To say I have been busy lately has been an understatement. Between being sick and my girlfriend’s birthday (which, she was really happy with all I did for her this year), I have barely had enough time to get layouts of Advanced Tengus and Quests of the Sands done and have totally failed to do any kind of previews. Well, better late than never. So starting today and running through next week, I’m going to be posting exclusive looks inside these and other recent releases that I have not shared properly.
We’re going to start off with the Book of Heroic Races: Advanced Tengus. This 23 page PDF gives you everything you need to play a tengu. It starts off with a piece of short fiction and presents the racial traits. But it goes beyond that by presenting new archetypes, feats, spells, magic items and more. For this exclusive looks, we’re sharing my favorite archetype, the Spell Scavenger. This wizard archetype draws power from others that cast spells at it and turns that power on its enemies. Check it out.
Spell Scavenger
Spell scavengers use residual scraps of magic from other spellcasters to power their spells.
Associated Class: wizard
Associated Race: tengu
Replaced Abilities: bonus feat (5th, 10th and 15th levels only)
Modified Abilities: spells
Diminished Spellcasting: A spell scavenger may cast one fewer spell of each level than normal. If this reduces the number to 0, he may cast spells of that level only if his Intelligence allows bonus spells of that level.
Scavenge Magic (Su): A spell scavenger can use leftover bits of magical energy to power his spells. When he succeeds on a saving throw against a spell or spell-like ability which targets him or includes him in its area of effect, he can use the energy of that spell to cast a spell in the next round. If he has the spell prepared, he can cast the same spell the following round without expending the prepared spell. If the spell is on his spell list but not prepared, he can use the spell energy to cast a spell up to one level lower which he has prepared without expending the prepared spell. If the spell is not on his list, he can use the spell energy to cast a spell up to two levels lower which he has prepared without expending the prepared spell. The spell scavenger cannot gain the energy of a spell that does not require a saving throw.
Steal Magic (Su): At 5th level, when a spell scavenger successfully ends a spell with dispel magic or a similar effect, he can attempt a second caster level check against the spell’s caster level. If he is successful in this second attempt, he can cast that spell once as if he had prepared it. If the spell was modified which a metamagic feat, the spell scavenger casts it in its modified form, even if he does not possess the feat. A spell scavenger can only have one stolen spell readied in this way at any time. If he steals a second spell, the previously stolen spell is immediately lost. This ability does not work when the magic is merely suppressed, such as when when dispel magic is cast on a magic item. If the spell is of a level higher than the spell scavenger is normally able to cast, the spell scavenger must succeed a caster level check to successfully cast the stolen spell (DC = spell’s caster level +1). If this check fails, a mishap occurs (see Scroll Mishaps in the Pathfinder Core Rulebook, under Section 15: Magic Items). If the spell is not on the wizard spell list, the spell scavenger can still cast the spell as if it were a scroll, using either Use Magic Device or his caster level to cast the spell. Alternatively, the spell scavenger can record the spell in his spellbook or create a scroll without a check, while still needing to pay the writing cost for the spell in the book or to create the scroll, respectfully.
Improved Scavenge Magic (Su): At 10th level, three times per day, a spell scavenger can make a melee touch attack against a spellcaster. If the touch attack is successful, he steals a randomly selected spell of the caster’s highest level prepared spells or spells known. The touched caster loses the spell and the spell scavenger gains the energy of the spell as as if he had succeeded the spell’s saving throw.
Greater Scavenge Magic (Su): At 15th level, a spell scavenger can gain the energy of a spell when he fails a spell’s saving throw. Once per day, he can choose to gain the energy of a spell that targeted him or included him in its area of effect even if he failed the spell’s saving throw or if the spell did not require a saving throw. The spell still affects the spell scavenger as normal.
This isn’t the only archetype in the book, there’s also the aerialist (swashbuckler archetype, where you leap over the heads of your enemies in dramatic acrobatic assaults), crow shaman (shaman archetype, where you can use your trickster nature to steal objects at a short range), kite fighter (fighter archetype where you wield a war kite with exceptional effect), raven knight (cavalier archetype where you get to ride a giant raven mount), and the spite chanter (cleric archetype that uses channel energy to harm all nearby, regardless of creature type).
Download the Book of Heroic Races: Advanced Tengus for Pathfinder at DriveThruRPG/RPGNow, d20PFSRD, and Paizo.com.
Or download the Book of Heroic Races: Advanced Tengus as part of the Book of Heroic Races: Advanced Subscription. Get this and Book of Heroic Races: Advanced Favored Class Options today as well as the 11 other races in the Book of Heroic Races: Advanced series as they are released throughout 2015 plus the upcoming Book of Heroic Races: Advanced Compendium when it is finished at DriveThruRPG/RPGNow, d20PFSRD, and Paizo.com.