So you want to be a Warrior Mage..
Here's my brief (ha) revision of the Warrior Mage class for RM2ed., and some of my reasoning behind those changes. It might be better to call this class the Essence Warrior.
Changes: 1) For every 8 DP's it takes to get 2 ranks, subtract one point, rounding up. Make resulting number and formulate a new skill cost. GM Whimsy is key here. I intend this to apply to 'n'/* skills, also, including Spell List Acquisition. A Warrior Mage is li kely to have to buy several ranks of Spell List Acquisition to have even a chance of learning their lists. Even if you use the optional rule that adds their EM mod to the chance of learning a spell pick it will cost many DP's for a decent likelihood of success.
Ex. A 2/6 cost would convert to a 1/6 or a 2/5 cost, depending on GM whimsy. A 3/7 skill would give 2/6 cost, or a 1/7 if your GM is kooky. 4/* should be treated as 4/4, thus lowering it to 3/*. A 5/* would become 3/*, or 3.5/* to the bookish.
2) Spells: Throw out the Base lists. I will not use Mind's Touch, highriding, or elemental ways. No old base lists. Really. The W.M. has 5 base lists, so you need to assign one other, GM's choice. I officially endorse using Body Renewal Monk Base List.
Other GMs will not like this choice as healing Essence magic only occurs in Monk's Base Lists.
New List! List One--Spirit Law (Warrior Mage Base List) Replaces Mind's Touch (Combines O. Ess. Lesser Illusions and C. Ess. Spirit Mastery. ** denotes new spells) 1. Confusion C. Ess, Spirit Mastery, 4th 2. Sound/Light Mirage O. Ess, Lesser Illusions, 2nd 3. Suggestion C. Ess, Spirit Mastery, 5th 4. Sleep X C. Ess, Spirit Mastery, 6th 5. Taste/Smell Mirage O. Ess, Lesser Illusions, 3rd 6. Hold Kind C. Ess, Spirit Mastery, 7th 7. Master Of Kind C. Ess, Spirit Mastery, 8th 8. Illusions V O. Ess, Lesser Illusions, 13th 9. Lord Sleep C. Ess, Spirit Mastery, 9th 10. True Charm C. Ess, Spirit Mastery, 10th 11. Quest C. Ess, Spirit Mastery, 11th 12. Hold True C. Ess, Spirit Mastery, 14th 13. **Die, as Word of Death, C. Ess, Spirit Mastery, 19th 14. Illusion VII O. Ess, Lesser Illusions, 19th 15. True Quest, C. Ess, Spirit Mastery, 20th 16. **Mass Suggestion New Spell Duration: Varies Range: 50' 17. Feel Mirage I, Base Illusionist, Feel-Taste-Smell, 5th 18. Phantasm V O. Ess, Lesser Illusions 25th 19. **Mass Hold Kind New Spell Duration: 1 round/level Range: 100' 20. Illusion X, O. Ess, Lesser Illusions, 30th 30. Phantasm X, O. Ess, Lesser Illusions, 50th 50. **Mind's Mastery New Spell Duration: 1 round/level Range: Varies Spell Descriptions: 13. Die: As Word Of Death, but it is _not_ instantaneous to cast. 16. Mass Suggestion: As Suggestion, but effects 1 target per level of the caster. 19. Mass Hold Kind: As Hold Kind, but effects 1 target per level of the caster. 50. Mind's Mastery: The caster may utilize one lower level spell per round off this list, excepting the Mirage spells, for the duration. New List! List Two--Element's Law (Warrior Mage Base List) Replaces Elemental Ways This is the basic Direct Spell based Attack list for Warrior Mages. See notes below. Level. Spell Name (Type) Duration Range 1. Main Presence (P*) 1 min/level (C) Self 2. Resist Main (D) 1 min/level 10' 3. Secondary Presence (P*) 1 min/level (C) Self 4. Resist Secondary (D) 1 min/level 10' 5. Main Analysis (I) 1 min/level (C) 10' 6. Secondary Analysis (I) 1 min/level (C) 10' 7. Main Bolt 100' (E) --- 100' 8. Secondary Bolt 100' (E) --- 100' 9. Main Ball 10'R (E) --- 100' 10. Main Armor (D) 1 min/level 10' 11. Main Barrier (Circle Of Main) 1 round/level 100' 12. Secondary Ball 10'R (E) --- 100' 13. Secondary Armor (D) 1 min/level 10' 14. Secondary Barrier (Circle Of Secondary) (E) 1 round/level 100' 15. Main Bolt 300' (E) --- 300' 16. Secondary Bolt 300' (E) --- 300' 17. Main Ball 20'R (E) --- 300' 18. Secondary Ball 20'R (E) --- 300' 19. Main Immolation (E) 1 round/level self 20. Mass Main Armor (D) 1 min/level 100' 25. Secondary Immolation (E) 1 round/level self 30. Mass Secondary Armor (D) 1 min/level 100' 50. Element's Master (F) 1 round/level Varies Spell Descriptions: 1. Main Presence* Instant.: Caster is able to discern the use and the general intensity of any of sources of his Main chosen element, within a radius of 10' per caster's level. This would include naturally occurring sources of the element and beings using or comprised of the element. For instance, this spell could be used to discern the presence of an intense and powerful source of fire some distance from a Warrior Mage who chose Fire as their Main Element, but this spell can not reveal to the caster if the fire is a bonfire or a Fire Elemental. 2. Resist Main: Provides the target with total protection from natural sources of the caster's Main Element. It adds +10 to any RR's related to or caused by that element, and -10 to elemental attack resolutions from that element. 3. Secondary Presence* Instant.: Same as Main Presence, but for the caster's Secondary Element. 4. Resist Secondary: Same as Resist Main, but for the caster's Secondary Element. 5. Main Analysis: Gives nature and origin of any object or item of the caster's Main Element examined. This spell reveals how the element was obtained or processed, if appropriate. This spell also can be used to analyze active spells or elemental beings, in which case it reveals in general terms the level of power. Exceptional or shielded beings may get an RR vs. this effect. 6. Secondary Analysis: As Main Analysis, but for the caster's Secondary Element. 7. Main Bolt 100': A 1" wide bolt of raw Main Elemental force issues from the caster's appendage, striking at their target of up to 100'. The appropriate table should be consulted for attack resolution; optionally, the Water Bolt Table can be used for _a ll_ resolutions off this list. 8. Secondary Bolt 100': Same as Main Bolt 100', but for the caster's Secondary Element. 9. Main Ball 10'R: A 1' diameter sphere of raw Main Elemental force issues from the caster's appendage, striking at their target of up to 100' and exploding over a 10' radius. As with all E class spells, the caster is immune to this effect (unless reflec ted, etc.). The appropriate table should be consulted for attack resolution; optionally the Cold Ball Table can be used for _all_ resolutions off this list. 10. Main Armor: As Resist Main, but also halves concussion hits taken from the caster's Main element and reduces criticals taken by one level (E's become D's, B's become A's, and A's are ignored, and target is -10 to EAR's against them, and +10 to any rel ated RR's). 11. Main Barrier (Circle Of Main): A non-mobile barrier composed of the caster's Main element, 10' high and in a 10'R circle, 6" thick, forms with the caster at the center. If the GM determines that such an elemental Circle can deliver damage it will yi eld one A critical per round to any being that stands inside it, no RR. If the caster wishes, this same spell cast be used to create a 10'x10'x6' straight wall with the same ability to deal criticals as detailed above. 12. Secondary Ball 10'R: Same as Main Ball 10'R, but for the caster's Secondary Element. 13. Secondary Armor: Same as Main Armor, but for the caster's Secondary Element. 14. Secondary Barrier (Circle Of Secondary): : Same as Main Barrier, but for the caster's Secondary Element. 15. Main Bolt 300': Same as Main Bolt 100', but the maximum range is 300'. 16. Secondary Bolt 300': Same as Main Bolt 300', but for the caster's Secondary Element. 17. Main Ball 20'R: Same as Main Ball 10'R, but the maximum range is 300' and the area of effect is a 20'R circle. 18. Secondary Ball 20'R: Same as Main Ball 20'R, but for the caster's Secondary Element. 19. Main Immolation: The caster is covered in the raw form of his chose main element making him temporarily immune to attacks from this element. Anyone with 5' suffers a 'A' critical each round, no RR. The caster also delivers an additional 'A' critical of their elements type with any physical attack that successfully delivers a critical, using the same critical roll as his physical attack. The caster can cause significant damage to objects and structures not on their person through carelessness with this spell, usually forcing the object(s) to make an RR or catch fire/shatter/melt/etc. 20. Mass Main Armor: As Main Armor, but protects a number of targets equal to the caster's level per spell. 25. Secondary Immolation: Same as Main Immolation, but for the caster's Secondary Element. 30. Mass Secondary Armor: Same as Mass Main Armor, but for the caster's Secondary Element. 50. Element's Master: The caster may utilize one lower level spell off this list per round for the duration. New List! List Three--Displacing Law (Warrior Mage Base List) Replaces Highriding (Used to move the Warrior Mage about through the altering of reality. ** denotes new spell) Level. Spell Name (Type) 1. Leaping C. Ess. Lofty Bridge, 1st 2. Landing C. Ess. Lofty Bridge, 2nd 3. Sprint C. Ess. Rapid Ways, 5th 4. Leaving C. Ess. Lofty Bridge, 3rd 5. Fly (75'/round) C. Ess. Lofty Bridge, 5th 6. Long Door C. Ess. Lofty Bridge, 8th 7. Blur C. Ess. Shield Mastery, 3rd 8. Teleport I C. Ess. Lofty Bridge, 10th 9. Fast Sprint C. Ess. Rapid Ways, 9th 10. Fly (300'/round) C. Ess. Lofty Bridge, 11th 11. Long Door 300' C. Ess. Lofty Bridge, 12th 12. Teleport III C. Ess. Lofty Bridge, 13th 13. Displacement 10% O. Ment. Cloaking, 13th 14. **Dash Duration: 10 min/level Range: 10' 15. Fly (450'/round) C. Ess. Lofty Bridge, 17th 16. Mass Run C. Ess. Rapid Ways, 25th 17. Displacement 20% O. Ment. Cloaking, 18th 18. Lord Teleport C. Ess. Lofty Bridge, 20th 19. **Lord Long Door (50'/lvl) Duration:--- Range: 10' 20. Displacement 30% O. Ment. Cloaking, 25th 30. **Mass Fly (300'/round) Duration: 1min/level Range: 20' 50. **Master of Displacement Duration: 1 round/level Range: Varies Spell Descriptions: 14. **Dash: As Run, except target can move at a x5 pace multiplier. 19. **Lord Long Door (50'/lvl): As Long Door, except target can and distance up to a maximum of 50' per level of the caster. 30. **Mass Fly (300'/round): A number of targets up to the caster's level can be made to Fly (300'/round), as the 11th level spell off Lofty Bridges. 50. **Master of Displacement: The caster may utilize one lower level spell off this list per round for the duration. List Four--Warrior's Blade, Spell User's Companion, Open Essence. Remember, only one weapon per user.. List Five--Noble Armor, Noble Warrior Base List, RMCIII.
3) Level Bonuses: +2 Arms Law Combat, +1 Base Spell Casting, +1 Body Development, +1 Athletic Skills, +1 Academic Skills, +1 Magical Skills, +1 Perception Skills, +2 Directed Spells.
Reasons for Change #1: Development costs for the class _should_ be lowered due to a mathematical error. (They regress toward the mean for those who know what I'm talking about.) The creators of the class took two diametrically opposite sets of skill cos ts, combined them, and halved the resulting numbers. This makes the Warrior Mage suffer from high costs all around, but especially in the first rank cost, mostly being 2/Xs or 3/Xs. My rule serves to mitigate this first rank cost inflation. However, I make no direct suggestions, because if all a WM's first skill costs were ones and twos bad things would happen. The GM is going to have to decide which first skill costs to decrease on their own. Generally the rapid development costs still are and should be steep. N.B. The only costs for a standard WM that start with 1/X are: Religion, Med. Cleansing. They also have tactics, signaling, direction sense, and animal handling with 1/X costs, but these are very similar to all the other professions' skill costs.
Reasons for Change #2: Spells.. The Warrior Mage had some real problems, mostly that the spell lists seemed to have no guiding principles. I wanted to unify the W.M. based on Spell Law lists and also the attack intent of the Magician. The 'new' lists are not all my creations, rather they are merely recompiled. I added a spell or two for sensibilities' sake, and hopefully to keeps the spell reasonably low level compared to their corresponding Open and Closed Essence lists. For instance, most of the spells I used are O. Essence lists with the spell levels lowered making them more attractive to purchase. The Spirit Law list helps those players who want to be clever giving by them Illusions, an Open essence list, instead of Mind Touch's mind controlling and telepathic spells, which were mentalism magic. For mental control I gave them Spirit Mastery spells, which can be acquired anyway, but at a lower overall level in the WM Base List. I made the list because wanted to give the Warrior Mage something n on-lethal that they could be creative with; something that can give the player other options than blasting the snot out of their opponent(s). It also has some Mass Essence effects, since being able to hit multiple targets is in some ways the purpose of t he Realm of Essence. The 'Feel Mirage I' spell might have to boosted up in spell level. . . itself it is one of the reasons Illusionists learn to be illusionists. But letting Warrior Mages create even one feel with an illusion is supposed to make up for the fact that I gave them no 'waiting illusion' spells. As a side note, there are no instantaneous or Word/Phrase spells on Spirit Law either. I wrote up Element's Law to give the Warrior Mage attack capability without gaining the benefits of the Magic ian's elemental utility spells like Whirlwind, Unstone, and so on. The purpose of this was to represent the lack of finesse most Warrior Mages truly have with elements due to lack of specialization and time. They should be able to identify the two elements they use due to their exclusive attention to them. My intention for the Presence spells is simply to serve as an "Incoming!!" alert to the Mage, that is to say, to give them some extra time to prepare their defenses. Note (again) that none of those attack spells are instants, nor are most all of the W.M.'s spells. The Main Element should be chosen from Light, Heat, Cold, Water, Air, or Earth. The Secondary Element must be non-opposing to the Main element. Opposing Elements might be: Heat-Cold, Air -Earth. Fire and Ice may chosen as Main Elements at a higher cost, and must also still not contain opposing parts to the chosen Secondary element. Opposing combinations might be: Fire-Water, Ice-Heat, Fire-Cold. I suggest that the choice of Fire or Ice as a Main Element will increase the levels for all spells on the list the whole list by 5, including Secondary Element spells. Basically, the whole list shifts up by 5 levels, starting at 6th. The primary advantage of Ice and Fire are that they both protect from two elements (heat-light and cold-water) and they both have secondary criticals if you use their Bolt/Ball Tables, which I recommend if you are going to move up the spell costs. Other GM's might also allow Dark and Electricity to be chosen at higher cost as they do secondary criticals also, but I would certainly never allow Plasma, Nether, Time, and all of that. The only reason I suggest Fire and Ice are that they mirror the original Magician lists better, but if I did not suggest heat and col d as 'easier' Main elements would likely mean that everyone would choose either Ice or Fire as their Main.. Displacing Law is a move back to core Spell Law spells, reworked into a more sequential and utility based list for the active fighter type character. It taps into the part of Essence lists that really makes the Mage have some zip. I tried to show in the list the W.M.'s growing control over displacement. The list progresses from Leaping to Leaving to Flying to Long Door to Teleport. Eventually the W.M. learns to displace themselves while in place, learning Blur and then at much higher levels the Displa cements 10%-30%. I did not include any Rapid Ways spells or any of the Shield Mastery spells. I certainly could have 'combined' them into a fourth list, but I saw it as potentially detrimental to the power balance of the class. It also seemed like I would have to throw out a lot of spells between the two lists in a fashion more arbitrary than the one I used before.
Reasons for Change #3: The level bonuses didn't make sense to me before. Deadly Skills!?!?! The Illusionist and Magician have a +3 and +1 Directed Spell, so I gave the W.M. a +2. They should need it too.. I took +1 away from Magical Skills to get one of the pluses for Directed Spells. It seems that the Warrior Mage does not have the DP's to focus on much more than attunement, runes, and power perception in the Magical Skill Category. It also makes their Transcend Armor skill bonus poorer, making them rely more on Noble Armor. I have a similar reason for taking +1 off Body Development, making the Mage have less hits and rely more on Body Renewal.