Chapter Five: Chaos Slaves
Machine Mage Chaositech has nothing to do with magic, yet there are those who wish to bring these two potent forces together. They attempt to use chaositech science to enhance their own magical talents and bolster their spells. These people are called machine mages. Machine mages recognize that the best way to use chaositech to aid their spellcasting is to implant custom chaositech devices right into their bodies. Each of these unique implants, called spellcircuits, is tailored to a specific individual. Only a machine mage can make use of a spellcircuit, and even then only one that he creates when he has learned the right procedures. From far away, spellcircuits look like large tattoos in abstract, lined patterns. Closer examination reveals that the lines that make up the spellcircuit are made of flexible metal, raised from the machine mage’s skin like a relief. At his most powerful, the machine mage covers himself from head to foot in spellcircuits. Machine mages also craft special implants for themselves that improve their physical systems, making them stronger, faster, and hardier. As with spellcircuits, these implants are specifically tailored to the machine mage. Though always arcane spellcasters, machine mages come equally from the ranks of sorcerers and wizards. Usually, these mages are hardier and more physically fit than their peers, due to the rigors their bodies must undergo to carry all the implants. These characters usually seem as preoccupied with devices and tools as with magic. Machine mages work in guilds, hidden away from the majority of society, cloistered with their spellbooks, their tools, and their components. These secret guilds often associate themselves with a chaos cult cell or temple, but not always. Sometimes, the machine mages vie with the cultists in a clandestine chaos war to obtain chaositech secrets,
materials, or devices. This conflict over resources makes such machine mages heretics whom the chaos cultists hate even more than they hate everyone else. Hit Die: d6
Requirements To qualify to become a machine mage, a character must fulfill all the following criteria. Alignment: Any chaotic Knowledge (Arcana): 6 ranks Craft (Chaositech): 8 ranks Chaos Surgery: 4 ranks Feat: Toughness Special: Must be able to cast 3rd-level arcane spells. To achieve his initial chaositech components, the machine mage must spend 1,000 gp on parts. Each level afterward, the machine mage pays another 500 gp for his machine-based enhancements
Class Skills The machine mage’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Chaos Surgery† (Int), Concentration (Con), Craft (any) (Int), Knowledge (any one skill) (Int), Profession (Int), Search (Int), Spellcraft (Int). See the Player’s Handbook, Chapter Four, for skill descriptions. Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Intelligence modifier.
Class Features All of the following are class features of the machine mage prestige class. Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The machine mage gains no proficiency in weapons, armor, or shields.
MACHINE MAGE Class Base Fortitude Reflex Level Attack Bonus Save Save 1st +0 +0 +0 2nd +1 +0 +0 3rd +1 +1 +1 4th +2 +1 +1 5th +2 +1 +1 6th +3 +2 +2 7th +3 +2 +2 8th +4 +2 +2 9th +4 +3 +3 10th +5 +3 +3
Will Save +2 +3 +3 +4 +4 +5 +5 +6 +6 +7
Special +1 Dexterity bonus Red spellcircuit +1 Strength bonus Chaositech servant, blue spellcircuit +1 Constitution bonus Green spellcircuit +1 Dexterity bonus Difficult to dispel, grey spellcircuit +1 Strength, +1 Constitution bonus Black spellcircuit
Spells Per Day/Spells Known +1 level of existing class +1 level of existing class +1 level of existing class — +1 level of existing class +1 level of existing class +1 level of existing class — +1 level of existing class +1 level of existing class
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