The wind whistled around the poppet head, tugging at the clothes and limbs of the young human standing on a catwalk near the great gears that ground at the summit. Two other men advanced towards him, sneers on their faces and clubs clutched in their thick fists.
‘Oh, Karmbakja’s cape…’ the young man whispered to himself and gritted his teeth. The two other men’s grins grew wider, hearing what they believed to be his fear.
He raised his hands to the air, throwing himself to the mercy of his attackers. Hands seized his shoulders and threw him to the catwalk’s metal floor. One of the men chuckled.
‘So, scum? Would you like anything before we chuck you straight off this here building? Any last words, last requests? You probably won’t get them, but hey, worth a try, eh?’
The young man pushed himself to maintain his fearful expression, even though all he wanted to do was laugh. With a forced quaver in his voice he replied ‘Uh…could I have a last cigarette? Before you…’
The two men chuckled again. ‘I guess that’s reasonable. We’re about to splatter him, after all.’ One stepped back, stroking his beard, while the other reached into a pouch on his belt and drew out a cigarette case and a lighter. He slid the cigarette between the young man’s lips and held out the lighter. With a flick of his thumb, the tiny flame appeared. Everything was going according to the young man’s plan. He focussed his mind on the flame, pushing it and moulding it to his whims. It exploded outwards, a red and orange fireball in the wind, blowing all three men off the catwalk, the wind blasting around them as they fell. The young man grinned to himself, his disguise fading around him as he was revealed as a gargoyle. His wings spread and he slowed to a gentle glide away from the mine.
The final remnants of those blessed with arcane power, the battle-mages are constantly hiding from the government that has outlawed their arts. The magic is in their blood, a born talent which is then honed in covens or by practise until the battle-mage is able to undertake incredible feats. A true battle-mage has complete power over not only his mind, but also his body. Magic combines with strength of arms to perfection.

Adventurers:

Most battle-mages adventure largely to improve their own magic and lot in life. By testing their magical and martial abilities, they are able to surpass them. The development of power is an adventure for any battle-mage, regardless of how he plans to use the power. Battle-mages are also driven to a life of adventuring because they are unable to lead a legitimate life safely, without going to great effort to conceal their magical gifts.

Characteristics:

Battle-mages are able to cause enormous amounts of damage and effect in a very short period of time by manipulating reality to their own ends. Usually, their magic involves the redirection or enhancement of other energy sources, such as flames or electricity. A battle-mage’s magic is both very instinctive and extremely personal – each battle-mage will cast another way or a different form of magic, and they are not taught in colleges or academies, but on the job, sharing experiences with different energies. They also learn to take care of themselves with non-magical weaponry and to perform other tasks with themselves a lot more than might be expected.

Alignment:

With the battle-mage’s instinct-driven power and need for constant vigilance to persecution by a lawful government, it is hardly surprising that they tend towards chaos over law.

Religion:

Most battle-mages are either nonreligious or, depending on their location, mostly worship Nathaniel or Fin, though a myriad of other gods receive some penitence. Those who worship Harajat have become more common, and evil battle-mages usually worship Karhn or Xin.

Background:

Battle-mages usually first begin to manifest their powers at the onset of puberty, except in the case of Labori, who are born with this power if it should come to them. Their arcane power will radiate from them, uncontrollably altering the energy flow of the house, often presenting a risk to family members, friends or even the battle-mage himself. At this point, a budding human, Kartika or mutant battle-mage is often captured by the government and either killed or used in an unknown way for research. If he avoids this, or is a member of the other races, usually a battle-mage coven in the area will find and adopt him or her, teaching him to control his magic as best they can. Battle-mages have a strong sense of kinship with each other – usually they will help another battle-mage over anyone else, so long as their views are not directly opposed.

Races:

Humans, gargoyles, vampyres, Kartika and weres are all about equally likely to become battle-mages, though most Kartika and humans of the blood are captured and put to death by their governments. Labori are much less likely to become battle-mages – usually it is a conscious decision made by the ‘parent’ to embed arcane power in the Laborus, and this is very rare, but not unheard of. Mutants are more likely to become battle-mages than the other races because of the magical power that has scarred them, but they are not particularly well-suited to a battle-mage’s life, and many of them aren’t trusted by the rest of their race.

Other Classes:

Battle-mages sometimes find themselves at odds with priests, scientists and necromancers, as they perform very different tasks in a fairly similar way, leading to misunderstanding and mistrust. They find bonding most easy with other more chaotic classes, such as rogues, gunslingers, outcasts and explorers, but they are fairly personable in general.

Role:

A battle-mage’s role depends largely on how he chooses to use his magical gifts. A battle-mage could be the ‘glass cannon’, able to cause enormous amounts of damage to enemies in a very short period of time, but unable to take many hits, leaving the rest of the party to defend him. He could focus on using his magical power for stealth and larceny, becoming a magically assisted ninja. He could use illusions and charm to become a great face of the party, though this is more the realm of the bard. He could buff up his armour and strength and leap to the front-lines with the warrior. To simplify, the battle-mage’s role in the party is to use his magic to whatever end he sees fit, and the freeform nature of that magic means that he can fulfil almost any gap, though his real specialty is to break people.

Game Rule Information:

Abilities: Int > Cha > Dex, Wis, Con > Str. No matter which area a battle-mage intends to focus upon, Intelligence is his most important ability – it provides him with more spells per day, as well as giving him skill points to spend as he sees fit. After this, lines become more blurred – Charisma allows him to act as a face for the party, as well as improving several class skills. Dexterity, Wisdom, Strength and Constitution all also have uses depending on the areas the battle-mage is going to focus upon.
Alignment: Any.
Hit dice: d6.
Class skills: Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Knowledge (all) (Int), Perform (Cha), Profession (Int), Spellcraft (Int), Use Magic Device (Cha).
Skill at 1st: (2 + Int modifier) × 4
Skill at other levels: 2 + Int modifier

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort. Save	Ref. Save	Will Save	Special	Spells / day
						Minor	Lesser	Greater	Epic
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Summon familiar	4	1
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Combat School I	5	2
3rd	+1	+1	+1	+3	Community	6	3	1
4th	+2	+1	+1	+4		7	4	2
5th	+2	+1	+1	+4		8	5	3
6th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Combat School II	9	6	4
7th	+3	+2	+2	+5		10	7	5
8th	+4	+2	+2	+6		11	8	6	1
9th	+4	+3	+3	+6		12	9	7	2
10th	+5	+3	+3	+7		13	10	8	3
11th	+5	+3	+3	+7		14	11	9	4
12th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8		15	12	10	5
13th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	Combat School III	16	13	11	6
14th	+7/+2	+4	+4	+9		17	14	12	7
15th	+7/+2	+5	+5	+9		18	15	13	8
16th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10		19	16	14	9
17th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10		20	17	15	10
18th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Combat School IV	21	18	16	11
19th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11		22	19	17	12
20th	+10/+5	+6	+6	+12		23	20	18	13

Class Features:

All of the following are class features of the battle-mage
Armour and Weapon Proficiency: A battle-mage is proficient with light handguns and non-automatic rifles, light non-exotic mêlée weapons and staffs, thrown weapons and light modern armour.
Summon familiar: as in the Player’s Handbook, sidebar p. 54-3
Combat Schools: At 2nd, 6th, 13th and 18th level, a battle-mage chooses a school of combat in which to specialise, giving him or her bonuses as follows:

• Sorceror: Allows a battle-mage to focus his attention on using spells in combat and to deal damage. Gives a +4 to all magical damage rolls, along with a +2 to Concentration checks to cast during combat and on other spells.
• Swordsmage: Allows a battle-mage to focus more on his other martial skills. Gives him proficiency with medium non-exotic firearms, including sub-machine guns; and medium mêlée weapons, as well as a +2 to attack rolls with weapons he is proficient in, including, at subsequent levels, those granted by this school.

Community: The strong community formed by the shared hardships of battle-mages provides the battle-mage with a network of acquaintances and knowledge. He gains a +2 miscellaneous bonus on all Knowledge (arcana) checks and a 50% chance that he will have one contact for every 5000 people in a town.