Anima and Animus Mages (3.5e Prestige Class)

Anima and Animus Mages

(From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anima ) "According to Carl Jung, the anima is the feminine side of a man's personal unconscious. It can be identified as all the unconscious feminine psychological qualities that a man possesses. Jung also believed that every woman has an analogous animus within her psyche, this being a set of unconscious masculine attributes and potentials."

It is believed that one's reactions to their Anima or Animus (depending upon gender) are a direct collary for their magical abilities. If these reactions can be mastered, it can create truly powerful individuals - albeit with one major twist.

"Carl Jung also had a four-fold theory on the anima's typical development ranging from its projection onto the mother in infancy through projection on prospective sexual partners and finally onto a later phase he termed Sophia, doubtlessly in a Gnostic reference."

It is the second phase which proves critical to the Anima and Animus mages; When paired successfully, one can project their anima/animus to the other, and vice versa. This pairing, however, does not only represent growth in psychological concepts; it can also be an immense focus of magical energies, granting unusual abilities to their users.

The Anima Mage becomes a master of defensive magic, and other skills which help them stay out of combat. On the other hand, the Animus Mage becomes a master of combat, going right into the core of a fight wielding an abnormal weapon and some very powerful spells.

Prerequisites

Special: An Anima mage and Animus mage must be two people in a committed relationship with each other. ( Both must meet the other requirements for the class, and must take the classes together (although who gets what class is up to them - if the women wishes to take the masculine Animus mage and the man the Anima mage, that is a fair choice).

Alignment: The two individuals must be, at most, two alignment steps separated from each other.

Spells: Both individuals must be able to cast 4th-level Arcane Spells.

Table: The Anima and Animus Mages

Hit Die: d6

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Spells per Day/Spells Known
1st	+1	+0	+0	+2	Anima/Animus Power I, Synchronized Leveling	+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
2nd	+2	+0	+0	+3	Anima/Animus Power II	+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
3rd	+3	+1	+1	+3	Linked Spirits	+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
4th	+4	+1	+1	+4	Anima/Animus Power III	+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
5th	+5	+1	+1	+4	Anima/Animus Power IV	+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level) Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).

Class Features

All the following are class features of the Anima/Animus Mage:

Synchronized Leveling: The Animus and Anima mage connect and psychologically grow together; thus, from the moment they take the class on, the pair must apply a level gain at the same time from then on (even after maxing out their Anima/Animus mage levels), unless a circumstance removes their levels in the Animus and Anima Mage prestige classes - in which case, the higher level character can not level up until the lower-level character has regained their levels. In addition, they can only gain levels in the Animus and Anima Mage prestige classes at the same time (thus must always BE of the same level in the Anima and Animus Mage class).

Anima Power I: Healing: An Anima Mage can learn the spell Cure Minor Wounds as a 0-level Arcane spell, and Cure Light Wounds as a 1st-level Arcane spell.

Animus Power I: Advanced Weaponry: An Animus Mage automatically gains a single Exotic Weapon Proficiency Feat, as well as the Weapon Finesse feat or Weapon Focus feat for that weapon. (ANY Melee Weapon can have Weapon Finesse, even if it is not a light weapon, rapier, whip, or spiked chain.) By mastering the art of combat, an Animus mage approaches the epitome of masculine power.

Anima Power II: High Healing: An Anima Mage of 2nd level can learn the spell Cure Moderate Wounds as a 2nd-level spell, and Cure Serious Wounds as a 3rd-level spell.

Animus Power II: Accurate Magic: A true man doesn't miss, and neither does an Animus Mage. An Animus Mage of at least 2nd level gains a +2 Animus bonus to any attack roll they make as part of a spell.

Linked Spirits: Both the Anima and Animus mage gain this ability at 3rd level. At this point, the pair of mages has linked themselves so effectively that their spirits are linked. Only the death of both can send them to the afterlife. Otherwise, the spirit will follow the living mage, able to interact with them (but only with them) as if they were almost alive. A body is unnessesary to use spells such as Raise Dead on a spirit in such a condition, as long as the spirit's partner is within 10 feet of the caster. In these cases, casting Raise Dead will recreate the body instantaneously. Level loss will never occur from a spirit returned to life in this fashion.

Anima Power III: Sorcerous Range: An Anima Mage of 4th level or higher gains a +2 Anima bonus to all ranged attacks (whether with a weapon or with a spell). As they stay beyond the fight, they become spiritually isolated from it, and thus become that much more pure.

Animus Power III: Innate Fury: An Animus Mage of 4th level or higher gains a +1 Animus bonus to every damage die that they roll.

Anima Power IV: Purity: An Anima Mage of 5th level has reached the epitome of the purity of spirit, to the point where the same purity forms within her body - this purity grants her complete immunity to poisons and diseases (magical or otherwise), as well as granting her Damage Reduction 2/-.

Animus Power IV: Fury: An Animus Mage of 5th level has reached the epitome of their strength of spirit. This strength forms into their body, immediately and permanently raising their Strength and Dexterity scores by 2.

Ex-Anima/Animus Mages

If the relationship between an Anima mage and their corresponding Animus Mage falls apart or is broken up, their skill in psychological projection becomes useless in lack of someone to project upon. Thus, they lose their Anima/Animus powers and Linked Spirits abilities, along with the Synchronized Leveling rule, and cannot further gain levels in the Anima/Animus Mage prestige class. This can be recovered by the two getting back together, or a new relationship forming between an Ex-Anima/Animus Mage, tying the Ex-PrC holder under the Synchronized Leveling rule with their new partner until said partner has gained an equivalent number of levels in the corresponding class.

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