PDA

View Full Version : [PEACH] 3.5 Base Class: Perfect Gestalt



Veeda Vidlak
2009-12-01, 03:55 PM
Base Class: Perfect Gestalt

The Perfect Gestalt is the result of centuries of detailed and intensive research done by Obsidian scholars that has been perfected in the Veeda era along with much of Obsidian’s technology. The Perfect Gestalt combines multiple fighting styles and maneuvers to create a deadly combatant far more powerful than any of the separate entities it draws its powers from. Holy warriors, battle-hardened veterans, powerful warlords, honorable knights, and quick and deadly assassins are all blended in this masterful fighter who knows few equals.

Abilities: A Perfect Gesalt has numerous styles of combat it can choose from. They can focus on one branch of melee combat or become a master of many types. Constitution is universally important because they are likely to be front line fighters. Several class abilities are based off charisma making that stat also a priority. Strength and dexterity are also critical abilities as well because they boost melee ability.

Races: Since this class is exclusive to the Obsidian Empire, the nation's extreme belief of human superiority keeps all nonhuman races out of the class with virtually no possibility for exception.

Alignment: Perfect Gestalts go through rigorous training from Obsidian instructors to be competent in all necessary fields of battle. As a result, the class has a strong leaning toward lawful evil (the alignment of Obsidian). Lawful neutral, true neutral, and neutral evil alignments are also seen. Chaotic alignments are unlikely due to Obsidian's abhorrence to chaos.

Adventures: Perfect Gestalts are wanted in absolutely every regiment of Obsidian troops without exception. Their skills and power in melee combat are the envy of the rank and file in Obsidian and experienced warriors value their dependability. Any small adventuring group from Obsidian often wants to secure a Perfect Gestalt as their melee fighter no matter what task they are trying to perform.

Requirements
Alignment: Any
Special: Must be a member of the Obsidian Empire

{table=head]Level |Base Attack Bonus| Fort Save| Ref Save| Will Save |Special
1st| +1| +2| +2| +0| Smite 1/day, sneak attack +1d6, chosen path
2nd| +2| +3| +3| +0| Evasion, grace +1
3rd| +3| +3| +3| +1| Battle fortitude +1
4th| +4| +4| +4| +1| Sneak attack +2d6, bonus feat
5th| +5| +4| +4| +1| Smite 2/day, dodge +1
6th| +6| +5| +5| +2| 1st favored enemy, staredown
7th| +7| +5| +5| +2| Sneak attack +3d6, absorb spell
8th| +8| +6| +6| +2| Uncanny dodge, grace +2
9th| +9| +6| +6| +3| Arcane resistance, bonus feat, improved evasion
10th| +10| +7| +7| +3| Smite 3/day, sneak attack +4d6, weapon specialization, dodge +2
11th| +11| +7| +7| +3| Mass staredown, battle fortitude +2, grace +2
12th| +12| +8| +8| +4| Improved uncanny dodge, 2nd favored enemy
13th| +13| +8| +8| +4| Sneak attack +5d6
14th| +14| +9| +9| +4| Improved staredown, grace +3, bonus feat
15th| +15| +9| +9| +5| Smite 4/day, dodge +3
16th| +16| +10| +10| +5| Sneak attack +6d6
17th| +17| +10| +10| +5| Impetuous endurance
18th| +18| +11| +11| +6| 3rd favored enemy
19th| +19| +11| +11| +6| Sneak attack +7d6, bonus feat, cunning brilliance
20th| +20| +12| +12| +6| Smite 5/day, dodge +4, battle fortitude +3, grace +4, immediate absorb spell [/table]

Abilities

Hit Die: d10
Skills: 4 points/level (balance, climb, craft, escape artist, hide, intimidate, jump, listen, move silently, tumble, sense motive, spot, survival, swim)

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: A Perfect Gestalt is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, light and medium armor, and all shields except tower shields.

Chosen Path: At any point during a Perfect Gestalt’s advancement, he may choose a single prestige class without any spellcasting or spell-like abilities as his chosen prestige class. When he takes levels in this class all scaling class abilities of the Perfect Gestalt (such as smite and grace) continue to scale in the prestige class as long as the Perfect Gestalt has the first part of the scaling ability. Abilities that do not scale are not gained. Only arcane resistance, weapon specialization, impetuous endurance, and cunning brilliance are not scaling.

Smite (Ex): From the Paladin comes the smite power. At first level, as a free action once per round, a Perfect Gestalt may add his charisma modifier to his attack bonus on a single attack. If the attack hits it deals extra damage equal to his class level. A Perfect Gestalt gains an additional use of smite at level 5 and every five levels thereafter. Unlike the Paladin this attack is not supernatural and works on any alignment.

Sneak Attack (Ex): From the Rogue comes the deadly sneak attack. At 1st level a Perfect Gestalt deals an addition 1d6 of damage when he deals damage to a flanked enemy, or an enemy he catches flat-footed. This damage increases by another 1d6 at 4th level and every 3 levels thereafter.

Evasion (Ex): From the Monk comes evasion. At 2nd level a Perfect Gestalt that succeeds a reflex save against a spell or effect takes no damage from that source. This upgrades to improved evasion at 9th level.

Grace (Ex): The Perfect Gestalt gains the grace feature of the Swashbuckler. At 2nd level a Perfect Gestalt adds a +1 bonus to his reflex save. This bonus increases by an additional +1 at 6th, 14th, and 20th level.

Battle Fortitude (Ex): Battle fortitude is inherited from the Scout. At 3rd level and again at 11th and 20th level, a Perfect Gestalt gains a +1 bonus on fortitude saves and initiative checks.

Bonus Feat: At 4th level and again at 9th, 14th, and 19th level a Perfect Gestalt gains a bonus feat. He must meet all prerequisites for the feat.

Dodge (Ex): From the Ninja comes the dodge ability. At 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th level a Perfect Gestalt adds a +1 dodge bonus to his AC. Unlike the Ninja this can be used in light or medium armor.

Favored Enemy (Ex): A Perfect Gestalt gains the trademark favored enemy of the ranger. Treat this ability just like the ranger’s. A Perfect Gestalt gains an additional favored enemy at 12th level and 18th level.

Staredown (Ex): A Perfect Gestalt takes the staredown feature of the Samurai. At 6th level A Perfect Gestalt gains a +4 bonus on intimidate checks. At 11th level he gains mass staredown and he gains improved staredown at 14th level. Both abilities are identical to those of the samurai.

Absorb Spell (Ex): This ability comes from the Spellthief. If the Perfect Gestalt succeeds his saving throw against a targeted spell, he may cast the spell at any target within range as a standard action. Unlike the spellthief the Perfect Gestalt does not have a spell pool and may only have one spell held at any time regardless of level. The spell dissipates after 1 minute. At 20th level a Perfect Gestalt may cast the absorbed spell as an immediate action.

Uncanny Dodge (Ex): At 8th level a Perfect Gestalt gains the uncanny dodge feature of the Barbarian and keeps his dexterity bonus to AC when caught flat-footed. At 12th level he gains improved uncanny dodge and cannot be flanked. He also cannot be sneak attacked while flanked unless the attacker is at least 4 levels higher than him.

Arcane Resistance (Ex): At 9th level a Perfect Gestalt becomes resistant to magic in the same way as a Hexblade. He adds his charisma modifier as a bonus to all saves against spells and spell-like abilities.

Weapon Specialization: At 10th level a Perfect Gestalt becomes specialized in a single weapon just like a fighter. He gains the weapon specialization feat with any weapon of his choice.

Impetuous Endurance (Ex): At 17th level, A Perfect Gestalt does not fail a saving throw on a natural 1 just like a Knight.

Cunning Brilliance (EX): Ironically, a Perfect Gestalt acquires the factotum’s ability to mimic other classes’ extraordinary abilities at 19th level. It works identically to a factotum’s although the Perfect Gestalt must have witnessed the ability used at least once.




Note: This class is from my own homebrewed campaign setting and is (at the moment) exclusive to the Big Bad's empire. It is meant to be stronger than the base classes it "borrows" from in pure combat, stuff like UMD abuse notwithstanding. I'm hoping for something around tier 3. Any and all constructive criticism is appreciated especially since the last class I posted on here barely got any critique.

Altaria87
2009-12-01, 04:35 PM
Put | between the entries in the table to make it work, eg:
{table="head"}Blah|Blah|Blah
+1|+2|+3{/table}
Becomes
{table="head"]Blah|Blah|Blah
+1|+2|+3[/table]
When you replace {} with []

Veeda Vidlak
2009-12-01, 04:50 PM
Put | between the entries in the table to make it work, eg:
{table="head"}Blah|Blah|Blah
+1|+2|+3{/table}
Becomes
{table="head"]Blah|Blah|Blah
+1|+2|+3[/table]
When you replace {} with []

Thank you.

Any comments on the class itself?

Fortuna
2009-12-02, 04:55 AM
Unless I'm reading this wrong, it takes a bunch of useful abilities from different classes, slaps them all into one class, gives it good BAB and decent skill points/saves, and then fails to provide a drawback. Am I missing something?

Krazddndfreek
2009-12-02, 05:14 AM
This is supposed to be silly right?

J.J.J-H-Schmidt
2009-12-02, 05:43 AM
reminds me of the lvl one PC Fighcleradin.... EL 10... just for the class!

Veeda Vidlak
2009-12-02, 11:01 AM
Unless I'm reading this wrong, it takes a bunch of useful abilities from different classes, slaps them all into one class, gives it good BAB and decent skill points/saves, and then fails to provide a drawback. Am I missing something?

I think so, this class is meant to be stronger than the base melee classes and is exclusive to the Big Bad's army. It says so in the note at the bottom of the original post. I would probably allow a PC to play the class if the rest of the party was playing high tier characters (wizard, druid, psion, etc). What I really want is that this class be competitive with the full casters for as long as possible in a semi-optimized campaign.

Daracaex
2009-12-02, 02:26 PM
Maybe it's meant to be a class that's actually to be used with Gesalt? It seems like it may be powerful enough to qualify as a "double-class."

Eldan
2009-12-02, 02:51 PM
The question is: if you don't ever use it for the PCs, why make it a class? As a class it's not really balanced, and if only NPCs have it, why not make them higher level? Frankly, I don't see much connection between the abilities of the fluff: paladin, samurai, rogue all in the mix... I'd just use higher level opponents with the normal base classes and give less XP if that is your concern.

Veeda Vidlak
2009-12-02, 03:06 PM
The question is: if you don't ever use it for the PCs, why make it a class? As a class it's not really balanced, and if only NPCs have it, why not make them higher level? Frankly, I don't see much connection between the abilities of the fluff: paladin, samurai, rogue all in the mix... I'd just use higher level opponents with the normal base classes and give less XP if that is your concern.

To answer the first part of your question, I would allow it in a campaign where the PCs were members of Obsidian and someone had a good fluff reason to take the class (provided the abilities were balanced with the rest of the party, which is likely since wizard, cleric, and druid are popular in my group). Also, I plan on making the class available to the PCs in a sequal to my current campaign.

For what it's worth, the Paladin's smite is probably the least sensible of the class features from a fluff perspective. I could remove that, or change the fluff around to make it more plausible. I tested the class at various levels and found that none of the myraid abilities were amazing except maybe cunning brilliance, which is gained at 19 and isn't gained with chosen path. Everything scales gently and I genuinely believe it isn't horribly overpowered compared to the classes my group likes to play with. If there is anything I'm overlooking, please point it out so I can try to fix it. Yes, it is better than fighter, paladin, and the like, but I'm fine with that.

The Dark Fiddler
2009-12-02, 08:46 PM
Frankly, I don't see much connection between the abilities of the fluff: paladin, samurai, rogue all in the mix...

I don't really see how you could make something for this that doesn't fit the fluff, as long as it isn't spellcasting. It seems to be, fluffwise, a class that's taken abilities from all studies, and as such, Paladin, Samurai, Rogue... they all fit.

Veeda Vidlak
2009-12-03, 12:38 PM
I don't really see how you could make something for this that doesn't fit the fluff, as long as it isn't spellcasting. It seems to be, fluffwise, a class that's taken abilities from all studies, and as such, Paladin, Samurai, Rogue... they all fit.

This is precisely what I was going for with the fluff.

What I really wanted to accomplish by posting this here was to see if this class is effectively tier 3 and if its not what can be changed to put it in that category. If its fine then great, if not, I would like suggestions to change it around that do not involve spellcasting or supernatural abilities.

Silverraptor
2009-12-08, 12:13 AM
Alright, I read your class Veeda (Sorry it took so long.:smallfrown:) and he looks good. He's definately pretty powerful and I don't think there's anything I can give that you already haven't considered. I would like to see any other classes you have on this forum.

Though there is some advice I will offer you. You say that you're upset that no one read your note. To be honest, if I wasn't looking for it specifically, I probably would have missed it. So maybe you should put the note above your class abilities listings separated by stars.

***********

That way people will actually pay attention to it.:smallwink:

Milskidasith
2009-12-08, 12:56 AM
How does it copy factotum abilities without an inspiration pool?

Veeda Vidlak
2009-12-13, 12:25 AM
How does it copy factotum abilities without an inspiration pool?

The only factotum ability he has is cunning brilliance. I don't have dungeonscape on me and I'm hazy on the factotum details. I probably need to alter the ability somewhat so it works for this class.


How about its use 1/day (and it lasts all day)?

DaTedinator
2009-12-13, 01:26 AM
No, that shouldn't be a problem, I really don't think that factotum ability needs inspiration points.

Balance-wise, it doesn't seem overpowered at all to me; as you said, just compare it to a caster. At the moment it's a phenomenal dip for evasion, though. It'd be hard to fix how nice a dip it is; I'd bump Sneak Attack and Evasion back at least a level each, personally.

And Chosen Path could be more clear about what "scales" and how that works with a PrC that already scales it. If I gain levels in a class that advances smiting, does it count double? Does sneak attack "scale," and if so, if I gain levels in a class that advances sneak attack at a different rate, do I get both, or just one? Which one? I realize this is for your own game, and that's not really the part you're looking for comments on, but you should make sure your players are clear on all that before they make choices based on false impressions.

Also, grace and battle fortitude should go. The whole point of both is to give the Swashbuckler and Scout effectively average Reflex and Fortitude saves (and a small initiative boost), and you've already got good saves of both. Personally, I'd grab trapfinding, skirmish, increased speed, and/or blindsense from the Scout, and insightful strike from the swashbuckler, but that's just me. Plus you might have trouble picking something that scales properly, given your efforts to include no dead levels (good job with that, bee tee dubs).

Veeda Vidlak
2009-12-13, 08:57 AM
No, that shouldn't be a problem, I really don't think that factotum ability needs inspiration points.

Balance-wise, it doesn't seem overpowered at all to me; as you said, just compare it to a caster. At the moment it's a phenomenal dip for evasion, though. It'd be hard to fix how nice a dip it is; I'd bump Sneak Attack and Evasion back at least a level each, personally.

Let's see, d10 HD, full BAB, two good saves, sneak attack, evasion, smite, good skills
...
Yes this is a great two-level dip. I'm going to change chosen path so it only works if you don't have a second base class (otherwise its supremely overpowered for a dip). If I scale up sneak attack dead levels are created so I don't want to do that unless I add something there. I could easily move evasion. If I do end up changing something I want to make all my changes at once though.


And Chosen Path could be more clear about what "scales" and how that works with a PrC that already scales it. If I gain levels in a class that advances smiting, does it count double? Does sneak attack "scale," and if so, if I gain levels in a class that advances sneak attack at a different rate, do I get both, or just one? Which one? I realize this is for your own game, and that's not really the part you're looking for comments on, but you should make sure your players are clear on all that before they make choices based on false impressions.

This won't be a problem in my campaigns because my players will let me know what PRC they want long before they take it so I'll inform them then. Overall I would likely allow everything from both classes to stack (I wouldn't let smite count double though, they would just end up with extra smites per day).


Also, grace and battle fortitude should go. The whole point of both is to give the Swashbuckler and Scout effectively average Reflex and Fortitude saves (and a small initiative boost), and you've already got good saves of both. Personally, I'd grab trapfinding, skirmish, increased speed, and/or blindsense from the Scout, and insightful strike from the swashbuckler, but that's just me. Plus you might have trouble picking something that scales properly, given your efforts to include no dead levels (good job with that, bee tee dubs).

The class is not supposed to be a skillmonkey so I won't give them trapfinding.

The reason I didn't give them skirmish initially was because I though it would be a bit too much. I'm starting to think it wouldn't be that bad though, even the full bonus. I want most every ability to scale so the class remains strong at every level which is why I left out insightful strike. Maybe I could alter and power up grace a bit so it works better.

Thank you for your recommendations by the way.