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The War Mage

War Mage

Many nations employ mages to do research, imbue artifacts, forge magical weaponry, and build fortified structures. One thing that should go without saying: mages are hired to blow other people up. Every kingdom and nation probably has at least a single battle mage per regiment, if not multiples. It is a common and popular career for those with a keen sense of the arcane world. Some mages think it's a misuse of magic, while others think it's the only legitimate use of magic. Either way, there is no denying the effectiveness of a War Mage on the battlefield.

Basic Detail

HD Type: d8
Bonus HP Per HD: +3
Attack Curve: Low
Magical Prowess: Advanced
Sub-Type: Combat Focus
Skill Growth: 2 + Int Modifier (x4 at first level) Suggested Skills Balance, Beguile, Concentration, Diplomacy, Escape Artist, Gather Information, Haggle, Intimidate, Knowledge (Arcana), and Perform.
Known Skills: 6 + Int Modifier
Weapon Proficiency: Pick one weapon
Armor Proficiency: Light
Saves: 3 low and 1 high
Primary Mental Attribute(PMA): Charisma

Suggested Attribute Distribution: Str 12, Dex 16, Con 16, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 18

Progression

HD Perk Base Attack High Save Low Save Spell
Proficiency
1 SorceryD, Shield TrainingF, Shield FocusF, and Arcane Blast (1/day)A +0 +2 +0 +1
2 - +1 +3 +0 +1
3 Ray GuardF +1 +3 +1 +1
4 - +2 +4 +1 +1
5 Spell Penetration +1, Signless SpellF and Resistive FocusD +2 +4 +1 +1
6 Soundless SpellF and Arcane Blast (2/day) +3 +5 +2 +2
7 - +3 +5 +2 +2
8 - +4 +6 +2 +2
9 Mixed MetamagicF +4 +6 +3 +2
10 Spell Penetration +2, Swift SpellF, Dancing Stars (2/day)A, and Observant CasterD +5 +7 +3 +2
11 - +5 +7 +3 +2
12 Bolster SpellF and Arcane Blast (3/day) +6/+1 +8 +4 +3
13 Dancing Stars (3/day) +6/+1 +8 +4 +3
14 - +7/+2 +9 +4 +3
15 Spell Penetration +3, Improved Metamagic x2F, and Spell FlankerD +7/+2 +9 +5 +3
16 - +8/+3 +10 +5 +3
17 - +8/+3 +10 +5 +3
18 Perfect SpellF and Arcane Blast (4/day) +9/+4 +11 +6 +4
19 - +9/+4 +11 +6 +4
20 Spell Penetration +4, Improved MetamagicF, Magic CapacitorA, and SpeedyD +10/+5 +12 +6 +4

F Feat, A Ability, and D Definition

The Breakdown

Sorcery: This is a primary definition that grants access to the arcane spell casting list, but removes access to the generalist list. Every single HD, including first, gain a known spell. The war mage cannot use a spell book or prepared spells at all. Every HD evenly divisible by 5, gain +1 inherent bonus to Spell Penetration against Spell Resistance.

Shield Training: Gain proficiency with all types of shields. The War Mage favors wielding a shield and a focus, and not holding a weapon of any kind.

Shield Focus: Gain +1 training bonus to AC with the selected shield, and a secondary bonus. See Text

Arcane Blast: Gain the ability Arcane Blast.

Ray Guard: Apply a shield's total AC bonus to touch AC against any ranged touch attack.

Signless Spell: Increase the spell slot of a spell by +1 and cast a spell without the need for somatic components.

Resistive Focus: Pick a low save and make it a high save.

Soundless Spell: Increase the spell slot of a spell by +1 and cast a spell without the need for verbal components.

Mixed Metamagic: Allows the mixing of any two base +1 increase metamagic into a single spell. For example Signless and soundless spells applied to a single spell for a +2 increase.

Swift Spell: Increase the spell slot of a spell by +4 and cast a standard action spell as a swift action. This allows another standard action spell to be cast in the same round.

Dancing Stars: Gain the ability Dancing Stars.

Observant Caster: Casting spells in threatened squares no longer provokes attacks of opportunity.

Bolster Spell: Increase the spell slot of a spell by +2 and cast a spell with an extra 4 dice of damage, healing or warding. These will also be affected by spell proficiency.

Improved Metamagic x2: Reduce the spell slot increase of metamagic by 2, to a minimum of 1. Signless and soundless spell are specifically reduced to 0.

Spell Flanker: Pick a melee touch attack spell, threaten squares with it. Use the melee touch attack spell as an immediate action if a creature provokes an attack of opportunity. The spell selected for this must be 5th level or lower.

Perfect Spell: Maximize the dice potential of any roll. For example, if something does 10d6 with spell proficiency 2, The spell will do 60 + 20 damage.

Improved Metamagic: Reduce the spell slot increase of metamagic by another 1 to a minimum of 1. Signless and soundless spell are specifically reduced to 0.

Magic Capacitor: Gain the ability Magic Capacitor

Speedy: Increase the base speed of the character by 20 ft.

Spell Casting

Caster Level: An advanced caster's caster level (CL) is equal to their HD.

Spells Known: Spells known are spells that a caster does not have to prepare ahead of time. An advanced magic user gets a large amount of these. Not having spells known does not mean that they cannot cast spells of that level. They can carry a spell book around and put any spell into it from their specified list. (Arcane, Divine, or Generalist).

Spells Per Day: Also called spell slots, these are how many of a given spell level can be cast per day. Sometimes a level will have 0 listed. This means they are able to cast spells at that level, given that they have a high enough PMA to get bonus spells per day.

Prepared Spells: Spells in a spell book must be prepared and will, 'take,' a spell per day to do so. It will be kept as a prepared spell until cast. A prepared spell's slot can be used to cast any known spell instead.

Spell Proficiency: Spell proficiency is added to spells, spell-like abilities (Sp), supernatural abilities (Su) DCs, as well as spell attack rolls, including touch attacks. It is also applied as a flat bonus for each damage/healing/warding die for spells, spell-like abilities (Sp), or supernatural abilities (Su). Spell proficiency does not apply to the attack or damage rolls of a weapon modified by a spell, unless that spell explicitly says otherwise. For example, if a character has a spell that deals 5d6 damage and has a Casting Proficiency of 2 it will be 5d6+10 damage.

Spells Known
HD 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th
1 - - - - - - - - -
2 - - - - - - - - -
3 1 - - - - - - - -
4 1 1 - - - - - - -
5 1 1 1 - - - - - -
6 2 1 1 - - - - - -
7 2 2 1 1 - - - - -
8 2 2 2 1 - - - - -
9 3 2 2 1 1 - - - -
10 3 3 2 2 1 - - - -
11 3 3 3 2 1 1 - - -
12 4 3 3 2 2 1 - - -
13 4 4 3 3 2 1 1 - -
14 4 4 4 3 2 2 1 - -
15 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 -
16 5 5 4 4 3 2 2 1 -
17 5 5 5 4 3 3 2 1 1
18 6 5 5 4 4 3 2 2 1
19 6 6 6 5 4 4 3 2 2
20 6 6 6 5 4 4 3 2 2
Spells Per Day
HD 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th
1 2 - - - - - - - -
2 3 - - - - - - - -
3 3 1 - - - - - - -
4 3 2 - - - - - - -
5 4 2 1 - - - - - -
6 4 3 2 - - - - - -
7 4 3 2 1 - - - - -
8 4 3 3 2 - - - - -
9 5 4 3 2 1 - - - -
10 5 4 3 3 2 - - - -
11 5 4 4 3 3 1 - - -
12 5 4 4 3 3 2 - - -
13 5 5 4 4 3 2 1 - -
14 5 5 4 4 4 3 2 - -
15 5 5 5 4 4 3 2 1 -
16 5 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 -
17 5 5 5 5 4 4 3 2 1
18 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 3 2
19 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 3
20 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 4

Suggested Spells by Level

Since advanced casters have full CL they can efficiently utilize both a mixture of offensive or defensive spells. They also have the highest spell proficiency they wield magic with authority. All spells are simply more effective.

Simplex

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

Level 5

Level 6

Level 7

Level 8

Level 9