Bonded Master

Requirements

Skills: Concentration 8 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 8 ranks, Spellcraft 8 ranks.

Feats: Bonded Ring, Rod, Staff, or Wand, Craft Rod or Craft Staff or Craft Wand or Forge Ring.

Class Ability: Must be able to cast arcane magic spells of 3rd level or higher and must have the ability to possess a familiar.

Special: The character must have directly participated in the creation of his bonded ring, rod, staff or wand, or must have claimed it at the end of a great quest.

Summary

Some wizards and sorcerers bond their spirits to a living creature, a familiar who serves their whims, assists them in their adventures and research and gives them much needed companionship as they explore the ether of the cosmos and of the mind. Other spellcasters, however, choose to bond themselves to beloved magic items instead, drawing the same strength from them as their peers do from magical toads. Over time, if they are truly dedicated, they can awaken sentience in their favored items, creating a companion who is all the more marvelous and precious for its almost miraculous ‘birth’. Such mages are known as bonded masters, and they are to the tools of the wizard and sorcerer as bonded champions are to the implements of the warrior.

The type of item which a bonded master chooses to bond with depends upon both his preferences and his personality. Masters who come from warlike cultures, or who keep company with hardened mercenaries and adventuring warriors prefer to bond with items which possess great destructive potential, such as wands of fireball, or staffs of power. Other masters, particularly those who favor trickery and subtlety, prefer to bond with rings of invisibility or staffs of illusion, as the link of shared interest strengthens the magical bond between master and servant. Unlike a bonded champion, a bonded master’s item is truly his servant; it is, for all intents and purposes, his familiar.

All bonded masters are, of course, primarily spellcasters, as only they can take advantage of the class’ full abilities. Wizards and sorcerers are the most common members of this prestige class, though bards infrequently pursue it as well. Multiclass characters, particularly sorcerer-fighters, wizard-fighters, sorcerer-rogues and wizard-rogues sometimes take levels in this class as well, the fighters bonding themselves to rings of the ram, rods of lordly might and the like and the rogues bonding themselves to staves of charming, rings of invisibility and other, similar items.

Role: Spell Utility

Characteristics: Magical individuals who take a crafted or found item as a familiar that grows in power with them

Source: Encyclopedia Arcane: Magic Item Creation

Game Rule Information

The Bonded Master has the following game statistics.

Abilities: Casting stat is the biggest one, Intelligence for bolstering your craft skills

Alignment: Any

Hit Die: d4

Starting Gold: N/A

Class Skills

The Bonded Master's class skills are Concentration (Con), Craft (any) (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (any) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (any) (Int) Search (Int), Spellcraft (Int), and Spot (Wis)

Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) × 4

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Bonded Master.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Bonded Master is proficient with whatever they were already proficient with prior to taking levels in this class.

Spellcasting: The bonded master continues to improve his spellcasting as he increases in level. At every level save 3rd, 6th and 9th, the bonded master gains new spells per day, exactly as though he had gained a level in an arcane spellcasting class he belonged to before becoming a bonded master. He does not, however, gain any other benefits a character of that class would have gained (bonus feats, etc). This means that he essentially adds his levels of the bonded master prestige class (except 3rd, 6th and 9th levels) to his existing caster levels to determine caster level and spells per day.

Item Familiar: The bonded master and his bonded item share a link which is much like that between a wizard and his familiar. Beginning at 1st level, the bonded master’s bonded item is considered to be his familiar. The bond provided benefits which are slightly different from those gained by linking to a living being, as outlined below in the Item Familiar section.

Characters who already possessed familiars before becoming a bonded master lose the spiritual link which bound them to their familiars. Both they and their former companion lose all familiar benefits, and the previous familiar leaves the character forever. Any levels in a class which granted a familiar stack with those gained via this prestige class, meaning a character with 6 sorcerer levels and 10 bonded master class levels would gain all item familiar benefits up to 16th level.

Should the item familiar be destroyed, the bonded master must attempt a DC 15 Fortitude saving throw. Failure means he loses a number of experience points equal to 1/25th the base price of the item; success reduces the cost to one half that amount. A destroyed item familiar can be crafted anew immediately, though the new item familiar must be exactly identical to the ‘slain’ one and it must be crafted and paid for by the bonded master in the normal fashion.

Simple Recharge Su: Since it would not do for the bonded master’s item familiar to run out of charges – causing it to, in effect, die – the bonded master can, once he reaches 2nd level, recharge his item familiar. The method used to recharge the item familiar is similar to that used to create it in the first place and requires that the bonded master be in a quiet location for the duration of the recharging. Recharging an item requires one day for each 3,000 gold pieces in the base price of the item and the expenditure of 1/50th of the base price of the item in experience points. Recharging an item familiar in this fashion returns it to its full, normal complement of charges.

Awakened Su: The bonded master’s item familiar is not an ordinary magical object. Thanks to the link between it and its master, the item becomes sentient, drawing upon its master’s personality and values to birth a thinking mind. At 4th level, the item familiar becomes an intelligent magical item. If the item is not already intelligent, then roll for its mental prowess. An awakened item familiar’s alignment is always fully compatible with its master’s. Rather than rolling the item’s lesser and greater powers, however, the Player of the bonded master and the Games Master should work together to select powers which best represent the personality and actions the character has displayed since becoming a bonded master.

If the item is already intelligent, move it one step higher on the Item Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma and Capabilities chart, selecting new abilities as outlined above. Awakened item familiars have an ego score as other intelligent items do but they will only dominate their bonded partner in the most extreme circumstances, such as if the bonded master finds himself controlled by a powerful opponent. Under no circumstances will the bonded item purposefully lead its master to harm, nor will it ever cause him to divest himself of other normal or magical items, unless the bonded item has reason to believe they will do its master harm.

Empowered Su: A bonded item familiar can draw upon its master’s arcane strength to enhance the power and effectiveness of its enchantments. Beginning at 6th level, the bonded master can, once a day per two bonded master class levels, focus his will through his item familiar, so that its spells or spell-like powers are cast as though affected by one of the following feats, chosen at the time of casting: Empower Spell, Enlarge Spell, Maximize Spell or Widen Spell. The master must already possess the feat selected in order to focus the item’s enchantments in such a manner.

Item Mastery Ex: The bonded master’s item familiar is to other items of its type as a king is to the most humble peasant. Once a day per two bonded master class levels, the item familiar can, as a free action on its master’s turn, attempt to seize control of another magical item of its type (meaning a rod can attempt to control another rod, for example). To do so, it rolls an Intelligence check opposed by a caster level check, using either the targeted item’s caster level or its wielder’s caster level, whichever is higher. If the check fails, then nothing happens but if the check succeeds, then the item familiar seizes control of the targeted item. An item familiar can, as a free action on the controlled item’s wielder’s next turn, block the use of the targeted item’s powers, redirect the effects of the power being used to a target of its choice, or cause the targeted item to use a different power than its wielder intended. It cannot make the wielder use the magic item, however. For the purposes of redirecting the controlled item’s powers, the item familiar can cause powers which normally affect only the wielder (those with a range of personal, for example) to affect its bonded master instead. The item familiar can use Item Mastery once per round.

Limitless Su: When the bonded master reaches this consummate level of power, the link between he and his item familiar has become so strong that his own soul energy now feeds his familiar, meaning it never truly runs out of energy. When the bonded master uses his simple recharge ability, he still must dedicate one day per 3,000 gold piece value of the item familiar’s base price but need no longer spend experience points at all.

Table 1-1: Bonded Master Progression

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Spells per Day
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Item familiar	+1 level of existing class
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Simple recharge	+1 level of existing class
3rd	+1	+1	+1	+3	—	—
4th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Awakened	+1 level of existing class
5th	+2	+1	+1	+4	—	+1 level of existing class
6th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Empowered	—
7th	+3	+2	+2	+5	—	+1 level of existing class
8th	+4	+2	+2	+6	Item mastery	+1 level of existing class
9th	+4	+3	+3	+6	—	—
10th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Limitless	+1 level of existing class

Table 1-2: Intelligent Item Ability Scores

d20 Result	Mental Ability Scores	Capabilities Modifier
1-2	One at 12, one at 11, one at 10	-3
3-4	Two at 12, one at 10	-2
5-6	One at 13, one at 12, 11	-1
7-8	Two at 14, one at 11	-1
9-10	One at 15, one at 14, one at 11	—
11-12	Two at 16, one at 11	—
13-14	One at 17, one at 16, one at 11	+1
15-16	Two at 17, one at 11	+2
17-18	One at 18, one at 16, one at 11	+2
19	Two at 18, one at 12	+3
20	One at 19, one at 18, one at 12	+3

Table 1-3: Intelligent Item Communication

d20 Result	Mental Ability Scores
1-2	Empathy (I)
3-4	Empathy (I)
5-6	Speech (II)
7-8	Speech (II)
9-10	Speech (III)
11-12	Speech (III)
13-14	Speech (IV)
15-16	Speech (IV, V)
17-18	Speech, telepathy (IV, V, VI)
19	Speech, telepathy (IV, V, VI)
20	Speech, telepathy (IV, V, VI, VII)
I. The possessor feels urges and sometimes emotions from the item that encourage or discourage certain courses of action. The item can likewise feel emotions from the wielder but only so long as the item is in hand, worn, or otherwise in contact with its wielder. II. The item can speak only the language of its creator. III. The item can speak the common language of the region and the native language of its creator. IV. The item can speak the common language of the region and the native language of its creator and one additional language per point of Intelligence bonus. V. The item can read any language that it can speak but only so long as the item is in hand, worn, or otherwise in contact with its wielder. VI. The item may now also communicate telepathically with its wielder, but only so long as the item is in hand, worn, or otherwise in contact with its wielder. VII. The item can now telepathically communicate with others within 10 feet, but only so long as the item is in hand, worn, or otherwise in contact with its wielder.

Table 1-4: Intelligent Item Senses

Level	Senses
1	30 ft. vision
2-3	30 ft. vision and hearing
4-5	60 ft. vision and hearing
6-7	90 ft. vision and hearing
8-9	120 ft. vision and hearing
10-11	120 ft. vision and hearing
12-13	120 ft. vision, hearing and darkvision
14-15	180 ft. vision and hearing
16-17	120 ft. vision, hearing, darkvision, and blind sense
18-19	180 ft. vision, hearing, darkvision and blind sense
20	120 ft. vision, hearing, darkvision, blind sense and smell.

Item Familiars

Table 1-5: Bonded Item Familiar Abilities

Character Level	Mental Ability Scores
1-2	Call, shielded
3-4	Special ability
5-6	Heightened intellect
7-8	Master's grace
9-10	Special ability
11-12*	Heightened intellect
13-14*	Heightened intellect
15-16*	Heightened intellect
17-18*	Mutual bolster
19-20*	Heightened intellect
*These higher levels are included as a character may add his previous class level which had the familiar class feature to his bonded master level for the purposes of determining his item familiar's abilities

Special

Call: The bond between the master and his bonded item is so strong that he can call it to his hand as a standard action, so long as he can see it and it is within 30 feet + 10 feet per class level of him.

Special Ability: A bonded item familiar also grants a special ability to the bonded master. This special ability applies only so long as the item is in hand, or on the bonded master’s person. See the Bonded Item Special Abilities sidebar for details of special.

Shielded: A bonded item familiar is far more hardy than other magic items and is highly resistant to destructive magic. A bonded staff, rod, ring or wand gains +1 hardness and two extra hit points per class level and its break DC is increased by a total of +2.

Heightened Intellect: Each time the item familiar gains this special ability, its Intelligence score increases by one step, with a commensurate increase to its special abilities.

Master’s Grace: The bond between master and familiar is such that the item can draw strength from him even when they are not together. The item familiar uses its bonded master’s saving throws at all times and gains a +1 bonus per two bonded master class levels to saves to resist disjunction.

Mutual Bolster: While the bonded master and the item familiar are in contact with one another, both benefit from a +2 bonus to all saving throws.

Bonded Item Familiar Special Abilities

Each type of bonded item familiar grants two special abilities to its master, with one ability granted at 2nd level, and the second at 9th level.

Ring - +2 bonus to Craft checks when making rods or +2 bonus to saves to resist spells and spell-like effects cast through or from magical rings

Rod – +2 bonus to Craft checks when making rods or +2 bonus to saves to resist spells and spell-like effects cast through or from magical rods.

Staff – +2 bonus to Craft checks when making staves or +2 bonus to saves to resist spells and spell-like effects cast through or from magical staves. Wand – +2 bonus to Craft checks when making wands or +2 bonus to saves to resist spells and spell-like effects cast through or from magical wands.