Ardwright

• 
• 

Details

Category: Classes

Published on Tuesday, 10 November 2009 13:43

Written by Paul O'Connell

In balefire-lit forges and great libraries one might find an ardwright, honing his craft. Utilizing ancient methods and alchemical schema, the ardwright instills his own energy into weapons, armor, and devices of legend. Away from his workshop, the ardwright lends his power to the weapons of his allies, dispels ancient and deadly glyphs, and bends magical instruments to his will. When his allies come upon a ward surging with deadly necrotic energy, it is the ardwright they turn to safely harness the accursed device and unravel the threads of its magic into the aether. Returning to his workshop, the ardwright puts down his bounty and takes up his quill. With a loyal homunculus by his side, he records his observations and devises new schema. For him, each answered question only sharpens his curiousity about the workings of the primal forces.

Role: Ardwrights are a great utility and support class. Dwimmers can provide extra offensive capability to the party's front line, or protect the party's more vulnerable members. Ardwrights make the most of recovered treasure, turning inappropriate but valuable weapons and armor into tailored equipment for party members. Their proficiency with Use Magic Device ensures that no scroll or wand is beyond usefulness. The ardwright's skills and powers make them second to none at disarming traps and unlocking vaults, especially when magic is involved. Few ardwrights become front-line combatants, but when prepared they can be extremely deadly due to their extensive arsenal of items and situational enhancements.

Alignment: any

Hit Die: d8

Class Skills

Appraise (Int), Craft (Int), Disable Device (Dex), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (engineering) (Int), Knowledge (planes) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Use Magic Device (Cha)

Skill Ranks Per Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Level	Base Attack	Fort	Ref	Will	Special Abilities
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Peerless Craftsman, Cantrips, Trapfinding, Arms and Armor Dwimmer
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Guidance Dwimmer
3rd	+2	+1	+1	+3	Distill Radical, Inscription Dwimmer
4th	+3	+1	+1	+4	Trade Secret, Ability Dwimmer
5th	+3	+1	+1	+4	Plural Dwimmer 1/day
6th	+4	+2	+2	+5	Shape Casting (spell trigger)
7th	+5	+2	+2	+5
8th	+6/+1	+2	+2	+6	Trade Secret
9th	+6/+1	+3	+3	+6	Charge Imbuing Dwimmer
10th	+7/+2	+3	+3	+7	Plural Dwimmer 2/day
11th	+8/+3	+3	+3	+7	Shape Casting (spell completion)
12th	+9/+4	+4	+4	+8	Trade Secret
13th	+9/+4	+4	+4	+8
14th	+10/+5	+4	+4	+9
15th	+11/+6/+1	+5	+5	+9	Plural Dwimmer 3/day
16th	+12/+7/+2	+5	+5	+10	Trade Secret
17th	+12/+7/+2	+5	+5	+10
18th	+13/+8/+3	+6	+6	+11	Skill Mastery
19th	+14/+9/+4	+6	+6	+11
20th	+15/+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	Mass Dwimmer, Trade Secret

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Ardwrights are proficient with all simple weapons, plus the light hammer, warhammer, short sword, hand crossbow, and light repeating crossbow. Ardwrights are also proficient with light armor, and with shields (but not tower shields). An ardwright can cast spells while wearing light armor and shield without suffering arcane spell failure. If he wears medium or heavy armor and attempts to cast arcane spells, he suffers arcane spell failure as normal.




Arms and Armor Dwimmer: an ardwright can spend a dram to imbue a weapon, armor or up to 50 ammunition with a magic property for 1 minute per level.  The magical properties an the ardwright can imbue include distance, ghost touch, keen, throwing, or thundering for weapons, and arrow catching, light fortification, slick, or shadow for armors.  Alternatively the ardwright can also spend a dram to imbue a weapon, armor, or up to 50 ammunition with an enhancement bonus of +1, lasting 1 hour per level.  The enhancement bonus provided by this dwimmer increases by an additional +1 at level 4th and every 4 levels there after.  If a weapon property or enhancement bonus dwimmer is crafted to the frame of an animated object or construct only its natural attacks are effected by the dwimmer.

As the ardwright advances he learns to imbue more powerful magical properties with his arms and armor dwimmer.

At 3rd level the ardwright can spend a dram to imbue a weapons, armor, or up to 50 ammunition with the weapon properties defending, flaming, frost, ki focus, seeking, shock, merciful, returning, or spell storing, or the armor properties arrow deflection, bashing, blinding, or glamoured.

At 7th level, at a cost of 2 drams, he can imbue a weapon with disruption, flaming burst, icy burst, mighty cleaving, shocking burst, vicious, or wounding, and an armor with improved shadow, improved slick, invulnerability, moderate fortification, or spell resistance (13).

At 10th level, at a cost of 3 drams, he can imbue a weapon with anarchic, axiomatic, holy, speed, or unholy, or an armor animated, energy resistance, ghost touch, greater shadow, greater slick, spell resistance (15), or wild.

At 14th level, at a cost of 3 drams, he can imbue a weapon with bane, brilliant energy, or dancing, or an armor with heavy fortification, improved energy resistance, spell resistance (17), or undead controlling.

At 17th level, at a cost of 4 drams, he can imbue a weapon with the vorpal property or an armor with etherealness, greater energy resistance, reflecting, or spell resistance (19).

For arms and armor dwimmers, the level that specific properties and enhancement bonuses becomes available is the used when determining the dwimmers equivalent spell level.

Guidance Dwimmer: At 2nd level the ardwright can craft a dwimmer that grants a bonus to a particular skill or saving throw for 1 minute per level.  Skill bonuses grant a +2 circumstance bonus that increases by an additional +1 at 6th level and every 4 levels after.  Resistance bonuses grant a +1 that increases by an additional +1 at 6th level and every 4 levels after.  This dwimmer costs 1 Dram.

Inscription Dwimmer: At 3rd level the ardwright can craft a dwimmer that acts as a one-time use spell completion item with a spell from his schema book (see below).  The ardwright must scribe a surface with an amount of silver ink costing 12.5gp x spell level x caster level. The spell still requires the appropriate Use Magic Device roll to activate, and is used like a scroll.  This dwimmer takes a minimum of 1 minute to craft, and remains usable for 1 hour per level.  It costs 1 Dram per spell level of the spell inscribed.

Ability Dwimmer: At 4th level, at a cost of 2 drams, the ardwright can craft a dwimmer that can add an enhancement bonus to an attribute for 1 minute per level. The chosen ability is granted a +4 enhancement bonus, that increases by an additional +2 at 10th level and every 6 levels after.

Charge Imbuing Dwimmer: At 9th level the ardwright can infuse a spell trigger item that uses charges with additional charges.  As a swift action at the beginning of the dwimmer, the ardwright must first make a Use Magic Device roll, DC 20 + the item's caster level, to access the spell trigger item and allow the dwimmer to take the form of its charges.  Spell trigger items whose spells have a costly material component, such as stone skin, must have an amount of that material component equal to the charges to be imbued.  This dwimmer costs a number of Drams equal to the charges inbued into the item.  Wands and other items that become inert after all their charges are spent do not hold imbued charges well.  Any imbued charges dissipate from these items after 24 hours.

Trapfinding: An ardwright's study of devices, both magic and mundane, aid him in dealing with traps. He adds 1/2 his level to any perception checks to locate traps and Disable Device skill checks (minimum +1). An ardwright can use Disable Device to disarm magical traps.

Schema Book: An ardwright keeps a special spellbook called a schema book, in which he records magical theories and keeps copies of spells he has had the chance to study. Using his schema book and ardwright can emulate the prerequisite spells that other spellcasters use in crafting, including for the crafting of spell completion and spell trigger items. However, an ardwright can only emulate spells in this way if he is familiar with them. An ardwright can copy any spell, arcane or divine, as long as it has a spell level no greater than 1/2 the character's ardwright levels, rounding up. The ardwright starts with all of the 0-level cantrips from the ardwright list, as well as three 1st level spells from any of the ardwright, bard, cleric, druid, or sorcerer/wizard spell lists in his schema book +1 per point of intelligence bonus. As the ardwright gains experience, he researches spells from the ardwright spell list, recording his theories in his book. Any time the ardwright gains a level after 1st, he can select 2 spells from the ardwright spell list, of a level that he can cast, and add them to his schema book for free.

When crafting a magic item, the ardwright must employ his Use Magic Device skill to emulate the spells he want to include in the crafting. The ardwright need only emulate the spell once in order to count it towards reducing the spellcraft DC for the item. The DC to emulate a spell for crafting is 20+the caster level of the spell. If the check fails, the ardwright can still craft the item, but that spell requirement is not met, which increases the spellcraft DC for crafting the item by 5. In the case of Spell Trigger and Spell Completion items, the ardwright cannot craft the item unless the Use Magic Device roll succeeds. If the Use Magic Device roll fails 4 or less, none of the material components are ruined, and the ardwright can try again. If the roll fails by 5 or more, then 1/2 the materials are ruined. If the roll fumbles a scroll mishap occurs.

Spells: While making a study of spell effects and magic, there are some spells that the ardwright has a keen insight for, and learns to cast them as a wizard would. These spells often have item targets or modify items and spell dweomers. The ardwright prepares these spells just like a wizard, and must have a copy of the spell in his schema book in order to prepare a particular spell. To cast these spells the ardwright must have a Intelligence score at least 10+the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against an ardwright's spell is 10+the spell level+the ardwright's Intelligence mod. Like other spellcasters, the ardwright can only cast a limited number of spells per day as listed on the ardwright class feature table. He receives bonus per day if he has a high intelligence score. Ardwrights are as reliant on their schema books, as wizards are on their spellbooks. An ardwright who looses his schema book cannot prepare any spells except for read magic.

	Spells Per Day
Level	0	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
1st	3	1	-	-	-	-	-
2nd	4	2	-	-	-	-	-
3rd	4	2	-	-	-	-	-
4th	4	3	1	-	-	-	-
5th	4	3	2	-	-	-	-
6th	4	3	2	-	-	-	-
7th	4	4	3	1	-	-	-
8th	4	4	3	2	-	-	-
9th	4	4	3	2	-	-	-
10th	4	4	4	3	1	-	-
11th	4	4	4	3	2	-	-
12th	4	4	4	3	2	-	-
13th	4	4	4	4	3	1	-
14th	4	4	4	4	3	2	-
15th	4	4	4	4	3	2	-
16th	4	4	4	4	4	3	1
17th	4	4	4	4	4	3	2
18th	4	4	4	4	4	3	2
19th	4	4	4	4	4	4	3
20th	4	4	4	4	4	4	4

Ardwright Spell List

0-level Cantrips Arcane Mark Detect Magic Light Mage Hand Mending Open/Close Read Magic Sift* Spark* 1st Level Spells Alarm Animate Rope Detect Secret Doors Erase Floating Disk Grease Hold Portal Identify Magic Aura Magic Mouth Magic Stone Obscure Object Unseen Servant Ant Haul* Beguiling Gift* Borrow Skill* Break* Craft's Curse* Crafter's Fortune* Dancing Lantern* Gravity Bow* Instant Armor* Lead Blades*

2nd Level Spells Align Weapon Arcane Lock Find Traps Knock Locate Object Make Whole Misdirection Phantom Trap Pyrotechnics Rope Trick Silence Shatter Warp Wood Wood Shape Accelerate Poison* Alchemical Allocation* Create Treasure Map* Transmute Potion to Poison* Versatile Weapon* 3rd Level Spells Arcane Sight Continual Flame Dispel Magic Explosive Runes Glyph of Warding Illusory Script Meld into Stone Minor Creation Secret Page Sepia Snake Sigil Shrink Item Stone Shape Absorbing Touch* Arcane Concordance* Campfire Wall* Elemental Speech* Enter Image*

4th Level Spells Arcane Eye Fire Trap Major Creation Permanency Rusting Grasp Secure Shelter Wall of Stone Detonate* Treasure Stitching* 5th Level Spells Dispel Magic, Greater Fabricate Passwall Prying Eyes Repel Wood Secret Chest Symbol of Pain Symbol of Sleep Wall of Iron Planar Adaptation* 6th Level Spells Arcane Sight, Greater Analyze Dweomer Animate Objects Flesh to Stone Move Earth Repel Metal or Stone Stone to Flesh Symbol of Fear Symbol of Persuasion Expend* Getaway* Rampart*

*Spells from the Pathfinder Advanced Player's Guide

Peerless Craftsman (Ex): As the ardwright levels, he researches the knowledge needed to craft different magic items. An ardwright automatically gains access to the item creation feats in the core rule book he has the prerequisites for. These include Scribe Scroll at 1st level, Brew Potion and Craft Wondrous Item at 3rd level, Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Craft Wand, and Craft Construct at 5th level, Forge Ring at 7th level, Craft Rod at 9th level, and Craft Staff at 11th level. Other item crafting feats are not part of this list and the ardwright must learn them by spending a feat as normal.

Distill Radical (Su): At 3rd level the ardwright learns distill the dweomer of a magic item into a small component called a radical. Radicals often take the form of gems, or sometimes a piece of the original item involved. The ardwright must spend an hour with item to be distilled, and make a spellcraft check of the same DC as if he were crafting the item in question, including modifiers for whether the ardwright has the spell prerequisites in his schema book (although he need not make the Use magic Device checks to emulate spell requirements). He must also have the prerequisite crafting feat for the item in question, and access to a work space suitable for creating such an item. If successful the item is destroyed and the ardwright is left with a radical. The magic energy of the dweomer is stored in the radical and can be used in the crafting of a new item to reduce the cost in materials. The gp value of a radical is 1/2 the market price of the item it came from. Items with multiple enchantments provide 1 radical for each separate enchantment, with a value for the specific enchantment it carries only. If creating an item with an identical enchantment, the radical's total gp value can be applied to the item's materials cost. If the new item is being crafted with a similar enchantment, then a portion of the gp value can be applied as allowed by the DM.

Unravel Dweomer: This same process can be used to destroy a magic item, including cursed items. The ardwright follows the same procedure but instead of distilling the dweomer into a radical, the ardwright lets the magic energies unravel into the aether. A fumble in this case can have disastrous effects as the either unravel too fast, or explosively snap back into place. If the ardwright is attempting unravel a cursed item and fails, he is treated as having used the item.

Trade Secret (Ex): At 4th level the ardwright learns a trade secret from his research or work with items. This discovery comes in the form of a special bonus feat. The ardwright makes another discovery at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th level. The feats an ardwright can take as a Trade Secret include Skill Focus, Magical Aptitude, any metamagic feat, or any crafting feat not included in the ardwright's peerless crafting list.

Plural Dwimmer (Su): At 5th level an ardwright learns to split a dwimmer being crafted as swift action, once per day, allowing it to be cast on 2 items. Both items need to be within 5 feet of the ardwright. The ardwright crafts the dwimmer as normal, using the normal investment of time for the dwimmer. The number of times per day an ardwright can craft a plural dwimmer increases to twice per day at 10th level, and 3 times per day at 15th level. Inscription dwimmers may not be split with plural dwimmer.

Shape Casting (Su): At 6th level the ardwright learns to be able to shape and modify the spells cast from a spell trigger item (usually a wand), once a day. He may apply any metamagic feat he knows to a spell trigger item he is using, as a swift action. He must have the appropriate Item creation feat for the item in question, and the effective level of the spell cast from the device cannot exceed 1/2 the ardwright's caster level. Shaping the spell costs a number of extra charges equal to the metamagic's spell level modifier. An ardwright can use this ability an additional time per day for every two levels gained after 6th. At 11th level, in addition to being able to shape the spells cast from spell trigger items, the ardwright learns to be able to shape the spells cast from a spell completion item (usually a scroll). If the metamagic feat spell level modifer is higher than +1, the ardwright must spend an additional daily usage of shape casting for each level that it exceeds it by.

Skill Mastery: At 18th level an ardwright is so familiar with the skills of his trade that he can take 10 when making a Appraise, Disable Device, Spellcraft, or Use Magic Device check even if stressed or threatened. This ability allows an ardwright to take 10 on Use Magic Device checks, even though that is not normally allowed.

Mass Dwimmer (Su): At 20th level an ardwright learns to crafts a plural dwimmer that effects items on allies within 30 feet. Crafting a mass dwimmer requires a swift action, in addition to the normal cast time, and is usable once per day. The items cast must all take the same type of item slot all the people effected by a mass dwimmer. If there is no item on a particular ally (such as if there is an unarmed combatant among a mass dwimmer of weapons) then that person does not receive the dwimmer.

Advanced Player's Guide Options

Magic Armor and Weapon Properties

The following magic armor and weapon properties may be made into arms and armor dwimmers at the appropriate levels if allowed by the GM.  GMs may want to restrict the use of these properties until an ardwright has done research to make use of them, rather than make them all available from the get go.  A suggested method is for GMs to treat each property as a new spell, allowing an ardwright to choose one in leu of choosing a spell to learn upon gaining a level, or requiring that the ardwright spend gold equivalent to what would be spent researching a new spell of a similar level.  1st level arms and armor dwimmer properties are equivalent to 1st levels spells, 3rd level properties are equivalent to 2nd level spells, 7th level properties are equivalent to 3rd level spells, 10th level properties are equivalent to 4th level spells, 14th level properties are equivalent to 5th levels spells, and 17th level properties are equivalent to 6th level spells.

1st level
Armor: jousting.
Weapon: allying, cunning, grayflame, huntsman, jurist, transformative.

3rd level
Armor: champion, dastard.
Weapon: corrosive, dueling, furious.

7th level
Weapon: conductive, corrosive burst, menacing

10th level
Armor: determination

14th level
Armor: righteous, unrighteous

Additional Ratings
Balance:	1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Rating 4.16 (38 Votes)
Utility:	1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Rating 4.76 (38 Votes)
Clarity:	1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Rating 4.28 (39 Votes)

• < Prev
• Next >