Campaign Design - Prestige Class: Sage of the U'pesuristean Vault

Sage of the U'pesuristean Vault (adapted from Relics & Rituals II; originally Sage of the Phylacteric Vault)

The U'pesuristean Vault is the largest known trove of arcane knowledge of the ancient and mysterious Tauta'. Although much has been learned from studying the scrolls and tomes found there, only a tiny fraction of the material contained within its halls has been deciphered. The key to unlocking the vast repository of learning is its sages. These wizards are dedicated to unveiling the magical secrets of the Tauta'. Each pursues this end through intense study in the four known field of U'pesuristean magic: Chronomancy, Oneiromancy, Planar Geography, or Pure Alchemy.

The sages of the U'pesuristean Vault form a close-knit community in Sealand. These sages generally know most other Vault scholars within their specialty, and many in the other disciplines as well. Their life is one of intense, dedicated scholarship. The results of their research are published in treatises that are debated, celebrated, reviled, or ignored, depending on popular prejudice, luck, talent, and reputation. The U'pesuristean Vault is a highly scrutinized and structured environment in which to undertake magical scholarship. Those who do follow this difficult path do so for the promise of unlocking ancient secrets and unraveling impenetrable mysteries.

Hit Die: d4.
Luck Die: d2.

Requirements
To become a sage of the U'pesuristean Vault, one must meet the following criteria:

• Skills: Knowledge: Arcana 8+ ranks, Spellcraft 8+ ranks. In addition, the sage of the U'pesuristean Vault must have 10+ ranks in Craft: Alchemy, Knowledge: Dreams, Knowledge: History, or Knowledge: the Planes, depending upon which specialty they intend to pursue.
• Feats: Skill Focus in Craft: Alchemy, Knowledge: Dreams, Knowledge: History, or Knowledge: the Planes, depending upon which specialty they intend to pursue. In addition, the sage of the U'pesuristean Vault must have Spell Mastery and select as one of his mastered spells at least one spell from among those in the intended specialty.
• Special: Must be able to cast prepared arcane spells, at least 5 of which must be among those in the intended specialty.

Class Skills

• The sage of the U'pesuristean Vault's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Concentration (Con), Craft: Any (all skills taken individually)(Int), Knowledge: Any (all skills taken individually)(Int), Profession: Any (all skills taken individually)(Wis), Ritual Casting (Con), and Spellcraft (Int).
• Note: Because the Three Worlds campaign uses the Skills by Character house rule, the list of class skills given here is only included for the sake of completeness, and is not used by characters in the campaign setting.
• Skill Points at each level: 2 + Intelligence modifier.

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the sage of the U'pesuristean Vault prestige class.

• Base Attack Bonus: Poor. A sage of the U'pesuristean Vault gains +½ base attack bonus per class level.


• Base Fortitude Save Bonus: Poor. sage of the U'pesuristean Vault gains +¹⁄₃ base Fortitude save bonus per class level.


• Base Reflex Save Bonus: Poor. A sage of the U'pesuristean Vault gains +¹⁄₃ base Reflex save bonus per class level.


• Base Will Save Bonus: Good. A sage of the U'pesuristean Vault gains a +½ base Will save bonus per class level.


• Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Sages of the U'pesuristean Vault gain no new proficiencies with weapons or armor.


• Spells: A sage of the U'pesuristean Vault continues training in magic. Thus, when a new sage of the U'pesuristean Vault level is gained, the character gains new spells per day, as if she had also gained a level in a spell casting class he already belongs to. He does not gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (such as an improved chance of controlling or rebuking undead, metamagic or item creation feats and so on). This essentially means that he adds the sage of the U'pesuristean Vault levels to the level of some other spell casting class the character has, then determines spells per day and caster level accordingly. If a character had more than one spellcasting class before becoming a sage of the U'pesuristean Vault, he must decide to which class he adds each level of sage of the U'pesuristean Vault for purposes of determining spells per day when he adds the new level. Levels of wizard and sage of the U'pesuristean Vault stack for the purpose of determining familiar abilities.


• Speciality: At 1^st level, a sage of the U'pesuristean Vault must choose an area of specialization. To choose an area as his specialty, the sage must have 10+ ranks in the appropriate specialty skill, and must already know 5 arcane spells that appear on that specialty's spell list. The four specialties that have been developed from the documents in the U'pesuristean Vault are Chronomancy, Oneiromancy, Planar Geography, and Pure Alchemy.
  
  
  
  A sage of the U'pesuristean Vault gains a +2 competence bonus on any Spellcraft check related to spells in his area of specialty. In addition, sage of the U'pesuristean Vault may prepare one additional spell per spell level each day, provided that spell comes from their specialty list.
  
  
  
  As they increase in level, sages of the U'pesuristean Vault continue to add spells to their spellbooks, gaining 3 spells every time they gain a sage of the U'pesuristean Vault level. These spells must be from their area of specialization. if they already have all of the spells of a given level within their specialization, they may learn others, but may learn a maximum of 2 non-specialty spells per level in this manner.
  
  
  
  A sage of the U'pesuristean Vault has no restrictions as to what spells he may copy into his spellbooks from scrolls or from other wizard's spellbooks. As sage of the U'pesuristean Vault does suffer a -2 penalty to Spellcraft checks to learn or research a spell that falls outside of his area of specialty.


• Profound Understanding: The sage of the U'pesuristean Vault has gained a profound understanding of his area of specialty. He gains a +2 insight bonus to all skill checks using his specialty skill. This stacks with the specialty bonus to Spellcraft checks, as well as with the bonus provided by the Skill Focus feat.


• Strength of Learning: At 2^nd level, the sage of the U'pesuristean Vault gains a +2 bonus to the save DC of any spell from his specialty.


• Metamagic Mastery: A 3^rd level sage of the U'pesuristean Vault may subtract 1 spell level from the cost of augmenting one of his specialty's spells with metamagic feats. This ability improves as the sage of the U'pesuristean Vault increases in level: At 6^th level, he may subtract 2 levels from the metamagic cost, and at 9^th level, he may subtract 3 levels. This may never reduce the effective spell level of the spell to below its normal level.


• Spell Mastery: At 4^th level and again at 8^th, the sage of the U'pesuristean Vault gains the Spell Mastery feat as a bonus feat, although this feat may only be used to master spells from within his specialty.


• Greater Learning (Ex): Upon reaching 5^th level, any time a sage of the U'pesuristean Vault makes a skill check for the skill that corresponds to his specialty, and the die result is lower than a 10, it is calculated as though he had rolled a 10.


• Specialist Craftsman: At 7^th level, the sage of the U'pesuristean Vault gains an improved ability to create magic items whose powers fall within his field of expertise. Any magic items that has at least one of the spells of his specialty as a crafting prerequisite costs only 75% of the normal shilling and experience point value. The sage must have the appropriate item creation feats needed to craft the item.


• True Understanding: Upon reaching 10^th level, the sage of the U'pesuristean Vault has gained as close to a "true" understanding of his area of specialty as a mortal can realistically hope to achieve. He may always take 20 on skill checks using his specialty skill.

Sage of the U'pesuristean Vault

Level	Special	Spells per Day
1st	Specialty, Profound Understanding	+1 level of existing class
2nd	Strength of Learning	+1 level of existing class
3rd	Metamagic Mastery I	+1 level of existing class
4th	Spell Mastery	+1 level of existing class
5th	Greater Learning	+1 level of existing class
6th	Metamagic Mastery II	+1 level of existing class
7th	Specialist Craftsman	+1 level of existing class
8th	Spell Mastery	+1 level of existing class
9th	Metamagic Mastery III	+1 level of existing class
10th	True Understanding	+1 level of existing class

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