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reddevil
2009-12-07, 12:40 AM
So I'm looking for some critique on the following class. It's going to be for A NPC follow to the party mage. The class is built to be a protector to one person. I could use any fluff people want to throw out or any other suggestions.

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MAGE GUARD
Mage guards are trained in the art of protecting a single mage. Guarding them above all else
Requirements
Base Attack: +5
Feats: Weapon focus, Shield specialization
Special: Must be trained by another Mage Guard

Mage Guard could be changed to protect anyone if wanted.



{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special
1st|+1|+2|+0|+2|Ward, mage defender, toughen
2nd|+2|+3|+0|+3|Mage shield,Bonus feat
3rd|+3|+3|+1|+3|Guardian reflexes
4th|+4|+4|+1|+4|Bonus feat, mage over mind
5th|+5|+4|+1|+4|Ward’s champion[/table]


Ward: A mage guard must choose one mage that she is going to protect. This mage--and only this mage--can be the recipient of a mage guard's abilities.
Mage Defender (ex): A mage guard of 1st level gains a +2 to attack and damage against anyone who is hostile against the mage that she guards.
Toughen (Ex): When within 10 ft of his ward a mage guard grants the mage a +2 bonus on Fortitude saves.
Mage Shield (ex): When ever adjacent to the mage she protects a mage guard may grant the mage her shield bonus.
Guardian Reflexes (Ex): When within 10 ft of your ward and your ward fails a Reflex save, roll a Reflex save yourself (unless the save was from a area effect you are within, then use your save.) If you succeed, then the mage takes no damage and you receive full damage. When you use this ability, you move yourself in front of your ward. If this square is taken, you move to the closest adjacent square (if none are available, you cannot use this ability).
Bonus Feat:This feat may be chosen from any Fighter feats
Mage over Mind (Ex): If any kind of compulsion effect would make you directly bring harm to your ward you receive a new save with a bonus equal to your charisma bonus.
Ward’s Champion (Ex): Once a day, the mage guard can take half of any damage the ward would take for five rounds as a swift action.


Other abilities I was thinking about adding
Ranged Touch (Ex): A ward can cast any touch spell as a 30 ranged touch spell on his Mage Guard.

Temotei
2009-12-07, 12:47 AM
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special
1st|+1|+0|+0|+2|Ward, mage defender, toughen
2nd|+2|+0|+0|+3|Mage shield
3rd|+3|+1|+1|+3|Guardian reflexes
4th|+4|+1|+1|+4|Bonus feat, mage over mind
5th|+5|+1|+1|+4|Ward’s champion[/table]


Copy that and insert it.

reddevil
2009-12-07, 12:51 AM
Danke Schoen (thank you)

Temotei
2009-12-07, 01:13 AM
Ward: A Mage Guard must choose one mage that she is going to protect, this mage and only this mage can the recipient of a Mage Guards abilities.

Yeah...I don't like this, because it's so specific, but that's just me. Don't capitalize mage guard. Bold ward and the colon. Then change this to say "A mage guard must choose one mage that she is going to protect. This mage--and only this mage--can be the recipient of a mage guard's abilities."


Mage Defender (ex): A mage Guard of 1st level gains a +2 to attack and damage against anyone who attacks the mage that she guards.

Don't capitalize guard. I recommend changing this bonus to be active when someone is hostile towards the mage. That way, you don't have to wait until the mage gets hit to actually get the bonus. The class is all about defending, after all.



Toughen (Ex): When within 10 ft of his ward a Mage Guard grants him +2 Fort

Don't capitalize the class name. You should also change it to say "...grants the mage a +2 bonus on Fortitude saves."


Mage Shield (ex): When ever adjacent to the mage she protects a Mage Guard may grant the mage her shield bonus.

Don't capitalize the class name.


Guardian Reflexes (Ex): When within 10 ft of your ward and your ward fails a reflex save, roll a reflex save yourself (unless the save was from a area effect you are within, then use your save) if you secede then the mage takes no damage and you receive full damage. When you use this ability move yourself in front of your ward, if this square is taken move to the nearest adjacent square to the mage (If none are available you can not use this ability.).

Capitalize Reflex when it refers to the saving throw. The bold text should be "an." "Secede" should be "succeed." There should be a comma after that. There should also be a period after the parenthesized text, with the "if" starting a new sentence. The rest should be "When you use this ability, you move yourself in front of your ward. If this square is taken, you move to the closest adjacent square (if none are available, you cannot use this ability).


Bonus Fighter Feat:

Make this "Bonus Feat," and add text specifying that you get a fighter feat. Also, you should just add another bonus feat to the 2nd level, to keep a uniform progression.


Mage over Mind (Ex): If any kind of compulsion effect would make you directly bring harm to your ward you receive a new save at +5.

Does this apply as a second save immediately when commanded to attack the ward, or does the bonus apply to the first save? Make it more clear.


Ward’s Champion (Ex): Once a day the mage Guards ward can as a swift action cause the Mage Guard to take half of any damage the ward would take for 5 rounds. (As Shield Other )

Don't capitalize the class name. This should say "Once a day, the mage guard can take half of any damage the ward would take for five rounds as a swift action." I changed it to make the guard use a swift action. It makes more sense to have a class ability that actually lets the person taking the class...use the ability. Get rid of that parenthesized text at the end.

Overall, I think the class is a little weak. Adding a bonus feat at 2nd level, and maybe even 1st level, will help with that, but I think you need something more in here.


Mage Guards are trained in the art of protecting a single mage. Guarding them above all else
Requirements
Base Attack: +5
Feats: Weapon focus, Shield Focus
Special: Must be trained by another Mage Guard

Mage Guard could be changed to protect anyone if wanted.

Alright...this fluff needs to be expanded. :smallsmile:

Bold is your friend. Be happy with that. Don't capitalize the class name.

reddevil
2009-12-07, 12:49 PM
ok think i got all those changes made

dsmiles
2009-12-07, 01:03 PM
If you don't want to keep editing classes/PrCs for a mage meat shield, the Wheel of Time d20 has Warders already built, I believe it is a 10 level PrC.

Milskidasith
2009-12-07, 01:05 PM
This is tremendously underpowered, requires two useless feats, and any mage worth his 18 starting int would realize that he can summon meatshields instead of training them.

reddevil
2009-12-07, 02:07 PM
have you seen Thayan knight it does less then this one. Since when did weapon focus become a useless feat

Milskidasith
2009-12-07, 06:38 PM
have you seen Thayan knight it does less then this one. Since when did weapon focus become a useless feat

You're kidding, right? Weapon Focus is an absolutely terrible feat. A +1 to hit with one type of weapon is hilariously bad. As for Thayan Knight being worse than this... It's about the same, because both are worthless, since you get minimal save bonuses and a bit of an attack boost, and some ways to make yourself weaker to guard your mage.

In the end, you get nothing out of this class and burn two feats. Woo!

reddevil
2009-12-08, 12:14 AM
Weapon focus is a requirement for tons of fighter classes. The class is built for defending others, not as a damage class. None the less thank you for your input.
If anyone else has any suggestions to powering up the class a bit

Milskidasith
2009-12-08, 12:29 AM
Weapon focus is a requirement for tons of fighter classes.

WotC can't balance their own games. Just because a crappy feat is required for PrCs doesn't mean it's good.


The class is built for defending others, not as a damage class. None the less thank you for your input.
If anyone else has any suggestions to powering up the class a bit

For defending the mage, it does an adequate job, although it only works against a small number of spells (single target reflex saves?) and gives a small AC bonus to the person you are defending. In exchange for the two feats you spent, you could just get stronger and kill things to protect the mage.

Kallisti
2009-12-08, 12:36 AM
I don't believe the ability has to be single target to let the mage guard interpose himself.

But Milskidasith's right that the class doesn't give you enough to be worth taking. At the moment, there's a Knight Protector class in Complete Warrior and Mirumoto Niten Bodyguard in Oriental Adventures. If I were building a mage's bodyguard I'd choose one of those.

Note: I don't have my books, so the classes are probably not named that,

Roderick_BR
2009-12-08, 11:41 AM
I could also suggest Devoted Defender from Sword & Fist (3.0, but easily changable), that works with the "protect a person" thing, including it's "In the danger's path" ability, that is precisely the ability to trade places with your warden, to take the hit for him. Funny note, in 4e, one of the paladin's paths gives him a power called "hit me instead" that is essencially the same thing.

reddevil
2009-12-08, 06:54 PM
Devoted Defender has a lot of the stuff that i was looking for. Thanks

oh and Kallisti was correct, the ability was made to work on area effect spells and single target ref save spells.