8-Bit Black Mage (3.5e Prestige Class)

Black Mage

The Black Mage is a spellcaster devoted to the dark arts of destruction. While not necessarily evil most of his stronger spells can only be obtained through the powers of dark gods whom they frequently make pacts with for power, however the goodly divine being will also grant power to those Black Mages who they wish to set along the path. Regardless of alignment all Black Mages are powerful in magic but are also renowned scholars and have a great interest in anything magical regardless of it's nature. A considerable amount of time must be invested in the study of all things magical before becoming a Black Mage, alternatively a pact with a particular demonic entity or evil aligned God can be made in order to gain power more quickly, the same can be said of goodly gods or good-aligned divine being, regardless, all Black Mages possess the power to learn the most powerful force of magic in known existence, the Hadoken.

Requirements:

To qualify to become an Black Mage, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria.

• Alignment Any non-good.
• Skills: Concentration 8 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 8 ranks, Spellcraft 8 ranks
• Feats: Arcane Preparation (if spontaneous caster), Signature Spell (if prepared caster)
• Special: Ability to cast 4th level Arcane Spells and friendly contact made with any sentient evil or chaotic outsider or a Black Mage capable of casting 7th-level or higher arcane spells.

Table: The Black Mage

Hit Die: d4

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Spells per Day/Spells Known
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Spontaneous mastery 0	+1 level of existing arcane class
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Spell Manipulator	+1 level of existing arcane class
3rd	+1	+1	+1	+3	Spontaneous Mastery 1st	+1 level of existing arcane class
4th	+2	+1	+1	+4		+1 level of existing arcane class
5th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Spontaneous Mastery 2nd	+1 level of existing arcane class
6th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Scroll Preparation	+1 level of existing arcane class
7th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Spontaneous Mastery 3rd	+1 level of existing arcane class
8th	+4	+2	+2	+6		+1 level of existing arcane class
9th	+4	+3	+3	+6	Spontaneous Mastery 4th	+1 level of existing arcane class
10th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Spontaneous Metamagic, Hadoken	+1 level of existing arcane class
Class Skills (2 + Int modifier per level) Concentration, Craft, Knowledge (all skills, taken individually), Profession, Spellcraft, Use Magic Device.

Class Features:

All of the following are Class Features of the 8-Bit Black Mage prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Black Mages gain no new proficiency with any weapon or armor.

Spells per Day: When a new Black Mage level is gained the Black Mage gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in a spellcasting class he belonged to before adding the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained, except for an increased effective level of spellcasting. If a character had more than one spellcasting class before becoming an Black mage, he must decide to which class he adds the new level for purposes of determining spells per day.

Spontaneous Mastery: At every odd-numbered level, the Black Mage gains the ability to spontaneously cast spells, or cast unknown spells using already available spell slots. Every time he gains this ability he must choose 3 spells of the chosen level (Level 0 spells for this ability at 1st level, Level 1 spells for this ability at 3rd level, etc), the Black Mage can never change these spells once chosen. If he used a spellbook the Black Mage must already have these spells in his spellbook, if he spontaneously casted his spells the chosen spells can be any spell appropriate to his base class. If the Black mage uses a spellbook he may now cast these chosen spells without preparing them, using a spell slot of the appropriate level when he casts the spells. If he does not use a spellbook the Black mage is able to cast these spells anytime, using a spell slot of the appropriate level when he casts the spells. However, he may only spontaneously cast using this ability three times every day, regardless of what level spell he uses each cast.

Spell Manipulator: At 2nd level, the Black Mage learns the tricks necessary to manipulate spells. She may break down arcane spell slots to create a specified number of lower-level spell slots as a full-round action. (A 0-level spell counts as ½ level for this purpose.) The sum of the levels of all the new spell slots must equal the level of the original. There is no limit to the number of times she can do this per day, but her spell slots remain that way until she recovers her spells the next day or she breaks them down even further.

Scroll Preparation: At 6th level, the Black Mage gains the ability to prepare spells from scrolls of arcane spells. The scroll is destroyed in the process, but remains in the Black Mage's memory until it is cast or lost via Spontaneous Mastery. Spells prepared from scrolls may have metamagic applied to them as normal.

Spontaneous Metamagic: At 10th level, the Black mage gains the ability to apply Metamagic to his spontaneously cast spells with no increase in casting time. The Black Mage must pay the cost for Metamagic normally, however, and thus must free up a spell slot of the appropriate level to cast.

Hadoken At 10th level the Black Mage, regardless of alignment or manner of becoming a Black Mage, learns the most powerful skill available to his trade, the devastating Hadoken. Treated as a spell for all purposes with both verbal and somatic components, the Hadoken can be cast once per day and deals 2d10 force damage per level in the Black Mage class to anything within a direct line of the Black Mage for a range of 100 feet. The Black Mage needs to charge the spell for a full round before he casts it as a full action (on the second round), during which he must maintain concentration before he releases the spell. He may change the direction of the hadoken during this time but may not stop casting. If the casting is interrupted (if the caster is rendered prone, unconscious, scared, awed, etc.) or if his concentration is broken the hadoken fizzles and he loses his cast for the day. A hadoken cannot be counterspelled, even by a dispel magic spell, but can be shielded against or made to fizzle using an antimagic field.

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