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Tynan
2005-12-21, 04:08 AM
This is a class I've used on my players in the past, as it is just plain punishing in many aspects. In all honesty, I don't think it should be a Core Class, but I want some thoughts and opinions from you guys as to what I should do with it.

I think it'd be better as a PrC...

Arcane Warrior

You have your Wizards, your Sorcerers, your Fighters, Rangers, and Barbarians. The dream of many adventurers was always to combine the combat prowess of the fighter, with the arcane might of a sorcerer/wizard. There are few who are capable of it, but once in awhile, a potential sorcerer will forego his more magic based affinity, and instead turn it elsewhere. Instead of focusing their power into their spells, they take up combat training, and allow their arcane powers to develop and augment their weapons and armor for limited periods of time. With their magic at their disposal, a weapon, whatever they may choose, is but an extension of their own body in conflict.

Adventures: There are usually two extremes of Arcane Warriors. One type often stays put in one place, honing their skills day in and day out, perfecting their technique and magic. The other extreme of the Arcane Warrior wanders endlessly, looking for new challenges to overcome, people to learn from, and the like. The cloistered type eventually sets out to adventure, but only after he feels satisfied with their current combat prowess, or until they finally get it through their thick skulls that they won’t learn much if they do the same thing over and over again.

Characteristics: The Arcane warrior focuses on one type of weapon, so much so that it is seen more as a valued ally, rather then a simple item. His skill selection, although small, gives him the valued essentials, whether it be hacking away at zombies, or haggling the merchants. An experienced Arcane Warrior, who has seen many seasons, has such a tie to their weapon, that it begins to take on features according to their wielders personality and alignment. Evil Arcane Warriors’ weapons became serrated, dark, and powerful ones radiate negative energy. On the off-hand, good aligned Arcane Warriors’ weapons become brighter, sharper, and often hum with positive energy.

Alignment: Arcane Warriors can be of any alignment. Many tend to be neutral, as they care far more for their abilities then for law vs. chaos, or good vs. evil. Good aligned Arcane Warriors see missions/adventures much the same way Paladins do, no matter how small the task, it’s seen as a personal test to improve them. Lawful Arcane Warriors often lead crusades of their ideals, making masterful leaders of either good, or ill. Evil Arcane Warriors often travel about, destroying things that they would label as “weak”, and therefore, undeserving of existence. Chaotic Arcane warriors generally have a free spirit, and enjoy wandering to different places, testing their mettle.

Religion: Deity choice usually falls to personal preference with Arcane Warriors. Good and Neutral aligned Arcane Warriors tend to follow Baccob, and others prefer Wee Jas, while their evil counterparts tend to worship Nerull. Then others prefer to worship more martial deities.

Background: A great deal of Arcane Warriors are taught to be what they are from their parents, or a mentor with ties to the family. As Sorcerous powers tend to run in the family, that is the most common method as to where they come from.
Races: The most common Arcane Warriors are Humans, Elves, and Half-elves. It’s rumored that sorcerers gain their powers because of a dragon ancestor, and it seems that these three common races are the most common to have draconic ancestry to undertake such a class. Any race may take it, however.

Classes: Because of their diversity, Arcane Warriors can work rather well in a group as a backup to anything but a healer or a sneaky type. They tend to get along well with Fighters, bringing their magic to combat prowess intrigues them, as are Wizards and Sorcerers intrigued as well. They get along alright with Clerics, but if they become too preachy, the Arcane Warrior tends to stop listening real fast.

Role: Arcane Warriors make excellent secondary combatants and support. Though they lack healing and the ability to tip toe about, they can take a hit, and still keep magic enough to do some damage.

GAME RULE INFORMATION
Arcane Warriors have the following game statistics.
Abilities: Strength is important, as they focus more on melee combat then ranged, and lack the true offensive spell casting power of the sorcerer or wizard. Charisma is also important as it influences the accuracy and power of their Trademark attack, Force Strike. As well as Elemental Strike.
Alignment: Any.
Hit Die: d10.

Class Skills
The arcane warriors class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are
Bluff (Cha) Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Arcana) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Spot (Wis).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) X 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Arcane Warrior.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The Arcane Warrior is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all types of armor (heavy, medium, and light), and with shields (except tower shields).
Bonus Feats: Beginning at first level (and repeating every 4th level thereafter), an Arcane Warrior gets an extra feat to be spent on either combat oriented, or magic oriented feats.

Force Strike: Starting at Second level, an Arcane Warrior may imbue his weapon with the ability to strike with 1d4 Force Damage 1/day. This ability improves at 4th level to 1d6, at 7th to 1d8 2/day, at 10th to 2d6, 14th to 2d8 3/day, and finally at 20th level, to 3d6 Force Damage 4/day. Add Charisma modifier to attack roles and damage with this ability.

Elemental Strike: Beginning at 5th level, an Arcane Warrior may imbue their weapon with a type of element of their choosing (fire, electricity, ice, etc…). 1d4 Element 1/day, at 10th level, the damage becomes 1d6, and it may be used twice a day, at 15th, 1d8 3/day, and finally at 20th 2d6 4/day. Add Charisma modifier to attack roles and damage with this ability. Cannot be used in conjunction with Force Strike. If it is attempted to combine Force Strike and Elemental Strike, the weapon that it is being used upon explodes in a violent torrent of energy, causing the wielder to take weapon damage + both strikes as damage.

Arcane Mastery: At 5th level, Charisma modifier may be added into all Will Saving Throws, reflecting the powerful force of pure will inherent in them.

Force Shockwave: Beginning at 10th level, an Arcane Warrior has developed such a mastery with their magic and weapon, that they may point their weapon at a target, and fire off a force shockwave from up to 100 feet away, dealing 2d6 damage in a line. At 20th level, this ability improves to a 4d8 damage, and may go as far as 200 feet. A successful Reflex save (DC 10 + ½ of Arcane Warrior’s level + Cha modifier) reduces damage by half.



Level Base Fort Ref Will
____________Attack Bonus_______Save__Save__Save____Special___________ _____
1st +1 +2 +0 +2 Bonus Feat
2nd +2 +3 +0 +3 Force Strike 1d4 1/day
3rd +3 +3 +1 +3
4th +4 +4 +1 +4 Bonus Feat, Force Strike 1d6
5th +5 +4 +1 +4 Elemental Strike 1d4 1/day, Arcane Mastery
6th +6/+1 +5 +2 +5
7th +7/+2 +5 +2 +5 Force Strike 1d8 2/day
8th +8/+3 +6 +2 +6 Bonus Feat
9th +9/+4 +6 +3 +6
10th +10/+5 +7 +3 +7 Element Strike 1d6 2/day, Force Strike 2d6
Force Shockwave 2d6 100 ft.
11th +11/+6/+1 +7 +3 +7
12th +12/+7/+2 +8 +4 +8 Bonus Feat
13th +13/+8/+3 +8 +4 +8
14th +14/+9/+4 +9 +4 +9 Force Strike 2d8 3/day
15th +15/+10/+5 +9 +5 +9 Elemental Strike 1d8 3/day
16th +16/+11/+6/+1 +10 +5 +10 Bonus Feat
17th +17/+12/+7/+2 +10 +5 +10
18th +18/+13/+8/+3 +11 +6 +11
19th +19/+14/+9/+4 +11 +6 +11
20th +20/+15/+10/+5 +12 +6 +12 Bonus Feat, Force Strike 3d6 4day,
Elemental Strike 2d6 4/day,
Force Shockwave 4d8 200 ft.


Bah. Going from Word to Post is messy just pasting...

Thoughts?


Edit: Made it more readable.

Goumindong
2005-12-21, 04:24 AM
So, it is a fighter with better saves, with the ability to deal massive damage up to 8 times a day that also adds chariama to attack and damage for that purposes...

At a cost of 4 feats?

Overpowered.

Tynan
2005-12-21, 04:31 AM
I figured. I've never really let my players realize it existed. I just used it against them every now and then.

Darkie
2005-12-21, 04:34 AM
Flavour text reminds me of a PsyWar, a conversion of which would provide a more balanced Arcane version.

Reltzik
2005-12-21, 04:58 AM
To start with, if you want a combat + magic combo, multiclass as a CN barbarian + druid. They've got good attack magic, good defense/healing magic, good support magic, good combat stats, good HP, both take a hit to armor (which means that you're not nerfing a class that WOULD have good armor by taking it as the multiclass), the combination isn't a stretch of the imagination, the skill sets work together, and rage + wild shape is just five kinds of awesome on its own. Sure, it's not ARCANE power, but it's still pretty darn potent.

Alright. Now that THAT particular voice in my head has spoken, let's get down to nitty-gritty.

My major objection here (beyond the one already voiced) is that this isn't really an arcane class. It's a fighter class with a couple of extra thwacking powers. That's all right, in a way, but it's not what you're billing it as.

.... force shockwave gives me Zelda flashbacks, but what the hey.

You might want to be more careful with your descriptions, because there's a lot of ambiguity. Is Force Wave a supernatural or extraordinary ability? Does the former require ranged to hit? Are they touch or not? Does the character have to decide on one element permanently, or does he get to choose with each use of the power? Things like this make a real difference.

You might want to consider the skill sets again. What you've chosen is primarily a set of arcane/face skills, and the former don't go well with the abilities and powers of the class. Climb and jump would be far more useful to this class than spellcraft or know:arcane.

Tynan
2005-12-21, 05:06 AM
Yeah. This class was never intended for a PC to use and play as.

Hmm. Funny how you don't see as many of the flaws until you let other people throw them at you.

What I was going for with the skill sets, was someone who could lie, and convince the PC's of various things, not necessarily climb and what not.

And about the descriptions, yes, they are lacking. I'd always treated them all as supernatural abilities. With the exception of Arcane Master (extaordinary).

If I set this thing on my players again, I'll take these suggestions, as well as lower that hit die.

Thanks.

Edit: Spell check...

squishycube
2005-12-21, 05:59 AM
I like the idea of this class very much and I think this class coulb very well be transformed into a stable, balanced core class.
You might want to base it of the paladin, as in saves, number of spells, number of skills etc.
I know the paladin is a very powerful class, but I don't see a probem in that as you can always fiddle around a bit with skills, skill points and spells to balance it out.

If you're not going to work on this class, let me know and I might.

ImperiousLeader
2005-12-21, 10:52 AM
If you're interested in an arcane/fighter hybrid, the Hexblade in "Complete Warrior" is an interesting option. They have a non-good alignment restriction, and their cursing ability makes them interesting villians.

Starbuck_II
2005-12-21, 01:44 PM
http://www.alderac.com/d20/mercenary_classes.pdf

Look at that for a good example of an Arcane Warrior.
But now to review yours:
1) D10 is too high. Lower to d8.

2) two good saves? Please pick one. 2 is highly powerful with d10 hps and full bab.
Look at Bard: d6, 2 saves, and 3/4th bab.

3) All armor and weapons is fine if you tone down something in #1 or #2 otherwise too much.

4) Bonus feat is fine at that rate.

5) Is Imbuing a free action? You should state.
Is it wasted if you miss; pleaase state. Look at Smitre Evil for example: it states whether it is wasted if miss.

Now the damage: 1d4 + Charisma isn't too strong I guess. So Don't see too much abuse.

6) Force Shockwave hurts only that one target or all targets in the line? Seems weird but fine.