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View Full Version : [DnD e3.5] Astral Cleric PrC



Argeus
2009-10-29, 09:30 PM
Disclaimer: This class is heavily inspired by the anime Kanon, especially the character Tsukimiya Ayu. Mild spoiler for those who hasn’t reached the ending, if you know what I mean.

Astral Cleric

Once upon a time, in a land of the endless song, lived a young woman. She would have grown up to be an ordinary person, if only with a childlike generic cuteness as her saving throw. However, fate was cruel, as one day, a terrible accident happened to her, tossing her in a seemingly eternal coma.

But it was during her darkest hour that she shone. The girl, who had never had any contact with magic, suddenly gained the uncanny ability to project her image into a semi-physical, semi-astral form of herself, capable of walking around, interacting with people, and even carrying out miracles, while she was still deep in unconsciousness. In the end, it was this astral projection of herself that had saved herself and those she cared for from a seemingly inevitable tragedy.

The people of the Forbidden Realms, upon learning of her capabilities, questioned how such a miraculous happening could take place. Some of the most powerful clerics decided to try to mimic what she had done – knocking themselves out in freak accidents for good in an attempt to produce such a potent astral projection of themselves. Most of them never woke up, but those who did gained power beyond that of their kin. The cost was heavy, however – these Astral Clerics, as they call themselves, are now effectively treading the line between death and life, consciousness and coma, and sanity and madness every hour.

Role: Off-field Support
Key Abilities: Wisdom, Charisma.
Armor Proficiency: None
Weapon Proficiencies: None
Hit dice: Special (See below)
Class skills: Diplomacy, Lore, Spellcraft.
Requirement:
- Race: Human
- Capable of casting Lesser Restoration, Restoration or Greater Restoration.
- Feat: Toughness/Epic Toughness.
- Skills: 10 ranks in Lore.

Class-specific feats:

{table]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Class Ability
1|+0|+0|+0|+3|Coma, Astral Projection
2|+1|+0|+0|+4|Projection Hardiness 1
3|+1|+0|+0|+5|Projection Immaterialism 1
4|+2|+0|+0|+6|Projection Concealment 1
5|+2|+0|+0|+7|Projection Immaterialism 2
6|+3|+0|+0|+8|
7|+3|+0|+0|+9|Projection Hardiness 2, Projection Immaterialism 3
8|+4|+0|+0|+10|Projection Concealment 2
9|+4|+0|+0|+11|Projection Immaterialism 4
10|+5|+0|+0|+12|
11|+5|+0|+0|+13|Projection Hardiness 3, Projection Immaterialism 5
12|+6|+0|+0|+14|Projection Concealment 3
13|+6|+0|+0|+15|Projection Immaterialism 6
14|+7|+0|+0|+16|
15|+7|+0|+0|+17|Tsukimiya's Miracle, Projection Fusion[/table]

Coma (Su): In order to use the Astral Cleric abilities, the Astral Cleric must first be unconscious (Wis/Cha reduced to 0). This is taken as a voluntary, full-round action.

While sinking into the coma is a voluntary action, awakening out of the coma is much harder. If the Astral Cleric so chooses, he can, once every round, perform a Will save (DC = Astral Cleric level + Number of rounds since coma start) to wrest free from the coma, dispelling the Astral projection and regaining control of his body. Any damage the Astral Projection had taken will be transferred to the Astral Cleric upon awakening. Spell and spell-like effects, however, will be dispelled. If this dispel effect would reduce the Astral Projection's HP to 0 or lower (such as dispelling a Constitution increment that reduces HP below 0), the Astral Cleric is instantly killed.

Astral Projection (Su): In his place, the Astral Cleric will be taken over by a physical astral projection of himself. The player gains control of the Astral Projection as if it was his PC. This astral projection has identical ability scores, hit points, feats, equipment and abilities and spells as the Astral Cleric when not in Coma state, but has a Hit Dice of 0 for the purpose of spells.

The Astral Projection cannot leave 50 yards, +10 yards per AC level, radius of the Astral Cleric. If the Astral Projection's Hit Point is reduced to 0 it will be destroyed, and the Astral Cleric's HP will be reduced to -1 (dying) as well. The same applies if it is destroyed by any reason. If the Astral Cleric is awakened or dies, the Astral Projection also perishes.

The Astral Projection cannot take nonlethal damage - any nonlethal damage it takes will be treated as lethal damage. At will, it can reduce its weight to zero once every turn to avoid the effect of fall damage. Also, it cannot rest or use any potion, but can be healed normally by friendly PC/NPC.

EXP gain is calculated normally. If the character gains a level while in a coma, he will be forced to take a level in Astral Cleric and gain zero hit point.

Projection Hardiness (Su): The Astral Projection gains +1 Fortitude save, +1 damage reduction and +2 Fortutude save against strength/constitution damaging poison and disease per level.

Projection Concealment (Su): Unlike Tsukimiya Ayu, the Astral Clerics of the Forgotten Realms can conceal their astral projection. The Astral Projection gains +10% permanent Concealment bonus and +15% Concealment bonus against Sneak Attacks per level.

Projection Immaterialism (Su): Add 1 to the Astral Projection's Dodge AC and 2 to its Dodge AC against AoO per level. Also gives the Astral Projection +2 Grapple checks and Discipline check to resist combat feats per level.

Tsukimiya's Miracle (Su): Once a week, the Astral Cleric can perform a Miracle similar to the effect of the cleric spell, or, if he knows the spell, perform it at half EXP cost.

Projection Fusion (Su): Once a day, the Astral Cleric can fuse with his own Astral Projection. Doing so wakes the Astral Cleric from the coma and restores his Wis/Cha score, gives him a pair of white angel/black bat wings depending on alignment, +6 to all ability scores, enchant his weapons with +5 enhancement and Keen properties, with +2d6 Divine/Negative Energy damage bonus. This lasts for 10 turns + the AC's Wisdom modifier. After this, the Astral Cleric can no longer put himself into a coma to summon the Astral Projection for the rest of the day.

An Astral Cleric can take an additional feat from the spellcaster feat list at every fifth level and from fighter feat list every seventh. Every Astral Cleric level add 1 to the character's Divine spellcaster level.

What do you think? Does it balance?

EDIT: Major clarification on the Astral Projection's specs.

-Baldur-
2009-10-29, 10:36 PM
So.....the Astral Projection has 0HD....thus....0HP...but....if he is reduced to 0HP...he dies?

Argeus
2009-10-29, 10:41 PM
I mean, the AP is considered to have 0 hit dice when it comes to spells/abilities that is related to HD and just in that case. Is that possible, or should it be changed to "have the same HD as the AC" then?

Temotei
2009-10-29, 10:43 PM
So.....the Astral Projection has 0HD....thus....0HP...but....if he is reduced to 0HP...he dies?

Yep. But they're more powerful than their kin. :smalltongue:


But it was her darkest hour that was where she shone.

This should be "But it was in her darkest hour that she shone." Or "But it was in her darkest hour when she shone."

If that's your purpose, just say it's treated as having 0 HD for the purposes of spells. Also, in that same ability, it says 0 hit points is dying. -1 to -9 is dying. 0 is disabled.

-Baldur-
2009-10-29, 10:46 PM
I'd reword it to blatantly state how many HP they get, or how hard it'll be to kill them. The way I took it it came across seeming a little like they already had no HP....Definite reword needed. Make it idiot proof. :-D

Argeus
2009-10-29, 10:48 PM
I've just edited as Temotei suggested: "Considered to have 0 HD for the purpose of spells" and "-1 (dying)"

-Baldur-
2009-10-29, 10:56 PM
No worries. But what are the AP TOTAL hit points? The same as the Cleric?

Argeus
2009-10-29, 10:59 PM
Identical ability scores, HP and all, I suppose.

-Baldur-
2009-10-29, 11:00 PM
State it then :smallwink: Idiots like me who take everything literally will wonder why he doesn't have any HP. You stated ability score similarities but didn't mention HP. You should.

ANYWAY! Other than that, this class reeks of awesome. lol.

Argeus
2009-10-29, 11:05 PM
I've fixed that HP part.

The problem is, does it balance?

-Baldur-
2009-10-29, 11:43 PM
I've fixed that HP part.

The problem is, does it balance?

No idea. lol. Im better with wording than balance. But to me (in my VERY limited experience) it seems fine. Definitely not overpowered!

Temotei
2009-10-30, 12:16 AM
The saves are messed up. You should make a pattern with the Will saves, first of all. Having +3 to +15 in +1 increments/level, then suddenly stopping at +15 is really random. Secondly, even caster classes should have at least poor saves in the others. It's unique, though, and since this is your creation, you can do what you want with it. :smallwink:


Coma: In order to use the Astral Cleric abilities, the Astral Cleric must first be unconscious (Wis reduced to 0). This is taken as a voluntary, full-turn action.

Should be full-round.

Also, does the class add any spellcasting class levels for the purposes of gaining new spells known and spells per day?


Projection Fusion: Once a day, the Astral Cleric can fuse with his own Astral Projection. Doing so wakes the Astral Cleric from the coma, gives him a pair of white angel/black bat wings depending on alignment, +6 to all ability scores, enchant his weapons with +5 enhancement and Keen properties, with +2d6 Divine/Negative Energy damage bonus. This lasts for 10 turns + the AC's Wisdom modifier. After this, the Astral Cleric can no longer put himself into a coma to summon the Astral Projection for the rest of the day.

When you say +6 to all ability scores, does that mean the astral cleric has 6 Wisdom, because of having to reduce it to 0 to get the class features?

Argeus
2009-10-30, 12:23 AM
That is what I intended the save to be, knowing what Ayu Tsukimiya is in the original Kanon: Clumsy, physically unfit AND has the physique of a elementary schooler at 16 years old. This homebrew class is effectively "What if a cleric takes over Tsukimiya role," so no save, apart from will allowed, ever. The Toughness feat requirement basically explains the "How the heck did he/she/it survive that and kicking". And the save progress was my mistake: Save is supposed to be +1 per level for Will and +0 for everything else.

What I mean by "+6 to all ability scores" I mean, "+6 to the original Wisdom score." I'm returning to reword it right now. And full-turn is being mended now. About spellcaster level, yes, it adds Cleric caster level. But I'm not sure where to jot that down yet.

Thanks for the input!

Temotei
2009-10-30, 12:36 AM
You can edit the code for the table to add a column for spellcasting levels.

It's an interesting class, to be sure. :smallsmile: Very unique.

Argeus
2009-10-30, 12:49 AM
I added a short note at the end for that,


An Astral Cleric can take an additional feat from the spellcaster feat list at every fifth level and from fighter feat list every seventh. Every Astral Cleric level add 1 to the character's Divine spellcaster level.

Thanks for your comment. I intend to, when this one is perfected, create another one for Kyoto Animation Male Lead PrC that is heavily based around Charisma, Wisdom and Diplomacy/Bluff skills.

Anime, I may add my humble opinion, gives very interesting PrCs.

Temotei
2009-10-30, 01:39 AM
Agreed. :smallbiggrin: As shown by your class.