Spell Thief Operative (Operative Alternate Class Feature)
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With its flexibility, magic is perhaps the ultimate resource, able to do anything as long as the user knows how to make it happen.
It should come as no surprise then that there are those eager to take it for themselves. Perhaps they failed to learn magic on their own but learned enough to take from others, or they are greedy types eager to gain without earning, or maybe they just really want to see mages dead.
Either way, the spell thief is exactly what it sounds like, a form of operative that takes magic from their foes and turns it against them.
Given the most basic application of their particular skillset, I think it’s fair to say these operatives mostly work as mage-slayers, whether they are specialized assassins on their own or part of a team that needs a way to take down magically-empowered foes quickly. They might hate spellcasters, or be professionally indifferent to them, but what is true is that they are at their most deadly when facing spellcasters or those that are benefitting from magic.
These operatives train in other areas, so their ability to deal extra damage is somewhat reduced. However, when striking foes in such a manner, they get an immediate sense of the magic that is currently benefitting their target, and can siphon some of the energy away into themselves, halving the duration of a spell. Once they do so, they can channel this energy into their weapons, causing their future trick attacks to become exceptionally more lethal. This may be due to the weapon becoming exceptionally sharper, being guided to the most optimal vital point, discharging the energy violently into the wound, or what have you, but the end result is the same.
Later on, they learn to instead drain the potential energy of spells from spellcasters and innately magical beings, robbing their foe of a potential spell cast.
With a bit of resolve, they can instead use the energy from a drained spell to apply that spell to themselves as well, though only for as long as the split duration lasts, though this does put them on more even playing field with their opponent.
True masters can integrate this stolen spell into their own aura, causing the stolen effects to last much longer.
The name really does say it all, and we get an operative that can steal magic just as surely as certain rogue builds in Pathfinder. However, I feel like in the effort to make this ability available at level 1, these operatives had to compromise, unable to fully dispel the spells of their foes but instead half their duration. Still, turning your d6s on trick attacks into d10s is potentially very devastating, meaning that in their element of fighting spellcasters or foes buffed by spells or magic, this option can be downright deadly. I recommend exploit and feat options that improve their ability to combat spellcasters, though don’t forget to diversify too.
While there are plenty of reasons for these characters to specialize so, either having some vendetta or not, what is likely true of most is that they likely collect magical equipment not just for use, but as trophies from their victories over mages. Such trophies might be benign, or horrifying depending on the individual.
The lashunta Piyori specializes in hunting casters, preferably those that utilize psychic magic. She is well-know for her prowess and cool demeanor and focus. However, that quickly flies out the window when her prey starts to escape her carefully-prepared killboxes. Is she just desperate to have a perfect kill record, or does something else motivate her to make sure psychics die?
The vampire lords of the rogue planet Gallik rule with terrible impunity, controlling the sources of heat that keep the habitable zone livable as well as travel to and from the starports. However, there are still those that resist their rule, many specializing in overcoming the vampire’s magical power and exploiting their arrogance.
An evil overlord, a kidnapped princess, and a blade that can slay the darkness. It sounds like a cliché fantasy novel of a bygone era, but it is an accurate assessment of the truth when Prince Helvann is forced to go underground when the usurper general slew the king and took control of the planetary government. Now, he has to go and rescue his sister and free the planet from his rule, and he’ll do it with a vibro-dagger that has implanted him with a crash course on how to absorb enemy magic, making him uniquely qualified to undermine the general’s magical defenses.