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Chainsaw Hobbit
2010-06-12, 11:34 AM
Meat Shield


(Drawing by ME!!!)

http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/4083/dwarfmeatshielddude.png

"Oh, THAT spear that's impaling me. What about it?"
- Brackham Durok, Dwarf Meat Shield

Meat Shields are powerful, slow moving warriors that wear about 2 suits of armor at a time, have sacks of hit points, and wield weapons that weigh more that they do.

Becoming a Meat Shield

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Base Attack Bonus +5
Feats Great Fortitude, Improved Toughness
Armor Proficiency Must be proficient with at least 1 kind of heavy armor.

Class Skills
Skills Points at Each Level: 4 + int
Intimidate, Ride, Survival, Jump, Swim, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Knowledge (dungeoneering), Profession, Sense Motive, Spot.

Hit Dice: d12

{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort Save|Reflex Save|Will Save|Special
1st|+1|+2|+2|+2|Bodyguard, Speed Bump 1/Encounter
2nd|+2|+3|+3|+3|Die Hard, Extreme Hardiness
3rd|+3|+3|+3|+3|Speed Bump 2/Encounter
4th|+4|+4|+4|+4|Heavy Armor Damage Reduction
5th|+5|+4|+4|+4|Speed Bump 3/Encounter
6th|+6/+1|+5|+5|+5|Make it Last, Supernatural Hardiness, Improved Heavy Armor Damage Reduction
7th|+7/+2|+5|+5|+5|Speed Bump 4/Encounter
8th|+8/+3|+6|+6|+6|Shield Other
9th|+9/+4|+6|+6|+6|Speed Bump 5/Encounter
10th|+10/+5|+7|+7|+7|Epic Toughness, Greater Heavy Armor Damage Reduction[/table]

Bodyguard (EX)
You gain the ability to absorb a portion of the damage done to an adjacent ally, when an adjacent ally takes damage you may choose to reduce that damage by half but take damage equal to the damage reduced.

Speed Bump (EX)
Once per encounter after taking damage you may choose to reduce that damage by a number equal to your constitution score.

Make it last (SU)
You may add half your constitution score to the number of HP you regain when healed by magical means.

Die hard (EX)
You gain the Die hard feat weather or not you qualify, if you already have the feat you instead gain the toughness feat.

Extreme Hardiness (EX)
You gain immunity to all non-magical disease and poison

Supernatural hardiness(SU)
You gain immunity to all magical disease and poison

Heavy armor damage reduction (EX)
While in heavy armor you gain damage reduction /- equal to your constitution modifier.

Epic toughness (EX)
You gain the Epic toughness feat (+30 hp) weather you qualify or not.

Improved heavy armor damage reduction (EX)
Replaces Heavy armor damage reduction, Improved heavy armor damage reduction works the same but the total DR is improved by 2.

Greater heavy armor damage reduction (EX)
Replaces Improved heavy armor damage reduction, Greater heavy armor damage reduction works like Heavy armor damage reduction but the total DR is improved by 4.

Shield other (SP)
You can use the Shield other spell a number of times per day equal to your constitution modifier.

Eloi
2010-06-12, 11:36 AM
Sounds interesting, but I very highly doubt players will be eagerly asking their DMs and bragging about being a Meat Shield. You must re-name it to sound more epic and appealing to possible players.

Dragero
2010-06-12, 11:36 AM
I know it fits the flavour of the class, but get rid of toughness, NOW!

Toughness is.......Bleh. Just bleh.

Frog Dragon
2010-06-12, 12:05 PM
Improved Toughness counts as toughness for prerequisites and is found in Complete Warror, Libris Mortis and one of the monster manuals (I think). That feat is actually half-decent.

Chainsaw Hobbit
2010-06-12, 02:42 PM
Is it overpowered?

Illven
2010-06-12, 02:45 PM
Also how is the DR overcome or is it /-

Chainsaw Hobbit
2010-06-12, 02:46 PM
Also how is the DR overcome or is it /-

The DR is /-.

Frog Dragon
2010-06-12, 02:46 PM
No. It's actually pretty weak. The hardiness abilities suck. They should be molded together and given earlier. Disease is generally a non-issue in most games. Bodyguard is quite good, and the DR ability is decent. The other stuff is decidedly weak. The bodyguard ability is good though so this is a viable one level dip, but I'd take only that level.

Chainsaw Hobbit
2010-06-12, 02:48 PM
Sounds interesting, but I very highly doubt players will be eagerly asking their DMs and bragging about being a Meat Shield. You must re-name it to sound more epic and appealing to possible players.

Cmon' I would play one! :smallwink:

Chainsaw Hobbit
2010-06-12, 02:56 PM
Fixed!!!!!!!!

molten_dragon
2010-06-12, 04:08 PM
I was highly disappointed by the lack of a special ability that lets you wear two suits of armor at once. :smallfrown:

Chainsaw Hobbit
2010-06-12, 05:07 PM
I was highly disappointed by the lack of a special ability that lets you wear two suits of armor at once. :smallfrown:

That was a joke.

Saveducks
2010-06-12, 05:43 PM
That was a joke.

It doesn't have to be.

Apalala
2010-06-12, 05:45 PM
An effective meatshield needs to do two things.

1. Take attacks. Class gets bonus hp and damage reduction, but no boost to AC, so something like a dwarven defender is going to be better against normal attacks. Because it has two poor saves and no special abilities, it's not going to be as effective at taking magical attacks as, say, a monk.

2. Draw attacks. Bodyguard does this a bit, but it glues your allies to you, rather than gluing the enemy to you. If the enemy is using something with a status effect, not going to be effective.

Speed Bump is an effective ability, but simply getting more uses per day is a bit boring. I think it would be better suited as a once per encounter ability, becoming twice per encounter at higher level.

Skill list and points are a bit harsh.

Milskidasith
2010-06-12, 05:57 PM
It can't meatshield effectively. It can stop HP damage and that's it, and that requires your allies to all be hindered by your terrible move speed, making any quick hitters or anybody who prefers flight screwed.

It's... eh. I wouldn't take it, because I become weaker at hitting things and take two bad feats in order to... force my allies to be near me to gain minor benefits against direct damage. Blech.

Jota
2010-06-12, 06:24 PM
Speed Bump actually has a fair amount of synergism with the Bodyguard and damage reduction class features, which is nice, but as pointed out the pre-requisites are awful and being limited to being next to an ally is... restrictive, to say the least.

I would definitely change Speed Bump to per encounter uses. This could work as is if you simple expanded Bodyguard's range to something beyond adjacent (like 15' + 5'/class level, just to give an example). A more complicated solution might look something like the mechanic I've used here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=153947).

Tanuki Tales
2010-06-15, 05:30 PM
Epic Toughness gives +30 HP, not +20

Chainsaw Hobbit
2010-06-16, 02:13 PM
Epic Toughness gives +30 HP, not +20

I fixed epic toughness.
I also added better saves.

jiriku
2010-06-16, 02:29 PM
Thematically, this is a great class, and the name is funny. Mechanically, you have considerable opportunity to add/improve powers before you need to worry about becoming overpowered.

Some suggestions to consider:

Change base attack requirement to +5. This class isn't powerful enough to justify delaying entry until level 7.
Change Feat Requirements to: Great Fortitude, Improved Toughness. These are similar to, but more effective than, the feats you're currently requiring.
Increase skills per level to 4. You need to be able to do more stuff.
Add Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Knowledge (dungeoneering), Profession, Sense Motive and Spot to the list of class skills. The Meat Shield is an all-around bodyguard, which means he's wary for ambushes or dirty tricks, and can sometimes talk his way out of trouble. He's also handy with the skills required for many martial maneuvers, as many Meat Shields are warblades or crusaders.
Replace bodyguard with the ability to use Shield Other (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/shieldOther.htm)as an at-will ability.
The phrase you're looking for is "speed bump".
Implement some method of forcing monsters to attack you, penalizing them when they attack others, and making it difficult for them to move away from you.

Chainsaw Hobbit
2010-06-16, 02:48 PM
Added better skills.

Chainsaw Hobbit
2010-06-16, 05:57 PM
Is it now overpowered?

Zeta Kai
2010-06-16, 06:05 PM
Here's a table for you; copy, paste, & enjoy:

{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort Save|Reflex Save|Will Save|Special
1st|+1|+2|+2|+2|Bodyguard, Speed Bump 1/Encounter
2nd|+2|+3|+3|+3|Die Hard, Extreme Hardiness
3rd|+3|+3|+3|+3|Speed Bump 2/Encounter
4th|+4|+4|+4|+4|Heavy Armor Damage Reduction
5th|+5|+4|+4|+4|Speed Bump 3/Encounter
6th|+6/+1|+5|+5|+5|Make it Last, Supernatural Hardiness, Improved Heavy Armor Damage Reduction
7th|+7/+2|+5|+5|+5|Speed Bump 4/Encounter
8th|+8/+3|+6|+6|+6|Shield Other
9th|+9/+4|+6|+6|+6|Speed Bump 5/Encounter
10th|+10/+5|+7|+7|+7|Epic Toughness, Greater Heavy Armor Damage Reduction[/table]

Chainsaw Hobbit
2010-06-16, 06:09 PM
Here's a table for you; copy, paste, & enjoy:

{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort Save|Reflex Save|Will Save|Special
1st|+1|+2|+2|+2|Bodyguard, Speed Bump 1/Encounter
2nd|+2|+3|+3|+3|Die Hard, Extreme Hardiness
3rd|+3|+3|+3|+3|Speed Bump 2/Encounter
4th|+4|+4|+4|+4|Heavy Armor Damage Reduction
5th|+5|+4|+4|+4|Speed Bump 3/Encounter
6th|+6/+1|+5|+5|+5|Make it Last, Supernatural Hardiness, Improved Heavy Armor Damage Reduction
7th|+7/+2|+5|+5|+5|Speed Bump 4/Encounter
8th|+8/+3|+6|+6|+6|Shield Other
9th|+9/+4|+6|+6|+6|Speed Bump 5/Encounter
10th|+10/+5|+7|+7|+7|Epic Toughness, Greater Heavy Armor Damage Reduction[/table]

Thanks! :smallbiggrin: :smallwink:

Dead_Jester
2010-06-16, 08:53 PM
Meat Shields are powerful, slow moving warriors that wear about 2 suits of armor at a time, have sacks of hit points, and wield weapons that weigh more that they do.

I agree we the others, we want the ability to wear 2 suits of heavy armor and wield oversized weapons :smallwink:

Chainsaw Hobbit
2010-06-19, 07:23 PM
I agree we the others, we want the ability to wear 2 suits of heavy armor and wield oversized weapons :smallwink:

How would I go about doing that?