Iron Magus (Archetype)
Some magi are not bound to magical blades or rings, but to a suit of powerful armor...
Lose:
- Climb and Knowledge (Dungeoneering) class skills
- Proficiency with all martial weapons at 1st level
- Arcane Pool
- Medium Armor proficiency at 7th level
- Heavy Armor proficiency at 13th level
- Magus Arcana at 3rd, 9th, and 15th level
- Bonus Feat at 5th, 11th, and 17th level
- Counterstrike at 16th level
- greater spell access at 19th level
Gain:
- Disable Device and Knowledge (Engineering) class skills
- Proficiency with medium armor and heavy armor at 1st level
- Armor-bound at 1st level
- Arcane Pool
- Arcane Resilience
- Arcane Strike
- Unbreakable
- Summon Armor at 3rd level
- Fortify Bond at 5th level
- Master Smith at 9th level
- Energy Adaptation at 11th level
- Animate armor at 13th level
- reforge at 15th level
- destructive counterstrike 16th level
- arcane consumption at 17th level
- instantaneous reconstruction at 19th level
WEAPON AND ARMOR PROFICIENCY
An iron magus is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, all light, medium and heavy armor, and shields (except tower shields). He can cast magus spells while wearing their bonded armor without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. Like any other arcane spellcaster, a magus incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component and they wear an armor or use a shield that is not their bonded armor. A multiclass magus still incurs the normal arcane spell failure chance for arcane spells received from other classes.
ARMOR BOUND
The iron magus is bonded to a masterwork suit of armor that includes gauntlets, greaves, and a helmet, even if it's light armor. The magus begins with a basic suit of armor that costs them nothing. The magus can don this armor in one-fifth the normal time without any penalties. They suffer no arcane failure from their bonded armor. Their bonded armor has a name and ego including an Intelligence score equal to 10 + 1/2 their iron magus level and Wisdom and Charisma scores equal to 6 + 1/2 their iron magus level and an ego equal to 4 + their iron magus level. The armor can speak telepathically with the iron magus as long as they are within 1 mile of each other.
Should this armor ever be destroyed, the iron magus suffers 1 negative level until they craft a new masterwork armor and wear it for at least 8 hours, causing it to become their new bonded armor. Some iron magi who have lost their armor use a certain piece of the old armor to forge the new one and have been able to save the original's personality and memories.
ARCANE POOL
The iron magus has arcane pool with a number of arcane points equal to 1/2 their iron magus level + their Intelligence modifier which they can use for several special abilities. This pool refreshes when the magus takes a long rest (8 hours).
Arcane Strike (Sp): As a swift action, the magus can spend 1 arcane point from their arcane pool to grant themselves an enhancement bonus to their bonded armor's gauntlets for 1 minute equal to 1/4th their magus level (minimum +1).
Arcane Resilience (Sp): As a swift action, the magus can spend 1 arcane point from their arcane pool to grant themselves a +1 enhancement bonus to their bonded armor for 1 minute equal to 1/4th their magus level (minimum +1).
Unbreakable (Su): So long as a magus has at least 1 arcane point and their bonded armor is within melee reach of them, their bonded armor and its components are immune to the broken condition, though they can still be destroyed. As an immediate action, an iron magus can expend 1 arcane point to reduce damage dealt to their bonded armor by a number of points equal to 5 + their magus level to a minimum of 0.
Bonus Feat: An iron magus can select the following bonus feats in place of a Magus Arcana: any Item Creation feats, Combat Casting, Skill Focus (Craft) or (Spellcraft) as their bonus feats.
Summon Armor (Sp): At 3rd level, a magus can use spend 1 arcane point from their arcane pool and summon their armor to them, so long as it is within 1 mile of them. The armor immediately dons upon them with no penalty. This is a full-round action if it is heavy armor, a standard action if it is medium armor and a move action if it is light armor.
Fortify Bond (Su): At 5th level, as a swift action an iron magus may spend 1 point from his arcane pool to increase the hardness and hit points of his bonded armor by an amount equal to his magus level. These hit points last until expended or until the magus next prepares spells. Multiple uses of this ability do not stack.
Energy Adaptation (Sp): At 11th level, an iron magus can use an immediate action an spend 1 arcane point from their arcane pool to grant themselves energy resistance equal to 5 + magus level to one damage type of their choice (cold, fire, electricity or sonic) until the end of their next turn. If they do this as a standard action, the effect lasts for 1 minute.
Animate Armor (Sp): At 13th level, an iron magus may spend 2 points from his arcane pool to animate their armor as if by the animate object spell. Their caster level with this effect is equal to their class level. Unlike normal animated objects, the armor is not mindless but retains its ego and makes decisions for itself. It's also still loyal to the iron magus. When the armor is animated, the gauntlets, helmet and greaves go with it and all special effects added to those items slots as well (including magic items). While animated, the armor can still be donned upon the magus, though if this is done only one of them can act each round.
Reforge (Su): At 15th level, as a standard action, an iron magus can restore a number of hit points to a broken object equal to 1d6 per 2 magus levels by touching it and spending 1 point from his arcane pool. They can even use this to touch the broken remains of a destroyed object to reassemble it into a broken version of itself with 1 hit point. If the destroyed object was magical, they must make a caster level check against DC10 + caster level of the destroyed object. Success brings the object back while failure means they cannot try to reforge that item. They cannot reforge an item destroyed via arcane consumption or a similar ability that transferred the items power to a different power source.
SPELLS
Iron magi cast spells just like a normal magus except as follows: Remove all Necromancy and Enchantment spells and force all Transmutation spells that target creatures to be "self only" spells (personal instead of target creature). Then add all Evocation spells from the sorcerer/wizard spell list to the Magus' spell list to get the Iron Magus spell list.
MASTER SMITH (Ex)
An iron magus adds half his class level on Craft checks to craft and repair armor, shields, and weapons and Spellcraft checks to craft magic items. At 9th level, an iron magus uses the 1/10 value of armor, shields, and weapons to determine how much time it takes to craft items or enchant magic items.
DESTRUCTIVE COUNTERSTRIKE (Su)
At 16th level, an opponent who activates a magical item while threatened by an iron magus provokes an attack of opportunity, either against the target or to sunder the item. If the item is destroyed, its effects are negated.
ARCANE CONSUMPTION (Su)
At 17th level, an iron magus can use a standard action to touch a broken magic item and consume its essence. They make a caster level check against DC10 + caster level of the object, utterly destroying and incinerating it on a success and gaining a number of arcane points in their arcane pool equal to half the caster level of the magic item (up to their normal maximum). Artifacts and items bonded to a creature through class features similar to Bonded Item have a +5 bonus to this DC. If it's an artifact and bonded, the DC increases by +10. One-use items such as potions, elixirs, oils and scrolls grant no benefit if destroyed this way. Charge-use items such as wands grant only half the normal amount of arcane points if they are not completely full on charges at the time of consumption. Items destroyed this way cannot be reforged or reconstructed.
TRUE RECONSTRUCTION (Su)
At 19th level, an iron magus can resurrect creatures, including constructs and destroyed intelligent magic items, as if by the resurrection spell. This costs 1 arcane point per spell level as well as the normal material component costs. However, every non-construct non-item creature they resurrect this way becomes a construct version of themselves as part of this process, trading all their previous racial traits for that of a Wyrwood with the Living Machine trait. However, they can be brought back as a Medium-sized Wyrwood swapping the +2 Dex for +2 Con instead, if they were originally larger than Small-size. They can also be brought back as a Large Wyrwood, adding the Large (7 RP) racial trait to the Medium-sized Wyrwood. The iron magus decides which form to bring the creature back as, though they can always resist being brought back. Wyrwoods created this way have a +1 natural armor bonus and are made of mostly metal rather than mostly wood.