Immutep
2009-01-10, 09:57 AM
I've been working on a homebrew character class and i was wanting peoples opinions or suggestions.
SCARION
Not for everyone that has discovered a talent for the arcane is the focussed life of the sorcerer, some prefer to develop a strong body as well, seeing the sorcerers and fighters as the extremists of the world. For those who wish to nurture their arcane talents coupled with a desire to learn a more physical means of combat, there is the way of the Scarion.
Adventures: Scarions adventure for several reasons, a love for the open road, a means of learning new skills and enhancing old ones, a wish to write wrongs (or cause them!) But perhaps the most powerful draw is the chance to test both fighting and magical capabilities against a range of situations and opponents.
Characteristics: Scarions are essentially people who discovered that they share a sorcerers talent for casting magic, but were also concerned with learning to wield weapons and military methods to the cost of maximising this potential.
Alignment: Scarions tend to shy away from strict regime and disciplinary behaviour and so are not usually lawful.
Religion: Scarions are not usually very religious, many pay lip service to a particular belief system but are generally too self absorbed to devote themselves to a deity. Those that do however, number amongst the most feared and renowned crusaders of their chosen patron.
Background: Many Scarions have some form of apprenticeship with either a sorcerer or wizard before setting off on their own which usually happens because the master believe his student to have “their head in the clouds” when in truth the magic that the apprentice is instructed in is paid attention to and what is mistaken as day dreaming about swords is a very real desire to develop other talents. The few Scarions who train a Scarion apprentice will have a more successful and lengthy time together.
Races: Scarions are almost entirely always human or at least partially human, their tendency towards diverse learning borrows them to this class much more than other races although you also see members of other races take this class but such instances are rare to unheard of.
Other classes: Scarions work well with others provided they share a common goal or ideology. They can use their cross talented nature to support a primary caster or to bring additional fighting skills to the front rank. In this respect they share something in common with Bards, but a Bard is more of a diverse learner than even a Scarion. Except in very rare instances Scarions get on well enough even with other arcane casters, not as powerful as primary casters they are sometimes goaded but never considered a threat, whilst their time in training means they’ve learned to accept this sort of attitude without letting it bother them, which usually brings acceptance.
GAME RULE INFORMATION
Charisma is Important to Scarions for casting spells and determining how powerful those spells are. Constitution, Strength and dexterity are important to a Scarion when fighting in Combat.
Alignment: Any (usually unlawful)
Hit Die: d10
Class Skills
The Scarions class skills (and the key ability foe each skill) are Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher script (Int), Gather information (Cha), Handle animal (Cha), Knowledge (all skills taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), and Survival (Wis).
Skill points at first level: (4+Int Modifier) x4
Skill points at Each Additional level: 4+Int Modifier
Class Features
All the following are class features of the Scarion.
Weapon and Armour proficiency: A Scarion is proficient with all simple and all martial weapons. Scarions are proficient with light armour and bucklers. Scarions are able to use light armour and bucklers without taking a spell failure chance for somatic components, they suffer the normal spell failure chance if wearing any other form of armour or carrying any other shield type, even if they gain proficiency through other means.
SCARION SPELLS KNOWN
Level 0 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
1st 4 1* - - - - -
2nd 5 2* - - - - -
3rd 6 3 1* - - - -
4th 6 3 2* - - - -
5th 6 4 3 - - - -
6th 6 4 3 1* - - -
7th 6 4 4 2* - - -
8th 6 4 4 3 - - -
9th 6 4 4 3 1* - -
10th 6 4 4 4 2* - -
11th 6 4 4 4 3 - -
12th 6 4 4 4 3 1* -
13th 6 4 4 4 4 2* -
14th 6 4 4 4 4 3 -
15th 6 4 4 4 4 3 1*
16th 6 5 4 4 4 4 2*
17th 6 5 5 4 4 4 3
18th 6 5 5 5 4 4 3
19th 6 5 5 5 5 4 4
20th 6 5 5 5 5 5 4
* Provided the Scarion has a high enough Charisma score to have a bonus spell of this level.
Spells: A Scarion casts spells (the same type of spells available to sorcerers and wizards), which are drawn from the Scarion spell list. He can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time, the way a wizard or cleric must (see below).
To learn or cast a spell, a Scarion must have a charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level (Cha 10 for 0-level spells, Cha 11 for 1st level spells, and so forth). The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a Scarion’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the Scarion’s Charisma modifier.
Like other spellcasters, a Scarion can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on the Table below "The Scarion". In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Charisma score (see Table 1-1: Ability Modifiers and Bonus Spells, Page 8 in the players hand book). When the below Table –The Scarion, indicates that the Scarion gets 0 spells per day of a given spell level (for instance, 1st level spells for a 1st level Scarion), he gains only the bonus spells he would be entitled to based on his Charisma score for that spell level.
Upon reaching 5th level, and at every third Scarion level after that (8th, 11th, and so on), a bard can choose to learn a new spell in place of one he already knows. In effect, the Scarion “loses” the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell’s level must be at least two levels lower than the highest-level Scarion the Scarion can cast. A Scarion may swap only a single spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time he gains knew spells known for the level.
As noted above, a Scarion need not prepare his spells in advance. He can cast any spells he knows at any time, assuming he has not yet used up his allotment of spells per day for the spell’s level.
Bonus Feat: At 1st level, 4th level and every four levels thereafter (8th, 12th 16th,, 20th and so on), a Scarion gains a bonus feat that must be chosen from those allowed by a fighter, or an item creation or metamagic feat.
THE SCARION
Level Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save special 0 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
1st +1 +2 +2 +2 Bonus Feat 2 0 - - - - -
2nd +2 +3 +3 +3 3 0 - - - - -
3rd +3 +3 +3 +3 3 1 0 - - - -
4th +4 +4 +4 +4 3 2 0 - - - -
5th +5 +4 +4 +4 Bonus Feat 3 3 1 - - - -
6th +6/+1 +5 +5 +5 3 3 2 0 - - -
7th +7/+2 +5 +5 +5 3 3 2 0 - - -
8th +8/+3 +6 +6 +6 3 3 3 1 - - -
9th +9/+4 +6 +6 +6 3 3 3 2 0 - -
10th +10/+5 +7 +7 +7 Bonus Feat 3 3 3 2 0 - -
11th +11/+6/+1 +7 +7 +7 3 3 3 3 1 - -
12th +12/+7/+2 +8 +8 +8 3 3 3 3 2 0 -
13th +13/+8/+3 +8 +8 +8 3 4 3 3 2 0 -
14th +14/+9/+4 +9 +9 +9 4 3 4 3 3 1 -
15th +15/+10/+5 +9 +9 +9 Bonus Feat 4 4 3 4 3 2 0
16th +16/+11/+6/+1 +10 +10 +10 4 4 4 3 3 2 0
17th +17/+12/+7/+2 +10 +10 +10 4 5 4 4 3 3 1
18th +18/+13/+8/+3 +11 +11 +11 4 5 5 5 4 3 2
19th +19/+14/+9+4 +11 +11 +11 4 5 5 5 5 4 3
20th +20/+15/+10/+5 +12 +12 +12 Bonus Feat 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Scarion Spell List by Spell Level:
0 level Spells or cantrips: Arcane Mark, Cure Minor Wounds, Dancing Lights, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Disrupt Undead, Know Direction, Light, Mage Hand, Mending, Message, Prestigitation, Read Magic, Resistance.
1st Level Spells: Alarm, Endure Elements, Comprehend Languages, Cure Light Wounds, Detect Secret Doors, Erase, Expeditious retreat, Feather Fall, Identify, Mage Armour, Magic Mouth, Magic Weapon, Mount, Obscure Object, Protection from Chaos//Evil/Good/Law, Remove Fear, Shield, Sleep, Summon Monster I, True Strike, Undetectable Alignment.
2nd Level Spells: Animal Messenger, Bear’s Endurance, Blur, Bull’s Strength, Cat’s Grace, Continual Flame, Cure Moderate Wounds, Darkness, Delay Poison, Detect Thoughts, Eagle’s Splendour, Fox’s Cunning, Glitterdust, Heroism, Invisibility, Locate Object, Misdirection, Owl’s Wisdom, Protection from Arrows, Rage, Resist Energy, Shatter, Silence, Sound Burst, Summon Monster II, Summon Swarm, Tongues, Whispering Wind.
3rd Level Spells: Clairaudience/Clairvoyance, Cure Serious Wounds, Daylight, Dispel Magic, Displacement, Explosive Runes, Glibness, Good Hope, Haste, Illusory Script, Invisibility Sphere, Keen Edge, Leomund’s Tiny Hut, Magic Weapon/ Greater, Protection From Energy, Remove Curse, Scrying, Secret Page, See Invisibility, Sepia Snake Sigil, Slow, Speak With Animals, Summon Monster III, Water Breathing.
4th Level Spells: Break Enchantment, Cure Critical Wounds, Detect Scrying, Freedom of Movement, Invisibility/ Greater, Legend Lore, Leomunds Secure Shelter, Locate Creature, Neutralize Poison, Remove Curse, Speak with Plants, Stoneskin, Summon Monster IV, Zone of Silence.
5th Level Spells: Cure Light Wounds/ Mass, Dispel Magic/ Greater, Dream, Heroism/ Greater, Major Creation, Permanency, Shadow Walk, Summon Monster V, Telekinesis.
6th Level Spells: Analyze Dweomer, Antimagic Field, Bear’s Endurance/ Mass, Bull’s Strength/ Mass, Cat’s Grace/ Mass, Cure Moderate Wounds Mass, Eagle’s Splendour Mass, Find the Path, Fox’s Cunning/ Mass, Heroe’s Feast, Scrying/ Greater, Summon Monster VI, Sympathetic Vibration.
I was thinking of possibly making the following changes to this:
1) drop the reflex save to poor
2) instead of giving martial weapon proficiency outright, replace this with a signature weapon progression (gaining proficiency at 1st level, Weapon focus later, then weapon specialization etc.
3) possibly reduce the number of bonus feats (especially if i introduce the signature weapon system discussed above)
4) Drop the Hit Die to d8
Any advice is welcome, with the exception of offering a multiclass system that produces similar effect.
P.s. If someone could tell me how to put spoilers into a post it would be very beneficial, thanks.
SCARION
Not for everyone that has discovered a talent for the arcane is the focussed life of the sorcerer, some prefer to develop a strong body as well, seeing the sorcerers and fighters as the extremists of the world. For those who wish to nurture their arcane talents coupled with a desire to learn a more physical means of combat, there is the way of the Scarion.
Adventures: Scarions adventure for several reasons, a love for the open road, a means of learning new skills and enhancing old ones, a wish to write wrongs (or cause them!) But perhaps the most powerful draw is the chance to test both fighting and magical capabilities against a range of situations and opponents.
Characteristics: Scarions are essentially people who discovered that they share a sorcerers talent for casting magic, but were also concerned with learning to wield weapons and military methods to the cost of maximising this potential.
Alignment: Scarions tend to shy away from strict regime and disciplinary behaviour and so are not usually lawful.
Religion: Scarions are not usually very religious, many pay lip service to a particular belief system but are generally too self absorbed to devote themselves to a deity. Those that do however, number amongst the most feared and renowned crusaders of their chosen patron.
Background: Many Scarions have some form of apprenticeship with either a sorcerer or wizard before setting off on their own which usually happens because the master believe his student to have “their head in the clouds” when in truth the magic that the apprentice is instructed in is paid attention to and what is mistaken as day dreaming about swords is a very real desire to develop other talents. The few Scarions who train a Scarion apprentice will have a more successful and lengthy time together.
Races: Scarions are almost entirely always human or at least partially human, their tendency towards diverse learning borrows them to this class much more than other races although you also see members of other races take this class but such instances are rare to unheard of.
Other classes: Scarions work well with others provided they share a common goal or ideology. They can use their cross talented nature to support a primary caster or to bring additional fighting skills to the front rank. In this respect they share something in common with Bards, but a Bard is more of a diverse learner than even a Scarion. Except in very rare instances Scarions get on well enough even with other arcane casters, not as powerful as primary casters they are sometimes goaded but never considered a threat, whilst their time in training means they’ve learned to accept this sort of attitude without letting it bother them, which usually brings acceptance.
GAME RULE INFORMATION
Charisma is Important to Scarions for casting spells and determining how powerful those spells are. Constitution, Strength and dexterity are important to a Scarion when fighting in Combat.
Alignment: Any (usually unlawful)
Hit Die: d10
Class Skills
The Scarions class skills (and the key ability foe each skill) are Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher script (Int), Gather information (Cha), Handle animal (Cha), Knowledge (all skills taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), and Survival (Wis).
Skill points at first level: (4+Int Modifier) x4
Skill points at Each Additional level: 4+Int Modifier
Class Features
All the following are class features of the Scarion.
Weapon and Armour proficiency: A Scarion is proficient with all simple and all martial weapons. Scarions are proficient with light armour and bucklers. Scarions are able to use light armour and bucklers without taking a spell failure chance for somatic components, they suffer the normal spell failure chance if wearing any other form of armour or carrying any other shield type, even if they gain proficiency through other means.
SCARION SPELLS KNOWN
Level 0 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
1st 4 1* - - - - -
2nd 5 2* - - - - -
3rd 6 3 1* - - - -
4th 6 3 2* - - - -
5th 6 4 3 - - - -
6th 6 4 3 1* - - -
7th 6 4 4 2* - - -
8th 6 4 4 3 - - -
9th 6 4 4 3 1* - -
10th 6 4 4 4 2* - -
11th 6 4 4 4 3 - -
12th 6 4 4 4 3 1* -
13th 6 4 4 4 4 2* -
14th 6 4 4 4 4 3 -
15th 6 4 4 4 4 3 1*
16th 6 5 4 4 4 4 2*
17th 6 5 5 4 4 4 3
18th 6 5 5 5 4 4 3
19th 6 5 5 5 5 4 4
20th 6 5 5 5 5 5 4
* Provided the Scarion has a high enough Charisma score to have a bonus spell of this level.
Spells: A Scarion casts spells (the same type of spells available to sorcerers and wizards), which are drawn from the Scarion spell list. He can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time, the way a wizard or cleric must (see below).
To learn or cast a spell, a Scarion must have a charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level (Cha 10 for 0-level spells, Cha 11 for 1st level spells, and so forth). The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a Scarion’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the Scarion’s Charisma modifier.
Like other spellcasters, a Scarion can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on the Table below "The Scarion". In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Charisma score (see Table 1-1: Ability Modifiers and Bonus Spells, Page 8 in the players hand book). When the below Table –The Scarion, indicates that the Scarion gets 0 spells per day of a given spell level (for instance, 1st level spells for a 1st level Scarion), he gains only the bonus spells he would be entitled to based on his Charisma score for that spell level.
Upon reaching 5th level, and at every third Scarion level after that (8th, 11th, and so on), a bard can choose to learn a new spell in place of one he already knows. In effect, the Scarion “loses” the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell’s level must be at least two levels lower than the highest-level Scarion the Scarion can cast. A Scarion may swap only a single spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time he gains knew spells known for the level.
As noted above, a Scarion need not prepare his spells in advance. He can cast any spells he knows at any time, assuming he has not yet used up his allotment of spells per day for the spell’s level.
Bonus Feat: At 1st level, 4th level and every four levels thereafter (8th, 12th 16th,, 20th and so on), a Scarion gains a bonus feat that must be chosen from those allowed by a fighter, or an item creation or metamagic feat.
THE SCARION
Level Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save special 0 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
1st +1 +2 +2 +2 Bonus Feat 2 0 - - - - -
2nd +2 +3 +3 +3 3 0 - - - - -
3rd +3 +3 +3 +3 3 1 0 - - - -
4th +4 +4 +4 +4 3 2 0 - - - -
5th +5 +4 +4 +4 Bonus Feat 3 3 1 - - - -
6th +6/+1 +5 +5 +5 3 3 2 0 - - -
7th +7/+2 +5 +5 +5 3 3 2 0 - - -
8th +8/+3 +6 +6 +6 3 3 3 1 - - -
9th +9/+4 +6 +6 +6 3 3 3 2 0 - -
10th +10/+5 +7 +7 +7 Bonus Feat 3 3 3 2 0 - -
11th +11/+6/+1 +7 +7 +7 3 3 3 3 1 - -
12th +12/+7/+2 +8 +8 +8 3 3 3 3 2 0 -
13th +13/+8/+3 +8 +8 +8 3 4 3 3 2 0 -
14th +14/+9/+4 +9 +9 +9 4 3 4 3 3 1 -
15th +15/+10/+5 +9 +9 +9 Bonus Feat 4 4 3 4 3 2 0
16th +16/+11/+6/+1 +10 +10 +10 4 4 4 3 3 2 0
17th +17/+12/+7/+2 +10 +10 +10 4 5 4 4 3 3 1
18th +18/+13/+8/+3 +11 +11 +11 4 5 5 5 4 3 2
19th +19/+14/+9+4 +11 +11 +11 4 5 5 5 5 4 3
20th +20/+15/+10/+5 +12 +12 +12 Bonus Feat 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Scarion Spell List by Spell Level:
0 level Spells or cantrips: Arcane Mark, Cure Minor Wounds, Dancing Lights, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Disrupt Undead, Know Direction, Light, Mage Hand, Mending, Message, Prestigitation, Read Magic, Resistance.
1st Level Spells: Alarm, Endure Elements, Comprehend Languages, Cure Light Wounds, Detect Secret Doors, Erase, Expeditious retreat, Feather Fall, Identify, Mage Armour, Magic Mouth, Magic Weapon, Mount, Obscure Object, Protection from Chaos//Evil/Good/Law, Remove Fear, Shield, Sleep, Summon Monster I, True Strike, Undetectable Alignment.
2nd Level Spells: Animal Messenger, Bear’s Endurance, Blur, Bull’s Strength, Cat’s Grace, Continual Flame, Cure Moderate Wounds, Darkness, Delay Poison, Detect Thoughts, Eagle’s Splendour, Fox’s Cunning, Glitterdust, Heroism, Invisibility, Locate Object, Misdirection, Owl’s Wisdom, Protection from Arrows, Rage, Resist Energy, Shatter, Silence, Sound Burst, Summon Monster II, Summon Swarm, Tongues, Whispering Wind.
3rd Level Spells: Clairaudience/Clairvoyance, Cure Serious Wounds, Daylight, Dispel Magic, Displacement, Explosive Runes, Glibness, Good Hope, Haste, Illusory Script, Invisibility Sphere, Keen Edge, Leomund’s Tiny Hut, Magic Weapon/ Greater, Protection From Energy, Remove Curse, Scrying, Secret Page, See Invisibility, Sepia Snake Sigil, Slow, Speak With Animals, Summon Monster III, Water Breathing.
4th Level Spells: Break Enchantment, Cure Critical Wounds, Detect Scrying, Freedom of Movement, Invisibility/ Greater, Legend Lore, Leomunds Secure Shelter, Locate Creature, Neutralize Poison, Remove Curse, Speak with Plants, Stoneskin, Summon Monster IV, Zone of Silence.
5th Level Spells: Cure Light Wounds/ Mass, Dispel Magic/ Greater, Dream, Heroism/ Greater, Major Creation, Permanency, Shadow Walk, Summon Monster V, Telekinesis.
6th Level Spells: Analyze Dweomer, Antimagic Field, Bear’s Endurance/ Mass, Bull’s Strength/ Mass, Cat’s Grace/ Mass, Cure Moderate Wounds Mass, Eagle’s Splendour Mass, Find the Path, Fox’s Cunning/ Mass, Heroe’s Feast, Scrying/ Greater, Summon Monster VI, Sympathetic Vibration.
I was thinking of possibly making the following changes to this:
1) drop the reflex save to poor
2) instead of giving martial weapon proficiency outright, replace this with a signature weapon progression (gaining proficiency at 1st level, Weapon focus later, then weapon specialization etc.
3) possibly reduce the number of bonus feats (especially if i introduce the signature weapon system discussed above)
4) Drop the Hit Die to d8
Any advice is welcome, with the exception of offering a multiclass system that produces similar effect.
P.s. If someone could tell me how to put spoilers into a post it would be very beneficial, thanks.