Classes (Vaerya Supplement)

The Ritualist

A ritualist is an arcane spellcaster who makes use of powerful rituals to aid himself and his allies in combat. It takes years of dedicated study under a master of the craft to even come to a basic level of proficiency at this art. Ritualists are knowledgeable about the world, thanks to their years of intense study.

Table: The Ritualist

Hit Die: d6

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Spells per Day
		Fort	Ref	Will		0	1^st	2^nd	3^rd	4^th	5^th	6^th
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Arcane Scribe, Ritual Magic, Studious, Summon Familiar	3	1	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Ritual Defense	3	2	—	—	—	—	—
3rd	+1	+1	+1	+3	Arcane Reach, Improved Ritual	3	3	—	—	—	—	—
4th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Learn Ritual	3	3	1	—	—	—	—
5th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Improved Ritual	3	3	2	—	—	—	—
6th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Improved Ritual Defense	3	3	3	—	—	—	—
7th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Spontaneous Quicken 1/day, Improved Ritual	3	3	3	1	—	—	—
8th	+4	+2	+2	+6	Learn Ritual	3	3	3	2	—	—	—
9th	+4	+3	+3	+6	Improved Ritual	3	3	3	3	—	—	—
10th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Extended Ritual 1/day	3	3	3	3	1	—	—
11th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Improved Ritual	3	3	3	3	2	—	—
12th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	Learn Ritual	4	3	3	3	3	—	—
13th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	Improved Ritual	4	4	3	3	3	1	—
14th	+7/+2	+4	+4	+9	Spontaneous Quicken 3/day	4	4	4	3	3	2	—
15th	+7/+2	+5	+5	+9	Improved Ritual	4	4	4	4	3	3	—
16th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	Learn Ritual	4	4	4	4	4	3	1
17th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	Improved Ritual	4	4	4	4	4	4	2
18th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Rapid Ritual	4	4	4	4	4	4	3
19th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Improved Ritual	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
20th	+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	Learn Ritual, Ritual Mastery	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Class Skills (2 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Ritualist.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Ritualists are proficient with the club, dagger, heavy crossbow, light crossbow, and quarterstaff, but not with any type of armor or shield. Armor of any type interferes with a Ritualists’s movements, which can cause his spells with somatic components to fail. A Ritualist wearing armor cannot begin or maintain rituals.

Spells: A ritualist casts arcane spells, which are drawn from the bard spell list. Due to an inherently strong ability to channel arcane power thanks to his ritualist training, he can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time. To learn or cast a spell, a ritualist must have a Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell's level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a ritualist’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the ritualist’s Intelligence modifier.

Like other spellcasters, a ritualist can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table: Ritualist. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Intelligence score.

The ritualist’s selection of spells is extremely limited. A ritualist begins play knowing four 0-level spells and two first level spells of your choice. At most new ritualist levels, he gains one or more new spells, as indicated on Table: Ritualist Spells Known. (Unlike spells per day, the number of spells a ritualist knows is not affected by his Intelligence score; the numbers on Table: Ritualist Spells Known are fixed.)

Upon reaching 5th level, and at every third ritualist level after that (8th, 11th, and so on), a ritualist can choose to learn a new spell in place of one he already knows. In effect, the ritualist “loses” the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell’s level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged, and it must be at least two levels lower than the highest-level ritualist spell the ritualist can cast. A ritualist may swap only a single spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that he gains new spells known for the level.

As noted above, a ritualist need not prepare his spells in advance. He can cast any spell he knows at any time, assuming he has not yet used up his allotment of spells per day for the spell’s level.

Table: Ritualist Spells Known

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

Familiar: A ritualist can obtain a familiar (see below). Doing so takes 24 hours and uses up magical materials that cost 100 gp. A familiar is a magical beast that resembles a small animal and is unusually tough and intelligent. The creature serves as a companion and servant.

The ritualist chooses the kind of familiar he gets. As the ritualist advances in level, his familiar also increases in power.

If the familiar dies or is dismissed by the ritualist, the ritualist must attempt a DC 15 Fortitude saving throw. Failure means he loses 200 experience points per ritualist level; success reduces the loss to one-half that amount. However, a ritualist’s experience point total can never go below 0 as the result of a familiar’s demise or dismissal. A slain or dismissed familiar cannot be replaced for a year and day. A slain familiar can be raised from the dead just as a character can be, and it does not lose a level or a Constitution point when this happy event occurs.

A character with more than one class that grants a familiar may have only one familiar at a time.

Arcane Scribe: This allows the Ritualist to scribe a ritual circle on any surface, including mud, snow, grass, rough stone, etc. Terrain will never prohibit a ritualist from beginning and maintaining rituals.

Ritual Magic: A ritualist is skilled in the complex art of ritual magic. He begins play with knowledge of three rituals, chosen from the Ritualist's List of Rituals. To begin a ritual, he must take a standard action to scribe a ritual circle on the floor. The ritual begins taking effect immediately. Then, in order to maintain the ritual, he must make a move action each subsequent round to perform the necessary incantations, somatic gestures, and to channel arcane power. Note, this allows a ritualist to maintain two rituals at once, at the expense of all his actions each turn. In order to end a ritual, the ritualist must simply stop taking the move action to maintain the ritual, and it immediately ends and the ritual circle disappears. If a ritualist moves more than five feet away from his ritual circle, he cannot maintain the ritual, and it ends immediately. Multiple ritual circles can be written on top of each other, so additional space for more than one ritual is not necessary. For rituals that affect allies or enemies, the maximum range of a ritual is 25 feet plus five feet per ritualist level. If applicable, the DC to resist a ritual is 10 + intelligence bonus + 1/2 caster level.

Ritual List:

• Ritual of Offense: While this ritual is maintained, all allies within range gain +1 untyped bonus to hit and damage rolls. For every five levels, this bonus increases by +1 to a maximum of +5 at level 20.

• Ritual of Defense: While this ritual is maintained, all allies within range gain +1 untyped bonus to AC and saves. For every five levels, this bonus increases by +1 to a maximum of +5 at level 20.

• Ritual of Healing: This ritual must be maintained for ten uninterrupted minutes. Once the time is up, one ally per three caster levels in range receive 1d8+caster level healing. This ritual can be used a number of times per day equal to your intelligence bonus.

• Ritual of Resistance: While this ritual is maintained, one ally per three caster levels gains spell resistance 5 + intelligence modifier + 1/2 caster level.

• Ritual of Conjuration: While this ritual is maintained, a magical weapon will follow commands to attack or move. The magical weapon's attack bonus is equal to the caster's base attack bonus plus your intelligence modifier, plus an additional +1 per five caster levels. The weapon deals damage as a medium sized martial weapon of your choosing, +1 per five caster levels.

• Ritual of Focused Offense: While this ritual is maintained, one ally within range gains +2 untyped bonus to hit and damage rolls. For every five levels, this bonus increases by +2 to a maximum of +10 at level 20.

• Ritual of Focused Defense: While this ritual is maintained, one ally within range gains +2 untyped bonus to AC and saves. For every five levels, this bonus increases by +2 to a maximum of +10 at level 20.

• Ritual of Regeneration: While this ritual is maintained, one ally per three caster levels gains fast healing 2. For every five levels, this healing increases by 2 to a maximum of fast healing 10 at level 20. This ritual can be maintained for a number of rounds equal to your intelligence bonus per day.

• Ritual of Searing Flame: While this ritual is maintained, one enemy per three caster levels takes 1d6 fire damage per round, reflex for half. This damage increases by 1d6 every five levels, to a maximum of 5d6 at level 20. More than one source of elemental damage rituals cannot be maintained at the same time.

• Ritual of Winter's Chill: While this ritual is maintained, one enemy per three caster levels takes 1d6 cold damage per round, reflex for half. This damage increases by 1d6 every five levels, to a maximum of 5d6 at level 20. More than one source of elemental damage rituals cannot be maintained at the same time.

• Ritual of Lightning Strike: While this ritual is maintained, one enemy per three caster levels takes 1d6 electrical damage per round, reflex for half. This damage increases by 1d6 every five levels, to a maximum of 5d6 at level 20. More than one source of elemental damage rituals cannot be maintained at the same time.

• Ritual of Acid Wave: While this ritual is maintained, one enemy per three caster levels takes 1d6 electrical damage per round, reflex for half. This damage increases by 1d6 every five levels, to a maximum of 5d6 at level 20. More than one source of elemental damage rituals cannot be maintained at the same time.

• Ritual of Interruption: While this ritual is maintained, all enemies in range are stunned, will negates. Once an enemy succeeds on his save, he is immune to this effect for 24 hours.

• Ritual of Exhaustion: While this ritual is maintained, one enemy per three caster levels is exhausted, fortitude negates.

• Ritual of Hindering: While this ritual is maintained, one enemy per three caster levels takes a -1 penalty to attack and damage rolls, no save. This penalty increases by -1 per five levels, to a maximum of -5 at level 20.

• Ritual of Weakness: While this ritual is maintained, one enemy per three caster levels takes a -2 penalty to AC, no save. This penalty increases by -1 per five levels, to a maximum of -6 at level 20.

• Ritual of Penetration: While this ritual is maintained, one enemy per three caster levels takes -1 penalty to all saves, no save. For every five levels, this penalty increases by -1 to a maximum of -5 at level 20.

• Ritual of Greater Penetration: While this ritual is maintained, one ally per three caster levels adds four to his caster level check to beat spell resistance.

• Ritual of Silence: While this ritual is maintained, a zone of silence surrounds the ritualist. Dispellable, DC 10 + intelligence modifier + 1/2 caster level.

• Ritual of Enhancement: While this ritual is maintained, one ally per three caster levels gains +2 to one ability score. All creatures affected must increase the same ability. for every five levels, this bonus increases by +1, to a maximum of +6 at level 20.

• Ritual of Locomotion: While this ritual is maintained, one ally per three caster levels gains +10 base move speed. This bonus increases by 5 feet per five levels, to a maximum of +30 at level 20.

• Ritual of Spell Turning: This ritual must be maintained for ten uninterrupted minutes. At the end of that time, one ally per three caster levels gains a +4 bonus to their next save. This bonus increases by +1 per five levels, to a maximum of +8 at level 20. This effect lasts for one hour, or until the save is rolled.

Studious: A ritualist spends years studying arcane tomes under the careful tutelage of their master. He adds one half his class levels to all knowledge skill checks.

Ritual Defense At second level, a ritualist gains defensive benefits from standing within five feet of an active ritual circle. He gains a +2 deflection bonus to AC and a +2 enhancement bonus to saving throws. At sixth level, these bonuses increase to +4.

Arcane Reach: At third level, a ritualist adapts to overcome the weakness of needing to stay near his ritual circle. He may cast touch spells at a range equal to the range of his rituals. To target enemies, the ritualist must succeed on a ranged touch attack.

Improved Ritual: At third level, and every odd level thereafter, a ritualist may select one improvement from the improvement list. Improvements cannot be taken multiple times unless otherwise specified in their description.

Improvement List:

• Enhance: Double the static benefits granted by one ritual. This improvement may be taken multiple times, each time a different ritual must be chosen.

• Empower: Double the dice rolled for one ritual. These bonus dice do not count against the maximum dice that can be rolled. This improvement may be taken multiple times, each time a different ritual must be chosen.

• Reduce: Double the static penalty granted by one ritual. This improvement may be taken multiple times, each time a different ritual must be chosen.

• Destroy: Increase the DC to resist this ritual by four. This improvement may be taken multiple times, each time a different ritual must be chosen.

• Spread: Increase the number of targets affected by one for one ritual. Only applies to multitarget rituals. This improvement may be taken multiple times, and it's effects stack.

• Increase: Increase the number of rounds you can maintain a limited ritual by three, or increase the number of times you can use a ritual per day by three. This improvement may be taken multiple times, each time a different ritual must be chosen.

• Double: This improvement only applies to the Ritual of Conjuration. Taking this improvement causes the ritual to summon two weapons instead of one.

• Bypass: This improvement only applies to the Ritual of Conjuration. Taking this improvement causes the weapon conjured to have the Brilliant Energy magical property. This improvement requires level 10 before it can be taken.

• Trained: This improvement only applies to the Ritual of Conjuration. Taking this improvement causes the weapon conjured to have a base attack bonus equal to caster level, rather than equal to the base attack bonus of the caster.

Learn Ritual: At fourth level, and every fourth level thereafter, a ritualist may select one additional ritual from the ritual list to add to his rituals known.

Spontaneous Quicken: At seventh level, a ritualist adapts to overcome the handicap of using all of his actions to maintain his rituals. He may apply the metamagic feat quicken to one spell per day without raising the level of the spell. At fourteenth level, a ritualist may do this three times per day.

Extended Ritual: At tenth level, a ritualist gains the ability to persist his rituals long after he has stopped maintaining them. Once per day, the ritualist may spend ten minutes preparing any ritual he knows that has a persistent effect, and cause that ritual to remain in effect for one hour per ritualist level after he stops maintaining it. This ability only works on rituals that grant a static bonus.

Rapid Ritual: At eighteenth level, a ritualist has become quite practiced at drawing ritual circles quickly. He may now begin a ritual as a move action instead of a standard action.

Ritual Mastery: At twentieth level, a ritualist has become a master of ritual magic. He may maintain a ritual as a swift action instead of a move action, allowing him to maintain three rituals at once. He can also maintain two elemental damage rituals at the same time.

Familiars

A familiar is a normal animal that gains new powers and becomes a magical beast when summoned to service by a sorcerer or wizard. It retains the appearance, Hit Dice, base attack bonus, base save bonuses, skills, and feats of the normal animal it once was, but it is treated as a magical beast instead of an animal for the purpose of any effect that depends on its type. Only a normal, unmodified animal may become a familiar. An animal companion cannot also function as a familiar.

A familiar also grants special abilities to its master (a sorcerer or wizard), as given on the table below. These special abilities apply only when the master and familiar are within 1 mile of each other.

Levels of different classes that are entitled to familiars stack for the purpose of determining any familiar abilities that depend on the master’s level.

Familiar	Special
Bat	Master gains a +3 bonus on Listen checks
Cat	Master gains a +3 bonus on Move Silently checks
Hawk	Master gains a +3 bonus on Spot checks in bright light
Lizard	Master gains a +3 bonus on Climb checks
Owl	Master gains a +3 bonus on Spot checks in shadows
Rat	Master gains a +2 bonus on Fortitude saves
Raven^1	Master gains a +3 bonus on Appraise checks
Snake^2	Master gains a +3 bonus on Bluff checks
Toad	Master gains +3 hit points
Weasel	Master gains a +2 bonus on Reflex saves
A raven familiar can speak one language of its master's choice as a supernatural ability. Tiny viper.

Familiar Basics: Use the basic statistics for a creature of the familiar’s kind, but make the following changes:

Hit Dice: For the purpose of effects related to number of Hit Dice, use the master’s character level or the familiar’s normal HD total, whichever is higher.

Hit Points: The familiar has one-half the master’s total hit points (not including temporary hit points), rounded down, regardless of its actual Hit Dice.

Attacks: Use the master’s base attack bonus, as calculated from all his classes. Use the familiar’s Dexterity or Strength modifier, whichever is greater, to get the familiar’s melee attack bonus with natural weapons.

Damage equals that of a normal creature of the familiar’s kind.

Saving Throws: For each saving throw, use either the familiar’s base save bonus (Fortitude +2, Reflex +2, Will +0) or the master’s (as calculated from all his classes), whichever is better. The familiar uses its own ability modifiers to saves, and it doesn’t share any of the other bonuses that the master might have on saves.

Skills: For each skill in which either the master or the familiar has ranks, use either the normal skill ranks for an animal of that type or the master’s skill ranks, whichever are better. In either case, the familiar uses its own ability modifiers. Regardless of a familiar’s total skill modifiers, some skills may remain beyond the familiar’s ability to use.

Familiar Ability Descriptions: All familiars have special abilities (or impart abilities to their masters) depending on the master’s combined level in classes that grant familiars, as shown on the table below. The abilities given on the table are cumulative.

Master Class Level	Natural Armor Adj.	Int	Special
1st-2nd	+1	6	Alertness, Improved Evasion, Share Spells, Empathic Link
3rd-4th	+2	7	Deliver Touch Spells
5th-6th	+3	8	Speak with Master
7th-8th	+4	9	Speak with Animals of Its Kind
9th-10th	+5	10
11th-12th	+6	11	Spell Resistance
13th-14th	+7	12	Scry on Familiar
15th-16th	+8	13
17th-18th	+9	14
19th-20th	+10	15

Natural Armor Adj.: The number noted here is an improvement to the familiar’s existing natural armor bonus.

Int: The familiar’s Intelligence score.

Alertness (Ex): While a familiar is within arm’s reach, the master gains the Alertness feat.

Improved Evasion (Ex): When subjected to an attack that normally allows a Reflex saving throw for half damage, a familiar takes no damage if it makes a successful saving throw and half damage even if the saving throw fails.

Share Spells: At the master’s option, he may have any spell (but not any spell-like ability) he casts on himself also affect his familiar. The familiar must be within 5 feet at the time of casting to receive the benefit.

If the spell or effect has a duration other than instantaneous, it stops affecting the familiar if it moves farther than 5 feet away and will not affect the familiar again even if it returns to the master before the duration expires. Additionally, the master may cast a spell with a target of “You” on his familiar (as a touch range spell) instead of on himself.

A master and his familiar can share spells even if the spells normally do not affect creatures of the familiar’s type (magical beast).

Empathic Link (Su): The master has an empathic link with his familiar out to a distance of up to 1 mile. The master cannot see through the familiar’s eyes, but they can communicate empathically. Because of the limited nature of the link, only general emotional content can be communicated.

Because of this empathic link, the master has the same connection to an item or place that his familiar does.

Deliver Touch Spells (Su): If the master is 3rd level or higher, a familiar can deliver touch spells for him. If the master and the familiar are in contact at the time the master casts a touch spell, he can designate his familiar as the “toucher.” The familiar can then deliver the touch spell just as the master could. As usual, if the master casts another spell before the touch is delivered, the touch spell dissipates.

Speak with Master (Ex): If the master is 5th level or higher, a familiar and the master can communicate verbally as if they were using a common language. Other creatures do not understand the communication without magical help.

Speak with Animals of Its Kind (Ex): If the master is 7th level or higher, a familiar can communicate with animals of approximately the same kind as itself (including dire varieties): bats with bats, rats with rodents, cats with felines, hawks and owls and ravens with birds, lizards and snakes with reptiles, toads with amphibians, weasels with similar creatures (weasels, minks, polecats, ermines, skunks, wolverines, and badgers). Such communication is limited by the intelligence of the conversing creatures.

Spell Resistance (Ex): If the master is 11th level or higher, a familiar gains spell resistance equal to the master’s level + 5. To affect the familiar with a spell, another spellcaster must get a result on a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) that equals or exceeds the familiar’s spell resistance.

Scry on Familiar (Sp): If the master is 13th level or higher, he may scry on his familiar (as if casting the scrying spell) once per day.

Familiars at Epic Level: Special abilities granted to a familiar continue to grow as the level of its master increases beyond 20th, as shown on Table: Epic Familiar Special Abilities. Even though the table shows advancement only to 42nd level, that is not the limit. The patterns in the table continue infinitely. Familiar special abilities gained at less than 20th level also continue to improve.

Table: Epic Familiar Special Abilities

Master Class Level	Natural Armor Adj.	Int	Special
21st–22nd	+11	16	Familiar Spell
23rd–24th	+12	17
25th–26th	+13	18
27th–28th	+14	19
29th–30th	+15	20
31st–32nd	+16	21	Familiar Spell
33rd–34th	+17	22
35th–36th	+18	23
37th–38th	+19	24
39th–40th	+20	25
41st–42nd	+21	26	Familiar Spell

Familiar Spell: The familiar gains the benefit of the Familiar Spell epic feat for the spell its master chooses.

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