Magehunter (3.5e Prestige Class)
Magehunter
| “ | Surrender and/or die! Preferably both. | ” |
| —Vivia, Elf Magehunter | ||
Magehunters are specialists in slaying mages. Many of them have an unearthly hatred of spellcasting because of the terrible consequences of tampering with the fabric of reality. Some Magehunters simply kill wizards and spellcasters for duty. Some do it to keep the mage's incredible power in check. Some do it for profit. But no matter their actual goals, a magehunter is a specialist and an expert. He knows when and where to strike. He knows how to kill those who use magic with incredible efficiency.
Becoming a Magehunter
Magehunters are dedicated to the eradication of destructive and reckless magic, especially arcane spellcasting. Why? Ask any Magehunter. They will respond that many an errant and irresponsible mage has caused untold havoc in their home nation. Some Magehunters may even travel with wizards as companions. Or they may have even dabbled in magics themselves to better understand their enemy, fighting fire with fire so to speak.
| Base Attack Bonus: | +5. |
|---|---|
| Skills: | Knowledge (Arcana) 8 ranks. |
| Feats: | Mage Slayer CA |
| Level | Base Attack Bonus |
Saving Throws | Special | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort | Ref | Will | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1st | +1 | +0 | +2 | +2 | Occult Tracker, Witchhunt (+1/1d6) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2nd | +2 | +0 | +3 | +3 | Spell Resistance | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3rd | +3 | +1 | +3 | +3 | Escape the Cage, Witchhunt (+2/1d6) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4th | +4 | +1 | +4 | +4 | Disturb Spells | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5th | +5 | +1 | +4 | +4 | Mind Cage, Witchhunt (+3/2d6) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6th | +6 | +2 | +5 | +5 | Bind Magic, Improved Escape the Cage | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7th | +7 | +2 | +5 | +5 | Witchhunt (+4/2d6) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8th | +8 | +2 | +6 | +6 | Improved Occult Tracker | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9th | +9 | +3 | +6 | +6 | Anti-Magic Barrier 2/day, Witchhunt (+5/3d6) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10th | +10 | +3 | +7 | +7 | Witchslayer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Level | Special |
|---|---|
| 11th | Witchhunt (+6/3d6), |
| 12th | Anti-Magic Barrier 4/day |
| 13th | Witchhunt (+7/4d6) |
| 14th | |
| 15th | Witchhunt (+8/4d6), Anti-Magic Barrier 6/day |
| 16th | |
| 17th | Witchhunt (+9/5d6) |
| 18th | Anti-Magic Barrier 8/day |
| 19th | Witchhunt (+10/5d6) |
| 20th |
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Magehunter. The save DC of all Magehunter abilities are equal to 10 + their charisma modifier + 1/2 their total character levels.
Occult Tracker (Su): At first level, the Magehunter is permanently under the effects of Arcane Sight. He may suppress or resume this ability as a free action.
At 8th level, the Magehunter gains the benefit of Greater Arcane Sight. This replaces their normal Arcane Sight.
Witchhunt (Ex): The Magehunter gains a +1 bonus on all attack rolls against creatures capable of casting spells and creatures possessing one or more spell-like abilities. They also deal an additional 1d6 points of damage on a successful hit made against creatures capable of casting spells or possessing spell-like abilities. The bonuses to attack rolls increase by +1 every odd level after first. (as seen on the Magehunter table above). The bonus damage increases by +1d6 every four levels after level 1.
Spell Resistance (Ex): At 2nd level, the Magehunter gains Spell-Resistance equal to his Character Level +5. He may suppress or resume it as a free action.
Escape the Cage (Ex): At 3rd level, 1/day + 1/day per 3 Magehunter levels, a Magehunter may cast dimension door at will as a standard action. Caster level equal to the Magehunter's total Character Level. As an extraordinary ability, it can be used in an anti-magic field or dead magic zone.
A 6th level Magehunter can ignore dimensional lock, dimensional anchor and similar abilities when using this ability.
Disturb Spells (Ex): At 4th level each time a spellcaster is struck by a Magehunter during spellcasting, he must make a successful fortitude save or automatically fail his concentration check and loses the spell. A creature need only to make one save per round no matter how many it is affected. Even if the caster succeeds on the save, he must still make a concentration check as normal to succeed. DC 10 + Magehunter level + Strength Modifier.
Mind Cage (Ex): At 5th level the magehunter becomes immune to all mind-affecting abilities.
Bind Magic (Ex): At 6th level, when a Magehunter successfully strikes a creature capable of casting spells or possessing one or more spell-like ability, the creature must make a fortitude save or lose the ability to cast spells or use spell-like abilities for a number of rounds equal to his Magehunter level. Multiple bind magic effects do not stack, rather they overlap. A creature need only make one save per round no matter how many times it is affected. DC 10 + Magehunter level + Strength Modifier.
If the Magehunter strikes a Magic item (whether trying to sunder it or with a touch attack) he disables it for a number of rounds equal to his Magehunter level. If the item has charges, it not disabled, instead losing one charge per round it would otherwise have been suppressed.
Anti-Magic Barrier (Sp): At 9th level, as an immedaite action, a magehunter may raise an antimagic field as per the spell. However, its duration is reduced to one round. The caster level equals the Magehunter's total character level. This ability can only be used 1/day at level 9 and 2/day at level 10. At level 10, he may instead expend both uses as an immediate action to create an antimagic field with a standard duration.
Witchslayer (Ex): 5/day, before an attack roll, a Magehunter can declare that he is using the Witchslayer ability. This ability works similar to a Paladin's smite class feature. If the Magehunter successfully strikes and damages any creature(s) capable of casting spells or possessing one or more spell-like abilities, they must make a Fortitude Save or die. DC 10 + Magehunter level + Strength Modifier. Creature(s) that succeed on the save take 4d10 force damage and are unaffected by this ability for the next 24 hours. Creature(s) with more than one and a half the number of Hit Dice than the Magehunter (rounded down) are not subject to the death effect if they fail their save, instead, they take 10d10 force damage.
Playing a Magehunter
Combat: Magehunters are very effective against enemy spellcasters. They are also highly effective against outsiders and any other creatures with spell-like abilities.
Advancement: Magehunters were mostly rogues, fighter, ranger or paladins. Few were spellcasters due to their pursuit of spellcasters and the fact that the the PrC offers no spellcasting advancement, making it a poor choice for spellcasters.
Resources: Magehunters often gather in guilds. Others gain the sponsorship of a church or other religious organization hostile to arcane magic. A divine Magehunter may gather in strange sects along with Ur-Priests and scheme to slay the followers of the gods.
Magehunter in the World
| “ | Yeah, I killed archmage Zearusu the Great. No big deal after I disabled his ability to cast spells. | ” |
| —Zotha, half-lunar magehunter | ||
Magehunters are hated by spellcasters... for obvious reason. Otherwise they are no different from the standard adventurer.
NPC Reactions: Spellcaster NPCs tend to react quite poorly to magehunters; others NPCs tend to not care.
Magehunter Lore
Characters with ranks in Knowledge (Arcana) can research Magehunter lore to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.
| DC | Result |
|---|---|
| 11 | Magehunters are devoted to the destruction of spellcaster and are tutored in multiple tactics and techniques tailored for use against them. |
| 16 | Magehunters are capable of escaping almost any entrapment by mystical means. |
| 21 | A skilled magehunter may even raise an antimagic field in an instant. |
| 26 | Info about the whereabout of a particular magehunter. |
Magehunter in the Game
Magehunters... well, hunt spellcasters. An NPC magehunter may be distrustful toward the party spellcasters at best and hostile at worst. Magehunters do not hate all spellcasters; some are in fact trained in mage guilds to hunt down dissidents and keep order in the world of magic. In fact, the intentions don't make a magehunter, they just all share the same training.
Adaptation: Everyone hating spellcasters can be a magehunter, so adaptation isn't such a problem.
Sample Encounter: COMING SOON
EL whatever: COMING SOON
Back to Main Page → 3.5e Homebrew → Classes → Prestige Classes