make It Better stuff sure to come.
ok, so this suggestion didn't make the cut, but I wanted to see what other's thoughts were.
and besides....Penn told me to
Metamorphosis Reserve (Ex): An aspirant receives a pool of points he can spend instead of experience points during the casting of either the Defiler Metamorphosis I spell or Preserver Metamorphosis I. Each time he gains a class level, he receive a new metamorphosis reserve. When gaining a new level, unspent points from previous levels are lost.
lvl - reserve pts
1st - 1,000
2nd - 2,000
3rd - 3,000
4th - 4,000
5th - 5,000
Also, as this class IMO could serve as a possible alternative to the cerebremancer class, wouldn't it be better suited as a 10 level class?
ok, so this suggestion didn't make the cut, but I wanted to see what other's thoughts were.
...so you can work behind my back, with the weight of public opinion as leverage! no no sir, won't happen! huh huh :D
and besides....Penn told me to
Shhhhh, think of decorum!
One thing I would like to see is a class require either path Dexter or Sinister for a preserver or defiler - I think it would add a bit and cemete them further within their give paths.
Casting Euphoria looks good, but I would start that the effects of multiple castings do not stack, but only restart the duration.
Arcane Way seems a bit broken IMO - that is quite a synergy bonus. I would maybe give a +5 bonus, but to go half for ranks in spellcraft seems way too much for a fire level PrC.
As for the Metamorphosis Reserve idea squidfur- I think it would be rather a waste for such a low-level entry PrC - meaning that a rather low level character could have access to this pool that would really have no meaning for it for a LONG time. So he would gain and possibly loose alot of the pool just by leveling and never have a use for it.
and for the pool, i don't necessarily see it as them loosing out on points, as i do them gaining points as they advance - ie. the pool reserve goes up. the idea is that no matter how far the aspirant advances, he's still being able to use his experiences to his advantage, but the further he advances, the easier it'll become to take that first step to metamorphosis.
One thing I would like to see is a class require either path Dexter or Sinister for a preserver or defiler - I think it would add a bit and cemete them further within their give paths.
What squid said. Simultaneously developping a "path specialist" PrC helped clarify in all of our (the contributors') minds that dragon does not equal sinister path, nor avangion equal dexter path. Same with defiler and sinsiter, and preserver and dexter.
Sinister and dexter are just extremes to which a wizard can go.
Casting Euphoria looks good, but I would start that the effects of multiple castings do not stack, but only restart the duration.
Morale bonuses do not stack as per DMG.
Arcane Way seems a bit broken IMO - that is quite a synergy bonus. I would maybe give a +5 bonus, but to go half for ranks in spellcraft seems way too much for a fire level PrC.
A proper balance indeed needs to be found. Dunno what mathematical formula we could use though. There are many possibilities. Some may be as simple as equal to your class level, or 1/3 your ranks in Spellcraft...
Arcane Way seems a bit broken IMO - that is quite a synergy bonus. I would maybe give a +5 bonus, but to go half for ranks in spellcraft seems way too much for a fire level PrC.
And if it were a 10-level PrC? :D
Aspirant is not a replacement for cerebremancer. If you want to lose all those levels of wizard/psion by taking all 10 levels of a PrC that does not offer double progression at each level, that's your problem. Note that you'll still be playing when cows fly.
Also, you might want to add Haakar's research notes as a source of the defiler's possible route to transformation.
I can't quite put my finger on it, but all of a sudden, your prestige classes became much less suckier...
That's stroking yourself buddy, its obscene :P ...but I like it!
There will be no 10 levels, thank you.
Aspirant is not a replacement for cerebremancer. If you want to lose all those levels of wizard/psion by taking all 10 levels of a PrC that does not offer double progression at each level, that's your problem. Note that you'll still be playing when cows fly.
So, if the cerebremancer's so much better, and more suitable, for a would-be AB, than why even bother with this class?
:P - no need to reply to thatanyhoo, was thinking that you could perhaps tweak the requirement of needing to study an ancient text, etc...to include the possibility of learning of such a transformation directly from another AB. thoughts?
BTW, Austin, where is my email?
So, if the cerebremancer's so much better, and more suitable, for a would-be AB, than why even bother with this class?
Oh but I need to. :P
A wannabe AB ought to use cerebremancer as a class, so as to save having to take all those wizard and psion levels, which would take longer.
Still, PCs will stop a while to take levels in a PrC or two, a few levels. A wannabe dragon would take a few levels of Arch Defiler, maybe also Leech, but not all 20 combined levels of both classes.
The Aspirant having only 5 levels makes it easier for a PC to take all levels of the class.
anyhoo, was thinking that you could perhaps tweak the requirement of needing to study an ancient text, etc...to include the possibility of learning of such a transformation directly from another AB. thoughts?
Done
Arcane Way: The aspirant begins to see how sorcery and the Way can be made to combine and influence each other in ways unimagined by most. By 5th level, the aspirant receives a synergy bonus to Spellcraft checks equal to (5 + 1 per 5 ranks in Psicraft the aspirant possesses).
Arcane Way seems a bit broken IMO - that is quite a synergy bonus. I would maybe give a +5 bonus, but to go half for ranks in spellcraft seems way too much for a [five] level PrC.
I'm not so sure I agree, but maybe coupling it with casting euphoria +3 is a little much.
I hadn't seen this before my Transcendent Scholar PrC though some of the ideas are similar. Actually I think that they compliment each other. One possibility would be to sort of combine them into a single 10-level PrC. I think Aspirant might be a cooler name, though I'm rather fond of some of my scholar's abilities.
The only thing is: what about the elementals? They're advanced beings too!
That is one reason for the conversion as it is, the other reason being that this duality of transformation I'm describing in the PrC is limited to arcane spellcasters, so it makes all of the class abilities and language in use a lot easier to write for than if I had to modify the class abilities to accomodate elemental ABs and druid ABs.