The Courser - LotFP Custom Class

          Every magic-user is a tyrant in waiting. From the lowliest hedge witch, to the haughtiest archmage, all of them are at risk of turning into domineering monsters. How can someone who can change their shape, or bewitch the minds of decent folk every be truly trustworthy? While most simply make their peace with this imbalance of power, there are those who cannot. They may have suffered at the hands of these so-called wonder workers, watching lives and livelihoods disappear with little more than a gesture and some funny sounding words. A great deal of Coursers are self-made magical serial killers, but there are also secret societies based around creating them, government entities that train them, and certain faiths who produce their own stripes of witch hunters. While these grim men and women can be a welcome sight for those who take umbrage with spellcasters, most fear associating with them too closely for fear of drawing the ire of the Witch.

          The tools that Coursers find to strike back at their supposed oppressors - strange rituals that leave their souls hollow and hungry for magic, potions or tinctures which allow them to pull spells from their targets with but a touch, ritual diets and daily exercises or postures which allow them to better resist bedevilment, exotic metals and symbols which burn the minds and trap the spells of magic-users who look upon them - all of it is bent into the service of their mission. Coursers rarely, if ever retire, theirs is a path of sorrow and violence.

Level	Experience	HP	Paralyze	Poison	Beath	Device	Magic	Dweomer Limit
1	0	1d8	10	8	13	9	12	4
2	2,200	1d6	10	8	13	9	12	+1
3	4,400	1d6	10	8	13	9	12	+1
4	8,800	1d6	8	6	10	7	10	+1
5	17,600	1d6	8	6	10	7	10	+1
6	35,200	1d6	8	6	10	7	10	+1
7	70,400	1d6	6	4	7	5	8	+1
8	140,800	1d6	6	4	7	5	8	+1
9	281,600	+2*	6	4	7	5	8	+1
10	422,400	+2*	4	2	4	3	6	+1
11	563,200	+2*	4	2	4	3	6	+1
12+	+140,800/lvl	+2*	2	2	4	2	4	+1

*: Constitution modifiers no longer apply

OSE & B/X rules

Requirements	Minimum CON 12, Minimum INT 12
Prime Requisite	CON and INT
Hit Dice	d6
Thac0 Table	As Rogue
Maximum Level	14
Armor	Any, including shields
Weapons	Any
Languages	Alignment, Common

          Coursers are not spellcasters, and are in many ways both their opposites and dependent upon them for their powers. Coursers have a pool of points known as Dweomer, which can be used in various ways, but most notably to reflect magical energies back at their source or to empower the Courser. Dweomer is stored in, or on the the Courser's person, either inside their bodies as magical energy, or in carried or worn objects. Coursers gain more capacity to store Dweomer as they level up, as reflected in their class table. Any Dweomer in excess of a Courser's capacity is lost.

          Dweomer can be gained by draining charges from magical items such as scrolls, staves, rods and wands, stealing spell slots from magic-users, clerics and other spellcasters by physically touching them, being targeted by spells (whether those be friendly or hostile) or eldritch abilities, or consuming the remains of magical creatures. Objects can only be drained of Dweomer once every 24 hours. Drained charges also drain the maximum charges that an item possesses, when the object reaches 0, it is useless. Spell slots are drained from spellcasters by way of physical contact. The slots are drained on a one-for-one basis, starting with their lowest level spell slots and working up from there. The Spellcaster's controller chooses which spells are lost.

Method	Dweomer Gained
Being targeted by an enemy spell or similar effect.	+2
Striking a Spellcaster with an unarmed attack.	+2
Grappling a Spellcaster.	+1/round
Draining a scroll, potion or other similar item.	+2
Draining a wand/staff/rod or other item's charges.	+1 for every 2 charges drained
Consuming the remains of a supernatural creature, such as a Basilisk's eyes or a Dragon's marrow.	+2
Draining a spellbook, codex or other eldritch repository	+1 for every spell in the book.
Destroying a magic item with a numeric bonus	2 x the item's bonus

          Dweomer is used to enhance and empower Coursers in their hunts against Magic-users and other eldritch beings. These enhancements are known as Boons. Boons take an action to enact, and they do not count as magic in any way for the purposes of anti-magic fields or other similar effects.

Boon Name	Cost	Effect
Soul Fortress	3	For the next 8 hours, if the Courser would be targeted by an effect emanating from a magic-user and they are entitled to a save, they may roll twice and take the better of the two results.
Smite	1/die	Smite is cast in response to being targeted by a spell. Whether they save successfully or not, the Courser uses the conduit that the spell has forged between the caster and themselves to smite them at the same time. The Courser deals 1d6 for each point Dweomer that they spend, though this cannot exceed their level.
Reverse Hex	3	By simply touching someone with a spell currently affecting them, the Courser may cast off the offending enchantment. Unwilling targets are entitled to a Magic Save. The Courser may target themselves with this Boon.
Wyrd Reconstruction	2/die	The Courser's wounds simply re-knit, fueled by the energies of their foes. The Courser heals 1d6 for each 2 points of Dweomer that they spend.
Disrupt Spell	1/round	The Courser causes magic around them to become more difficult and time consuming to cast. By spending a Dweomer each round, any spells which are attempted in their presence are delayed by a round. The caster of the spell must continue to attempt to cast the spell or it fails.
Eldritch Bottle	1/level of Spell	Instead of absorbing the energies of a spell cast upon them as Dweomer, the Courser attempts to capture the spell for use later. The Courser must save against the spell, and then may use this Boon. The spell is reserved, and any Dweomer used to capture it cannot be used for any other purpose until the spell is cast. The spell is cast at the save caster level as the original. A Courser may store only a single spell at a time, and only for a number of hours equal to their character level.