3.5 polearm specialist

[gallagher]

hey playground, i saw sometime ago that there was a question about a build specifically for a polearm specialist, 3.5 style, so i decided to make a class for it, and i wondered what y'all think.

feel free to give any input, and if there is any question as to something included or omission of such things, please give a suggestion of what you would do for it...Pole-arm Specialist
d8 hit die
6xint skills (x4 at 1st level)
can wear light and medium armor and shields, including tower shields tower shields
Good Fortitude and Reflex saves
Full BAB
Martial Class at half HD, because TOB is the ****

1st Level: Haft Strike. Tower Shield Awesomeness (can set a one handed pole-arm against a charge, must be prepared and cannot make a move action)
2nd Level: two weapon fighting, but only with a polearm held. Half level Martial ability
3rd Level: Improved Trip
4th Level: Fighter bonus feat
6th Level: Improved TWF with polearms only
5th Level: Dodge
7th Level: With a pole-arm, you can now threaten the space 5 feet in front of you, without having to hold the pole arm as a hafted weapon
8th Level: Fighter Bonus Feat
9th Level: Mirror Shield: with a silver or metal light shield, can reflect a ray spell or projectile weapon, such as arrows, bolts, and thrown weapons like knives and shuriken, in a 25 foot cone range at random direction based on full armor bonus instead of touch
10th Level: Devoted Mount. can have a devoted mount that progresses as a mount of his level as if a paladin of half his level, rounded down. Mobility
11th Level: Greater TWF, polearms only
12th Level: Fighter Bonus Feat
13th Level: Required that Specialist must have taken Power Attack for this ability. If you kill an opponent with a pole-arm at 5 feet, and there is someone who had they been an ally would have granted you flanking, you may cleave into them.
14th Level: Can now make a 5 foot step when using a pole-arm and a one-handed pole-arm
15th Level: Spring Attack
16th Level: Superior TWF, polearms only. Fighter Bonus Feat
18th Level: Improved Mirror Shield: can reflect a ray spell or projectile weapon back at its thrower, shooter, or caster as long as they are within 50 feet
20th Level: Fighter Bonus Feet
also, if there is anything that i have in here that is incorrect (like, say, cleave already worked with a polearm to hit someone behind the dude you just killed) i claim ignorance or a simple oversight, as i do not have the books in front of me and this was done on a whim and slightly hurried so i could get input quicker

[absolmorph]

My original post, for reference. I'll just post my responses in here.
First: Mirror Shield. It seems kinda... strange. And it makes me suspect you're a Zelda fan (which isn't a problem).

Second: I may be incorrect, but aren't most pole-arms two-handed weapons? As such, TWF is pretty useless for a pole-arm specialist. Especially since you're giving abilities that use a shield and abilities that use TWF. Either one or both of those will be useless when using this class as intended.

Third: The ability to threaten in front of you with pole-arms should probably come earlier; it's pretty major, and seems like a logical thing to learn early (as in, before learning to use two of 'em).

Fourth: How does the mount work? Is it a mount with the same HD (which would be the same level) with the extra HD of a paladin's mount (at half his level)? Or is it as a paladin's mount progresses, with his level being considered half for the sake of the progression?

Fifth: Is Haft Strike a bonus feat?

Sixth: What are the class skills?

Minor nitpicks:
*His skill points should be (6+int), not (6xint). The first gives logical amounts, the first gives 6, 12, 18, 24, etc. skill points per level. Unfair.
*You wrote tower shields twice for proficiencies.



yeah, i posted this in the homebrew section after i did this, im a little forgetful sometimes and this part is the part that is bookmarked, so i was a bit hasty. interestingly enough, nobody posted in the homebrew section yet.

It happens occasionally.



mirror shield is a bit of zelda flavor, OoT is one of my favorite games. it also is a way that helps a martial class be able to still have a shot against casters for a while.
It's not gonna give much of a shot against casters, either way. They have plenty of ways to bypass it: the Summon X lines, Magic Missile, Fireball, Solid Fog, Cloudkill, etc. Focus less on making it able to counter everything and more on making it good at hitting things with pole-arms.



most pole-arms are, i am thinking of a way to take that problem of the board. make a regular pole-arm be onehanded, and have a light polearm as an offhand isnt a far stretch.

I'd say, rather than making them one-handed weapons, you could allow them to be used as double weapons (a Ranseur doing 2d4/1d6, and just allowing a hit as if with a quarterstaff). Or you could just make them better in general. Give (Greater) Weapon Focus/Specialization as bonus feats, applying to all pole-arms. That's an automatic +2 to attack rolls and +4 to damage.



shields are in there because it is sometimes an advantage, they will sometimes be a mounted class, and it helps the AC since you dont get that great of a selection for armor at low levels.

With a two-handed weapon, the only shield that's likely to be used is a buckler. And that takes a feat to not give a penalty. And the same goes for TWF.



i like your third idea. i was thinking haft strike could be used as an immediate action to hold it halfway...

half of level counts like a paladin for HD, but i dont know how this guy would be able to summon a mount, ideas are welcome.

I'd recommend it instead be class level-5. It's easier to keep track of, and also makes it more powerful.



haft strike is a bonus feat

last one described above
Suggested class skills:
Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).

Also, to make it easier for people to read, use this table:
Just copy/paste the code, then fill in all the class features.
NAME OF CLASS
{table=head]Level|Base Attack<br>Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

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[DracoDei]

For comparison, I suggest you check out:
Martial Sohei (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7465208#post7465208) - "Tome of Battle: Book of Nine Swords" based spear fighter, built around a spear-focused home-brew discipline.

The Lancer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7590717&postcount=4) - A prestige class with many useful abilities, including some anti-charge stuff, ability to shift grips in and out of "Short Haft" more smoothly and quickly, greater benefit from flanking, ability to ignore Damage reduction a small number of times per day, and several other things.

Last, and probably least as far as direct utility to you I offer my own Leap Dragoon (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7665584&postcount=20). It is a prestige class based on the Dragoons of Final Fantasy IX, and I took great pains to make it as true to the feel of the games as possible without sacrificing game balance... simplicity was another story.

[DragoonWraith]

The Mystic Sohei's discipline is incomplete. A different spear-focused discipline was developed recently, though... Piercing Point, I think it was called?

[Shyftir]

Yeah, in fact i'm kinda coming to the conclusion that, I want to drop my work on the Mystic Cobra stuff and redo the original Martial Sohei bit, to work with Piercing point. And feel more like a truly new TOB base class instead of a rewrite on a little used OA class.

I've just come to the conclusion I'm not experienced enough with TOB to make a whole discipline, while a base class would be simpler.

and back to the OPs class....

Mostly I think you should focus on your polearm = TWF stuff. The phalanx, "shield and long-spear," concept seems more appropriate for a short (5 -level?) PrC class.