The Soldier [Pathfinder]

[Nero24200]

Hello all. I've been working on a tactical-martial class to possibily replace the fighter for a PBP game (and possibly for one or two other groups I game with if they like the ideas). Alot of the fluff-feel of it was already discussed with the group, I'm mostly just looking for the crunch, to see if the class is powerful enough and provides enough options.

In terms of power and usefulness I'm hoping for it to reach roughly Tier 3. Does the class reach that tier? And if not, any surgestions on how to boost it? Or (though increadibly unlikely) tone it down?

THE SOLDIER
Some warriors gain their talents via skill, luck, or experience. But the soldier learns his/her abilities differently. By study and working with others, the soldier is able to pick up not only combat abilities, but a few team-work abilities at the same time.

Game Rule Information
Soldier’s have the following game rule statistics.
Abilities: As with all martial classes, Strength, Constitution and Dexterity play key roles. Intelligence, however, is also useful as many of the soldier’s abilities are based on intelligence.
Alignment: Any, though usually lawful
Hit Die: D10 (Considering D12)

Class Skills
The soldier’s class skills (and their key ability modifier) are Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Jump (Str), Knowledge (History) (Int), Perception (Wis), Perform (Weapon Drill) (Cha), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Survival (Wis) and Swim (Str),
Skill Points per Level: 4 + Int Modifier

{table=head;width=100%]
Level |
Base
Attack |
Fort
Save |
Ref
Save |
Will
Save |
Special

1st | +1|
+2 |
+0 |
+0 | Discipline (+1), Threat (-1)

2nd | +2 |
+3 |
+0 |
+0 | Combat Focus

3rd | +3 |
+3 |
+1 |
+1 | Moment of Insight 1/Day

4th | +4 |
+4 |
+1 |
+1 | Focused Strike

5th | +5 |
+4 |
+1 |
+1 | Discipline (+2), Threat (-2)

6th | +6/+1 |
+5 |
+2 |
+2 | Active Defense

7th | +7/+2 |
+5 |
+2 |
+2 | Moment of Insight 2/Day

8th | +8/+3 |
+6 |
+2 |
+2 | Adaptive Strike (Cold Iron/Silver)

9th | +9/+4 |
+6 |
+3 |
+3 | Discipline (+3), Threat (-3)

10th | +10/+5 |
+7 |
+3 |
+3 | Opportunistic Strike

11th | +11/+6/+1 |
+7 |
+3 |
+3 | Moment of Insight 3/Day

12th | +12/+7/+2 |
+8 |
+4 |
+4 | Left an Opening

13th | +13/+8/+3 |
+8 |
+4 |
+4 | Discipline (+4), Threat (-4)

14th | +14/+9/+4 |
+9 |
+4 |
+4 | Adaptive Strike (Adamantine)

15th | +15/+10/+5|
+9 |
+5 |
+5 | Moment of Insight 4/Day

16th | +16/+11/+6/+1 |
+10 |
+5 |
+5 | Tactician’s Step

17th | +17/+12/+7/+2 |
+10 |
+5 |
+5 | Discipline (+5), Threat (-5)

18th | +18/+13/+8/+3 |
+11 |
+6 |
+6 | Greater Left an Opening

19th | +19/+14/+9/+4 |
+11 |
+6 |
+6 | Moment of Insight 5/Day

20th | +20/+15/+10/+5 |
+12 |
+6 |
+6 | Master Strike [/table]

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Soldier.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Soldiers are proficient with all simple weapons, all martial weapons and with all amours and shields.

Discipline (Ex): The soldier’s training not only teaches him/her to fight, but to defend. At 1st level the solider gains a +1 bonus to resist any bull-rush, disarm, feint, overrun, sunder or trip attempts as well as a +1 bonus to attack rolls to attack any foes that he/she flanks. This bonus increases to +2 at 5th level and by an additional +1 every 4 levels thereafter, to a maximum of +5 at 17th level.

Threat (Ex): At 1st level the soldier is able to deter foes from attacking others. This is done in a variety of ways, it could be done by using a barrage of attacks to distract, by leaping about and making it harder for foes to spot other targets, though how it is done, it all has the same effect. Whenever the soldier lands a successful weapon attack against a foe, that foe suffers a -1 penalty to attack rolls against anyone other than the soldier until the start of the soldier’s next turn. If the foe is affected by Threats from multiple soldiers, the foe suffers no penalty as long as he/she/it targets just one of the soldiers.

The penalty bestowed by this ability increases to -2 at 5th level and the penalty increases by a single further point every 4 levels thereafter, to a maximum of a -5 penalty bestowed at 17th level.

Combat Focus (Ex): At 2nd level the soldier’s is able to utilize his/her training to perform better, even in the heat of combat. The soldier is able to Take 10 on the following skill checks, even in situations where he/she would normally not be able to Take 10; Escape Artist checks to escape a foes grapple, Heal checks to stabilize an ally and Sense Motive checks to oppose a feint.

Additionally, at 2nd level the soldier gains a +X insight bonus to amour class, where X is equal to half the soldier’s level (rounding down) or his/her intelligence modifier, whichever is lower.

Moment of Insight (Ex): At 3rd level the soldier is able to adapt to a dangerous situation more quickly. Once per day, the solider may spend a swift action to gain the benefits of a single feat with the [Combat] descriptor for a number of rounds equal to 3 + the soldiers intelligence modifier. The soldier gains an additional use of this ability per day at 7th level, 11th level, 15th level and 19th level. A soldier with multiple uses can use this ability multiple times to gain the benefits of multiple feats, but must spend the appropriate actions as normal. The soldier must meet the prerequisites of any feat taken in this as normal (and even using feats gained by this ability temporarily to meet those prerequisites).

Focused Strike (Ex): At 4th level the soldiers insight to fighting makes dealing with foes more easy. The soldier may add his/her intelligence modifier to all weapon damage rolls. This additional damage is precision damage. Additionally, the soldier only suffers a -2 penalty to attack rolls to deal non-lethal damage in place of the -4 penalty.

Active Defense (Ex): At 6th level the soldier is taught to quickly that the best defense is a strong offence. The soldier may make a single attack action as an immediate action. This immediate action can be used whenever a foe attempts to strike the soldier and rolls a natural 1 for the attack, or whenever a foe attempts to strike an ally that the soldier threatens. This is in addition to any attacks the soldier might gain normally, including attacks of opportunity.

Adaptive Strike (Ex): At 8th level the soldier’s insight allows him/her to overcome the toughened defenses of all but the most powerful of creatures. Whenever the soldier uses a weapon, that weapon counts as both silver and cold iron for the purposes of damage reduction. If the soldier is already using such a weapon, then the soldier’s attack’s deal +1D6 points of damage against foes vulnerable to that particular material (I.E a foe with damage reduction X/Cold Iron would take +1D6 points of damage from a solider with a cold iron weapon).

At 14th level, this ability also allows the soldier’s weapons to count as adamantine for the purposes of damage reduction and overcoming object hardness.

Opportunistic Strike (Ex): At 10th level the soldier knows how to exploit his/her foes weaknesses. The soldier may add his/her intelligence modifier to all attack rolls whilst making attacks of opportunity or whilst attacking using the Active Defense ability.

Left an Opening (Ex): At 12th level the soldier is able to not only fight foes, but hamper them against attacks made by their allies. Whenever the soldier lands a critical hit against a foe, he/she may nominate a single ally within 30ft to make an attack of opportunity against the foe. Allies must be aware of the soldier to gain the benefits of this ability and the soldier can only use this ability once per round.

Tactician’s Step (Ex): At 16th level the soldier is able to move more freely in combat and slip between his/her foes. The soldier may use the 5ft Step action to move 10 foot unhindered rather than just 5 foot. All other aspects of this action remain the same.

Greater Left an Opening (Ex): At 19th level the soldier’s abilities to exploit opponents and hinder them improves. The range of the soldier’s Left an Opening ability increases to 60ft (rather than 30ft) and the soldier can use the ability as many times per round as he/she wishes.

Master Strike (Ex): At 20th level the soldier is the epitome of martial skill and tactical training. The soldier’s attacks automatically overcome damage reduction of any kind. Energy damage or precision damage from the soldier (such as from the Focused Strike ability or a Flaming weapon enchantment) automatically ignore resistance and immunity. And lastly, the soldier’s weapon counts as being one size category bigger for the purposes of weapon damage rolls.

EDIT: Tweeked some of the formatting and used the correct spelling of Soldier

[Ashtagon]

Do you mean soldier? Or is this a new invented term of your own design?

[Nero24200]

Do you mean soldier? Or is this a new invented term of your own design?
Fudge...I mean soldier.

At least I can tell my spell-checker "Yes, I am right!".

Edit: No other comments anyone? Come'on, my dodgy spelling can't be the only thing about this class that sticks out.

[Ziegander]

It's not too shabby. Not too shabby at all. Certainly much better than a Core Fighter. I like a lot of the abilities, particularly the versatility of Moment of Insight. My biggest criticism is that a lot of the abilities feel like they have multiple unrelated benefits. Such as Combat Focus or Focused Strike.

Still, all in all, it's a very solid class. It faces the same problems as any non-caster has in what is basically a caster's world, but it certainly works.

[Teutonic Knight]

That last bit at 20th level, about damage dealt with one weapon size caegory higher, how does that work in game roleplaying-wise.

Has the soldier become so skilled that he hits harder, or what?

[Foryn Gilnith]

Looks solid, but unless Pathfinder remedies this I'd argue that it could use some more social skill, and maybe possibly a more ranged-focused ability somewhere.

[Nero24200]

My biggest criticism is that a lot of the abilities feel like they have multiple unrelated benefits. Such as Combat Focus or Focused Strike. Well...in some cases it's mostly a fluff thing, such as the ability to take 10 on certain checks. They seemed alright, but not really worth it, so other fitting abilities were added to compensate.

Specifically, the two examples you mentioned where the worst offenders, so to boost them I added the ability to add intellegence to attack and armour class. Origonally, it was simply the ability to take 10 on some checks and not suffering any penalties to applying non-lethal, but on their own they both seemed a little on the weaker side.


That last bit at 20th level, about damage dealt with one weapon size caegory higher, how does that work in game roleplaying-wise. In terms of fluff it is meant to represent the soldier understanding his/her weapons so well that hes able to push them a little further to get some better use out of them. I figured something like an increased size catagory would seem more in place than a simple static bonus ala weapon specilisation.


Looks solid, but unless Pathfinder remedies this I'd argue that it could use some more social skill, and maybe possibly a more ranged-focused ability somewhere. Hmm...admittidly, one thing I was trying to acheive was making it useful for multiple fighting styles, though during the write-up I did think a fair portion of abilities cateered more to melee than ranged.

It should be noted though that some abilities like Threat and Left an Opening are likely to work well for ranged characters.