General Prestige Class : Suel Arcanamach

The ancient Suel Empire was known for the great and terrible power wielded by its mighty archmages. Suloise sorcerers delved deep into arcane lore that other folk avoided, unearthing many dark and dangerous secrets in the process. The Suel Empire was ruled by noble families headed by mages of unsurpassed power, and the countless rivalries and vendettas between these families led to the rise of an elite school of combat training: the way of the arcanamach. Conditioned for loyalty, determination, and absolute obedience, arcanamachs were skillful warriors who studied arcane magic for the express purpose of learning how to slay powerful wizards.

In the days of the Suel Empire, the arcanamachs were guards for their archmage masters, serving the greatest Suel wizards with sword and spell. They were also assassins and spies trained to slay powerful wizards of rival families, as well as defend the wizards of their own families. In hundreds of secret duels of spell and steel, arcanamachs practiced their arts against others of their kind, learning their skills from hidden arcanamach academies.

While the Suel Empire is long dead, the tradition of the arcanamach still survives in a rare set of magical tomes: the Grimoire Arcanamacha. No academies for these warrior-wizards remain, but a skilled swordsman who studies from the Grimoire Arcanamacha - or who learns from a master who has studied the Grimoire - can unlock many secrets of stealth, alertness, mental fortitude, and combative spellcasting. While the arcanamachs formerly existed as elite guards and agents for powerful wizards, those who follow the tradition in the allegiance modern day retain no special to other arcanists. Suel arcanamach NPCs are spies and assassins, secretive individuals who excel at using stealth, spells, and swordplay to achieve their goals.

Some are dedicated mage-slayers who make a career our of destroying other spellcasters.

Adaptation: The notion of an elite order of warrior-mages is not restricted to the Greyhawk setting. You can easily adapt the arcanamach to your own campaign, even if you do not play in Greyhawk. In the FORGOTTEN REALMS setting, the arcanamach can be a student of the elite warrior traditions of the Empire of Netheril, the Imaskari Empire, or even the realms of Jhaamdarh or Mulhorand. Simply change the language requirement to an appropriate dead language for the empire in question (Loross, Roushoum, Thorass, or Mulhorandi), and the class should work well with no further modification.

Requirements

To qualify to become a Suel Arcanamach, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:

Class Skills

The Suel arcanamach's class skills are Bluff, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Disguise, Escape Artist, Hide, Jump, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (history), Knowledge (the planes), Listen, Move Silently, Profession, Search, Spellcraft, Spot, Swim, Tumble, and Use Rope.

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Class Features

All the following are class features of the Suel arcanamach prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Suel arcanamachs gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor. Armor of any type interferes with an arcanamach's movements, which can cause spells with somatic components to fail (but see Ignore Spell Failure Chance, below).

Suel Arcanamach Spells Known
CL1st2nd3rd4th5th
1st1----
2nd21*---
3rd22---
4th221*--
5th322--
6th3321*-
7th3322-
8th43321*
9th44322
10th44332
*Provided the arcanamach has a high enough Charisma score to have a bonus spell of this level.

Spells per Day: A Suel arcanamach has the ability to cast a small number of arcane spells. To cast a Suel arcanamach spell, he must have a Charisma score of at least 10 + the spell's level, so if he has a Charisma of 10 or lower, he cannot cast these spells. Bonus spells are based on Charisma, and saving throws against these spells have a DC of 10 + spell level + his Cha modifier. When he gets 0 spells per day of a given level (for instance, 1st-level spells for 1st level), he gains only the bonus spells he would be entitled to based on his Charisma score for that spell level. He has access to any spell of the abjuration, divination, illusion, and transmutation schools on the sorcerer/wizard spell list. He casts spells just as a sorcerer does, including the ability to replace a known Suel arcanamach spell with a new spell at every even-numbered class level beginning at 4th.

Ignore Spell Failure Chance (Ex): A Suel arcanamach's practice at merging spellcasting and swordplay results in a reduction in the arcane spell failure chance associated with using armor or shields. This reduction starts at 5% at 1st level and increases by 5% every three levels thereafter. The arcanamach subtracts the given percentage value from his total spell failure chance, if any. For example, a 1st-level arcanamach wearing a mithral shirt has a spell failure chance of 5%, not 10%. This ability only functions when the character casts a Suel arcanamach spell.

Tenacious Spells (Ex): An arcanamach's Suel arcanamach spells are particularly difficult to dispel; add 6 to the DC required to dispel the character's arcanamach spells.

Dispelling Strike (Su): Once per day, a Suel arcanamach of 2nd level or higher can attempt a dispelling strike with one normal melee attack. If he hits, he deals normal damage, and the victim is subject to a targeted greater dispel magic. The arcanamach's dispel check is 1d20 + class level + 6. If a Suel arcanamach makes a dispelling strike against a creature with no spells or effects to dispel, the dispelling strike has no effect, but the ability is used up for that day.

At 6th level, an arcanamach can use this power two times per day, and at 10th level he can use it three times per day.

Extended Spellstrength (Ex): Beginning at 3rd level, a Suel arcanamach knows how to extend the duration of spells that he casts on himself. The duration of any of his Suel arcanamach spells with which he targets himself is doubled, as if affected by the Extend Spell feat (but without any adjustment to the spell's effective level or casting time). For instance, a bull's strength spell cast by a 3rd-level Suel arcanamach on himself has a duration of 6 minutes rather than 3 minutes.

Spells that target multiple targets are affected by this power, but only the arcanamach gains the extended duration. For example, a 5th-level arcanamach who casts haste would be hasted for 10 rounds, while his allies would gain the effect only for the normal 5-round duration.

Spells that do not have a Target entry are unaffected by this power even if the arcanamach is the only one affected.

Suel ArcanamachHit Die: d8
CLBABFortRefWillSpecial1st2nd3rd4th5th
1st+0+0+2+2Ignore spell failure chance 5%, tenacious spells1----
2nd+1+0+3+3Dispelling strike 1/day10---
3rd+2+1+3+3Extended spellstrength21---
4th+3+1+4+4Ignore spell failure chance 10%220--
5th+3+1+4+4-321--
6th+4+2+5+5Dispelling strike 2/day3320-
7th+5+2+5+5Ignore spell failure chance 15%3321-
8th+6+2+6+6-43320.
9th+6+3+6+6-44321
10th+7+3+7+7Dispelling strike 3/day, ignore spell failure chance 20%44332

Source: Complete Arcane

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General Prestige Classes