General Prestige Class : Thaumaturgist
The thaumaturgist reaches out with divine power to other planes of existence, calling creatures there to do his bidding. Evil thaumaturgists conspire with demons and devils to gain power on the Material Plane, while good thaumaturgists send powerful angels or eladrins on holy quests.
In combat, thaumaturgists often summon creatures from the Outer Planes to fight on their behalf. These creatures fade away as soon as the battle is over, but thaumaturgists also make agreements with mote powerful creatures for long-term service. The planar ally of a thaumaturgist is utterly devoted to furthering the thaumaturgist's goals (or the goals of a deity, if the thaumaturgist worships one).
Almost all thaumaturgists were once clerics, because the first step on the path of thaumaturgy is making an agreement with a denizen of the Outer Planes by use of the lesser planar ally spell. But many of the class abilities are useful to arcane spellcasters, so multiclassed cleric/wizards and the occasional cleric/sorcerer aren't unheard of.
A thaumaturgist is keenly aware that his unparalleled conjurations are just tools in service of his overall philosophy or deity. Thus, thaumaturgists often undertake quests to advance a cause, using their abilities to conjure up a strike force of summoned and called creatures at a moment's notice.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Thaumaturgist, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Skills: Spell Focus (conjuration)
- Spells: Able to cast lesser planar ally
Class Skills
The thaumaturgist's class skills are Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Knowledge (religion), Knowledge (the planes), Profession, Sense Motive, Speak Language, and Spellcraft.
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All of the following are features of the thaumaturgist prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Thaumaturgists gain no proficiency any weapon or armor.
Spells per Day: When a new thaumaturgist level is gained, the character gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in whatever 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 (bonus metamagic or item creation feats, bard or assassin abilities, and so on). This essentially means that be adds the level of thaumaturgist to the level of whatever 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 he became a thaumaturgist, he must decide to which class he adds each level of thaumaturgist for the purpose of determining spells per day.
Improved Ally: A thaumaturgist is adept at convincing creatures from other planes to do his bidding. When a thaumaturgist casts a planar ally spell (including the lesser and greater versions), he makes a Diplomacy check to convince the creature to aid him for a reduced payment. If the thaumaturgist's Diplomacy check adjusts the creature's attitude to helpful (see Influencing NPC Attitudes), the creature will work for 50% of the standard fee, as long as the task is one that is not against its nature. For example, a 1st-level thaumaturgist negotiating with an initially friendly planar ally that gets a Diplomacy check result of 15 can convince a 6 HD creature to perform a 7-hour task for only 1,500 gp per hour (a 6 HD creature would ordinarily ask for 3,000 gp per hour).
The thaumaturgist's improved ally class feature only works when the planar ally shares at least one aspect of alignment with the thaumaturgist. A thaumaturgist can have only one such ally at a time, but he may bargain for tasks from other planar allies normally.
Augment Summoning: At 2nd level, a thaumaturgist gains the Augment Summoning feat.
Extended Summoning: An 3rd level and higher, all spells from the summoning subschool that the thaumaturgist casts have their durations doubled, as if the Extend Spell feat had been applied to them, The levels of the summoning spells don't change, however. This ability stacks with the effect of the Extend Spell feat, which does change the spell's level.
Contingent Conjuration: A 4th-level thaumaturgist can prepare a summoning or calling spell ahead of time to be triggered by some other event. This functions as described for the contingency spell, including having the thaumaturgist cast the summoning or calling spell beforehand. The spell is cast instantly when the trigger event occurs. For example, a thaumaturgist could use the contingent conjuration ability to summon a barbed devil the next time he is attacked, or call a ghaele eladrin to act as messenger if the king falls ill.
The conditions needed to bring the spell into effect must be clear, although they can be general. If complicated or convoluted condition as are prescribed, the contingent conjuration may fail when triggered. The conjuration spell occurs based solely on the conditions, regardless of whether the thaumaturgist wants it to, although most conjurations can be dismissed normally. A thaumaturgist can have only one contingent conjuration active at a time.
Planar Cohort: A 5th-level thaumaturgist can use any of the planar ally spells to call a creature to act as his cohort. The called creature serves loyally and well as long as the thaumaturgist continues to advance a cause important to the creature. For example, a 5th-level thaumaturgist could use planar ally to call a bralani eladrin to act as his cohort. As long as the thaumaturgist undertakes the quests and missions to fight evil and uphold good, the eladrin will loyally serve. To call a planar cohort, the thaumaturgist must cast the relevant spell, paying the XP costs normally. It takes an offering of 1,000 gp x the HD of the creature to convince it to serve as a planar cohort, and the improved ally class feature can not be used to reduce or eliminate this cost. The planar cohort can't have more Hit Dice than the thaumaturgist has, and must have an ECL no higher than the thaumaturgist's character level -2. A bralani eladrin has an ECL of 11 (6 Hit Dice and +5 level adjustment), so it might serve as a planar cohort to an 8th-level cleric/5th level thaumaturgist (character level 13th).
A thaumaturgist can have only one planar cohort at a time, but he can continue to make agreements with other called creatures normally. A planar cohort replaces a thaumaturgist's existing cohort, if he has one by virtue of the Leadership feat.
| Thaumaturgist | Hit Die: d4 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | Spells per Day |
| 1st | +0 | +0 | +0 | +2 | Improved ally | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
| 2nd | +1 | +0 | +0 | +3 | Augment Summoning | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
| 3rd | +1 | +1 | +1 | +3 | Extended summoning | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
| 4th | +2 | +1 | +1 | +4 | Contingent conjuration | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
| 5th | +2 | +1 | +1 | +4 | Planar cohort | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
Source: Dungeon Master's Guide v.3.5