General Prestige Class : Magic Filcher
by Michael Means, Dragon #310
Thieves like to specialize. For the egotistical, specialization allows their reputation to spread more quickly and sets them apart from the crowd. For the business-minded, expertise means they can command higher prices and percentages. For the adventurous, it creates the opportunity for more intricate challenges.
Magic filchers specialize in stealing from the most dangerous targets: wizards. Wizards are famous for having expensive and dangerous baubles lying around their towers. Of course, magic filchers also steal from sorcerers, clerics, or any available spellcasters. Wizards are just the most likely people to have collected books, items, and artifacts worth stealing. Wizard also go to the greatest lengths to protect their possessions, requiring more expertise to steal them.
Magic filchers adorn themselves with trophies from their conquests. Many make it a point of pride to collect specific trinkets from each wizard they rob. Collections, include parchment, hair from familiars, or even something as bold as rings. This collecting fetish has been the downfall of a few magic filchers, but the consensus among the rest is that only the sloppy filchers get caught. Those who fall prey to their targets deserve their fate for falling to cover their tracks.
Unsurprisingly, rogues make the best magic filchers, although the requirements for the class force a rogue to take levels of wizard or sorcerer to get into the business full time. Bards also step into this class with relative ease, although a bard must be focused in his skill selection to qualify. Wizards and sorcerers can choose this path, but they almost always require levels of rogue or bard in order to meet the requirements.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Magic Filcher, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Skills: Disable device 10 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 8 ranks, Spellcraft 5 ranks, Use Magic Device 5 ranks
- Must be able to cast arcane spells
Class Skills
The magic filcher's class skills are Appraise, Balance, Bluff, Climb, Concentration, Craft (alchemy), Decipher Script, Disable Device, Escape Artist, Hide, Jump, Knowledge (arcana), Listen, Move Silently, Open Lock, Search, Sleight of Hand, Spellcraft, Spot, Swim, Tumble, Use Magic Device, and Use Rope.
Skill Points at Each Level: 6 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All the following are class features of the magic filcher prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A magic filcher gains no new weapon or armor proficiencies.
Spells Per Day: At 1st, 3rd, and 5th levels, the magic filcher gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in a spellcasting class he belonged to before he added the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (improved chance of turning undead, for example). This essentially means that he adds the level of magic filcher to the level of some other spellcasting class the character has, then determines spells per day and caster level accordingly. If a character had more than one spellcasting class before becoming a magic filcher, he must decide to which class he adds each level when he gains the magic filcher level.
Detect Magic (Sp): At 1st level, the magic filcher may act as though under the effects of a detect magic spell cast by a sorcerer of a level equal to the magic filcher's. The magic filcher may use this ability 3 times per day.
Wizard Mimic (Ex): At 2nd level, the magic filcher knows how to think like a wizard. He gains a +5 bonus to Use Magic Device checks when attempting to emulate an ability score, emulate a class feature, or activate blindly when these checks pertain to items with arcane spells or wizard-specific class features.
Dispel Magic (Sp): Once per day at 3rd level, the magic filcher may cast the dispel magic spell as a 10th-level sorcerer.
Magical Certainty (Ex): At 4th level, the magic filcher has a pretty good idea of how magic works. He can take 10 on Use Magic Device checks, and he never suffers damage from mishaps, either with the Use Magic Device skill or from attempting to use a scroll of higher caster level than he possesses. Note that mishaps might still occur, but the magic filcher is never harmed by them.
Read Aura (Su): By 5th level, the magic filcher has spent so much time studying magic items that their auras become visible to him. As long as a magic filcher has his sight, he can, at will, detect the presence or absence of magical auras within his field of vision and the location of each aura. If he wants to gain more information, he must use the detect magic spell or ability. If he uses his ability, the magic filcher may begin the study as if he had already used the ability for 2 rounds, allowing him to begin at the 3rd round of effectiveness. Among more obvious benefits, this ability grants a rogue a +5 bonus to Disable Device checks when attempting to disarm or bypass magical traps.
| Magic Filcher | Hit Die: d6 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | Spells |
| 1st | +0 | +0 | +2 | +2 | Detect magic | +1 level of existing class |
| 2nd | +1 | +0 | +3 | +2 | Wizard mimic | - |
| 3rd | +2 | +1 | +3 | +3 | Dispel magic | +1 level of existing class |
| 4th | +3 | +1 | +4 | +4 | Magical certainty | - |
| 5th | +3 | +1 | +4 | +4 | Read aura | +1 level of existing class |
Source: Dragon #310