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.