Legendary Classes

Legendary classes present high-level options for characters on the verge of greatness, whose names will be scribed eternally and against whose deeds each man shall measure his own. Although very similar in concept and appearance to prestige classes, they represent far more. They describe the pinnacle of a profession or culture. Someone who decides to walk the path of a legendary class may be fulfilling his people's oldest myth, or a society's greatest fear. It is never an easy path, nor one many would choose. Those who do take up the mantle award themselves great power as well as great danger, and only the boldest are able to fulfill their destiny.

Legendary classes all have the same progressions as normal classes, base attack bonus, saving throws, and special abilities. They also have unique class skill packages and proficiencies. Like a prestige class, there are prerequisites that must be fulfilled before the first legendary class level may be selected. Some of those are left open for the DM's discretion, so he can customize them to his home campagin.

A character must announce his intention to take a legendary classes well in advance of ever taking a level in it. In game terms, this represents the character trying to catch the attention of a deity or powerful extra-planar being, applying for a position within an organization, or channeling the spirits of his ancestors. Two levels before the character takes his first legendary class level, he must announce his commitment. This means that if Dran decides to channel enough Mana to become the Mage king at 13th level, he must announce his intention no later than the point at which he reaches 11th level.

Each legendary class has among its prerequisites a list of quests, each of which must be fulfilled in between the time of commitment and acquisition of the first level of the class. Once each quest has been fulfilled and all other prerequisites are complete, the character may take a legendary class level.

Legends wait for no man. If some or all of the quests go unfulfilled, the character may not advance in level until they are. All excess experience gained in the meantime is lost. The character need not meet all the prerequisites of the class upon announcing his intentions, but he must meet them before taking the first legendary class level. If he does not, the same penalty described above applies.

Legendary characters have access to powers and abilities beyond the reach of those who have chosen ordinary lives and less impressive legacies. They also weild greater control over the development of their powers than other characters, having choices to make as they rise in level in power. Even though two characters march down the same path they may end up quite differently depending on these choices.

For each legendary class level gained the character may choose 1 special ability from those listed. The power and scope of this ability are determined at that time and do not increase as the character goes up in level. This is known as the ability's power level. No power may be chosen more than once. This always means a sacrifcice for the character but sometimes the rewards of patience are worht the wait.


Examples of the previous Mage King

Increased Spell Power I: The character must choose a school of magic per power level. Any spells that the character casts from these schools has it's save DC increased by 2.

Unearthly Penetration II: The character gains a +1 circumstance bonus per power level to all caster level checks related to overcoming spell resistance.

Arcane Resistance III: The character gains a +1 circumstance bonus per power level to all saves against spells and spell-like abilities.

Enhanced Intelligence IV: The character gains a +1 legendary bonus to his intelligence per power level. This is a one-time bonus.

Fundamentals of Magic V: The character gains the ability to apply metamagic effects to spells without paying the normal costs. He can ignore up to two levels of metamagic cost per power level when preparing spells. So a character that took this at power level 3 could prepare two maximized fireballs as 3rd level spells instead of 6th level spells. The character can apply this ability to multiple spells each day as long as the total number of level increases ignore does not exceed his maximum.


Once a character has begun to walk the path of a legend, he may not turn back even if his faith is shattered or his kingdom lost. The forces acting upon him are great, and he cannot resist the tidal wave of fate he has chosen to ride. Once a character chooses to take a legendary class level he may not choose any other classes until the legendary class is completed. Though this may seem restrictive, it is a small price to pay for the power and prestige afforded a legend.