3.5 d20 Level-By-Level Base Class Breakdowns, Part IV

   Here we have the next segment of the level-by-level breakdowns of the basic d20 character classes for Eclipse: The Codex Persona – in this case the Rogue and the Wizard. One a class that’s changed almost unrecognizably from it’s beginnings, and one that’s hardly changed at all. One that – rather realistically – learns to do things with their hands out in the world, and one that is the epitome of fantasy, weaving the stuff of magic from ancient words and dusty tomes.

   Oddly enough, while you often find tension between the other major archetypes – with phrases such as “blasphemer”, “needlessly violent”, “muscle-bound idiot”, “waiting for some god to fix it instead of actually doing something”, “useless limp-wristed scholar’, and many more floating about – Wizards and Rogues tend to see each other as complimentary; they both rely on cleverness, well-developed skills, and doing it themselves because no one else is as good.

The Rogue, Levels 1-20:

   Every Level: d6 Hit Die (2), +8 Skill Points (8) = 10 CP

Level	Cost	Purchases
1st	55 OR 59	+2 Ref (6), Augment Attack (3), Trapfinding# (See Below, possibly 4), +24 Skill Points (24), Proficient with Light Armor (3), All Simple Weapons (3), and a limited set of Martial and Exotic Weapons (hand crossbow, rapier, sap, shortbow, and short sword, 6).
2nd	25	+1 BAB (6), +1 Ref (3), Fortune/Evasion (6)
3rd	26	+1 BAB (6), +1 Fort (3), +1 Will (3), Augment Attack (3), Awareness/Danger Sense +1 (1)
4th	25	+1 BAB (6), +1 Ref (3), Awareness (6)
5th	13	Augment Attack (3)
6th	26	+1 BAB (6), +1 Fort (3), +1 Ref (3), +1 Will (3), Awareness/Danger Sense +1 (1) 2
7th	19	+1 BAB (6), Augment Attack (3)
8th	22	+1 BAB (6), +1 Ref (3), Awareness/Flankless (Specialized/not versus characters at with at least four more experience levels than the user, 3)
9th	20	+ Fort (3), +1 Will (3), Augment Attack (3), Awareness/Danger Sense +1 (1)
10th	25	+1 BAB (6), +1 Ref (3), Special Ability (6)*
11th	19	+1 BAB (6), Augment Attack (3)
12th	26	+1 BAB (6), +1 Fort (3), +1 Ref (3), +1 Will (3), Awareness/Danger Sense +1 (1) 4
13th	19	Augment Attack (3), Special Ability (6)*
14th	19	+1 BAB (6), +1 Ref (3)
15th	26	+1 BAB (6), +1 Fort (3), +1 Will (3), Augment Attack (3), Awareness/Danger Sense +1 (1)
16th	25	+1 BAB (6), +1 Ref (3), Special Ability (6)*
17th	13	Augment Attack (3)
18th	26	+1 BAB (6), +1 Fort (3), +1 Ref (3), +1 Will (3), Awareness/Danger Sense +1 (1)
19th	25	+1 BAB (6), Augment Attack (3), Special Ability (6)*
20th	19	+1 BAB (6), +1 Ref (3)
		*In point-buy, the various Rogue Special Abilities are all things you can buy normally – usually for 6 points.

   #In Eclipse, skills normally work the same way for everyone (that’s more or less what makes them skills rather than special powers), hence “Trapfinding” is simply a function of Search and there is no arbitrary DC-based restriction. If you want to reserve trapfinding for specialists, the easiest way is to call it a minor Immunity to the (gratuitous) limitation that you cannot use the search skill to locate traps if the DC is higher than 20 – call it an Uncommon situation with a Major impact and a Minor immunity (it is pretty specialized after all), for a net cost of 4 CP.

   The various Special Abilities all translate to six point “Feats” or abilities from the general list. In point-buy, of course, the possibilities are much wider than the list from the system reference document.

   Grand Total: 473 OR 477 (depending on how the game master feels about Trapfinding) out of 504 available.

   Either way, the Rogue is winding up with a few points left over – and Eclipse-style point-buy Rogues shouldn’t have any trouble at all; they can just buy their way up the chart and – at most – have to delay a few skill points for a level or so for the first couple of levels. After that, they’ll have a few extra points to spend.

   This does imply that the classical Rogue is just a bit underpowered – about one levels worth by the time they hit level twenty – but that’s automatically fixed in Eclipse: just spend those extra points!

   My recommendations from back when I wrote Eclipse really haven’t changed: Rogues should get a guild membership if the setting features a “thieves guild” or a few reliable contacts if it doesn’t, pick up an Immunity to Divination (a necessity if they want to do much thieving in the usual quasi-medieval setting with magic and live), and probably pick up a bit of magic – a specialized caster level or two and a few steps on the Paladin/Ranger Spell Progression (mostly devoted to divination and illusion magic) or an Occult Talent or two, simply so that they can tell when they’re up against major magical defenses.

The Wizard, Levels 1-20:

   Every Level: d4 Hit Die (0), +2 Skill Points (2), +1 level of Wizard Spellcasting (one Caster Level, Specialized in Wizardry, 3, and one level of the Wizard Spell Progression, 11) = 16 CP.

Level	Cost	Purchases
1st	48	+2 Will (6), Companion (6), Spell Storing (6), Proficient with a small group of Simple Weapons (2), +6 Skill Points (6), Fast Learner (Specialized in Spells, gains two per level automatically, 6).
2nd	25	+1 BAB (6), +1 Will (3)
3rd	22	+1 Fort (3), +1 Ref (3)
4th	25	+1 BAB (6), +1 Will (3)
5th	22	Bonus Feat (6)
6th	31	+1 BAB (6), +1 Fort (3), +1 Ref (3), +1 Will (3)
7th	16	None
8th	25	+1 BAB (6), +1 Will (3)
9th	22	+1 Fort (3), +1 Ref (3),
10th	31	+1 BAB (6), +1 Will (3), Bonus Feat (6)
11th	16	None
12th	31	+1 BAB (6), +1 Fort (3), +1 Ref (3), +1 Will (3)
13th	16	None
14th	25	+1 BAB (6), +1 Will (3)
15th	28	+1 Fort (3), +1 Ref (3), Bonus Feat (6)
16th	25	+1 BAB (6), +1 Will (3)
17th	16	None
18th	31	+1 BAB (6), +1 Fort (3), +1 Ref (3), +1 Will (3)
19th	16	None
20th	31	+1 BAB (6), +1 Will (3), Bonus Feat (6)

   Grand Total: 502 out of 504 available.

   The Wizard’s been around a long time, and has undergone less change than pretty much any other class since first edition. Of the big four, the Fighter’s become deeply entangled in the Feat rules, the multi-attack rules, and the movement rules, the Cleric’s gone from seven levels of spells and a sphere system to nine and a domain system, and the Rogue is virtually unrecognizable – but the Wizard is pretty much the same as ever and an awful lot of the spell list is still recognizable after all this time.

   That’s because it works pretty well. The Wizard starts off relatively weak, but becomes a major figure at higher levels – slightly overshadowing the other characters whom he or she was a bit behind to start with. Very little frontloading and a strong finish – and a nicely balanced build. There are a few levels in there with a high point cost, but they tend to be neatly associated with levels with low point costs. For the most part, an Eclipse point-buy Wizard can just go straight on up the chart, spending their bonus Feats, and any extra points from disadvantages, on picking up special abilities to suit their conception.