This is a first pass at a class that's intended to replace the standard Divine casters with a more animistic-focused character. Though I intend to replace Cleric and Druid with it for a hypothetical future game, I certainly would prefer it if the class could work alongside Clerics and Druids instead.As I said, this is a first pass. I expect it to need tweaking -- or maybe wholesale re-imagining. Feedback would be wonderful.
The Spiritualist
The Spiritualist is a shaman or holy man, an ancestory worshipper or cultist. He is something between a Wizard and a Priest -- one who depends on other beings for his power, but does not worship those beings so much as bargain with them.
Alignment: Any
Hit Die: d8
Class Skills: Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intuit Direction (Wis), Knowledge (Spirits) (Int), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spirit Appeasment (Wis, exclusive skill)
Skill Points: 3 + Int Bonus (*4 at first level)
Proficiences: The spiritualist is proficient in Light, Medium, and Heavy Armor, and Shields. He is proficient in all Simple weapons. The usual skill modifiers apply. The Spiritualist never suffers spell failure chances, even if he casts arcane spells!
The Spiritualist
Code:
[size=1][color=white] Level BAB Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Special 1 +0 +2 +0 +2 Spirit Sight, Spirit Magic 2 +1 +3 +0 +3 3 +2 +3 +1 +3 4 +3 +4 +1 +4 5 +3 +4 +1 +4 See Magic 6 +4 +5 +2 +5 7 +5 +5 +2 +5 8 +6/+1 +6 +2 +6 9 +6/+1 +6 +3 +6 10 +7/+2 +7 +3 +7 Uncanny Luck 11 +8/+3 +7 +3 +7 12 +9/+4 +8 +4 +8 13 +9/+4 +8 +4 +8 14 +10/+5 +9 +5 +9 15 +11/+6/+1 +9 +5 +9 Imp. Uncanny Luck 16 +12/+7/+2 +10 +5 +10 17 +12/+7/+2 +10 +6 +10 18 +13/+8/+3 +11 +6 +11 19 +14/+9/+4 +11 +6 +11 20 +15/+10/+5 +12 +7 +12 [/color][/size]Spirit Sight: Spiritualists have the particular gift of being able to see, and, to some extent, communicate with normally invisible spirits. This virtue applies solely to the type of spirits described in this class, and not to other invisible beings of any kind.
Spirit Magic: Spiritualists have no magical power of their own, but they can appeal to spirits for spells -- usually divine, but sometimes Arcane.
Different Spiritualists operate in different ways. Some may collectively worship a godlike spirit, dedicating their attention to it and no others. Other Spiritualists may similarly dedicate themselves to only one spirit, for example a totem animal, which itself attends no other Spiritualists. Others may develop relationships with many different spirits of differing power.
A Spiritualist's relationship with a particular spirit is rated according to several axes:
Power: This is the amount of total energy that the Spirit is willing to grant the Spiritualist per day. This may or may not be the total amount of power the Spirit can easily summon. Power is a number rated one or higher. Each time the spirit grants a spell, its effective power is reduced by the level of the spell. (For example: A spirit with a Power of 5 grants the spell <i>Bull's Strength</i> (2nd level). For the next day, the spirit's Power is considered 3). A spirit can not grant a spell that has level greater than half of the spirit's maximum power. (eg, a Spirit with Power 6 can grant 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level spells).
Attention: This is the number of times that the Spirit is willing to attend the Spiritualist per day. It is a number rated one or higher. Note that a Spirit may still have Power left, but be unwilling to attend the Spiritualist.
Perversity: This measures the Spirit's willingness to cooperate with the Spiritualist. Spirits with higher Perversity are more likely not to grant spells, and to work against the Spiritualist.
Alignment: Spirits are intelligent creatures and have alignments as normal.
Spell Types: Most spirits grant Divine spells. Some grant Arcane instead, and a very few can grant either kind of spell.
Using the attributes of a Spirit, you can work out the point cost of a relationship between the Spirit and the Spiritualist. This is accomplished via the following formula:
Point value = Power + (Attention / 2) - (Perversity / 2), and multiplied by 1.5 if the Spirit grants Arcane spells, or by 2 if the Spirit grants both Arcane and Divine spells (No multiplier for Divine only). Alignment does not affect this value. Round up. The minimum value for any relationship is 1.
For example: A Spiritualist has a relationship with a given spirit rated Power 6, Attention 3, Perversity 5, which grants only Divine spells. The value of this relationship is 6 + 3/2 - 5/2 = 5.
The Spiritualist can maintain relationships with total point values equal to his class level.
For example:
A 7th level Spiritualist maintains relationships with two spirits.
Spirit 1:
Power 7
Attention 2
Perversity 14
Alignment Neutral
Spell type: Arcane
Cost: 2
Spirit 2:
Power 8
Attention 5
Perversity 11
Alignment NeutralGood
Spell Type: Divine
Cost: 5
Calling For Spells
A spiritualist may ask any spirit he has a relationship with for any spell from either the Cleric spell list (if the Spirit has access to Divine spells) or the Wizard/Sorceror spell list (if the Spirit has access to Arcane spells). The spirit may only grant spells of a level equal to or less than half its maximum Power (round down). The spirit may only grant levels of spells if it still has that many points of current Power. A spirit generally only responds if it has not already been called on a number of times that day equal to or less than its Attention. Requesting the spell from the Spirit takes the normal casting time of the spell, and requires the normal spell components. A spiritualist uses one focus per Spirit, if necessary.
After the Spiritualist has requested the spell, roll the Spiritualist's Spirit Appeasment skill at a DC equal to the Spirit's Perversity + 10. There may be further modifiers -- check the skill description. If the Spiritualist succeeds in the check, the spell goes off. Otherwise, he fails and may suffer additional consequences (see the description of Spirit Appeasment).
The Spiritualist must maintain his relationship with his spirits by communing with them each morning and performing certain ritual acts. This takes approximately 30 minutes each morning. If the Spiritualist fails to perform these rituals, all of his Spirits accquire +2 Perversity, cumulative, per day, until he performs the rituals.
When the Spiritualist gains a level, or at any other time, he may choose to drop one of his existing spirits, add another, or change his relationship with one. The player and DM should work together to understand the personalities of spirits and the consequences of courting a new one or discarding an old one, but, in general, the Spiritualist lives in an animistic world. He should have little difficulty finding a Spirit of the rough type he prefers, if he needs to go looking. This process may be roleplayed, or it may be assumed to happen "offscreen."
See Magic (Su): At 5th level, the Spiritualist's ability to sense spirits broadens, and he gains the benefits of the Detect Magic spell, permenantly.
Uncanny Luck (Ex): At 10th level, the Spiritualist's ability to read the future means he can reroll any die roll twice per day. If he chooses to reroll, the must accept the second roll, even if it's worse than the first. Each roll can only be reattempted once.
Improved Uncanny Luck (Ex): At 15th level, the Spiritualist can use his Uncanny luck ability 4 times per day, and he takes the better of the two die rolls, not exclusively the second one.
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Spirit Appeasement (Wis)
This is the exclusive skill of the Spiritualist class. It is used to request spells from Spirits without consequences. The standard DC is 10 + the spirit's Perversity. It is never possible to Take 10 or Take 20 with this skill.
Other DC Modifiers:
The Spirit has already been called its Attention times previously that day: +10 per "additional" call
The Spirit is being asked to do something against its alignment: +2 to +10 (depending on severity)
The Spiritualist takes time to coddle the Spirit, spending 30 minutes praising it before casting the spell: -5
If the Spiritualist fails his roll, make another roll of 1d20 + the spirit's perversity to see what happens:
1-20: Nothing (the spell just fails)
21-30: The spirit is annoyed, and is considered to have used all of its Attention that day.
31-40: The spirit leaves, ending its relationship with the Spiritualist, who must find a replacement.
41+: The spirit channels magical energy into the Spiritualist, doing 1d6 magic damage per level of the requested spell. Will Save at DC = Spirit's Perversity negates the damage. The spirit ends its relationship with the Spiritualist as above.
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What do you all think? I'm pretty sure it's vastly underpowered, despite some nice benefits (Arcane & Divine casting, no spell failure in armor for Arcane). However, I'm a little stuck on how to fix it without getting to the point where bookkeeping your spirits requires a math degree.
EDIT: Added some flavour text, messed around with the code table, changed HTML tags to BB tags.
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